Let’s take a look at the week and day leading up to the
Amish Roubaix before the actual race.
Eric had the flu and down for at least 2 days. Chris was ok for most of the week, until the
end…flu as well & on the day of. I didn’t do anything on the bike for a
week, plus the day before I didn’t really eat much, and had a lot of beer.
Almost threw up the morning of, but not because of the beer. My stomach just
wasn’t doing well. I’m sure the beer and lack of food didn’t help.
Chris slept most of the drive down to Millersburg. Once we
get down there, the smart thing to do at sign in would have been to switch to
the 50k and get the hell out of the 100k…well, we weren’t smart. We line up with the other 100k guys, and from
the looks and talk of others, people were taking this damn thing seriously. So
now I as a guy who just wants to go out and have fun, have to worry about
someone that thinks that they are going to win this. Great…
Right off the start…we’re all in the back and we’re
struggling to just hold on. So that didn’t last for long, as it seemed that
everyone was taking this way too seriously. Headed up the first climb, and we
were by ourselves.
As for myself, as I got over the first major hill at mile 5
I knew something was off. The downhill on the other side was fun, but I should
not have ridden my cross bike because it seemed a little too twitchy on the
downhills. Then as I hit the second big climb around mile 8 I knew what was
wrong…my back started to seize up. It got real tight, and became difficult to
move on the bike. While I was on the flats and downhills, I was fine. But to point
the bike upward with climbs were there was no choice but to stay in the saddle,
because if you stood up you’d wash out…so sit and spin on a tight back it was.
So not a good climbing day at all.
I started to pass others that were having mechanical and
what seemed to be other problems around mile 12. Around mile 15 the 50k guys
started to pass rather quickly like it was a race or something. The last climb
around mile 23 was brutal. Straight up. I caught up to Chis there, and started
to serpentine the hill. My single speed experience comes into play. Cut the
angle of the hill. I rode it much faster than going straight up. Once at the
top, I took off. Seriously…I went like mad. I started catching people, and
blowing right by them. Where was this power at the start?
As I neared the end of the first loop, I knew I couldn’t do
another. It just wasn’t happening, so it was time to head straight for the bar…
Had a few porters at Millersburg brewery, and headed home. Great
course, and a great time. I do think some people out there were taking it much
too serious. And that mentality leads to danger if you are not experienced in
that kind of terrain.
and for Chris' account of the ride:
http://mrbigring.blogspot.com/2015/04/2015-amish-country-roubiax-100k-dnf.html
Looking forward to doing it again next year…
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