300K Brevet - April 25, 2009

Saturday April 25 had a dual event, a 200 kilometer (127 miles) ride and a 300 kilometer (187 mile) ride. This was my second 300K event this year, and was probably the most difficult brevet I have ridden.

The weather at 5:00 AM when I pulled into the parking lot was already 70 degrees. 70 degrees is where our daytime high should be, not the overnight low. I assumed that with the extra warm temperatures the turn out would have been much higher, but the weather forecast had been saying we would continue to have 15-25 mph winds out of the south all day and gusts up near 35-40 mph. As our routes spend a lot of time heading south, I guess many people chose to stay in bed.

My friend and fellow recumbent rider Randy Johnson came down and brought a newbie rider, Don (upright bike) who had never ridden over 40 miles. This would be his first 200K event. Also showing up was Dave Towns, another recumbent rider and friend. Dave also brought down a life-long friend for the 200K event, Ken who sported a traditional upright bike.

After about 15 miles of eastward riding we had our first stint heading south and it was just a quarter mile. It was going to be a challenge all day heading south into a strong wind. The winds which had been an annoying crosswind heading east began a real annoying headwind on the south section.

After a short bathroom and water break at Pocahontas, the five of us continued another six miles east to Millersberg Road where we would start our journey south. Randy and I had a little better legs on this 25 mile section as the other riders tailed off the back with the wind hitting them.

I arrived first (of our little group) at the Breese IL checkpoint, mile 51 with Randy coming in a few minutes back. Dave, Don and Ken arrived jusdt a few minutes later. I am trying to keep my off bike time as short as is reasonable, but I would also rather ride with other people so our break here to regroup and get ready was a little longer than I would like. We started out again together with Ken bringing up the rear as we headed out of town.

The jaunt into Okawville at mile 78 was a chore until we made a turn east and had a cross tailwind. Randy and I pulled in together and had our brevet cards validated and had sat down for a sandwich when Ken and Dave pulled in. Randy and I chatted awhile knowing that the other three were on the 200K route and would be heading back, and heading north with the help of a tailwind. Randy and I however had much more headwind to face. Randy’s friend Don pulled in a few minutes before we headed out and Randy and I both congratulated Don on his ride, we all knew he would finish as the tailwind was maybe ten miles down the road for him.

Randy and I finally headed east out of Okawville towards Hoyleton another 15 miles east. We had a lot of wind along this section, mostly a cross wind. When the gusts blew, it would throw our bikes three feet into traffic. Thankfully there wasn’t too much traffic along this stretch.

Once we hit Hoyleton I thought we would make Oakdale 25 miles south of here in maybe two hours. I was not even close. Once we started the southern journey we just kept slowing down. Officially, the historical weather data says the winds were averaging 16 mph all day with maximum winds of 29 mph and gusts up to 36 mph out of the south. Our legs were exhausted and my bottles (four of them) were dry when I pulled in.

I tried to think of good reasons to have a head wind. 1) It kept you cool. 2) The sweat evaporated quickly. 3) It was going to become a tailwind for the last 65 miles or so.

I checked my computer and it read just an average of 12.2 mph for the 122 miles ridden. I arrived at 6:00 PM. Randy arrived five minutes later. The time we had banked by riding faster earlier was eaten up by our slow progress the last 25 miles. The checkpoint closed at 7:00 PM and getting in at 6:00 PM didn’t leave much room for handling mechanical issues should they occur.

Unfortunately Randy’s stomach had shut down on him and had him hurling his Perpetuem drink along side the checkpoint. After that he began shivering and in the 83 degree heat, he decided that his day was over. A local couple offered to drive Randy north to New Baden where Randy’s friend Don could drive and pick him up. Once Randy had secured the ride, I put my helmet on and started down the road by 6:40 PM.

The down side to loosing Randy was riding solo all the way back to the finish. The upside was I at least was enjoying a nice tailwind. Randy called my cell phone and told me that Don was picking him up in New Baden in just a few minutes but would wait for me to arrive before heading back north. I pulled into New Baden around 8:20 PM and refilled bottles one last time, congratulated Don on his first 200K and shook Randy’s hand and hoped he felt better.

When I reached the bicycle trail just east of Edwardsville, I was chased by two big dogs that were running loose. Somewhere I found enough energy to sprint. I managed to out ride the dogs until they gave up. Thank God I didn’t have any hills or head wind to deal with at that point.

I pulled into the Edwardsville Police Station, the last rider out on the course at 10:51 PM and was very glad to be done. This ride was on the same course as the previous 300K, but the weather conditions were much different and made this ride much more challenging. I am very happy I finished as this helps build my confidence for the longer events to come.