October 11, 2010
Failure. And Resolve.
This weekend I attempted the 2010 Levi’s King Ridge GranFondo. Suffice it to say, I did not complete the event. It was the first time I have not been able to finish a ride. This is only my third attempt at a century ride, but at least I was able to complete the first one I did, cramps and all. I suppose my recent participation and great success on the Amtrak Century Ride gave me a false sense of security.
The climbs on this event were simply relentless. And while I’ve climbed a lot before, Ken and I hadn’t anticipated anything close to this level of torture. While I was able to slog through our first climbs, the real trouble started when we moved into the King Ridge area. Eventually, it would put us at an altitude of 1600 feet. I was constantly in my lowest gear, barely moving at 3-4 mph. I had to get off my bike at one point to catch my breath. A little further on, I did like many others that I saw and simply got off the bike and started walking. In a conversation I had with my neighbor this morning, it was agreed that this was the worst thing I could have possibly done. “Kenny, you have to keep pedaling, no matter what,” he tells me. Every daunting hill after this was a repetition of the same. Get off the bike and walk. Eventually, what this led to was leg cramps.
I was almost done in before by cramps on my first century ride. That time it was just Ken and I. And I spent tens of minutes sprawled out on the side of the street in various locales along PCH in agony. But eventually, I was able to recover and finish the ride. Not so this time around. In fact, because I spent so much time off my bike, I was losing time at a rate that was too high. The cramps started getting so bad that any effort to pedal led to convulsive attacks on both my legs. At one point, they both seized and I fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
Out of 3,000 riders, I was at the back of the pack. A CHP patrol car came up behind me and announced “you’re the 8th from the end.” I knew then that any hope of my finishing was over. It was mile 59 of 103, and in one more mile, I would be picked up by the SAG vehicle and grouped in with other unfortunate souls. With the same kind of cramps I was having. The bus that carried us back to the finish had about 30 passengers. They all seemed fit, most had done centuries before. But not like this one. Ken finished around 6:30pm, having started at 8:20am with me. Granted, he spent a long time waiting for me at various rest stops, but it gave me some comfort to hear his say it was the most difficult thing he’d ever done.
It was at least 10 miles riding on the SAG car before I even saw any of the riders that were ahead of me, showing just how far back I’d fallen. Even then, those riders were also being swept up by the “broom truck.” All stragglers like myself. After the ride, sharing yet another horror experience with Ken, we contemplated returning. At the time, I was thinking that since I did 60 of the 100 miles, I should probably return to do the 60. Even that would take a fair deal of training since it involves some steep hills.
But once I got home (a long 9 hour drive later the next day), I resolved to train much harder, push myself, and to next year finish the Gran Fondo at 100 miles. I’ve been trying to pay off all of our debts, and I manage that, I can actually then put some consideration into better bike components, more optimized training methods. If I do that, there’s a good chance I’ll lose even more weight. Certainly having to pull along 15 less pounds would make the Fondo a little easier. I’m going to the legs of a Clydesdale horse, damn it.
To next year, then. I’ve made an early New Year’s Resolution.
Me in happier times. Also before and after of Ken.
Elevation profile courtesy of the organizers
Failure. Resolve. Revenge. Redemption. « Babble-On Too said,
January 13, 2012 at 5:48 pm
[...] in 2010, I attempted and failed the Levi’s Gran Fondo Ride, noted here. It was a bitter disappointment for me. I had thought I was in pretty good shape. But early cramps [...]