Oleta 60 Mile Challenge Race
This past weekend I broke a promise of never doing a solo endurance race at Oleta. I made this promise racing the 12 Hour solo race a couple of years ago. But hey i'm moving out of Florida at the end of the month and I said what better way to say good bye to this park than to compete for 60 miles. For sure If I did this race I thought i wouldn't miss riding in the park afterwards. I was wrong. I had a blast and if given the opportunity I would do it again except I won't try to get very aerodynamic in the fire road(i'll explain later).
The race strategy was simple, don't blow up in the first lap. Down 2 Earth races have a different format, which I love. We started following Marlon's Humvee to the entrance of Gilligan and then it was Robinson's ridge, Twin peaks backwards to fire road and finish the trails the regular way. I talked to Bob McCarty from McCartytraining.com about the start. I was kind of worried that trying to place in front group was going to put me over my limit. So, Bob told me to follow Almo Cattani. In his words, "Follow Almo's wheel, he is a monster."
I was expecting Almo to simply just lead and for Knowing that there's always that goes crazy and pulls the whole group so I was going to drop back. As we started rolling, my friend Sebastian Caicedo had made other plans. He was racing team and I think he put a little motor on his bike because he absolutely started gunning it from the get go. All the while I was left scrambling looking for Almo. I saw Bryan Coiffman and Roberto Fong both people i knew and for a second I though I had done a mistake. Right as I was going to push again Almo passed by me as if i was not moving. I decided not to work to get in his draft instead i settled for staying behind and waiting till we turn into the trail entrance. This was a good move as everyone died down right before the entrace and I passed a couple of people in the last stretch. I got in the trails in a pretty decent spot.
The first lap was actually very nice. I saw a couple of sports riders passing me and asked whether they were team or solo. One, Tomas Delgado, told me he was running solo but i thought it was impossible to maintain that pace. I simply had to let him go. About 10 minutes after that i caught up to him.
The race strategy was simple, don't blow up in the first lap. Down 2 Earth races have a different format, which I love. We started following Marlon's Humvee to the entrance of Gilligan and then it was Robinson's ridge, Twin peaks backwards to fire road and finish the trails the regular way. I talked to Bob McCarty from McCartytraining.com about the start. I was kind of worried that trying to place in front group was going to put me over my limit. So, Bob told me to follow Almo Cattani. In his words, "Follow Almo's wheel, he is a monster."
I was expecting Almo to simply just lead and for Knowing that there's always that goes crazy and pulls the whole group so I was going to drop back. As we started rolling, my friend Sebastian Caicedo had made other plans. He was racing team and I think he put a little motor on his bike because he absolutely started gunning it from the get go. All the while I was left scrambling looking for Almo. I saw Bryan Coiffman and Roberto Fong both people i knew and for a second I though I had done a mistake. Right as I was going to push again Almo passed by me as if i was not moving. I decided not to work to get in his draft instead i settled for staying behind and waiting till we turn into the trail entrance. This was a good move as everyone died down right before the entrace and I passed a couple of people in the last stretch. I got in the trails in a pretty decent spot.
The first lap was actually very nice. I saw a couple of sports riders passing me and asked whether they were team or solo. One, Tomas Delgado, told me he was running solo but i thought it was impossible to maintain that pace. I simply had to let him go. About 10 minutes after that i caught up to him.
What not do do during a race
Never try anything new. No matter how many races I do that's the lesson I get. During the race I made the mistake of riding with my elbows on the handlebar, I wanted to get aero for the fireroad. I usually do this on the road when i'm less tired and don't sweat so much. I paid dearly for doing this. I was doing about 18 mph when I found myself sliding on the floor. My elbow had slipped and I went shoulder down first. It was painful and this was at the end of the first lap. Just after one hour of racing. The mere thought of continuing in those conditions was annoying but i brushed off. Came to the transition and grabbed a pack of ice and put it on my hip and another on the back of my head.
I managed to change my shorts, pump air into my tires, bonk on the 5th lap and still get 2nd place overall. All the people that were ahead of me quit. However, some people were saying they didn't quit, they had just planned to complete only 5 laps. I feel bad for them because I was in the same spot and that 6th lap wasn't a big deal at all. The 5th lap was one of the worst. I'm glad I stayed.
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