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06-17-02, 09:25 AM
Well folks yesterday was my first real bike ride (I won't say race because that would imply my competing, I was just along for the ride). It was a 90km round trip through 2 counties near here, and dagnammit I realise now I had no idea how long 90km really is, I mean I knew it was far, but 90 km is crazy far.
I did the trip in 4 hours 56min which I am satisfied with (works out to be about 20km/h all the way, I guess that makes me a MACHINE !!!!!!!! :D )
I was doing alright to start with, first 30km, took about 1.15, then we hit a big hill, not too long but steep as they come (about a 1 in 5 or 6 at least) that killed me, and then there came a fairly gradual (1 in 15 or so) climb for like 5 or 6 km, and that just kicked my butt. After that it just all seemed up hill, I managed to keep it fairly together until about the 60km mark and then my legs just decided 'bugger it I've had enough of this' and refused to work for protracted periods of time. I could manage real cycling (with decent resistance from the pedals and thus speed) for about 500m at a time, but after that (or if I encountered a hill) I'd need to change down the gears to stop myself falling off cause I couldn't make the pedals go round. One saving grace was that there was a big downhill about 20 km from home and that provided a little rest. The last 10 km were along an exposed road and it was blowing a gale, so much so on one (admittedly small) downhill I actually had to pedal to maintain forward motion. When I got to the end I was so phenominally proud of myself for having done it, and all on a ladies bike. The man I usually loan a bike from to ride around with here was competing in the race as well (obviously on his bike), so his wife offered me her bike which I took. It was a decent DSB bike (a norwegian brand), not a raod bike but not a mountain bike either, it has thick tires like a MTB and straight handlebars (a killer after 90k) and no suspension or anything like that, is this what they call a cyclecross bike bike ??.
Anyway the point of this post is to blow my own horn becuase I am still standing today, granted I died at about the 3/4 mark and took over twice as long as the winner but I put that down to the fact I had not ridden a bike in over 10 years until about 3 months ago.
For the record the guy that won (a professional who happens to live locally) did the course in 2.15, and a friend of mine (who happens to go to a 'sports school' ... and is only 16) did it in 2.35, and the guy who's bike I usually use did it all in 3.45.
thanks for listening :)
Colin.
I did the trip in 4 hours 56min which I am satisfied with (works out to be about 20km/h all the way, I guess that makes me a MACHINE !!!!!!!! :D )
I was doing alright to start with, first 30km, took about 1.15, then we hit a big hill, not too long but steep as they come (about a 1 in 5 or 6 at least) that killed me, and then there came a fairly gradual (1 in 15 or so) climb for like 5 or 6 km, and that just kicked my butt. After that it just all seemed up hill, I managed to keep it fairly together until about the 60km mark and then my legs just decided 'bugger it I've had enough of this' and refused to work for protracted periods of time. I could manage real cycling (with decent resistance from the pedals and thus speed) for about 500m at a time, but after that (or if I encountered a hill) I'd need to change down the gears to stop myself falling off cause I couldn't make the pedals go round. One saving grace was that there was a big downhill about 20 km from home and that provided a little rest. The last 10 km were along an exposed road and it was blowing a gale, so much so on one (admittedly small) downhill I actually had to pedal to maintain forward motion. When I got to the end I was so phenominally proud of myself for having done it, and all on a ladies bike. The man I usually loan a bike from to ride around with here was competing in the race as well (obviously on his bike), so his wife offered me her bike which I took. It was a decent DSB bike (a norwegian brand), not a raod bike but not a mountain bike either, it has thick tires like a MTB and straight handlebars (a killer after 90k) and no suspension or anything like that, is this what they call a cyclecross bike bike ??.
Anyway the point of this post is to blow my own horn becuase I am still standing today, granted I died at about the 3/4 mark and took over twice as long as the winner but I put that down to the fact I had not ridden a bike in over 10 years until about 3 months ago.
For the record the guy that won (a professional who happens to live locally) did the course in 2.15, and a friend of mine (who happens to go to a 'sports school' ... and is only 16) did it in 2.35, and the guy who's bike I usually use did it all in 3.45.
thanks for listening :)
Colin.