Elephant Rock 2014 - NOW TIME FOR TAPER WEEK

This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn (just practice for next week? yeah...) to drive down to Castle Rock for Elephant Rock Cycling Festival.

Now I've been calling this the 5-week back-to-back race weekend marathon. In truth, this one wasn't a race, but a big event for me nevertheless. Still have to wake up early, manage nutrition, etc. I'd signed up for the 62 mile ride and going in, I was determined to not overdo it. My focus was to keep a nice easy pace and make sure I took leisurely breaks at rest stops since I really didn't need distance work just yet this season.

I should explain I did this because the company I work for, DaVita, backed Team Transplant and so they requested some riders from DaVita to come represent their team.

I was so incredibly unspeakably tired waking up and despite the fact that I knew I would need food, I could barely eat an entire yogurt. I arrived just after 6, hoping to have some buddies to start with at 6:30, but everyone seemed to just keep rolling out. A few other Team Transplant riders thought it best to just go so I headed out at 6:25.

Starting out, I couldn't find anyone going a good pace. Most people were pretty slow rollers, and while I didn't want to hammer, just sitting around sounded awful. I decided to just push my own pace, high cadence, but not doing a ton of work. Then we came to a hill. Probably one of the biggest, steepest hills on the course (that or I just got used to the climbing after doing it all day). Once I got that one under my belt, most climbing felt pretty good.

I felt a twinging/tightness feeling in my hamstring really gnawing at me. Around mile 10 I thought, "wow, this is going to be a long day with that aggravating me." Pulling into the rest stop at 16, I had somehow managed to average ~14 mph even with all the insane climbing, so I was pretty happy. That and I was so hungry at this point, I could've eaten anything. I stuffed down some fruit and a mini muffin, tried some stretching, then headed out.

The next stop wasn't until 33 miles and man, the hills continued to be unrelenting. Our next stop was at Palmer Lake and by now all the snacks hadn't cut it. Here I had an entire bagel with peanut butter (well, that said, being from New Jersey, it was "small" for my definition of a bagel), a whole banana, more grapes, two little cookies - man I was eating the whole rest stop! After a decently long food break, I headed out up a hill to a finally very forgiving descent that, save a few rollers, gently pushed us into the last rest stop.

On my way there, I met Arturo, from Peru, who was drafting off me and playing the "pass-pass back" game. His friend rolled into the rest stop and we all introduced ourselves. Arturo said I was a "very good" rider. This meant a lot coming from someone from Peru, watching me, a Colorado transplant, suffer through rolling hills. Arturo told me Peru's terrain was much like Colorado's only hotter and more humid (which was my understanding). He said he grew up at 11,000 ft! CRAZY!

My hamstring was really annoying me at this point, but not hurting. I grabbed more water, a mini muffin and an Oreo. Finally I wasn't starving. Arturo, and his friend, whom I now knew to be Dave, headed out with me. We talked for a bit, until coming up to another climb, where I dropped them both. I wanted to be social, but climbing at an easy effort with my twitchy hamstring was getting irritating. In fact, I found it felt better to actually put some effort into climbing that just spin out.

Right before the final rest stop. ~mile 40

But the climb was long this time. Though I'd made it through the steepest grade, there was still more. The sun was coming out and it was getting humid. I was really glad I'd taken the extra precaution to fill my water bottle, even though I had a second totally full and there were only 19-miles to go. Arturo came up to ride with me, but eventually passed me as I began to feel weighed-down by the sweat and heat.

Reaching the top of the hill, I saw two people pulled over changing a flat. One with a severed piece of tubing in his hand. I asked if they were ok and he said he needed an extra tube. With only 12 miles to go, I pulled over and handed him mind. "I hope this gives me good karma to the end and I don't flat!" They thanked me, offering to pay me for the tube, but in the cycling world - tubes are cheap and flats suck.

I then was treated to an amazing huge descent. I looked down at one point when I was brave enough - I was going 45 mph :D Tucked in in my drops, knees to top tube, too scared to try to supertuck my butt under my saddle (slash, idk if my saddle is high enough to fit my big ol' butt under it). Shortly thereafter we fought 6 miles into the wind. Though the terrain was flat, the blowing wind was pushing me to 11 mph. No good :( I tried to jump on a group that rolled by, but my legs were starting to feel it and I couldn't deal with the inconsistent speed (swerving around other riders) and then trying to respond to power jumps from the front when the road was finally clear. I backed off.

We turned again, a full U-turn. Now with the wind at our backs, rolling a steady pace. I was happy to have about 9 miles to go. I ran into another DaVita teammate who said it was only his second ride this year! Couldn't believe it! We came to a hill and I needed to maintain speed (hamstring...annoying). He asked if I was leaving and I said "No, I'll be around" but I zipped up the hill and didn't see him again. I didn't anticipate acceleration but I think it was more consistency trumping exhaustion.

A few minor hills later, and a little suffering - I was very happy the ride was over. I still managed to average a little over 15 mph, which I'm pleased with considering hills and slowing for rest-stops. I definitely felt (and still feel) wiped out. I think overall, it was a strong showing and I'm feeling like a pretty strong cyclist this year!

But guess what...NOW IT IS TIME FOR TAPER WEEK!
And all the food. I don't think I've truly stopped eating since I got home, unless you count my 2-hr nap.