Albuquerque Century 2009
On Saturday, I rode the Albuquerque Century. I did far better on this course than I ever have before. Not only was my time smashing, but I felt really great afterwords.
I had planned on driving to the starting line this year, but a miscommunication prevented me from having access to a vehicle in the morning. I started timing from the moment I left the house, which was 13 miles from the starting line. (the start location keeps moving further away every year...)
I got to the starting line about 10 minutes late, picked up my rider packet and made myself official. I'd passed some of the early riders on the trail coming into downtown, and was pretty anxious to get started. I had the good fortune to start with a group of half a dozen riders or so, and we headed down Mountain Road doing a fair but not aggressive pace. Once we'd passed the first food stop, we had passed or caught dozens of riders, some of whom got in our peloton.
Riding through Isleta Pueblo, we had a formidable group, passing much larger but slower groups and doing 20-25mph, the pace we'd kept since starting the tour. We turned north, heading out of the Pueblo to catch Coors road, which is the first of two big climbs in this tour. A rider in front of me crossed tires with the rider in front of her, and in the span of a single bicycle length went from 25mph to being crushed into the concrete. The peloton erupted into a maelstrom of swerving bicycles, with one person shooting across my path while the person in front of me veered in the opposite direction. I briefly saw myself going down in the chaos, just as an opening developed and I reached the side of the road and stopped.
A few people in the peloton looked back and kept riding, while most people stayed to render aid. I pulled my phone out and called 911, which was an extremely frustrating conversation as I described what I was doing and where I was. The 911 operator wanted a physical address, and we're on Pueblo land along a more-or-less county road. I could describe where I was, but not with anything a computerized travel system could relate to. Fortunately, a SAG wagon arrived on the scene. They can directly contact EMS--clearly a much faster route that going through 911.
The Red River Century gives each rider the direct line to on-course emergency personnel, and I sat there wishing I could directly call the people who were going to be responding anyway. The only time I've used on-course medical services is in the Red River Century, now that I think about it. They've clearly got a great relationship up there.
That crash was the talk of the course all the way up the hill, as I rode with groups of riders up the hill talking about it. My peloton was scattered, though I had guessed that would have happened going up Rio Bravo anyway.
The wind was quite favorable for the northward ride up the mesa, and despite not having a group to ride with, I managed a very fast speed, passing groups of riders and eventually pulling one rider unfamiliar with the course. Coming back into town is the most challenging part of the course to memorize, with lots of poorly marked turns to get yourself back to the river. I was glad to help someone that didn't know where they were going.
At the river, the course diverges. If you're doing a metric century, you head back to the starting line, but if you're doing the 100 mile ride, you head into Bernalillo. Neither of these options really appealed to me. I was committed to riding a century, but I had a handfasting to attend in the early afternoon. The Bernalillo stretch of this course is absolutely my least favorite section of the ride, and with the strong wind (it had been getting worse all day), coming back to Albuquerque was going to really suck.
I decided to deviate from the course and cut Bernalillo out of my ride. With the potential for 26 miles of extra riding that day (to and from the starting line), I didn't consider this a big loss, and would still be able to do both hills (Rio Bravo and Tramway, which I refer to as the "half pipe" ride if I do them together), ride 100 miles, and make it to the handfasting.
I expected, when I rejoined the course, the find myself being passed by tons of cyclists well out of my league. Instead, reaching the photographer headed up Tramway, he informed me that I was the first cyclist to reach Tramway. I was shocked by this, and couldn't articulate that I'd either a) started early or b) skipped ~10-15 miles of course.
I was passed by a single cyclist as I went up Tramway, a bandit. A bandit refers to someone riding the course (and particularly, eating the food) without registering for the event. He had done 10 more miles in 15 fewer minutes that day, so there was no way I was going to catch him as he zoomed by me. At the last food stop, I encountered a second bandit, and he and I rode for a bit on the way back into town. He also seriously outclassed me, though I have no idea whether he had 90 miles under his belt that day.
Coming back into town, I managed to stay on the actual, official course, which I got lost trying last year. Once I'd worked myself back downtown, I had a weird mental adjustment, where I wasn't going to go to the official finish line, but start riding home instead. I realized I wasn't SAG supported any longer, and I was basically out for a day ride from here on out.
I decided to stop my "official" ride at the ATC downtown, which was just past 100 miles. Alas, I missed the bus by 10 minutes. I made some phone calls and coordinated with the other people I was going to the handfasting with, arranged to be picked up a few miles north of my house at a food joint, ate a meal and went on with my day.
I rode 100.56 miles in 5:25:12 on bike, with 5:59:33 wall time, giving me an average speed of 18.55mph. I've never finished Albuquerque in less that six hours, and given that this time counts picking up my rider packet as well as stopping to talk to 911, I'm fantastically happy to have had such a great ride. Of course, I didn't stay on the official course, and these numbers do reflect riding on a course I enjoy more. 100 miles is a 100 miles, however.
