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rebeccmeisterThis weekend's century felt more like one for the record books than last weekend's century. [Hmm, if I keep this up, I'll wind up like M, who rides a century almost every weekend. Crazy.] I rolled up to the starting point, an elementary school, a few minutes before the designated start time. Looking around, I observed roughly 20 people fully kitted out in A&M uniforms, out of a total of around 30 people, all on lightweight road bikes. A couple of people who I knew in some slight capacity or another came over to say hello, but the rest basically had that expression of incomprehension that is a typical reaction when I roll up on a steel-framed mountain bike with a picnic basket on the front to go on a roadie ride. Whatever.
After a few words of introduction and procedures, I told everyone that I was there to lead a "B-Minus" group that would be riding self-supported. Our group began as J, N, and C, a woman who apparently just bought her brand-new road bike in December with plans of becoming a road racer. It quickly became apparent that she was pretty far out of her league. So eventually, J, N, and I helped her come up with a realistic plan - ride out 15 miles with us, then turn around and ride back to the starting point. The 30-mile ride would be a new long-distance record for her, and she got in a couple of little hills. I really hope she sticks with it, and I get the impression that she's determined to do so. It's just...not a good idea to go from riding maybe 20 miles tops to trying to ride a century in windy conditions.
Did I mention that? This ride reminded me of the early stages of that apocalyptic Arivaca 400k, where we rode the first 100 miles uphill and in a pretty stiff headwind. Except, this time, we had already fallen way behind to keep C company, and I wasn't on an aerodynamic road bike. The three of us pushed onward, picking up the pace to try and make up for some of that lost time. N was particularly concerned because he hadn't brought lights.
We wound around through the Brazos River Valley for a while, fighting headwinds and crosswinds, and then turned on the 105 towards Independence. Then we started to hit hills and headwinds. Nothing too serious, mostly rollers, but it gets to be so demoralizing when you have to pedal just to ride downhill. Independence was our first real stop, one of the ubiquitous country stores out here. I never know in advance whether these places will have much of anything that caters to vegetarians - I'm sure that, at some point, I will wind up opening a tin of beans. It would taste better than that nasty "nacho" stuff I tried once. Anyway, this country store had a small deli case full of sandwiches: turkey...tuna fish...chicken salad...nope. No egg salad. I finally just wound up asking the clerk if there was any way I could get just a cheese sandwich made up for me, and they kindly obliged (swiss cheese, even - not just American!). N and J were buoyed by the food stop, and we soon resumed riding. Independence was only 45 miles in, and it was already 1 pm. After about 10 more miles of hills, it became clear that N's energy levels were flagging. And who can blame him - headwinds can suck the life force out of a person and leave behind just a dry, empty husk. Hard to pedal a bicycle when you're just a husk. When we reached the junction for state route 36, I noted that the next section of the route would involve looping out from 36, then returning back that way.
N and J were ready to give up at that point, just as we saw so many riders give up after the first hundred miles of the Arivaca brevet. So they decided to change course and cut off the extra 20 miles added in by the loop. So it was up to me to decide what I wanted to do. I said goodbye, wished them good luck with the remainder of their ride, and set off towards Gay Hill. I think there were maybe 5 more miles of hills and headwinds along that stretch. I just took my time and cranked up them. Done it before by myself, will probably do it again by myself. The view from the top looked pretty good, but I didn't feel like lingering - I still had 65 miles to go, and was hoping hoping hoping that the turn along Longpoint Road, towards Somerville Lake, would provide some relief from the wind.
To my great relief, it did. I was rewarded for slogging through 50 miles of headwinds with some glorious, glorious downhill tailwinds. On one flat section, I got the Jolly Roger humming along at a beautiful 24 miles an hour. That section had asphalt, too - not the chunky-monkey chipseal of other portions of the route. I made just one other brief stop, at a convenience store where I chugged a bottle of chocolate milk and picked up some grapefruit juice.
What else - Texas has a lot of (sadly) interesting roadkill. Big flocks of vultures gathered around a deer carcass and a raccoon carcass. There was a squashed turtle in the middle of the road, and two dead wild hogs in a ditch. Two armadillos as well - they look strange when they have been smashed by cars.
I made it back to the starting point at almost exactly 5 pm. So the total ride time was 9 hours. Not the fastest of centuries, but overall a nice route with some good hills. The parking lot where we'd started was mostly empty.
By now, I need new: gloves, grips (eyeing those nice Ergon ones, for long-distance comfort), tires (rear Schwalbe Marathon is balding), and some fenders would be a good idea. We managed to avoid rain this time, but the mud keeps getting into my drivetrain and fenders would really help with overall bike longevity. Ehh. I am telling myself to wait until the end of the month to see if I can spare any funds for Jolly Roger maintenance.
