In all great quest novels the hero goes through a series of trials and tribulations before the quest is successfully completed. There can be weather, trolls, evil opponents, imposing ominous mountains, and other sundry meanies and annoyances that make the completion of the journey seem doubtful or even hopeless. There are always setbacks, side stories and helpers when the hero least expects it. The hero may even consider abandoning the quest. Such is the life of a person on a quest.
The Horribly Hilly Hundred was the past weekend. There are 2 courses a 100 and 200 kilometer course over some of the hilliest terrain in central Wisconsin. I chose the 200K course and made the 3 hour drive up to Mt Horeb the day before the ride to make sure I got a good nights sleep and an early start. The weather the previous days had been stormy and rainy making the event look somewhat doubtful; I will ride in rain but not in thunder storms. (Lighting likes bikes as much as anything else.) However the weatherman was promising a beautiful day for the ride so my hopes were up for a fun instructive experience.
Saturday arrived and there was not a cloud in the sky. I ate breakfast loaded-up the car and went to the finish line at Blue Mounds State Park the highest point in Wisconsin, at 1700 feet, a climb I would have to make at the end of the ride. The start line was in the town of Blue Mounds a sleepy village in central WI. The ride started at 7am and we coasted down to the start, got into groups and began the ride. I expected to take 9 hours to finish the 200K which is an average speed of about 18mph. I expected to climb the steep hills at 6mph but I was going to descend like a stone averaging my speed to about the 16-18mph range.
The temperature at start time was a humid and balmy 80 and the day promised to be a hot one. The first part of the ride was once around the perimeter of the park which made all the riders do a steep climb, 600' at 6-9% grade, twice before we went riding around central Wisconsin. The climb was hard but doable. Many riders had to walk up the hills because they red-zoned, their heart rates were too high and they could not recover enough before they could remount their bikes and continue the ride. There were rest stops every 20 miles or so and my goal was to refuel at every stop.
I had my hydration and nutrition plan, I had my mantra, what I had not figured on was the heat. My plan was to drink 1 bottle of water every hour. The water contained my nutrition and electrolytes. However, because of the heat what I ended up doing was drinking 1 bottle every half hour, meaning I was getting twice the calories. The problem with too many calories is that the body can not process them and you get nauseous. At the 3 hour point I was hot nauseous and had a killer headache. I thought I was dehydrated so I began to drink more which meant that I consumed more calories. I also loaded up on peanut-butter sandwiches at the sag stops. At the 4.5 hour mark I had begun to loose power on the climbs and I could not keep up with my group. I started asking myself why am I fading and then it hit me, I was consuming too many calories and not enough water.
I decided to ride the next half- hour with water and electrolytes only, however the damage had been done. I was unable to maintain my power up the hills. Instead of climbing at 6-8mph I was climbing at 4-5mph. It took all my inner strength to not get off the bike and walk. I promised myself that I was going to ride the entire ride so I rested at a water stop and began to chat with other riders. It turns out that many people underestimated the weather factor, several had gone out too fast and had bonked so we started our own groupetto and limped to the finish line. The final climb was a brutal 2K climb on a 10-13% grade. I made it by shear guts and determination. Here are the numbers:
Total miles ridden 86; Total time 6 hours; calories burned 2700; ave watts 127; normative watts 148; TSS 323. However these numbers deceivingly hide the reason for my big bonk.
Totals for the 1st 4 hours: Normative power 163, this is power smoothed out so it gives a better indication of how hard a rider has ridden, 163 is in my Zone 3 which is tempo riding and burns a huge amount of calories because it is a huge effort; TSS, a score that measures how hard you work, 50 an hour is average I did 70 an hour for a score of 280.
All these numbers add up to the Big Bonk. This is what I learned: I need to train in the heat and I need longer training rides. I also have to watch what I am eating and make sure I am hydrating and finally I need to make sure I do not ride the first section too aggressively.
The HHH was a great training ground. I made a ton or mistakes, and now I am set to continue my quest, so if you see me on the road lend a hand I can truly use the help.
