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ORAMM Rookie here - what do you wish you knew?

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pinkpowa

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hey Guys, I'm headed up to NC this weekend from South FL to try and tackle ORAMM. I've watched the heckling videos, looked at strava, and done all the research I can, but what do you wish you knew before you raced ORAMM the first time?

https://blog.bikeminded.com/the-analyzer-presents-oramm-prep-digital-recon/

I put together a cheat sheet I'm going to tape to my top tube, shooting for sub 7hr if everything goes well.
 
#2 ·
Sub 7 should be no problem for you... Do you train down South with Bob McCarty and crew doing the TUT drills? I did ORAMM 2 years ago after a 9 month departure from XC to focus on Crits & RR. I put 2 weeks worth of dirt prep prior to my departure.. It wasn't enough for me to hit my goal (6hrs).

Looking back, I wish I had put a solid 6 weeks of trail time leading up to the event to get myself/bike dialed in. My climbing on the single track and on the dirt/fire roads was not an issue (32x36) since I had the motors, but I lost tons of time on the technical descending switchbacks. I will probably do it again next year, but now my focus is on getting up to speed for the FSC series.

Good luck and have a BLAST!
 
#3 ·
The "neutral" roll out is full gas. Try and stay closer to the front on the climb to kitsuma as your chances of getting stopped on the switchbacks are less. If you fall too far back, you will get caught in the hike a bike up star gap and lose lots of time. The hardest part of Curtis creek is the length. There is a 3 mile section that is pretty tough. Just ride your tempo and try to not blow up. The race will really thin out here. The climb on the brp is steady but not too bad. The upper part of heartbreak ridge was really washed out when I was up there 3 weeks ago. There is another section in the first 1-1.5 miles that is always wet and a little rutted out. It was really slick the last time I was up there. Otherwise it's not too bad. After you make it to the bottom, it's roughly an hour or so to the finish (depending on your pace). After the final descent of kitsuma, you have a 8-9 minute time trial to the finish. It's mostly downhill. Good luck, the weather looks like it's gonna be killer.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
41ants said:
Sub 7 should be no problem for you... Do you train down South with Bob McCarty and crew doing the TUT drills? I did ORAMM 2 years ago after a 9 month departure from XC to focus on Crits & RR. I put 2 weeks worth of dirt prep prior to my departure.. It wasn't enough for me to hit my goal (6hrs).

Looking back, I wish I had put a solid 6 weeks of trail time leading up to the event to get myself/bike dialed in. My climbing on the single track and on the dirt/fire roads was not an issue (32x36) since I had the motors, but I lost tons of time on the technical descending switchbacks. I will probably do it again next year, but now my focus is on getting up to speed for the FSC series.

Good luck and have a BLAST!
Click to expand...
No I live a little north of Bob so I can't make it to TUT, but those guys train hard and it shows. I always like to guess when Bob is going to lap me when we're doing endurance races, he's just on another level.

I've done some long gravel rides recently but no real climbing since the end of the FLE series in the spring. Getting ready for my first FSC season this fall, so stop by and say hi at the Bikeminded tent. I spend most of my time on the MTB so my technical skills are sound and I'm comfortable on the bike. Tough to replicate that kind of course but fingers crossed I've got the descending skills to get by!
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
jmrachek said:
The "neutral" roll out is full gas. Try and stay closer to the front on the climb to kitsuma as your chances of getting stopped on the switchbacks are less. If you fall too far back, you will get caught in the hike a bike up star gap and lose lots of time. The hardest part of Curtis creek is the length. There is a 3 mile section that is pretty tough. Just ride your tempo and try to not blow up. The race will really thin out here. The climb on the brp is steady but not too bad. The upper part of heartbreak ridge was really washed out when I was up there 3 weeks ago. There is another section in the first 1-1.5 miles that is always wet and a little rutted out. It was really slick the last time I was up there. Otherwise it's not too bad. After you make it to the bottom, it's roughly an hour or so to the finish (depending on your pace). After the final descent of kitsuma, you have a 8-9 minute time trial to the finish. It's mostly downhill. Good luck, the weather looks like it's gonna be killer.
Click to expand...
Great tip on the "neutral" start pace, hard to judge looking at the YouTube videos. I had a similar experience at Fakawi this year with ~2000 riders going full gas for the first 15 minutes to hit the first bottle neck, pretty intense up front for sure. Hoping to get close enough to the front to clear some traffic and avoid walking.

