riding through the days of August

[Jolt]

Sounds like there are a lot of us here who can ride long but not fast...I agree about it sometimes not being worth trying to ride with others, it can be stressful and take the fun out of the ride. I got my butt kicked Saturday doing the 100k route of D2R2...somebody upthread used the word "sufferfest" to describe some rides and I think that is the perfect description for the day I had. Lots of steep climbing, and a few sections of sketchy surfaces (uphill and down). I definitely wished I had gotten more long rides in before the event...that would have made it more enjoyable for sure. I also should NOT have changed my tires from 1.5" slicks to 1.75" semi-slicks, I think the semi-slicks made me work a lot harder than I needed to and really weren't that helpful for traction. Finally, I should not have carried nearly as much stuff on my bike! My average speed for the ride was something like 8.5 mph, so I ended up with just under 7 hours in the saddle for the 60 miles I rode (ended up taking a small shortcut after making a wrong turn that resulted in a heinous descent/climb on a very poor road right before lunch). I did have a minor wipeout on a curve that came up suddenly on a bit of a loose surface...the rear wheel slid out and down I went. Fortunately the only damage was a little road rash on my left arm. I must say, I have never been so glad to finish a ride! If I do that event again, it will either be the 40-miler if I have only been doing 40-45 mile rides in training, or there will be a lot longer training rides for the 100k. And, I may replace the 26t small chainring with a 22t! On the positive side, the weather held out for us (it didn't rain that day) and the event was very well organized overall. It was also fun walking around and looking at everyone else's bikes--people show up on everything from old mountain bikes, to custom cyclocross/gravel bikes, to one guy on a fatbike pulling his dog in a trailer!! I saw quite a few Surlys too. Word to the wise: if you camp in the big field and stay the night after the ride, try to avoid being placed near the campfire area if you want to get to sleep at a reasonable time. There were drunken shenanigans happening until probably 1 am or so, making it impossible to sleep (I probably should have just joined them!).