Katie Yates - peaceonabike

HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA

The weekend began yesterday with an invitation-only ride out of Harrisonburg with Jeremiah Bishop and The Vegan Cyclist. Jeremiah took us off-road where he may have been the only one comfortable going down dirt roads. But no one fell and we made it back to registration at Craft Brothers Brewing in one piece.

In summarizing today, one only needs to look at last year’s post. I sucked on the first mountain climb. I sucked more on Reddish Knob. Cramped. I decided it was best not to do the 20-mile loop making a century ride.

Three prostate cancer survivors: Mike, Robert, Barry

Of my eight times doing this event, this started out the most perfect. The temperature was just right (mid 60s). I was at the start line plenty early to say hello to friends.

Rollout thru Harrisonburg
Barry is front and center in yellow
Source: Alpine Loop Gran Fondo Facebook Page (Erin Bishop)

One thing I did not do was to pick up a timing chip to be timed on the climbs. I finished dead last in the WORLD last year at the World Hillclimbs Championship so who am I fooling thinking I would win anything? Plus, without a chip, I may be free to stop and take pictures.

Passing the Amish. She asked us if we were all local.

At the start line, we were called out or recognized. As a prostate cancer survivor, I am always recognized. I’m sort of like a mascot. A big cancer-surviving mascot.

At 8:00 a.m. we rolled out. I was in the front row and stayed there for the first couple of miles. When we turned off the road I dropped back four or five places. But we were often doing 20-25 mph in tight quarters. Except for Jeremiah Bishop, these are not professionals. I am not a professional. I am just uncomfortable riding that close to that many strangers. I pulled off at a Mennonite Church and let 100-150 riders go by before jumping back in.

A century ride should be ridden as easy; medium; hard. That is, ride the first third easy. And I wasn’t. Maybe they were riding easy but it was more effort than I wanted to use at that point. It was foolish for me to ride hard to stay with the group. I backed off.

Top of the Shenandoah – Camera lens blurred with sweat

I was seemingly passed by everyone on the road. Many times I thought I was dead last but often 4-5 minutes later someone else would pass me. Sometimes groups of 3-4 riders went flying by. Where were they hiding?

We got to the first mountain climb, Shenandoah Mountain on U.S. Rte. 33. I was passed by 22 riders and passed no one. I was having a bad day. I briefly talked to 16-year-old Ben, who I helped last year. He had passed me but then I caught him and asked him if he was going for another jersey. He told me he was but didn’t think he had a chance. I hope he made it. We both stopped briefly at the summit but I had a good fast descent and didn’t see him after that.

At Reddish Knob Road I started the climb. It is tough. It begins with a one-mile climb followed by a one-mile descent. Then the fun begins. It’s a five-mile climb with 1,635′ of gain. That averages to 6.2% but that is skewed by the last half mile or so which flattens out. By contrast, the seven-mile climb at Horseshoe Curve (Altoona, Pa.) averages about 4%. That one does have a very tough section of 20% though. But Reddish Knob is harder.

I was passed by five riders going up Reddish. But three of those I eventually passed back as they were pushing their bikes. It is tough. One guy was paperboying all over the road and still passed me. Until he walked.

It took everything I had not to stop. Not to walk. I dug deep then went deeper. My right knee was hurting. I made the decision to do the 80-mile route and forgo the century. I also tried to make plans for dinner with the granddaughters in Martinsburg and I couldn’t do both.

The last 20 miles went fine. The last 40 may not have. Occasionally I was passed by a rider or two. I was always amazed at the pop they still had in their pedals while I struggled.

And like last year, Katie Yates came over from JMU to meet me. Unlike last year, a storm moved in which would have caught me on course had I not ended early.

Barry at finish (holding an ice-cold towel)

This ride gets harder every year. I have to either get younger or lose weight. I am carrying too much weight up these mountains (although the downhill portion is fun).

HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA

I need to rethink the sleepover component of this event. I stayed at home and got up at 4:30 a.m. to drive to Harrisonburg. Four hours of sleep is not enough.

I arrived at 7:20 a.m. thinking I had plenty of time. I did not. Registration was slower than expected (efficient but there were a lot of people checking in at 7:30 a.m.). Each time I was ready to roll out from the car I seemed to be missing something. Glasses. A spare rear light. Arm warmers.

