Where do I even start with this race? Well....I guess I start in the beginning.
I was in bed early because I had to be up early. Felt like getting up for work. ugh. Anyway, I was loaded up and out the door by 6:30 to ensure I was at Waterloo in plenty of time. The drive pretty uneventful and I was parked just a little after 8. With a 9am start I wanted to be there early. So I parked and wandered over to registration. The pickup was pretty easy. They sent each person a specific barcode for their info. I walked in, they scanned my phone and I wandered over to my number on the ground. I grabbed my bag, made sure my name was on the number plate and headed back to the car to gear up.
It was kind of chilly, but it was warming up fast. I geared up and started to roll around for a short warmup. With the race being split into 2 days there was not a lot of people around. I rolled down the start straight to get an idea of how it was set up and then went back to the start area. It was pretty much time to go. There was the 100K and a 50k fun ride. Everyone was mixed in together....which was fine for me because I am not a top 5 guy at these events.
3,2,1....go. We were off out of the parking lot to find what the gravel roads held in store for us. Right away I was liking the roads. Packed and solid. That changed when the roads loosened up and turned into a mixture of loose gravel and sand. The miles ticked by....4....5...6...7....then there was a nasty climb. And then another nasty climb. Then a super loose terrible climb. I wasn't able to make any of them because my gearing is just too steep. So I walked. And while walking I watched my average speed drop like an anchor. It was starting to mess with mentally.
By mile 10 my average speed was terrible. My legs hurt and my brain was checking out. I knew that I had probably done a lot of the climbing already...but it wasn't helping my brain. When I reached mile 15......I knew my day was going to end early. This race is a 2 lap race for the 100k. I was signed up for the 100k, or around 60 miles. Had it been a full loop, I might have been ok....but I mentally was fried and not looking forward to 45 more tough miles.
At mile 15 the roads did flatten out a bit. I looked into the data after the race...and at this point my heart rate never went over 140 bpm. I normally average over 140 during a race. But I had backed off enough that I was more on a ride than a race. The miles rolled past. At one point there is a hefty stretch of pavement and I started to doubt whether I was still on course. Thankfully I was. I kept going and eventually saw the signs stating 50k and 100k with arrows pointing different directions.
I was done. I lowered my head and went straight into the park and approached the finish line. I admitted my defeat and finished with 30 miles instead of 60. The weird part is, I had a better average speed than I did at Lowell even with more feet of climbing per mile. None of it really makes sense to me, other than understanding that I was due a bad ride....and this was the day for it to happen.
I had one of those weeks where the stress is all over the map and eventually it just caught up with me. I am in the middle of house hunting, still raising my kids, and now changing jobs. I think all the stress added up and triggered some covid fog. I say this...because I had Covid and the fog is a real thing. Things simply didn't make sense. I actually left my car door wide open....at the race....with my belongings free for the taking. Thankfully nobody did, but just weird that I left my door open. Then getting gas on the way home when the pump stopped I simply put the nozzle back without rounding to the nearest dollar. Disconnected.
I got home, took a nap and relaxed. Ate. Watched a movie. Relaxed. Went to bed on time. Today was a much better day. Looking at my average speed, I would not have been last had I attempted the 100k. I am grateful that I didn't simply for the fact that it would have been a fight for 30 miles. A fight that my brain was surely going to lose. And that is ok....I am human.
Now we wait and see how much snow we get. Yes...snow in mid April...in Southwest Michigan. Ugh. We shall see.
Next up is Hart Hills in 2 weeks. I know I need to be focused for that race as it is 55 miles and a lot of hills. But....still not as long as C2C which is still the ultimate goal. Keep the rubber side down friends!
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