Cinderella advice, please

[ace]

Hi guys,

For those of you who have done the Cinderella, here's a quandary...

I am registered for the ride, and started a training series, but ended up dropping out after the 4th ride because I realized my knee wasn't healed up enough to do some of the rides they were doing (I was with a group averaging 14-16 mph, they were doing too much climbing- several thousand feet over 40-60 miles-that's the thing that kills my knee). So I offered my registration up, but no one seems to want it. Now I'm thinking maybe I just go, do as much of the ride as I can, and then just SAG out. My understanding is that it's a pretty flat ride. I can't make this a "do or die" kind of thing, because I am trying to be careful of my knee because I'm going on a bike tour in Italy in two months. Given my somewhat stubborn personality, I know it would be very hard for me to go into it knowing that I probably won't finish whole 65 miles. But I'd like to participate.

I know I can easily ride 35 (relatively flat) miles or so without discomfort, the rest I'd have to see about. I guess my question, not ever having ridden a metric before, is it bad etiquette to go into the ride with the knowledge that I'll almost definitely bail out before the end?

Sage (or other) advice appreciated.

-Amy

[Veronica]

I would not go into a ride knowing I was most likely going to SAG without a plan for someone, not a course worker, to pick me up.

Especially on a ride like Cinderella, where there are so many new riders, those course workers need to be out there for the mishaps and mechanicals of the others.

I thought about taking your Cindy ticket... but I want to finish off the month with a ride up Tam.

V.

[ace]

Thanks for the input, Veronica. Maybe if I do ride I could have a friend pick me up at a designated spot near the course.

Or maybe I could just be a grownup and realize I'm probably not well enough to do it this year (even though I really, really wanna!!!), and wait until next year

[Trek420]

I would not go into a ride knowing I was most likely going to SAG without a plan for someone, not a course worker, to pick me up.

Especially on a ride like Cinderella, where there are so many new riders, those course workers need to be out there for the mishaps and mechanicals of the others.

V.

There's no shame in sagging, each long ride I do has "a plan". My plan is never 'to DNF"

Things happen to bike and/or body, there's no harm in doing our best.

The Cindy has a "rep" of being an easy Century. It's less hilly than most out here. For me it's been an early season ride, a shake down cruise to see how I'm doing so far. But it always has more than it's fair share of first time metric riders, even first time riders

Gotta be honest my plan on the Cindy is: start early, warm up briefly then go fast and get in front of most of them

Hey, 3 or was it 4 years ago one of them was me.

The much advertised Lemon Drop Hill is after lunch, but there is a harder hill before lunch (without Lemon Drops on the top, darn.). After lunch headwinds are worse than the hills.

Somewhere here there is the debate about personal SAG vehicles pro and con.

The volunteers last year had to work so hard though many did not even start I think many of those who did took the warm ride in the car. I know i thought about it.

My vote if injured would be save the knee to ride another day.

[ace]

Hey Trek,

What's "DNF?" Dive nose first? Dally nonchalantly in Fremont? I guessed "do not fail," but that would mean your plan is never to not fail, which means you always plan to fail (feel free to smack me)



Confusedly,
Amy

[Trek420]

Hey Trek,

What's "DNF?" Dive nose first? Dally nonchalantly in Fremont? I guessed "do not fail," but that would mean your plan is never to not fail, which means you always plan to fail (feel free to smack me)



Confusedly,
Amy

I like all your answers better than .... Did Not Finish. Especially "Dally Nonchalantly in Fremont"

But, leave yourself the option or surprising yourself. If you need to crosstrain to baby your knee on a hill it's all good. "Any forward motion counts" is my motto and what steep sections there are .... are short. Pick a pace and find a low gear you might be a DF (did finish).

Speaking of dallying....I'd better move, Knott got bumped up to an earlier flight.

[whippetgirl]

Hi Ace,
I am a new rider and like you, am in a training group for the Cinderella.
I also have a "knee" (i.e. had surgery on it a few years ago and there is no more cartilage) that I like to protect so that I can still get my runs in.
My group has rode on the Cinderella course (most of it) and I can give you my perspective as a "newbie."
The two "hills" referred to are not bad...do them in the easiest/easier gears and you can ride with no knee pain. They are not short and steep, but rather longer and gradual. What I find to be more surprising is the extent of the winds in Livermore on the flats...riding in a paceline definitely makes the ride easier! When it is my turn to be the lead rider, it feels like a hill a little bit.
So if you feel confident about your general fitness to ride, you should be okay! Most of the course is flat. Hopefully you will have some others to ride with to help with the windy parts.
Good luck and hope to see you there!

