EPIC TRAINING SYSTEMS
Endure, Excel, Achieve
2010 San Diego 300km Brevet page 3
We help athletes
achieve their goals
to win, race, or be
fit, and to discover
for themselves our
passion for cycling.
achieve their goals
to win, race, or be
fit, and to discover
for themselves our
passion for cycling.
MILE 76.5 DYE ROAD-- It felt like I had a tailwind so I pushed hard to take advantage of it. Rain rain and more rain. MILE 84.2 OLD JULIAN HWY-- (See profile) One of my favorite roads in San Diego County. It avoids the heavy and fast traffic of Hwy 78. It's a rolling climb with good pavement. I felt OK but the miles and being wet for five hours was starting to get old. The winds were starting to pick up and the rain was steady now. I was getting cold but since I was climbing it wasn't so bad. MILE 90.3 JUNCTION TO HWY 78-- This is when things started to go bad. The winds were really strong with no specific direction which then made the rain come at you in all directions it seemed. I was getting really cold. I had been thoroughly soaked on and off for hours but the colder temps and the winds were really bad at elevation. There are lots of open spaces as you near Santa Ysabel and the wind can be brutal in the high plains. MILE 96.1 SANTA YSABEL CP#2— (See profile) I had reached the turn-around in 6 hours which was my goal. 96 miles and approximately 7,000 feet of climbing DONE! I was happy with my progress considering the weather conditions. Tom and Tina Reynolds were at this checkpoint with that now famous soup of hers. I only had one objective-- check-in and get down from elevation. Santa Ysabel is at 3,000 feet. I was offered soup and the warmth of Dudley's Bakery but I declined and rolled out as soon as possible. There was no way I was going to spend any time in Santa Ysabel. My stop was less than 4 minutes. Tom wanted to take a picture so I posed and quickly got back on my bike. I remember this lady getting out of her car and her coat and billowing in the wind. She was struggling to get from her car in the parking lot to the front door of the bakery. She yelled out "you're going to ride your bike in this weather?" I responded "I've BEEN riding in this weather!" She must have thought I was nuts! That's OK most people think I'm nuts for doing Ultras. MILE 101.9 OLD JULIAN HWY-- (See profile mirror image) The 12 mile out and back section of Hwy 78 was definitely the worst section of the ride for me. From mile 90.3 to 101.9 I was drenched to the bone. The wind and the cold was unbearable. I was suffering but I needed to get down from elevation. Old Julian Hwy is a curvy fast descent. I couldn't enjoy because the wind and the rain and the uncontrollable shivers I had. Words can not express I terrible I felt. MILE 111.3 MAIN STREET RAMONA-- In every race I feel there are defining moments. They are moments of crucial importance and how you handle them decides your fate. They are moments when you have to radically change what you are doing "or die on the vine". Every ride has a few of them and this ride was no exception. Some defining moments are positive-- like pulling yourself inside out to catch a faster rider or paceline and now you are in "the winning break". Some however are truly a challenge that if not faced head-on and overcome can mean the end of your ride. For this ride the DEFINING MOMENT was now! I was so cold I was shivering like mad. I couldn't safely control the bike. I was cold to my very core. My feet had been wet from the very beginning but now my hands were frozen, my wrists were frozen stiff and my core temperature (in my estimation) was dropping into dangerously low territory. I needed to do something STAT! I remembered that McDonald's is an Eco-friendly company and they don't have paper towel dispensers in their restrooms. McDonald's has hand dryers. And I just learned from a fellow Rando that the floors are heated. I will look into that the next time I am thoroughly drenched. I walked straight to the bathroom and parked myself in front of the hand dryer. I began by warming up my hands and attempting to dry my gloves. Then I worked my way up my arms-- first the wrist then the forearms. I then managed to get my upper arms and my thighs under the warm air. Eventually, I knelt down under the hand dryer in the fetal position and got the warm air on my back and shoulders. As a reminder the only thing I was wearing a long sleeve wool base layer and a long sleeve wool jersey. If I'd had one more base layer I would have been fine. The only mistake I made all day was thinking it wasn't going to rain that heavy or at least not ALL day. As soon as I walked outside it was raining again. But psychologically I was back in the game. My stop was about 5-6 minutes. But it was probably the best 5 minutes of the whole event. I had been cold . I had been wet. But during the 12 mile section from Old Julian Hwy/Hwy 78 junction I actually considered a DNF. But I was on the return leg -- can I really DNF' on the return leg? I kept thinking “it will get warmer, it will get warmer, it will get warmer it HAS to get warmer. It can't be this cold and rainy at the lower elevations. I'm Lakeside is like 110F in the summer”. Since I was heading down another 1500 of elevation I thought if it just got 10F warmer I would be fine. Honestly, that was the only thing that kept me going. There is a climb out of Ramona before the descent into Lakeside. |
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