I approached this event like I did the TGF, but a bit less serious. When I signed up for the event, I was expecting the same procedure as the 2012 Spooktacular Metric Century that I participated in. (In terms of how official things were). This time around, they got a bit more sophisticated. They decided to use timing chips and bib numbers. I like the way they did it. They had the timing chips and bib numbers on the helmet. No fussing about putting a bib number on the jersey or the bike. In preparation for the event, I separated my stuff in bags. I created a timeline for the morning of the event. As I went through the morning procedures, I scratched off the todo’s on the printed paper. Worked like a charm and definitely reduced the anxiety of wondering, “Did I miss anything”? What I really like about this ride is that it doesn’t matter when you start, as long as it’s between 6am and 9am. That meant, as soon as I got everything done, then I could head out. By the time I was ready to leave, it was still dark out. (To be expected). The driving directions was a no brainer. Just go down the 58 to Comanche, head north and make your way to the parking lot. Very little guesswork, and I had my phone GPS instructions going, just in case. My phone was connected to power in the car, so that I could keep its charge topped off. I knew it was going to need every last bit of it.

There was a group planned to depart at about 7am. I got to the parking lot around 6:45ish. When I got there, I looked around, found the sign in booth and checked in. They gave me the bag of goodies and bib with timing chip. I went back to the car. When I got to the car, I noticed that I forgot to turn my headlights off. Fortunately, it was on for just 5 or 10 minutes, so no worries). I grabbed my helmet and put the timing chip on it. I guess I was more anxious than I realized because, I caught myself making the mistake of putting the timing chip on the wrong side. Fortunately, I was able to safely peel if off and put it on the (literally) right side of the helmet. The bib went on the left. I was having to talk myself through the steps. I got my gear together. Assembled the bike. I decided to wear my arm warmers, but I took my knee warmers off. Put everything I needed into my jersey pockets. While getting prepped, the small group had departed, so I put in my mind that it didn’t matter. I turned on the GPS, started the smartphone apps, started the GoPro camera. Finally, I went through my departure checklist. I was good to go.

I made my way out of the parking lot (after asking someone which way). The sun had just started to rise above the horizon. The exit of the parking lot is about half a mile long or so. That gave me time to feel the pockets to see if I really had everything. I did. The way south started with some moderate climbing. It went quick. One of the first things I noticed was that the wind had picked up. I think it was more than normal, at this time of the morning. My legs were a bit cold and I was wondering if I made the right decision by not covering them. I was having to pace myself carefully. Going south on Comanche went pretty quick. Faster than I anticipated. Maybe because I was feeling fresh in the legs. The navigation was a no-brainer. When I made a left onto Edison Hwy, the wind was in my face. I knew it was going to be like this for most of the way out. I conserved my energy. I was in and out of the saddle a lot. I had to give the legs time to relieve tension from being in the same position. I was looking down the road and one of the first things I noticed was that the sun was in my face. That meant traffic from behind was blinded by the sun, so visibility was at its worst. I’m glad I brought my lights and I was looking back every so often, just in case. The moutains ahead looked like they were over 20 miles away. I kept my sight just 20 feet ahead, looking up once in a while. The mountains seemed to get closer (faster) when I did that. Suffice it to say, that’s what I did till I got to Bena.

Getting onto Bena meant that I was off the highway, so the danger from traffic was much less. Meaning I was less worried about it and I was able to focus on the ride with less distraction. I still had over 4 miles till the real climbing started. I kept my same pace. Still going into a headwind. The landscape had changed. I was looking around, once in a while. I was able to take in the scenery, and that was good for the morale. It was something nice to look at. I could see riders off in the distance. It made me feel less lonely. I reached the major climbs. It was about 4 miles. As I was beginning the climb, I was having to think about feeding. It was near an hour and a half into the ride. About the time I planned to feed. I had enough Gatorade left, so I was drinking more often. I had in mind, that if I started to get a sign of hunger knock that I’d check my ego and just stop and feed. I got half way into the climb, and the hunger was stable. The climb went fast. My legs felt good. When I reached the summit, the first rest stop was right there. It was the perfect time to stop and feed. I filled bottles, and ate. I took a bio while I was at it. From there was more climbing to do, but also downhills that made it forgiving. I reached the second rest stop. Legs a bit fatigued, but doing good. I think it was here where I mixed some Accelerade. I grabbed an energy bar while I was at it and stored it in my extra bag. That way, I had a bailout in case I ran out of food. Shortly after, I got back on the road.

