Project Rwanda - Long Version

(Another pic from the ride on Tijeras Creek)

Last year was the first Project Rwanda 50 mile ride and I remember it being pretty tough. I bonked at about the 35 mile mark and it made the rest of the ride pretty miserable. I was determined this year to stay strong and finish well.

I don't have a ton to write about since the details were kind of boring. Our group of maybe 5-6 guys broke up right from the start. Matt and Andrew took off and I ended up trying to chase them to catch up. I finally caught Andrew and then we waited for Mark and Troy so we could ride together. That lasted for a while until Troy and I broke off. I rode with Troy to the top of Cougar Pass where we picked up a friend of his and then the three of us finished the rest of the route together.

The course this year was quite a bit easier. It didn't feature any long climbs (except maybe for Cougar Pass) and the elevation gain was only 5,900 feet. My goal for rides like that is always to hit a 10mph average. That is the magic number. I think I ended up a 10.6 or something, so that's good. The total ride time was 4:23 which was respectable but not that impressive.

I was happy though that I was able to push for most of the ride and that I was able to sustain it. I'm hoping that rides like this are just deposits in the bank that I can cash out when Vision Quest rolls around.

The BBQ after was a lot colder this year and it seemed that not as many people stuck around to eat after the ride. It was cool to see Mike, Doug House, Doug Andrews, Matt, Andrew, Troy, Mark and Jason though. Always fun to recap the year and talk riding.