With road and most likely gravel and XC shut down till end of summer, like so many others, I have focused mainly to Steamboat Gravel. I’m going to redo the weights and base plan and will do what I can with dumb bells, resistance bands, and some other weights I have. Once the weather in CO gets back to being nice I’ll be back outside doing 3-5 hour endurance rides as well. I’ll then do my road race intervals 6-8 weeks before SBT I think.
Last year at steamboat gravel I placed 11th overall in the blue course with a time around 5:19 or so. I didn’t plan to really ‘race’ it until I realized I was in the main group going into the second aid station and had to stop to fill up and such. After that, my pace was high, but we took our time chatting and such with people at the following stations. I feel if I were a bit more prepared I could have squeaked in a top 10, maybe higher with a hydration vest and having more food on me. My gearing wasn’t ideal either, 42 up front and 11-32 ear. This year I’ll have a bit more in the rear like 11-42.
This year I’m still doing blue but might change to black. What can I do differently heading into the race to get me on the next level in terms of performance? Last year I did minimal long distance rides. I mainly raced crits all summer with a few long rides here and there. I did do the Firecracker 50 and triple bypass as well to help ‘tune me up’. I have a strong background in cx and xc racing and steamboat gravel was pretty tame in my opinion. I might run panaracer file treads next year due to all of the pavement and smooth gravel/dirt. Focus more on longer distance rides with a lot of 3x20s or over/unders? I have the time with no job due to covid-19 to really ramp up the tss if that matters. W/kg is around 4 during race season and that is at 9,600’
Thanks!
