Mike's Bike Blog

This was the final race in the 1379 Kids Tri series for Jack and the 1st triathlon for Zeb and Ethan. Zeb competed in the 5-6 year old division and Ethan was in the 9-10 year old division with Jack. The Hill Country Tri also has a parent division as well where the parents time is added to the kids time to form a team. Initially the plan was for Jennifer to compete since she's been swimming and running on a consistent basis again since coming back from a lingering ITB injury.

Two weeks before the race she pulled a muscle in her shoulder and wasn't able to get into the pool and the possibility of competing wasn't looking good. I stepped in to save the day. In the 2 weeks leading up to the race I got into the pool twice just to make sure I could still float and I ran 1/2 mile that first week. I had hoped to get a little more training in but with birthday's and work deadlines I wasn't able to get more in, thus I was a bit worried, mainly for the swim.

The race was in Kyle, TX and had a 5:30am check-in time for a 7am start, thus we had a 3:00 am wake up call. We got marked, picked up chips and set up in the transition. It was here that I learned that Zeb's run was longer than what I had thought. The 5-6 year olds were running the same course as his brothers, a .6 mile run. I had thought it was a 600 meter run for some reason. Zeb was in the first wave of kids and did a good job on the swim and got through the transition and headed out on the bike for a 1/2 mile out and back. The first half is on a slight uphill.

He quickly returned and was onto the run. He started out like a firecracker. Jennifer yelled at him to slow down and pace himself as it looked like he would fizzle out at the pace he was setting. He crossed the finish line in 16:12.81, for a 4th place finish.

While Zeb was out on the running course I ran over to watch Jack enter the pool to start his race. He looked really strong in the swim and I could tell his endurance from swimming all summer had paid off. He improved his swim time and also improved his transition time as well. Both Jack and Ethan had to do 1 lap of the course which was 2.6 miles long. Jack road a personal best for any of the other Tri's he'd done, beating his speed by 2 mph.

With Jack out on the bike course and Zeb done it was Ethan's turn in his 1st triathlon. He got through the swim, not the fastest but that was to be expected as he just this summer passed through the Nitro swimming lessons and just got on the Nitro swim team. As he was getting on the bike course the volunteer wouldn't let him out on the course and fiddled with the straps to his helmet. I was surprised at this as beforehand I double checked the fit of his helmet. I had him bend over, there was no slippage and when he came back up it stayed in place. The chin strap looked good as well, there was a little clearance, about a finger and a half. Well the volunteer would grab it and pull it up and I guess he didn't like it so he messed with it for 2-3 minutes. In the end I don't think he made any adjustments before letting him proceed out onto the bike course. Once Ethan got through the bike course he was off on the run and onto completing his first triathlon!

There was 1 more wave of kids between me and my first triathlon. The time came way too fast, luckily I was seeded next to last so I figured I wouldn't have too many people passing me. There was only 1 other person behind me by the numbers, but there were a few other competitors that didn't feel comfortable with their starting position and moved to the back.

Finally the time of reckoning I got the go signal and took off and jumped into the water and started my swim. I actually caught and passed a few other swimmers. About 1/2 way through as I got to the end of a lane I needed to pass the person in front of me. She ducked under the lane line as I pushed off and attempted to streamline under the lane line to come out ahead of her in the other lane. I didn't quite make it and whacked my head pretty hard on the lane line. I finally made it through the swim, now I knew the likelihood of finishing the tri was at 98%.

I ran to my bike and started my transition to the bike. This included putting on socks and my bike shoes along with my number and helmet. As I was attempting to put on my socks my legs were wobbly. This made putting on my socks and shoes difficult.

As I got out onto the course I saw a guy in a Joe's Pro skin suit, I heard him telling someone that he had the fastest bike leg in last years race. I figured he would be a good rabbit. My plan was to average about 95% of my RunFar power, which is 107% of my FTP. The course had 2 roundabouts to negotiate which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but getting around them with other people weaving through the road I braked more than I would normally to get around them. After the first turnaround I caught and passed the Joe' s Pro rider. After the next turn around with my average power now at 110% of my FTP I decided I better hold back a little so I have something left for the run. On the 2nd and final lap the section with the roundabouts was pretty clear so I didn't have to slow up. I think I scared the volunteers as I entered the roundabouts at over 20 mph as I don't think most people carried that much speed thru.

