SBT GRVL!
This Sunday, August 18th, I will be racing SBT Gravel in Steamboat Springs Colorado! This will be my last race in North America this season and I am looking forward to fighting for a strong result. I have been eager to get back to a big race, especially since the Crusher in Tushar was cancelled in July. Luckily, I have been able to race in a couple of local races this past month, but I am anxious to see where I am against such a strong group of women. There is no doubt this will be an extremely hard race with just over 200km of racing and a total of 3,333m of climbing. Another challenge is this race will be at altitude starting at just over 2,000m above sea level and climbing up close to 2,500m above sea level. However, I feel ready for the challenge. The past month I have been putting in a lot of hours on the bike, in the gym, and even doing my best to simulate the race in Calgary training on big gravel routes and doing multiple 6 to 7-hour training rides. The altitude is always a concern and with coming to the race only a few days before you are never quite sure how you are going to react. Yes, there are a lot of the women racing who have spent the past few weeks at altitude but also like myself, some women have arrived just a few days before. I am not extremely concerned about the altitude since spending so much time in Andorra I have quite a bit of time training and sleeping at altitude, and I have already done a couple of altitude camps earlier this year. I feel well adjusted to riding at altitude and so far, I have not suffered any of the negative effects of illness or fatigue riding at altitude. This will be my first race riding at this high of altitude and I know it will be a lot harder than riding and racing at sea level, but everyone will be having to fight the altitude no matter how well you are adjusted to it or not it will make pushing hard efforts difficult!
There are a few more key elements of the race I need to take into consideration, sleep, nutrition, positioning, and pacing. Firstly, the race starts at 6:15am! Obviously quite an early start an important goal for me this week is to make sure I am on top of my sleep and recovery. With this early of a start, I plan on being awake 3:30am just over 2.5 hours prior to the start. Normally I prefer to eat 3 hours before the start, however in this case, I want to prioritize getting in enough sleep the night before and going to bed as early as possible. I am still adjusting to these early starts and a few things I do the night before to make my morning easier is to make sure my kit, nutrition and bottles are ready as well, I make my oats the night before, so I don’t have to worry about making breakfast. The more things I can do the night before to get ready the better I will feel in the morning! Next, my nutrition plan, positioning, and pacing will be critical to have a strong race. I feel confident with my nutrition and hydration strategy, focusing on having 80-90 grams of carbs per hour with a mix of gels and bars has worked quite well for me in the past so I will continue with that strategy.
The toughest part of the race for me will be the start and potentially pacing. This race is a mass start with both men and women lining up at the same time. Last time I did a race like this was at the Traka. In this race I got lost in the mix of riders, stuck behind crashes, and lost the top 3 women before the race even started. I spent a lot of time by myself during that race or with a group of people that didn’t work well together. All these factors can negatively affect your race. I am hoping the start of this race is not as hectic as the Traka, but if it is, I really need to be more forceful and confident with staying with the top 5 to 10 women. Starting with the men also causes issues with pacing as most of the time they go out extremely hard and fast. With about 7 hours of racing, I don’t want to blow up in the first hour, but I also don’t want to miss the front group of women. I am taking a more of an aggressive approach to this race by pushing myself a bit harder in the start than maybe in the past but doing this so I can stay with the front women but also get in a good group of riders to work with. Hopefully this works out well for me! It is better to try new strategies then playing it safe all the time. I feel confident being more aggressive at the start will work out well for me and my fueling strategy will help me maintain a strong effort throughout the race.
The past few days I have rode the course in three different parts, the first 76km which features the longest 7km climb and hardest climb of the day and then I rode 50km on the south side of the course which featured two more 5km climb and a steep 1.7km climb. Finally, I rode the last 50km of the course. Within these three rides I have been able to cover most of the course. I really like the course, the gravel is very smooth, the climbs are hard with some steep sections, and there are a few technical downhills. I would say SBT gravel offers everything! I believe the hardest part of the race is the first climb coming at around 40km. It is a gradual 7km climbing averaging 4% but there are steep pitches towards the end and climbing to over 2500m above sea level. With the altitude, length and steep sections, as well as the narrowing of the road this section is where the race will really blow up and critical for me to be in a good position to make the front group. The other key features are in the next climbs where both have more technical downhills with loose gravel, big rocks, and ruts in the road. For me I will want to make more time on the climbs as I don’t want to risk crashing or flatting on the downhills. Other than the key climbs this is a very fast course! With that in mind it will be extremely important to stay in a strong and cohesive group of riders as being on your own will make it a long day out!
I hope you enjoyed this blog and be sure to keep up to date! Next blog I will be getting ready for the UCI Alpine Gravel Challenge in Switzerland! As always, thank you to my incredible sponsors and support team, TLAB, CAPO, Kenda, HUNT, POC, Ride Bikes & Service, and Inspire Athlete Management for getting me to the start.
