I did a 100K bike ride today at the Cowtown Classic in Crowley, TX with Don T and Derek. Don A joined us for the first 16 miles before splitting off to do the 40 mile route. I finished 61.55 miles in 4:04:18 for a 15.1 MPH average speed (3:37:55 riding time -17 MPH average speed)Don planned to (and did) ride the 40 mile route after completing the 100K route so he kept the pace fairly tame and I was happy to join him. My heart rate stayed mostly aerobic with a 132 BPM average for the ride.
The routes were completely different from last year's ride. Overall, there wasn't much traffic so it was a pretty nice ride. However, some of the roads had a lot of loose gravel. In fact, while splitting off from Don A at the Mile 16 fork, I hit a patch of gravel and wiped out at the super fast speed of about 2 MPH! Thankfully, I escaped major injury and suffered just an abrasion and a long scratch on my arm and a small "rock puncture wound" on my palm. The bike also escaped any real damage. So after a few minutes of getting settled, Derek and I said our parting wishes to Don A as he headed left and we headed right to continue on our ride (and catch up to Don T)
Derek and I rode about a quarter of a mile before I realized that my aerobars had lost their bar end plugs - I guess the impact was a little more severe than I had thought. Since it would have been dangerous to ride with exposed bar ends (you can't ride in a triathlon if they're missing) I went back and lo-and-behold they were sitting there in the pile of gravel.
Actually, after recovering from the crash (and taking some time at the Mile 22 and Mile 42 rest stops), the rest of the ride was actually quite enjoyable. However, I took the turns (and the route had many of them) a little slower than normal and was constantly on the lookout for more gravel - and annoyingly many of the intersections actually had more of that evil stuff.
I tried to push hard after the Mile 51 rest stop and ended up doing the final 9.96 miles at a 19.9 MPH pace. My heart rate still only averaged about 141 BPM (158 BPM max) so I still felt fresh even as I crossed the finish line at North Crowley High School.
Ride Route: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=6700651
Ride Review:
- Course: 2.5/5 - fast concrete roads near the start/finish with all country roads after that; some of the roads were narrow, rough, and with lots of tight/blind turns; course markings were improved from last year, but I still did almost miss one turn; Major Problem: loose gravel at turns (most was marked but it's still dangerous) and that horrible gravel road.
- Rest Stops: 3/5 - very limited selection - some fruit, cookies, and water/Gatorade - nothing to write home about
- Logistics: 3.5/5 - online registration available; no issues with race day packet pick-up; lots of porta-potties and indoor bathrooms in the high school were available; lots of parking at North Crowley High School; not much post-race refreshment variety (same fruit/drinks/cookies as rest stops); post-race showers available; nice T-shirt design this year
- Overall: 3/5 - pretty good ride just wish the gravel wasn't there!
No comments:
Post a Comment