Now all I had to do was run the 1.2 miles. The first .3 miles of course are on a slight grade. The first lap was the hardest, my legs didn't want to cooperate. When I returned to the start the boys were there to cheer me on and run with me. I turned around for the 2nd lap while the boys ran with me. Not sure if my legs finally opened up or it was the fact that the boys were watching that kept me going and not walking. The final bit the boys ran with me egging me on with the promise of shaved ice afterwards.

I got my shaved ice and we waited for the results to be posted and the awards ceremony. When results went up my overall wasn't that great and figured we were out of contention for a family award. I did place 4th in the bike, 1 minute and 20 some seconds behind Kevin Livingston. Not too shabby, but wish I wouldn't had held back. Upon looking back I don't think I could have ran any slower so I should have went harder on the bike.

When Zeb and me didn't win in the 5-6 year old parent category I figured Jack and I wouldn't win anything. I was totally surprised to hear our team being called for the 9-10 year old parent category for 3rd place.

Everybody had a good time and the boys are raring to do more races, me on the other hand I didn't get bit by the tri bug. I could see doing another family tri as they are short enough that I don't have to train for the swim or the run. If I was going to do a full on triathlon I wouldn't mind doing a relay where all I had to do was the bike portion.

Those were the words I heard coming from behind me yesterday as I took Jack out on Parmer for the first time. We drove out to the Parmer & 3405 intersection and parked. I picked this location to get out of traffic, plus with the wind coming from the South we could ride South towards Hwy 29 into the wind to start and have a tail wind on the way back.

The headwind made it a little rough, I kept telling him to stay as close to me as possible to draft off of me, but he would fall off the back every once in awhile. The place he really excels is on the hills, his light 70 lb. body is made for climbing. I have to keep an eye on him on the hills and counter his attacks. The hill between 3405 & 29 was the longest he's ridden. I could hear him breathing heavy behind me and I asked him 3/4 the way up if he wanted to stop and rest. He just kept going to the top.

At Hwy 29 we stopped again for a quick break, as we were taking in some fluids a group of 4 riders passed us, I heard some comments as they did a double take when they realized a 9 year old was partaking in a Parmer ride. We saddled up and headed North with the wind at our back. The group of 4 were up the road a little bit, I asked Jack if he wanted to go catch em. On cue he said "Yes! Let's go." I picked up the pace to 18mph and I quickly heard "Faster Dad!" coming from behind me. That lasted a few seconds until I heard another "Faster!" so I accelerated again to 20 mph. We were quickly closing the gap and we had them in our crosshairs. However one of the riders in the group had a flat and they pulled over so that took a little wind out of our sails when we caught them. Jack did point out that we would have caught them anyway.

We were passed by a couple riders and once again Jack wanted to chase them down and I was more than happy to oblige. I set the pace at 20 mph and once again I go the "Faster Dad!" comment. It wasn't until I hit the 24 mph mark till I was able to pull away from him.  We gave chase to a few other cyclists not catching any of them, but just like Fishing it's not necessary the joy of catching a fish, but the joy of the experience.

The Dillo has a special place in my heart, it was my first century ride and each year the family gets out for the Kids & Family ride (2009 report). It's a great value for $15 the entire family rides and gets the t-shirts and goodie bags. The only downside is that it's in Bertram, which is a little further than the regular start of Liberty Hill. This year it was going to be only Jack & Ethan accompanying me, Zeb had a soccer game so Jennifer would take him to his game while we rode.

Jack & Ethan at the start

We got to Bertram a little early, which was good as last year we were late because of Ethan's soccer game and rode alone. Getting out and getting the bikes ready the boys quickly realized it was much colder an windier than they were expecting and wanted to get back in the car. I told them once we got going we'd quickly warm up.

After some brief bike safety tips from the Austin Cycling Association we had a full sheriff escort out of town. We were positioned at the front and were directly behind the Sheriff. As we got out of town Ethan started slowing down. He was quickly falling behind I dropped back to him to see what was going on. We started to get passed and the next thing I realize when I looked up Jack and the Sheriff were out of sight. I finally coaxed Ethan to pick up the pace and on the first hill he finally did, catching at least a few of the people that passed us. When we came to the first turn I saw the Sheriff's car and thought he was directing traffic as we had to make a left turn, then I saw a group of riders and a rider down and it was none other than Jack.

