HoH!!
03/24/2019 Hell Yes That Was HOH 2019
Distance 83.9 mi
Moving Time 5:52:59
Avg Speed 14.3 mi/h
Elev Gain 7,201 ft
After skipping last year because I didnt feel like doing it at all, I went back this year mostly because of FOMO (Fear if Missing Out) I am supposed to race the Sandy Hook TT this coming Saturday but lets see how my recovery goes before I sign up.
I am always a nervous wreck before big events as I always think I am forgetting something, and the bike issues the days before didnt help much. I did have a lot more hill training in my legs this year so I was feeling pretty confident I would survive. My goal for these types of rides is always completing, not competing so PR's for me is a win.
Team Marty's had a good showing this year and we all had the same basic plan, and we try our best to stay together and wait up. Due to the crowd we decided to roll out about 8:45 and we made our way at a nice pace with about 12-15 riders for about the first 20-ish miles. The faster folks broke off after that which was fine/planned anyway and the rest of us (about 6-7) stayed together almost the whole day.
Despite the warm forecast I would say it was pretty chilly most of the morning, especially once the wind kicked in a little more. some of the guys dropped a bunch of clothes off at the first rest stop but I always regret that so I decided if I needed to peel off layers I would just roll them up and stuff into my pockets. I think we stayed at that rest stop a little to long because afterwards I was feeling a little off almost like dehydrated which was impossible due to the amount of water I had been consuming this past week. We hit the first big climb and i felt like complete shit going up it so I started to get worried since it was only mile 30. I backed off my pace a little and stayed in the back of our group probably for about an hour and focused on water/food every 15-30 minutes. By the time we hit some of the "minor" climbs I think I felt a bit better.
At the 40 mile rest stop at the private farm we all needed water and food, the best was having some shots of coke soda and a bunch of baked potatoes with salt. I also downed a banana and half a nutella sandwhich and it seemed to help recover from the wonkiness a lot.
At mile 60 rest stop I finally got a chance to refresh the chaomois cream (TMI??) and wash off my face with some cool water. The pretzels and salted potatoes and shots of coke soda really really helped. and I did some stretching to make sure I didnt get cramps. I was really feeling a lot better and more confident I could finish the whole course now even if some of the group was struggling. We still waited for everyone at the top of most of the harder parts which was cool because earlier in the day it was me they were waiting for a lot.
We all agreed "no shortcut" pretty quickly at mile 75-ish and tackled the last big climb. 2 of the guys had never been on the event before so at least we prepared them. ONe of them got a blowout flat mid climb but he told us to keep going, which I had to anyway since if I stopped on that climb i was gonna tip over. Turns out it was tubeless and he could not fix it so he got sagged to the end.
The last downhill and flat section back to the finish is always a sprint and I was so glad to finish the day with great people. somehow we neglected to get a team pic but all in all a good day. even better I recognized
@fidodie in person and we got to catch up at the start and finish, Great meeting you in person.
I like a lot of pics at these events here's just a few of them.
Picture perfect weather not a cloud in the sky.