Started the day with the amazing Vadim Shteynberg picking me up at my house at 4:45 a.m. to drive to the City and look for parking under the George Washington Bridge (as I lucked out last year). We discussed going to a parking lot but opted to cross the bridge and park in Fort Lee, NJ -which was great, so we would’t have to ride back to the NY side at the end of this 100-mile bike race.
Last year, training for the Ironman, this was more a training ride than a race, focusing on riding the whole thing in heart rate Zone 1, so this year I hoped to shave off as much as 30 minutes and break 6 hours. But this year my longest rides had been only 40 miles…
Vadim and I rode across the upper level of the GWB and stopped to enjoy the sunrise.
We rode around and down and joined the entrance ramp packed with cyclists walking slowly up the long, “clover leaf” approach to the lower level of the bridge. We were so late (that Fort Lee thing) that we were going to be in the last corral – but that was where I was assigned anyway, because I had only imagined I had registered for this last year; in fact, I hadn’t registered (!) so was delighted to be able to sign up on Friday, two days before the race (Oy, paying retail!), and was assigned bib number 5,011. So, yes, there were more than 5,000 riders today from 93 countries. When we finally passed the bag drop off area and could clip in, it was so slow and crowded that I actually fell off my bike – an embarrassing start. (Vadim: “was that YOU?” Me: “Yeah…”).
But even with that crowd, waiting waiting waiting, I found myself right next to Michael Fuller, another riding friend from Hastings!
The race begins en masse and we roll off the bridge, and down to the narrow and broken up River Road, and man it is tough, technical riding, trying to make it through the commuter-style riders and passing as far on the left as I dared and when the impatient racer types said “on your left!” to ME, I couldn’t yield — all right, I admit it, I wouldn’t yield – for fear of hitting those to my right (and because I was stoned on adrenaline) so I just sped up and stayed on the wheel of the next rider. And it is FUN until the ascent but I’m ignoring the heart rate monitor (which is easy, because it conks out early in the race) and going fast and the racers may be way ahead but not a lot of guys passing me. (that last corral, right?)
I skip the first rest stop. It’s around mile 15.
I’m going strong on the approach to Bear Mountain, staying up with some good riders but still riding my racer (“too fast for me, bye, bye!”). Not going nuts on the ascent, but not worrying about my heart rate – I must be in zone 2 or 3 for those first 30 miles, it feels great, but am I flirting with trouble? (Coach Debi would say so…)
I am fueling with new nutrition. To some extent, the EAA’s (capsules of Essential Amino Acids, which I fish out of my bento box and CHEW – man, this is true grit) aren’t enough because I didn’t do the math — 5 capsules every 45 minutes for 6 hours = 40 capsules, not 20. Which I didn’t realize until I had ridden for over 2 Hours. So I would have to ration them starting at 3 hours, and I start eating sweet potato strips (which I cooked up the night before). I was REALLY fast on the first half to the top of Bear Mt… damn, I’m there in 2:42:45, and I mistakenly think I’m halfway done and well under a 6-hour finish time, but later learn it’s only 41 miles to the mountain top.
I skip the rest stop.
I was feeling fine; I had enough water; I wanted to hold off on peeing. And I was leapfrogging with another triathlete, a Japanese New Yorker named Gan Watanabe who’s going to Kona… (Gan: “oh, you riding tri bike too!” Me: “Let me teach you some Yiddish: you’re my Landesman!”) And the descent down Bear Mountain is glorious, not too crowded so I am scarcely on the brakes, I won’t report my maximum speed for fear that my wife or parents might read this…
But then I had to start pedaling, and after all that aero tucking, my legs had stiffened up. And the second “half” I remember is harder than the climb up Bear — lots of steep, short hills. The funny thing is, as the bonking began I felt kind of fine, except appalled that I was being passed by dozens of people. I’m sure if I had my power meter hub, it would show a huge drop off. And I started eating the dates (OMG, they were yummy), but one indicator of how hard I was bonking was that the almonds at the bottom of the Bento box seemed too far away, too much trouble to get to. the marvelous Marc Weidner gives me a shove on my back as he roars off (finishing in 5:51!)
Where is the next rest stop?
So around mile 65, I stopped among the McMansions and pee on the side of the road, and at Mile 70 stopped at a rest stop and ATE: two halves of raisin bagel with PB&J. Two banana halves. Took clif bars but didn’t eat them. and after that food, I was killing it again. (Oddly enough, my heart rate monitor starts working after I eat!). I even lead a peloton for a while (which I didn’t know until the guy behind me passed me — briefly — and told me so). It starts to drizzle, which feels hail on the bike, and it’s cool but I don’t mind as long as I’m moving.
Tooling along, loving that the whole course is mostly closed off to traffic (“thank you, Officer!”), there’s Michael Fuller again (passing me, dammit! I leapfrog him but somehow he beats me by 18 seconds!), and remembering that we’ll be going down and then up, up, up River Road to the finish line (total stranger: “Hey, you’re doing pretty well on that TT bike!”) and I’m pushing but not going to make 6 hours but there are those inflatable arches! And I cross in 6:18:24 — 9 minutes faster than last year, and my third race in three weeks.
So, it was fun, even when I was bonking. Lesson learned: my metabolism – which so far seems to keep me pretty slim – also seems to demand carbs. EAAs alone are not going to do it, and Coach Debi and I need to work out a differnet combination of nutrition for long races. Debi also says that doing the first half in zone 2 isn’t sustainable, even if it’s not followed by a running race, but I haven’t quite accepted the concept of “moderation”…