For the last two months I've been preparing for this ride. I've done rides of 70-80 miles every weekend with rides of 25-30 miles during the week. Some of the longer rides being as much as 40% gravel. But nothing I did prepared me for the hills that the Red River Valley had to dish out. Kevin had said he wanted the course to be as scenic and tough as possible and I think he succeeded on both counts. I went in feeling pretty fit and ready but found myself pushing my bike up several hills that were extremely long and crazy steep. Maybe I rode too hard the week before; maybe I could've run thinner/lighter tires; maybe I was carrying more gear than I needed; but after 68 miles of gravel, wind, and hills I was done. I never really thought I could pull off the full 130 mile route but I was pretty sure I could handle 100, boy was I wrong. I was happy to finish the 68 mile leg and more than happy to call it a day at that point. I'll definitely give it another shot next year, better prepared with the lessons I learned from this year, and a goal in mind of completing the entire distance.
1 comment:
Good work out there! Don't stop now, there's a summer Smurf-boy Series of long mountain bike races, then the TMBRA marathon series... that'll get ya ready for the full distance!
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