The Livestrong Philly Century
100 miles of Rain in a high gear
The LAF century was this past Sunday and I finished it! The event was pretty awesome. 6 thousand people were there, raising 3 million dollars, to ride distances between 20 and 100 miles. Lance Armstrong was present and, from what I hear, did the 45 mile distance.
Pennsylvania's rural countryside has humbled me with it's mountains. The ride was obviously physically taxing and intense. I'm still recovering and will probably modify this blog post a bit over the next couple of days.
A Recap
I traveled with a coworker and some of his friends up to Philly Saturday night. After getting our hotel room, we quickly decided to grab a couple beers and make tracks for dinner. I found out Pennsylvania has some pretty draconian alcohol laws that rival anything I have experienced in the south. Seriously, SC or GA could learn a thing or two from PA.
Apparently, you can't purchase beer at any place other than a bar or a "beer store". So, all local restaurants are BYOB. We stopped at a beer store and could only buy beer in cases (around 24 bottles a case). Later on, I found out bars sell 6 packs...go fig.
One case of Yuengling later, we took off to meet up with another coworker, his wife, and brother at a nearby tapas place. The entire group, around 8 people, ordered 3 to 4 tapas per person. In fine tapas dining tradition, we shared our food. Unfortunately, the waiter didn't give us an accurate description of how big our tapas plates were and we ended up over eating.
Sunday, Century Day
We got to the venue on time and split up to stage at our respective start points. Lance did a quick speech thanking participants, commenting on the excellent experiences he's had riding in PA and mentioned some other places LAF is hosting rides are still trying to catch up to the Philly ride's tradition of excellence. Yay Philly.
Out of the gate, I was able to break away and catch up to the pack following Lance. I stayed with them for about 10 miles. I also spent the first couple miles riding along side a guy that was dressed up in Radio Shack kit. I over heard him talking about being on the Tour de France, I haven't identified him yet, but that was an interesting thing that happened.
In any case, the ride was fine until I hit the first series of serious hills. This is where the trouble started.
It's Not Always Sunny in Philly
Days prior to the race, I took my Cannondale into Conte's of Bethesda for a tune up. The technicians were aware of the issues I've had with my SRAM Rival shifter set since purchasing the bike.
The large and small cogs (high/low gears, respectively) haven't been shifting effectively. It's obviously the front derailleur wimping out on me.
Normally, I commute to work and school on my Cannondale Synapse ~60-80 miles a month. Staying in the high gear isn't too much of a problem for DC, but, hitting those hills in PA was brutal.
With my shifters sticking into gear, I stuck to it. After the first 45 miles, I had severely exhausted my quads.
Between the 45 mile marker and the 50 mile marker, was a very slowly ascending grade of hill side. I'll admit. The hill broke me. I had to prematurely unclip from my bike and take a breather before picking up and pushing up the hill.
I made it to the 50 mile marker and took a pretty long break as sheets of rain poured all around the rest area tents. Then it was off to the finish line!
Everyone loves an Arrogant Bastard
Throughout the course of the ride, the Arrogant Bastard Ale jersey I sported got a lot of positive feedback. A couple people asked where it was brewed, if I was going to nab one post race, that type of thing. At the end of my ride, the announcer also made a quick note of my jersey. Guess he's a fan of San Diego brew.
That about wraps her up
The distance was intense, but pile on a troubled shifter set and that sort of exponentially increased the "challenge". Descending at 35+ mph, combined with the shoddy technician work, I was a bit concerned for my safety.
Normally, I ride with a group in Haymarket, VA through Shenadoah Valley. So, I'm no stranger to this type of terrain. Considering the poor riding conditions, the hair pin turns, and large number of accidents I rolled by, I had some serious concerns about the safety of my equipment.
On the flip side, the right knee injury that I've been trying to best has finally been mastered! A bright bit of insight that hit me prior to the century. I've been under the impression for some months now that the right pedal on my Cannondale was too tight. Loosening up the clip prior to the ride spared my knee from the the pain that I've encountered after 10 or so miles on the Cannondale.
The ride is done and now I'm recovering in preparation for the Olympic distance at this year's Nations Triathlon.
