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09-19-06, 08:27 AM

#51

Sandwarrior

Bent Ryder

Join Date: Jul 2006

Location: Aurora Colorado

Posts: 546

Bikes: Bachetta Agio

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Quote:

Originally Posted by starship

Don't feel bad, I have worked 12 hour shifts all weekend. I'm doing my ride tomorrow. Although I expect pecan pie, not blueberry.

I had to work Friday through Sunday, 12 hour shifts too. I thought I would be able to manage a short ride Saturday night, but by the time I got home from work, the winds were gusting to 60 mph. So I saved my PIE ride for Monday.

I haven’t figured out yet how to edit my pictures down to the 100 k limit imposed by the forum. Otherwise I would have taken the camera on my ride.

My plan was to do a Century in honor of my Sister-in-Law Pam, who is recovering from her 4th bought with Chemotherapy. My extended family and my Beloved had a “celebrate Pam” day on Sunday, and since I couldn’t be there to celebrate with them, I decided that a century would be a really good way to honor her.

I did a pretty good job of prepping for the trip, but at the last minute added something (and now I can’t for the life of me remember what it was) to my backpack and then forgot to repack my baggy of 12 raspberry fig newtons. I think that made a BIG difference as the end of the ride came along.

I rode down the Highline canal trail, to Cherry Creek North and took my first break at the children’s museum just past REI. I had some serious thoughts about getting my PIE there, but since I was pressed for time, I decided against it. After a 10 minute break, I headed south along the Platte River trail to Chatfield reservoir. 37 miles so far, average speed 17.3 mph. Not bad for me on my new “bent”. The Aspens are turning colors and it was such a beautiful ride. No wind, light cloud cover and the temp was hovering somewhere in the low 60’s. I got buzzed by a Hawk; I guess I spoiled an attack run he was making on a squirrel. I came to within 20 feet of a fox. It had a HUGE tail, bright red with a white tip. I had no mechanical problems on the ride, although I broke the top off of the presta valve on my front tire. When I started out, I thought I might have tire problems along the way, so I brought an extra inner tube just in case. No sweat and no flats. I went through 150 oz of Gatorade, and four protein bars. I missed my fig newtons. Once I got back on the Highline Canal trail for the return ride, my average speed dropped considerably (15.2) It is a hard packed dirt trail, and with the rains last week, wasn’t so “hard”. I had to be home by 4 pm so I could do some recovery, get cleaned up, and go pick up my Granddaughter at 5. I hit Expo Park at 2:45pm, and realized that some how I had managed to miscalculate the distance. I was going to be 20 miles short of my intended century. I thought that if I could maintain 15 mph around the perimeter of the park, I could still get the distance. By the time I hit the 4th lap; I was unable to keep the 15mph average and knew I would have to cut the ride short. I was really beginning to feel the affects of not having those fig newtons. By the time I climbed the last hill to my house, I could barely maintain 9 mph, I was bonking. So I finished the ride, 13.2 miles short of the century. Sorry Pam that I didn’t make it all the way, but it was a great ride none the less. Weather permitting, I will try again on Saturday, and ride the Sand creek trail to get that extra 20 miles in (and I will take the camera).

I celebrated the ride with more of the stroganoff, a piece of blackberry pie, and a Sam Adams (Hefewiesen) beer (the beer came after Dad picked up my Granddaughter).

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