Riding back to St George on Thursday evening, I glanced over my shoulder and almost fell off my bike with surprise as I saw an enormous and glowing white moon rising over the Hurricane Cliffs. After admiring the view for a moment, I pedaled on, not wanting to interrupt the seemingly invincible state which my legs had found.
In ultraendurance bike races, after a couple days, it's not uncommon for competitors to describe settling into a sort of diesel mode in which their legs can drive a solid pace all day long. For me, the discovery of the existence of such a state was the revelation required to understand how ultra racers can keep pushing for days on end. It wasn't until racing on the Arizona Trail two years ago that I experienced this on the final day as I pushed to outrun Stefan Griebel to the finish and couldn't believe what was left in my legs. It's happened a few times since then, only after 2+ long days in the saddle when I'm on great form. And on those days, it usually takes 2-3 hours for my legs to get warmed up in the morning, making for a rather uncomfortable start.
This week I once again found myself in diesel mode, the second time I've achieved this state during training. Following my shadow cast by the full moon the other evening, I decided it would be worth doing a little comparison. On Monday, the first day of this training binge, I rode a tough 130-mile loop. I seemed to feel better 100 miles into Thursday's ride than at almost any point on Monday's ride. What if I did that exact loop again at the end of this 5-day binge?
So that's what I did. Since I don't have a power meter, my only quantitative comparison is based on time. I tried to ride at the same sustainable level that I did on Monday, not consciously "racing" my old time. Six hours in, I crested the second pass within 1-2 minutes of my time of 5 days earlier. Then I crossed the 100-mile mark about 5 minutes ahead. I gained a bit more time climbing Bulldog Pass, and in the end, I came in ~20 (3%) minutes sooner with 30 seconds (2%) more non-riding time clocked. Looking at the GPS data playback, Friday-me and Monday-me were within no more than 1000' of one another for the first 70 miles. The separation finally began on a long canyon descent which I apparently rode a bit faster yesterday since I knew what was around each bend.
I haven't fully digested what all this means, but I'm intrigued. It's tough to experiment with scenarios like this since I only find myself in them a few times a year, and usually it's during races. If nothing else, it reinforces a few things about how my body responds to these consecutive all-day efforts. If any readers have any physiological insight into this, I'd love to hear it.
2 comments:
My diesel mode has fewer cylinders than yours.
That being said, I normally notice it kicking in the 2nd day of any ‘single track’ multi-day. Seems like my 1st and 2nd day are mostly a series of red lines till past exhaustion. But after the 2nd day the red lines go away and the diesel kicks in and keeps getting more efficient.
The TDR was quite different in that I was in halfway descent shape before I started. The more ‘controllable’ pace had me riding hard but without red lines from day 1. About 4-5 days was when I started really feeling that diesel effect. And rather than taper pre-TDR I had actually done some long rides-hours, even on the way up to CA to try to pull it up sooner. By the last week of the TDR I had added a cylinder ro two to my personal diesel. Quite amazing how the body adapts.
If you do not know him, you might contact Mat Arnold—he is thinking maybe a dissertation on this type effect.
Interesting perspective, as always, Marshal. I've wondered about starting the Divide with a 'prologue' for just that reason, but I always come to the conclusion that 18+ days is long enough as it is. I think in 2009 it took me 5-6 days before I really started to feel great in the TD. I haven't met Mat, but I'd be curious to chat with him about this.
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