Anyway, in all the years I've done the event, this was the worst weather by far. With the remnants of Tropical Storm Nate rolling through the state, many people either changed their registration from the full distance to the half distance - or just opted not to skate at all.
It would take more than a little (actually a lot) of rain to stop me, though. So Sunday morning I lined up at the start line with everyone else ready to brave the storm.
As luck would have it, the start was actually dry. Or, rather, it wasn't raining. The street was a little wet from overnight rain, so we would have to be careful from the beginning. The race started and I kept up with the leaders for a much shorter time than in recent years. I backed off almost immediately and watched the speedy guys drift away. But before too long, someone caught me from behind - Jack from Canada. So Jack and I skated together for a while. He was skating pretty strong - maybe too strong. It turns out this was his first time attempting A2A, so I gave him some advice about the course - the most important being not to push the pace too hard, since there was a lot of road to cover.
Maybe 20 minutes later, a group of 3 skaters caught us. I immediately recognized Luke, who I've skated with in the past. It turns out they were all skating the half distance (Luke switched the day before based on the weather forecast.) But we would make good time with 5 skaters in the pack. After another hour or so, we caught Sam - who was also skating a shorter distance than usual. "Only" the full distance. In recent years, Sam had skated from Atlanta to Athens overnight, rested maybe an hour, then turned around and skated from Athens to Atlanta with everyone else. A2A2A... The rain started maybe an hour into the race and wasn't too bad. But it did reduce our grip on the road, so we had to be careful. It also took more effort to climb the hills.
As we started the climb into Dacula (the half/38-mile finish), Jack started to struggle on the hills and eventually dropped. So, when we finally reached Dacula, we bid farewell to 3 of our group and it was just Sam & I skating. There were times the rain was practically horizontal, the wind was so bad. It would sting my eyes, and felt like hail/sleet. It was pretty miserable. The temperature wasn't too bad, at least - so no worries about hypothermia or anything like that.
Around mile 50, I could definitely tell my legs were not going to be able to sustain the pace for the remainder of the race. But it's definitely more efficient (and safer) to skate with another person, so I pushed myself a little harder than I probably should have. Another 10 miles and we catch up to Herb (another Canuck) who had been skating by himself for hours. About mile 65 is when we start getting into some more serious climbing again, and Herb and I are both struggling. I tell Sam to just go on without me, since I plan to sit down at the next aid station anyway.
At this point, Herb and I were within sight of each other, but not skating together. With the way were struggling, it wouldn't have made much distance. I got to Silver Hill (~ 70 miles) and I notice by left skate is pronating to an extreme I've never seen before. I thought maybe my frame had shifted, but I could still keep my wheels vertical with a lot of effort and concentration. Still, I didn't feel very stable, so I ended up using my brake almost the whole way down Silver Hill. I'm surprised I didn't burn through my whole brake pad. After the long downhill, there is a long climb up to the aid station. Once I got there, I did sit down as I planned on.
I checked my frame and it seemed to be in the right spot. So that was good, but also meant that my ankle and the stabilizing muscles around it were completely fatigued. I ate a PB&J and bag of chips. I also drank half a beer while sitting down. I poured the other half into one of my (empty) water bottles, and got back on the road. I only sat down for maybe 5 minutes. While I was sitting, Herb made a quick stop and got back on the road, encouraging me to catch him.
So, I set off the catch up with Herb, which probably took a good 30 minutes or more. From there, we skated the rest of the way together, and scored it a tie as we crossed the finish line.
Herb and I finished in 7:11:17 - almost an hour slower than my time from last year. I definitely did not think that the wet roads would impact my time that much, but it really does take a lot more energy to climb the hills. I had special "rain wheels" on (MPC Storm Surge) but I honestly don't think they made any difference.
I placed 16th overall (tied with Herb) out of 26 finishers. 7 people DNF'd (including Jack) and another 7 people opted not to start at all. In my division (Men 40-49), I finished 4th out of only 5 people.
Looking at the historical results, you have to go all the way back to 1990 to find a year with fewer people registered and fewer people that finished the 87 mile course.
I have already signed up for A2A 2018 - so I'll be back again next year, hopefully with a sub-6hr finishing time. :-)
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