Ned Rides 400km Brevet in Kentucky

Louisville Bicycle Club  400 km Brevet

I'll be the first to admit that I was too tired to write much about my 400km Kentucky brevet following the ride. I wrote a quick Facebook note to let folks know I finished safely. So here are some details from the ride. Unlike the KY 300 the weather was far better and I didn't have any tire or mechanical issues this time. However, with winds from the west averaging 20mph it made a hilly course downright brutal. At 4AM start the temp was in the upper 30's and all of rain had moved east. The roads were still wet in places, but not slick. The skies were clear and a bit chilly. I should have worn booties, not just toe covers, not so much for the pre-dawn chilly temps, but after sunset even my two pairs of wool socks were not keeping my feet warm. I rode well during the predawn and daylight hours. As the sun rose you could feel the winds gradually get stronger as the day heated up into the mid 60's in the afternoon. For more than the first half of the out & back route I rode with Bob Bruce (from Indiana). Bob developed some pain in his right Achilles after the turn around control in Liberty.  He needed to slow down considerably and told me to go ahead. So for most of the remaining 115 official miles I rode on my own.

I caught up to Tim Carroll from Cleveland before I reach Stanford. Tim has been riding all of the brevets this year on a fixed gear bike. I cannot begin to imagine how anyone could manage that feat. He did admit that he had to walk a couple of hills. On some of the truly steep hills I must admit that walking would have been faster than riding. I left the control in Stanford before Tim as he needed more time to rest and replenish.

The route section between Stanford & Harrodsburg has somewhat of an "L" shape to it so there is a long section going west - northwest with plenty of long, moderate climbs before heading north. This is where my average speed started dropping. I got to Harrodsburg by 6PM. Harrodsburg was the last control (65 miles to go). I ate & refilled the bottles. I also reset my lights as I knew it would be dark before I got to Lawrenceburg. I saw three other riders coming into the control as I was headed out. It had been my goal to get past the route section that drops down along the Kentucky River and back out before sunset. That area is the most dangerous part of the route. The road is very narrow and it has several blind curves. (One car cut a curve too far out and almost clipped me!) There are two bridges made of steel grate in this section. On one of the bridges the asphalt has broken down in several places along the bridge's edge creating a gap between the road and the steel bridge plate. On the 300 I picked the wrong track, hit one of the holes and flatted. I later discovered that I also tore the side wall in the tire and bent the rim. So I was determined to go much slower when I approached this bridge. Of course this bridge is at the bottom of ravine, so I had no momentum as I climbed up & away from the bridge.

In Kentucky there are no "leash" laws so dogs are a common nuisance. On my two previous rides we encountered only a few dogs, but on the 400 there were many encounters. I expect that from experience most of you know you get a rush of adrenalin when you find yourself having to yell, ride faster, and hope the dogs don't come too close. But, then after the rush, your body has a bit of a let down. I hate those drops of energy and I dislike encountering a dog when I'm trying to ride uphill!

I made it up the long climb from the Kentucky River before sunset as planned. I can't recall how long the climb actually is, but it is really long. Heading west is not as steep as the outbound southeast side we encountered in the morning. On that side there is a sustained length of 20+% grade. The climb averages about 15% for nearly a half mile. Imagine climbing Chicken Coop, but with twice the distance at the same grade. Got the picture?

By the time I reached Lawerceburg, and my last planned stop, it was fully dark. I normally enjoy riding, at night, but around central Ohio I'm not following a pre-determined route or I'm with a group. In addition there is usually more ambient light. Right out of Lawrenceburg I had difficulty finding the first turn and backtracked thinking I had missed it. Actually I hadn't gone far enough, so I lost time there. Later, I completely missed one turn & had to backtrack. I rode 8 extra miles, plus the time lost. The night sky was bright with stars, but no moon to provide additional light. The temperature was dropping fast without any cloud cover to hold in the heat. Expecting cooler temperatures I was carrying an extra jersey which I had put on at my last stop, but I'll admit that my feet were chilly, probably due to moisture building up during the day and my fingertips were feeling the cold, too. (Valuable lesson for future 400/600 rides and the upcoming Fleche.)

Due to getting lost Tim, Steve Rice, the Kentucky RBA, and a couple of other riders eventually caught up to me. Tim and I rode together for a number of miles. It was good as I felt more confident that I wouldn't miss any more turns. Apparently, I was riding stronger than I believed although the aches in my shoulders and mid back were telling me otherwise, because only Tim wanted to ride at my pace. My original goal had been to finish before 11PM, but after getting lost I thought I could still make in by midnight (20 hours). I was on the edge of Shelbyville only 1.5 mi from the finish when I had to wait 8-10 minutes for a freight train. Tim Carroll came up about 5 minutes later and Steve came up just as the train finished crossing the road. While randonneuring is not a competitive event, we were the second group of three riders to finish (#4, 5, & 6) at 12:05. More than 3/4 of the riders were still out on the road after I took a shower, ate pizza, and chatted with other riders at the motel finish. I'll bet the remaining riders had a very long night as temps were quickly dropping back into the mid 30's after a high in the mid 60's. By this time it was after 1AM and I crashed in my motel bed. The official route was 251.9 miles. I ended up with 259.8 and the Garmin showed 15,323 feet of elevation gain.

I never heard the alarm I set on Sunday morning and woke up at 10:15AM. So I quickly packed up before the 11 AM checkout time, ate a huge breakfast at Waffle House, and headed home.

So next week is the Ohio 300km brevet: Springfield - Oxford - Springfield. This is going to be a recovery period lasting all week as I still have some sore muscles and a sore butt. I don't know if my bike position is off, or if I'm "rocking" too much when I climb, but my back was really aching the last 100km.

