Apprehension and Expectations
The day after I broke my ankle, the ortho-doc told me I may be able to ride in September, but it wouldn't be my fastest time - if I could ride. Undeterred, I was determined to ride and shoot for a good time. Ha! Riding is one thing, but conditions on a 200-mile ride/ race can change enough over the course of the day so many times, it's completely a crap-shoot.
Arrival and Start
Don't ask why, but somehow things got a little confusing on our way up to Logan. When we arrived at Center Street, it was very congested. So, we just stopped right off to the side of the road and threw the gear and bike out. A quick pic and I was loaded and rolling toward Federal Avenue. As I got to the queue, I could see my group in the starting area, getting ready to go. With a couple minutes to spare, I got in without any time to really think about what was happening. The count-off and start, and then we were on our way. 100 feet into the event and on to First North, we all could feel raindrops - argh!. All the same, we're on our way.
Logan to Montpelier
The first five or so miles out 10th West to 2800 North, back to 91 is a rolling neutral. They hold us back to under 20 MPH. Our group had two motor-marshalls (race officials) for some reason. One of them kept sweeping us from the roadside all the way back in the neutral to move over the fog line (emergency lane). Fifty-five guys, riding two abreast makes this kind of dangerous. By the time we got past Smithfield, it was getting ridiculous. All the other riders we complaining between each other, but nobody would say anything to the cycle-nazi. Finally, after a couple guys nearly crashed when dodging some garbage on the far outside edge, I stopped they official and told him he was going to kill someone. Being on the roadside of the line, he told me to get over, at which point I told him it wasn't going to happen, and we were supposed to be in the lane of traffic. He rolled back and disappeared. I was sure he was writing down my frame number for either a penalty or disqualification. A little while later, he came back through, but not quite as determined to push us off the road. Through all of this, our speed into Preston was a little slow, but the rain wasn't a factor - until we got through Preston.
At the turn up to the first climb (Strawberry/Immigration), the group quickly split. I stayed with the main body for maybe five miles but got dropped at maybe MP7, or 8. Still, I was able to get onto some other groups up to the steep parts at MP12-ish. As usual, over the false summit, I was able to get some pretty good speed but had a nasty headwind. By this time, I was seeing groups that had started six and twelve minutes behind me. Passing the neutral feed zone, I was passing a bunch of people that had passed me in the climb. By this time, I was seeing the fastest Cat-5s, that started almost 45 minutes later. Usually, I can get on a good group heading down through Liberty, but not this year. I hooked onto a couple groups, but let them go, as they were way too fast for me. I rolled into the Montpelier feed zone alone, but not too far off my target time. I wasn't feeling too bad, rather pretty good for the two climbs ahead.
Geneva, Salt River Pass to Afton
Up Montpelier canyon, I had been fuelling (feeding) right on schedule. I was only in the feed zone for a few minutes and felt like I had good legs under me. Given the congestion at the feed zone, I planned to stop about six miles up the canyon to take care of some business. Other than that, I wasn't stopping until Afton - 47 miles away. Geneva summit was pretty much what I'd expected, but still, no good groups going down into Geneva. A crosswind from the south was welcome, as this would be my tail-wind to KoM. Most of this stretch was again by myself, occasionally hooking on to small groups that were still too fast. Past the watering neutral, I really felt like I had the legs to climb, just not too fast. Just before the KoM start, I felt very confident and kept pushing straight into the timed section. This is four miles, with 1,064 feet of elevation - nothing I'm not used to. The first couple miles I was passing pretty much everyone. The last mile or so, I was getting passed by two, or three for everyone I'd pass. Still, I was feeling okay and confident - just not super fast. Up until about five miles before KoM we had cloud cover. Now it was direct sunlight and getting a tad warm. About halfway up, I was doing the full "Batman" trying to keep cool. With no intention to stop at the neutral feed zone at the top, I took a hand-up water bottle and rolled through. I still had to stop as I needed to zip up my jersey. I won't risk riding with no-hands at a point like that. There is too much to lose and stopping takes about ten seconds. Off the top, I was still feeling pretty fresh and my overall time wasn't too bad. The last straightaway before the bottom, I hit top speed for the day at 50.7 MPH - not as fast as last year. The ride through Smoot and into Afton was fast with a tailwind. Not many groups. The ones I did find were either too slow or too fast. The time to Afton was about 35 behind schedule for the entire day. With a tailwind to Alpine, maybe I could make up some time. Wishful thinking.
