Monday, June 11, 2007

Pactour Elite Southern Transcontinental: Day 2

Day 2: El Centro CA to Gila Bend AZ
Mileage/Ride Time: 188 miles 11:03 Time Lv/Arr: 5:30am/7:05pm
Climbing: 2300ft Avg Speed/Work: 16.9mph/4694 kJ

I'm so tired. On paper, today is a flat day, only 2300 ft of climbing over 191 miles. A basic 300k brevet. The day began with breakfast at 5:00am. Mass start at 5:30am.

However, there were two factors at work.
  1. It reached 104F.

    I drank so much fluid I lost track. Nevertheless, I must have finished quite dehydrated.

    Althought I didn't cramp during the ride, I cramped up afterwards.

  2. I had FOUR flats on the rear tire. I carry 2 spare tubes.
    The first time there was an loud bang at the lunch stop.

    Prior to that, I had been making good time.

    The ride for me went to pieces after that. 3 more flats, meaning I had to ride on a flat for 5 miles. Plus it's no fun changing a tire in 100+ degree heat with no shade with the asphalt too hot to touch.
As a result, I depleted myself totally and didn't make it in until 7pm. Didn't feel like eating. This meant for example I was unable to blog until 11pm (after dinner, massage and preparation for tomorrow).

(I'm told quite a few people sagged in. And there were riders coming in even after me. A logistics nightmare for the crew.)

Course (MapSource and Google Earth):


Profile:

Tomorrow, there's serious climbing. Hope I can recover a bit tonight.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a fairly lousy day. At least you made it. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete