The worst ride EVER!
With the fires and other distractions, I never did get to send a Salton
Sea ride report for those of you who weren't there. I finally have the
time now, so I thought I'd write something up.
Simply put, this was the absolute worst ride I've ever been on. I've heard stories of miserable rides that I wasn't on before and was always a little jealous that I didn't get to experience the misery. Well, now I've been on a miserable ride and I don't feel the need to do another one.
We started with a 16 mile loop around Borrego Springs. After this, we headed east to Salton Sea. As we started picking up speed, I found myself in the middle of the paceline at 87% heart rate. After a few times through the rotation, I found myself at the back of the paceline with my heart rate at 90+% and not dropping. I knew from my experience at Tucson last year that I couldn't hold this pace, so I had to drop off at around mile 29. For the rest of the way out, I felt pretty good. I was going up to ~30 mph and not working all that hard. I could feel the wind on my face, so I thought maybe I was going into the wind and getting all my speed because I was going downhill. I saw people coming uphill the other way and they didn't look happy, but I thought I could get through that. The last 3 miles before the turnaround were very rough and I remember thinking that I would never do this route again because of that. I passed the main team going the other way just before the turnaround and Mike came up and filled my water bottles and gave me some ice.
Then I turned around and started heading back. I found out really quickly that I actually had a pretty strong tailwind on the way out that was now a tremendous headwind. I've seen estimates from various people that it was anywhere between a 15 - 30 mph headwind with gusts up to 45 or even more mph. I can say that it was absolutely demoralizing to push through this. I was going 7 - 9 mph with my heart rate at 87%. After an hour and a half, I started looking around for some place to pull over and stop. I was ready to quit the ride. Of course, we were in the middle of the desert, so there was no shade. The only option I had was to keep going. I fantasized about screaming and cursing the wind, but I didn't do that because I didn't want to offend the wind and make it worse. :) After another half hour of riding, I was almost out of water, my heart rate was still at 87%, and I was feeling pretty bad. I couldn't even jump onto any other groups as they went by, so I decided to stop and rest for a while. After 7 minutes, my heart rate had only dropped to 80%, so I decided I had to keep going to make it to the aid station. I was starting to think about calling in Mike, but I wanted to try to make it to the aid station on my own. I don't know how long it took after that--seemed like forever. I finally got up to a big hill and for the first time ever, I had to get off my bike and walk up a hill. I don't feel too bad about it though because I think I was on the verge of heat exhaustion. Once I hit the top of the hill, there was a flat section with the aid station about a quarter mile or so away. As I (very slowly) rode up to it, I was scanning to find out if there was any shade I could sit in while I waited for a SAG vehicle to take me back.
As soon as I turned into the aid station though, Mike came running up with an ice cold towel for my neck. I put that on, grabbed a sandwich and some cold water, then sat in Mike's van with the AC running for 15 or 20 minutes. I was then feeling much better and decided to continue the ride back to Borrego and stop there at around the 75 mile mark. After another hour or so of riding which was just as brutal before, but not quite as disheartening because I was feeling better, I turned and started heading south. I then finally got up to 17 mph and thought I didn't have much farther to go, but then Mike drove up and stopped me. He said I didn't have much farther to go before I had to turn the corner again and go into the direct headwind for another 8 - 9 miles. I thought briefly about finishing out the ride, but quickly decided it was time for me to get SAG'd out of a ride for the first time. I had only made it 65.5 miles.
For those of you who can't picture the route, take a look at my GPS route at:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4272590
Let me give extreme thanks for Mike for SAG'ing for this ride. I certainly would have stopped the ride at the aid station on the way back if Mike hadn't been there to take care of me. When I left the course, I was still feeling good enough that I could have made it back to Borrego, but I was so glad that Mike was there so I didn't have to. Thank you so much, Mike!!
In addition to the horrible heat and wind, this was also a bad weekend for me in general. I had missed 5 of the first 6 spin classes with the sub5 team and the last 2 weekend rides, so the rest of the team had gotten WAY stronger in that time and I just couldn't keep up. I had also broken up with Deb 2 days before and was really upset about that. I hadn't gotten much sleep and was really mentally unfocused. Even with those excuses, I still don't think I'll ever do this ride again because of how miserable it was!