After a few words of introduction and procedures, I told everyone that I was there to lead a "B-Minus" group that would be riding self-supported. Our group began as J, N, and C, a woman who apparently just bought her brand-new road bike in December with plans of becoming a road racer. It quickly became apparent that she was pretty far out of her league. So eventually, J, N, and I helped her come up with a realistic plan - ride out 15 miles with us, then turn around and ride back to the starting point. The 30-mile ride would be a new long-distance record for her, and she got in a couple of little hills. I really hope she sticks with it, and I get the impression that she's determined to do so. It's just...not a good idea to go from riding maybe 20 miles tops to trying to ride a century in windy conditions.
Did I mention that? This ride reminded me of the early stages of that apocalyptic Arivaca 400k, where we rode the first 100 miles uphill and in a pretty stiff headwind. Except, this time, we had already fallen way behind to keep C company, and I wasn't on an aerodynamic road bike. The three of us pushed onward, picking up the pace to try and make up for some of that lost time. N was particularly concerned because he hadn't brought lights.
We wound around through the Brazos River Valley for a while, fighting headwinds and crosswinds, and then turned on the 105 towards Independence. Then we started to hit hills and headwinds. Nothing too serious, mostly rollers, but it gets to be so demoralizing when you have to pedal just to ride downhill. Independence was our first real stop, one of the ubiquitous country stores out here. I never know in advance whether these places will have much of anything that caters to vegetarians - I'm sure that, at some point, I will wind up opening a tin of beans. It would taste better than that nasty "nacho" stuff I tried once. Anyway, this country store had a small deli case full of sandwiches: turkey...tuna fish...chicken salad...nope. No egg salad. I finally just wound up asking the clerk if there was any way I could get just a cheese sandwich made up for me, and they kindly obliged (swiss cheese, even - not just American!). N and J were buoyed by the food stop, and we soon resumed riding. Independence was only 45 miles in, and it was already 1 pm. After about 10 more miles of hills, it became clear that N's energy levels were flagging. And who can blame him - headwinds can suck the life force out of a person and leave behind just a dry, empty husk. Hard to pedal a bicycle when you're just a husk. When we reached the junction for state route 36, I noted that the next section of the route would involve looping out from 36, then returning back that way.
N and J were ready to give up at that point, just as we saw so many riders give up after the first hundred miles of the Arivaca brevet. So they decided to change course and cut off the extra 20 miles added in by the loop. So it was up to me to decide what I wanted to do. I said goodbye, wished them good luck with the remainder of their ride, and set off towards Gay Hill. I think there were maybe 5 more miles of hills and headwinds along that stretch. I just took my time and cranked up them. Done it before by myself, will probably do it again by myself. The view from the top looked pretty good, but I didn't feel like lingering - I still had 65 miles to go, and was hoping hoping hoping that the turn along Longpoint Road, towards Somerville Lake, would provide some relief from the wind.
To my great relief, it did. I was rewarded for slogging through 50 miles of headwinds with some glorious, glorious downhill tailwinds. On one flat section, I got the Jolly Roger humming along at a beautiful 24 miles an hour. That section had asphalt, too - not the chunky-monkey chipseal of other portions of the route. I made just one other brief stop, at a convenience store where I chugged a bottle of chocolate milk and picked up some grapefruit juice.
What else - Texas has a lot of (sadly) interesting roadkill. Big flocks of vultures gathered around a deer carcass and a raccoon carcass. There was a squashed turtle in the middle of the road, and two dead wild hogs in a ditch. Two armadillos as well - they look strange when they have been smashed by cars.
I made it back to the starting point at almost exactly 5 pm. So the total ride time was 9 hours. Not the fastest of centuries, but overall a nice route with some good hills. The parking lot where we'd started was mostly empty.
By now, I need new: gloves, grips (eyeing those nice Ergon ones, for long-distance comfort), tires (rear Schwalbe Marathon is balding), and some fenders would be a good idea. We managed to avoid rain this time, but the mud keeps getting into my drivetrain and fenders would really help with overall bike longevity. Ehh. I am telling myself to wait until the end of the month to see if I can spare any funds for Jolly Roger maintenance.
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no subject
Date: 2012-01-17 05:57 am (UTC)Windy 100
Date: 2012-01-17 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-17 02:52 pm (UTC)Thank you for writing this up — I enjoyed reading it.
The "prove yourself to be a human" tests are too hard and I keep flunking.
Love,
Dad
no subject
Date: 2012-01-19 07:05 pm (UTC)