Saturday, February 11, 2012

2012 Tour de Palm Springs Century

Got up before 4:00 to get all my gear on and head over to Joe's house.  I'd packed most of the stuff in the car the previous evening.  I was a little nervous, because I had sniffles, sneezing, and a general feeling of punkiness the night before.  However, I felt pretty good when I woke up.  Got over there a little before 4:30 and loaded things up.  It took us about 1:45 to get to Palm Springs, staying on highways the whole way.  We got into town and stopped at the Visitor Center to go to the bathroom, but it was closed.  However, the wind was really blowing, an ominous sign.  Parked the car and got things together for the ride, then we headed over to the registration tables.  The weather was pretty mild, no strong blowing winds downtown, so we rode back to the car and I dropped off my jacket.  Started right at 7:00AM, and we headed generally north and west.  The wind was coming out of the west at around 35 mph once we got out of town, and it was so strong that we had to ride with bikes tilted to keep from being pushed over.  At one point, we rode through a sandstorm for about a minute, and the sand was blowing so hard it stung against my skin.  Everybody was riding slowly.  We turned west and rode right into the teeth of the wind for about 3.5 mi, and it was brutally slow.  I tried to find riders going at my pace, so I could draft shamelessly behind them.  We headed north then and had to face the stiff crosswinds again out to about mile 12.  It took me an hour to get here!  I waited for Joe, then we raced downhill for about 5 miles, going 35-40 mph without the sound of wind in our faces.  Stopped at the first SAG stop, rested up, and replenished food and drink.  On the next stage of the race, we had a couple of climbing sections that I don't remember from previous rides, so they were a little challenging.  Thankfully, there was another SAG stop afterwards that we paused at briefly, talking to a nice couple riding a tandem.  The following section was flat to downhill all the way out to mile 48 and the third SAG stop.  I did get a flat in my front tire, but fortune smiled on me when a guy in a car stopped just as I was pumping it up to lend me his floor pump.  Much easier!  We flew on this section, and Joe was really riding strong, staying with me the entire way.  We took a little longer break at SAG stop 3, drinking water and getting some easy-to-digest food.  I took a hammer gel packet with caffeine for the energy boost (it did affect my sleep that night).  We were at the general base of the downhill, with just a slight lowering over the next 10 miles, again having the advantage of the wind working in our favor, so that was a fast section.  A little after this point, we got off route on the way back to La Quinta.  Joe and I also hooked up with a couple of riders who were pushing the pace, and we stayed with them for 5-10 min, riding at a really fast pace (> 20 mph on the flats).  We reconnected with the correct route around mile 69, just in time to catch the fourth SAG stop at mile 73.  I was feeling pretty good, no real pain, just a little tired.  They had a really good band at this stop, and we talked with a bike mechanic from Mission Hills Bikes who had complimented Joe's vintage bike.  Joe's feet and quads were starting to bother him, so he sat down for awhile and massaged them.  We headed back through La Quinta, briefly heading east from Palm Desert until we began riding toward Rancho Mirage.  Here is where I separated from Joe, as I found a couple of groups of riders who I could hang with, so I stayed with them.  The last SAG stop at mile 90 was in Rancho Mirage at a Lowe's, so I waited for him there.  He was really starting to feel it in his legs and feet, so he sat again for a time before we headed to the finish.  I stayed with him the rest of the way, encouraging him to stay locked on to my back wheel.  I dialed my pace back a little but not a lot.  This section of the ride, although a net uphill and heading mainly east, was not as bad as I had feared.  We were generally keeping a pace around 17 mph. It was a big relief to enter the outskirts of Palm Springs and finish up with people cheering our accomplishment.  Finished with a riding time of 5:54, accounting for some walking time through the SAG stops.  I really felt good at the end.  I had tried to stretch out my quads and hamstrings at the last SAG stop but felt tightening, so I didn't push it.  Still, they gave me zero problems on the homestretch, maybe because I wasn't driving a hard pace.

Avg speed = 17.4 mph. Total mileage = 102.4 mi
Avg heartrate = 154 bpm
Total elevation gain = 2650'
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/68794764