300K Brevet - April 04th - Edwardsville

Saturday April 4 had two events on the schedule, a 200 kilometer (127 mile) RUSA sanctioned brevet, which had eight starters and eight finishers. It also had a 300 kilometer (187 mile) ACP sanctioned event that had twelve starters and twelve finishers, of which I was one. Yippee, another success.

The morning temperature began around 38-39 degrees, and it was dry with an east-southeast wind 5-7 mph in the early morning. This wind kept picking up all day long, just like weather.com said it would.

According to the official historical weather data for April 4th, the normal winds were 12 mph ESE, with maximum sustained winds up to 29 mph and gusts up to 36 mph. Again, according to the weather stats, the day's high temperature ended up around 66 degrees, but with the wind, I rarely felt warm unless I had the tailwind.

Being the Brevet Administrator, I am the one who hands out the cue sheets, make sure everyone has their brevet card, has lights and reflective gear, and begins the rides on time. For this ride that time was 6:00 AM.

My friend, and fellow recumbent rider, Randy Johnson had driven down from near Chicago to ride the 200K event. I rolled out of the parking lot last, along with Randy at my side. Being last out of the gate is just normal riding for me. I’m not a particularly fast rider and end up riding near the back of the pack most of the time. I will either catch the riders in front of me, or I won’t.

Randy and I stayed together just rolling down the road until a few miles after Grantfork, around mile 17 or 18. My body was waking up and I felt the bodily need to sprint ahead to make a nature call at the gas station in Pocahontas, mile 24. Randy pulled in a few minutes back. We caught up with several riders, Scott Thompson, Dave and Mary Esther Rost among those still at the gas station. These three riders headed east while Randy and I finished filling our bottles and putting our sunglasses on for the day.

Thinking we had a solid command of the tail end of the ride, two other riders, Mark Clark and Kay Covington appeared behind us just as we reached the little town of Pierron, mile 39. Apparently they had stopped across the street at another gas station back in Pocahontas. Mark took a break while Kay joined Randy and me as we headed south towards New Baden. Since Randy and I were doddering along Kay took off and Mark soon passed us as well placing Randy and me in last position once again. Pulling into the checkpoint at the Casey’s General store in New Baden, mile 52 had us back with a group of seven or eight riders. Scott, the Rost’s, Mark, Kay and a few others headed out a few minutes before Randy and I were ready.

We had a nice tease from the wind as we headed on a short westerly section. Our speed instantly increased with the tailwind assist. Of course this is a two edged blessing, we got a short burst of speed, but we knew that in a few miles we would be heading back into the headwind as we rode towards Okawville.

After making the turn east again, Randy and I get separated in the wind. He could see my yellow jacket up the road, and we each had to dig to complete the nine mile leg to the checkpoint in Okawville.

I pulled in a few minutes ahead of Randy, just in time to see a few of the 200K riders heading back with a fantastic tailwind. I also watched Scott, David and Mary Esther head east into the wind to continue the 300K route. I quickly had my card signed, snarfed down a turkey sandwich and chocolate milk, refilled bottles, applied sun screen and shook Randy’s hand as he headed west along the 200K route, and me east along the 300K route.

My mind likes to play tricks on me, and try to defeat me, and get me to turn around and take the easy way back. I would look down at my computer and see my speed into the wind at 10-13 mph and at least know I was not loosing time to the ever present clock. I had to keep reminding myself that yes I was riding slow, but I was continuing to build a small buffer of time and thus kept the demons at bay.

I had been riding solo from mile 78 until around mile 105 when I came across David and Mary Esther taking a short break alongside the road. I waved, and joined them for a few minutes of relaxing, stretching and massaging my feet before the three of us headed down the road together for the next few miles.

I was so excited knowing that at mile 112 when we turned west along DuBois Blacktop Road; all the headwinds I had battled would now be tailwinds for the rest of the day. I knew that with this turn and having the winds at my back, even with over 75 miles to ride, the finish was in the bag. I checked my cycling computer at the turn and I had averaged just 12.98 miles per hour to this point. I knew that was about to increase.

After stopping in Oakdale, mile 122, to have my brevet card signed and refilling my bottles, I had hoped to see David and Mary Esther, but they had not yet arrived. I decided that I didn’t want to waste daylight, nor a fantastic tailwind, and continued alone heading west and north. It was along here that I glanced over at some cattle in a field and noticed a big black wet object next to a cow. The cow was licking it. It was then I noticed it was a new born calf just born minutes earlier. I called out "A baby!" and continued up the road with a smile on my face. I’m pretty sure I have never seen a calf so new in the world that it had yet to stand on its own legs.

I soared north and west and made it into New Baden, mile 150 in about and hour and a half. Still with some daylight available and more tailwinds. I decided this would be my last stop, and quickly filled bottles and headed out one last time. At this point it didn’t matter if I was heading west or north; I had a decent tailwind going both directions.

I made it to St, Jacob as the sun was setting and I turned my lights on and continued north through Marine. It was fully dark as I made the left hand turn on Fruit Road. After a mile or so I noticed a faint red blinking light a mile or so up the road. A rider. It had to be. It didn’t seem to move away into the distance, and it was flashing. I would catch a glimpse of the light off and on for the next five miles, as I tried to increase my speed to see if I could catch whoever it was.

I made the turn onto the bicycle trail that led back into town and could still see the blinking red light just ahead of me. And now I also saw a steady red light next to it. A second rider was close to the first not more than a quarter mile or so ahead.
I caught the taillights and the attached riders as they dismounted their bikes at the police station in Edwardsville. It was Scott Thompson and Dennis Smith. We sat around and chatted a few minutes while filling out our brevet cards and signing the check-in sheet. We then rode the few blocks to our cars. While I can’t speak for anyone else, I had a big smile on my face. The last 70 miles of tailwinds not only made my day but felt like a "gimme".

My final elapsed time was a total of 14 hours 50 minutes, of which my riding time was 13 hours 5 minutes for the 187 miles. This gave me a rolling average speed of 14.3 mph which is right in line with other 300K events I have ridden. This also meant that ther last 75 miles were done averaging 16.8 mph. Very nice.

The biggest change was knocking off more than two hours of off bike time. Give me a tailwind, and I will skip sitting down for meals and just ride. What a great time.