[smilingcat]

ahh... hmmm... lemon drop hill? another hill before that??

length, vertical feet, grade?? I haven't really ridden in like 6 years or so and all I have logged so far is measly 300 miles or so. And maybe 10-15- maybe 20 hours on my trainer. 6 years ago, I passed on easy ride but I'm 6 years older, 6 years of sedentary life. It's not coming back as well as I would like.

am a bit nervous. PLan to do a 40 mile ride with about 1,500 ft climb this weekend back to back (one Sat. and one on Sun.) Still fretting about DNFing. Bit embarrassed if I DNF or dump the ride.

Strong head wind toward the finish? yuck. cold? doubly yuck.
Well instead of whining I guess I'll just have to DO IT!!

Sheesh another thing to worry about. I think I'll wear my long tights instead of shorts. bring a set of leg warmer and arm warmers... I don't have a riding mitt just riding gloves. riding jacket... A dry towel in my car. A thermos with hot cocoa in my car.

with much trepidation,

[spokewench]

Don't feel bad gals. I've only logged about 100 miles in 2 1/2 months. That means I have not been riding. Albeit I have 20 years of cycling under my belt, but I will be suffering nonetheless.

Thankfully, the Cindy is a pretty easy ride. Truthfully, it really is not hard.

Come along and see what you can do. It is all about the challenge

[mariposa]

Hi,

Well, I am not going to weigh in on the debate re: Should-I-start-knowing-I'll-need-the-sag-wagon, versus not starting at all. I am just going to say that if you DO decide to start, have a 'mental plan' to force yourself to stop early. Don't let yourself get caught up in the excitement and finish the whole thing. Don't rationalize that your knee will be fine.

How about reading through the website and figuring out a convenient place to stop. That could be at a food location, or a medical tent location, or someplace where the race directors do expect many people to stop their ride and take the sag wagon. If you are not sure where you will stop, write down a few possible locations (such as Mile 30 and Mile 40). Decide the absolute farthest you will allow yourself to ride. If you do reach that point and find yourself thinking "Why not go the whole way," ask: What would be worse - giving up the full 65, or giving up Italy?

The last time I rode 'too long for my knee,' I was forced off my bike for 4 months! The knee just wouldn't recover. When I started up again, I avoided hills for 3 months and never increased the distance of my long bike ride by more than 5 miles in any given week. That seemed to do the trick of building the muscles back up without injuring the knee.

Good luck!

[Geonz]

That's what I was going to say. There's a real potential here for setting yourself up to lose Italy. I'd probably find something else to do Cindy day - something really fun - rather than "sort of almost" doing something that you wish you could do differnetly.
Or, I'd volunteer to help at the rid.e

[Adventure Girl]

Will you be alone? Have you considered going to the start, getting checked in and getting your route sheet. Then have a friend drop you off at the 30 mile mark or at the lunch spot and ride only the back half.

This way you will still get to participate. You would be less temped to go further than your knees should. And you wouldn't have to rely on the sag supplied by the organizers.

[ace]

Thank you all, you all have a lot of collective wisdom.

My New Year's resolution this year was: I will be nice to myself. Sometimes it is very, very hard for me to figure out how to do that.

But I think in this situation (with your help) I've figured out what constitutes being nice to myself. I won't do the ride and risk hurting myself. My real goal is being well enough to enjoy riding in Italy, so I'm keeping my eyes on the prize (and the gelato).

Cinderella will wait until next year

[Lifesgreat]

Or maybe I could just be a grownup

NO NO NO Don't do that! I tried it once and it was not nearly as much fun as I am having now!

PS I think you made the right decision.

[spazzdog]

I flew out here from MA in 2005 specifically to do the Cindy... with no training what-so-ever.

I rode 50 mi., Trek420 caught me before I fell off my bike (couldn't unclip) and friends who were following in a car took me home with them for whine and cheese.

It were fun... spazz