Driftless Randonneurs 200K - Nowhere but Norwalk

What a difference a week makes!

Exactly 7 days earlier, several of us lunatics did a 300K permanent in Black River Falls. The wind chill at the start was 14 degrees and the air temperature never got above 35 all day long.

Fast forward 7 days: temperature at the start a positively balmy 55 degrees and forecast to get into the upper 70's. For most of the riders this was the first ride this year without jackets and tights - quite the contrast but enjoyable just the same.

We had a great turnout, 14 riders at the start of what promised to be a lovely day.

The route is a new one for 2016 and features as the "second day" of our June 600K so riders can get a taste of what they're in for. The route has a nice variety with lengthy stretches rolling through river valleys and a few challenging climbs up to the ridge tops to keep things interesting.

14 Riders at the start

We rolled out of Richland Center as a group and stayed together through the first info control. The route to Norwalk goes through lovely Amish farm country and the limestone bluffs of the Kickapoo river.

Limestone bluffs in the Kickapoo river valley.

Beautiful farms on the way to Norwalk.

Leaving Norwalk we were faced with the looooong climb out of Norwalk. Everyone made the climb without issue although a few riders missed the turn and ended up doing a few bonus miles before they discovered it.

John Thier and Matt Levy at the top of the climb out of Norwalk.

Bill N. at the top of the climb saying "was there a hill there?"

Dan and Steve top the climb. This was Dan's first brevet and he killed it!

After the control at Norwalk we had a little over 12 miles to Cashton where most of the group stopped for lunch although Dave Meridith would press on without a break (he was the first finisher). After lunch it was a long grind into a freshening SE wind for the next 60 or so miles. It was heating up so keeping the fluids going was critical!

John T. staying hydrated

A tough climb up the 11% hill on CR-I followed by a grind straight into the wind for a few miles then a nice descent on CR-E led us to Boaz. Although it wasn't a control, everyone was grateful for a chance to stop and get some fluids on board before the final 15 miles or so back to Richland Center.

At long last, the finish was in sight with most riders rolling in within an hour or so of each other and a few "extra value" riders a little bit later.

Team Greg at the finish.

Team John at the finish.

"Extra value" riders Dan and Bob.

Bill N. at the finish.

Matt Levy rolling in.

All in all, a great day of riding with glorious weather, good company and beautiful scenery!

Super 600K

October is the time of year those of us in the frozen north start thinking about rolling out the fatbike, waxing up the skis, dragging out the trainer or just resigning ourselves to sloth for several months. It's also the time of year when I start reviewing the past year and conjuring up ride plans for the coming year.  I realized I wasn't quite ready to give in to ever shorter rides as the days got shorter and colder so I started thinking about one last ride for the year.

I've been wanting to do a "Super 6" since RUSA introduced them last year.  For those who don't know, a Super 600K is a 600K permanent with 30,000 feet of climbing that must be completed in 50 hours.  There are several in the U.S. but I had my eye on the Lynn Kristiansen Inspirational that starts and finishes in Front Royal, VA and is mostly on Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I'd been on both several times in years past and they are just beautiful, quiet roads with little traffic and spectacular vistas.

I had talked to several friends about perhaps doing a Super 6 together but due to the short notice I'd end up doing this one solo.  I do 100% of my riding at home solo and have done long brevets including 600K's and whole days of 1200K's solo so I'm pretty comfortable riding by myself.  Having said that, this effort was daunting enough that having company would really have been welcome but it was not to be.

I contacted the ride organizer, Gary Dean, who was really super supportive considering my short notice plans.  Several emails and an express delivery later I had everything I needed and settled on a ride start date of October 20th at 4 AM.  My wife Marcia and I made the long drive to Front Royal in two days of driving.  Since no support is allowed on a Super 6 I needed to arrange for a bag drop at the overnight hotel in Raphine, VA so we drove straight there.  This gave us a chance to drive the part of the route that would start off the second day - ouch!  The climb from Raphine back up to the Parkway was really steep with a number of switchbacks and gradients in the 15%-20% range.  I also realized I'd be doing this descent late at night, likely at 1-2 AM and it was pretty daunting.

We drove on to Front Royal and got everything ready to go.  One last bit of drama: I normally wear Assos bibs on long brevets.  A while back, I decided to give the shorts a try and ordered a couple of pairs.  I didn't realize it but I ordered the wrong size.  Didn't bother to check when they arrived, pulled the tags off and laundered them then put them aside for several months (well past any return date) before finally pulling a pair out for a ride.  Way too big, not a chance, no way they were going to work so I put them aside.  Long story short, they got mixed up with my bibs and when packing for the trip I managed to grab both pairs and stuffed them in my bag.  Fortunately, on a whim I threw in a third pair of bibs and these are the ones I wore on the first day.

