2008 Bike Ride #8: Tour de Cure
May. 18th, 2008 08:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wickedwordsRide Length: 45 miles (more or less)
Elevation: 2200 ft (including one incredibly endless hill)
Where: Tour de Cure 45 mile route
Start Time: 9:00 am
End Time: 2:50 pm
How long: About 6 hours
On bike time: 4.28 hours, avg speed 10.1 mph
Calorie guesstimate: 3000
I survived! That was the big one for me as temperatures hit 90F/32C. The big hill of endless climbing took a lot out of me, but I still managed to cut an hour off last year's clock time, and a hair from the on-bike time, upping the average speed to over 10MPH. So even though it was too hot and I took a lot of stops climbing the hill of endlessness, I'm pumped about the overall improvement. I didn't get off the bike for anything other than a red light until the 11 mile mark, which is fantastic for me.
I snapped some pictures of the starting line, and of my favorite rest area, but as usual, I forgot to take pictures of the nifty scenery. (You know, like cows, and horses, and incredible vistas.) So just pretend that I took some and ooh and ah over how gorgeous it was to be cycling around the back roads of the Sammamish Valley. Oh! And don't forget to look aghast at the flooding from all of the snow melt in this extremely hot weather. (In fact, they had to move the dusty, gravelly, shadeless crescent lake boat launch rest stop to a dusty, gravelly, shadeless wide spot in the road as the creek had risen too much to use the old spot.)
Anyway, I got to the start about a half hour before my ride length's start time. Lar dropped me off, and I wandered around for a bit, grabbing a bottle of water while I was at it as I knew I had to start hydrating early. I also asked the bike repair guy to check my tire and chain, as I had been thinking that when I feel a couple of weeks back, I might have done something as the chain had trouble shifting in higher gears. No problems other than a too-tight brake pad, which he fixed quickly, so I stopped in at the rest room, then headed to the actual start line.
I chatted a bit with the cyclists milling around, and then it was time for Greg Lemond to speak. (Not only was he the first American to win the Tour de France, but he runs Lemond Fitness in Woodinville, which is where all of those spiffy spin bikes in the gyms come from.) Then with the clanging of cowbells and the sprint through a rainbow arch of balloons, we were off. I was stuck in the crowd for the first three stoplights, but by the forth, most had pulled away from me and I did much of the ride on my own. There were two or three people that I kept leapfrogging with, so I didn't feel isolated or anything, even when I was dying from heat.
Since I did the route last year, they moved the first rest stop to Juel Park, which is right off the route and just after the first real hill of about 300 ft. I skipped it, as did most people, as 6 miles out was just too soon for me to want to pull up. I still had a second full water bottle, and my first was half-full of electrolyte drink, and I was pumped to get through the rolling hills and out to the first rest stop. I did take a break right before the Woodinville-Duvall road to switch from my empty electrolytes water bottle to a full plain water bottle, and have a couple of shot bloks. (I was sucking down a lot of water in the heat.)
One of the rolling hills has a sharp 9-10% grade section right at the top, and I walked it, as did another couple of people that I saw. Then I passed by the place with all of the gas station memorabilia, and noted that they had reshaped their T-Rex topiary into a Dromiceiomimus. (You know it's a good day when a Dinosaur Comics reference subtextually slips into your life.)
I picked up water and ate a few grapes, plus a couple of bites of larabar; I was already hot enough that eating chewy food did not sit well, and I stuck to things that I had packed with me for the most part. I also drank so much water that I quickly felt full, even if I had only eaten 1/2 of a banana.
(Overall, even though I went through all the packets of electrolyte I'd brought, and the shot bloks I'd brought, it ended up not being quite enough for the heat. I ended up with my abductor muscles cramping on the big hill, so next time I ride in the heat, I'm going to pack some potato chips. I can always just crush them if I don't feel like chewing again.)
