Road Cycling - HHH brag

No, not for me.

My wife completed her first Metric Century Sat. at HHH.
I am really proud of her, and she is chuffed to say the least.
She paced herself really nicely, kept hydrated and fueled
(better than me, she didn't cramp up), and felt really good
at the end of the ride.
The best part of the entire weekend was seeing the grin
on her face when we got back to the truck to load the bikes
and hearing her say "I did it!".


Marty

tell your wife congrats!!! i did mine this weekend, and can tell you its not small acomplishment!!!

-Ross

Tell that beautiful woman CONGRATS from me.

Tell your wife congrats. That is definately a great accomplishment.

Okay- self brag.

I did HHH for the first time this year. Did the 100 mile route. Came in a little slower than I had inteneded because my primary riding buddy bonked, but I am a strong believer in NOT leaving a bonked buddy. (And they feel the same)

Congrats to your wife!!!!!!!

My first too! Congrats to her!! :D

How hot was it this year and did you all get together?

It did get over 100 at the next to last rest stop, they had
the red flags out (ride at your own risk).
The newspaper said it was 99 so I'm not sure.
I met Krispy at Chapparal for dinner Fri. evening. He was
going to do the 100 miler.
Didn't meet Natophelia (she got lost), Congrats on the
first Metric Nat!

So, who is going next year (I already have reservations
at Chapparel).

Marty

Tell your sweetie Woo-hoo! Glad you all had a good ride.

NOT lotek but I AM his favorite wife -

I must admit I abandoned him with 10 miles to go!

but yes I was quite chuffed :beer: to complete the 100K ride and am most appreciative to ya'll for all the congrats for doing a century -

missed you, 1oldroadie

missed you too, nat

we'll try it again next year???

:D :D :D :D :D

That is awesome.. glad to here all the sucess storys from this year. I plan to be there next year and hopefully with the base to get the 100 miler in. :)

Good stuff. Congrats! Got sights set on Ride for the Roses in a couple of months?

Okay, I've just got to share my accomplishment. First 100-miler completed in 13 years. I completed the ride in about 6:15 with the bike rolling about 5:50. Average speed showed 17.2 and I pulled my riding buddy and a couple of other stragglers the last 25 miles. I felt good in that before purchasing my new bike about 2 weeks before the ride, I was consistently averaging 15-15.5 mph. Losing the 14 or so lbs. of bike weight helped tremendously. Also, I just knew I was going to be drained by the heat and have a headache, but no. Life was good. The rest stops had pickles-that was kind of a surprise.

Originally posted by ImprezaDrvr
Good stuff. Congrats! Got sights set on Ride for the Roses in a couple of months?

We are so there. . .

have done it the past 2 years but kept to lower milage,
who knows might be up to the 100 miler

Marty

I figure that a 12 hour drive better end up in a 100 mile ride, at least! It's a beautiful course. CAn't wait to do it in the fall (and on the new ride)!

Congratulations Lotek and wife, Nat, pcsanity1, Toothpick, and anybody I might have left out!!! Glad to hear you all had a great time and are bragging about your wonderful accomplishments!!! :D :D :D

HHH was fantastic!!! I'll be back next year!

OK, my turn to brag;

This was my second 100 mile ride this year. I completed this one in 5 hours 18 minutes beating the time on my first century by 42 minutes. I averaged 19.3 Mph. :D I amazed myself that I was averaging 22 Mph for the first 70 miles. My speed for the last 30 dropped because I didn't pace myself as well as I should have.

I attribute my increased speed to the absolute lack of hills on the route. I don't think I've ever ridden such a flat route. Sometimes flat is good! :)

Half way through the ride my odometer hit 4000 miles. This was an accomplishment for me as well. This is my first road bike (not counting the one I had when I was a kid some 30 years ago). I bought it last August. So in my first year of riding on the road I've gone over 4000 miles, ridden a dozen metric centuries, a cross-state tour and two 100 mile century rides! :D

Yeah, it's a good course for high average speeds. When there was still a USCF race there, I finished with the Cat 4-5 group in around four and a half hours. It helps that the highest points are overpasses. But the heat and humidity will kick you square in your tender places.

