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08-10-08, 09:30 PM
Today I met my long time goal of doing my first metric. The event was the Cover Bridge Tour sponsored by the Mid-Valley Bicycle club. My ride was called a metric plus since it was actually 68 miles. There was 1900 feet of climbing which felt like more of course. :lol: I want to thank all the Clyde's for the great advise on how to prepare for it. I don't think I could have done it as well as I did without all the help.
So without any further ado, the ride report. Here is a link to the map so you can check out the elevation profile.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/albany/1164062781
Here are my stats for the ride
Total time actually riding:4 hour 5 minute
Total event time with stops: 5 hours 5 minutes
Total mileage:68.66 miles
Average speed:16.7 mph
Top speed:37.4 mph
I started the morning at 5:45 AM with the alarm going off. I made my breakfast of oatmeal, yogurt, and a banana. Then I fixed up a bottle of Cyto-Sport to drink on the way to hydrate before the ride. After loading the bike and filling my bottles with Cyto-Sport and Hammer Sustained Energy, I drove to the event. When I got there, the temperature on the reader said it was 53 degrees. After picking up my ride map and unloading the bike, i slipped on some arm warmers and took off on my adventure. The first five miles were pretty flat with a small inclines. It turned into the first set of hills. I had trained on this set of hills and always huffed and puffed up them, but today, I hardly noticed my breathing changing at all. This was a good sign. At the end of those hills, the road turned to more flats with the small inclines until the first rest stop. My time to the first stop was 1 hour 6 minutes for 19 miles. After eating a banana and Cliff Bar and stretching for a bit, I was off again. The second leg started off with a set of big rollers about 3 miles out from the stop. My legs felt pretty good at this point, so kept spinning the hills with pretty good success. This was the second biggest set of hills on the ride. Finally after the big rollers I got a nice downhill, it sort of recharged the legs on to the flat portion of the section until I hit the next rest stop for lunch. Again, I stretched out the leg, ate lunch and topped off the bottles before heading out again. the third leg was by far the hardest. One mile out of the rest stop was the biggest hill of the ride. My legs were still stiff and lunch had not kicked in for fuel yet. I ended up standing up on the bike to finish off the hill. It was the only hill that I did not spin through on the whole ride. After the big hill, I got into some flat s with small rollers for a bit. Lunch was starting to kick in now and just in time, The next part of this leg was nothing but big rollers. I would spin to the top, and power off the backside of the hill. I would then coast while hugging the bars and set up for the next hill. This went of for what seemed like forever. i did manage to roll over the top of one of hills at 24 mph. The last part of that section finally flattened out into the last rest stop. The legs were feeling good despite the harsh beating that I had just gave them. The third stop was just 14 miles from the finish, so I decided to make it a short one. After eating another banana and stretching a bit, plus a little water, I was off again. The last section was one that I have trained on before. It is almost all flat. With that in mind, I made the choice to hammer it home. i was pounding out 20 mph for most of the last section with the exception the one small incline. The last 2 miles my side started to hurt a little and the legs were getting tired. I finished with what I had left to the parking lot. After getting to my car, I sat in the shade for awhile until my side quit hurting so I could change out of my bike shoes. The day was ended with a nice root beer float and talking to the event staff. So there you have it, my first metric !!!!
Now for the pictures
This me at the first of the ride, fresh and ready to go.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture755.jpg
This is the first section of the ride before the first set of hills.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture756.jpg
This is the first bridge that we rode across, it was not one of the covered ones, but it has a nice view.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture757.jpg
In the same vain as MissBumble, one of our bovine friends
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture759.jpg
The first covered bridge
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture760.jpg
... and the view from it
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture761.jpg
The second biggest hill of the ride. What you see is actually the first part of the big roller.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture763.jpg
So without any further ado, the ride report. Here is a link to the map so you can check out the elevation profile.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/albany/1164062781
Here are my stats for the ride
Total time actually riding:4 hour 5 minute
Total event time with stops: 5 hours 5 minutes
Total mileage:68.66 miles
Average speed:16.7 mph
Top speed:37.4 mph
I started the morning at 5:45 AM with the alarm going off. I made my breakfast of oatmeal, yogurt, and a banana. Then I fixed up a bottle of Cyto-Sport to drink on the way to hydrate before the ride. After loading the bike and filling my bottles with Cyto-Sport and Hammer Sustained Energy, I drove to the event. When I got there, the temperature on the reader said it was 53 degrees. After picking up my ride map and unloading the bike, i slipped on some arm warmers and took off on my adventure. The first five miles were pretty flat with a small inclines. It turned into the first set of hills. I had trained on this set of hills and always huffed and puffed up them, but today, I hardly noticed my breathing changing at all. This was a good sign. At the end of those hills, the road turned to more flats with the small inclines until the first rest stop. My time to the first stop was 1 hour 6 minutes for 19 miles. After eating a banana and Cliff Bar and stretching for a bit, I was off again. The second leg started off with a set of big rollers about 3 miles out from the stop. My legs felt pretty good at this point, so kept spinning the hills with pretty good success. This was the second biggest set of hills on the ride. Finally after the big rollers I got a nice downhill, it sort of recharged the legs on to the flat portion of the section until I hit the next rest stop for lunch. Again, I stretched out the leg, ate lunch and topped off the bottles before heading out again. the third leg was by far the hardest. One mile out of the rest stop was the biggest hill of the ride. My legs were still stiff and lunch had not kicked in for fuel yet. I ended up standing up on the bike to finish off the hill. It was the only hill that I did not spin through on the whole ride. After the big hill, I got into some flat s with small rollers for a bit. Lunch was starting to kick in now and just in time, The next part of this leg was nothing but big rollers. I would spin to the top, and power off the backside of the hill. I would then coast while hugging the bars and set up for the next hill. This went of for what seemed like forever. i did manage to roll over the top of one of hills at 24 mph. The last part of that section finally flattened out into the last rest stop. The legs were feeling good despite the harsh beating that I had just gave them. The third stop was just 14 miles from the finish, so I decided to make it a short one. After eating another banana and stretching a bit, plus a little water, I was off again. The last section was one that I have trained on before. It is almost all flat. With that in mind, I made the choice to hammer it home. i was pounding out 20 mph for most of the last section with the exception the one small incline. The last 2 miles my side started to hurt a little and the legs were getting tired. I finished with what I had left to the parking lot. After getting to my car, I sat in the shade for awhile until my side quit hurting so I could change out of my bike shoes. The day was ended with a nice root beer float and talking to the event staff. So there you have it, my first metric !!!!
Now for the pictures
This me at the first of the ride, fresh and ready to go.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture755.jpg
This is the first section of the ride before the first set of hills.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture756.jpg
This is the first bridge that we rode across, it was not one of the covered ones, but it has a nice view.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture757.jpg
In the same vain as MissBumble, one of our bovine friends
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture759.jpg
The first covered bridge
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture760.jpg
... and the view from it
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture761.jpg
The second biggest hill of the ride. What you see is actually the first part of the big roller.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture763.jpg