By Holly
Ready about how Holly rode the Almanzo on her own, but not by herself. A great read about a wonderful bike journey! And Holly? It’s probably best we don’t tell our mothers about everything we do…
Almanzo 100! Where do I begin??? I really had no idea what to expect when I signed up for this race. When I mailed in my postcard in January the longest ride I had ever completed was 65 miles and that was on my road bike. How was I going to survive 100 miles on gravel?
The answer to that questions is quite well actually! I have spent the majority of my spring trying to get as much time in on my saddle, and specifically on my new Salsa Vaya, as I could. I wish I could say that it was love at first ride with my new gravel rig, but it was not! Training came with a lot of frustrations and sore spots. My first venture out on gravel fell on Easter Sunday. AJ and I set out to ride 80-100 miles on a beautiful day. All started well, but around mile 60 I started to get super tired and nauseous. It took all I had to continue to spin the pedals and force a shot block down my throat. I hobbled away from those 82 miles feeling sore, defeated and doubtful. I had roughly one month to get my shit together before Almanzo.
The Easter ride was my first realization of how important nutrition and hydration becomes when you do endurance rides. My mistakes were not eating a large enough breakfast, not eating soon enough or enough on the ride and not consuming enough water. All these mistakes would take a little trial and error to figure out, but I still had time. Bottom line: EAT MORE!
A few days later Zach and I put down 47 miles on mostly gravel and I came to the conclusion that the Vaya needed some major adjustments. Everything about it was uncomfortable to me. My back, neck, shoulders, knees and butt were all feeling the pain. And struggling to ride less than half the distance of Almanzo made me slightly panicked. The one thing that did go well for me on this ride was nutrition. I packed a variety of things besides shot blocks and Clif bars. Who knew beef jerky and Lay’s potato chips could be so delicious?! Having salty and sweet options on my ride was the best thing I have figured out so far. I have had people laugh at what I pull out of my frame bag to eat, but you never know what is going to sound good during an endurance ride.
The next few weeks involved more miles and more adjustments to the Vaya and preparations for my first biking challenge of the year. I was registered to ride the Fulton Gran Fondo on May 10th. This would be my very first century and my chance to do an easier trial run before the big show on the 17th. I did have a little confidence going into this ride because it would all be on asphalt and on my road bike, Ruby. I took her out for her first spin of the year the Monday before the Gran Fondo. Fueled by a stressful day at work I threw down 20 hard, fast miles before sunset and felt amazing. I had forgotten how much I love this bike!
The Gran Fondo went flawless for me! My nutrition and hydration were spot on and I came into the finish feeling like I could put in at least another 25 miles. The biking high that I had was something I had never experienced before. It was the most amazing, incredible thing! I was so happy to have accomplished my first century and even happier that I felt so good! AJ was there to capture my first century finish and also some other post-ride, celebratory moments. I needed this ride to go well to give me a boost before Almanzo. A huge thank you goes out to Parker, at Angry Catfish, for his patience, guidance and perfect adjustments to both of my bikes! I could not have been as successful without him!
The week of Almanzo I took things pretty easy. My work schedule didn’t allow me much time for riding and looking back I think that was for the best. I managed to get some yoga in and some easy miles cruising around Minneapolis. Thursday night I spent figuring out what I was going to eat and drink on my ride, what I was going to wear and what other things I thought I couldn’t live without. Friday morning involved any last minute preparations and running around the house before AJ and Zach arrived for us to take off to Spring Valley.
We checked into the hotel that evening and rode our bikes down to the grass track races and registration. I was given #235 for the race. I absolutely love the canvas race number! As a group we decided to take things pretty easy and we were all tucked into bed by 10pm.
5:15am came and I sprang out of bed. Another group decision was to get up early and be as prepared as possible. My day started with my first breakfast of 2 waffles with butter and syrup, coffee, milk and an English muffin with peanut butter. Second breakfast came around 7am when I ate a bowl of oatmeal with milk and homemade quinoa granola and another cup of coffee. I stashed a banana in my jersey for right before the start. As the race got closer I started to get more nervous and quiet. I felt almost all business once we made the short ride down to the start.
Our whole team, 4beardsandababe, met up for the first time at the starting line. Omar and Sam had driven down from Minneapolis the morning of the race to join us. It was awesome to have a whole crew to ride with! We ambitiously lined up with the 7-8 hour crews. At this point my goal was to ride hard and finish with minimal walking. I had heard brutal things about the hills we would be climbing and although I am a strong climber I wasn’t out to kill myself during this.
Roll out went a lot better than I expected it to. It was a nice, comfy pace to get warmed up. Everything was off to a great start until we reached the first big climb at mile 10. As I took off and started up the hill my chain locked up. Luckily I was able to get unclipped and get a foot down before falling over. Thankfully, AJ and Zach pulled over to stop and help me. I honestly thought my attempt to complete Almanzo was over at this point and I only made it to mile 10. As AJ fixed my bike I stood there and watched so many people pass me and couldn’t help but feel frustrated. I was frustrated that I might be out of the race and also that if we got my bike working again that I would have to walk this hill. It was not what I wanted to do so early on in.
Quickly I was back on my bike and was passing Omar at the top of the hill. Sam had taken off when we pulled over to fix my chain so now I was on my way to hopefully catch and pass him. I did feel bad about leaving AJ and Zach behind me, but I know my strengths when it comes to hills and I knew this is where I wanted to push to regain some ground. Around mile 30 I found Sam on the side of the road. We gave a quick thumbs up and I kept pedaling. With my whole crew behind me now I realized I was doing this on my own.
