3/15 UFD Last Miner, KOM

 

Last Miner format- be the rider to ride the most laps without crying uncle. You had to finish each lap in under an hour, wait for the hour and go again. I had no intention of riding all day, but wanted to get some race intensity in, especially at St. Joe as this is my A priority XC race for 2025. My goal was to do 3, maybe 4 laps, at race pace, check out the new fit, new nutrition program and see if my fitness was as good as I was feeling like it was.

There were almost 70 people registered so I was expecting more people to be doing something similar to my plan, but with the rain in the forecast and tornadoes in St Louis the night before, a lot of people didn't show. The faster guys were committed to doing the event format, so I was basically time trialing. 

I did a minimal warm up and we lined up and took off. No one responded so I had a gap almost immediately and went balls out. Legs were a little locked up but I was pushing hard. Trail was grippy and tight with minimal wet spots, although the washed out sections were a little chunkier. I was riding pretty well considering I didn't remember the course or lines well and came through at 37:32, which I knew was pretty fast because the KOM was 42-ish. I had 20 minutes to spin out the legs, stretch a little and change out my bottles. I was doing 100g carbs in the bottles and supplementing with gels/Red Bull. 

Lap two was laser focus and I was seeing the trail in slow motion and looking ahead multiple segments. It was Jedi shit. The legs were heavy, but responsive and I came through for my fastest of the 4 laps at 36:54. My normalized had faded from 269 to 261, but my speed was up due to the efficiency. 

Pretty much the same recovery drill but I sucked down another Red Bull and lined up for lap 3. I was definitely expecting a lot of fade on this lap due to  my lack of racing intensity and early season fitness but was a little astonished at the numbers I was seeing for the first few laps and was committed to keep pushing. The nutrition mix and Red Bull proved to be a bit too high and my stomach started to turn a bit and I was burping a lot. I stayed on the nutrition bottle but it was too much and I switched to the water about half way through to try to settle my stomach. I'm thinkin 75g bottles in the summer with less fructose and a little less Gatorade mix will be about right. I was shocked to finish at 37:14, again power had faded @ 256 np, but speed was still faster than first lap. 

I decided to go for one more assuming I would detonate but ok to just ride it out. I had a Enervit Gel to make up for getting off the nutrition bottle, which are easy on my stomach, and watered down a nutrition bottle with water to about 50 grams. I didn't bring a plain water bottle this time. My legs were definitely heavy and my heart rate wasn't responsive. I wasn't making mistakes too much but I wasn't able to keep the cadence up to really rail turns and gain momentum into the areas I needed to. I was pretty surprised that even though it was my slowest lap at 37:37, it wasn't that far off the pace, especially 4 hours in. My np faded to 250 and my heart rate dropped, but all in all, it wasn't terrible. 

I've looked back through all the Dirt Crits and XC races from last year and it's certain my fitness is on another level, I think the fit has unleased 15-20 watts on it's own. This was definitely a climbing course but even compared to the first lap of XC races last year I was nowhere near the np of the first 3 laps. Same with the dirt crits, but I've never been strong at producing power on flatter courses. Regardless, while I missed ski racing this winter not taking a big break is definitely paying off. 

12/8 Bubba #10 @ Vlasis. State Championship, Masters, 1st.

 I didn't choke. 

 The last few weeks I stuck to the plan, reduced volume, was getting rested, sleeping well and going hard during the workouts. It was a legit taper/peak period. After mountain biking all year my technical riding was significantly better than last and I was far more efficient. I made an effort to walk, stretch and eat well so that I didn't drop weight due to anxiety the weeks leading up to the race, unlike the year before. Friends were asking me about the race and my response was that I genuinely only wanted to race a race that was to my highest capability and walk away from it knowing I did my best, which is something I had not been able to do the previous two years.

 I did not think I could beat Devin if he decided to show up, which I figured he would. I  assumed that his technical ability would have improved since last year and that even a technical course at Vlasis wouldn't shift enough in my favor. One thing I did not want  was an *asterisk* result and as the race approached wasn't seeing any of the stronger competitors from StL or KC that don't usually race in StL, or StL guys that could pop into the masters race that don't usually do it. I was over confident in 2022 and lost a race I should have won because I choked, and since Anthony wanted to win the overall series and the trip to AZ, there was that asterisk as *first MO rider for the winner.  I figured Devin would race twice as he likely assumed it was a sure thing and it was unlikely he would podium in the A race,  but saw he registered for the A race and didn't appear to be doubling up. Anthony was headed to Chicago and it looked like the KC guys weren't coming. As much as I wanted to win, I wanted it to be validated and did not want an out of state rider in front of me on the results. Had I not been challenged by someone like Devin, the result would not have had the same weight.

