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In terms of weather this was the hardest Cochise Classic I've done so
far! The forecast was for scattered showers with winds of 10-15 mph out
of the South and Southwest. That didn't sound too bad. It rained early
Friday morning, so the roads were damp when I rode over to the start
area at 6:30 am. Clouds were building up though and by the time the ride
started there was a pretty steady rain. My goal again this year was for
a "Platinum" finishing time of 7 hours, 45 minutes. I planned to wheel
suck as much as possible at the start and find a wheel to hang onto for
the climb up Mule pass and take it relatively easy to Benson so I would
have some strength to ride through the wind down 191 back to Douglas.
For the most part I followed my plan, but the weather didn't cooperate!
I stayed in the middle of the group to the start of the foothills near
Bisbee. I didn't go to the front once and even dropped back a couple
times early in the ride to avoid getting too close. Andy Duvall and a
tandem eventually took the front and everyone just settled in. They
didn't seem to mind pulling everyone along, which was just fine by me!
Near the spot where Jeff Parker made his break last year Andy also
decided to go. The tandem kind of screened his break, but before he got
too far I decided to try to catch his wheel. I wasn't too far back, so
it wasn't too difficult. He also didn't seem to mind having me sit on
his wheel, it was great! I stayed with him past the open pit mine, but
shortly after the first turn into historic Bisbee I decided to drop off
because my heart rate was getting higher than I wanted. I didn't want to
blow my energy on this climb. That steady rain finally let up and
shortly after I dropped off of Andy's wheel two Mesa Red Mountain Brumby
riders (Joe Susco and Bryce Cook) went by, but I just continued at my
own pace. I swear Joe had freakishly large, cartoon character-like
quads! Wow! Anyway when I started through the tunnel I could still see
those two riders going over the top, so I wasn't too far back and hoped
that I would be able to catch them on the descent.
Annette was waiting at the top to hand me a fresh bottle of Hammer
Perpetuem (I decided to try the Hammer products on this ride instead of
Accelerade). Luckily the road on the other side of Mule Pass was pretty
dry, so I took the descent fast. Elliot and I could always generate a
lot of speed downhill by using draft to slingshot past each other. Joe
and Bryce must have also had that trick down, because even though I
almost hit 54 mph on the descent, by the time I got to the bottom they
were out of sight. Dang. So I settled in for the ride to Benson,
maintaining a pretty fast pace. There was a strong, strong tail wind so
I was making really good time. It was starting to warm up, so about 10
miles or so before Tombstone I decided to shed my glove liners and rain
jacket. I must say it is nice to know how to take off a jacket without
stopping! (Thanks Jeff!)
On the far side of Tombstone there are a couple good descents and I took
those fast too, getting into my hyper tuck and staying in that tuck
until it felt like my speed dropped under 30. After going over one
roller I looked up the road and there were those three riders! I was
actually catching them! There were still a bit too far off and I didn't
want to work too hard, so I kept riding the same way and the gap kept
coming down. Somewhere outside of Saint David there was another good
descent and those guys were still climbing the next hill. They were only
a few hundred yards off now, so I put in some extra effort getting up
that hill and got on the back of their pace line by the time we got to
the top.
They were working really well together and I recovered through two of
their rotations before joining in. Bryce said they were doing 1 mile
pulls. That was awesome! I got into the rotation and we made great time
into Benson. The Brumby riders stopped just inside town to shed their
jackets so Andy and I soft pedaled through town. There are two lights we
have to deal with. One we pass through and the other we turn right. As
we were approaching that first light it turned yellow and I thought Joe
and Bryce were still back behind us, so I called out "Light!" and
started slowing since I didn't think they would make the yellow. Andy
yelled "keep going" and went around me. I didn't realize how close Joe
and Bryce were, but they didn't have time to react and Joe crossed my
rear wheel and went down. But he popped right back up, jumped back on
his bike, said he and his bike were ok and to keep going. So we did. Bad
communications, luckily no major problems though.
We rode easy the rest of the way through town, and then turned onto I-10
and hit a hard, hard cross and head wind. We dropped to 1/2 mile pulls,
but with that cross wind the pace line wasn't very effective. We would
have had to have an echelon going out onto the freeway to get a good
draft. Those three guys were really, really strong and I was working
harder than I wanted to keep up with them and really worked harder than
I wanted when I had to take my pull. When we hit the first climb up to
Texas Canyon I had to drop off. But when I got to the top I could see
the guys soft pedaling ahead of me! Wow! So I got in my aero position
and made my way back to them. I told Joe that they didn't have to wait
for me, it was a race after all, but he said 4 guys are going to be
better than 3 when we hit the headwind on 191. A good point!
