Mountain House 200k Brevet - Fresno - Saturday March 19, 2016
Another Fun Hammer overnight at my teammate Karin Weller’s adorable house! Tuna sandwiches and bike prep - AND our team registration for the Silver State 508 2x!! It is so exciting to look forward to this race again in September , and we know we will make a good team, and a FAST one, too! But first, some long training rides are in order, and tomorrow’s 200k brevet is in Fresno, 2+ hours away, so it’s time to turn in and rest up for a long day.
Suddenly, it’s 3:15 am and we are up, eating and packing, outtta there at 4:15. I drink my daily power shake and enjoy homemade banana bread as we head south on a moonlit freeway. Time flies and we are the first to arrive, with dawn breaking out in lovely pinks to greet us. Although I've checked the forecast at least a dozen times, I question my vest vs windbreaker decision four or five times, and finally, in a windless 50+ degrees, of with arm warmers and a vest. We await the countdown, and Lori Cherry, event director, tells us that Hammer product is available at all our checkpoints! Totally Cool! Not the I am unprepared, but that it is so Totally Cool that my sponsor is featured at this low-key event! Although the field just became international, with an Irishman here on business, joining us. Brevets are not races, but we both want a faster time than a month ago (on a different course), and so we fall in with the group that rolls out at 18-19 mph. In this dimly lit pre-dawn, and I adjust the brightness on my computer for the first hour or so. (Big mistake - as I will find out later) I am so enjoying my new Rudy Noyz Fluo Pink glass - even in tis dim pre-dawn, I do not have to switch out to clear lenses! And they stay on my nose, no adjusting them throughout the day! Five miles or so in, I am dropping off, and Karin kindly falls back with me; we adjust our speed to 17mph and my breathing feels better, like I could ride all day! And as the sun rises and the world around us awakens, i realize, that is exactly what i get to do today - and what a precious gift this is, to ride my bike into this beautiful day!
We find ourselves on a chip seal highway, with no soldier and a ton of traffic - 9 o’clock on a Saturday morning and everyone is in a hurry. Three close encounters of the automobile kind are followed by three dog scares, and all i can think of is: this is great training for the 508, because we will have very similar conditions along one stretch in Nevada. Not much in he way of scenery, but at least we have a slight tailwind! It takes 50 miles to reach the foothills, and the Disney Spring Green is worth the wait! I’ve been carefully eating and drinking, continuing to tweak things, and I feel great. My hydration pack holds 70 oz and there are pockets for my Hammer capsules, bars, and perineum tabs, plus a zip pocket, so at 35 miles I stow my vest, arm warmers, and leg warmers.
Finally, at 65 miles, we are in the hills….oh my! The climbing is all right now - nearly 7000’ in the next 40 miles! The wildflowers are a nice distraction, once the climbing really gets tough. Karin has gone up the road, training hard for her upcoming RAW, and I continue on my own, in my March Madness, at my March climbing pace. It got hard. Then it got harder. And I LIKE climbing! Unrelenting. I was feeling cooked when i reached the Mountain House Bar and checkpoint, relieved to be done with the climbing. HA! NOT HAPPENING ! After a quick pbj and a water refill, we are off, and my head is killing me. Alto I've been eating and drinking on schedule, i’m thinking there is still room for improvement - Karin and the others don't seem to have a headache. In fact, they cheerfully announce that the next 10 miles of climbing are “not that bad”! Yikes - ok, I am in for the long haul, and I’ll make it, but it’s not going to be easy. Brevets are unmarked and we ride with a cue sheet, so it can be easy to miss a turn on the backroads, so I ask Karin to wait at the turns so we don't get lost. thankfully, although she is on a workout plan, she is there at every turn for the remainder of the ride. As I start to feel better, I also start predicting that the climb ahead is the last climb…HA! We continued on rolling, hilly backroads through the remainder of the course. Beautiful, green, tiring, curvy backroads, I longed for some open space around me - the and back in my face, just wanting to be out on open road again. 124 miles - I finished tired, but really tired in my head, not my legs. Not cranky, no cramps or pains, no saddle issues. Happy to be done, and no stomach issues either! It was a very satisfying feeling to ride this course, but I was feeling really slow…until checking the stats and finding out that I was not all that far back from Karin - and she is On Fire !
Weirdly enough, my heart monitor was reading 50-60 for the first 100 miles - and finally at that point, it started operating accurately. Darn it - I’d really wanted to know my heart rate on those tough climbs! And my recovery time and suffer score….oh well, the ride is in my legs and I am forever stronger because of today. It was a glorious thing to be able to ride all day, get through the tub stuff, and remain in a good free of mind. Hammer Recovery drink, turkey sandwich and a Starbucks and a long drive home. I am so thankful for days like these, and friends like Karin ~ who drive the long leg back to Turlock while I recover for the short leg back home to Valley Springs. And that was also a gift - a lead car on my dark backroads is always welcome, and the pleasant evening meant I had a window open and I enjoyed the songs of frogs and crickets.