Apparently he took the turn too fast and too wide and crashed into the ditch. He was holding his leg. He had some scratches on the outside of his leg from where he went down, a bruise on his inside right leg where he probably hit the top tube and his shorts were littered with stickers and cactus. He didn't go down on the road surface he found a nice cactus patch to cushion his fall.

He has a high Jens factor as he stood up and we picked the cactus and stickers off his butt and he got back on the bike to finish off the Dillo. We kept it at a reasonable pace and told him to wait for us if he gets too far ahead.  After a mile or so he said he was 100% and I asked him and Ethan if we should kick it up a little and try to catch some of the riders that passed us that we could see in the distance. They responded with a resounding yes. We formed a paceline and brought our speed up. We caught a group of riders as they were pulling into a rest stop. After catching our breath and a shot of water we pushed on.

Ethan was riding Jack's mountain bike as it has a triple and figured he would be able to tackle any of the hills we would encounter better with it than his 1x6. I think he was thankful on the last hill to have the granny gear. He was pleased with himself when he got to the top that he made it.

We made it back without incident and the boys said they had a good time, even Jack. In fact Jack was quite happy and was proud to have his first crash. If you're going to ride and race bikes crashing is part of it. I was proud of his attitude about it, instead of giving up and not wanting to ride anymore he came to the realization that crashing can happen and not to fear it. We talked about it on the way home and came up with a plan that we'd work on his cornering more on his road bike.

The Armadillo was great again this year and can't wait to do it again next year, although the boys are starting to outgrow the 6 mile distance. I know Jack has and by next year Ethan will have as well. With the amount of riding Zeb has been doing lately he will be ready for tackling the longer distances as well. After dinner Zeb and I go out for a 3-4 mile ride so the 6 miles is well within his reach.

On Sunday Jack competed in his 2nd Triathlon of 2010 and the 2nd in the 1379 Kid's Tri Series. Jack improved all his times in the swim, bike and run.

Swim: 2:58.7
Bike: 12.7 mph
Run: 5:13.696 (8:42.8 min/mi)
Total Time: 24:38.616 (+5:48.476)

Some fancy wheels and bikes

Jennifer, Zeb & Jack

Left: Jack Middle:Ethan Right: Zeb

This was the first time all 3 of my boys were at the Driveway Race Series and giving the Kids Fun Lap a go. Both Jack (9) and Ethan (8) have done the Kids Lap before, but Zeb (5) was making his first appearance in the competition. The Kids Lap is run right after the Mens 4/5 race which I was competing in. As soon as the last 4/5 rider crosses the line the kids are let loose for 1 lap.

Since this was Zeb's first time the plan was for me to ride with him, but because of where the finish line for the 4/5 race was I had to take 1/2 a lap to get back to the kids race start and they had already started. I couldn't see him when I rolled around but Jennifer said he was out there so I started to go around to find him. Jack was at the front and almost done when I found Zeb humming along, I suspected Ethan was somewhere up front with Jack. To my amazement Ethan had stayed with his little brother and was shepherding him to the line. I could hear him encouraging Zeb to go faster "You don't want that girl to beat you do you?". I really wasn't needed Ethan was doing a fine job looking out for his brother.

All I can say is the P12's better watch out for Zeb. Literally, he came around the final corner just a flying and he's not so good with the stopping part yet, something about "slowing down is for sissies". He came to the end at about 9 mph and the P12's were lined up for their race, Zeb dragged his feet in an attempt to perform a Flintstone stop and when that wasn't working he then took the bike into the grass and into the Holland Racing sign. After a few tears about forgetting how to use his breaks he proceeded to the medal area to receive his medal with a grin on his face from end to end.

Of course I'm really proud of my 3 boys, Zeb was super excited about his first "bike race" and happy he beat the bigger girl on a pink bike. I was super proud of Ethan for acting like a cycling domestique to make sure Zeb got to the finish line.

For the past year I've been on the lookout for a road bike for the boys. The options for an entry level road bike for the 9-11 year old group is slim pickings. Redline, Felt and Fuji are the only current manufacturers that produce a 24" road bike. Trek discontinued their offering in 2008. Fuji a larger bike with 650 wheels as well. The other option was to purchase an extra small road bike, but the geometry is just a bit off for a kid, it really stretches him out when in the drops. I really didn't want to buy new so I'd been scouring craiglist and other boards.

