Under the Weather

Elevation chart for Harding-Motorway:



This last Saturday (1/20/07) I had Harding-Motorway scheduled. 34 miles and over 7,000 feet of climbing. I rode this route almost a year ago and bonked going up Maple Springs. I wanted to do it again to prove to myself that I could do it without falling apart - and I sort of did it. I wish I could have done this route again healthy, but riding with a cold is better than no riding at all I guess.

I woke up a little before 6AM and rushed to get things together. I've started to earn a reputation for being late to the group rides and I want to work to fix that. I also wanted to make sure I ate a ton before the ride to try and store up energy. I ate two banana's and drank half a bottle of orange juice. I also took three bags of clifshot snacks with me and a banana for the rest of the ride. Also I brought a bottle of Dasani/Cytomax just in case.

The ride started in the freezing cold. I need to buy some booties for my shoes. I really hate being cold when I have a cold.

The group was a little different as we were minus Matt and Andrew. Matt was racing at 12 hours of Temecula and Andrew was at Disneyland! Bummer Andrew! Ha. The group consisted of Mark, Troy, John "La Ruta" Colvin and a new John.

I figured I'd get dropped fast on the climbs and I wasn't disappointed. I actually felt not so bad on the climb up Harding. It was a very slow pace for me though. It was close to a two hour ascent and that is bad for me. Oh well though - chalk it up to being sick, right? Maybe I can find some other excuses as well.

The break at Harding wasn't too long, which was good. I need to start riding long routes without taking long breaks. It'll help me prepare better for race day.

The trip to the Motorway from Harding was actually really awesome. I took my bike into the Bike Company to be fixed while I was in Thailand and they did an amazing job. I honestly can't remember being this happy with a repair ... ever. I keep telling anyone that will listen how happy I am. They replaced the brake cables, the housing for the cables, they trued the rotors and tightened my loose headset. The result is an insanely awesome experience on the downhill sections. This is especially comforting considering I almost killed myself on the 50 mile Rwanda ride at the end due to brake failure.

At the top of the Motorway I felt awesome. I was actually starting to have fun on the ride instead of suffering. The trip down the Motorway was the best in recent memory. I felt strong and again, the bike felt especially great. The brake levers are tuned so nice right now. It takes almost no effort at all to get some braking power. I need to remember how good it can be and not settle for less.

At the bottom of the Motorway I still felt good even though my right calf cramped at the very end. It was at this point on the last ride that things started to go bad - and fast. I climbed up the paved part of Maple Springs and had some trouble when I stopped. I could feel my legs cramping so I decided to stop and stretch. Bad idea. Both hamstrings blew up and cramped. I'm starting to get used to the feeling of bad cramps. It hurts like crazy, but all you can do is try to relax and wait for the muscles to "let go".

A guy and his wife (turned out to be ShakeDust on GeoLadders) were there to witness it and he gave me three anti-cramping pills. It was too little too late, but it was a nice gesture anyways.

The next 4 miles or whatever was kind of a blur. I ended up beating ShakeDust and his wife up Maple Springs, but not by much. I had to ride in a very low gear to keep from cramping and the cold kicked into another gear, making the climb harder than it should have been. I kept spacing out and getting really dizzy. It's not like I could bail out, so I just kept climbing.

Mark started to ride back to see if I was ok right as I was getting to the top. Sucked to keep the guys waiting.

I felt good going down Harding and I think I could have made it down a lot faster, but we were taking it easy.

Overall I ended up beating my previous best time by about 20 minutes. I think I could have done a little better if we had gone down Harding faster, but that's ok.

I'm happy I did the ride, but to be honest I'm a little disappointed that it took me so long and that I felt so horrible halfway up Maple Springs. We'll see if I can get healthier this week (I'm still sick now) so that this weekend sees happier riding.

34.5 miles in 5 hours and 7 minutes (ride time).


Ah, Motorway. Glad to be happy on you again ...