I planned on riding a Super Randonneur series (200k, 300k, 400k, and 600k), in 2001 but didn't make it. I started out OK, but I failed to finish the 400k and didn't try a 600k. I had a fairly good year, though, with some interesting rides.
I managed to complete a 200k on February 4, finishing in 10h40m. The weather was very good, with the slight exception of a headwind in the first half of the ride. That was mostly made up for because of the nature of the course (an out-and-back in one direction), providing a nice tail wind on the way back.
I finally met Russell Hahn, after sporadic emails over the last couple of years. Russell is the Austin regional brevet coordinator. I saw Debbie Briaud, John Fusselman, and Mike (who I met at one of the last rest stops in the PBP); I met Debbie at our hotel where we stayed for the PBP. All three were riding faster than I was, so I didn't get too much chance to chat with them other than at the start.
Everyone was very nice and helpful. Russell and another rider named Gary were both riding recumbents and sporting ponytails. I wasn't sure whether that was a requirement to ride a recumbent, but I do know they seemed very comfortable. Maybe the fairings on the recumbents kept their ponytails from blowing too much in the wind! Both are very experienced riders, and catered to the beginning randonneurs and randonneuses amongst the riders.
My wife Ruby and daughter Hannah drove support for me, and really helped me out. It was very nice to see their faces at the stops. Ruby did get a little lost on the course, misunderstanding the meaning of some of the symbols on the route sheet (somehow interpreting "X" as turn instead of "cross the road" and failing to grasp the meaning of "B/C" which meant "becomes" like when a road changes names). They mostly had a pretty nice day, though, and didn't run screaming from the thought of providing sag support again in the future.
Tamara Dobson drove over from College Station with us, and successfully completed her first brevet! She had a pretty rough day, going through some pretty tough nausea in the first part of the ride. Fortunately Ruby had some motion sickness medicine that stopped the nausea, although she did get behind on eating and drinking. Tamara seemed to bonk towards the end, as the combined effects of the long ride and hills got to her. She finished strong, though, riding with the group the last 5-6 miles to the end.
We saw a great little museum (closed) next door to one of the control points.The metal sculptures were very whimsical, portraying cowboys, saguaro cactuses, and vultures among other creations. A nicely "Texas" touch to the ride.
It was a late winter weekend in central Texas, and Sunday was really, really pretty. Nice and sunny, warm temperatures, and little to no wind. Unfortunately we rode on Saturday....
We started at 6, with 13 riders (an omen that we should have paid attention to!). My wife Ruby was driving a support vehicle, one of two that were available. This gave a support vehicle that could be ahead of the front group and one that could remain until the last riders cleared a control. This was important as the day went on and the group separated more and more.
A somewhat scattered start ensued, with some riders off at 6 am and others (including me) following at about 6:10. 8 of the riders were doing the 300 km and 5 the 200 km, but the courses overlap for about the first 90 miles. We rode the first 20 miles with an increasing crosswind, with some decent climbs that included one that has a formal title that includes the word "gap," indicating that you should take it seriously. All was well, however, and we soon turned north. Some clouds were building as dawn hit, and I remembered the prediction of "scattered" showers with a little bit of trepidation. The glorious tailwind was working nicely, though, as we rode the 10 miles up to the first control of the course. Of course, I no sooner pulled into the stop than the hail started bouncing off the roof, accompanied by the first warning rain drops. All stopped relatively soon, however, and I was once more on my way. The road was now wet, though, so I put on my booties and jacket because of the spray.
As I passed Possum Kingdom Lake dam I admired the engineering works erected by man while God was busy erecting some major cloud ramparts all around me. I had a sinking feeling as I noticed the serious thunderstorms ahead, to the left, and to the right; you know, the kinds that have the egg-carton bottoms and funny colors. Just after I started up one of the hardest climbs of the day the rain started again. I was able to get to the top before it really set in, so I stopped and put on my rain pants just before the gully washer started. I continued on my merry way, now buffeted by a headwind that used to be a tailwind as the wind changed direction. A warm front and cold front were now colliding over my head as the weather stayed interesting. I caught up to the group of lead riders (including Dan Driscoll and Diane, the ride organizers) at a convenience store and stopped with them to get out of the rain. It was a fairly wary group of riders that huddled in the darkness of the store, which had lost power a little earlier. Finally, however, we set out through the rain and wind.
We were now facing a headwind that gradually increased up to 25-30 mph, presaging the conditions for the rest of the day. After fighting the wind for what seemed like an eternity I finally reached Graham. The rain had stopped and the sun was out, but the wind was still nasty. I had a quick bite to eat that Ruby had picked up from Subway. I was really looking forward to a tailwind because I was shifting directions almost 180 degrees; unfortunately, those two colliding weather fronts conspired to shift the winds around from the South now, so after battling the headwinds for a couple of hours I now faced them again from the other direction.
We had seen the last of the rain, but the wind kept increasing as the afternoon wore on. Eventually the wind was up over 30 mph with gusts over 40. I remember looking down and I was riding 9 mph into the wind on a flat stretch of road; on another section I was having to pedal to go _down_ the hills. On the rare sections with just a crosswind my bike was leaned way over just to keep my balance against the wind.
