Bike for Hope - CycleOther

Got to the Sag stop (at about mile 12) in an hour. Brutal. The south route is very hilly (one farm is called "Hill Top Farm") and we were going against the wind. Stopped for a few minutes at the Sag stop to eat half a banana and drink some water, then I hit the road again.

While I had passed a bunch of people up to this point (I started in the very back of the pack because of my late arrival), only one person had passed me. After the Sag stop, no one passed me, and I didn't pass anyone. I was gaining on the guy on the road bike ahead of me, but he ended up finishing about a block faster than I did. He was really sweet after the race. He told me I'd done an excellent job of riding.

The segment heading north is not as hilly as the segment heading south, but it has a steady uphill grade, with a few downhill grades. It was a lot of fun. I didn't lose much time going up, because I had a very stiff tailwind (gusting to 30 mph), and going down hill was fast, fast, fast. I was in my top gear, and was still just spinning. Completely fun.

The crosswinds, however, were horrible, and the gusts seemed to pick up as the morning went on, so the last four miles heading East were not fun -- on the highway, there was no shoulder; traffic was going 65; and it was very nerve wracking. I was happy to make the last turn north into Little River.

I wouldn't stop at the Sag stop. The rest didn't do that much for me. I didn't have time to get my water bottle on the bike, so doing that would have helped. I could have just kept going.

I was solidly middle of the pack, but I don't have any idea how far ahead of me the lead pack of riders was. I wish I had asked the women at the Sag truck, but I didn't think of it at the time.

Walked through town a little. Listened to the awards for the trail run. Then drove home. After lunch, I slept for four hours. I hadn't slept well the night before the ride, and I was exhausted.


I need to keep working on wind and hills. I've decided to ride this route once every week or two. Will's church is on Hunter Blvd, and I could park the car there, and ride the rural roads, skipping the state highway. I could get a great hill work out on that South segment.


I will do this again next year. I did it last year on the hybrid, with cold winds out of the north, and I was 25 minutes slower.

With hot winds out of the south, on the Tri bike, I was much faster. I was better conditioned, but I would like to see if I could do this even faster -- 90 minutes is a goal.