E-Rock 2K8

First century of the summer, done. We rode Elephant Rock yesterday, a beautiful rolling course from Castle Rock down to Colorado Springs and back. It started out f-f-freezing - and of course I tried to be manly, and not wear arm or leg warmers. I didn't want to carry them when it was 85 degrees as forecasted. Idiot. I didn't get warm until about mile 55. The first 20 miles were very difficult - we had a head wind the whole and the rolling hills just seemed like mountains. This was also the area where the people riding 50 and 65 mile rides were riding with the 100 milers. There were a lot of very inexperienced riders in this group, there were people walking their bikes up the first roller at mile 3. What?!? I'm not trying to be elitist here, but I'm sorry, if you are walking your bike by mile 3, then maybe you're a wee-bit under-trained. Call me naive, call me elitist, but please walk on the side of the road instead of in the shoulder where everyone else is climbing.

We kept trucking, and I have a lot to say in a later rant, but we were riding with a group of 6, and stayed together for most of the ride. Brandon and I started to pull away at about 30 miles in, and we pushed pretty hard through a very pretty section of the Black Forest (didn't see any dragons or fairies). We both dropped into aero and were holding about 26-30 mph through some very fast roads - this into a headwind. This is when I started to get restless, we started having to wait for the rest of our group at the aid stations, and my knee started to get cold and tight. I was trying to keep stretching, as I really wanted to ride with everyone. It only would take about 5 minutes or so to get everyone together - but having all 6 people need to pee, eat, stretch, talk, make fun of each other, etc - started to rack up some time. So at mile 60, Brandon and I split off and went ahead of the group to finish up. From mile 0-60, we spent 1h 24m at the rest stops, from mile 61-100, Brandon and I spent 8m at rest stops. We hammered. There was a time when I looked down, we were coming down a slight decline, tailwind, fresh pavement, riding aero, and Brandon and I just chatting a bit - at 47 mph. I decided that we should probably focus on not dying, and we just hammered 10 miles in literally 11 minutes. Like I said - hammering. We left the group at 11:45, and finished just before 2, so just over 2 hours for the last 40 or so miles - not bad. My legs felt great, except for the BRUTAL climb at mile 93, thanks for that one race organizers. We finished in 5:56:38 or something like that, ride time that is. Total time out was more than that. We hung out at the post-race fest, Brandon won a car bike rack in the raffle (I missed out on a women's cruiser - dang...). They had BBQ and pasta salad for the post-race spread - that poor BBQ Beef Sandwich had no chance. It was gone in about 4 bites. I went outside to just see what running would feel like after that long, and it kind of felt okay...uh oh.

Here is where I need to rant a second. What the hell ever happened to bike etiquette? First, no one, I mean NO ONE was announcing themselves. Is 'on your left' really hard to say? Must have been, because I almost got into 3 different wrecks because as I said 'on your left' and got ready to pass, some jerk off would come cruising by without a peep. I actually ran into some dude, and the prick got mad at me! I even looked, didn't see him because he was sucking on my wheel, and moved to pass. He somehow got right next to me and almost caused a big wreck. Dumbass. Next, headphones are illegal in these races, no? I watched a guy just about get killed as he was passing, and at least 38 of us where yelling 'car back!!!!' as he moved to pass. He was completely oblivious. I passed a lot of people with headphones that jumped when I passed - after calling 'on your left'. If you can't hear me when I'm right behind you, take your f'in headphones out so you don't die or get someone else killed. Lastly, if cyclists want respect on the road, they HAVE to start giving it. I was shocked to see how many people were just walking in the middle of busy roads at the aid stations. Cars were just sitting and waiting for people to clear the road. I saw 2 dudes just standing in the middle of the road having a conversation, oblivious to whether any cars were coming or even other cyclists for that matter. I'm all about these rides being fun and chatting w/ your buddies, etc, but if you have a complete lack of awareness as all of these jerk-offs did, then get the hell of the road and go back to 24 Hour Fitness, your spin class is about to start.

Done.

E