Ok…here we go…a synapsis of Beauty and the Beast 67 mile ride…just south of the piney woods of Tyler Texas. The course…67 miles of hills…non stop…ascending …descending…over and over …and over…if you hate climbing…then this race would be torture…I love climbing though…so when the weather of 78 degrees with no wind was forecasted…I thought that it may be a pretty good day.
We get there…and Michael, Amber and I line up…and we are off….the start of these things is always a little hairy…people are excited…we are in tight…18 inches from each other….and the adrenaline usually has people cooking it…so after about a ½ mile…I look down and we are doing 27mph…with a 90 degree turn coming up…slowed…hold the line…I made it through…Amber made it through…and then we hear a crash…a quick glance…Michael was down…Amber and I look at each other…concerned…she asked if we go back…there was no way…without causing another pile up. I say we go on….and at the first stop we will wait to see. It was not to be…Michael escaped any serious injury…but the bike’s shifter for the rear gear set was broken. He was out.
The hills commence…and I just hold a good pace…keeping the heart rate down…and learned that climbing may be my forte…I passed a lot of people on hills…and with not a whole of lot of effort. At about mile 5 or so I must have passed Amber on a hill…and didn’t immediately realize it. About 10 miles later it was to be confirmed by our friend Don who served as a support vehicle. I pull into the aid station at mile 20…to take care of some “over hydration” and refill water bottles…Don told me that Amber was about a mile behind me…and as I leave…she was pulling in. She was doing great…looking strong…and then gave me her blessing to go hammer this course like a monster…and I was off…for the next 40 miles…hills…more hills….keeping a great pace…keeping the heart rate in check. Passing…and occasionally looking back and seeing cyclist trying to stay on my wheel. At mile 63…there is a hill called the Beast…I get there in good order….and notice that no one is riding up it….they were walking there bikes up that hill….then and there I knew that I would not be one of those people…even if I died in the saddle. For nearly a mile…the steepness…it took nearly 5 minutes to get up there…and at the top the heart felt like it was about to explode….as I neared the top…I heard a cyclist who had raced the Beast….shout out “TAKE THAT HILL MARINE.” Breathing was loud…the sweat dripped…and DONE….I tore the gates of hell of it’s hinges and killed the BEAST! Four miles to the finish…and I put it in the big ring and rode it in at 24mph…and averaged 18.1mph for the entire 67 miles. I was elated…felt like I rode well for the first long ride of the year…till then the longest was 2 ½ hours on the trainer. Ok…I have a base to work with now. As for Amber…she finished in a great time and averaged 17.2mph. Michael was a bit scraped up…but nothing serious…and so…we will PRESS ON!
No comments:
Post a Comment