When I first signed up for the Harpoon B2B ride (146 miles from South Boston to Windsor, VT) I was a bit hesitant as to how effective I would be. The course profile (over 6000 feet of climbing) and the length of the ride had me really concerned. I decided that I would get as many long rides (>70 miles with lots of climbing) in as I possibly could given the constraints of life. Let's face it, with 3 small kids, multiple centuries are difficult to get in.
I think the plan worked out well, as I felt strong throughout the day. Save for the last ten miles of the day when psychologically I was just ready to be done, I rode well. I was able to maintain consistent pace up the looooooooooooooong climbs (I think the "new" one was about 10 miles long) and tuck in behind trains of triathletes on the flats. My max speed on the descents was over 45 mph. I had a slight computer malfunction, so I'm not sure how long my ride time was nor what my average speed was. I seemed to be the strongest (along with Jay) on the overall ride among the UMass guys....I was able to spend some time with Ian and Gary of the MRC crew...not sure how the 22+ mph guys were doing....Cort looked to be having some difficulty when I ran into him at the second rest stop at mile 110, but knowing him he probably rebounded and crushed the last 30+. Vic and Jim looked not the worst for wear when I saw them in Windsor.
I think a big key for me doing well was much more disciplined eating and drinking....I was eating something every hour and hitting the Heed bottle every 15-20 minutes and the Perpetuem bottle every 45 minutes. I had one bit of cramping toward the end (inside the last 10 miles or so) but was able to soft pedal for a bit and get back in a groove. No cramping on a humid and long day with lots of hills was just great and a sign that I was doing something right this time around. On all of the PMCs and other centuries that I have done in the past, cramping has been a problem for me.
I'll be back next year it was a great long distance ride. Penny and I managed to get totally and completely lost trying to find our friends' house in Ludlow, VT (to capsulize, the road had both odd and even numbered houses on the same side of the street, their house had two numbers, 477 and 881, and the numbers were out of sequence-we went past 881 to 1093 only to then pass 439...gotta love Vermont back roads....). The house was built in the late 1700's and doesn't have a flat floor in the entire place! I went down to the dirt floor basement to check out the structure and was amazed to see load carrying beams made of bark clad trees! The property is gorgeous with a little frog pond in the back, a big sweeping deck and wild flower beds all over. Many, many, many thanks to the bartender at the Burger Joint in Ludlow for feeding us a 10:30-we were famished and he hooked us up big time.
Time to start transitioning to the mountain bike with the next big event being the 24 hours of Great Glen. Hoping to have Rich's fork on the hard tail for that event as he is building up a new 29er. I have heard that this course, unlike Pat's Peak, is a bit more suited to hard tails which should be a welcome respite....
I think the plan worked out well, as I felt strong throughout the day. Save for the last ten miles of the day when psychologically I was just ready to be done, I rode well. I was able to maintain consistent pace up the looooooooooooooong climbs (I think the "new" one was about 10 miles long) and tuck in behind trains of triathletes on the flats. My max speed on the descents was over 45 mph. I had a slight computer malfunction, so I'm not sure how long my ride time was nor what my average speed was. I seemed to be the strongest (along with Jay) on the overall ride among the UMass guys....I was able to spend some time with Ian and Gary of the MRC crew...not sure how the 22+ mph guys were doing....Cort looked to be having some difficulty when I ran into him at the second rest stop at mile 110, but knowing him he probably rebounded and crushed the last 30+. Vic and Jim looked not the worst for wear when I saw them in Windsor.
I think a big key for me doing well was much more disciplined eating and drinking....I was eating something every hour and hitting the Heed bottle every 15-20 minutes and the Perpetuem bottle every 45 minutes. I had one bit of cramping toward the end (inside the last 10 miles or so) but was able to soft pedal for a bit and get back in a groove. No cramping on a humid and long day with lots of hills was just great and a sign that I was doing something right this time around. On all of the PMCs and other centuries that I have done in the past, cramping has been a problem for me.
I'll be back next year it was a great long distance ride. Penny and I managed to get totally and completely lost trying to find our friends' house in Ludlow, VT (to capsulize, the road had both odd and even numbered houses on the same side of the street, their house had two numbers, 477 and 881, and the numbers were out of sequence-we went past 881 to 1093 only to then pass 439...gotta love Vermont back roads....). The house was built in the late 1700's and doesn't have a flat floor in the entire place! I went down to the dirt floor basement to check out the structure and was amazed to see load carrying beams made of bark clad trees! The property is gorgeous with a little frog pond in the back, a big sweeping deck and wild flower beds all over. Many, many, many thanks to the bartender at the Burger Joint in Ludlow for feeding us a 10:30-we were famished and he hooked us up big time.
Time to start transitioning to the mountain bike with the next big event being the 24 hours of Great Glen. Hoping to have Rich's fork on the hard tail for that event as he is building up a new 29er. I have heard that this course, unlike Pat's Peak, is a bit more suited to hard tails which should be a welcome respite....
Oh, one last thing....was that the greatest clutch putt in the history of pro golf yesterday by Tiger or what?????
1 comment:
No normal person thought he'd actually miss... today was even more ridiculous although Rocco did sort of give it away on the 91st hole... bad time to implode and start donating souvenirs...
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