In midafternoon I caught one of the riders from the lead group again, Gary Smith. Gary is a veteran of 4 PBP's and is normally a faster rider than I am, but was shellshocked from the constant wind. We spoke, but I rode past as he was just too tired to even hang on and draft. I never really separated from him, though, and we continued to ride a few thousand feet apart for another hour or so. At the control at Caddo we found out that the two tandem teams behind us had combined to form one team and continued after problems with knees and fitness. They were going to do the 200k route, leaving Gary and I as the lantern rouge for the 300k. I had really looked forward to getting something at the small cafe at Caddo, but it was closed so the owners could go on vacation. A shame, because it's located at a really nice spot for a break, the food's good, and nice pictures are on the wall showing the former boom town in its glory days.
Gary and I joined forces somewhere south of Caddo. We continued with the headwinds for another 50 miles, interrupted once by about 10 miles of swooping, high speed descents and tailwinds as the route turned briefly north again. Not quite enough fun to balance the pain, however, and our speeds had dropped even on the crosswind sections.
As night fell the winds gradually diminished, and by 8 it was almost calm. We rode through some of the prettiest sections of the course after dark, eliminating one of the paybacks of the ride. It's hard to admire the view when it just looks like a black tunnel! Gary and I finally girded ourselves to ride up Cherry Pie Hill. Looking totally out of place in Texas, Cherry Pie Hill is a couple of miles of very steep grade. It would be a tough ride anytime, but at the end of 190 miles of windy riding it wasn't much fun. We made it, though, and powered through the 4 miles to the end at Palo Pinto. Ruby picked us up at the end and we were done!
194 miles, 16 hours 10 minutes. It was done!
I attempted a 400k at Fredericksburg, Texas on March 31, 2001. 6 of us started the ride: Russell Hahn (RBA), Gary, John, Bonita, Tamara, and me. The ride was OK, with good weather: not much wind at all and temp's that were pretty good (upper 50's to a high in the afternoon of around 75 or 80). The scenary was quite nice, too, with some dramatic views, climbs, and descents. I hit a near personal best downhill speed of 46 mph (of course, we later had to climb back up that hill because the course was an "out-and-back" ride). Unfortunately, I DNF'd around mile 215 around midnight. An hour or so after sundown I started getting nauseous so I wasn't able to eat/drink much, which lead to a nice bonk at about 215 miles. I don't know if I was running a fever or it was just the bonk combined with some pretty tough hills from mile 180 to where I stopped, but I was drenched in cold sweat, too, and kept switching back and forth between way too cold and way too hot (even after stopping!). Probably the worst problem was that I couldn't keep awake, and I finally quit after realizing I had covered 5 miles in about an hour and a half. I kept doing the math of "35 miles at 5 miles per hour equals 7 more hours" and getting depressed at the outcome, instead of realizing that I would speed up if I rested for a reasonable amount of time. I just lost focus on riding and started thinking about quitting a bit too much, also. I should have just found a place out of the wind, covered up, and slept for an hour or so. Unfortunately, I didn't have an alarm clock or a space blanket....
Fortunately I was able to reach my wife on the cellphone (I say fortunately because for most of that ride there is NO cellphone coverage at all). She picked me up after driving for about an hour to where I was at, asleep on the side of the road. I'm still picking rocks out of my jacket and tights, but it felt really comfortable there at the time.
Memo to self: 1) bring space blanket and alarm clock on next stupid-long ride, to facilitate power-naps, 2) use a rackpack to allow carrying the necessary gear comfortably (warm clothes+rain gear+extra food=lots of weight on the back), 3) lay off caffeine for a month or two before an overnight ride so it has an effect, 3) find a meal replacement drink mix that works so I can get more calories into my body, and 4) train more!
Well, the spring brevet season is over in Texas. Too hot for rides of this length and both Texas brevet series are over anyway. Family and work pressure on my time have eaten up a lot of training time this year, resulting in ending with a whimper rather than a bang. I rode well through the fall, continued reasonably well through the winter, but lost focus as competing activities took away riding time during the brevet series itself (primarily the second half of March, April, and May).
Leakey Death Ride
The Leakey Death Ride is a 3-day tour of the Texas Hill Country. It started Friday, Oct 19 in Bandera, where we met to leave our vehicles and load the support truck with our baggage. We rode 60 miles to Leakey over some very tough climbs. Before this ride I had never seen climbs like this in Texas! Very steep, very long is a greatly inadequate description.
Saturday we got up and left for a century, circling out of Leakey and then returning. Lots of really steep rollers with a few long climbs thrown in for fun. A bit windy in the afternoon, adding to the fun. Sunday we returned to Bandera over a different route than on Friday, with slightly less climbing. There was a nice downhill, though, that went down straight and let me set a personal "fastest downhill" speed of 51.4 mph. Not bad for no pedaling!
Art Cowsen from the Fort Worth Bicycling Association runs the ride, providing a great time. Food is provided for lunch and supper, and is plentiful and good-tasting. Basically you ride, then eat and eat and eat; then they start cooking again for supper. A link to the ride is on the FWBA website, at the link to the Leakey Death Ride. Sag support was provided, as were a few rest stops (although some stops were at restaurants or convenience stores).
This year they had around 80 cyclists, ranging from USCF racers to beginners who rode only parts of the rides. A number of randonneurs were there, including at least 5 PBP finishers.
Mark
copyright June 2001
