My official time was a mere 1 minute longer than I wanted. I finished in 9:12, but I'm going to blame getting stopped by a train for that minute! It certainly cost me that much, but there were many other factors that stole away my time.
The race, er, brevet began with a small hiccup. Because of John's debacle before (and extending well after) the start, I'd forgotten to eat/drink my EFS flask. So I reached into my jersey pocket & grabbed the EFS, peeled the plastic open with my teeth (duh, always prepare/pre-open thing like this), and was holding the flask in my hand along with the handlebar. I had on some thick, slippery glove liners over my cycling gloves, which caused the flask to go flying when I hit a bump! I would've let it go, but I was still riding in a group & people behind me politely reminded me that I'd dropped something. So I let the group pass, turned around, rode back, & picked up the flask. Tick, tock, tick, tock. This maybe only cost me a minute, but it also cost me riding with the front pack. On the other hand, I'm glad I got to taste the EFS because that stuff is awesome.
After such early excitement I settled in & got back into race mode. I was passing everyone with authority. After a while I sat in with a couple from El Paso because I realized that not only had my flask gone flying, my cue sheet was gone with the wind, as well. So I needed a guide! But this was also a good chance to let my HR recover. After a while they gave me one of their cue sheets (very nice of them) and I took off on my own. By this time a group had formed behind them and my "breakaway" was caught just before the second checkpoint. I made sure my stop at the Ruins was very short, and I jumped back on the bike & sped down the exit road to catch a group that was leaving. I sat in with the BullShifters from checkpoint 2 all the way just shy of checkpoint 3. After sitting in & enjoying the draft, I realized their paceline was working backwards. Instead of the leader pulling off & dropping back, the next person in line attacked to the front & then pulled. I pulled a bit early, but I was feeling good--great--and wanted to keep the pace up. So I pulled for about 4 miles, until we got into town, so that someone else who knew the route could lead us in, as I was constantly having to ask for directions. But that wasn't the only reason I fell back. During my pull my left knee developed the very pain I was afraid of. It went from totally fine to totally fucked almost immediately. It was so bad, even just 50 miles in, that I couldn't keep up with the group I had just pulled at 18-20mph. I couldn't even stand on it in the pedals. I got to the third checkpoint a minute or two behind the BullShifters, which is a lot of time to lose in just a mile or two.
Even though I made it a good stop, using the bathroom, eating, and drinking a Java Monster, I still kept this stop to a minimum. Good choice. I caught up to the BullShifters on the outskirts of town and then passed them. Quickly they disappeared, which had me wondering if I'd made a wrong turn. Checked the cue sheet; nope, still on route. I think they'd stopped for one of their members to catch up, because 20 minutes later they came flying by. Damn if I could only sit with them, but my knee would have none of that. I was only able to ride at the speed my right leg, gravity, and the wind allowed. I couldn't stand up to stretch, change saddle position, or put a little power into a climb. I was limp and helpless. And the route to checkpoint 4 was a bad place for this. It was slightly uphill with some 3% grades (nothing if your knees are working!), and it was against a strengthening wind. This leg of the brevet was 37m, and it seemed to take forever. I had to stop twice just to get my ass off the bike seat and to stretch. The first time I stopped for 5m, the second time I stopped for 4m. So I gave up 9 minutes right there, but I do have to admit that I rode stronger for the 10-15 minutes after stretching. I used every psychological trick in the book to push through the pain. It was excruciating. I finally reached checkpoint 4, 89 miles in, dying from the pain. But I did notice something, because my knee was limiting my power output, my leg muscles and heart were hardly working. This brevet was shaping up to be the hardest, easiest ride ever.
I took way too long at checkpoint 4. I took a stroll to some trees for relief. I choked down 2 Cokes and 2 Cookies. I learned that my brother started 30 minutes late. I dallied. I shouldn't have!!! When I finally got on the bike, the tailwind was amazing. I was flying at 20mph with virtually no effort. Was this ride going to end on an up note? Would the wind be my savior? It was only 2pm, and the weather report called for a wind shift from S to N at 4pm. At the rate I was going, I'd be well finished by then. But when has the weather report ever been reliable? After 10 miles of zipping with the wind, it did a 180 in what seemed to be a split second. And the uphills I'd fought on the way out were leveled by a wicked wind. There was no downhill or coasting on the way back (oh yeah, the weather also reported that the strongest winds would be 5-6mph...it was easily a steady 15 with gusts of 20-25). So I faced another 27 or so miles against a strong headwind with no downhill/coasting relief. Pretty soon all the people I'd passed earlier were passing me. It was ugly and painful. The pain was excruciating and fighting through it for so long was something I'd never faced before. At mile 103 my split was still at 17.6mph. That deteriorated quickly to the lower teens and by mile 118 I was in the 12's. Soon it was 11 & my two lowest splits were 10.4 and I finally bottomed out at mile 124 with a 10.3 avs. My heart was fine, my legs were tired but fine, I just had not ability to transfer the power.
In terms of diet & hydration, I could have done better. I slipped when I joined the BullShifters for the second leg. Riding in such a tight paceline I wasn't about to eat and I know I drank less than I should have. I anticipated this but figured that it was only for 20ish miles, 1 hour, and that I could make up for it at the next check point. I probably did. But then on the 3rd & especially on the 4th leg of the trip, the pain just took over and I couldn't, or at least didn't, eat or drink nearly enough. How much of an effect did this have? Perhaps my time would have been a few minutes better with proper nutrition. More importantly, perhaps my psychological state wouldn't been a bit more positive, and this may have resulted in a better time.
In sum, it was the knee that ruled this brevet. That was on Saturday. It's now Thursday and there's been very little recovery. Is this "just" tendonitis or is something actually wrong? Did I manage to tear something? Thankfully I have a physical with the doc next Friday. By then I'll know if it's improving or not, and I'll have him take a look. Hopefully it just needs rest, but if I need surgery, I'd rather get that done & out of the way sooner rather than later. But let's not put the cart before the horse.
Everything else that was sore from the ride has healed up by now. My crotch was pretty torn up because I couldn't ever stand or reposition myself. My right hand showed some numbness from Guyan's Canal Syndrome, but that lasted only a day or two. And my left lower back was sore, again from not being able to change positions on the bike, but like everything else, it's fine now. My left knee is the one holdout that doesn't seem to be improving at all. Hmm.
I'm not pleased with the way this brevet went, but only because of my knee. I know that if that had stayed strong I would've killed 9 hours by a lot! Had I sat with BullShifters the whole way, I may have broken 8 hours. But let's not dwell on what might have been. I fought against pain that would sideline almost anyone, and I won. I finished in 9:12 officially, but 9:10 by my gps (which doesn't include the time running into the shop at the final checkpoint). Overall I am pleased with my performance, given the extreme circumstances.
Now it's time to focus on recovery and ensuring that my next event is not plagued by this particular problem.
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