HOT Horsey Hundred 2012 Recap

I have been doing a lot of cycling now that tri season is in full swing.  Before I get to the official recap of the HH, I wanted to add a few other tidbits of things that went on last week:

First double stroller run of the summer!  Holy cow, that was hard!  The stroller weighs around 98lbs now!  Sheesh!  I ran the same route that I did the previous week with just Soren as a near perfect tempo run.  Well, not today.  I was just happy to get the miles done! 

Next, I received my profile designs saddle mount rear water bottle  holder arrived, and I tried to install it on my bike.  It didn't fit.  It interfered with my aero box.  I personally love my aero box, so removing it and going to a seat bag is not really an option.  Especially since I can return the water bottle holder since I got it from REI.  I will just need to pay better attention to routes to make sure that I refill my bottles before they are empty.  I will also need to get a little better grabbing a water bottle in a race for Muncie, but for the rest of my riding needs, I am probably still OK without it.

Now, onto the Horsey Hundred.  We were super excited that Valerie and Kent came down to join us for this ride.  Ryan and Kent were doing the 102 route, and Valerie and I were doing the 76 mile route.  I had never ridden this far before, so I was a little nervous about it.  It was also really really hot.  When we left our house to drive to Georgetown, it already felt warm at 6am.  It isn't a race, so time wasn't really a concern, and there were also several rest stops to refuel with fluids and food. 

The four of us stayed together for a little bit, until the first group passed us.  Ryan made a comment about how he doesn't get passed, so Valerie and I let the guys go, and that was the last we saw of them until the end.  We had a good ride.  We stopped at all but one of the rest stops to get more water.  It was so hot!  They had these awesome cookies at the rest stops too.  I NEED the recipe.  I sent out an email, but I don't know if I will get any response.  At the first stop, I tried a bite, and then had a half.  Then, the next stop, I had a 1/4 cookie, but then went back and got another half, and then another half.  So, at the next stop I just took a whole cookie.  I only used a couple of my gu packets.  Last year, I had intended on doing this ride to get my race day nutrition down, and ended up eating a ton of PB&J sandwiches instead.  This time around, I decided to see how FEW gu packets I could use and just rely on the sag food.  Ryan thought I was nuts, but I didn't want to use GU that I didn't have to (and I will get to more on this later).  We didn't break any speed records today, because it was hilly, but Valerie and I stayed together for the whole 76.7 miles, and we finished in a time of 4:40:17, not including rest stops.  It was just over a 16mph average, and considering the hills, I was pleased with it.  Valerie dropped a chain once and I started an uphill from a complete stop in my small ring in the back which didn't work at all, but except for those items, we had no issues on the ride, aside from it being hot.  I felt like a good deal of our route was shaded, but we did have a section over new blacktop that was just so hot, I just felt like I was being cooked.  I even ran into the guy, Garrett that I met at the IAMTRI ride that led me to my car.  He passed me like I was going backwards, but then I "attacked" and caught up to chat with him.  He was probably relieved that Valerie missed a turn for our route (there were several distances), and I had to wait up for her so that he could get back to his regular pace. 

We finished up and got our post race lunch, which was awesome.  They had BBQ burgers, chicken, and pork.  Last year when my dad and I finished, they were still roasting the whole pigs, but they were done with those by the time we got done this year.  And then Valerie took a shower and I ran a mile back looking for the guys while we waited.  I felt like we waited forever, but most of the folks just finishing were still doing the shorter routes.  Then I saw some guys that looked like they did the century.  I was telling Ryan about "the look" that the 102 guys had.  They were lean, had the fancy bikes, wheels, and kits and such.  Like Ryan, essentially.  Garrett is pretty speedy, and I actually started to worry about Ryan when he finished before Ryan.  Ryan and I had separated a lot earlier, so Garrett made up a lot of ground.  Ryan did remember being  passed by him because he has a very distince m-dot on a fleur de lis tattoo on his calf, which is how I rememberd him from IAMTRI in the first place. I thought about trying to track him down to see if he had seen our guys, but then figured that would make me an official stalker.  As it turned out, Kent didn't tolerate the heat nearly as well as Ryan, and right after I made a call to Valerie, I saw Ryan finish up. They had found a couple of other wolverines, and Kent needed to rest a bit more at one of the rest stops.  Kent finished the ride, and was able to enjoy his lunch.  It was still so hot, and I just wanted a shower at this point.  I was ready to head home.  I was bummed Valerie and Kent had to head back so soon, though. 

It was a great ride, and I think I have decided to try the 100mi route of the upcoming MMM ride in a week and a half.  Ryan has his concerns.  He did this route last year and said it was the hardest thing he has ever done.  I have found one of his female friends to ride with, so he feels a little better about that.  I know Valerie will have others to ride with too.  I just feel like this is as good of an opportunity to attempt a century ride as any.  I am building my mileage really nicely, and don't want to waste this opportunity.  Even though I feel behind on my cycling, I feel like I want to try this.  Since I am not upping my distance in any of my tris or running races, this is a good opportunity to do something new and that scares me.  It also gives me a "check in the box" for Ryan's unwritten list of things I need to do before I can be allowed to do an full Ironman.  "Do a Century Ride".

Also, back to the GU issue.  I got busted yesterday when ordering GU.  Ryan freaked out with the amount I used and wanted to purchase from the REI memorial day sale.  I am really glad I rationed it for Saturday's ride.  I also ran yesterday in the super hotness.  It was in the 80s at 8:30am.  Ugh.  It was good practice for Muncie.

Today is an unplanned rest day.  I am actually excited about it.  I need it.  I took Sunday off as usual, but with yesterday's run in the hot followed by the day of yardwork, I was excited when I woke up to thunder.  I was curious how long it would last, and it is now noon, and it has been thundering off and on all morning, which means the pool is closed.  Soren also has a low fever, which means he couldn't go to the daycare anyway.  It will be nice to be lazy at home today, but I will hit it hard again tomorrow.

Finally, for those of you wondering, I did manage to stick to the sheet changing schedule I set up last week.  I am not so good at washing and putting away the sheets, but since we have several sets it hasn't been an issue of not being able to put clean ones on, just having sheets piled up in the laundry room.  With all of our houseguests this weekend, there are even more than usual.  The bummer about this change is that it has not helped with my conjestion issues I have been having lately.  I switched from claritin to zyrtec, and it still has not helped much.  I may need to go see an alergist and possibly wash my hair before I go to bed every night to get any alergens out of it.  I am looking foward to my events in MI that maybe my head will clear up a bit with the change in venue.