Later,
Ned

Louisville Bicycle Club on Facebook
What is a brevet?
How can I start riding crazy long miles?
Ohio Randonneurs

The 2011 Cycling Season is Now Officially Open

April 2nd Woodstock

The first official ride of our season is Woodstock - three days of Peace Love and Music?  Not so much this is a new generation and spring in Central Ohio, so its more like three hours of Rain, Wind, and Cold.

teamroll: had a good turn out for the ride.  Most rode 38-61 miles and endured cold winds, sleet, a little rain and cold temperatures.  It was 36 degrees with 12-15 mph winds.  Our hardy riders pulled on the lobster gloves and booties and headed out.  The more cerebral of the team opted to live to fight another day and headed for a hardy breakfast at Sunnystreet Cafe.  I personally would recommend the Protein Wrap.  It is huge and healthy.  

April 3rd Lynette Pate "Fuel For The Body" bike T.O.U.R.

This was a roll: store event.  Lynnette Pate is owner of Breath of Green, an all organic retail shop and Oxygen Bar. Lynnette and her best friend and husband, Tommy, opened their shop to better enlighten the public on organic and sustainable living as well as preventative health care. Her husband has been a huge contributor to Lynnette’s ventures.   

 

TOTAL ORGANIC UNDERSTANDING RIDE

The purpose for this ride is to:

1. Educate people on the benefits of going organic/green and living a more healthy lifestyle.
2. Educate people on the negative myths of organic/green living.
3. Educate people on the myths of bad fad diets making false promises.
4. Show by example how much easier it is to switch to organic/green than people think.

Here is her Facebook page. 

Here is her Blog.
Here is the first leg of her trip.  

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Queen (King) of the Slipstream

Below is an excerpt from The Rouleur Magazine blog.  And we've all had a day like this.  Click on the Sucker link for the full story. 

Sucker


February 10, 2011 by rouleurmagazine

I feel bad. Sat here. Not poorly – guilty. I really should pull my weight but at this time of the year that’s no mean feat. I’m not out of shape so much as not in shape, but I’m most certainly, yet again, tucked in. Sucking. Drafting. Feathering brakes. Concentrating. Wanting to be fitter.

I’m spending more time than seems decent sitting in, sucking wheels. I guess I’m out with stronger riders and it’s a win-win situation if they’re ok on the front. They get a workout and I get one too – clinging on to an alien pace. I’m hoping, as the season progresses, I’ll get to a level where I can do my turns at the front, but I worry that they’ll have only got stronger too and the gap will remain – between their ability and mine, their wheel and mine. I might well suck all year. Where will that get me? Well, I guess, sat here, concentrating on the wheel in front with a part of my head wandering off to ponder the situation; my ride partner’s choice of footwear, tyre choice and gear selection; his hub, his shoes, his calves, his arse; the little rear LED, switched off and pointing heaven knows where. The seat pack, with a spare tube and his emergency (full-fat-coke-and-a-mars-bar) fiver.

Get the rest of the story here.

Now go load Van Morrison - Queen Of The Slipstream on the iPod and set about cruising.

Valentines Card for your Spouse

We all know that we are lying if we gave this to our spouse's, but it will earn us brownie points for doing so, here is your free Valentines Card

High-Fructose Corn Syrup is Killing You

High-Fructose Corn Syrup is Killing You

I found this on Facebook and found it interesting, so I'm re-posting here with their web site and their twitter account.

What You Need To Know About HFCS

Prior to 1966, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was virtually non-existent in Americans' diets. When it came to sweeteners, the number one version on the market was sucrose, or table sugar. But that all changed after the invention of high-fructose corn syrup.

Breast Cancer Awareness

Today ten of us (teamroll:) rode the Breast Cancer Awareness.  We rode the 50 mile route on an absolutely gorgeous fall day in Central Ohio.  It was a brisk start, but quickly warmed to the mid-70s by 11:30 AM.  The skies were crystal clear all morning, basically not wind at all.  It was a great day to ride.

We picked up some of @TeamSperanza along the road to make our peloton a little larger.  Team Speranza had a very strong showing.  I didn't count all of them, but I would guess it was close to 10-15 people.  They are a club our of the Canal Winchester area that ride a number of charity events including Pelotonia.  We have shared training rides and ride with them on a number of charity events through out the year.  Good group of people, so follow them on twitter: @TeamSperanza.

We only averaged 17.8 mph, but a lot of that had to do with missing a couple of turns and back tracking and then taking the all too familiar "yeah we got lost again" shot.  Not that we could actually get lost in Central Ohio, because we ride this area a lot.  But staying on the predefined course, well that is a whole other story all together.  Some say we are directionally challenged.  I prefer to think of it as we are trailblazers and prefer to choose our own path.  Yeah that's it, we're individualists, yeah that's the ticket.

Did I mention it was just a great sunny day with blue skies and no wind?  Check these pictures out.

Rest Stop in Sunbury

Early sunny morning & time to clear the corn fields

Siobhan drafting

There is a tracker in the hoizon

Clearing the fields on a perfect day

teamroll: prepare for winter

We received our final mock up of our winter weight jackets.  This thing is light weight, reasonably thick for cycling wear and ridiculously warm.

Special thanks to VOmax for rockin' a sweet winter jacket with the warmth of an alpaca headed to the high north land on a cold winter's night.

The text around the inside collar: Kickin' My Butt Today to Kick Yours Tomorrow

This is how we roll:

Well there was a change of design and not really for the better.  The second edition has the right number of dots, and the we rock: we roll: etc: More importantly we get to give props to a couple paying sponsors, which is good.  But moving our web site from the bottom back to the collar basically makes it wasted ink and something that no one will every see, which completely sucks. 

This is what the the text around the collar says since you will not be able to read it on the jacket: 

www.teamrollcolumbus.com