There is a sweet spot of exhaustion at the end of any cross country mountain bike race. You want to feel like you absolutely gave it your all but you don’t want to blow up 5 miles from the end and cross the finish line cracked with a proverbial limp. Recently at Ore to Shore, I definitely was the rider fading at the end and missed the podium by a mere minute due to poor planning and lack of endurance. Looking towards fall racing, my thoughts are on how to finish Iceman strong with enough energy to party in the celebration zone afterwards with 5,000 of your closest friends 😉
Get your nutrition right: It would be silly to train your endurance and power and not train your nutrition. Figure out how many carbs you will need per hour during iceman and what you will use to fuel during the race. Use similar nutrition on your training rides at a slightly lower amount of carbs to again make sure your gut can handle it. Then If you are feeling well, try at least a couple of rides or other races with this same nutrition plan you will use on race day to make sure it works for you. Personally, I have to drink the vast majority of my nutrition and I put it in a hydration pack. I know myself well enough that if I have to reach down for bottles I just won’t drink and I personally have to manage my carbs closely or I will bonk. I use 50-60 grams of carbs/hr for training rides and around 80 grams/hr for races depending on the length of the race. These are just may numbers, what you need may be wildly different so start playing around now so you can have it dialed by race day.
Using the hydration pack during a race like Iceman also allows my to carry an extra half bottle of water for sips if I need a pallet cleanser. It can also be used to rinse your cassette if its super muddy.
Also, remember that your nutrition for race day starts 1-2 days (if not longer) prior and what you are eating those days can affect your race. Make sure you are getting enough carbs in the days prior to that you are filling up your glycogen stores. Practice the breakfast you will have on race days before other rides to make sure it sits right.
Managing effort: Start out strong remembering that the initial push doesn’t last forever and you will eventually settle into a steady pace and be able to recover. Push and pass on the gravel and the two tracks and recover on the single track. The single track will get clogged and so this can be a good time to just take a breather. It burns more matches to pass in the single track than it does in the gravel or the two track as you are often forced to take a line slightly outside of the trail. As a result, I often will not pass in the single track unless I see a long term benefit. Early on the lines are so long in the single track that I just focus on drinking my nutrition so I can be fueled for the rest of the race.
Remember that the last 8 miles of Iceman are where the majority of the punchy climbs are. I’m not saying reserve all your energy for the end but it’s important to have enough in the tank to crush those hills. If you find yourself riding with a group often there will be a surge over the top of the hill so you want to be able to push all the way over, so you don’t get dropped on the backside and lose the group.
Again, these are just my thoughts and may only apply to me personally. Always do what works best for you. With the leaves beginning to change color, the Iceman stoke is beginning to build and I am here for it in every way!
Thank you to our 2024 Iceman Ambassador Meg Hagerman @hagermanm