Devin showed up and registered the morning of. I can't say it didn't rattle me since I wasn't expecting him, so I committed to going all in, instead of the slightly more defensive approach I was considering. The course wasn't too technical but it had a significant amount of climbing and I thought he would be able to separate himself in the fields and on the climbs because it was a lot of power. I didn't pick up on it as much in warm ups but there were 3 distinct recovery sections that separated the very hard sections, which is always a good thing for me. Extended flat power was not and this course was either very fast leading into tech sections, or climbing with difficult off camber and switchbacks.  The weather was perfect, I was feeling good (even though I had been up since 3 am) and there was a good mix of anxiety and ritualistic calm. Harre and Morgan were in the 50 plus so I had a pretty good idea of what was coming.

 I went hard from the gun, fishtailed like a mofo through the first corner and took off. I was riding frenetically, as usual, and  there was a gap immediately.  My breathing was rhythmic, borderline asthmatic sounding, which is always a good sign when I can get into that rhythm. I was charging and not looking back. I don't think Devin ever made it onto my wheel and was amazed at the gap I opened up in a short period of time. Looking at the numbers, my NP for lap one was 317 and 273 avg for the race. It was decisive and  I had 8 seconds on Devin before we hit the sand on the first lap. The first lap was about 5:38.

Harre caught me on the second lap in the field and it went from frenetic to steady. It felt like he was riding a slower pace than I wanted and it was the slowest lap of the race at around 5:53, but the next lap was slightly faster at 545 and the gap to Devin kept growing. By mid race I had over 30 seconds. Harre kept pacing me. Synchronized cyclocross.  After going all out for the first few laps and the legs locking up with lactate, I was able to utilize the recovery sections and they opened and  was overcome with that slowed down feeling was the one that comes when you're flying and seeing everything perfectly, more common to me on a mtb or skiing, and it was awesome. I would get gapped but somehow manage to catch back on and hang on to the pace he was setting.  There were a few dabs and I ran  return section of sand on the second lap, but it was a very clean race and we were fucking flossing the decent to the sand pit, rooster tailing out of the sand. 

With 2 to go I had over a minute gap to Devin, was still with Harre and realizing things were going well, but trying to concentrate on remaining focused. I expected Chris to drop me at that point but he didn't and we were cruising. As it turns out, the last 4 laps were almost identical power, speed and time. He is the master of pacing. When we hit the return section of sand on the last lap I dabbed, Chris kept going and that was that. There was absolutely no way I would have even tried to attack him anyway (technically we're teammates now).   I celebrated for the first time all season. It was utter joy. I felt total validation in the victory, largely due to facing off with one of my biggest competitors when it mattered and succeeding as well as riding with a guy who finished 2cd at Nationals last year after a last row start and I view as on another level. I finished over a minute and a half in front of Devin.  There is no doubt in my mind that had we been racing head to head it would have been different, but riding with Chris was also a huge accomplishment.

I haven't really done this for any other races but am curious.

Lap              NP/AVG             Speed

5:38             317/303               11.7

5:53             279/255               11.2 (ran sand)

5:45             272/244               11.4

5:49             266/240               11.2

5:49             252/236               11.2

5:49             265/241               11.2

5:49             267/240               11.2

The backstory/2024 season wrap up journal. 

I've always chased State Championships. Regardless of the significance, it is an easy goal to put on the calendar and work towards. I've won a few cross country mountain biking jerseys, a SS MTB jersey, a road jersey and a cyclocross jersey. The CX jersey was in 2007 as a Cat III, my first year racing CX. Unfortunately, it was the ice storm CX in Hermann and didn't fell totally validated given the field size, even though I finished 3rd behind Josh and Nate, it lit the fuse and I made it a goal for the next year. I had an amazing season racing mountain bikes with some huge wins on the regional level and a podium at Nationals, but never won a CX race and ended up 5th at the State Championships in Hermann, the one year that both the KC and STL guys squared off. In 2009 I won a MTB State Championship in a hot field but the rest of the season was a little bit of a reset after racing so much the year before and I had just met my future wife, so I also had a shift in priorities. I came into CX season more rested and didn't win a race all season but had a great ride at States and ended up 3rd behind Josh and Shottler, both of whom were dominant at the time. I got married in 2010, didn't race much over the summer due to my wedding, my best friends wedding and my honeymoon in the end of September really didn't race much CX, then I stopped riding bikes for 10 + years. 

