Alicia, Gary, and I traveled up the mountain on Friday afternoon for a punishing weekend of training in the mountains. Joe and Bradley (a Tri friend) met up with us in Blowing Rock later that night.Saturday was the Blue Ridge Brutal Century. We started at 8am on the dot… the weather was absolutely perfect. We couldn’t have asked for a better day! It was also special because it was Alicia’s birthday. She likes punishing herself with tons of climbing on her big day… hmm… I think we’re more and more alike the more we hang out. It’s kinda scary. I believe we were twins in another life.
I wasn’t feeling too hot, but I decided to tough out the ride anways. I made it in with a good group of guys. They were kind enough to let me suck wheel and pull when I could (which wasn’t very often). We finished up in under 5hrs, around 4:50 I think.
Alicia didn’t have a very lucky birthday ride. A chain mechanical slowed her up at the start. Joe and Bradley stopped and helped straighten her chain out enough to where she could do the ride. She rode the entire 100 miles pretty much.
If you’re interested, here is the ride profile and ride cue map. As you can see, it was definitely BRUTAL.
Congrats to Bradley for finishing his first organized century! He’s done some long rides before with co-workers, but this was his first official century ride. Tough one to start with!
Alicia and I ran after the century, then we all loaded up the cars and headed back to the house for an evening of relaxing and sitting around the house and cooking up some good food in the kitchen. Steve came over and my parents came up from Drexel. It was a great night just laying around and recovering from a long day.
Sunday held another day of training for me and Alicia. While the boys slept in, we got up and ran the Bass Lake Bridal Trails in Blowing Rock and then went on a 55 mile recovery ride. It was a nice, relaxed training day… with good company.
I actually think we got the better end of the deal because the guys had to clean up the house and pack up while we were gone training so we’d be ready to head back to Raleigh. hehehe- so all I had to do when I got off my bike was shower up and fix my post training meal and get in the car. NICE!
Now I’m lounging around at home, ready for a good night’s sleep before my training in the morning.