The ride started out well. I handled all of the hills in the first eight miles really well. I was making it up them, albeit slowly, but not having to walk. When we turned onto Mounds Park Road, I was not prepared for the hill. It's probably about 2 - 3 miles of steep climbing. I was able to make it partly up. At one point, I wanted to stop and rest, so I got one foot out of the cleats. It hit the pavement and I slipped and fell over. The bike slid on top of me and cut up my leg pretty bad. It must have looked bad because lots of people stopped to check on me. They even had someone stop a sag and get out to see if I needed help. He helped me clean up (thanks, mechanic from Erik's!) and we kept going. I didn't realize right away that I had twisted my knee during the crash. My dad and I kept riding - well I walked up the rest of the hill and met him at the top. The next five miles were okay, but I realized it was getting harder to push up the hills because my knee was sore. It was hurting a lot so I had to walk up a lot of the hills. We split up at County JJ and my dad rode ahead. I was feeling pretty good through this section up until the first rest stop. Then came the crazy climb up to the rest stop. I can't believe how steep this hill was!! I made it about halfway up before I had to walk.

At the rest stop, I got my bike fixed (had to adjust the front derailleur because it was out of alignment). Went to medical and they didn't want to treat my leg because it "was just road rash". No, it was deep cuts that were greasy from a chain ring, but hey, same thing.

I felt stronger coming out of the rest stop and was able to do the hills in the first three miles. Once we turned onto Barlow, I started climbing and knew I couldn't do anymore. There was so much tension under my knee that it felt like something was going to snap. I got picked up by the sag at the corner of Barlow and Mineral Point. My day was over. :(

NOT CRASH!!!!

Train more on the hills, possibly in the mountains west of Richmond.

Walked around the finish line and did some stretching. Then I had a beer and the first custard I've had in six months. That was the highlight of my day! I took my bike back down to our campsite and brought the car up to the top of the hill (no way I was walking or biking up it again). Riding the bike to the campsite was really painful. I got a beer (for my dad) and waited for him to come in. Cheered on people while I waited.


Crashing!!

I'm really disappointed that I wasn't able to finish. I know I made the right decision, but it's still hard to deal with right now.


There were only two rest stops on the course with a few additional water stops. This really wasn't enough. Many people ran out of water because they were too far apart.

I wasn't impressed with the medical staff. One of the EMS people wanted to put antiseptic on my cuts, but a volunteer said they couldn't because I had road rash. Nope, I have deep cuts from my chain ring. I found that really annoying

It would have been nice to have more information about the ride in packet pickup, especially about logistics of the ride. Many of the volunteers weren't very well informed either.