Driftless Randonneurs 200K

So what's with all this "Driftless" stuff?

I've been living in SW Wisconsin for five years now in an area referred to as the "Driftless" region.  Loosely speaking, this is an area that escaped glaciation in the last ice age.  From a cycling perspective (and really, what other perspective matters?) that means it's hilly.  For more information on the Driftless area consult wikipedia.

For those who have never been here, a second attribute of the area is it's absolutely wonderful for cycling.  Wisconsin is the dairy state and dairy farmers discovered that their milk stayed fresher during transport if the roads were smooth.  As a result the state is covered by a network of well paved roads that run past dairy farms - gotta get that milk 365 days a year!  What this means for cycling is you can ride for miles on relatively smooth roads and see very few cars and the scenery is beautiful.  Not spectacular like e.g., Yosemite or the Grand Canyon but in a rural, bucolic way.

Since moving here I started doing brevets and became increasingly disappointed that there were no brevets in this beautiful area so I applied to RUSA to establish a new region in SW Wisconsin.  The region was approved in August and I decided on "Driftless Randonneurs" as the unofficial name for the region both to recognize the area and as a play on words ("Driftless" in the "never lost" sense of the word).

As a new Regional Brevet Administrator (RBA) I'm limited to a 200K and 300K for the first year and given the fact that the days are getting shorter and the weather getting colder I decided a 200K was all I could do this year so I put one on the calendar for October 11th.

Fall is my favorite time to ride here.  The autumn leaves are beautiful and the weather is generally fairly mild - cool crisp mornings and blue skies are the norm.  That's what I was hoping for on the 11th.

Because of the relatively short notice, I didn't have much chance to "advertise" so I didn't know how many riders I'd get.  As the date approached I was contacted by a number of people who'd done queries on the RUSA site and noticed there was a brevet on the 11th listing me as a contact.  I got a number of emails from people who were "for sure going to come" and were going to bring along a few friends.  Although I'd encouraged people to register in advance not many people did which is understandable given the possibility of bad weather.  Counting advance registrations and those "expressing an interest" I could have as few as three riders and as many as eighteen.

As it turns out, there were five, counting myself.  Although disappointed at the small turnout I've no complaints at all about the weather.  It was cold in the morning - 29 degrees - but the day warmed up nicely and turned into an absolutely beautiful fall day.

Ready to roll!

One advantage of the relatively small turnout was that we were able to ride the brevet Audax style which definitely made it a lot more fun.  The route for the brevet is typical of the area, hilly with just under 6K feet of climbing for 128 miles and mostly on quiet two lane farm roads.

We had an uneventful ride out past Boaz on CR-E.  We rode past a nest that a pair of bald eagles have used every year since we've been here.  They typically produce one eaglet that survives and it's always fun to ride past and see its progress.  Here's a picture from earlier in the summer.

Bald eagles

We made our way without incident through the control at Soldiers Grove and to what would be our longest stop at the food co-op in Viroqua.   I ride out to Viroqua fairly often and the co-op is a nice place to stop for lunch as we did today.  It had warmed up considerably so we also took advantage of the fact that my wife Marcia was there to shed some layers.

The remainder of the ride was bathed in beautiful sunshine and we rolled along enjoying the fall colors.

All in all, about as nice a day on the bike as you could ask for.  As it turned out, the beautiful weather was short lived.  The next several days were absolutely dreadful with high winds and heavy rain so we really lucked out to have such a beautiful day.  Thanks to all who came and to those who didn't, we'll do it again next year!

Natchez Trace 1500K

Have you ever finished a 1200K and thought "I wish I could ride another 300K"?

For those who have never been there, riding on the Natchez Trace is like motoring of yesteryear - mile upon mile of smooth road, 40-50 MPH speed limit with no houses, no gas stations, strip malls, etc., and very little traffic.  I'd been up and down the Trace numerous times on a motorcycle and did a century starting and finishing in Ridgeland  Mississippi (sub 4 hour, by the way) but had never ridden the whole thing on a bike.  Friends who had ridden a lot of it described it as "boring".  I'll be the judge of that!

On the day before the start, the ride organizers had put together a social at Gran Fondo bicycles who were generous enough to also provide dinner - nice!  This was also an opportunity to get checked in and get bike inspection out of the way.  The social hour was well attended and I got to see a number of friends from other rides including Mike Fox, Vinnie Muoneke (fresh from a 1200K that ended in Verona), Vickie Tyer, Mark Metcalfe and Brenda Barnell from Texas (I'd ridden "with" them on a 1000K in May) and a number of others.

Mike Fox and I at the mixer with Vickie and Brenda photo bombing

Day 1 - Nashville to French Camp

The morning dawned quite cold for the 4 AM start.  I was dressed in a base layer, jersey, bibs and short finger gloves along with my reflective vest.  After a few words from RBA Jeff Sammons, we were off.

The usual milling about at the start

The ride started with a screaming descent down McCory lane to the Trace where I hit my max speed for the 5 days of 45.6 MPH.  Man was it cold!  A group formed at the front that was going at a good pace and I joined in but decided they were going a little too fast.  A short time later, I caught this group and latched on for a bit only to decide they were going too slow so I went around and immediately splintered the group as 7-8 people got on my wheel.  I'd gone past them not because I was feeling especially frisky, mostly because I was FREEZING and they were riding along talking so I needed to push the pace to warm up.  My Garmin showed 38 degrees during this stretch.  I know it wasn't that cold, I'd guess in the low 40's somewhere, but it felt cold enough given what I was wearing.

After 5 miles or so of pulling the group I had to stop and use "the facilities".  When I restarted I was riding by myself and still freezing cold.  I'd periodically hit areas of fog and the combination of cold and moisture just chilled me to the bone.  I was never so happy to see the sun come up!

