Tuesday, May 22, 2012

When 105 mile ride seems hard....how will I do an Ironman?


Liz and I paid, yes stupidly gave $100 to ride 100 miles, to do the Encinitas Century. Seemed like a great, fun idea..... we drove to Mira Costa College and rode a route that we do portions of pretty much every weekend...why did we sign up? We thought it would be fun to ride with others, which turned out to be more of a pain.  Ok I know people say triathletes are geeky but this ride brought out the cycling geek fest- every one was so official in their hand signals- stick, rock, tiny crack, leaf, slowing, slowing, stopping, rolling, on your left, approaching on your left- all signals followed with loud vocal calls. Really- can't we just ride our bikes, give a little distance and watch the road.  I was not getting caught up in the dynamics, Liz and I would just smile and roll along..making our little jokes along the way. 

I was not happy that  #1 the route was crappy and had lots of stopping (which I hate)  and #2 filled with a lot of yahoos....but I refused to let it get me down- I decide to get the most out of the ride and get my fill at the aid stations.....that offered luke warm water (except in Ramona where it was ice cold) and fruit flavored powerbars (which I have 5 cases of at home), PBJ's which I love and Coscto Trail Mix which I live on....okay so maybe not the culinary delights I hoped for- oh wait they did have tamales and lumpia at various stops- I don't know about you but neither of those work well with me while riding.  I did try and take 2 bags of PowerBar Energy Blasts and the volunteer said -1 per person please? Really, I paid $100 and I get 1 bag? It's not like I was taking 10.....hand slapped I put back the 1 extra bag I "stole"

Okay don't get the wrong idea....we did have fun and it as a solid 100+ mile ride.  The last 15 miles was dead into a head wine on super trafficky streets with lots of stoplights - really it sucked big time was a lot of fun.  Thank you Liz for being a good sport ....and we had some fun that last few miles riding on some fast wheels.

Oh wait more complaining....the ride was not a hammer fest and I was toast- dead tired after the ride- thinking how can I, will I run 26 miles....oh well not today.

4 comments:

  1. Rob WatsonMay 22, 2012 at 2:30 PM

    Julie, I'm so relieved to read your blog because I was surprised & discouraged to be so tired for the last 15 miles or so of the century (actually, 109 miles for me, thanks to a missed turn). There seemed no way I could possibly extend my 15 min t-run into a marathon! But wait, if Julie Dunkle was tired after the ride, maybe it's all right I was too. The only problem is my ironman is in a month. Oh well. By the way, Cameron, Jonathan, & I took off at 6 sharp, apparently ahead of the pack, & had the road to ourselves for the most part.

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    1. Julie DunkleMay 22, 2012 at 2:51 PM

      So wish we had started at 6....6:40 and there were too many people! We have to remember we are not tapered and it was not a race...still daunting to think we will somehow pull off a marathon. Are you doing Coeur d'Alene?

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    2. RobMay 22, 2012 at 6:51 PM

      Yes, first CDA IM. 2nd IM. 30 years since 1st tri. You'd think it would start to get easy!

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    3. GetBackJoJoMay 23, 2012 at 5:54 AM

      I totally avoid those group centuries! (Actually, I avoid all group rides.) It could be the Type A triathlete in me, but I find it so irritating--the waiting, the stopping, more waiting. It ends up taking like 10 hours to do 100 miles! And that is probably what made you so tired... just being out there all day--when under normal circumstances a century takes far less time. You are off and ready to do your run by like 1 pm.. instead of 5 pm.

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