This turned out to be quite fun. I just want to record my nutrition:

Miles 1-20: 1 bottle of water

20 miles: 1 carb boom gel, 1 oreo, 2 strawberries, 1 york peppermint patty

Miles 20-50: 1 bottle of water, 1 chunk of clif bar (~1/3)

50 miles: Chips of some sort, fruit cup (watermelon and honeydew), gatorade

Miles 50-75: 1.5 bottle of water

Mile 75: 1/2 piece of raspberry pie, gatorade, 110 cals of Lara bar (key lime).

Miles 75-100: Some gatorade and some water, total ~1.5 bottles

I had no bonking or GI issues really. Some gas, but that's it. TMI, but oh well :).

So now some other stuff about the ride. For the most part, I did not encounter any asshole drivers, none that I can remember. However, I ran into a LOT of stupid, bad cyclists. Just stupid stupid people.

1) The dude with an FM radio strapped to his bike, BLASTING music - yeah, you might think you're cool but that's dangerous and I do not want to bike near you.

2) To the dudes with iPods....uh yeah, how dumb can you be?

3) To the people who blatantly break traffic laws that will increase the animosity cars have against people - yeah, you make me look bad, STOP. At a 4 way stop, I was the only cyclist, and I was 2nd in the queue and was stopped (cars on all sides). The current car was going when about 9-10 cyclists pulled up in rapid succession, and the next car was getting ready to go, after which was biker's turn. This one biker just rolled right through, right in front of all the waiting bikers and right in front of the car whose turn it was and was about to go. I said, "hang on hang on hang on!" cuz she could have been hit rolling in front of a moving car, and she said, "What, you can just go" and I said, "Are you KIDDING me? This is why cars hate cyclists!!!!" So now there's all these cars that witnessed blatant stupidity by a cyclist, and the next time someone gets hit and killed they will feel like, "Well, cyclists are so crazy and stupid, they were probably asking for it." She seemed chastened when I saw her at the rest stop less than a mile away, but that could have been my imagination. However, I think another cyclist man yelled at her about it being a 4-way stop adn you have to follow the rules, so maybe she learned a lesson. I hope so. She was soOOO dumb. Everyone is waiting for a REASON!!

4) To all the cyclists who pass me on the left with 6" of clearance WITHOUT calling your pass, please go suck it. I nearly hit you when I saw debris and wanted to swerve, only to see you right on my elbow. So I ran into the debris. Thanks. To all the cyclists who kindly called your pass and then passed with 2 ft. of clearance when possible, thanks. It is much appreciated.


Maybe I am sounding like a total bitch (am I?), but these are both dangerous and stupid things to do. And I hate it when someone does something that makes me look bad, that enables uneducated people to say, "Oh, all people of type X (cyclists, chinese people, women, whatever) are stupid/bad at Y/suck at doing Z/are rude, whatever." Anyway, rant off.

To the cyclists who did 100 miles on mountain bikes, on fixies, on 25 year old clunkers that made noise, more power to you, I am in awe of your fitness. But the noisy chains are something you can fix, just fix those! But I am amazed at your prowess.

Some other thoughts about the ride:

How I felt.
Around mile 50 or so, my right calf right at the top started to feel real tight and i coudln't really pull up anymore, i relied a lot on my left leg after that.

i FINALLY got my cleat right on the left foot - after about 60 miles i had this nagging feelign that i wanted to point my toes further right, so i got off my bike and adjusted my cleats - and voila, numbness better and legs feel better. that was awesome.

my ass started being angry around mile 30. yeah, tha'ts too early. but i guess it never got super pissed because i could always get back on my bike after the rest stops and keep going.

the ride was actually 105 miles. around mile 88, i got SUPER excited and picking up the pace, only 12 miles to go! only, at mile 100, i could see no sign of the end, plus i'd ridden there before and i knew i had a ways to go. at this point, i basically lost the will to live and went to 50 rpm and probably 10 mph. i lollygagged the last 5 miles.

i tried my new shorty bars for the first time and they are awesome. i highly recommend them, they were comfortable and provided distinct speed advantages, and my back is totally flat so i'm actually quite aero. the bike is more twitchy but i think i need to get used to it.

ok, this thing is getting long. oh yeah, so at the end of the ride, i heard some dudes in front of me in the ice cream line talk about flats. one guy had 4 flats over 100 miles. anyway, i noticed his t-shirt, which said, "ACM international symposium on computational geometry, sedona, arizona." i noticed the ACM international symposium first, and i almost said something, but then i noticed the computational geometry. i go to ACM syposiums all the time, but not in that field. so, i said, "i'm a member of ACM too."

and he said, "oooooooooooooh." (totally sarcastic).

wtf? how rude is he? i have been dwelling on this for a few days, more so before, but what an asshole, no? he had your classic long, unkempt hair "i have more intelligence than you because i don't believe in personal grooming" thing going on that is so prevalent in geekdom. plus, my sense is that computational geometry is a snotty field because it is highly theoretical and mathematical, so those dudes think they're super geniuses or soemthing. but what mostly bothers me is i am certain he was making assumptions about me, my education level, my reasoning for being in the ACM (i am SURE he never would have thought i am getting a PhD in CS from a very good school), which contributed to his shocking rudeness. i mean, seriously, wtf?


so this race report seemed mostly ranty, but i didn't mean it to be. i had a fantastic day, it was a beautiful ride, and i'm proud of myself for finishing it at 15mph, which i wasn't sure i could do. the food was good, time with family was good, and it was just generally a nice day, with the exception of rude/bad cyclists (which you will get in any ride that exceeds 2200 people, of course), and rude, bad people, which you will find in any population large enough. long hair "i'm brilliant and you can't possibly be" jerk will get karmic retribution some day in the form of NEVER getting laid. that's what i tell myself anyway :).

acid drainage = key for this ride. legs up in the air to let the acid drain out for several minutes, and i felt totally golden, quad wise. it was amazing, and i'll never do another long ride without this in my post-ride regimen.