2006-04-09

The first Merida 100 of 2006 was run on a completely different course to last year, probably to accomodate the new 25km 'mini-marathon' distance. The two other distances were 50km and 75km. These distances are nominal. I measured the 75km route by hand with a map measurer and came up with a value of 62km. It doesn't really matter, I never use a mileometer on an event because on an MTB on rough, mucky ground they are quite likely to stop working.

We arrived late Friday evening so I could spend all day on Saturday resting and preparing. It threw it down as we arrived, but it doesn't take long to set up a caravan, so we were soon inside with the heating on.

Saturday was a mixture of sunshine and showers. I prepared the bike and took it for a short spin. I rode the first 8km of the route (mostly road) and did some hard intervals to get my heart rate up to about 170 for short periods. The bike was almost perfect except for a slight creaking from the cranks. I tightened the bolts by about a quarter of a turn and that did the trick. The SRAM X.9 shifters were very smooth and there was no noise or rubbing throughout my normal gear range. All day I sipped water to keep fully hydrated. Evening meal was spaghetti bolognese. I made a conscious effort to keep off my feet and spend as much time as possible lying down. The caravan makes this very easy and I felt much more refreshed than last year.

That evening I measured the route and wrote down my pace notes. I picked out several well spaced, but easy to recognise landmarks and marked the times I expected to pass each one. I based my calculations on a start time of 10:30, and an elapsed time of five hours for the nominal sixty kilometre route. For example, I had to pass the 25km cut-off at at 11:10hrs, and reach feeding station two (FS2) at 14:00hrs. If I was ahead of these times I would get back in less than five hours, if I was over then I would take longer. My target time was 4 hours 15 minutes (finishing at 14:45hrs) which is an hour faster than last year and probably over ambitious.

My race strategy was to start as near to the front as possible, keep up with the pace for 10 minutes and then ease off to about 150bpm for the first hour. I usually suffer for an hour and then pick up, so I planned to do the next two hours at a fast pace and then just 'hang-on' for the last hour or so. It didn't quite work out like that, but that was my plan.

After a good night sleep (interrupted only briefly by the dogs fighting each other) I had a cup of tea and breakfast cereal in bed at 08:30. After a shower I sorted out my race clothing. The weather was bright, but there were a lot of clouds and the weather forecast was for showers later, possibly hail or even snow. I opted for a thin short sleeved top with arm and leg-warmers. The inital climb is long and steep and I knew it would warm me up.

Kit list:

• Short sleeved top
• Bib-shorts
• Arm warmers
• Leg warmers
• Shoes and socks
• Six-Six-One Raji gloves
• Cycling glasses
• Met helmet
• Handkerchief as sweatband
• HRM & watch
• Pace lightweight jacket (carried)
• Pump and spare tube (carried)
• Thickly cut and spread jam sandwich (carried)
• Can of 'Energy Drink' (carried)
• Two sandwich bags containing 80g of SIS PSP2 for refills (carried)
• Two drinks bottles with 80g SIS PSP2 (lemon flavour) in each (bike mounted)
• Toolkit (bike mounted)

Bike:

• On-One geared Inbred (fully rigid)
• Easton carbon bar
• BBB stem
• SRAM shifters
• Shimano front mech
• SRAM X.9 rear mech
• Shimano XT bottom bracket and chainset.
• On-One seat post
• Selle Italia 'Flite' saddle
• Front wheel Mavic 717 rim on Hope XC hub, Panaracer 2.25 Cinder at 40psi
• Rear wheel Mavic 717 rim on Hope XC hub, Schwalbe Racing Ralph at 40psi
• Hope Mono-Mini disc brakes

Between 09:00 and 10:00 I topped up with a jam sandwich and a cup of black coffee. I probably sipped an additional 1.5L of water before starting, as well as about three cups of tea.

At 10:00hrs I downed a can of energy drink, got on the bike and went to line up. I wore my jacket to keep warm (it was cold outside the caravan!) and took the rest of my jam sandwich to pass the time as I waited for the start at 10:30.

The start was on time, and I remembered to set the stop-watch on the HRM going. We were all 'moved-up' to an advance start line about two minutes before the off. This works well and I had a good start.

My plan was to stick with the pace for ten minutes and then ease off, but I realised I was going to lose too many places too quickly if I did that, so I basically just 'stayed with it'. Because I had recce'd the start the previous day I knew where the route would steepen. This really helped me pace myself and I actually made up quite a few places, staying in contact with the pace vehicle for longer than normal. On a couple of occasions my HR went up to 172, but it was only for short periods so I mentally told myself it was just like doing intervals and I would soon recover.

Approaching the 25km split on the first off-road section

The group was well spread out by the time we left the road and headed out across the moor so there was no bunching. The moor was wet and quite 'draggy'. This was going to be a feature of the day. I passed the 25km cut-off after thirty-nine minutes so I was one minute ahead of my 5hr time. Not really a very good start, but it had been mostly uphill so far.

