| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
106.71 miles
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Altitude Gain:
9,293 ft
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Avg Speed:
16.76 mph
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Route:
Civil War Century
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 167 bpm
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Avg HR: 137 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: Sunny ^%-*# F NW wind @ 8 mph |
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Event today was in Thurmont, Maryland which is just a few miles south of the PA border. Supposedly there would be sixteen hundred cyclists on the century that due to road construction added six bonus miles. Riders were already heading out into the twilight as I drove to the start. Registration was non-eventful as they scanned your entry receipt and handed out your number. The course advertised four mountain climbs and four historic battlefields. I was only able to identify two mountain climbs and two battlefields, but I'm sure that a few of the numerous hill climbs could have been over mountains. The first climb right out of the gate was definitely a mountain climb as it was nearly ten miles long. It wasn't terrible steep though with most sections around three percent and not much over six. I started out spinning fairly easily and was passing a few cyclists when a young rider spun by me. I decided to try to stay with him and was successful and even dropped him for a couple of miles. We passed dozens of rider on our way to the top. He caught back up to me with less than a mile to the top and the competition got fairly heated as we neared the peak. It turned into a drag race over the last steep section and though I was able to best him, it was a pyrrhic victory. I had gone way too hard over the first climb of the day and suffered accordingly over the remainder of the ride. I don't think he made out much better as I never saw him again over the rest of the ride. Put some effort into the long downhill but was caught by a tandem with a dozen or so riders in its wake. I joined on but further stressed my already weakened legs. Though I did well on the descent, I was dropped along with a few other riders on a short climb. Three or four of us regrouped but we never saw the tandem again. I am pretty sure though that the tandem probably did the metric rather than the full century. Hit more climbs and got dropped on a very short steep climb but was able to catch back on when the course got less climby and more rolling. We had problems on the narrow roads as cars would get backed up behind slower riders ahead of us, and we could then only climb as fast as the slowest rider ahead of the cars. This was to plague me several times during the ride. I would be unable to maintain any momentum and often nearly have to track stand on some sections of the climbs. We climbed to the first rest stop at the Antietam National Battlefield. Ate some nuts and fig bars and got back on the bike. Caught up with a local rider and we rode together for several miles until he dropped me on the second big climb. The climb wasn't terrible but it was several miles long with occasional sections of eight to ten percent grade. Over the last couple of miles my legs were shelled, and I was passed by several riders that I had passed on the lower slopes of the mountain. I didn't have the strength to stand nor a small enough gear to spin and ended up slogging it out. I resolved to get a smaller gear before doing next weekend's Highlander with twenty three percent grades and eleven thousand feet of climbing. I caught most of the riders that passed me near the top of the climb over the next series of rollers but didn't see the local rider I had ridden with until the end of the ride. Made it through most of the climbing and rolled into the rest stop at the seventy five mile point. Wasn't impressed with the fare that emphasized tomato sandwiches and pickle juice. Filled my water bottles grabbed some nuts and headed back out. The final twenty odd miles didn't have any major climbs and just a few rollers. Thought I could still finish strong but that was not the case. Took a drink from one of my water bottles, and I don't know what I filled it with but my body told me not to drink it. I was already less than hydrated and had only one bottle to cover the rest of the ride. Then there was a nasty headwind to boot. Latched onto a fast group that passed me and got a couple of easy miles in but didn't feel comfortable riding with the group and dropped off to finish alone. I probably should have stayed on for longer though as the body pretty much gave out with ten miles to go. Ended up losing time on the easy part of the course as my average was higher through the mountains. Also had a bad experience through the Gettysburg Battlefield. The organizers had provided intersection monitors at the intersections in the park with cardboard signs that said to stop at the intersection. Got to the second intersection and stopped at the stop line and a crazy lady starts screaming at me not to stop there but to stop where she was in the center of the intersection where she was standing. So I did a track stand next to her after already stopping at the stop sign, and she starts screaming at me to go slow since this is an intersection. I generally don't remain stationary in the center of an intersection and try to get out of them in a hurry once I'm in one. But then again I'm not some authoritarian nutcase off my meds. Lost quite a bit off the average speed in the last few miles and finished fairly dehydrated and was glad to be off the bike. Wasn't a bad course overall though other than the first climb I did poorly. They had ice cream at the finish, and it was the only food they had at the after ride lunch that looked good to me. The only fluids they had were iced tea, gatorade and water. Not a bad ride but not sure I'll be back as didn't care for the traffic on the narrow roads, tomato sandwiches, and the crazy lady. The climbs and descents were first rate though.
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