Long solo ride

We had a previous engagement so I was not around to participate in a TWAF training ride this weekend. As a result I was left to my own devices. We were to attend a party in Concord Saturday evening so I figured I would leave a little early and ride my bike there while the Boss drove down with the kids. The weather, as usual was wet. In fact it started raining during the night and when I woke up to get ready there was a consistent drizzle. I saddled up and got moving about 7:30 with a goal of riding there in about 5 1/2 hours. I figured it was about 80 miles, but I was solo. No one to draft behind, pull me along or keep me motivated. It left me to the music on my MP3 and the screen on my Garmin Edge 305.

I made it to my first pit stop in Moultonboro (32 miles) in good time and I was happy with how I felt. My next planned stop was supposed to be at the Irving in New Hampton. Instead at about the 47 mile mark I ran across a scene of an accident and they did not do a good job with the clean up. What I initially thought was small bit of fresh black top was actually a bunch of little pieces of tinted auto glass. I thought I made it through and then I felt that familiar wobble in the back end and knew I was flat. It was still pouring out and I was loving life. I pulled off the side of the road and stared to change the tube and reinflate the new one. After about 10 minutes I was back rolling along. As an aside I have now had 2 flats with the Continental GP2000 tires and while I like the way they handle they appear to be prone to flats.

I was only a few miles form pit stop #2 in New Hampton at the 50 mile mark. I hit the bathroom and spent a few minutes trying to clean up from the tire change and clean a little road grime off me. I got another Red Bull, topped off the water bottles with some more Gatorade, had a power gel and I was rolling again. This put me about 30 miles from the destination. I rode over to Rt 132 and headed South and the rain subsided. It was nice and as I moved south the roads began to dry off as well. The terrain was nice and hilly and the road was just redone.

I was still feeling pretty solid as the miles ticked off. AS I hit the 70 mile mark and figured I was in the home stretch I came upon a sign I did not like. DETOUR ahead. What did that mean? I wanted to ride up to the construction site and see if I could sneak through as I was afraid I would end up with a lengthy additional stretch I was not really excited about. I called the support team and asked them for some help and they checked the map and told me that the road I was looking at for the detour was not on it. GREAT!!! Well I figured I might as well start riding and hope for the best. I was pleasantly surprised after about 3 miles when I connected with a familiar road that took me back to the planned rout. Probably only an extra 2 miles out of the way. At this point I was only 4 miles til the end. I was looking at the GPS and starting to run numbers in my head. How far was this and how fast was I averaging, etc...so as I pulled into the driveway in Concord I was pleasantly surprised with the ride and the results.

For 81.57 miles, I had a total time from door to door of 5:15 with a rolling time of 4:32. I averaged 18 mph and climbed 5,363 feet. Not bad as I did a little better speed wise than the century we did a few weeks ago and I was alone this time.

Another long one in the bank and only about a month to go.

JJ