75 Miles - August 8, 2009

A week ago my friend Jeff asked me if I wanted to meet for a full moon century. As the full moon was actually Thursday, I said no, but I could meet Friday night. As the day approached, life happened and I was having a guy deliver two loads of rock to spread in my back yard. Not being one who likes yard work, nor the thought of wheelbarrows and shovels, I saw that the delivery guy also had a bobcat service listed on his business card. After a phone call, we agreed that he would use his bobcat to spread the rock out as best he could and my wife and I would rake out the remainder. He would be at our house around 9:00 AM Saturday. With revised plans, Jeff agreed on a 75 mile ride in the hopes I could catch a shower and a few hours of sleep before the yard guy showed up.

I managed to lay down Friday night and got perhaps an hours worth of sleep before heading out the door and driving over to Columbia IL. I pulled in and mixed three bottles of Perpetuem drink mix and loaded my 50 ounce camelback bladder with water. By the time I was ready to don my helmet and shoes Jeff pulled in.

It was just after midnight when we rolled out. Aside from the simple fun of night riding, there was a purpose to this ride. I needed to test a few new pieces of hardware, and tune my night riding skills. I had just rebuilt my pedals, Speedplay Frogs and mounted new cleats for this ride. I also mounted a third bottle holder on my handlebars and mounted new Continental Ultra Gator Skin tires.

The moon was not quite full, but the sky was clear and we could see the stars as we cruised south on the farm roads. It was 19 miles before the first car passed us. What was interesting to me was the amount of birds flying around at night. I didn’t think birds flew at night, but sure enough we caught the sight of birds in our headlights off and on during the duration of our ride. We also had several possums, one skunk, some frogs hopping out of the way and only a couple of dogs stirred as we rode past.

Everything was working just fine for the first 30 miles or so, then my new pedals and cleats started to have problems. I would pedal and my left foot would disengage and fly off. After several of these mishaps I pulled over along side the road and pulled out my Allen wrench set and tightened the screws holding my cleats to my shoes. A few miles later, it began again. Jeff gave my plenty of room. As my foot would fly off my pedal, my bike would veer to one side.

We pulled into the little town of Prairie du Rocher, mile 40, and saw a lighted gazebo in the town park. I pulled in, sat down and began to examine the problem. The front of the cleat was not high enough to securely engage the pedal. I looked in my bike bag for a solution. I ended up taking a piece of Velcro and sliding it under the front of the cleat in order to raise it up a bit. This worked for most of the return ride.

We pulled out and headed towards Bluff Road. The bridge was closed. We looked and could see the bridge so we cautiously road around the barriers. I had to walk my bike across some piles of dirt and rock. Finally around the barricade we began riding again, only to find I had lost a bottle. We turned around and found it on the side of the road by the bridge. Once again we headed north.

The ride north was really special as we passed the mines. Blasts of cold air bellowed out across our path and greatly cooled us. It only lasted a mile before all the mine entrances were behind us. Jeff commented how nice that would feel in about 12 hours when the day time temperature reached the mid-90s. Now, in the middle of the night it was still in the upper 70’s.

My pedal issues resurfaced again south of Old Valmeyer. We pulled into the town park and I had no other solutions so decided I would just do my best with these pedals until we finished the ride, which would be in another 15 miles.

Speedplay has changed the specifications on the cleats and the new cleats are significantly thinner than my old cleats. I called Speedplay’s technical support line and they said yes the cleats are thinner than the old ones, and suggested I insert a piece of inner tube under the cleat to raise the front up. It is no longer worth my time to deal with this company. I decided to scrap these Speedplay Frogs and switch over to Shimano SPD pedals as soon as possible.

Jeff and I made it back to Columbia at 5:00 AM covering the 75 miles averaging 16.88 mph and having about 35 minutes off the bike dealing with pedal issues as well as stretching a bit. My lights and hydration worked flawlessly and the new tires were fine, no flats, which is the goal.

I did manage a shower and an hour and a half nap before I woke up and did the yard work. I did manage a second hour and a half nap mid afternoon.