So on Saturday, July 11th my brother-in-law Travis and I started our journey to Portland @ 4:45am.
It was a little bit of a rough start because at about mile 5, Travis blew apart his brand new rear Hutchinson Fusion2...ripped the sidewall away from the reinforced tread portion...we all thought there was sniper fire...*BANG!!!*
So with that little hiccup behind us, we ventured on 15 minutes later with a new tire.
The miles rolled away, and in no time, we were already at the big climb for the day. Right around mile 54 or so (something like that...) there's a mile long hill that averages ~7%. It wasn't bad at all.
We hopped on a couple larger pace lines that were cruzin' during the first century and made it to the mid point by 10:45.
100 miles in 6 hours. Good to go!
Now at this point the field gets fractured and all the nice, quick pace lines were splintered because of the lunch stop. So Travis and I pull each other for the most part of the next ~35 miles.
On a lazy, long (but not too steep) climb, Travis bonks. He hops off, tells me to continue on to the next rest stop that's 2 miles away, while he eats some granola bars and walks to the top of the climb. I show up at the rest stop, take a leak and come back and he's already there, feeling much better.
So with just about 60 miles to go, it's 3:30pm and we're eating and drinking everything we can get our hands on. (Oh yeah, because of some very untimely holes in the road, I'm down to 1 water bottle...started with 3...the 2 in the behind-the-seat mount were thrown for a loop about 70 miles in...sux)
We are able to hop onto a nice paceline and make our way to the final supported rest stop 26 miles from the finish line. After about a 20 minute break, we decide to make the hurting stop as soon as possible and take off.
Travis is shot but can keep a draft so I decide to man-up and not take my foot off the gas until we get to the end. The course is mostly flat and on a highway, so I keep it at around 25mph all the way until we hit the city (about 4 miles left to go once stop lights start to slow us down).
Oh, and once we took off from the final rest stop, a third guy snagged Travis' wheel. Which is fine. But he never even attempted to help me out. Not once. Ever. Then with about a mile left, he powers through a yellow light and doesn't even say thanks...douche.
But I digress...So with around 2 miles left to go, we make a right turn and I look up and we're on a hill that disappears around a corner. I scream out, "Oh f*ck this..." and dump every gear I have as Travis and later-to-be-deemed-douche slingshot around me. I get to the top, Travis looks back and says, "You're looking a little green..." To which I respond, "Yeah...well I pulled you for the last 25 miles, if I puke, no one laughs." It got a good chuckle from the group at large, and I felt better.
A few lights later and we crossed the finish line @ 6:45pm. Exactly 14 hours to go 202.25 miles (I think it was more...but I don't have a cycling comp on my bike....).
My only real issue afterwards, besides being really spent, was I had to be careful walking down stairs so that my quads didn't give out...otherwise I was perfectly fine...kinda odd. I even had intentions of riding into work today...until I heard it raining at 6:15am...heh...
That's it!
-G
It was a little bit of a rough start because at about mile 5, Travis blew apart his brand new rear Hutchinson Fusion2...ripped the sidewall away from the reinforced tread portion...we all thought there was sniper fire...*BANG!!!*
So with that little hiccup behind us, we ventured on 15 minutes later with a new tire.
The miles rolled away, and in no time, we were already at the big climb for the day. Right around mile 54 or so (something like that...) there's a mile long hill that averages ~7%. It wasn't bad at all.
We hopped on a couple larger pace lines that were cruzin' during the first century and made it to the mid point by 10:45.
100 miles in 6 hours. Good to go!
Now at this point the field gets fractured and all the nice, quick pace lines were splintered because of the lunch stop. So Travis and I pull each other for the most part of the next ~35 miles.
On a lazy, long (but not too steep) climb, Travis bonks. He hops off, tells me to continue on to the next rest stop that's 2 miles away, while he eats some granola bars and walks to the top of the climb. I show up at the rest stop, take a leak and come back and he's already there, feeling much better.
So with just about 60 miles to go, it's 3:30pm and we're eating and drinking everything we can get our hands on. (Oh yeah, because of some very untimely holes in the road, I'm down to 1 water bottle...started with 3...the 2 in the behind-the-seat mount were thrown for a loop about 70 miles in...sux)
We are able to hop onto a nice paceline and make our way to the final supported rest stop 26 miles from the finish line. After about a 20 minute break, we decide to make the hurting stop as soon as possible and take off.
Travis is shot but can keep a draft so I decide to man-up and not take my foot off the gas until we get to the end. The course is mostly flat and on a highway, so I keep it at around 25mph all the way until we hit the city (about 4 miles left to go once stop lights start to slow us down).
Oh, and once we took off from the final rest stop, a third guy snagged Travis' wheel. Which is fine. But he never even attempted to help me out. Not once. Ever. Then with about a mile left, he powers through a yellow light and doesn't even say thanks...douche.
But I digress...So with around 2 miles left to go, we make a right turn and I look up and we're on a hill that disappears around a corner. I scream out, "Oh f*ck this..." and dump every gear I have as Travis and later-to-be-deemed-douche slingshot around me. I get to the top, Travis looks back and says, "You're looking a little green..." To which I respond, "Yeah...well I pulled you for the last 25 miles, if I puke, no one laughs." It got a good chuckle from the group at large, and I felt better.
A few lights later and we crossed the finish line @ 6:45pm. Exactly 14 hours to go 202.25 miles (I think it was more...but I don't have a cycling comp on my bike....).
My only real issue afterwards, besides being really spent, was I had to be careful walking down stairs so that my quads didn't give out...otherwise I was perfectly fine...kinda odd. I even had intentions of riding into work today...until I heard it raining at 6:15am...heh...
That's it!
-G