Fog in the morning

I rode by myself for a long time but eventually caught up with Ed Boltz.  Ed and I had ridden together on the first day of the Taste of Carolina so I was glad to have the company.

Ed Boltz

Ed and I rode together for a while and eventually caught up with Paul Foley and John Flanigan from Colorado.  Those "altitude trained" guys just love to come down and kill us flat landers and they sure killed me.  Both were riding super strong and the four of us worked pretty well together.

Paul Foley

This is the usual view that I had of Paul - from behind!  It turns out Paul and I had ridden the High Country "together" though he finished a long way in front of me.

After just over 100 miles we left Tenessee and crossed into Alabama and a short time later, at 137 miles we crossed into Mississippi.

Crossing into Mississippi

The four of us stayed together until the open control at Tupelo at mile 188 where Ed chose the Sonic, John the Subway and Paul and I the Hardee's.  Despite the fact that Paul and I ordered the same thing, my order took 20 minutes longer so Paul was ready to go even before my food came so I told him to go ahead.  Truth be told, he and John were going faster than I wanted to go at that point and I was just holding them up.

The traffic on the Trace around Tupelo was very heavy and got even worse when we exited the Trace to go to the control.  The one big mistake about choosing the Hardees was that it was on the right side of the road coming from the Trace and I'd have to cross the road to return back to the Trace.  No exaggeration, it took me 8 minutes to get out of the Hardees parking lot and even then I had to weave through traffic that was stopped at the red light.  The traffic in and around Tupelo was just terrible and I was glad to put it behind me.

At this point I was riding by myself and would continue to do so for the rest of the ride.  There was a "secret" control at mile 255, about 15 miles short of the finish.  I'd passed Ed just before the control and he pulled in while I was there.  I had the bit between my teeth to get finished at that point so I took off and headed for the overnight at French Camp, arriving at 9:45 against my ride plan of 10:15. I'd ridden at a good pace all day and had made fairly short stops so I was glad to finish the longest day of the brevet a little early so I could get some more sleep.  Stats for the day: 17.1 MPH average and just under 9K feet of climbing.

Day Two - French Camp to Natchez MS

Got a reasonably good nights sleep and on the road at 5:23.  The road south of French Camp is probably the flattest part of the Trace and it was a beautiful morning to be riding.  Left by myself and made pretty decent time without taking any stops until the River Bend turnout at about 60 miles in.  I saw Ken Bonner there and we chatted for a few minutes before he left.  Ken and I rode together for a while on the first day of the Cascade 1200.  He said he'd been having some stomach problems and was hoping they were "behind" him.

The view from River Bend

Not long after leaving River Bend I saw the beginning of the Barnett Reservoir which was enormous.  I was riding at a good pace and caught up with Doug Migden from Seattle.  I'd talked to Doug a bit at the mixer and had seen him off and on the first day.  We exchanged greetings as I passed him and not long after I looked in my mirror to see him on my wheel.  He asked if I minded him sitting in for a while which I didn't.  I was pushing pretty hard and he tried to come around and take a pull but was going slower than I was wanting to go so I passed him again.  He said he'd pull whenever I wanted but that I was going fast enough that he could keep up if he was in my draft but couldn't maintain that pace if he was pulling.  I told him no problem and that I'd keep pulling figuring that if I were riding by myself I'd be pulling anyway.  I ended up pulling the rest of the day - more than 100 miles!

Doug and I got to the open control at Clinton (mile 363 and 94 for the day) and went to Leroy's Subs for lunch.  Doug bought my lunch in exchange for pulling (thanks!).  I have to say the woman working there was just about the surliest person I've met in a while!  She was efficient enough but her "user interface" sure left a lot to be desired.

Doug and I left the control and headed toward the overnight in Natchez with me still doing the pulling.  I had this preconception from riding the Trace on a motorcycle that this part was "flat" but it seemed like every time I looked at the Garmin I was going uphill.  Not a lot, .5%, .7%, 1%, etc., but enough to make me feel like I was doing a lot of work.  I continued to push hard to Natchez and about 10 miles out came to what seemed like a super steep and long downhill.  I knew I'd be coming back that way the next day and would be climbing that hill - I wasn't looking forward to it with 450 miles in my legs!

Got to the exit of the Trace with an average of just over 17 MPH, arrived at the overnight hotel a little after 6.  I saw Ed Boltz in the lobby eating and we chatted for a few minutes.  I didn't know it at the time but he was planning on riding on through the night and left not long afterward - wow!

I've not mentioned it to this point but my wife Marcia was with me on the brevet.  She wasn't providing on course support (to quote her: "you mean I'd be following you around from control to control all day?  As if.") but we had a room together at all of the overnights except Tishomingo.  She sprung a nice surprise on me at Natchez.  She'd gone to Fat Mama's Tamales and gotten some tamales, enchiladas and had also picked up some beer.  Mexican food and beer on day two of a brevet - sweet!  One of the many reasons why I love her so!

Got to bed fairly early (about 8:30).  Didn't sleep particularly well but at least I was horizontal.  457 miles done.

Day Three - Natchez to French Camp

Got on the road at 4:20, riding by myself.  Riding in the pre-dawn morning is one of the joys of randonneuring in my opinion.  It's quiet, little to no traffic and you get to experience the world waking up.  I got back on the Trace and was rolling along enjoying the morning and before too long I looked down at the Garmin to see I'd gone 20 miles.  Wait a second!  What happened to that killer hill I was dreading?  I'd ridden up it without even really noticing - that's what some rest and fresh legs will do for you!

As I was riding along and the sun was coming up I passed a rider stretched out on a picnic table.  I was going to yell out "are you OK?" but figured that if he was sleeping it was the worst thing I could do so I pressed on.  I got to the control at Clinton (550 miles total, 93 for the day) and Marcia was there.  This was the same Leroy's Subs as on the way out and the user interface of the woman behind the counter hadn't improved in the interim.  While I was ordering my sandwich Doug rolled in.  Turns out he was the rider I'd passed on the picnic table.  We got something to eat and left together and would ride together for the rest of the day with both of us sharing pulls.

