After breakfast things mellowed for a while but on the ride across the valley floor, on the way to Lompoc, the action really started. There was a tail/cross wind that had the group strung out at 32 mph, people were popping off the back left and right. I managed to keep Hailey in the group with a combination of good drafting, pushing and just plain screaming at her to close the gap. She didn't like the Ast art very much.
This may have been the fastest she had ever been in a group and when things slowed down for a quick bottle refill she had a stunned look on her face. After the bottle stop things only got harder. The road started to roll and the wind turned to more of a cross wind until we turned on Vandenburg Airforce Base, where the road started to go up hill and almost directly into the wind.
At this point I was still in the lead group and giving Hailey healthy pushes to keep her in contact, but all this took its toll on my legs. As the road started to go up for the first big climb of the day I popped off the back and ended up rolling the next 15 miles into the lunch stop with just 2 other guys. My legs were toast. I'd done a lot of pushing and riding into the wind and used way more energy than I should have, especially after all the work I did on the previous day.
At the lunch stop I followed Drew's lead and headed straight to Wendy's for some fries and a drink. I needed something to refuel me as we were only half way through the day and still had another big climb to ahead of us. Hailey rolled in about 10 minutes back and immediately hit the little Thai restaurant for some curry. I couldn't believe she decided to eat a curry in the middle of a 125 mile ride. She insisted it was the right decision and I was certain that she would puke half way up the next climb. Unfortunately I wouldn't get to see it happen.
We rolled out to the climb at a moderate pace and I was making sure Hailey was tucked well out of the wind, when my good buddy Silent Jim Barkow (SLJB) got a flat rear tire. It's was about a mile from the start of the climb and just as things were about to get exiting.
I stopped to help Jim and it took about 7 minutes to change the tube and check that nothing was still stuck in the tire. We got back on the road and started the long chase back to the group. We passed a lot of people with Jim pulling like a train at the front. I didn't actually do any work in the wind for about 10 miles until we hit Highway 101 South. At is point Jim was tired enough that I was actually able to pull through and give him a little break. Up until that point there was nothing I could o but slow him down.
We were intent on chasing back to the group regardless of the cost on our legs. We were flying past small groups of riders and eventually came up behind Hailey and my good friend Mike Foley. I yelled Hi Babe as we stormed by but apparently she didn't hear me as I got an ear full back at the hotel about how rude I was for not saying anything.
Unfortunately we never made it back to the group, I have no idea how far ahead they were at the end as I had to pull off the main route to go to the airport and pick up the rental car we needed to get home.
I met up with Hailey and Drew at the finish hotel and we wasted no time loading the enormous Nissan Armada with our bikes and gear then set off in search of food. We found a great taco shop about 100 yards up the road and loaded up for the 5 hour drive back home.
We were home by 8:30 PM having clocked up about 375 miles in 3 days.
Food for the day:
Breakfast: Banana, packet of almond butter, pecan pie.
Ride: 2 tortillas, 3 Honey Stingers, Large Wendy's Fries, 2 curried potatoes from Haileys lunch.
Location:Home in Bed
No comments:
Post a Comment