Saturday turned out to be a
brutal ride. Much harder than the Sierra Metric Century, and much harder than I was expecting. It was about 3 miles shorter, but a little over 1000' more climbing. Only about 9 people showed up for the ride and now I know why. It is indeed the hardest ride on the Folosom Cycling Group's calendar. I was #2 to the top of the first & 2nd big climbs, but after that my knee was shot and I was struggling to survive. We started in the usual spot in Folsom at 7AM then climbed up Salmon Falls Rd. to Pilot Hill, then down 49 a bit and up one of the steepest climbs I have ever done. This road called Prospector was BRUTAL. There were no breaks, 2.3 miles @ almost 9% average. Some spots were waaaay steeper. One psycho guy rode it in a 53x25 gear, I don't know how or why, but he did it, somehow... It was totally exposed, brutally hot, and I was just waiting for a buzzard circling above to come pick me off. At the top we filled up water bottles at a local fire station. Then there was more climbing on Marshall Rd. all the way up to Georgetown and more refueling. The 9 mile descent down Marshall Rd was fast, scary & fun. It was basically as fast as you dare to go, but you dare not look at your computer on this descent. I was on & off the brakes nearly the whole time and due to the heat & constant braking began to fear a Joseba Beloki incident.. Felt the tires wobble a little in one corner and that was enough to slow me down even more. The last right hand corner is marked at 25 for cars, and you better not go too much faster that that on your bike either.... The raod was smooth but had a lot of vibration due to the chip seal as opposed to smooth asphalt. From here more brutal climbing on Lotus Road over to Rescue and then Green Valley Road all the way back to Folsom. After changing my flat I limped back into Folsom at 1:34 PM.
This ride would be much better suited for a nice spring or fall day with crisp cool air. It was just waaay to friggin hot to be out there that long. Not to mention that my knee was acting up and I had to actually walk up a couple of the climbs near the end of the day. Ahh the joys of cycling and punishing ourselves so much that we swear we'll never do it again, but deep down can't wait to get back on the bike again another day!
Some random stats:
# of Large waterbottles with sports drink consumed: 12
# of Gu's slurped: 6
# of Granola bars: 1
# of
Endurolytes popped: 6 (I'm convinced these things saved my ass!)
# of Advils popped: 6
# of sodas slammed: 1
# of V8s slammed: 1
# of flats for me: 1
# of dead deer: 2
# of dead skunks: 3
# of dead rotting carcasses unable to id smelled beyond rank: many
# of kcals burnes: 3974
# of flat tires (in the group): 3
# of people who nearly passed out from the heat: 1
Low Temp: 62
Ave Temp: 86
High Temp:
114 <--- HOLY SHIT THAT'S HOTClick the thumbnail below for a larger image of my Polar graph.
