I felt fine after yesterday's 8300 ft of climbing, but as we began today's ride I felt like I was just beginning the second hundred miles of STP. I could pedal the flats, just didn't have a lot of leg power for the hills. My fall on Brynwood St yesterday must have tweaked my rear deraileur, I was having major issues with shifting the middle of the rear cogset. I stopped within the first 500 yds to take a quick look, but as hard as I tried I could not catch back up with the group. I was holding a steady 21-22 mph but just barely gaining, and finally could no longer hold the pace. Between being tired and the shifting issues I spent most of the day off the back, sometimes close, sometimes WAY OFF the back!
We didn't stop and regroup until we arrived at the Lake Stop Store, about 25 miles into our ride.
Art had a shift cable come undone from his front deraileur, we had the tools to affect a field repair and did so, but not before the two ladies in our contingent today made a comment about "how many men does it take to fix a bike?".
Hope they have the tools and skills the next time their bike needs a fixin'. ;-)
I need to work on my helmet cam skills. It seems I wiggle my head around too much, and have no clue which way it's pointing! At least Kris brought her still camera so we have a few pictures worth looking at.
The weather was nice and the ride around the lake was scenic. It was in the mid 70's by mid afternoon.
After our lap we regrouped at the Lake Stop Store again. Outdoor potties and liquid refreshment for those in need, what else could cyclists desire? ;-)
We pedaled to the edge of Forest Grove then out to Forest Hills Golf Course before turning up Iowa Hill. It was just under 3 miles of uphill, probably 8-10% in places. A few of our group peeled off just prior to the climb. It would be a fact of life throughout the day. One of the problems of having the climbing in the last half of our ride, and plenty of shortcuts available.
As I planned this ride I was thinking it might be nice to have water at the top of the Iowa Hill climb. It would be just over 50 miles into our ride, and after a pretty hard workout. If I do say so myself, it was a good call to stash 3 gallons of water behind some trees at the top of the climb.
I had originally planned to bring the group down Firdale Rd, but on a scouting drive noted that the top mile or so was deep, loose gravel. We opted instead to run straight down Unger Rd. Prior to the 15mph corners I hit a new record on my road bike, 48.7 mph. The mountain bike still holds the overall record, but lets not go there!
Would have been nice if the camera had been aimed a bit higher, but without a head's up display it's pretty hard to know which way it's pointing.
By the time we got to our steepest climb of the day our original dozen riders had shrunk to 5. Mark H., Mark K., Dave, Steve, and I struggled our way up about 8 blocks that reached a 14% grade
The biggest climbs of the day we over but we still worked against some minor inclines. With less than two miles to go Mark K. had a tire pop out of the wheel bead, and of course the tube won't tolerate that. Dave and I stopped while he replaced the tube and re-inflated.
The three of us finished up at Scholls Heights Elementary just as Mark H and Steve were leaving the parking lot.
We met up with some who had cut a few miles and ALL the big hills off the ride for a little post ride debriefing. We of course flipped them some ca ca over not riding the full ride and being pansies about the hills. (oh quit being so self righteous, you'd do the same thing!) ;-)
Again, Kris had the better pictures of this.
(Art, Keith, Tonya)
(Kevin and Dave)I finished up better keeping up with the group, not that I got faster, but I didn't slow down as much as they did. I was pretty religious about taking in a steady stream of nutrition. Perpetuem, Accelerade, Powerbars where all on my diet today. I kept to my plan of ~250 calories per hour and it seemed to pay off. I rode better today than I should have given hard ride yesterday.
I managed a 16.2 average to the first stop at Lake Stop Store. The last half of the ride we had significant climbing but I still finished up with a 15.8 average.
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...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............79...............0.................79
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....150.....+.........0........=.......150
Year to date...2142.....+.........30.......=......2172
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