Feb 6/7 - One down, Many to Go

If you're wondering what happened to Feb 5 -- look down -- I had written it but must have gotten side-tracked because it was unpublished. That's all I'll say about that !

The 6th was a quiet day around the house other than going to the bank with a grocery bag full of coins in coin wrappers.

The 7th ... well, that was on the bike ! 13:18 later and I'm finished a successful 300.

I left here at 2:30 a.m. getting to the meeting place at 3:45. I could easily have arrived 45 minutes to an hour later ... check-in was quick ... but this was the first time and I overachieved. On the way down in the car the thermometer said 33F ... yikes ... was I prepared for that ? By the time I got there, closer to the ocean, it was 50F. I was relieved.

After the sign-in and bike check for working lights, a couple of minutes before 5 a.m. Tim gave us a heads-up about some construction along the route and then fired the starting pistol ... well, not really, he just let us go.

Bike setups ranged from a tandem that I never saw again after the starting point to a couple of recumbents to minimalist, light-weight setups with a couple of battery lights, to rigs like mine. I'm pushing a lot more weight and a lot more rolling resistance than I could get away with for some of the later rides when it will be warmer ... but heck, it makes me a stronger rider, right ?!?!

For the first two hours I rode with or in close proximity to a few other riders which helped mightily because I didn't have to navigate. Navigation would have meant stopping, turning on the battery light or stopping under a street light, and checking directions. While moving, the illumination from street lights is too brief to read the cue sheet (even though I printed it in big bold print, remember, I didn't have my reading glasses on). My lighting setup worked well. Tim was impressed by my rear-light setup and I'm sure that it stood out from behind. I used the dynamo powered LED light on the front, only turning on the halogen a couple of times just to see what the effect was like. On a road with street lights it wasn't necessary.

That first section was riding along the so-called Indian River which is really an estuary -- the Intracoastal Waterway -- on the mainland side. We were under the trees much of the time and we could occasionally see the sky lightening on our back right-hand quarter as dawn approached. I had my three layers of clothing on -- short sleeved jersey, long sleeved jersey, light blue jacket -- along with full fingered gloves and leg warmers and skull cap. I didn't really need the leg warmers and I had opted not to put on the shoe covers. The temperature was in the high 40's ... I was looking forward to shedding some clothing once the sun was up.

We turned inland, riding parallel to and along US1 until we got to Titusville and turned west on Grisson Pkwy. Grissom, Armstrong, Columbia ... perhaps they should have named the town Shuttlesville or Apollosville or NASAville. The sky was light but the sun was not up yet. I was comfortable, not overheating. We rode west.

Whoops. We found the cold temperatures. I needed the leg warmers. Once away from that big, big body of water moderating the temperature it was cold. How cold, you ask ? Would you believe frost -- yes frost -- on the roof tops and brown grass. The next hour was very cold. There was no traffic; the roads were good; but I was freezing my A$$. Actually no, I was freezing my feet. I should have worn those shoe-covers. The sun kissed the tree-tops, promising warmer temperatures soon ... they were in my rack-pack but I stuck it out.

An hour later and I was stopping to take off the leg warmers; putting the blue jacket and the skull cap into the bag. With the leg warmers off and the effects of overheating behind me so-to-speak, my speed increased by about 2 mph -- from 15-16 to 17-18. If only I wasn't pushing 30 pounds of bike, fat tires, extra wind resistance, a dynamo hub ... if only ...

Then we turned east and rode 20 miles of very rough road. At this point I was thankful for the fat tires ! They make a huge difference on rough roads. I can't begin to think what that section would have been like with my 23's pumped up hard.

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I'm back ... couldn't get this completed before Mass.

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Ok -- back to the rough road. There was one fellow who had 35mm tires and apparently he flew along the road. I was happy for the 25's ... I felt sorry for people who were riding on 21's or less -- I saw their tires before leaving and was somewhat jealous because I know how much easier it is to turn those wheels.

Most people had battery operated lights, front and rear. A couple had dynamos like me. Most people had some sort of seatpost rack, many not. In a few weeks time when the weather is warmer that might be ok but yesterday, with the cold, it was great to have warm clothing to wear and great to have somewhere to stuff it when you were done. Having said that -- I could have stuffed the jacket and leg warmers, and extra gloves, in my pockets. I could have gotten by without the rack. It adds a lot of weight but it also gives you extra space. I'll have to look at alternative ways of mounting lights because there are clearly alternative setups that I could have depending on the expected weather.

So ... back to the ride. After the rough road traveling east, we turned north on US 1 at Oak Hill. I say "we" but I was riding alone at this point. I was on familiar ground now and pedal-to-the-medal I was making about 18 mph into the ENE headwind even though I'd already ridden 105 miles. I was feeling pretty good but not hydrated enough. I passed a fellow rider who was traveling 14-15 and when I looked back a mile or so later found that he was glued to my wheel. That went on for a few miles and then he dropped off at some point before we turned right in Edgewater to get off US 1 and ride along the river (estuary). Four miles more along the river and we passed under the south causeway, New Smyrna Beach, and turned into the park right there for the fourth control and lunch.

I can't say enough about how well this RBA has organized these rides. The ride that I did in NW Florida was totally self supported -- buy your own stuff at a convenience store and check-in there. This RBA (Regional Brevet Administrator) staffed each control and provided food and drink. Bottles of gatorade, not home-made stuff, gallon jugs of water, cookies, packaged junk-food snacks, and at the lunch stop -- home made pasta salad and fresh made sandwiches -- he did a wonderful job. It was around 1pm at this point and I, for one, was ready for some lunch.

