Sounds like we’ve got the same plan. I’m not into heat suffering. I generally don’t ride well in heat, and can be prone to cramping if I don’t stay on top of hydration.
I’d like to finish with a decent time, also minimize stop time so as to get back before the real heat of the day.
Drafting in a pack on the way out would be ideal, if I can find the right pack.
That’s good to hear about the water crossing. I think I’ve seen people crossing it without dismounting. I’ll have to see if my handling skills are up to that! Perhaps getting soaked wouldn’t be such a bad thing given the heat.
At this point, I believe the only crossing with water is 8 miles into the race, so we will be hitting it before 8am. We are going to try to get out there early enough on Friday to pre-ride that crossing. I’m sure it will be a selective spot and a bit of a s-show on race day if there are loose/slick rocks under the water.
I’m planning to pre-ride as well on Friday, but I won’t be able to get there till later in the day. I’m also gonna grab my packet on Friday.
I’m staying in Granbury (45 minutes north of Hico) Friday night so it’ll be an early morning for me Saturday!
I get there Thursday. I’ll try to get out there and report back. My biggest concern is soaking wet feet for several hours.
Pathfinders would be perfect tires
I didn’t get this email, so sharing just in case any of you didn’t either. It includes a link to “what to do and where to eat in Hico”
https://sh1.sendinblue.com/ao1hqecpdxpfe.html?t=1651887378&fbclid=IwAR1MgnR0G_-Sb_0YOn5cTCq6GC5OTVNwFgZy3qW-llWj4N6erXfv9C5H0Dg
For those not familiar, Hico is very small town but it has been growing lately and the downtown area “re-vitalized” with renovations and new restaurants and shops. This race will at least double the population. Some great little restaurants and shops though. Some places to try - Silver Spur Winery has a nice tasting room downtown. There is also a great little Chocolate Shop in town. There is a nice steakhouse if you can get in. If family is waiting on you there are things to do. Glen Rose and Granbury on the way back to Fort Worth are nice towns as well.
I just saw that the weather forecast has been revised with a high of 93 for the race. Still warm for May, but much better than 98. Also, wind forecast down to 11 mph, so looking like a nice day.
I did a 5.5 hour ride in the heat yesterday, It wasn’t too terrible.
After seeing reports from last year about the steep punchy climbs, I’m going full MTB gearing with a 40 in the front and 10-50 eagle in the rear. I have a 42 front I was thinking about, but I’m hoping I won’t get dropped with the 40/10 on any fast tailwind sections. If I implode at some point, I should be able to crawl up pretty much anything and get to the finish with that gearing.
What are you expecting for a finish time? Are you using a PM to pace your ride?
It will all depend on the humidity. It’s been higher than usual temps in Houston (75 at 7am) but nothing outrageous. It’s the humidity (85% at 7am) that’s been killing us. If it’s 70-75 at the start with 30% humidity, it will be fantastic…but if it’s 75 with 85% humidity, it will be like riding in a swamp.
I’m shooting for under 9 hours. I think the really fast amateurs will be under 8. The top pros finished in just over 7 last year. The pros were not just out soft pedaling the course either, Ted Kind had normalized power over 300 watts for the day (yes, 7+hours @300w, ouch).
Yes, I use a PM to pace during gravel races, but more as a sanity check vs traditional TT pacing. My main metric is normalized power. I know generally what I can do for 3, 7, 9 hours, etc. and I make sure my NP never gets too far above my target for the day. I’ll be targeting ~220 NP for Gravel Locos, which I’m guessing will mean ~260 NP for the first hour as groups get settled.
Last year there were only 3 punchy climbs. They are short. Just power though them, you certainly dont need some pie plate on the back for <1% of the course
That’s good power for a race of that length.
I’ll be using one too; I find it helpful to keep my effort in check in the first couple of hours of an event like this one so that I don’t burn myself up too early. It’s funny how the adrenaline, other riders, thrill of an event dampens your perceived exertion.
I think @BillyWaldman is right, you’ll be fine for those 3 climbs even if you floating just above your planned NP. The adrenaline will carry you!
@Pbase , Weather Channel is currently showing humidity of 43% on race day. Let’s hope it stays in that range.
The last few years in North Texas, we’ve had above normal rainfall in the spring into early summer. That is not the case this year. A lot of the Hico area, at least on the drought map, is in “extreme drought.” Not sure what affect that will have on some of those deep crossings I saw.
Thanks. While I’m not a big fan of 1x for most gravel racing, I decided to run it at locos and that comes with the pie plate. Locos isn’t an “A” race for me. I was originally planning for Locos to be a warm up for unbound, but my UB entry fell through and now Locos is my “way too early” warmup for leadville. I figured I’d run 1x at locos because that’s what I’ll be running at leadville and it helps me get used to the big gear jumps. I’ve been running it on fast group rides the last couple weeks and the only place I get in trouble is fast tail wind sections where I can get spun out if it stays much over 30mph for extended periods. I could swap to a 42 in the front, but I doubt I’ll be lacking top end on the 40. I’ve done quite a few gravel races on my MTB in the past running a 38 single ring and top end has never been my limiter. There is a good youtube video of a 17 year old who raced locos last year on his MTB with a 36 ring and he hung with the leaders for quite a while and did well.
I think all the steep stuff is fairly early, which typically means full smash as folks try to establish selective groups. I expect it will be 500+ watts on any steep stuff early and I’d rather be spinning that stuff than mashing out of the saddle. Maybe it will be more chill given the distance and expected temps, but that’s the way it’s worked in every gravel race I’ve ever done. As much as I’d like to stay near my target power, the fastest way around a gravel course is almost always to burn matches early to stay with a fast group. A 40/50 is a good climbing gear, but not crazy and I expect I’ll use it all.
Each of the 3 B’s takes less than 2 min each. They are steep, but just pretend its flanders and crush them. The race likely would have spit before that, the front group will drop excess baggage on these hills.
I wondered if the Brujas were in there. I did a ride in that area a few years ago called the Iceman’s Challenge (or something like that) that included them. They are steep, back to back to back, and hard to keep traction/cadence. There were a lot of people walking them. Are they included in all distances?