Distance: 79.29 miles
Elevation gain: 2,104 feet
Avg speed: 15.3 mph
Max speed: 35.7 mph
Moving time: 5:11:17
Today was our first truly bad weather of the tour. It was funny, because in our morning briefing Paula mentioned that the first segment is her absolute FAVORITE part of the entire ride, and gave a great explanation as to why. Unfortunately, it was in this first segment (which WAS otherwise beautiful) where the skies opened up on us!
Anyway, for ME at least, it was the weather that provided today’s challenge. By the way, my flat count is up to 5 for the trip. I brought 7 spare tubes with me. So one more flat and I’ll have to start buying spare tubes from Crossroads. (Before the tour, they had us submit information about our bikes, which included the size of our tires. They have a supply of spare tubes AND Gatorskins tires available for purchase at their cost, should we need them.)
I think somewhere around 20 miles into the ride, it started to pour. And, of course, it was a COLD downpour. This introduced SEVERAL challenges: being soaking wet, being cold, and poor visibility, ESPECIALLY for those of us who wear glasses!
I’m going to backtrack a bit here. If you watch today’s video, you can skip over this part. This morning, I signed out before the briefing, and headed out as soon as the briefing was done. This actually worked very well for me, as I was able to ride my pace without feeling like I need to keep up with the rest of the group. My pace is a bit slower than the rest of the riders in my group, so I found this strategy to be perfect. I think I’m going to try it again tomorrow. Another part of my strategy today was not to let myself become too comfortable at the first SAG stop. While my fellow riders mostly went inside for coffee or hot chocolate to warm up, I instead chose to get back out into the elements as quickly as possible. This too worked extremely well for me, but for a different reason - it gave me time at the second SAG stop to change a tube that had gotten punctured by one of those little wires we keep finding on the shoulder of I-40.
Ok, if you are going to watch the video, you can continue reading here. I looked up tomorrow’s route, and it looks like we will NOT be riding on the Interstate tomorrow. WOO HOO! I’m NOT going to say anything about flats tomorrow though, as I don’t want to jinx anything.
Speaking of tomorrow, it looks like tomorrow will be another climbing day. It also brings us to our second rest day. I am SO looking forward to sleeping in on that day!
And, of course, here are my favorite pictures from today, in no particular order:
And, of course, today’s video:
Bye for now - see you tomorrow!
Gotta ride with you someday! I love your YouTube comment that you're the slowest of the fast and fastest of the slow. Me too - I always describe myself as a mediocre rider based on the same definition. Fun to watch your Tubes - maybe put a few more normal speed bits on to get a sense of the places you're in. Even the most boring places in a car are much more interesting at bicycle speed.
ReplyDeleteThat would be fun! If you're ever in New Jersey (particularly in the northern part of the state), let me know!
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