But I really wasn’t alone. With all the riders on the course you were almost never alone. I did my best to pick out people to hang with as my pace horses and continued to push on. I missed the grocery store turn and kept on riding. Looking back I am super glad I didn’t take the time to stop. Around mile 45 I pulled over for my first stop. It felt good to get off my bike but the 5 minute cool down did not feel good when I got back on. My legs felt tired and I really wish I would have kept going. I knew mile 63 was where I could get more water and I was pretty sure I had enough left to make it there. What I did not know about was the water stop at mile 55. I am so thankful to the farmer that gave us access to the gloriously cold water! I stopped and downed a bottle of Skratch lab and refilled all my water bottles. I decided to do a little stretching and to eat the salami and cheese sandwich I had packed. After 10-15 minutes I was back on my bike to face and finish this race!
The second half became the true test of my mental, physical and emotional training. The winds were brutal and it seemed like all of the gravel was loose and I was biking so slowly! I tried to latch on to groups of riders that I caught up with or that passed me, but the pace was either too slow or too fast so I spent the next 20 miles pulling myself through the wind. This was exhausting! As I would see riders ahead of me I kept thinking ‘ducks on the pond’ as motivation to keep pushing forward and to try and catch them. A huge help during this part was the cheerleading provided by complete strangers on the side of the road. It was so amazing to see how many people were parked in random spots and were offering up snacks and water to riders. This support was awesome and completely unexpected!
I came into Cherry Grove and had every intention of not stopping until I heard someone say ‘they have beer’. I quickly pulled over and decided this would be my final stop in the race. One of the toughest decisions I faced this day was Hamm’s beer or Coke??? The beer sounded better in my mind and I figured it couldn’t hurt anything at this point. I was 75% finished and knew it was just mind over matter until the end. I chugged the beer, slammed three Oreos and a banana and got back in the saddle. Thank you Banjo Brothers for this fun and much needed break! I received a text from AJ saying he was at mile 66. Based on my calculations he was a solid hour behind me and there was no way I could wait for him. I had no idea where Zach, Sam and Omar were, but I was hoping everyone was okay.
The winds and loose gravel continued for the remainder of the ride. I knew I was fatiguing and needed to start taking it easier on some of the downhills because the last thing that I needed was to crash. Looking back I think I had at least three pretty close calls with wipeouts going downhill or around corners. A crash early in the race would most likely have been okay, but at this point in the game it could have been the final nail in my coffin.
I finally reached the river crossing and decided to take my shoes and socks off. I knew this was the slower way to overcome this obstacle, but I also know I struggle to ride when my feet are cold. This was a great decision. I got my socks and shoes back on and found a third, fourth or maybe fifth wind at this point. I was feeling good again and I was getting even closer to finishing. The next 5-10 miles were a blur and I remember this being the point where I no longer wanted to eat or drink anything. I forced myself to consume an energy goo and water to wash it down. I knew Oriole hill was looming ahead of me and although I had never seen it the stories were enough for me to take fair warning.
As soon as I turned the corner to Oriole hill I said to myself ‘F*ck that’! I dismounted my bike on the side of the hill, swallowed my pride and started walking. There were several people that attempted the climb on their bikes and I tried to provide words of encouragement as they passed me. One guy at the top said it was his third attempt at Oriole and his first success. I told him congrats and gave myself a little more slack for taking the ‘easy’ way out. At the top of the hill I realized we had about 10 miles to go. Only 10 more miles!!! I could do this in my sleep!
Those last 10 miles were by no means easy. Everything in my body was sore. My legs and butt muscles were burning from the whole ride and my arms and abs were screaming at me from being used to pull myself up all those hills. I was so ready to be done! Each remaining hill was a challenge, but before I knew it the end was in sight. With 1000 meters to go I wanted to finish as strong as possible so I took off in a sprint to the finish. It was so awesome to come in to receive applause and high fives! The most rewarding moment was shaking Chris’ hand when I crossed the finish line and being able to say ‘thank you’ to him for putting on such an amazing event. As I walked it off and laid my bike down I spotted my friend Robert and went over to see how his ride went. He gave me a big hug and we exchanged congrats on our finishes. Turns out he was only about 10 minutes ahead of me.
I waited for my crew of gentlemen to finish and hoped they were all doing okay. AJ was the next to finish, followed by Omar, Sam and then Zach. We all finished and that is a huge accomplishment!
Looking back on my first Almanzo I am really happy with how things went. I finished with 7 hours and 15 minutes of saddle time and 7 hours and 55 minutes of total ride time. Not too shabby as far as I am concerned. Hind sight is 20/20 and of course there are many things that I would have done differently. The things that I wouldn’t change are numerous as well. Early on in the race when I realized I was going at this solo I decided to turn my cyclocomputer off of the odometer setting and over to the average mph setting. As much as it sucked to watch my average speed slowly decline as the race went on I knew I didn’t want to look down and see that I had only gone 5 miles. I just kept pushing myself and I knew where certain stops were that would roughly tell me how far I had gone. With this being my first gravel race I really didn’t know the best techniques to ride with. I kept telling myself that I am learning to ride gravel recklessly and confidently. I needed to trust in myself and my bike that we would be okay when it was all over and done. The reckless factor came from knowing that at one point I was going 38mph downhill, on gravel, on a bike (I probably shouldn’t tell my mom about this)! The confidence came from knowing my bike and knowing to let loose a little bit and not fight the squirreliness of the handlebars when things got a little out of my comfort zone.
I can honestly say this was the hardest ride/race I have ever done, but I felt amazing afterwards. There is something to say about pushing yourself to the limits and achieving a goal you have worked so hard for. I am so thankful for my strong body and mind! I am already planning to race again next year and my goal has been set: faster time and less walking. Oriole hill I am coming for you!