LarryOz
Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Me and about 1100 local riders took off on this event this morning at 8am.
I was the only recumbent that I could see in the whole group. I also saw one trike.
The Century had about 6,000 feet of climbing and one pretty steep accent. Anyway, a lot more hills that I'm used too seeing that I usually ride around a track or at home on my KICKR!
There were about 50-60 riders in the "fast" group.
I took off with them and the pace for the first 10 minutes was painfully slow. I was in the lead for part of it without even wanting too.
After about 20 miles we had the largest climb of the day. Not a killer, but about 400' in a couple miles. The leaders of group dropped me, but I caught them on the flats. But it did take me about 10 miles of a good effort.
I then caught and passed the entire group and had about 1/4 mile lead at around mile 40.
They even sent a "sprinter" who shot ahead of me and then slowed down to try and bring me back to the group. Just like in the movies! haha. As soon as he moved over, I just powered on past him and kept going!
Then, the impossible happened - I missed a turn!! About a mile later I came to an intersection and did not see the "green arrow" leading me an any direction. I stopped and took out my cue sheet. Yep - I had missed the turn about a mile back. Rats! I'll bet the lead riders are still laughing... I'm not!
This reminded me that I have forgotten to bring or wear a mirror on my hand. If I had had that, I might have seen the group behind me turn when I did not. Oh well.
I turned around and got back to the road I was supposed to turn on. I still did not see any turn arrows.
I just kept going, but I had lost about 6 minutes, which put me behind by about 2 1/2 miles. Oh well.
I just continued to ride alone - and I occasionally passed someone who had been dropped by the group.
I had to stop at least 3 times just to confirm the route. The markings on the road where pretty horrible. They where in the middle of the road and dark green. If a car happened to be passing you close to an intersection, you did not even get to see the markings on the road since the car passed over them. Also if the asphalt was really dark, the were also very hard to see. Added that I'm laying back at 20 degrees from horizontal it was challenging at best to see them anyway. I basically had to sit up as tall as I could at any crossroad or intersection just to check if I needed to turn. What a momentum killer!
To continue: around mile 63 there was a small section where they had you ride out to a spot, turn around and ride back. It was about 3 1/2 miles out and back. About 1/3 of the way up I see the big fast group going the other way. We'll it looked like I was still about 2 miles behind them. I had not lost any ground, but I had not gained any either. That actually made me feel pretty good, as that means little 'ole by myself, with multiple stops was basically riding about as fast as they were as a group. I doubt I would have had trouble staying with them the whole time. But I knew I wasn't going to be able to catch them either. O well, just a training ride anyway - but some company would have been nice.
I just continued on. I had to stop a few more times for a quick route check, and then at mile 84, as I was following a couple other riders, they went straight when I thought they should have turned. Then they turned into a "rest stop". I stopped with them and ask the people that were running the stop where the turn was supposed to be. I took out my map and showed it to them. They agreed that the turn should have been back up the road and that it was not even marked. If it was marked, then none of the riders would even pass the rest stop. They also said the fast group went by about 10 minutes ago, but they missed the turn also. This just means they took a short-cut back to the finish. What a riot.
After hanging out there a few more minutes and answering some questions about my Vendetta I took back off. Only about 17-18 miles to go. I checked later and that stopped consumed 10 full minutes - wow! Now I was greeted with a short rain storm, which had been threatening all day. Suddenly I'm back at Calvin's! haha. Luckily it only lasted about 10 minutes, but the roads were all nice and wet all the way back so I just needed to be more attentive.
The ride back in was uneventful and I managed to push it a little hard for the last 4-5 miles - flying by quite a few tired riders at a TT speed. In the end I ended up riding 101.5 miles with ~6000' climbing in just under 5 hours, including maybe a total of 15 minutes of stopping. Not too bad of a day, plus no falling - that makes it a GREAT day in my book!
Here is my Strava feed: https://www.strava.com/activities/599701928/analysis/14352/14845
I consumed 4-scoops of Perpeturm in a 20 ounce bottle, and about 10 other ounces of water for the entire ride. I probably should have drank more.
I did video some of the ride - Now I have the first 11 hours of Calvin's still to edit and also this one. I still might do this one first, since it is shorter, as I only got a couple hours. I'll try and pick out some of the high spots and post them in a day or 2.