The forestry section was exactly as I anticipated. A roughly cut twisty, narrow track full of roots, mud and various natural obstacles. It was slow and I didn't like it, but I knew I wasn't going to like it, and because I knew how long it lasted I didn't let it get to me and I even made up a couple more places.

After FS1 and the 50km cut-off there was a reasonable road section where I was hoping to make up time. Unfortunately there was a strong head wind. I joined up with a small group, hoping that we could work together, but every time someone got on the front they went too fast and instead of riding 'through and off' it was a matter of grimly hanging on until the leader blew-up and got dropped. Crazy, but that's MTB'ers for you!

The ground had noticeably improved after the 50km split and I felt that I was making better time. I was trying to eat and drink regularly but there were precious few smooth bits where I could get organised, so I tended to eat and drink in larger amounts than I would have preffered.

The road section leading in to FS2 felt longer and slower than I had anticipated. I was actually passed on the road so I thought I might be flagging and downed my energy drink for a quick fix. I probably had not had quite enough to eat at this stage. I reached FS2 at 13:40, twenty minutes ahead of the five hour time.

I had mentally divided the rest of the route into three sections. Two steep climbs (and descents) with a final 6km road section. I figured I could do the last road section in twenty minutes, so if I could do the two climbs in half an hour each I would finish at 15:00 for a total of four and a half hours. Not far down on my ambitious target time of four and a quarter hours.

The first climb was tough. Quite steep with varying gradient, but thankfully quite a reasonable surface. I still hadn't used the granny ring (all that single-speeding paying off!) and I just concentrated on pedalling (slow) circles. The descent was good and led on to more road. Unfortunately the climb had taken forty minutes so the pressure was on. To finish in five hours would be disapointing.

The second climb was mostly on road or tracks and although steeper in one section (granny-ring!) it was generally easier. I made up quite a few places as I passed people pushing. Only a few of them overtook me on the down-hill!

The last descent was fast and I got to the road at three o'clock. If I got back in fifteen minutes I would finish in 4:45, half an hour faster than last year!

I was all fired up and managed to find some extra strength from somewhere. I caught up with a chap called Martin Shaw who was one only five people to do all five 'maximum distance' Merida's last year. He didn't believe me that so few had done all events. Martin finished ahead of me on overall time last year, so it was a good omen that I had caught up with him today. There were a couple of steep sections on the last road stretch and I dropped the small group I had been riding with. Unfortunately the signing in towards the finish was not good (I should have recce'd the finish too!) and I got slightly off track and Martin caught up with me. In the last few hundred metres I caught up with one of the chaps I had got a tow from on the windy road section. It would have been rude to blast past with only seconds to go so I let Martin get away and followed the 'tower' in to the finsh.

Four hours and forty-five minutes. That's half an hour faster than last year on a harder course. It's a good start. I hope I can keep it up.

Pace Notes

Section		Terrain		Distance		Time		Notes
5.5		R		5.5				Uphill
2.5		M		8.0		11:10		Undulating, 25K split after 2.0
1.5		R		9.5
4.5		M		14.0
5.0		F		19.0				Undulating
1.5		FE		20.5
1.5		F		22.0		12:20		Wireless towers, FS1 & 50K split
1.0		FE		23.0
0.5		R		23.5
1.0		F		24.5
2.0		M		26.5		12:42		Road crossing after 0.5
4.0		R		30.5
5.5		M,FE		36.0
6.0		R		42.0		14:00		Minor,short main,minor FS2
1.0		R		43.0				Uphill
5.0		M		48.0				Big Hill
6.5		R,T,M		54.5		15:00		Big Hill with long zig-zag descent to r
3.0		R		57.5				2 short steep climbs at 2.0 and 3.0
3.0		R		60.5		15:30

Terrain:

• R Road
• T Track
• M Moor
• F Forestry
• FE Forestry Edge

Lessons Learned

I'm happy that my preparation and basic strategy are sound. However, you can always improve, so...

• Recce the finish as well as the start.
• Prep the bike a bit more on the previous day, i.e. fix race number.
• Eat and drink more earlier on in the race, i.e. in the first half. Don't wait until the mid-point before starting to eat.
• Stick with the pace at the begining. There is no need to go really slow. Don't go mad though!
• Be prepared to suffer in the first hour.
• Don't just 'follow wheels'. You've got to try and make progress all the time. Again, don't go mad. If someone is clearly a lot stronger you've got to let them go, but if you've followed someone for ten minutes you might as well be in front of them as behind.
• A lot of riders will go quite fast at the start of a climb and then suddenly tail off. Be aware of this so that you don't: * Go too fast at the start of the climb. * Go too slowly at the top of the climb. One of my strengths is long, steep climbs, so that is where I should be gaining and overtaking.

See Also

• Cycling Events 2006?