The night before the start I didn't sleep at all.  OK, maybe I dozed for 10-15 minutes but I spent most of the night eyes wide open staring at the ceiling.  Sadly, it isn't unusual for me to not be able to sleep before a brevet.  I usually managed to "power" my way through the first day on adrenaline then get a good nights sleep after that.  To cut to the chase: this just isn't possible on a Super 6.  It's just too damned hard and you need to be in great shape and firing on all cylinders to get it done.  I briefly considered delaying my start 24 hours but decided to go ahead.

The morning of the 20th dawned cold (38 degrees) with a forecast high in the mid-70's and light winds.  You couldn't ask for better weather.  Given that I wasn't sleeping anyway, I got up at 2 AM, dressed and had something to eat and my official start time was 03:45.  Here was the tool I was using for the job:

The first 12 miles or so of the route are mostly uphill so I was dressed fairly lightly given the cool temperatures but it was spot on and I was very comfortable.  I saw a lot of critters while climbing in the dark including a fox, two bobcats, a couple of skunks, several raccoon and numerous deer.  I rode for a couple of hours in the dark then was treated to an absolutely glorious sunrise.  The sight of the morning sun on the canopy of red and gold leaves on the mountainsides is one I'll never forget.  I didn't bother to stop and take a picture as there was no way my point and shoot was going to do it justice.  It may sound trite to say it but the image is etched in my mind permanently.

Not a lot to say for the next several hours.  I was riding strongly and making good time, well ahead of my planned pace at each of the controls.  I was mostly riding along enjoying the spectacular vistas and grinding up the long climbs.  One thing of note was that given the time of day and topography it seemed like I was climbing in the sun and descending in the shade.  This pretty much meant I was boiling while I was climbing and freezing going downhill.  This took a toll.

I did take one "non-control" picture while I was stopped to eat an energy bar:

I reached the control at Humpback Rocks (photo above) at about 111 miles with a little over 10,500 feet of climbing and about 1.25 hours ahead of schedule.  The problem was, the lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me.  I didn't feel drowsy, I just felt tired.  No energy at all.  My legs were still turning well enough but mentally I was starting to feel really fatigued and every time I came to a climb I had a feeling of dread.  Not good.

A word about the route.  Here's a shot of the southern part:

See that jog to the left (west) that shows as mile 225?  That's the overnight control at Raphine and my destination for day one.  As you can see, you ride past the turn for that control on the way out, continuing straight on the Parkway until approximately mile 151 where you make a very long, very steep descent into the next control in Buena Vista.  In the roughly 17 miles of the Parkway between what would be my turn down to Raphine and the exit for Buena Vista I found myself on every descent (and there were several quite long and steep ones) thinking "I'm going to have to climb that on the way back - 70 miles from now" - not good.  I was feeling more tired by the minute.

When I made the turn down to Buena Vista and did that descent my average speed was well above 40 MPH. I don't know the gradient but I'd estimate it was a consistent 8% all the way down.  I knew full well I was going to have to regain that altitude and then some before the very steep and very technical descent into Raphine.  That's when I decided I'd had enough. On the last climb before descending into Buena Vista even though I was still climbing well I just felt drained.

I got to the control at Buena Vista 1:45 ahead of schedule but I was done.  I texted Gary that I was abandoning and called Marcia at Front Royal to come and get me.  I got something to eat while I waited for her and if I'd started to feel better I'd have called and sent her back but if anything I felt worse as I started to get sleepy in addition to just feeling like I didn't have the strength to lift up a french fry.  Marcia arrived a few hours after I called her and we drove to Raphine where we spent the night.  

My overall stats for the day were 155.89 miles in 12:11 for a moving average speed of 12.8 MPH with a corrected altitude gain of 16,361 feet of climbing.  

Given my analytic nature, I spend a lot of time post-processing my rides to try and learn what I can. I've concluded several things:

• I wasn't so much physically done as mentally done.  I realized driving home that I actually felt better after I decided to quit. 
• The lack of sleep sapped my mental/emotional energy past the breaking point. Although I can go all day the first day of a 1200K on little to no sleep, this was just too damned long and hard to "power through".
• Other than feeling completely drained of energy, all other "systems" were go. Legs were fine, no real physical issues at all.
• I think having a simpatico riding companion would have made a huge difference.  A solo Super 6 is pretty tough, it's just hard to be out there by yourself working that hard.  I hope to be able to hook up with someone for a future attempt.
• One thing I thought about was whether or not listening to music would have helped.  I've got a bunch of music on my phone and was wearing a hydration pack with a pocket near my head so I could have put the phone in there and jammed some tunes without having to wear earbuds (which I won't do while riding).  It might have made a difference and given me something to focus on instead of how I was feeling and how much climbing remained to be done.  Wish I'd have tried it and I will in the future.
• I need to do something about not being able to sleep before brevets.  Since this has been an ongoing problem, I've already tried a number of things with little to no success.  I might try getting some sleeping pills prescribed and try using them before brevets next year.  I'm a little concerned about after effects such as grogginess upon waking but need to find something that works.

To end on a more positive note, the ride was absolutely beautiful.  The weather was picture perfect and the vistas so stunning as to take your breath away.  I am definitely planning to do this one (notice I didn't say "try") again in the future.

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!