The wind and effort was really getting to me though, so on the last
climb before Texas Canyon I told them that I wouldn't be able to make
their pace up the climb, but they said they were going to stop at the
top for a pee break anyway! Those guys were great! We finally got to the
turn onto Dragoon road for a 13 mile section that I was really looking
forward to. In past years the wind would shift to the west providing
more of a cross, tail wind, so you could make some good time along this
section. Not this year, it stayed out of the south, so it was still a
cross/head wind. After making the turn someone did a quick calculation
and said we would have to average 25 mph the rest of the way to beat
Reggie Heywood's record time of 7 hours 22 minutes. It wasn't going to
happen and with that wind I didn't think 7:45 was going to happen
either.
There's one railroad crossing on that road and the red warning lights
were flashing as we approached. Just as we got to the tracks the barrier
arms started to come down, but we all got through it before they were
even half way down. Kind of weird looking down the tracks and seeing a
train headed our way! A mile or so after that one of the Brumby riders
(I think it was Joe) had a flat so they both stopped to fix it. Andy and
I kept going, but at a soft pace -- at first. I wanted to wait for the
Joe and Bryce and take some time to recover from the freeway by doing
some easy spinning, but Andy started to take the pace up and pretty soon
we were going hard again. At that point I decided to drop off and go
back into recovery mode. I sat up and ate some beef jerky (something Dan
Shields suggested trying), took a few electrolyte tablets and had a
couple gels, then rode without fighting the wind to wait for the Brumbys
to catch me. One or two miles before the turn on 191 they caught up.
Andy was pretty far off ahead of us by then.
I thought the wind on Dragoon road was bad, but when we turned onto 191
we got the full effect. It was stronger than the forecasted 10-15
mph, but at least it was mostly a head wind, so drafting actually did
work although it was still slow going. We were only going 16-17 mph and
were slowly closing the distance on Andy. That pace was still a bit
harder than I wanted and I started to get those twinges that warn of
impending cramping. As long as I was in the draft I was ok, but when I
went to the front, I suffered. And then my stomach started bothering me.
I did the time calculation and realized it would be nearly impossible to
get 7:45 at this point. I'm not willing to go through the agony of
cramping and muscle spasms if I'm not going to achieve my goal. So a
mile or two after we picked up Andy I decided to drop off and ride my
own pace.
That wind was brutal. During my first Cochise I suffered with cramping
and muscle spasms, but I was still able to spin up to 12-14 mph. With
the wind this year there were quite a few times I was lucky to get up to
14 mph and rode a lot of it at 12 mph. Annette, Danielle and Jacob were
waiting at several places along 191 shouting encouragement. They did a
great job again this year! My stomach wasn't getting better and I
decided I was done with the sports drinks. I also started to develop a
bad breathing pattern and could tell I was starting to hyperventilate.
So outside of Elfrieda I slowed down and waited for Annette. I sat down
for 5 or 10 minutes to recover and drink some water. My stomach felt
bloated and I hadn't felt any urge to pee during the whole ride even
though I went through a couple gallons of fluids. Not good.
After drinking that water I was starting to feel a bit better and
another Brumby rider (Gary Raymond) was coming up the road – dang those
Brumbys are fast! I hadn't seen any support cars so I didn't know there
was anyone that close to me! I definitely wanted company through this
wind, so I got back on my bike and waited for him to join up with me.
Then we fell into a 1/2 mile rotation. It was just what I needed and I
started feeling a lot better. The wind was still strong, but we were
maintaining 17-18 mph. About 10 miles or so from the turn off of 191 I
finally started to get that urge to pee. But I stayed with Gary for a
few more miles before pulling off to relieve myself. That turn off 191
also normally has a strong tail wind, but again, that wasn't going to
happen this year. The wind was still coming out of the south, so I
fought a cross wind and turned back into the wind for the final few
miles to the finish. Just as I got to the Pan American Highway I passed
a mom and daughter on a tandem who were just finishing the 92 mile
event. At the finish Annette asked the girl how old she was -- 11! Wow!
My daughter, who is also 11, was very impressed!
I wound up finishing in 8:50 in 5th place. Joe and Bryce finished 1 and
2 at 8:05. Andy wound up 20 minutes back at 8:22 and Gary was 4th
at 8:43. Joe and Bryce were incredibly strong, very impressive
riders! For the most part I rode according to my plan, but Mother Nature
just didn't cooperate. The wind this year started earlier and stayed
more constant than in prior years and never seemed to shift from the
South. The highway and Dragoon road were way harder than I remember them
ever being before. From prior years, there were sections on the return
that I expected I would be able to have some recovery time and, with
that wind, I really didn't. But I didn't have any cramping or muscle
issues during the ride, although I did have a nasty cramp later that
night while we were eating dinner at Denny's (it's Douglas folks, not a
lot of options when you are traveling with young kids!). Overall it was
a good, hard ride.
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