Seventy-Four

More RAO Recap

I was pushing about 74 gear inches (42x15), which is a pretty big gear for me over this course. But if I recall correctly that's the same as two of the three guys who did Furnace Creek fixed last year. For most of my training rides I used either 38x15 on a 30-35 lb bike or 40x15 on my race bike. I choose the bigger gear so I could either give my legs a break on the descents or take them a little faster than I could with a smaller gear. For the most part, that strategy worked. I might feel differently, though, if I had actually tried to make it up Timberline to the finish. I did that climb once on a training ride, so I know how tough it is. There were a few climbs were I felt like I was barely moving. Two that really stick out in my mind are the summit just before the descent into Fossil and Ochocho pass. At other times, I really climbed well, like when I was chasing Dick Webber in Warm Springs and again from Pine Grove to 26.

The descents weren't too bad with such a large gear. I rarely had to brake to keep my cadence under control. Towards the end of the race, your legs start to feel like spaghetti, which make those high rpms even easier. Or maybe your body just becomes numb and you don't notice the pain so much. I know that's what happened with the way I sat on the saddle. At first, I'd move around often so no one area was absorbing all the pressure or suffering all the chaffing. But late in the race my mind was in some other place and I just didn't care about that anymore. After the race, my left achilles tendon was very sore and inflamed, my right knee hurt a little, and I had some numbness in my right hand and my left foot.

Before RAO, my longest ride ever was 400K. Also, everyone on my crew was a rookie. None of us really knew what to expect. Before the race, I talked with several people about sleep deprivation and whether I would need to sleep or not. Going into the race I wanted to keep my time off the bike to a minimum, but I was willing to let myself rest for a while if I felt I really needed to. Looking back at my log book, I might have spent too much time off the bike - over 2 hours! I stopped several times for about five minutes at a time to let my legs rest, usually just before a big climb. My one big break came at Long Creek from 2:25 - 3:35 AM. I hadn't planned to actually sleep that soon in the race, but it was just so hard for me to stay awake. Also, that's about when the rain hit and it seemed like a good idea to take shelter in the Long Creek Lodge for a while. My parents were staying there for the night, but I wasn't sure which room they were in. When no one showed up at the front desk, I just laid down in the lobby and fell asleep. I think I said I wanted to sleep for 30 minutes, but there was some debate among my crew about how long they should let me sleep. In the end, a compromise was reached, but the ones who wanted to let me sleep longer where made aware that it would be on them if I missed the cut-off time by a few minutes.

Besides trying to stop a little less often, the main thing I would do differently next time is to simply train harder before the race. When I decided to RAO solo - on a fixed gear no less - I didn't have much time to prepare. It was only last August that I decided to do Furnance Creek on a fixed gear, and RAO just kind of snuck in there at some point. Also, 2-3 o'clock in the morning is not a good time of the day for me. After riding so hard from Prineville to TS5, I had everything working against me to get to the top of Timberline. I was fatigued, I was sleepy, and I didn't have much time left before the cut-off. And I had such a crazy gear to be pushing up that climb. I think the key to finishing RAO on a fixed gear is to be at the bottom of Timberline relatively well rested, alert, and with enough time to walk your bike to the top if you have to. But next time, if I am losing my mind and can't seem to stay on the bike, I hope someone will have the sense to slap me hard across the face. Seriously.