Hot weekend ahead

This weekend looks to be a hot one, both in terms of temperatures and racing. While I'll be racing the 12 hours of Ithaca locally several Michigan riders will be competing in the 24 hour national event up in Wisconsin. I don't think the weather will be much cooler there, but good luck to Danielle and Mark Hendershot. I'm not sure who else is soing from our area but there will be a lot of nationally ranked riders there including Chris Eatough. Chris will even have a live webcam that will be focused on his pits during the race. You can see it here.

The forecast is calling for temperatures in the 90's but the heat index closer to 100 so I have been making sure to hydrate over the last few days as well as supplementing with Hammer Nutrition products to help cope with the heart. The Ithaca course is mostly wooded but they are calling for a chance of thunderstorms and the course is known to get slick when wet. I rode locally the other day in the rain to get a feel for what it may be like.

My legs are feeling pretty good right now as I haven't done a whole lot of riding this week, partly by design and partly because of the rains we have been having in the afternoon. I was a little tired after the long ride last week but now seem to be ready to go. The course has almost zero climbing but is mostly singletrack so you don't get much rest since you are always seem to be accelerating or braking. The concentration starts to wear on your upper body as well.

Not much chance of a series win this year so I may not do the other races in the series, at least not the 24 hour race since it is a fair drive and will require a couple of days to attend. I'm still keeping my options open though and looking at a some alternate races to do instead.