Canada (almost) to MA Ride
Way back last November, the Incline Training Team decided that we would do the length of the state (of VT) ride together in September. Well, here it is, September, and I hadn't done a ride longer than 4 - 4.5 hours and about 85 miles all season. No centuries for me. Hmmm.... perfect training for this endeavor. How hard can a near double century be anyway? My previous long ride was 145 +/- miles back in 2000 and I was not as strong a rider. Perfect. I was going to die. I envisioned a spectacular explosion of epic proportions. The USGS would even be able to pick up the seismic disturbance. Oh yes, it would be quite something. The weather forecast was perfect - south/southwest winds 10 mph with gusts of up to 25 mph. Oh, and possible t-storms. Woohoooo! a head wind and lightning! It doesn't get any better than that kids!
At last, the morning came after a night of dreaming that I missed the start time and Jay rolled out of the hotel parking lot without me. That wouldn't have been a bad thing except the van rolled away too. Alas, I woke up in plenty of time to roll out at 5:55 AM. We rode a mile or two down Route 5 to have breakfast at the Brown Cow Diner. If you're ever in Newport, VT, I recommend this place. Just go easy on the pancakes. They were the size of a dinner plate - I kid you not. They had to be at least a cm thick as well. Holy crap. After filling up on pancakes and various forms of greasy protein, we headed outside to begin our ride for real. Just to make it more interesting and to make for a better story, it began to rain. Really. I'm not sure how long it rained. After awhile I couldn't tell the difference between the rain and the road spray. The ride was a wet one for about 3 hours. Given that Matt Brewster was pulling, that was 60+ miles.
At mile 85, the roads were dry and the sun was out so at this point I was fantasizing about changing into a clean kit and drinking an ice cold Coke. Much to my delight, the Incline Training van was waiting for us at mile 90 and my dreams of a dry kit and a cold Coke came true. I felt great at that point. I was ready to take on the next part of the ride. We were about half way there and I felt the best I have felt on a bike since the beginning of August (basically before the 8 day wine and cheese diet I was on in Maine). Matt went to the front and just hammered for the next 20 miles. We had a 20 mph pace up to that point anyway and it just went up from there. Go Matt! At the next rest stop, I consumed another gloriously cold Coke and, sigh, some Clif Shot Bloks. I had trouble with the Cola flavored ones at Nats but I figured it was just that flavor since the strawberry ones had never bothered me. Never, until Saturday.
At mile 130, I went almost instantaneously from feeling great to wishing I could just die. By mile 135 my entire core was cramped up, I could barely breathe and I was burping up solid chunks of shot bloks. When we stopped at mile 145, I had to just stand over my bike for a few minutes until the parking lot stopped spinning. I felt awful. I think I looked awful too. After about 10 minutes, I forced down some goldfish crackers and drank what I could before getting back on the bike. By the next stop at mile 163, I felt pretty good again. I ate a banana, drank a Coke and was all ready to go. I felt a whole lot better and found that my HR could actually go up again. I was shocked and amazed at how well my body seemed to be recovering. This was a good thing since our next stop was the NH/MA state line.
We, I mean Matt and Jay, maintained a 20 mph pace all the way until we hit a couple of nasty climbs on Route 63. I am confident that if they weren't pulling the rest of us along and having to slow down, they would have kept it all the way to the line. On the last climb, my calves cramped up big time. Owie, owie, hurts hurts. As we neared the top of the hill, my quads started to cramp as well. Oh yes, the legs were in a world of hurt. After a couple of pushes from Jay, I reached the top. Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of something maybe resembling relief of some sort, Jay went flying by at 21+ mph and the pace did not let up. I was hanging on for dear life. My legs hurt so badly that tears were streaming from my eyes and I thought to myself, "Hey, cool, I must not be too dehydrated."
We hit Route 119 and I knew that the remaining 5 - 6 miles were flat with a few gentle rollers. My legs had stopped cramping and I had found my 124th wind. I was good to go. Jay did a monster pull to the state line where Tom took the sprint uncontested. At this point, Amy and I put our bikes on the van and joined Ross for a ride back to Greenfield. Matt initially was going to join us in the van but later decided to join Jay and Tom for what sounded like a hard rip back to Incline. At the end of the day, Amy and I had 186 miles and Matt, Jay and Tom logged 202. We hit the state line after 9 hours 24 minutes of riding with a 19.6 mph average. Not too bad thanks to Matt and Jay.
