2011 Tahoe Sierra 100

The Strava Suffer Score is an analysis of your heart rate data. By tracking your heart rate through the ride and its level relative to your maximum heart rate, Strava will attach a value to show exactly how hard you worked. The more time you spend going full gas and the longer you ride, the higher the score.

448Strava Suffer Score
What is this?

 

• Leisurely 0-49
• Moderate 50-99
• Tough 100-149
• Extreme 150-249
• Epic 250+

According to Strava.com this ride is almost a double epic. It stops ranking after 250.
 I did a 448. O. U. C. H.

I started the day with zero warmup and the first 10 minutes at 300 watts. Unfortunately this effort was spent catching the back of the field rather than going off the front of it. That's because after lining up scrambled and panicked at 5:59am, I realized 100 ft after the gun went off that I didn't have glasses. And I wasn't about to ride all damn day with no glasses. So I peeled off the race to back to the car and get my glasses. Which was funny because I was so panicked I got to the car to get the glasses and then locked the car back up again with them still in it. Had to open the car again to actually get them the second time. Some times you have to slow down to go faster.

From there I blasted through the field until I find Gregg Stone running slow and steady. I figure, if he's not in a rush then I don't need to be either. Going down to the first aid station I almost ate it big time right in front of him. He stopped at the aid station and I rode on alone. My game plan was to avoid stopping as much as possible. I learned in RAAM that you had better press on than hold up. To be able to not stop at the aid stations I brought 3,800 calories and 100 oz of water with me from the gun. The food was all liquid diet: SPIZ and EFS.


(photo credit - racer Jeff Barker)

The course surprised me. For one it was tougher than I had feared, mainly the last 3 canyons. For two, there wasn't as much ripping tahoe single track that I had expected. It was a tough course to pick a bike. Running my carbon SC Nomad wouldn't have solved my problems but some suspension would have been nice. All the descents were very rough with rocks, drops and debris. On the flip side there were hours of fire road and pavement climbs that well suited my Superfly 29er HT.

By the top of the second canyon my legs were serving up the most difficult cramps I've ever ridden through. You could reach down and feel golf balls in my legs. After one leg finished being locked up, the balls would roll on over to the next leg.

There must be some deep human mental need to accomplish and achieve. Because otherwise nobody would pay $200 to suffer like that.