The Subaru Cup: fail, win, fail. Part 1: Mayor of Bonktown

This last weekend was my first A-Priority race of the season: The Subaru Cup. Held at Mt. Morris, just north of Wautoma, The Subaru Cup is Wisconsin's big race weekend with Cross-country, short track, Super-D, and Downhill. I participated in the Stage race, which included Saturday's XC, and Sunday's Super D and short track.

I'll say this again later on, but this was the coolest race I've ever participated in. The course was unique (as in I've never raced something quite like it), the course was quite challenging, and the entire event was super fun and put on amazingly well.

Part 1 of my post regarding this race will cover the cross country. In short, it was a train wreck for me. I hope this is my worst result of the year. I got 44th of 67 finishers (81 starting). A few things contributed to this:

In my training I haven't gotten the really long miles in for the last two weeks. The longest I've ridden was probably 2.5 or 3 hours. Also, the weather was in the 80s and I went through the chills after lap two. My body body couldn't get acclimated.

Probably the biggest thing that got me was my Accel Gel: it must have spoiled or gotten frozen or heated up too much, as the consistency was abnormal. Usually Accel Gel is thinner than other brands and pretty easy to take in on hot days, but this new case was thicker than Gu and had a granulated texture. It gave me little to no energy, and made me feel sick after I took the second one. I think I went through five bottles of Accelerade in four 4.5-mile laps.

I owe a big thanks to Gehling, The Cannon, and Bitches for keeping me hydrated through my 1 hour, 41-minute bonk ride. I also want to thank Liz Braun for being a mom and checking in on me after the race.

After lap two my goal changed from winning (which was a pre-seaosn goal of mine) to simply finishing. My head was swimming, I had the chills, and my legs were just not going. It took a lot of focus to keep the pedals turning. When I crossed the finish line I went to the Keanu, halucinated that the ceiling was moving, drank a few bottles of water, and took a three hour nap. Not my best moment.

After nap time, I jumped in and helped Lex and her crew with race support for a bit during the Citizen race, and then rode a four-wheeler up to the top of the hill and did Super-D setup with The Don, his brother, and some of the full-time Subi-Cup volunteers. Those were some cool kids, and they deserve big ups for making this event what it was.

After Super-D course setup, I drove back to Madison, showered, and slept for ten hours. In the morning I felt okay. I'd had about a gallon of water and Accelerade before going to bed, and hadn't had to pee all night.

With some rest, time to compose myself, and an internal pep-talk, I returned to Mt. Morris with one thing in mind: Super-D. I am not as fit or fast as most of the Comp men, but I can do one thing better than almost all of them: descend technical, twisty singletrack.

That's enough writing for now; It's time to train.

Up next: The Subaru Cup: fail, win, fail. Part 2: Super-D Redemption.