Then it was through Maltby and the long, fun downhill into the the Samammish Valley. Once again, I walked 1/2 of the 10% grade hill, and I noticed a woman about 3/4 of the way up the hill in a shady spot, talking to someone on her cell. I think the shade is an excellent idea by this point, so I pull in next to her. We end up chatting for a bit--she's only been riding on the Sammamish River/Burke Gilman trail so she didn't expect these hills--and I talk about last year, and training for the STP, and how last year, I hadn't been really aware of how intense the hills were on this ride because I'd also done most of my riding on the Samammish River Trail.
Other people stopped in at the shady spot, and I took off again, climbing over High Bridge Road with it's incredible vistas (not to mention the cows and horses) and down to the C resent Lake rest stop. I was really, really hot by this point, and my bike had developed a bit of a creek toward the crank shaft whenever I did any climbing. So, as there was nobody at the bike shop shade, I asked the guys to take a look at it, just in case. It was all okay, and we talked a bit about my pedals, which I really like. (As I have mentioned, they are the mullet of pedal-dom: clip-in on the front, platform on the back. You can use the with sneakers, or you can wear cycling shoes, and you don't always have to clip in. They are excellent commuter/utility biking pedals, though heavy for a road warrior type.)
I had a banana and reapplied sunscreen (unfortunately missing a spot on my upper right arm, as it is still reddened this morning) and headed back to the main road for the 12 mile climb to the next rest stop. This was where I got to see all the flooding from the melting snowpack. It's expected in Feb, but so weird to see this time of year, particularly with all the bright sunshine. I leapfrogged with 2 other cyclists, each of us stopping to rest in a shady spot. First break, I tore open a chocolate gel with my teeth and swallowed it down, then followed it with the rest of the plain water. I switched to the electrolyte drink and ground up the hill some more.
The hill of endless climbing is about 600 ft. It is lovely and tree line, and still not shady; there are patches of shade, but few of them are really useful if you need to get your bike off the road. Once you're off the woodinville-duvall road and onto old woodinville-duvall road, the trees start to disappear into homesteads; I grabbed a spot for awhile and sucked down more electrolytes; my right leg was thinking of cramps. After a brief rest, I walked to the top of the most recent hill, and got on the bike for the downhill (yay! wind! Hot air in my face! And 37MPH instead of 4!) to Trilogy and the last 10% grade on the route. All the shade basically disappears at this point as it's all new housing, and I just gave up and walked it; a couple of people went by asking if I was all right, including one of the guys I had played leapfrog with. I said "yeah, just tired" or "Yeah, leg cramps" and got back "I feel your pain" and "man, I am just hoping I don't cramp again." (Last year, people shouted encouraging things at us on this same hill, things that made me want to kill them as they sounded totally condescending. This year I was in my STP jersey and the other cyclists treated me a lot differently. Even though I'm on a hybrid bike with a big pack, I'm one of the group in that jersey, and it changes how I am looked at. I think.) The med wagon also passed me and asked if I need help; I restrained myself from yelling "what I need is some fucking SHADE." I told them I was okay, and they said "you're close to the next rest stop. It's just another couple of miles."
And then they drove away.
I spotted a small patch of shade from the peak of one of the new houses, close to the top of the hill and off to the side of the main route, and I made a beeline for it. I sat there on the grass and finished off most of the electrolyte drink in that shade; I must have sat there for ten minutes. The Realtor trying to sell the place chatted with me a bit, and when I felt up to it, I got back on the road, chanting to myself "only two miles to go." My legs were better, and I made it to the last rest stop, which they hadn't had last year.
If I could I would write an ode to this rest stop, I would. Diane, the woman that I had met on the first 10% grade hill, was sitting in a *chair* in the *shade* here, and they had put the bottles of water on ice. They weren't cold, as all the ice had melted, but they were cool, and after pulling out a bottle, I ran my chilled, wet hand over my face and neck. Best. Thing. Ever. Then they had these kiwis cut in half with little spoon on them that you could grab as well. So I took my half kiwi and my cool bottle of water, and prepared to sit myself down on the concrete next to Diane in the shade.
