2015 was a difficult ride into the heat. I left the
start/finish line as early as possible.
Not too far down the road, Mark and Kurt buzzed by near the Orville Rd.
turn, but I was a bit slow pulling out to catch the group. Once on Orville, I was all alone…snif,
snif. Near the Climb, a group that was
going subsonic speed came by, and I was able to get a little help until the
left turn at the stop. On to Eatonville,
alone, and finally two fellows came by, and I was able to get a little
help. After Eatonville, I rode solo
about half the distance to the food stop past Ashford except I passed another
solo rider who yelled: “Hi Nick.” He was a cardiologist I have known for 20
years, and we helped each other a bit, but when I tried to catch a pace line,
he did not follow me, and when I slowed, I was in no man’s land again until the
food stop. There I saw Mark and Kurt,
and left just ahead of them, but Kurt has really improved, and soon I was alone again as he and Mark zoomed ahead. The climb to the
turn off to Reflection Lakes left me talking to myself again. There I stopped to take a few obligate
pictures, one of which is beautiful.
The descent to Box Canyon was great, then
up and over Backbone Ridge. I was
getting hotter. I rested for 5 minutes
at Ohanapecosh, and added Gatorade powder to the water there. Heading up Cayuse was a bit depressing. I really felt lousy, and the heat was getting
to me. At the water stop, I decided to
get sagged to 410. I’ll bet that process
took about 45 minutes. I tried to hide
my Cyclopath Jersey, but at the top, jumped on my bike and flew down 410 to C.
Mtn. food stop. Met up with Mark D., and
he wanted to leave soon. After scarfing
down a wonderful sandwich and two Cokes, I felt like superman for about 25
minutes, and was able to pull Mark almost to the pace line that had gone past
us when I had to stop to yank my official Cyclopath shorts up to avoid some
discomfort. Mark closed the gap, and I was
doing okay until some back spasms that were originally from my crash on the STP
forced me to stop to stretch out for about ten minutes. I got back on my Madone, finally, and then
rode solo the 3-4 miles to Mud Mtn Dam Road.
On the descent I caught a small group, and another behind me joined,
then I was able to ride on my aerobars at the bottom back to the High School. But I finished! My finish pic is on page 17,411 on the Hovde
Website.
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