Simply put, this was the absolute worst ride I've ever been on. I've heard stories of miserable rides that I wasn't on before and was always a little jealous that I didn't get to experience the misery. Well, now I've been on a miserable ride and I don't feel the need to do another one.
We started with a 16 mile loop around Borrego Springs. After this, we headed east to Salton Sea. As we started picking up speed, I found myself in the middle of the paceline at 87% heart rate. After a few times through the rotation, I found myself at the back of the paceline with my heart rate at 90+% and not dropping. I knew from my experience at Tucson last year that I couldn't hold this pace, so I had to drop off at around mile 29. For the rest of the way out, I felt pretty good. I was going up to ~30 mph and not working all that hard. I could feel the wind on my face, so I thought maybe I was going into the wind and getting all my speed because I was going downhill. I saw people coming uphill the other way and they didn't look happy, but I thought I could get through that. The last 3 miles before the turnaround were very rough and I remember thinking that I would never do this route again because of that. I passed the main team going the other way just before the turnaround and Mike came up and filled my water bottles and gave me some ice.
Then I turned around and started heading back. I found out really quickly that I actually had a pretty strong tailwind on the way out that was now a tremendous headwind. I've seen estimates from various people that it was anywhere between a 15 - 30 mph headwind with gusts up to 45 or even more mph. I can say that it was absolutely demoralizing to push through this. I was going 7 - 9 mph with my heart rate at 87%. After an hour and a half, I started looking around for some place to pull over and stop. I was ready to quit the ride. Of course, we were in the middle of the desert, so there was no shade. The only option I had was to keep going. I fantasized about screaming and cursing the wind, but I didn't do that because I didn't want to offend the wind and make it worse. :) After another half hour of riding, I was almost out of water, my heart rate was still at 87%, and I was feeling pretty bad. I couldn't even jump onto any other groups as they went by, so I decided to stop and rest for a while. After 7 minutes, my heart rate had only dropped to 80%, so I decided I had to keep going to make it to the aid station. I was starting to think about calling in Mike, but I wanted to try to make it to the aid station on my own. I don't know how long it took after that--seemed like forever. I finally got up to a big hill and for the first time ever, I had to get off my bike and walk up a hill. I don't feel too bad about it though because I think I was on the verge of heat exhaustion. Once I hit the top of the hill, there was a flat section with the aid station about a quarter mile or so away. As I (very slowly) rode up to it, I was scanning to find out if there was any shade I could sit in while I waited for a SAG vehicle to take me back.
As soon as I turned into the aid station though, Mike came running up with an ice cold towel for my neck. I put that on, grabbed a sandwich and some cold water, then sat in Mike's van with the AC running for 15 or 20 minutes. I was then feeling much better and decided to continue the ride back to Borrego and stop there at around the 75 mile mark. After another hour or so of riding which was just as brutal before, but not quite as disheartening because I was feeling better, I turned and started heading south. I then finally got up to 17 mph and thought I didn't have much farther to go, but then Mike drove up and stopped me. He said I didn't have much farther to go before I had to turn the corner again and go into the direct headwind for another 8 - 9 miles. I thought briefly about finishing out the ride, but quickly decided it was time for me to get SAG'd out of a ride for the first time. I had only made it 65.5 miles.
For those of you who can't picture the route, take a look at my GPS route at:
http://trail.motionbased.com
Let me give extreme thanks for Mike for SAG'ing for this ride. I certainly would have stopped the ride at the aid station on the way back if Mike hadn't been there to take care of me. When I left the course, I was still feeling good enough that I could have made it back to Borrego, but I was so glad that Mike was there so I didn't have to. Thank you so much, Mike!!
In addition to the horrible heat and wind, this was also a bad weekend for me in general. I had missed 5 of the first 6 spin classes with the sub5 team and the last 2 weekend rides, so the rest of the team had gotten WAY stronger in that time and I just couldn't keep up. I had also broken up with Deb 2 days before and was really upset about that. I hadn't gotten much sleep and was really mentally unfocused. Even with those excuses, I still don't think I'll ever do this ride again because of how miserable it was!
