First exercise/workout of 2017

New Year's Day!!

My husband and I are working on the Petite Year Round Randonneur challenge which involves riding 100 km events each month for a total of 1200 km. The Audax/Randonneuring new year starts in November, so we've already done two of them. We had all January to do the third, but my husband will likely be busy at work for the month of January, so we decided to tackle our 100 km today.

The forecast was not good. All week long, the prediction was for rain on Sunday. So Saturday night, while watching Sydney ring in the new year on TV, I packed my rain gear.

It did rain just before we drove out to the start location, but it was just heavily overcast, moderately warm, and very humid (90%) when we started.

We had decided to ride a new Permanent route which I created just before Christmas and had added to the Audax Tasmania list. One of the reasons to ride it was to check it to make sure it would be all right for other riders. Another reason to ride it was because we were pretty sure it was a route we could handle. Many of the routes here in Tasmania are simply too hilly for me to complete within the time limit.

The first 10-ish km of the route is quite flat, and my husband took off like a shot. It was all I could do to keep up!! I struggled a little bit on the first hill and in the interests of preserving my knees for things to come ... granny and I became friends. We remained friends all the way through!

Back onto the flat ground again, and flying along until we reached the next climb. And that one is a big one ... the biggest on the route. I've ridden it several times. As I recall, the first time I rode it, I had to walk part of it. The next time I rode it, I had to stop several times on the way up. The third time, I made it up. This time, I also made it up, but my legs were protesting loudly and I had to appease them with promises of pizza when this was all over. I was also wheezing. I have been diagnosed with EIA, which presents problems now and then, but I haven't wheezed going up a hill in a while. We suspect it was the high humidity level.

A fast downhill and flat section again, and then a hilly section which I had actually forgotten about. I could see it on the elevation profile, of course, but couldn't remember what they looked like. Steep rollers.

Our turn-around point was a little shop where we acquired Pepsi Max and potato chips.

Back over the steep rollers, a bit of a slog along the flat section into the wind, and then we headed back to the start on a different, slightly less hilly route. Not the really big hill. But by "less hilly", I mean there was still a whole lot of climbs ... up, and then levelling off, up, and then levelling off, round the corner, and up, and levelling off ... and up and up and up ... but it wasn't as steep.

Nevertheless, what with the speed we had been moving, and the climbing we had already done, my legs had begun to talk union and there were rumblings of strike action. Management stepped in, and bribed the legs with 2-month old jelly beans found in a little baggie in the bottom of the handlebar bag.

At last ... the top and a fast descent to flat ground again. A light misty sort of rain started, but fortunately nothing soaking. And with the warmth (19C), and level of humidity (90%), this light rain actually felt kind of good. The wind was a bit more annoying. And then, all of a sudden just before the next climb, the sun came out for about 30 seconds ... just long enough for me to think, "Oh good timing ... sun and humidity on a climb!" And then it went away. Oops!

The last little bit of the route was a loop to make up the distance, which turned out to be slightly hillier than I had anticipated. But we made it! I just kept telling my legs they could have something to eat as soon as we got back into town.

Summary
Distance: 101.9 km
Elevation: 702 metres according to Strava, 994 metres according to RWGPS
Elapsed Time: 5:35
Moving Time: 5:14

And the results of the ride checking exercise ... a few modifications required. One of the issues is that there are certain sections of the route which are quite busy. We think there are ways around some of these which would put riders onto quieter roads, and also make more natural turns (not crossing traffic).

We had lunch and then drove home, and on the way, the rain began in earnest. 33 mm of rain in the next 3.5 hours.