The second in a series of 4 Brevets was held on Feb 5, 2011. I was the lone member of the CycleLogic team to toe the line at the start of the event. But, I should start well before this.
The night before I laid out all of my clothes, shoes, lights/reflectors, food/gel and spare parts that I thought that I might need for the 187 miles ahead of me. Little did I realize that my night was going to be very short. At 1:11 AM my eyes popped open, and couldn’t get back to sleep. I had the alarm set for 3:00, so I had another 2 hours, but there was no more rest. So I might as well get up.
I started my hydration program as I always do, ate a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, and checked on my gear. All set. Load the car; make sure the bike is all ready to go. At 3:00 AM I go in and wake my sleeping bride that has graciously agreed to help sag my clothes and extra gear around. All is ready at 4:00 AM so we take off for the appointed meeting place, the Shands parking garage by Rush Lake Motel. The weather reports have called for rain all day, and I am very happy that the Rain Gods have smiled down upon me; as of now it isn’t raining. The humidity is about 110% and everything is soggy, temperature is in the high 50s, but there isn’t a star in sight, and you can tell it is going to be one of those very overcast days. I sure hope it doesn’t rain, I hate riding in the rain. Jim/Meegan Wilson and the Gainesville Cycling Club have put so much work into these Brevets, so I hope the weather holds for them as well. When it’s a cold wet day on the bike, it is even worse on the volunteers.
Remember all the preparation that I did last night, like making sure I had everything laid out? Guess where my gels are? Yep, still sitting in the refrigerator at home. RATS! Leslie tells me not to worry, as she is going home after she sees us off, and will bring them to the first checkpoint which is at about mile 50. I have plenty of bars, but I really relay on the gels on long rides. Oh well, make do…
Jo Weaver, my teammate on Team Disturbed (our training team specifically to get ready for the Brevets) presented me with a “Gremlin Bell” this morning. It is a little brass bell that you put on the bike, so those nasty little gremlins won’t bother you on the ride. They get trapped in the bell which drives them crazy, and they can do you no harm. Don’t doubt gremlins, so I affix it to my seat.
Finally the start time of 5 AM rolls around and a group of about 45 hardy souls roll out onto the course. The first 20 miles are at a nice moderate pace, running around 16-18 MPH. A group of 7 recumbents roll out ahead of us, as they did on the 200Km event, and I let them go. These guys are really serious and plan to hammer all day. I understand that there is even one in the group that has completed 4 RAAM rides. I sure won’t try to keep up with them.
As with all rides, there is the sorting out process. Around mile 35, our group, which is one of the lead groups, is down to 5 riders. The nice thing about doing long rides in Florida is that most rides are basically flat. This one is no different. We are riding through some low rollers, which are actually quite fun. It is still very dark and I’m glad that I have Leslie’s old Nightrider HID system on the handle bars and my 900 Lumen MagicShine light on my helmet. Many of the riders this morning have lights that are very inadequate for the speed that they are going. Also the humidity is so high that the roads are wet (even though it hasn’t rained). The black roads really suck up the light making it hard to see. BTW: I also have a reflective vest on, 3 red blinkies on the back of the bike, and an ankle reflector in each leg. The vest and reflectors are required Brevet equipment while riding in the dark. If someone hits me it is going to have to be intentional, as I want them to see me.
Finally around 7 it is light enough for us to turn off our lights off. That is the good news. The bad news is that it is starting to sprinkle. YUK!! Right about this time I realize that I haven’t started my new Garmin 705. Yes, I started the navigation of the route, but it isn’t recording data - like how far we have traveled. In a brevet distance is important as you need to know where the check points are. That is where you must have your card stamped to prove that you didn’t shortcut the course. I ask my fellow bikers (we are now down to 4), and I am told that we are at about (?) 47 miles. All this high tech equipment and I have to resort back to basic math in my head, and I’m already tired. Remember those forgotten gels. I can tell I’m getting behind in my nutrition already, and once you get behind, it is very hard to make it back up.
