.... ...awesome ronnie. sorry about the tire. 25mph blowout...I'm sure I'd go down. ~~way to hold on.
On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 10:47 PM, Jeff Glover <[email protected]> wrote: > Good job Ronnie! You made your goal and clearly had the rest in hand. > Nice job improvising and doing as best as you could. Any clue what you > hit? > > > -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2011 10:12 PM > > To: > cyclistsofwilson-cows@**googlegroups.com<[email protected]> > Subject: [COWs] 2011 BSG > > We arrived in Boone Friday around noon. Winds were 10 - 15 gusting to 25 > out from WSW. The direction doesn't really matter in the mountains tho as > the topography and elevation can cause the wind to come from any direction. > We went to Grandfather Mountain for the afternoon. At the top the wind was > blowing 40 - 50 gusting to 60. All the while I'm thinking I hope the wind > isn't this bad tomorrow at any elevation. > > Saturday am I arrived at the start line around 6:45. Met up with Eddie, Tim > and Winslow from RM. Weather was perfect at the time. 60 degrees light > breeze, no humidity. This year they split the start - 100 milers first, 50 > milers 30 mins later. This helped a lot with the crowding at the start line. > We head out, the four us staying together, but that didn't last long. Eddie > and I lost Tim & Winslow going up 105, possibly due to crowding. Eddie and I > climbed into Blowing Rock (6 - 7% grade for about 6 miles). BTW I took my > triple up for the ride (30-42-53 crank and 12-26 cassette). Climbed to the > parkway and the wind started picking up a bit. It's downhill all the way to > the other side of Boone with a few "rolls" thrown in, but wasn't able to hit > 50 mph this go around due to the "breeze". With the first "big climb" out of > the way, and the first rest/aid stop at mile 25, the next 35 miles are just > "rolls" and a 2 mile climb on 194. This brings the ride to the base of Snake > Mtn. We were averaging just under 17mph at this point. Eddie has moved on as > he has less mass and could climb at a faster pace than I wanted. It was a > good thing too as I'll get to in a bit. > > After emptying a bottle i start up the road with cross winds blowing. No 18 > mph on the "flat" portion this year. Caught up with this other guy and we > "cruised" together to the first "up-tick" in slope. (This climb is concave - > steeper as you go). We stay together, chit-chatting which helped pass the > time and mountain away. The serious climb started at the 3.5 mile mark with > 3.5 more to go - roughly 10 - 12% or so. Legs are still feeling pretty good. > My single goal is to not walk the switchback (18 - 22%). Looking up I see > the switchback and I'm still on the bike (yeah!) Down to my 30/26, no gear > left, rolling at 3 - 4 mph, Passing a dozen or more walkers. Hit the outside > of the switchback and down comes a car (yikes!). she stops, not annoyed and > says the top is just around the corner (very encouraging!) Make it to the > second half of the switchback and the worst is over. (Heart rate finally > hits 167). Goal met. > > The backside was the most dicey part of the route with gravel at the > bottom. One other "climb" to the state line then downhill to 421. Turn onto > 421 and something weird is going on with rear tire. Before I could stop to > investigate, pow! it blows (mile 70). tread missng, cords showing, a couple > frayed. Don't know what I ran over. Tim shows up at this point and stops. > Booted the tire, replace tube and continue on hoping to make the last 30 but > deep down knowing I probably won't with that tire. He and I ride to the next > station at mile 80 keeping it under 25 mph. Boot holding so far. Tim refills > and continues on. I "pit-stop" so i'm solo at this point. I continue on the > the last "major" climb - George's Gap Rd. Make the climb and start on the > switch-back filled downhill. At mile 86 on the downhill and going 25 or so, > pow! Tire blows again. Maintained control of the bike and didn't crash or > damage wheel. Started walking back up the mtn to the refill station at the > gap. No "supply wagons" to replace the tire so I'm out. (I only had three > more "rolls" to the finish anyway).The "hole" is now the size of a dime. The > bad thing was i was ahead of my time from last year by at least 15 mins. > Called my wife (Colleen) to get the SAG number and remembered Eddie was > ahead of me, so I called him as well. (No SAG number on the cue sheet). They > got the folks to scramble a SAG wagon in the area to pick me up. > > It was a good ride up until the tire blew, but my goal was achieved: riding > up Snake. > > Ronnie > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. > To post to this group, send email to cyclistsofwilson-cows@** > googlegroups.com <[email protected]>. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cyclistsofwilson-cows+** > [email protected]<cyclistsofwilson-cows%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/** > group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?**hl=en<http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en>. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. > To post to this group, send email to cyclistsofwilson-cows@** > googlegroups.com <[email protected]>. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cyclistsofwilson-cows+** > [email protected]<cyclistsofwilson-cows%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/** > group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?**hl=en<http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en> > . > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. 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