Treading A Fine Line

After last weekends ride I was back to work in a big way on Monday with a 14 hour door to door day. I decided to call this a "rest" day as I wasn't doing any training.

Tuesday was a gym session then work until about 3am.

Balls in a rack....what a great metaphor for my week!!

Wednesday I was stuck in a hotel so instead of sit on an exercise bike for an hour and a half I thought "I need more time on my feet" so I ran on the treadmill (it was raining outside) for an hour. While I don't think I had run all year, with my fitness the aerobic effort was easy enough but I did wonder about the effects it might have on my body/joints. An early sleep for the allnighter that I was about to pull at work confirmed my lack of running form as I was quite stiff when I woke up. All good though, right?

Getting home from work at 6am Thursday, I took the kids to the bus at 7:30 then got about 3 hours sleep. I wandered around in my usual post red-eye daze for most of the day, then loaded 30kg of weight plates into my backpack for a 5km hike on Cornubia singletrack. Now, let me tell you, 30kg + the pack is frickin' heavy!! That 5km was a struggle and I was mighty glad to get that pack off my back. It also left me greatly concerned about the Grand Canyon hike, as many racers seem to have loads approaching 30kg. To lump that weight 35km with 1300m descent and then 1500m climb would be the end of me. I don't think I could do it after having just ridden 1200km.....

Friday was to be another gym session followed by a 1 hour, hard Zone 5 effort on the bike..............or it was supposed to be. I warmed up for my gym session then pulled up lame. My right calf was a tight as a bow string and I couldn't do much at all. We called it on the gym session after some core work with my head trainer, Jim, telling me I looked tired and to take a rest.

Laying it all out like I have above makes it bleedingly obvious that I was on the feathery edge of overtraining. Friday morning however, I was just thinking "what is wrong with me" as for the last two and a half months I have felt great, slowly feeling stronger and stronger. I wasn't even considering overtraining!

 Overtraining is something that takes months to come back from if you do go over that edge. I took the rest of Friday off and truncated my Saturday and Sunday rides to be shorter and much less intense.

 I slept a lot and am slowly feeling better now as of  Monday morning. 

Note to self - there is no running in the AZTR so - DON'T GO RUNNING, DICKHEAD!!

While in repair mode I finally forced myself to get my bike portage system sorted out. I have been loathing this part of the preparation for some reason. Perhaps it makes the Grand Canyon hike more real? Perhaps, my lack of backpacking experience? I'm not sure. Anyway, I sat there for about 30 minutes thinking about the best way to load my bike. I attached the Mountainsmith Strappettes to the seat tube and linked them around the head tube with some other strap that I had. Hoisting it up on my back I found that I needed to adjust the position of the strapettes on the seat tube to get a better balance but on Take 2 it was basically sorted!

That seat bag will be relocated to below the wheel

I was very pleasantly surprised that the load wasn't uncomfortable at all and most importantly, it wasn't too heavy. In fact, fully loaded, ready to race (without food or water) the bike comes in at 19.4kg (42.7 lb). I am super stoked with that!! Obviously water and food will up the weight considerably but on the plus side I don't need to carry much water through the canyon as I can top up as I go. 

Selfie via the GoPro app. Yes, I look tired.

Another pleasant surprise was that the bike wasn't too hard to get on and off of my back (slight disclaimer - I wasn't completely rooted from 10 days straight on a bike!) though. Maybe hiking with 30+kg on my back was paying off?

I also got my bike to the point where I am happy with it's setup. 

At the urging of my friend Owen, a tyre construction guru, industrial chemist and general man-of-mystery, I have switched out the Maxxis Ikon on the rear to a heavier duty Maxxis Rekon. This is solely to help avoid punctures, particularly sidewall cuts as the Ikon is quite a lightweight construction tyre. Owen also walked me through the use of his patented (seriously!) puncture repair system. I will have a kit with me during the race which I hope not to need but am totally confident that if I do, it will be the duck's nuts in puncture repair.

Yes, the yellow grips will be yellow for about 2 hours.

