RAIN. The Report.....

i like RAIN. its flat, its fast, and its well run. 07 had great weather and a great BF turnout. i travelled to the ride with Psi and Cy. much props to Psimet for organizing the logistics and all that jazz. much props to CyLowe for bringing the humor. i had a fantastic ride. it pretty much played out like i had wanted, except for a couple extra mph on my average at the end .

we arrived earlier then last year (my first was 06) and lined our group up at the front. we could have been on the front line, but opted for about 10 rows in. the ride starts out fast. its downhill into Terre Haute and everyone is hopped up on excitement.

miles 1 to 10 were nervous for me. speeding downhill into the sunrise and cold breeze in a large group had me searching for a sweet spot in the group.

miles 10 to 20 brought some more sun and some loose legs. i jumped up from the second group we were in to the main group. this was a large group and i was just hanging on the back. shider was right behind me, then right in front of me, then GONE. at mile 20 i got a text message from my legs; "hey dummy you have 140 to go and we dont like this current pace." needless to say i drifted back. at this point i wasnt sure if this was another Sudden Century style pop at mile 20 or just better cycling judgement.

miles 40 to 60 were fun. the entire BF group and maybe 15 others were pulled by shider. he did pull off once or twice. apparently cycling machines only need to float back 2 to 3 riders, wait 30 seconds, then charge back to the front and continue pulling. at the 60 mile SAG stop our pace was around 23 mph.

miles 60 to 90 were tough for me. the legs still didnt want to respond. the riders also start to spread out at this point and we were in a smaller group. shider had continued on at his breakneck pace while Psi, Cy & I eased up a bit, but only a bit. my legs still were unresponsive. i could ride in the pack with no issue, but pulling was putting me a in spot of bother.

mile 90ish was lunch. i ate. i tinkled. i drank. and i ate. i lead us out of the lunch stop in the wrong direction. appears there was a new route out of the lunch stop. luckily, last years marking were still on the ground and some other riders made the same mistake (or they followed us ?). one of the other riders was familar with the area and along with the 2006 markings we were back on route in no time.

after lunch i was giddy, energized, and ready to roll. clearly, it was powered by oreo cookies. ten of them to be exact. i think it was around mile 105, right after Psimet blew our group up, that we parted ways. i wasnt sprinting or putting myself out. i just spun it at a comfortable pace.

from 105 to 125 i rode solo and i rode it fast. the legs just did NOT want to stop and the wind was encouraging the effort. around mile 125 i passed smokinmiles. dispite hardly stopping, she was still flying down route 40. she mentioned shider was just up ahead. i looked up and sure enough there he was in his hard to miss bright yellow jersey. i put my head down and chased after him. not the smartest thing to do, but i was oreo cookie powered!

i caught him just before the 130 SAG stop. he was hurting a bit with some calf cramps. after a quick stop, we headed out for the finish together. we rode miles 130 to 160 fairly fast as we took our turns pulling towards the finish. the decent into Richmond was downhill, fast, and fun. we spun like crazy. like we had just started the ride. (oreo cookies GOOOOD!).

the numbers from my Garmin:

Total Time = 8:32:40
Ride Time = 7:35:00
Avg MPH = 21.2
Distance = 160.44

complete edge stats HERE

this is a four hour improvement over last year. yes there was a tailwind, but the all knowing Garmin has it at a SSW 9 mph avg with gust of 15. i do think there was a bit more wind then that, but definetly not a four hour wind. i think everyone in our group rode faster and better then they thought they would! a great effort by all.

later.

** this is my write up from over at Bikeforums.net**