After an easy day yesterday, I went out for my last long ride before the Parker race. I wanted to try a new drink mix so I made up a couple bottles and packed some powder for refills. I originally intended to do the Payette loop but changed plans to Hamilton Corner–Horseshoe Bend loop instead. I thought it would be a good idea to do a ride with a long hill towards the end.

I headed out and settled into a good pace. I pushed it on any rise I came across and kept the wattage just below tempo for all the flat sections. It was warm this morning and I knew it would be getting hot today so I forced the liquids. As I was on Hwy 52 I started to feel my stomach cramp. You know, the kind you typically get while running. This usually doesn’t happen to me on the bike and I attributed it to the new drink mix, so I was reluctant to drink much more. When I got to Horseshoe Bend I got a bottle of plain water and diluted down the rest of my drink mix. But I still didn’t drink much until after the Horseshoe Bend Hill.

I was feeling kind of fried by this point so my thoughts of doing a long LT interval up the climb went out the window. After reaching the top I started pounding the liquids and was able to drink both bottles (64 oz.) before I reached my house. I immediately made myself a recovery drink and started packing in the calories. I knew I was probably dehydrated so I weighed myself and I confirmed that I was — I was 6 lbs lighter than when I started the ride! No wonder my average power wasn’t as high as I thought it should be, given my perceived exertion. It wasn’t that it was that bad, but I really thought I was working harder than my wattage indicated, especially towards the end of the ride.

But despite a bit of dehydration, it was still a good ride at 98 miles in 4:36 with a TSS of 254.5. Now it’s time to taper for the Parker Mainstreet Omnium, which includes racing Bogus Basin Hillclimb this Saturday. I’ve decided to use Bogus as purely a training ride so I’ll be riding with my PowerTap and get some data out of it. Besides, they just chip-sealed the road and I rather not get fresh tar on my nice race bike!