It’s been more than a month since my last bike ride. I pulled a muscle in my thigh and it has kept me from doing anything. I’m finally feeling better and decided there’s no better way to test that than to go for a good, long bike ride through the country with a few hundred other cyclists. So, yesterday (September 20, 200) was the 2008 Cotton Patch Classic with distances of 21, 31, 41, 54 and 65 miles. I chose the 41 mile distances knowing that 21 and 31 miles would probably be no workout at all for me, but 54 and 65 might be a bit much to take on right now.

The Cotton Patch Classic started and finished in downtown Greenville, Tx. I know a lot of people from Greenville, but have never been downtown before. Anyway, the ride started promptly at 9am with riders staged so that the longer distance riders starting up front. In typical fashion, the beginning of the ride was very crowded and stayed that way for the first several miles. My goal in the beginning of any ride is to maintain an honest pace (17-20 MPH in this case), but most importantly, stay out of the way of other riders since this is where I see the most wrecks. My goal for the entire ride is to stay above 15 MPH average and finish healthy and strong.

The race directors did a pretty good job with the rest stops. I found a rest stop nearly every 8 or 9 miles which was nice once I got more than 20 miles in to the ride and started cramping up in my calf. Nothing major, but needed more electrolytes and the rest stop around my mid point of the ride was the only one I found with the pickle juice. I can’t take in simple sugars when I’m doing strenuous exercise so I can’t take the usual Gaterade, Powerade, Gu and other substances that are so popular with other athletes. Recently, I’ve seen a new option during these endurance rides called Pickle Juice Sport (http://www.goldenpicklejuice.com/). They claim to have 10 times more electrolytes than any other sports drink. I really don’t know anything other than the fact that it works for me. During the MS150 Frisco to Ft. Worth this stuff really saved me! So, my judgment of properly supported rest areas are based on whether or not there are sugarless items (besides water) that will help me stay on the road. This ride had only one stop with the pickle juice and the only snacks were fruit and cookies - not much for me, but sufficient for the majority of cyclists.

As I just mentioned, I did start feeling a cramp in my calf somewhere around 20 miles in to the ride. I think this was also during the section of roughest road I have ever ridden on in my life. I estimate that it was only about an 8 mile stretch, but the road was so rough, my entire body shook as I pedaled on. Luckily, that was the only stretch like this and it was in the middle of the ride. After hitting the pickle juice and turning back toward Greenville, the road smoothed out, my craps subsided (stretching also helped) and I picked up the pace again.

I had averaged 17.3 MPH over the past 27 miles and I was feeling pretty good about this. I wanted to see if I could push it in to the end and get that average up to 17.5 MPH (over 41 miles). This meant I needed to average more than 18 MPH the rest of the way in. This would mean riding a negative split (completing the second half of the ride faster than my first) and this was still my first ride in over a month. Oh well, I like a challenge and so I pushed it in. The smooth surface really helped and a few downhill sections allowed me to really pick it up (almost 30 MPH a few times). I watched my computer as my average speed slowly moved from 17.3 to 17.4 MPH. I really didn’t think I could maintain a pace fast enough to reach 17.5 MPH, but with only a half mile to the finish, I saw 17.5 MPH displayed on the computer. At the same time, the road turned uphill and I realized I was going to have to really burn my legs up the hill if I was going to keep this average. I stood up on the pedals and got my speed back up to 18 MPH and rode it out to the finish. It was a hard burn, but it nice knowing I could push it in and know that my leg was still feeling fine.

Overall, I thought this was a really nice, casual ride. The scenery was beautiful countryside, not too much traffic and just enough hills to have a few challenges, but not kill anyone. It was well supported with plenty of rest stops and someone at every turn to make sure we all stayed on course. I will be sure to ride this again next year except I’ll cover the 65 mile distance instead.