Landmark Group's Race 2 Re:Cycle- race report
I participated in a really cool race this past Saturday. It was called Landmark Group's Race 2 Re:Cycle. It was a 172 mile tri-state relay race starting in Omaha, Nebraska, going to Rockport, Missouri, and back again.
This was the first year for this event. I entered the 4 person co-ed team division with my husband, my friend and her husband. The race started at 6:00 am on Saturday morning. The temperature at the start was a balmy 42 degrees and it was WINDY. I rode the first leg. We had no idea how far the legs of the race would be (perhaps we should have figured this out ahead of time...) but we did know which legs were supposed to be the hardest.
The first leg was from downtown Omaha to Bellevue, Nebraska. It was mostly urban with about 1 mile or so winding through a park. The leg was really hilly, but I was able to keep up with the front of the pack most of the way. I got dropped a little on a long hill, but I wasn't too far behind. It ended up being about 12.5 miles.
The second rider, Mike, took off as soon as I reached Bellevue. The leg from Bellevue to Glenwood, Iowa was supposed to be the hardest because of a ton of big long hills. It WAS tough. Wow. I'm glad I didn't have to ride that leg. The 30mph tail wind sure must have helped, but all we could think of all day was that the 30mph tail wind was going to turn into a 30mph headwind on the way back.
The second leg ended up being about 15 miles and our rider made great time. At this point we were in second place in our division.
The third leg was flat and wide open so Susan rode it really fast with the tail wind. It was about 13 miles.
DH rode the fourth leg. We had no idea it would be so long. It ended up being 28 miles with a few sharp turns that could be easily missed. DH made up a lot of time in this leg and passed the team that was ahead of us.
We drove ahead to the next aid station and I got ready to ride leg 5 to the turnaround. DH was there before I knew it and I was off. Leg 5 ended up being about 20 miles and it was SUPER HILLY. Good thing I don't mind hills. I was cursing a bit out there by myself with all of the hills, but I made great time and had an average speed of 18.9 on that leg. We made it to the turnaround by 10:15am. I did get passed by a really really fast guy on the other 4C team that we'd been playing cat and mouse with all day. Darnit. That guy was crazy fast.
Then we turned around. Ugh.
M rode leg 6, the hilly 20 miles. He did great but he said the wind and hills really killed him. S went out on the 28 mile leg straight into the wind and we knew it would be killer for her to try to make it the whole way. We decided at that point to leap frog her with the truck and have another rider ready for whenever she had to be done. She went about 9 miles and then DH got out and did about 10 miles. Then I got out and did the final 6-8 to the next aid station. I felt fine to keep going power wise, but I had to go to the bathroom so bad that my stomach hurt so I stopped at the aid station and M took over.
He did about 7-8 miles and then S went out to finish the leg. She kept going after the next aid station and pulled a monster long (3ish miles into the wind) hill and then Cade got out and finished the leg in the hills and made it all the way back to Bellevue.
I rode the last leg from Bellevue into Omaha. I knew I could make it. Since it was all urban the wind wasn't too bad. I did almost run over a little old lady that got out of her car and wandered across the street despite my yelling "EXCUSE ME!!!" several times starting from quite a ways away. We worked it out at the last moment. I got rained on during the last leg and it was COLD, but I trudged along. I got stopped by red lights in traffic at the bottom of the two remaining big hills at the end and was cursing the red light gods. I got so distracted watching traffic and such that I missed a turn downtown. I was not about to turn around and climb another hill to find the street I missed so I just went on a little detour to make it back to the course.
My team drove ahead of me to the finish and got on their bikes to come meet me so we could all finish together. This was a problem since I was off course. I had to stop and call DH so he knew where to meet me. Still, when I got to the corner where I said I would meet them I saw them going down a different street. I was so tired that I was surprised when I conjured up a yell loud enough that DH heard me and turned around. We were able to all finish as a group.
The race took us 10 hours and about 15 mintues. Our average speed was somewhere around 17mph which is pretty darn good considering the wind. We were shocked to be told that we were the first 4C team to finish. We won! Huh? That other group was way ahead of us, but we found out later they made a wrong turn somewhere in Iowa and got behind us by about an hour. Oh well, navigating the course was part of the game.
It was a really cool course and I'll definitely do it again next year, hopefully in better weather.
There were several solo riders that just amazed me. One guy finished solo in about 45 minutes less than it took our whole team. There was a 2 person husband and wife team that finished before us too.
If anyone wants a fun challenge next year, come on out and join us!
