Jul 17/18 - prep and ride

The 17th / Friday, was a quiet day. The Davies had arrived overnight, including Mike & Jill and Eris, so we got to "meet" Eris.  It looks like Mike and Jill have things well in hand with their firstborn.  All babies are cute ... what can I say ?  She seems like a happy baby.

It rained all day, but never heavily.  Somewhere in there, in the rain of course, I packed the bike in the car.  Being a one day event and expecting heat and not rain, it didn't take me long to pack my stuff and have it by the door awaiting my departure.  I must have done some other things that day but I don't really remember.

Up at 1:15 a.m. (yes, ugh), I was out of the house a little before 2am.  This 300k starts in Vaughan, the Tim's at the intersection of Keele and Rutherford Road, so just east of the 400.  I stopped at the new Innisfil Onroute and used their bathrooms to change into my cycling gear.  Without that stop, it's a three hour drive, so I was there a little after 5am for the 6am ride start.  I had a Tim's coffee (more ugh) and used their wifi to catch up on what was happening in the world.

Arthur was organizer, i.e. he had the brevet cards from Stephen, and the half-dozen of us were ready and then rolling at 6am.  The temperature was mid 60's so I was a little overdressed in my reflective vest and arm warmers, but not too bad.  The vest was the first to go as things, and I, warmed up.  The warmers stayed on for a while mostly because they had a patina of what looked like frost but was actually tiny water droplets accumulated from the fog that we were in for the first couple of hours of the ride.

I was quickly the lanterne rouge and would have been that way to the end except that one fellow (Tim?) had three flats and a skewer problem and finished up a few minutes after me.   Arthur beat me in by about 20 minutes.

I caught up to Arthur and Tim at the first Control at 100km and they left a few minutes before me.  The next Control was another 40k or so down the road and about half-way there I found Tim at the side of the road just about finished fixing a flat.  I expected to see him again, catching up to me, before the Control but found out later about his skewer problem.  He was using the locking skewer for the front wheel that I've got in my parts bin because I figure that no-one is going to bother stealing my front wheel (the generator hub); they'll just take the whole bike.  Anyway, the locking skewer wasn't holding at the far side and he eventually stopped at a hardware store and bought a pair of vicegrips. 

I caught up to Arthur on that leg as well; he was stopped by the side of the road.  His chain had come apart, pin coming out of one plate.  He'd gotten it back together again but I doubt if it would have held.  Apart once, it was going to get worse.  He would have had a long day or a DNF without the new pin that I supplied.  I had him remove two links, one on either side of the problem, and pin it back together again.  Luckily he had a 10 speed Shimano the same as me. 

We rolled off together and got to the next to final Control at the same time; he'd stopped for a minute waiting for me.  Tim's or Subway ... well, Subway of course.  I'm partial to their chopped salads now that I'm not eating their bread. 

It was 100km to the first Control, with about half of the 1500 meters of climbing done by then.  Most of the rest of the climbing was in the next 100 kms, with a few Controls in there -- 45 + 45 + 25 ? -- something like that.  It was then 100km to the end (yes, it did add up to more than 300k).

Arthur started off waiting for me on that last leg but I told him not to and he ended up putting 20 minutes into me by the end.  I finished up just before 10pm for a time of 15:58; he was in about 9:40 and figured that was a personal best.  I had thought that I would be finished up closer to 9pm but stopping to help Arthur and the time at the Subway put a dent in that expectation; that and the fact that I'm just slower on this bike.

One of the riders had a velomobile and he passed me somewhere on the last leg and we then juggled back and forth as I passed him on the uphills and he roared by me on the downhills.  The final run-in to Vaughan has a drop in elevation so he picked up a few minutes on me to finish earlier.

As for the bike, I know from riding around here  - my 522 and 69 route - that it's slower than the litespeed.  Weight and wind resistance takes its toll.  I have three choices:  1) I can simply get used to it; 2) I can drop some weight by removing the front rack and bag, going back to the former configuration; 3) I can train and get faster.  Since (3) isn't likely, it's really a choice of (1) or (2). 

There's also the fenders.  I don't know if the fenders make much difference.  They probably do contribute to the wind resistance.  Some people use them or not depending on expected conditions. 

I have to break the bike down in the next few days and attempt to pack it.  I will weigh the options (and parts) as I go through that process.  I should try riding the bike without fenders and also without front rack.  I could surely do PBP without the front rack; I didn't have it the last time, nor did I have fenders.

When I did the SR600k I deliberately handicapped myself with the full regalia.  I did that and I know that I could do PBP so-equipped but I'll likely end up being the lanterne rouge in our little group (me, Jerry and Hamid).  It's something to think about.

Anyway, I'd finished and had a cold drink with Arthur and Tim then headed home.  I stopped at the King Onroute to get coffee; the Starbucks had just closed.  I bought a diet coke and rolled on.  I stopped again at the Barrie Onroute but the service was dreadfully slow and I gave up, leaving without coffee.   I knew that meant a stop again later, opted not to stop at Waubushene and pulled off at Crooked Lake Road for a 40 minute nap.  I got back at 2:45.

When I came in the house, Abby started barking and Sandy peeled herself off the ceiling.  I had a shower and slept until 8:30 or so.

Another ride is on the books.  Onward !