Hello everyone, Bryan here.
Scroll to the bottom if you don't want to hear me rabble about my experience.
I participated in the Ride For Heart, Heart & Stoke charity event and decided to do the 75 km route. Riding along the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway (both highways were closed down a roughly 8 or so hours for this event)
To avoid being stuck in the larger packs I decided to get their early and managed to be at the front (about 10 or so riders ahead of me) As soon as the time hit 6:00 am we were off and my adrenaline was pumping, I got off to a fairly decent start and had was at the rear of the small leading 4 man pace line (mind you this was my first time riding a pace line and I wasn't sure what to expect) I was lucky enough to stick to them for about 3 minutes or so then they just turned their motors on and left me behind. I decided it would be a bad choice to try and chase them down since their pace was just out of my league and I didn't want to burn myself out early on.
I rode alone and tried to keep a steady pace (don't have a computer yet as I have only purchased the bike 2 months ago) couple minutes go by and another group comes storming along, not too long before I was dropped once again. The third group that came by was a fairly larger group, about 15 riders that rode in two lines. 5 minutes I purposely dropped myself to the rear to let my legs rest up a bit and because I felt a bit safer there. Bad idea. Before I knew it, the 5 guys ahead of me lagged behind and created this huge gap from the front riders. I went to the right and peddled hard in an attempt to catch up to them, no luck on my part as a hill was coming and I eased off to allow my legs to catch up to me.
After a good amount of time I finally had a group around my speed and kept up to their pace, I enjoyed that whole time. The group eventually broke apart and some decided to just back off and relax while others jetted off, I stayed in between and peddled on. Both calves starting cramping up with about 15-20 kms to go but I somehow managed to shake it off and it went away.
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I started at 6:00 am and got to the finish line at 8:30 am. 2 hours and 30 minutes for just over 75 km (probably 80 km)
Rode using regular running shoes (never got the time to buy road shoes but I hope to pick some up soon)
Rocky Mountain 2012 Prestige CR10
Frame: Tapered Head Tube, Hi Mod Carbon Monocoque, Carbon Dropouts.
Fork: RMB Carbon / Tapered Alloy Steerer
Shifters: Shimano Tiagra
Front Derailleur: Shimano Sora 34.9mm
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Tiagra
Crankset: FSA Vero 170-172.5-175mm 50/39/30T
Rims: Mavic CXP22 N
So, how I'm curious to know how I did for a newbie? I'm really interested knowing where I'm at.
I hope to do this again next year and beat my time
