My Hardest Rides of 2023, PT. 1 "Math is Hard".

So, now that my “season” is basically done, I wanted to look back at some of the hardest rides and races I’ve done in 2023 and see what was “hardest”. 

One of the neat things about riding with a power meter and or heart rate monitor is that there are various training applications out there that compile the data these sensors accumulate and generate a metric that gauges how hard a ride actually was.  I use a web application called Intervals.ICU to track my ride data and it uses the metric called “Load”.  If you want to really get into the weeds here is how it is calculated:

Training load is an estimate of how hard a given activity was relative to the athletes capabilities. For activities with power it depends on the intensity of the session (relative to FTP) and duration. 1 hour at 100% of FTP is 100 training load (see also Tariningpeaks Glossary)

Basically it’s simple are repeatable way to calculate how hard a given ride was for the individual.

So, now that my “season” is basically done, I wanted to look back at some of the hardest rides and races I’ve done in 2023 and see what was “hardest”.   This year I divided my main goals between long-distance rides like The Tobacco 200, Dirtbags100, and MountainCat 100 and medium distance events (75 miles or less) like Monster Cross, Marathon XC championships, and VA Gravel State Championship, I’m going to split my top-ten hardest days into two top-five lists accordingly.  I’m also going to give things my own “intensity” rating which is really just overall load divided by how long the ride was.  It’s difficult to say which really determines how “hard” a ride was though.  I have done 125 mile rides that left me less physically drained than 50 mile mountain bike race, but for the sake of simplicity I’m ranking things by Load and treating intensity as a secondary thing.  But I digress.

So here we go, the hardest stuff I did this year… starting with the “big dumb rides”

1.  Tobacco South Central 200k. 

436 load/TSS, 134 miles, 8:51 moving time, 0.82 intensity.

No surprise here.  Take a 134 mile route, make sure over 50 miles of it is dirt road, mix in tons of punchy climbs, and a solid group committed to the “get it done” pace and you are going to get something special.  This was far and away the hardest ride of the year from a load stand point. 20% harder actually.  Combining almost 9 hours on the bike with an intensity of .82 this left me absolutely wrecked afterwards.  This route is challenging no matter what pace you ride it at and I have nothing but respect for anyone that takes on the challenge.

2. MountainCat 100

361 Load/ TSS, 115 miles, 9:54 moving time,  0.60 intensity.

MountainCat is a strage beast.  In years past I have to say it was “harder” due to insane heat but this year was still a challenge.  What it lacks in intensity (largely to the flow trail nature of a good portion of the course) it makes up for in the full body physical abuse that seemingly countless miles of single track dishes out.  However, with ample road sections connecting the mountain bike trails, there were plenty of opportunities to put my head down and pedal hard.  And that is just what I did.  I had carefully prepared my equipment and nutrition with the expectation of riding hard and solo from start to finish.  Ultimately, that’s just what happened and I was more than content with the end result.  While there are no formal results, rumor has it I was somewhere in the top 20 out of something like 300 starters.  And since the bike shop Charlie owns is in Harrisonburg, I maintain my position as undefeated in the “local bike shop owner” category.  A total banger of an event and something that EVERY rider in Richmond that owns a mountain bike should put on their to-do list.

3. Six Rivers 200k.

353 load/ TSS, 132 miles, 7:44 moving time, intensity 0.76.

4. West Point 200k.

334 load/ TSS 133 miles, 7:20 moving time, intensity 0.75.

These two rides should almost be a tie.  In fact my average loaded power was exactly the same for both rides.  Nearly identical milage too, but a good example of how the group you are with can make a difference in how “hard” a ride is.  Six Rivers was a bigger group and kept a more consistent pace but I was also taking more pulls at the front. 

West Point started out substantially harder and I was with a much smaller group much of the time. 

As a result I was spending less time driving the pace as the work was being divided more evenly.  Later in the ride I ended up having to back off my effort after not getting my calorie intake right to avoid cracking completely.  At the end of the day West Point was a “faster” ride but Six Rivers was marginally harder. Six Rivers in particular is a great “first” 200km ride to do and is usually the first one on the Outpost Adventure Club calendar for this reason.

5. Jamestown Nocturnal 200k.

323 load/TSS, 124 miles, 6:06 moving time, intensity 0.88.

The lower overall load and milage of the Jamestown Nocturnal is deceiving.  If was was ranking this by how much I was fighting for survival late in the ride, this one should absolutely be be higher up the list.  At over 20mph this was easily the fastest ride on this list.  From the gun we were setting a difficult pace and toward the end I was in survival mode and simply trying not to get dropped.  It all worked out and resulted in setting personal records for not only Richmond to Jamestown, but back again as well.  On top of that I shattered my fastest completion time for a 200km.  When I got back, I was cooked.

Honorable mention: Outpost Up North 120k.

283 load/TSS, 77 miles, 4:25 moving time, intensity 1.06.

At only 77 miles in length the “Up North” road ride dosen’t provide the opportunity to put up the big overall load numbers of the other rides on this list, but the level of intensity can’t be overlooked.  In this regard, the effort is up there with the actual races I did this year.  This, after all, makes sense as the pace on this ride was pretty unrelenting and riding north of Ashland means quite a bit of elevation chage.  This was also the first big group ride of the year for me and I was definitely not in optimal condition to begin with.  

I’ll save the top-five “shorter” rides for the next post.