Race Report: Carrabassett Backcountry Cycle Challenge 100k - Scott Johnson

 

At the start

 

By: Qualey Granite / Rose Bike Team Racer Scott Johnson

 

I’ll start with a little background. In 2010, Abe Furth got me back on my mountain bike after a twenty-something year hiatus where I built a career, logged millions of computer hours, and endured a love-hate relationship with the gym… I was riding a 90’s vintage Stump Jumper that had been sitting in the basement all this time, and Abe had trouble concealing his laughter as I crashed my way through the Orono trails one wet afternoon on the old classic… The Underwear Trail in the rain after so many years off the bike made me wonder if Abe was trying to intimidate me? Would he do that?

The following year (2011) I bought a new Trek Rumblefish and did the Carrabassett 50 km as my first MTB race… The mind has a strange way of selectively remembering the good bits of life, so I found myself thinking that I wanted more. I had to miss the race in 2012, but last year I did the 100 km race and, though I finished, I did poorly owing to severe cramping in my quads. I had issues with cramping in other races too, so I tried to figure it out. It turns out that the biochemistry regulating muscle contraction/relaxation during endurance events is remarkably complex, and there are multiple competing hypotheses out there about electrolyte supplementation, in-race fuel, hydration rates and a host of other factors that relate to endurance muscle performance. Anyway, I came to a few conclusions – I needed to limit my water intake to around half a liter per hour (too much dilutes electrolytes), stay as cool as possible, use electrolyte supplementation every hour, stretch well before the race, and I needed to significantly increase my leg strength. So, I spent much of my gym time over the winder focusing on my legs…

Okay, fast forward to this year, and a new bike from Rose – Trek Fuel EX 29. Love that bike! We couldn’t have asked for better weather, and I was excited to get moving. I watched the expert/elite people launch, and the rest of us lined up. Corey Oderman and Craig MacDonald were nowhere to be seen, and the race officials were preparing to start without them! It seemed that they were going to be no-shows. They appeared at the last second and we were off. I remembered most of the course from last year, except it was a lot drier this year and the Carrabassett NEMBA members had made some significant improvements to certain sections of single track in the first hour of the ride. The new bermed corners and cobble-stone segments made some of the riding very enjoyable, and the drier conditions made the mud holes easier to negotiate.

The pack sorted itself out fairly quickly. I deliberately went out quite slow and ended up passing a lot people in the first 15-20 minutes before I was in a comfortable spot. At some point in the first 30 minutes I had a major pedal strike on a rock hidden in the grass. Yikes! It nearly threw me and I worried that I might have done some damage to the crank, but all was well. I reached the first big climbing segment that starts at mile 9. Last year I had to walk a lot of this because I was already cramping. This year I chose to walk a couple of the steepest segments for a minute or two to conserve bike-leg strength. I couldn’t have ridden them much faster so I figured it was good strategy for me given last year’s performance. After this climb the course drops in steps around 1500 feet in elevation to the second aid station at around 30 miles. Along the way I caught up with Erik Dasilva, Bruce Malmer and Eric Roy, who was riding his single speed. Erik Dasilva’s words to me were “what’s your hurry!” I should have had a clever comeback, but I haven’t learned my trash talk skills well enough from Eric Roy. I never saw Eric Roy again until after the race, where I learned that he broke his crank shortly after the halfway aid point and had to exit. Bruce and I continued to stay pretty close for the rest of the race. Riding with a teammate added a lot to the experience.

 

 After the halfway aid point, the course more or less immediately entered the second big climbing segment of about 4 miles. Last year I was really hurting at this point, and walked a lot of it. Aaron Brasslett probably remembers encountering me last year around this part of the course, where I was walking the hills and pounding the descents. This year I chose to walk only a couple of the steepest segments and when I topped out I knew I was going to ride the entire race without cramping. That was a HUGE relief and I felt good about pushing myself hard from there. The second half of the course had a lot of gravel road riding, and some nasty mud and rock sections, but also some awesome single and double track. The long stretch that starts out along Stratton Brook Pond is one of my favorites, with three walk-across creek crossings, lots of smaller ride-through crossings, and long descents. I bottomed my forks really hard on the deepest of the small gullies, which sort of surprised me. A few years ago that would have meant a bad endo, but thankfully my skills have improved a bit! I took a few opportunities at crossings to throw water on my head. Heat is the enemy!

