June 15 - feeling human again

Not on the 15th, but this morning, after my coffee, I'm feeling more human. After so much biking without my normal diet, my digestive system was out of sorts. It felt strange to walk with some leg muscles outsized ... and it certainly felt strange to sit in the car for 14 hours without one pedal stroke.

The drive down to Florida yesterday was an easy one. I opted to drive the extra 50 miles over to I81 and down, vs heading for the Washington Beltway, which easily could have cost us more time and certainly frustration.

When we got into NSB, we stopped at the Publix two miles from our place and picked up food for dinner. Sandy felt like chicken; I felt like ham; so we each had our chosen menu, with sweet potatoes and peas as accompaniments ... oh yes, and wine. It's been days, simply days, since I had a glass of wine. Sandy had picked up a mixed case of wine at Moore Brothers in Delaware while she was up there (white and red), and as usual John's selections were excellent.


Today, I have lots of stuff to do. I'm going to buy a small electric lawn mower and do the lawn. Before we leave I have to trim any vines that are starting to re-grow around the now open palms at the back of the house. It doesn't look like there's been much mangrove growth in the cleared area but I really have not gone down there yet to inspect things.

It's hot. It was 77F at 6am. Should I expect anything else in Florida in June ? I'm planning on going for a bike ride -- one of my now-established Permanents -- on Thursday or Friday depending on the weather forecast. Judith Longley in DeLand has already congratulated me on my Shenandoah ride via email so I let her know that I'm here and planning to ride. She may or may not come over -- left to my own devices I'll head out really early, like 4am, to get most riding done while it's cool out -- cool being a relative term.

Ok ... some things about the ride ...

----

I'm back -- decided to sort through my three bags and get the biking clothes into the wash.

From the ride --

rolling time -- 57 hours (I think, more on that later)
miles covered -- 766 approx (more on that later)
total ascent -- 47,609 (from my Garmin)
elapsed time -- 82:45, but that's a funny number in this context ...

I'll download the data from the Garmin at some point and see what the charts have to show about grade, etc. but there were some really steep pitches where I was standing in my lowest gear, pulling on the handlebars and pumping the pedals as hard as I could, doing a switchback back and forth across the road. There were people with much better gearing for climbing ... perhaps I should look into that at some point but according to everyone, this ride is the worst in terms of 1200k's that you can find. There are shorter brevets with more climbing per km in TN and PA and probably elsewhere, but they aren't in my plans. The PBP (Paris-Brest-Paris) has a lot of rolling hills, but no steep grades.

Here is a brief accounting of the ride (well, I'm saying brief, but I don't know how much my fingers will type -- I have no control over them) ...

We started out from Leesburg VA, about 40 of us, all in a bunch. It was dark -- 4 a.m., the roads relatively quiet for so close to Washington, and rolling hills -- short, not steep, easy riding. Hamid was somewhere around me -- we talked briefly -- and then I lost track of him. As usual, there was a faster group that started distancing itself from the rest, but not as quickly as I've seen on the shorter rides. After all, this was the beginning of a several day marathon, not a sprint.

Soon it was light and we were pretty well strung out. The hills were longer rollers, not high and not steep, easy riding. There was no wind -- actually, there was no wind for the entire 1200, in terms of its impact -- perfect conditions for me. Give me hills and no wind and I'll have a great time.

I chatted for a bit with another Canadian early on -- I forget names -- but was riding by myself. I maintained my pace, doing what my legs told me was comfortable. I was wearing one of my two Canadian jerseys, clearly identifying my nationality. There were others with Canadian jerseys -- some from rides, like the BC 1200 and a couple of guys whose reflective gear was like a mesh roadworkers vest with a maple leaf ... neat.

The countryside was typical northern Virginia -- treed areas, farms, cows, horses, all very middle-class looking. Middle income houses were interspersed with some gigantic estates. It was all very pleasant.

Our first Control was in Gettysburg PA in Gettysburg Battlefield park. 68.2 miles into the ride, this was our northernmost point. I arrived there at 8:34 (all times that I mention will be from the Brevet card of which I took a photocopy at the end). I see now from the shenandoah1200.com website, that there was a large group of riders that arrived at 7:57. If I counted correctly, there were 17 riders in that group. It looks like there were 14 riders behind me, so I was in the back third, so to speak. The cuttoff for that Control was 11:20 -- so at that point I had 3 hours "in the bag", as it were. I see that Hamid arrived there at 9:29 -- I found out later that he was having mechanical difficulties -- and Alain and Vita (the tandem) arrived at the same time as Hamid. The slowest rider was Matt Settle -- the ride organizer -- coming in at 10:20.

