2018 Carrabassett Backcountry Cycle Challenge [CBCC] 100K Race Report

Not much to say about this event, aside from the fact it absolutely rocked, was the ‘A race’ for my 2018 season, and exceeded expectations on all counts.

All roads led to the Carrabassett Valley this past July - starting last November ‘17 on the rollers, on the freezing porch, racing a bunch of other online hammerhead nerds in Zwift. The solid base built up through the winter with a mix of climbing, endurance, and 1-3 all out short race efforts (35-75 minutes) morphed into pretty good outdoor on-bike fitness, but it took some weeks to re-acclimate to the mountainbike. Late spring and early summer saw good gains and an increased ability to go harder longer out on the trails. This was key to doing well at the CBCC as it’d be a minimum of a 6 hour effort required (based on optimistic projections and a bit of good luck) to finish in decent shape.

2018 Acadia 10K

Jean and I wrapped up a week of camping, riding, and hiking on Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park with the Acadia 10K, starting and finished in Bar Harbor.

It has been a fun week, in full "vacation mode" and I hadn't been setting the alarm or getting up early (not with cold beers and camp fires at night). But, the race had a 7am start, so I was awoken to Metallica's rendition of "Am I Evil?" at 5:00 to caffeinate and get to the event in enough time to watch everyone do their pre-race stretching. I don't want to say that I'm "anti-stretch," but I do enjoy watching the WIDE array or pre-run calisthenics that people go through as many remind me of a Monty Python Silly Walk skit.