RPI Queen's Stage Race - Stage 2
Waking up, I didn’t feel too bad from the previous day’s exertions. Perhaps not being able to crank hard the day before had helped. We started out from the Limelight hotel with a 20 mile neutral ride to the bottom of Dollarhide. Once there, it was a 4.6 mile Individual Time Trial to the top of Dollarhide at 9,300ft, and then a neutral ride back home.
At Dollarhide, the top 10 males, females, and transgender athletes took off, leaving a long train off 150+ athletes waiting for their spot to begin the 25-30 minute suffer-fest. I lined up not too long after the fastest female had set off. By now, I’ve done enough 10 and 20 minute efforts over the past year to be reasonably confident in the power I can put out over a 25 minute effort. For example, while in Hawaii in May, I sustained 378w (5.47w/kg)for 10mins and 348w (5.04 w/kg) for 20mins doing hill repeats on Tantalus in Oahu.
With Rebecca cheering me and my fellow gluttons for punishment over the start line, I set off, determined not to start too fast. The altitude and air quality made me nervous about going out too quickly. The first 5 mins I was pegged at about 325w, but found myself slowing as I got higher, but determined not to back off too much. In the end, I crossed the line in 24:47, sustaining 300w for the entire effort. So, much lower than my FTP, but again, altitude and air quality probably affected all of us and I’d guess no-one was at their best. Oddly, my average HR was 157bpm; far lower than my threshold HR of 168bpm.
I knew I’d
gone hard but maybe not entirely a 100% effort. To my surprise, I finished in 8th
spot, just behind former RPI winner, Josh Berry, who was likely having his
worst day ever – kind of unreal to be closing in on 50 years old and being in
the company of some of the legends and up-and-coming pros of the sport. We decided to celebrate with a visit to Grumpy's in Ketchum where Peter gulped down two schooners!
Comments
Post a Comment