Ohio Randonneurs 400K
After last months great NCBC Randonneurs 300K I was feeling pretty good after going that distance. In fact I felt like I could easily ride another 100K. That made me feel confident about doing a 400K. The RUSA handbook mentions that the 400K is much harder and often "the one riders fear the most." I did not feel that and still don't.
I took the day off Friday to drive out after doing some yardwork and other domestic tasks so as to not worry about them after returning. Finally after 1:00 I was able to load the car. The only thing that has bothered me driving to these distant brevets has been having the bike on the back of the car. When you stop it requires setting up a locking system, not a big deal, just something I wanted to skip.
Well it turns out with poping off the wheels, seat and the cranks the "B" fits into the trunk of the "VeggieMobile."
It took all of five minutes to do this and it was nice driving down the road knowing the bike was secure and not adding drag.
After loading the rest of my gear in the car it was time to go. Here is the departure shot I normally take when leaving for a brevet.
This was sooooo cool having the bike inside the car! Not worrying about wind, weather or security. I am always paranoid of the bike flying off while driving down the road. I am less concerned when using the Sportrac as the bike is pretty locked into place but I don't have a receiver hitch installed. The trunk rack has never failed me but still scares me.
The drive was about 8 easy hours, I took my time and enjoyed the scenery. When I got to the hotel I unloaded the car into the room.
About 15 minuted later I have the bike reassembled, checked out and my gear ready to roll. Off to bed, it's 10:30PM
1:30AM and the room shakes, the winds howl and I shoot out of bed. The front that was dropping tornados in Indiana a few hours ago is now passing through Western Ohio. I sleep on and off for the next few hours but not as well as I would like.
4:20 the alarm goes off, I get cleaned up, dressed, run up to the RBA's room and register. I get the cue sheet and I am shown the detour on part of the route. No big deal. A quick breakfast and off the 5:00AM start.
Here at the start are ~20 randonneurs. I think all of us made it. 4 of us were on high racers, three Bacchettas and a RANS F5. It's dark, the winds are lite and the sky is glowing form lightning just to the South of us. The forecast has us in a Tornado Watch until 9:00AM.
There is a light on and off mist for a few hours but the light wind and sun start to burn off the clouds around 8:00. The stretch to the first control was almost 59 miles. Roughly 100K with no open stores or stops. Something I would keep in mind for the return trip. When I got to Sidney I took a shot of the town hall, this is a very pretty mid-western town.
The control at the Speedway was a welcomed oasis. First things first, the brevet card was signed, it was 9:33AM and that made 4:33 for 100K. Right on target for my projected 23 hour finish. The original game plan going in was to cover 100K ever 5 hours and take a one hour lunch and dinner stop with 20 minutes max at each control. I was able to do that for the first 200K, reaching the turning point in 11 hours, but I am getting ahead of myself.
After the first control we would encounter the detour. It actually made the ride a little nicer, sticking to a nice paved higway versus chip seal. About 10 miles later I came up on this:
We weren't told about this detour!
With luck, it was easy to ride the bike through the detour. I have been on other brevets that did the same thing. So it was "Not so Closed."
It was only 28 miles or so to the second control. It was mostly farms.
So after a couple of hours I rolled into the Subway in Liberty. I picked up a drink and some chips, not quite ready for lunch, it was a short stretch since Sidney. A quick 10 minute in and out stop and back on the road. From here there wasa fair amount of climbing, nothing huge but a lot of small ups and downs but no real rollers.
After passing through Zanefield I crossed a smalll bridge as the odometer crested the century mark for the 8th time this year. I thought it was worthy of a picture.
This also meant it was another 27.1 miles to the midway point and the turn around control. By this time the light breeze was now a strong mid 20's wind with some major gusts. Along some flat sections I was coasting for upwrds of a mile at 20+mph! Sadly I knew I would, like everyone else, "pay the price" on the return. Along one of these flat sections about 10 miles out I passed Larry Graham of Team Bacchetta, way out in front by miles with one upright rider latched on to his wheel.
Sorry about the picture, I snapped it a little early, it was hard to see with the sun on the screen of the camera.
I passed a lot of the other riders and counted 14 of the 20 by the time I hit the control. At 4:00PM I arrived at the control and had finished the first 200K in 11 hours. Still on target and looking like a 400K would be under my belt before going home!
The Marathon station had excellent subs, a colby and turkey hit the spot, I also took some time to clean up and put on the last of the sun screen. After about 30 minutes I headed out and into the wind.
Here is a map of the route;
So now it's a matter of finishing another 200K in about 15 hours. Not a big deal. Well, excpet that the wind was brutal, it really sapped my strength and my average for the next 41 miles was about 9mph. Now comes that unique moment of an out and back ride of over 200 miles, at the exact same spot I had crested the century mark, I had exactly 100 miles left to go. It was worthy of a picture.
