Dan Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 Woo hoo, completed my first double century on Saturday 14! Got off to a rocky start with 3 flats in the first 25 miles. At the first rest stop, at REI corporate HQ, they had a very complete bike shop set up (at 6:30 or so in the morning, mind you), and they diagnosed the problem as a bad rim strip. Weird 'cause I've been riding that rim strip all summer with no problems. Anyway, they replaced the rim strip, tube, and tire, and that fixed the problem. All this @#$@ing around with my back tire put me and my riding buddy behind all the fast pacelines we'd hoped to latch onto, so we wound up riding pretty much the whole ride as a paceline of two, and working way too hard as a result. Fortunately, when it really counted - outside of St. Helens with about 25 miles to go - we met up with two more riders, formed up a paceline with them, and pushed real hard the rest of the way. We pulled off some pretty great performances for that last stretch - we were all pulling at speeds like 22 mph+. I have no idea where the energy came from after 175 miles in the saddle. Final tally: 6:30 for the first century (including fixing flats and waiting around for a bike mechanic to diagnose/fix my problem). -30 minutes for lunch in Centralia -6:15 for the second century, or "the back 9" as I was calling it yesterday -average moving speed: 19.3 mph. (if you do the math, you can see that we stopped a fair amount, usually for water - not much way to cut down on that, 'cause it was in the 80s and 90s on the ride) We could have ridden a lot faster without the flat tires and with a beefy paceline to help us along, but all in all I'm pleased as punch with our performance. My riding buddy and I rode all-out - I don't feel like I could have gone any harder, so no regrets. And now that I know what it's all about and I had a decent ride, I never have to do a damn double ever again! From now on, centuries and maybe the odd 150 will be it for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebu Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 Holding up 20 mph for 200 miles is flippin crazy. That's all there is to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C5 Golfer Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 Congrats Dan-- I am impressed. Side bar-- glad they caught the guy who hit two riders ( one critical ) just outside Portland on Sunday. The HitRun driver was 8 miles from the crash site when they caught/arrested him. Hope the prosecuter and the judge rides a bike. My GF and I were riding SR 2 to Stevens pass Sunday when after 3 close calls we called it quits and found another ride... Too dangerous due to the last car purposely got as close as he could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patmoore Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Dan - a Double Century is impressive by itself but to average close to 20 mph is superhuman! I can't conceive of maintaining that kind of pace for that long. I've done maybe ten centuries in past ten years but at a sedate pace. My hat's off to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galen Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Wow! that is impressive! I think I'm the sh*t when I average better then 18 mph on a virtually flat 25 mi. R2T on my fixie :lol: :o . Very nice Dan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 hey Dan, something I started going years ago is to use coaches tape (available at any sporting goods store) in place of a "Rim Strip". Twice around doesn't move nor does it allow broken spokes to jab the tube. Congrats on your double ton, I am pretty sure I couldn't do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.