September 9-12 Last Chance 1200 - Preview

Before I begin yammering, I wanted to share a link to my event photos on Flikr. Many of the pictures were taken by Randy Johnson and Dave Meridith. To view the photos click here.

For people who are interesting in learning more about brevets and randonneuring check out "Randonneurs USA" website.

I broke this report up into five parts. You should be able to see all the posts for this ride on the right side of this screen, under the Blog Archive for September or by clicking the 'Previous Page' and 'Next Page' links at the end of each post.

I seriously began thinking about a 1,200-kilometer brevet (754 miles) last November. My friend Jeff Weible had been telling me repeatedly how rewarding the 1,200 kilometer ride called “Paris–Brest–Paris” (P-B-P) is and how I should plan on going to France in 2011. I knew there was no way I would even think of going to France until I finished a local 1,200 kilometer event.

I decided 2009 was my year to get off my couch and back onto my bike. I have been riding a recumbent, a Bacchetta Corsa for the last three years but had not ridden anything longer than 186 miles at a shot. This year I would be required to complete a series of rides (125 miles, 186 miles, 250 miles and 375 miles) in order to qualify for the Colorado “Last Chance 1,200 Kilometer” (LC1200) brevet.

I knew that the “minimum” would not be near enough for preparation. I completed two 125 mile events, three 186 mile events, one 250 mile event and one 375 mile event, plus a few thousand additional miles of training prior to arriving in Boulder Colorado on September 9th. In total I had just over 3,500 miles since January 1st when I arrived at the start line.

I had hoped to ride with my friend and fellow recumbent rider, Randy Johnson, but due to health issues, 2009 was not his year. I did convince another local rider, Dennis Smith to attempt his Race Across America (RAAM) qualification during Last Chance instead of riding a 24-hour race. Randy and his friend, former RAAM rider Dave Meridith provided crew support for Dennis and myself. With stretches of road 70 miles long with no water, no food and no bathrooms, no services of any kind after 8:00 in the evening until 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning weighed heavy on my mind. Having crew support at the official checkpoints and having food and water available made those intermediate distances more manageable.

Dennis, Randy and I drove out to Boulder Sunday, a few days early so we could get in a few rides at altitude (5350 feet) which is ten times as high as St. Louis. Our first ride Monday was fifteen miles and left us both sucking for air. Tuesday morning we rode again, just 13 miles, but we felt a little better. We were glad the route would be heading to lower elevations for most of the event.

Proceeding to the bicycle inspection Tuesday afternoon our bicycles were inspected for redundant front and rear lighting, reflective vests and ankle bands. We were given our route maps and brevet cards. After this, we headed out to a light dinner and got to bed early.

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