Mar 20/21 - where do I start

There are so many titles that I could put to this blog, but perhaps "where do I start" is the best.

Sandy did get to Gainesville and had a great visit with Barb Nute ... if I don't note that here it will get lost in the rest of this blog/book/tome.

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I'm at the Rush Lake Motel again, in Gainesville, typing onto my laptop. I'm text editing, since I cannot connect to the internet. For some reason I've not been able to connect either time here -- obviously a problem with their setup because I've connected in little motels all across the country without any problems. I could go into the lobby and see if it's simply a signal strength problem, but it's not that big a deal.

My stomach is feeling better, thank goodness, so I'm as ready for tomorrow's 400k as I'll ever be. Sandy was feeling a little odd, when I left this afternoon, so it remains to be seen whether she'll feel well enough in the morning to come to Gainesville to visit Barb Nute. I'll call her at some point in the a.m. and see how she's doing.

I planned ahead this time, bringing a couple of sandwiches, a beer etc. in the cooler for dinner, rather than going to Subway. There are a lot of other choices around, but I never really feel like searching out restaurants by myself. Next time I should at least find pizza, but that could weigh heavily on my digestive system before a big ride.

I've eaten, checked in, had my bike lights checked and I'm good to go ... at 4am. That means getting up an hour or so earlier, having coffee, etc. and then heading out to the parking garage for the opening Control and send-off. Make coffee, eat breakfast, shower, suntan lotion, chamois cream, pump tires, pack car ... 3:45 ... probably need to get up at 2:30 ... ok, I'll set my alarm on my cell phone. It's only 7:40 now but I need to get to sleep soon or it will be a very short night. It'll be a short night anyway I cut it.

I fell asleep around 8pm, and woke up at 12:15. Oh oh -- I need more sleep than that. I tried to relax and was successful, waking up at 2:27 -- three minutes before my alarm -- great ! I got up, had some breakfast, drank my coffee, watched a little TV, had a shower, packed the car, returned the TV remote to the front desk (yes, it's that kind of motel), checked out and headed over to the parking garage. Most people are there already, since it's 3:50 at this point. I met up with Hamid, but saw no sign of Terry -- the fellow from Saskatoon/Jacksonville -- Jim Wilson gave us a few precautionary warnings about "fist sized gravel" at one place, "speed bumps from hell" at another, and a vicious dog at a third. It's 4:01 and we're off.

I was feeling good, with no after-effects, or so it seemed, from my stomach flu / something-that-I-ate or whatever. We soon spread out, some ahead, some behind; I'm riding with Hamid and a fellow by the name of Bob is tagging along with us. I talked to him later -- he's 68, has diabetes, and is normally way at the back of the pack. We went by a farmhouse that had a couple of dozen beagles in a very large pen all howling and barking and he commented that usually by the time he gets there the dogs are tired of bikers and ignore him ...

I'm setting the pace, doing most of the pulling but it was more pace-setting than pulling. That's ok at this point. A couple of times I dropped back behind Bob, took a rest and ate something. It's cold -- about 45F -- not as cold as the last ride in Gainesville, but cold enough that my hands do not work properly when we get to the first control at 60 miles. Spilling coffee all over them and on the floor didn't even warm them up ! I'm wearing a short sleeved jersey, my vest and the blue jacket. I don't have leg warmers on or anything, but that's ok, my trunk is warm enough, just my hands are cold. I need some over-mitts to block the wind for this kind of thing.

My mapping on the GPS turned out very well, even later on with the bike path. The only error that I made was one point where the State Road makes a big square right and another road takes the other side of the square left, meeting up in a couple of miles -- I couldn't tell from the mapping software which was the SR and chose the wrong one. While cycling, however, it was obvious -- the left leg was sand. At one point, in the dark, the group a few hundred yards ahead of us missed a turn, but we could not call them back. We made the turn and they caught back up to us later.

So -- that was stage one -- no wind, dark then dawn, cold on the hands but not overly so, pleasant riding. We've travelled in an arc from Gainesville north-west.

Stage two gave us a taste of the rest of the day. The wind picked up and the pulling got harder. I consider stage two to be from the first control through the lunch stop at 137 miles. It was work. Wind speeds were around 15 mph, but it was sunny and had warmed up enough to shed the jacket and vest in stages. We were making very good time, probably averaging around 17-18 into the wind. Bob left us, or we left Bob, at the second control at 107. It was probably the fastest century that he'd ever done -- he commented that if it hadn't been for the P break that we would have done a 7 hour century. I thought -- "7 hour century ??!!" yikes, that's slow. He normally averages 12-14 mph though. He wanted to rest longer but more than that he probably wanted to ensure that he was not holding us back or perhaps he knew that he'd crash if he kept on trying to maintain that speed ... smart man ... retired physics professor from University of Florida.

In Stage two, we've continued the arc from 9 o'clock to noon so to speak -- direction wise, not time-wise. It's about 2pm by the time we get to/leave from the lunch stop. Jim and his helper have done an excellent job with a selection of sandwiches, a pasta salad, a rice salad, snacks, cold drinks. The wind is from the NE but has switched to ENE as it picks up strength. I'm thinking that as we head south the wind will be more in our favor, if there is more of a north component -- but the north component is negligible.

Stage three -- From 137, the lunch stop, to 206, the next-to-the-end Control, the route makes a diagonal south east. The wind is full in our face most of the time, channeled by the road, and it's at least 25mph, blowing up mini dust storms, sapping our strength. That was probably the longest 70 miles that I've ever ridden. A lot of the time we were at about 12 mph -- Hamid was falling behind even at that but he would keep catching up. I probably could have done better but after a time it was just a struggle at any speed. At one point I saw that I'd dropped to 8mph on the flat, hunkered down and cranking a low gear. That wind was amazing.

