In the last post, I had just finished Leg 2, which took me
to Montpelier. This next leg has the
remaining major climbing of the ride.
For the next 30 miles, you basically ride uphill with two major
climbs. The first major climb is over
Geneva Pass. The next major climb is the
Salt River pass. This is the highest
point of LOTOJA and also the timed king of the mountain climb.
As I mentioned in the last post, I always find this section
challenging. I am not sure why. There may be a number of factors. As I think more about it, I think one reason
this section is challenging for me is the elevation. This whole segment is over 6,000 feet above sea level and at the highest point, the Salt River Pass, you ride to over 7,600
feet. As a result, most of this section
is at a fairly high elevation for a flatlander like me. As a comparison, Paradise on Mount Rainer is
at 5,400 feet and Sunrise is at 6,400 feet.
Another factor is the topography. For some reason, I really have a hard time
judging the grades in this part of the country.
I don't know why, but they look a lot less to me than what they really
are. Because I think mentally I should
be going faster, I often try harder than what I should. This drains my energy prematurely.
It is about 9 miles to the top of Geneva pass. As I started out from Montpelier, I was
riding all alone. Last year I was in one
of the last groups to start instead of one of the first groups and this section
was covered with riders. Being all by
myself this year was a little eerie.
There always seems to be wind in this section. My plan was to keep moving the best I could
and if a faster group caught me I would jump on back.
I thought for sure that a group of riders from my group
probably teamed up and would be catching me any time. I also thought I would see a race group come
through. Instead, about a mile outside
of Montpelier, a relay rider passed me.
With fresh legs in Montpelier, he blew by me and I was not prepared to
jump on the back of him. I probably
couldn’t have ridden with him anyway because he was racing and was a
cylosportive rider.
The canyon is fairly exposed to the sun and has quite a few
bends. You really can’t see that far
ahead because of all of the turns and twists of the canyon. This might be another reason I find this
section challenging. In addition, I have
found in this area that I have a hard time judging the grades. I am not sure why, but I will think a grade
is much less than it is. I remember
looking down in sections and being shocked that the road had ticked up to 7%
while I am thinking it is like 2% and why am I not able to ride faster.
I trained quite a bit by myself this year. Although more difficult than riding with a
group, it has given me the confidence that if I need to I can keep a decent
pace riding on my own. I just was not
feeling particularly strong. I again
thought for sure the next race group would be catching me soon, but there was
no one for miles. As I approached the
Geneva Pass (which is about 9 miles from Montpelier), I noticed a few riders
catching up to me.
I started up the Geneva Pass climb. I was not feeling particularly strong. The Geneva Pass climb is about three miles
long. It is not particularly hard. Last year, I felt really strong as I made
this climb. I passed a lot of
riders. This year, I did not feel as
strong. The riders caught me about half
way up the climb. Instead of a few
riders as I had thought, it turned out that it was a tandem and another rider
who had latched on to them. The tandem
riders were the first riders to leave Logan.
There is actually a race for tandem riders. The tandem riders were strong, but it was
still humbling to be caught by a tandem on a hill. The other rider, his name was Matt, was a
rider from my group. I think he had
ridden with the tandem for some time from Montpelier. As he passed me, I realized I was no longer
the lead rider from my group. I expected
to see more riders coming up behind me.
I turned to look and there was nobody.
The Tandem and Matt had opened up a hundred yard or so gap from me. I decided to force myself to try and stay
with them. I should have done it earlier
but my body really didn’t want to respond.
I was able to limit the gap but I was not able to make any
gains. On the descent, the tandem left
us both. Matt kept the gap he created on
the climb and we both dropped down into the Geneva Valley. We rode this way for a mile or so when Matt
sat up and waited for me, realizing we would be stronger together than
alone. We started working together and
trading pulls. This definitely helped
me. I was finding that I could pull on
the front fairly well, but it was helpful to get a break for a minute for a minor
recover. I was still not feeling great,
but it was a lot easier working with Matt.
I believe we were able to pick our pace up a bit. I was glad to have the company to ride with.
After the valley, the road turns north for a bit before
crossing into Wyoming. I have a love
hate relationship with Wyoming. I love
the rustic beauty. Wyoming and much of
Utah are very dry and desert for the most part.
I have also spent way too much of my life traveling between towns in
Wyoming. The towns are generally small
and spread out. And generally, there is
nothing in between the towns. This part
of Wyoming is no different.
