S
Skeeney
Guest
Hey Morgan, why don't you talk about how RAIN went and what exactly it is.....
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Oh, how I would love any opportunity to bloat about myself, according to the folks on other forums I am selfish (of course they don't read this forum so anything I say about them will go unnoticed).
RAIN Ride 2009 took place last Saturday and is an organized ride (not race, even though some people race it) across the state of Indiana. The ride starts at 7:00 a.m from the Indiana/Illinois state line on 40 in West Terre Haute, the route takes you on US 40 all the way through Indy to Richmond, Indiana (Earlham College) 162 miles. About 1,300 riders rode in this years RAIN Ride (my first ever RAIN ride).
I rode with former Sycamores Justin and Jermey Kunz, Randy Placinca, Adam Konola and David Mason along with about 50 other Sycamore Alums who registered through the Indiana State Foundation. (part of the registration fee included a new tour of the rec-center and dinner on Friday night plus a very sweet Sycamores Cycling jersey).
Training:
Only trained for about 3 weeks, I really took some time off at the end of Track season this year to let my body rest. I have done 2 triathlons in previous summers so cycling is not something new to me or anything like that. I have never ridden more than 60 miles in one setting and all of my training rides leading up to RAIN avg. about 19 mph. Granted we were really never pushing the envelope or sharing the draft anything like that.
RAIN Ride
Cool temps and wind out of the west made for an excellent day to ride 162 miles! I completed the ride in 8 hours and 5mins (something like that, official results have not been posted yet), I averaged something like 2:56 a mile according to my Garmin Cycle Computer with an avg. speed of 21 mph over 162 miles. Their are 4 checkpoints (food/water/bathrooms) to stop at if you want, however you are not required to stop. The leaders who finished in 6.5 hours only stopped maybe once. I had no intention on "racing" with the leaders, I just wanted to see what this was like and finish. I stopped at all 4 checkpoints costing me about 1 hour total. With that being said I think I could rode with the leaders. I went through 12 bottles of water, 2 Gatorade's, 3 Bannas, 3 Power Gels, 1 Power Bar, 3 Granola Bars and 1 turkey sandwich at lunch.
Most of the second half of the race I was caught riding alone, with no riders in sight front or behind. You see it's impossible to ride fast enough to catch a pack of riders drafting and if you are riding fast enough (which I was) it takes awhile for the draft to catch you.Not to mention you save up to 30% less energy drafting behind other riders. Needless to say after lunch I was about 15 miles into the ride and I had to pee, so I did what any professional would do "just go" it was really warm! I was out in the middle of no where and no one was around me, so it was all good. If you think about it though - with the amount of water I drank it had to be like 95% water, so who really cares?
For the record I beat Justin and the rest of the guys to every checkpoint including the most important finish line (Justin was no more than a min. behind me at the finish). He was lucky enough to join a huge group of riders that drafted to him early in the final 30 mile stage. That pack did not catch me until 5 miles left and their were about 30 riders in this pack - I let them pull me to the finish.
It was the hardest thing I have ever done, when I got finished I thought to myself "why in the world would anyone want to do this twice"? But when I woke up Sunday (just a little sore) and still had the energy to mow 6 acres of grass and then fish in the Otter Creek I have decided that I will do this again next year!
RAIN Ride 2009 took place last Saturday and is an organized ride (not race, even though some people race it) across the state of Indiana. The ride starts at 7:00 a.m from the Indiana/Illinois state line on 40 in West Terre Haute, the route takes you on US 40 all the way through Indy to Richmond, Indiana (Earlham College) 162 miles. About 1,300 riders rode in this years RAIN Ride (my first ever RAIN ride).
I rode with former Sycamores Justin and Jermey Kunz, Randy Placinca, Adam Konola and David Mason along with about 50 other Sycamore Alums who registered through the Indiana State Foundation. (part of the registration fee included a new tour of the rec-center and dinner on Friday night plus a very sweet Sycamores Cycling jersey).
Training:
Only trained for about 3 weeks, I really took some time off at the end of Track season this year to let my body rest. I have done 2 triathlons in previous summers so cycling is not something new to me or anything like that. I have never ridden more than 60 miles in one setting and all of my training rides leading up to RAIN avg. about 19 mph. Granted we were really never pushing the envelope or sharing the draft anything like that.
RAIN Ride
Cool temps and wind out of the west made for an excellent day to ride 162 miles! I completed the ride in 8 hours and 5mins (something like that, official results have not been posted yet), I averaged something like 2:56 a mile according to my Garmin Cycle Computer with an avg. speed of 21 mph over 162 miles. Their are 4 checkpoints (food/water/bathrooms) to stop at if you want, however you are not required to stop. The leaders who finished in 6.5 hours only stopped maybe once. I had no intention on "racing" with the leaders, I just wanted to see what this was like and finish. I stopped at all 4 checkpoints costing me about 1 hour total. With that being said I think I could rode with the leaders. I went through 12 bottles of water, 2 Gatorade's, 3 Bannas, 3 Power Gels, 1 Power Bar, 3 Granola Bars and 1 turkey sandwich at lunch.
Most of the second half of the race I was caught riding alone, with no riders in sight front or behind. You see it's impossible to ride fast enough to catch a pack of riders drafting and if you are riding fast enough (which I was) it takes awhile for the draft to catch you.Not to mention you save up to 30% less energy drafting behind other riders. Needless to say after lunch I was about 15 miles into the ride and I had to pee, so I did what any professional would do "just go" it was really warm! I was out in the middle of no where and no one was around me, so it was all good. If you think about it though - with the amount of water I drank it had to be like 95% water, so who really cares?
For the record I beat Justin and the rest of the guys to every checkpoint including the most important finish line (Justin was no more than a min. behind me at the finish). He was lucky enough to join a huge group of riders that drafted to him early in the final 30 mile stage. That pack did not catch me until 5 miles left and their were about 30 riders in this pack - I let them pull me to the finish.
It was the hardest thing I have ever done, when I got finished I thought to myself "why in the world would anyone want to do this twice"? But when I woke up Sunday (just a little sore) and still had the energy to mow 6 acres of grass and then fish in the Otter Creek I have decided that I will do this again next year!
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S
Skeeney
Guest
Man that sounds pretty crazy, but to be able to say that you completed something like that it incredible. Next year you need to train to win the thing. To average 21 mph over 162 miles is very good too.
KAPat1865
The Captain Level
I'm impressed
T
The One and Only
Guest
I checked out the results and it looks like Kunz was only 1 second behind Twitchell. Great job to all, Sounds like a fun experience hopefully I can talk myself into trying it next year.
Predictable...
The One and Only Justin Kunz. Comes on here and starts talking like he is somebody he's not. This is my forum don't come over here acting like you know what's going on. And when I gave that little run down of how the race went the results had not been posted yet... So next time you come on here don't ask questions about being under 40 and shit like that. I aint stupid.
The One and Only Justin Kunz. Comes on here and starts talking like he is somebody he's not. This is my forum don't come over here acting like you know what's going on. And when I gave that little run down of how the race went the results had not been posted yet... So next time you come on here don't ask questions about being under 40 and shit like that. I aint stupid.
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T
The One and Only
Guest
You are one crazy fool Morgan, running your mouth like you know who I am and what I do, I 'm about to take this website over and the days of Morgan will be a thing of my past AGAIN..HA HA