2006 ACS Bike-a-thon

I rode in the ACS bike-a-thon again this year and managed to make it the entire 100 mile course without dying.

The race has an early start time and I planned to get up at 4AM on Sunday. I wanted to make sure I was tired Saturday night, so I cut my grass, then Agnes's, then took a dip in the pool at Elaine's apartment. Unfortunately Elaine and I topped off the day with dinner and I ordered a Mountain Dew based beverage without thinking how the caffeine would keep me awake until Tuesday. It came with one free refill though, so I had to drink that too; I can't stand letting things go to waste and I was pretty sure the difference between a sip and two cups for me was small. I picked up some NyQuil and was able to sleep alright.

I was supposed to be at Elaine's at 5:15AM, but I had to turn around because I forgot my registration packet with my rider numbers. I probably could have obtained replacements at the start but I didn't want to risk it. It was good I went back because I found my swimsuit hanging on the knob of my front door. I had hung them there to air dry after swimming at Elaine's while I packed Saturday night and didn't notice them when I closed the door and went to bed.

We headed to 6th and Race St for the Lockheed team photo but missed it. Nobody will be able to tell whether or not I am in the picture anyway since we had around 600 riders. If anyone asks I'll just vaguely point at someone else. Kimmy registered online late so we had to find a booth to get her numbers. One of her GSK riding buddies was there but not the rest of the group. I'd wanted to hook up with them early on since they would push me to a pretty good pace. The guy we met went off to find them but we didn't follow. The crowds were huge and it didn't seem worth the hassle. We'd probably meet up at the first rest area.

The ride kicked off somewhere after 7AM. There were 6,000 or so registered riders, with at least a few thousand of them at the Ben Franklin bridge start, so it took awhile to get to the bridge. It was probably closer to 7:30 than 7 by the time we walked our bikes over to the bridge and were able to actually get on. Man that was a huge crowd. Fortunately nobody went down around me because there really would have been no place to dodge. We were also lucky enough to meet up with the GSK group as we started across the bridge. The pace picked up once we crested the high part of the bridge. The arch was slight, but it made a big difference. After the bridge the first part of the ride was actually on closed highways. That was neat.

We all made it to the first rest area together and I went right for food. I had a light breakfast around 4AM and was expecting there to be food at the start. There was at the start Kurt and I rode from last year (which was the 1st rest stop) and I was disappointed to find none at the bridge. I was starving. I didn't want to over-indulge of course, so I had a banana and half a bagel. There were a number of rest areas and I would just eat small amounts at each. Kurt and Kimmy weren't planning to ride with the GSK pack and took off early. I left with GSK and rode with them for the next few hours.

We kept up a pretty brisk pace, around 22 MPH or so. I took a few turns pulling, though I just hung out and drafted between the third rest area and the end of the metric century (a metric century is ~60 miles). Because of the timing of their transportation, the GSK group was not going to ride the full 100. I wanted to save energy in case there weren't many people to draft. We came through the last 10 miles or so at a good clip and a large UPenn group jumped on the end after we passed them. There was a rest area about 6 miles from the end of the metric century but I skipped it, figuring the bonus from riding with the group would outweigh the benefits of another rest.

We rolled up on the finish with a huge group and I hoped at least some of them would continue on the century loop. None did. There were only a few riders in sight in front of me and none behind. The ones ahead of me were going pretty slowly and it turned out they were just lost and had missed the finish. I eventually spotted a three man group and caught them. I asked if I could work in with them and they seemed happy to have more people to share the work. Another guy joined us at a stop light. We were going 18 MPH or so when I caught them. I would have liked to try for faster but I wasn't going to attempt passing them and ride on my own for the remaining 40-ish miles. The pace was picking up as people rotated off the front anyway. The guy in front of me pulled around 22 MPH for a mile or so. Nobody complained, so that is what I pulled at when it was my turn. When I dropped off the lead I realized our 6 man group was now three. The rest, including the previous lead had fallen off somewhere and nobody said a thing. There was just me, one guy from the original three, and the guy who joined at the light. Apparently the group I joined had just met and rode together for convenience so we didn't stop to wait for them. We did slow though.

Coming up on 80 miles I was really tired and couldn't have kept up that pace anyway. I was dying for a rest area, it had been around 30 miles since my last break. It was such a lonely little rest area when we finally did get there. Where the others had been swarming with riders, this one had maybe a dozen. I had some snacks, filled my bottles with water, Gatorade, and LOTS of ice. I felt so much better after the break. We left as a trio again and it seemed like the wind had died down a bit. I pulled at 21 MPH or so again, and went a few miles each time. I really wanted to push myself, but I wanted to stay with some other riders. We were eventually joined by a fourth who was in great shape. He pulled at 21 or 22 MPH for a few miles at a turn, so that helped keep up the pace and let me rest. The other two were a little more tired and took short rotations at 18 or 19 MPH. We all finished more or less together, though we spread out in the last mile or so as we pushed for the finish.

I ended my ride with about 102 miles for the day at an average of 19.8. That was a little over 5 hours of riding with a little under an hour of rest stops. I met up with Patrick at the end and hung out with him at the AGI area for a bit. He offered one of their groups wraps and I accidentally ended up with a veggie one instead of roast beef. It was spicy and stuffed with mushrooms - two things I dislike - but I was starved and ate it anyway. I got my free 15 minute massage and Kurt and Kimmy showed up and hung out with Patrick. I was ready for more food and cashed in my meal ticket for a burger, hot dog, pasta, and cup of root beer. The food wasn't very good and I didn't finish it, but the root beer tasted so good I wished they would have had bigger cups.

Elaine showed up while we ate. She had spent the day wandering around Philadelphia after dropping us off at the start and then we headed to the beach. Eventually. We changed behind towels in the parking lot first, the first time I would be naked in public that day in New Jersey. After heading to the beach, we turned around because I forgot my phone on the ground in the parking lot after adjusting the bikes on the carrier.

We went to Sea Isle City and splashed in the ocean a little bit. It was cold but I just ran down and jumped in to get over the cold in a hurry. It wasn't too bad if you kept most of your body underwater and out of the wind. After a little laying on the beach and frisbee we decided to eat and leave. We tried the Lobster Loft which was alright but kind of annoying. The hostess said there wasn't a wait, but asked us to wait at the bar with a pager while she sorted herself out. After waiting a while I asked the bartender if we could just sit at one of the many open tables. She said no and offered some convoluted logic about how it wouldn't be any faster if we sat at a table and ordered than if we just waited at the bar a while longer. We just wanted to eat. Eventually we did. The portions were huge and I wasn't as famished as last year so saved about half for lunch on Monday. When we got back to the car I heard my phone ringing and rushed to answer. It was my mom, asking where I was. Dad had been waiting at my house for hours and was leaving. He mentioned coming that weekend and I said OK but mentioned that I had the ACS bike-a-thon. I thought I had mentioned that would be home late and had the understanding that he would let himself in and I'd see him that night. He had a different understanding and thought I'd be home earlier. I had actually completely forgotten about it, as I had done with so many other things that weekend. For example, 30 minutes or so into the ride home, as we crept along the Atlantic City expressway, I realied I had forgotten my leftover pasta box on the car roof. I checked the roof, but it hadn't managed to hold on that far.