Bike 2:57:33 [3] 100.38 km (33.9 kph) +529m
ahr:149 max:172
Head for the Hills Rally
A few km to latch onto the front group then kept my nose out of the rather stiff south wind. Big kudos to the guys who were consistently up front. To the dismay of the organizers and then the riders about a mile of road around the 25k mark was graveled just yesterday; that made for a bit of excitement. The long stretch from 40-55k saw a lot of guys drop off until there were only about 10 of us left together heading north (there was one guy who soloed off the front as was long gone). There was a couple of times the group surged or was on a climb such that I thought I was done for. However, I'd either recover, they poop out and slow back down, a turn would appear, or something, such that I could re-latch on. At 80k I was out of fluids and while I could have managed to keep going I didn't want to bury myself; hence, I let the group go and pulled into the last rest area. The last 20k I was on my own but consistently passing folks on the 40mi route. Overall, a significant effort.
ps: Not really all that super hilly -- at least not enough to warrant the name.