It's been more than 14 months, but I'm finally writing a RACE REPORT!!
This morning I raced in the Frostbike 50, a 55 mile ride outside of flat as hell Houston. I got to bed by 10:00 last night after having two almost all-nighters in 2 of the 3 previous days (I'm aging fast right now TriMan). I was sound asleep almost as soon as I hit my pillow, but my dog went ape-#### at 1:15 and needed attention. My best guess is that he saw an armadillo, a shadow or a bug. My alarm went off what seemed to be seconds later at 5:40. I checked the weather, made some peanut butter toast, had an excellent bm, applied butt butter and got dressed and out the door be 6:10 feeling pretty good about myself. Five miles down the road I realized I still had my water bottles in my fridge at home so I turned around, got them, and drove a bit faster than expected.
I arrived at the 8:00 race at 7:25. The temp for the start of the race was 62, with 12 mph winds, and 67 and 20 mph winds at the end.
I went to the restroom, registered and went back to the restroom before getting my bike ready for "Go Time." They announced that the race would be starting :05 late, so I went to the bathroom again, and found my place at the starting line (Damn it felt awesome!!!!!) with no more than 10 racers in front of me. At the gun we headed out single file, as the first half mile had at least 10 speed bumps (WTF?). I didn't hit my Garmin until we got out of the parking lot and it was game on! With multiple stop lights and intersections, the first six miles were methodical and slow into a side wind (18.6, 17.9, 19.0, 19.6, 21.1, 21.5). I was positioned at the front of the peloton, and told myself that the only way I wouldn't be in the top 5 would be if I blew up (a very possible outcome).
The speed ramped up slightly over the next 5 (still a side wind), and the posers started to drop (22.6, 22.2, 22.2, 23.0, 22.5). We now had likely less than 40 in the lead group, and it was Go Time, as we caught a down wind for most of the next 11 miles. The pace was fast, but not difficult (26.6, 26.9, 26.6, 26.3, 26.9, 26.6, 26.3, 26.9, 22.7, 22.6, 26.1, 28.2, 25.7). This stretch had 2 hanky moments. Right at mile 17 there was a rest stop, and the fidiot who was pulling went into the rest stop. I was 4th in line, and the two in front of me (2 strongest riders by far) took off, trying to drop the peloton. I worked my ### off with my heart rate hitting 184 (way to soon for that ####!) to catch them by pulling four others with me. We had 7 for a couple miles before dropping 1 at mile 20. I was feeling really good about the six that were left as the two strong riders were taking long pulls, and I was taking medium ones, with the others not really doing much.
All that was going great ended abruptly between miles 22 and 23. The two strong riders turned left as the rest of us turned right as they were only riding 45 miles, not the full 55 = Fudge! We now lost the down wind, and were down to 4...and not a strong 4. I'm now pretty certain this is going to blow up, I just don't know when. I took a full mile pull (23.1), then the next guy did a full mile (21.1), and the next two did less than half mile pulls (21.5), I took over for another one (22.1), than the other guy did one (22.1) then the bastages both did less than a tenth of a mile. I said F that and put the hammer down for a 24.2 (I did half the mile, other guy did a half) and we dropped the other two after mile 27. We were now just 2 at the freaking halfway point.
The two of us worked really well together for 9 miles (28-36) taking equal pulls, and encouraging each other (20.9, 22.6, 21.3, 20.7, 20.2, 22.5, 23.4, 21.6, 21.4). Before mile 37 the other guy pulled up next to me and said he needed the rest stop, and I thought about stopping with him for a second but didn't want to post in here that I had to stop = I was now the lone wolf! The super sucky part was that the last 18 were now mostly right into the wind that was getting stronger. I now was focused on not letting anybody pass me. I looked back every .5 miles, and kept my feet pedaling. Miles 37-45 were very lonely (except for some 45 milers that I was passing) and mostly into the wind (19.2, 17.7, 17.2, 19.7, 18.0, 19.5, 18.3, 20.2, 20.1). During this stretch my HR stayed in the mid to upper 160's, and I felt darn comfortable. The last rest stop was at mile 46'ish and I loved riding right by it. I went less than a block past it where the road forked and there was no sign for which way to turn. I quickly u-turned and went back toward the rest stop and asked a cop directing traffic which way to turn (without stopping) and he didn't know. A race Marshall passed and I took off to catch him. He turned right and I asked him if he knew for sure if it was right and he said he didn't = Roh Roh! Luckily less than a tenth of a mile up the road a 45 miler was coming back at us and said to go back the other way. Another u-turn and I was back at it. From here forward there was literally no signs (found out when we got in, that somebody stole most of the last signs as a likely prank (sick *******!).
Miles 46-49 were darn confusing with poor signage (17.6, 18.0, 19.1, 18.8). I caught up (thankfully) with a 45 miler who had a Garmin 500 with GPS and he was struggling, but knew where to go! We plugged along with a 15.5 and a 15.7 before my buddy who stopped at mile 47 joined us! The two of us pulled the other guy along at a slow pace as there were multiple turns but ZERO signs. We did a 19.3 and a 19.6 for miles 53 and 54, and I forgot to turn my Garmin off while coasting to my car for an 11.6 recorded last lap which was just .34 miles.
In all it was 54.34 miles in 2:36:57. Average pace was 2:53 (20.8 MPH), AVE HR was 165 (darn low for me!) and MAX HR was 184 (while chasing down the breakaway. My HR never hit 180 after mile 19.
The race organizers were ecstatic to see us as the 45 milers weren't in yet and they were getting worried. Without GPS dood, I'd likely still be out there. I got my bike put away, and a couple of slices in my belly, before the two strong riders that did the 45 came in. They had European accents and let the pizza-giving volunteers know how awful they were for having no signage coming in. They were just the start of many others who were quite displeased.
Thanks again Garmin Dood!
P.S. I now need a full GPS Garmin.