In 2008 I started with a perm and a brevet: 04-19-2008 Bellville Century, 147 km; and a 200k on 02-16-2008, both in Houston. This was followed by a gap of several months during which I continued to ride shorter distances but didn't ride any brevets.
In July my wife and I took our Ibis tandem to Colorado for some day-rides in the Frisco area. We had started thinking of doing some touring in either the US or Europe and wanted to ease into it with either a short tour or some other variation, when I stumbled across a website describing the area around Frisco.
Frisco lies in the center of several ski areas in the middle of the Rocky Mountains 70 miles west of Denver. Summit County has been a ski destination for a long time, and has built paved bike paths through much of the county in an attempt to attract tourists in the summer months. We did day-rides to Vail Pass, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Copper Mountain on the bike paths through beautiful mountain scenery, staying in Frisco. We even found an outlet mall that included an outlet bike shop and a Pearl Izumi outlet store. Needless to say we loaded up on some nice bike stuff, although we did a bit of other shopping. We really enjoyed the trip, making us look forward to other biking adventures on our tandem.
On August 16 I rode the RUSA 10th anniversary 200k with the Houston Randonneurs. Edward Robinson, Bob Riggs, and I stayed together all day as we enjoyed the nice weather on the 200k. On September 20 I rode the Houston Randonneurs September 13 brevet; the brevet was put off by a week because of Hurricane Ike. Only a handful of riders appeared for the brevet; Arturo and I rode together all day. A climb-fest it was not, with a total elevation gain of 615 ft on the route from Fulshear to El Campo and back. Dead flat and with a head-wind on the return, it wasn't my favorite route although the company was nice. I have ridden briefly with Arturo before but never for a long period of time.
October 4, 2008. I rode the 72 mile (100k) Houston Randonneurs permanent that starts in Columbus then goes through Fayetteville, La Grange, Weimar, and back to Columbus. The course has rolling terrain, with 2400 ft of climbing. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, starting with temperatures around 70 and climbing only to the mid 80's. There was a mild headwind that contributed to the slow finish time (6.5 hours), but it never became a slog-fest. Bob Riggs and I were the only riders on the permanent.
This permanent marks the beginning of a new training cycle for me, as I build up for the spring brevets. I'm planning on a full series in 2009, after an off-year in 2008 following PBP in 2007.
November 1, 2008. I rode the Houston Randonneurs 200k on a beautiful fall day, with no wind and temperatures starting out in the 60's and climbing only into the low 80's. We rode from Brookshire to Independence through moderately rolling hills.
A few of us rode together from the start, including Mike Butler, Arturo, Arturo Ortiz, and John Vincent, a member of the Seattle International Randonneurs. It was nice meeting John and talking about the Seattle club. We talked about PBP, and members of SIR that I knew. Dr. Codfish, who I met at PBP, lives only a relatively short distance from John.
A large group of local club riders started after us and caught us at the first control as we were leaving. Although they were riding faster than we were they had a flat on the way that delayed them. Their riding strategy was to ride very fast then take long breaks. Good training and OK on a 200k but not my cup of tea for longer brevets. I stayed with them for about 40 miles, enjoying the hard effort and shared work.
At the control in Bellville we stood around for 15 or 20 minutes while snacking. After talking about the longer brevets for a little bit I said that "it's not a real ride until you throw up at 3 in the morning in a convenience store dumpster". Normally that gets a few chuckles or a wry grin from the randonneurs. The club riders went dead silent and stared at me. One of them finally said "That sounds horrible!" He then said "You've done that, haven't you?" After I nodded and explained that it was on a 400k, the conversation was essentially over because they were convinced I was crazy.
I rode with them for a little while further after the control I started getting leg cramps. Pushing the pace in the warm afternoon I was sweating a lot and not keeping up with my electrolytes. I dropped out of the pace line, popped a few endurolytes, and rode at an easy pace by myself to the finish.
I finished in 8:54, and measured 3,820 ft of climbing on the 200k. A great ride on a gorgeous fall day.
December 13, 2008. 200 km, 5871 ft of climbing, and 7000 mph wind. The intrepid riders were Arturo, Bob, Mark, Dennis, Edward, and Mark, with a joint finishing time of 11 hr 56 minutes.
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The day started out cool, with temperatures in the 40's and a light breeze starting to blow. We set out from Bellville at 7 am, staying in a loose group and enjoying the morning. No one was pushing the pace, knowing the wind that was predicted would be blowing hard against us on the return. The first control was at Washington on the Brazos State Park, the birthplace of Texas. Although we got there a little before the visitor center's opening time the attendant cheerfully sold us some snacks and signed our brevet cards.
Our journey from Bellville to Chappell Hill to Washington on the Brazos was accomplished in the morning hours between 7 and 10 am; note that the wind direction was behind us but the velocity was negligible. As we proceeded from Washington on the Brazos to Independence the wind changed toa crosswind that was over 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph, with flags standing out and popping as we rode past them. Between Indendence and Burton my shoulders and neck started aching from the effort to keep my bike on the road; at least I have enough mass to keep the bike on the ground, none of us were sure what featherweights Arturo and Edward were doing to keep their bikes rubber side down. Returning from Burton to Independence we had primarily crosswinds that were over 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph. We turned dead into the seemingly hypersonic headwind for the last legs back to the start at Bellville, with the wind finally moderating to 15 mph by the end at 8 pm.
My slowest 200k ever, I think, and one of the windiest. Very nice company, though, as we rode it more or less in the audax style and finished as a group. We survived!
Mark
copyright November 2008
