Bluegrass Endurance: The Appalachian Journey 100 Mile Long Doggie Recap

Have you ever had one of those days - not the good ones and not even a bad one just a blah one. Well that
was my ride at The Appalachian Journey 102 mile Team/Duo race - well for me more like a ride or maybe better a slog. I rode the race with John Switow from Knoxville TN who I have know for a while and he had done this one before. The format is one used in MTB races like Cape Epic and that is you have to stay within 5 minutes of your teammate. For us we had figured, based on our riding together before, I would be in the front uphill and then getting dropped on the descents. I get dropped not because I am a lightweight - far from it - I just am very tentative downhill. The result with how I felt from the start was that John was dragging my butt around all day. As an aside John takes lots of pictures - the ones in this post are his, the video is mine - and my lack of speed gave him lots of time to take them.

The ride starts out with climbs pretty quickly in and does not stop till the end - will say last 1/3 or so was slightly less. The hard part is not only are most of the climbs on gravel many have steep sections of 15%+ and then the downhills were mostly steep short ones so you only got about 5-6 minutes rest. There were a couple longer ones closer to the end on the Blue Ridge Parkway but in general there just was not a lot of time to recover between climbs. Also, for me, gravel descents are not very relaxing so on those even less rest. I was glad I put on my 42 front chainring as had a 46 and pretty sure if I was doing well could have done it with the 46 but not as I felt on the day. I had to get off about 4 times to walk as I started getting some hamstring cramps but was able to make most of it - slow but kept moving.

The weather was great as was in mid 50’s at start and got into 70’s for the day, was windy in sections, and because I held us back so long we did get some rain in the last 45 minutes but mainly sprinkles so all good. The area is beautiful as you ride around the Blue Ridge Parkway area and are on it a few times. The course was marked for the shorter courses and after the 60+ mile course broke off we were on our own with the GPS. We did miss one turn - well actually was straight ahead but somehow missed it as road curved. Took about 1.5 miles till we realized we were off course and of course that was 1.5 miles up hill but we got back on track and other than one other short section where I missed a turn on a down hill, and it was marked, was good.

So what went wrong as training the week before was fine - yea it was a 110 miles on Zwift the Saturday before so not outdoors but the watts and HR were good, yea a little tired but don’t sleep well so no idea the day I had was ahead. Often at the start of a long day I am apprehensive but the closer I get to halfway I get stronger. Not the case here - had the blahs at the start, midway and at the end, well at the end it was the super-blahs. Did get some hamstring cramps after halfway that did not help as had to regulate things so they were held at bay. I will put my fueling below but actually took in more carbs than usual (34g/hr) so based on past rides with less carbs and not really putting out a high effort that was fine. Just could not put out much effort which on the flat you can deal with but not on climbs and there were lots of them. I put this down to a bad day, which it was, and not the best sleep, which I did not get, but seemed like more.

In talking to Peter Defty, who is a good friend and owner to Vespa/OFM who I work with, a couple days later and he thought it might be allergies. I had not thought about it as my nose was stuffy but not as usually happens when the pollen starts. But then I remember at least one person at the race complaining about her allergies so then it made some sense. Then looking at it as I write this is seems pretty clear as my head/sinuses are a mess. The level was such that it just drained me and also explained while later in the day I was starting to get some wheezing on the climbs when pushing it to get over the climb. I have exercise induced asthma, which usually only happens on cold days when I ride or run hard. and had not had it on a day such as this enough to remember. I had not thought about it as was supposed to be warm so did not bring my inhaler so need to remember it in the future to be safe.

Then there is the more spiritual side of things which I like to make sure I look at. in all I do I do think that God wants to keep me humble as I think we finished last and I rode slower than ever. Yea, the things above were the direct cause but God uses means to accomplishes His purposes and being humble is important. Not that I think I gloat over doing well but I do tend to expect it and that is not the case as I was shown during this ride. Some may see this as a negative but I see it as a positive as I need to view rides and races as just experiences and while I want to do well just being able to do these things is something to be thankful for.

Will I do this again - for sure as I really want to do the ride I felt I should be able to. My initial feel was not so gung-ho to come back. But when I look at it from a couple days out things look different. Standing back I can say while there was a lot of climbing with not a lot of rest it was not as hard as it felt since the issue I have made is such. Is it a tough course - Yes - would I tell a person doing their first long gravel race to do it - Not unless they were good on lots of hills. So whether I do it next or the year after not sure but will for sure do it again.

Strava Data here

Short Video of the First 50 miles

Longer video of the first 50 miles

So what about fueling. In most rides/races lately I have been trying to get closer to 50-60g/hr but just can’t get there. For this ride I was adding in use a Gell called CARBS Fuel as they are a 50g Gell that I can get 4 of into a 250ml flask (200g or about 4 hours worth). Along with that I had a 150ml flask with 3 NeverSecond 30+ espresso gels for 90g of carbs. As an aside I like the SIS gels better but these had more carbs in less qty which is easier to carry. I also had a 150ml flask with 100g of the carbs I did not use. I also had some other things as below. I don’t think fueling was an issue, may have been low on electrolytes and as ride went longer and could have used an extra Vespa UC. Bottom line more carbs can’t overcome physical issues. Oh, and yes I did drink about a 1/4 of a can of beer at the last main rest stop as they did not have coke and, well I was wiling to try anything the way I felt. In truth did not feel it did good or bad but was different:)

Here is the fueling of the day

Fueling:

Pre-Ride

Cup of coffee with Cream, Collagen and sugar

1 - RX Bar

1- Vespa UC

Totals

Cals - 414kcal

Carbs - 38g

Fat - 17g

Protein - 31g

Ride Fueling

3 - Vespa UC

3.5 - CARBS Gels

3 - Neversecond Espresso Gels

9 - Gummies

2 Scoops - Good Life Carbs

2 - Good Life Electrolyte packets

1/2 can Coke

1/4 Can beer

5L water

Totals:

Cals - 1466kcal

Carbs - 358g (10.5 hours - 34g/hr)

Protein - 1.5g

Fat - 0g

My initial thoughts after the ride was to cancel all my up coming races and just step back. Yea, I can be a little dramatic after a less than anticipated ride. But after narrowing things down to possibly allergies it lets me know once I get rested up, taking the next week off to get my allergies under control and then can get back at it.

The biggest takeaway is even with a way less than stellar day I still got it done - yea glad no one offered a ride - and saw some very beautiful country that many will never see.