On Thu, 4 Nov 2004 17:40:45 -0700, John Spann <
[email protected]> wrote:
> 3rd Place in the 100 mile Soul Ride on his SS.
>
> Me? I DNF'd at mile 75...T'was a good time anyway.
>
> John Spann
>
>
John, reports of my exploits have been greatly exaggerated. The third
place is an error, I am sorry to say. The sad truth of it is I cramped
badly on the Mine Road, and walked most of the climb. I lost enough time
in that section to miss the cutoff at the 68 mile mark by 15 minutes,
despite reviving enough to really haul on the fast downhill, and spin like
crazy (passing a couple of gearies) on the River Road. I thought I'd make
it, but my time management was a little lacking, and when I ran up the
Hike-a-bike and the checkpoint wasn't just right there, I knew that was
it. I'd misremembered the map, and I'd thought that the checkpoint was
immediately after the Hike-a-bike. My disappointment at not making the
cutoff was intense.
Upon arrival at the fourth aid staion, realizing that I hadn't made it, I
hit the road back to town. Huh. Some shortcut. The damned road back to
town was 34 miles long, and as bizarre as it sounds, almost entirely
uphill. Anyhow, ****** that I wasn't able to finish the ride, I put my
head down and motored back to Oracle. Long road grinds suck on a single
speed, I have to say.
As I headed back into town, I was waved into the finishing chute. I told
the timers that I was a DNF but somehow, that didn't seem to translate.
My only solace was that I did get my 102 miles in, albeit a fair chunk on
pavement.
The damage report: My brand, spankin' new Fox Terralogic 100, blown up.
My wrist (the one I've been complaining about all year) really quite
sore. I should have taken a whole fistful of ibuprofen before the start,
but forgot. Feeling in my fingertips didn't come back for a few hours
after the finish, but came back eventually. I attribute that to the
damned fork. Anybody in the market for a slightly used Fox Terralogic?
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Eric did a little better that I- he got to the checkpoint with a couple of
minutes to spare, so he finished the ride, clocking in as last-finishing
Single Speeder. It was his first 100 mile bike ride of any kind, and the
he says it was the hardest thing he has ever done.
Neither of us are in any real hurry to sign up for next year's event. The
only part of the course that either of us liked was the Mine Road. The
rest of it was pretty boring and unexciting. 35 degrees farenheit at the
start didn't do much for our motivation, either. Still, there are 51
weeks to think about it, so who knows?
miles