| Quick Stats Ride Distance: 101 miles Elevation Gain: 3,332 feet Average Moving Speed: 16.5 mph |
It had been a chilly but sunny Sunday morning in Bend, Oregon. We both had fully 'warmered' legs and jacketed torsos. Before the ride I saw a gal in shorts and sleeveless. At the time I thought (and may have even mentioned) she was a better man than I. Of course 5 miles into the ride I realized she was probably a local as I took off my jacket and stowed it in my pocket.
We started at 10 minutes to 9 a.m., the scheduled starting time. There were a lot of people waiting around, but we decided to get going, having cue sheets at the ready and not understanding what the waiting was all about. About two miles short of Smith Rock, the first of two rest stops (one at mile 33 and the other at mile 66) I saw why they were waiting to start. They road as a group. I tried to hold them off, a pack of some 50+ cyclists, knowing I was getting relatively close to the stop, but was unable to do it. I was overtaken by the group. Had it been a race with a TV crew I would have gotten a little face time on the camera for my sponsors before being gobbled up by the peloton. Some consolation, imaginary face time, imaginary sponsors.
Lots more riders kept coming in after that first group. We didn't rest long. Grabbed a quick bite and we were off. I hoped maybe the main peloton would linger and behold the beauty of Smith Rock, maybe ponder climbing it themselves, maybe even right then. But it was not to be. We were only a few miles into the second leg when they swarmed past us. Oh well, we 'led' for a little while at least.
When we arrived at the second rest stop it was noticeably cooler as the sun was now hidden by clouds. I was thinking it would be perfect if the sun stayed hidden just a little longer, so we could do the climb in the cool, and then come out in all its glory for the final stretch back into Bend. Well, it did stay cool for the climb, which we motored up quite nicely. Aim was ahead of me, as usual, but not too far. And I'm not sure but I think the sun may have been out for parts of that last stretch.
But I didn't notice it. I was too busy struggling against the headwind, which was 10 to 20 mph, according to my iBike. It wasn't a warm headwind either, as I seriously considered putting my jacket back on a time or two, though I never actually did. Looking back, I made it out to be a bigger psychological struggle than it really was. My expectations of a really fast average speed were dashed and my iBike computer kept losing wireless connection with my speed sensor. I changed the batteries and it kept happening. I'm pretty sure it was because of the power lines as we've ridden this stretch before and it happened that time too. For someone who gets a serious measure of their motivation from logging and tracking the miles it can be frustrating when those miles are no longer being logged, especially if the non-logged miles are really super hard.
In hind sight it is obviously ridiculous. Of course we were going to have a tough headwind at some point during a windy day (though why is it often on the last part of the ride?). Of course I can simply use other data sources to keep track of the miles. But sometimes, especially when you are tired and frustrated, you apparently don't see the obvious. I guess. Or maybe it is only me.
Either way we eventually made it back to Bend. As you can see from the map below I was somehow able to track the ride. Oh, and if you are wondering, Amy didn't struggle as much as I did at the end, even though she loathes the wind. She was too distracted worrying about her riding buddy.
| RIDE MAP IN GOOGLE EARTH: |
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