It was an inauspicious start to the big day. I just felt slightly out of sync as soon as I got up. Couldn't find some of the things I wanted for the ride, and I ran out of time to try and recenter my front disc brakes. But I didn't forget anything important for the ride, and Leslie took me and Charlie over to near the starting point. We got geared up and met the others near the starting point. On this ride in the group I started with, there were: Perse, Jed, Rob, Charlie, Nel, Gio, Francis, Aaron, Jhonar, Eric, Arnold, and Abie. The latter two riders started off and rode at their own pace, while Aaron and Jhonar sprinted ahead, as Aaron was looking to set a PR for a century ride. I was a little cold at the start, since I opted for short-finger gloves and no jacket. But it warmed up fairly quickly, and it wasn't a problem. I tried to stay out in front and set a strong pace but not one that caused the others to fall out of the line. Even still, Charlie slowed down and fell back. We made good time, having the benefit of a tailwind and slight downhill gradient. We skipped the first sag stop, which made for a long ride without a significant pause, since the next rest stop was around mile 31. That made the time at this sag stop too long for my taste. But we met up with Jhonar, who had fallen back from trying to stay with Aaron. I also saw Mer Gatchalian and Darryl Anunciado there, they were riding with a Barkada group. On the stretch leading into this stop, we encountered the first taste of what the wind was going to be like, and it wasn't pretty. It was coming from the northwest, so riding north and/or west put us either into a headwind or a crosswind. The crosswind really wreaked havoc on my bike, with its large lateral cross-section. From there, it was a little less than 20 miles to the turnaround point at 49 miles. We had another long stop here, and I fueled up pretty well, I think. Legs were feeling fine, but I wasn't looking forward to battling the winds on the way back. The return route was an exact replica of the outbound route. Mike, a rider who lives north of LA and has ridden with us on Gideon's charity rides, joined us, as did Jerry, an Adobe Velo rider who rode all the way with us last year. Riding back, we initially had some southbound sections where the wind effect wasn't so bad. I was in the front and was riding with some other fast riders. We separated from the Bisikleta group, and for a while it was me and three other riders trading leads and pushing each other to go fast. I got back to the next rest stop, at mile 67, a couple of minutes ahead of the next group of Bisikleta riders, and the others came in afterwards. Rob was feeling the effects of our effort and the wind, and he was slowing down. I felt good on that stretch but in hindsight didn't eat enough food at this stop, and I should have had my second GU gel here (I thought I had lost it from my pocket but found it later). So the combination of the high output, not enough replacement calories, and battling cross- and headwinds all the way back put me in the red zone around mile 75-80. I kept at the front of the Bisikleta lead group through this time but wasn't consistently leading. Between mile 81 and 87, I was really struggling, with no push in my legs and dealing with wind and some mild elevation gain. Eric, Gio, and Gideon got ahead of me and made it to the last rest stop before I did by maybe a minute. I was really glad to have the break and the opportunity to get some more food in me. Had my last GU, ate some pasta, and PB&J, and a banana, and got some diluted Gatorade for my water bottle. Gideon recommended that we slow the pace down and ride more generally together for the last segment. We started that way, and I set the pace for a while but when I got some break from the wind, I increased my cadence and got ahead again. Not too long after the stop, I had some cramping in my groin, but I stretched it out and it didn't become an issue. Aaron joined us with about 4 miles to go, and I was generally with the group before he got there. But then I pushed it a little harder and got separation from them. I waited for the group with about 3 miles left, then got in my rhythm and finished it off pretty much at the pace I could ride. Ann and Isabelle were there at the finish line, and they saw me coming through and cheered. That was pretty great. There were a lot of people there, which also made for a good experience. Finished in under 5:30, which made me feel good, given the wind we had to deal with. We took a lot of finish line photos, then Ann and I headed over to where Leslie had parked her Jeep to get a ride back to the AirBnB.
Avg speed = 18.0 mph. Total mileage = 98.4 mi
Avg power = 164 W. Weighted avg power = 173 W
Total elevation gain = 1240'
Avg heartrate = 130 bpm
When we got back, I had a beer, which tasted wonderful, and then I sat in the hot tub with Charlie, Leslie, and Rob and had another beer. Then the three riders went in the pool and swam around for a while. I cleaned up afterwards, and we headed over to where most of the other Bisikleta riders were staying, at a place in Indio that was very similar to the place they stayed in last year. Andy and Roya were there, they completed the 50-mile route, which was a big accomplishment for her. Abie tried to complete the century but had three flats, and she and Arnold ended up getting an Uber back after mile 63 or so. She looked wiped out when I saw here. It was a nice potluck, very low-key. We went with Rob and Isabelle, but we didn't stay too long. Was a fairly quiet night after that, but a very good day overall.
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