MS150 Ride Report

Make that the MS70.  Yeah, you read that right.

The weather leading up to the MS150 was panic-making.  I read Eric Berger's weather blog and he kept making comments about how it might be a nice weekend if you weren't doing something nutty like trying to ride a bike from Houston to Austin.

Then there were buckets and buckets of rain in the days leading up to the race.  By Thursday I was guessing they might cancel Saturday.  Just as I was leaving my conference on Friday, they cancelled Saturday.

In all honesty - I was kind of relieved.  There, I said it.  After the horrible Katy Ram Challenge and Eric predicting a headwind... I was scared.

Annnnnd after a week of conference, honestly it was nice to have a day off on Saturday before I turned my legs to noodles.

BUT because I was planning on a two day ride from Houston, not a one day from La Grange, I got pretty stressy over the logistical issues on Saturday.  I had reserved P a room near Austin for SATURDAY night, so I didn't have anyone to drop me off at the start.  I went ahead and sent him on Saturday afternoon, then managed to catch a bus ride with a bunch of riders staying in the Omni from Austin.  (Serious kudos to the Omni for letting me have a ride.  They were totally awesome about it.  Go stay there!!)

With that said, I got up at 3:30 on Sunday to catch a 4:45 bus from Houston to La Grange.  It was a school bus, with like 20 riders and 20 bikes.  It was just a tad crowded.  But I am GRATEFUL.  So not complaining.  Just sayin'. :-)  We got there at 7.   I grabbed a porta potty line, then my chain was off so headed to the mechanic.  Then waited around for a while, munching a bagel, for the start.  It was an 8am start, and I started at 9 and I wasn't even close to last.   It was kind of cool and misting as I waited, but boy that did NOT last long.

I felt GREAT!  Just great.  It wasn't exactly a headwind.  Like side-head.  I'll take it!  I was riding along at a good clip and I just felt really good.

First rest stop: 9.5 mi in 45 min.  Muddy, oh so muddy!  Applied sunscreen and used facilities.  Removed arm warmers.  Ate some animal crackers.  Drank half a bottle of water. 

Headed out at about the same time as another team member, and he was around the same speed as me, and we went back and forth on the next leg.

Second rest stop: 23 mi at 1:45.  Ate jelly beans.  Drank half a bottle of Gatorade.  Still feeling good. 

I came upon a wreck about 2 miles before lunch where we were all just stopped in the road.  Then once it was cleared, we rode like 100 yards to a light where a policeman was letting small groups through, so stopped again.  At that light we turned left and immediately we were on a GIGANTIC downhill.  Like mega.  Like wow, drop off the world downhill.   And I got so scared.  We were too packed, it was dangerous.  And I was thinking I wasn't the only one because everyone was braking braking braking.  But then I got all freaky because I wasn't going to be able to go all the way down the hill at like 2mph without losing control.  After a few minutes I gave in and hopped off and started walking it down the hill.  Now THERE'S something I never thought I'd do!!  Walk my bike DOWN a hill in the MS150!!  Anyways, it turned out that there was another wreck and everyone ended up walking.  I heard several veterans comment that they have never ever ridden down that hill because someone always wrecks there.  Crazy!

Lunch stop (finally!): 33.5 miles in 3 hours (which was about 25 minutes slower than it would have been if not for the wrecks).  Ate a ham sandwich.  Finished the bottle of Gatorade and refilled with Cytomax.  Lunch was in a big tent and thank goodness for the team because I must admit I felt like I was in high school walking into the cafeteria.  I reapplied sunscreen here and used the restroom for what would be the last time for the day.  By the end of lunch I was starting to feel a little rough - just very hot, like I was sunburning, and queasy.  But I was worried about my team leaving, so I headed out.

