I think we must have lost some of our more serious riders after yesterday's ride, because I was one of the first to reach the campground in Pickstown, and I was dying!
So, why am I able to write today when I didn't think I'd be able to check in until the end of the Tour again? Well, Amy's mom, Marilyn, and step-father, Jim, were delayed coming back from Alaska due to the cancellation of their flight and weren't able to get home until this afternoon. Since we were only finishing today's ride an hour from their house, we decided to drive back so we could see them and then drive to Pickstown again in the morning for the start of stage 3.
So, back to the ride. It was supposed to rain off and on all day with the wind shifting from directly behind us to somewhat of a headwind by 1:00 or so. The rain held off for the most part and I managed to finish before the wind had the opportunity to present a problem for me. What I didn't anticipate was the severity of the climbing today and the after effects of yesterday's effort. I started off feeling pretty well and riding on roads that I know pretty well from riding here on vacations in the last three years, so I left with a good amount of confidence and immediately began passing people. I did get blown away by a guy in an Alessio jersey riding a really sweet Lemond bike who was probably the first person into the campsite today.
After a short stretch of headwind into Springfield, I headed out of town and only saw four other people in the next 35 miles. It was a lot of beautiful, rolling terrain through the Missouri River valley, but by about 35 miles into the day, I began to feel horrible. My legs ached, my butt hurt and my speed dropped like crazy. Amy and I were supposed to meet in Greenwood, but I started so fast that she wasn't there when I got there. I gave her a call and told her to meet me in the next town, Marty (60 miles into the ride), instead and we reached it at the same time.
It was at that point that I announced my retirement from the sport of cycling. Well, it was at that point that I wanted to announce my retirement, but instead I sat in the van, ate some food rested a little and tried to recover for the last 15 miles or so. We looked at the race profile and saw a few really severe climbs ahead which was okay with me. For whatever reason, I've been climbing really well and I'm able to catch people who can tear me up on the flats whenever the road goes up.
Amy told me that she had only seen two riders ahead of me, the Alessio guy and a guy in a purple jersey that I had encountered about 10 miles before as he was leaving a rest area and promptly left me for dead. As we sat in Marty, another six riders passed by.
Fed and a little rested, I started back in. The first stretch was a long uphill that gradually went up over the course of about three miles. Once we turned off that road, the road surface improved a lot, but the hills got more severe. I still felt pretty good climbing, but the uphills had equal counterparts in the downhills, and I fell like a stone down those hills catching two of the riders that had passed while I ate. A quick ride across the Fort Randall Dam and I dropped into the campground where I met Amy, grabbed a quick shower and then a drive back to Yankton. We estimated that I was probably one of the first ten to finish, so not a bad day for all the pain.
Tomorrow is 55 miles to Snake Creek with a few long hills, but not as rolling as today. Hopefully my body will recover tonight sleeping in a soft bed after a relaxing evening with family and I'll feel better on the bike tomorrow. Again, I expect that I probably won't be able to write about the rest until the end of the week, but you never know. In the meantime, the Argus Leader has a Tour de Kota section on their website www.argusleader.com with stories and photos from the road.
No comments:
Post a Comment