Barry-Roubaix 2012 Race Report!

(Photograph by Andrea Tucker. View more BRX photos by Andrea here.)

>>>My complete race report at GTMTBA!


The days leading up to Barry-Roubaix were rather stressful. I was a ball of anxiety. Last winter I went to Danielle Musto's indoor spin at the Ada Bike Shop and stayed connected with a lot of my mountain biking friends and even made some new ones. This year, however, I was a bit of a hermit. Not being around that energetic group, I became a little lazy. Bike racing faded into the background and playing with the kids and lazing around floated to the forefront. It was a good winter.

And then March arrived. Bringing with it the Barry-Roubaix: The Killer Gravel Road Race. Killer it was sure to be. In fact, I mentally prepared myself for a large portion of suffering with some humility on the side.

We've had an unusual March, with temps in the 80 degrees. Friday before the race, Middleville was pounded with rain and the temps cooled to around 60 degrees, which I think is perfect racing weather.

I had two goals in mind:
1) Ride my own race: In the past I've gotten caught up in trying to keep up with a group I had no business racing against or I've allowed others to get in my head. This usually results in a bad bonk with 8 miles to go. I did not want to bonk! There is nothing worse than having to coast slowly across the finish line because your legs have long since turned to lead.
2) Average 14.5 mph. This was a number I came up with based on results from previous races. However, my horrible awful pre-ride a few weeks earlier killed my confidence. I didn't want to admit it, but I struggled to average 11 mph that day--and that was with lots of breaks!

The race started in waves, I stayed towards the mid-to back of my group for the start. The first few miles are on pavement. I went hard . . . but reigned it in a notch. Bonking at Iceman last year was still fresh in my memory.

I was hoping to get in with a good group of cyclists to work with for the race, but I didn't have luck on that front. As a result I either rode alone or with one or two other guys.

My average was looking good at this point and I made a new goal, to finish under 2:20.

The last two-track on Shaw Road was a mess. The sand was heavy and deep. There was wall of hike-a-bikers and I too was forced to walk that section. At the top of the hill I was able to hop back on my bike for the wicked descent through sandpits and giant mud puddles. It was AWESOME!

That brought us out to the last 5 miles of rolling pavement. I knew this section would favor the cyclocross riders and my fear was that I would have dead legs and get left in the dust for a lonely and humiliating ride into the finish. To my surprise I found I still had some gas in the engine and my legs were ready for the final haul in!

The last five miles I continued to accelerate.

I have to say, the day was a huge success.
I finished with a time of 2:19 which was good for 15th place. And was an average of 15.5 mph! Woot!

And I want to make a shout-out to my friend Michelle who did the race on a 26" single speed! She is one of the toughest women I know. Congrats Michelle on your race! :-)

Happy face after a satisfying day at BRX!

That looks like blood on my bottom bracket. They don't call it the Killer for no nuthin . . . 

Muddy legs.

Barry-Roubaix 2012

I had a great day yesterday at Barry-Roubaix. The weather turned out to be great for racing, not too hot and not too cold. And there was just enough rain to make the course a lot of fun. Let's all be honest here, riding through giant puddles is super fun. And the best part was seeing all of my mountain biking friends! I have really missed them over the winter. I saw many of them on the course--most of them as they passed me by . . . Alright, getting passed didn't feel so awesome. Nonetheless, its a good thing to see friendly faces even in the midst of suffering.

I'll work on a detailed race report and post it later this week. For now, I'll just say it was a good day, a lot of fun. The only real low point for me was riding about 12 miles all on my own--not a good idea for this race. In my solitude I became so focused on hammering the cranks that I did not pay any attention to the course. I ended up riding myself right off the road into a deep, rutted-out trench filled with rain water. Ugh. Being an awesome mountain biker with superb bike handling skills (yeah, right) I was able to save myself from further embarassment and avoid what was sure to be a very sloppy and muddy fall.

Today is recovery day. I am looking forward to spending some QT with the family, working in the yard, going on a Treasure Hunt with the kids and maybe, just maybe, I'll squeeze in a short run around the 'hood. The neighborhood that is.

Hope everyone else out there had a great experience at Barry-Roubaix. Oh, and I can't forget to thank Ken and Bill at Breakaway Bicycles for fixing my flat just minutes before the start of the race. You guys saved me!

Cramming

The last two weeks have reminded me of the only time in college when I pulled an all-nighter. I was a Biblical Lit major and while the class in itself was not remarkable, the final was exhaustive. If I remember correctly, there were 30 essay questions and 50 Bible verses that we were supposed to memorize. Fifty. And, in true 'Heather' fashion, I didn't read the study guide until the night before the exam. Ooops. I had not memorized one single verse. I remember wandering the halls of the dorm at 4 AM, mumbling "stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord . . ."