The Gettysburg Control was staffed by one of the ride organizers -- actually the fellow who maintains the website. Nice guy, I had exchanged several emails with him prior to the ride because I was having a hard time getting a response out of Matt who apparently travels a lot.

Turning south, the next Control was at Sharpsburg MD, mile 116.7. I'm now 15% through the ride, but more importantly, 52% through the day. Mentally, I'm taking each day at a time. With all these long rides, the important thing is to manage your mental attitude. As much as anything, it's about mental toughness. Obviously physical endurance is important, but you know that there is going to be pain, highs and lows.

This was a typical convenience store type of Control. With lots of riders ahead of me, they were well into the drill and marked my time and their initials on my control card. As at the Gettysburg Control, I filled my water bottles -- one with Perpetuem -- and I think that I also bought and ate some pretzels or Chex Mix -- same as I did in Gettysburg. There was nothing remarkable about the terrain up to this point; the grades were easy but the total ascent kept accumulating. I arrived there at 12:30 -- it looks like there were 17 riders behind me at that point. I guess that means that I passed some people, but I don't recall. Looking at the arrival times on the website, it looks like some of the riders who were in that lead group getting into Gettysburg were now behind me. That's not unusual -- people can burn themselves out. There was no big upfront group any more. I was riding very conservatively, no point in pushing myself.

Between Leesburg and Gettysburg we did get some drizzle. I got damp enough that I didn't think it was worthwhile putting on my rain jacket and keeping all that moisture in ... it was warm enough that it was not uncomfortable. The weather cleared after Gettysburg and I never really got rained on again.

I found out later that Hamid had run into a mechanical problem with his cassette setup by Gettysburg. He diverted to a bike shop to get repairs and lost a lot of time. At one point he ended up riding with Matt Settle, who was still bringing up the rear, and actually saved Matt's ride ... and retrieved Matt's wallet when it popped out of his backpack. It's a very funny story the way that Hamid tells it, but unfortunately, ultimately, the mechanical problems cost Hamid the ride. Without sleep he ended up in a ditch - not hurt, thankfully - getting to a Control after it had closed, finding a hotel room enroute to spend the night and making his way back to the start.

The next Control was at Winchester VA -- a convenience store -- 153.5 miles / 3:28 pm (15:28). By the looks of things, there were 20 riders behind me at this point so I was in the middle of the very spread out pack. The rear -- Matt Settle -- at 19:19, was almost 4 hours behind; the front -- 13:45, more than 2 hours ahead of me. That small group at the front consisted of John Preston, who had joined us for lunch before Sandy had left; Juan Salazar, who I'd met on the Ontario NY ride, and Henrick Olson, who I can't place right now. Juan, from Brazil, doing his doctorate at Cornell in the aerospace field, is a very strong rider. He'd finished that 200k ride in NY an hour ahead of me. I see that Andy Brenner, from New Jersey, got to Winchester at 14:29 -- an hour ahead of me.

The final Control for my riding day was at Harrisonburg VA, mile 225.8, -- a dorm at EMU (Eastern Mennonite University). I was pooped, but not wasted, if you know what I mean. As with most long rides, you're tired at the end. There was a long gradual climb into Harrisonburg, a lot of elevation gain as I realized two days later descending out of Harrisonburg. Off to my right -- west, since we were heading south -- were mountains in West Virginia and quite a light show going on with thunderstorms. I was worried that I'd get dumped on, so probably pushed myself a little more than earlier in the day, but that's me thinking in retrospect about how I felt coming into the dorm.

At the dorm there was a large room with couches and chairs, a table with food, people hanging around -- Scott, the organizer from the Gettysburg Control. As usual they push food at you, but I always like to clean up first. The dorm rooms were typical university, I guess (I lived with my grandparents) -- two single beds, two desks, a wall unit with double dresser. We were not assigned rooms, per se, rather we claimed a bed which came with linens and a towel. It was up to you to make the bed. Claiming a bed, I got my first drop bag, retrieved clean shorts and a t-shirt and had my shower. I felt a lot better afterwards. The other bed in the room had already been claimed -- a bag sitting beside the bed but that's all. I never found out whose bag it was -- perhaps one of the organizers/volunteers -- because it was still there when I left later.

I then went to get some food. As much as possible you want any time off the bike to work to your advantage -- give your digestive system time to absorb calories, because it's less efficient while you're riding. I had some pasta, a can of coke, I didn't eat a huge amount. You do get beyond being hungry after riding so long. I then organized myself for the next day's riding -- sorted clothes from the drop bag (this first drop bag would also be the third drop bag), found that I was missing a sock, should have been two full pairs, kicked myself mentally since it's probably sitting on the floor in the bedroom at the cottage, but moved on.

