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wickedwords
Ride Length: 44 miles (more or less)
Elevation: 2700 ft
Where: 2007 Flying Wheels 45 mile Route
Start Time: 9:30-ish
How long: 5.45 by watch, 4.11 on-bike time. 10.5 mph avg speed.
Heart Rate: 137 avg, 163 peak
Total Calories: 5277
Whoo-hoo! We rode the Flying Wheels 45 mile route, which is the training route for 2-day STP riders. It's not an easy route -- there are 3 big hills, from 1/2 mile to 3 miles in length, and the first one is pretty darn steep -- plus part of it goes through the Sammamish Valley, where there's often a headwind.
FW is huge. I was number 1980, and there were people who had numbers in the 2000s that I saw.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sherrold, her partner, and I ended up starting late due to a miscommunication over where to meet, so we found each other at the rest room line after the start line had opened for the 50 and 65 mile riders. After taking care of a couple of things, we headed out onto the road, spinning along the route that I use to commute to work. Near mile 5, we jogged left into unfamiliar territory, and went up the first--and steepest--hill. I ended up walking, and Sandy's partner took a spill when she got off to walk, so we stopped just a little ways from the top for neosporin and band-aids. Then it was across the plateau and down a 12% grade to the Redmond-Fall City road, and up the Ames Lake hill, which was a little more our speed, i.e. long but not steep. I picked up a rock in my tread at one point, and cleaned it off, but then worried about if the tire was going flat. We weren't that far from the first rest area, so I headed directly for it, just in case.
Turned out, the tire was fine. (Yay, hybrid tires!) While I was standing in line to get it looked at, Sandy and her partner arrived, and Sandy stood in line with my bike so I could hit the line for the portapotties. We ate, we filled our water bottles, we chatted some, and then about 20 minutes later, we hit the road again for the next segment. This was was pretty flat and we hit some less traveled roads, so it was really pleasant. The bad winds didn't materialize, though the sky looked threatening all day. (There was one point where I did get sprinkled, but it wasn't too bad.) It meant it was nice and cool, 50s I'd guess, and that was pretty pleasant.
Then we crossed the highway to the last, longest hill, and it was just one trail of people from bottom to top. We agreed to go at our own paces and meet at the next rest stop, which was basically at the top of the hill, 3 miles and change away.
God, it took forever to get there, or so it seemed. You'd climb, hit a short flat, bend around to a new location, climb some more, hit a flat, climb still more, and so on, twisting up the hillside, until arriving at the fake top of the hill, whooping it up as you got to some downhill at last--only to have to go uphill again not long after. Then finally, the rest stop.
For some reason, this one didn't seem as populated as the earlier pit stop. Maybe because we were running at the back of the pack now, or were somehow between waves. We snacked and filled water bottles and hit the potapotties one last time before heading back to the end at Marymoor park. Which necessitated going down a 10% grade, which was pretty darn fun.
All in all, I was impressed with us, as we walked part of the steeper and longest hill, but we didn't walk at all on the middle one. We also cut an hour off of our Tour de Cure time, which is a similar route. Okay, 20 minutes of that was on-bike time vs. 40 for rest stops--but still, we cut out 40 minutes of personal rest stops! I'm not sure where we will be at next month for the STP, but if we keep up with the training for the next couple of weeks, and then take a rest week, we should be pretty good. I'm hoping we can do each day in less than 12 hours.
And now I really need to find something to eat.
Elevation: 2700 ft
Where: 2007 Flying Wheels 45 mile Route
Start Time: 9:30-ish
How long: 5.45 by watch, 4.11 on-bike time. 10.5 mph avg speed.
Heart Rate: 137 avg, 163 peak
Total Calories: 5277
Whoo-hoo! We rode the Flying Wheels 45 mile route, which is the training route for 2-day STP riders. It's not an easy route -- there are 3 big hills, from 1/2 mile to 3 miles in length, and the first one is pretty darn steep -- plus part of it goes through the Sammamish Valley, where there's often a headwind.
FW is huge. I was number 1980, and there were people who had numbers in the 2000s that I saw.
sherrold, her partner, and I ended up starting late due to a miscommunication over where to meet, so we found each other at the rest room line after the start line had opened for the 50 and 65 mile riders. After taking care of a couple of things, we headed out onto the road, spinning along the route that I use to commute to work. Near mile 5, we jogged left into unfamiliar territory, and went up the first--and steepest--hill. I ended up walking, and Sandy's partner took a spill when she got off to walk, so we stopped just a little ways from the top for neosporin and band-aids. Then it was across the plateau and down a 12% grade to the Redmond-Fall City road, and up the Ames Lake hill, which was a little more our speed, i.e. long but not steep. I picked up a rock in my tread at one point, and cleaned it off, but then worried about if the tire was going flat. We weren't that far from the first rest area, so I headed directly for it, just in case.Turned out, the tire was fine. (Yay, hybrid tires!) While I was standing in line to get it looked at, Sandy and her partner arrived, and Sandy stood in line with my bike so I could hit the line for the portapotties. We ate, we filled our water bottles, we chatted some, and then about 20 minutes later, we hit the road again for the next segment. This was was pretty flat and we hit some less traveled roads, so it was really pleasant. The bad winds didn't materialize, though the sky looked threatening all day. (There was one point where I did get sprinkled, but it wasn't too bad.) It meant it was nice and cool, 50s I'd guess, and that was pretty pleasant.
Then we crossed the highway to the last, longest hill, and it was just one trail of people from bottom to top. We agreed to go at our own paces and meet at the next rest stop, which was basically at the top of the hill, 3 miles and change away.
God, it took forever to get there, or so it seemed. You'd climb, hit a short flat, bend around to a new location, climb some more, hit a flat, climb still more, and so on, twisting up the hillside, until arriving at the fake top of the hill, whooping it up as you got to some downhill at last--only to have to go uphill again not long after. Then finally, the rest stop.
For some reason, this one didn't seem as populated as the earlier pit stop. Maybe because we were running at the back of the pack now, or were somehow between waves. We snacked and filled water bottles and hit the potapotties one last time before heading back to the end at Marymoor park. Which necessitated going down a 10% grade, which was pretty darn fun.
All in all, I was impressed with us, as we walked part of the steeper and longest hill, but we didn't walk at all on the middle one. We also cut an hour off of our Tour de Cure time, which is a similar route. Okay, 20 minutes of that was on-bike time vs. 40 for rest stops--but still, we cut out 40 minutes of personal rest stops! I'm not sure where we will be at next month for the STP, but if we keep up with the training for the next couple of weeks, and then take a rest week, we should be pretty good. I'm hoping we can do each day in less than 12 hours.
And now I really need to find something to eat.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-18 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-18 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 12:20 pm (UTC)Give Sandy my love.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-18 06:22 pm (UTC)And yes! When I see her next, I will give you her love. Thanks!