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ADA Tour de Cure - CycleTour


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Henderson, Nevada
United States
Tour de Cure
75F / 24C
Overcast
Total Time = 8h 00m
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Alarm didn't go off, woke up 1/2 hour later than I wanted. Hurried up and packed my stuff and got out of my house! Had a bowl of cereal. If I had more time, I would have drank tea, eat earlier, and gone to get some crackers just in case if my other food gives me a queasy stomach. Luckily, I didn't suffer any nutritional issues, whew! Felt bad for hurrying up my dog to go potty!
Event warmup:

I just kind of stretched a little bit. Nothing dramatic.
Bike
  • 2h 20m
  • 28 miles
  • 12.00 mile/hr
Comments:

This was a VERY tough course. I'm so glad I went for a shorter route. Many of my friends that did the 100 miler said this was the toughest course they've ever been on. It.was.Tough.period. On my way back up from the wash basin and going back up to the god awful hills, I got a bit overheated, so I poured cold water on my head, and instantaneously felt awesome and rocked the rest of the hills! After about 20 miles of hills and debris and all that crap, I finally hit everything downhill...and pushed it hard, with 25-30mph avg...now try doing that with all the curves, and the rolling hills..that was tricky! Looooved it! I got more confidence with the turning around the curvy trail roads as time gone by. I would love to tackle this again. Avg'd 20-25 mph going back to the end for about 15 miles, topping out at 33.7mph.

I was so full from my food from last night and this morning that I didn't do any nutrition on the bike. Not a bad thing because once I got to the rest stop, I had a banana, half raisin bagel, and OJ. I was still too full to eat anything on the way back. Regardless of not eating while riding, I still kept myself hydrated.

I definitely felt very slow on the hills, and my AVG speed shows it. I could have gone faster going downhill during the wash basin, but I was too nervous to go 30+mph, so I rode on my brake, and pretty much kept it at 15mph speed or less.

If this course was clean cut, and all on roads, my avg speed would definitely be much higher. Again, I would love to do the trails again, I think that was the best part.
What would you do differently?:

Make sure the alarm works? I mean, *duh*? It wasn't a race, so there was no rush or anything.
Post race
Warm down:

Stretched my legs just a bit. It felt really loose and good, so I didn't feel like I needed to do anything dramatic. Got home, had a nice soak, and I'm good to go.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Poor riding endurance on uphills. I was going super slow, even on my lowest gear. Kind of disappointed that I couldn't go faster, but once I pour the water on my head, it seemed to help a lot.

Plus - got a little bit scared going down the wash, and basically rode on my brakes (you would too with all the damn debris, who the heck came up with this route?).

Event comments:

When I arrived, all they had was muffins and fruit. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of stuff. Had the fruit. I was more than surprised when I saw the rest stop. They had more variety of food, and had exactly what I wanted...banana, bagel, and OJ. Since I only did 50k, I'm not sure what it was like for the 100k and the 100milers.
*Add* - Discovered that some of the rest stops for the 100 miler didn't even have water, courses were not marked properly, etc. They had a LOT more problems than I did. When they finished, there was no body around to see them come home, no SAG for those who *may* still be stuck. etc. Many of my friends were complaining about the poor organization for the 100 milers.

Course was marked well (only for 50k or under), but going down the wash was a bit intimidating. Good for MTB'ers, but not too good for roadies.

Found out later that two riders that created this course were RACERS! They can finish the 100 miles within 5 hours. Well, they weren't thinking of "beginners or intermediate" riders going down a tough area (wash basin). I don't know why they didn't change the course to include the road that was just next to it. The course was changed the day before, so it pissed off a lot of people that were training for the longer rides as they were training on the same route.

Oh yeah...after finishing such a tough course, I got NOTHING to show for it. No finisher's medal. Just a damn t-shirt. While my course was shorter, but what about those people that endured 100 miles and a lot of wind and problems (there was a lot of quitters and cheaters...the cheaters will call for a friend half way through the course, then ask them to bring them back "near" the finish line...so the people there won't know whether they actually did the whole course or not. Cheaters!!), etc..they DESERVED a freakin' medal.

Glad it was done and over with. Definitely will not do another ride with Tour de Cure again. Sorry.




Last updated: 2010-01-04 12:00 AM
Biking
02:20:00 | 28 miles | 12.00 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Wind: Strong
Course: Curvy, Hilly, Dangerous (seriously? ride in the wash basin with a whole bunch of debris, cracks, and rocks with a roadie? This is where I wished I had my MTB instead!), hard and fast! No flat areas! Wiiiiiiiiinnnnnndy! :-) 80% of the time was headwind. Grr!
Road: Rough Dry Cadence: 70
Turns: Good Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Below average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 3

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2010-04-11 4:56 PM

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Master
1539
100050025
Sin City
Subject: ADA Tour de Cure


2010-04-12 7:41 AM
in reply to: #2783713

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Extreme Veteran
362
1001001002525
Subject: RE: ADA Tour de Cure
Looks like a great effort with some fun mixed in for you.  I agree that no shirt or anything to show for the effort is not good.....

Good job!
2010-04-12 8:56 AM
in reply to: #2784600

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Master
1539
100050025
Sin City
Subject: RE: ADA Tour de Cure
gdctex - 2010-04-12 5:41 AM Looks like a great effort with some fun mixed in for you.  I agree that no shirt or anything to show for the effort is not good.....

Good job!


Actually I *did* get a t-shirt, but it's unisex size, and I had the smallest one..well, due to all the weight I lost, It's like a L for me! :-( I guess it goes in my Jammies pile.

My friends were really pissed off that when they arrived after enduring the VERY tough 100 miles, there was NO ONE at the finish line, NO one to hand out the swag bag (which is just 3 papers promoting other things). They were really miserable because they trained SO hard for this ride and they have NOTHING to show for it. I know it's just a charity ride, but still. :-(
2010-04-13 8:25 AM
in reply to: #2783713

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Elite
4108
20002000100
Calgary,AB,Canada
Subject: RE: ADA Tour de Cure
Nice ride. Thats too bad the race went that way. Good cause with bad organization.
Ah well you got your run and 1st tri coming up now!
2010-04-14 8:23 PM
in reply to: #2783713

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Master
1478
1000100100100100252525
Horseheads, NY
Subject: RE: ADA Tour de Cure
Nice ride!  Also no issues with nutrition - good news!  Too bad the course was so rough.
Onward and upward!
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