Las year we chose "The Six Gap Century" in Georgia in late August. Last Friday we traveled to Boyne City, Michigan to do the MMM. This century is a choice of 50, 100, 160 and 200K of nothing but short steep, punchy little mothers of hills. The longest gradual hill was about 3/4 of mile with lots of the other kind thrown in for good or bad measure depends how you see it. There was a few short 20-22% and what they call the wall at mile 91 which starts climbing at a mellow 2% grade for about 1/2 mile and it keeps getting steeper until you round the bend and it goes from 4 to 8 to 10 to 12 to 14 in about a tenth or two of a mile. It really wasn't that bad, it just that it comes at the end of a tough ride.
Anyways, we were planning on doing the 200K but just like it happens every time we go out of state for a ride...it rained. The planned mass start was at 7am but it was delayed 1hr until the rain stopped. Once we took we decided to do the 160k or 100 miles since the start was delayed 1 hr and we really didn't want to be out in the elements another 1 1/2-2 hrs. The temps never reached 60 degrees and after 12pm it went down a few degrees. We started on our own and we rode by ourselves 95% of the time. Many people went out to fast for the type of terrain and we would end up passing them later at the rest stops. We had two flats that found me begging for a spare tube just in case we had another one. One interesting thing was that you could drop a bag at any of the aid stations which we did with dry socks spare tubes and all our Hammer stuff. Believe me, having dry socks after 55 miles felt great.We finally made it back to the finish line in 6:28 total riding time for 105 miles. Total time including stops was about 7 1/2 hrs.
I only took 3 pics after the ride since I didn't take my camerea or phone with me cause of the rain.
Next non race ride is the Civil War Century in Maryland.
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Answer to the last Global Intelligence:
The murals are mosaics made of grains and grasses, and birds soon strip the walls clean
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GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE
Q: This river, which flows through southern Oregon to meet the Pacific Ocean in the town of Gold Beach, picks up its pace radically over some of its course, making it a favorite for whitewater rafting as well as fishing and jet boating. what is its name
a) Columbia
b) Colorado
c) Salmon
d) Trinity
e) None of the above. The river that flows through Gold Beach is the Rogue River. The river pictured above shows Crown Point above the Columbia River, which forms the northern boundary of Oregon (with Washington) and flows into the Pacific at Astoria, Oregon! My mother's family is all over Oregon and Washington and I spent almost every summer growing up all over the Northwest!
ReplyDeleteCame upon your blog looking for some pictures of the Bedford Reservation to show the family back home in California where I've been training. I'm training to do The 3 Day For The Cure to raise funds for breast cancer research and after trying several different trails, have decided the Bedford Reservation is the best!
Nice blog!
Thank you for the clarification. I guess the picture in the calendar I use for posting "Global Intelligence" is wrong. The Bedford Reservation is one of my favorites places to ride. It is my route to work and back home to Strongsville when I commute by bike.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your 3 day ride.
I'll be posting a few more pics of the reservation later today or tomorrow. Same place but foggy.
The commuter