cycling rocks

Fueling requirements for an event like this are a little tricky still. We were planning on having finished in five hours, so that’s a pretty good pace; leading me to re-think some fueling strategies.

Here’s the layout: 2 bottles = 10 servings Hammergel + 8 scoops of Perpetuem. Add three endurlotyes per hour and an extra flask of HG for good measure. (Or something to eat afterwards). Two bottles of water. No sweets or food at the rest stops. There were only three rest stops so that actually made things easier.

Heidi dropped me off at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds and asked me “Where’s your chest strap?”

I didn’t have it. Nor did I have my Garmin. I was upset for like ten seconds, then realized there’s nothing to do but to move on. Pre-registration was simple. 2thgrinder did the honors of pinning my number on me. It was good to see everyone. Velocity, Tooth, Jakey, Shifty, DTrain, Peregrine, Deanoldo, Fishmel, PedalMasher.

We actually had seventeen all together. I can’t remember everyone who had started with us. It had taken a few miles to get into a groove; finally settling in with a few guys from Team Oregon. Rather than a paceline, we had a strong peleton of 25-plus. The sound of it was incredible.

“Power. Think about the word. It is what separates casual riders from the elite. You can be a precision bike handler, a wheelsucker extraordinaire, an elephant pedaler — but if you can’t crank when the crunch comes, you’ll be left behind.” Fred Matheny

At around 35 miles(?) a hill and a fast descent separated most of the group into two. Into three’s. Solo’s. The leaders were strong and had pushed the pace. We laggard’s chased for miles at 18+ mph. I know Jakey was affected by the split. Why work this hard on our own, when we could be with the bigger group? It’s okay though, because between the four and five of us we caught up at the second rest stop where PedalMasher promised to keep the group together.

That is up until mile 80 or 85. Already, I was giving it all I had at 20-21 mph. I even dropped my water bottle. When that happened, I let it go knowing I would never catch up. So an ex-racer flew by and the leaders gave chase. Why? Why now?!

‘Cause it’s fun. They had legs.

We didn’t. We were again split; but I didn’t fret. Really, the hard part is over and we’re close. While I had to struggle those last few miles with crampy hammy’s and no more legs, it was still exhilarating. Still challenging.

I can’t wait for the next one.

95.47 miles; 19.42 average mph; 3,401 ft elevation gain; 66.7 F; E 2.3 mph ave winds. Beautiful.

Sunday, June 4th, 2006 at 9:10 pm.
Filed under Cycling.
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