We really need to get this stuff in print some place.
LR ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jim Davis Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 6:52 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [COWs] 600K Ride Report !!! Great report, I am impressed, your writing is only surpassed by your ability on the bike. Jim Sent from my iPad On Feb 13, 2012, at 9:27 PM, "Tim & Susan" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Where to begin? This may be a little long because I may use this as a proof of insanity plea later on down the road. I signed up for this ride about 10 days in advance when the weather models predicted 60 degrees on Saturday and 35 degrees for a low. 5 days later the forecast tanked. 13 riders had already signed up, loaded with rando all-stars including Mr. RUSA president himself, Mark Thomas from Seattle and 2011 U.S. Rando of the year, Mike D. from N.C. Thursday before the ride I wanted to change my 600K registration to the 300K route which also had several riders signed up, but I wanted someone else to blink first. No one blinked. This list was full of Bad A$$es. 13 riders showed up Saturday morning knowing this was gonna be an epic event. There were another 10 riders cruising the 200K and another 10 riders on the 300K. 4 riders drove in from Ohio hoping for warmer weather. It just finished raining 1 hour before the start. Temps were very pleasant in the mid 40's. We cruised out at 7:00am. The first 45 miles to Roseboro had a slight tailwind and we were all smiles. At mile 85, the peloton stopped at Andy's in Wallace for cheeseburgers and milkshakes while 3 riders continued on. Mile 132 it rains a bit so we stop at a Subway in Rocky Point for more fuel. Mile 137 we're cruising along when just behind me I here commotion and glance in my mirror seeing Mark crashing to the pavement. We all gather around trying to access the damage. He seems ok but his front wheel is toast. A replacement wheel is an hour away. We all decide to stay together and hang out at a little country store while we wait. We are making good time on the bikes but our down time is adding up. After starting back up again, the fun begins. The wind roars in and temps are dropping fast as the skies clear. Mile 180, around 9:30pm, it's getting nasty on the playground. We cruise by a little Mexican grill near Garland and we can't pass up warm food and a warm atmosphere. At this point we have one rider to DNF and one rider whom has fallen back a ways. Later we find out the second rider was suffering from hypothermia and could not get a phone signal from where he was and tried several houses before he found someone that would help him out. I guess we were all taking a risk being out there, luckily that was the only scary event of the weekend and it turned out ok. This guy Bob was also a very experienced rider which means that it could have happened to any one of us. We leave there and the wind is awesome. We get our bikes ready, run back inside until we're all ready to go because you can't just stand around in that wind waiting. Wow, this is brutal. We get Gail force winds at 40 plus. Sometimes our speed is down to like 7 mph. Big gust roars through and bikes go everywhere. No one goes down but a few get blown off the road. We're now headed for White Lake, dodging limbs, pinecones and other debris in the road. It's very slow going and the temps are now below freezing. It feels surreal; like I'm watching this from the outside then the next big gust brings me back to reality. Mile 197 we reach White Lake and dive in the store for hot chocolate. We've ridden like 20 miles in two hours. Another 10 miles to Elizabethtown then we dive south towards Shallotte. It's getting colder but no more headwinds for a while. We relish that left turn, but we are too tired to really take advantage of the tailwind. It's very desolate out here now with the next 24 hour store located in Shallotte at mile 258. We did pass through Hallsboro where my friend Ian was so sleepy that he camped out inside the town's post office while the rest of us continued on. Less than an hour from Shallotte Joel and I both run out of fuel. We start drifting back from the peloton. I start doing sprint intervals to wake myself up and to help with some warmth. For several miles I'd get out of the saddle and count 50 pedal strokes then rest a few minutes and repeat. Up ahead I could see another rider drift back then they all slowed up a bit and we regrouped. Finally 258 miles down, 4 riders have a motel in Shallotte, 3 of us will continue on to Sunset Beach 14 miles away but not before some more hot chocolate. From there it's more brutal headwinds all the way to SB and the bank sign reads 25 degrees. We were cussing like sailors. We have ridden our bikes nearly through the entire night as we arrived at SB at 5:30 am. In to our base room we eat and chat for a while then I crash at 6:15, up at 7:30. Ian comes in as I'm getting up and wants to know if he has time for another nap. I tell him our plans to cruise out around 8:30. As I'm sitting there trying to piece together the reality of what's going on, we're watching the Weather Channel. Sunset Beach, 26 degrees, and they pan over to the northwest and currently in Anchorage, Alaska it's a balmy 30 degrees! WTH?!?!? That is so not right! 2 riders left out of SB at 5:30 as we were riding in. 5 of us left shortly after 8:30am as the Gail force wind warnings lifted at 8:00am. The four staying in Shallotte hadn't showed up yet. 275 miles down and only 105 miles left, but it'll be the hardest century ride of my life. Still 15 mph sustained headwinds all the way home with 20+ gusts. Ian and I stopped at McD's about 8 miles out already busted and needing fuel. We crank it back up cruising along about 12 mph. Ian's like "I can't do this all day" and I settle us down into slow motion around 10 mph. If we don't fight it we'll be fine I say. Our next stop is Tabor City on the N.C./S.C. border at mile 310. It took us over 3 hours to put down 35 miles averaging 11.4 mph. The wind is giving no breaks, but we're still ahead of four riders and we picked up a 3rd rider, Roy, from Ohio to ad to our group which will help. We now start out for Boardman, N.C. Even with the constant headwinds, we are having an enjoyable ride. Suns up, and 36 degrees feels a lot better than 26 degrees. We are joking around and really having a good time. We know we've just taken part in an epic event that will go down as one of the most memorable rides ever. A few miles from Boardman the 3 of us all get sleepy at the same time. We dismount and walk our bikes 100 yards or so. Ian has some caffeine pills and we all partake. These things never did much for me while I was cramming for test in school, but I never got sleepy again for the rest of this ride. Mile 332, Boardman, N.C. Tony, the ride organizer meets us there and we grab some lunch. The other riders are like 10 or so miles behind us but we decide not to wait as we know that we'll join up before the end and we can take it easy until then. On to Clarkton. This is a short 19 mile section of today's ride that is traveling east and for one hour of today's ride we do not have a headwind. I know it wasn't heaven but it was a good place to be. Oh yeah baby, we're like getting in the big chain ring. Life is good! Ian and I are setting up for a county line sprint rematch from last year. I usually take him but this one is uphill and he got me last year. Well, he got me again. Dang it! He is half my age though, so I don't feel too bad. Clarkton, mile 350. 4:30pm Sunday afternoon and 30 more miles to go. Time limit for this ride is 40 hours, so no problem there though we were hoping to finish before sunset as the temps would tank again. No chance for that as the headwinds returned for the last leg. Again we took it sorta easy thinking we'd join up with the other group and we'd all ride in together. 10 miles left we sealed the deal by taking a wrong turn, realizing a mile later our mistake and when we returned to the route we met up with our friends and it was a big party to the finish. Tony had hot pizza and subs waiting at the finish. We all gathered for a group photo a few minutes later. It was a huge high to be a part of that group. I met some new friends including Roy from Ohio and then there's Ian that I always seem to hook up with when things get really crazy. I usually spend a lot of time with Bryan R. but knee problems fighting the wind led to his first ever DNF. Mines coming, but it'll have to wait another day. That was 382 miles in 36 hours on one hour of sleep. I kept fairly warm on this ride. Toes and fingers were never cold. I think I finally got it figured out, though I don't plan on testing it again anytime soon as my next overnight ride will be in April. What a blast! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en.