In 2021 my nephew came to visit and do some Bubba races in October. I watched one race and knew I needed to get back into it. My daughter was now 9, my wife and I weren't working weird schedules like we did to avoid using day care and I bought a bike on a Tuesday, rode once or twice and raced twice that next weekend. I did 4 more C/B races and then lined up for the masters States race and finished 7/12. The goal for the jersey was set for 2022 and, even though the only race I won all year when Anthony was out of town, I finished 2cd to him every race and given that he was not a MO rider knew I had a good shot. The weekend before I raced who I assumed would be my biggest competitor, Jason Douglas from KC, and put close to 2 mins into him. All signals were looking good but on race day I completely choked and could not perform at a level close to where I had been. It was all mental/stress/anxiety related and just took too much of a toll. Anthony raced to win the points overall and trip to AZ, Jason won the jersey in a close race and I ended up with a *asterisk* second MO rider. I was pretty much devastated but it was motivating because I could taste how close it had been.

I committed myself to a legit training plan, trained way more over the winter after ski practice, and was seeing huge gains. I was fit when the season rolled around and Devin Glenn showed up as a fresh 40 year old masters racer and was capable of laying down far more power than I could, but technical courses and his ride hard all the time methodology were level setting to some extent. I finished 2cd to him 5 times and won 4 times going into States. If the track at Sylvan was a more technical one I thought my chances were decent, which it wasn't, and once again, I choked. I had a good start and went completely backwards for two laps before righting the ship to some extent and finishing 30 seconds or so behind Devin. There was a strong KC rider so there was the *asterisk* of 2cd MO rider again, but the reality was I wasn't competitive at all and got smoked. I took it hard and lost a lot of motivation. 

Over the winter we were skiing a lot and I started a TV room project in the basement and rode little to none for over 2 months. I wasn't really processing it at the time, but realized how much it impacted me when seeing numbers relative to the same time the year before and started working hard in March. By the time States rolled around the previous two seasons I was feeling a little cooked so my plan was to start racing CX a little later and shift all the training back a few weeks and work on the timing. I rode a lot of gravel from March-June and was getting a little bored with it and it hit me one day that I needed something different and talked my wife into letting me get a mtb. I bought the bike a day or two before going on vacation. I had ridden a lot up to our annual trip to Key West in mid June and it was going to be a long 10 days off, so I brought running shoes. I didn't run a ton on the trip but when I did I ran pretty hard. I didn't realize it at the time but it was basically a mini rest-peak period. We got back, I finished 4th in my first Cat 1  mountain bike race since 2010 two weeks later and won a hard, hot race with solid competition a week or so after that. The rest of the summer I raced XC as much as possible, did long mtb rides to work on the technical skills and a few short track races. It was so refreshing to have a new outlet and I was having more fun than ever racing. There was very little anxiety, which was weird and I was doing pretty well. 

I did some structured training over the summer as well, but mainly was in maintenance phase since I was racing so much which I continued through the third week in September because I couldn't pass up the One Eyed Dog (2 lapper) and a return to one of my most hallowed racing tracks at Council Bluff. I took another 7 days off to go back east and visit my family and fish. Even though I snuck in a few runs it was pretty bad timing to take that much off the bike, but the silver lining was it would be pushing the season back and sticking to the plan. 

I was feeling the CX program kicked in and training through races in a way I never had before. I wasn't seeing numbers close to the previous year in racing, and without Devin  or Anthony in attendance, I was winning and not being tested. My rest week was before Faust so I hoped to see improvement to the data. Unfortunately, Anthony showed up on day one. It was a total slog, I was ultra flat physically after a full five days without intensity and I literally flatted mid race to further the suffering. I finished 3rd but it was extremely hard. The next day Anthony didn't show up, I went from the gun and put down a top 3 performance compared to the last 3 years, solo from the gun. The only motivation was personal. The rest of the races were wins but I didn't come close to that performance and without the weekly testing from Devin or Anthony was feeling that I was at probably 90% of where I was the year before. The last race, Snowy St Vincent, Anthony and I had another great race and although I ultimately lost, I had the legs to close down a big gap mid race, attacked and put time into him at a critical point on the second to last lap but blew it when I couldn't clip in for the whole last lap. It was refreshing and fun and I was more confident but still totally uncertain and not confident I could ride at a level to win the jersey if any of the top guys showed up... to the top.

