| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
65.85 miles
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Altitude Gain:
4,200 ft
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Avg Speed:
16.54 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: 164 bpm
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Avg HR: 122 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: custom built Cipollini RB800 Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Light Rain 61 F SE wind @ 4 mph |
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Heavy rains during the night and rain predicted throughout the day put a damper on attendance at this rolling metric century in Madison, VA. While we were supposed to be riding with over two hundred riders in the metric alone, there were probably only fifty riders for all three courses. I was joined by Mighty Young Joe, and we headed off into foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains pretty much alone. Years ago, this was a mass start event with a few hundred riders. The sixty-five-mile course had ten rated climbs and a few other short ones added in. Most were less than a mile long and usually had at most only a short section of ten percent grade. The big climb of the day was around the fifty-mile mark, and it was two or three miles long and peaked at twelve percent. Joe and I just cruised along mostly, and I concentrated my efforts on the climbs. We made it about ten miles before it started to rain lightly. It continued to rain throughout the remainder of the ride- sometimes coming down hard and sometimes falling in a light mist. Feet got soaked about halfway through the ride. We passed a handful of riders in the first half of the ride. I started having shifting problems thirty miles into the ride. I lost the two biggest cogs, and the chain would jump around clogs in a random pattern. We stopped at a rest stop at the forty-mile mark and filled up on goodies. Didn't need any water on the ride as we were both adequately hydrated. When we returned to the course, we saw that a group of three riders had passed us while we were at the rest stop and were a half mile ahead. Since we were in the approaches of the big climb of the day, Joe gave me leave to pursue the guys on the climb and we would reconnect at the next rest stop at the fifty-two-mile mark as he wasn't climbing well. I chased the riders down despite my loose hanging chain and limited gears. I drafted them and chatted with the riders for a couple miles and then dropped them as the grade increased. I survived the nasty downhill in the rain and pushed four or five miles of downgrade in the big chainring. I passed three or four other riders before pulling into the rest stop and grabbing some more cookies. While waiting for Joe I took a look at my rear derailleur and saw that it had unscrewed from the hanger and was hanging on by a couple of threads. It had come out so far that it had come out passed the stops and provided nothing to support the tension spring. Of course, my handy dandy pocket tool didn't have the proper allen wrench. There was a mechanic at the rest stop though and he got the derailleur working properly. While I was being repaired, Joe hammered by and waved but did not stop. It took probably another five to ten minutes to get my bike rolling after Joe went by. I looked at the course list and saw there was only thirteen miles left to catch up to Joe. Things didn't look good as it was mostly downgrade though there were two rated climbs remaining. I hammered the final miles, but it wasn't enough and rolled into the finish two minutes behind Joe. Overall I thought it was a successful day despite the rain. The average speed wasn't very good, but I was flowing up the climbs I struggled up last year and was able to produce good wattage at the end of the ride. Got our T-shirts and a couple of huge pulled pork sandwiches and some fantastic garlic fries. Felt bad for the promoters due to the poor turnout. Still they had a couple hundred pre-registered riders so hopefully it covered expenses and thay made a little coinage for all their efforts.
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