Ride Report – The Rift 2024

Well, we traveled all the way to Iceland for a real cycling adventure, and boy did we get it from the Rift, a 200K race in Iceland. It features a bunch of climbing, and a hard-to-beat setting. It is a bucket list race, for sure.

TL;DR – Loved it. 127 miles, 11.5 hours of total time, 10:30 of riding. Tough surface (horrible at times), 20 miles of washboard gravel. The most beautiful course you could ask for, including an active volcano. Harder than Leadville.

The Course

It’s a real ass kicker, but i loved it. 127 miles/200k of Icelandic roads in the highlands, with about 20 miles of pavement. Most of it was jeep track, gravel road, or paths cut through the lava fields by ATV’s and commercial vehicles. The first 40 miles was mostly a steady climb up and into the highlands, with Mt Hekla a constant presence. Some hills required pushing (or, I should say, where pushing was the right, most practical choice), but it was mostly climbable. The second 60 miles or so is gradual decline on sandy, gravely, rutted roads with sketchy downhills that will take you off course quickly if you aren’t riding the brakes (saw a bunch of folks go down while descending). The final 20 miles or so are a rolling combo of pavement, rocky “jeep” trail to a long, beautiful ascent, past a cool waterfall and then a fast descent to 5 miles of pavement until the finish. Most of the non-pavement was very rough surface, with large chunky rocks and potholes. You had to really pay attention to the line and tire placement the whole way. There were some sandy spots, too, but those weren’t a major issues. The real killer: The washboards! I’d guess there’s like 20 miles of sketchy, legitimate corrugated road surface that just sucks all the momentum out of your ride and tries to steal your soul along with it. They made a big deal of the river crossings, but there weren’t, really, an issue. More of a novelty and a break in the action.

Aid Stations

There were 5 feed stations and they were all good. There is a “Sock drop” at Feed 3 where you can leave a bag with whatever you want, including dry socks/shoes. Nothing out of the ordinary here, other than the graciousness and niceness of the volunteers

Weather

We hit the jackpot. The day started out great: Bluebird skies, no wind and about 55 degrees. We knew it was going to change over the long ride, with lots of wind likely and, of course, some rain. Overall, the skies were mostly clear with some clouds cover. It probably got up to 60 degrees at the warmest, but with the sun it felt hotter. We got lucky on the wind; it never really picked up that much. The rain held off until the last 5 miles and it was fine. In hindsight, we probably got an outlier day. Very low likelihood it will be that nice most days out there.

Clothes

I brought clothes for every weather scenario, from sleety 40 degrees to hot weather. I went with Rapha Core Cargo Bibs and they were perfect. No issues with the chamois, the pockets or anything. I had a normal base layer, and went with the Velocio Prime long sleeve jersey. Wool socks, normal Lake gravel shoes. Also used Rapha cycling gloves (not long fingered). Used Smith glasses with the “clear” polarized lenses (vs the tinted). Rode with a Camelback chase vest that had a 70 oz bladder jammed in (vs. the normal 50 oz). Had a Voler wind jacket in the camelback in case it cooled down, but I never needed it. I was concerned about getting the layers right, but the clothes were totally dialed in. Never thought about the gear at all.

Bike Gear

I rode my new Specialized Crux. Made a few modifications: Added some Carbon bars, added a Redshift “shock” stem and some thicker tape on the bars. SRAM Rival drivetrain with 40T up front, and a 10-44 on the rear. Stock Roval rims, with Rene Herse 48 MM tires at 30PSI.

A couple changes:

Redshift Stem – Should have made it more compliant, just a bit. Would have helped a lot over the corse of the ride.
Might have preferred a 38 up front. Might also consider a “mullet” setup with an 11-54 or something. Wouldn’t be against a 2x system, either. Could have used a bit more gear variety
Tires- Should have gone with lower pressure by letting some air out early. the 30 PSI was a little stiff. Thought I’d naturally lose some air over the day, but i don’t think i did.

I also rode with a Revelate frame bag to carry gels, drink mix and a couple CO2 cartridges. Wouldn’t recommend it. Dropped it at the last feed station because I was hitting it with my legs.

