DCXC MTB Race 2024 (Sport 35+) 8th place | MTB Rides

Weather was great at the DCXC race at Schaefer farm. The trail conditions were awesome and pace was good. For some reason I was not 100% after the the hard start and it hit me hard +20 mins into the race. I kept a decent pace but I could not keep up with the peloton once we hit that long climb to the farm. They got a 20second gap and it just kept growing. In the end I ended up in 8th place and felt like I didn't really give it my all.
I got cramps at the usual 60min mark and had to baby it the rest of the way home. The worry I have been having is that at that effort, I always get cramps at that 60 min mark so I should either just slow it down to keep my HR in the high 150 to low 160 range or plan to do more rides at the Z3 pace for better conditioning. I guzzled water and hydration before the race but it seems I still got dehydrated within the hour. May need to rethink the whole thing as my body just doesn't retain water for these high tempo and +1 hour rides. I'll try a hydration pack next time and see if that helps.

[@thelgor]

Love your ride videos. Thanks for making them. Hope you're able to nail down something to combat the cramps.