Well, I had a blast today riding with Mark L.. We stayed pretty much together until we hit Glen Rose. There was a pretty big front paceline, maybe 50 roadies, that kept Mark and I away for several miles, then they split in two on one of the bigger first climbs. I stayed with the group B pack as it dwindled in size, picking off individual roadies, until I stopped at Nemo for a nature break and liquid. Back on the bike in less than 5 minutes and soon was picking off individuals again but never caught back to the main paceline or Mark, who was really humpin it!
Bike average was just over 23 till Glen Rose, but the chipseal on the way out of town slowed me down the last leg. A couple of those hills might have had to do with it as well. The vk2 performed flawlessly and I had my longest ride on it to date by 20 miles. It seems to handle the chipseal as well as anything else. It has pretty good passive suspension but there's only so much my feet can handle regardless.
I arrived at the finish about 10 minutes off Mark, who looked like he was dying. Being overtrained already, I didn't have an afterburner switch so I wasn't wiped at the end. Randonneuring has given me bad short racing habits!
Bud rolled in pretty quickly afterwards looking fresh as a daisy!
20.7 average which is undoubtedly my best for a course like this. 3 hours 21 min ride time. Max speed of 45mph. My min/max heartbeats were fairly close together, 160 average and a high of 177. This is a good indicator I was quite overtrained, as if the jelly legs at the start weren't enough of an indicator.
I also now have 1027 miles for July. My longest month ever by FAR.
Mark L, thanks for being a good rabbit. Mark M - I passed you while you were stopped - sorry I didn't catch you on the road. Ray and Angie - it's been too long - great seeing you again. Mike - sorry I missed you at the start! Write up your ride report!