Vapor Trail 125; Lessons from the Bike, Lessons for Life

So what happened?  What caused my body to shut down–or to seemingly stay at home–during this weekend’s Vapor Trail 125?  Just like each moment and every molecule exits because of every moment and every molecule before them, life simply yet unwittingly conspired to exist as it did.  While I could resign myself to the fate of existence, after some reflection, I’ve come to recognize several factors which contributed to my less-than-desired performance.

I’ve been able to identify four factors that contributed to my body basically protesting after 3 1/2 hours of riding, the point where my diesel locomotive engine is typically just getting into its groove.  Two of those happened before the race, two of them during it.

In the days leading up to the race, I was eating plenty of complex carbohydrates, switching to near exclusively proteins on race day.  I was drinking lots of water and orange juice.  Lots and lots and lots of water.  In fact, I drank so much water that I got out of bed to urinate about 5-6 times the night before the race.  Quite likely I drank too much water causing a huge imbalance in my blood’s sodium level; hyponatremia.  While I did take some electrolyte tablets at Monarch Pass, by then it was too late.

Speaking of getting out of bed, I don’t think I got enough quality sleep the nights leading up to race day.  Invariably, I wake at 6am every morning, regardless of when I go to bed.  That means I needed to put crown to pillow as early as possible to get in as much shut-eye as possible.  Thursday night I was in bed at 11pm; Friday night around 10pm but was awake again at eleven ’till about midnight.  I tried to nap on Saturday but that only last about 45mins.  Not enough rest to really perform all night long.

When I rolled up to the start line fellow-Canadian Heidi looked at me and quickly commented “over-dressed.”  I scoffed at her criticism, confident I was properly dressed.  I was wearing wool socks, a long-sleeve jersey with a moisture-wicking t-shirt beneath, bib-shorts and knee warmers.  Perfect for an evening  ride with other layers packed in my frame bag for when the temperature dropped.  Within 10mins of the race’s start, I was sweating profusely, dripping in my clear-lensed sun-glasses and all over Isabelle’s cock-pit.  I tried rolling up the sleeves and pulling down the zipper but the damage was done.  Heidi was right and I was overheating.

The race begins with six miles of neutral riding.  Racers follow behind a Salida PD police escort and Scot Banks in a big-ole ‘Merica-sized SUV to CR250 where we turn right and the race begins.  Along the way, we regroup at the top of the Airport hill for about five minutes.  The ride to the first piece of single-track, the Colorado Trail at Blanks Cabin, usually takes me about an hour and fifty minutes.  I had done it in 1:40 last week and had set a goal of 1:45 for race day.  Including the five minute regroup after the Airport hill, I arrived in one hour and thirty-five minutes.  That means I did that stretch in 1:30, fifteen minutes faster than I had wanted to.  Yup, I did the classic young, inexperienced move; I went out too fast too early.
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Individually, I believe that none of those four factors would have lead to my demise.  Combined, however, it was a lethal dose, the perfect storm.  Already under-rested, I rode too hard while over-dressed.  This caused me to quickly over-heat, sweating out the remaining salt my body was desperately trying to hold on to. The combination shut my body down, perseverance and encouragement the only things that really kept me going.

While I could moan and groan about being so foolish, that I should have known better(and I do), that I let myself down, I take from this experience some valuable lessons.  I will be smarter next time.  I will pay more attention to how I prepare for such an event while keeping my enthusiasm in check.  As the race progresses, I will better listen to my body and adapt as needed.

Not only will those lessons serve me well on race day, they will serve me well every day.