The alarm went off at 4am for the second day in a row.....and it was quickly into prep mode with a quick breakfast, packing of gear into the support van and then it was off to the race start at the park by Skaha Lake where the swim had started yesterday.
Barbi was definately feeling the nerves a bit today....we figured it was generally just a fear of the unknown since this was about 70k further than any ride she has ever done...and over hilly and potentially windy terrain.
The race director decided (at the request of the athletes) to start both Day 2 and 3 an hour early at 6am in order to get an extra hour of racing done in the morning before the temperatures reach oppressive levels.
The plan for the day was to ride conservatively today to try and limit fatigue levels for day 3.
The race went off at 6am as planned and the athletes quickly settled into their respective paces and made their way up the side of Skaha Lake towards OK Falls. The relatively cool morning temps meant everyone seemed in good spirits and on task. This quick progress would continue until we approached the 100k mark and a place called 'The Wall'. By then the temps had risen and this climb was nasty. We broke out the super soakers again and used them often (filled with ice water), as well as ice water sponges to keep Barbi's core temperature down....and to spray all riders we came across in Barbi's vicinity....including many of the other crews ;).
There were several lows during this ride (which is to be expected) but each time Barbi found herself in a rough patch Barbi.....or Barbi and the support crew decided on a plan to try and help turn things around, whether that be an adjustment and rub down by Dr. Peggy, nutrition, focusing only on wattage and cadence during a particularly nasty 30k section with very strong headwinds, changing bike shorts, or squirting water into the bike shoes to try and relieve feet that seemed to be 'bleeding'...even though they weren't.
Barbi spent a lot of the day riding in the vicinity of Simon from England today and the two helped each other through some rough patches and made the experience enjoyable.
The entire day was spent riding as the 2nd female. As far as overall standing went she spent the whole day in the top ten.
The ride ended with a 60 km out and back section from Princeton (where we will spend the night) towards Merritt. On the way out we could see Barbi was struggling mentally and physically...but she continued to push on. When she came to the turnaround and headed into the home stretch she shocked us when she asked if she was going to break 12 hours. We didn't know whether she was bonking so bad that she was confused or that she really hadn't looked at her computer to see what her ride time was. I let her know that it looked like she was going to finish at just over 10 hours....we figured around 10:05.
A secret goal of Barbi's for this day of the race was to finish in less than 10 hours. Well I think knowing that she was that close to 10 hours lit some sort of fire under her because she instantly ratcheted up the pace and off she went. In the final 2k she even caught and passed Wolfgang from Kitchener who had gapped her significantly during the later stages of the race.
She came blazing through the finish at 9 hours and 49 minutes!! ....finishing second female and 7th overall!!
Amber Monforte (Conrad Stoltz's girlfriend and excellent cyclist) holds the first place female position going into tomorrow's run with about a 30 minute lead over Barbi....who has about an hour lead over Andi (USA) in third, followed closely by Shanna Armstrong (Hawaii Ultra world champion).
Barbi's cumulative two day time we believe also has her in 4th place overall, and Amber and Barbi both have a realistic chance at breaking the 3 day female course record for this race.
It was a long day today....the ice bath, massage and refueling have all been completed and we as a team are so proud of the way Barbi has performed and pushed her limits to get to this point. Tomorrow she is bringing it home!....we appreciate all your positive thoughts thrown her way as she starts on the run tomorrow at 6am.
Thats it for now. For the tech geeks...we had a Powertap on her bike today and here is the basic data for the ride:
Watts avg. 148
Watts max. 424
Avg speed 28.6km/hr
Max speed 72.6km/hr
actual ride time 9:32:19
cadence avg.82
Total ride distance-273.4km!!
Blogged by Steve.
BB, you are no doubt learning a lot about yourself on those long, tough days.
ReplyDeleteTell Steve to blog about how much you're eating! Would love to know those details!!!