07/17/2006

After last week's trip to Colorado was ruined by weather I still had a desire to test myself in some mountains.  I was originally thinking about starting in Flagstaff and going up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon or going down the Mogollon Rim to Strawberry or Pine.  But that would have meant an overnight stay in Flagstaff and I was tired of travelling.  So instead I got up at 4:30 AM Sunday morning and drove up to Pine, AZ for a nice cool ride up to Flagstaff and back.  In stark contrast to the Colorado trip, the weather couldn't have been more perfect at the start.  It was slightly brisk, in the low 60's, with no wind.

Starting in Pine meant an immediate 2.5 mile climb before a quick descent into Strawberry.  I immediately noticed that my heart rate was high ...  way higher than it should have been for my effort level.  With the amount of climbing I expected for the day that wasn't a good way to start, but I was feeling good and riding pretty strong, so I didn't worry about it too much, expecting that it would drop later in the ride like it has in the past when that has happened.

It was a great morning for riding with light traffic and I made really good time to Clint's Well.  But as I was getting close my stomach started bothering me.  I ate a couple gels but that didn't seem to help.  Just before Mormon lake I passed a "Special Event Ahead" sign then a turn around arrow.  I caught a rider who looked like he was really suffering going up the hill next to Mormon lake and he said there was a triathlon going on.  I must have caught up to the tail end of the bike section because I don't think I passed more than a dozen riders.  The people at the support areas kept offering me fluids, but I declined.  Near the north side of Lower Lake Mary was the transition area and there were a lot more people running the course North of the lake when I went through.  I was running low on fluids though so I stopped at the country store to refill.  My stomach was still bothering me, but otherwise I felt ok so I considered turning back at this spot.  The guy at the counter said Flagstaff was 6 miles, so I decided to head into town and see if I could catch up with Dave Flake (a friend I've know since I was 5 or 6 years old) to have lunch together.  When I got to the outskirts of town I called Annette to let her know where I was then called Dave and we decided to meet at a Quiznos that was relatively close to me.

I got there before Dave, but didn't have to wait too long before he and his daughter Judy got there.  I also noticed that my heart rate while sitting was hovering around 120 BPM -- about double what it should have been!  Still way elevated!  I glanced at some of the other data on my watch and it showed 4,600 feet of climbing so far.  At least it would be mostly down hill on the way back -- NOT!  We had a nice relaxing lunch, but I probably stayed there a bit too long.  Afternoon rain clouds were starting to build up so I decided to head back "down" the mountain.

There were still a few runners out on the triathlon course on my way back through -- they must have been doing the longest distance.  About 95 miles or so into the ride I started to hit a wall.  My stomach was still upset and I just didn't feel like I had much power in my legs.  Not good when there are 60 miles left to go!  There's a really long climb on the South side of Mormon lake and I started noticing some pain in my left knee.  Hmmm...  The pain started to get worse so I finally stopped and checked my saddle height.  Apparently I didn't tighten the seat post enough after re-assembling the bike from my trip and it had slipped.  Crap.  I reset that but the damage was done.  Now I had no power, an upset stomach and a sore knee.

A bit before the Happy Jack ranger station the first little sprinkle started.  It wasn't bad and cooled the road some.  I stopped at the ranger station to fill my bottles, but it was closed so I used one of the water taps to fill one bottle.  My knee seemed to be getting worse, but there was only 35 miles left including a really nice descent down into Strawberry.  It sprinkled one more time before Clint's Well, but again it wasn't bad.  I stopped at the Clint's Well campground to use the outhouse and felt a bit better after that.  Then I stopped at the gas station to fill my bottles.  A couple kids were sitting outside and asked how long I had been riding and gave me that "you must be nuts" look.  When I came back out they asked if I had my beard before I started riding :-)

There was another significant climb after Clint's Well and I was making terrible time.  No power and I was trying not to put too much pressure on my knee.  About a mile out the rain came.  It wasn't terribly hard, but it was a steady downpour.  Traffic also started to pick up as people started to head back off the mountain from the weekend.  This was taking much longer than I expected!  Climbing is relatively slow going, but descents go by really fast so you don't realize really how far you've gone on a fast descent until you have to climb back up it again on the return trip!  Some of those descents that I really didn't think about on the way out were way longer than I expected on the way back.

The rain eased off near the turn to Camp Verde and became intermittent sprinkles.  I had to take my wet sunglasses off to see though.  There was only one significant climb left, but it was slow going and I was really glad to see the sign showing a 6% descent ahead because I knew that would take me down to Strawberry.  I pretty much coasted in, but hit my high speed of the day, 51 mph coming off the Rim.  Annette called just as I was pulling up to my truck to see where I was.  It was almost 6:30 pm and I had expected to be back several hours earlier!  153.6 miles in 11.5 hours (I paused the Polar recording when I had lunch with Dave and Judy) with 8,300 feet of climbing!  That mean the return had 3,700 feet of climbing, only 900 feet less than the way up to Flag!  Ouch!  That wasn't expected!

My knee is still a bit tender, so I didn't ride this morning, but will probably get on my rollers tomorrow for an easy spin.  I have quite a bit of time before my next ride -- The son of Death Ride!  132 miles with 19,000 feet of climbing and some hills that are over 20% grade!  That will be SLOW going! ;-)