Head for the Hills Bike Rally in Cedar Hill - CycleTour

The ride started and it was a great start. Until mile 20, we averaged 18.5. For me, that's flying. Stopped at mile 20 and then kept going. From mile 20 to 32, kept a good average as well, at about 18.1.

I had a blond moment from mile 20 to 32. I was pushing it hard and doing a sprint on a nice straight away, on a smooth road. My cadence was at around 100, and my gears were all gone. Dang. Then after about 5 minutes of this, I realize I'm in the small chain ring. DUH! I need to dye my hair blond.

We stop at mile 32, and take a short break. Then off we go again. After mile 32, our average slowed down a bit. There was a lot of chip seal (really rough road!) that we were riding on. Everytime I would hit it, I would basically drop from 17 mph to 13 mph. I was miserable on the chip seal. With all the shaking going on, it was hard for me to feel the bike and the ride. I would look down and have a 105 cadence, but I couldn't feel it.

The next 10 miles were pretty uneventful and we stopped at mile 43 for a break. Probably around this time, my left knee started to hurt. I took about 5 Aleve over the next few miles and got it in check.

We stopped at around mile 55 before our last push towards the end. By this time, both of us were pretty tired. The last 10 miles were a lot of will power. Although, I have to say, I felt better than I have in the past the last 10 miles of a 65 mile ride.

The hills on the ride weren't too bad. I've ridden worse. MUCH WORSE. They were just challenging enough.

I do know that I need to keep doing these rides, if I want to be ready for my HIM by October. If I can't ride 60 miles without it wiping me out, I'm not going to make a 13 mile run afterwards.

This was Cedar Hills first year to put on this bike rally. I was very impressed with the organization. They did a great job. The rest stops were stocked with water, ice, and sports drink, along with enough Port-o-potties and toilet paper. The rest stop at mile 55 was heavenly, with a Chiro team onsite stretching people.

Sure, I could have done without the 30 miles of chip seal, but that is beyond anyone's control. Overall it was a very nice bike rally.