Krispy, you ride with any of the clubs around OKC? I was in Norman for about 6 weeks and did a few of the BLN rides there. I'm getting my new bike from Buchanans in Norman, too. Just curious.

Originally posted by ImprezaDrvr
Krispy, you ride with any of the clubs around OKC? I was in Norman for about 6 weeks and did a few of the BLN rides there. I'm getting my new bike from Buchanans in Norman, too. Just curious.

Yes. I'm a BLN'r!!! Tobin (owner of Buchanan's) is also a BLN member. When were you here? I might have seen/talked to you?

Probably so. I was there from June through July. Did some of the Tuesday rides, mostly, and a couple of Thursday rides with the group. I worked at Miller's when I was in college, so I talked to the Miller's boys that were around a lot. I was on a red 'Dale and wore a white helmet with blue racing stripes. Did one ride with some of the BLN guys on a Saturday morning, but don't remember when.

Edit: Tobin's cool as hell. Bent over backwards to not break my budget on the Orbea. Know any of the other shop guys around Norman?

Wow, Krispy. That's fast!

Did you spend a lot of time within the large bunches? We hooked up a couple of them, one for about ten or so miles, and another for another five or seven, but couldn't maintain the pace for the duration. That was really fun for a while though. I didn't realize how much being within one of these bunches would help.

It's all about sitting in a group.

Yeah, we started early and were kind of in between - not fast enough to keep up with the lead group (or 2nd or 3rd for that matter), but did not slow enough for the groups that we likely would have fit well within to catch up. I guess that's one of the trade-offs to starting early.

Originally posted by ImprezaDrvr
Probably so. I was there from June through July. Did some of the Tuesday rides, mostly, and a couple of Thursday rides with the group. I worked at Miller's when I was in college, so I talked to the Miller's boys that were around a lot. I was on a red 'Dale and wore a white helmet with blue racing stripes. Did one ride with some of the BLN guys on a Saturday morning, but don't remember when.

Edit: Tobin's cool as hell. Bent over backwards to not break my budget on the Orbea. Know any of the other shop guys around Norman?

I live right off of the Tuesday night route (about 3 blocks from the 7-11 at 149th and Santa Fe.) I ride my bike from my house to Norman to meet the group at Brookhaven instead of driving my car to the ride. While you were there in June I was riding mostly with the intermediate group but have since started riding with the fast group.(at least as long as I can hang on ;) )

Robert from Millers is a cool guy. He's always so laid back. (He just recently got engaged to Tracye.) Steve and Adam hang out there all the time too. They are all BLN members.

Robert is now a Litespeed dealer so I have started letting him do my wrench work since I don't trust the jackass I bought my Litespeed from anymore. You probably know who I'm talking about. He's the only other Litespeed shop in OKC since Tobin quit selling Litespeeds.

Although you asked about Norman shop guys you probably know Forrest from Wheeler Dealer. I trust him to work on my Stumpjumper. He has alway taken good care of me there. He's a hell of a racer also. Also at Wheeler Dealer I know Chad. He's cool about trying to help me too.

Originally posted by Toothpick
Wow, Krispy. That's fast!

Not really but faster than I've ever averaged over a long ride. My friend Ron dropped me 18 miles into the ride and finished an hour and 20 minutes before I did! Of course I try to rationalize that by telling myself he's been riding since the '70s and I've only been riding a road bike for a year and prior to that a mountain bike for a year.


Originally posted by Toothpick
Did you spend a lot of time within the large bunches?

Yes, defiantly! I'd get in fast group and hang until I wanted to stop at a rest stop. I'd take my turn at pulling as well although most of them were not really pace lines just long trains. It's funny, the whole time the song "Casey Jones" kept sticking in my mind. " Driving that train, high on cocaine,
Casey Jones you better, watch your speed." except I was singing it in my head as "RIDING that train...." :D :D

For the last 30 miles I no longer had the energy to maintain 23 mph and the other trains were going slower than I wanted so I did the last 30 solo.

