Leadville Nutrition plan

In the pockets:

Gu Chomps were an easy pick for the gummy food. My only initial beef was that the packaging was a pain in the butt relative to the shot blocks wrapping, but I've actually done a 180* and decided I like it, better even. Easy to tear half way open with your mouth, squeeze those little chomps out, and fold up what's left for later cravings. Blueberry Pomegranite is the flavor of choice for me.

Shot blocks have been eliminated - 30 calories a piece but I think I expend that much energy to chew one up, making it a net neutral. Even harder if I'm breathing slightly heavier than normal. I like the consistency of the Gu Chomps better.

First Endurance Liquid Shots - beats gels by a bigger gap than the chomps beat the blocks. 400 calories per flask - these will probably be my primary source of calorie intake for the day, with the other stuff there for variety/back up in case I get sick of them.

At the aid stations:

Chocolate Milks/Costco's weight loss shakes/Ensures - Will throw some of each in my bag at each station and grab whatever sounds best at the time. Picked up on the Ensure's from the triathlon crowd - hard to beat for nutrient/calorie density, will serve as race day breakfast food as well. Few kinds to choose from, EB likes the extra protein kind, I'll have the regular kind with me, just because that's what I've got in the pantry.

Sliced turkey - I like Dug's wisdom shared at RAWROD, which was essentially rebelling against the popular practice of having to put the sandwhich meat on a sandwhich. Not necessary says Dug - just pack the meat, it goes down easier without the bread when your mouth is dry from breathing hard all day. I'll put some turkey packed in tinfoil in at each stop that I can slide in a pocket and eat on the road.

Included the Nature Valley nut and dark chocolate bar as a thank you for their sponsoring the commercial free segments of the TDF. Unlikely I'll eat much solid stuff other than the turkey and gummy stuff.

Bottles:

Hodgepodge of whatever is in the pantry - currently Carborocket and EFS, along with water.

Sign we're all scared of Leadville and that it's close - Rick pulls out a bag of Snickers at church on Sunday and everyone declines. Passing on food at church NEVER happens.

SWAG from the OR show

It falls short of Christmas in July, but it does rank right up there with the experience of going to Toys R' Us when your a tike. I'm pretty happy about a few of these things, the 2XU recovery socks and the Merino wool shirt in particular. The tent lantern, regular socks, Tifosi shades, sandals, etc... are all useful stuff in the Whitehouse. Lot's of cool new stuff, lot's of new stuff that doesn't stand a chance, and an assortment of freebies that are certainly superior to the banking conference circuit where the stress/squish balls are somehow still thought to be a good use of swag funds. They are not, regardless of shape, size, or color - seriously. On the topic of overplayed swag, on the race scene, let's find something to replace t-shirts and water bottles - seriously.

Capitol Reef Classic 09' race report

Time Trial - Sam and I rode to the start from where we were camping, which gave us a look at the entire TT course in reverse and a good 8+ mile warm up. It also gave me the opportunity to mislead Sam in regards to where the finish line would be. Race officials had changed the course contrary to what they'd published in the race bible, and the spot I'd suggested would be a good place to floor the gas ended up being the finish line, they'd cut the course about a half mile short. Sorry Sam... The ride over also provided time to test and fine tune the set up with any necessary adjustments. I'm yet to get out on course and not notice some tweaks I want to make to the bars or seat set-up. It's a process getting it dialed in.

My tendancy on the time trial is to go out a little hot to the point where I have to spend a little time recovering before settling into top end pace. In my case, it's better to start out less hot and ride up into the right workload - but I'm a slow learner and apparently still need a few more of these to learn how to start correctly/efficiently. I told Sam on the way over that I thought maybe 27-28 mph may be the desirable/necessary pace on the course. Once out and settled in, I pushed it up to 30 mph to see how I felt there, and it was too much. Backed it right back down and after the finishing hills ended up averaging a little over 24 MPH. It was a good ride for me, average HR was right at my 175 threshold - but need to develop the fitness that will allow me to go faster at that number - 27-28 MPH would have been about right. Watched Steve, Mark, and their dad Dave come in, and then rode back to camp to find some shade to hide in until the afternoon circuit race stage.