For about 20 minutes I noticed a major lightening of the sky, and the sun breaks through the clouds. Oh how nice it feels and I am actually starting to feel warm, and thinking that shortly I may be able to take off a couple of layers. I have so many layers on that I remember thinking, “What am I going to do with all of these clothes?” Well, that question was answered very quickly. The clouds closed back in and I’m back to being chilly. Oh where did my sun go?
By the time we arrive at the first check point, which is an old post office, wayyyy out in the middle of nooooowhere, it is raining and cold. (Mile 52) Not a good combination. Leslie is waiting on us there with my rain jacket and gels. Ah nutrition, and warm clothes. Even with the extra clothes, I’m already wet through, and I am starting to chill. We better get moving. Our group of 4 is taking way too much time at the stop, which is a bad thing, as the lactic acid starts to build in the legs and with the cold it is really hard to get started. Off in the rain we go, only to stop in about 5 miles at what someone said was another control point, which turns out to be just a gas station, again in the middle of nowhere. But as we need water and hydration, I stop for a 32oz diet coke and eat a energy bar. I think I am plenty hydrated as I have to pee twice while I’m here. We get ready to go and “Georgia Mike” has to run back in the store and pee. Oh this is not a good sign. Our group of 4 really has turned into a group of 3, with one guy just hanging on. I am starting to shiver, I’m so cold. I really need to get back on the bike and get some heat going.
By 10 in the morning the rain is going from a downpour to light drizzle. It has been a long time since I’ve been on a ride where I needed a diver’s mask and a snorkel. At this point the main thing that I do to occupy my mind is marvel at how the bike chain can pick up and throw so much water, and still work. You think about really strange things on long bike rides.
At around 11AM we arrive at LUNCH!! Mile 94 almost exactly half way. Jim/Meegan are there with a wonderful spread. Hot soup, hard boiled eggs, sandwiches, coffee, cookies. Yum!! I just wish we could have spent more time eating, but I am really starting to get cold, and the wind is really blowing through the pavilion, so off we go.
When we leave the lunch stop we turn and ride directly into a headwind for about the next 15 miles until the Orange Springs checkpoint (yep, we are still way out in the middle of nowhere). About 5 miles before the CP, we finally hit some brand new pavement. Nice, smooth, comfortable, oh yes, my butt is loving it… I mention to our little group, “watch out for the sideline marking “dots”, they could cause a wreck.” These are round sharp edged markers that keep drivers from going off the side of the road. Just about that time, I run right over one. Crap!!! It is about a mile to the CP and I realize that I’m getting a flat tire. I sprint ahead of my group to get to the CP before the tire goes completely flat. I make it just as I’m riding on the rim. Remember that Gremlin Bell? I guess it worked. I quickly change my tire. It is raining so hard that I can’t keep the water out of the tire, so finally I give up. Put the tube in, and with my CO2 I pump it up. BTW: when you use the CO2 It gets really cold, so as the gas is flooding into the wet tire, I hear the water in the tire freezing, cracking, freezing, cracking. I sure hope it doesn’t come off the rim, which it doesn’t. I’m sure glad it didn’t blow off the rim, as I don’t have another tube.
I am amazed how many times over the next almost 100 miles we all have to stop and pee. Four old men on bikes, working hard together, and we all have to stop. I am starting to worry about going too much and washing the micro nutrients out of my system. My right calf is starting to cramp just a little, which I think is from the cold water spray (and maybe come chemical imbalances) coming up on my leg and keeping it too cool. The wind is mostly coming off to our right, so I am mostly running on the left side of the guy in front of me. Great, another thing to worry about. When I’m on the bike, I’m generating just enough heat to keep me warm, but just barely.
“Pensacola Steve” (PS) is wanting to do the Paris-Brest-Paris ride in the fall, which is a 1200KM ride (which I have NO inclination to do), and he wants to stay on the front way too long. Also he forgot his glasses this morning, and the road spray/grit gets in his eyes when he’s in the back, so he stays up front. He is setting a great pace, so that is fine with me. I spend a lot of time riding in the second slot. Our group of 4 has turned into the group of 3.
