| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
64.87 miles
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Altitude Gain:
4,365 ft
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Avg Speed:
19.54 mph
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Route:
Tour de Madison
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Look 585 Carbon Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 80 F SW wind @ 2 mph |
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Mighty Young Joe and I journeyed down to Syria, VA for another stab at the Tour de Madison Metric. While last year it was raining and in the fifties, this year we were blessed with a starting temperature in the low seventies, no rain and barely any wind. Turn out was much better this year for some unknown reason, as we had around two hundred starters for the rolling course. First four miles is downgrade which gave us sufficient time to sort ourselves out. A small group separated early but the pace was low enough that anybody that wanted to join on was able to do so with minimal effort. Joe and I joined up and hung in the first twenty until we hit the first hill. Although the group strung out, we were able to maintain contact and regrouped on the downhill. Found out quickly that I wasn't climbing very well as was pretty much maxed out on not that difficult a climb. The course really has no flat sections and is a pure rolling century with dozens of climbs. We hit the next climb immediately after the downhill, and although it wasn't a horrifying climb by any means, it sorted us out. Over the mile or so climb with a little over three hundred feet of elevation change was stiff enough to cause a good separation. A group of ten or so crested with a sizable gap and were soon out of sight. Joe and I made the second group of six riders of also rans. We put on a good attempt at chasing with four of us pulling hard, one guy that tried but got dropped after a few miles and one guy that never pulled at all. Had a brief bit of excitement when I did a Tokyo Drift as my front wheel starting sliding sideways on I assume some sand particles through a high speed turn. I was able to keep it upright but lost the group and had to hammer to struggle to close the gap and get back on. After an hour and a third of the way through the ride we actually caught sight of the front group. I hammered a downhill section and we got back on the same climb as the front group when the bottom fell out for me. My group got out of the saddle and tried to close on the front group before the top of the climb, and I was unable to stay out of the saddle and got dropped. I had been riding with my heartrate in the red for nearly an hour and the body started to fail me. Mostly my back tightened up and left me without any serious power. I spun up the hill but as I crested my former group was already halfway up the next climb. I rallied after a few minutes and started chasing solo and was rewarded after seven difficult miles by catching my former group. My success wasn't long lasting, as soon as I made contact, a group of faster riders that had stopped at a rest stop caught us and passed right through us. It shattered our group as they tried to latch on unsuccessfully, and I was again dropped. Rode alone to the rest stop at forty-eight miles, got stung by a bee and rejoined with Joe who was waiting at the rest stop. We rode together for a bit when we were joined by two faster riders. We latched on until Joe Blew a Quad on a short steep hill and dropped off. I worked with the other two to the last climb where I got dropped for the last time. I went into the final climb with a 19.9 and thought I might have a shot at the elusive twenty but lost too much on the hill. Ended up spinning the final four mile grade to the finish and finished with a fairly decent, for me, 19.5 avg, I rode two hours with my heart in the red and got about as much out of my body as I can expect. Need to lose some years or at least more weight. Difficult ride this year but a tremendous workout. The after ride band sucked.
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