Santa Fe Century 2009
On May 17th I rode the Santa Fe Century. This was the first century ride I've done where I experienced any sort of mechanical failure, and that failure threatened to SAG me out of the ride.
I rode the train up on Saturday and stayed the night at Jaime & Rachelle's house. In previous years I've woken up early to drive up to Santa Fe, but any extra sleep you can get before a ride is to your advantage.
Though in my case I started an hour earlier instead. I rode from J's house to the starting line, collecting other riders along the way. By the time I got there, we had the largest crowd of riders I've ever seen starting at once on this ride.
The Santa Fe Century starts fast rolling downhill out of Santa Fe. I was in a group doing 35MPH. My heartrate pushed up to 180bpm. When I'm about to wear out climbing a hill, my heartrate is somewhere around 155pbm. I've actually never had it up to 180bpm before.
Once we turned into the wind, I lost the pelaton I was with. I later learned it was the New Mexico Bike & Sport team, and they were going for a sub-four hour century.
I rolled past the first food stop in Madrid with a much mellower crowd. At mile 30, my chain slipped from my large rear sprocket and got wedged between my sprocket and spokes.
On a normal bike, there is a metal or plastic guard that prevents the chain from doing this. On a racing bike, this component is omitted to reduce weight, and you are just assumed to have your bike well tuned so it doesn't happen.
My bike had been tuned just before the ride, so Albuquerque Bicycle Company won't be getting any more of my business.
Once the chain slipped off the sprocket, it locked my rear wheel up. I was able to come to a stop in a reasonably controlled manner, but I couldn't get my chain unwedged from my spokes. I was working through the prospect of SAGing out of the ride when a fellow rider stopped, and with four hands and a tire leveler turned pry bar, we got the chain free of the wheel.
My bike however was pretty damaged. The frame was bent back at the rear derailleur, several spokes were bent, and I didn't have several gears available to me. Worse, the chain was randomly jumping around as I rode, and on two other occasions again got wedged in my spokes and locked my wheel up. I didn't want to be rolling fast down a hill and have this happen, or otherwise going fast enough to flip my bike.
I rolled very tenderly to the next food stop at the base of heartbreak hill. Two Wheel Drive was volunteering at this stop, and they recognized me right away. They spent the next hour field servicing the bike, getting it in good enough shape to finish the ride. The rear wheel was still out of true, and the frame wasn't perfect, but I was no longer at risk for locking up my rear wheel, and they restored my full selection of gears.
All the same, any thought I had of finishing the ride in less than six hours wall time was shot. I got back on the bike hoping I was still warm enough to make the climb up heartbreak.
I had an easier time with this hill than I ever have getting up it. I didn't have to walk, treat them like switchbacks, or really struggle very much. I rolled up it, taking it easier than I could have. I arrived at the top pretty charged and raced down the other side.
After heartbreak, the Santa Fe Century gets far less interesting. It gets much windier and a heck of a lot flatter, and there are parts of the course where I really struggle with boredom.
I rolled into the mile 60 food stop to refill my cheer water. A new coworker of mine who was also riding the tour spotted me, and we chatted for a brief while. He had started an hour earlier than I had and wasn't in a particular hurry. He was riding x-paced with tour other friends.
One of the things about riding through a flat, windy, and boring part of the course is that you get really inspired when it is almost over. As I approached Lamey, you start to get into more hills and scenic country. I took one last stop at mile 90 to get some extra water, having botched my Gatorade to water ratio at mile 60 and suffering from a sugar headache.
Normally, I can keep a pretty fast pace in the last 10 miles of this ride. I wasn't in top form, but I had been doing well enough to clock a sub-six hour on-bike time, so I tried to keep my pace headed into town. It is always nice to finish strong.
Unlike last year, I didn't cross the line to a cheering section, so I let out my own hooray and texted my finish time to the interested parties.
I then rode a "cool down" ride back to J's house, keeping over 20mph for the 3-4 downhill return miles. And even had someone along the way ask how my ride went. ^_^
I finished the 103.75 mile course in 5:48:55 on bike, 17.84mph. My wall time was 6:45:56, accounting for the 1 hour stopped for repair at mile 40. This may well have been a personal best on-bike time for this course, though if it was it was within minutes of my time last year.