That was when the EMT offered me his chair, and I totally accepted. I had shade, cool water, a kiwi, and conversation. It was the best rest stop ever. Diane had apparently been someone they had been watching, as they were concerned that she was going to bonk or something (she was one of their diabetic riders). She'd missed the crescent lake rest stop, and run out of water, and at one point, she was lying on her back in a shady spot with her legs in the air, since they were cramping. (Lots of cramping for everyone; it wasn't just me.) She also was concerned about her arms, so I handed her my sunscreen saying "hey, one of the benefits of carrying your house with you." This made some of the other riders clustered around us in the shade laugh, as I know they were thinking that. ;)
I ate more--a full banana, a couple of peanut butter cracker things-- and filled up all my water bottles. It was six or seven miles to the finish line, but I'd nearly run out of water on the hill of endless climbing, and didn't want to risk it again. There was one final little hill on the way--a hill that my legs really, seriously protested to the point of "oh my god, my legs have never cramped this much in my life" mental remarks to myself--and then the screaming downhill grade and the road back to Marymoor park. Diane finished at the same time I did, and the photographer thought we were riding together, so when the official photos are posted, I will not only have one of myself, but one of Diane and I as well.
I got more water, a tortilla (I didn't like the filling of my soft taco), and called lar. While I waited, I talked with Diane some more, who turned out to be a retired schoolteacher. I also talked to the guy who'd ridden the century next to her, all of us firmly under the sunshade. And I got my chilled chocolate milk when Lar picked me up, which was a great end to the day.
But even better was that my massage therapist had told me to call her when I was done, so I got to have a cold stone massage to take out the heat out of my body and she worked out my leg cramps. I'm lackadaisical today, but not sore, so it's a pretty good day.
Elevation: 2200 ft (including one incredibly endless hill)
Where: Tour de Cure 45 mile route
Start Time: 9:00 am
End Time: 2:50 pm
How long: About 6 hours
On bike time: 4.28 hours, avg speed 10.1 mph
Calorie guesstimate: 3000
I survived! That was the big one for me as temperatures hit 90F/32C. The big hill of endless climbing took a lot out of me, but I still managed to cut an hour off last year's clock time, and a hair from the on-bike time, upping the average speed to over 10MPH. So even though it was too hot and I took a lot of stops climbing the hill of endlessness, I'm pumped about the overall improvement. I didn't get off the bike for anything other than a red light until the 11 mile mark, which is fantastic for me.
I snapped some pictures of the starting line, and of my favorite rest area, but as usual, I forgot to take pictures of the nifty scenery. (You know, like cows, and horses, and incredible vistas.) So just pretend that I took some and ooh and ah over how gorgeous it was to be cycling around the back roads of the Sammamish Valley. Oh! And don't forget to look aghast at the flooding from all of the snow melt in this extremely hot weather. (In fact, they had to move the dusty, gravelly, shadeless crescent lake boat launch rest stop to a dusty, gravelly, shadeless wide spot in the road as the creek had risen too much to use the old spot.)
Anyway, I got to the start about a half hour before my ride length's start time. Lar dropped me off, and I wandered around for a bit, grabbing a bottle of water while I was at it as I knew I had to start hydrating early. I also asked the bike repair guy to check my tire and chain, as I had been thinking that when I feel a couple of weeks back, I might have done something as the chain had trouble shifting in higher gears. No problems other than a too-tight brake pad, which he fixed quickly, so I stopped in at the rest room, then headed to the actual start line.
I chatted a bit with the cyclists milling around, and then it was time for Greg Lemond to speak. (Not only was he the first American to win the Tour de France, but he runs Lemond Fitness in Woodinville, which is where all of those spiffy spin bikes in the gyms come from.) Then with the clanging of cowbells and the sprint through a rainbow arch of balloons, we were off. I was stuck in the crowd for the first three stoplights, but by the forth, most had pulled away from me and I did much of the ride on my own. There were two or three people that I kept leapfrogging with, so I didn't feel isolated or anything, even when I was dying from heat.