The dirty but basically dry clothes that I'd worn during the day went into a plastic bag in the drop bag. I had not used the entire day's Perpetuem, so I estimated how many I'd need for the following day, packed my rack-pack, decided to leave my long sleeved jersey in the drop bag, and took my bike outside and cleaned and lubed my chain with Finish Line Dry Lube and a rag that I'd packed in the drop bag.

When I pulled into the dorm Control, it was 9:09 ... 21:09. I see now from the website that Juan had arrived at 7:37 and Andy at 8:15. I had formulated a plan in my mind to leave at 2am, get as far ahead of the game as possible, with three hours sleep. I figured that three hours would work for me, but I was guessing. Juan approached me, asking what my plan was and I told him ... he decided to join me. That was good, having fellow riders in the dark is a good thing. Using my cell phone, I set my alarm for 1 a.m. and went to sleep. I'd plugged in my Garmin to recharge it -- my charger was in the drop bag -- and refreshed batteries in the on-the-road charger.

At 1:30 am I got up, organized myself -- not really in a hurry, had a small bagel or something, I forget, and perhaps some orange juice. I filled my water bottles, got myself lubed (chamois cream, suntan lotion) and was ready to go at 2am. Juan was ready, and asked if I minded waiting for Andy -- who I'd not met at that point, but had seem busying himself in the area -- no problem, and we three set out about 10 minutes later. I closed up my bag and left it in the hallway with others, expecting to see it two days later -- and I did.

In total, I'd spent 5 hours at the Control. If I was trying to set any records, a 5 hour stop was not going to cut it. I was not trying to set records. I wanted to take a measured approach to this so that I didn't blow myself up. I wanted to leave by 2am so that I'd arrive at the next night's stop in daylight -- boy, was I wrong about that, as it turned out. It's a good thing that we left early.

The first stop of the 2nd day was at Deerfield VA, mile 266 -- a volunteer fire department. This was the alternate overnight stop -- people were asleep in cots around the room. We arrived at Deerfield at 5:14 a.m.; the sky was just starting to get light. At Deerfield there was a breakfast setup, so I had a couple of bowls of raisin bran and as usual filled my bottles. There was also a cook, and a full kitchen -- Juan and Andy had scrambled eggs, but I didn't want to chance anything that solid.

Getting into the Harrisonburg dorm the night before at 9:09 p.m., I had almost 7 hours in the bag. Of course a 5 hour stop used up a lot of that margin, but I'd gained an hour and more back coming into Deerfield, since its cutoff was at 8:32. It looks like I was still in the middle of the pack coming into Harrisburg, but of course the pack was getting even further strung out by that point and we were starting to accumulate some DNF's -- Did Not Finish. The Harrisonburg dorm was a Control whether or not you were sleeping there ... had I continued on to Deerfield, I'd have arrived at Deerfield after midnight, assuming that it took three hours. I'm glad that I stopped.

I didn't know what was happening with Hamid at that point -- his plan was to sleep at Deerfield -- but had seen Alain and Vita come into Harrisonburg so I was encouraged that they had not fallen too far behind and had built up some margin.

Day two turned out to be the longest riding day. From Deerfield at 266, the next Control was at 333.3 miles -- too far to go on two water bottles. We found a volunteer fire department at Effinger -- close to where Linda and Alec Wilder live -- and they were kind enough to let us fill up water bottles and use the restroom. Andy and I thought that Juan had fallen asleep in the restroom, but no, he just took a long time. I wasn't the only one with digestive troubles it seems.

We reached the Buchanan VA, 333.3 Control at 11:20. The cutoff for this control was 15:48, so we were still maintaining a 4 hour margin. We spent a lot of time there, probably an hour. There was a Burger King internal to the Exxon convenience store and I was persuaded to have a grilled chicken sandwich. I was worried that solid food might do me in, but I didn't have any problems, thankfully.

Floyd VA was the next Control, but in between was the Blue Ridge Parkway and a lot of climbing. Andy was running into trouble with the climbing but Juan and I waited. At the end of the Parkway Juan and I went on to the Control, some flat riding later. Andy urged us to go on, but our time into Floyd was 8:56 pm. With still another 46 miles of riding to do before the night stop at Mt. Airy NC, I did not want to leave Andy riding alone in the dark. We waited and left together.

The climb on the BRP is one that I did last year with Ken Mercurio. I'd forgotten the length of the climb and it drained all of us. I'd done the climb before knowing the length and just working at it. The pitch wasn't brutal, but the climb was 8 miles long. The trouble is that we thought it was shorter and it just kept wearing at us mentally. Every turn looked like the end of the climb, but it wasn't. Last year, of course, I rode it with Ken in the pouring rain without the bike laden down, so it was a lot easier. Knowing what to expect and dealing with it mentally is half the battle. This was a tough climb.

