Feb 18 - feeling the burn

What a day. There was a great turnout for Tim's 300k and we headed off promptly at 5am. The lead group ... well almost the entire group - 20+ - ... rode as a peloton to second Control at 35 miles (the first Control is the start / the last Control is the end). The pace was moderate, averaging a little over 20mph. No-one was inclined to push really hard and start dropping people. After a pull it took a long time to drift to the back.

At about 46 miles, I drifted back from my pull and rode easily at the back. Feeling a sudden uneasiness in my trusty mount, I looked down at my rear tire and all was ok, but it still seemed funny. A couple of hundred yards later and I realized that it was my front tire that was going flat. A slow leak for sure, but a leak nonetheless. It wasn't going to last until the next Control at 75 miles !

By that point there were a couple of people behind me, so said "flat" and waived them on, knowing that it might be the last that I see of the group. As it turned out, that wasn't entirely true -- I did see them after their lunch Control but before mine ...

I could not find the leak in the tube and concluded that a) it was tiny and b) probably caused by the small unannounced hole that I had hit a while back. Unfortunately I had not topped up the air in the tires before the ride, only doing a finger test. Perhaps if I had, the pinch flat wouldn't have happened.

So, for the next 120 miles I rode alone. I pushed as hard as I could, hoping that the large group would take a long time at the Controls and I'd catch up. At the third Control (75 miles) I was 15 minutes back ... not too shabby. At the lunch Control (114 miles), 35 minutes back. By the end ... who knows. I didn't ask.

At the 155 mile Control, a rider who had dropped out of the large group at the lunch stop, came in a few seconds before me. I suggested that we ride together to the end and that worked out well. Even though I had more "gas" left than him, we still made better time together than apart.

190 miles, 5 a.m. start to 5:10 p.m. finish. I cut almost an hour off my former best time. Considering that I rode the lion's share by myself, I was happy with my day. The weather was great, the winds not as bad as I'd expected ... but were my legs burning by the end. Wow. I'm not sure that I've ever experienced such burn, but then again memory of pain fades quickly. If I did the same ride tomorrow, I'd probably say the same thing, not remembering the pain of yesterday.

Fitness does one thing at least -- even though I could hardly walk when I stopped, my legs didn't cramp on the ride home and the pain was gone. It's all about how quickly you recover, and in this sport, what you feel like on day 2. In this case there is no day 2, and I'm happy about that :).

I was home my 7pm, having eaten an Subway, of course, on the way home. I had some more dinner here -- a package of Ramen noodles and a can of Alaskan Salmon.

Today ... don't know.

Tomorrow ... on to see Jason et al.

Onward !