<p>Early last week, I decided to go ahead and hop into the <a href=”http://www.active.com/cycling/arlington-va/air-force-cycling-challenge-crystal-ride-2011″>Crystal Ride</a>, a casual cycling ride that’s part of the weekend’s <a href=”http://www.airforcecyclingclassic.com/”>Air Force Cycling Classic</a>, an annual event held locally that contains a handful of professional and amateur races as well as this, a touring ride through Crystal City and the Pentagon area.</p>
<p><a href=”http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/248832_10150321732059992_813674991_9888367_2782016_n.jpg”><img alt=”” class=”floatLeft” height=”135″ src=”http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/248832_10150321732059992_813674991_9888367_2782016_n.jpg” width=”170″/></a></p>
<p>I didn’t do any real prep as my regular riding should have me in good enough shape to get through the event, but I had never ridden all that far and all that fast so I wasn’t sure what kind of effort attain “the gold” would be. Medals are awarded based on the number of 7.6 mile laps you complete. In order to get a gold one, I had to average 17.7 miles per hour for 62 miles.</p>
<p>My regular daily rides are at or above that pace, but my regular rides are not 62 miles. In fact, I rarely break 30. My longest ride ever before this event was 61 with a long lunch break included. Longest single effort? 42, and both of those efforts were just a touch below the magical 17.7.</p>
<p>That’s where the <a href=”http://www.planetultra.com/training/rbr/paceline.html”>pace line</a> comes into play. While I’m pretty certain I could have done the 17.7 average on my own, it turned out to be pretty easy with the help of a handful of friends and acquaintances from both my running life and the shop I ride with on occasion, <a href=”http://thebikelane.com/”>The Bike Lane</a>. Not only that, but with their help (I’m pretty inexperienced leading a line so I only did so for a short bit) I managed much above that special number.</p>
<p><a href=”http://connect.garmin.com/activity/91866863″>62.84 miles, 19.85mph, 3:09:40</a>. While I think a sub-3 is possible, my goal for next year will be an easy one… 20mph average. Likely would have had it this year had I not run out of gas with two laps to go and lost my group.</p>
<p><a href=”http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/253409_10150209358024396_772254395_6857526_6767639_n.jpg”><img alt=”” class=”floatRight” height=”180″ src=”http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/253409_10150209358024396_772254395_6857526_6767639_n.jpg” width=”135″/></a></p>
<p>The event itself was pretty well put together, but there were a few items I’d like to see improved:</p>
<ul>
<li>There were a handful of corners on the course that were really poorly planned out. I’m sure the organizers did their best with what they had, but still, some bad spots.</li>
<li>Water suppliers didn’t know how to hold/hand out bottles to cyclists. You need a really limp arm because we’re moving at a pretty good clip. Far too many dropped bottles.</li>
<li>There were a number of REALLY, REALLY bad road “features” that were unmarked and/or could have been filled in a matter of minutes. Think: Potholes in the center of the street that could eat a bike, parallel grates that are perfectly sized to swallow a tire, curbs with improper “coneage” to push us away from them.</li>
<li>Corral system? Lots of slow riders in the way, but it’s a casual ride and inevitable given the fact that we’re doing laps. Probably nothing that can be done here.</li>
</ul>
<p>Overall, a fun time and sure to be one when your assigned number is <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet”>1337</a>. I will likely participate again next year. It’s not often that you get a well-organized cycling event so close to home.</p>
<p>I also attended the pro and amateur races in Clarendon the day before and snapped a few pics. <a href=”http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150208026094396.324768.772254395″>Click here</a> to see the highlights and/or pics of friends. Yeah, I know people ;)</p>