USANA’s Daniel Carruthers: Tour of Luzon (Day 7)

Editor’s Note: And we’re back. We delayed the final postings until after the Las Vegas Celebration. Over the next several days USANA-sponsored cyclist Daniel Carruthers will be racing in the Tour of Luzon, a multi-stage cycling race in the Philippines. Daniel will share his thoughts throughout the race with What’s Up, USANA? readers. Please also visit his Web site www.danielcarruthers.com for additional information and follow him on Twitter @BikeDan. If you have questions for Daniel you’d like answered on the blog, please send them here.

After Stage 6, one would think the racing would get easier; however, it was a brutal day for all the riders during Stage 7. It continues to be a Mystery Tour as the organizers keep changing the start locations, course and schedules at the last minute. And most of us thought we were going to be racing 125kms. At the end of the brutal day that had many riders asking for mercy — our total kilometers was a massive 155km and over 2,300 meters of elevation gain.

What made matters worse was the 40-degree C (100 degrees F) heat we all had to contend with. It was a day that tested my resolve that was seriously wilting under the heat and after getting dropped on the second climb early in the race. This meant that I had to battle 120kms of riding solo into winds, massive hills up and down whilst being slowly cooked alive under the relentless sun.

I was not feeling good from yesterday’s stage and had to ride 10kms to the start line after learning it was in a different location than was previously planned. After the neutral section, I was the first rider to attack and my plan was to get over the first climb in front of the peloton so that I could survive longer in the race.

However, the Filipinos were also interested in going with me and too many of them were jumping across to me. This forced the American KBS team to chase and this brought everyone back up to me and I was dropped going over the first climb. I did manage to ride over the top with a small group of six or seven riders and we worked hard together to try and catch up.

The concrete roads in the Army Compound twisted through the sun-bleached spectacular terrain, bikes bouncing over the rough uneven surfaces — very much like a Roubaix style race. It was particularly rough going through the small village. Some Filipinos hell-bent on catching the peloton attacked hard here and I followed them.

The three of us made it back to the peloton just before the start of the second climb — but unfortunately my legs were cooked and I was dropped again. This marked the beginning of my epic solo ride that required every ounce of my energy to finish.

In the last 25kms I rode with a Champion System rider from Hong Kong. I was constantly drinking and eating during my five-hour marathon in the heat. Despite feeling tired, I wished I had carried a camera with me as the scenery and the people I passed by was very picturesque.

Summary of food and fluid consumed:

• 2 Rev3 Surge
• 4 bananas
• 1 weird tasting banana that seemed more like a sweet potato!
• 1 Oatmeal Raisin Nutrition Bar (my last one!)
• 3 candy bars
• 2 gels
• 3 Cokes
• 1 Fanta
• 1 Mountain Dew
• 12 bottles of water (some of the cold water poured on me to cool down)

This stage was by far the hardest stage for everyone and not everyone went the distance — some quitting and others turning around earlier (unnoticed by the officials) but I made sure I went the full distance.

Stage 8 is a circuit race in the Subic Bay area — 10km laps completed 10 times and each time riders have to go over a 12% 2km climb! Stay tuned for details of this stage. Thanks for reading.