Then it got bad.  I really really struggled with the next section.  I was at a mental low point.  It was just so HOT (probably about 85 at this point, and I hadn't trained in the heat because this was really the first hot day) and my legs were feeling the shooting pain that normally waits til the end of rides for me.  The wind had shifted into a headwind and worst of all it was a HOT gusty headwind.  I was seriously considering sagging and/or puking.  It was BAD.  Then about 7 miles into the 14 mile leg, I saw a bunch of riders pulled over as we were crossing the Colorado River for like the 3rd time to take pics.  I pulled over and took an Ibuprofen for the leg pain and drank most of the rest of my water trying to push the queasies down.  I vaguely suspect that the Cytomax didn't agree with my stomach.  Then I thought I could at least get to the next rest stop and I'd decide from there.

Fourth stop: 49 miles in probably about 4:15.  I don't actually know the exact time, and this is the only one I don't know, because I felt too bad to check, honestly.  I got to this stop and reported directly to the med tent to tell them I wasn't right.  My pulse was ok, so they advised me to sit in the shade, drink cold water, and just wait and see what I thought.  I was at this stop for at least half an hour and I did just that.  Drank an entire bottle of ice water.  Sat.  Stretched.  Called P and cried.  Then when I was getting ready to walk back over to my bike, I saw a friend from the R2R training rides.  I told her I had had a rough leg and she was all, "It is only 8 miles to the next stop!!  You can do 8 miles!! Try latching onto us!!"  And I believed her just enough that I got back on.

I was actually surprised at this point that my ass and legs felt much better.  THANK YOU Ibuprofen.  Seriously.  I was still hot and I think dehydrated, but the lessening of the pain plus the short leg made me feel like I could get through it.  I managed to latch onto Katie until about 5 miles in, and then I only had 3 to go, so I made it.

Fifth rest stop: 59 mi in 5:21.  Again I spent quite a while at this stop.  Sat in the shade, drank lots of water.  I was still scared to eat, though.  Reapplied sunscreen.

Surprisingly the first few miles out of this rest stop weren't bad AT ALL.  They were mostly downhill and they kind of flew by.  It was at some point in there that I realized that my tummy hurt now not because I was going to puke but because I was seriously mega hungry.  So I pulled over at the top of a hill and pounded a package of peanut butter crackers with lots more water.

But then after that we started coming into Austin and oh, the HILLS!!  If the day had gone differently for me, perhaps I'd have tried to ride the hills.  As it was, I'd get as much momentum as I could, shift as much as I could, but when I was going about 4 miles an hour and really working hard for it, I just went ahead and hopped off and walked the hills.  There was no reason to punish my body further.  So that last look took quite a while.  Also, coming into town there were more lights where we got held up and we had to narrow down to one bike lane, so it was definitely a little sketchier.  But in the end -  I finished.

Finish: 70 mi in 6:45.  That 6:45 is time ON THE BIKE.  I started at 9am and finished at 6pm, for the record.

I have to say that I am very proud of myself for making it to the finish under my own power.  It was a near thing several times.  But I got it done.

And I saw my family right after I crossed the line.  And I got my pin and my certificate.  And I took my bike over head pic in front of the Capitol.  And then I went to EZ's and chowed hardcore on chicken and cheese fries and a milkshake and it was GOOD.  Then we drove home, arriving at 11pm. Eep!  Definitely the right decision to take a day off work the next day.

So here's my thing - I heard all over the place that this was a really rough ride - really bad year in terms of heat and headwind.  But seriously, seriously, I don't think I could have done both days if that is what they both were like.  At least not done them and finished entirely under my own power.

I'm going to have to try the MS150 again.  It is just in my nature.  But not next year, I don't think.  It was just such a HUGE commitment in terms of prep time - essentially blowing at least half of every Saturday from January-April.  So maybe sometime in the future, but not soon.

Am I glad I did it?  YES, absolutely!  I am SO much more comfortable on my bike than I have ever EVER been before.  All those miles.  There was a point on that first leg when I thought, you know, I actually feel COMFORTABLE.  ON A BIKE.  That has literally never happened before.  I was riding along with people and I wasn't white knuckled or scared or anything.  I was just riding.  For me that is such a huge thing.  There was one point where I took both hands off the bike.  Now that was for like a second, but again, for me, HUGE!  Just a massive statement about my confidence and comfort level.  And also, importantly, I know of some really good local rides with shorter route options that would be great triathlon prep rides for next year!  I'd love to hang out at about 40 miles, so the 20-whatever mileage in a tri feels like no big thing.  And I now feel really comfortable signing up for that kind of thing.  So this was a really really great experience for me overall.  Nothing but positive came out of it.  I am so very very glad I went on this crazy ride!