It was not a good day.

And now the mountain biking season has snuck up on me. Barry-Roubaix is just two days away and I feel ill-prepared. I've tried cramming 3 months of training into 10 days. 

I'm finding myself facing the hard fact that there is no over-night substitute for months of hard work. And as I recall, I didn't do so hot on that final exam either. 

If I were to get grades for training, here is what my report card would look like:

Pre-riding the BRX course — F

Spinerval Interval workouts — Incomplete

Cross-Training (running) — B-

Hilly Training Ride — Incomplete

Steady State Intervals — A

Strength Training — C+

Extra miles riding with the family — A++++

Shall we call this an 'E' for Effort???? 

My big plan was to do a 3 hour gravel, hilly ride on Saturday last weekend. However, my husband ended up having to work and I was unable to get out for a ride. I spent the day playing with the kids and had a nice cookout at my parents house.

Sunday, to make up for my missed ride, I was going to ride the BRX course one final time with Matt, Jim, and Jim. But that was going to be 3 hours of driving plus 2.5-3 hours of riding. I didn't want to be gone all day.

I compromised, doing a 38 mile ride along the Lakeshore Trail from North Muskegon to Hoffmaster State Park and back. It's not gravely, nor hilly. I didn't get much of an interval workout, but I did try to keep my intensity level up. Then, that evening, we took the kids on a 15-mile bike-ride to the Muskegon Channel. 50 miles in one day is near record for me, especially when considering I was towing an extra 60 pounds for the last fifteen miles.

By the way, the Weehoo is a HUGE hit. And the extra weight is an "equalizer." I don't completely disappear behind Chad now on family rides. 

My legs were trashed by the end of the weekend. 

Wednesday I have a standing lunch road-ride scheduled with a friend. Typically its a recovery ride for me, an easy pace for 24 miles. Being the genius that I am, I thought I would up the intensity and ride my mountain bike this week instead. 

What I learned is that riding a road bike at 17 mph is a nice recovery ride, but riding a mountain bike at 17+ mph for 24 miles is a freaking challenging workout.

After thoroughly destroying my legs, I am taking two days of complete rest—for better or for worse.

Barry-Roubaix Strategy

I'll admit I don't have a race strategy. I still consider myself new to xc racing even though this will be my third year competing, this is my first time racing BRX. Every race is different and full of their own unique challenges. One thing is for certain, this will be a race for the teams and the cross bikes. Even though I may not be competing for a place on the podium, this race will be an accurate gauge of my fitness going into the three months preceding the Lumberjack 100. In that respect, I do have a goal in mind . . . but that is only for me to know. I like to face my demons internally, alone, mano-y-mano and suffer in silence.

Read more BRX preview reports and interviews:

Cycling Dirt: Kim Thomas Interview

Cycling Dirt: Adam York Interview

kolo t.c. 2012 Course Preview

The Pain

Through an unexpected and last-minute turn of events I was able to pre-ride Barry-Roubaix course this week afterall. I was a little tense but excited, this would be only my third ride outdoors this year (I'm a fair-weather cyclist).

I have ridden the course once before, about 2.5 years ago. I remember thinking it was hilly, but I handled it. I was feeling pretty confident on the drive down.

Four of us--Matt, Jim, Jim and Myself--rolled out, cold, but ready to tackle the gravel roads ahead.

The Wall

I felt pretty good the first mile. And then we hit our first little hill. How did everyone suddenly get so far ahead of me? Why wasn't I going anywhere? I felt a bit of panic rise. I tried rationalizing away my nerves--my legs will be alright . . . they are just getting warmed up. Yup.

Nope. My legs had nothing. We'd (actually, I would, as everyone was so far ahead of me) come to the base of the hill and my brain would say "Conquer this thing, Attack! Attack!" And then I'd feel a heavy resin drain down my legs. They were resigned. On-Strike. My brain and my body were in contention, leaving me in a deep place of pain and suffering.

It was a bad, bad day.

Matt, Jim, and Jim were true gentlemen and waited for me at the turns. I wish they had not been so polite as I prefer to suffer alone. One of the things I like about Matt is he is a genuine, laid-back, nice-guy. So at every turn I would roll in and Matt would offer some sort of encouragement "you're doing great!"

If I could have spared the energy, I would have taken off my shoe and punched Matt in the teeth with my cleats.

I have very violent thoughts when I am completely depleted of nutrients.

To make things worse, the course was muddy, sticky, and hillier than I remembered. And I was way, way off my anticipated pace for race day.

As ready as I am to sell my entry to some other sucker, I know that I need to see this race through. Barry-Roubaix is the first stepping-stone in my training for Lumberjack 100. No matter how humiliated I may be by my results and performance at BRX, I will keep my eyes focused on the big picture.

Happy weekend everyone!