Since I did the route last year, they moved the first rest stop to Juel Park, which is right off the route and just after the first real hill of about 300 ft. I skipped it, as did most people, as 6 miles out was just too soon for me to want to pull up. I still had a second full water bottle, and my first was half-full of electrolyte drink, and I was pumped to get through the rolling hills and out to the first rest stop. I did take a break right before the Woodinville-Duvall road to switch from my empty electrolytes water bottle to a full plain water bottle, and have a couple of shot bloks. (I was sucking down a lot of water in the heat.)
One of the rolling hills has a sharp 9-10% grade section right at the top, and I walked it, as did another couple of people that I saw. Then I passed by the place with all of the gas station memorabilia, and noted that they had reshaped their T-Rex topiary into a Dromiceiomimus. (You know it's a good day when a Dinosaur Comics reference subtextually slips into your life.)
I picked up water and ate a few grapes, plus a couple of bites of larabar; I was already hot enough that eating chewy food did not sit well, and I stuck to things that I had packed with me for the most part. I also drank so much water that I quickly felt full, even if I had only eaten 1/2 of a banana.
(Overall, even though I went through all the packets of electrolyte I'd brought, and the shot bloks I'd brought, it ended up not being quite enough for the heat. I ended up with my abductor muscles cramping on the big hill, so next time I ride in the heat, I'm going to pack some potato chips. I can always just crush them if I don't feel like chewing again.)
Then it was through Maltby and the long, fun downhill into the the Samammish Valley. Once again, I walked 1/2 of the 10% grade hill, and I noticed a woman about 3/4 of the way up the hill in a shady spot, talking to someone on her cell. I think the shade is an excellent idea by this point, so I pull in next to her. We end up chatting for a bit--she's only been riding on the Sammamish River/Burke Gilman trail so she didn't expect these hills--and I talk about last year, and training for the STP, and how last year, I hadn't been really aware of how intense the hills were on this ride because I'd also done most of my riding on the Samammish River Trail.
Other people stopped in at the shady spot, and I took off again, climbing over High Bridge Road with it's incredible vistas (not to mention the cows and horses) and down to the C resent Lake rest stop. I was really, really hot by this point, and my bike had developed a bit of a creek toward the crank shaft whenever I did any climbing. So, as there was nobody at the bike shop shade, I asked the guys to take a look at it, just in case. It was all okay, and we talked a bit about my pedals, which I really like. (As I have mentioned, they are the mullet of pedal-dom: clip-in on the front, platform on the back. You can use the with sneakers, or you can wear cycling shoes, and you don't always have to clip in. They are excellent commuter/utility biking pedals, though heavy for a road warrior type.)
I had a banana and reapplied sunscreen (unfortunately missing a spot on my upper right arm, as it is still reddened this morning) and headed back to the main road for the 12 mile climb to the next rest stop. This was where I got to see all the flooding from the melting snowpack. It's expected in Feb, but so weird to see this time of year, particularly with all the bright sunshine. I leapfrogged with 2 other cyclists, each of us stopping to rest in a shady spot. First break, I tore open a chocolate gel with my teeth and swallowed it down, then followed it with the rest of the plain water. I switched to the electrolyte drink and ground up the hill some more.