Lotek that is great that your wife rides also!! and that she finished that metric century, good for her and I hope she keeps it up, I always like hear about people being married that enjoy and ride, it's great to hear!!..

I've heard of that ride quite a bit up here in Michigan, and I think I'd like to try it some year, but not sure when, but it sounds like a challenge!!..

Krispy I also wanted to say a kind of thank you in a general sense for getting into those pacelines and working and taking your turn at the front...I just this week on the tuesday night ride that I do each week, had one of these guys who just wanted to lock onto my back wheel and ride me untill who know's when!!...On that day's ride, I really believe in working hard and going fast and putting in a hard effort and appreciate it when people who work with me do the same..Now maybe I'm over reacting here, but he locked onto my wheel on the return portion, after I had been dropped from the A ride and was going back at that point alone, and I don't mind it when somebody locks onto my back wheel and rides, but I do expect that person to eventually come thru and do some work also, unless I know that that person can't..But in thise case I had never ridden with the guy and didn't know him, so I figured that if he could stay on my wheel, he could come thru and do at least a small turn..But he never did, then I asked him, hey can you come thru here and help me a bit, I mean keeping 25 or so in my book is not that easy, and I was slowing down and needed a break..He just said, "I'm fine sticking right on your wheel"..That got me really mad, and I said in my mind ok then if you're not going to come thru and do your turn, then I'm going to up the speed and try and drop you..Fourtounatly we were on a small downslope of the road, and I just put in a hard effort and sure enough he was off my wheel, and I saw a buddy up the road about 50 meters or so to chase to, who I hooked up with and we chased together the rest of the A riders going back, and that other guy never came back to my wheel again that night!..

So my point in all that is, and why I'm thanking you for doing your turn, is because I think the majority of us cyclists appreciate when we're going hard, and somebody is on our wheel, to have the other person come thru and do their turn also!..

Sorry I can get a bit long winded on these.

Benjamin

I agree, caadman. When I was (frequently) dropped on the rides this summer, I'd usually end up hooking up with some other guys that were in the same boat. I was really impressed with the fact that everyone took a pull, even if it was a short one, or they dropped off completely. When I speak of sitting in, I speak of doing so in a large group that's going faster than I really can keep up with. I'd sure love to be strong enough to get out there to pull, but I'm not there yet. In smaller groups, especially, it's important to help everyone out and ride your legs into the ground at the front occasionally.

Yeah you're exactly right Impreza, it's different when you're in a huge and fast group and can't get to the front or it's just going to fast for you to keep up with, but when it's small or in thise case just 2 riders, it's a whole different story!!...I mean personally I look at it like how are you going to get better unless you stick your nose into the wind a bit, as Phil Liggett say's every now and then:)


Benjamin

Yep. That ride when four or five of us were chasing the fast group definately had me biting something. It hurt. I moved around on the saddle so much, I had a saddle sore the size of a dime. But, looking back, I'm definately stronger as a result.

Way I see it, when I'm a Cat 3, I'll do more pulls at the front of big groups. Until then, I'm chasing their asses the whole time.

Sounds like Impreza like you've got it..You've got it mentally speaking, and you're working on the physcial part, that's great!!....So you must race now then?? what cat. are you currently??..

I'm going out of town this afternoon for the midwest tandem rally in dayton, so I may not get back to this till tuesday, but feel free to post and I'll get back to this thread.

Benjamin

congtrats on the ride! The guy at the finish told me "102 miles, 102 degrees" the 99 degrees the paper mentioned must have been at the airport, in the shade; I wasn't at either. The HHH was my first century, I came in at 10hours 45 min.almost, but not quite tail-end charlie. For next year: more time in the weight room, more long training rides, less time in the rest stops.
Terry