So, as planned, my friends and I rocked the Seattle to Portland bike ride last weekend. It was both grueling and fun and I think we'll certainly be doing more long rides in the future. I actually found the ride easier physically than I expected, but harder mentally.
Somewhere around mile 80 on the first day and 60 on the second day it becomes hard to keep focused on a pace line. You know that staying in the line will make your ride easier and faster, but it also becomes harder to will yourself to stay on the wheels of the person infront of you as the day goes on.
You also know that making a wrong move at 25mph with someone a foot in-front and a foot behind you could be very costly. I heard about a few accidents throughout the race that were caused by tire clipping. The concentration required wears you down.
We learned quickly to spot groups we wanted to be part of because they knew how to ride together and what riders and groups we didn't want to get near. And it's not really a choice to not ride in a group throughout this event. It feels like there must be a solid line of 9,000 bikers that stretch from Seattle to Portland soon after the start. You are never alone during the day.
Attaching speakers to my bike was a big hit. Next time we'll only find a louder solution. I got lots of compliments and blaring the Chili Peppers while going up hill certainly encouraged people keep up when I'd pass them. Finding people that wanted to ride in-front of me, however, became a problem. At one point I led a pull of around 23mph for a few minutes. When I attempted to flag another rider into the lead to bring my heart rate back down I got a response of "keep it up man, we're rockn' back here".
On day one I blamed the speakers. On day two I think riders became far more selfish. Our group pulled several other groups throughout the day without the favor returned. I led one person at 16mph up a steady 3 mile incline into a headwind only to be ditched by his rested legs at the top with little more than "thanks man! see ya". In the end we actually completed day 2 faster than day one.
Here are some stats from the ride.
Total Mileage: 203 (100 day 1 and 103 day 2)
Total Time on the Bike: 12 hours 22 minutes.
Average Speed: 16.4
Max Speed: 39mph
Average Heart Rate: 144
Max Heart Rate: 187 (Recorded while leading a 23 mph pull for a couple of minutes in the morning of day 2. It actually caused me to fall back from the pack because I couldn't recover quick enough after falling to the back of the group.)
And here are some pics. I'm hoping to get more from folks who actually brought a camera on the ride.
This is me mounting the speakers to the back of my bike. They were powered by a Zune that I fit into my pack you can see behind the reflector tape.
Above is the "before" picture of Tim, Tony, and I at around 7am on day one.
This was our own personal cheering squad (minus Debbie) waiting for us at the half way marker on day one. They were awesome and brought us water and Champaign for the finish line on Day 2. Thanks girls!
And this was the "after" shot of the the three of us.
Our "mini-peloton" at the finish line.
There was almost a 2 hour wait for showers after the ride. The logistics, in general, were terrible. Most rest stops had an hour long wait for hose water. We learned by day two to stop at convenience stores instead of waiting for the free stuff. I've got more pics shared on facebook.
See you all next year!
