Fifty Plus (50+) - Who's doing fast metrics?

I rode in a local organized 100k on a very windy day yesterday--at least pretty windy for around here. I like the event because the route is pretty flat (except when compared with Mojo's 80 feet) with only a couple thousand feet of climbing over 62 miles plus the Tshirts are about the only ones I ever keep. There is just something unique and curious having a design with a pig riding a bicycle.........

The goal was to finish in under 3 hours even with the windy conditions. I stayed with the front group for the first 20 miles-got dropped on a longish hill-rode solo for 10 miles-rejoined a small group for 25 miles-picked up several other folks who got shelled along the way-ran a double paceline to help with the headwinds-got dropped again with less than 10 miles to go-TT'd the last 6 miles solo to get in under 3 hrs. The Avg HR over the ride was way up there as I really haven't done very much intense riding the last couple months.

I felt pretty good about the ride until I looked back at my cycling logs to see that I had finished the same route 20 mins faster 4 years ago and averaged around 24 mph. I sure being 4 years older doesn't have anything to do with it so it had to be the wind!!

Definitely not me. I just can't seem to get myself above an average speed for more than a couple of hours of much mre than 15mph. And to be honest- I am not that worried either. But last year- Although I did metrics at an average of 15.2mph- The 100 mile average over similar terrain was 15.1.

It has taken me years to get off that mountain bike for road rides and hopefully this has been my undoing. At 15mph I can look at the scenery- Feel how hard I am breathing up the hills and I know how low a cadence I can pull up those hills. But my ride on the flatlands this morning was a lot less than 15 so perhaps I do raise my game a bit for the decent rides.

If you are referring to the Tour de Pig, I was there too. My time was 3:10 with a 19mph average. It was a pretty good event, with great weather although the wind was a bit of a pain. Fortunately, with the large number of people riding, there were always groups to fall in with which helped buffer the effects of the wind.

I like taking pictures but, sometimes I lose the paceline when I do and, can't always catch back up. If I stay focused on a flat'ish route like yesterday, don't take pictures and hang with the pacelines, I can crack 20 avg but its still a strain for me. I prefer the 19'ish average as it allows more time to concentrate on other aspects of the ride yet still get plenty of exercise.

The barbecue lunch was decent and the seasoning was excellent but, there was a little too much fat in it. Too many chunks of skin and pig fat. Not exactly the "pulled pork" barbecue that I am used to. Anyway, its a cycling event and I guess I shouldn't complain since so many people worked hard supporting this event. The lunch was plentiful.

I'm off to Tryon on Friday afternoon in order to ride the Tour de Leaves event on Saturday. I've heard this is a nice event. Looking forward to it.

Wow, +20 mph over 62 miles is only a dream of mine. We did 60 miles with 3400 elevation gain and all I could muster was 16mph average. Some of the better riders were in the 17+ range.

On our club "time trial" this Saturday, I did 50.66 mi., 4100 ft. climbing, 18.3 mph avg., 2:46.24 total ride time, and not much drafting. Previous Saturday, 54.8 mi., 2500 ft. climbing, 19.5 mph avg., 2:48.10 total ride time with a fair amount of drafting. We were well over 20 until the last 10 miles when the ride started to break up.

Earlier in the year I was going try to do a sub-5 hr. 100 mi. century, with drafting, but weather didn't cooperate. I did end up pulling for most of a metric at over 20 mph on a the fairly flat course.

One guy I ride with is older and faster.