5:33.28,8
Luck was with me and I not only finished the race but beat my 6:00 hour goal; finishing in 5 hours 33 minutes + change! My main priority was to keep my tires between me and the road and I played it pretty safe; didn't have any close calls.
I will say though that I have had much funner bike rides! The weather was nasty and I was soaked to the bone within minutes of riding. The section thru France was particularly difficult for me as there was a strong head wind on top of the rain and I was riding solo for about 40km...a couple of nasty falls and then a water stop (which I skipped) left me alone.
Rather than fight the wind, I kept my wits, slowed down my pace and tried to save my legs for the final stretch where hopefully I'd have a tail wind. Even with this relaxed pace, I hit Geneva about 30 minutes faster than my target, and now was just hoping I would not give up that margin due to mechanical failures, flats, or leg cramps! I was definitely getting tired.
Near Geneva a fast peloton of about 8 riders whizzed by me. I had just enough reserves to spin up. catch them and ride with them all the way home. There were lots of congratulations at the finish line.
The only casualty for me was a snapped saddle. I hit a bump with about 20km to go and hear a loud pop sound. Turns out the frame of my saddle broke in half...so the last section I was literally riding on the seats titanium rails. All in all though, I'm glad that this is what broke.
So the final stats were an average speed of over 32km/hour over 180km!
Dedi and Brenna (and Tigger and Telly) met me at the finish area after a bit of searching and confusion...But it meant a lot to me to see them there and I got some nice hugs! (Aubrey was at a sleep-over).
As they got some ice cream, I took advantage of their free full body massages (nice!). Then Dedi and I enjoyed a nice cold beer.
Now the sun is out...life is good!
I will say though that I have had much funner bike rides! The weather was nasty and I was soaked to the bone within minutes of riding. The section thru France was particularly difficult for me as there was a strong head wind on top of the rain and I was riding solo for about 40km...a couple of nasty falls and then a water stop (which I skipped) left me alone.
Rather than fight the wind, I kept my wits, slowed down my pace and tried to save my legs for the final stretch where hopefully I'd have a tail wind. Even with this relaxed pace, I hit Geneva about 30 minutes faster than my target, and now was just hoping I would not give up that margin due to mechanical failures, flats, or leg cramps! I was definitely getting tired.
Near Geneva a fast peloton of about 8 riders whizzed by me. I had just enough reserves to spin up. catch them and ride with them all the way home. There were lots of congratulations at the finish line.
The only casualty for me was a snapped saddle. I hit a bump with about 20km to go and hear a loud pop sound. Turns out the frame of my saddle broke in half...so the last section I was literally riding on the seats titanium rails. All in all though, I'm glad that this is what broke.
So the final stats were an average speed of over 32km/hour over 180km!
Dedi and Brenna (and Tigger and Telly) met me at the finish area after a bit of searching and confusion...But it meant a lot to me to see them there and I got some nice hugs! (Aubrey was at a sleep-over).
As they got some ice cream, I took advantage of their free full body massages (nice!). Then Dedi and I enjoyed a nice cold beer.
Now the sun is out...life is good!
posted by DFisch at 6:56 AM
2 Comments:
Sr Feeeesh hope that the snapping of the saddle left your reproductive system intact!
gggggg
Well the saddle was designed to protect the family jewels and I guess it just took too many hits trying to do its job! Thanks for the concern, and yes, all is well!
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