Saturday Aug 22, 2015, Colorado
Well, I have not been on my Road Bike in almost 3 years and I heard about this ride the wed before the Saturday start. Thursday night I thought it be a good idea to take the Amira for a short ride around the house to make sure I still at least felt comfortable on it. Hee Hee! Thank goodness I did as the seat needed adjusted, thank you JZ and I really need to NOT wear my tri shorts for this one. Friday night at 7pm I signed up for the ride that started the next morning at 645 AM out of Longmont Colorado a 45 minute drive north from home. Tossed my short list of gear together as they stated 5 aid stations the whole ride. It was going to be a hot one once that sun came out (80+) so i decided to wear my Mt Bike small pack with just water in it, very happy I did as the longer the ride the hotter it got and the aid stations became farther apart. I think only about 200 riders if that did the whole 100 miles (106 to be exact lol) The start of the ride I felt really crowded and a little scary as some rode pretty close to one another and others not holding lines in the turns. I backed off a bit to let the field spread out and it did. Got to the first aid station at mile 23.3(Eagle Spirit Alpaca Farm) Yes, there were 10 plus alpacas in a large field just staring at us. LOL I grabbed a banana and checked my water, Im good. Back on the bike I
went. I also had hammer Sustaine Energy and Perpetum in a bottle on the bike that I took when needed. Carrying baby wipes, phone, ID, money in my small pack and hammer gel and pills in my jersey pockets. Seems like a lot of turns on the ride you really had to pay attention to the arrows the race staff had drawn on the ground. Of course all traffic laws apply, stop signs and red lights really put a stop to a good pace. :( Rest stop two came at mile 47.0. At that time I was really starting to feel the heat, not too hungry I just had another small banana and some gel. Filled my water as i was just about out and for some reason craving some coffee, didnt find any. Next stop was Hygiene Elementary at mile 59 water only, I decided to keep going as I felt like I just did a stop. Now we are heading east to Lyons, MT Biked in this area so it was familiar. I have been pretty much riding by myself since the second aid station now. Winds have picked up and the sun is relentless on baking all of us. Lyons elementary was the 3rd rest stop and i did stop here, mile 65 and gave my you know what a break, as it was starting to feel the pressure from my seat. I had a half peanut butter and jelly sandwich a very nice volunteer made form me and did a few minutes of small talk with some very nice riders. Back on my bike as I new just a few miles down the road was the turn around and that was a good feeling to me. As I turned the corner on to the Highway just north of Lyons I got my first flat of the day. Oh boy, (I said a few other colorful words) as at this point I was doing great on time. I pulled of the road and took by back wheel off and got my tools out. No shade in site so I was going to just have to try and be quick. Lucky for me! two race support motor cyclist going the other way saw me and turned around to come help. They had my tire changed in no time and I was forever grateful! Thank you! Back on the road again...riding alone.....this is boring I said several times to myself. Then I would just push harder to get the ride over faster LOL!. As I came to the turn around it was nice but I had my bike computer in KM(for AR) instead of miles so i had to keep doing the math in my head. lol......my legs and lower back were starting to feel the ride, I had 25 more miles to go and the wind out on the open plane roads pushed me to lean. Yikes! Ya know, no matter what way you turn it feels like a head wind or side wind. Got to mile 78 i saw the turn to the right to go back in 
town to the finish but NOPE, 100 mile riders had to go North, left. UGH....OK PWild, time to suck it up put your head down and push past this. Hitting several gravel roads on this section, trying to not get a flat by trying to stay in the smoothest part I could find as I did not have anymore tubes. And it would have been a long walk back. Got to the final aid station at the Community Church at mile 87. I pulled off and got some more gel, hammer and a bit of food and decided to not really stop but then checked my pack for water and I was out. Dang it.....peddle back to the aid station and filled up water. WOW, they have choc cake, that looked amazing but I had a few miles to go and I knew if I ate it, with these heat that would have come back up. Back on the bike and heading in to town, lots and lots of little turns and stop lights and traffic. Probably my least favorite part. Coming into the finish was nothing spectacular. No one announcing your name, no clapping and certain no medals given out. Looking down at my watch I felt good AND my time was better than I thought it would be. Would I do another one, YES. But I would just hammer out front and go totally self supported except if I need more water. Cheers to my first 100 miles on my road bike and looking for another one in early spring. I will be back! THANK YOU Hammer you fueled me the whole time. Thank you Zeal for protecting my eyes from the blazing sun, forever grateful. Hoooooo! Now get out and play. Chase your dreams people!
This race is around the corner for PWild, 2016!
ReplyDelete