Last week a used Felt F24 showed up for sale on Txbra.org classified at a great price. I quickly jumped on it and the next day the steed was in our stable of bikes! Jack was quite excited about the purchase as he's been hounding me for a road bike the past year. Jack was extra excited to learn the pedals were clipless platform pedals. He's been wanting to go clipless for the last year as well.

When we were in Southwest Cycle Sport getting extra tubes for his bike he found a pair of road shoes on the clearance table that fit. I really wasn't too keen on him going clipless at age 9 and was surprised to find that they actually fit him. He was willing to put down all the money he had on them along with me being a softy when it comes to sports equipment for the boys, he walked out of the shop with new road shoes. I took the SPD cleats off of an old pair of my shoes and installed them on his.

Earlier in the morning I set up the bike on the trainer so he could do a dry run of clipping in and out in a controlled environment. In the afternoon we headed over to Georgetown to ride the flat country roads departing Berry Springs Park. I had mapped out a 13 mile route for us. In the parking lot he was practicing getting a foot clipped in while I was airing up my tires. He had a couple crashes in the few minutes waiting for me. But he was undeterred from riding clipless and did not want to ride with his regular shoes.

Once we got out on the road he was fine, he did have trouble getting clipped in. The pedals are not double sided, so he has to flip it over and that did prove to be a bit difficult for the maiden voyage. We practiced stopping and starting along the desolate back roads. There were only a few stop signs on the route, but I'd give him ample warning about them so he could unclip well before them.

When we were about 4 miles away from the finish we could see 2 riders a mile or two ahead of us on the small rollers. I said we should go catch them. He thought they were too far ahead, I said "nonsense, if we catch them I'll get you a milkshake". With the reward of a milkshake as an incentive we picked up the pace and started attacking the hills. For the next 1.61 miles he averaged 13.5 mph over the next 4 rollers. We were cutting their lead, but he still didn't think we would catch them. I said if we kept pushing this pace we would catch them on the final hill, I pointed up to it and pointed to a couple big telephone poles near the top. I said that's where we'd catch them. On the final hill the 2 were starting to separate, the rider in the back was struggling up the hill. We caught him 1/2 way up the hill shortly after he dismounted and started pushing his bike up the hill. The other rider we caught at the exact point I pointed to.

At the base of the hill I let Jack get in the lead and I told him as we approach them to say "On your left" as we pass, it's the right thing to do. The look on their faces to see a 9 year old kid on a road bike go effortlessly up the hill was funny. We crested the hill, the big grin on my face was obviously causing a severe drag effect. Jack was so happy with himself as well. He's definitely hooked!

After his brother's were in bed I made him a small milkshake for his reward.

Ride enough with Roadies and you'll soon find out that there is a certain distain for triathletes on the road. I've heard it several times on this topic the tri-guys are terrible in a group and how they can't climb. I've seen it both ways where there's been climbers and guys that can handle themselves in a pack.

You'd think with as much stereotyping that triathletes get I would be apprehensive about this latest news, but my son Jack (9), is signed up for his first triathlon. The race consists of a 100 meter swim, 2.8 mile bike and .6 mile run. He has the swimming and biking in the bag as this summer he really concentrated on his swimming and joined the Nitro swim team last month. Actually the run probably won't be too bad for him either, but Jennifer is out of commission with an ITB injury, so that leaves me to go out on runs with him.  I'm not overly excited to be hoofing around the neighborhood so I'll probably either ride my bike or wear inline skates and skate while he runs.

I foresee many more of these in our future not just for Jack but also Ethan and Zeb. Triathlons for kids at this age are a great way to get into competition and training instead of just focusing on one sport. Also it gives the younger kids an opportunity to compete. USA Cycling races don't start an age classification until the age of 10. Plus finding races that offer a 10-14 year old category is fairly sparse. The triathlons seem to start the kids around age 5 or 6 and here in the Austin area there are plenty to sign up for. Be on the lookout for race reports from Jack and his brothers. Now I have to figure out how these triathlons work and what to expect in the transition area.

Jack at the Driveway Race Series from July

Jack and Ethan showing off their medals from the Driveway Race Series. All I need to do is write Cutters on their shirts and they are set, and no that wasn't planned, it's the shirts they like to ride their bikes in.