I'll probably do this same "personal course" next year, as it removes a lot of stress over finding a vehicle, is more fun, and won't leave me having to recover from a 130 mile day.
I had planned on driving to the starting line this year, but a miscommunication prevented me from having access to a vehicle in the morning. I started timing from the moment I left the house, which was 13 miles from the starting line. (the start location keeps moving further away every year...)
I got to the starting line about 10 minutes late, picked up my rider packet and made myself official. I'd passed some of the early riders on the trail coming into downtown, and was pretty anxious to get started. I had the good fortune to start with a group of half a dozen riders or so, and we headed down Mountain Road doing a fair but not aggressive pace. Once we'd passed the first food stop, we had passed or caught dozens of riders, some of whom got in our peloton.
Riding through Isleta Pueblo, we had a formidable group, passing much larger but slower groups and doing 20-25mph, the pace we'd kept since starting the tour. We turned north, heading out of the Pueblo to catch Coors road, which is the first of two big climbs in this tour. A rider in front of me crossed tires with the rider in front of her, and in the span of a single bicycle length went from 25mph to being crushed into the concrete. The peloton erupted into a maelstrom of swerving bicycles, with one person shooting across my path while the person in front of me veered in the opposite direction. I briefly saw myself going down in the chaos, just as an opening developed and I reached the side of the road and stopped.
A few people in the peloton looked back and kept riding, while most people stayed to render aid. I pulled my phone out and called 911, which was an extremely frustrating conversation as I described what I was doing and where I was. The 911 operator wanted a physical address, and we're on Pueblo land along a more-or-less county road. I could describe where I was, but not with anything a computerized travel system could relate to. Fortunately, a SAG wagon arrived on the scene. They can directly contact EMS--clearly a much faster route that going through 911.
The Red River Century gives each rider the direct line to on-course emergency personnel, and I sat there wishing I could directly call the people who were going to be responding anyway. The only time I've used on-course medical services is in the Red River Century, now that I think about it. They've clearly got a great relationship up there.
That crash was the talk of the course all the way up the hill, as I rode with groups of riders up the hill talking about it. My peloton was scattered, though I had guessed that would have happened going up Rio Bravo anyway.
The wind was quite favorable for the northward ride up the mesa, and despite not having a group to ride with, I managed a very fast speed, passing groups of riders and eventually pulling one rider unfamiliar with the course. Coming back into town is the most challenging part of the course to memorize, with lots of poorly marked turns to get yourself back to the river. I was glad to help someone that didn't know where they were going.
At the river, the course diverges. If you're doing a metric century, you head back to the starting line, but if you're doing the 100 mile ride, you head into Bernalillo. Neither of these options really appealed to me. I was committed to riding a century, but I had a handfasting to attend in the early afternoon. The Bernalillo stretch of this course is absolutely my least favorite section of the ride, and with the strong wind (it had been getting worse all day), coming back to Albuquerque was going to really suck.
I decided to deviate from the course and cut Bernalillo out of my ride. With the potential for 26 miles of extra riding that day (to and from the starting line), I didn't consider this a big loss, and would still be able to do both hills (Rio Bravo and Tramway, which I refer to as the "half pipe" ride if I do them together), ride 100 miles, and make it to the handfasting.
I expected, when I rejoined the course, the find myself being passed by tons of cyclists well out of my league. Instead, reaching the photographer headed up Tramway, he informed me that I was the first cyclist to reach Tramway. I was shocked by this, and couldn't articulate that I'd either a) started early or b) skipped ~10-15 miles of course.
I was passed by a single cyclist as I went up Tramway, a bandit. A bandit refers to someone riding the course (and particularly, eating the food) without registering for the event. He had done 10 more miles in 15 fewer minutes that day, so there was no way I was going to catch him as he zoomed by me. At the last food stop, I encountered a second bandit, and he and I rode for a bit on the way back into town. He also seriously outclassed me, though I have no idea whether he had 90 miles under his belt that day.
Coming back into town, I managed to stay on the actual, official course, which I got lost trying last year. Once I'd worked myself back downtown, I had a weird mental adjustment, where I wasn't going to go to the official finish line, but start riding home instead. I realized I wasn't SAG supported any longer, and I was basically out for a day ride from here on out.
I decided to stop my "official" ride at the ATC downtown, which was just past 100 miles. Alas, I missed the bus by 10 minutes. I made some phone calls and coordinated with the other people I was going to the handfasting with, arranged to be picked up a few miles north of my house at a food joint, ate a meal and went on with my day.
I rode 100.56 miles in 5:25:12 on bike, with 5:59:33 wall time, giving me an average speed of 18.55mph. I've never finished Albuquerque in less that six hours, and given that this time counts picking up my rider packet as well as stopping to talk to 911, I'm fantastically happy to have had such a great ride. Of course, I didn't stay on the official course, and these numbers do reflect riding on a course I enjoy more. 100 miles is a 100 miles, however.
I'll probably do this same "personal course" next year, as it removes a lot of stress over finding a vehicle, is more fun, and won't leave me having to recover from a 130 mile day.