12/1 Bubba #9 @ Snowy St Vincent, Masters, 2cd/last place.

 

I fucking love cyclocross. I fucking love snow. I put a "Snow Stick"  Amelia made in the yard to measure it every time there is chance of snow. Been that way since I can remember. Cyclocross is suck ass conditions that separate the men from the boys. It's also like being a kid again.  Pretty much anywhere that good cyclocross racers come from the riders show up when the conditions are bad, because that's what it's all about. Not in St. Louis. Yesterday a handful of die hard men and women from our dwindling CX scene showed up, raced hard, shared frustration but ultimately, relished in stories. I fucking lost a race of two I was leading on the last lap becuase I couldn't clip back in and it was the happiest reaction I've had to a race in years. Glad you stayed home? Sell your CX bike and fuck off. You're all dead to me. Kidding, but not really. I don't know what the line in the sand is for Mike numbers wise, but if he pulls the plug or even just pre-emtpively cancels the races due to weather it'll be the suck. 

Last week was a real taper week. I did my openers in the snow / ice and could no longer shift by the end. I was feeling saucy as fuck. I was racing at a +10 which I think is the highest I ever have for a CX race and using it as a test run for the State race next weekend, and while the weather definitely through a wrench into the numbers thing for comparison sake, I'll take that over a dry, dusty and bumpy course any day.

We lined up on a barely ridden track with about 4" of snow and a 20 degree windchill. I dressed completely different then I have for a cold race and my hands never had issues. I sweat a ton and felt pretty warm at one point, but it was better than the alternative. It only has taken me 20-ish years of racing to figure that out. 

Anthony and I lined up. Mano y Mano, with a handful of SS guys in front of us. They let us off at 1 minute intervals, so it was spread out. My plan was to ride defensively and try to plan an attack. 3 laps in I was unable to clip back in for quite some time and Anthony opened a sizeable gap, I would guess close to 30 seconds. I wasn't optimistic but it was nice to be able to say fuck it and put in the effort and not think too much. I uncorked my fastest lap of the day and was back on his wheel, surprising him a bit. On the penultimate lap Anthony made a mistake in the single track section and I took off and was able to open a decent gap immediately. I had to unclip before the start finish, not even dab, just unclip and could not get back in. I fucked with it out of frustration and then tried to ride it back in, which didn't work either. I made it to the end of the first pavement section before he caught me, and that was that. The gap opened quickly. I was never able to clip back in. I had good legs and the timing was perfect, but sometimes the best laid plans still fail. If I ever have another snow race I will 100% put on a pair of old eggbeaters I have. It would have made a huge difference. It was a great race.

Looking forward to one more race, hoping I can have the legs I know I am capable of having and then looking forward to drinking heavily through the holidays. 

11/24 Bubba #8 @ Spanish Lake, Masters, 1st.

 Last week of training for 2024. Recovery is getting longer and my plan is to try a real taper with far less and  fewer impacting workouts/ volume and see what happens. Don't think I've ever really done this intentionally as I've always raced well with a high training load, but the sceince does not align with my perception. My thoughts at the moment are I'm getting tired and think my second peak was probably late August, am not sure mtb as much as I did in relation to riding gravel all summer was as good for my CX fitness and, now that I'm not going to be skiing in the winter, think getting a good base in will really help next season. So far, I really don't think I reached a level of fitness close to what I had last November. Might be age, might be preparation or I might just be a pussy. Fun to think about nevertheless.

My first CX race was at Spanish Lake in 2007. Chris Harre beat me but I was hooked. I didn't know anything about CX but had crazy endurance after a season of 6 and 12 hour racing. The last two years have been muddy. This was a big, wide open, fast track. I pre-rode almost two laps and nothing really stuck out. The gravel ride up needed to be taken straight on and there were a few off camber and greasy/acorny turns. Warming up the leaves were thick so I didn't really see that until the race and learned the hard way. 

