Early in the year, I decided that there were several 1200K's I wanted to do but was uncertain exactly which ones. Since the 1200K's tend to have relatively low rider limits they fill up fast so I knew I'd have to register quickly if I was going to have a chance of getting in. Accordingly, I signed up for the Cascade 1200 in June, the Colorado High Country in July and the Natchez Trace 1500K in September.
Given the physical problems I had over the winter (detailed ad nauseum in my last post) and the fact that I was only able to start riding "seriously" again in mid-April I thought I'd better hit the training hard and do some "tests" to see whether even attempting the Cascade made sense. I did the Quad Cities 200K on April 26th. This went OK in general though I did have to stop and stretch my back several times. I followed this with the Quad Cities 300K on May 10th which also went OK as far as my back was concerned.
I then went to Texas with Matt Levy and did a 1000K over Memorial Day weekend. Here's a brief synopsis of that ride:
Day 1, hotter than hell (my Garmin showed 103) not acclimated, sick for
about three hours but kept going. Group included 200K, 600K and 1000K
riders on the same route (200K's split off at the second control).
200K's went like rabbits
and everyone (but me and two others) chased them. Rode with Rob Tulloh from
Austin until he broke his left crank arm, rode with him to a True Value
HW where he told me to leave while he got it fixed (he did). Recovered
well from the heat once it started to cool
off around 5 PM. Rode on wet roads the last two hours but didn't get
wet. Hooked up with Vicky, Stephen and Sharon (the latter two on a tandem) and rode the last 60
miles with them.
Day 2, windy as hell. Headwinds for the first 103 miles then the winds
died. Rain for a lot of the morning and in the evening. Rode by myself
until at about 41 miles, I misread the cue sheet (thought it said 40.3
when it said 46.3) and turned around for
a few miles. Ran into Rob coming the other way, rode the rest of the
day with him. Felt good the whole day, despite the heat (mid 90-s).
Came out of the second last control and had a flat, shit happens. Other
than that, no mechanical issues.
Day 3, major storms around Waco. Stopped at the control at 90 miles and
ate at a Subway, looked at the radar and all red just south of us (we
were headed south). Waited, waited, waited. Finally got tired of
waiting, went too soon. Huge climb (5 miles at
4-5%) just out of town and we ground against 40-45 MPH winds for 30
minutes and only covered 4 miles. Hard to control the bike, getting
blown all over. I stopped and told Rob (rode with him all day) we were
using a lot of matches for not a lot of return,
found shelter in the lee of a hill and sat and waited it out. Finally
the winds abated to 25 MPH. Did 25 miles straight into the wind to the
next control, grinding hard. Got food/cards signed and came out and Rob
had a flat. It took us 5 hours total to
cover the 25 miles between those two controls. Looking forward to the
tail winds on the return but the front had moved through and the wind
died. Last 40 miles Rob was getting sleepy. Told me he'd nearly
crashed on day 1 when he went to sleep briefly so
he was afraid he was going to do it again. Stopped at a gas station
(closed) and he got a Mountain Dew from the machine. Rode the last 40
miles at about 11 MPH talking non-stop to help him stay awake. About 1/2
mile from the finish HUGE, HUGE, HUGE, lighting
strike about 200 yards in front of us. I thought "I can see the
headline now, 'two dumbasses killed 1/4 mile from finishing 1000K bike
ride' " Major downpour just as I rolled to the stop at a little before 2
AM.
My back hurt on day 3, the good news is that if I stopped and stretched
it only for a few seconds it felt better and I could go on so I stopped
about every 10 miles or so and stretched. I was a bit worried the
interval would go from 10 miles, to 5, to 2, to
1, to 100 yards, done, but that never happened. Shoulder hurt the
whole time but bearable.
Post ride, I feel pretty good. Major muscle spasm going on in my
shoulder which hurts like hell but other than that and a few saddle
sores, I'm OK.
The absolutely best part about the Texas 1000K was getting to meet and ride with (or at least at the same time as) a bunch of fine people including Dan Driscoll, Pam Wright, Brenda Barnell, Rob Tulloh, Mark Metcalf, Vicky Tyer and Jeff Newberry. I'd see some of these people again in the near future and it was a genuine pleasure to meet them all.
After the 1000K, I needed to do a 400K to complete a RUSA SR in order to qualify for the Natchez Trace. I also thought a couple of "back to backs" would test the back (no pun intended) so I did the Quad Cities 400K the following weekend. A tough ride in its own right and certainly deserving a separate post.