Afton to Alpine
The few minutes I was in the feed zone at Afton was all it took to shift the tailwind to gusting side/headwinds. Normally I can get through this little 34 mile stretch in less than 90 minutes and as fast as just over one hour - not this year. At about Thayne, I was nearly out of water - and that has never happened before. My support tracked me down and gave me a fresh bottle that got me into Alpine - cooked and with a brewing problem in my right leg. By the feed zone, I was cooked and hurting where I've never hurt before. At this point I was done looking at a good time, now just getting the finish.
Along this stretch, I had to really get my mind straight and put everything into perspective. Normally I can fly through this little stretch, but this time I was starting to have considerable self-doubt. Quitting wasn't an option, but dogging also couldn't happen either.
Alpine, Hoe Back and the Finish
Going up the canyon, I started to feel the ankle. This was causing the IT band in that same leg to burn - making it hard to pedal. I could feel the time slipping away as I let groups pass me. I had to regularly stand to pedal with the IT band and ankle not cooperating. I've made it a rule to skip all the neutral fed zones, but this year I decided to stop at Hoe Back for some quick caffeine. Turns out, they didn't have what I needed and I spent ten minutes there for no reason. Worse yet, I let about 30 riders get ahead of me - the only ones I had been riding with since Montpelier. Worse yet, I had a solid headwind from about five miles before Hoe Back going in. This was to be problematic (not a Ronco product).
Just passed the roundabout at Hoe Back, it was a stiff,, occasionally gusting headwind all the way to the finish. The last hill into the Jackson Valley proved to be harder than usual with the wind. Getting across the highway and heading west, I was totally wasted. Somewhere along the way, I took my last Gue for the day, expecting to find a small can of Coke at the bike trail - no luck. Instead, I stopped just long enough to let a really good group get by me - again. At this point, my ankle and IT band were competing for attention. I was having to stand - regularly.
At Wilson and off the bike path, I only had seven miles to go. I had never been in such bad shape this late in the day. Still, I held my own with nobody passing me, but I wasn't passing anyone else either. At the 4 KM mark, I usually gear up for a big push for the last 3 miles - not this time. I didn't fade, but I couldn't "mash" the pedals either. I finished with a little dignity and a ton of frustration.
Post Ride and the Assessment (second guessing)
Getting back to the truck I checked my phone and saw the donation totals that came in through the day. Truth is, having the message on my shoulders and knowing what everyone else had done to this point, kept me going. Stopping was never an option, but I need that to push through what I thought was pain. Putting it into perspective, I felt pretty stupid and lucky. Still, I was not happy. How many times do I have to do this to prove the same thing year after year? The ride over to Driggs, Idaho gave me time to think about a lot of things. Who am I kidding....................
The next morning at the awards ceremony, I was still a little ticked about my ride. I only stopped long enough to read the time sheets, making sure I wasn't DQ'd - I wasn't. After talking to the Huntsman rep, I realized my time didn't matter - at all. As a group (the Porpoise) we did really well, but HHH as a whole was down. There were also a ton of folks that DNF'd (did not finish). The wind played a big part. There was a three-man breakaway that got ahead of the headwind, took a tailwind and smashed the course record. After all was said and done, finishing when I did wasn't that bad after all. Still, I was dead last in my group, but it also appears there were a bunch of DNF's. My bike time to actual time was about 50 minutes off, with more than an hour from my target. I lost most of that in the last 65 miles, where I had hoped to make it up.
While sitting in the park in Randolf Sunday afternoon, it kind of reconciled - I did what I set out to do. I was told I was lucky to even be riding and my time wouldn't be my fastest. So.....what's the big deal. Maybe I could have shaved a little more time off the finish and not finished last in my group, but that is how it turned out. The Porpoise was a success and I'm grateful for that. Fortunately, my time didn't bear on the effort of the Porpoise. I was already thinking about what we can do next year. Will I ever learn..................
Now I'm looking forward to a couple months on the mountain bike and considering some off-season stuff in the dirt.
Stick around. There's still a lot to do............................
Ride HARD!
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