Two Peas in a Pod: More Pairs Racing

1. What is your relationship outside of ultra-racing?

Simone - We’ve been in a relationship for 22 years now, started our own business in coffee roasting 12 years ago, got married 9 years ago and have been training and competing together in endurance sports ever since we met.

Chas - Nico and I have been friends for years, we both came up as bike messengers. I worked in San Francisco and Nico worked in Chicago, and we met racing alleycats (unsanctioned street races). We started to travel together to attend messenger championships around the world, and have been solid friends for over a decade.

Richard - I raced with my son Sam, who at 24 is 30 yrs younger, and Neil, a club mate who is a similar age to myself.

Pictured - Richard and Sam by Transiberica Club

3. How did you find the race as a pair? What were the positives of racing together and were there any negatives?

Simone - The best thing about racing and riding together is definitely having good company, someone to talk to and sharing all the funny and sometimes weird moments along the way. And also having someone to keep you on track when morale might start to slip and you might start thinking of quitting or just going through a bad patch (which will always be the case sooner or later when you do long stuff). A negative side of racing together will for sure be the timing of each other's ‚lows. There are times when one of us feels great and wants to push on and the other just needs a quick break to get herself together again. So same as in the bigger picture of a relationship, you need to look after each other and sometimes compromise your own ambitions to make it work for both. As we do not race to win but rather to have a cool adventure together, we do not really care about losing time this way. I guess some people believe racing as a pair should be faster than solo as you can draft behind each other, split luggage, thus travel faster and lighter. I’m not quite sure whether this is true for us, I think we quite often end up chatting while riding next to each other and looking around a lot which slows us down rather than speeding us up. But then again, that’s why we do the whole thing, so that’s OK for us.

Chas - Luckily for Nico and I we took to racing pairs together quite nicely. We already had a history together and we already knew we traveled well together (a must for any pair of racers). We had a similar level of fitness and motivation which is super important. Nico was much better at long flats and short climbs, being as he is from the Midwest. I excelled at setting the pace up longer climbs as I'm from the West Coast. We both valued sleep, but also were down to hit the bivy for 5 hours and then wake up well before dawn to get rolling. I think a big thing that made it good for us was also our shared acknowledgement and acceptance that we would be sleeping in some very cutty spots, you have to have a partner that's okay sleeping in a bus stop if you plan on doing that. There were so many supremely positive moments to count, one of the best parts of racing as a pair is sharing all of the great things you experience on an Ultra. And of course there were some negative moments, but we quickly figured out that for us, any issue we had was usually solved by a can of Coke and a candy bar.

Richard - There is definitely an added element of stress in a pair. Many decisions that might be made subconsciously as a solo rider require discussion or debate. But sharing an experience is a great positive.

In Transiberica with Sam it was a developing race. In the first few days I was stronger and whilst Sam endured, felt he couldn’t contribute greatly. But the longer the race went on, Sam became stronger, especially on the hills. He was a constant source of information from social media and rode to the rescue finding places to stay overnight. Generally we were very compatible in mindset as a pair and efficient both on and off the road. Nutritional habits being probably the most different between us. Having a race partner added a great deal to the general enjoyment, and of course the shared memories afterwards!

With Neil it was super strong riding and drafting through the first night and into the next day. We should probably have had a dry run under “race conditions “ to refine the strategy and efficiency when stopped, including finding the checkpoint clues. Ultimately it was bad luck from an old recurring injury that prevented us finishing and we held a strong position before we retired.

Pictured - Richard and Sam courtesy of Transiberica_Club

5. What piece of advice would you give any aspiring ultra-racers who want to compete in a pair?

Simone - I think it’s super important that you know each other well and feel really comfortable to be in very uncomfortable situations and go through real lows together. To be able to show real emotional weakness or fear and also cope with the other person’s personal way of coping with extraordinary situations. If you don’t know each other super well already, I would recommend going on an adventure that leaves the comfort zone behind beforehand. This way, you will quickly find out how you feel about showing weakness, fear, doubts, emotions etc. and also how to cope with this from the other person.

Chas - Some of the best advice I can give is find someone who you have already gotten into a fight with and came out still friends. There will be the highest of highs and also the lowest of lows when racing as a pair, and you get to share all of that with your partner. So finding someone you can disagree with, get hangry, maybe even yell at, then apologize, talk through it and move on is crucial. One more practical note, go on some tours with your partner before you race together. Not just long rides, but multiple overnight trips.

The one single thing that most pairs fight about (confirmed by asking almost every pair we have ever raced against) is getting ready to go at the same pace. One person packs up quickly and is ready to hit the road fast, the other takes longer, is more chill, and always has "one more thing" to pack up. SO one person is impatient and standing around waiting, and the other feels rushed and gets resentful. This usually happens at the start of the day, so it can really get things rolling on the wrong foot. So find someone who gets ready at the same pace as you (Nico and I are mostly in sync) or have a strategy to deal with it, maybe you can roll out separate then link up later, maybe the slow one agrees to wake up earlier? Whatever you figure out, this is the one thing that could split up even the chillest pair of racers!

Richard - Charge your di2! (Sam forgot on our #notAPN attempt!) Seriously, practice riding together under stress, with a stretching goal. Whether that is high mileage target, bad weather, no place to stay etc etc. If you work well as a pair under pressure, the chances are you are a good match and the experience will benefit you both. You will know how to react to your partner, anticipate issues and highlight any concerns to be addressed. Alternatively riding as a pair can simply be a fantastic opportunity to have an extreme adventure where riding solo might be too far outside the comfort zone. Lastly, look at the route before hand so you know what might be coming up! (It was quite a late decision from Sam to enter Transiberica!)

Pictured - Chas and Nico