Notes
Got it done! Got the t shirt. This weekend I participated in the Elephant Rock Century Ride. As the DR is fast approaching, training has accelerated in earnest. I noted a few weeks ago that they were running this event down in Castle Rock as one of the first large post-Covid rides and decided to sign up.
I got out there later than planned because somehow I forgot my water bottle and had to go back home to retrieve it. At first I thought I would just stop at Safeway and buy a new one but it wasn't open at that hour. Anyway, I made it to the Fairgrounds in good time, making a Starbucks stop on the way. One coffee and 3 vanilla bean scones later and I was off. The event was packed but extremely well organized. They had course monitors and police on all of the roads at the major turns. The first half was a blur. Most of the hills were here, which was good so that you could get past them. The course was advertised as flat or downhill in the 2nd half, but that wasn't true. There were some good rollers on the back end and one incline that seemed to take the life out of people right near the finish. Plenty were walking the last hill. Luckily my Fulgaz training helped me through the elevation change and I did not need to walk the bike here. The entire course was advertised at 6000' gain but my Garmin only recorded 5000'+ so it was a bit less than I wanted. Oh well, it was good time in the saddle and training for the DR.
Weather was perfect. A high overcast and 70s. Still, the sun managed to burn my legs and face a bit. The wind wasn't bad, but the air was a bit drying and dehydrating.
Fueling. I drank 2 entire bottles of water and felt dehydrated. I fueled with a giant bag of peanut M&Ms. LOL. Not ideal but frankly it worked fine for the effort and day. I made one stop at the mile 61 aid station. I must work on fueling and hydrating better for the DR or I will bonk hard.
My HR stayed pretty even and even low for most of the ride. I didn't go full bore but I wasn't slacking either. Since I haven't done 100 miles in a very long time, I was conservative. There weren't too many packs to ride with, however. I tagged along with one for maybe 5 miles but then they pulled off at an aid station and I wanted to keep going. Most of the packs were waay too fast or way too slow. There were groups of 4 or 5 male (and a few female) riders on fancy carbon wheels that just seemed to float by. It was intimidating and cool. Whoosh. "Good job" or "nice work" they would say as they glided past.
When you do a bit of riding you learn to spot the ones who know what they are doing and the ones who are newbies. It is kind of funny. Newbies and more recreational riders (me included) tend to rock on their bikes, sway in the saddle and make all kinds of weird and unneeded movements. The good ones have upper bodies that are stock still. The legs do all of the work. They look...calm and composed. As there were several rides of different lengths going on at the same time, there were plenty of newbies out on the course.
I did play tag with a couple of riders including a girl wearing rainbow socks riding a TT bike. She was pretty quick. Once I got blocked by a group of slow riders. The guy behind me was antsy too, so I rocketed ahead when there was a break in the car traffic. He went with me, and we flew down the road at a good pace for several miles until the next turn. Fun stuff. He thanked me afterwards for the push saying "I needed that."
Note to self. Don't pass a heavy rider if a significant downhill is coming up. That rolling stone will easily re-pass slighter female riders when the grade dips. This happened when I climbed past a big dude with a boom box speaker attached somewhere on his bike. He stormed past me later echoing 80s tunes. Funny.
I had one slight mishap coming around a tight corner. The course monitors called it out too! Somehow I didn't cut it tight enough and rolled off into the gravel on the side of the road. I unclipped but didn't fall so no harm done.
Other interesting things noted. Saw one guy on a recumbent bike and one couple on a tandem. There were a fair number of time trial bikes but mostly road bikes. You could see the mountains off to the West and the plains to the East. The scenery was typical Colorado gorgeous. There were some very rolly sections on the course which were super fun since you could use the downhill to help power the next uphill. The traffic wasn't too bad except for a couple of sections. Some stupid woman yelled obscenties out of her car at me on one of the rural roads. That was a bit shocking and disheartening. Otherwise, the cars seemed to tolerate the event well and gave us lots of space and courtesy. I tried to do the same and was very cautious when I passed anyone to make sure no cars were coming. I used all of the appropriate signals and was cautious at intersections even when the police were directing us through.
All in all, a fun experience. Would definitely do another Roll Massif event in the future.