Test Of Endurance 50 is a 50mile MTB race with 8500' of climbing. The climbs are mostly dirt roads with some single track, and the descents are all technical single track.. with plenty of mud. Its a brute, and the relentless climbing makes lap 2 seem like it never ends. With Adam Craig, Carl Decker, Ryan Trebon and the likes setting the pace for this mass start event, its EZ to get caught in the wheels and try to "hang" with the fast guys.. which is everyone's first mistake!This year I brought my rim brake Powermeter bike so that I could not only capture the file, but also use the Powermeter to pace my effort. With a 4hr+ ride time, this race has the potential to become an All-Time-Best ride file for 4hrs, and with that in mind, that's what I set out to achieve!
The start was predictably as hard as I expected, and I tried to hold back, but early position is important. I didn't need to be at the front, but definitely needed to be somewhere near the front so I wouldn't get hung up in the early single track. So, I burned a few matches early, but as soon as possible settled into an output that I knew was within my ability for the 4hr duration.
I approached every climb riding right around threshold, and was careful not to go much above, or try to follow a wheel of someone creeping away. I let everyone go, I rode my own race and really had to have faith that lap 2 would reacquaint me with all these riders that were leaving me behind.
250+ riders, plenty of fast pro's, and a bunch of Cat 1's.. that's a lot of riders to watch ride off into the sunset, but I was committed to the strategy. I have done countless 4hr training rides through the hills with a Powermeter, I know what happens.. ATTRITION! We fade, we are only capable of so much work, and when that limit is reached.. Perceived Exertion increases and Speed decreases!
The strategy worked, and on lap 2, particularly the final hour (of 4hrs), I really brought back a ton of riders. Made my way to the middle of the Pro field and Finished 13th overall and 30sec back of the first Cat-1.. dang! I thought I brought em all back, but there was still 1 Cat-1 rider, fortunately not in my age group. I finished 16min up on the next 45+ rider, and 11min behind Ryan Trebon.
So how did the ride rate? Well, I was a bit limited in my ability to let it all hang out on the descents. My wife and youngest are in Chicago, and I had my 23yo Autistic Son waiting for me at the finish line. After the finish we had a 5hr+ drive home and work on Monday, so today wasn't a day to get hurt, or initiate a crisis. With the greasy/muddy conditions, roots, waterbars, steep descents (8500ft of descents), I really had to keep in mind that dad had post race responsibilities that would not allow for injury.. so I used plenty of brake on the descents, which somewhat affected my elapsed time. But elapsed time wasn't my goal, a GREAT RIDE FILE was my goal. I wanted to capture a huge ride, and taking the descents a little slow would have minimal impact on the quality of my performance when it comes to the numbers.
So how were the numbers? For 4hr20min I expended 4094kj of energy with the highest 4hr Normalized Power I have ever done. It was the strongest 4hrs I've ever done, and is now the new "Ride To Beat". Average power was solid, but with all the descending, the Average was pulled down. that's where Normalized Power (NP) becomes such an excellent measure. NP represents the physiological load of the event, and closely predicts what one could have done with the same effort level if the event was steady power (no coasting). For efforts over 20minutes, NP is pretty much the same as the power you could generate at a steady pace for that same duration. NP is also used to help quantify the physiological stress of the event. Well, for the Test Of Endurance, both my NP and TSS (Training Stress Score) reached new highs, and raised the bar for what these legs can do for 4 hours. I like it, it was a great ride!!
Mud + Rim Brakes:
