john_childs wrote:
> Congratulations Tom. That's a longer ride than I've ever done.
Got to mention to JC that one of the teams had cans of Guinness on their
helmets, in little foam rubber cupholders! Most of the various Team in
Training chapters had stuff on their helmets to help identify their
locations. My favorite were the ones with the little rubber chickens.
As they rode, the little heads and legs constantly bobbled around.
nathan wrote:
> Saturday we registered, met the other riders and relaxed, playing disc
> golf or studying instead of riding.
Finally Jacquie and I got to try disc golf! Fun! But a more accurate
name might be "throwing discs as hard as you can at trees." At least
that's what it looks like when you play in the woods.
We're
thinking of buying our own discs and visiting our local courses.
nathan wrote:
> The first and hardest climb comes at 15km and felt easy this year - I
> even had Beau in sight at the top!
You guys will continue to inspire me, but I didn't make the whole climb
this time. I had to stop at the "Photographer - 100 meters" sign, but I
finished the climb after that. My last sight of Nathan, Beau and Mike
was at the Emerald Bay rest stop. After that I was with Irene and Ryan
for a while. I had an extended stay at the Meeks Bay rest stop to take
apart my seat. Talk about riding with the seat too low, how about
having no air in your seat! Somehow that didn't affect my knees.
Perhaps it was the overdose of glucosamine I had taken for the previous
two days...
nathan wrote:
> It was somewhat scary at times and annoying often. Imagine a 50 person
> paceline passing you with each person screaming "On your left, Car
> back, Hole", etc etc in the most strident voice possible.
I imagine it was worse riding with the century group, especially on the
narrow bike path. The "on your left"s seemed a bit like overkill, but
after a while I realized that on the downhills there were lots of
different bike speeds as well, with super-fast bikes alerting the
"normal" ones while they alerted us. Unfortunately I have to admit not
having the pleasure of passing as many bikes, though I did get past
quite a few on that long Spooner climb. Louise kept dropping Corbin and
me on the climbs, though Corbin would fly way ahead of us on the
descents. Louise had longer cranks, and Corbin couldn't modulate his
brake due to a broken seat handle.
And to their credit those TNT people are the best booster/motivators
I've ever seen! I haven't been on many organized bike rides, but this
one has by far the most people rooting from the sides of the road,
ringing cowbells and cheering. And I had no idea of the finish area
excitement and noise! It made me feel like I'd just won a major bike
race! All that positive energy, from the people along the sides and the
bikers, made a big difference in keeping me going.
nathan wrote:
> By the end, we all felt amazingly good. I asked Beau if he could do
> another 50km and he thought a little and said that he could.
Wow. I could have keep going further as well, though I'm glad I was
done. And I'm still not inspired to try 100 miles next year!
Now on Tuesday, the tops of my legs are a little sore, and part of my
crotch is still numb. but somehow my quads and calves seem fine! Thanks
for posting the photos. Mine are still in the camera...
Corbin, Louise and I finished in about 9:25. It would have been a
little quicker if I hadn't had to take my seat apart at two of the rest
stops, and I am thankful to them for waiting for me, and Corbin for
finding the leak and patching my seat tube. That seat had been built by
Chris Reeder, and I'd never taken it apart before!
We ate lunch with Bronson at the Kings Beach stop. We were on mile 43
and he was on 71 I guess. Whew!
Daytripper63 wrote:
> All of you didn't even slow down on the hills, you must be immortal.
If I didn't slow down, how come I was all by myself? That climb's a
killer. There are other long climbs along the ride, but the first one
is the steepest (and most scenic). It sure ended any feelings of being
cold though!
Learning experiences for someone relatively new to long rides:
- Train with long rides. Lots of short rides isn't the same thing
(though it's better than nothing)
- Train on hills if you can!
- To keep going, you have to keep eating (and drinking) at every rest
stop!
- Glucosamine for the joints. I always got sore knees on the long rides
I did in the past, but not this time. The stuff works wonders!
- Use your brake on the descents. I didn't use mine enough last year,
and I think it toasted my knees in the first 20 miles.
- You *will* get sunburned through the little holes in your helmet.
That was a first for me as well. Apply sunscreen more than once when
you're more than a mile above sea level! Even if you do have hair on
the front of your head, other areas will be affected.
- Did I say keep eating?
- Power Gel, or similar glue-like substances may not taste good, but
they really work
- If it's a supported ride, like this one, you don't need to carry 3
litres of water, a banana, several food bars, cheese sticks, pop tarts,
etc. It's all at the rest stops! Except the pop tarts.
- Remember to enjoy the ride, or what's the point?
Top five most common comments heard:
5. That's amazing (or similar)
4. How do you do that?
3. Are you going all the way on those things?
2. You guys rock!
And the number one most common thing heard:
1. On your left!
Not heard often enough (by me):
"I just got passed by a unicycle again!"
--
johnfoss
John Foss
Email: "jfoss" at "unicycling.com" --
www.unicycling.com
-----------------------------------------------
"pretty much every trail that we've done on the California or Moab Muni
weekends is an XC trail." -- Kris Holm, on XC from a North Shore point
of view
------------------------------------------------------------------------
johnfoss's Profile:
http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/832
View this thread:
http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/61427
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com