I was the only recumbent that I could see in the whole group. I also saw one trike.
The Century had about 6,000 feet of climbing and one pretty steep accent. Anyway, a lot more hills that I'm used too seeing that I usually ride around a track or at home on my KICKR!
There were about 50-60 riders in the "fast" group.
I took off with them and the pace for the first 10 minutes was painfully slow. I was in the lead for part of it without even wanting too.
After about 20 miles we had the largest climb of the day. Not a killer, but about 400' in a couple miles. The leaders of group dropped me, but I caught them on the flats. But it did take me about 10 miles of a good effort.
I then caught and passed the entire group and had about 1/4 mile lead at around mile 40.
They even sent a "sprinter" who shot ahead of me and then slowed down to try and bring me back to the group. Just like in the movies! haha. As soon as he moved over, I just powered on past him and kept going!
Then, the impossible happened - I missed a turn!! About a mile later I came to an intersection and did not see the "green arrow" leading me an any direction. I stopped and took out my cue sheet. Yep - I had missed the turn about a mile back. Rats! I'll bet the lead riders are still laughing... I'm not!
This reminded me that I have forgotten to bring or wear a mirror on my hand. If I had had that, I might have seen the group behind me turn when I did not. Oh well.
I turned around and got back to the road I was supposed to turn on. I still did not see any turn arrows.
I just kept going, but I had lost about 6 minutes, which put me behind by about 2 1/2 miles. Oh well.
I just continued to ride alone - and I occasionally passed someone who had been dropped by the group.
I had to stop at least 3 times just to confirm the route. The markings on the road where pretty horrible. They where in the middle of the road and dark green. If a car happened to be passing you close to an intersection, you did not even get to see the markings on the road since the car passed over them. Also if the asphalt was really dark, the were also very hard to see. Added that I'm laying back at 20 degrees from horizontal it was challenging at best to see them anyway. I basically had to sit up as tall as I could at any crossroad or intersection just to check if I needed to turn. What a momentum killer!
To continue: around mile 63 there was a small section where they had you ride out to a spot, turn around and ride back. It was about 3 1/2 miles out and back. About 1/3 of the way up I see the big fast group going the other way. We'll it looked like I was still about 2 miles behind them. I had not lost any ground, but I had not gained any either. That actually made me feel pretty good, as that means little 'ole by myself, with multiple stops was basically riding about as fast as they were as a group. I doubt I would have had trouble staying with them the whole time. But I knew I wasn't going to be able to catch them either. O well, just a training ride anyway - but some company would have been nice.
I just continued on. I had to stop a few more times for a quick route check, and then at mile 84, as I was following a couple other riders, they went straight when I thought they should have turned. Then they turned into a "rest stop". I stopped with them and ask the people that were running the stop where the turn was supposed to be. I took out my map and showed it to them. They agreed that the turn should have been back up the road and that it was not even marked. If it was marked, then none of the riders would even pass the rest stop. They also said the fast group went by about 10 minutes ago, but they missed the turn also. This just means they took a short-cut back to the finish. What a riot.
After hanging out there a few more minutes and answering some questions about my Vendetta I took back off. Only about 17-18 miles to go. I checked later and that stopped consumed 10 full minutes - wow! Now I was greeted with a short rain storm, which had been threatening all day. Suddenly I'm back at Calvin's! haha. Luckily it only lasted about 10 minutes, but the roads were all nice and wet all the way back so I just needed to be more attentive.
The ride back in was uneventful and I managed to push it a little hard for the last 4-5 miles - flying by quite a few tired riders at a TT speed. In the end I ended up riding 101.5 miles with ~6000' climbing in just under 5 hours, including maybe a total of 15 minutes of stopping. Not too bad of a day, plus no falling - that makes it a GREAT day in my book!
Here is my Strava feed: https://www.strava.com/activities/599701928/analysis/14352/14845
I consumed 4-scoops of Perpeturm in a 20 ounce bottle, and about 10 other ounces of water for the entire ride. I probably should have drank more.
I did video some of the ride - Now I have the first 11 hours of Calvin's still to edit and also this one. I still might do this one first, since it is shorter, as I only got a couple hours. I'll try and pick out some of the high spots and post them in a day or 2.
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