Doug Migden on the road back to French Camp

The wind was mostly out of the north today - not super strong but enough to make for some extra work so it was great that Doug was there so we could trade off into the wind.  No complaints about the weather though, it was a lovely day.

Not long after leaving Clinton I got my only flat of the brevet.  For those familiar with the Kubler-Ross model of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) I now offer the five phases of a flat:

1. Detection.
2. Prayer.
3. Profanity.
4. Acceptance.
5. Repair

This one happened pretty quickly so I skipped straight to step 3.  Fortunately it was the front and didn't take that long to fix.

Me having way too much fun!

We got into French Camp a little after 6 and Marcia sprung another surprise on me.  We had rented a cabin in the retreat center and she'd gotten jambalaya, red beans and rice and hush puppies for dinner!  It really hit the spot.  Another 187 miles done and early to bed.

The case of the missing ibuprofen

Full disclosure: I generally take a couple of ibuprofen with dinner on a brevet to deal with minor aches and pains associated with riding a bike a couple of hundred miles.  The bottle was sitting on the table while I was waiting for dinner and after a while I couldn't decide whether I'd taken them or not. I didn't want to take four (sensitive stomach) so I thought I'd better not take any more and went to bed shortly after dinner.  I couldn't sleep though because of general achyness and finally about 10:30 I decided that I'd not taken the ibuprofen, got up to take a couple and finally drifted off to sleep at a little after 11.  That short term memory thing will get you every time!

Day Four - French Camp to Tishomingo, MS 

Got on the road a little before 5 on another beautiful morning.  I left by myself and it turned out I'd ride by myself pretty much all day.  I really enjoyed listening to the birds wake up and seeing the beautiful sunrise.

As I was riding along in the dark I spotted a little puppy running on the road.  I thought about stopping but didn't have any way of carrying it so I decided I'd report it to the first volunteer I saw.  Turns out others had seen it as well and one of the volunteers picked it up and took it to animal control in Tupelo.  I was glad to hear that it'd been taken care of.

Today was the day we needed to leave the Trace and do extra miles to get the overall mileage up to 1500K.  Since it was the shortest day this was the ideal day to put in extra miles but the choice of route left a lot to be desired.  The turn for the extra miles was at 60 miles in for the day on MS 32 toward the town of Okolona.  This part of the ride was absolutely dreadful - a two lane road with no shoulder and a lot of commercial traffic and logging trucks all going 60+ MPH.  At one point, I was being passed by a logging truck with logs trailing 15-20 feet off the trailer.  He was passing in a short space and had to cut in and the logs missed my head by a couple of feet.  As I said, this was the ideal day to do extra miles but I hope for the next running of the NT1500K that another route is found.  Personally, I'd rather do counted laps around a parking lot for 15 miles than ride on that road for 100 feet.  I'm relieved no one was killed.

Leaving the control at Okolona, I came upon a group of 5 riders with Vinnie at the front.  I slowed to chat with him for a bit then went on.

The next control was once again at Tupelo.  Traffic wasn't quite so heavy as on the way out and I was smart enough this time to pick a place to eat on the left side of the road so I wouldn't have to cross the highway to reverse course.  Ate at the Subway and lingered for a bit since it was a short day.  Not much else to report about the rest of the ride to Tishomingo State Park and the overnight.

Got to Tishomingo pretty early, at 4:22, located my bag and showered then sat around talking to other arrivals while waiting for dinner.

Brenda Barnell stoking up for the last day

John and Mike at Tishomingo

After eating, the ride organizers had put together a camp fire with smores.  I thought about going out but decided I'd call it an early night.  Unfortunately the bunk beds weren't particularly comfortable and every little noise woke me up so it was well after 11 before I got to sleep and I didn't sleep particularly well.

Day Five - Tishomingo, MS to Nashville

There's a day 5?

Well, if it was "just" a 1200K I'd be done but there was still more work to do - just about 150 miles of more work!  I got up and on the road early, at a little after 3:30, and set out by myself.  It turned out I'd ride by myself the rest of the way.  Another beautiful sunrise and quiet morning.

First up was a detour around road construction on the Trace through the town of Cherokee, Alabama.  I made the turnoff onto US 72 for the detour which was a nice divided 4 lane road.  The road had a wide shoulder with alligator strips about two feet to the right of the lane then another 6 feet or so of shoulder.  Since there was a lot of debris to the right of the alligator strips I rode in the two feet adjacent to the lane.  I'd just passed Vickie Tyer who stopped at a convenience store.  It was a little after 4 and there was no traffic on the road.  I was therefore very surprised when a car passed me so close its mirror brushed my arm.

To be honest, I hope the driver was either sleepy or drunk because it saddens me to think that there are people in this world who would put my life at risk to "have fun", "make a point about cyclists being on the road" or for any reason whatsoever.  I'm fairly certain it was deliberate though as the driver just continued smoothly on their way and didn't reflexively jerk back toward the center of the road as they'd have done if it was unintentional.

As an unrelated aside, I recently lost a cousin to cancer.  She was the warmest, sweetest, most generous person you could ever hope to meet.  Active in her church, volunteered at a food kitchen once a week, always a smile - truly a wonderful person.  It seems so unjust that someone like her should die so young (in her 50's) and a scumbag like the jerk that buzzed me can go on living.  The worst part is had I swerved slightly or the driver misjudged even by the smallest amount I would have ended up in Section C, Page 5, below the fold of the Nashville paper "Cyclist killed last night, no witnesses, driver fled the scene".

Back to the ride.  I finished the detour and got back on the Trace.  As the sun came up I was headed toward the first control at Collinwood, TN at 58 miles (844 total).  Not long after getting back on the Trace I crossed into Tennessee and stopped for the obligatory selfie:

At least I'm in the finishing state!

