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What a great day to ride! The clouds were really low
when we started and there were waterfalls from the rain yesterday all
the way from Superior to Globe. Elliot and I got started just after 8am,
which is why we didn’t meet up with your group in Winkelman. We kept a
nice easy pace from Superior to Globe and mostly enjoyed the views and
all the running water. I didn’t really push my pace until we got to El
Capitan, then I did a couple short zone 5 intervals on the climb up, but
kept my heart rate mostly at the top of zone 3 or no man’s land. There
were rockslides on all the roads on the route Saturday and ADOT had
temporarily closed SR 77 and SR 177 Saturday night (We debated about
calling late last night and letting you know, but figured they would
open before morning). We could see some places where rocks had been
moved off the road. There looked like a pretty big slide just outside of
Winkelman. The weather was cool, but not too cold and we had a tail wind
until we hit the canyon going into Winkelman. I was still feeling pretty
good, so we made some good time between Winkelman and the start of the
climbing before end of the world. So I was relatively fatigued by the
time we started actually going up End of the World and was definitely
feeling that climb, but I was hoping to trigger an arrhythmia going up.
My heart rate stayed between 175 and 180 all the way to the top, but
nothing happened. Disappointing…
Anyway, I wanted to get a full 100 miles in, so I was thinking about
reversing the course a few miles. But Elliot said he didn’t give a ra…
umm… he was ok with just doing the normal route and not extending it.
Anyway, the Mine Country web site says the ride is 96 miles, but when we
hit the junction at US 60, I had only logged 92. Elliot suggested that I
head back towards Phoenix while he changed clothes and he would stop and
get us some sodas when he left town. That sounded pretty good, so I
turned at US 60 and headed through Superior. There’s a pretty good
descent going out of town, so I was riding 30-36 mph for the first 3 or
4 miles after the turn. I figured Elliot would catch me about 6 or 7
miles after the turn, but I didn’t see him as I started the climb to
Hernandez pass. I was really surprised when I saw the sign for the
summit and thought “Elliot better not show up now, because I deserve
this descent!” I went over the top and down to a pull out at the bottom
to wait. I gave him a few minutes, but didn’t see him, so I called him
on his cell phone. He didn’t answer with “hello,” just “where the hell
are you?!” He thought there was no way I would have made it over the
top, so he figured he missed me and turned around to look for me. He
made two passes before I called. I wound up putting in an extra 10 miles
total and finished with 102.0 in 5:54 on the bike, 6:40 total time.
No cramping during the ride, but I had a muscle spasm or a tight
hamstring in my left leg when we got back to Mesa and stopped for lunch.
I was dehydrated though. I also wanted to see if dehydration would
trigger something so I only went through 3 bottles on the ride, but it
didn’t. Guess I’ll just have to see if a 300k brevet next weekend will
do it – although I plan to stay well hydrated on that ride.
Mike
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