2019 Plans : From slowly slowly to Ultra endurance racing

“A man who has no imagination has no wings.”

-Muhammad Ali

 

In the weeks and months after last years Bikepacking Trans Germany race where I’d far out performed my own exceptions I found myself reflecting on the how and why of my transition from my beloved cycle touring to this non-sense of ultra endurance racing.

Now 10 years since my first cycle touring trip to Thailand (ha, 10 years ago already) its obvious that the flavour of my trips has gradually changed the last couple of years. As time goes on I have less interest in doing the tourist things, have trouble stopping early in the day to relax, instead often chastising myself that I always find reasons to keep on riding.

• I don’t like this spot, town, campsite.
• The weather looks better there.
• I need to make the most of this wind.
• It’s not dark yet.
• I’m not hungry, thirsty, tired yet.
• I hate that you can’t just stop. Stop being a dick.
• The people seem funny here.
• I haven’t cycled far/long enough today.
• I have plenty of food and water why stop?
• I don’t have enough food or water to stop.

All excuses I usually find not to stop at a campsite at 4pm and relax and pretend I’m on holiday.

In 2017 I boxed way above my weight by entering my first ultra endurance cycling event by riding the Freedom Challenge. Finishing within the 26 day cutoff uninjured and still smiling were my only three goals.

The first 18-20 days of the Freedom challenge cost me every ounce of motivation, energy and balls I had. My shortage of structured training let me down a lot, but my character and 30,000km experience cycle touring in all weather on 4 continents saved the day. I was convinced I’d never do such an event again.

The great thing about endurance cycling is that people of all levels can take part in one event because it’s such a niche sport. For people like me that makes ranking fairly irrelevant,  the aliens can compete for the first 5 places, the sport Billy’s for the next 5-10  after that the normal people dribble in. As far as I’m concerned, any finish time for me around or less than double that of the top three then I smashed it!! (During the FC that meant I finished 11 days later than the winners.)

In the months after the FC the fact that other riders flew past me so fast bothered me. Character and experience are one thing but the speed difference was silly. As an engineer it seemed like a problem to be solved. It soon became obvious that my bike choice (26″ rigid frame and fork) was bomb proof but not fast. And, my training had be lacking structure, volume and intensity.

Both problems were easy to solve. So, I bought a second hand 29er to see what the fuss was about and after the first ride wondered why I’d been so stupid to wait so long for a 29er…. The training situation was quickly resolved with the purchase of a good heart rate monitor, many hours on google/youtube, purchase of a great book and getting down to serious training.

Early November 2017 I started training with a heart rate monitor and soon after asked why I was taking cycling so serious? I ride just for fun right?

“This is fun and you’re crap at cycling, it’s now time to see if we can do something about it.”  43 years old, what a great time to attempt to get serious in a type of sport.

It didn’t take long to find a suitable event. No flights, no registration costs, and a friend of mine had loved riding it the year before. The BTG Trans Germany seemed like the perfect test case to see if I could race rather than survive an endurance event. The fact that there was no cut off kept my options open to turn it into a booze cruise if racing didn’t work out.

Long story short, I survived, far surpassed my own expectations and once again at the finish line said NEVER AGAIN.  Blog >>>here<<<

As the dust settled in the weeks after I started evaluating the BTG. Slowly I realised the things that I once thought of as irritations or weaknesses during cycle touring where in fact strengths for endurance racing:

• I don’t like this spot, town, campsite. Good, keep riding.
• The weather looks better there. Good, keep riding.
• I need to make the most of this wind. Good, keep riding.
• It’s not dark yet. Good, keep riding and after it gets dark too.
• I’m not hungry, thirsty, tired yet. Good, keep riding.
• I hate that you can’t just stop. Stop being a dick. You’re a dick, keep riding anyway.
• The people seem funny here. Who cares, keep riding.
• I haven’t cycled far/long enough today. Indeed, keep riding.
• I have plenty of food and water why stop? You bought too much crap, keep riding.
• I don’t have enough food or water to stop. Fuck knuckle, why if your planning so bad, keep riding.

Add to that the adrenaline, endorphins, primeval instincts and all the other good stuff that bubbles to the surface while racing with live gps tracking.

I realised that just maybe I have more talent for ultra endurance than I thought, and with so much room still left for improvements in fitness, mindset and gear choices there was a lot of room to get faster, lots of engineering problems to solve.

Evaluating and learning from my training mistakes in the first year, November 2018 brought a new and more realistic training plan, a power meter, more help from technology, and registration for a couple of races in 2019.

2019 as a Race season.

So, 2019 will be my first year of not touring and actually racing in endurance races rather than just taking part (only two though, I still have a mortgage to pay).

The great thing about Ultra endurance races is that 40+ amateurs like myself still have 10-15 years to improve (Mike Woolnough and others have proven that). We also have access to technology like HRM, HRV, power meters, fancy software and endless amounts of tips via google, youtube to train smarter and more efficiently than people did 10 years ago. We also know our bodies and mind better than our wippet younger friends. Now just the small issue of learning to ride faster and sleep less. The main thing I like about longer events is that sleep, mechanical choices and knowledge, nutrition and generally being able to get on with life when its cold, dark and things go wrong trump being a fast cyclist.

It takes imagination, dreaming, passion, and a girlfriend stupid and loving enough to tolerate such a late entry into the sporting field. But, WTF, at 44 I’ve found a sport that I have talent for, now just a couple of year developing and fine tuning my newly discovered talent.

Race 1 : Bikingman Oman

Race 2 : Vosges to Blackforrest 

Stay tuned.