| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
54.53 miles
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Altitude Gain:
4,096 ft
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Avg Speed:
15.13 mph
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Route:
Wilkesboro
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 153 bpm
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Avg HR: 128 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Look Blade RS 795 Iconic Ltd Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 81 F SW wind @ 8 mph |
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Had a ninety-mile drive from my motel to Wilkesboro, NC for a fifty-mile ride with Mighty Young Joe. Joe was driving in from SC and let me know he was going to be a little late. Decided to use the extra time to get some breakfast that really turned out to be a bad idea. The course was a fifty-five mile loop through Amish country that had twenty climbs listed but only one over two hundred feet. We started out at a park in Wilkesboro that was a great staging location. Temperature started out a bit cool near sixty with overcast skies. The sun eventually showed itself and the temperature climbed into the eighties. Wind was a bit gusty in a few areas but really wasn't much of a factor. Took a bit to figure out where the course started but got oriented and headed off with a short steep climb. Stomach was not happy and didn't feel well at all. Hoped I would feel better after the first hour as I had yesterday. Got to the second climb a mile later and quickly got dropped by Joe even though he wasn't climbing aggressively. The only big climb of the day came around mile five. It was a little over a mile and a half long climbing six-hundred feet with sections of eight percent. Legs had nothing and Joe again just spun away. Kept at it spinning the granny gear and wishing the stomach would either settle or empty or that the legs would start putting out some power. Heart rate wouldn't rise to the occasion and soon was sweating profusely despite the sixty-degree temperature. Unzipped my jersey but it didn't help. About halfway up I wasn't losing ground but couldn't make up any gap. Joe made an acceleration on a gentler slope and really opened up the gap. Closed a little over the last section as I saw Joe crack on a steep grade but couldn't take advantage as had no power and thought more about walking than closing the gap. Joe waited at the top with the big climb of the day behind us, and we went onto the big descent of the day down the back side. Turned out to be a great serpentine descent with very smooth roads. We probably could have really flown down it but as it was unfamiliar with numerous blind corners. We kept things throttled back but it was still a thrill. Traffic was light and roads were great despite the lack of shoulders typical of secondary roads in the Carolinas. Started to feel better once the first hour was out of the way but did quite a bit of struggling in that hour. We still had seventeen climbs and forty miles left. Course flattened out a bit as we continued out toward the eastern section. Horse farms eventually turned into Amish farmland that might have been pleasant except it appeared to be manure spreading time. Occasionally the air got pretty thick burning the lungs and the eyes. It was good to see abundant greenery with leaves on the trees that is still a month away at home. We started sprinting the small climbs that varied between seventy and one-hundred and seventy feet and between a third of a mile and a mile and a half in length. Most had just a short steep section at the bottom and a gentle slope over the top. I started to dominate the short climbs matching my thirty pounds lighter against his forty beats per minutes extra max heart rate. We generally coasted the backsides that which worked in my favor as still am not able to keep oxygen to my legs for any length of time. We both ran out of gas after forty-five miles and went into survival mode. Last climb was brutal as it never seemed to end even though it was mostly one or two percent. Finally rounded a corner and saw a cell phone tower and knew we had reached the top. Last two miles was mercifully downhill with one little wall to the finish. We finished off the ride with a short section of trail in the park that was most unpleasant with rocks, tree roots and loose sand. We could have done without that. It turned out to be a really nice course though I probably would have enjoyed it more by skipping the late breakfast.
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