Pedal Thru the Pines
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Pedal Thru the Pines - CycleTour
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Comments: Whew, didn't know if I would have the energy for the ride since I was sick all week. My buddy had also signed up for the 65mi but we both said we would see how we felt at the 50mi turn-off and decide then. The first 15mi is brutal. Constantly up and down some very short steep hills. The good news here was that it was a very heavy treed area so there was very little wind. However, as soon as you exited the park and onto the open countryside the 20-30mph really hit you. Luckily the course was laid out east to west and the wind was from the south. You really had to fight the crosswinds and nearly blew me over a few times. This part of the course was nice and fairly flat and really was able to keep a nice high speed. However I think this is when my quad cramping started. I think the hard hills in the beginning (without getting in a proper warmup) really put a load on my quads. So once I was on the flats and just cruising, they really tightened up. They never fully cramped but I was stopping at every rest stop and eating lots of bananas, water, and doing a lot of stretching. I assume this was due to my conditioning this week and not eating very well while I was sick. This is when I decided to go for the 65mi. It was kinda by mistake. We didn't realize the turnoff would be so early to decided between the 50 and 65. So of course after only 16mi or so you still feel pretty good so we decided to go for it. The worst part of the course was around mile 30. The course was heading east, but then turned south directly into the wind. This was atrocious! Imagine working almost as hard as you can on a bike, on a flat road, but still only able to go about half as fast as you normally could go with no wind. It was a 10mi section and I was only avg'ing 10-12mph. This really wore me out and my quads were screaming after this. But after this stretch, we finally turned back west and headed back to the start for the final 22mi. This was nice. Finally had the wind coming more from behind us and a large chunk of this section was on a freshly paved road. I just kept chugging along and finally made it to the finish. What would you do differently?: Train more in advance and do a lot more warming up. Post race
Warm down: Hahaha...fell off the bike and curled up in a fetal position! What limited your ability to perform faster: Training and WIND!! Event comments: I am just so happy that I was able to finish. This was one of my toughest races mentally...having to fight the hills, the wind, the cramping, and seat pain. There were many times when I did not know if I would be able to finish. It is a great race and I really love the scenery. While riding thru the countryside, I saw a baby calf that had just been born. I didn't see the birth but it had just happened b/c the calf was still wet and had not even stood up yet. That was really cool. The ONLY negative of this race was that there is no after party at all. No food, drinks, nothing. There is not even an actual finish line. You just ride into the start area and then that is it. You ride back to your car and the ride is over. I know it allows the charity to get more money without that stuff, but it would've been nice to have a little something. I think I pushed a little too hard, as it is now the next day and I've got some knee pain in both knees. Last updated: 2008-12-29 12:00 AM
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2009-03-08 11:16 AM |
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2009-03-09 10:07 AM in reply to: #2004719 |
2009-03-10 9:22 AM in reply to: #2004719 |
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United States
68F / 20C
Overcast
Overall Rank = /1500
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Age Group Rank = 0/
Woke up at 6am, ate some cereal and a banana. Met a cycling teammate at 630a and headed for the ride.
A little stretching and drank some water.