Day One: The Fried Piker

We arrived at the hotel last night at around 10:30. It was quite a "balaganl (it was chaotic). There was no direction and no one seemed to know what the next day's schedule was. I take back all those nice things I said yesterday.

The Alyn group was staying at two hotels. One was much dumpier than the other (although even the nice one would not be confused with the Waldorf). In a very sweet move, I had privately arranged for a room is the less dumpy place even though the Challenge Riders were staying at the dumpier one. (Last night was not part of the registration package. You had to pay separately. Interestingly, I paid less than the riders who booked rooms through the hospital).

We ate breakfast at 7:15 and left for the tedious opening ceremony. It may be inspiring to some but when you hear the same thing 6 times and are itching to ride, it's tedious.

Unfortunately, the ceremony didn't start until after ten so we baked in the morning sun for two hours. Many riders had come from numerous cities by bus and arrived way late. Boy, who could have imagined that busses would get caught in rush our traffic (Sunday is a work day).

When we finally left, it was as if the alpha dogs on the Challenge Ride let out all their frustration at once.

The first few miles were relatively flat but the pace was blistering. My heart rate was well into the 170s and sometimes topped 180. I was hanging on, but just barely. The first part also had some 4 to 5% grade rolling hills for good measure but mostly we were descending. But the wind was impossible, seemingly coming from all directions so that even modest descents didn't do much good.

We stopped for lunch after 25 miles. My legs, as they often do on the first day of the ride, were borderline cramping. I stretched out during lunch and had two delicious bowls of vegetable soup.

From lunch we circled back, south towards Mitzpeh Ramon in a gradual but relentless climb. This route was more direct and we reached the Machtech Ramon (Ramon Crater) Overlook at about mile 41. What an awesome sight!

After a brief rest, the fun part came. Followed by the not fun part. A 7 mile descent into the crater on fairly rounded curves made for a relatively safe descent at serious speeds.

We then turned around an went back up the may we came.

My quads and hammies were hollering! I managed not to cramp (although I came close) and made it up, actually passing three riders. To add insult to injury, the last two miles had grades of 8 to 10%. Manageable under normal circumstances but just plain cruel after 50 miles.

I was pleased to finally make it up the crater and end the day. Stats: 4 hours, 55.55 miles, 3353 feet ascended, 2421 calories burned, average heart rate a ridiculous 162 bpm.

I have been saying for a while that I am a piker and today bore that out. I struggled to hang on to the back and spent most of the day isolated and in the wind. But I never had to stop, I never lost contact with the group and I never was threatened by the SAG van.

(The regular road riders had a mich less fun day; they only road 36 miles and the better riders waited for long periods of time. That's why I do the callenge).

Tomorrow: 83 miles and 4500 feet.