What kind of mean spirited, festivity spoiling, hard work expecting race organiser would do such a thing to us?
December’s Race Like A Pro series hasn’t been that hard. There have been climbs in every race, but today’s felt extra hard considering it was to be completed in that lull between Christmas Day and New Years Day. I mean, technically the series finishes on January 2nd, but without checking I suspect the last GMT times are pretty much going to be the day before. They usually are.
Anyway, this one was intentionally a step up – I knew that going in – and would see the racers move over to Watopia tackling the Three Little Sisters route.
The way I thought this through we had three climbs:
- Short: Hilly KOM
- Medium: Titans Grove KOM
- Long: Volcano KOM
I know Volcano KOM isn’t long when compared to some of the other monster climbs in Zwift, but after two prior efforts I was expecting it would feel long.
Right out of the gate today there was no slow down due to over indulgences. Maybe if I’d tackled this ride earlier in the week that might have been the case, but I’ve been on a prolonged break due to thrashing myself for 26 consecutive days, then going all in on the food for four days.
Oh, and the beer.
Whoops.
Well, I paid the price today.
I put this ride off yesterday. In fact I put off any riding whatsoever. Laziness. It’s an easy habit to fall in too.
And then today I figured ahh, I’ll do a 60 minute Zone 2 FTP Builder ride, just to get me back on the bike. Something easy.
Well, once on and with Zwift loaded, I saw that Stage 4 was due to start in ~20 minutes.
What the heck, let’s get it over with. Right?
Right.
Except one thing:
I had not eaten. Well, I had a 50g bowl of granola at 9.30, but nothing after except a cup of coffee, tea, and just as I was getting on my wife brought me in a cup of decaf coffee.
Not exactly the way the pros prepare. And allegedly I was trying to race like one.
From the line I knew I was going to suffer. Mentally I wasn’t where I needed to be, nutritionally I certainly wasn’t, but I figured I’d race my own race, do my best and I’d find a group somehow or other.
Up the Hilly KOM things went OK-ish. I was dropped from the front group but came out with a decent size pack and was, I later found out, in the second group. 15 seconds behind, but in touch.
That was about as good as it got really.
Even trying to keep up with the second group I was at threshold on the flats, and I was starting to crack. Two climbs ahead, I knew I’d get spat out as soon as we hit Titan’s Grove.
But it happened even earlier than that. Partly that was because I misjudged the entrance to the Titan’s Grove. I figured I’d hold the pack till then and see if I could get through it.
Alas, no. I dropped prior to reaching the turn in to Titan’s and things went down hill from there.
Alone for all the climb, I was really, really struggling.
My heart rate was sky high, my output very low.
Watching the boards I could see a group over 45 seconds behind slowly but surely catch me just as I was heading to the KOM banner.
Interestingly once over the lip I got an Anvil power up – a new one on me. What this does is it makes you heavier for 30 seconds.
And it really is noticeable. I came over behind the pack, but once I dropped the anvil I put over 2 seconds into the group I was with on a -5 degree gradient. It was nuts.
Sadly once the power up wore off they promptly devoured me and left me in their dust. See above.
So that was that really, I kinda just fell flat after this.
Poor ride management for sure, but equally I felt like I was hitting the wall.
Very fortunately my wife was around to bring me a glass of fresh orange juice and a snickers (or the Tesco fun size equivalent).
After dropping my output even further, I struggled to get the food and drink I so desperately needed into my body. I couldn’t manage the full bar, and then I got a horrible stitch.
During that time yet another group caught me just as I hit the line in Downtown Watopia.
Well, they too nearly dropped me. But I figured … no.
With some food in me, I was sure I could see out the final 10km one way or another. Because believe me, I had been very much contemplating jacking this one in after Titans.
The small group that passed me took a bit of effort to catch back up, but I managed to hang with them till the Volcano… and again I was dropped. Ouch.
The first 2 minutes of the third climb seemed to go fast. The final 8 minutes lasted a life time.
Man, that was really, really hard.
Never race on an empty stomach.
Another lesson learned.
Today’s results and stats were not good.
But hey, I got on the bike and I saw out the series.
I was never destined to do well on this one.
My only thoughts were whether I might fare better doing this one on zero or, at most, 50% trainer realism. The rollers on Titan’s Grove kill me. I wonder if I took that down if I might be more competitive.
Anyway, January is looking packed.
There’s the new race series – Flat is Fast or something, which sounds suitably lacking in hills – and there’s also the Tour de Zwift (I think it is) that seems to include some ridiculous routes (Alpe and Ventoux)… so yeah. More climbing.
Dead though. Absolutely dead. What a way to end the series.
