At around 8:15 a.m., I arrived at the Raleigh Whole Foods in my new
Prius--Kim, you can start laughing now :) About 100 other riders and
I set out at 9 am for the 60 mile ride. I settled in at the back of
the break away peloton, averaging about 22+ mph. I felt strong in my
head, but the hills quickly zapped my legs. Within 10 miles I
couldn't see anyone in front or behind me. I thought, "crap, the main
group left me, and the other group must have gone on the 30 mile
ride." I'm going to have to pound these miles out solo. I rode on
for a couple more miles and still didn't see another human being. I
finally got caught by a stop light, I looked around, and there was a
whole sea of riders about 1/2 a mile behind me. "Whew," I thought, "I
can go back to the CoW's with my head held high. I didn't get
completely dropped in the first ten miles." I found a group of about
15 seasoned riders, and we held together until about mile 30. Right
at mile 30 we descended the biggest hill I've ever taken on my bike.
We peaked out at 37 mph, and I thought, "this is awesome," right up
to the point where we hit the bottom of the hill and Mount Everest
rose up before us, and I dropped off to a grinding 5 mph. The middle
peloton left me behind, and three other guys and me climbed the
mountain together. The wind blew in our faces. Snow banks covered us
on both side, and Yettis stalked the forest. Who knew all this was in
Raleigh. We made it to the second sag stop, refueled and dropped back
in the saddle for the last 20 miles. I fell in with the same
seasoned riders until we hit another big hill, and I dropped off
again. I got lost at mile 50, took a wrong turn, and had to turn
around. I rode the last 10 miles solo, and arrived back at the Whole
Foods just behind the cycling team that was smoking before the race,
and just before some dude on a Seven and some lady on a Pinarello. I
finished about 15th . . . from the last, knocking down 65 miles and
4000 calories burned.
My lessons for the day: stay the hell away from the breakaway peloton,
and build your legs for hills. I got a lot of work to do before BSG.
Rev. Joshua M.K. Goocey
Senior Minister
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
207 Tarboro St. N.
Wilson, NC 27896
[email protected]
On Mar 7, 2010, at 9:57 AM, ssp wrote:
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