There were 4 of us but with Brandon and Carter in the SS class, I was looking forward to the overall as well. I got a good jump and a few turns in went down and racked my knee and calf on the greasy 180, but recovered quickly and didn't loose any spots. By lap 2 I caught Brandon and Carter  but made a few more mistakes and lost a few seconds which turned into 5-10. Carter took the lead over Brandon and with 3 to go I caught Brandon and was keeping the same gap on Carter, which I'm sure was him riding conservatively for the next race. I was able to extend my lead pretty quickly over Brandon and rode a clean second half of the race. I finished about a minute in front of him and a few minutes in front of Jon. 

Overall, a strong race. Focus was really good. My left quad was feeling a little locked up but not the normal IT thing, which I think was just from going deep on the intervals on Thursday. Aside from Day 2 at Faust my AVG/NP has been lower than last year. I changed my PM at some point towards the end of last season, but not sure when. My speed and cadence has been relatively high this year, and mountain biking has definitively improved my cornering, but the lower power makes me wonder. 

11/17 Bubba 7 @ Queeny, Masters, 1st.

Originally, I wasn't planning on doing this race. I hate Queeny and thought I could use a weekend off but after a rest week followed by a low volume week I figured the racing stimulus would be good.  Legs were torched after the weekend at Faust and trying to get the numbers into the positive for the last few weeks so took it pretty easy with a few hours on Tuesday and a great interval/skills workout on Thursday.  Did a shorter and more polarized openers ride on Sat, that I liked a lot. 

Course was super hard. Grass was still wet and super long/thick and there were two steep sections. The first was pretty slippery to get up, the second I didn't even try to ride and was amazed to hear that by the end of the day people could ride it, but assuming it dried out a lot. I was assuming this would be a super high powered course but there was enough finesse sections/corners, one really long downhill and one shorter one right after that which leveled out the power. Oddly, I didn't feel like there was much recovery to be had in those spots.  

There were 7 of us, which was nice, and another 6 or 7 in the SS class 15 seconds ahead of us, including Brandon. I took the hole shot and went down on the steep 180 and Jon went past and put in an effort to get away. It took me a bit to catch back up to him and the front runners of the SS class were a good distance. off. 

Once I passed Jon I was able to start opening up gaps and passing the SS class. I was riding pretty well and mistake free after the crash but the run up and subsequent uphill was super taxing. I was motivated to catch Brandon but it seemed like I was only gaining a second or two each lap. I ended up catching him on the last lap and was looking forward to it playing out but got caught up in some lapped traffic before the first steep hill and then again just before the run up. I jumped off early to get around a rider before the run up and went all out to get up it.  He had a few seconds on me when I crested the run up but I was torched and couldn't close it down right away. I sprinted it out on the pavement and probably finished 4 seconds behind him and about 3 minutes in front of Jon. Last lap was the fastest.  Good race. 

11/9 - 11/10 Bubba 5 & 6 @ Faust, Masters. 3rd Day 1, 1st day 2.

 There's a lot I'd like to journal to remember about these two races. First off, coming off a big block of training and only having raced in the negative so far this year, I was expecting day one to be hard and historically have always had a really good day the second day. This year, day one was far worse than expected, and while a flat didn't help, It was a 9.5/10 on the RPE scale for me. Day two was still super hard but my IT bands weren't locked up as bad and it was super hard because, by all metrics, it was my second strongest race in the last 3 seasons and my strongest was Spanish Lake last year, which was more of a gravel race.

Hard interval day last Sat, easy 1.5 hrs Sun, off M/T, easy 1 hr rollers Wed, 1 hr Th with a few sprints, easy 1 hr Friday. 

Day 1-

Rained a lot during the week and race morning. Track was super straight, soft and thick grass. There was one straight slight downhill in the field, but you had to pedal hard through it. The paved section was short and with wet leaves a little sketch, but not as bad as it looked. The 5-ish seconds on the pavement was the only real recovery spot, but day 1 I didn't use it as a chance to recover due to the wet. Pretty much hard pedaling the whole course, power heavy.

 I got a good, long-ish warm up in with some efforts on the rollers and didn't really need to ride anything more than 1 lap to know what the track was like.

