--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For grins, an exchange from earlier this week:
IvaHawk: "Bearpond it is.
"BTW, if you all wonder where Tito is this weekend, he is riding with an old friend of his who tries to ride his age each year. This year he is 64. If one were to graft distance vs ability on such an activity, one would see diverging lines. It will be tough for him to do the century when the time comes."
Snarky Guy: "I think I might be able to deal with being on the receiving end of 'graft'.
"However, a two-dimensional 'graph' of distance vs. ability would give a single 'line' for each individual since 'distance' would be on one axis and 'ability' would be on the other axis.
"Each person would have a different line because of differing abilities and differing rates of 'ability acquisition' when young and 'ability loss' when older. However, each individual line, although requiring a different mutli-dimensional formula to define the line, would have the same general shape ... that is, all lines would have the appearance of an inverted U, since ability at age 0 would be 0, and abilty at age of death would return to zero, and in between, one hopes that ability would be greater than zero.
"Isn't math humor absolutely hillarious!"
IvaHawk: "I think I just got a F in English and Math! ha ha."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The response to the prospect of doing the Mayo Lake 100-miler was underwhelming. Only Robert and the Hawk were mildly interested.
Lt. Dave inquired about possible short-cuts. With a route that narrow, the answer was ... "yes". (I can think of a 50-miler, a 56-miler, a 66-miler, and an 82-miler off the top of my head.) Robert and IvaHawk quickly bailed on the prospect of riding a hundred miles ... they suggested that I could "pedal on" solo and go as far as I desired.
Wait a minute, I thought, If I'm doing a 100-miler solo, I would rather do the Middleburg route (ignore the lack of elevation data -- "veloroutes" seems to have developed a problem in certain situations) as it is easier and I haven't done it yet this year (see here, and read between the lines). A little more thought ... and it was decided to do the Bearpond-Bobbitt route (there is a link on the "route scroll" to the right):
And I announced that if I was feeling good on the way back, I would try to accomplish something I had never been able to do before:
Complete a 100k+ ride at an avg pace of 17+ mph.
I had been well-past 100k and averaging 17+ mph several times previously, but something always intervened. Sometimes it was the "Ghoston-Peed-MVC" finish. One time last year the Mallet managed to pull his foot off his pedal and stick into his wheel between a couple spokes when he tried to respond at a CL I was trying to sneak (soft pedaling a couple miles waiting for Paul and others to catch up torpedo'ed the 17+ mph pace).
This time I figured I would substitute the much easier "New Light / Six Forks - Pleasant Union Ch Rd" finish if I was close (just above) 17 mph. No one stuck their foot through their spokes (and hey, during an impromptu, instant conspiracy moment, IvaHawk and I managed to get the Franklin CL just south of Bobbitt for Iva - a much better result than a previous elaborately planned campaign - also a better result (because it took less planning and fewer people to pull off than another previous attempt to gift Iva a CL ) than another previous CL conspiracy). No other problems popped up.
Well, the leading six riders did speed off into the headwind leaving me and a very tired Iva to try to get home and maintain the 17+ avg we'd built up during the earlier stages of the ride. That was almost a problem. And Iva might be able to confirm that I said some nasty things about some "friends".
But I got my first ever 17+ mph finish to a 100k+ ride, and I have talked to half the "speedy six", and ... except for the above paragraph, I'm following MikeD's advice (see the first paragraph if you are confused).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sep-25:
PUE: Bearpond-Bobbitt; 72.3 m.; 4 hrs, 10 min in-motion time; 17.3 mph.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _(currently slotting in at third fastest ride of the year; behind a Jun-30 33-miler and a Sep-21 30-miler)
Q-1 tot: 16 rides; __938.2 m.; _60 hrs, 39 min; 15.5 mph.
Q-2 tot: 31 rides; 2,263.3 m.; 151 hrs, 29 min; 14.9 mph.
Ju1 tot: 13 rides; __786.9 m.; _52 hrs, 36 min; 15.0 mph.
Aug tot: _9 rides; __649.9 m.; _40 hrs, 45 min; 15.9 mph.
Sep tot: 13 rides; __783.9 m.; _58 hrs, 18 min; 13.4 mph.
YTD tot: 82 rides; 5,422.2 m.; 364 hrs, 02 min; 14.9 mph.
I must say that today it was hard for me. Was it my earlier in the week hard work, the early high pace, the late in the ride head winds, or low bio-rhythms. Whatever it was, this was the most constant pain I've been in for a ride of this distance that I can recall. My legs hurt from the get go. Later, at home they were cramping up. If this were golf, I shot a 94 today. I shot an 82 at Tour de Moore. Oh well, there are good days and bad days. Congrats Martin on your 17+ average. And, I was impressed with the fast six today. Iva P.S. next time remember to bring your donations for Tito for his Guatemala young bike riders.
ReplyDelete@ Iva -
ReplyDeleteDon't be too impressed with the fast six. Reports suggest that five of the six "ran out of gas" before PUE.
We know that neither BobH nor Norris was "all-there" from the git-go. Levi ran out of "juice" a few miles before Grissom. And Robert and Lee were apparently "flagging" before reaching Ghoston.
Only "Mountain Boy" Lt. Dave seemed to have come through the day unscathed. (At least that's what he told me when I dropped by his garage to collect my back-up headlight {in case I need it next week for the Morrisville 200 km brevet} and to "discuss" whether "the group has decided to ride faster than I can go". That last quote being pulled from an LT e-mail from about 6 weeks ago. Saturday LT was part of "the group" instead of the "I"). \:nod-knowingly:\