I am a total badass - Gran Fondo Ride Report

As noted in my last post, I was TERRIFIED for the ride this weekend. 8,000 feet of climbing, with steep, twisty descents. After this weekend, I went from feeling terrified to feeling like a TOTAL BADASS.

This ride was RELENTLESS. The hills were non-stop, and they were long and steep. The final climb was from Deep Creek Lake, up to the top of WISP mountain, a ski resort. The AVERAGE slope was 13% (to put it in perspective, the biggest slope you typically see on the highways is a 6% grade). The downhills were pretty twisty/scary so I was almost happier to be climbing than descending. I did manage to work on my descending form although I probably wore out my front break. Here is the elevation chart (note that the scale is 2,000ft and there are at least 8 mountain passes):

The first 18 miles to the first aid station had 1500 ft of climbing (it was mostly down) and took 1 hr and 20 minutes. The 22 miles between the first and second aid station took almost 3 hours and had 3700ft of climbing. Total ride time was around 6 hrs 15 minutes (excluding time at aid stations).

While I think back on Bike and Build, the ride reminded me of the Berkshire mountains and the days leading up to Pittsburgh. However, I think that those rides stand out in my mind as being difficult mainly because of the fact that we biked several days in a row and I was a completely inexperienced biker. This time around, I have a lot of faith in my cycling abilities. And I can truly say that this is probably the most difficult ride route I have ever done. 


Keeping this in mind, I totally rocked it (for me)! Due to the relentless, steep climbs that made me bike 2-3mph, I averaged only about 10 mph (compared to 14-16 usually). Every hill I saw bikers getting off their bike to walk, especially the final climb. I was tempted, but I remembered my badass friend Emily Pedneau who had a rule when doing bike and build to never stop mid-climb. With that in the back of my head, I just kept pedaling. (My mantra was chocolate - peanut butter - ice cream, chocolate - peanut butter - ice cream - true Mahoney on the inside.) Emily's rule and my mantra got me up all the hills but one. The one (see the elevation chart right after mile 45) had me going soooo slow, that when a biker passed me and I tried to make a correction, my bike slid out from under me and I hit the ground (only wounding my pride in the process, although I did end up with a grease mark on my upper arm somehow). Unfortunately, it was near the top of the hill, so I only could get away with walking about 50 yards before the road slope was such that I could get back on my bike.



Here is why I feel badass - I never would have been able to do this back in my bike and build days. I was not good at the whole biking thing and there are so many times I quit before I needed to. I was so proud to get through this ride and to feel strong up the hills (albeit real slow). The last 10 miles were mentally and physically rough, but I just kept pedaling and never gave up. I feel so awesome today and this is a reminder of why I do these things. It truly is masochistic (hence the name masochistic metric), but to be able to see what I am able to accomplish just gives me so much confidence in myself. And the chocolate peanut butter ice cream at the creamery later was a worth it as well.


After the ride, I showered and headed to the Team Z cheering station, positioned well on the final climb to help people up the hill. They were pretty much the only people cheering along the entire route (one of the reasons I love being part of the team). The ride was short of volunteers near the end and I ended up helping out at the final aid station for awhile before finally heading out around 6:30 to grab some dinner and ice cream from the local creamery. The evening ended with about an hour in the hot tub back at the rental house I was staying at, on the porch overlooking the lake. 


This morning I woke up early, grabbed breakfast with the team, and then did a practice open water swim (sans wetsuit) in the lake before heading back home. It was a great morning and an overall great weekend. Would I do the ride again? While riding yesterday I was saying "Hell no!" but of course, as always, I am not rethinking that decision and will most likely end up back there again. (If you think I am a badass, there were people who rode 125 miles of the relentless terrain yesterday. Shoot me if I ever sign up for that).



And now some pictures:

 Early Morning at the start

The view from the start

 125  milers getting ready to start

 off they go - that descent was SCARY! You could smell the brakes burning. One of our guys had his back wheel burst due to the heat of the brake-friction. Luckily he's okay.

Cliff - This guy did 100 miles with a smile on his face! He even recruited his wife to do the 25 (that included the final climb) - I would guess his wife had some choice words for him that climb

Mary getting her bike ready - she hit 54mph on one of the descents!

 More Zers

Beginning of the ride

Steel Drums at the first aid station!

 Not sure the grade is apparent but that hill went straight up. And I biked it!

 View from the top

 Team Z tent cheering on a rider

One of the several limos we saw that day

Again, the picture doesn't do justice to the slope but I guarantee you is was tough!

I might die this weekend...

I am TERRIFIED for tomorrow. I made the mistake of signing up for a 62 mile ride that I thought was going to be difficult but doable. Instead, I found out it has 8,000 feet of climbing (my hilly 90 miler was only 4,000) and tons of twisty descents (maybe the name "masochistic metric" should have given me a clue). I HATE descending with tons of curves and twists, especially after my ride into johnstown, PA (14% descent with a traffic light at the bottom). So if I don't survive, it has been nice knowing you.

Key tidbits from the athlete's guide:

At 62 miles and 8,000 feet of climbing, the "Masochistic Metric" is as challenging a single metric century ride as exists. The route follows the "Diabolical Double" and "Savage Century" rides through mile 47 before turning south to head through beautiful, rolling farmland culminating in the climb up Overlook Pass to the summit finish atop Wisp Mountain. The "Masochistic Metric" route includes the majority of the steepest, and for many people the toughest, of the climbs of the Savage Century and Diabolical Double routes. Compact cranks or triples are very strongly encouraged. 

