My Experience: Shiner Ride (100 miles)

My goal was to cover 100 miles from Austin to Shiner on a cycle with my brother. Unfortunately, I did not reach my goal, covered only 73 miles, and 4 of 6 rest stops.

The Lessons Learned
Preparation is Key
Before undergoing difficult trials, usually you prepare. By preparing you mentally strengthen your resolve and set yourself up in ideal circumstances to succeed. Every lack of preparation goes against you and the Shiner Ride was no different, actually it exemplified why it is so important.

Training-wise, the amount of miles I put on my cycle before the ride was pitiful. Over the period I heard about the ride, I didn't even put a hundred miles in training. This alone shows that I could not comprehend the length of the course and the trials of long distance riding.

Having all the equipment ready also is necessary. I let my focus slip when we forgot our tags and a few other accessories. This is the main reason we started late and in my mind, I wanted to play catch up, which was a wrong strategy.

Respect the Ride
100 miles is quite far. To take this into perspective, while traveling in a car, you'd cover that distance in an hour and a half... going over 65 MPH. On a cycle, my average is 16 MPH with hills, which translates to over 6 hours on the saddle. We averaged 13 MPH, which means had we finished the tour, it would have taken over 7 1/2 hours of ride time... not including stops.

This experience was humbling, because my first tour was 46 mile Beauty & Beast Tour, with little preparation and training. Through sheer will, I finished, and thought I could do the same again. My ego got the best of me and has been put in place. What remains now is a renewed sense of determination.

The Obstacles
We came across various obstacles that are evident now, but unforeseen during the tour.

The number of rest stops and their distance between each other made the ride difficult. Altogether, there are 6 rest areas to refill on water and get some food. On average that's about 17 miles between stops, which is over an hour in travel time. The most punishing area was between stop 2 and 3, which spanned over 17 miles. By that time, I had almost no energy because I ate nothing before the event.

The heat posed an unfamiliar problem to me. Since my last tour was relatively cool, I wasn't used to how much water I needed while on this ride. So I ended up drinking more than I should and running out between stops. One very scary part was experiencing symptoms of heat exhaustion or even worst, heat stroke. Though I was very hot, I was shivering and though it went away when I cooled myself off, you don't want to be in that position.

Headwind was brutal from start to finish. First, this slows you down and makes pedaling harder due to the resistance. Second, this headwind wasn't a cool breeze, but felt more like heat coming from the oven.

Next Steps
So even though I didn't finish, many people have told me hitting 73 miles on my third tour is still an accomplishment. What I am taking from this experience are hard lessons and a hunger to finish 100 miles next time.

Training regularly will be key to keep my body conditioned and provide me more experience with different weather patterns.

Also, really keeping my head in the game before the ride is essential. Carb loading, breakfast, hydration, and knowing where my equipment is before the ride will give me an advantage physically and mentally.

Lastly, during the ride I have to scout the map and plan ahead. This way I can ration my supplies better and have a mental map of expectations between rest stops.

Here's to the next ride and next challenge!
-Mark

Beauty and the Beast Bike Experience

Beauty and the Beast Bike Tour
Tyler, TX

(insert melodic tune)"...tale as old as time..." - actually not very old, but on Saturday, March 24th 2012


A couple of weeks back, my brother begins training for a bike tour called, "Beauty and the Beast" here in Tyler, Texas. Little did I know with a peer pressure here and cycle training there, I'd be joining the rest of the 700 cyclists.

Actually, a few weeks ago, I remember visiting the site of the "beast" in a car and a few things crossed my mind:
- "Hey, that hill isn't that bad... kinda steep... oh that wasn't the 'beast'..." (say, wha!?)
- "Oh, that's quite long..." (one mile)
- "Hey! I see the top!" (there was more...)
- "Hmm... I'm glad I'm not doing this" *chuckle to self*


Here's how it unfolded from start:

Friday
[4:00PM] "We should carbo-load!"