The hill of endless climbing is about 600 ft. It is lovely and tree line, and still not shady; there are patches of shade, but few of them are really useful if you need to get your bike off the road. Once you're off the woodinville-duvall road and onto old woodinville-duvall road, the trees start to disappear into homesteads; I grabbed a spot for awhile and sucked down more electrolytes; my right leg was thinking of cramps. After a brief rest, I walked to the top of the most recent hill, and got on the bike for the downhill (yay! wind! Hot air in my face! And 37MPH instead of 4!) to Trilogy and the last 10% grade on the route. All the shade basically disappears at this point as it's all new housing, and I just gave up and walked it; a couple of people went by asking if I was all right, including one of the guys I had played leapfrog with. I said "yeah, just tired" or "Yeah, leg cramps" and got back "I feel your pain" and "man, I am just hoping I don't cramp again." (Last year, people shouted encouraging things at us on this same hill, things that made me want to kill them as they sounded totally condescending. This year I was in my STP jersey and the other cyclists treated me a lot differently. Even though I'm on a hybrid bike with a big pack, I'm one of the group in that jersey, and it changes how I am looked at. I think.) The med wagon also passed me and asked if I need help; I restrained myself from yelling "what I need is some fucking SHADE." I told them I was okay, and they said "you're close to the next rest stop. It's just another couple of miles."
And then they drove away.
I spotted a small patch of shade from the peak of one of the new houses, close to the top of the hill and off to the side of the main route, and I made a beeline for it. I sat there on the grass and finished off most of the electrolyte drink in that shade; I must have sat there for ten minutes. The Realtor trying to sell the place chatted with me a bit, and when I felt up to it, I got back on the road, chanting to myself "only two miles to go." My legs were better, and I made it to the last rest stop, which they hadn't had last year.
If I could I would write an ode to this rest stop, I would. Diane, the woman that I had met on the first 10% grade hill, was sitting in a *chair* in the *shade* here, and they had put the bottles of water on ice. They weren't cold, as all the ice had melted, but they were cool, and after pulling out a bottle, I ran my chilled, wet hand over my face and neck. Best. Thing. Ever. Then they had these kiwis cut in half with little spoon on them that you could grab as well. So I took my half kiwi and my cool bottle of water, and prepared to sit myself down on the concrete next to Diane in the shade.
That was when the EMT offered me his chair, and I totally accepted. I had shade, cool water, a kiwi, and conversation. It was the best rest stop ever. Diane had apparently been someone they had been watching, as they were concerned that she was going to bonk or something (she was one of their diabetic riders). She'd missed the crescent lake rest stop, and run out of water, and at one point, she was lying on her back in a shady spot with her legs in the air, since they were cramping. (Lots of cramping for everyone; it wasn't just me.) She also was concerned about her arms, so I handed her my sunscreen saying "hey, one of the benefits of carrying your house with you." This made some of the other riders clustered around us in the shade laugh, as I know they were thinking that. ;)
I ate more--a full banana, a couple of peanut butter cracker things-- and filled up all my water bottles. It was six or seven miles to the finish line, but I'd nearly run out of water on the hill of endless climbing, and didn't want to risk it again. There was one final little hill on the way--a hill that my legs really, seriously protested to the point of "oh my god, my legs have never cramped this much in my life" mental remarks to myself--and then the screaming downhill grade and the road back to Marymoor park. Diane finished at the same time I did, and the photographer thought we were riding together, so when the official photos are posted, I will not only have one of myself, but one of Diane and I as well.
I got more water, a tortilla (I didn't like the filling of my soft taco), and called lar. While I waited, I talked with Diane some more, who turned out to be a retired schoolteacher. I also talked to the guy who'd ridden the century next to her, all of us firmly under the sunshade. And I got my chilled chocolate milk when Lar picked me up, which was a great end to the day.
But even better was that my massage therapist had told me to call her when I was done, so I got to have a cold stone massage to take out the heat out of my body and she worked out my leg cramps. I'm lackadaisical today, but not sore, so it's a pretty good day.
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Date: 2008-05-18 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-05-19 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 09:56 pm (UTC)So proud of you!
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Date: 2008-05-19 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 10:30 pm (UTC)Yay for finishing and surviving the heat! 90 isn't fun under lazy circumstances, and to ride...
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Date: 2008-05-19 04:32 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-05-22 01:30 pm (UTC)