Growing up on the Eastern side of Washington State in rural Chattaroy, outside of Spokane, we had many hills to ride bikes on growing up. The rural area we lived in provided a vast playground of roads that my friends and myself would ride on for hours on end. I recently mapped a few of my known routes that we rode to see how far we rode in any particular day and the average was about 6-8 miles with some 15-20 mile adventures thrown in as I got older. When I was 10 - 12 years old these all day rides seemed long and epic, it gave me a little chuckle to see how low the mileage actually was.

There was one hill in particular that us neighborhood kids would test ourselves on. It was sort of a right of passage to try and get up the hill without having to stop or walk up. I'm not sure what the grade of the hill on Buck Brush was, in the winter after a snow it was typically undrivable and would be closed for sledding. We also called it the Water Tower Hill, you can probably image why. Looking back I have several fond memories of riding up that hill. It was the quickest route to Owens Pond where I'd frequently go to fish. Imagine riding up this hill with my fishing pole. A lot of my friends would go around the hill to avoid it and meet me at the top. One other memory is when my Uncle Kenny came to visit and I talked him into going to Owens Museum with me one evening. I rode my bike while he walked. From then on he always talked about how he almost died walking up the Water Tower hill and how far this little jaunt was (actually only 2 miles).

Last night Jack and me went over to the Twin Creeks circuit and did 1 lap to warm up and then we went down the Twin Creeks hill. His eyes were wide as we descended the hill. At the bottom we discussed his strategy of getting back up, he was worried about getting to the top. I let him know that it was ok to stop and catch his breath. I've seen a lot of adults need to stop on the hill and I've seen grown adults walk their bikes up it as well so if he had to stop there was no shame in it. Off he went. After his first stop I told him to pick out a marker up the hill and ride to that spot. It took him 4 rest stops to get to the top and I might be a proud father but I must say his form looked a lot better than a lot of people I see on it. A lot of people are weasing and out of breath as they fight their way to the top. He on the other hand paced himself and didn't seem to burn any matches.

He was quite proud of himself to get to the top and he set a goal to ride to the top without stopping by the end of the summer. I'm pretty sure the Twin Creeks hill is steeper than my Water Tower hill and it is a bit longer .5 compared to .22 miles. Be on the look out for updates on his progress!

The family ride was slated for a 10am start time, but before we could leave Ethan had an 8:30 am soccer game. I had the bikes all packed up early that morning so all we had to do was swing by the house to pick up the cooler and head up to Bertram. I had expected to be a little late. By the time we got to Bertram and got the bikes all unloaded it was 10:35 and I wasn't sure where exactly we were suppose to go. We rolled over to the park where the start was to happen and I asked the volunteers at the rest stop where we were suppose to go.  I got some lip about missing it and some guy in full kit and no kids started spouting off about him being done in 40 minutes. I didn't see any kids with him so he must have hammered it for 40 minutes, I wasn't impressed. So I restated that I just needed to know which way we were suppose to go, we didn't need to do it with everybody else and we were quite content to tackle it on our own.

With the basic directions we headed out. I hooked the trail-a-bike up to the old Fuji and pulled Zeb along. Jack rode up front with me while Ethan and Jennifer brought up the rear. We would regroup every once in a while to let Jennifer and Ethan catch back on and to eat our snack bars. There was a downhill in particular I could hear screaming coming from the back. On the uphill opposite of the decent we stopped to look back and see what carnage lay behind us. It turns out Ethan was having a blast on the decent and was yelling approval and not screams of bloody murder, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. Once we got going up the hill Jack said let's race. He accelerated up the hill, Zeb and me really had to work to catch him. I got a kick out of his move and was impressed at the speed he was holding up the hill.

With one mile left I heard the pssst of air being violently released from my rear tire. There was one slight problem, I had forgot to move my saddle bag from the Orbea to the Fuji in my haste to get going, so I had no way to repair my tire. Like a good teammate Jennifer said for me to take her bike and ride back to Bertram and get the car while they waited. We cut the ride a mile short but nobody seemed to mind too much. Ethan was happy he was tired from his soccer game to begin with so he didn't have any objections. The only one that grumbled about cutting the ride short was Zeb.

After I got the bikes packed up I got the Orbea out. The family took off in the car while I headed back to Bertram to catch the Dillo route back to Liberty Hill. For the next hour I pushed hard and hammered up the hills. I caught up with a guy in Velossimo kit and we rode together. There was a group of 10 riders working together that we were trying to catch. We were somewhat disorganized, neither of us drafting off of each other. On one uphill I got caught behind a pack of slower riders and he put a 7-9 second gap on me . After me pushing a high power threshold for an hour I eased up a bit and was content to let him keep the gap.

