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Feb. 27th, 2011
Okay, well it looks like voice-posting was functional again, and auto-transcribe is back at work, with its usual hilarious translations of the things I mumbled into the phone during the ride.
Today we are mostly eating and sleeping as we try to recover from that ordeal. That was an extremely challenging brevet - according to the AZ Brevet website, 25 people finished the ride, 13 did not finish, and 7 did not start. So only about half of the people planning on doing the ride actually did.
The headwind took a lot out of us, across the first 100 miles. Last year, S, the ride leader, had told us, if you make it to the halfway mark in Arivaca, you're basically set. After halfway, there are about 10 more miles of rolling hills, then a 75-mile stretch that's almost entirely downhill. Comforting words, given the headwind along already challenging hills.
The rain after Marana was just the icing on the cake - a storm system from the north blew in and collided with the southerly winds we experienced over the ride, and dumped more headwind and water on us as we headed towards Picacho. Picacho was no comfort - I had some pretty dire thoughts between Picacho and the circle K in Eloy; but the chance to warm up inside the circle K was a huge morale booster. Props to the awesome clerk working there, who was comforting and encouraging to the 12 soggy riders who stopped in.
I have a feeling I'll write a more comprehensive ride report, but not today. Maybe tomorrow.
Today we are mostly eating and sleeping as we try to recover from that ordeal. That was an extremely challenging brevet - according to the AZ Brevet website, 25 people finished the ride, 13 did not finish, and 7 did not start. So only about half of the people planning on doing the ride actually did.
The headwind took a lot out of us, across the first 100 miles. Last year, S, the ride leader, had told us, if you make it to the halfway mark in Arivaca, you're basically set. After halfway, there are about 10 more miles of rolling hills, then a 75-mile stretch that's almost entirely downhill. Comforting words, given the headwind along already challenging hills.
The rain after Marana was just the icing on the cake - a storm system from the north blew in and collided with the southerly winds we experienced over the ride, and dumped more headwind and water on us as we headed towards Picacho. Picacho was no comfort - I had some pretty dire thoughts between Picacho and the circle K in Eloy; but the chance to warm up inside the circle K was a huge morale booster. Props to the awesome clerk working there, who was comforting and encouraging to the 12 soggy riders who stopped in.
I have a feeling I'll write a more comprehensive ride report, but not today. Maybe tomorrow.