Circuit race - Brutal hot. First half was real mellow, got a chance to meet most of the guys in our group, then, just past mile 8, the speed kicked up and the selection was made. There were a few short, but stiff climbs here that split the group, 11 of us in front, 7 off the back. We had just finished the last hard climb, and descened down the last big hill before a relatively flat last few miles, when I felt a slight slip of the seatpost, then a large one as it fell all the way down. I wasn't carrying any tool, so pulling over to fix it wasn't an option. Needless to say, in my new position that facilitated some nice, skiwampas pedal strokes with limited power, I fell off the back. It was now a game of trying to limit the damage. Staying in the saddle to pedal was a pretty bad option, so I got into a little bigger gear, and went into a stand and pedal hard, sit and coast til momentum dropped, stand and pedal hard sequence the rest of the way in. I was the wrench in this case so nothing to blame but myself. Deduced that I didn't get the bolt tight enough when switching out the aero seatpost for the road set up (or, maybe the small amount of grease, which bodes the question, do you put a light amount of grease on the seatpost?) - was pretty fortunate it happened as late in the race as it did, as I was able to stay ahead of the back group, and limit damage from the front to about two minutes - it could have been much worse.

I did witness, shortly after begining my limp home from my position off the back, a pretty impressive breakaway up ahead. I couldn't tell who it was at the time, but thought it must have been a heck of an effort to create the gap off the front of the group. Found out at the finish line it was Sam, and he'd held it all the way home for the win - awesome.

Road Race - Again, fairly mellow for 85-90% of the miles. Typical Cat 5 with some foolish attempts to get away, some sketchy riders in the group that you had to watch closely or ride in front of to stay safe, and some good time to visit. There were a few spots where either a hill or short lived acceleration would stretch the group out a bit, but it always came back together. There was a final climb within the last 5k that we knew would be the spot where the race would blow up. In my rookie mind I began to formulate a plan that could have two potential good outcomes, one neutral outcome, and one poor outcome. The plan was to attack a few miles ahead of the big hill, hoping to instigate the following in order of importance/desired outcome:

1 - Get the Evo guys to chase and work a little prior to the hill, expending some energy that Sam could then hopefully capitalize on and gain some time on the leaders on that last climb.

2 - If not chased by the Evo guys, try to stay away on a breakaway, not an overly difficult idea given the pace we'd been riding.

3 - If the breakaway prospect didn't look good, sit up and rejoin the group.

4 - Underestimate the impact the attack would have on me, not recover quickly enough, and have to work hard to stay with the group to the hill.

I got up front and took a long pull to test if outcome #2 was a legit possibility at the groups pace (needed two positive potential's to justify the effort), it was, so I went. I got a mix between 3 and 4. I got the gap I wanted, but no chase and hit a stiff headwind that I wasn't about to take on solo, so sat up to wait for the group. But, I had a hell of a time getting back on with the group when it came by and then had to work hard to stay there. I managed to do it, but was a little gassed at a time when I needed to be preparing for the last climb. Needless to say, for the first time during the weekend, I wasn't able to match the acceleration when the hill hit and the group shattered, and dropped another couple of minutes in the last 3 miles.

Good race for me, made some silly errors that I'll learn from, and gained some confidence that will help going forward, so all in all, pretty satisfied with the weekend. Congrats to the Evo guys who rode a good team race all weekend, and congrats to Sam for posting the win on the Circuit race, which I thought was the hardest stage of the weekend.

