2016 Old Caz for a newbie

[Greg Alsterlind]

Here is what I learned: A ride/race with this much pavement is best done on a cross bike. I have one but was not feeling it on the off road down hill( I will come back to this) so I went with a hard tail 29er. With much help and many thanks Jim at Acme set me up with some fast rolling light weight tires and my mountain bike was faster than it has ever been. I lined up with my two friends and teammates Mark I and Mark B ( or Buell when out with both) about mid-pack( 200 +/- deep). A minute or two after the start Mark B was gone while Mark I slowly started passing people up the hill. The first climb was never too steep and even had a few almost flat areas to give you a break. We pre-rode the climb( highly recommend ) so it was easy to gauge the right tempo through here. By the time Mark and I hit the top we had moved up closer to the top 100 riders. The down hill was fun. Never steep but long- very long. We got behind a pair of fast Cross bike riders and passed 30+ on the way down. There was a lot of traffic and most of those we went by were on Cross bikes. My mountain bike riding choice never looked so brilliant. Reality set in quickly when we got back on the road. Jim had advised me to get in with a group of riders that worked together to keep up a good pace. The first group passed us too fast to jump in. The second group didn't want anything to do with letting us mountain bikers join in. It was at this point my bike choice was made clear. After watching most of those we passed in the first 45 min. fly by we were able to work our way in to a small group of 6-8 cross bike riders. This was one of the high points of the day. Mark and I were able to stay with these people till about the 25 mile mark( not quite half way). Our average speed was way up (20 mph +) working with a group and the energy/effort was much easier. The next climb was not as long as the first and felt about the same grade. Having learned that taking chances on the first down hill got me nowhere in the end, we took the down hill to the creek easy. Still a lot of traffic in the corners but everyone slower was very good about moving out of the way. Next up was the climb out of the creek. Shaking off as much of the cold water I could, I jumped back on and started up. This was the first time in the day I knew I was tiring. Not sure if it was the long down hill or the walk through the cold creek but the hill felt hardest. As we approached HWY166 (approx. 40 mile) and I was about done. I have never pushed on the pedals at a race pace past about 30 miles and even though the course was now flat , my average speed dropped off about 20%. We stopped at the last rest stop ( something I never thought would happen to me in a race) and got what we could to help up the last climb. I had nothing left and as much as I liked Marks company , I told Him to go on without me( many thanks for hanging with me as long as you did!). As I watched rider after rider go by me all I could think of is -" I will be better next year!". I highly recommend this ride.