Here is my experience from last year:
2015 with little training.
Lots of mistakes. Soaking up the knowledge you guys are sharing for this year to make it even better.
2015 Strategy - leave early, that way all day long there will be groups catching me that can give me a tow
Reality 1 - I got absorbed by a big group before I even left the parking lot. They surrounded me and they alll pulled over to wait for someone. They pulled me over with them. I had to say pardon me excuse me pardon me to get free of their parked group. Sheesh, What a way to start!
Reality 2: The first two hours were great. I rode at my own pace all alone.
Reality 3: For the next bit I tagged on with a fast group. I had no business sticking with them but they were friendly. I was way above my pace for over an hour. I arrived at lunch feeling great, a little sweaty but great (if spin class was over and I could go home).
oh, and I finally got rid of that beer and airport food that was sitting in my belly since the night before. Does beer go bad?
I evacuated the washroom of all participants. I suddenly felt weak. Luckily after I found shower stall.
I ate a bunch of ham sandwiches. I wandered around wondering what to do, and I remounted.
Reality 4: almost an hour beyond the lunch stop we hit the first monster hill. I climbed, I geared down , I squiggled up the hill a bit, I walked, I couldn;t walk, I found a rock, and I drank water for 1/2 an hour as my lunch digested. I dropped a fizzy pil in one water bottle. I got back on my bike and conquered that monster hill. half an hour earlier I literally had a hard time crawling up onto that rock and thought I was done, but now I made it to the top.
I bought a banana from the ice cream shop along the way. It wasn't an official stop. No one stops there. They don't sell bananas. They sell banana splits. They didn't know what to charge me. They charged me 10 cents for the banana.
I had a coffee. I didn't know what my next plan would be. I didn't know why I bought a coffee but I was thinking my day was done. I became official photographer for any group that came along. Eventually I got back on my bike. I tried to hang with one of the groups whose picture I took. They invited me. They kept the pace down, I couldn't hang. I dropped back and sent them on their way.
Lesson1: I don't know how to pace myself and I don't know how to eat
I'm done. Suddenly a line fromm the movie "Ride for Glory" comes into my head from two weeks earlier. Just spin. The rest of the day I just spun in low gear. Ridiculously low. I just spun. Up hill I spun, downhill I spun, on the flats I spun, pretty much the lowest gear possible. I must have looked silly, cartoonish, but I spun. I just had to keep my legs moving or I would crawl into a nice comfortable ditch. honestly I don't remember much other than spinning in the lowest gear possible and looking for lower. Time went by unusually fast. I don't remember the hills but there were lots. I think hours in a boring spin class with no scenery trained my brain to turn off.
I started peeing a lot. I don't remember having to pee all morning.
I had drank four bottles water, two before and two after, and the two fruit juices at lunch, plus that coffee later.
Final leg:
Last rest stop I caught the group that dropped me.
I took more pictures for them, I sent them on their way again.
I bought another banana
By now my legs were coming back. I was surprised they could actually come back.
Back on the road a ways I got passed by a small group of four.
I got passed a while later by a tandem.
I hooked on to the back of the tandem. The tandem cranked it up and up and down hills we were flying. I ride a 12/25 rear gear. On the flats I ran out of gear. On the down hill my bike was making a wind inspired WOOOOOOOO! sound. We passed the group that passed me.
I lost the tandem draft.
The group of four men and women passed me again. This time I tucked in with the group, sticking with them until the end.
2015: That was an exhilarating end to day 1. 177 km down.
A beer, a bunch of food (seven chicken breasts, then I found the pasta but had no room), a lot of panic: How will I get home
In hindsight, I ran out of energy because I didn't eat until lunch time. BONK!!
I rode beyond my pace in that late morning group DUMB!!
If the ride had been over by lunch my day would have been complete, and I'd be ready for a nap, but I was half way there, and the big hills were yet to come EVEN DUMBER!!
I don't understand why my legs came back late in the day.
Had I recharged my batteries with all that low gear spinning?
Had my lunch finally worked its way through my system?
The good news, none of my body parts hurt. All were tired, none hurt. My bike setup was perfect
Day one 2015 was in the books. My first ever distance ride, 177kms down.
Day two had its own share of adventures., but thats a story for another day once I get feedback on my day 1 fiasco that by the end felt disturbingly great.
Please, keep the feedback coming. I want to make this year better.
