Ride Impressions

The route meandered over to Tahoe City and then turns to Truckee. A steady downhill was welcomed. Debbie an Inland Empire teammate flatted and I stopped to help her change tubes. In reaching Truckee (the halfway point) I averaged 18 mph. A rest stop here was welcomed for food and toilet (long lines delayed our departure). Once on our way the toughest part of the ride ensued - the climb back to Tahoe City. It wasn't a tough climb physically. But I have a real hard time with in/out routes. I was bored beyond belief! Lillian dropped one of her waterbottles and I was more than happy to wait as she retrieved it. We rode a bit more relaxed than the group pace. Jim was waiting for us up around a couple of corners. The others had gone on and he upped our speed back into Tahoe City.

Back at Tahoe City my average had dropped to 17.1 mph, but now I was into new territory and my spirits picked up. I was also now setting new personal distance records with every mile I went. I left Jim and Lillian behind as I enjoyed riding independent of my teammates for about the last 6 miles to Kings Beach. I worked my own pace and felt relaxed when I pulled in for Lunch.

Lunch was at Kings Beach (mile 75). A plain turkey sandwich never tasted so good! We took and hour for lunch and were once again underway. A pretty good climb greeted us straight away and Jim turned me loose and I zipped along to about mile 81 where I stopped to shed layers of clothes and downed a power gel. We were about to start 10 miles of climbing. Everyone caught up and, as a team, we turned onto Hwy 28 and headed south on the east side of the lake. It was so cool to have seven Tri-county riders in a row flying by everyone else. Woo-hoo!!!

I was surprised at the tune that popped into my head - it now has very special meaning. I thought about being at mile 80 something and the huge climb ahead (from 6300' to 7044'), my left knee had started hurting a little around Kings Beach and I was wondering how to do the miles to finish.

That was in my head all the way to the top of the climb. As we began the climb in earnest (about five miles up) Barbara and I pulled away from the rest of the team. She in front of me. I didn't have enough omph left to pass her until we the hill backed off. Then I was going about 13- 15 mph up the next section. But on the left we passed by a meadow and I stopped to take a picture. She passed me in short order. But I caught her by the top. By then my average speed dropped to 16.4 mph. At the top we regrouped.

All that was left now was the drop to the finish. It was to be "downhill all the way to the finish", but it was really a short steep downhill (into the wind), then a mild downhill (still into the wind), followed by a couple of rolling hills and a tunnel which funneled the headwind. My team had tucked and zipped down and away, leaving me solo (I can't seem to tuck as much)...

Coming down the final stretch I could hear people yelling and cheering even before seeing them. I finished about two minutes behind my team, but not bonked. In fact I felt better than many of my training rides. I put on 102.7 miles (my odo) in 6:18:49 (hr:mn:sec) of riding over 9 hours and 45 min. My final average was 16.4 mph.

I'm sooooo glad to have gotten "3 Days in Spring" with Todd on Thursday. I don't think "Stick it out" would have been in my head at all otherwise - it really helped get me to the end. Anyhow, I really can't imagine a better way to peddle my first century than to have done it for Melissa Bennett and the Leukemia Society.