Tour de Pain (Park City)

Saturday I rode the Tour de Park City.  I'll try to summarize to keep it short.

My start time was at 6 am with the "fun-ride" group.  I stayed the night at the newpark hotel.  My alarm didn't go off at 5:15.  I rolled out of bed at 6:38.  I was ticked off and hurried to the start line.  I decided to still do the super century 170 mile.  I took off with the cat 4/5's at 7:11 am.

Things I learned from the race.

1. Don't try to keep up the pace with the cat 4/5's if that isn't your normal pace.  As Phil Liggett says so well, I was the elastic band that eventually snapped partway between coalville and evanston.  

2. I will never complain about poor road conditions. Five miles of dirt road helps put things in perspective.

3. Choose the right wheels.  I rode on my Reynolds wheels that are deep dish carbon rims.  The wind from Evanston to Kamas was relentless.  I should have stuck to my Mavic's. 

4. Do a better job rationing water.  There was supposed to be an aid station every 25 miles.  I rationed my water to mile 100, but no aid station.  Finally it showed up at mile 105.  That may not seem like a big deal, but with the brutal headwind, there were a lot of ticked off riders.

5. Always carry money or credit card.  Since I was riding tubular wheels, I took off my bag that is normally under my saddle.  Inside I have some money for emergencies.  As a result, I found myself staring at a convenience store at mile 105 dreaming of a pepsi and no money.

6. Don't forget the chamois cream.  If I had been up at 5:15 am, I would have had time to eat, drink, and wipe on some cream.  In my rush to get on the road, I missed all of the above.

7. PB&J's never tasted so good.  Enough said.

8. Cramps.  I started cramping at miles 85.  They got so bad I had to stop twice.  I rode through them and they would subside for a while.

9. It's a mental game.  I went through a whole spectrum of feelings through the ride.  I wanted to quit so many times.  I found myself listing all of my excuses why I should quit.  For me, the only thing that worked was focusing on the race as 25 mile increments and thinking that the summit was only 125 miles and I could do that.

This was by far the hardest ride I have ever done.  I heard several comments that this was a lot tougher than LOTOJA.  That made me feel better.  The head wind was draining.  Several ambulances were running up and down the route.  

My left knee was killing me at mile 110 to the end.  I have never had knee problems before and this was a painful surprise.  It is hard to think about another race in two weeks and then LOTOJA two weeks after that.  

The Tour de Park City was not a "fun-ride".  I would classify more like a necessary evil.  I'm sure I'll feel different in a few days as the soreness subsides and the pain memories are not so vivid.