We were given timing chips to attach to the fork. I took mine to the start then wrapped it around the fork. Around the fork and a spoke. I didn’t notice. There was two minutes before the start. A rider next to me said, “Do you know you have that wrapped around a spoke?” Damn. I had nail clippers to trim the zip ties and cut them off. I simply put the guy in my pocket and off we went through downtown Harrisonburg.

South Fork South Branch Potomac River (WV)

We circled the block then as the group was headed out of town I went back to start and picked up two new zip ties. I then headed through town and saw the tail of the group up the road. I quickly made my way to the end of the group and found Robert Hess. Once I caught Robert we pedaled a little faster and we moved up through the group.

I caught a woman wearing a Spokes of Hope cycling jacket. I told her my other kit was Spokes of Hope and asked her what she knew about Spokes of Hope. She told me the jacket belonged to her father-in-law and “we’re from Pittsburgh.” I asked her if her father-in-law was Dave Mitchell. She was blown away that I knew, or knew of, her father-in-law. We stopped for a photo before the routes would split.

Robert and I rode ahead to the split (Mile 8) where he would turn left (35 miles route) and I would turn right (100 miles route). Because I had to ride to catch the back of the group I was pretty certain I was the last on the road headed to the century route. I wondered if I would catch anyone.

I did catch a few riders before U.S. 33 and the climb over the mountain. I still had not stopped to properly attach my timing chip and decided it wasn’t worth it.* I am still recovering fitness from my knee replacement surgery and I wasn’t going for any KOM (King of the Mountain) segments. Still, I moved the chip from my jersey pocket to the seam in my shorts just above the knee. Maybe it would work.

Looking back at the climb out of Virginia

The descent off the mountain was fast. I made up for my slow ride up with a quick descent. Still, I felt I was more cautious than I had been before May 16. The risk/reward of a couple extra MPH wasn’t worth it.

My shoe didn’t feel right and at the second rest stop, also the base of the Reddish Knob, Kelly, from Rocktown BIcycles in Harrisonburg, fixed my cleat the best she could. She also took a photo of me going up the 18% climb.

As I pulled out of the rest stop, I was side by side with a 15 year old, Ben, from Winchester. He asked me about the climb, having been told it’s not has hard as the climb we did on U.S. 33. I told him it was much harder. Someone lied to him.

Kelly from Rocktown Bicycles and a young volunteer

We kept talking and stayed together for much of the climb. Perhaps two-thirds of the way up I was going faster and did not want to stop. I didn’t know if he stopped or was going slower but eventually I did not see him any longer.

And I felt cramping coming on. This is where a lack of serious riding since my knee surgery was catching up to me. I shouldn’t be cramping and yet I was. When I reached the summit I looked down the road and so no one. There was another rider waiting and he asked if I knew about a scenic overlook. I did not but decided to go up a narrow access road that might lead to one. I had gone about 1/4 mile and was cramping worse. I turned around.

The descent off the mountain was sketchy, Soaked with sweat, I had nothing to clean my glasses. They were foggy and with the rough pavement, I took the descent cautiously.

Reaching the next rest stop, I had a decision to make. Head on home or do a 20-mile loop to finish the century ride. Cramping is a sign of body fatigue and I thought on a day I was cramping it would be dumb to add what was now an optional loop. If I had 40 miles to finish I would suffer but I was 20 miles from the finish and didn’t need to add the loop. Also, Ben was doing the 80 (or 75, whatever it was) and we would stay together.

At the finish, we were greeted by cheerleaders from JMU. Katie Yates, one of my referees who attends JMU, came over and joined us for a post-ride meal. A real surprise was Robert called Ben up to the podium. He had won the KOM for his age group. Since I took him over the mountains I think he owes me one of his polka dots.

After our dinner, I went to stand up. Ouch. The legs hurt. It was a hard day on the bike and without a good fitness base, I made the right decision not to finish the century. Next year!

*Perhaps not the exact measured climb but on RideWithGPS my time in the past has been 30 or 31 minutes. Yesterday it was 40 minutes. Reddish Knob I’ve done in 45 minutes, today was 1:02. I was right. It was not worth race timing.

Tag: Katie Yates

Alpine Loop Grand Fondo

Alpine Loop Gran Fondo