Before the lunch stop I'd caught up to another couple of riders but did not pass them. After stopping for lunch, Hamid rolled in -- I only found out his name later -- he was the one who drafted behind me for about 6 miles. Hamid had a multiple bypass operation 3 months ago. Did you read that correctly ??? -- multiple bypass as in crack-the-chest. He admitted that his recovery has been better than most. Ha. One of the two riders that I'd overtaken was a cardiologist and he wanted to take a picture of Hamid for his other patients. I think that I've found someone who's almost Ken's and Jason's equal -- except that a heart bypass operation and knee surgery are much more common than Ken's hangman broken neck.

The only reason that Hamid dropped back was that he monitors his heart rate quite closely and his doctor doesn't want it over 150 at this point in his recovery. Recovery ? Recovery ? Most people with healthy hearts cannot do these rides. He's recovered to a point way stronger than most healthy people ! Believe it or not, he actually did the two 200km rides in January.

Back to the ride. The four of us left the lunch stop together, rode north to Flagler and across the north causeway, along Atlantic ave. and back across the south causeway. I was close to home ... could have diverted ... but clearly didn't need 4 extra miles ! As we rode across the south causeway we waved to Tim the RBA down below at the lunch stop. He tracks you across this point to ensure that you have not cheated and skipped that four mile loop. It's hard to believe that people might actually want to cheat -- why would they be riding these things ? Perhaps they do it for the fame, getting your name in the record books for having completed the rides, because it certainly isn't for the fortune !

Back to the ride. After the south causeway we make a small loop to Canal and then back onto Riverside, ride south into Edgewater and then back onto US 1. I fell behind right after getting onto Riverside because I had to stop and fix my rack-pack which was getting lopsided. I then missed a traffic light and it took a few miles to catch up to Hamid who had been dropped by the other two. A few miles later we passed the other two who had stopped at a convenience store parking lot for something and never saw them again. Hamid drafted behind me quite a bit. He could make better time that way and still keep his heart rate down. He's a strong rider, clearly keeping his speed in check to follow his cardiologist recommendations.

As I type this I've got music playing. I picked up a couple of albums by Journey and the lead singer Steve Perry on Amazon and had been playing them the day before the ride. They're fairly poppy stuff and I expect to tire of them soon ... but no more tired than the part of one song that kept on playing in my head for about 10 hours yesterday. I've got to experiment with a small MP3 player and earbuds for these rides where I'm off main roads for mile after mile. I could listen to a half-dozen albums from Pink Floyd, Rush or Yes over and over again and not get tired. 30 seconds of one song by Journey ... it's not quite the same thing.

I also have to look into a small helmet-mounted light so that I can read the cue sheet and odometer in the dark. Many on the ride had GPS devices, I presume the EDGE 705, with the route built-in. I'll have to ask them what they do after the power runs out, especially if they're using the back-light. Geoff has one of these -- I'll talk to him too. Having said that, I'm running out of handlebar real-estate ... I need to leave space for my hands too !

So ... down US 1, back onto the road along the river, across one of the causeways to the barrier island and then a dozen more miles and we're finished. I lost Hamid going up the hill of the causeway -- he has to keep his heart rate in check -- but waited for him at the bottom. He came along a couple of minutes later and we finished the ride together. He will be doing the Gainesville 300k in a couple of weeks -- and plans to do the 400's and 600's too, so I'll see him again ... and again.

I was talking to Hamid as we rode along on the barrier island, almost at day's end, and found out that he has lived in Boca Raton for quite a few years but before that he lived in Mississauga, north of where we lived, at Burnhamthorpe and Erin Mills Parkway. Before that he lived in Montreal, where his oldest son was born. He has a heavy accent -- I had guessed Middle Eastern of some sort (guessing to myself, because I never asked). He said that his son was born at Montreal Jewish Hospital, which of course doesn't mean anything by itself, only where the doctor is based. Perhaps I'll ask him next time, just to satisfy my curiosity.

13:18, I think will be the official time. If I'd pushed it a little harder and not stopped for so long at lunch I could have gotten the time under 13 hours, but it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that:

a) I finished the ride -- hooray ! -- and
b) I think that I'm now prepared for the 400

I had thought of the 400 as a "ride all night" ride -- but am now thinking that unless something goes wrong (flats, missed turns etc.) I should be able to get in before midnight doing the 400. A ride with hills would clearly have made it a longer ride. Wet weather would have made it a longer ride. 300km, however, is the typical day's distance on the longer rides (other than the 400k). A rider usually breaks the 600k ride into two 300's with a few hours sleep in between. The 1200 is usually broken into 4 x 300 with three short night's sleep. Flat roads (think Florida or Saskatchewan) would be conducive to 3 x 400 ... but I expect that the ride in northern Ontario, with 30,000 feet of climbing, will be more like 4 x 300. There are those who finish a 1200 ride in under 60 hours -- I've read about them in the PBP (Paris-Brest-Paris) writeups -- but more typical is in the high 70's or low 80's, among the finishers that is.

The time limit for the 300 is 18 hours. There were a few riders way ahead of us, at least 2-3 hours ahead of us judging by when they passed us going the other direction. I'll see the final results on Tim's website as soon as he updates it. There were also a few riders way behind us -- at least 2-3 hours. There could even be some pushing the time limit. I hope that everyone finished ... and that everyone rode safely. Those are the two things that matter.

It was a good ride. I feel good today. I need to drink more to do this multiple days in a row. It was cold yesterday and I didn't drink enough. It will be worse on a hot day. I'll carry some electrolyte pills to ensure that I'm getting enough salt etc. but water is key.

Soon ... I'll do it again. I don't expect to get bored doing these things, but my readers might certainly get bored reading about them !