I started out a little later from my house than I wanted, leaving about 5:10am. I was a bit nervous because I was trying out some new roads I had never been on for the route to McKinney North HS. The Preston Ridge Trail turned out to be pretty nice, my only complaint would be the number of small roads to cross. I was able to keep a pretty good pace, though, and it was a pretty smooth ride. Probably overall better than street riding with traffic lights, potholes and rough pavement.
A big surprise was Coit turning into a county road between Eldorado and 380. The first part was dirt, which was relatively smooth riding, but also full of ruts and dips and loose areas. The second half was graded gravel, which was nice and flat, but a very rough ride. I'd take the dirt road over that any day.
I made it to 380 and turned east, pretty pleased with my overall time, when about 2 miles in I caught a roofing nail in my rear tire. It tore it up pretty bad, punching the tube about 5 times all in the same area. I figured I would try a patch first and switch the tube at the start line if it didn't work. I snapped the tire off and smeared the tube with some glue. While it was drying I contemplated which was worse: the dog across the field that looked like it really wanted to, and could, jump its fence to check me out or the jerks that thought it was fun to speed up while zipping past me.
Patch and dog in place, I made it to the start gate in plenty of time and without further incidents. The 32 mile route of the Collin Classic was a nice scenic tour east of 75. My only complaint was the start being all at once. It was a mass of people and the first 3 miles I don't think we got above 10 mph. Once we broke from the crowd it was a terrific ride with some decent hills. Josh and I stopped at the second rest stop at a church. I was a little irritated when a guy tried to tract me, it was just inappropriate. I'm hot, soaked with sweat, and some guy is handing me religious lit instead of ice water. Whatever, the rest of the volunteers were great.
We took our time on the hills going back in, I've been working hard to keep my HR under 170 and Josh has a bum knee. Caught up with Jason and had a beer back at the finish line before continuing my solo trek south. I took a bit of a different route home, which was good and bad. It was a lot hillier! Hardin had some major hills going through giant house country club land, and going west on Stacy/Main was no better, lots of rolling hills.
I took a break at my friend John Richardson's house, near CCCC, and caught up with them for a while. It was a needed break after battling the south wind and hills for 90 minutes, and good to catch up with friends at the same time. The remainder of the trip was uneventful and slow. The south wind was brutal as usual, really wear you down. I developed a terrible cramp in my left foot when I was on Arapaho at 98 miles in. I ended somewhere around 107 total miles, my longest ride to date.
Total I consumed about 10 to 12 liters of water and energy drinks. The heat really saps it from you. I have a food formula that really seems to work. I start with Malt-o-meal or grits, 1.5 servings, with a healthy dose of brown sugar and two slices of white toast. On the ride I take 3 PB and honey on white sandwiches and a few things of homemade energy gel. I go through a couple liters of Cytomax/Gatorade in addition to straight water. That combined with keeping my HR lower seems to have really improved my recovery time.
Oh, and that flat tire - well it held all the way home. Went to move my bike the next day and it was dead flat. Maybe it was just sad it wasn't rolling anymore.
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