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04-19-04, 07:06 AM
So this weekend was the Houston to Austin MS-150. You know, the whole ride 150 miles in two day and raise money for MS, which is a very cool thing, they were looking to beat last years amount of $7.3 million by quite a bit. Very cool indeed.
I hooked up with a group from my wife's company to do the ride. That way I had some people to explain stuff to me and give me free food at the end of each day. They were cool people for the most part and I'm glad I joined the 'team' even though I'm not much of a team guy by nature. As I was getting ready for this ride and talking to people about it they kept asking me about my bike. When I told them it was a fixed gear they would ask me if I was really going to ride it. Ummmm..... yea, it's either that or my SS mountain bike. I don't own any bikes that shift and that kind of freaks people out.
Day 1: I wake up at 3:30. Holy crap that's early. I get to the stadium where the ride leaves by 4:45 for a 7:00 am start. This is what everybody told me to do, get there by 5:00 at the latest. Problem is that nobody on my 'team' was there, including the van that was to take our luggage to the overnight point. So I waited and rode my bike around the parking lot until 6 when the van showed up so I could stow my luggage and get in line. In line at 6:00 and I'm about 1000 people back. I really don't like riding with other people and I can already tell that this is going to make me nervous. They release people in waves to spread them out a bit, I got out in the third wave about about 7:15. I was very uncomfortable amongst that many (wobbly) cyclists, so my plan of hanging with some of the slower people from the company to just cruise and hang out went out the window. I had to get the hell away from as many people as possible. So I rode pretty hard and skipped all the rest stops until lunch where I stayed for only about 20 minutes. This turned out to be a bad plan, the skipping rest stops, not because of the rest, but because I wasn't drinking enough. After lunch it was off again, the riding on day 1 was mostly flat, a bit of rolling terrain, fun, a little challenging, not so bad. The problem was that with about 15 miles to go I stated to get cramping in my legs. That sucked. I stopped at the last rest stop and ate a banana and drank a bit and finished the day in fine, if sore form. After finishing at 1:00 I showered and sat outside and watched people roll in until almost 7:00. My goal, besides cheering and giving support, was to see one other person without a deraileur. I saw two. One on a SS mtb and one guy on a highwheeler, which was a really sweet ride. While I was sitting and waiting I ate as much free food as I could find and drank 140 oz of liqid to get re-hydrated. A good nights sleep and I felt great.
Day 2: Up at 4:00 because others were up at 4:00 and I can't sleep with people moving around, so I was in line at 5:30 for a 7:00 start. And it was kind of chilly and I got quite cold. But I did get to start in the first wave and after about 5 miles I was warm and all was well. Day 2 has more hills with the option of going through Bastrop State Park. The park adds a few miles, but it's claim to fame is it's hills. Not long, short and steep. Incredible rythm on the fixed gear. Mash up one side, finishing at about 20 rpm and blast to 160 rpm going down the other, repeat. Wonderful riding. The only thing that was a damper on the park was the insane number of flats. I counted about 100 in 10 miles of riding, and that was just while I was there, riders were going to go through for the next 3 hours behind me. Later I learned that someone had 'tacked' the road for unknown reasons. Really sucked even though I was lucky enough to get away from it without a puncture. After the park was lunch which I skipped as part of my day 2 strategy of hitting more rest stops and skipping lunch to keep off the bike time to a minimum and hydration to a maximum. It worked splendidly and I finished the day in great form. Really happy with my riding. After a quick shower I called my wife only to learn that there was a minor refrigerator emergency at home so I hopped the first shuttle back to Houston and missed the majority of the festivities.
This morning I awoke happy and just a little sore. My butt feels great which has made me a brooks convert for life. My Champion Flyer rocks. The only thing that's a bit bothering is that I can feel my knees. Not that they really hurt, but theres just enough feeling in them to let me know that they're there. I don't know it if was mashing uphills or spinning like mad down them but I suspect that it was the downhills as I could feel that something wasn't right in the joints at 160 or so. I only walked 15 feet of one hill but it wasn't because I couldn't ride it. I was pulling up while cranking really hard and popped a shoe out of a pedal. The hill wasn't that hard, I just had bad form, after that I concentrated on my foot position and didn't have any more problems.
Great ride, great time. Fun on the fixie, and as I kept telling people all weekend, it's just a bike, just like your bike, except I don't shift. Or coast.
