The start of the ride was uneventful except that after several mechanical stops (for flats) I had to pee and I had missed the designated pee break. I did not want to start up Kings with a bladder condition so as we headed down Tripp, I made a break for the restroom by the store. At one point I had my Madone crancked up to 31 mph solo before I stopped. But to no eval, by the time I had finished my unscheduled stop, the rest of the group had blown by me and I was now having to chase - worse yet, I'm having to chase on the start of the climb which started immediately after I got back on my bike. I hadn't even recovered from trying to create a gap before my break. Sigh, it is going to be a long day.
I settled into my rhythm and headed up the side of the Mountain. It wasn't too far up the road before I picked up Marc who was lagging behind. I rode with Marc for a bit and we talked about everything that was going on. After 5 minutes or so, I decided it was time to move on. I picked up the pace and rode off. I caught a few more riders, then Switch and Janet, then Craig and about 4 others. At this point, I'm pretty tired and decided to hang with this group. The next thing I know we are nearing the top to I lift the pace again and start to go off the front. As I summitted the climb, I see that there are already 15 team members in full recovery so as much as I felt like I was catching up, there was still a huge crowd in front of me :-)
The best part of the ride is about to come... we made our way northward on Skyline and finally reached the crest of Skyline and started down the backside towards 92. There were about 6 of us that were bunched together at the front and the speeds increased to about 45 mph on the winding road. There is nothing like the thrill of being shoulder to shoulder with a team mate going that fast in a full lean around a tight corner. What a gas! Paul hit a pothole in the road on the descent and I don't know what kept him on his bike! At the bottom we saw that he had flatspotted his rim to the point of having to replace this one :-( The rest of the ride down the hill was just a kick. There is just enough technical skill required on this descent that you have to work hard but you can still down it pretty much flat out.
The rest of the ride seemed tamed after the climb and descent of King's Mountain. All of the way up Edgewood, Lakeview and Jefferson, I hung with Marc as he hobbled along on 1 and 1/2 legs (he had a back injury about 5 months ago that has really taken a toll on his climbing. He's got a long road in front of him on recovery - Good luck buddy!
And of course, it was Peet's coffee at the end :-)
Ride Stats:
- 53 miles and 3,650 ft of vertical in 3 hrs 01 min.
- Ave speed 17.5 mph
- Max speed 44 mph
- Ave HR 144 bpm
- Max HR 186 bpm
- Time in Zones
- Light Intensity - 1%
- Fat Burn - 18%
- Aerobic - 60%
- Max Aerobic - 21%
- Anaerobic - 0%
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