I do have an upgrade to do to the drivetrain, with a box of SRAM GX Eagle to throw at the bike today or tomorrow. This will also become the pre race rebuild. With me as chief mechanic, lets hope I don't screw anything up!(too much)

With less than two weeks until I fly out it is getting to the pointy end of my preparation. I am feeling a bit underdone on many fronts right now but hopefully I can rectify most of these issues in the next 10 days. Some have to wait until I get to the US, as I will be ordering my bivy to be delivered to my hotel in Pheonix, along with a few other small bits and pieces. 

This all adds to the anxiety though.......Deep breaths, deep breaths.........but at least I'm not overtrained!!

Cheers.

Plus Size

No, I am not referring to garments for larger folk here. I mean + size mountain bike tyres. 

Fat bottom girl....... 3.0 inch

Plus (+) size tyres are in the 2.8 to 3.0 inch width range (“normal” is 2.0 to 2.4) and are a relatively new “standard” in the mtb industry. The idea is to allow tyres to be run at low pressure (10-15 psi) to give superglue-like grip and have more flex to help avoid punctures. I joined the + size crowd late last year to see what the fuss was about and have been enjoying the ridiculous grip that 3 inch tyres give. The down side is that there is a lot of rubber in a + size tyre. That mass is harder to spin up to speed and also makes it harder to change direction.

How this relates to me and my AZTR750 attempt is that I really don't need to make this race any harder than it needs to be (you could argue that using a + size 27.5 bike instead of a "normal" 29er is already enough of a handicap).

Typical 29er with 2.1 or 2.2 tyres

To this end, I have been hunting for tyre recommendations from Arizona locals on the various forums. I have learnt plenty about what people think will and will not work, tyre wise, but some of the recommended tyres aren't available Down Under.

As a result, I have used some gut instinct, some blind faith and a dash of test pilot to make the leap to purchase a couple of Maxxis 2.8 tyres. I have gone for a Rekon with EXO (sidewall protection) for the front and an Ikon, also with EXO for the rear.

My reasoning? Well, the "go to" tyre for 29 inch wheels in this race is the Maxxis Ardent, as it is tough enough to withstand the AZ desert. You can't get an Ardent in a + size, so the closest tyre I can see is the Recon. It has a waaaay more aggressive tread than I need with + size tyres but that tread will hopefully help with puncture protection. I will, unfortunately, also slow me down with a bit of extra rolling resistance.

For the rear I have, somewhat controversially, gone with an Ikon.
Controversial?
Yes, because Ikons are a bit lightweight in construction in their skinnier incarnation. I used an Ikon 2.2 on the rear of my Tour Divide bike because I didn't need that much grip, instead preferring less rolling resistance in that 4500km gravel grind. With the + size version though, that relative lack of grip isn't as pronounced because there is simply way more rubber on the trail. The real test will be to see how resilient to cuts and punctures it will be as the AZT is notoriously brutal on tyres, especially sidewalls and this is where the skinny Ikon is a bit weak. The sidewalls "feel" quite thick with Maxxis's added EXO sidewall protection even though the tyre is 120tpi (threads per inch) construction. I would have preferred both tyres to be the tougher 60tpi construction but this is where there is some compromise in + size tyres. Going too strong in the casing adds weight. Weight equals slower speed - as in forward motion and in steering feel.
Both are bad, m'kay?

You can see from the photos below how much weight I have shaved off the rotating mass just with the new 2.8 tyres, versus the 3.0s I have been running.

WTB Bridger 3.0 that I have been running on the front.

Maxxis Rekon 2.8 that will replace the Bridger - 297grams saved (10.5 oz)!

Maxxis Chronicle 3.0 (60tpi) that I have been running on the rear.

Maxxis Ikon 2.8 that will adorn the rear - 227g (8 oz) saving!!

Only time will tell if I have chosen wisely. + size tyres aren't cheap, so I will be sticking by my choice unless I can prove them to be unworthy over the next 4 weeks prior to the race. This means getting the Beast loaded up and hammering it across some rocky, unforgiving trails. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we don't have the cacti problem so I can't simulate that particular issue in trying to expose any weakness. While a 524g (1.15 lb) saving is significant, it is worthless if the tyres let me down on day one in the Canelos.

Not rocky, nor unforgiving - but it was on the way to find rocky and unforgiving!


Fingers crossed I have chosen wisely.....................or that I ride lucky...........!
I will be happy to take either.





Cheers