I still can’t believe that the next race group hasn’t caught
us yet. I had not seen a race group
since the Cat 3’s left me on the Strawberry climb. About three miles or so from the king of the
mountain climb, and the culmination of this segment of LOTOJA, there is an old
store. LOTOJA always puts some honey
buckets at this location. I told Matt
that I was going to stop. It had been
since Preston that I had last used the restroom and I wanted to use it before
the climb. Matt told me he was up for
stopping also. We did a quick pit stop. As we were getting back on our bikes, the
leaders of the next race group came through.
These were the leaders of the Masters +45 group. We had bad timing with our rest stop.
There was a young woman who was a relay rider who had been
riding with this group. She was dropped
about this time and we came up on her.
She started trading pulls with us.
We rode this way until the start of the Salt River pass climb, which was
also the king of the mountain. With 1km
or 2km before the climb, there is a sign announcing the climb is coming
up. I was still not feeling great, so I
told Matt and the other rider to go ahead.
I sat up and started to eat and drink.
I wanted to go into the climb refreshed.
Matt and the other rider started the climb about a minute before I did.
It took me 1 hour and 42 minutes to ride from Montpelier to
the start of the king of the mountain climb.
I had the 51st best time out of 720 of the males in my
category. Matt did it in 1 hour 39 minutes, which was 25th (he had made up the couple of minutes lead I had on him in Montpelier). It was also my fastest time
compared to my prior two LOTOJAs.
However, this is one section that I really need to improve on. Most of the racers in the categories I would
race in ride this segment in about 1 hour and 30 to 32 minutes (the Cat 1s do
it in about an hour and 25 minutes). I
did stop for a pit stop which was probably 5 minutes, but I do need to be
several minutes faster in this section.
I do not know how much faster I would have been if I had been riding in
a group like a lot of them were able to do.
Many riders will throw their water bottles away at the
bottom of this climb. They are usually
empty for one thing, but at the top, the LOTOJA support will be giving hand
ups. They are clearing their cages to
receive those hand ups. I got to the
bottom of the climb, finished off the last of the one water bottle, and then
threw it in the pile of water bottles that were accumulating.
My strategy to carry four water bottles worked out much
better this year than in prior years. I
have always gone into this climb really suffering because I was low on
liquids. This year, I had plenty of
liquids and it felt good to fill up on them before the climb. In addition, I still had an extra bottle full
of only water that I had carried from the top of the Strawberry climb. This would allow me to cool myself off on
this climb.
The first time I rode LOTOJA, I did this climb in 21 minutes
15 seconds (which was 35/530 riders in my category). Last year, I did it in 19 minutes 46 seconds
(which was 63 out of 804 riders in my category). One of my goals was to improve on that time
this year. I knew going into the climb,
it just wasn’t my day to climb at this point.
I still have a ways to go to be competitive on this climb compared to
those who race it. The strongest racers
do this climb in the 14-16 minute range.
Many racers do this climb under 18 minutes.
The climb starts out rather flat comparatively for the first
three quarters of a mile. It then ticks
up to be between 7-9%. It is a long
sweeping climb and you can see far ahead.
You can’t see the summit from the beginning of the climb but it sweeps
to the left and after a mile and half, the last mile is wide open so that you
can see the remainder of the climb. On
top of the summit is the next neutral feed zone. The neutral feed zone is stocked with orange
slices, other fruits, and of course liquids.
I don’t know if oranges have ever tasted better to me than they do at
the end of this climb.
My strategy last year was to attack the climb hard while it
was flat and then hang on for the steeper part of the climb. I started to try the same strategy this year,
but I just didn’t have the power to ride the bottom part of the climb
hard. Instead, I settled into a
comfortable climbing pace and just got comfortable. I was not killing it by any means, but the
pace felt good to me. On the way up the
climb, I was passed by more of the 45+ Masters.
I decided not to try and keep their pace because there was really no way
I was going to be able to. I kept
thinking, I am riding this slower than I did the first year. I just decided to relax and enjoy the climb,
and I did. There were several racers who
passed me, but I just stuck to my pace.
Like last year when I recovered on the Strawberry climb, I really
started to feel better on this climb.
I am still trying to figure out why this climb can be
hard. On paper, the grades are not that
difficult. It is exposed and usually
hot, but I am not sure that really plays into.
It is also true that you climb this at around mile 100 (think Cayuse on
RAMROD but it is not as difficult as Cayuse).
For some reason, it can be challenging.
The weather this year was perfect.
Last year it was warmer. There
were riders stopped on the side of this climb looking like they were about to
die last year.
This year, I did not suffer on this climb like I did in past
years. I rather enjoyed it. Because I didn’t kill the bottom, I got
stronger as the climb wore on. The relay
rider that I let go just before the climb and who started the climb before me,
I caught about halfway up the climb.
Matt, the rider from my group who also started about a minute before me
I caught just before the top.