At one point, around 45 miles in, I came across some pink flamingos and signs promising a party and something about getting laid! I am not lying about this! I rode on with peaked interest, and arrived at another watery oasis where a kind volunteer cleaned my drive train and lubed my chain! Thank you! After a brief interlude, I continued to the contrived out-and-back segment, which was about as much fun as it was last year. Then some super-fast gravel road and double track riding with Craig MacDonald and Bruce Malmer. According to my Garmin, we exceed 22 mph continuously on one of the segments for more than 120 seconds. That was fun! Then back into some of the more technical muddy and rocky single/double track before finally hitting the long-awaited Narrow Gauge Trail. Almost home! Craig caught me on Narrow Gauge and left me in the dust, but I knew there were no old guys riding sport who were close behind me, which meant that my place, whatever it was, was set.  So, I held a good pace and set my sights on finishing under 7 hours. That last little section of windy single track after crossing hwy 27 was a welcome site and I cruised in feeling strong at 6 hours 51 minutes, beating my time last year by 1.5 hours and taking a comfortable first place in sport master division. Straight to the Jeep where there was a cooler full of refreshments! Music, burritos, refreshments, teammates… Good times!!!

1st place Sport Men's Maters 100K

 

Notes and Lessons:

This was the first time that I have ridden with a bike GPS (Garmin 510) and heart monitor. It was extremely valuable to know how far I had gone, how long it would be to the next aid station, and what my heart rate and average speed were. Taking some of the uncertainty out of the event makes a big difference.

Fuel and electrolytes are important during a long race. I ate 4.5 bonk bars (lost half a bar on the trail owing to bad timing), one bag of chomps, four segments of orange and half a banana during the ride. I made sure that I had something to eat every hour, along with two or three Hammer Endurolyte pills. I have tried a lot of different salt/electrolyte pills. Jury is out. Use what seems to work.

For me, leg strength (apparently) turned out to be the number one issue with cramping. My hypothesis, and I am sticking with it, goes like this. Last year I was forcing my legs to work at close to their peak capacity in order to keep up with my cardio fitness and my technical skills. Can’t sustain that for long before failure. Consistent strength training and hill riding (plus hard alpine skiing at Sugarloaf as often as possible) put me in much better balance this year. Regular PNF (look it up) stretching also seems to have made a significant difference. All anecdotal… Cramping is a complex problem.

My resting heart rate is in the low 60s, I don’t know exactly what my maximum heart rate is, and I previously had no record of my heart rate through a race. I was very surprised by my heart rate over the nearly 7 hour period. I averaged 162 bpm over the entire race, but more like 170 over the first 2.5 hours, with several spikes over 180. Everyone’s heart is different, but I know several other riders my age who say they try not to let their heart rate get above 150 in a race. Interesting… I must have been really hyped up at the start, because my peak rate of 185 came at mile 1.2, even though I deliberately went out quite slowly and I was not breathing hard at all! I am learning that it takes my body (and mind) some time to settle down and get into a sustainable rhythm. Learning to relax seems like a key skill for success.

Taking a minute or two to walk the steepest sections of sustained climbs helped a lot. Changing up the muscles for just a short time allowed for some critical recovery with minimal time loss. No news to single speeders.

The race organizers did an awesome job, as always, and the atmosphere was fun and festive. The trail improvements were noticeable, the aid stations were well stocked and cheery, and they eliminated that inane hike-a-bike segment from last year. On the down side, a couple of the turns were poorly marked, and a relatively large number of riders (some from the Qualey/Rose Team) were disqualified for taking a wrong line. I really feel for our team members who got caught in this trap, and it needs to be addressed next year. All in all though, good stuff.