Tour de Palm Springs
Did it again this weekend. I did another century with my team in training team! WOOHOO! As always, was a great experience. We raised $70,000 for blood cancer research the last couple months, and had a great time riding in the Tour de Palm Springs.
So more of the ride details.
My rode with the B team which included a lot of people doing their first century so we took it pretty casual, but it was a lot of fun. We left the hotel and got on the route about 7 am. The first 2 or 3 miles were nice. Just a casual warm up. From there, we got on a long stretch of road out by all the windmills, and it was dang windy! It was hitting us from the left side and it took most of our strength just to stay upright without being blown over. We were in that strong wind for about an hour so we took a really slow pace for that stretch and used our energy mainly to battle the wind.
Next came the majority of the "climbing" for the route. I use climbing loosely, because it really wasn't a challenging climb. It was about 7 miles long, which is a good stretch, but it was more of a gradual incline of 1-2 percent with only about .3 mile of 4%. I'll take that any day. We got into the first rest stop at the 16 mile mark around 8:30. A little later than I would liked but the wind really slowed down my group.
From there, we turned out onto Dillon road which we were on for probably 35-40 miles out of the 100. I loved it though! It was a great road to ride. It was a lot of short rollers and quite a bit of gradual downhills. Plus the wind was mainly at our backs at this point. I picked up some speed here and got down in my drops and just cruised along about 36 mph for a good stretch of that road. From there it was rest stop number 2. (the SAG stops were btw, wonderful. lots of good stuff and nice people along with our own mini TNT random acts of SAG at every stop).
Then back out onto Dillon for more riding. I think we were on Dillon til the 52 mile stop! (Somewhere between Indio and Cochella) . Woohoo. Half way point was around 11 for us I think. We had lunch and got back out on the road and went through just some country type roads until the 72 mile stop.
After the 72, we tackled the last climb of the day. It was probably about a 5% grade, but pretty short. (although a did hear of a few who missed the turn half way up the hill and continued climbing, but hey guess they got a better work out than the rest of us).
From there we started making our way back towards Palm Springs and got back on real roads that we actually had to share with cars again. Traffic wasn't a problem, but it's always nice during rides to have a whole lane blocked off for you and not have to worry about it. Also around this point, I started feeling the effects of my faux pas during this ride. I tried an electrolyte drink I'd never had before at the 72. I know better. You never eat or drink new things you're body is not used to the day of a big ride like this. You just never know if you're body will love or hate it. My body didn't like the cliff electrolyte drink if anyone is thinking about trying it. Pushed my way through it and got some water at the 90 mile stop.
The last 10 miles are always the longest, cause you know you're almost done. Lots of little turns back into downtown Palm Springs and we crossed the finish line about 4 pm. All and all it was a really fun route to ride and a great experience. Though I have decided I need a better bike seat... (To go along with the new bike I still want to buy before my next century).
Didn't get too many pics of this ride because I'm lazy about carrying a camera while I ride. Hope to get some off the event photographer's site tomorrow though....
So more of the ride details.
My rode with the B team which included a lot of people doing their first century so we took it pretty casual, but it was a lot of fun. We left the hotel and got on the route about 7 am. The first 2 or 3 miles were nice. Just a casual warm up. From there, we got on a long stretch of road out by all the windmills, and it was dang windy! It was hitting us from the left side and it took most of our strength just to stay upright without being blown over. We were in that strong wind for about an hour so we took a really slow pace for that stretch and used our energy mainly to battle the wind.
Next came the majority of the "climbing" for the route. I use climbing loosely, because it really wasn't a challenging climb. It was about 7 miles long, which is a good stretch, but it was more of a gradual incline of 1-2 percent with only about .3 mile of 4%. I'll take that any day. We got into the first rest stop at the 16 mile mark around 8:30. A little later than I would liked but the wind really slowed down my group.
From there, we turned out onto Dillon road which we were on for probably 35-40 miles out of the 100. I loved it though! It was a great road to ride. It was a lot of short rollers and quite a bit of gradual downhills. Plus the wind was mainly at our backs at this point. I picked up some speed here and got down in my drops and just cruised along about 36 mph for a good stretch of that road. From there it was rest stop number 2. (the SAG stops were btw, wonderful. lots of good stuff and nice people along with our own mini TNT random acts of SAG at every stop).
Then back out onto Dillon for more riding. I think we were on Dillon til the 52 mile stop! (Somewhere between Indio and Cochella) . Woohoo. Half way point was around 11 for us I think. We had lunch and got back out on the road and went through just some country type roads until the 72 mile stop.
After the 72, we tackled the last climb of the day. It was probably about a 5% grade, but pretty short. (although a did hear of a few who missed the turn half way up the hill and continued climbing, but hey guess they got a better work out than the rest of us).
From there we started making our way back towards Palm Springs and got back on real roads that we actually had to share with cars again. Traffic wasn't a problem, but it's always nice during rides to have a whole lane blocked off for you and not have to worry about it. Also around this point, I started feeling the effects of my faux pas during this ride. I tried an electrolyte drink I'd never had before at the 72. I know better. You never eat or drink new things you're body is not used to the day of a big ride like this. You just never know if you're body will love or hate it. My body didn't like the cliff electrolyte drink if anyone is thinking about trying it. Pushed my way through it and got some water at the 90 mile stop.
The last 10 miles are always the longest, cause you know you're almost done. Lots of little turns back into downtown Palm Springs and we crossed the finish line about 4 pm. All and all it was a really fun route to ride and a great experience. Though I have decided I need a better bike seat... (To go along with the new bike I still want to buy before my next century).
Didn't get too many pics of this ride because I'm lazy about carrying a camera while I ride. Hope to get some off the event photographer's site tomorrow though....
posted by Nicole Nixon at
10:30 AM
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