[6:00PM] Cooking wheat pasta w/ vodka sauce ;)


[8:00PM] Full with good ol' carbs!


[10:00PM] My Ate Pechie and her friend Jennifer arrive. "Let's look at our bikes!"

Saturday
[12:00AM] "Let's sleep!"Man, my stomach is full...


[5:30AM] Ugh! I hate my alarm.


[6:30AM] Let's head to the "Beast!"

[6:45AM] "We arrived too early! Let's eat at Sonic's!" I got chicken pops, others more daring ate burritos and chili cheese dogs

[9:00AM] Thus starts my first bike tour...

The Tour Experience

When we started off, we left with the 34 mile group and clumped all together down the highway.

After each rest stop, I'd talk to a few people. The day itself was gorgeous and that seemed to invigorate people. Some were experienced, while others their first time (like me!).

Each rest stop had food, drinks, and volunteers who asked to look after my bike. (Nice) Oh yeah, and pickle juice... more on that later.

As we progressed, you really start to see separation of the group. Faster or slower, everyone develops their own pace.

My cousin (Jeff), my brother (Tim), and I formed a little pack. We stayed together for a majority of the time.

Towards the middle, we decided to conquer the 46 mile tour.

At the last rest stop, I spoke to a few people. Some were nervous, others excited. Either way... only 6 miles to go.

My Beast Experience

So before the "Beast" here's the advice I got from some people:
"Once you get there, shift to your lowest gear, look down, and bike hard."
"Just pace yourself. Oh yeah, there's a steep mini hill... that's not the beast."
"Start it. Keep going. Don't stop."
"There's one part where the beast plateaus... yeah, don't slow down."


This what happened once I got there:
"What the heck!? That's not a mini hill!"
Right after I finished the "first" hill, I was wondering what's going to happen next with the bigger one. Even on this hill, people already started to get off their saddles.


"Oh man... that's pretty long. It looks a lot steeper on a bike that in a car..."
Entering the beast, I tried to enter with momentum, but that was short lived. I dropped it to the lowest gear and chugged a long.

When I passed people who got off, I tried to keep positive. One biker gave me a thumbs up. I did too and almost fell off, haha.

What makes this hill pretty difficult is that there's a steady incline to the top and since it is at the end of the tour your already tired.

At its steepest, I see this woman run to me and she starts to encourage me:
"Push! Pull! Push! Pull! Hey! Where are you clips!? Push! Push!"
That was funny. I was controlling my breathing to deep and steady paces. And towards the end, I started to come off my saddle for some extra push.

Finally! I finished. Once I got on top, my legs felt weak and getting off my bike was somewhat difficult.

The Aftermath

All in all, everyone in my group finished. At 1PM, I got to meet up, eat up, and share. It was a good experience and I'd like to see if I can try for a longer tour.

Maybe the 67 mile one :)

-Mark

Advice & Post-Thoughts

Pace yourself! Don't get overzealous too early or else your legs will fatigue and you increase the chances for a cramp and seize-up. That's why you trained to understand your limits!

Hydrate! And do it beforehand. Bring a bottle of water and electrolyte drink. You can't drink while climbing (at least, I couldn't). At the rest stops, they had pickle juice, which tasted awful but helped prevent cramping. Maybe the taste takes your mind off the cramping... or it's magic.

Breathe Steady! Deep inhalation and exhalations help (1) provide oxygen and (2) sets a pace. You'll sound weird, you may get funny looks, but you'll still be riding.

Eat! You'll get hungry on a bike so bring some bars, jellies, or gels. I actually didn't eat my bar, but the gels and jellies were good. Oh, and learn how to eat while on the bike... I dropped a few things on the tour.

Stretch! At the beginning, the end, and even in-between, it's good stretch out. It feels good, helps prevent injury, and will make you feel better afterwards. You can even stretch while on the bike, just be careful.