The picture is about 100 feet from the other century spot, I just wanted to be acrross this little bridge before stopping.
Again passing throught Zanesfield and up the worst hill of the day, the only one I walked and not because of the climb. The road was full of washout and gravel, not very fun and not very safe. Corkscrew Hill needs some love by the highway administration. Here is where I met Allen, he was riding his Waterford and we decdided to ride together the rest of the way back. We made our way along the road and arrived at the Subway in Liberty by 8:30.
Notice the second bent? It's belongs to a nice gentleman from Florida, I missed his name but he road with us most of the way back until we hit Terra Haute. The three of us headed out and made out way back to Sidney. It was dark and the temps were pleasant, the high winds were now a light breeze again. The ride along the Miami river valley was sweet, the stars were out and almost the only other light was from our bikes.
It's 11:50PM do you know where your Randonneur is? Sidney at the final on the road control. 58.8 miles to go and 8 hours to get there. We loitered a little too long but we left the control with and hour and a half to spare. All three of us loaded up on water and snacks, we already knew this was a long lonely stretch of road. It was. Pleasantly so at that! Almost no cars and very quiet farm land. As we rolled through Terra Haute I felt a little pang in my stomach. I Coke from a machine and a pack of cheese crackers from the bike bag. A quick snack and as we pulled out, my chain broke, 4:00AM and 25 miles to go.
It pays to pack tools and quick links. Allen had a quick link on him and he got his out before I could get to mine. I told him I would give him my new one when we got back. 20 minutes later and we are back on the road. I pulled my right knee a bit and just backed off a bit, I was not too sleepy and we had plenty of time.
Actually when we left the control in Sidney we took it easy and finished a little less beat and a little bit later. Randonneuring is not a race. It was a blast riding in our little group.
6:50 AM and we roll into the Days Inn, ride complete. A successful 400K under my belt. My sixth "official" time cresting the century mark this year. The other two times being training rides. I had my brevet card signed and headed into the room for about 4 hours of sleep before driving home.
The Garmin died with 7 miles to go and I did not feel like messing with spare batteries for the last few miles. Which reminds me, Titanium batteries are no where near as good as the Lithium ones. I would have had the entire ride recorded if I would have used them.
The "Big One" of the season is next. I have to decide which one to try, ROMA has one and Ohio has one, each a week apart. I am going to ask the RBA and find out details on the ROMA ride then I will decided which one to tackle.
After last months great NCBC Randonneurs 300K I was feeling pretty good after going that distance. In fact I felt like I could easily ride another 100K. That made me feel confident about doing a 400K. The RUSA handbook mentions that the 400K is much harder and often "the one riders fear the most." I did not feel that and still don't.
I took the day off Friday to drive out after doing some yardwork and other domestic tasks so as to not worry about them after returning. Finally after 1:00 I was able to load the car. The only thing that has bothered me driving to these distant brevets has been having the bike on the back of the car. When you stop it requires setting up a locking system, not a big deal, just something I wanted to skip.
Well it turns out with poping off the wheels, seat and the cranks the "B" fits into the trunk of the "VeggieMobile."
It took all of five minutes to do this and it was nice driving down the road knowing the bike was secure and not adding drag.
After loading the rest of my gear in the car it was time to go. Here is the departure shot I normally take when leaving for a brevet.
This was sooooo cool having the bike inside the car! Not worrying about wind, weather or security. I am always paranoid of the bike flying off while driving down the road. I am less concerned when using the Sportrac as the bike is pretty locked into place but I don't have a receiver hitch installed. The trunk rack has never failed me but still scares me.
The drive was about 8 easy hours, I took my time and enjoyed the scenery. When I got to the hotel I unloaded the car into the room.
About 15 minuted later I have the bike reassembled, checked out and my gear ready to roll. Off to bed, it's 10:30PM
1:30AM and the room shakes, the winds howl and I shoot out of bed. The front that was dropping tornados in Indiana a few hours ago is now passing through Western Ohio. I sleep on and off for the next few hours but not as well as I would like.
4:20 the alarm goes off, I get cleaned up, dressed, run up to the RBA's room and register. I get the cue sheet and I am shown the detour on part of the route. No big deal. A quick breakfast and off the 5:00AM start.
Here at the start are ~20 randonneurs. I think all of us made it. 4 of us were on high racers, three Bacchettas and a RANS F5. It's dark, the winds are lite and the sky is glowing form lightning just to the South of us. The forecast has us in a Tornado Watch until 9:00AM.
There is a light on and off mist for a few hours but the light wind and sun start to burn off the clouds around 8:00. The stretch to the first control was almost 59 miles. Roughly 100K with no open stores or stops. Something I would keep in mind for the return trip. When I got to Sidney I took a shot of the town hall, this is a very pretty mid-western town.
