Group Ride: Today is our last organised training ride before Tahoe. We gathered in Long Beach (just barely, Seal Beach is across the bridge). The weather forecast was for warm weather (sorry, typical British understatement). It is supposed to hit 80-90F (26-32C) in the beach cities! As we were getting ready to ride at 8:00 a.m., we were already sweating! No arm warmers or jackets today! Our ride guide indicated we were heading to Laguna Beach for an 82-mile round trip. Wow, today's ride will be the furthest I have ever ridden in one day! My previous record, 80 miles, was set in 1980 when I rode from Shrewsbury to the top of the Horseshoe Pass near Llangollen and back.
We settled into a good rhythm for the ride as usual but at mile 22 we took a detour and rode the Balboa Ferry across Newport Harbour. It is just a short ride but it was fun and different. After riding the ferry we headed inland where we lost the cool ocean breeze and temperatures peaked at 104F (40C) according to a teammate's cycle computer, much of the heat was rising from the hot asphalt. I was leading through this section and surprisingly I felt good, but I was glad when we headed down Laguna Canyon Road as I was anticipating a cool ocean breeze. Mark picked up a flat tyre and Andy stayed with him to fix it. There was a stiff breeze blowing up the canyon that negated the downhill speed, however, it wasn't at all cool until we reached Laguna Beach. It was a tough few miles for me leaving my rear feeling very sore. At our SAG stop in Laguna Beach, many of the riders decided to cut the ride short and do a 60-mile option to get back. Andy knew that if I did the full length of 82 miles that this would be a peronal best for me. He polled the riders to see who else would join him and me in completing the full length. Six riders left Laguna intent to compete the original 82-mile route. We headed up PCH and then turned inland for a climb up Newport Coast Drive. About 2/3rds of the way up the hill the temperature became brutally intense again, I was sweating badly and started to feel light headed. Not wanting to succumb to heat exhaustion I slowed my pace even more and eventually made it to the crest where the others were waiting. I wiped the stinging sweat out of my eyes in order to continue. We made our last SAG stop at a Ralphs parking lot where I ate again and drank an entire bottle of Gatorade. I left SAG feeling bloated and uncomfortable, I had too much liquid and food in my stomach. The rest of the ride then became very difficult for me and it wasn't until the last 10 miles that I got rid of the bloated feeling. By that time my legs felt shot and I slowed the pace right down and limped in with Jose and Becca (who was herself feeling dizzy). We all congratulated ourselves on a job well done!
As for myself, I feel equipped to break my new distance record of 81.90 miles in 2 weeks when we do the 100-mile ride in Lake Tahoe. Today's ride, with the heat being an adversarial element, gave us a taste of what is to come in Lake Tahoe where we will instead be dealing with the effects of altitude.
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1 comment:
Brian, we are really enjoying your blog! We know that you WILL suceed on the ride because of who it is memory of. Remember to write that book after the ride - 100 miles in the saddle by Major Bumsore!
Love from J & L in Bonnie Scotland
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