I bet heartbreak lives up to it's name after all the climbing before, especially if it's been wet which I think they're getting.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
rocksolid said:
Nice finish, checked you on results. I scraped in next to last but I finished. up till Oramm I'd only ridden 41 miles and about 4000 feet. Dug deep. again congrats my time was 12hrs 11min
Click to expand...
Thanks man, that was a TOUGH day on the bike. My brain is still a blur, we got home at like 3am Tuesday so I haven't gathered all of my thoughts on the race yet. I was on pace most of the day but Mill Creek Rd + Kitsuma the 2nd time hurt me. 34t ring was a bad choice. First time going over 45mph on a bike which was fun. Got booed by the hecklers for not endo-ing. Damn, I'm ready to do that again! I'll try to put my recap and thoughts up on the blog this week.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
Long form write up and pics here:
https://blog.bikeminded.com/oramm-2017-race-recap/

A few lessons learned & random thoughts:
  • 34t was a bad choice. I was in my 42t cog early and often. 30t ring would have been perfect I bet, though even a 28t could have worked as there aren't any long straight flats you're hammering in the 10t
  • Have your nutrition set, and send backup nutrition to the sags. I had a great team to help me with bottles at Sags 1,2, and 4. On a whim I sent some random stuff to sag 3 as a backup, ended up using alot of it.
  • This is the first place I've seen a use for a dropper post. I'll have one next year at least to have more fun on the descents.
  • I climb like a pig.
  • I descend shockingly well for a Floridian. Passed a lot of people on every descent. Not enough to make up the time they pulled on me in the climbs, but it felt nice for a little while.
  • bartape on the middle of the bars was unnecessary, only used it on Blue Ridge Parkway bombing 45mph+ for a couple minutes.
  • I'm shocked how well my Trek Top Fuel 9.8 SL did on the descents. Guys in the top 10 brought big travel bikes (120-130mm) because it was so gnarly, especially Heartbreak. Bike saved my butt more than once.
  • It's a climbers race, and apparently I suck at climbing. Need moar watts.
  • Had nothing left after sag 4, Kitsuma was brutal the 2nd time.
  • Definitely sit in the creek afterwards and drink a cold beverage.
  • If you want to silence the Heartbreak Hecklers, clear it clean & boring on the left. If you want to amp them up, huck off the middle or rider's right side.
 
#12 ·
pinkpowa said:
Long form write up and pics here:
https://blog.bikeminded.com/oramm-2017-race-recap/

A few lessons learned & random thoughts:
  • 34t was a bad choice. I was in my 42t cog early and often. 30t ring would have been perfect I bet, though even a 28t could have worked as there aren't any long straight flats you're hammering in the 10t
  • Have your nutrition set, and send backup nutrition to the sags. I had a great team to help me with bottles at Sags 1,2, and 4. On a whim I sent some random stuff to sag 3 as a backup, ended up using alot of it.
  • This is the first place I've seen a use for a dropper post. I'll have one next year at least to have more fun on the descents.
  • I climb like a pig.
  • I descend shockingly well for a Floridian. Passed a lot of people on every descent. Not enough to make up the time they pulled on me in the climbs, but it felt nice for a little while.
  • bartape on the middle of the bars was unnecessary, only used it on Blue Ridge Parkway bombing 45mph+ for a couple minutes.
  • I'm shocked how well my Trek Top Fuel 9.8 SL did on the descents. Guys in the top 10 brought big travel bikes (120-130mm) because it was so gnarly, especially Heartbreak. Bike saved my butt more than once.
  • It's a climbers race, and apparently I suck at climbing. Need moar watts.
  • Had nothing left after sag 4, Kitsuma was brutal the 2nd time.
  • Definitely sit in the creek afterwards and drink a cold beverage.
  • If you want to silence the Heartbreak Hecklers, clear it clean & boring on the left. If you want to amp them up, huck off the middle or rider's right side.
Click to expand...
Nice write up!

I need to get motivated and do this race as I am local-ish and need to quit coming up with excuses.
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
alphajaguars said:
Question for you. Do you still like those Ashima rotors after racing ORAMM on them?
Click to expand...
Yes, no issues at all, on Organic pads no less. I'm ~175# kitted up for what it's worth. I wasn't too heavy on the brakes as that's where I seemed to makeup time when the trail pointed down, but those rotors were enough on stock SRAM Level TLM's.

You can see how much I was on them about 5:50 into this video:)
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
alphajaguars said:
Nice write up!

I need to get motivated and do this race as I am local-ish and need to quit coming up with excuses.
Click to expand...
It's a really fun race. We'll be back next year, probably with a bigger crew by the sound of it. Shooting to get deep into the 6hr range, time to start training...
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
In case anybody else is a dork like me, I broke down a few sections of this race and compared it to people who finished faster than me.

https://blog.bikeminded.com/oramm-analyzer-breakdown/

I actually rode Kitsuma last weekend as I was passing through NC and I think just knowing the course a little better will help next year. You certainly have to measure your efforts, but don't pace too slow early because you can bleed lots of time on the climbs. I certainly did.
 
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