Adam is one of our Retul Bike Fitters at Spoke-n-Sport. Last week he survived the Rugged Growler with several co-workers. Here is his recap of the Rugged Growler.
Leading up to the Rugged Growler, my preparation was much more procrastinated than usual. The race took place on a Sunday and I picked up my new bike, a 2018 Trek Crockett 5, from Spoke-n-Sport Brookings just 5 days earlier. Luckily it came mostly assembled, however, I needed to swap a few critical components which turned out to be more time consuming than hoped. That, combined with an insanely busy work week and a full blown training schedule in the days leading up to the race left me scrambling to complete the bike build until after midnight Friday night. Needless to say, I’d only ridden my new Crockett for a quick 15mi bike path ride with Ali and her uncle the day before the race which was just enough time on it to get the fit mostly dialed. Not ideal but I was stoked and ready to put some big miles on my new whip! Another violation to the “don’t try new things on race day” rule of thumb was using a new bike computer that I hadn’t even installed on my bike until the night before. My friend/ co-worker/ teammate lended me a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt to test out during the race for it’s improved navigation interface over my Garmin Edge 500. This turned out to be a critical piece of gear to help get me to the finish line, so thanks Alonzo! Now to race day.
Sunday morning’s wake up call came all too early but my energy was high. I ate my usual breakfast, a bagel with butter, honey, and some Untapped Maple Syrup. I packed a strawberry Pop-tart for the ride down as well to keep the solid food intake up early on. I decided to ride down to the race from home which turned out to be a perfect 1hr warmup and got me to the venue about 35min before race start. I filled up the H2O bottle I’d drank on the way down and hung out with other racers before it was time to toe the “line.”
The race started promptly at 9am with a big group which stayed together until the first climb through Newton Hills. Alonzo went to the front because he knew the route the best. About 3/4 the way up I overtook so I could pick my own lines through the steeper sections. The decision to run 42×11-42 turned out to be key through these sections. After the climb the group was down to 4-5 of us. I stayed in front through the next descending section knowing I was a more confident descender (especially with the new Crockett!) and ended up blowing by a turn, having to back track to get back to the route. During that time, Peter and Alonzo passed me but I caught back on up the Newton Hills road climb. The three of us stayed together through the second lap around Newton Hills all the way through the super gnarly over-head grass hike-a-bike section (see image below).
After the hike-a-bike we latched onto another group of riders who missed some turns early on and ended up ahead of us so we stayed together for a while. This made for some fun interactions as we rolled through the first “feed zone” where the race coordinator, Jamie Kolvek and a few others had ice cold beer hand ups ripe for the taking. I snagged one and took a few sips before handing it over to the other riders in the group (#crossiscoming folks!). One rider was still out front so we decided to form a paceline to catch him on some of the Southbound gravel sections into the headwind. After catching the rider out front we came to a stretch of no-maintenance road that had some technical descending sections. I went to the front for this section to choose my lines and open up a brief gap which allowed me some brief recovery.
Shortly after this stretch of B-road, Peter and I began to form a gap on the rest of the group and decided to carry onward with just us two. Peter and I stayed together all the way to Newton Hills, trading pulls and just having a good time. Having only brought 4 bottles and estimating a finish time of around 4 hours, I was getting concerned about my hydration after being out in the open sun through all of the gravel sections. Thankfully, we passed a Church around mile 40 which gave me the opportunity to refill my bottles. Wanting to be quick I only filled 3, hoping that would be enough fluids to take me to the finish. Peter was courteous enough to sit up while I made my pit stop, not having to make on of his own since he opted for a Camelbak instead. By this point we knew we were putting enough time in on the rest of the field that we shouldn’t have a problem staying away once we reached Newton Hills.
Upon entering the park, we were to complete two paved loops around the park, each of which ended with a 3/4mi climb that pitched upwards of 20%. The first time through the park we stayed together but Peter mentioned some cramping on the the climb. During the final climb of the second road loop I was feeling good still so I opened a gap and was able to attack over the top heading into the final road descent. Knowing I had slightly larger gearing than Peter I pushed hard through the road descent into the final section of single track through Newton Hills.
My legs were feeling great so I ate my second to last gel then put in a hard effort up the first dirt climb and I knew Peter was suffering cramping so I felt confident with my lead at this point. I then ripped the techy descents, having so much fun pushing my new Crockett to the limit. Riding a solid tempo up the final dirt climb in Newton Hills I was feeling great and knew I just needed to make it through the last singletrack descent in one piece then it would be smooth sailing to the finish. Coming out of Newton Hills I downed my last gel and finished off the rest of my chews to prevent any bonking heading to the finish. One more road climb then a few miles of gravel later I reached the finish with a comfortable lead over Peter, claiming this years Rugged Growler title!
What an awesome event and one of my favorite days ever on the bike. Huge thanks to everyone who helped put on the Rugged Growler, Remedy Brewing for providing the growler prizes, Spoke-n-Sport Bikes for getting me on my new bike, Tifosi Optics for keeping my eyes shaded and protected, Pearl Izumi for the softgoods support, Giro for keeping my brain safe and feet comfortable, and UnTapped Maple and Skratch Labs for keeping me fueled for 4 hours on the bike. Stoked to land another top step for Roots Racing and looking forward to next years event already!
P44 p/b Sanford Power top step sweep. PC: Jamie Kolvek
Bike Setup:
Frame: Trek Crockett 5 54cm
Drivetrain: SRAM Rival 1 Mechanical Disc
Chainring/ Cassette: 42T x 11-42
Wheels: Roval Control Carbon
Tires: Maxxis Rambler 38mm (35F, 36R)
Saddle: Fabric Scoop Flat 142
Computer: Wahoo Elemnt (thanks Alonzo)
Weight: 21.4lbs
Frame: Trek Crockett 5 54cm
Drivetrain: SRAM Rival 1 Mechanical Disc
Chainring/ Cassette: 42T x 11-42
Wheels: Roval Control Carbon
Tires: Maxxis Rambler 38mm (35F, 36R)
Saddle: Fabric Scoop Flat 142
Computer: Wahoo Elemnt (thanks Alonzo)
Weight: 21.4lbs
Gear:
Kit: Roots Racing Pearl Izumi Team Kit
Helmet: Giro Synthe
Shoes: Giro Empire VR90
Sunglasses: Tifosi Aliant (Best Sunglasses EVER)
Saddle bag: 1 20-25mm tube (for weight and size), 1 CO2/ valve, 1 tire lever, chain breaker, 11s powerlink
Kit: Roots Racing Pearl Izumi Team Kit
Helmet: Giro Synthe
Shoes: Giro Empire VR90
Sunglasses: Tifosi Aliant (Best Sunglasses EVER)
Saddle bag: 1 20-25mm tube (for weight and size), 1 CO2/ valve, 1 tire lever, chain breaker, 11s powerlink
Fuel:
Food: 1 caffeinated Untapped waffle, 4 gels (1 caffeinated), 2 packs of high sodium chews (plus 1 bar and 1 pop tart on ride down, 1 bar after race, and 1 bar and pop tart on ride home)
Food: 1 caffeinated Untapped waffle, 4 gels (1 caffeinated), 2 packs of high sodium chews (plus 1 bar and 1 pop tart on ride down, 1 bar after race, and 1 bar and pop tart on ride home)
Drink: Carried 4 bottles to start and drank one bottle of H2O on ride down. Started race with 3 bottles Skratch (2 frozen), 1 bottle H2O, refilled 3 bottles H2O at Church @ mile 40 of race (2:45min in), refilled 3 bottles H2O for ride home
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