Civil War Century - 9/6/08

[Zen]

I put mine under September 7 ride thread.

Did the lot of you ride together?
You must be slow,nobody like that passed me.
I even wore my AV jersey so you'd recognize.

[7rider]

I put mine under September 7 ride thread.

Did the lot of you ride together?
You must be slow,nobody like that passed me.
I even wore my AV jersey so you'd recognize.

Our group did the 100 mile route, which diverts from the 25 mile route right at the start, so we never would have seen each other once we left the start. We all started together, but we did not finish together.

My ride was disappointing. It started out fine....I felt that I was on track to meet my goal of improving my performance vs. last year's (103 miles, 6:58:00, 14.8 mph average) given the better weather conditions and the fact that I wasn't dreadfully sick the 2 weeks before the ride.

However, I had some nagging aches and pains through much of it - my left hamstring at the start - stretching it helped keep it in line -and my right hip/glutes were irritated for some reason. Around mile 60, making that looooong climb approaching the PA border, the route detoured to the left, and up a side street and much STEEPER hill. Unlike the first climb of the day, there were no steps on this hill. It was all UP.

Well, perhaps I was favoring my right leg with that hip pain, and it affected my knee. I started to get pain in my right knee, such that I NEVER got before. And the more I climbed, the worse it got. If I stood, it helped some. But I could not stand the whole way. I tried rubbing it out on the downhills (the whole day: 5 mph uphills, 40 mph downhills!), and I even convinced myself I could still do the whole ride when I bypassed the bailout point at mile 66. I figured the valley floor was reasonably flat, and if I kept the gearing low and the cadence high, I'd be okay. But it didn't work out that way.

By the time I got to the rest stop at the VFD at mile 75, I knew I would just be damaging my knee if I continued. So, a SAG van pulled into the lot just ahead of me, and I pulled up to the driver and asked "Is anyone going back to the start?" A volunteer with another van was, so .... so (and I can't say this without getting really upset), I got off my bike, the guy loaded up my bike, and I got in the van and got a ride back to the start (along with 3 others, ultimately).

It was only the second time in my life I had ever taken a SAG ride. I got in 75.2 miles, climbed over 6,100', and STILL averaged just 14.8 for the day! Grrrr... There's something about that number....grrrrrr.....

It just annoys me that I did the lion's share of the ride - most of the climbing, most of the miles, and STILL...when it was supposed to get easier, I had to bail.

But...I hear it was a dissappointing day for BPVC all around...DH started cramping and got dropped on a climb and did not finish with the group. Folks were dropping off the train left and right all day. Only about 5 of that whole group finished together.

Sigh...well...there's always next year. Now, this afternoon, I'm off to my chirpractor to have her work on my very tight and sore IT Band.

[Kalidurga]

Not every ride can be an excellent ride, unfortunately. Not sure if there's any tidbit of knowledge to be gleaned from this one, based on how you described it, but there had to be something you can come away with. The scenery, perhaps?

Zen, I don't keep up with the daily ride threads these days. Did you at least get pie?

[7rider]

Not every ride can be an excellent ride, unfortunately. Not sure if there's any tidbit of knowledge to be gleaned from this one, based on how you described it, but there had to be something you can come away with. The scenery, perhaps?

Zen, I don't keep up with the daily ride threads these days. Did you at least get pie?

Pie is at the Seagull. The CWC had the tomato sandwiches.

And...one bene of getting dropped off the back so quickly with this crew (if you can call it a bene), is that I do have more time to take in the scenery, rather than staring at the rear wheel of the rider in front of me, trying to hold on in the line. So...with my newer, smaller camera, I was able to take some scenery shots, which was pretty. So yeah....I got to come away with something good. Thanks, Miss Sunshine, for reminding me to look at the good things in life!

[ny biker]

I did the metric, started about 8:30 a.m. Didn't see anyone in the Bicycle Place kit.

My legs were pretty tired from the start for some reason, so from time to time I was suffering a bit. But the weather was beautiful and I got my tomato sandwiches so I was happy.

I also brought my camera along - usually I consider a camera to be unnecessary weight, but I want to bring it on the Livestrong Ride next year so I decided to start getting used to having it. I mostly took scenery shots of bridges plus some pics at Gettysburg to show my nephew who is interested in the Civil War.

I am really glad they were able to postpone it so we didn't have to ride in all that rain.

[7rider]

Did your friend from Ireland do the ride?

I never got my tomato sandwich! I got into the van directly from the road..didn't get food or drink (or avail myself to ANYthing at that pit stop!).

[Zen]

I never got my tomato sandwich!

That's because I ate yours.
They were so good I had two at the ride end.
and peppermint ice cream.
and snagged a huge peach which I ate last night.

I have some photos here