I finished!

Report to follow.

Ride Report: Katy Ram Challenge

Philosophical question of the day: How is it that you can ride a loop and yet 2/3 of it has a headwind?

I decided to do this ride at the last minute since Ready 2 Roll's ride was a loooooooong drive for me, and it was also more mileage than I wanted to commit to on the weekend before the MS 150.

There was the potential for rain, so I did an on-site sign-up.  I actually have to say that it was super painless, and it was really cool because it was in Sun n Ski and they actually had the store open for business at 6am.  So I was early and once I was signed up, I went shopping for (and purchased) a new trisuit!  2 birds, 1 stone, yay!

I chose the 36 mile route, again, because it is the weekend before the big weekend, and frankly, if my body isn't ready, killing it this weekend wasn't really going to help.

Well I killed it even on the 36.  But I'll get to that.

Ride to the first rest stop was a little clustery for the first 5 miles or so, but then it opened up nicely.  Mild headwind, no problem.  First rest stop could have used more porta potties, but otherwise was fine.

Second leg was AWESOME!!!  I had a tailwind and I was FLYING!  It went by crazy fast and suddenly I was at the next rest stop and high on the sheer awesome.

But even at that rest stop I had a sneaking suspicion that we were looking at a headwind on the way back.  Oh noooooo, I haaaaaaateses headwinds.

And I was right.  That last leg was terrible.  Awful.  No good.  Very bad.  Soul sucking.

I have to say I got really ticked at this one lady, too.  I'm not sure at what point she latched onto my draft (lol, hilarious, since I was going 10-12 mph, but it happened), but at some point I became aware by sounds that there was someone back there.  And the road wasn't great so I was taking routes around holes and junk and she was following right on me.  I'd barely glimpse her out of the corner of my eye when I was checking over my shoulder for traffic.  She rode there for at least several MILES, never saying a word, just drafting off of me.  I was in such a bad mental place I was wanting to scream into the wind.  I was just soooooo frustrated with how HARD it was to go that SLOW.  Finally at some point I just sat all the way up and was going about 9 when she popped out and flew by me, never saying a word.  GRRRRRR.  As I was explaining later to P, I just felt so used.  There is a right way to use someone and a wrong way.  The right way is to let them know you're there and chat them up a bit and help them through if they are having a rough time.  The wrong way is to hide and quietly use them and then discard them when they are used up.  Not cool.  Not cool at all.

Anyways, I made it back but it was seriously sucky and I must say that my confidence took a hit, which isn't good leading into next weekend.  But there it is.  I need to just remember that second awesome leg and try to forget the rest.  And cross my fingers that there isn't a headwind heading to Austin next weekend.

Tour de Houston Ride Recap

So going into the Tour de Houston I was suffering from a confidence low.  I had 3 rough weeks of training: a trainer week, a rain week with low mileage, and a hill week with medium mileage that killed me.  I had signed up for the 60 mile route, and I planned on going out with the 60 milers, but I was fully prepared to drop to the 40, and actually planning on it, until the day before.  When I visited Adron and his family, all of whom encouraged me to go for the 60, and his lovely wife, who reminded me there is always the option to SAG if I go for it and can't finish.

I wasn't 100% comfortable with the SAG option, so I talked with P about it that night and made him promise that if I went for it and needed him, he'd fetch me.  He promised, and with that in pocket, I decided that I'd decide at the second rest stop.

The morning of the TdH I woke with a typical race day grumpy tummy.  I left my house 90 minutes prior to race time, and that was perfect.  I parked in Lot H, which was probably the farthest option from the start, but the only one I was sure I could get to without encountering rought traffic or road closures.  That is one complaint I have: the City did not do a good job posting road closures on the website.  I decided to walk my bike to the start because the roads were not closed or monitored from parking to the start (which would have been a nice touch), and we all know how I love traffic.  I felt a little goofy, but it was the right choice for me. 

Got to the start, visited the Honey Buckets, posed for a team pic, and got in line.  They were doing a wave start, but there were So. Many. People.  I just didn't see how it could possibly be really working?  They didn't really give guidelines as to what speeds they were starting when, so I waited about 12 waves and then jumped in.  I started at the back of my wave, as is my preference.

Everybody who drives in Houston knows the roads are crap, but WOW, you don't really know til you've had a tiny bike seat up your butt as you try to navigate the cracks and bumps without ending up on the ground.  Within the first mile I ended up in a crack and my bike kind of jumped out of it?  It is a miracle I didn't wipe out. 

It was also sooooo crowded at the beginning, even with the wave start.  Just a lot of bodies trying to settle into position in one lane.  I was white-knuckling it essentially all the way to the second rest stop.

Where I decided to go for 60, like a crazy person.

It was muuuuuuuuuch lonlier after that.

Here is the quick run down on stats/food/feeling for my future reference:
Rest stop 1: 11mi, 53 min, ate half banana, drank Gatorade, used buckets, felt totally fine.
Rest stop 2: 23.6 mi, 1:53 min, ate half banana, pretzels, drank Gatorade, used buckets, felt pretty good.
Rest stop 3: 38.6 mi, 3 hours flat, ate pretzels, 4 peanut butter crackers, 2 oreos, used buckets, was starting to feel a little rough.
Rest stop 4: I don't have any clue - I missed it, as did EVERYONE around me.  And that really really really sucked because I NEEDED it badly and was counting on it.
Mile 52: Saw Adron's wife and brood and felt momentarily rejuvenated from the hardcore bonking that was in progress.
Mile 56: Sweat or sunscreen got into left eye.  Copious tears.  Trying to ride with one eye open, right eye becomes irritated by wind.  See cop up ahead, pull over to get it under control.  Cop was soooo nice.  Came over to see if I was ok, offered me water.  I must have looked a mess - crying big fat baby tears.  But it cleared up pretty quickly with some rubbing and on I went.
Mile 58: Saw Adron and wife and brood and almost stopped, but only 2 miles to go, so hey, kept on riding despite being unsure I'd be able to stand when it was over.

Mile 60: I WAS LIED TO.  DOWNTOWN STILL LOOKS FAR.  I. HATE. EVERYBODY.
Mile 62: Finished.  4:55 for the whole shebang.

The good: The police officers at the intersections, for the most part, were totally awesome.  The signage was excellent - I was never afraid that I was lost.

The bad: The 3rd rest stop didn't have Gatorade.  Or if they did, they were out by the time I got there.  Either way, this really wasn't cool.  This was the only station that was just for the 60 milers and it should have been the best stocked, not the worst.  The roads blew.  Obviously there was a problem with that 4th rest stop marking.  I swear all the others had flags and cones and signs... I was LOOKING for all that.  Either I went temporarily blind or they failed to mark the 4th one.

The ugly: The course ran through some really terrible parts of Houston.  You'd think calling it the Tour de Houston they'd take you through some parts they would actually want people to see?  Instead Adron's wife and brood got to witness a SHOOTING while watching riders go by.  Seriously.  Before I even knew that, I was riding along at several points remembering Adron's wife telling me I could SAG and thinking, maybe, but I sure as hell couldn't here, and I hope I don't have a mechanical.  Really, really disappointing route.

But, I FINISHED!!!  6-freaking-2 miles.  And my confidence is back.  Yes, I was dead on my wheels by the end, but I'd only have had to go 15 more miles to be done for the day on the MS.  And that will be with more time, and I think better rest stops, and more training between now and then.  I'm going to be ok.  I'm going to make it.  And that makes me so happy!!!