As I was riding toward the control I started thinking about what I'd have to eat when I got there.  Since I left before breakfast was served at the overnight (not until 6 AM!) I'd just had stuff from my overnight bag to eat and was feeling pretty hungry.  For some reason I got a craving for biscuits and gravy even though I thought it'd be a long shot that I could get them.  Wrong!  Breakfast was biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and coffee - absolute heaven!

Brekky!

After the control I had about 90 miles left to go to the finish.  It was overcast and reasonably cool so I motored along without stopping until the Gordon House at mile 111 where I stopped briefly to refill my water bottles - 37 miles to go but who's counting?  I am!  I suspect like most people at the end of a brevet I go into "get it done" mode where all I'm thinking about is the finish and counting down the miles.  Unfortunately, this makes me focus on it too much and it seems to take forever for the miles to tick down.  Also, I tend to pay more attention to minor aches, saddle sores, etc., when I'm in that mode.

Because I was nearing Nashville, I started to encounter other riders out on day rides on the Trace.  I glanced in my mirror and saw a rider coming up behind me.  I decided there was no way that guy was going to pass me and ramped it up.  Where I'd been going 15-17 MPH on the flats I was now going 23-25.  That REALLY hurt and I raced this unknown cyclist until just before the end of the Trace, about 17 miles or so, but it did the job.  The miles passed quickly as I paid attention to something other than counting them down and cataloging my aches.  Oh, and he never did pass me!

Remember that long downhill that we swooped down at the start?  Well, I needed to "swoop" up it to get to the finish.  After my extended race my legs were pretty much shot as I hit the 9% grade but I managed to get it done.

Gonna need another one, this one's done!

And after all that, I gotta have the obligatory shot with the hardware:

A happy guy with another Grand Randonnee in the books!

There was a post ride breakfast the following day at Shoney's.  It would have been nice to meet up with everyone and swap ride tales but I needed to get out of Dodge relatively early so my wife and I hit the Loveless Cafe for a morning after breakfast

I'll have everything on page two of the menu please

So that's it, last long ride of the year and wrapping up a pretty good season of riding.  Thanks so much to all of the volunteers who worked the brevet.  Words can't express my gratitude for those who stand in a parking lot on the side of the road for hours on end to offer drinks, snacks and encouragement to the riders - and take vacation days to do it!

Oh, and I was never bored!  The scenery was lovely and riding on the Natchez Trace was 1500K of pure pleasure (randonesia at it's finest!).

Raspberry Ramble 600K

Given my astonishingly low threshold of boredom, I started thinking about what I was going to do in the interval between completing the High Country 1200K in July and the Natchez Trace 1500K in September while I was driving home from Colorado.  My choices were:

• An extended motorcycle trip where I'd roll from one brewpub to the next, eating pub fare and swilling beer.
• Another brevet somewhere.

I have to admit, the first option sounded pretty good but I gave in to the "better angels of my nature" and began looking at the available brevets in August.  My search lead me to the Raspberry Ramble 600K put on by Richard Stum and the Salt Lake Randonneurs.  The pictures of Bear Lake looked nice, a "near-ideal raspberry climate" and "world famous raspberry shakes" sounded pretty good and the timing was right.  The only downside was the 1300 mile drive (one way) after having already driven to and from Washington for the Cascade then Colorado for the High Country with a drive to Tennessee still in the offing.  Oh well, what else have I got to do?  

I signed up.

Not too much to say about the drive out.  Left early in the morning and drove to Rapid City, SD the first day.  To console myself for not taking the motorcycle trip we had dinner at the Firehouse Brewing Company and sampled the wares:

Smoke Jumper stout

My wife and I arrived in Logan Utah on Wednesday with the brevet starting on Friday.  On Thursday, we previewed part of the route and did a short ride at Bear Lake.  We rode on the western side of the lake with a fair amount of traffic on the roads.  I found later that the eastern side has much less traffic but we had a nice ride just the same.

I was rather surprised at how much I felt the altitude which was roughly 6,000 feet.  Although I knew the time I'd spent in Flatistan (the midwest) after the High Country had cost me a good bit of my acclimation, I didn't expect it to have disappeared as fast as it did.  Hopefully this short ride would do me a little good anyway.

On Thursday night my wife and I had dinner with the Salt Lake Randonneurs RBA, Richard Stum and Kent Holmberg.  The Ramble would be Kent's first 600K and the three of us spent dinner talking about the upcoming ride and trading tales about rides past.

The ride started at 5 AM and, as is usual for me, I didn't sleep particularly well the night before.  The ride started at the Super 8 and despite the fact that a 300K and 400K were offered in addition to the 600K there were no takers for the shorter distances and seven riders lined up for the start.

The usual pre-ride milling about

The weather for the ride was forecast to be very nice although a little warm on the first day.  We left at 5 sharp.  Once we left Logan, the ride out to the first control at Preston was generally flat through quiet farm country.  We encountered and were passed by a couple of very large groups of cyclists out training for the upcoming LoToJa race.  A little disheartening to be passed so quickly but I consoled myself with the thought that they probably weren't going to be riding 260 miles that day.