The LAF century was this past Sunday and I finished it! The event was pretty awesome. 6 thousand people were there, raising 3 million dollars, to ride distances between 20 and 100 miles. Lance Armstrong was present and, from what I hear, did the 45 mile distance.
Pennsylvania's rural countryside has humbled me with it's mountains. The ride was obviously physically taxing and intense. I'm still recovering and will probably modify this blog post a bit over the next couple of days.
A Recap
I traveled with a coworker and some of his friends up to Philly Saturday night. After getting our hotel room, we quickly decided to grab a couple beers and make tracks for dinner. I found out Pennsylvania has some pretty draconian alcohol laws that rival anything I have experienced in the south. Seriously, SC or GA could learn a thing or two from PA.
Apparently, you can't purchase beer at any place other than a bar or a "beer store". So, all local restaurants are BYOB. We stopped at a beer store and could only buy beer in cases (around 24 bottles a case). Later on, I found out bars sell 6 packs...go fig.
One case of Yuengling later, we took off to meet up with another coworker, his wife, and brother at a nearby tapas place. The entire group, around 8 people, ordered 3 to 4 tapas per person. In fine tapas dining tradition, we shared our food. Unfortunately, the waiter didn't give us an accurate description of how big our tapas plates were and we ended up over eating.
Sunday, Century Day
We got to the venue on time and split up to stage at our respective start points. Lance did a quick speech thanking participants, commenting on the excellent experiences he's had riding in PA and mentioned some other places LAF is hosting rides are still trying to catch up to the Philly ride's tradition of excellence. Yay Philly.
Out of the gate, I was able to break away and catch up to the pack following Lance. I stayed with them for about 10 miles. I also spent the first couple miles riding along side a guy that was dressed up in Radio Shack kit. I over heard him talking about being on the Tour de France, I haven't identified him yet, but that was an interesting thing that happened.
In any case, the ride was fine until I hit the first series of serious hills. This is where the trouble started.
It's Not Always Sunny in Philly
Days prior to the race, I took my Cannondale into Conte's of Bethesda for a tune up. The technicians were aware of the issues I've had with my SRAM Rival shifter set since purchasing the bike.
The large and small cogs (high/low gears, respectively) haven't been shifting effectively. It's obviously the front derailleur wimping out on me.
Normally, I commute to work and school on my Cannondale Synapse ~60-80 miles a month. Staying in the high gear isn't too much of a problem for DC, but, hitting those hills in PA was brutal.
With my shifters sticking into gear, I stuck to it. After the first 45 miles, I had severely exhausted my quads.
Between the 45 mile marker and the 50 mile marker, was a very slowly ascending grade of hill side. I'll admit. The hill broke me. I had to prematurely unclip from my bike and take a breather before picking up and pushing up the hill.
I made it to the 50 mile marker and took a pretty long break as sheets of rain poured all around the rest area tents. Then it was off to the finish line!
Everyone loves an Arrogant Bastard
Throughout the course of the ride, the Arrogant Bastard Ale jersey I sported got a lot of positive feedback. A couple people asked where it was brewed, if I was going to nab one post race, that type of thing. At the end of my ride, the announcer also made a quick note of my jersey. Guess he's a fan of San Diego brew.
That about wraps her up
The distance was intense, but pile on a troubled shifter set and that sort of exponentially increased the "challenge". Descending at 35+ mph, combined with the shoddy technician work, I was a bit concerned for my safety.
Normally, I ride with a group in Haymarket, VA through Shenadoah Valley. So, I'm no stranger to this type of terrain. Considering the poor riding conditions, the hair pin turns, and large number of accidents I rolled by, I had some serious concerns about the safety of my equipment.
On the flip side, the right knee injury that I've been trying to best has finally been mastered! A bright bit of insight that hit me prior to the century. I've been under the impression for some months now that the right pedal on my Cannondale was too tight. Loosening up the clip prior to the ride spared my knee from the the pain that I've encountered after 10 or so miles on the Cannondale.
The ride is done and now I'm recovering in preparation for the Olympic distance at this year's Nations Triathlon.
posted by ct @ 7:52 AM
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