Hell of Hunterdon 2017

fidodie said:
Did anyone see Selene? I know Kevin put in a big day, but when it is your job to ride your bike....

https://www.strava.com/activities/914540260

Oh, and thank you @jimvreeland - glad i didn't need you, or the men in the van, but it was good to know you were out there.
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I saw Selene and the guy she was riding with on my ride to the start, just before aunt molly. I lead them down molly and then towed them to start and got a thank you from them. Saw them again at the third rest stop.
 
2nd HoH for me. First one I did solo and in that ridiculous wind it was a struggle. Big difference riding with others, thanks again to @fidodie and @clarkenstein for riding with me. Like 2015, I rode to the start from home, only 7.5 miles so no big deal but I arrived a little past 8:45. We waited for the last wave which went off around 9:30. I pointed out to Pat and Dave the spot on Hollow road in 2015 where some poor guy had a flat - then hoped I didn't jinx myself. Fortunately my Conti GP4seasons pumped to ~ 98psi performed great and no issues the entire ride. Clothes-wise arm warmers were a good call - was a little chilly to start but peeled them off the guns at the first stop. Shoe covers were probably overkill - feet were toasty in the merino wool/possum socks.

Oddly I thought parts of the course were totally different from 2 years ago after crossing 202 but strava says otherwise. Pat had a good theory that I had my head down in the wind and didn't notice where I was going. Also felt bad telling @clarkenstein and @1sh0t1b33r that Rileyville was the only big climb - for some reason totally didn't remember Pine Hill (was that the road blocked by a tree down in 2015??). I wondered why some guy in the water line at the first stop was making faces when I made that claim again to Dave. Speaking of rest stops I was reading how little some of you guys ate at the stops - I was pigging out. At the first one I had PB&J, a bunch of cookies, 3 banana halfs, some tater pieces (that was a new one, but I put on too much salt) and a cup of coffee (caffeine fix). 2nd food stop I had another PB&J, more cookies, bananas, and a philly soft pretzel (with mustard of course).

Anywho, no wind and riding partners made a big difference, significantly faster this time compared to 2015 and a ton of PRs. It rained a little off and on but not enough to get soaked and only 1 unpaved road was a little squirrelly with mud. Also didn't mind the unpaved roads nearly as much, in 2015 I was really getting tired of them. Maybe next year I'll come back from Florida and do it again.

Start pic (where's @stb222 ?)

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Last stop post pretzel

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rick81721 said:
Speaking of rest stops I was reading how little some of you guys ate at the stops - I was pigging out.
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I don't know if it's a lack of food or water for me usually, but I get post ride headaches a lot after harder efforts. I had them on and off during the ride, but nothing bad and no issues afterwards so my pigging out may have helped. The first stop I just had a Gu and tried to jump back in with Mitch and Sean quickly, but stop #2 I had like 3 PB&J's, 3 cookies, and who knows what else. I tried to make an effort to think about drinking and eating more on the ride and I supposed it helped in the end. Food must be the ticket item because I always bring some snacks on the MTB, but never eat them.

And it's ok. I told @seanrunnette that you told me that was the hardest climb and he said you LIE. I figured as much since we were less than 20 miles in. Holy shit that one hill was STEEP.
 
@stb222 is one left and two back of David's head (marked in picture)

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as a side note, i think i rode with the two in the foreground most of the ride.

How did i miss @YoBikeLady ??
 
1sh0t1b33r said:
I don't know if it's a lack of food or water for me usually, but I get post ride headaches a lot after harder efforts. I had them on and off during the ride, but nothing bad and no issues afterwards so my pigging out may have helped. The first stop I just had a Gu and tried to jump back in with Mitch and Sean quickly, but stop #2 I had like 3 PB&J's, 3 cookies, and who knows what else. I tried to make an effort to think about drinking and eating more on the ride and I supposed it helped in the end. Food must be the ticket item because I always bring some snacks on the MTB, but never eat them.

And it's ok. I told @seanrunnette that you told me that was the hardest climb and he said you LIE. I figured as much since we were less than 20 miles in. Holy shit that one hill was STEEP.
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That's a tough ride either way. I try and save gus for the last quarter of a ride. I learned that in the fatbike series last year. Too mich gu, not enough food. I dehydrated myself a bit saturday as well and my stomach was in pain for about 2 hours after the ride.
 
What can I say about this ride except "dang". Your boy was humbled, but I did it. I think the devil himself made the sign for that last shortcut, but I didn't take it. I couldn't let myself.

Also, I'm going to bulldoze Hopewell-Amwell Road flat. F**K that noise.

Flagged down @Santapez in the parking lot and we rolled over to reg together. We had discussed this in the days leading up, but we wanted to get into an earlier wave since he had a wedding to go to and I...well...I'm just slow and knew it was going to take me a long time. Met @1sh0t1b33r, @seanrunnette, and @fidodie while we drank coffee and I stuffed my pockets with stroopwafel. Made it into the 3rd wave and felt pretty okay for the first 20 miles, getting caught by some MTBNJ'ers just before the first rest stop. Got an amazing piece of pocket sushi from Sean (new favorite bike food, I've been craving sushi all weekend - was that homemade?!) and slammed down another two stroopwafel while we all shed layers.

Mile 39, rest stop #2, is where my ride should have ended. We reconvened with Pat and Magic, and met @rick81721. I was like, hmmmm, Rick, why does this name sound familiar? Somewhere in the last 10 miles, I realized that Rick was Rick-many-numbers-after-name. Whoops. Crushed some potatoes, took PB&fluff for the road, and some banana gels. Also took a windmill cookie, some chocolate chip cookies, and a few Newtons. Commence dying.

Steve and Magic stuck with me through Stop #3 (more banana gu and some pretzels for the road). More suffering on my part, after which I told them to go on without me, since people have schedules. Don't ever pencil in "spend 6 hours watching sad Tim ride a bicycle" on your calendar. Made it back, pounded a beer, grabbed my swag, and rolled out. It's 9pm on Sunday and I still have mileage hangover. I need an epsom salt bath or something.

rick81721 said:
Speaking of rest stops I was reading how little some of you guys ate at the stops - I was pigging out.
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Ask @1sh0t1b33r and @Santapez about my on-bike eating habits. I didn't eat so much AT the stop. Eating on the road was a different story. More than once did they wait for me after a huge hill only to see me come over the top with half a gu packet hanging out of my mouth.

I learned that I really like unpaved roads. I think I like going downhill on unpaved roads more than paved roads. I also learned that I like climbing in principle. What I don't like is not having enough power to keep moving on the really steep stuff. I really want to work on my climbing, and plan on acquainting myself with Schoolhouse Lane this year.

I made it out on the other side of this by the skin of my teeth. Those of you who know me IRL and have seen me ride a bicycle prior to this event know that that statement is not an exaggeration. I am a better cyclist and person for having done this.

It was a load of fun to meet and ride with everyone! Thanks to everyone who tolerated me (some for much more prolonged periods than others)!
 
I'm enjoying the fact that I don't need to do a writeup, you can pretty much piece together my ride from everyone else. :)

-My favorite part was realizing I may be late to the wedding I had to go to and killing myself for the last 10 miles or so to get back. Was nice to just push super super hard at the end. I didn't realize I'd enjoy that so much, and wouldn't have been enjoyable on a shorter ride. Was nice to push myself chasing directional arrows as opposed to pushing to stay on someone's wheel.

The only downside for me was not really talking to a bunch of people I know. Didn't match up with a few people early that left in the first wave.

HOH actually has me now excited for Monkey Knife Fight next weekend. I'm sure it'll snow...
 
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