01 September 2008

believe it.


caption: ow.

Part of me wanted to think that the Saveageman bike course was ... a little bit of hype. Of course, I KNEW it was a tough course, but I thought - maybe - that some triathletes were puffing our their chests. Maybe it was a wee bit exagerated? They weren't, and it wasn't.

Believe. The. Hype.

This morning at 6:00 a.m., three triathletes left Catonsville for Deep Creek Lake. We were on the course at 9:20. The first 18 miles are rolling hills... certainly not easy, but doable. Oh, and gorgeous... the beauty of this course is unbelieveable -- lakes, blasted out mountains, creeks, tall trees. Amazing. So the first 18 miles were okay. I felt okay. The decent was a BLAST - I hit 40 mph... oh, and I swallowed a fly.

And then we hit the town of Westernport, home of the famed Westernport Wall.

The climb up TO the wall was brutal -- so much so that I had to hop off my bike ... and getting back on it was no picnic. I didn't make it up the wall - I bit it about 3/4 of the way up - but I'm not worried about it. The wall is so short -- if I make it, great, and if I don't, well, there's another 36 miles of climbing where I can prove myself. Haha.

The next part of the course was a climb up a gravel road -- the dust was really bothering my eyes. There were some more sharp decents, and then more climbing -- there are Seven Big Hills (excluding, of course, the smaller hills on the rolling hills).

I did pretty well with nutrition and hydration - I had a Gu, Luna Moons, or Sport Beans every 45 minutes, and alteranted Accelerade, Gatorade, and water. We stopped at a little store and I got salted peanuts. Good call on my part -- they were just what I needed.

And then, after hill number... 4? 5? I was separated from my group. They had been really great about stopping and waiting for my slow ass, but when I reached a fork in the road, they weren't there. I rode around for a while, called around them ... but no such luck. Finally, I knocked on someone's door and called my mom, who checked my email and gave me the phone numbers of my riding buddies. I got a hold of them and finally caught up.

What did I learn from this?

1. Bring my OWN cue sheet!
2. Carry my cell phone!

The hills were KILLER ... I was in my granny gear and huffing and puffing all the way up them... I had to stop and walk a couple of times. Total climb: 5940 feet.

Final stats:
4h 45m 44s
58.60 miles
12.31 Mi/hr


The average MPH is really funny (and, um, really slow), because I was going 4-7 mph on the hills and 20-30 mph on the decents. Only 2 people last year went over 20 mph on the course. It's seee-low.


We stopped at an Unos and all four of us had a giant burger and fries and beer. Mmm. Beer.

5 comments:

  1. Mmmm...fries and beer!

    I had a good ride today too, but JEEZ - Look that that elevation chart that you had a ride! Nice job even getting 3/4 of the way up!

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  2. I think I would have needed a few beers just to attempt those hills. But great job by you. You will do great at the race.

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  3. Nice job Trish! You will rock the race. How scary to be lost, that happened to me the first time I attempted a group ride. My chain dropped and I got dropped from the group while fixing it. Thankfully 2 gals came back for me!

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  4. thats some big time elevation you handled...great job...okay so you'll have your cellie with you next time.... no biggie....

    I want some fries ...a non alchohol beer and a huge burger!!

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  5. I am sitting here giggling...you knocked on someone's door and called your mom - that is AWESOME! I love it! This is a fantastic training post! You will forever remember this moment...and then someday you will be with the lead pack going "where the h are they?" very awesome...I remember the first time I was dropped and lost from a group - I thought I was going to either start crying or have a panic attack...the worst part is that I know everytime I start to ride with stronger riders...that it is more than likely going to happen to me again, and again, and again...and you swallowed a fly...you are really going to do well on this course because you are giving it your entire heart!

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