Back from Tahoe. Man I love that place.
So, first off, the ride. Lap 1 was perfect. I was out of camp and on the bike by 6:15 AM, and finished lap 1 just after noon. Just under 18 mph. Perfectly on time.
It was a great ride. The road out to Truckee and back had some construction, so that wasn't so great, I didn't have much room, but fortunately it was early on a Saturday morning and there wasn't much traffic. Then, at one point, part of the highway on the east side was closed due to a sewer line breaking. They were turning all the cars around, but they let me through on my bike. So, 8+ miles of wide open highway all by myself! No cars! Quite amazing.
Unfortunately, as I left camp after lunch to start lap 2, I got hit by a pretty large thunderstorm. I decided to try to ride it out, but 45 minutes and 12 miles later it was still pouring down rain. I stopped at a spot where I could see over the lake to check out the storm, and noticed it was going the same direction I was going, and I could not see the end of it. So, after debating myself for a while, I turned back. It would have been around 50 miles of constant rain, thunder and lightening. Not so great.
So, that was the ride. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't finish the double, especially since I'm pretty sure I could have. The first 100 miles only took me 5.5 hours, so I was well on my way to hitting my time goal. So it took me a while to cool off, but once I did, I changed and went and jumped in the lake to swim for a bit.
Oh well. I'm taking it as a learning experience. I learned some good things for the next attempt, and I learned a few things to change.
Food: Pro Bars worked perfect, GU awesome as usual. GU Chomps were good, kinda tasted and felt like Gummy Bears. Not sure if they were worth the price, I think I'll just stick with regular GU. Stuck with just water for the first 100 and switched to Gatorade for the 2nd. No more Gatorade. That stuff tastes like salt water with un-natural flavor and food coloring. Time for something real. Next time I'll do one bottle for water and one for a real sports drink.
Lunch. Have it ready. I got back to camp and couldn't find anything, because everything was locked in folks' cars while they were out hiking. I ended up eating Kettle Chips (replenish the salt), a pre-made PB&J sandwich from one of the kids, and some leftover sweet potato fries. Next time, have a large veggie wrap ready, or stop out on the road at a deli.
Ride: I averaged just under 18 mph for the first 100 miles. And I felt great! The 2nd 100 obviously would not have been that high, but it I would have finished. And that's the goal, right? For next time, don't push so hard on the downhills, and work some on the aero position.
Side note: Nevada still sucks. Not just in general (it does...) but they STILL have not figured out the damn storm drains. The start at the curb, go all the way through the bike lane, and about a foot into traffic. Hello? What's the friggin point of having a bike lane if it's blocked by a metal grate? Idiots. Fortunately, I didn't have to hop any, traffic was low (when it existed) and I could safely ride around them. Still though. The road was clearly recently re paved (VERY nicely BTW), and I could tell they did some work on the drains, and some of them were even shortened so they were only half the width of the bike lane. But for some reason not all... Figure it out morons.
Anyway, that's the ride. The rest of the trip was awesome, as usual.
Unfortunately, my camera died in the rain on the AIDS ride in June, so no pictures from me. I'll get some from friends though.
So, first off, the ride. Lap 1 was perfect. I was out of camp and on the bike by 6:15 AM, and finished lap 1 just after noon. Just under 18 mph. Perfectly on time.
It was a great ride. The road out to Truckee and back had some construction, so that wasn't so great, I didn't have much room, but fortunately it was early on a Saturday morning and there wasn't much traffic. Then, at one point, part of the highway on the east side was closed due to a sewer line breaking. They were turning all the cars around, but they let me through on my bike. So, 8+ miles of wide open highway all by myself! No cars! Quite amazing.
Unfortunately, as I left camp after lunch to start lap 2, I got hit by a pretty large thunderstorm. I decided to try to ride it out, but 45 minutes and 12 miles later it was still pouring down rain. I stopped at a spot where I could see over the lake to check out the storm, and noticed it was going the same direction I was going, and I could not see the end of it. So, after debating myself for a while, I turned back. It would have been around 50 miles of constant rain, thunder and lightening. Not so great.
So, that was the ride. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't finish the double, especially since I'm pretty sure I could have. The first 100 miles only took me 5.5 hours, so I was well on my way to hitting my time goal. So it took me a while to cool off, but once I did, I changed and went and jumped in the lake to swim for a bit.
Oh well. I'm taking it as a learning experience. I learned some good things for the next attempt, and I learned a few things to change.
Food: Pro Bars worked perfect, GU awesome as usual. GU Chomps were good, kinda tasted and felt like Gummy Bears. Not sure if they were worth the price, I think I'll just stick with regular GU. Stuck with just water for the first 100 and switched to Gatorade for the 2nd. No more Gatorade. That stuff tastes like salt water with un-natural flavor and food coloring. Time for something real. Next time I'll do one bottle for water and one for a real sports drink.
Lunch. Have it ready. I got back to camp and couldn't find anything, because everything was locked in folks' cars while they were out hiking. I ended up eating Kettle Chips (replenish the salt), a pre-made PB&J sandwich from one of the kids, and some leftover sweet potato fries. Next time, have a large veggie wrap ready, or stop out on the road at a deli.
Ride: I averaged just under 18 mph for the first 100 miles. And I felt great! The 2nd 100 obviously would not have been that high, but it I would have finished. And that's the goal, right? For next time, don't push so hard on the downhills, and work some on the aero position.
Side note: Nevada still sucks. Not just in general (it does...) but they STILL have not figured out the damn storm drains. The start at the curb, go all the way through the bike lane, and about a foot into traffic. Hello? What's the friggin point of having a bike lane if it's blocked by a metal grate? Idiots. Fortunately, I didn't have to hop any, traffic was low (when it existed) and I could safely ride around them. Still though. The road was clearly recently re paved (VERY nicely BTW), and I could tell they did some work on the drains, and some of them were even shortened so they were only half the width of the bike lane. But for some reason not all... Figure it out morons.
Anyway, that's the ride. The rest of the trip was awesome, as usual.
Unfortunately, my camera died in the rain on the AIDS ride in June, so no pictures from me. I'll get some from friends though.
wyldesage:
I sent you a myspace friend request since I am leaving here.
ryu:
Sounds like a superb ride, even if it wasn't as long as you wanted.... and I just have to say - sweet potato fries... yummy!!!