Top 5 things I have learned riding 300 Miles

There have been a lot of lessons learned over the course of my training for the 2021 Race Across the West. My most important lessons have been on my 150, 200, 250, and most recently 300-mile rides. These rides have given me not only confidence in my body but my equipment and my mindset. Here are the top 5 things I have learned during my soul searching training rides, starting with number 5.

#5 - Clothing changes aren't optional

Salt buildup after a long indoor training ride

When riding over 150 miles in a single sitting, it is paramount to change out of kits as the weather changes, and as you start to leave sweat and bacteria on the clothing. The kits themselves are designed to wick away a lot of moisture, but the salt deposits left behind can become quite irritating. I've noticed the huge improvement of mental compacity and performance after simply changing out of a dirty cycling kit. While precious time will be lost doing so, the benefits outweigh the costs.

#4 - Chamois Cream/Sunscreen/Chapstick

This one is huge and was learned very early on during the 150 mile and especially the 200-mile ride. If you aren't familiar with chamois cream, it is basically chafing cream. Taken directly from the description on their website, Chamois Butt'r Her' utilizes aloe vera, green tea leaf extract, tea tree oil, shea butter, and lavender oil for their naturally occurring beneficial properties. Basically I lather up my, uh, private areas with this cream to minimize chafing and irritation from doing the same movement for 20+ hrs. I honestly didn't know that I had this issue until I got above the 150-mile mark. Again, very important to get out there and do these training rides to learn things like this.

I also learned my appreciation for sunscreen. Every 50 miles or so I take the time to wash my face, neck, arms, legs and re-apply sunscreen to those areas. I enjoy the Coppertone sport 50 SBF spray-on sunscreen and it has done the trick for me. The last thing I need is to be taken out of a race because the sun has taken hold of me. This falls right in line with chapstick. I also utilize Coppertone chapstick with SBF protection. During my 150 mile ride, the heat and wind really got to my lips, and unfortunately, I didn't bring the chapstick with me. So as Napolean Dynomite would say, can you bring me my Chapstick? My lips hurt real BAD!

#3 - Lost Nutrition is hard to recover from.

If you don't follow your nutrition plan to a T, it is hard to dig yourself back out of a hole. It is paramount to keep pushing the fluids and food into your body as necessary. I learned this during the 300-mile ride when I found myself starting to struggle. I blame it on the 20+ mph gusts that I was sustaining that day, however, it was my fault that I wasn't drinking enough water. I don't think I ever recovered from it. I started the ride at 180 lbs, and finished the ride at roughly 175 lbs. That is roughly 3-4 lbs of water weight that I lost during the ride. I can make mistakes like that during training and especially when the temperature never got above 80 degrees. In the desert during 110-degree temperatures, I can't afford to dig myself into a hole of malnutrition.

#2 - Marginal Gains are key

Straight from Google, the doctrine of marginal gains is all about small incremental improvements in any process adding up to a significant improvement when they are all added together. Marginal gains that I strive for.

1. Aero Bars - Having aero bars mounted to my road bike allows me to tuck down and out of the wind. You can immediately see a 1 mph increase in speed when doing so. Add 1 mph up over 930 miles, and you can see how this marginal gain turns into a maximum benefit. The aero bars also allow me to change my position on the bike saving certain muscle groups from strain.

2. Aero wheels - tagging along with the aero bars are my aero wheels. Again, these provide marginal gains during windy days allowing me to even benefit greatly from a quartering tailwind.

3. Carbon fiber bike - Carbon Fibre technology has revolutionized the bicycle industry. Carbon fiber is much lighter than its steel, titanium, and aluminum counterparts. It is also designed in a way to give the rider more comfort over bumps while still giving stiff support for cornering. The lighter design plays heavily in my favor while climbing hills as well. Basic physics will tell you that riding a lighter bike up a hill is easier than riding a heavier one.

4. I'm sure I'm missing many more, but you get the point. When you see riders wearing aero helmets, skinsuits, shaving their legs/arms, or minimizing upper body strength sessions it is all for marginal gains. one-percent here and one percent there adds up to maximum benefits.

#1 - Mentality

This is by far the biggest benefit from my large volume training rides. A rider's mentality can make or break them. I've learned that no matter the distance the last 20 miles suck! I felt the same during the last 20 miles of my 150-mile ride that I did during my 300-mile ride. At a certain point, you just need to tell yourself that it won't last forever. And that you aren't dying as much as you tell yourself you are. You are living more than you ever have! There is a running joke in the Marines that we used to say on long ruck marches. One more hill. Our higher-ups would also say that this was the last hill, or there is only one more hill before we reach our objective. There was never just one more hill, and joking about this made things easier. We are much more capable than our mind tells us.

If you haven't heard of the 40% rule, it is pretty simple. When your mind is telling you you’re done, you’re really only 40 percent done. Uncomfortable, challenging, and brutal life moments are where we find ourselves past the point of where we want to quit, to walk away. I encourage everyone to put themselves in those moments on purpose. It might feel uncomfortable, but it won't last forever.

19 days until race day. Special thanks to everyone who has supported me in one way or another. There are too many people to call out by name! Please, please someone remind me of those last few lines I just wrote when I am 300+ miles in of a 930-mile race!

- Mathew Wollmann