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Steaming Nostril

2K views 28 replies 11 participants last post by  RiotMTB 
#1 ·
Anyone doing this bad boy this year?

Going to be a cold one I think! Hopefully less windy than last year :thumbsup:
 
#7 ·
I'm in. I was comfortably sitting on the fence waiting to see the forecast till RiotMTB called me out on facebook for not having registered. I'm a sucker to peer pressure.

Not looking forward to that rail trail. Not looking forward to lose long stretches of exposed road. Certainly not looking forward to the rail trail on the way back in.
 
#17 ·
Super fun event I thought - conditions were way better than last year but the cold was bitter - rode with some sweet guys in a nice draft train for a good 3/4 of the race. Definitely less people out compared to last year however

Ended up extending it to 74.5km as well which I wasn't expecting - 72-74 was a push of pain for me.

Ended up 41 overall - was happy with that considering I don't ride much road

Was awesome passing all those Mennonite buggies however!

The worst part for me was my D literally froze on the last 25K before the rail trail - the wind was super strong and cut right through my cham and pants - I was actually contemplating retiring right there but held in it until the head wind died down :lol:

That and my only water bottle fell out when I hit a massive pothole 8km in! Good thing I had some Clif Shot Blocks or I would of bonked and died for sure!
 
#18 ·
By far the most insane weather conditions I have ever raced in. -12c on the start, plus windchill. Was wearing enough layers to take me up to Clydesdale weight.

This was supposed to be a tune-up race for me. But of course, the red mist descended after the start and it became a race of epic proportions. I had scoped out the dreaded rail trail before the start. It was packed snow but I could tell that the more bikes went through it the more chewed up it would become. I decided I did not want to risk crashing and injury this early in the season and made the decision I would tuck it, take it easy and not take any dumb risks. As it turned out, a lot of people must have had the same idea and I passed a lot of riders. They cut the rail trail section a little short this year, apparently because the last few km were a bit sketchy.

Anyway, got out onto the road and was pretty much by myself, although 14Stone, whom I assume has been doping all winter, was a little way ahead. I caught him and he returned the favour by dropping me on a climb. I caught him again and passed him, and bridged up to a couple of guys. We got a decent pace line going and around 30k, caught a bigger group just as we were going onto a long false flat going into the wind. Sat in and then pulled ahead with my original group. At this point one of my teammates mentioned that I had been spending a fair amount of time pulling, and suggested I take a rest for a few km. so I did. Just as 14stone found another gear and left our group behind.

At this point we were at 50k. I decided to go on the attack too and promptly bonked (I went with a water bottle full of perpetuum as I knew I would not be able to open gels with bulky gloves, and the bottle had frozen up by then). If it hadn't been for a banana at the feed station at around 55km, I doubt I would have finished.

Made it back to the rail trail and started grinding. The snow covered sections were fine. The dirt sections were like riding through oatmeal. Up the hill to the finish and collapse into a sobbing heat in the finish line, 16th of 44 in my category, 30 mins out of first, and pretty much right in the middle of the pack overall. There is some room for improvement but this bodes pretty well for me being able to keep up with Rocket Dog at the P2A
 
#19 ·
By far the most insane weather conditions I have ever raced in. -12c on the start, plus windchill. Was wearing enough layers to take me up to Clydesdale weight.

This was supposed to be a tune-up race for me. But of course, the red mist descended after the start and it became a race of epic proportions. I had scoped out the dreaded rail trail before the start. It was packed snow but I could tell that the more bikes went through it the more chewed up it would become. I decided I did not want to risk crashing and injury this early in the season and made the decision I would tuck it, take it easy and not take any dumb risks. As it turned out, a lot of people must have had the same idea and I passed a lot of riders. They cut the rail trail section a little short this year, apparently because the last few km were a bit sketchy.

Anyway, got out onto the road and was pretty much by myself, although 14Stone, whom I assume has been doping all winter, was a little way ahead. I caught him and he returned the favour by dropping me on a climb. I caught him again and passed him, and bridged up to a couple of guys. We got a decent pace line going and around 30k, caught a bigger group just as we were going onto a long false flat going into the wind. Sat in and then pulled ahead with my original group. At this point one of my teammates mentioned that I had been spending a fair amount of time pulling, and suggested I take a rest for a few km. so I did. Just as 14stone found another gear and left our group behind.

At this point we were at 50k. I decided to go on the attack too and promptly bonked (I went with a water bottle full of perpetuum as I knew I would not be able to open gels with bulky gloves, and the bottle had frozen up by then). If it hadn't been for a banana at the feed station at around 55km, I doubt I would have finished.

Made it back to the rail trail and started grinding. The snow covered sections were fine. The dirt sections were like riding through oatmeal. Up the hill to the finish and collapse into a sobbing heat in the finish line, 16th of 44 in my category, 30 mins out of first, and pretty much right in the middle of the pack overall. There is some room for improvement but this bodes pretty well for me being able to keep up with Rocket Dog at the P2A
what happened to 14Stone? You dropped him from the end of your report for some reason...
 
#28 ·
I was dreading yesterday but I wanted to race to get some good training in. Had no real expectations, I'm not very strong in true road style races (which this is). My only goal, given the forecast was to hopefully stay warm.

Maybe Saturday was an omen when I put on my carbon tubular wheels for a shake down and realized the rear was cracked. I spend a good chunk of Saturday night wondering what to do. I had a set of 32cc Panracer Pasela's mounted on my regular wheels. I was fine to ride those, but had heard snow had fallen Friday night and potentially more Saturday night. Not knowing the condition of the gravel roads, I was anxious that if they weren't clear, I would probably be better served mounting up a proper set of CX tires. In the end after lots of needless worrying and work, decided on just using them.

In terms of cold, for the first time ever, I tried the hand and feet warmers. (Thanks Unglued!). They worked. I stuck them on my feet, then sent two down each lobster mit. At no point was I cold in that department. To bad I hadn't bothered trying this before during winter rides, a big game changer. :(

As people have said, the rail trail was much better this year. I started off near the front, but once on the rail trail, even though it wasn't really slippery, I didn't have any bite with my tires, leaving me less than confident to push myself. I got passed a lot, it was pretty demoralizing. Out on the road, things didn't change much. It might have been the cold, it might have been the lack of warm up, maybe fighting a bug, or most likely a lack of fitness, but I got shelled pretty quick from any group I was a trying to ride with. It didn't take me long to realize I wasn't going to perform like I had hoped. I decided to sit up, knowing I had a teammate coming up behind me, thinking I would provide any help I could. Turns out they were on the road alone, so I could help. Spent pretty much the rest of the ride with my nose in the wind and boy it was heavy at times. Doesn't take much of a breeze at -10 to make you feel like you are riding through soup.

Overall, I got a good training ride in and helped out a teammate to podium placing (cash prizes, so my dinner was paid for!), I also stayed warm, so I call it a success.
 
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