Training Log Archive: PG

Corn ride plus a couple other errands. Quite tired from yesterday's adventure, but figured I might as well go for an easy ride on the FLATS. :-)

Legs had no zip, as expected. Had me thinking about how long it will be when this is how I feel on a good day. Won't be long.

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A few other notes from yesterday.

-- I had three unplanned dismounts yesterday, all in the space of about 200 yards, where the dirt road we were on changed to a very wet and rough jeep track. Emphasis on wet and rough. Came around a corner and there was obstacle number one, a mud hole of unknown depth. No room at all to skirt it on the left. Maybe a foot on the right, but it was wet and looked very soft and muddy and I feared I would just bog down in it. So I opted for the unknown and hoped for a firm bottom underneath the muddy water.

Picked a spot on the right side and tried to get some speed up, but it was either not enough speed, or the wrong spot, or both. Ground a a halt about halfway across, the water right up to the axles. The only saving grace was that I managed to unclip and get a foot down. Ended up with both shoes full of water and mud, the lower parts of the bike coated with mud, but that was still better than all of me going in, which certainly was a possibility.

Pulled the bike out, hopped back on, around the corner and now the trail headed uphill, and upstream. The only possibility was right along the edge, managed that for maybe 50 yards before hitting something that stopped me dead. Again, managed to unclip, no harm done.

Hike a few yards past that obstacle, hopped back on, was making progress, all of a sudden my rear wheel just slid out to the right. No chance to save it. And didn't get out of the pedal this time, so I went down with the bike. I remember something hurt, but I can't remember what, so I guess it wasn't real bad.

Hopped back on again, couple hundred more yards of this stuff, handled it nicely, actually felt I was getting the hang of it, through one last ditch, did that well, which was just as good because I had about 6 spectators. They couldn't care about what I was doing, but did I have a 1.8 mm Allen wrench?

I'm supposed to know? I had a set of Allen wrenches, and I was about to stop and pull them out, when one guy said, "Nobody carries a 1.8." That was good enough for me, so I just moseyed on.

This section was on the loop that was on the long Mystery but not the short, so Phil and Jeff missed it. Just as good, and I don't think they would have cared for it. Actually, I rather enjoyed it.

-- Not too long after that was a dirt road section, Stark Mountain Road, that I had been thinking about from time to time during the day. A little over a mile, 11% average but getting steep towards the top, and coming 75 miles into the ride. Hand't done it before. And I really was not looking forward to it.

So my plan was to just go up as slowly as I could, just fast enough to keep me from falling over, and see what happens. The first half was easy enough, grade varied but averaged maybe 5%. The second half made up for it, but I just kept grinding away and eventually the top came. I'm sure I had the worst, or close to the worst, time all day on that section. But it got done.

-- When I was done, I looked around for Phil, and Jeff and Judy, but they had already split. So I tossed my bike in the car and was about to head home when Bill Haines walked by, said Ceil (his wife) had just come in, said I should come on over to the big tent and have a beer. So I did (come over) and I didn't (have a beer), but I certainly had a good time, saw several folks I knew. A nice way to finish up what was, hard as it might be for some to believe, a very fun day.

C • Dirt roads 2

The first 82.5 miles of the D2R2 Long Mystery Ride, at which point my Garmin ran out of juice. I still had a ways to go, and fortunately had some juice left in my legs.

And the last 15.5 miles.

Quite the adventure. Here's the route. And here are all the possible routes. Most are the same year to year, but the mystery routes (short and long) are new each year.

Did the first 25 miles with Phil. But then we got to an aid station, and he likes to take a few minutes, whereas I prefer to refill bottles and then keep moving. So after that I was on my own, and totally happy. Lots of other riders around, almost always zipping past me. Pretty much the only ones I passed were at the aid stations.

I think I did a good job of pacing. It was really really humid, not that hot but I was still soaked. And that was before it rained. Rain some but not too much, and never hard. I would have been happy with more as it made it cooler. Fortunately no sun, also no thunderstorms.

Riding time was about 9:35 to 9:40. Time in aid stations totalled about 14 minutes (including lunch)

And no ailments other than a touch of chafing (only aware of it afterwards). Otherwise things felt fine, though my legs will take a few days to recover.

And a really fine day.

Very easy ride in the flats.

With Phil, lower hills in Conway and Deerfield.

Several times, as I was riding along, the thought popped into my mind -- it can't get any better than this. :-)

Up the river staying on this side. Occasional sprinkles, a little more so the last few minutes.