Finally the rain lets up, and PS is getting tired (well no wonder), and we go back into a normal rotation. I suggest that we do short rotations of no more than a mile. That works with Steve and me, but Georgia Mike can’t hold the pace of about 19 MPH, so it turns into a rotation of two.
My last rotation was just before a true Saint appeared on the horizon. I pulled for 2.9 miles trying to hold a pace of 19 when I saw a veritable hero up the road. Mike Robinson, my teammate on CycleLogic, had told me that he would help pull me in the last 40 or so miles. He had indicated that he would ride out and meet us at the Hampton BP, and do the last part with us. With the weather being so lousy, I thought there would be no way that he would come out and meet me. But there he was!! You cannot imagine how happy I was to see him. Even as I write this, it brings back wonderful thoughts. Mike has helped a number of guys do long distance endurance rides and when he showed up he was prepared. FOR ME!!
First thing he did was ask how we were on water? I was fine but PS is out, and Mike hands him a bottle. I mention to Mike that when we get to the next check point, I need to stop and get some Fig Newtons. He instantly hands me a packet of Newtons. He also has a rain cape at our disposal. Damn, I’m HAPPY!
We stop quickly at the CP for some hydration, which I really don’t need, but I love my diet Coke. We take off, GM is once again dragging. We get about 10 miles down the road and I tell Mike that I must make another pit stop. He tells PS and GM to keep on going and he’ll pull me back up. I get back on the bike and we see GM is playing with his arm warmers. Mike says “Forget them, let’s go.” I agree. We hold about 18 MPH, and I’m feeling surprisingly good. I even mention to Mike that I can pull a little, but he won’t hear of it. I’m actually glad he said that…
With about 20 miles to go, we roll up on a “Secret CP”. Rob Wilt is the volunteer manning the CP and he tells us that I am the first “Upright” bike to come through. What!!!??? I’m the first registered upright rider to roll through, just recumbents ahead. Oh Crap!! Now I can’t let someone come around me. So off we go. Mike is pulling as hard as he can, and I’m sucking his wheel as best I can. He is even sitting up for me to better break the wind, and give my legs all the rest he can.
We (there is a recumbent with me, which has followed us most of the day) roll down 43rd Street where Mike turns off to go home. His job done, now it is up to me to make sure no one comes around me. The recumbent that is with me asks me if I realize that we may break the 12 hour barrier. We have 27 minutes to make it from the Chevron on 53rd, down to Shands. Oh this is gonna hurt, I am able to hold 19-20 down 43rd, and then we start winding through some back streets getting back to the final CP. I get caught at a couple of lights with heavy traffic, but that is just part of it.
Finally, we hit the little sidewalk leading up to the last CP. I hit the brakes for the final time at 5:02, twelve hours and TWO minutes. Rats, but I am still the first upright bike in. Even though this isn’t a timed event, if feels so great to be the first one in.
I get my card stamped, and pee another two times. I have a headache coming on and my legs are pretty crampy, but not too bad. Leslie and I decide to load my bike on the car and run out and pick up my two of my teammates from Team Disturbed, Jo Weaver and Tom Dickenson. I spot them at the secret CP, make a quick U turn and drive back down the road a few miles and get ready to ride again.
They catch up with me and we ride the last 13 miles together. And another member of Team Disturbed was the FIRST FEMALE in on an upright bike. Way to go JO!! We are all tired and very relieved that the ride is finished. We drive home with a HUGE sense of accomplishment. WE DID IT! Not many people can say that they have ridden that distance, and I look forward to the next ride (March 5th) which is even longer.
I can really tell that I did put my body through a lot of stress. We take Jo home and I unload her bike and walk it to her front porch, which was about 40 feet. By the time I got back to the car I was shivering uncontrollably. Scared Leslie to bits, and me too. I turned on the heater in the car on high and it took me almost until I pulled into the driveway that I got warm. Poor Leslie had to be melting.
Lastly, I would like to thank a lot of people but I’ll only mention a few here.
First of course to Leslie, she was/is an awesome sag person, and I am so lucky.
Jim/Meegan/Rob/GCC, thank you for making this event a great success.
Mike Robinson, well I don’t need to say more, but thanks!