The control at the Speedway was a welcomed oasis. First things first, the brevet card was signed, it was 9:33AM and that made 4:33 for 100K. Right on target for my projected 23 hour finish. The original game plan going in was to cover 100K ever 5 hours and take a one hour lunch and dinner stop with 20 minutes max at each control. I was able to do that for the first 200K, reaching the turning point in 11 hours, but I am getting ahead of myself.
After the first control we would encounter the detour. It actually made the ride a little nicer, sticking to a nice paved higway versus chip seal. About 10 miles later I came up on this:
We weren't told about this detour!
With luck, it was easy to ride the bike through the detour. I have been on other brevets that did the same thing. So it was "Not so Closed."
It was only 28 miles or so to the second control. It was mostly farms.
So after a couple of hours I rolled into the Subway in Liberty. I picked up a drink and some chips, not quite ready for lunch, it was a short stretch since Sidney. A quick 10 minute in and out stop and back on the road. From here there wasa fair amount of climbing, nothing huge but a lot of small ups and downs but no real rollers.
After passing through Zanefield I crossed a smalll bridge as the odometer crested the century mark for the 8th time this year. I thought it was worthy of a picture.This also meant it was another 27.1 miles to the midway point and the turn around control. By this time the light breeze was now a strong mid 20's wind with some major gusts. Along some flat sections I was coasting for upwrds of a mile at 20+mph! Sadly I knew I would, like everyone else, "pay the price" on the return. Along one of these flat sections about 10 miles out I passed Larry Graham of Team Bacchetta, way out in front by miles with one upright rider latched on to his wheel.
Sorry about the picture, I snapped it a little early, it was hard to see with the sun on the screen of the camera.
I passed a lot of the other riders and counted 14 of the 20 by the time I hit the control. At 4:00PM I arrived at the control and had finished the first 200K in 11 hours. Still on target and looking like a 400K would be under my belt before going home!
The Marathon station had excellent subs, a colby and turkey hit the spot, I also took some time to clean up and put on the last of the sun screen. After about 30 minutes I headed out and into the wind.
Here is a map of the route;
So now it's a matter of finishing another 200K in about 15 hours. Not a big deal. Well, excpet that the wind was brutal, it really sapped my strength and my average for the next 41 miles was about 9mph. Now comes that unique moment of an out and back ride of over 200 miles, at the exact same spot I had crested the century mark, I had exactly 100 miles left to go. It was worthy of a picture.
The picture is about 100 feet from the other century spot, I just wanted to be acrross this little bridge before stopping.
Again passing throught Zanesfield and up the worst hill of the day, the only one I walked and not because of the climb. The road was full of washout and gravel, not very fun and not very safe. Corkscrew Hill needs some love by the highway administration. Here is where I met Allen, he was riding his Waterford and we decdided to ride together the rest of the way back. We made our way along the road and arrived at the Subway in Liberty by 8:30.
Notice the second bent? It's belongs to a nice gentleman from Florida, I missed his name but he road with us most of the way back until we hit Terra Haute. The three of us headed out and made out way back to Sidney. It was dark and the temps were pleasant, the high winds were now a light breeze again. The ride along the Miami river valley was sweet, the stars were out and almost the only other light was from our bikes.
It's 11:50PM do you know where your Randonneur is? Sidney at the final on the road control. 58.8 miles to go and 8 hours to get there. We loitered a little too long but we left the control with and hour and a half to spare. All three of us loaded up on water and snacks, we already knew this was a long lonely stretch of road. It was. Pleasantly so at that! Almost no cars and very quiet farm land. As we rolled through Terra Haute I felt a little pang in my stomach. I Coke from a machine and a pack of cheese crackers from the bike bag. A quick snack and as we pulled out, my chain broke, 4:00AM and 25 miles to go.
It pays to pack tools and quick links. Allen had a quick link on him and he got his out before I could get to mine. I told him I would give him my new one when we got back. 20 minutes later and we are back on the road. I pulled my right knee a bit and just backed off a bit, I was not too sleepy and we had plenty of time.
Actually when we left the control in Sidney we took it easy and finished a little less beat and a little bit later. Randonneuring is not a race. It was a blast riding in our little group.
6:50 AM and we roll into the Days Inn, ride complete. A successful 400K under my belt. My sixth "official" time cresting the century mark this year. The other two times being training rides. I had my brevet card signed and headed into the room for about 4 hours of sleep before driving home.
The Garmin died with 7 miles to go and I did not feel like messing with spare batteries for the last few miles. Which reminds me, Titanium batteries are no where near as good as the Lithium ones. I would have had the entire ride recorded if I would have used them.
The "Big One" of the season is next. I have to decide which one to try, ROMA has one and Ohio has one, each a week apart. I am going to ask the RBA and find out details on the ROMA ride then I will decided which one to tackle.
on June 3, 2008, 9:07 am
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