It was shocking how many really fit people said that they could never ride that far on any SS bike. They really seem to underestimate themselves and lean on gears heavily as a crutch to ease they're fears about possible failure.
I hooked up with a group from my wife's company to do the ride. That way I had some people to explain stuff to me and give me free food at the end of each day. They were cool people for the most part and I'm glad I joined the 'team' even though I'm not much of a team guy by nature. As I was getting ready for this ride and talking to people about it they kept asking me about my bike. When I told them it was a fixed gear they would ask me if I was really going to ride it. Ummmm..... yea, it's either that or my SS mountain bike. I don't own any bikes that shift and that kind of freaks people out.
Day 1: I wake up at 3:30. Holy crap that's early. I get to the stadium where the ride leaves by 4:45 for a 7:00 am start. This is what everybody told me to do, get there by 5:00 at the latest. Problem is that nobody on my 'team' was there, including the van that was to take our luggage to the overnight point. So I waited and rode my bike around the parking lot until 6 when the van showed up so I could stow my luggage and get in line. In line at 6:00 and I'm about 1000 people back. I really don't like riding with other people and I can already tell that this is going to make me nervous. They release people in waves to spread them out a bit, I got out in the third wave about about 7:15. I was very uncomfortable amongst that many (wobbly) cyclists, so my plan of hanging with some of the slower people from the company to just cruise and hang out went out the window. I had to get the hell away from as many people as possible. So I rode pretty hard and skipped all the rest stops until lunch where I stayed for only about 20 minutes. This turned out to be a bad plan, the skipping rest stops, not because of the rest, but because I wasn't drinking enough. After lunch it was off again, the riding on day 1 was mostly flat, a bit of rolling terrain, fun, a little challenging, not so bad. The problem was that with about 15 miles to go I stated to get cramping in my legs. That sucked. I stopped at the last rest stop and ate a banana and drank a bit and finished the day in fine, if sore form. After finishing at 1:00 I showered and sat outside and watched people roll in until almost 7:00. My goal, besides cheering and giving support, was to see one other person without a deraileur. I saw two. One on a SS mtb and one guy on a highwheeler, which was a really sweet ride. While I was sitting and waiting I ate as much free food as I could find and drank 140 oz of liqid to get re-hydrated. A good nights sleep and I felt great.
Day 2: Up at 4:00 because others were up at 4:00 and I can't sleep with people moving around, so I was in line at 5:30 for a 7:00 start. And it was kind of chilly and I got quite cold. But I did get to start in the first wave and after about 5 miles I was warm and all was well. Day 2 has more hills with the option of going through Bastrop State Park. The park adds a few miles, but it's claim to fame is it's hills. Not long, short and steep. Incredible rythm on the fixed gear. Mash up one side, finishing at about 20 rpm and blast to 160 rpm going down the other, repeat. Wonderful riding. The only thing that was a damper on the park was the insane number of flats. I counted about 100 in 10 miles of riding, and that was just while I was there, riders were going to go through for the next 3 hours behind me. Later I learned that someone had 'tacked' the road for unknown reasons. Really sucked even though I was lucky enough to get away from it without a puncture. After the park was lunch which I skipped as part of my day 2 strategy of hitting more rest stops and skipping lunch to keep off the bike time to a minimum and hydration to a maximum. It worked splendidly and I finished the day in great form. Really happy with my riding. After a quick shower I called my wife only to learn that there was a minor refrigerator emergency at home so I hopped the first shuttle back to Houston and missed the majority of the festivities.
This morning I awoke happy and just a little sore. My butt feels great which has made me a brooks convert for life. My Champion Flyer rocks. The only thing that's a bit bothering is that I can feel my knees. Not that they really hurt, but theres just enough feeling in them to let me know that they're there. I don't know it if was mashing uphills or spinning like mad down them but I suspect that it was the downhills as I could feel that something wasn't right in the joints at 160 or so. I only walked 15 feet of one hill but it wasn't because I couldn't ride it. I was pulling up while cranking really hard and popped a shoe out of a pedal. The hill wasn't that hard, I just had bad form, after that I concentrated on my foot position and didn't have any more problems.
Great ride, great time. Fun on the fixie, and as I kept telling people all weekend, it's just a bike, just like your bike, except I don't shift. Or coast.
It was shocking how many really fit people said that they could never ride that far on any SS bike. They really seem to underestimate themselves and lean on gears heavily as a crutch to ease they're fears about possible failure.