DAY 1
DAY 2
As usual before a long weekend of riding I checked weather.com to check the hourly forecast for wind and temperature. Mentally I think it helps if I know what the conditions will be like. In this case weather.com was predicting light winds at the start on Saturday in Globe, but getting up to sustained winds of 25+ mph out of the SSW later in the day near Show Low. Hmmm... that might make for a good tailwind! Sunday's forecast was worse. The morning prediction was for 10-15 mph winds out of the South -- a direct headwind. The wind was expected to get up into the 20 mph range later in the day, but was only supposed to be 10-15 mph near Globe. If I look a few days in advance, the forecast tends to change. But they have been pretty accurate if I look the night before my rides.
This ride was supposed to be unsupported with no bag drop in Show Low. So I loaded up my commuting trunk with a change of clothes for Show Low and a change of cycling clothes for the ride back to Globe. It was also supposed to be fairly brisk when we left Show Low on Sunday and I don't like being cold, so I also packed a vest, my thermal arm and leg warmers, ear warmers and full finger glove liners. With spare tubes, extra food, tools and some other stuff I was probably adding a good 15 pounds or so to my bike. Derek called it my handicap!
Sure enough Saturday morning had a pleasant start. I hit the McDonald's in Globe for a couple pre-ride sausage, egg and cheese mcmuffins and a cup of OJ. Susan Plonsky, Gerry Goode and Gerry's brother Ed were sitting at a table when I walked in. I didn't have much time and they went out to start getting ready before I started eating. Derek Slife was with Susan when I walked out. That would be the group for the day. Ed was visiting from Florida and isn't a long distance rider, but generously volunteered to be our ride support and meet us at the bottom of the Salt River Canyon with water. He also offered to take my trunk, but I had all my spare tubes, tools and extra food in that trunk, so I declined, tempting though it was to get rid of that extra weight! The ride was supposed to end at the Days Inn right next door, so I moved my truck next door and got ready.
I was on my Trek 5200 which has a Polar Power unit on it. The Polar watch has to sit on two contacts to function properly, but when we pulled out I wasn't getting any info. Took me a minute or so to get it seated correctly. The start is similar to GABA's Mine Country Challenge with an immediate climb out of Globe. I chatted briefly with Susan then moved up to ride with Derek for a bit. We were making pretty good time, but I kept glancing at my heart rate and saw that I was already in no man's land (between an aerobic zone and lactate threshold), so I told Derek to ride on ahead. I really tried to get my heart rate back down, but just wasn't having any luck. Soon Gerry passed me to and my heart rate was still in a high aerobic zone. I tried spinning a lighter gear for a while, but that didn't help either. This was supposed to be a base miles ride, but my heart rate just wasn't cooperating.
I finally stopped looking at it and just rode on feel. Gerry wasn't too far ahead and I could occasionally see Derek way off in the distance. The wind still wasn't too bad and I hit the descent into the Salt River canyon fast. Without aerobars I can get pretty low on my bike and get some good speed. I got up to 50.8 before the canyon and passed Gerry somewhere along there, but I slowed down quite a bit for the canyon itself, rarely going over 40 or so. Derek was with Ed at the rest area at the bottom. Good thing he was too because the little store that's down there was closed indefinitely. I was out of fluid and would have been really hurting for the climb out! Derek and I left shortly after Gerry got there (he had stopped to relieve himself before going into the canyon). I let Derek go, but my heart rate was still higher than I wanted and I was getting pretty frustrated with it. I didn't feel like I was working as hard as it was showing, so I finally just thought screw it and started riding on feel again. So much for base miles! Derek was also watching his heart rate and I passed him shortly after that.
Once I stopped stressing about my heart rate, it actually started to come back where I wanted it! Stress about it and it stays high, stop looking and just enjoy the ride and it comes down! Amazing -- lesson learned! Anyway it's a pretty long climb to the Chevron before the turn on State Hwy 73, but it really wasn't bad and that promised tail wind was starting to deliver! Ed was there again with water, but I went into the store and also got myself a Neapolitan ice cream sandwich. Mmmm. The turn onto 73 was a turn into the wind, so that generous tail wind I was getting was now a hard cross and head wind that lasted all the way into White River.
