Good job, y’all! This route is an out and back that goes from Italy to Abbot, to Valley Mills, then on to Gatesville, and back. The Valley Mills to Gatesville leg has a lot of climbing. The early pace was way too much for me. I left the second control right behind Steve, Peggy, Nelson, and Mark, and caught up to the group, but as soon as the hills started, couldn’t stay with them.
I did not realize how blown up I was, though, until I stopped at Valley Mills at mile 67. With the hilliest part of the ride coming up, going out to Gatesville and back, I didn’t see any way I could make it, feeling like I did. But I took a long break to try and recover. Greg rode in while I was resting, and we rode on together. I had to ride up the hills very slowly, using all the gears I had, but I made it to Gatesville, and felt a little better. We took another long break there.
By the time we got back to Valley Mills, though, at mile 120, I was feeling bad again. I layed down for a few minutes, and we took our time taking off again. There’s a tough hill as soon as you leave Valley Mills, after you cross the Bosque River and climb out of its valley. It’s a long hill with a steep stretch. I was sure it would finish me off, and I climbed it slowly. But after I reached to top, I felt fine, and I felt fine for the rest of the ride. I didn’t have much power for pushing on the hills, but that’s nothing unusual for me late in a ride when I’m tired. Sometimes you just have to ride at an easy pace for a while to recover, it seems.
It turned out that I had forgotten to zip up my Camelbak Unbottle in my Fastback bag, and it fell out right after I crossed the Brazos river at mile 140. I ran over it and Greg ran over it. It seems fine, though. I haven’t found any damage. But after I retrieved it and caught up to Greg waiting for me at the top of the hill, I noticed that his rear tire was falling apart. Ah, the joys of a long ride.
We took another long break at Abbot, at mile 154, and finished up with a blazing time of 15:50. Total miles were 191.7.
Stomach issues can be a biggie on these long rides. I made mine a lot worse than usual on this ride by forgetting to take my acid blocking prescription on Saturday. I bought two rolls of Ultra Tums at the second control, and almost finished both of them by the end of the ride, but I still had more stomach issues than usual, especially after I made the mistake of trying to hang with the big dogs too long.
Even during the times when my stomach was telling me that it absolutely wanted nothing, the dried fruit I carry went down very well, and played a big part in me being able to finish the ride, I think. It’s going to remain a mainstay of my riding food.