One weekend, two centuries
What a beating… Yesterday’s metric century was totally painless, though. Pretty cool to log 164 miles in two days in any case!
Things started off great with a plan to ride down to Sunnyvale so that we’d be outbound into the wind and have a tailwind on the return. I started to worry when I kept seeing Mark up at the front leading, as we were going at a decent clip with a headwind. At the rest stop, I had a Snicker’s Dark and opened a new pack of Shot Bloks.
The century crew split off in Rowlett. We quickly formed into a smooth paceline with Todd pulling us at 20+. Don, Mike Emmons and I all took a turn or two. And then Mark started falling off. I wasn’t too worried as he was doing it in spots where it was easy to catch back up so I figured he was just conserving. For the record… the chip seal on Highway 80 service road sucks. That is all.
By the second stop, Mark was definitely feeling the wind, but he seemed to recover a bit from the stop and it looked like we were going to hang together. We hit strong wind again once we crossed 635. I and Jeff Frye eventually held back and rode with him in to the last rest stop at White Rock Lake where we took a long air conditioned break. I had a King Size Snicker’s – havent done that in over a year – and a banana. Iced up the camelbak – must say… the new one REALLY insulates well. Refilled the water, and hit the trail.
We cruised around the lake and up the trail and made a quick stop at the picnic shelter at Hillcrest before contuing north to Meandering Way. As we got on Meandering Way, I flatted my rear tire. Inspected, replaced tube, and on we went. Mark split off for the condo, and Jeff and I proceeded north. Shortly, I flatted again. We inspected more carefully. Inspected the suspect area of the tire. Inspected the rim. Shrugged shoulders, replaced tube, and hit the road.
When I swung the right turn from McCallum onto Hillcrest at 21 mph, I got the sickening “there’s not much air in your tire” feeling as the rear end swung around. Fortunately, my mountain biking paid off and I stayed upright.
This time, we found the world’s smallest piece of metal in the tire. I patched the tube, refilled and on we went. No. There will be no more holes in this story.
We rode north to Hedgecoxe, turned east, and down Legacy to XL and wound up about 100.2.
Overall, I did a GREAT job hydrating. I did a much better job eating during the ride, dropping nearly 1800 calories during the ride – almost double two weeks ago. I did a fantastic job keeping my heart rate in check.
Only pain in my feet is leftover from the old shoes. Was great about keeping my shoulders relaxed and have minimal back/shoulder pain after two back to back long rides (long for me, at least). Legs are a little tight, but I may take a hot soak to work on that after I get some calories in.
MANY MANY MANY thanks to Jeff Frye. It’s cool when Karma pays back quickly. I hung back with Mark & Jeff because I KNEW I’d want the same. It bites riding 40+ miles by yourself or with just one other person that’s tired – especially if you’re both looking at the wall. So I hung on for moral support.
Jeff then had the patience to sit around while I change 3.2 million flats, even loaning me a tube and a pump. Still need to remember to put my pump IN the new camelbak…