I was riding strong at the end of the climb. The whole time I was climbing, I kept
thinking that I was going too slow. As
it turns out, I didn’t meet my goal of improving my time from the prior year,
but I didn’t do as bad as I thought I was doing. I had in my mind that I was probably over 23
minutes. Instead, I climbed it in 20
minutes and 18 seconds, which was 32 seconds slower than last year. I ended up 61st out of 716 in my category. If I would have been racing this, I would
have been in the Masters 35+B group more than likely. Next year, if I were to race it, I would be
in the Masters 45+ group. If you put my
time compared to both of these groups, I would have been 17th out of 59 in one
of the 35+B groups and I would have been 12th out of 27 in the Masters 45+
group. I guess it is a respectable time,
a little better than half in each category.
However, if I want to be competitive, I really need to get faster on
this climb (which means I need to lose some weight to be more competitive).
Rex had some struggles in this segment also. His body was shutting down on him. He also took a rest stop at the same place I did. After he rested a bit and recovered, he felt much better. He was able to do the climb in just over 21 minutes. He cut nearly 6 minutes off his time from the previous year.
This segment and especially the climb seem to separate the
race groups into the lead group and everyone else. Most years, a group of anywhere from two to
six or seven riders will use this section to create a break away. The rest of the riders play catch up after
that, which is often difficult through Star Valley. As a result, I need to improve through this
segment so that I could keep any gaps to a minimum. You can see parts of this segment on the youtube video I have been posting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQW5GyJwxT4. From 3:59 to 4:58 of this video will show parts of the rid to the bottom of the King of the Mountain and from 4:58 to 5:55 will show parts of the King of the Mountain climb.
When you get on top, there is about half a mile of flat on
the top of the summit before it heads downhill.
LOTOJA had multiple volunteers who would stand with water bottles and
you could grab them as you went by. I
grabbed two and put them in my cages. The following quick video gives a good shot of what the top of the climb looks like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUNZ5EaACKs.
I looked to see where Matt went. If I didn’t want to ride alone in the
Montpelier stretch, I really didn’t want to ride alone in Star Valley, which is
the next part of LOTOJA. Star Valley is
50 miles long. There is usually a stiff headwind
or wicked crosswind in Star Valley. If
you are on your own, it can be a very long day.
Matt was a strong rider and we had worked together well, so I thought it
would be good to continue to ride with him.
As I was just about to hit the descent, I looked back to see
that he was stopping. He was going for
the oranges at the top. When I passed
him on the climb, I could see that he was really suffering. I turned around and started heading back to
see if he wanted to continue to ride with me.
But I instantly remembered my plan, which was to keep my stops to a
minimum. I knew that if I waited for
him, I would probably lose 10 minutes at least on this stop. I also knew that if I got caught in Star
Valley into a headwind by myself, I would use up a lot of energy. I made the decision that I was going to make
my own opportunities and not wait for anyone.
I decided I would follow my plan.
If I was going to stop, I wanted to do it in Afton, which was the next
supported feed stop and was only 17 miles away.
So I basically rode in a circle at the top and headed down the descent. As a road in the circle, a racer with a red
jersey (I forgot his name) from the 45+ group passed me and headed down the
descent, which will turn out to be an important part of my ride.
It wasn’t until I really started analyzing the times of my
prior LOTOJAs that I realized what this race is about. I have always loved riding it for the first
100 miles. I enjoy the climbs better
than the last 100, which is much more flat.
But, in looking at things, I realized that the race is really about the
last 100 miles. Those who ride LOTOJA
fast can make mistakes in the first 100 miles, but they all ride the last 100
miles fast. They average around 25 miles
an hour through Star Valley, and then close to 23 or 24 miles an hour through
the last 46 miles to Jackson.
Before, I had the wrong mentality when I was riding LOTOJA. When I got to the summit of the Salt River
pass I would think to myself, the fun part is over now I have to endure the
flats. This year my goal was to ride the
last half of LOTOJA must harder than I had in prior years. I knew, if I had any shot of finishing under
10 hours, I had to ride the last 96 miles really strong.
As I started down the descent, I initially thought I would
just coast. But I looked up ahead and
saw the rider in the red jersey who passed me when I turned around on top about
a quarter mile ahead of me. He looked to
be coasting down the downhill. Chasing
Conor all summer down the descents on Rainer has helped me become better at the
downhills. My competitive juices started
flowing and I wanted to catch the guy in the Red Jersey. So I turned on the power. Somewhat to my surprise, I had the power that
I felt was lacking earlier in the day.
My legs were finally waking up. I
didn’t realize it at the time, but I was about to ride one of the strongest 50
miles I have ever ridden—to be continued (only two more segments left, I promise).
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