We got to the Preston control more or less as a group.  Since I knew we'd start climbing soon and the group would split up and I didn't really want to stop all that long I got my card signed, had a quick drink and left.  The climbing started not that far from Preston then a quick descent before turning onto UT-34/ID-36 for the longer climb up Emigration Pass.  Here's me at the start of the first climb:

Starting the climb

After going a few miles up the pass I noticed Richard behind me so I slowed a bit and waited.  We rode the rest of the way up the pass together at a moderate pace chatting about life in general.  It was starting to warm up a bit but was a lovely day and the scenery was stunning.  This is typical:

Emigration Pass

Richard and I reached the summit together to find Janene Holmberg there.  A word about this.  As most randonneurs know, support on brevets ranges from "you're on your own" to controls staffed by volunteers and just about every point in between.  On the Ramble, Janene had volunteered to provide all the support on the ride.  This meant:

• going to a particular point on the route
• setting everything up
• waiting until the last rider was through
• breaking everything down and loading it back into the car
• driving to the next stopping point
• PLUS dealing with any on course issues

She did an absolutely fabulous job.  I'm actually convinced there were three of her as it seemed she was at every summit, taking pictures along the route, at a number of controls, etc., from the 5 AM start to the finish.  At each stop there was a wide range of food and drinks served up with unflagging cheerfulness and enthusiasm.

Super support by Janene!

Richard and I stopped at the summit, refueled and chatted with Janene about the progress of the other riders on the climb.  While we were there, Kent arrived so a group shot was in order:

Me, Richard and Kent at the first summit

The Emigration pass summit was at 7400 feet and was followed by a descent down to Bear Lake.  The route did a counter-clockwise loop around Bear Lake into the next control at Garden City at mile 96.  I was starting to feel tired at this point, much more so than I felt like I should at that point in the ride and other than my advancing senility I can only put it down to the altitude.  Bear Lake is at about 6000 feet and we'd stay at that altitude until Soda Springs at mile 180.  Richard did a lot of the pulling to Garden City (thanks!) with a couple of stops for photos on the way:

The Paris Tabernacle

Yep, they sell raspberries

We made it into the Garden City control in good order.  It was really starting to heat up at that point, headed for the low 90's.  The ever present Janene was there with lots of goodies.

Greg and Janene at Garden City

Richard and I left Garden City with another rider, John Ingold from Flagstaff.  We were heading into increasingly strong winds on the south end of the lake as the warm air off the lake hit the cooler air off the mountains at the end.  We continued our loop around the lake and fortunately had  a bit of a tail wind for  the start of our northerly leg.  Not long after the turn I reached down for a water bottle, not there! I'd left them at the Garden City control like an idiot.  Fortunately I had a Camelbak so I wasn't completely out but by now it was really hot.  Richard and I stopped at the info control at Cisco Beach to call Janene and ask her to bring my bottles to the end of our lake loop (saved again!).  

As those who've read earlier blog posts will know, I've been struggling with the heat on brevets for the last few years which is more than a little ironic since I rode for years in the Texas heat.  I started to feel the heat on the northern leg of our lake loop and by the time we rejoined the highway I was feeling pretty bad.  Janene was there with my water bottles and we stopped to fill them with ice water and had something else to drink.  Richard and I left together and it was clear pretty early on I was just holding him up so I told him to go ahead which he did.  I rode by myself to the control at Montpelier Idaho.  John and Kent had passed us while we were stopped at the lake and were there at the control.  I'm actually rather surprised John was still there because his ability to get in and out of a store stop quickly was really impressive.

John at Montpelier

We left for the next control at Soda Springs (181 miles) as a group.  The weather looked fairly ominous to the north and the storm winds were building.  It turned out that we were just keeping pace with the receding storm, just enough that it stayed really windy!  Richard and I pulled ahead of John and Kent and rode together until we got to Georgetown when Richard said he was going to wait for them.  

I rode the rest of the way to Soda Springs by myself, still not feeling all that great.  Although I'd looked at the route profile, I was surprised by a fairly lengthy and stiff climb up to the Georgetown summit which was a real struggle given how I felt.  Heat problems always manifest themselves in my stomach.  I get to the point where I feel that anything I put in it is going to come right back up.  I knew I had to eat something at Soda Springs but really didn't want anything.  Soda Springs was an open control but there was a Subway and I made myself order a fairly salty sandwich coupled with a bag of chips.  It did the trick!  The first few bites were tough but then I started to feel better and ate it all and this really made me feel a lot better.  With benefit of hindsight, I'm certain I needed more electrolytes than I was getting.

I left Soda Springs with Richard and Brent and Beth Myers on their tandem.  

Brent and Beth Myers

I'd forgotten to plug my Garmin in when I left Soda Springs so I stopped a few miles out of town while the others went on.  I'd later pass Brent and Beth while they were fixing a flat (one of three!).  About 6 miles from Soda Springs we turned south.  The next 20 miles or so were great fun - downhill with a tail wind!  I thought "at this rate, I should get to the overnight at 10 PM" then I looked off in the distance and saw mountains looming - oops!  The only bad thing about this section is it started to get dark and I couldn't enjoy the scenery which was really beautiful while it was light enough to see it.

I got to the Preston control at mile 231 and left roughly at the same time as Richard and John though we didn't leave together.  The stretch into Logan for the overnight was on US-91 which was fairly busy despite the late hour.  There was a lot of traffic but a nice shoulder.  Normally I wouldn't enjoy riding on the highway but it fit the mood - I was ready to get to the overnight!

One bit of drama unfolded enroute to Logan.  Janene stopped Richard on the road and told him she'd waited at the Soda Springs control but one rider, Tammie Nakamura had never arrived.  She'd driven back to Montpelier and not seen her so she wasn't certain whether she should go on to Logan or keep looking for her.  They decided she should go on thinking that if Tammie needed help she'd call.  It turned out that because Soda Springs was an open control, Tammie had stopped at the first place where she could get water, a Chevron station, rather than going on to the Subway and that's where Janene had missed her.  She'd eventually arrive at Logan after 3 AM, stopped to get her card signed and rode on through the night.  At the finish, Tammie said she'd gotten about 20 minutes sleep total - lots of ways to get these things done!

Tammie Nakamura gettin' in done

I got to the control at Logan in good order with 260 miles done.  By the time I showered, got something to eat and was ready to go to bed it was almost 1 AM.  I decided to "sleep in" and not get on the road until 6 AM.  