My quads were getting sore. I think it was the temperature differential that I was going through. Normally It’s my calf’s that show signs of fatigue, more than anything else. I was thinking to myself, where am I going to be able to stretch, given that I was going mostly uphill, so coasting and stretching doesn’t mix very well on this terrain. I ended up unclipping a few times to shake the legs. I was in and out of the saddle a lot. When I reached the fork in the road, I knew there was about 5 miles of climbing remaining. And, the gradient was modest. The miles went quick. I was used to going 15 miles up the canyon. I reached the turn-around. There didn’t appear to be a timing station there, but it was clearly marked. The last half of the ride was going to be faster and that’s the way I like it. After gaining a bit of momentum, the first thing I started to do was stretch while riding. I did this about every 5 minutes or so. I think that was the best thing I could have done. I enjoyed the downhill. The wind was kind of tough to gauge. I’d say it was more of a tailwind, but it sure wasn’t perfect. I recognized the landmarks, so I had a rough idea how fast I was going to make it back to the next segment. I made it back to the same rest stop just before the Caliente climb. I know I refilled my water and maybe put some water in my now partially consumed Accelerade. Not 100% sure on that. I took a bio and then got back on the road.

There was a bit of climbing to get out of the mountainous region. It was forgiving. My quads were a bit sore, but manageable. I had plenty of gears to find that tempo I like. I was ticking over the pedals, out of the saddle more often then not. Before I knew it, I was back to the next rest stop. I refilled my bottles, discarded some empty power bar wrappers and got back on the road. I decided to get over the next climb and pull over. When I got there, I stopped to feed a full Power Bar and mix more Accelerade into my now, full bottle. I didn’t spare much time to eat. I took my arm warmers off and stuffed them in my spare bag. There was a nice descent that followed. I was able to make up a lot of time. I made it back to Bena Road. The now familiar straight-ish stretch of road. Somewhere on this leg, a rider bridged up to me. I don’t even know if he was part of the ride. I think he was. We ended up riding together for about 10 miles or so. We took turns pulling. Definitely shaved a few minutes off my time and he was more than willing to do some work. The wind wasn’t what I had hoped. It wasn’t a generous tailwind. I don’t think it was a crosswind, either. Somewhat discouraging, but with the help of my temporary riding partner, we kept the tempo going and zipped through Bena and the Edison Highway. This was definitely better on the morale. I was probably going close to 50% faster than when I was heading out on this stretch of road. I was counting on that. We made it to Comanche, I think the wind felt like it was aiding a bit more here. The road started to tip upwards and my companion had to go his own pace while I continued at mine. Suffice it to say, he couldn’t keep up. My legs started to turn around. I think it was the temperature that had risen. Somewhat of a therapeutic sensation. I felt better and was able to up the pace. As I was nearing the end of the ride, my GPS said that my phone had 15% charge remaining. I was trying to do the numbers in my mind. I calculated that I would have just enough to make it back. In the meantime, the uphills went quick. I found my climbing legs and was keeping a good tempo. The GPS kept on reminding me that the smartphone was about out of batteries. I ended up running through the consequences of my phone running out of batteries. The first thing I thought was the charity app. That app has the tendancy to loose its progress when the phone stops working. That meant all the work I did would not reflect on the charity app. The next thing that would happen that my (Glympse) tracking app would stop and that mom, dad and Peggy would loose track of my progress. The Strava app would loose connectivity and not record the remainder of the ride. At mile 60, I ended up stopping so that I could stop the Charity app. Saving my progress up to that point. I restarted it, thinking worst case scenario, I would just loose a few miles of the ride. I got back on the road asap. The park was near. I was following the signs. My right calf muscle started to show signs of cramping, so I was having to shift my efforts to my left leg to compensate. I knew I had enough to make it back, even if my leg got worse. I think the start/finish timer was somewhere before the entrance to the park, because when I got back, I didn’t see any timing stations at or near the entrance of the parking lot.

When I got back, I stopped my GPS timer and made my way back to the car. I wasn’t sure what to do next, but I had a feeling I was supposed to go to the sign in booth in order to check out. I was right, and the gentleman who was there handed me my medal. There was a raffle taking place later that day, but I didn’t want to hang around. I was mostly spent and felt like getting back home. Overall, things went to plan. I didn’t miss a thing. I had all the provisions. I don’t know how it would have been if I wore my knee warmers. I would have removed them, eventually and that would have filled my pockets. Other than that, I think I got everything right. Another (distinguished) ride accomplished!

The results are in. I got 4th in my category, 15th Overall.