A bit long, but so was the ride!
Alright, this time I'm going to write about a fun and enjoyable event. We had a pre-ride dinner in Greensboro Friday evening from the parking lot of our base hotel. Teriyaki chicken, stir-fry veggies, rice and noodles, etc. It was all excellent! We listened to tales from the PBP 1200K (Paris) as we prepared to begin our own adventure. I was again too anxious to sleep well Friday evening. I still need work on rest and sleep. We have a rather large group at the start. 21 riders for the main event (1200K) A couple doing the 1000K event and 7 or so just doing the 200K warm-up ride, including some of the volunteers that will see us through the weekend and beyond. 4:00am and the clock starts. 90 hours to get this done. We're riding 752 miles, including 25,000 feet of ascent. First 40 miles is rather flat and we mostly stay together at a sane pace. After that John o. and I ride with a more conservative paced group. I resist the urge to ride up front. All is well at the 100K control at Salem Fork at the base of the mountains. We say farewell and 10 miles later at Low Gap, we start the 3 mile steady 8% climb up the mountain towards Sparta. I drop nearly every one off the front. Up to the Parkway where it levels off then another 1 mile climb to the Eastern Continental Divide. On to Sparta, then lunch at Twin Oaks, from there we cruise deeper into the mountains all the way to Warrensville, which is only 15 miles from the Tennessee border. From there we loop back through Jefferson and Laurel Springs then returning to Sparta for dinner. I'm hanging out with John o. and Bryan R. We also maintain contact with others just ahead of us and some behind us. I had made a master plan on what I needed to do to get this done in 85 hours. It became a useless sheet of paper. I was thinking 22 hours for the first 400K, but it was becoming evident that it'd take every bit of 24 hours. I was starting out in the hole, but I wasn't too worried yet. I was riding a pace that allowed me to enjoy some of the great scenery around us. It was truly a beautiful course with lots of expanded views as well as a few river and valley roads which offered more subtle grades. Most of the roads were also in great shape. The first 400K was a showpiece. We cruise back down the mountain and back to Greensboro. 24 hours of riding with no sleep. I lay down for an hour maybe getting a 30 min. nap then its back on the bike. We are now headed for Troy nestled in the Uwharrie Mountains. Again a showpiece area for North Carolina though a bit tough for the gravity challenged folks like myself. I'm riding mostly solo but keeping tabs on John o., Bryan, John P., Vance, and Gator. The hardest climb was on Flint Hill Road though not the same Flint Hill I was familiar with. Lots of paint writing on the road expressing how much pain you must be enduring with smiley faces. Seems to be a popular bike route! From there on to Ellerbe where Tony claimed the hills tapered, but still to go was Rockingham, by the race track, then on to Laurinburg. I've ridden this route a few times. They are called the sand hills of North Carolina for a reason. John o. and I stop in Ellerbe for some lunch. Shortly after eating we stop again at a church and take a 20 min. nap on the porch. We are battling a headwind today for almost the entire route which is keeping our average speed well below what it needs to be in order to get some real sleep. Rockingham to Laurinburg, 350 miles into the event will be my low point for the ride. Average speed is going down. No sleep, the heat, continued hills and headwinds have taken their toll on the big guy. John is not feeling well either. We even sit up the last 20 miles to Laurinburg knowing we were throwing in the towel. I had absolutely nothing left and I needed sleep with only two very short naps and time now for only 1 hour of down time. I'm done. John hasn't had a lot of seat time because of work schedule combined with still not finding a saddle that would allow him to go the distance had more serious issues than I. I told Tony my intentions to abandon and headed off to my room in Laurinburg. Two days now on 1 hour of sleep, I was frustrated. Coach Tony comes into my room a couple minutes later and sits me down. The next 200 miles to the beach and back to Laurinburg is completely flat. This is your turf he explains, and I can make back plenty of time and still get some power naps along the way. John p. ads "crash and burn" but don't give up. I give thumbs up and head for the shower. I then lay in bed for about 45 minutes. Dang, I can't sleep. My legs/feet are trying to cramp. I drink more Heed. I may have dozed for 10 or 20 minutes after that settled down. I get my stuff ready to go. As I'm walking out, Joan, from S.C. is leaving out, we wave and I head for supplies. I try to nudge John p. from Boone, N.C. awake as leaving now we're already 1 hour behind the clock. He wants more sleep. I realize now that I was the last one leaving Laurinburg that would actually finish the ride. I rode a brisk pace to catch Joan. We chatted a bit then I stopped to plug in some tunes to help pace me and keep me awake. It's like 11:00 pm Sunday evening. The wind has died down. I think Joan has stopped for more sleep. I'm cruising 17/18mph. I throw in some 20mph intervals to bump the average and fight off the sleep. And yes Virginia, you can fall asleep while pedaling a bicycle. Right off the dang road. Time for a power nap. I find another church and take down a 30 min. nap on the side porch. I ride some more at a good pace stopping one more time for a power nap. 100 miles later I reach Ocean Isle right at sunrise Monday morning. I slow down and savor the ride over the causeway and along the strip. We have a 6 bedroom cottage there and I stop to check in and socialize but have no intentions of sleep. I chat with Jerry, Geof, Mike, Mary and Chuck while I'm there but some of the others are still asleep. My turn for real sleep will have to wait until back in Laurinburg. I'm there for about an hour then I start cruising again. 