Day Two

The second day took us west and south of Logan out to the Golden Spike national monument.  When I left the hotel the clerk told me everyone else had left between 4 and 5 so I expected not to see anyone all day because of my late start.  Much to my surprise as I was turning toward the "Spike" at 306 miles I saw Tammie coming the other way.  On the ride up (and I do mean "up") to the Spike I saw John, Richard and Kent and Brent and Beth arrived while I was there.  It turns out they'd gotten a bit lost and decided to stop and have breakfast.  They ended up leaving the control before I did.

Richard at "The Spike"

Following the screaming descent from the Spike, there was a lengthy grind into the wind to the next control at mile 338.  Beth and Brent were still there when I got there as was Kent.  Here's a shot of Kent and I with 37 miles left to go:

Last control!

As always, Janene was at the control and she said John had his GPS stolen from his bike while he was in the store for less than two minutes.  That means it was someone familiar with cycling GPS devices and how they mount on bikes in order to be able to remove it that quickly - in other words, a cyclist.  Any cyclist who steals from another one deserves a special place in Hell in my opinion.

Richard had caught Tammie between the Spike and the last control and they'd ride the rest of the way together.

Richard and Tammie

It was starting to really heat up again.  Given my experience the previous day, I'd started taking electrolytes on a regular schedule right from the beginning and would have no heat related trouble today.  The four of us were on the road at the same time though not really riding together.  There was one big climb left before Logan with a convenience store right before the climb started.  I stopped there as did Brent and Beth but Kent pressed on.  I made a quick stop, only filling my bottles and started the climb.  I passed Kent and rode the rest of the climb solo.

Last summit!

I rode the rest of the way into Logan by myself into a fairly strong wind finishing in 33:42.  It turned out that all of the riders finished within an hour of each other!  

John, Kent, Tammie, me, Beth, Richard and Brent at

the finish

So all in all, a great ride.  Good weather, awesome support, beautiful scenery and great people to share it with - does a brevet get better than that?  The only thing that remained was to drive the 1300 miles home.  I did require a couple of stops along the way though:

Recovery drink!

Thanks to Richard and Janene for the use of their photos.  I've got a nice waterproof pocket camera that was resting comfortably in my desk at home during the ride.  Major props to Kent for finishing his first 600K!  

I never did have that raspberry shake though.  Guess I'll have to go back!

High Country 1200K

One of the absolute best things about randonneuring, and 1200K's in particular, is seeing people you've ridden with in the past and meeting new friends.  The High Country 1200K was a genuine pleasure in this regards.  In the "rode with in the past" category were Bill and Mark Olson, John Pearch and Peter Holtzenbein from Endless Mountains.  A stronger group of cyclists and nicer bunch of folks you couldn't find anywhere and it was great to see them again prior to the start.

As you'll know if you've read my previous blog posts, I DNF'd at the Cascade on the second day at 137 miles in due to some fairly serious back pain brought on by the extended climbing on days one and two. Naturally, I was really worried about a repeat at the High Country but there's no way of knowing how it's going to go until you toe the start line. I did work on core strengthening a lot between the two events and was hoping that would be sufficient to get me through.

My wife and I drove out to Saratoga, WY which was the overnight for day one, arriving on Friday evening before the ride start on Tuesday. My plan was to ride up Snowy Pass (the route for the second day) to acclimate to the altitude. I won't go into the details of the ride other than to say I did it and think it helped. We also went hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday to further acclimate.  Here are a few shots from the ride:

Fishing on the North Platte

I was planning on posting a personal "Cyclist seeking companionship for 1200K adventure"

The High Country begins

Day One – Louisville, CO – Saratoga, WY 223 miles, 11,162 ft of climbing

The day started with very nice weather, mild temperatures and light winds. Rolled from the start to the first control at Laporte with a moderate sized group that got smaller as the pace stayed fairly high and whittled down to three (me, John Mangin, Peter Holtzenbein) when we got to the very steep climb at Horsethief Resevoir near Ft. Collins. After the control, rode up Poudre Canyon toward the first pass climb: Cameron Pass. The ride up the canyon was very nice, beautiful scenery and fairly light traffic. Started the looooonnnnngggg climb up Cameron Pass after going through the control at Rustic. No super steep sections on Cameron, just long stretches of 7% or so. I'd left Rustic by myself and did most of the climb solo. The absolute worst part of the climb were the deer flies, they were swarming all over me. No exaggeration, when I'd stop there would be upwards of 40-50 flies on my legs. My ankles were swollen with bites after a very short time. About 1.5 miles from the summit, I stopped to spray on some insect repellent (didn't seem to do a lot of good) and Corinne Warren caught me. She was also being plagued by the flies and asked if she could use my bug spray which I was glad to share. We summited together and started the descent.

On the west side of the pass the weather was nice for the first bit but then the inevitable Rocky Mountain afternoon thundershower and hail storm moved in. The wind was absolutely howling, either a full headwind or quartering cross, all the way into the next control at Walden. Corinne weighs about 100 lbs so I did all the pulling into Walden, working hard.  A very tough stretch.

After something to eat at Walden, three of us left for the overnight at Saratoga (John M., Corinne and me). For the first 20 miles or so I was feeling really tired and feeling the altitude and any climbing at all had me dropping back. I told them to go on but they said they'd wait which was very nice of them. I was OK on the flats and could take my share of pulls but for some reason even the slightest bump in the road was too much. About 20 miles after the control there was a long climb with what looked like bad weather at the top. We stopped to put on jackets and I said I'd go ahead since they'd inevitably catch me on the climb given how I was feeling. I must have livened up because they hadn't caught me by the summit so I pressed on into what was again a howling wind. That was the last I saw of them until I got to Saratoga. Several miles on, I came upon Peter H. just finishing repairing a flat – this must have been really tough because the wind was gusting to about 40-50 MPH. Peter had a little rest while changing his flat so he kindly offered me a draft through the remaining cross winds.  Once we turned north towerd Saratoga we had an absolutely screaming tail wind for the first 15 miles which gradually lessened as we moved away from the mountains. Nice while it lasted though!