I must say I am truly impressed with Apache drivers! Several times I thought I heard a car behind me, glanced back and saw someone patiently waiting for a safe place to pass! Not only did they always give me plenty of distance, but I also got quite a few waves with a thumbs up! I can only imagine that's what it's like to ride in France, but I certainly appreciated the courtesy. I stopped at another Chevron in White River to fill my bottles, then started the long, long climb up to Hon Dah casino. Luckily with the turn at White River I had a tail wind again and the climb wasn't too bad. I took my time and enjoyed the tall pines. At the convenience store at Hon Dah I had Brownie Cookie ice cream sandwich and had just clipped a foot on a pedal when Gerry pulled in. He's quite an impressive rider -- did I mention that he's retired and that he rode the 600k with us last week? I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him during Answer to the Challenge next weekend!
The rest of the ride into Globe was pretty quick. The wind did shift around once or twice, but for the most part it stayed at my back until I made the turn in Globe, then it was a headwind with a final climb to the motel. I'd been on the bike for over 9 hours and didn't have a cell phone signal for most of it, so as I'm slogging my way up this last hill Annette calls to check on me. I decided to wait until I was in my room to call her back!
So, stats for day 1:
Cumulative ascent: 11,080 feet -- way more than I expected! And with that dang trunk too!
Heart Rates
Zone 4 (Lactate Threshold):
56 min
No Man's Land:
1hour 57 min
Zone 3 (Aerobic):
3 hours 2 min
Zone 2 (Endurance):
1 hour 43 min
Zone 1 (Easy Distance):
42 min
Zone 0 (below training zones):
39 min
Ok, so that was at least 3 hours riding harder than I wanted! But Sunday would be all down hill, right?
As usual, I was a little slow getting ready to go Sunday morning and pulled up a couple minutes after the ride was supposed to start. Luckily nobody had left yet and instructions were still being given. Derek was off to the side changing a flat tire. Sure am glad I got those Conti high pressure rim bands and a new pair of Michelin Krylion Carbon tires before the 600k because I was still riding flat free! As weather.com promised the wind was already blowing out of the south. We had a short leg down AZ260 to an Antiques store, then back to US 60 for the ride back to Globe.
I have different categories for wind that range from great (tail wind) to hellish (have to stand in your lowest gear to make any headway). This ride ranged from tedious (can feel the wind is having an impact) to hard (wind is definitely having an impact) to brutal (have to fight to make headway against the wind). When we got back onto US 60, the wind was tedious, but I was making good progress. I stopped at that Chevron on the corner of 73 and 60 to refill bottles and Ed pulled up just as I was finishing. He offered to take my trunk again, but I wasn't about to part with my spare tubes, extra food and tools! A couple ladies asked where I was riding from and to, so I told them. Their response? "What, are you crazy or something?" My usual response to that, because people tend to ask that a lot when I tell them how far I ride, was to quote Nietzsche who said "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" But I used that quote with Matt Lathrum (who also called me crazy) and Matt asked me how Nietzsche died. An interesting question, so I looked it up. Turns out Nietzsche had a mental breakdown and never fully recovered his sanity before he died! Hmmm... no more quoting Nietsche! So I replied to the ladies "yeah, probably a little bit!"
After AZ73 the wind turned hard. I could feel it on the flats and my descents weren't as fast as they should have been, but because it was mostly descent at this point I was still making good time. Ed was waiting at the bottom of the Salt River Canyon and I gratefully refilled my bottles (boy were we lucky to have Ed along -- Thanks so much Ed, you were a life saver!). I was standing talking to Ed and the wind really started to gust hard. So much for tapering off the closer we got to Globe. Weather.com was way off this time! It wasn't quite as bad as I expected as I climbed out of the canyon, but as soon as I cleared the top and started the climb up the mountain it hit really hard. I was watching my speed fluctuate between 5.8 mph and 3.8 mph as the gusts of wind hit me. I wasn't standing to make progress, so this wasn't as hellish as the 400k was last month, but it was certainly close! And it seemed like I just kept climbing, I was expecting more descents! Somewhere along here I passed Ed who was pulled off the road, but I still had a full bottle and half of another one, so I figured I would make it to Globe ok.
But about 15 miles or so out of Globe I started to hit a wall. My energy was failing and I was just getting to the top of a hill when I saw a "Passing Lane 1000 feet ahead" sign. That's never a good sign when you are on a bike because it means a long, slow climb. So I stopped and ate a clif bar and three energy gels, figuring the clif bar would last a bit and the gels would give me some much needed quick energy, and they did. But now I was down to half a bottle of Accelerade and that wind was making the ride take a lot longer than it should have!