475 miles into the ride I/we finally catch a break and have a tailwind back to Laurinburg. The wind gust and I'm cruising 20mph at times with a big smile on my face. There are now only 5 riders in front of me, whom I'll never see again. The rest I left at the beach but 3 were getting ready to leave soon. I stop at McDonalds to fill up the tank then sail on. There are storm clouds a couple hours into the return. It's time for another church break, a picnic shelter with a metal roof and lots of rain. Dreamland! Upon leaving I put on my left cycle glove and I'm bitten/stung on the bridge between pinky & ring finger. At the time I'm thinking fire ant. Even now the whole left side of my hand is still swollen and numb 2.5 days later. Two insertion points about 2 mm's apart can be seen. Was maybe some kind of spider? I'm going to doctor tomorrow if no better. I stop one more time before Laurinburg for another power nap. There is lots of traffic today as people are returning from the beach. It's a little hairy at times with their excess speed and their big boats. I'm back in Laurinburg shortly after 5:00 pm. Monday afternoon. Control closes at 1:00 am Tuesday morning so I finally have time for real sleep. Food, shower and 3.5 hours of much needed sleep. 578 miles in the bag, only 175 more miles to go. At 10:00 pm I'm ready to cruise some more. Everyone has left me except the Olsen brothers. I rode with Bill Olsen some in Texas back in May. They are watching the grim weather forecast for our last leg of the journey. Storm from the gulf threatens to cut off our path back to Greensboro. Thunderstorm and tornado watches in effect along with expected 4 to 6 inches of rain. They wait another hour or so to leave, but I head out into the misty rain for Pinehurst. Just another nice pleasant ride with me, myself and I. I'm conversing with Geof via phone as they are up ahead and planning to get a couple rooms there to get out of the expected weather. I stop a couple times for power naps. The last stop I make was at another church just a few miles outside Pinehurst. Getting back into a few hills now and I'm exhausted. I get up in time to still meet them at the motel but the skies let loose with a hard rain and I hit the snooze button. Rain stops and I finally cruise through Pinehurst around 8:00 am. Rush hour, so I keep heading away from town to ditch the traffic. Again I leap frog the other riders. Only 85 miles left but we're back into some serious hills today between Pinehurst and Asheboro. Geof phones and we determine I'm like 7 miles ahead of he and Mike. I scope out a subway restaurant and they join me for lunch. I ride with them for a few miles, but they want a good finish time and I just want to enjoy the day and finish, period. Ominous storm clouds keep brushing us as we inch closer west. Finally one opens up and I park my bike under a big tree and rest my head on the handlebars listening to the rain. Before I can nod off and make an embarrassing splat to the ground, 3 more riding buddies cruise by waking me up. They seem to be enjoying the rain and I gather my senses and give chase. I will ride out the rest of the event with friends Joel Lawrence, Mary Florian and new friend Curt from Florida. Riding into Asheboro was like climbing the mountain all over again. The final control there as we take a much needed extended break. 33 miles to go and we're all smiles. Chuck and the Olsen's join us before we take off. Joan is the only one left and not far behind. We leave and Joel smells the barn. He throws down a bit as we give chase. He checks up and now it's my turn. We give it a couple hard runs but we stay together as storm clouds are brewing again as we near Greensboro. The ride wouldn't be complete without an epic finish so here goes. Ominous clouds are rolling swiftly across the landscape. They appear to be attacking from all sides. At one point the temperature drops like 20 degrees. A heavy rain lands a few minutes later. I'm heading for shelter but the rain stops and maybe the bulk of it is going around us. We keep riding trying to out run it I guess. Ten miles from the finish and we're hammered with a very cold hard rain. 8 miles left and we're on city streets now. There is lots of flooding on the road. Traffic is picking up as rush hour nears. A hundred feet up ahead of us a van smashes hard into a car. Joel pulls us over to the side thinking this wreck may not be over yet. We approach slowly and both drivers are out talking on their cell phones. We pass within a few feet of a little girl standing outside the car crying but appears ok other than her blood stained dress. Her dad then ushers her away for cover from the rain. We want to help but there is not much we can offer. We mosey on still under a hard rain. A mile later we climb, and Mary stands up to pedal. Her foot leaves the pedal and then her rear wheel slides out from under her. She goes down hard. Curt is behind her and runs over her bike and goes down hard as well. I go farther into the lane to stay up and we're in 4 lanes of heavy traffic and I brace for impact but I make it by without incident. They are scrambling out of the road. I grab leftover stuff, water bottles, pumps, etc. Mary is holding her shoulder, arm is limp. Later I find out she dislocated her shoulder and she replaced it. Ouch! I attempt to replace her chain but the wheel is locked. Then I realize her wheel is a pretzel. Joel tries standing on the wheel to bend it back enough to get her home. We both stand on it but no luck. I call Tony and order up a rear wheel so we can get this finished. Nobody's gonna bail now! We stand in the cold rain for about 40 minutes then Bob B. and Tony arrive with a fresh wheel and we ride out this last 6 miles. The rain finally stops as we roll in for the finish. The rest of the field rolls in a few minutes later. 15 of the 21 riders finish the ride. We shower up and head across the street to Ruby Tuesdays for victory dinner. We'll sleep later. It was cool to be apart of the first ever North Carolina 1200K Brevet. Anyone even attempting this ride is bad a$$. Also Geof and I became the first two North Carolina riders to earn the "American Randoneur Challenge" award, completing two or more domestic 1200K's in the same year. I also just became the 5th tar-heel to get a k-hound trophy. 10,000 km's in RUSA events in a single season. Yoo-hoo! All I had to do was ride a bike! J As this report may circulate, I'd like to thank all the volunteers that helped out! Tony not having the resources of a big outfit such as the Lone Star crew made up for it by staying on top of things around the clock. Thanks to the others as well. John M., Steven B., Jerry P., Beth, Lee Ann, Bob B., and others I may not have come in contact with. It was 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]. 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.
