Road Less Traveled

Drugged Afternoon Ride

GRVL DRMA VI 2025

Tornado Warning Break-in Ride

Afternoon Ride - Xert

After yesterday's "oh crap" moment... I procured a temporary replacement ride for today's event. It would have been nice to be riding my own bike for sure... but better riding something than not riding at all. In honest... the bike performed quite well all things considered. So, I'm happy in a lot of ways.

As for the ride itself... I set off with the notion of following a plan from Best Bike Split (BBS). Unfortunately, I've come to find that 1) BBS does not calculate aerodynamics and rolling resistance properly, and 2) BBS does not take into account the reality of having limited gears available to get up hills.  I already knew about both as issues with BBS. So, when I planned my ride I told BBS the worst of situations and added 10 pounds to the total loadout weight. BBS crunched the numbers and claimed that at an average power of 190W I should be able to complete the course in just under 7 hours.  Well... I put in a lot more than that and was 90 minutes more time to boot.  After about 5 miles of not even coming close to being able to hit the numbers BBS was asking for, I stopped paying attention to it all together and just focused on trying to maintain "reasonable" power on the ride.

That plan worked out well up until about the 3rd rest stop. At that point I was very thirsty despite drinking more than usual and using my drink timer. I chugged a 24oz bottle of gatoraid at the rest stop and hit the road.  That didn't go over so well. That was way too much all at once.  I recovered mostly, but still felt quite thirsty. I kept drinking, but felt I was still behind for some reason. By time I hit the 4th rest stop I noticed I was still sweating, but at a fraction of my normal amount. I wasn't cramped or flush and I was still sweating... so, I didn't think it was heat exhaustion. But I was clearly physically starting to get exhausted. I noticed about that same time that my HR was lower than it normally is for any given power level. I had been running a much higher HR earlier in the day and thus I knew fatigue was setting in on that front at the very least.

The last 20-30 miles I started to get chafing in some interesting places. I started to wonder if I should have brought some extra chamois cream to apply. As a result, I backed off on power a bit. Which is probably a good thing anyway with the HR/fatigue + sweating issue going on. By the end, my back side was feeling like it was on fire. It could be because of the less than perfect bike fit, or it could be something else. Who knows.

The ascent to the summit for the finish line did not feel as awe inspiring and fantastic as I thought it would be. It was more of a feeling like "Thank goodness it's over." I like being able to set the tempo/intensity of a ride and with all the hills in the route that just wasn't possible. And, despite running a 34/50T front and 11-32 cassette, I found myself wanting oh so much more on far too many climbs in the course. I thought the finish was going to be the hard part. It's not. It's just the longest. There were plenty of other climbs which I thought were much harder, albeit shorter.

Getting home, I would say I actually don't feel as sore as I though I would/should for the ride. My shoulders are a little cramped because of not being used to the bike, but a quick massage from the wife mostly fixed that. My legs are sore, but I've honestly had short workouts tax my legs more than this. Running up and down the stairs doesn't hurt at all. But, I can tell I did a ride for sure. Honestly, by butt is whats the most sore out of all of this.

In the end, I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I chose to do the 200km. But, I don't foresee myself coming back to punish myself like this again.

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Craig Haydock

Horribly Hilly Hundred - 200km - 2017

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Road Less Traveled

Drugged Afternoon Ride

GRVL DRMA VI 2025

Tornado Warning Break-in Ride

Afternoon Ride - Xert

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