Originally Posted by
LocoCycle
so how did you do? All week long the smoke really wasn;t that bad. Man today heading towards the 2nd work rest stop...you could really smell the smoke. We started@ 645....finished by 1205. Was a good route....Somewhere I ran through a bunch of little thorns...ended up with a rear flat...somewhere after going down MillerTown Rd..
I was way out of my league. First, most of my riding is on the ARBT and commuting to Davis. Hills? I think my biggest "climb" is 60 feet. I had done several 35-40 mile "prep" rides over the last few weeks and felt real good with saddle comfort but nothing prepared me for the spirit crushing Baxter Grade and Lozano Road basically brought me to my knees.
The good news, I finished. The bad news, at over 6 hours of bike time and 8 hours and 45 minutes of travel time I got blitzed by the asphalt furnace on the Folsom climb and the last 12 miles took as long as the first 30. I frequently stopped to hydrate and slow my HR.
I didn't get hurt, I didn't get sick, none of my equipment was lost, stolen or damaged and I can put on my 'resume' that I've completed a metric century. At 265+ pounds and having only been back on a bike (after 10+ years off it) for 9 weeks I'm pretty proud of that.
As far as smoke... I didn't really experience any difficulties from it yesterday. But today, I have this brutal chest cough that I only get when I'm exposed to smoke.
It was a great event. All the turns were marked, the rest stops were staffed with friendly people, the snacks/food were great. I don't know if I'll ever do it again without significant climbing work over the next year but I'd definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to really test their ability from the greater-Sacramento area.