Mannford Metric

Rode long today. I'm signed up for the Tour of Payne 100 k ride on the 4th of July, and I wanted to do a hilly 100 k to get a feel for my conditioning and what to expect. The route I rode can be seen here. I was out of Gatorade, but I took 2 bottles of water, my hydration pack (holds about 3 bottles, and a hammer flask full of apple cinnamon flavor gel.

Took it easy starting out. I knew I was going to have some pretty tough climbs (at least for me), so I held it down to about 16.5 mph average speed up to the hill at the 12 mi point on the map. The hills from the 12 mi. point to Mannford pulled my average down to about 15 mph. Stopped at the Sonic at Mannford and got a 44oz. Powerade slush. I poured about 2/3 of it down me and the rest went in an insulated bottle. Got back on the road, and managed to keep my average speed at 15mph up to the turn on to SH-48.

Some people prefer riding hills over windy, but flat, courses, and some people prefer windy, but flat, courses over hills. But what really sucks is when the course is hilly and has a headwind. I would guess the wind was about 12-15 mph, straight out of the South. The highest point on the course is on SH-48, and fighting the wind and the grade pulled my average speed down to about 14.4 mph. Temperature was getting pretty bad, too. My bike computer's thermometer was reading 102 degrees

Stopped at a convenience store at the junction with SH-33. Didn't go in, but found some shade, and sucked down the rest of the Powerade slush (still cold, gotta love those Polar bottles), and got my breath back. Got back on the road, and enjoyed a nice, fast descent, which fed into a hill that was so steep that it had a third lane for trucks to grind their way up. The wind was blowing straight across the highway, and even though the route trends down, on this stretch, I could only bring the average speed up to about 14.8 by the time I reach the outskirts of Sapulpa.

I missed a turn in Sapulpa. I meant to take SH-97 to SH-166 and take old US-66 to Southwest Blvd and back to Tulsa, but I ended up on New Sapulpa Road (SH-66), where I missed not one, but two chances to get back on my intended route. Ended up taking 49th West Ave, which ran me over some of the steepest hills on the ride. Had to stop part-way up one of the hills when I dumped my chain shifting down to my smallest ring. Also stopped for a couple of minutes to catch my breath after grannying my way up it at about 6 mph. That stretch pulled my average speed down from 15 mph on New Sapulpa Road to 14.7 mph, which I held for the rest of the ride.

I rode about 2 miles to get to the start of the mapped course and 2 more to get home, giving me a total of 67 miles. Time on the bike was 4:31:38. Average speed was 14.7 mph. Max speed was 40.7 mph. Average heart rate was 126 (67% of max). Max heart rate was 174 (92% of max). Total time was 4:51:58.

It looks like, barring mechanical failure or injury, I should be able to manage the Tour of Payne metric century course, but the imperial century is out of the question (this year). This was, by far, the longest, most difficult unsupported ride I've ever done, and all things considered, I'm pretty pleased with it.