As we were getting closer to Liberty Hill I was slowly catching him again. He looked back, I wasn't sure if it was "the look" or what. I was expecting him to take off as I approached, but he said he sure could use a pull. So I let him catch on and pulled him. My plan was to turn right on 179 and head back to Cedar Park instead of going left into Liberty Hill. I didn't want to leave the guy out there, he would have been ok as the way into Liberty Hill had a tailwind. I did pull him 1/2 way to Liberty Hill before turning around and heading home.

The family had a great time and I really like how the family ride is handled with registration. Registration is $15 for the adult and kids ride free. I wasn't expecting a tshirt for Jennifer and me, but only the kids. As it turns out at packet pick up they said the parents got tshirts too! The registration model is great for an entire family to particate in the event.

Sunday morning started with meeting Joe to head out on a small group ride for a 2 - 2 1/2 hour "recovery" ride. After meeting up with everybody on Shoal Creek we meandered through neighborhoods and made our way to MoPac. We cruised all the way down to Slaughter. I did run into a slight problem, I hit a pot hole that launched me straight up into the air and when I landed it made the nose of my saddle point up into the air. I tried to get it back to my comfy position but any little bump in the road and it was back up in the air. I was told a couple times to slow down, well it was a recovery ride.

On the way back there were a couple of spirited sprints that I was able to reach quadruple digits (1018 watts) on the power meter. The ride was 37.33 miles, I rode around warming up while enroute to the start. Total ride time was 2'22:09. After the ride I headed over to Nelo's to get the seat fixed. Two problems, the first being that Nelo's is not open on Sundays. Even if they were open the second problem is they've moved. I'm not sure where exactly, Joe mentioned that they were going to move, but I didn't see a note on the door as to where. A quick look at their website doesn't mention where they went either.

After my failed attempt with Nelo's the weather was looking really good. It was suppose to rain and be a miserable day. I was going to do the Dam Loop, but with it looking so good I called home to see if we should head up to Marble Falls to pick Strawberries.

Since we were leaving so late in the day my plan of the 100 mile route wasn't in the cards. I only had time to do the original 60 mile route, but the beauty of it would be with a few extra miles I could still come up with 100 miles for the day. This wasn't going to be a regular century, there was going to be 4-5 hours from when I got off the bike till when I started for round two. When I got on the bike and headed out my legs were rebelling. They were stiff and heavy, felt like about mile 80 on a 100 mile ride already. I thought I was going to be in store for a rough 63 mile haul back home. Luckily my legs woke up about 10 miles into it and offered no objections the rest of the ride. Last year I hit a stiff headwind on 281 up to Burnet and this year was more of the same. The wind pattern followed the same as last year, maybe not as intense, but there were times I felt the crosswind as well.

On the backroads outside of Bertram once again my saddle pointed up again when I bounced on the saddle. I pulled over and tried to get it back to my setting. While I was stopped I answered the call of nature, but mother nature had the last laugh when I got tangled up with a vine with thorns. It tore a few scratches into my leg.

How about some stats? I have last years ride info from the 1st Annual Strawberry Classic.

1st Annual Strawberry Classic (No power data)

• Avg. Speed: 16.27
• Active Time: 3'43:03
• Duration Time: 3'53:39
• Avg Cadence: 76

2nd Annual Strawberry Classic

• Avg. Speed: 19.8
• Active Time: 3'05:27
• Duration Time: 3'11:57
• Avg. Cadence: 79
• Avg. Power: 214
• Normalized Power: 237
• Energy (Kj): 2518

Looks like I cut almost 40 minutes off my active and duration times. One stat that looks very promising is the speed buckets. The time I was above 20 miles per hour

• 20-22: 29:27 for 14.7%
• 22-24: 28:14 for 14.1%
• 24-26: 18:45 for 9.4%
• 26-28: 9:33 for 4.8%

My legs felt great once I got going and felt like I had another 40 miles in them while I was cruising around to get the 3 extra miles. It is an unorthodox way to to do a century, but I have a feeling this is good preparation for doing team endurance events (24 to 48 hour type events) where a rider would do a set number of laps or mileage and then rest and wait while a team member does their laps before going out again.