Tour de Wayne: Epic Fail

Yesterday, the "team" and I participated in the 6th Annual Tour de Wayne; a cycle ride (not a race) through Wayne County, TN. The start of the ride was AWESOME! We were with the pack, traveling at about 20-22 mph, the roads were good, the adrenaline was pumping...and then we turned off the main road through Waynesboro and it pretty much went downhill from there (yet in a totally uphill, challenging way). The first big hill lost us our positions within the pack, which was a little disheartening, but we'd said all along that we were going to take it slow and at our own pace. But the roads continued to degrade as we cut through the early miles. We were on tar and chip, which is bad enough, but the condition of the roads was atrocious. Pot holes (both patched and unpatched), huge areas of gravel washout, and areas that just went beyond potholes and washouts (it was as if the road crews had just thrown out the essential ingredients for making a road and left it to form itself into a road). It was stressful to say the least; something no one in our wee team has ever really had to deal with. Not only were we concerned about a crash, but the damage our bikes were incurring.

And then the mile six event happened. Reggie and Steve were ahead of me, climbing a hill that from where I was didn't look that extreme. I popped into my middle gear in preparation, but when I hit the hill it was much worse than it appeared. I stupidly popped into the granny gear while I was putting the brunt of my weight on the pedals and my chain popped off. Later, the SAG guy who rescued me from mile 31 said, "let me guess, your foot slipped off and tried to bury itself into the ground." Uhmmm, yeah. But, at the time I didn't feel anything amiss. One of the cyclist behind me was nice enough to stop on this god awful hill to pop my chain back on and I was once again on my way. It wasn't until the mile 12 rest stop that my right groin muscle started to tingle a bit. By the time we reached the next rest stop, somewhere around mile 22, it was aching. In retrospect, I should have stopped, or at the very least, dropped out of the 67-miler and finished the 33 instead. But I didn't want to do it by myself and I didn't want the guys to cut short their ride because of me. So, I toughed it out for another 10 miles. And by the time the SAG truck passed us my leg felt like it was on fire. I graciously bowed out. I spent the next two hours with my leg on ice as I waited for the boys to finish. Imagine my surprise when I got a call from Reggie saying that they were at mile 39 and dropping out because of exhaustion and general pissed-offedness.

I think the guys were a little more disappointed in the event than I was. Sure, the roads were rough, and I really think the ride organizers should have better informed us about the state of the route. But it was challenging, physically and mentally, and I liked that. Our rides tend to be physically challenging, but mind-numbingly boring (ie, they tend to lack the technical difficulties that made Tour de Wayne stressful). But, and the boys can feel free to correct me, I think Reggie and Steve *expected* to finish a 67-miler. Tour de Wayne is not a cake walk, and the only 60+ mile ride we've ever done was a relatively flat course in Clarksville. I think Tour de Wayne has taught our team some vital lessons. Like not shifting gears on an uphill. Or expecting too much out of yourself when you are essentially new to a sport. Our "youngest" rider, Steve, literally went from struggling to complete 10 miles to struggling to complete 60 miles in a matter of a few months. I'm the most seasoned, with just at a year of riding, and Reggie is a month or two newer to cycling than me. I think it was agreed by all on the journey home that we need to back it down a level, and pwn a couple of 30-mile rides before we move onto metric centuries. There's nothing wrong with pushing ourselves to the limit, but we've got plenty of room to improve our riding performance in that 30-45 mile range.

So, even though Reggie says he will never do the Tour de Wayne again, I can easily see this ride becoming our cycling nemesis. We'll get you next year, Tour de Wayne! Next year!