The-508 Race Report - 2 The race had 4 loops with start/end in Borrego S…
The-508 Race Report - 2 The race had 4 loops with start/end in Borrego Springs. 205/138/113 and 52 miles (330/222/182 and 84 km) with 16,431/7,197/10,715/4,568 ft (5008/2194/3266 and 1392 meter) elevation gain making loops 1 and 3 the strongest for climbing. I tried to adjust to heat a but before the race, but the unexpected rain system changed the process adopting to heat. Plan was in first loop to see that I can make good ground and have one stop for refueling. Loop 2 would be during nighttime and should be possible also with one stop while loop 3 was unknown how to refuel ad loop 4 should not require a stop. Main fuel was two bottles of water mixed with Hammer Pereptuem for carbs. After every loop plan was to get my bottles refilled and have some food. Critical for first loop was to make sure I have backup of lights if needed and enough tubes in case of a flat. So, I did take 3 spare tubes, CO2 cartridges and a tiny electric pump. For lights I did mount 3 taillights to run 2 in parallel (experience is to be visible for traffic from behind) and 3 head lights. Two for daytime and one for dark (a bit brighter). With crew it’s all no issue but without a backup is needed for safety reasons. A plan is always great before the race, and I admit I have not done self-supported in that type of heat with the amount of elevation gain. I checked the climbing required and tried to see when it’s best to refuel. But that was a bit of a gamble. So, taking off we had to watch out for issues with sand on road and one spot of water on the road. I almost lost the bike on sand shortly after taking off. The amount of sand was simply not visible with my headlight, and I was on bike lane at the time. Main lane would have been cleaner. Was able to catch it but had chain jump off so had to let the one person behind me pass me for the moment fixing the chain issue. A few miles after start we had the first challenge with climbing the ‘glass elevator’ a 12-mile (19 km) around 4k ft (1.2k m) climb. Knowing the climb, I was able to do ok and kept passing a few other cyclists. I knew after that climb I could relax a bit and recover in the descents. That part worked out just fine. I kept going and found a decent pace to keep pushing. But as plans go overboard easy … I start running into hydration issues when sun came out and I learned that I judged the dry heat wrong. I am used to humid hot conditions and dry hot conditions simply is a different situation. So I had to look for refueling much sooner than planned. First stop was around mile 80. Stopped at a gas station and had a soda and refilled water. Unfortunate I had to switch to more start chewing Perpetuem tabs for cabs and refill just water. I did ask for banana as option but …. At all gas stations during the race only one had a banana. Did not expect that so food was an issue since I did count on bananas as one option. Again … planning is cool until first change is required … I do not remember exact spot any longer but around mile 110-120n I think number 508 (Joey Ducut) came next to me and mentioned we seem to have a similar pace. Impressive cyclist … I thought of trying to stay somehow together but besides we have to go solo anyway I let drop back and knew I better let him go and use my own pace. I did have to have 2 more stops for refueling. So instead of one stop I ended up having 3. That did cost extra 20-30 minutes and was not planned for. So from my initial idea to finish top 3 I decided to focus on just finishing the race. It’s more critical to adjust goals in a race instead of going for overdoing it and end up with a DNF. The rest of loop 1 was uneventful. I made it back over 30 minutes later than initially planned. At end I did see two racers coming towards me with them have just taken off.
