ladyjai
11-21-2005, 09:35 PM
I didn't race it, percey, but...
I woke up 20 minutes before the alarm went off. My attitude was not unlike a 7 year old child on christmas morning. I tried to get a few more winks of sleep, but that was as effective as telling a cat it wants to take a bath. Even with the early rise, my riding companion and myself were late to the start. To my distress, the gold section had just been closed, and we had to line up in what ended up being the bronze starting section. (They line you up by what medal you are expecting to receive). My stress was amplified by the stories I had heard of 22, 26, and 30 minute delays before one could cross the start line. During this time, the clock is counting against you, and you can do nothing but sit there and champ at the bit.
I nice long prayer about my attitude and a request for a speedy take-off, and even a request for our finishing standing improved my attitude ten-fold. God was definitelly listening, because when the countdown came and went, we watched the gold riders stream out of the pen they were in, then chaffed as the silver, and finally our standing was able to take off. We passed under the balloons as the announcer said 6 minutes and 35 seconds. I felt releived. I’d taken into count 6 minutes start time in my calculations 2 nights before. I had figured that if we gave ourself 6 minutes for start, and 24 for sag and the river crossing, we could maintain a 20mph average and walk away with men’s gold.
Mike started out trying to make up for our 00:06:35 penalty. I was pressed to find ways to catch up with him as he wove around the slower cyclists. I found a fast pack and yelled at mike and we caught on, until he decided to pass the pack up. I couldn’t keep up and yelled at him. A series of sprints and weaving later we hit the first river crossing. It was like a herd of cattle, moooooo. The dust rose up above the top of the river banks (it was dry, hey we live in a desert). Getting out, i clipped in and we headed out for the hills. The next set of miles was a bit torturous. All I know is that I was very hard pressed to keep up over the hilly terrain, and i only noticed the time when it was a little after 9am and 40 miles into the race. I was suprised, i could have sworn we were not that far along.
We had a nicer series of generally downward riding to help bring the average back up. We hit the second river crossing and this one was more brutal than the first. It kept going and going... they had a photographer in there too, i think I was using my mouth as a third hand for the cookie i was munching and switching my bike to my other side when I passed - oops!
After we got out, we hit a few more hills. these included the “big” one. “Spank This Hill” read one sign the cheering bystanders held. We had cyclists (non-racers) and other watchers cheering us on. At the very top a lady was trying to hand out water bottles... if she’d been a few feet further back from the peak(8-9% grade at the tip perhaps) I’m sure there might have been more takers. I was standing at the moment and didn’t have any free appendages, and I wonder how many other riders might have...
Coasting down was short lived as we had to take a right turn. But there was some nice sailing after that. At 10am, we had 51 miles on the clock. It was our “halfway time” but we’d done 2 river crossings and had the start penalty, so I figured barring some disaster, we had gold in the bag.
Further on, a group split Mike and me. We hit a hill, I got dropped and I couldn’t yell at him as there were too many between us for him to hear. i conquered the 2 hills and started working on trying to catch up. i managed to catch 2 groups, not bad for minor climbing and not so nice headwinds. i was tucked into the drops, “pedalpedalpedal” was my mantra. the second group was a disappointment, as I thought he was part of it, but then I realized he was long gone. I buckled up and pushed on beyond them.
A ray of hope appeared on my left, a cyclist going faster than me. I jumped on it, and tucked right in behind him. I figured if anything, the wind break would be wonderful. He pulled me up to 23, then 25, then 28. Ah, this is better, lol. Maybe I stand a chance of finding my friend. I did... he was stopped on the side of the road. I pulled away from the rider i was with and waited up for him. Shortly after, a paceline running about 30 showed up. (we were going downhill, and the headwind wasn’t as bad anymore). We caught on and stuck with this group until the bitter end. Well, I did, at least. Mike ended up sprinting ahead the last 8 miles.
The last 4 miles were the worst for me. I was pedaling by force of will at that point. Latched firmly onto the tires of a husband-wife team
We turned a corner and other cyclists started sprinting forward, and i realized there were balloons ahead. I wasn’t sure I’d crossed the finish line until I heard the workers yelling at all of us, “Slow down!” I complied. I think everyone was kinda surprised to find the end.
I shared water with a poor cyclist who’d run out of water 15 miles out, but didn’t dare stop for fear he’d lose this group.
my total time was 5:47:11, my ride time 5:17:??., which gave me an average of 20.6mph, well above my minimum requirements for gold (or women’s platinum). Not too bad for my first major event.
There were a few major crashes on the ride, and i had a few near misses when tires didn’t do as they were supposed to. But all in all, it was a safe, fun ride. I’ll be back next year, and the goal will be men’s platinum.