Overall and stage results are here: http://www.capitolreefclassic.com/2009_race_results.htm

Spirit of competition

I'm fairly certain that it's a 100% consensus that Versus coverage of the TDF is dramatically oversaturated with commercials. Swindlehurst tweeted it best - "I'm gonna eat the hell out of some Nature Valley Granola today, thanks for the commercial free half hour" - makes them the best sponsor of the coverage by a landslide. I hate commercials, but, there is one exception. Versus has some pretty cool spots on the nature and spirit of competition, here's the latest and one of the best yet - think it connects pretty well with most of us, even if the only racing you do is against yourself trying to get better and faster than yesterday.

How to install a tubular tire

Tools of the trade: Two glue options in this photo:
1 - Can of Conti glue on the left, with disposable acid brushes for application. This is what I've used for the last few installs due to hearing stories about the Tufo tape on Conti Tires mentioned below.
2 - Tufo glue tape in the orange box on the other left. Used this the first time I put tubies on, and it's dramatically easier, faster, and cleaner - and worked just fine during the rides/races I did on it. But, had a few guys tell me that the Tufo glue compound eventually eats at the Conti tires, could very likely just be a rumor Conti put out there to up sales on cans of glue. But, being a newbie to the tubie (forgive me, feeling a little inspired from Dug's poem today) this year, I still have images of rolling a tire and am playing it safe by following Conti's recommend install instructions. Not unlikely I'll revert back to the Tufo tape at some point though, it really is much simpler and you can ride on it an hour later vs. 12-24 hours.
3 - Yellow box is Tufo's sealant - same function as Stans, meant to plug up the small punctures on the fly. The TT puncture that brought on this install was a small one and the stuff didn't seal before I was flat. Reinflated the tire later that morning and it held until half way through the afternoon race, then lost half my pressure before it sealed back up. Verdict still out, put a little more in on this install, if it fails on this one I'll look for alternatives.

Here's the wheel after removing the old tire. Pulling off the old tire is no more fun than installing the new one, should have taken a photo of raw thumbs as the visual for that process. I left the glue that remained on the wheel there, counting it as layer one of anywhere from 2-4 layers that I've read of being the recommended dose. I put a fresh layer on top of this one, then let it dry for 16-24 hours.

Cool action shot of the glue drying... Major, major key in this photo - While the glue is drying on the tubular wheel, it's a good, check that, really good idea to inflate the new tire on a rim to stretch it. The ensuing wrestling match, the crux move of the whole process, will go much better if you don't skip this step. I put it on a normal clincher rim, just because I don't have spare tubular wheels lying around, and inflate it to 100+ psi and give it a full day ticket to watch the glue dry.

One photo of glue drying is one to many already, so no photo of putting a layer of glue on the tire and letting that dry for another 12-24 hours, but you need to put a layer of glue on the tire and let it dry for 12-24 hours before the next step.
After the glue on the wheel and tire have dried, it's time for one more fresh layer of glue on the wheel. Immediately after gluing up, you start the wrestling match. The 6 year old has seen this drill before, and is already laughing in anticipation, well ahead of any grunting, panting, or thrown wheels. I use the one foot brace to get it started...

Starting to strain just a little, grimaced lip and a little moisture/glare action going on with the forehead.... getting everything into position....
Then the full court press... move to the two foot brace, put the back into it, and pull and hope like hell you can get it on before having to stop and unglue fingers and/or clothing from an unseated tire.

Once on, get some air in it, make sure it's centered by giving the wheel a spin and making any adjustments to get it aligned, and then I like to put some weight on it and roll it around on the floor a few times to make sure it gets compressed well all the way around. Am sure the air pressure does this just fine, but I'm still a little paranoid, and it's an easy extra step for peace of mind if nothing else.

Other notes:

• if installing on an aero wheel, I like to put the sealant in the tire before putting on the valve extenders, seems to be a little less mess/leaking while squeezing it in.
• if I suffer a crash due to this tire rolling, I will make it public here, and change the post title to how not to put on a tubie.