Podagrower

I thought they were a little odd, but this was my first supported ride as well, so I just thought it was typical.

My ride report:
Woke up my wife to hear her dream about my having a flat tire. When I got to the parking lot, it sounded like the pits at a Nascar race, with 500 people adjusting tire pressures. I worked my way to the starting line near the back, and wound up next to a nice guy and his buddy. His buddy was bikeless, and they explained that they had a bad start at a similar event, and the buddy had broken his arm, so he could't ride. (This is what I start with in my mind)

The highest bib number I saw was right around 1,200. The 10 and 25 mile routes started an hour later than the 50, 70, and 100; but there were probably 800 people at the start. It took a couple of miles to get mostly single file, and I found a group of 3 riders in the 14 MPH neighborhood. I drafted with them till the first rest stop, and that was were I screwed up. Everybody stopped at the first rest stop, and the lines were rediculous. I should have made sure to stick with the group that I had been riding with, but I struck out on my own. I may have been a little too relaxed, posted to BF, and playing wordfued with my wife while at the rest stop.

From rest stop 1 to 2 was good, almost got my first squirrel (seems mandatory), but apparently yelling "Don't do it" to a squirrel about 2 feet from your front wheel will cause them to turn and run. I rode the whole stretch solo, passing and being passed equally. Again, posting online at the rest stop to let my wife know I can still be irritating while far away.

Rest stop 2 to 3 started good, there were no packs leaving rest stop 2, so I was solo again. There was a couple about 1/4 mile ahead, riding close to my same pace (still around 14), but I didn't want to put any effort into catching them. They got stopped at a light, which allowed me to catch up and pass, and then I had to stand on the brakes. The guy was riding a single speed mountain bike, and had no problems maintaining the 14 MPH I was riding, I didn't notice that until I passed, so I had to stop and ask how it was to ride. It was a Surly Karate Monkey, and he said it wasn't bad at all, I'll bet with the tire size, it was one of the most comfortable rides out there. I rode with them for a while, but lost them somewhere. Around 40 miles, things went downhill for me, I had failed to eat anything worthwhile at the first 2 rest stops, and my legs were starting to cramp (but I recognized it this time, and was able to make an "unofficial" rest stop at a convenience store to grab some liquid potassium. And then the wind kicked in, how can there be a headwind from the east, then the south, then the west, when those are the directions you have to ride?

Rest stop 3 was a welcome sight, and they had Nutella! I had the bib numbers of BF members written on my top tube, so it was nice to see a familiar number. Again, I struck out solo, but saw a hearty soul ride past the rest stop, so it didn't take long to catch him. Had a nice chat about the ride so far, and both of us cussed the wind that kept kicking up as we were not very aerodynamic. I tried to take the pull, but his legs were in worse shape than mine, and he couldn't keep up, I felt bad about leaving, but couldn't decide if staying was going to be worse for me. The ride from rest stop 3 to the end (7 miles) took forever. My speed was almost never above 10 for this stretch, and I couldn't wait to get off the bike.

I didn't run Strava for the ride, but my Sigma says 13.8 avg speed for the ride. I'm happy, my legs never actually cramped, they feel pretty good today, and I looked longingly at the bike in the garage on my way in the house tonight. There is a sick person inside me that wants to ride tonight, but the rest of me has too many other things to do. My Brooks is still not my dream saddle yet, but it still promises to be. I think I figured out the final adjustment for it.