Saturday, April 11, 2009

I knew ahead of time that the route would be challenging because Coach Maria was leading the ride this Saturday.  In addition it was raining.  We arrived at our new starting location in the rain.  We were originally scheduled for a 65 mile ride, but Coach Maria cut it down to 55 miles due to rain.  We thought about cancelling, but Coach Marc and Coach Maria decided that we really needed at least one training ride in the rain in case it rains on event day.  It was still cold at 8:30am, and I switched out one of my lighter layers for a heavier winter weight base layer.  I was really nervous about riding in a heavy rain.

Our new start location also puts us on a hill right out of the gate.  The past two times I’ve attempted this hill were difficult for me.  I walked the first time, made it up the first hill the second time, but had to walk up the two hills right after the turn at the top.  I psyched myself out for all the things I was feeling this morning before the ride.  I’ve been training and have improved and I told myself I could do it without any problems.

I started out and made the left onto the hill.  I was doing well, and I made it to the top without difficulty, I turned right and was also able to make it up the next two hills without difficulty.  Coach Maria was riding alongside me and I told her that the last time I tried this hill trio I had such difficulty that Coach Natasha asked me if I wanted to reconsider riding Tahoe and ride Montauk instead.  I was pretty pleased with myself, and Coach Maria said she loved hearing about improvements like that.

Early in the ride I noticed several things about riding in the rain.  Despite my water repellent outer layers, constant non stop rain is very challenging.  Nothing really has a chance to dry out, so over time your layers become water logged.  My eyewear was getting raindrops on it and I had to periodically wipe it down.  The helmet cover I was wearing was getting water logged and starting to drip on my face.  I’d have to adjust my helmet at the first rest stop.  I didn’t have shoe covers for my whole foot, so I was wearing toe covers and wool socks.  Very early on, my feet were soaked and my feet began getting really cold.  I noticed the same thing with my hands.  My gloves were water logged and I had to take them off and wring them out several times.

My core was warm, and I continued riding.  As we rode into some familiar territory I noticed myself doing better on some of the hills that were approaching.  I knew later on in the ride the hills would get more challenging because we were headed up to Round Valley Reservoir and State Park.  These were mountains more than hills, and I was a bit anxious.

Our first rest stop was at mile 16.1, and after stopping, I noticed that I was almost soaked through and because of a very cold wind I was getting really cold.  Coach Marc asked if anyone wanted to turn back, but we decided to move ahead.  I didn’t want to stop for long because I was really cold, so I headed out as soon as I could to warm up.  It takes a long time to warm up in a cold wind when you’re soaking wet from cold rain.  I kept thinking about warm Caribbean beaches and sunshine to try and warm up.

We shortly crossed Route 22 on our way up to Round Valley, and the steady incline helped me warm up. I noticed several of my teammates stopping on the side of the road along with Coach Marc and Coach Allison.  Everyone was soaked through and very cold.  Coach Marc called Coach Maria who was several minutes behind us to advise that he was going to cut the route short and not take us up the Round Valley Mountain.  He was a bit worried about several teammates riding ahead of us, but trusted that they were strong riders and would be ok.  His main concerns were that the cold from the elevation and the rain would cause hypothermia on the downhill and he felt that it was just too dangerous for the team.  He took us up a bit to turn left away from the mountain and shortened the route by about 10 miles.  As we moved away from the mountain he had us look behind us to see the climb we would have been on and promised that we would do the Round Valley Route again before event day and in better weather.

Much of the team stayed together on the ride back.  Due to the shortened route, we picked up the turn away from the mountain at mile 28.5.

Some of us were going to stop at the next rest stop at mile 39.4, but Coach Marc indicated that the hills following the rest stop were going to be challenging.  I was already too cold and too wet to stop again so I continued on and thought my teammates would catch up to me as I still slow down considerably on big inclines. 

There was a strong, cold headwind up into the Bedminster hills on the way back to our starting location, and I was a little disheartened riding alone in the rain.  I followed along with the route sheet and noticed I had some real trouble braking at a four way stop sign at mile 48.9 on the route sheet.  My feet were so cold, I could hardly feel them, and the road approaching the stop sign was rough and wet.

I kept watching my heart rate and my breathing the remainder of the route and kept thinking warm thoughts.  Only two of my teammates were at the park when I arrived.

I quickly jumped into my car, turned it on for some heat, and pulled out dry clothes from my bag.  I can’t remember the last time I tried changing clothes in the back seat of my car, so I started laughing to myself.  Once I had on dry clothes, I secured my bike to the rack, marked myself checked in for Coach Marc and then sat a good 20 minutes in the warm car until the cold shakes subsided.  I had something to eat and some warm coffee in a thermos from the morning.

Some more of my teammates arrived as I was warming up, and they were just as soaked and cold, but happy to be finished.

I thought about Coach Natasha’s email regarding riding in the rain from the night before.  She had mentioned that properly clothed and trained, riding in the rain could be quite exhilarating.

I hadn’t an ounce of exhilaration on the road during the ride, the total miles for the day were 44, and this was my first all out ride in the rain.  I kept an average 12.1 mph for the entire ride and finished in less than 4 hours.  I was cold and tired, but on the ride home, I started feeling really good about the ride.  I had accomplished something that I’d never done before and I had been successful. I was laughing at myself at being both successful and crazy enough to ride in the rain and once again realized just how big this century ride is for me.  It’s an amazing thing for any human body to complete, and over the last few months, I have gotten stronger and better and more confident.  The TNT training has helped me so much personally and I am so grateful to all the coaches and my teammates.  I was particularly happy about the challenging hills I’d overcome and the fact that I didn’t have to stop and walk a hill at all, and I’m starting to  think that perhaps I’ll be ready for Round Valley when we do the route again. 

I learned that more layers in constant rain are better, rain steals your body heat and once you’re soaked it’s hard to warm up.  I also learned that I need to get proper whole shoe covers, not ride too close to teammate rear wheels to avoid spray back, stay away from passing cars as well because of the spray.  Riding in the rain gets you really dirty and gritty as well.  I’ll have to wash my bicycle this week before next week’s ride, and talk to the maintenance guys at my bicycle shop about degreasing and oiling the gears and chains after I wash my bike.  I also have to take the next bicycle maintenance class so I know how to do this stuff for myself.

By the time I got home, I was warmed up and happy for the experience.  All in all it was both a challenging and successful ride for me.

 Sunday's ride was cancelled due to the Easter Holiday.