Two Wheel Drive pretty much made my day, what with their gift of 60 miles I wouldn't have otherwise had. I've never needed the services of an on-course mechanic, and I'm really glad they were there.
I rode the train up on Saturday and stayed the night at Jaime & Rachelle's house. In previous years I've woken up early to drive up to Santa Fe, but any extra sleep you can get before a ride is to your advantage.
Though in my case I started an hour earlier instead. I rode from J's house to the starting line, collecting other riders along the way. By the time I got there, we had the largest crowd of riders I've ever seen starting at once on this ride.
The Santa Fe Century starts fast rolling downhill out of Santa Fe. I was in a group doing 35MPH. My heartrate pushed up to 180bpm. When I'm about to wear out climbing a hill, my heartrate is somewhere around 155pbm. I've actually never had it up to 180bpm before.
Once we turned into the wind, I lost the pelaton I was with. I later learned it was the New Mexico Bike & Sport team, and they were going for a sub-four hour century.
I rolled past the first food stop in Madrid with a much mellower crowd. At mile 30, my chain slipped from my large rear sprocket and got wedged between my sprocket and spokes.
On a normal bike, there is a metal or plastic guard that prevents the chain from doing this. On a racing bike, this component is omitted to reduce weight, and you are just assumed to have your bike well tuned so it doesn't happen.
My bike had been tuned just before the ride, so Albuquerque Bicycle Company won't be getting any more of my business.
Once the chain slipped off the sprocket, it locked my rear wheel up. I was able to come to a stop in a reasonably controlled manner, but I couldn't get my chain unwedged from my spokes. I was working through the prospect of SAGing out of the ride when a fellow rider stopped, and with four hands and a tire leveler turned pry bar, we got the chain free of the wheel.
My bike however was pretty damaged. The frame was bent back at the rear derailleur, several spokes were bent, and I didn't have several gears available to me. Worse, the chain was randomly jumping around as I rode, and on two other occasions again got wedged in my spokes and locked my wheel up. I didn't want to be rolling fast down a hill and have this happen, or otherwise going fast enough to flip my bike.
I rolled very tenderly to the next food stop at the base of heartbreak hill. Two Wheel Drive was volunteering at this stop, and they recognized me right away. They spent the next hour field servicing the bike, getting it in good enough shape to finish the ride. The rear wheel was still out of true, and the frame wasn't perfect, but I was no longer at risk for locking up my rear wheel, and they restored my full selection of gears.
All the same, any thought I had of finishing the ride in less than six hours wall time was shot. I got back on the bike hoping I was still warm enough to make the climb up heartbreak.
I had an easier time with this hill than I ever have getting up it. I didn't have to walk, treat them like switchbacks, or really struggle very much. I rolled up it, taking it easier than I could have. I arrived at the top pretty charged and raced down the other side.
After heartbreak, the Santa Fe Century gets far less interesting. It gets much windier and a heck of a lot flatter, and there are parts of the course where I really struggle with boredom.
I rolled into the mile 60 food stop to refill my cheer water. A new coworker of mine who was also riding the tour spotted me, and we chatted for a brief while. He had started an hour earlier than I had and wasn't in a particular hurry. He was riding x-paced with tour other friends.
One of the things about riding through a flat, windy, and boring part of the course is that you get really inspired when it is almost over. As I approached Lamey, you start to get into more hills and scenic country. I took one last stop at mile 90 to get some extra water, having botched my Gatorade to water ratio at mile 60 and suffering from a sugar headache.
Normally, I can keep a pretty fast pace in the last 10 miles of this ride. I wasn't in top form, but I had been doing well enough to clock a sub-six hour on-bike time, so I tried to keep my pace headed into town. It is always nice to finish strong.
Unlike last year, I didn't cross the line to a cheering section, so I let out my own hooray and texted my finish time to the interested parties.
I then rode a "cool down" ride back to J's house, keeping over 20mph for the 3-4 downhill return miles. And even had someone along the way ask how my ride went. ^_^
I finished the 103.75 mile course in 5:48:55 on bike, 17.84mph. My wall time was 6:45:56, accounting for the 1 hour stopped for repair at mile 40. This may well have been a personal best on-bike time for this course, though if it was it was within minutes of my time last year.
Two Wheel Drive pretty much made my day, what with their gift of 60 miles I wouldn't have otherwise had. I've never needed the services of an on-course mechanic, and I'm really glad they were there.