I'm not much of a racer. The thought of riding in a criterium scares me to death.  And I'm just not very competitive, until you put one of those dang chips on me, then I can't slow down. The thought of someone timing me just makes me want to ride fast.  Its crazy, I know.

Saturday we participated in the "ride" portion of the Tulsa Tough. That just means that it wasn't actually a race, just a ride.  However, they gave everybody timing chips, and posted the results online.  We hammered pretty hard for the first 50 kilometers, jumped on a paceline, and averaged 18.7mph.  But once we turned and headed south, the pace slowed down a lot.  Every paceline fell apart—the Osage Hills were brutal, and the heat took its toll.  I finished the ride in 38th place (out of 272 finishers), with a time of three hours, twenty-one minutes, or 17.5mph. Here is a list of the finishers of the 100k.  From that page, you can see the finishers of the other rides, as well as the results of the races. And here is a link to the ride from the Garmin site.

Someone said there were over 1,000 riders registered on Saturday.  I thought it looked like more riders than that.  One thing about the Tulsa Tough is that you get a lot of riders who don't ever ride bicycles in a group.  That can lead to problems.  I don't recall seeing any accidents on Saturday, but that was good fortune, because of the way people ride in a group.  So here are some guidelines to consider, if you're new to riding in a big group.

1. Don't wear headphones when riding in a big group.
Riding in a group is serious business. An accident can ruin a person's season, or a career.  A serious bike accident can affect their job too.  You have to be able to hear other riders communicating with you.  You have to hear traffic. Do not wear headphones in a group ride.  Never ever.
2. If you're going to slow down, move to the right.
People aren't used to thinking in a group.  They're used to thinking as individuals.  So when they get on a bike, they forget to flip the switch that makes them think like a group.  They are not often considerate of the riders coming up behind them, especially when they hit a hill.  Early on in Saturday's ride, we came to some sudden, steep hills. Most riders just kept right on going, even though they were going half the speed they were going before.  When you slow down, move to the right as best you can.
3. When stopping at a rest stop, move over to the right before you unclip.
People yesterday were coming to the rest stops, and making the assumption that everyone behind them wanted to stop too.  Fact is, many experienced riders don't stop that often.  I rarely stop at every rest stop.  But, individual thinkers that we are, we assume that everyone is like us, and will want to stop.  So many inexperienced riders will get to a rest area, and come to a stop in the middle of the road, or on the left hand side.  Bad thing.  If you feel the need to stop at a rest stop, pull over to the right first.
4. If you're having trouble deciding whether to stop at a rest area, pull over and get out of the way until you make up your mind.
This was a conversation I heard yesterday: "You want to stop? Oh, I don't care, do YOU want to stop? Doesn't matter to me, its up to you.  I could stop, but if you don't want to..." All while taking up two-thirds of the road.  Very frustrating.  But that's cool, they just don't know about riding etiquette, because no one has ever told them.

Okay, school is out.  Here are some pics from Saturday's ride. Tomorrow I'll post a report from Sunday's Townie Ride.






This is where the ride got rough. Around that curve is several miles of 5-10% inclines.