Leaving Floyd, heading to Mt. Airy, there was a lot of descent. We were assured that it was "all downhill from here" but no, there was a significant amount of climbing too, with steep pitches. It was dark; I'm not keen on descending in the dark at high speed. I almost hit a deer once ... that would certainly have ended my ride. Potholes, curves -- anything can be a problem at high speed. I'd have enjoyed the descent more but for two things -- being able to see and knowing full well that whatever I descended I would have to climb in the morning, since the next morning's route would take us back to Floyd again along the same route.

We got into Mt. Airy at 23:29. Naturally we had accumulated some stop time over the course of the day, but we'd still been on the road almost 22 hours. That is a long biking day. The Control at Mt. Airy was a Knights Inn with the local bicycle club managing the rooms, feeding us, etc. As we rolled in, they wanted to take our bikes, wanted to feed us ... without seeming ungrateful, I only wanted to get off the bike, go to my room and cleanup. They put Juan and I in the same room and we arranged a 3:30 a.m. wakeup time. Andy was a bit discouraged by the hill climbing and was staying clear of our leaving plans. He knew that we had 12 miles of climbing before we got to the rolling hills ... going back to Floyd.

The food was good -- barbecued hamburgs, hot dogs, pasta -- they wanted to know what I wanted on my hamburg ... no thanks, I'll add my own condiments; they wanted me to sit down ... no thanks, I'll stand since I've been on my butt most of the day; the bike club members were having an all night party while I was in keep-to-myself recovery mode.

In the morning, Andy was up before we left but would have no part in joining us. He didn't want us waiting for him. We climbed ... it was tough. Juan is a great climber, stronger than me on the steepest pitches, but only had to wait a minute at the top of the worst section -- 3.4 miles of standup, grind along at 4-5 mph. We got to Floyd at 8:30, 4.5 hours margin still in hand, and puttered around, not in a rush. Andy arrived as we were prepared to leave ... he was feeling much better and hurried a little and we set off together. With Floyd behind us, the rest of the 1200k was "in the bag" assuming that we didn't have any major problems. Floyd was at 493.2 miles -- still long to go, but manageable.

Alain and Vita had not arrived at Mt. Airy before we left. We saw them as we started to climb; they were descending. I knew that they'd be into Mt. Airy in time for the cutoff and hoped against hope that they'd be able to set out again quickly, knowing that it the made it to Floyd -- even if they had to walk up that steep section -- that they would be successful in completing the 1200k. It wasn't to be -- Alain made the executive decision to stop. Vita needed sleep and they were too close to the wire. They, and a couple of others, rented a car and drove back to Leesburg.

From Floyd, we rode to Buchanan, through Roanoke VA. On the way down to Roanoke I knew that I was in trouble. I hadn't been drinking enough. I'd lost a ton of fluids on the climbs and had not kept up. I ate a bunch of junk, compulsively, at Floyd, but didn't drink anything other than coffee. I told Juan and Andy that I needed to stop at a fast food place, sit in the shade and have a cold drink. I recognized the panicky dehydrated feeling that was hitting me.

As we rolled along in Roanoke, Justin came up from behind us and joined our small group. He'd been riding with John Preston and Mike ... who we'd passed on that 3.4 mile uphill steep climb. Justin had been waiting at the top of the big hill for the two of them. The three had rolled into Floyd after we did and then left quickly, so were ahead of us. Justin is a great climber, but one of his knees was bothering him and he let himself be dropped by the other two before Roanoke. Oh yes -- there was a huge descent into Roanoke -- remember that 8 mile uphill climb on the BRP ?

We were almost out of Roanoke when I diverted to a convenience store and the others followed me. There was nothing of interest in that store -- I wanted a small sandwich as well as lots of fluids -- so I went to the 7-11 across the street. At that point I didn't care if the others stuck with me or not -- I knew that I needed the recovery time or I'd run into a real problem. Andy was in worse shape than me. It had hit him like a brick riding through Roanoke. Juan and Justin came across the street eventually to see what was happening with us -- I was starting to feel better -- 1000% better (of course, 10x1 still = 10) -- Andy had not quite rejuvenated yet but realized how little he'd been drinking. Both of us had gone 8 hours of riding on two bottles of water. That's way beyond ridiculous. That can knock you down.