One fellow, who was riding a single-speed, made a comment that made me laugh, thinking of Lorraine Davies -- "it didn't seem to matter which way I turned, that frikken wind was in my face" -- that's Lo's expression -- frikken. Another comment was good -- "we didn't even need the cue sheet, all we had to do was turn into the wind" -- so true.

Stage three was over. After lunch my stomach did not feel good. I don't think that it was due to the flue, it was just that I had this food in my stomach that my body was not going to digest with this amount of work. So, it was Tumms to the rescue ! I've never used this kind of stuff but Hamid carried some with him and it really seemed to help. At first I declined, but then thought -- what do I have to lose, I don't want to ride for hours feeling like this.

Stage three was almost 6 hours, maybe more.

Stage four -- We left the Control looking forward to the westward leg, wind mostly with us this time, perhaps we could make a quick run to the end. It was about 6:30 as we started the last 42 miles. With open road and a tail wind and were we fresh, we could have done that in two hours. With some fussing and turning, perhaps 2.5 hours. We took 4 hours. We finished at almost the exact same time that I'd finished my first 400, except of course we started an hour earlier.

Why did it take us so long ? Well, this time it was Hamid that was feeling ill -- no, he wasn't just feeling ill, he pulled off a couple of times and was ill. He figured that drinking tomato juice at the last control was the problem -- I think that it was just the stomach's reaction to anything -- payback time. The extreme effort leaves no blood to circulate in your digestive system, and it doesn't appreciate that fact.

Why did it take us so long ? Well, you just ride slower at night, or rather, everything seems faster riding in the dark and you just naturally ride slower.

Why did it take us so long ? Well, the other factor was the bike path. The bike path, for me, was hell at the end of the ride. What should have been clear sailing was careful riding. The path was like riding through a tunnel -- a tunnel with deer jumping in front of us, opossum darting across the way, sticks, rippled asphalt -- all those would have been fine, but the path also twisted, turned, up down so you were constantly reaching out with your senses trying to anticipate the next thing. Trees hung over the path so the starry night was gone. We were in our own little world and we were not traveling very fast. My head hurt from the constant focus.

At one point the group that we'd left behind at the last Control caught up with us. They were locals and knew the path. Once they passed us, we traveled faster, because they were just ahead of us and we could see where the path was going. Our lights would light up the way ahead but they would not light up around the corners. With them 50-100 yards ahead, a whole world opened up.

Then, thankfully, we were off the path. With only a few miles ahead of us the city streets went by quickly and we were finished. Hamid had commented earlier that had he been alone he would have taken the option of riding on the parallel streets -- alone on the path if anything happened to you, who would know -- other than, of course, any following bikers who would ride right over you. The path is normally closed to the public after dark. The police give tickets. The Gainesville Cycling Club got permission to leave it open this one night and the gates were open.

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In summary, it was a great ride. It was scenic -- Dogwood and Azalea in bloom, pretty countryside, cattle and horse farms, little towns -- a great route. The Controls are spaced well, with intervening Convenience Stores so that you don't really have to carry a lot with you. I did not use all the gels, for instance, that I had brought.

It doesn't get any better. Riding 400 km / 250 miles is always a big deal. Time will depend on external, and internal conditions, but it is never easy.

Conditions -- the wind -- made part of the route a lot of work. That may be an understatement ... but had it been pouring rain it would have been slow too. On a ride like this there will always be something to complain about ... but after all, not one was forcing anyone to do this ride.

I'll say it again -- it was a great ride !! -- ok, I'm just trying to convince myself -- also, past pain is hard to remember.

So what happened to Terry ? I asked Jim at lunch and apparently Terry had arrived at the send-off Control late -- and left about 15 minutes after everyone else. I don't know whether he just slept in or whether he had driven over from Jacksonville that a.m. and ran into traffic problems ... well, probably not traffic problems at 3am !

I learned a lot ... a lot more than riding my first 400 ...

1) Tumms to the rescue. Carry something to quell an upset stomach.

2) my work on the bike really did the job -- getting the center of gravity down helped with the feel of the bike on and off.

3) back to -- it doesn't get any better -- while you may better your best time, there are so many uncontrollable factors at work that you might as well just enjoy the ride, go with the flow. If the wind makes you ride at 8mph, so be it -- would you rather be at work !?!?!?

4) I've got much more fuel for thought on how to tackle the 600km in two weeks. Should I ride through ? Should I take a couple of hours off, clean up, eat something (light) and hit the road again ? Should I get some sleep -- will I feel better ?

5) My butt-saving strategy worked -- no chafing this time. I listened to my butt and changed position and stood enough to give it a rest. Even though I was on the saddle many more hours than earlier in the week, there was not problem ... or have I just developed more callouses ? Naawww.

I could go on about the 600 strategy, but more on that in another blog.

At ride's end, Hamid and I did not split up this time. I loaded my bike into the X5, his went on the bike rack. He called his wife to give her an ETA at I95 and SR40 and we headed off ... but not before stopping back at Jim's room and washing up, visiting for a minute with the assembled chip-eating and soda-drinking group. It seems that many are members of the local bike club, know each other and this was just end-of-ride camaraderie.

We stopped at Subway ... for me. Hamid still did not want to chance any solid food. We were on our way. His wife got to the rendezvous point a few minutes before us and we moved his bike and his person into the other car, said our goodbyes and were off. I got home around 1:30 ... I think ... showered and was in bed by 2, after a small snack of course -- two ice cream sandwiches.

I rolled out of bed at 6am to get organized to go to Mass. Feeling quite groggy gave me more input on what I should do for the 600 ... but we'll see.

In two weeks, I do it again, only longer. I'll try and make the blog shorter though :)