Saturday, June 23, 2012

Mountain Rain Challenge

Probably should have stayed in bed for this one. But since I am writing this two days afterward, I am glad we did it...

Quick Stats
Ride Distance: 100 miles  
Elevation Gain: 8,976 feet  
Average Moving Speed: 14.28 mph  

We had done this ride, actually called the Mountain Lakes Challenge, two years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a difficult ride for me to finish at the time, but the scenery and lack of traffic were just too compelling not to come back for it.

The day started out slower than usual. Step 1, check the weather radar on our phones. Fail. Internet down. Step 1b, find a computer with working internet. Check. Radar shows significant rain just passed through ride area. John's reaction: Bummer, oh well, we can always try tomorrow. Amy's reaction: Great, it looks clear now! John reluctantly agrees to forge ahead with the day.

As we start getting our gear together to get going Amy asks if I brought the checkbook or cash for the ride registration. Nope. Oops. Another minor delay to make a quick stop at an ATM.

We had hoped to get started riding at 6 a.m. in order to do the full 135 mile Double Metric. We actually got going at 6:45, which, all things considered wasn't too bad. But it meant we could miss the cut-off time for one of the rest stops if we didn't push it.

As we got going Amy told me there would be a 5 mile stretch of fresh chip seal, which started a couple miles before the initial 7-mile climb and ended about half-way up it. While certainly not ideal as there was quite a bit of loose gravel on the roadway, particularly on corners, it wasn't too bad as we were going uphill and therefore relatively slow. Downhill would have been nasty!

Unlike in 2010 I was able to keep up with Amy for the most part on that first big climb. At the top we made a quick stop for food and water at the Green Springs rest area. Next thing I know Amy is huddled over the portable propane heater. It was cold, and she hates stopping for long when it is cold, but the heater helped a little.

The next stretch is where this year's route varied from the century we did in 2010, which was basically a Figure 8. From that Green Springs rest stop you continue 20 miles out Route 66 and then 20 miles back. It showered on us just a little during this part, but nothing of significance. We hoped this was the worst the weather would bring as it was actually quite tolerable.

We made a quick stop again at the Green Springs rest area and then headed north to continue the first loop of the Figure 8. Within a mile the sky started to open up on us. Started as a drizzle and then became fairly solid rain and even hail at times. It was during this wet section we decided to skip the second loop of the Figure 8 and just head back down to the finish.

The only problem was, the sky looked clear off to the east, and it looked downright nasty to the west, which was where we wanted to go in order to get back to the van. We considered doing the second loop, but when we factored in the possibility of getting dumped on again AND being even further away from the finish, we decided against it. It was only 20 miles back to the finish, and we can handle anything for 20 miles.

Well, that last 20 miles starts with a solid 700-foot climb, and pretty much all of it was the hardest rain of the day. Thankfully the rain started fading once we started descending.

I was able to mostly keep up with Amy again on this climb, so when the final 10-mile descent came it wasn't long before I passed her. After a few miles I could no longer see her in my rear view mirror so I stopped and waited for her to pass and then descended some more. It didn't take long before I was way out in front again, but this time it took a few minutes to find a place to stop. I waited. And waited. And waited. Okay, something is definitely wrong so I started heading back up the hill. I hear a "snap" from my bike. My rear shifter cable just broke, leaving me in my highest rear gear. I have a spare cable, but was unable to get the end of the broken cable out of the shifter, so I decided to go up the hill standing on the pedals.

Thankfully after about a mile and a half of a very squeaky (and sometimes very rattly) steep climb I finally met Amy coming down. She had just changed her own tire! We stopped to put a little more air in her tire since my pump is better (and heavier). While she was holding her bike the whole thing was shaking from her shivers. That was one cold girl!

We eventually made it back, though my bike was ridiculously noisy with each pedal stroke. And sometimes either slipping out of gear for part of a stroke or even locking up. In retrospect I probably could have done a couple things to improve my shifter situation, but since it was mostly downhill from there (other than the uphill to go back toward Amy) I had mentally checked out and just wanted to be done with it.

Even though we skipped the second loop we still did almost 9,000 feet of climbing, the most for a ride so far this year and 1,000 feet more than the 2010 route. We both felt pretty strong at the end too (though our moving speed doesn't show it due to our technical difficulties inducing snail-like speeds at the end), unlike in 2010 when Amy was strong but I was in survival mode.

We might be back again for this one, as it is a great ride. But the forecast will have to call for warm and sunny weather next time!

RIDE MAP IN GOOGLE EARTH:

Maps showing all rides: 2012201120102009All Rides

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