Onward, feeling better by the minute, we got to Buchanan VA, mile 558.2, that same Exxon/Burger King, at 2:30. The cuttoff was 10:05. In spite of our delays, we had 7.5 hours margin built up. Will wonders never cease. I thought that I'd try a veggie burger ... mistake ... no stomach problems but it tasted like ... nothing. Andy had the same grilled chicken as the day before but it was drowned in mayo -- there's no winning. Justin came into Buchanan with us but left with John and Mike who were already almost finished. We spent a full hour there, which turned out to be a good thing. John, Mike and Justin got dumped upon along route 11 going north -- we rode on wet roads knowing that anyone before us probably got wet. We really lucked out.

Which at the Exxon I turned on my cell phone and gave Sandy a progress report -- I'd talked to her briefly once per day. I decided that I couldn't pass within a mile of Linda's twice without giving her a call, so called to say hello. No, we didn't need anything, I said, thanks anyway. Well, as we got to the intersection where we would turn to go see them, Linda and Alec were waiting by the side of the road. They had been offering water etc. (yes, beer too) to any passing riders in our group and at least one person had taken them up on the beer. They must have been out there at least an hour, perhaps 1.5 hours, not knowing for sure how soon we'd leave Buchanan (that wasn't quick) or how quickly we'd get to their place.

Juan and Andy started riding off ... I was still talking ... Linda shooed me away saying that she didn't want me riding alone. No, I wouldn't be riding alone. We'd already provided a mutual support and were not leaving each other anywhere at that point. I'd helped Juan twice -- his strap broke on his seat pack and I had zip ties to support it; I lent him glasses since he'd left his in Mt. Airy; we'd helped Andy -- no, something could cause us to separate, but no one of us was going to simply drop out or ride away.

Onward to Harrisonburg again, mile 646.8, arriving at 23:02 ... we had 11 hours margin. Earlier Juan had thought that he wanted to ride through ... but that had changed. Why would we do that ? We were not going to set any records. We were not going to qualify for RAAM. Let's enjoy this. They had subs in stock for dinner and I had two. I had brownies; I had other stuff ... it was compulsive eating. Five hours after we had arrived, at 4am, we were rolling again.

When I got up at 3am, I was surprised to see Henk -- the Dutchman from Canada. I had assumed that he was far, far ahead of me and that I wouldn't see him after the start of the ride. As it turns out, he ended his ride in Leesburg only 20 minutes ahead of us -- he and two others. Before that, though, we had more riding to do.

The last leg was the shortest, but still a 120 mile ride ... still almost 200k ... still a decent day's ride. In the middle, as a surprise, we found a road whose name ended in "gap" and had another significant climb. I didn't have any problems there, but did later. I did well between Harrisonburg and Front Royal -- my typical ride doing well on the rollers. At mile 714.1, we got to that Control at 10:29, a little less than 8 hours margin.

It was my turn to run into trouble. There was a section where Juan really wanted to push it; Andy was close drafting; I was too tired to draft that way. Also, while I could probably have followed Juan closely, since I can match his pedal strokes, Andy's style is more to take a few quick strokes and then coast -- very hard for me to follow. I hung back and kept up, but eventually I told them that I could not do this for three hours. Andy wanted me to draft closer -- that wasn't to be. They eased up. At one point I was thinking that if this had been the beginning of the ride I would have told them to just go on -- I wasn't enjoying this. It's not the way that I like to ride.

I find that I can keep up with reasonably fast riders even though my speed is not as consistent as theirs. I've followed well behind groups that are drafting each other and then take time at Controls ... my style is more to get in and out of Controls quickly ... whatever ... we were almost finished (and I was almost finished !). That's not really true -- at a slightly slower pace I could have gone on for a long time; I had lots of margin.

We got in at 2:45. The deadline was 10 pm. We had done well. I guess that there were 8 before us, the earliest having arrived at 2:11 that morning. In my opinion, they had missed the prettiest riding day. Oh well, each to his/her own. I'd had a good time, met some good guys, accomplished my goal. I don't train the right way to work at simply bettering my time -- the rides are different enough, even on the same course, that it's hard to compare. Weather, body -- too many things can cause variances. I wanted to have a good time ... and I had an excellent time.

The numbness in my toes is gradually going away ... the only butt problem that I had was the last day -- the Performance Bike shorts that I rode with the last day were definitely not as good an anatomical fit in the chamois area. As with other aches and pains that came and went -- ankles, knees, hands -- I could vary my position and work through it.

Would I do it again ? I'm doing it in August, but a different route -- this time north of Toronto, not as far a drive. On that ride I expect wind.

Ok -- was that a brief description of the ride ? Perhaps not ... as I said, I have no control over my fingers.

ps ... I'm too bored to proof read this one ...