as usual, the early miles feel very comfortable and easy, the temperatures are in the upper 30's, and the first 4 miles are downhill. i'm pretty happy because i think i planned for this, a couple layers and a jacket, i'm pretty comfortable, at least for about 1 mile, then i realize who forgets to wear gloves when it's below 40 and you are going to be riding downhill: i do. and i suffered for poor planning for the first 45 minutes or so. at which point the course turned up slightly and my hands eventually warmed up.
the ride out to twin lakes went pretty well, some not too technical downhills which i should be riding much faster, but am still very cautious about descending, especially considering my poor bike handling skills. perhaps with time, i'll get more comfortable and be a better rider, until then, i'm content riding the brakes the whole way down:)
there were some really fun sections of single track, but for the most part, the course is paved and dirt roads, probably one of the saving graces that allowed me to finish within the 12 hour cutoff.
about 2 miles outside the twin lakes aid station, the lead pack of 4 - 5 riders passed me, it was about 3:40 into the ride, and they were through 60 miles, very impressive. even more impressive once i finished the 7 mile climb up to columbine, that took the better part of 2 hours, entirely uphill. the worst part, is i'm such a poor descender that i wasn't really able to enjoy the descent, much of which i spend white knuckled on the brakes trying to avoid crashing.
i definitely had trouble getting enough calories on the climb out to columbine, and took a little extra time at the turnaround to catch up. a couple drinks, 1/2 a pb&j sandwich and a couple gels before i crammed several more gels into my pack and headed back for twin lakes.
i had a couple really good stretches from twin lakes back through powerlines, hiked up much of the powerline portion of the climb and road a suprising amount of the remaining ascent. kudos to my new bike: orbea occam 29er, which made the climbing go much more smoothly, and is far more capable on the descents than i'm currently able to leverage.
after topping out at sugarloaf i ran out of water, and neglected to stop at the transition to pavement to top off my pack. this would cost me a bit on the climb up to the final aid station. my stomach was already starting to protest the gels, and without water to help choke them down, it was unpleasant, so i slowly made my way up the 2.5 - 3 miles until the final aid station, and drank 2 - 3 cups of water, and had them refill my pack.
then i was on my way again, feeling a little better, but still ready to be done with this riding bit. i'm definitely not used to sitting on a seat for such a long time, and my feet aren't quite used to being on a set of pedals for that amount of time either.
after a brief set of climbs the final descent is upon us. i feel my confidence growing on the descents and start to let things roll a bit more, feeling more confident in my ability to judge the obstacles, and the bikes ability to stop quickly, before long, we are back on pavement, and rolling back into familiar territory.
i settle in and enjoy the fact that all this will soon be a memory and my legs will be able to rest for another week (almost, except that little recovery 10k sunday morning).
i walk a bit of the final climb up on the rockier sections before climbing back on the bike and fishing up the final 3 miles into town.
that's 3 of 5 down, 2 more to go, and my brain is really having trouble wrapping itself around running this distance over slightly different terrain.
for now, i'm going to focus on the fact that i can recover and not worry about the running part until later in the week.
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| commemorative, it even includes my time |
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| finishers medal and buckle |
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