Reggie and I were unsure if we were going to get to run the 30 mile route for the Big Hill Challenge today due to weather concerns (they were calling for severe thunderstorms during the whole thing at 4am this morning) but we headed out to Watertown to at least get our free T-Shirts. As we got closer to the place we could see washed out roads but the weather seemed to be clearing. After registering and getting our numbers, I got 13 hmmmmm an omen maybe, we headed to the start at the town square.
The event proper was supposed to start at 8am, as we sit about we hear that it was postponed till 9am to allow the weather to clear... I wondered though clear to what? it was dry and looked ok. We start the event at 9am guess what, yup you got it, it started to rain. Ahh well they took the chance.
We were led off by a police escort and as time progressed so did the rain. Within 5 mins it was pouring but we were riding and apart from wiping water from our faces it was fun to be back on the bike. The only problem for me was that my Crank seemed to be squeaking WTH this was my first ride after service and it didn't have this before. I was surprised also that we seemed to be passing people and getting up hills easier than others, I thought we would lag behind. I think if the fates had not conspired to delay us we could have made a good run and finished ahead of quite a few people (maybe!!!). What fates you ask? Well I'm glad to asked *LOL* The first was at the 2nd rest stop, we stopped and I asked the SAG support about the squeak, he took the crank apart and checked out and everything seemed fine. As we are watching him everyone that we had about a 10 minute lead on goes past the stop and don't pull in. I even see one guy that seemed to, like me, have a few pounds extra. He took one look, saw my bike being worked on and pulled straight out of the rest stop, hmm I think he wanted to finish ahead of me *LOL*.
Once again we pull ahead of a few people and are making good time, our second fate was caused by the storms washing debris onto the road. We had just crested the hill when Reggie shouts he has a flat. We pull off and as no one is around we swap the tube for one I had carried. After waiting 10 minutes for people to come up we get a pump and the SAG support arrives. First issue is that the spare we had brought has a puncture probably from removal from Jens or insertion into Reggie's so we needed another tire and after about 20 mins we were off.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful and we came home in a respectable time. Stats of the Race are below the pictures.
The event proper was supposed to start at 8am, as we sit about we hear that it was postponed till 9am to allow the weather to clear... I wondered though clear to what? it was dry and looked ok. We start the event at 9am guess what, yup you got it, it started to rain. Ahh well they took the chance.
We were led off by a police escort and as time progressed so did the rain. Within 5 mins it was pouring but we were riding and apart from wiping water from our faces it was fun to be back on the bike. The only problem for me was that my Crank seemed to be squeaking WTH this was my first ride after service and it didn't have this before. I was surprised also that we seemed to be passing people and getting up hills easier than others, I thought we would lag behind. I think if the fates had not conspired to delay us we could have made a good run and finished ahead of quite a few people (maybe!!!). What fates you ask? Well I'm glad to asked *LOL* The first was at the 2nd rest stop, we stopped and I asked the SAG support about the squeak, he took the crank apart and checked out and everything seemed fine. As we are watching him everyone that we had about a 10 minute lead on goes past the stop and don't pull in. I even see one guy that seemed to, like me, have a few pounds extra. He took one look, saw my bike being worked on and pulled straight out of the rest stop, hmm I think he wanted to finish ahead of me *LOL*.
Once again we pull ahead of a few people and are making good time, our second fate was caused by the storms washing debris onto the road. We had just crested the hill when Reggie shouts he has a flat. We pull off and as no one is around we swap the tube for one I had carried. After waiting 10 minutes for people to come up we get a pump and the SAG support arrives. First issue is that the spare we had brought has a puncture probably from removal from Jens or insertion into Reggie's so we needed another tire and after about 20 mins we were off.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful and we came home in a respectable time. Stats of the Race are below the pictures.
Stats:- - Distance : 30.56 Miles
- Ave Speed : 13.66 mph
- Ave Cadence : 63
- Top Speed : 32.39 mph
- Time Taken : 2hr 13mins 48 secs
Yesterday, we participated in a completely new experience. We didn't know whether we could make 22 miles let alone 30.5 miles! It wasn't the perfect run, but it was very close.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing. We did this as amateurs. We did this without specialized equipment. You didn't have and haven't acclimated to locking pedals. AND it was during a downpour.
ReplyDeleteWe are superheroes.