I'm happy to report that Noah and I survived the Urban Assault Race. We only did 6 of the 7 checkpoints, because I was afraid we would run into the time limit if we tried to make it to the rowing dock and back. Plus, the way back from there involved a short steep uphill, and I was afraid that Noah might throw down his bike and launch into fits of weeping if we had to climb one more hill. :) There had been enough crying already, and I was too hot and tired to deal with any more. I'm not totally sure what our finish time was, but I think it was somewhere around 3:45. I do know that our average speed on the bike was 8.6 mph, because I could check that on my bike computer.
There was one fall, a couple long checkpoint lines, an unintended somersault, some whining, some fighting, a couple minor injuries, and a little bit of cell phone drama. Despite it all, there was still a good amount of fun, too. I'm not sure we'll do it again next year, but I'm glad we gave it a try.
That might be all you really want to know about this, in which case, you can skip the extended entry and the next few posts on the subject. :) I'm going to try to get the entire story up in the next few days, so that I don't forget anything. If you do care to know the details, OPEN WIDE.
Upon getting the bike up to our 9th floor room, I discovered that the back tire was flat, probably from one of the dozens of times I had to navigate around glass on my ride that morning (seems like every person in the Woodlands has been throwing glass bottles out the window lately). Luckily, I had a spare tube. Not so luckily, I had left the floor pump in the van. So, by the time I retrieved the pump, got the tube changed, washed my hands (and arms, and leg...), and put my riding clothes on, it was after 6 pm. This didn't leave me much time to test-ride the race route, but it had to be enough--I wasn't about to go into it blind.
It took me just under 2 hours to ride to all the checkpoints, and it was well worth the effort. Here's what I discovered:
-The roads that go around the capitol building were closed with iron gates and traffic cones, even though the bicycle map had them marked as green (easy) bike routes. Rob thought it might be that congress is in session, but they could be like that all the time for all I know.
-The trails I mentioned the other day? All but useless on a road bike. The Town Lake ones were okay, but most of the Shoal Creek section was either too rocky or under construction. I spent a good 10 minutes slogging through gravel and mud trying to get back out to Lamar when I ran out of rideable trail there. Later on, I got lost on the Town Lake trail, accidentally taking a little offshoot onto Robert E. Lee and getting so disoriented that I finally had to sit down and triangulate my position based on a Zilker Park sign and the direction of the setting sun (thanks for that tip, Rob). So, needless to say, the trails were out for race day.
-In downtown Austin, East-West routes were generally steeper than North-South routes. North and west are mostly uphill, south and east mostly down. At least, that was my experience.
-Austin drivers are more bike-friendly than Houston drivers. And all those beautiful bike lanes! Almost makes me want to move.
-My route plan needed some fairly drastic revisions.
I also was feeling fairly optimistic about the race. The streets were mostly quiet, and yes...a little hilly, but not nearly as bad as I'd thought. I was able to average a little under 15 mph, and even with getting lost and everything, I only did 20-21 miles. With a little route-tweaking, I could get it down to 14-15, and keep the steep inclines to a minimum. Noah may even be able to average 10 mph on-bike, and if each checkpoint took...oh, let's say 10 minutes, we could be done by 10 am!
Oh, how naive I was. :)
After I showered and got some food, I started reworking my plan. I decided not to go to Jo's Coffee first, deciding to move it to the end and go straight north to the two farthest checkpoints instead. That would also get the hardest part of the race over first, which I thought would be better for Noah...by the time he got really tired, it would be mostly downhill and we'd be stopping a lot. I kept working on it, obsessing over which turn to take when (how well would Noah really do on a 4-lane one-way street? Could we get all the way to the left from the light without some Froggering?) By the time I was satisfied with my battle plan, it was close to midnight. Despite doing two 20-mile bike rides and driving 150 miles between them, I had some trouble sleeping. Like, I finally dropped off somewhere around 4 am. My alarm was set for 5:45.
Next up: Part II - And We're Off!
Posted by Joy at June 26, 2006 09:25 AM