Joe Jamison and Matt Levy
There were 6 of us doing the 400K: myself, Matt Levy, Paul Carpenter, Julie Zierke-Clark and her husband Brian (first 400K for him) and Doug ? (didn't get his last name) along with two people doing a 200K. The morning started out cool and the winds were mostly favorable. We made good time through the first two controls (60 miles) then it started to warm up and the winds shifted to mostly headwind. Made it to the third control (Morning Sun) and it was really starting to get hot. Julie had a flat just outside of town but because she and Brian were together the rest of us rode on.
Leaving the Morning Sun (90 miles) control, Matt, Paul and I were ready and Brian and Julie were not so the three of us rode on. Paul dropped us fairly quickly (he would later DNF due to rain and lightning) and Matt stopped to adjust something but told me to ride on so I did. I rode the rest of the way to the turnaround (130 miles) by myself. It was really hot by then and a headwind all the way there and I was really fried when I got there. Felt sick as I usually do from the heat when I'm not acclimated. Matt arrived shortly after me and we sat there a long time cooling off and waiting for Julie and Brian. She'd had another flat just outside of town.
Julie was convinced her flats were being caused by the rim tape being crooked. We took the tire off and it was indeed crooked and a number of the spoke holes were exposed. We got some electricians tape and applied it over top of the existing rim tape. I'll say here that her tires (Vredstein) were a major S.O.B to remove and remount. There's no way in hell Julie could have done it by herself on the side of the road. It took Matt and I more than 20 minutes to wrestle the tire off and back on every time we had to do it.
Continuing on to Morning Sun without incident other than about 10 miles of rain. Leaving Morning Sun, about 5 miles later Julie called out she had another flat. The gnats were dreadful so I suggested rather than repair it on the side of the road we pump it up and see how far we could go. Made it about 8 miles, stopped and pumped it up again. We repeated this all the way to Columbus Junction.
When we got to the Casey's at Columbus Junction I started giving orders (sorry, it's my nature). I sent Brian across the street to a Dollar General to buy some duct tape and clear glasses (he didn't have any night glasses and the bugs were terrible), told Matt and Julie to remove the tire while I went in for insect repellant.
I insisted that rather than just assume it was the rim tape we pump up the tire and make sure the hole was on the inside of the rim (which it would be if a spoke was causing it). Turns out it was on the outside and finding the hole allowed Matt to feel carefully at the right spot of the tire and find a tiny sliver of wire that was causing the flats. I also tore the duct tape into a 1" strip, removed all the other rim tape and replaced it with the duct tape. Brian was ready to DNF at this point, concerned that Julie would have another flat out on the road. I assured him we'd found and fixed the problem and if she had another flat it would be a completely new one.
The rest of the ride was uneventful. We got to the control at Nichols (60 miles left) at 11:15. The store normally closes at 11:00 but Joe J. was there and persuaded them to stay open until we arrived which they did - very nice of him and them!
Finally finished at 02:00.
I wanted to test my ability to recover after the 1000K. I was very pleased with how quickly I recovered and how good I felt through the whole ride. Other than the heat related illness, my legs were good (tired, but good) with no cramping and I felt pretty good the whole way. I got to bed at 03:00 and slept until 11:00 and felt pretty good when I got up.
I especially feel good about getting Julie and Brian through and finishing. I'm certain they'd have DNF'd were it not for my and Matt's help.