Sure enough, I went around the corner at the top of that little hill and saw another major climb. One of those discouraging climbs that wraps around so you can see exactly how far you have to go to the top! I've driven this route more times than I can count and I honestly don't remember so many hills between the Salt River Canyon and Globe. It seemed like I was always climbing and because of the wind, the descents were also hard. On a 6% descent I can usually generate a lot of speed, but as soon as I stopped pedaling and dropped into a tuck I would feel my speed actually taper off! The only way to maintain speed with that wind was to pedal, so that's what I did, even on what should have been some great descents!
I was really feeling the effects of the weekend by the time I pulled into the first gas station in Globe. But I got myself a ham and cheese on rye sandwich, filled my bottles with Gatorade and headed back to my truck at the Days Inn. No, I didn't abandon, tempting though that was, but I did grab a couple spare tubes and my pump out of my bike trunk, then left it in my truck so I could do the rest of the ride without that extra weight!
Since we didn't go through White River this time, there was an out and back in Show Low and another out and back outside of Globe to make the ride a full 200k. But the mileage shown on my Polar and the mileage shown on the queue sheet had been off since the Antiques store, so I wasn't really positive where the next turn was supposed to be. Where I thought it would be the sign on the intersection said AZ188, not AZ88 which was listed on my queue sheet. The queue sheet also said something about Miami and the intersection of US60 and AZ188 is actually still part of Globe, so I continued on to Miami, riding all the way through town with out seeing a sign for AZ88. I turned around when I got to the far end of town and was heading to Superior. I knew that road well enough from the Mine Country Challenge to know that AZ88 wasn't along that.
Just on the outskirts of town someone was working outside his store and I stopped to ask for directions. He was stumped about AZ88 also, so he pulled out his phone book to look at a map. The map in the phone book showed that AZ188 is actually AZ88! Dang! That added a good 6 or 7 miles to my ride! Luckily the ride back to that intersection was with a strong tail wind, but that meant that I had 3 to 4 miles of strong head wind to get out there first!
I have to admit, I was quite confused by the queue sheet at this point. It said to turn right on Old 88 and that there would be a check point somewhere along there. I rode through that section (which was actually pretty nice, with some great little rolling hills), and got back to AZ88/AZ188, but didn't see any checkpoints. I stopped and marked my time on my brevet card and noted that there was a water treatment facility on Old 88 (no way to know that unless you actually rode by it!) and hoped that would be good enough. Then I headed back towards town. Shortly after I started climbing the hill back into the heart of Globe, Susan passed in the other direction. We gave each other a wave and continued. I hope she didn't make the same mistake I did with AZ188 / AZ88!
When I got back to my truck there was a van from Colorado in one of the spaces, but I didn't see anyone, so I went in and had the clerk time and initial my brevet card, then I went and changed into more comfortable clothes. Just about the time I finished I saw some riders pulling in, so I went over and gave my brevet card to Charlie Henderson (RMCC club president) to give to Fred Boethling who was running the brevet. Then I hit the Taco Bell next door and made a pig of myself, I was starved! You really don't want to know how much I ate, but parents and children were staring in awe! Or maybe that was disgust, but my starved brain couldn't tell the difference...
Anyway, stats for day 2:
Cumulative Ascent: 8,380 - Holy Crap, Batman! What happened to all that descending I was supposed to be doing???
Heart Rates
Zone 4 (Lactate Threshold):
0 min
No Man's Land:
0 min
Zone 3 (Aerobic):
53 min
Zone 2 (Endurance):
3 hours 07 min
Zone 1 (Easy Distance):
2 hours 48 min
Zone 0 (below training zones): 2 hours 31 min
Interesting that my heart rate stays so much lower the day after a hard ride -- very similar to last week's 600k brevet. I felt like I worked at least as hard, if not harder, than Saturday, but you can't see that from where my heart rates were.
This coming weekend is GABA's Answer to the Challenge (ATC). Three fun filled days of century riding up into the mountains of Arizona! Jeff told me to "challenge myself!" It will be nice not to worry about heart rate zones and just ride as hard as I want! Of course I will be taking my Trek 5200 again on ATC because I used every one of my gears and spent a lot of time in my 30x27 on the rides this weekend and I know what the climb up Mingus Mountain is like! I usually use my stairs at home as a barometer for how hard I worked on a ride. If it's painful going down the stairs, I worked too hard. Luckily I didn't have any trouble with my stairs after this weekend, so I should be able to recover sufficiently in time for a good ATC!