Ride Day One:
Boulder CO to Atwood KS - 251 Miles
Profile:
Climbing: 4,295 Feet
Descending: 6,873 Feet
Wednesday at 2:00 AM, the alarm went off. After dressing and filling bottles, all the riders congregated in the parking lot for the final instructions and send off. In all 36 riders, including three recumbents (that would include me), several tandems, and various single bikes toed the starting line. This included two riders coming up from Texas who arrived near 2:00 AM. They would start with little sleep. This group included people from all over the United States, Canada and one rider from Copenhagen Sweden.
At 3:00 AM we rolled out of the parking lot. Having pre-ridden the outbound leg for several miles, I knew the pack would split up quickly on the small climbs in town. I assumed my position at the back of the pack and rolled out, taking my time. Dennis, seeing another recumbent speed up the road, chased only to find it was not me.
After just five miles, I had a mechanical problem with an idler (chain guide) which was making a lot of noise. I reached down to check it, and found it had come completely loose. I had to pull over and watch all the riders disappear into the distance while I fixed the problem. In less than five minutes, I was back on the road heading out of town.
After chasing awhile, I caught several riders and caught up with Dennis as well. We all headed east through Brighton and turned south through town. Next we headed east on 144th Avenue and watched the fading lights of the city disappear behind us. We all took a nature break along side the road in the darkness, then quickly got back down to the task of pedalling.
I stayed with a small group as we headed south towards Strasburg with Dennis just up the road a few hundred yards. We turned east (last turn for a long time) and rode into Byers CO, reaching the checkpoint, at mile 71 with just ten minutes off the bike. Randy and Dave were waiting for us. I had them refill my bottles with drink mix and refilled my camelback with water while I had my brevet card signed. Less than five minutes later, Dennis and I were heading east into the prairie.
Randy had warned Dennis and me that we would find the “strongly rolling hills” challenging for nearly forty miles. He was right. Dennis pulled away as his climbing skills are better than mine. I would climb between four and seven miles an hour and descend the other side at 35 – 38 miles per hour. I reached the town of Anton CO and found Dennis at the little grocery store along with several other riders. I reached the 126-mile mark (nearly 200 kilometers) setting a personal best at 8 hours 14 minutes including a total of 15 minutes off the bike. After refueling and stretching my toes, we left as a group and continued east.
The next checkpoint was a café in Cope CO at the 146-mile mark. I managed to stick with a group of riders through this section arriving in time for a bowl of potato soup. Randy and Dave filled Dennis’ and my bottles while we ate. Our group headed out again barely 20 minutes later.
On the ride towards Idalia CO I had been riding with Dennis, a tandem team (Brent and Beth Meyers of Denver) and Leslie Sutton of Boulder. I managed to keep up for awhile even though the pace was high. Dennis dropped back to ride at his own pace. Leslie and I got dropped by the tandem team on a small roller. Leslie and I stopped at the grocery store in Idalia to buy water and use the bathrooms. Brent and Beth were gone for now, and Dennis was still behind us. We waited a few minutes but Dennis did not arrive. I found out later Dennis had a flat tire shortly after he slowed his pace.
Upon looking at my watch, I noticed I had set a second personal record. My 300K (186 mile) time was 14 hours 30 minutes with stops. Leslie and I continued working together until we reached the Kansas State border mile 195. Brent, Beth and Stephen Whiteman (also from the Boulder area) had stopped to take pictures.
Again, the tandem team and Stephen proved too strong and they pulled away. Leslie and I reached the next checkpoint, St. Francis KS, mile 209 well before sundown. I was sitting and eating a banana, a peach and a plum while Randy and Dave refilled bottles and camelbacks. Leslie, Stephen and I headed out.
Upon reaching Bird City, mile 224 we had to stop to don our night gear and turn on lights. It was nice to stop for a few minutes to take my shoes off and rub my toes.
The three of us reached the overnight at the “It’ll Do Motel” in Atwood KS, mile 251 (400 kilometers) at 8:51 PM (Mountain Time) which set another personal best for myself, 17 hours, 51 minutes with stops. With all these new personal bests on day one of a three-day ride, I was feeling great, but knew I could not keep this kind of pace. I set off for the motel office where pizza and fruit waited. After a short feeding, I went to my room to shower. Dennis pulled in at 9:35 PM as I was going to bed. Dennis showered and was down for a short sleep break.
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