Life is beautiful !!
Another Fun Hammer overnight at my teammate Karin Weller’s adorable house! Tuna sandwiches and bike prep - AND our team registration for the Silver State 508 2x!! It is so exciting to look forward to this race again in September , and we know we will make a good team, and a FAST one, too! But first, some long training rides are in order, and tomorrow’s 200k brevet is in Fresno, 2+ hours away, so it’s time to turn in and rest up for a long day.
Suddenly, it’s 3:15 am and we are up, eating and packing, outtta there at 4:15. I drink my daily power shake and enjoy homemade banana bread as we head south on a moonlit freeway. Time flies and we are the first to arrive, with dawn breaking out in lovely pinks to greet us. Although I've checked the forecast at least a dozen times, I question my vest vs windbreaker decision four or five times, and finally, in a windless 50+ degrees, of with arm warmers and a vest. We await the countdown, and Lori Cherry, event director, tells us that Hammer product is available at all our checkpoints! Totally Cool! Not the I am unprepared, but that it is so Totally Cool that my sponsor is featured at this low-key event! Although the field just became international, with an Irishman here on business, joining us. Brevets are not races, but we both want a faster time than a month ago (on a different course), and so we fall in with the group that rolls out at 18-19 mph. In this dimly lit pre-dawn, and I adjust the brightness on my computer for the first hour or so. (Big mistake - as I will find out later) I am so enjoying my new Rudy Noyz Fluo Pink glass - even in tis dim pre-dawn, I do not have to switch out to clear lenses! And they stay on my nose, no adjusting them throughout the day! Five miles or so in, I am dropping off, and Karin kindly falls back with me; we adjust our speed to 17mph and my breathing feels better, like I could ride all day! And as the sun rises and the world around us awakens, i realize, that is exactly what i get to do today - and what a precious gift this is, to ride my bike into this beautiful day!
We find ourselves on a chip seal highway, with no soldier and a ton of traffic - 9 o’clock on a Saturday morning and everyone is in a hurry. Three close encounters of the automobile kind are followed by three dog scares, and all i can think of is: this is great training for the 508, because we will have very similar conditions along one stretch in Nevada. Not much in he way of scenery, but at least we have a slight tailwind! It takes 50 miles to reach the foothills, and the Disney Spring Green is worth the wait! I’ve been carefully eating and drinking, continuing to tweak things, and I feel great. My hydration pack holds 70 oz and there are pockets for my Hammer capsules, bars, and perineum tabs, plus a zip pocket, so at 35 miles I stow my vest, arm warmers, and leg warmers.
Finally, at 65 miles, we are in the hills….oh my! The climbing is all right now - nearly 7000’ in the next 40 miles! The wildflowers are a nice distraction, once the climbing really gets tough. Karin has gone up the road, training hard for her upcoming RAW, and I continue on my own, in my March Madness, at my March climbing pace. It got hard. Then it got harder. And I LIKE climbing! Unrelenting. I was feeling cooked when i reached the Mountain House Bar and checkpoint, relieved to be done with the climbing. HA! NOT HAPPENING ! After a quick pbj and a water refill, we are off, and my head is killing me. Alto I've been eating and drinking on schedule, i’m thinking there is still room for improvement - Karin and the others don't seem to have a headache. In fact, they cheerfully announce that the next 10 miles of climbing are “not that bad”! Yikes - ok, I am in for the long haul, and I’ll make it, but it’s not going to be easy. Brevets are unmarked and we ride with a cue sheet, so it can be easy to miss a turn on the backroads, so I ask Karin to wait at the turns so we don't get lost. thankfully, although she is on a workout plan, she is there at every turn for the remainder of the ride. As I start to feel better, I also start predicting that the climb ahead is the last climb…HA! We continued on rolling, hilly backroads through the remainder of the course. Beautiful, green, tiring, curvy backroads, I longed for some open space around me - the and back in my face, just wanting to be out on open road again. 124 miles - I finished tired, but really tired in my head, not my legs. Not cranky, no cramps or pains, no saddle issues. Happy to be done, and no stomach issues either! It was a very satisfying feeling to ride this course, but I was feeling really slow…until checking the stats and finding out that I was not all that far back from Karin - and she is On Fire !
Weirdly enough, my heart monitor was reading 50-60 for the first 100 miles - and finally at that point, it started operating accurately. Darn it - I’d really wanted to know my heart rate on those tough climbs! And my recovery time and suffer score….oh well, the ride is in my legs and I am forever stronger because of today. It was a glorious thing to be able to ride all day, get through the tub stuff, and remain in a good free of mind. Hammer Recovery drink, turkey sandwich and a Starbucks and a long drive home. I am so thankful for days like these, and friends like Karin ~ who drive the long leg back to Turlock while I recover for the short leg back home to Valley Springs. And that was also a gift - a lead car on my dark backroads is always welcome, and the pleasant evening meant I had a window open and I enjoyed the songs of frogs and crickets.
Life is beautiful !!