Ulcer 2012

Ameer has been after me to do an organized ride. For a day or two I thought we might be able to work him into the Salt to Saint relay with our team. That wasn't going to work. I have never done the ULCER century in Utah County. We are usually in San Clemente when it is held. But, this year we went to the beach a week later than usual and that opened up the possibility.

I have heard that it can be a little gruelling if the weather is really hot and the wind kicks up. As the weekend approached it looked like the weather was going to be great and it was.

We decided only to do the metric distance (about 61 miles.) Ameer has done almost a 47 mile ride with me in the past. But, I didn't want to make the jump to 100. I'm not sure I want to do full centuries anymore.

The morning was great. We got off to an early start, partly so we could make sure we finished before any weather changed. We started out at a good pace and fell in with a fast group for about 10-15 miles or so. But, the course at that point had a lot of turning at intersections and after having to slow down some for each turn and then try to catch up again afterward, I was sapping my energy pretty quick. On a less turney course I might have been able to hang with them longer. I didn't want to just barrel through all of the turns with the big unwieldy tandem and with Ameer on the back.

At one point we came up on a girl who I took notice of. She fell in behind us and stayed for a little while. Then I didn't see her until we were on our way back. Somehow she fell way behind us.

We saw one accident with casualties off the side of the road and ambulances arriving. I was kinda glad then that we didn't try to stick with the fast group. It was probably connected.

At one point on the way back an "older" couple passed us as we neared a light where we needed to make a left turn. Ameer didn't like being passed by these weaker, less virile riders. So, he got a little bit of a bee in his bonnet and we regained the lead and then left them in the dust. I think it was a little hard for Ameer to maintain a high output. More for concentration than for fatigue.

Our goal was a 20 MPH average. At one point we were up around/above 20.5. But, ended up coming in right at 20 mph. It is a very flat course and there was negligible wind.

We stuck around for the food and goodies afterward just long enough to eat a little. Most of the riders were still out (doing the full 100 miles.) So, there were actually very few people there. We had some Fazoli's Alfredo and some Coke on tap (the Coke was very yummy, I think someone boosted the sugar) and listened to Beck on the loudspeakers. All in all a good ride.