Tour de Guava mini report
I'm tired...Did the 200k, actually 135 miles, because of the intentional and unintentional bonus miles. I finished 16th out of 42 or more- it was 42 last I heard, but don't know if that counted the RBA who rode with us or anyone who signed in late. I was middle of the pack a lot of the way, did a lot of leapfrogging, rode with a bunch of different twosomes and a couple different packs. At the end, though, it became very evident who was heat-acclimated and who was not. I stopped twice before lunch at 88 miles to drench my hair and down my shirt. Other people got way behind, even then, because they overheated. I took electrolytes, Succeed S! Caps, every 30 minutes by an alarm. At lunch, I took a shower on the beach. I had to ask directions twice, and probably got off course four or five times- never disasterously. RBAs should have to preride the course. This kind of thing doesn't happen with my club...(Cue sheet errors and roads with different names than the sheet says.) It was in the mid-90's, and I heard some people's computers were reading over 100. I didn't catch the rain. The thing that really slowed me down were the overpasses on the Pinellas Trail- but luckily they were short enough that I could stand and minimize the delays. This dropped me out of any packs, though. After lunch, I tried to go fast. The couple big packs were stopping a lot to cool off and taking a long time at official and unofficial stops. I tried not to hang out at the stops. I left the last one alone, ahead of two big packs and several duos. I RACED to the end, the last 10 miles. Half a mile before the end, I thought I saw a rider behind me, and I really flew! They were surprised to see me come in so early. Hmmm, I don't use the AC in my car, my house AC can't keep the house as cool as we want, I take the torts out to graze for an hour or two every night when it is still 85. I don't die riding in that kind of weather. It was too hot to eat effectively, though. I had chicken chow mein for breakfast, and two glasses of grapefruit juice and two cups of coffee. Then one bottle of Endurance Gatorade and water before lunch, and about five cans of Coke, and water after lunch. Sport Beans. Half a Mojo bar. I coudn't choke it down. Grapes and potato chips and two slices of turkey for lunch. That's it. I felt good the whole ride. I got goosebumps about 18 miles before the end, (heatstroke???) but went in a store and poured water on my head and bought a bag of ice and stuffed it everywhere, and that went away. My riding time was 8:11, and the total time was 10:53. 13.5 hour limit. I think this is my fastest 200k ever. I don't know what my average speed is yet, but it was 16.7 for a lot of the morning, till the first hill. 15.0 at lunch. 15.6 the last time I looked before the end. That's pretty good- in a ride that long, even riding 19-21 mph, it takes a long time to change the average speed. The first third had zillions of stops and turns. It was pretty fun.
