#7 Bike in the Gran Fondo

As you already know, I like challenges.  "To do" lists.  A race to train for.  Etc.  It's how I operate.  If I don't have a deadline, I'll be lazy and not do anything.  With a clearly-defined deadline (i.e. I paid $X00 to complete this race on MMM DD, YYYY), I can figure out the steps I need to take to achieve that goal, put a plan in action, and start working on it.

So I signed up for the Gran Fondo NY on May 21, 2012, and there you have it.  #7: Bike in the Gran Fondo, an Italian-style bike race in NY.  Why is this such a challenge?  Well, the Gran Fondo, to put it nicely, is a b*tch of a challenge.  It's a very hilly century (100 mile) bike ride.  Them Italians really love to bike up and down hills.  Me? I'm a fan of hills, too, just as long as I'm flying down them, and not climbing up...

Now, last October, I completed a century bike ride with my brother (in law), Diego, so I figured I could do another one:

At Mile 60 of The "Seagull Century" bike ride in Maryland

The last 10 miles of that October Century were mentally torturous, but I figured I could do it all over again, no problemo.  So in December, I signed up for the Gran Fondo, and then just three months ago, I realized "ahhh... I think I need to start training?!?"  So I dusted off the plan I had used to train for the October Century bike ride.  This plan (which assumes you are already doing 20-25ish mile rides on the weekends) consists of several "short" rides during the week, and one long ride on the weekend, with the long rides progressively getting longer... and longer...

• Week 1: 27 miles during the week with a 30 mile long ride on the weekend
• Week 2: 30 miles during the week, 35 mile long ride on the weekend
• Week 3: 35 miles during the week, 40 mile long ride 
• Week 4: 38 miles during the week, 45 mile long ride
• Week 5: 41 miles during the week, 48 mile long ride
• Week 6: 45 miles during the week, 52 mile long ride
• Week 7: 49 miles during the week, 58 mile long ride
• Week 8: 53 during, 67 long 
• Week 9: 67 during, 35 long
• Week 10: 25 during, RACE DAY!

While this plan worked well for my first century, not so much for the Gran Fondo.  In hindsight, I should have done more hill training... but hills kinda suck, not sure if you knew that. (Next century ride?  If I ever do one again, it will most DEFINITELY be flat...)

Now, a few weeks before race day, they posted the final official route, and it ended up being a 110 mile race instead of the traditional 100 miles.  Right around the same time as they posted the final route, I completed my last long training ride of 67.5 miles, which covered part of the course, and ended up with a swollen knee for three days after.  So... I decided 110 miles is out of the question, and decided to do the metric century route, which is roughly 60 miles.

So, fast forward to race day, May 21, 2012.  I'm all ready.  I've done my training. I wake up at 4am, my buddy Jon arrives at 5am, and together we take an (expensive) cab ride to the Jersey side of the George Washington bridge, and then cross the bridge:

We make our way to the start line (which we have to detour about 20 blocks out of our way to get there)...

Lining up at the start!

And we line up on the lower level of the GW Bridge...

On the GW Bridge, waiting to go...

...and then, finally at 7am, we're off!!! While I was constantly being passed by the faster riders with real cycling bikes, there were a few times where I was going up hill and passed one or two riders.  (Inside I was laughing maniacally that I was passing the one or two odd rider on a road bike, outside my legs were screeeaming in pain).

See me smiling on the left?

I received a few compliments on my choice of bike, which was a hybrid.  If you don't know anything about cycling, there are different types of bikes... road, hybrid, and mountain (and maybe more, who knows).  Road bikes are super expensive and really light weight, and thus are best for these longer races.  Hybrids are a cross between road and mountain, but aren't really meant for long races... whatev.  That's how I roll. I'm kinda awesome (my future nephew already owns a "My aunt is awesome" onesie, therefore it must be true!)

Me, climbing a hill, laughing maniacally, and passing riders on road bikes!

It was a beautiful day - no clouds, 70-80 degrees.  All but a few of the intersections were "ride through" intersections where we didn't have to stop and could continue pedaling, as police officers in both NY and NJ state would stop traffic for us.  (THANK YOU NJ AND NY STATE POLICE!  Much appreciated that I didn't have to un-clip out of my cycling shoes!) 

There were a few killer hills around mile 22-30, and I was glad that I chose not to do the Gran Fondo, as the next 50 miles would have contained 4 massive hills...  and the ones I had already done were "massive" enough for me!

Focusing hard on climbing yet another hill

At 12:15 pm, I ecstatically crossed the finish line!!  Four hours and 45 minutes of riding, with three 10 minute rest, refuel, and water-replenish breaks.  Just in case you were interested, here's a video of this year's Gran Fondo (I'm not in it haha).

SUCCESS!

The Finish Line was in Weehawken NJ, with a gorgeous view of Manhattan in the background...

Right before I crossed the finish line, some guy in an official volunteer shirt said to me "You win the prize for being the first straight bar bike to finish!"  First, there is no award, second, no way for me to actually prove that this was true, and third, I'm pretty sure I was the only one riding a hybrid that day so even if it was true... there was no one else to compete with, but it's all good.  Always cool to get acknowledged for doing something more challenging than the actual challenge hahaha. Plus, I love my bike!

So, I finished.  And I was super happy.  But, the hardest part was yet to come... Since it had warmed up to almost 80 degrees, and we were wearing black jerseys (requirements for all fondo riders), I was just so damned hot.  The beverage options at the finish line were Coke and water (?!?!?! Who does that?!?!?!).  I didn't want Coke, so I had water, and since I was so hot and thirsty, I ended up drinking four bottles of water.

The black jerseys that all Fondo riders wore (we also got a bottle of wine, bottom right corner!!)

So, I had biked for 5 hours in the hot, sweltering sun, and then went ahead and drank a ton of water... and I started to feel horrible.  My head pounded, my body was moving slowly, I felt slightly dizzy, and I just... pulsated.  Yes, my body pulsed.  In time to the head pounding. 

After feeling that way for several hours, I finally called my parents for help.  They made me realize that I had drank too much water, was over hydrated and had not replenished the salt I had sweated out in the hot sun. I had an "electrolyte imbalance".  I needed Gatorade... and of course I didn't have any Gatorade.  So they instructed me to make my own salt water - 1 teaspoon per 32 oz.  And when I drank it, it actually tasted good... my body clearly knew what it needed!

I slept the rest of the afternoon and evening, and the next morning, I finally felt like a normal person.  Perfect timing, too, as I needed to board my flight to Ecuador!  Lesson learned.  If you exercise, don't chug a ton of water.  Try mixing it up a bit with OJ or Gatorade.  Trust me.

My finisher medal... which doubles as a bottle opener!!!

This challenge was definitely challenging. Every time I do a long bike ride, I enjoy the ride, the beautiful scenery in NY (10 miles out of the city is STUNNING)... but I also can't help thinking "When is this freaking over?!?!"  And I experienced that for 10 weeks in a row.  Now, I like having something to train for, but I think I'm done (for now, at least) with these long distance bike rides.  A nice half marathon of "only" two hours of running sounds like a fabulous idea right about now ;)

SO, what do you think.  Should this count for ten items?!? Haha =)