Hurt, Pain and Agony

The HPA delivered a serious helping of its namesake today. Heading into the ride I was concerned with the amount of climbing I had gotten in this week in my attempt at the Rapha Rising. On top of the mileage/climbing this week, the spousal figure came home from her internship for the weekend and didn't get in until late. Fast forward to this morning, and I'm running on five hours of sleep, having driven ten hours the previous day. I knew on my way out that I would be in rough shape for the opening climb. Off with the shotgun blast and 300 of my closest friends and I started out on our way.

The warm up consists of a 6 mile 1700ft climb right from the line, which definitely thins things out. I stayed with the lead group for the first three miles of the climb, but when things got steeper, I found myself OTB and in no mans land quickly. Topping out on rte 21, I was all alone and decided to soft pedal to wait up for someone to work in with. Four others caught on and we made our way to Mountainview. Along this stretch we caught a few riders, shed a few riders, helped a guy who had wrecked into the brush on one of the descents, and worked together well.

Once on the Parkway, I decided that after having drank through two bottles, I had to stop to refill. The group made the same decision, so we pulled in. Just after we refilled, Portier rocked past and yelled, "Barrisimo." I took that as my cue to chase down the group he was in. Just as we bridged the gap, he had taken a big pull, and found himself dangling on the climb. He anounced his reverse attack and I found myself in a small group of a couple familiar faces. Though she claimed to be out of shape, and having not ridden much lately, Diana was riding strong and was the first female out on the course. We worked together for a long ways, but I soon found myself in a tight spot about 43 miles in and fell off the back.

I was alone for the final 23 miles, the only memorable part of which was stopping to help a guy in full cramp mode in the ditch along the Parkway. I stayed with him for about ten or fifteen minutes to make sure he wasn't suffering any kind of heat related illness. He asked me to tell the people at the next sag stop that he needed a ride out, he was calling it quits. I tried to talk him into getting back on the bike to ride the next three or four miles to the sag, but his mind was made up. The heat was definitely the main contender today, it was pretty tough out there in the sunny portions of the climbs.

After the long descent down Oklahoma and Frank Parkway, I was faced with a decision. Turn right to descend into Stone Mountain State Park, only to turn around and ascend what I just dropped or turn left and head to food, sweet tea, and icy towels. Easy enough decision for me, I headed for the latter and found my day complete. I finished this years course, which was probably slightly easier, though longer than last years about ten minutes slower than last year. I count it as a victory though, with the stops I made to assist riders, riding solo for such a big portion, and having done quite a bit of climbing this week, I'm pretty pleased. Definitely an excellent ride, with plenty of climbing, and fun to be had!