I arrived in Saratoga at 19:20 against a ride plan of 22:00. I'd worked hard and hustled through the controls all day so I felt pretty good about the early arrival and my ride thus far.

Day 2 – Saratoga, WY to Steamboat Springs, CO 195 miles, 10,708 feet of climbing

Didn't sleep particularly well overnight but did at least rest for about 5 hours. Got on the road at 4 AM with fairly nice weather. The temperature was about 62 at Saratoga though I knew it'd be colder on Snowy Pass which was the first order of business for the day. It was roughly 30 miles from the start to the summit of the pass and I left dressed in shorts, base layer, jersey, summer weight arm warmers (sun sleeves) and fingerless gloves. I rode in this until about a mile from the west summit when I started to get cold. I stopped and put on toe covers, leg warmers and long finger gloves but didn't put on a jacket. I pressed on toward the east summit into increasingly dark clouds. About a half mile from the east summit the skies opened up in an absolute deluge with fairly large hail. By the time I got my rain jacket on I was absolutely soaked to the skin and really cold. I had another jacket with me on the trip but hadn't put it in my trunk bag (dumb) so other than heavier arm warmers (which I didn't put on then because stripping would have made me even colder) I had on all the clothes I had with me. It was 34 degrees at the summit when I started down.

As an aside, my average speed at the summit was within .1 of what it was when I'd done the climb a week earlier with fresh legs. I put this down at least somewhat to acclimation to the altitude.

The descent has several really steep (10%) and straight sections and I was shaking so hard I kept throwing the bike into a shimmy. For the record, the Hampsten is a superb descender, I've had it to 55 MPH and am very confident on it. The problem here wasn't the equipment, it was the operator. As a result of my shaking, I mostly rode the brakes all the way down. I finally arrived at Centennial about as cold as I could be. I'd not planned on stopping but was so cold I thought some food and being inside for a bit might warm me up. There was a big crowd of riders there and I was right, food really helped a lot. Two people DNF'd there citing weather as the reason – it was still raining in sheets and very cold.

I left with John Pearch and Jeff Newberry and headed toward Laramie in the rain. We lost Jeff after about 10 miles and about 5 miles out from Laramie John said he needed to make a pit stop so I headed on by myself. Stopped at the McDonalds in Laramie (open control) and got something else to eat and a cup of coffee. Left fairly quickly and caught up with John Mangin and Corinne Warren and pressed on in the rain. Finally quit raining just before we started a fairly stiff climb (6 miles of 7% or so) back over the Snowy range. Made it over the climb in good order and headed on to the next control at Walden.

Caught up with John Pearch on the way into Walden so we were now a group of four. The weather up ahead looked very nice but increasingly bad behind us so we were motoring hard to get to Walden before the storm. Just made it.

After eating we headed on into darkening skies. About 5 miles out it started raining hard while we were on a long, fairly gradual climb. We got to the top and were passed by an 18 wheeler (lots of traffic on this road). I was just passing John Mangin on the descent so I was in the middle of the lane when we hit a section of hail on the road that was at least 3” deep. John was in the track made by the truck but I was in the middle at the deepest part. The bike started fish tailing and sliding but fortunately I was able to keep it upright and move over into the truck track.  Scary!

As we rode on toward Rabbit Ear pass and up into the foothills the skies got increasingly dark and we started to hear thunder. This got worse and worse and we started seeing flashes of lightning. We decided it'd be safer to stop so we pulled over and cowered under a rock ledge while it rained, hailed really hard and lots of thunder and lightning. We were probably there about 30 minutes and were all shaking from the cold by the time we thought it was safe to leave.  While we were sitting there a couple of riders rode by and I was afraid we were going to find them on the road, struck by lightning.  Fortunately they were able to get through safely but it was an awful chance to take.

Did the climb up Rabbit Ears and Muddy Pass which were pretty long but at least it had stopped raining. Got to the top and suited up for the descent. The descent has a lot of long, steepish sections (7-8%) and you could easily hit 50 MPH+ if you let it go. It was dark, foggy, the roads were wet and there was a fair amount of traffic so this one wasn't a lot of fun and I rode the brakes a lot on the way down to Steamboat Springs.

Got to Steamboat at 21:50 against a ride plan of 20:03. The unplanned stop at Centennial plus stopping for the lightning and putting on and taking off rain gear numerous times added the extra time.

A really, really hard day. Three pass climbs and being cold and wet all day were not a lot of fun. I think a couple more people DNF'd that day in addition to the two I mentioned. I can understand why.

Day 3 – Steamboat Springs, CO to Walden, CO 182 miles, 9,313 feet of climbing

Finally! A beautiful day! Left Steamboat with a moderately large group (Corinne, John M., John P., Jeff N., Barry Benson). Lovely ride to Yampa where we stopped for a second breakfast then on toward Gore Pass. Very nice climb up the pass and a lovely descent. Finally one where you could let it go with beautiful sweeping curves. I hit my fastest speed of the HCH at 47 MPH.

Climbing Gore Pass (photo by Jeff Newberry)

A happy guy at the top of Gore Pass

I caught one bit of luck. I put my jacket on at the top and removed my trunk bag from the rack to do it. I put the trunk bag back on and did the descent followed by the ride in to Kremmling. Got to Kremmling and stopped at a grocery store for something to eat. When I was dismounting from the bike I lightly tapped the trunk bag with my heel and it fell off! It was basically just resting on top of the rack for that screaming descent. Had it fallen off at 40+ MPH I'd have never heard it and it would still be laying there.

