Another weekend spent on one tiny saddle! See if I can write a happy report! I wanted to ride a 600K this weekend but with the combination of the route being in the mountains and the current heat wave I made a wise decision to scale down to the 300K. Well it seemed wise! Up at 2:00am Saturday morning and drive to Greensboro. No money for a motel room so I figured I'd just be the man. 3 hours sleep is all you need anyway. Small group this time as there was some more wise than me. Tony the organizer, a former successful endurance racer marred by injuries in a crash a few years ago on a comeback mission decides to ride with me on the 300K. I'm not thrilled about the possibility of a faster tempo that could do me in but I welcome the company. A dozen riders head out together for the first 100K. As expected Tony giving his bad knee a test was the first to break up the peloton going a little quick. The first 50 miles is surprisingly flat so my ego plays along keeping the pace a little brisk. At 100K there are only 5 riders left that are going into the mountains. Around mile 72 we start the 4 mile climb up to the parkway near Cumberland knob. We can see the gap ahead of us about 1500 feet up. I keep telling myself, don't look up. One guy fades quickly, while 4 of us are steady pacing 10mph. 2 miles up, Tony and Ian have dropped Ed and I. Our pace is now 6 to 7 mph. Ok, now I'm swearing off ice cream. 3 miles up, Ed and I dismount for a few. I'm sweating buckets. I'm about to blow a gasket. 10 min. break and we finish the last mile to the parkway. smoothes out a bit then another mile climb up to the Eastern Continental Divide. A few more climbs later we reach Sparta. Ian and Ed continue on to Jefferson while Tony and I grab lunch then start heading for home. I'm cooked, ran out of water, dehydrated and frustrated a bit. Tony keeps trying to make conversation and pacing me while I wish he'd leave me alone. I'm not feeling great. Now forcing in fluids, food and electrolytes, My stomach is cramping, legs are cramping, I'm even loosing my voice. (weird) The 2 hour ride back to the parkway is brutal. We then zoom down the mountain. At 200K we take another long food break and I'm ready to play again. A tail wind and we push the pace a little except for the long climbs where we both are suffering a bit. Cooling down some now as the road flattens we are back having fun again. We slide back into Greensboro at 9:30. We shower and check on a guy from Jersey who bailed on the 600K. The 3 of us head for Ruby Tuesday next door for food and recovery drinks. We then grab a few zzz's as we wait for the 2 other guys that are riding an extra 100K in the mountains to return. They roll in around 5am. Ed is finished with his 400K while Ian prepares for another 200K after a shower and a short nap. I say goodbye and drive to Garner where I'm meeting a friend Dean and we cruise at 7am for 65 miles to Dunn and back. Some good training for the next 1200K attempt in 4 weeks. I now think my chances are not great for finishing that ride. Maybe loose a couple pounds and hope for cooler temps. 250 plus miles for the weekend. Tomorrow I not ride!
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en.
