Air Force Classic

[consularrider]

Looks like they have fixed some of the timing errors, but it still doesn’t appear you can search by name or bib number anymore. With my corrections I placed 12th in my age group out of the 20 who completed six laps, and 271st out of 402 overall.

[Greenbelt]

For people thinking about doing this ride but unsure about the large fast group, I can report that I had no trouble at all with the crowds by starting at the very back.

I got there late, and I think I only got moving at about 7:15 from the back. But everybody back there was chill, and we just sorted out nicely. I was able to gradually move up (mostly on the slight inclines) thoughout the first and 2nd laps, averaging 18.9mph on lap 1 and 20.4 on lap 2. I rode solo and kept that pace for the next three laps, except my times were a little slower on the timing chip because of water stops on laps 3 and 5, and a nature break on lap 4.

I got lapped by Tim’s group of 20 or so on lap 4, and lapped by another fast group of 15 or so on lap five. Other than that, I didn’t see a ton of large groups or very many shorter pacelines — it was mostly solo riders.

The only thing about starting in the chill zone at the way back was I only got in 5 laps at that pace before getting pulled.

I too was really surprised by all the flat tires on lap 1 (don’t these people commute?), and there was one bad incident at the very end when the marshalls were announcing for us to pull off to the left when some douche tried to sneak through and get in a sixth lap, clipped the guy in front of me on the rear wheel and went down in a heap of plastic debris. I didn’t stop to ask if he was OK — I mean, really? I’d been passing that guy on every incline all day.

So I guess the moral is, riding at the back was calm and nice except for one guy who really really wanted to do another lap on the highway for some reason. For me, I got in extra miles on the to and from, so my scranus had plenty of saddle time for the day.

[Tim Kelley]

Here’s the fly-by: http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#151385965,o2f/CKB0/whA4/8INa0ACdAIAQnBXwEJMYYCCcCMAgnrRAMJ93IDCQ==

You can see me go Splat at about 2:39 into the ride.

[PotomacCyclist]

Someone posted a long video of the Challenge Ride, broken up into 5 parts. Each part is about 17 min., I think. I haven’t watched all of them yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7gdCiuHx9g

The other parts are available in the list on the right side of the page.

[PeteD]

@PotomacCyclist 88055 wrote:

Someone posted a long video of the Challenge Ride, broken up into 5 parts. Each part is about 17 min., I think. I haven’t watched all of them yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7gdCiuHx9g

The other parts are available in the list on the right side of the page.

Quite a lot of Consular in the beginning of part 1. I pass him around 12:30 in Part 5.

–Pete

[Dickie]

Is this our very own Consularrider at 2:40?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5881[/ATTACH]

[sjclaeys]

Has anyone seen any information on the results of the Congressional Challenge aspect of the ride? Not seeing anything on the Interwebs.

[sjclaeys]

@PeteD 88076 wrote:

Quite a lot of Consular in the beginning of part 1. I pass him around 12:30 in Part 5.

–Pete

I think that the only way I would be in these videos is if he had a backward facing camera with a really good zoom.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@sjclaeys 88157 wrote:

Has anyone seen any information on the results of the Congressional Challenge aspect of the ride? Not seeing anything on the Interwebs.

Results are in. Y’all got 7% approval. That IS a challenge. Sorry.

[dasgeh]

@sjclaeys 88157 wrote:

Has anyone seen any information on the results of the Congressional Challenge aspect of the ride? Not seeing anything on the Interwebs.

I only saw that aspect the day before the ride. Had I known about it, I would have made more of an effort to do the ride. Looking forward to seeing results.

[PotomacCyclist]

Another video set, this time a combination of helmet cam and butt cam (underseat camera) perspectives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e88KKeU-zs8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbpSM7q2MEI – Part 2

[PotomacCyclist]

The Challenge Ride seems to have jumpstarted my run fitness, for some reason. I didn’t run much in March because I got sick. Even into May, I felt very sluggish while running. I only got my longest run up to the 80-min. mark a week before the Challenge Ride, and it didn’t feel good. (In previous years, I’ve done long runs in the 2-3 hr. range, occasionally 3.5 hrs., though not year-round.)

I didn’t run at all in the days leading up to the Challenge Ride. No runs after the Ride, as I tried to recover. Then a sluggish run on Friday. Short and terrible. Then a 90-min. run on Saturday and something happened. I felt very light on my feet. It wasn’t my fastest run ever, but I was running about 1:00/mile faster than two weeks earlier and I kept speeding up during the run. I did a fast finish, probably my fastest mile this year (which isn’t saying too much, but it wasn’t as sluggish as most of my running miles have been).

Sunday, a 2-hr. ride on the MTB, some short hills and a mix of medium and slow speeds. Then a short 15-min. brick run. Again, it felt very easy and I ran 1:30/mile faster than two weeks ago.

Chalk it up to the magic of the Challenge Ride? In terms of my up-and-down training this year, the Challenge Ride was a breakthrough workout for me, apparently. I didn’t ride particularly fast but it was my longest tempo effort of the year. It seems to be carrying over into my running, a week later. Something to think about as I continue to get back to consistent training over the summer.

[Tim Kelley]

@PotomacCyclist 88387 wrote:

Another video set, this time a combination of helmet cam and butt cam (underseat camera) perspectives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e88KKeU-zs8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbpSM7q2MEI – Part 2

That was the group I was with until the very end! I’m in Part 1 for a second at the 5:01 mark and in Part 2 at the 11:25 mark, unfortunately much of the camera work is from the saddle cam instead of the helmet cam.

[Vicegrip]

@PotomacCyclist 88421 wrote:

The Challenge Ride seems to have jumpstarted my run fitness, for some reason. I didn’t run much in March because I got sick. Even into May, I felt very sluggish while running. I only got my longest run up to the 80-min. mark a week before the Challenge Ride, and it didn’t feel good. (In previous years, I’ve done long runs in the 2-3 hr. range, occasionally 3.5 hrs., though not year-round.)

I didn’t run at all in the days leading up to the Challenge Ride. No runs after the Ride, as I tried to recover. Then a sluggish run on Friday. Short and terrible. Then a 90-min. run on Saturday and something happened. I felt very light on my feet. It wasn’t my fastest run ever, but I was running about 1:00/mile faster than two weeks earlier and I kept speeding up during the run. I did a fast finish, probably my fastest mile this year (which isn’t saying too much, but it wasn’t as sluggish as most of my running miles have been).

Sunday, a 2-hr. ride on the MTB, some short hills and a mix of medium and slow speeds. Then a short 15-min. brick run. Again, it felt very easy and I ran 1:30/mile faster than two weeks ago.

Chalk it up to the magic of the Challenge Ride? In terms of my up-and-down training this year, the Challenge Ride was a breakthrough workout for me, apparently. I didn’t ride particularly fast but it was my longest tempo effort of the year. It seems to be carrying over into my running, a week later. Something to think about as I continue to get back to consistent training over the summer.

Free your mind and your legs will follow.

Success makes for more success by giving you an attainable goal. Too hard becomes hard for a reason.

[sjclaeys]

@sjclaeys 88157 wrote:

Has anyone seen any information on the results of the Congressional Challenge aspect of the ride? Not seeing anything on the Interwebs.

The results were just posted, Republicans beat Democrats 26 to 25. Both team had an equal number of riders.

[Author]

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