There were 4 of us. It's killing me, but that's another story. Anthony, Dave and Jon. Always happy when Anthony shows up since we have a great rivalry. There were 5 or 6 SS guys in front of us with Brandon, who has been having some strong races. I really don't recall too much. Anthony and I got a little gap and rode the first 3 laps together. Dave caught us and attacked. We didn't react. I was suffering and the legs were locked, but I was able to ride wheels. We caught Dave again on lap 4, I think, and Anthony had realized I was faster than him through the barriers and did some blocking, both with his body and then with his bike when I went the opposite way. I was riding faster than him through most corners so I decided to take the outside line and block him as repayment for the barriers after the pines, which worked pretty well because he said something. Not long after that I went down in a corner, he passed and I was gapped by a few seconds behind him and Dave. By the time we got to the barn they had 5 seconds or so and were hitting the gravel when I smoked my front wheel on the concrete. I realized it was leaking pretty quickly and by the time I hit the pavement on the other side of the field it was pretty much flat. I rode it out to about the switchbacks before the barriers and had to run the rest to the pits, changed my wheel and got back on. Anthony had dropped Dave, I was a good 45 seconds back and that was that. Can't say I finished strong but I was able to hold off Jon, for third. Super hard day. 

Day 2

Was able to Stans my wheel, get all dialed in for Sunday, eat well and get my feet up. I went to bed early and got my first legit night of sleep all week after a brutal week at work and too much drinking. My legs were pretty torched in the morning but I was committed to doing my best to right the ship. I was a little bummed the course was pretty much the same as day 1, just with slightly different lines due to ruts, but got a good warm up in and was ready to go. 

There were 3 of us but I knew that Dave was probably feeling confident after the day before, and Sean was there as well. I have had some good races when going from the gun, regardless of the competition, and today I wasn't going to ride conservatively. Kukla and Brandon were in a field of 6 or 7 SS riders, which were the carrots. I took off and went hard. I was catching SS riders before the field in the back and latched on to Kukla, Brandon and one other SS guy. By mid lap two I had passed everyone but Kukla, who had a good gap and I was putting time into Dave who was behind Brandon and the other guy and more slowly I was putting time into them.

By mid race I had a big gap on the chasers and I would guess Kukla had the same on me, if not more. With 2 to go Dave might have shaved a few seconds off and was pushing hard on the bell lap but I was able to maintain what I would assume was a 30-45 second gap, not really sure. 

This was my strongest CX race with the expectation of Spanish Lake last year ( 271 avg / 292 NP), which was the gravel version . Avg power 269 W / 281 NP , compared to 255 / 269 the day before. More important than the W is the confidence boost from this, because training through all the previous races and seeing lower numbers is never a good thing.

10/27 Bubba 4 @ St. Vincent, Masters, 1st.

 Another big for me week of training, which is funny because that's only about 10 hours these days. It's tough to get the numbers I want when racing on Sunday, but I the racing itself is a huge part of the prep and fun, so fuck it. I got in a 3 hr easy ride in on Saturday and was tired, but not too bad. First one of those in a long time. It was great.

Little washed out on Sunday morning but the legs felt better than last week and I got a decent warm up in before pre-riding. Also, ate a couple Cliff blocks before the warm up and went with the 160 cal Enervit Gel pre race, which definitely helped. The course was huge, used up a lot of area at St Vinnies and was by far my favorite Bubba track that I can remember. Definitely a crossers course. 

There were about 5 SS guys that started 15 seconds in front of us. Brandon was there again so I was motivated to chase him down this week. I got a good jump and was into the sand with a bike length or two. I rode it cleanly and there was more separation. I was really surprised I caught some of the SS guys before the downhill parallel to the paved uphill and was opening gaps on the 40 plus guys, but nothing major. 

After the sand on the second lap I had 5-10 seconds on the 40+ and by the parking lot had caught and passed all the SS guys. I was free and said fuck it and went full throttle. On laps 3 and 4 there was an out of town guy from the 50 plus who had passed all the 40+/SS riders and was closing down the gap to me, maybe to 30 seconds or so. I thought he was in our race so I went hard. Aside from the first lap every lap was faster. I was able to open the gap on Paul, probably to around a minute and Dave was the first 40 plus rider behind him. 

Really happy with this race. I had total focus and felt great. Am really looking forward to how racing feels without this training load. One more big week.