The next part of the ride was absolutely the worst of the whole HCH. The 6 miles from where we turned onto US-40 into Kremmling had a huge amount of truck/camper traffic in both directions and no shoulder. I was riding behind John M. and Corinne and we were going up a short grade. I checked my 6 and saw a huge pickup pulling the largest camper I'd ever seen about to pass us on the blind hill. Naturally, a semi crested the hill in the opposite direction. I yelled “Car back” at the top of my lungs.  I must have had the appropriate amount of hysteria in my voice as John dove for the gravel shoulder and Corinne and I hugged the absolute edge of the pavement.  Fortunately we all stayed upright and none of us were sideswiped by the moron who couldn't wait a few seconds to get to Rocky Mountain National Park.

From Kremmling, we headed to Granby then out and back to Grand Lake. As I said, this whole part was the worst part of the tour. The road to Grand Lake is the ONLY entry to Rocky Mountain National Park from the west and although it has a good shoulder on both sides it's like riding on the interestate. High speed, heavy traffic in both directions the entire time. Miserable. Awful. Pick your negative adjective. Hated it.

Up until Grand Lake, the whole group had stayed together all day with lots of soft pedaling and jawboning while we rode. We also were taking upwards of an hour at every stop. I'd planned on getting into the overnight at Walden early and there was no way that was going to happen riding at the pace we were riding. It looked like everyone was settling in for a long break at Grand Lake so I said I was going to head out.  Took off at a hard pace, stopped briefly at Granby to top up with water (no water for the next 55 miles). While I was there the rest of the group arrived.

On the road to Willow Pass

The road to Willow Pass starts uphill right away after you turn off of US-40. For some reason, I just felt like I didn't have anything at that point. Just empty and really felt like I was just slogging along despite the fact that I'd left Jeff N. and John P. on the climb. My rule for brevets is “if you feel like you're dragging, stop and eat something. If you still feel bad, stop and eat something more” so that's what I did. It worked too, by the time I got to the summit and started the ride into the overnight at Walden I felt pretty good though it took a while before the food took effect. I was still really dragging up the ascent, head down and grinding and if a moose would have walked into my path I'd have just run into it.

At the summit of Willow Pass

John Mangin, Corinne Walker, Jeff Newberry, Barry Benson, John Pearch and me

Did the descent and rode into Walden with John M. at a brisk pace. Arrived in Walden at 20:55 against a ride plan of 20:16. Not bad considering how much we screwed around during the day.

Day 4 – Walden, Co to Louisville, CO 148 miles, 5,166 feet of climbing

The day started off quite cold but the weather was generally pretty nice. Left with the same group as the previous day but after a gradual climb found myself riding alone toward the Cameron pass we did on the first day though this time from the west. The worst thing about this part was there were about 10 miles of false flat where you'd SWEAR you were going downhill but were working like a dog to go 10 MPH. This was really demoralizing. I'd round a curve and think “great, finally some downhill” and it'd be more false flat.

On the climb to Cameron Pass

Started the climb up the pass. For some reason despite the fact that I'd descended where I was now climbing three days previously I had it in my head that it was going to be the same sort of climb as on the first day and had steeled myself for a long, hard slog. After a bit of what felt like moderate climbing, I'm riding along up about a 5% grade and I glance up and there's a sign: “Cameron Pass Summit” - shit! I'm there! Whoopee!!!! If you're wondering why I look so giddily happy in the picture below, that's the reason!

A very happy guy at the top of Cameron Pass

Lengthy descent into the control at Rustic on a beautiful morning. Glanced down at the Garmin to see how fast I was going (41 MPH), looked back up to see a deer in my path and I just managed to swerve and avoid a collision. Got to Rustic, made a quick stop and headed to Laporte. Caught up with David Baxter and we motored hard into Laporte. Got there shortly before John M. and Corinne were leaving. This was John's “home turf” and there were lots of turns to navigate between Laporte and the finish so I made another quick stop so I could leave with them.  John was in "go mode" and anybody who thinks a 650B is slow should try to hold his wheel when he's got the bit between his teeth!  I'd occasionally feel guilty and come around to take a pull and all I did was slow him down.  He was smokin' !!

It was really strange to be "back in the world" with other riders that weren't part of the HCH1200K, traffic, etc., and it really highlights how wonderful the route was.  For the vast majority of the ride it was just us randonneurs and a few cars enjoying absolutely spectacular scenery.

Already lengthy story cut short, I motored hard from the summit of Cameron Pass to the finish, about 110 miles. I was glad to share those miles with Barry, John and Corinne.  It was pretty tough going from Laporte to the finish as it started to get hot and there was a lot of traffic so I was glad to just get it over with. Final time: 82:48.

Overall there were 48 starters with 11 DNF’s.  Glad to be one of the finishers and so sorry to hear about the DNF's!

A very, very happy guy at the finish!

John Mangin, Corinne Warren, me and Barry Meade at the finish

As I said at the outset, part of the pleasure of doing a 1200K is the people that you share it with and I was fortunate to share a good portion of this ride with some truly wonderful people.  To John Mangin, Corinne Warren, John Pearch, Barry Meade, Barry Benson, Jeff Newberry, David Baxter, Peter Holtzenbein: thanks so much for sharing your ride with me.  Your companionship during the ride and your grace in sharing the struggles and the good times made a memorable ride that much more so.

I'd also like to thank the volunteers, without whom this would not have been possible.  I especially want to thank Tammie Nakamura.  She worked like a slave at the Walden overnight cooking both dinner and breakfast - great meals both and served with a smile.

Finally, although I've made a few negative comments about portions of the route I'd recommend this ride to anyone.  It's hard to put together a 750 mile route without a few bad stretches and the good absolutely overwhelmed the bad.  Mile upon mile of beautiful scenery that really showcased everything good about riding in the Rockies.  One for the bucket list.

Legs willing, I'll be back!