Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Tour das Hugel Redux

I meant to write something at the time, but failed to, probably since I never got my camera mounting setup done, thus I have just a few pictures. That bummed me out some.

I, for some inexplicable reason, decided to attempt the TdH again, technically not needed as I completed the ride the first time. Maybe it was because I felt stronger this year, or that I felt that once was luck, two would be a charm, or I wanted to summit some of the hills without stopping on which I had to rest the first time, or perhaps I needed to complete my comeback from the very bad crash about a year before (at least in my mind).

Daniel, who was very nice to open his home as a rest stop, did take some pictures during the first loop. That's me in picture #163, in my 'northern lights' Alaska jersey, just starting up the hill.

Powering up one of the many hills
Note the leggings and arm warmers. It was not particularly chilly for a November day, but cool enough at the start to warrant their use. For the 2nd loop, I removed a base layer and arm warmers and wore just the jersey, it warmed up quite nicely -- but that also kicked up the wind some -- I didn't notice it all that much except for some the time spent of Loop 360. That was annoying toward the end with the long grind down 360 once past Jester.

There's also this video taken during the first loop on the High Road.  I sneak into view about 1:18 in, from behind the fellow in the red jersey.

Speaking of 'official' rest stops, there were just two this year, one at Daniel's house (off of Lakewood Drive, just under the evil Beauford hill) and the other at Sun Tree Cove and River Place (same as last time). That meant no rest stops during the first loop, but at just 38 miles or so, none was needed. The rest stops were on the outward and inward route of the second loop, so effectively, they counted as four stops, with the added benefit of FREE BEER at Daniel's on the way in. Not that I had very much, just one bottle, for carb loading, you see.

I was satisfied with myself, I had to stop just two times on climbs, one on River Place (I believe I was getting a little dehydrated, I had that 'feeling', although interestingly not on one of the steeper inclines), and the other going up Jester where I lost my balance and nearly rode into the curb, albeit at something like 4 MPH. Other than that, I was able to make it up all the hills, with a little slaloming needed to summit Smokey Valley.

I had a flat on the return route on Westminster Glen Avenue, and did not restart the GPS subsequently. I noticed pretty soon though, but the trace shows an 'as the bird flies' route for a small section, making my time and mileage a little off, but nothing significant.



Upon completion, I picked up my t-shirt, making it a pair now. Now, do I need three? Yikes!

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