2015 Perry 101

2015 Perry 101

 

The Perry 101 is a 101 mile gravel road race containing a moderate amount of climbing and about one mile of “B” road.  There are a few age groups providing the opportunity to race against my peers.  There is very little hard surface and only two towns to replenish supplies.  New this year is the option to race 101 kilometers (63 miles).  Participants make the decision on the race distance at the 18 mile point.

My training leading up to the race involved a couple very hard one hour rides the week prior to the race.  The Perry 101 is not one of my “A” races, so my training schedule contained more duration and intensity in the week leading up to the race.  My goal was to break 7 hours since I had completed this race in 6:55 last year and had finished the Lutsen 99er just under 7 hours earlier this summer.  To meet this goal my average speed needed to be at least 14.4 mph.

I was waffling on which bike to ride.  My choices were either a heavy hardtail mountain bike or my lightweight full suspension cross country race mountain bike.  The hardtail bike has good tires and two water bottle cages.  The full suspension bike is much lighter but the B wheels have a tire with a bulge and only one bottle cage.  In the end, the night before the race, I decided to race the full suspension mountain bike.  The final decision was based on the weight of the bike, the heavier hardtail would have been a large disadvantage.

The racers from the Newton area included Jim, Shawna and Julie, all long time training partners.  They were planning to race the 101 K distance, I was committed to the 101 mile distance as the fifth 100 mile gravel ride in the Cup O Dirt Challenge.  I was planning to ride the initial section at a slightly slower pace because I tend to go out too hard in the first part of races.

The race day weather forecast was for the temp to be around 50 at the start and warm to the 70s by the middle of the afternoon.  The biggest factor regarding the weather was the wind.  It started out very mild out of the SW, but was predicted to become around 20 mph out of the SSW by mid-afternoon.  This is significant because the course travels mostly west for the first 35 miles, north for about 20 miles, east for about 35 miles and finishes with 10 miles to the south.  The various directions of travel are significant because of the wind direction.

The start was uneventful.  The first five miles were on fairly deep gravel.  I kept trying to find a well packed section of road, but there was none to be found.  The three Wrecked’em racers worked well together for the first 17 miles.  I noticed there was a group of five ahead of us, but we could not stay with them because their pace was just above ours.  I wanted to find a group to ride with to stay out of the wind, especially when riding into the headwind.

For the first hour I was averaging 16.34 mph which felt within my ability for 100 miles.  As we approached the 18 mile split I decided to try to hang on the back of the group of five containing Dee, the first place female finisher from last year.  Races are rarely won by holding back, so I decided I needed to push my pace for as long as I could to ride with this group.

In the second hour I could tell I was working harder and hoped my average speed had increased (it was actually 15.53 mph).  Again, it was slightly faster than I wanted to ride, but my legs were still feeling ok.  I justified the increased effort by telling myself I was not working as hard as I would have been if I was riding by myself and going 15 mph into the headwind (which was starting to pick up).  At about mile 35 the rest of the group stopped at a water stop at the entrance to the Whiterock Conservancy area.  I had not finished my first bottle of Perpetuem, so I pushed on knowing there was about 3 miles due south, a couple miles west followed by 5 miles north to Coon Rapids where I planned to stop.  I passed one lone rider who looked like he was in my Grand Master age group before Coon Rapids but was caught by the two strongest riders from the group of five.  I will call them black jersey and green jersey because I don’t know their names.

I pulled into a convenience store in Coon Rapids to purchase a piece of pizza and refilled my now empty bottle with water.  I really needed to use the restroom but there was someone taking their time in the Men’s.  Since they were one-holers I decided to use the women’s to take care of business before I wet my shorts.  The two faster riders departed before I made my pizza purchase.  The remaining three were ready to depart when I emerged from the c-store.  I knew it was important to eat some calories so I turned them loose so they could ride on.  Dee politely said something about me catching them soon.  I was thinking, how nice of her to say that, but no way.  I checked my numbers and noted I had ridden 45 miles in slightly over 3 hours at a 15.8 mph average.  This was above my goal pace, but I was feeling OK and looking forward to riding with a tail wind.

Within a few miles after leaving Coon Rapids there is approximately one mile of “B” road.  This road was muddy and forced us to walk last year which added quite a bit of time.  This year the “B” road was dry and very easily ridden.  I was able to average around 20 mph through this section because I was also going north with a significant tail wind.  Shortly after emerging from the “B” road I was able to spot a group about one mile ahead.  I assumed this was the three containing Dee.

Through the fourth hour I slowly closed the gap to the three ahead of me.  I was not sure if any of the racers were 50+ making them Grand Masters and racing in my age group.  I decided to maintain my pace when I overtook this group so I did not provide a draft to the finish for a competitor.  Riding a mountain bike put me at a disadvantage from weight and wind resistance standpoints, so it was not wise for me to pull other riders to the finish.

