Puerto Rico 380+ miles, 3 days.

I tell you one thing, after riding 150 miles on Fri, 93 on Sat and 140 on Sun including climbs, I have gotten a whole new perspective and respect for the riders on the Tour The France. After 3 days of riding and being on my bike for over 20 hr, my body said "what the hell are you doing". I know, stop the whining, let’s talk about what a great experience it was. I am not from PR so I am not sure if I can be as excited about the island as Ines is but I can tell you one thing the Puerto Ricans are the nicest people to be around. Ines nice report by the way, so here is my few of the ride.I arrived in PR a couple days before the ride with my brother to check on some property we bought about 20 years ago. As we drove our rental car I was thinking, " man riding my bicycle on these roads and in this traffic is going to be a bitch". Hitting big potholes and avoiding the aggressive drivers with the car was already a back breaker. So Friday morning, approx 480 exiting riders with blinking, flashing lights met in the dark old San Juan. We were so ready but the once never done it before not knowing what really to expect.
3-2-1 and there we go, in the dark escorted by a army of police on motorcycles, it was unbelievable site. I soon learned the word "HOJO" and shortly afterward the word that rimes "CONJO" what ever that means. It was going to be a rough ride even though most roads were paved. After about 20 miles was our first stop for breakfast, great I was very hungry already and could use some food (pretty much every 20-25 miles there would be a feeding station including lunch.)
After breakfast the massive group of riders could make a choice in riding A-B or C group. A group would be pretty much hammer fest, which I wasn't really in the mood for but Liz and Hans (a new G2 member from Ohio) decided to start with that group. Inez, Mark, Jim and I decided on the B group. As we rode at a pretty stiff pace I felt like being in the Tour the France. We were riding with about 200 riders on the highway and some roads we were taking up all the lanes. The police escort was amazing, with flashing light and loud sirens stopping all the cars as if the president was being escorted.
Also racing along with us was the camera crew on a scooter. It looked like they were on a suicide mission flying past us in upcoming traffic and at one point scraping their engine on a curb sparks flying right in front of me. I thought they are going down and taking a few cyclists with them but luckily they stayed up strait. It was somewhat hard to keep site on the G2 riders but the G2 jerseys stood out as usual and were easy to spot. I kept keeping a eye on Ines who was most of the time in front of me. She road like she had done this ride many times before (as we know she did it last year). I couldn't’t believe how focused she was and I was very impressed and proud of her being one of the G2 girls on this ride.
We were told that soon the steepest and longest hill 1.5 miles would come up. I had never done hills myself so that was another reason I had decided to stay with the B group. The B group was pretty much controlled be a local staff rider and his teammates. So far I had been OK with the shorter hills since I could power up them and recover on the way down. There it was, O boy, I was optimistic and glad I had a 25 in the back. I had my power meter on my bike and so far keeping the wattage under 400. Now though I am pushing 400 plus watts going only 8 miles per hr. Just to give you a example 400 plus watts on the flats I be going 30 plus miles per hr. No way I can hold for 1.5 miles climbing. I now realized that my 205 lbs body was going to really challenge the gravity forces of nature, thinking any moment I am going backwards. Looking up didn't help much either but I refused to get of my bike and walk.
About half way ahead I saw my rescue a restaurant on the left with a flat parking lot. With a heart rate of about 190 I cycled around 3 times recovering somewhat and continued my climb. At this time Mark passed me on the left. I stayed in the zone finally making it to the top. Once going downhill I managed to bridge up back to Mark and some other riders. I though this was it but NO! There was another steep hill staring us right in the face. I took a deep breath and said, “OK Mark here we go again” just a few feet into the climb Mark started to cramp bad. Again I got visions of watching the Tour on TV and continued with my own pace up the hill. When I reached the top I realized that I had passed a lot of riders and actually was one of the first riders up there. I felt very proud of myself considering I do not necessarily have the build of a climber.
With some continuing smaller climbs we finally made it to Lunch only being half way and 75 more miles to go, Man, I was done. Lunch was a great break for everyone and by this time we heard that Liz was the only girl left in the A group. Some riders started to place bets if Liz was going to make it to the end of the day with the A group. We all finished the 150 miles that day including Liz representing G2 as being the only girl that was left in the A Group. Wow! (G2 girls where shinning)
