I always eat a decent sized breakfast before a big ride, but during, it's just Tailwind... Started the day today with a Panera bagel, cream cheese, an egg, and some melon. And three Espressos. On the ride? About 7 scoops of Tailwind and nothing else for 52 miles and 9000 feet.
Well... We had some VQ/CC training today. We started at 6:15ish from The Tucker Wildlife Center. Amy, Charles,
@mtnbikej ,
@HBkites,
@BonsaiNut and me. It was chilly, but was tolerable when pedaling. The group spread out pretty good headed up Harding, but that's to be expected. I hung back with Bonsainut, and we chatted most of the way. I'm assuming that Amy (fast) and Charles (very fast) led the charge with Sharone and Jason. Bonsainut is a good guy to ride with.
Mtnbikej waited at 5 mile turn, and we were quickly joined by
@MegaLurker who hung with us the rest of the way to Four Corners. At Four Corners, we picked up
@singlespeedrider who hung with us all the way to the bottom of Eagle at which point he turned around and went back up Eagle.
I didn't push it on Harding at all, but felt pretty good when we started across Main Divide. I'll take that as a win... Any time I get to the top of Harding and feel decent is a win!
The group held together better going across Main Divide, even with the extra chunky and loose downhills... No complaints, no drama, and no problems.
At Motorway we parted ways with Sharone and Bonsainut. Sharone knocked out his biggest single speed ride, and probably has a better understanding of his CC prep. And he got a taste of Motorway as part of the bargain.
Eagle was a riot, and was in good shape. Nicely overgrown into true single track, with a few loose turns... And very fast. Mark turned around at the bottom and headed right back up.
No records going up Skyline, and into the wind tunnel at Beeks. Charles peeled off and headed down Black Star. Our group was now down to Jason, Amy and me. Now, I've never done the climb to the ball with almost 7000 feet, and I've certainly never gone across Main Divide to Motorway with that much under the belt. Hopefully, Black Star to Motorway seems like a piece of cake next time.
Some of the climbs going across were painful... And there was some walking above and beyond the three normal HABs on the single speed. But, we made it unscathed. In hindsight, this was a great training ride. I've done Black Star to Motorway 4 times in the last two weeks, but hitting it so far into a ride gives me a new perspective.
Motorway was as fun as ever, but this was the first time I hit it with over 8500 feet. I took it easy. Very easy.
10 mile roadie spin back to the Tucker Wildlife Center, and then a ton of sushi to bring the body back into line.
I'm feeling encouraged about VQ this time around... Especially after knocking this out on the heavy bike (28 pound single speed).
. I get my stitches removed from my arm on Monday and will be looking at my work calendar to take days off to train. Trying to rely on the weekends just won’t work for me, if I take a day off then I will have several hours to ride without my wife waiting for me at home since she will be at work. I’ll save the weekends for my quick, less than two hour, rides. 
Last year I finished 2nd to last.. granted I finished and 47 or so who started CC didn’t. 