Bruce B
Well-Known Member
An El Paso Bicycle Club annual event.
http://www.elpasobicycleclub.com/cpc/
There were about 900 riders signed up for this event. Our group of about 200 strong arrived to partly cloudy skies and a north wind about 8-10 mph for the 62 mile ride starting at 7:30AM. Temperature was about 58F.
Here is the Cyclometer Data for my ride. The data and graphs are under the map.
http://cyclemeter.com/95013588d75d8e35/Cycle-20160925-0735
The start, as expected, was a sea of bikes but quickly sorted itself out without mishap. The first 11 miles were flat with short jogs to the East with longer jogs to the North until we reached O'Hara Road East (NM404 ) and started to climb to the access road parallel to Interstate 10. We then turned North and followed 14 miles of gently rolling hills to Mesquite NM. From there we turned West and Northwest into the NM countryside and eventually turning South onto NM 28. Riding South with the wind allowed all of us to pick up the pace until just past Mile 45. There we faced a short but rather steep climb up to a rest station. A banana, cookies and a full water bottle I started back down hill and the run South to the finish line.
My intention was to pace myself over the 62 miles so I would be ready for the steep hill and to have enough to finish the route at a good speed. That strategy evaporated when I found I could latch on to different pace lines decrease my workload and save energy.
By the time I was on the Southbound leg of the ride I had plenty of reserve to get up the steep hill on West Afton Road at about 6mph with a HR of 150. Back on the valley floor I rode with HR slowly increasing through the 130s until about 4 miles from the finish when I pushed my HR into the 140s and did the last mile in the 150s.
I embarked on a program of aerobic riding in June 5 of this year and had accumulated 1333 miles before today's event. My thanks to fellow Cruzebikers for pointing the way to riding further and faster.
http://www.elpasobicycleclub.com/cpc/
There were about 900 riders signed up for this event. Our group of about 200 strong arrived to partly cloudy skies and a north wind about 8-10 mph for the 62 mile ride starting at 7:30AM. Temperature was about 58F.
Here is the Cyclometer Data for my ride. The data and graphs are under the map.
http://cyclemeter.com/95013588d75d8e35/Cycle-20160925-0735
The start, as expected, was a sea of bikes but quickly sorted itself out without mishap. The first 11 miles were flat with short jogs to the East with longer jogs to the North until we reached O'Hara Road East (NM404 ) and started to climb to the access road parallel to Interstate 10. We then turned North and followed 14 miles of gently rolling hills to Mesquite NM. From there we turned West and Northwest into the NM countryside and eventually turning South onto NM 28. Riding South with the wind allowed all of us to pick up the pace until just past Mile 45. There we faced a short but rather steep climb up to a rest station. A banana, cookies and a full water bottle I started back down hill and the run South to the finish line.
My intention was to pace myself over the 62 miles so I would be ready for the steep hill and to have enough to finish the route at a good speed. That strategy evaporated when I found I could latch on to different pace lines decrease my workload and save energy.
By the time I was on the Southbound leg of the ride I had plenty of reserve to get up the steep hill on West Afton Road at about 6mph with a HR of 150. Back on the valley floor I rode with HR slowly increasing through the 130s until about 4 miles from the finish when I pushed my HR into the 140s and did the last mile in the 150s.
I embarked on a program of aerobic riding in June 5 of this year and had accumulated 1333 miles before today's event. My thanks to fellow Cruzebikers for pointing the way to riding further and faster.
