Here is what it looked like for the 2nd half of the ride up to the aid/rest station that was 30+ miles in.
At this point, everything was soaked. Honestly, I feel dumb, because the jacket I wore ended being more 'windbreaker' energy, and less 'waterproof shell' energy. I had on several layers - base thermal, jersey, and then my jacket...sadly all soaked to the bone. On top of that, turns out I'm freakin' weak! Might have something to do with every spare hour and minute of time being consumed by my jealous, dumb bike, and
zero time training, at all. By the time I was soaked, the road also became soaked, and see those deep tire treads in the road? It was like trying to roll through sand. Every single hill ended up becoming Mt Everest, and there were only like 30 of them. I found out an interesting technique where you push on your legs with your arms when your legs stop working!
It worked, until your arms got tired, and then the legs turned to jello again.
1st part of the ride: 'No way am I walking the Huffy up any hills AT ALL. Noone is going to be able to say 'Ooooo look there's the guy PUSHING HIS HUFFY!!! Baahahahaha!'
Later on in ride: 'Okay, I'll just
stop for some breaks here and there. It's not
pushing if you are not moving, right!'
A little later: 'Okay my legs are jello and this 2% grade hill is insane and...well...if nobody
sees me, did it really happen?'
And the final form: 'I don't care. I can barely move anyway'
To be honest, walking felt really nice at times...it gave my legs a different movement and that was welcomed.
So I finally made it to the rest area, and as soon as I stopped, my body just started shaking violently. Honestly it was embarassing, but it's not like I could help it! There were other guys shivering, too. But this was 'ugly' shivering, almost convulsing haha.
Thankfully, I found a bath towel stuffed under one of the food tables and draping it on felt like heaven.
So, as I'm sitting there shivering, I'm trying to stay upbeat, and smile at all the other guys, you know, positive attitude and all. And one of the other guys was just sort of done with it all, and was saying something like 'F this, I'm done with this'.
Then outta nowhere, this other guy that sounded Italian comes in and is like (sounding very Italian) 'Oh no no! This is nothing! Not bad at all! I did dis race couple years ago, and weather turned bad, much colder! We had riders go to hospital. One guy died, so not bad at all.
I'm like, what!!? Dude's are dying on your ride? What is this? Lol this is crazy!
So I start grabbing food just trying to eat as much as I can so that my body can make some energy. And then, as I'm sitting down, a guy opens up a car door, and is sort like 'Your turn!' I'm like, really?? I'll take that!
So I hop in the driver's seat to get warm, and it feels just insane...insanely good! And the car is packed with other riders as well. We are all completely soaked and its about 45 degrees outside (I thought it was at least 60).
So after a few minutes a guy comes over and motions to roll down the window.
'Hey, so can you drive?'
Uhh...yeah? I...think so?
'Okay, so you drive my car back to the start and take these guys with you.'
They had decided to close up shop. I don't know if it is because we were the last of the riders to really come through, but they had decided to close things down, and a lot of riders were really cold and really weren't able to ride the 20+ miles to finish out the ride. So, in a way, I guess I sort of had my fate decided for me.
Here's the thing - I think it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I don't think I would have been able to finish the ride, being completely honest with you. My body sort of just gave out, and I couldn't stop shaking for 45 min - even the whole car ride back in heated air. When we got back to the staging area (bout 30 min from the rest area), we got out and found another rider collapsing from the cold/exhaustion, so we helped him get to a car to get warm and rest a moment. And as soon as the air hit my, I couldn't stop the shaking...again! After that escapade, I drove back to the rest stop to pick up the Huffente, and then drove home.
It is humbling to admit that I couldn't hang for the entire thing, but I'm also feeling really grateful, because I found my limit, at least my limit at 45 degrees out in the pouring rain soaked to the bone. I'm good for about 30-35miles
It's also a little scary to think about if I tried to be macho and finish out the last 20 or 30 miles or whatever, in the condition I was in. I don't think I would have been able to make it, so it ended up being the smartest decision I made all day, to agree to drive those guys back. And none of it was the Huffente, it was all the 'motor'.
So, here is a quick synopsis of the day, win/fail style:
Fails:
- I'm weak
- inadequate clothing
- weather (rained all day)
- lack of any training whatsoever
- roads totally sucked
- I couldn't even open a granola bar
- dirty bike
- dumb water bottle holder
Wins:
- I'm in one piece!
- bike is in one piece!
- bike performed magnificently
- I got in a heated car
- got some good comments around the bike
That last fail, the water bottle. Yeah, so we started out riding, and not even 1/4mi into the ride, I almost crashed, I look down, and my water bottle holder (that single clamp-on style), is just falling over on the downtube. So I quickly yank it back up, and it starts falling over again. So I yank the bottle out and drink about 2/3rds of it to lessen the weight. It ended up trying to run into the cranks all day, and had to keep tilting it up over and over again.
Guys, the bike was awesome. It did great! The only super minor mechanical issue is that the Campy shift lever for the RD came loose and lost tension, so I just cinched up that D-ring on the fly and we were back in business. Bike was solid, stable, and fun to ride! I had it up to about 25-30mph on some of the downhills, and I was more worried about the roads than the bike. That Regina Oro though...I will never ever, ever think bad about anyone that pushes one of these old school drivetrained bikes up a hill ever again.
Speaking of the freewheel...it feels crusty. So, I washed the bike when I got home, but man o man...it got so dirty. I basically have to rebuild the bike again. Right now, shifters - disassembled. RD - disassembled. Stem is out. Seat and post is out. Wheels off, chain off and soaking. I shoulda shoulda shoulda put a nice ring of grease around the stem-to-headset area, the seatpost clamp area. I threw some CLP down the steerer tube and seat tube, around the brake mounts, FD & RD pivots, shifter mounts. Those fancy red jockey wheels got some mega wear on them.
So...we have another full day of rain tomorrow. Its raining right now. There is NO way that I'm going to ride this thing again out in the rain. I don't even know how they are staging the concours, but I'm real hesitant to just stick the bike in rain, dirt, mud, etc...not after I just cleaned it! W/ the leather seat and bar wrap...it can wreak havoc.
So right now, I have two options, and I'm not quite sure what to do. I can either bring both the Huffente and another bike, and slog it out in the rain on another ride on a different bike, or no ride and all and just do the concours. If I ride another bike, that bike is going to get a bit messed up, and I really don't want
any of my bikes messed up! Any thoughts are appreciated. All my stuff is still soaked, including my riding shoes, and I don't really have any good wet weather riding gear anyway. Just...not sure.
Anyway, that was the day! We'll see what happens tomorrow!