This morning I took part in the last race of the SRAM Send It series, which was 4 laps of Watopia’s Hilly Route.
And my God, it was knackering.
Judging from the comments, the entire 6 race series was pretty full on. I haven’t checked out what the other races involved, but this one was ~36km with ~400m of climb.
In total, about 230 riders took part.
I had planned on riding an earlier SRAM Send It Series race – I think maybe two weeks ago now. But I ended up doing my leg in the day before whilst racing on Richmond. And then I hit on a bunch of technical issues, so was pretty fortunate to still get to ride in this series – albeit in the very last race.
Being a 10am start, this wasn’t very well attended by UK people. Instead, it was largely full of Australians. I believe this entire series was aimed at Aussies.
I’m not sure how the time difference works in terms of performance. Typically I feel strongest in the morning. But not today.
My wife kept reminding me that perhaps I should have eaten something … anything, before starting the ride. As it was, I’d had a cup of coffee and had a pint of water before the ride. Not really a substantial pre-race breakfast.
All that said, regardless of whether I’d eaten or not, I just did not feel strong on this ride. I knew I was in for a tough one as soon as we set off. Still pulling out of Watopia pier, I could feel my legs were like… nah. Not today.
I knew it would be tough at that point, with pretty much the full race left to go.
Being realistic, I knew I wouldn’t be finishing in the top third. Given that there were 200 riders, I was aiming to finish under position 200. Anything 180 or 190 would be a good result for me.
My plan was to ride conservatively, even up the climbs. Stick to ~200w for the entire ride, if at all possible.
Straight away, on the first climb, I got split from the pack. There were groups forming all over. The front riders had raced away, and I was looking at the map for any groups that might be around my fitness level.
By the top of the first time up the Zwift KOM, I was isolated, and aware that I’d be burning harder riding solo for the next 30km or so.
Looking at the riders around me, I could see a pack catching me. Easing off, my theory was to let them catch me up, and then hang on to them. I had it in my head that I was likely able to stick with these riders, if they were currently behind me, for most of the race.
That turned out to be a very optimistic assumption.
Once the small pack did catch me, I was able to hang on with them for the remainder of the first lap.
The pack seemed to take the rest of the first lap at 180w-200w on the run in to the start / finish line, and on lap 2 we hit the bottom of the KOM and I was expecting them to go a bit harder – having likely just had a touch of recovery.
As it was though, they went considerably harder than I could manage, and by the end of the climb I had been dropped like a stone.
That was pretty gutting honestly. Mentally it was hard to take. And looking around at the board, I could see another pack behind me that maybe I could repeat my process with. Take a bit of recovery, wait for them to catch me, hang on to them.
It took remainder of the second lap for the group behind me to catch up.
The problem was, when they caught me we were at the bottom of the KOM for the third time. And I just didn’t have the legs.
Almost immediately they zipped past me, and try as I might, I couldn’t keep on them. Disappointed with myself, I struggled onwards towards the top all the while feeling absolutely thrashed.
Before I’d even reached the top of the KOM for the third time, the leaders zipped past me at some ridiculous pace. I mean, fair play. I cannot even contemplate performance like that. I reckon I had about 10-15% left in the tank, if I’d absolutely caned myself.
And these guys went past me on their fourth / final lap stronger than I’d done on the first climb. Oh well.
I really struggled on the third lap. It was probably the hardest of the four, mentally.
Another massive pack passed me down by the sprint.
These big packs of riders lapping me made it really hard to figure out where the next comparable rider was behind me.
This was important to me, as I was trying my best not to lose any places.
As more and more riders went past me – and finished their race – it became easier to spot where I was in relation to other riders I was truly racing against.
The fourth and final time up the KOM was probably easier to push through the third. It was, I believe, my worst performance of the four attempts, but all that mattered was making it to the top and keeping a roughly similar gap between myself the person behind me.
I figured for every 10 seconds I was ahead or behind someone, that equated to about 100m of track.
There was a rider in front of me for the third and fourth laps who I tried to catch. Unfortunately I just didn’t have it in me. Every time I pushed, so did he, as best I could tell. Fair play.
The last half of the final lap was taken pretty much at a cruising pace. I was worn out, and really glad to be finishing. Truly, this was a knackering experience. Even coming off a rest day.
For finishing the race, I unlocked the SRAM kit. No idea what that looks like, because being honest, I completely forgot about it almost immediately.
I’ll have a proper look next time I’m on.
The winners / top 10, as usual, absolutely smashed it. Putting out 300w+ for 46 minutes… I mean, I’d be dead. I mean, actually, really, truly dead.
Look at rider #4 with a 103 average heart rate. That’s about my resting heart rate. It’s not fair.
Overall I finished 189th.
Not quite sure how that happened. I had expected to be in or around 195th.
I think, though am not 100% on this, that some riders dropped out on the final lap. I think they lost connectivity. Sucks if so.
Whilst I managed to break the top 200, the real win here was the workout. No way in hell I would have stuck out 4 laps of the Watopia Hilly Route under any other circumstances. Truly knackering.
I was pretty pleased to see a 755 calorie ride. If nothing else, it was a great workout.
Weighing myself, prior to the ride I was 11 stone 4.
After the ride, I was 11 stone 1.
How does this work?
I’ve seen this before. Losing 3 pounds in a ride seems really bizarre to me. And a few hours later, it’s usually back on. So what’s happening here? Any ideas or explanations appreciated.
The final performance looks a little stronger than I expected, honestly. It really didn’t feel like a strong one on this occasion.
All I did was turn up, and keep the pedals turning.
Not sure what to do tomorrow at this point. I might have a rest day honestly. Bit thrashed.
I wish I’d got to take part in a few more of these SRAM races. I do find racing on Zwift to be something I really enjoy. It’s different to anything else I do on Zwift, and uses everything else I have done.
If you haven’t raced before, I’d recommend it.