Nutrition

My plan was to get about 100 grams of carbs in each hour. I’ve trained with that amount all spring and I was really confident my GI wouldn’t rebel. I planned on the following:

Every hour – 20 oz of drink mix (2-3 scoops of Tailwind)
Every 45 minutes – 1 Gu gel. (I did switch to SIS mid-race, because that’s what they had at the aid stations and I’ve been using them on training rides)
When I could – Waffles / Bars (aka “real” food) from aid stations and from my frame bag. Maybe had 2 waffles over the course of the ride?
Water – I’d power down as much water as I could handle at the aid stations, but most of the hydration was coming from the Tailwind)

The Ride

For me, this was an adventure ride and not a race, really. My goals for this one were pretty modest:

Finish the ride
Make it through safe and sound
Finish with a smile on my face
Target 11 hours, but finish it under 12.

We started pretty at the back of the pack; not quite dead last, but in the last 10th of the ride. Not sure how that happened, but we had to sort of work our way up once we got rolling. My strategy was to ride pretty conservative for the first 40 miles, knowing it would be easy to overdo it with all the climbing. Definitely didn’t want to crash out early, either. So, just sort of went my own pace at the start. Slowly but surely worked my way up in the pack, just going my own pace. Rode with Jim Brick on and off as we both had “up” and “down” times. As we got up into the highest part of the race, into the foothills, the climbing and heat started taking it’s toll a bit. We got to the highest part of the race and I, like everyone probably, thought the climbing was behind us, only to be surprised by a lot of “Push it up the hill” climbs and “pucker up” descents.

As we got down to the river crossings at about mile 50, i was ready to back it off a bit, recover and just look around to enjoy the process. The loop between mile 50 and 60 was mostly flat, smooth and a good way to get a bit of relief. The last river crossing was a relatively easy ride to the aid station/sock station.

Miles 60-80 were, basically, washboard gravel roads. You could ride on the sides and skip the middle lines, but it was really sandy off the main part of the road. Just a terrible stretch. The worst part of the day was a 1 mile stretch at mile 78 that felt like we were riding over a lava rock field with no clear line. You had to slow down or risk a crash or, just very unnecessary!

85-95 was a long stretch of downhill paved road and it was such a welcome break. I just cruised at about 20 mph. Could have picked up some pace here, but used it to recover. Turned off onto more washboard gravel and worked our way up again, riding a mix of gravel and pavement to about mile 107 where there was a rest stop. I was feeling fatigue at this point: My shoulders, back, hands and elbows were sore from the effort to manage the bumps. And the legs were starting to run out of power.

The ride from 107 to 122 was over a combo of roads, gravel, and jeep track. We worked our way up to the top of the first/last hill, and we hammered it down despite all the fatigue. We got out onto the highway again at about mile 122, and Jimmy Brick drove us home, pulling the whole way, through the rain, over the finish line.

Overall, it was the hardest event I’ve done. Moreso than the Almanzo, Lutsen or even Leadville. Just unrelenting gravel, lots of ups/downs, variety of surface/terrain.

What worked:

Nutrition – I went through the equivalent of 10 bottles of Tailwind mix via bottles and the camelback. Went through 9 or 10 gu/SIS packets. No other food at the aid stations. No real food on the ride. Never bonked, never cramped.
Pacing – Managed the pace well for what I was trying to do. Could have probably gone harder for the middle couple hours, and maybe at the end. But, I’m satisfied with our times
The bike/gear – No issues, no worries, everything worked the way it was intended
Clothes – I picked the right clothing for the ride. No issues, no changes
Endurance – Overall, i felt decent at the end of the ride, So, the endurance was there.

What Didn’t work

Aid Station futzing – I spent too much time dicking around in the aid stations: getting water bottles filled, looking for food, talking to people. Could have gotten 30 minutes of time just by being more focused at the stopping points
Water – I should have had more straight water, just to keep my mouth refreshed and to give some relief to my stomach
Climbing – I should have prepped better for the climbing, doing more climbing work as part of the prep
Core strength – My back and shoulders were pretty fried by the end of the ride. Not surprising, of course, but i wish I would have done more core/upper body strength work out.
Focus – Mentally, i was really good until about mile 107. I was getting mentally foggy at that point, and losing the motivation. Needed a pep talk from Jim Brick to get it going again.
Weight – I went into this 15 lbs heavier than when i did Leadville the first time. Can’t help but think how different the ride would have been had I been 15 lbs lighter.