Would I do it again? Ask me once my stomach settles down and things start to move again. The legs feel pretty good. If it wasn't for the GI distress, I'd say that I just felt like I did after a hard week of training and racing. Tired, but good.
At last, the morning came after a night of dreaming that I missed the start time and Jay rolled out of the hotel parking lot without me. That wouldn't have been a bad thing except the van rolled away too. Alas, I woke up in plenty of time to roll out at 5:55 AM. We rode a mile or two down Route 5 to have breakfast at the Brown Cow Diner. If you're ever in Newport, VT, I recommend this place. Just go easy on the pancakes. They were the size of a dinner plate - I kid you not. They had to be at least a cm thick as well. Holy crap. After filling up on pancakes and various forms of greasy protein, we headed outside to begin our ride for real. Just to make it more interesting and to make for a better story, it began to rain. Really. I'm not sure how long it rained. After awhile I couldn't tell the difference between the rain and the road spray. The ride was a wet one for about 3 hours. Given that Matt Brewster was pulling, that was 60+ miles.
At mile 85, the roads were dry and the sun was out so at this point I was fantasizing about changing into a clean kit and drinking an ice cold Coke. Much to my delight, the Incline Training van was waiting for us at mile 90 and my dreams of a dry kit and a cold Coke came true. I felt great at that point. I was ready to take on the next part of the ride. We were about half way there and I felt the best I have felt on a bike since the beginning of August (basically before the 8 day wine and cheese diet I was on in Maine). Matt went to the front and just hammered for the next 20 miles. We had a 20 mph pace up to that point anyway and it just went up from there. Go Matt! At the next rest stop, I consumed another gloriously cold Coke and, sigh, some Clif Shot Bloks. I had trouble with the Cola flavored ones at Nats but I figured it was just that flavor since the strawberry ones had never bothered me. Never, until Saturday.
At mile 130, I went almost instantaneously from feeling great to wishing I could just die. By mile 135 my entire core was cramped up, I could barely breathe and I was burping up solid chunks of shot bloks. When we stopped at mile 145, I had to just stand over my bike for a few minutes until the parking lot stopped spinning. I felt awful. I think I looked awful too. After about 10 minutes, I forced down some goldfish crackers and drank what I could before getting back on the bike. By the next stop at mile 163, I felt pretty good again. I ate a banana, drank a Coke and was all ready to go. I felt a whole lot better and found that my HR could actually go up again. I was shocked and amazed at how well my body seemed to be recovering. This was a good thing since our next stop was the NH/MA state line.
We, I mean Matt and Jay, maintained a 20 mph pace all the way until we hit a couple of nasty climbs on Route 63. I am confident that if they weren't pulling the rest of us along and having to slow down, they would have kept it all the way to the line. On the last climb, my calves cramped up big time. Owie, owie, hurts hurts. As we neared the top of the hill, my quads started to cramp as well. Oh yes, the legs were in a world of hurt. After a couple of pushes from Jay, I reached the top. Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of something maybe resembling relief of some sort, Jay went flying by at 21+ mph and the pace did not let up. I was hanging on for dear life. My legs hurt so badly that tears were streaming from my eyes and I thought to myself, "Hey, cool, I must not be too dehydrated."
We hit Route 119 and I knew that the remaining 5 - 6 miles were flat with a few gentle rollers. My legs had stopped cramping and I had found my 124th wind. I was good to go. Jay did a monster pull to the state line where Tom took the sprint uncontested. At this point, Amy and I put our bikes on the van and joined Ross for a ride back to Greenfield. Matt initially was going to join us in the van but later decided to join Jay and Tom for what sounded like a hard rip back to Incline. At the end of the day, Amy and I had 186 miles and Matt, Jay and Tom logged 202. We hit the state line after 9 hours 24 minutes of riding with a 19.6 mph average. Not too bad thanks to Matt and Jay.
Would I do it again? Ask me once my stomach settles down and things start to move again. The legs feel pretty good. If it wasn't for the GI distress, I'd say that I just felt like I did after a hard week of training and racing. Tired, but good.
posted by Michelle at
9:37 PM
1 Comments:
Holy Crap! That must have been hard. Nice to know that those 100k Saturday's the rest of the year are going to feel short, huh? Good job!
By
solobreak, at 7:25 AM
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