Well... I did it. and am really happy with my results compared to last year. First off, Moosie is lucky he did not take up my bet. Even though the winds on the second hilly half were nasty I shaved around 25 minutes off last years time.
Road racing is strategy big time and having no fear helps, but I have fear. I couldn't help think a couple times "screw this, i can't shoot a rifle next week with a busted collar bone"
This years race was waaay bigger than last years inaugural year. last year around 400 entries, this year rumored over 1000
I large chain bike shop gave free entries to anyone that bought a new bike. Also the 10,000$ in prize money did not go unnoticed last year and many pros showed up including team Live Strong (Lance Armstrong's) When i heard how big it was going to be i got scared of the carnage with sloppy riders so i made a plan. I lied on my average racing finish speeds (not too much, i know I am faster than last year but had no proof) to start in the first wave of riders. 6 waves, 2 minutes apart. So here is what was my plan and what happened. Start with the pros and fast skinny guys, hang on as long as I can without bonking out and hope more do the same. So, 6AM i line up with about 150 guys for the start of the first wave. We take off, and they start punishing me right away. 29MPH average for the 28 miles before I dropped out. Me and other stayed back spread out more in the rear of the pack as fear kicked in. The tight front group was Yo-Yoing a lot and things were hairy. 3 bad crashes, bike parts and riders sliding out and the peleton goes wide to avoid the "yard sales" as they call it in road racing.
My plan worked, i dropped out around 28 or so miles and so did a fairly good size group of 20 guys. But we had a good padded average by that time. When we hit the 45 mile mark at High cliff park the climb took it's toll, good thing it did on all of us.
The second half of the race was now on the other side of the lake headed back to the start line but into a 12 MPH wind with gusts to 25 and a fair amount of hills. Hang in there Schmalts... you can do it.... I was worried, my Heart rate (HR) was off the map, but I seem to be a freak of nature with all my fat and man boobs to use at an energy source to tap into.
Mile 60, cramps bad, but i worked through them, popped some electro light pills and i seemed to help. Mile 80, cramps starting back on, no more pills to pop, and out of water.
A Harley with a chick on back goes by asking if anyone needs water. I slide over, grab a small bottled water and chug half and dump the other half on my head to cool off and get the fricking salt out of my eyes.
mile 88..... cramps kicked in terrible after a near crash with a car stopped sudden at an intersecting on a long downhill doing 30+ MPH. Cops yelled "bikers ride through!" but we slowed to 10 by then and trying to get back to speed i locked up almost and the cramps were killing me.
needless to say, I did not sprint across the finish line and just rode across in pain.
time was 4:01 I really would have loved to say I did it under 4, but I am happy as hell with it with the conditions of the wind and heat.
My HR????? you wouldn't believe it so I took pictures. The total time shows 3:58 because I lost signal a few times but check this out. Average of 170. The calorie burned is funny, I told the with I will eat anything not nailed down for 2 days.
Road racing is strategy big time and having no fear helps, but I have fear. I couldn't help think a couple times "screw this, i can't shoot a rifle next week with a busted collar bone"
This years race was waaay bigger than last years inaugural year. last year around 400 entries, this year rumored over 1000
I large chain bike shop gave free entries to anyone that bought a new bike. Also the 10,000$ in prize money did not go unnoticed last year and many pros showed up including team Live Strong (Lance Armstrong's) When i heard how big it was going to be i got scared of the carnage with sloppy riders so i made a plan. I lied on my average racing finish speeds (not too much, i know I am faster than last year but had no proof) to start in the first wave of riders. 6 waves, 2 minutes apart. So here is what was my plan and what happened. Start with the pros and fast skinny guys, hang on as long as I can without bonking out and hope more do the same. So, 6AM i line up with about 150 guys for the start of the first wave. We take off, and they start punishing me right away. 29MPH average for the 28 miles before I dropped out. Me and other stayed back spread out more in the rear of the pack as fear kicked in. The tight front group was Yo-Yoing a lot and things were hairy. 3 bad crashes, bike parts and riders sliding out and the peleton goes wide to avoid the "yard sales" as they call it in road racing.My plan worked, i dropped out around 28 or so miles and so did a fairly good size group of 20 guys. But we had a good padded average by that time. When we hit the 45 mile mark at High cliff park the climb took it's toll, good thing it did on all of us.
The second half of the race was now on the other side of the lake headed back to the start line but into a 12 MPH wind with gusts to 25 and a fair amount of hills. Hang in there Schmalts... you can do it.... I was worried, my Heart rate (HR) was off the map, but I seem to be a freak of nature with all my fat and man boobs to use at an energy source to tap into.
Mile 60, cramps
bad, but i worked through them, popped some electro light pills and i seemed to help. Mile 80, cramps starting back on, no more pills to pop, and out of water.A Harley with a chick on back goes by asking if anyone needs water. I slide over, grab a small bottled water and chug half and dump the other half on my head to cool off and get the fricking salt out of my eyes.
mile 88..... cramps kicked in terrible after a near crash with a car stopped sudden at an intersecting on a long downhill doing 30+ MPH. Cops yelled "bikers ride through!" but we slowed to 10 by then and trying to get back to speed i locked up almost and the cramps were killing me.
needless to say, I did not sprint across the finish line and just rode across in pain.
time was 4:01
I really would have loved to say I did it under 4, but I am happy as hell with it with the conditions of the wind and heat.My HR????? you wouldn't believe it so I took pictures. The total time shows 3:58 because I lost signal a few times but check this out. Average of 170
. The calorie burned is funny, I told the with I will eat anything not nailed down for 2 days.