All rides finish atop Wisp Mountain after a cruel, final climb to the summit finish at ASCI.  

Steep descent with dangerous off-camber switchback

steep, narrow, twisty descent (x4)

Descents

What goes up, must come down.  There is as much descending as there is climbing, and  much of it is steep and technical.  Many of the roads are very remote and seldom traveled  which makes for beautiful cycling, but also makes for roads that can get gravelly runoff  after rains.  Take care on descents.  And please ensure your brakes and brake pads are in  good working condition.  You will be using them extensively. 

Confidence Boosting

This weekend was such a great confidence booster, with a little bit of a bump. Last weekend my workout was a brick workout - a 3 hour bike ride followed by a 90 minute run along the C&O canal. I felt awful the entire time and was not having much fun. This weekend was a completely different story (except for my run).

Saturday morning I woke up at 4:40am to head to Culpeper for a 90 mile bike ride.Unfortunately, I had major insomnia issues Friday night & didn't fall asleep until after midnight. Part of it was because I was pretty worried about this ride. Culpeper is one of the hilliest rides Team Z does and people kept talking about how challenging it is. I made it to the ride at around 6:45 and was greeted with this scenic setting (makes the rides worth it) and several other team z members:

This is just a small bit of the beauty that we saw throughout the day. After a bunch of nervous small talk, the group took off just after 7am. I didn't have anyone I was definitely riding with, which is not a good way to spend 90 miles. After a few miles, I came up on Mary, someone who I have ridden with before and who knows how to pace herself throughout these rides so I settled in behind her for the start. She was with this other woman, Linda, and we had several other people around us. After Mary chased down another biker who took a wrong turn, Linda and I waited for her and we became a cohesive riding group for the day. Thank goodness! It made the day a lot more fun and Mary gave me some great advice. Linda also has done Wisconsin previously and was able to give me a lot of insight into the race and give me confidence in my ability. Here are pics of Linda and I in front of Old Rag:

I will admit, I was suffering the last 20 miles or so, mainly because I was bonking slightly and needed more salty, less sweet food items (next ride I will have salt tablets to use to help replace salt which I think will be important). However, I felt MUCH better than I did at the end of the 80 mile ride, which was much more humid and much hillier (at least in my mind). There was never a point where I didn't think I could go on, or where I wanted to cry at the sight of another hill (oh yes, it's happened before). At the end (after ~6 1/2 hours of riding in 7 hours), everyone was saying that if we could do this ride, we could do Wisconsin. That is a HUGE boost to my confidence.

One thing it has made me realize is that I really wish I had known more about nutrition when I was on Bike and Build. My nutrition strategy has done a 180 and I truly understand the importance of electrolytes (salt, gels, gatorades). I was sick a lot of the last part of the trip, primarily driven by the heat. I often wonder what would the trip have been like had I known how to fuel for the rides. I am a MUCH stronger biker now, and a huge part of that is just knowledge.

Anyways, I drove immediately from the ride to my friend Robyn's because we were throwing a surprise bridal tea for my friend Reetika's engagement. Initially when we made the plans, I thought we would be riding on Sunday. Luckily, Robyn is quite the gracious host so she allowed me to shower at her place. It was weird going from spandex to a dress so quickly but that seems to be my life these days. It was good hanging out with the girls, and happily Reetika's fiance ended up joining us so we could get to know him better. Poor guy! He handled the tea well.

This morning I woke up at 6am on my own (no sleep this weekend!) and went for a run at 7:30am. It was HORRIBLE. The humidity enveloped me within the first 5 minutes and I struggled tremendously. My 13-14 miler turned into an 11 miler. However, this has not shaken my confidence too much because I trained for Marine Corps last summer and despite similar struggles in the humidity, I pulled together a good race.

After that, I went to the Millbrook Quarry in Gainesville for a practice open water swim. The place was beautfiul and the water was awesome! They had set up a 650m loop and I managed to do 3 loops (~a half-ironman distance swim of 1.2 miles) with a wetsuit, only resting about 2 minutes between each. Each loop was about 14 minutes, which puts me on pace for a 90 minute swim. I could have done more, but I had to head to the animal shelter afterwards (to cuddle with puppies since I had no energy to walk them). I have not done an open water swim since November 2010 and the swim has been freaking me out a lot lately, especially not being able to swim in London. After this experience, I am so much more confident that I will be fine in the swim as long as I keep practicing and don't let up. I forgot my camera, so here is a pic from the Team Z facebook swim of the quarry:

All in all, this weekend really boosted my confidence. I will be prepared for this Ironman, and I have it in me. The race is now less than 3 months away (~12 weeks!) and I am looking forward to it rather than fearing it at this point. The rest of the summer will be incredibly busy. I have a 100k bike ride with 8,000ft of climbing June 23rd (eeek!), am heading to Wisconsin the end of the month to preview the course, and have a half-ironman in upstate new york July 14th. I am looking forward to making some more great memories and new friends! Now it's time to head to bed (before 9) to catch up on some much needed sleep. Thank goodness this week is a recovery week...