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"Be Prepared." The boy scout motto applies to everything in
life. The Silverbell Century showed me that I've put in enough
training and base miles to be able to comfortably finish an easy to
moderate century ride. The Mount Lemmon 200k is not easy or
moderate. In fact, it's a bit on the extreme side. If you
are prepared, no problem. If you are still working on getting back
in shape, well, then it's a bit more than hard. Add in a hard head
wind for most of the ride and it tips the scale on the brutal side!
I left Mesa at 4:30am, figuring I'd get there in plenty of time for the
7am start at Tangerine and Dove Mountain in Marana. Unfortunately
there was an accident with a semi truck that closed a lane of traffic.
It took me about 45 minutes to go a couple miles until I got past the
overturned truck. That got me to the start two minutes before 7.
And here I thought I was going to be early! Bruce Chandler was
helping Susan on this event and planned to man a water stop. I
chatted with Bruce a bit while I got ready. Carlton Van Leuven, a
boy scout leader who asked me to talk about my cross state record to his
boy scout troup, showed up just as I was finishing up. It was a
bit brisk, but not too bad, so I opted not to take my leg warmers.
That would turn out to be a mistake! Susan added a few turns at
the beginning to make sure the ride was a full 200k (125 miles) and I
tried to keep an easy pace, but I know I overdid it a bit trying to make
up for the time I lost earlier. It was a pretty nice morning
overall and I made pretty good time to Ina. About 8:30am that all
changed. I knew it was going to be windy, but I didn't expect it
to start so early or to be so strong. Susan reports there were
40mph gusts along the base of the mountain. I would estimate the
sustained wind was 25-30mph. And it was a direct head wind.
Several times I had to drop into my granny gear to make headway. I
looked down at my Garmin and it reported a grade of 0%! Once it
even showed -1%! Talk about a brutal, slow ride! The wind
hit when I was 18 miles into the ride! That would make for a LONG
day!
I passed quite a few of the people who started at 7 before getting to
the first checkpoint at the Safeway on Catalina Highway. I was
ready for a bit of a break and went in the store to get some fresh water
and my receipt. It was also warming up and I didn't want to
overheat on the climb, so I stripped off my vest, arm warmers and glove
liners. I didn't stay too long, but met Andy Speier a randonnuer
from Seattle before I headed out again. Once again we had to take
a few round-about roads to get to that 125 miles and I was getting
pretty tired fighting through that headwind! We hit the base of
the mountain at about 40 miles into the ride. Bruce passed me just
as I was starting up and stopped to take a couple photos of me and to
see how I was holding up. Only 25 miles of climbing with a lot of
it into a stiff headwind! I said I was good, gave him a thumbs up
and kept riding.
I'm a big guy, so I'm not the fastest climber out there. After the
first switchback guys started passing me and disappearing into the
distance. I just kept stubbornly plugging away. Occasionally
the road would turn and we'd get a really strong tail wind. But I
was so tired, I wasn't able to capitalize on it to make better time.
I mostly relaxed with the tail wind and tried to recover. About 10
miles up I started to have serious doubts about finishing this ride.
At one vista point I stopped to eat a banana and re-hydrate. I
decided to go up to windy point vista before making a decision. I
was watching my speed and figured it would take 4 hours to get to the
top. Ouch. I had to stop at least two more times to rest.
The altitude was starting to get to me and I found myself
hyperventilating. Poor breathing technique probably contributed to
that. So I'd stop, get off the bike for a few minutes and get my
breathing back under control.
But I made it to Windy Point vista and Bruce was there to fill my
bottles. He said the next section was the "easy" part of the ride.
Only 5 miles to Palisades where Susan was waiting with some turkey wraps
for lunch. Hmmmm... 5 miles isn't too far and I do remember there
was a section with a couple small descents and flat areas so this
probably is the easy part.... I decided to keep going. As
soon as I turned the corner a stiff, very cold headwind hit so I
immediately stopped and put my vest, arm warmers and glove liners back
on. It was cold! And Bruce was wrong! When I started
up again I looked at my Garmin and it showed 7-8% grades! That was
only for 1/2 mile or so, but still! I had to stop a couple more
times to get my breathing under control before getting to Palisades.
Susan was there and I had a coke and turkey wrap while I rested some.
The wrap helped a lot! Susan said a large group left right before
I got there so, surprisingly, I wasn't too far back. Dave Lehnan
(I think) pulled in just as I was getting ready to go. I had made
it this far and it was only 5 miles to the summit with a couple long
descents so I kept going.
There's a pretty good climb past Palisades and I was very surprised to
see scattered snow on the hillside when I went around the corner.
It was definitely cold, but snow?? Susan provided post cards to
drop in the mail at the Summerhaven post office to show we reached the
top. I put my name on my post card and dropped it in the mail,
then got back on the bike for the return. I think the climb took 4
1/2 hours total. Dave pulled in right when I was leaving again.
I was feeling better, or maybe it was just "horse to barn" syndrome, but
I actually made pretty good time back to where Susan was at Palisades.
I had another turkey wrap, then headed down the mountain. It was a
COLD descent! I shouted to Bruce as I went by, but didn't stop.
It was a pretty quick descent and I think I averaged well over 30 mph.
4 1/2 hours to go up, 45 minutes to get down!
I stopped at the Safeway again and shed my cold weather gear and got a
Propel to go with my water, then continued on. That head wind was
now a very welcome tail wind, although it wasn't quite as strong as it
was in the morning. I made great time across Sunrise/Ina to Paseo
Del Norte, then fatigue really started to set in. Bruce passed me
on Paseo del Norte and pulled off the road to check on me, but I didn't
want to stop. He passed me again on Chapala and I gave him a
thumbs up. But my speed dropped about then and I started to worry
about getting back before dark. I had a tail light, but forgot to
bring a head light so I needed to finish before sundown. We had
that same round about course in reverse to get back and it was really
tempting to turn on Tangerine and cut off a couple miles, but I kept to
the route. At the stop sign on Moore I stopped to turn on my tail
light. My stomach started bothering me so I started taking small
sips of water. The propel tasted too sweet, so I stopped drinking
that. I should have diluted it. The sun when behind a
mountain right when I turned onto Tangerine. 2 miles to go.
It was still light enough out, but it was a close call!
Several guys were at the finish when I pulled in, but I just opened the
back of my Acadia and had to lay down for a few minutes. Bruce
took my brevet card and marked down my finishing time. I probably
laid there for 5 minutes or so, then thought I try taking a shot of Gu.
I only got a taste and my stomach turned. My body doesn't react
well to rapid temperature changes. I get a lot of head and chest
congestion. This ride had a LOT of change. Anyway, I had to
go to the front of the car and empty my stomach mucus. It wasn't a
pretty sight. The guys came over to check on me and give me water,
but I was surprised how much better I felt after getting that out of my
system. Carlton and Andy had both finished before me and were
talking about what a great ride it was. They were prepared!
I could have used a couple hundred (ok maybe another thousand) base
miles to get prepared! 17 people started the ride, I was the 6th
one to finish. 9,954 calories burned! 10 hours 29 minutes from the
official start time of 7am. Next year I'll be ready for it!
Photo Courtesy of Bruce Chandler
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