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2014 Ms 150
2014 MS 150
Two words, hot and windy, as difficult a two-day event as I’ve done in a long time.
Day 1 was beautiful at the start but a moderate tail wind soon started increasing and changing directions. By the time we were 30 or 40 miles in, it was blowing 15 to 25 MPH, coming at us from a 45 degree angle. Thank God for the “Bullet”, she bore the brunt of most of that wind providing at least somewhat of a break where the shoulder of the road was wide enough to allow for an echelon draft. In spite of the wind, we stayed pretty far ahead of the main pack, the “Bullet” can do that, she’s an amazingly strong young woman.
I began to feel the heat and energy drain by the time we reached the Horsetooth hills. When we got up them, I really could have cared less if we did the century or not and since we hadn’t been successful at recruiting anyone to go with us, there wasn’t much pressure. We talked it out at the rest stop a couple of miles from the century turn off and I decided to at least try the first of the “death by bike” hills. If I couldn’t get up that one, we’d abort and just roll back on down and into town. That probably would have been the smarter move but I did get up that first hill and with that confidence boost and a brief rest, we committed to the next hill and the rest of the century loop.
Conditions improved dramatically after those two little hills. A fabulous long downhill provided some good recovery and a few miles on, the route took a hard right putting the wind on our 7:00, providing a nice push. We did turn into that headwind again for the final 4 or 5 mile approach to the finish line but it seemed to have dropped to a more reasonable 5 or 10 MPH. We finished the 102 miles strong in 7:10 saddle time, 8:30 elapsed. Within a couple of hours I was really feeling it and headed off for a bite to eat and a lay down. I didn’t get back up until the next morning.
Temperatures on day 2 were forecast to reach 95 degrees so we made sure to be fed and watered early and took off a little before the start chute opened. While I wouldn’t say I struggled to get back up the Horsetooth hills, it was obvious I was moving awfully slow. After a little less than an hour, we started back down on what should have been a relatively easy day. But once again, about 20 miles into the ride, a headwind appeared and this time, it was right on the nose. It wasn’t as bad as the previous day, maybe only 10 to 15 MPH but nevertheless, it was painfully noticeable. And to add to that, “The Bullet” was showing signs of fatigue from the previous day so we jumped on pace lines when we could and took it pretty easy when we were on our own.
By about 10:00 the heat arrived. The wind stayed constant throughout the day and what should have been more or less a recovery ride turned into something much more grueling. "The Bullet's" 3 year old twins cheered us on from several spots along the route and met us as we crossed the finish line. It took us 6:43 elapsed time and 5:34 in the saddle to do that 77 miles. I didn’t have a half a hill left in me at the end and “The Bullet” wasn’t in much better shape, but we finished it! We covered nearly 180 miles over those two days, most of it in adverse conditions. As I said, it was one of the toughest two day rides I’ve ever done.
Marina and Victoria, I said I’d look for trikes and I did and there were lots of them, I saw over a dozen and I’m sure there were more. They weren’t all MSers either. One guy on a hand cycle didn’t have any kind of handicap, he just wanted to crank a hand cycle. The fact that there were so many probably had something to do with a new route choice which went around, instead of over, the Horsetooth hills. It was pretty cool and I did recognize at least one Cat Trike.
Pell, I definitely need more hill work if I’m going to have any chance at all of getting up Truchas at the NM 150 this year. Give me a week or two to settle down and see if I can figure out what my buddy’s trainer is doing and we’ll set up some kind of program. Also, I’ve read that a person in good condition can maintain conditioning with as little as 3 days of training for a total of about 6 hours per week. I imagine at least one of those days would have to include some intervals. We WILL get better on the hills.
Stay Safe,
Larry
2014 MS 150
Two words, hot and windy, as difficult a two-day event as I’ve done in a long time.
Day 1 was beautiful at the start but a moderate tail wind soon started increasing and changing directions. By the time we were 30 or 40 miles in, it was blowing 15 to 25 MPH, coming at us from a 45 degree angle. Thank God for the “Bullet”, she bore the brunt of most of that wind providing at least somewhat of a break where the shoulder of the road was wide enough to allow for an echelon draft. In spite of the wind, we stayed pretty far ahead of the main pack, the “Bullet” can do that, she’s an amazingly strong young woman.
I began to feel the heat and energy drain by the time we reached the Horsetooth hills. When we got up them, I really could have cared less if we did the century or not and since we hadn’t been successful at recruiting anyone to go with us, there wasn’t much pressure. We talked it out at the rest stop a couple of miles from the century turn off and I decided to at least try the first of the “death by bike” hills. If I couldn’t get up that one, we’d abort and just roll back on down and into town. That probably would have been the smarter move but I did get up that first hill and with that confidence boost and a brief rest, we committed to the next hill and the rest of the century loop.
Conditions improved dramatically after those two little hills. A fabulous long downhill provided some good recovery and a few miles on, the route took a hard right putting the wind on our 7:00, providing a nice push. We did turn into that headwind again for the final 4 or 5 mile approach to the finish line but it seemed to have dropped to a more reasonable 5 or 10 MPH. We finished the 102 miles strong in 7:10 saddle time, 8:30 elapsed. Within a couple of hours I was really feeling it and headed off for a bite to eat and a lay down. I didn’t get back up until the next morning.
Temperatures on day 2 were forecast to reach 95 degrees so we made sure to be fed and watered early and took off a little before the start chute opened. While I wouldn’t say I struggled to get back up the Horsetooth hills, it was obvious I was moving awfully slow. After a little less than an hour, we started back down on what should have been a relatively easy day. But once again, about 20 miles into the ride, a headwind appeared and this time, it was right on the nose. It wasn’t as bad as the previous day, maybe only 10 to 15 MPH but nevertheless, it was painfully noticeable. And to add to that, “The Bullet” was showing signs of fatigue from the previous day so we jumped on pace lines when we could and took it pretty easy when we were on our own.
By about 10:00 the heat arrived. The wind stayed constant throughout the day and what should have been more or less a recovery ride turned into something much more grueling. "The Bullet's" 3 year old twins cheered us on from several spots along the route and met us as we crossed the finish line. It took us 6:43 elapsed time and 5:34 in the saddle to do that 77 miles. I didn’t have a half a hill left in me at the end and “The Bullet” wasn’t in much better shape, but we finished it! We covered nearly 180 miles over those two days, most of it in adverse conditions. As I said, it was one of the toughest two day rides I’ve ever done.
Marina and Victoria, I said I’d look for trikes and I did and there were lots of them, I saw over a dozen and I’m sure there were more. They weren’t all MSers either. One guy on a hand cycle didn’t have any kind of handicap, he just wanted to crank a hand cycle. The fact that there were so many probably had something to do with a new route choice which went around, instead of over, the Horsetooth hills. It was pretty cool and I did recognize at least one Cat Trike.
Pell, I definitely need more hill work if I’m going to have any chance at all of getting up Truchas at the NM 150 this year. Give me a week or two to settle down and see if I can figure out what my buddy’s trainer is doing and we’ll set up some kind of program. Also, I’ve read that a person in good condition can maintain conditioning with as little as 3 days of training for a total of about 6 hours per week. I imagine at least one of those days would have to include some intervals. We WILL get better on the hills.
Stay Safe,
Larry
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