I woke up 20 minutes before the alarm went off. My attitude was not unlike a 7 year old child on christmas morning. I tried to get a few more winks of sleep, but that was as effective as telling a cat it wants to take a bath. Even with the early rise, my riding companion and myself were late to the start. To my distress, the gold section had just been closed, and we had to line up in what ended up being the bronze starting section. (They line you up by what medal you are expecting to receive). My stress was amplified by the stories I had heard of 22, 26, and 30 minute delays before one could cross the start line. During this time, the clock is counting against you, and you can do nothing but sit there and champ at the bit.
I nice long prayer about my attitude and a request for a speedy take-off, and even a request for our finishing standing improved my attitude ten-fold. God was definitelly listening, because when the countdown came and went, we watched the gold riders stream out of the pen they were in, then chaffed as the silver, and finally our standing was able to take off. We passed under the balloons as the announcer said 6 minutes and 35 seconds. I felt releived. I’d taken into count 6 minutes start time in my calculations 2 nights before. I had figured that if we gave ourself 6 minutes for start, and 24 for sag and the river crossing, we could maintain a 20mph average and walk away with men’s gold.
Mike started out trying to make up for our 00:06:35 penalty. I was pressed to find ways to catch up with him as he wove around the slower cyclists. I found a fast pack and yelled at mike and we caught on, until he decided to pass the pack up. I couldn’t keep up and yelled at him. A series of sprints and weaving later we hit the first river crossing. It was like a herd of cattle, moooooo. The dust rose up above the top of the river banks (it was dry, hey we live in a desert). Getting out, i clipped in and we headed out for the hills. The next set of miles was a bit torturous. All I know is that I was very hard pressed to keep up over the hilly terrain, and i only noticed the time when it was a little after 9am and 40 miles into the race. I was suprised, i could have sworn we were not that far along.
We had a nicer series of generally downward riding to help bring the average back up. We hit the second river crossing and this one was more brutal than the first. It kept going and going... they had a photographer in there too, i think I was using my mouth as a third hand for the cookie i was munching and switching my bike to my other side when I passed - oops!
After we got out, we hit a few more hills. these included the “big” one. “Spank This Hill” read one sign the cheering bystanders held. We had cyclists (non-racers) and other watchers cheering us on. At the very top a lady was trying to hand out water bottles... if she’d been a few feet further back from the peak(8-9% grade at the tip perhaps) I’m sure there might have been more takers. I was standing at the moment and didn’t have any free appendages, and I wonder how many other riders might have...
Coasting down was short lived as we had to take a right turn. But there was some nice sailing after that. At 10am, we had 51 miles on the clock. It was our “halfway time” but we’d done 2 river crossings and had the start penalty, so I figured barring some disaster, we had gold in the bag.
Further on, a group split Mike and me. We hit a hill, I got dropped and I couldn’t yell at him as there were too many between us for him to hear. i conquered the 2 hills and started working on trying to catch up. i managed to catch 2 groups, not bad for minor climbing and not so nice headwinds. i was tucked into the drops, “pedalpedalpedal” was my mantra. the second group was a disappointment, as I thought he was part of it, but then I realized he was long gone. I buckled up and pushed on beyond them.
A ray of hope appeared on my left, a cyclist going faster than me. I jumped on it, and tucked right in behind him. I figured if anything, the wind break would be wonderful. He pulled me up to 23, then 25, then 28. Ah, this is better, lol. Maybe I stand a chance of finding my friend. I did... he was stopped on the side of the road. I pulled away from the rider i was with and waited up for him. Shortly after, a paceline running about 30 showed up. (we were going downhill, and the headwind wasn’t as bad anymore). We caught on and stuck with this group until the bitter end. Well, I did, at least. Mike ended up sprinting ahead the last 8 miles.
The last 4 miles were the worst for me. I was pedaling by force of will at that point. Latched firmly onto the tires of a husband-wife team
We turned a corner and other cyclists started sprinting forward, and i realized there were balloons ahead. I wasn’t sure I’d crossed the finish line until I heard the workers yelling at all of us, “Slow down!” I complied. I think everyone was kinda surprised to find the end.
I shared water with a poor cyclist who’d run out of water 15 miles out, but didn’t dare stop for fear he’d lose this group.
my total time was 5:47:11, my ride time 5:17:??., which gave me an average of 20.6mph, well above my minimum requirements for gold (or women’s platinum). Not too bad for my first major event.
There were a few major crashes on the ride, and i had a few near misses when tires didn’t do as they were supposed to. But all in all, it was a safe, fun ride. I’ll be back next year, and the goal will be men’s platinum.