Ride Report: Pedaling the Prairie

I've been off the grid for the past week (pictures to follow), and actually didn't originally intend to be back in time for my Saturday ride.  But we were on the kiddo's first camping trip, and we wanted it to be a flexible, fluid thing, and when Thursday rolled around she looked like she was getting sick and started asking to see the kitties, and that was good enough for us!

I was glad because I really did want to go on Saturday's ride, so that immediately went back into the plans.  This was my first official "Ride".  It wasn't a race.  It is hard for me as a runner to differentiate, but there were no timers, and there is no winner, so not a race.  But they had packets and a start line and a finish line, and food/beer at the end, etc.  So the feel of the thing was exactly like a running race.

Clothing was a major stressor for me again for this one.  It was 45 and foggy at the start, slated to warm up to a sunny 60, so I didn't know WHAT to do.  I ended up in...wow, 4 layers.  Short sleeves with my running sleeves, 2 running jackets, and my windbreaker on top.  Long pants on bottom, and skullcap under helmet.  Only the fingerless gloves this time (and that was the right choice).  At the very beginning, I was happy with all of that.  But at the first rest stop I was flaming hot, so maybe I could have started with one less layer?  I ended up taking off the skullcap and one running jacket and the sleeves at the rest stop, and again was comfortable.  By the second rest stop I was ready to remove another layer, but didn't have anywhere to store it, so suffered through.  Also by the second rest stop I think I'd have preferred shorts on the bottom.  Hopefully all of this experience will help me begin to figure out these things better.  For sure the fingerless gloves were the right option.  For sure the sleeves were very smart because they could just be pulled down and didn't need to be stored.  I definitely like the windbreaker for the bike.  When I finished and removed it I could feel a whole ton of heat come out of there, so perhaps it would have been a better layer to remove.  I'll keep learning!

So for the ride itself: I don't have anything to compare it to since it was my first, but I was impressed!  They had breakfast before AND lunch/beer after!  Very nice.  There were real bathrooms in addition to the port-a-cans at the start.  There were 4 route options: 24, 45, 55, and 70.  I chose 24 (of course!).  There were 2 rest stops on the route: at 8 miles and again at 13 miles.  They were both well run and well stocked.  The 8 mile one was super crowded because it served all the routes and the riders weren't well spread yet.  The 13 one also served all the routes but everyone was spread out by then so it was far less hectic.  There were hills at the beginning and end, but not bad ones.  There was a hardcore headwind on the first half of the route.  I was beginning to think 10mph was just how fast I was.  Then somewhere around... 11? miles in, suddenly pedaling became easier.  I looked down and I was going 14mph and more easily.  I was confused.  I puzzled over it and eventually realized it was the lack of wind, ha!  I'm not quite as slow as I was beginning to think!!

For me personally on the ride: ate half a bagel and my coffee beforehand.  Just wasn't super hungry. Was hungry by the first rest stop but didn't want what they were serving - need to get a bento box for crackers and oreos.  Second rest stop I actually considered skipping because it was only 5 miles farther but I was glad I didn't, because I was really hungry by then and they had crackers.  Also, I didn't realize it would be the last stop and I would have really regretted it if I hadn't stopped because around 18 miles in my legs were totally in WTF land.  I was having some numbness, but then mentally began questioning if it was actual numbness or if it was the warm pants compressing me.  It was weird.

Oh, also, I still suck at starting.  I need to start off at the back of my wave.  But I also need to not panic.  All my starts yesterday were rough, and I was panicking, but I always found my balance and I never fell and that IS something.  I can do this and I WILL get better at it.

Despite my spazziness, it was a lovely day for a ride, and overall it was a great ride!  I finished and I keep improving, and that is all I could ask for!

Final stats: 23.8 miles in 1:59:30.

My splits were: 8.9 miles at 48 minutes (11mph), then 13.4 miles at 1:11 (11.75mph), then 23.8 in 1:59:30 (12.75mph).  Ha, well the headwind isn't quite as obvious as it felt, but wow, I sure felt it!

Ah, one more thing: an ibuprofen right after really helps!