The next day was going to be a short ride (ONLY 93 miles!) with not to many steep hills but more rolling hills and flat toward the end. By this time some of the riders including me started to feel the effects of the hours in the saddle and bumpy roads. Yes the saddle sores were becoming an issue. Especially when the organizers decided to direct us to the next scenic lighthouse for lunch over what I call a 3rd world sand road with holes, puddles and I have no idea what to call it, but at the end two, one foot concrete strips going to the top of the hill where the lighthouse was. The concrete strips were broken up in places leaving only a couple of inches to balance on. Now it became a Cirque Du Soleil act. This road did not help our very delicate behinds very much and as riders starting to fall and walk, I was thinking this lunch better be good. Also there was only one way back, the same way as up, Great. Even though it was a beautiful spot most riders agreed it was not worth the pain of getting up there.
As the group continued the roads got less hilly. I was also happy it was less then 100 miles. Couple more miles to go the Group B had kept a pretty stiff pace, on the fats we were going 21-24 mph, we averaged about 18 mph with climbs. The group leader decided to have no limit towards the end and this was my chance to shine. He said to me after we picked it up to about 26-27 mph, "you can take a pull, I know you are strong" Even though my legs were burning this was right up my ally. Flat as a pancake and a headwind. I took the pull and picked it up to 30 mph. Looking back only 2 riders left, Mark being one of them. We continued into town where there was another steep climb and mark rear derailleur cable broke. He did manage to finish. As most of the B rider and local PR team and leader came in after me I had gotten the nickname "The Hammer". Out of 480 only 6 G2 riders managed to represent the FL flats pretty well. Luckily Mark managed to get his derailleur fixed so he could join us still for the final 140 miles the next day.The longest 30 miles ever were yet to come.
At least the next day we started of when the sun was up. The day before we left at 6 am pitch dark just hoping that you would not hit a huge pothole since you couldn't see anything. The organizers plan was to have the C group leave first then B and last A. this way we would all meet together for breakfast and later that day have all the riders as one group escorted into San Juan. Liz by now had also decided to join the rest o the G2 riders in the B group. By this time we all started to feel the aches and pains from holding on tight to our handlebars, bumpy roads, climbs and the long miles. I was sitting now on some extra padding, yes it was a fluid filled 2.5” blister ouch! I did not know how to sit comfortably and I kept sliding back and forward in different positions to ease the pain. No such luck, every HOJO, I cliched my teeth and just wishing to get of my bike at the next rest stop. The only person that didn't seemed faced by anything was Ines. She was just riding like a pro and kept going and going like she were out on a leisure ride (must be the Puerto Rican in her).
With about 150 B riders reaching about 100+ miles we were getting close to the point where all the groups would gather together to ride in as one big group to San Juan. The speed started to increase and the B group scattered. I was almost all the way in the back not realizing the final race was on. I had some more adrenaline left to put out one more final effort. Passing many riders working my way to the front a small group was left pushing 28-35 mph using the camera truck as a draft. Al hell broke loose flying trough turns and traffic. I was thinking man how far and how long will this keep going when I saw the school ahead, which would be the end. My final effort sprint, and once again I ending in front. Jim said he managed to hang on for dear life but also made it in with the top riders.
All riders A, B and C groups would meet here to be escorted as one big group into San Juan. I thought this last day would be 130 miles and we only had 20 more miles to go. Since we were all together now we had close to 500 tired and exhausted riders taking up the road. Almost everybody was wearing the jersey we were given so you couldn't recognize anybody anymore either. Jim asked me what would it take for me to not wear a G2 jersey. I told Jim, the event jersey was to tide and did not fit, I guess a good excuse. By this time I was so sick of being on the bike that the end couldn't’t come soon enough. On top of that it was not 20 miles but close to 30 more miles to go, man I am in pain, hungry and crabby. I also had to focus twice as hard since we got this far without crashes and I was not planning to be taken down toward the end. I have to tell you though I was extremely impressed by the bike handling during this ride. I surely thought there would be more crashes but surprisingly only a few had gone down that I heard of. I guess in order to do a ride like this you must have a few miles under your belt.
When we finally arrived in San Juan it was a amazing site. Hundreds of people were clapping and cheering us on and the feeling of making this unbelievable 3 day challenge and beautiful ride made it all worth it.

I would like to say, that it has been a pleasure to have done this event with wonderful friends and G2 members and I hope to do many more rides like this in the future.

If any of the Puerto Rico riders like to comment please do so, Liz or Hans I was not in the A group so it would be nice to hear your experience.



Willy van Gent
G2 team Capt.