My strategy worked to perfection, a few minutes after I caught the Dee group I looked back and no one was willing to follow me off the front.  In roughly 5 miles I realized I was approaching the city of Jefferson.  As I was riding through town I saw a couple riders in front of me.  I wondered who it was; not dreaming it was green jersey and black jersey (fast guys).  Within a few miles after departing Jefferson I realized I was catching the two riders in front of me.  Much to my surprise it was in fact green jersey and black jersey.  I learned they were trying to rely on tattered cue cards and had been lost / taken wrong turns several times.  This explains why I was able to catch them.  I was their new best friend because I was able to navigate using the route on my bike computer (Joule GPS).  We rode together working to share the load.  I noticed green jersey was not as strong as black jersey at this point.

In hour 5 I decided to get to know my new friends.  I began to market and promote the Buffalo 105 (the gravel race I organize taking place on Oct. 24), thinking I had a captive audience.  I learned black jersey lived in St. Louis and had driven up for the race.  I needed to know if these guys were in my age group (Grand Master 50+).  I could not think of a tactful way of asking this, so I said something about agreeing to help if neither of them were Grand Masters.  It turned out black jersey was my exact same age (54) and a Grand Master.

We were riding along at a good pace and came to a blacktop road to cross.  As I was crossing the road one of my water bottles bounced out and fell onto the road.  I told black jersey to go on thinking I would not see him again.  Just as I was turning back to retrieve my bottle a semi came along.  I realized he was slowing and about to turn onto the gravel road.  This was fine except my bottle was in his direct path.  Being the nice person he was, he stopped on the blacktop and motioned for me to get my bottle.  There are very nice people in this world.  It turned out; black jersey did roll on, but was soft pedaling allowing me to catch back on.  I decided if he was nice enough to slow for me I should help him for as long as I could.

I was trying to play out the finish and every scenario I ran seemed to favor black jersey.  He was on a 17 lb. bike with racing handlebars (making his position more aero.).  I remembered the finish involved several miles into the headwind.  I was just not sure how many miles we would struggle into the now strong headwind.  I was glad I had made a couple friends so we could share the work.

We came to the now unmanned second air station.  For some reason I filled only one bottle, moving the half full bottle of water to the holder behind my seat.  I ate only one small Clif Mojo bar.  Not long after leaving the aid station we made the dreaded turn into the south wind.  We all put our heads down and started working into the wind taking equal turns on the front.  I realized we had about 10 miles to get to the finish.  Within a few miles I realized I was fading and having a hard time holding onto the group.  I had also nearly finished the bottle I filled at the aid station.  I redoubled my efforts and was able to hold onto the wheel in front of me.

With about 5 miles to go, I could no longer hold onto the wheel in front of me.  I mentally said goodbye to my new friends.  I also now had a good picture of how the finish would play out with black jersey.  I was starting to bonk and wondered how bad it would be.  I started eating the last half of the second Clif bar I had brought.  I finished the bottle I filled at the aid station and began rationing my way through the half bottle of water.  As I was taking stock of myself I realized I was quite thirsty and somewhat hungry.  I think my largest issue was dehydration (I should have filled both bottles for the last 10 miles of the race).  I started watching for riders behind me like a nervous crack head.

The finish was much like stepping on a grape, not much of an event.  There was no one in front of me I could catch, and no one I could see behind me.  I rolled across the finish line in 6:48:17.  My mouth was so dry I could hardly speak.  Within a few minutes the Dee group of three finished.  It turned out, there was a Grand Master riding with Dee to the finish.  My moving average speed was 15.3 mph and overall average 14.8 mph, just slightly above my goal.

I was happy to learn Jim and Shawna had good races as well.  Jim was first place overall in the 101 K distance and Shawna was first female and fourth overall.  They represented the Wrecked’ems well!

Looking back I consumed two bottles of Perpetuem (135 calories each) and two full Clif bars (250 calories each), a piece of pizza (~300 calories) and one Clif Mojo bar (90 Calories).  This is a total of 1160 calories which is really close to my goal of 175 calories per hour (1225 total calories).  I also consumed only four large bottles of liquid which is a little over ½ bottle per hour.  This was likely my largest issue on the day.  As the temperature rose through the day and the dry fall wind increased I was caught off guard by not increasing my consumption of liquids.

The items in the preceding paragraph are why I keep racing.  I want to right the items which limit my ability to push my legs to be their best.  This is such an interesting paradox, my poor choices (mental) were causing limiters for my muscles (physical).  The seemingly easiest item turns out to be the hardest part while in the heat of the battle of a race.

Please learn from my mistakes and make good decisions while riding, and throughout life, my friends.

Wrecked'ems riding together last year (photo credit to Dave Mable).

My 2nd place trophy.