Hill Country Hundred (Plus)

Yesterday, I participated in the Hill Country Hundred. It was a charity ride benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society aka TNT. My friend Christina was one of the main people organizing the ride. Since I consider myself "a friend of The Society", I wanted to do the ride because I believe in the cause. I signed up over a month ago.

I got up on Saturday morning at about 6 to leave at 7 because the ride started at 8. It was an hour away or so. The weather was crappy that morning. It was rainy, but the forecast was suppose to be nice that day. The Cervelo needed to be ridden because I put on the saddle that Lauren gave me about a month ago. I hadn't ridden it more than 25 miles and I needed to test it out on a longer ride to see how comfortable it was. Well, the rain prevented that and I took out my Fuji beater bike, Fiona, instead.

I got there and the weather was starting to look better. It was wet, but it was clearing up. I got ready for the ride and was talking to some of the TNT people. I was messing around with my bike and my foot slipped off the pedal. It scraped the pedal on my shin and left a nice mark.

The ride started on time and there were routes for 62 miles, 31 miles, and 16 miles. I was doing the 62 mile route, of course. It was well supported with signs at every turn, 5 rest stops throughout the ride. It was fairly windy but we were able to catch a tailwind going out. About 12 miles into the ride, we hit the biggest hill of the entire ride. I climbed up the hill and I had one guy actually pass me. I stuck on his wheel, though. I'm not that great of a climber, but I try and this guy was definitely more experienced than me. We got up to the top of the hill and I looked back. We had dropped the entire group by a longshot. We took turns pulling and we were cruising pretty well. Problem was that I had no clue how well we were cruising. My heart rate monitor was broke and I forgot my bike computer on the Cervelo.

We let the rest of the group catch up and my new buddy, John, and his friend, Kurt, were leading the group. We took a turn at Florence that was on the map. We kept going and looking for the next turn. After a little while, we realized that we weren't finding the turning point. We were looking for CR 230. We found 232, 233, 234, and then 235. At 235, the three of us stopped. After a few more minutes, a lot of the other riders showed up. I called Christina and found out the problem. The sign had blown away and the road was mismarked. Well, it was marked correctly, but not until 200yds into the road.

We turned around and just headed back the way that we came. We got back to Florence and I was about dead. I was on the verge on bonking and it was difficult to get my legs to go. I hadn't eaten much breakfast and at this point we were over 35 miles into the ride. John, Kurt, and myself stopped at a Citgo to get refueled. I really needed it since I ate a very small breakfast. Rice Krispy Treats are my snack of choice on the road. I may need to train more with them because they work for me.

We got fueled up and kept going. The next rest stop was about 7 miles up the road and I stopped there again. The road leading up to the rest stop was downhill, but with a strong headwind. I'm usually a pussy when it comes to the wind. I bitch and complain about it and I let it slow me down. I needed to learn how to not let the wind get to me and to use it as a training tool. Powering through the wind is what I needed to do. I used this day as a great day for this and powered through the wind to the rest stop. I stopped and ate way too much food, especially after the food that I got at the gas station. Next time, lay off so much food at the aid stations.

I kept going because there were maybe 8 miles to the next rest stop. I filled up with water and kept going. The next rest stop was fairly uneventful. I stopped for a total of 2 minutes, got some fluids, and kept going. I was getting worried about hydration at this point. It was getting hot and I hadn't had to pee since the turnaround when we got lost. I tried to force fluids into me and I was thirsty, but I didn't want to drink. It was weird.

I kept going by myself. John and Kurt passed me at the last rest stop because they didn't stop, but I caught up with them and kept going. There was still a pretty good wind and I kept powering through it. My legs were getting tired, but after getting some food in my belly, I was feeling fueled up. At the last rest stop, I stopped at very briefly. I chatted with Misty and told me that Christina was wondering where I was at. At that point, there were only 5 miles left, and I was going to push myself. Well, I had to push myself. The wind the last 5 miles was the worst. I was struggling eventhough I had very smooth pavement and no hills. I was doing about 75rpm and about 14mph. It hurt, but I made it through to the finish line.

It was a great ride overall. The course was well marked except for the single blown away sign. The rest stops were well stocked as well and the volunteers were helpful. At the end, I rode a total of 74 miles when I started out doing 62. The entire time I felt like I could finish the ride and I did pretty good considering the strong winds. THe problem though is that after the ride, the back of my left knee was hurting. Today (Sunday), it is still hurting and hopefully I can slip in a PT appointment tomorrow to take a look at it.

Overall, it was a great ride and an awesome training day for me.