Well, almost!
I loaded my bike on a train in Wilson Wednesday afternoon and headed for Greensboro to meet up with 4 other long distance riders. Several delays and the train arrived in Greensboro almost 2 hours late so now I had to ride my bike to the motel at night in the rain. Our Fleche team known as the East bound Arrow was attempting to cover Greensboro to Nags Head (300 miles) in 24 hours. These guys have seen everything so rain and 24 hours of constant northeast headwinds for the entire ride didn't seem to bother them. I've ridden several rides with two of the members but the other two guys I'd never met before. One rider, Terry Lansdell holds several long distance speed records. Solo'd RAAM (Race across America) 4 times. 3,000 mile time trial in ~10 days. Holds the (RAW) A 900 mile race across the west record for a fixed gear bike. He is also the fastest dude to cover the almost famous Murphy to Manteo. 590 miles in 41 hours. I was excited to be in such company but getting very nervous as well. I spent some time with them Thursday morning and at noon we're off. It was cloudy but no rain. Wind was already in our face and for the entire ride except for a few portions where our bikes were pointed southeast did we catch a break. My goal was just to hang on to these guys until dinner in Wake Forest. More than half the climbing for this ride was on this section. I had a good ride and was even able to contribute my share on the front. For 100 miles we stopped once at a C store, and we arrived in WF at 5:45pm. We're making really good time. Chili and sandwiches were waiting for us. We'd planned for an hour stop but stayed a little longer, then we noticed rain forming on the radar just west of us and it was time to go. Next stop was Waffle House in Tarboro. Why there? It's hard to find hot food after midnight. We cruised though Wilson County on Bike Route #2, down Horne's Church to New Hope then on to Elm City & Town Creek. I had Susan on call in case we needed anything, but we had our bikes pointed SE from Wake Forest, so we were busting the course while not having to fight the wind. She did confirm the rain was on our heels so we hurried on. We arrived in Tarboro just before midnight. We're making good time despite the wind having an 18.5 mph average for the first 170 miles. Plan was to leave there at 1:00am. While there it started raining. We'd look at the radar and decide to wait another 15 min. We all had our heads down on the table. It'd already been a hard ride. Finally at 1:20am we had to go. Light rain, probably mid 50's though the wind was picking up. Somewhere around the 200 mile mark near Hassell, we had us a full blown nor'easter going in April. Winds were now gusting at ~25mph. Our pace now was down to 12 and 13 mph. Branson was riding a fixed gear and feeling it a bit. I had my aero bars and spent a lot of time on the front during the early stages of this. I was still feeling pretty good. A couple hours of this crap and we're all splintered up. No one is able to set a pace that can hold the group together. Winds blowing so hard it's hard to carry own a conversation. Some of us now are getting very sleepy including my-self. We are very drained. I'm weaving a bit and Terry yells at me to grab my attention. From about 3am to sunrise is always the worst. Our goal now is a coffee shop in Columbia. It takes forever to get there at 12mph. We all realize that if this wind doesn't subside we're not going to make the whole 300 miles in 24 hours. Just before Columbia, the winds coming off the bay are relentless. Branson has a flat coming into town and we dive into the coffee shop, ~250 miles into the ride. Branson claims he is not fixing the flat, he is done. He hasn't drank or eaten anything in several hours. We're all wasted. Now it's time for a bail-out plan. To get credit for the Fleche, you only have to ride 360K or 225 miles to your final destination, and you have to finish with at least 3 riders. You can design a longer route, in which we did, but you can also change your final destination during the ride as long as it's on the course and it's more than the required minimum and you're also required to ride at least 25 km's in the final 2 hours. So many rules. They talk Branson into finishing this last 25km's. After the flat tire fix we head out for Mann's Harbor, our new destination. It will be 275 miles instead of 300 but we'll still get credit for our effort. Things are fine after a long breakfast stop. We're refueled, and have 2 hours to get to Mann's Harbor. Things are fine that is until we roll up to Alligator River and the 3.5 mile bridge to get across. You could surf those waves. We had to ride across that bridge in left to right 20mph winds now gusting 30+. The ride was for naught if we couldn't get across. If you know that bridge, it's a narrow two lane, the railing is like 1 foot from the white line and scariest of all is the railing can't be more than 2 feet high. I've ridden this bridge before but not under these conditions. I had a death grip on the handlebars. Had the bike leaning left into the wind about 2 feet from the white line when the first gust hit. It knocked me to the white line before I recovered. I had the carbon bike with an aerospoke wheel on the back. Dang, I had forgotten about that wind catcher back there. I took center lane after that. Then there's this 18 wheeler approaching. Oh jeez. I see both bikes way up ahead of me bounce over a couple feet. I brace and lean into it but I slide over a couple feet as well. Oh well, only 3 more miles of this and 2 more trucks to deal with. That was a rush I hadn't felt in a long time. Anyway, we finished up our ride a few miles later. My bike and I hitched a ride with Branson's family over the other 2 bridges to Nag's Head. The afternoon I spent with various riders and there families. Susan was picking me up at 6:00pm and we'd have dinner then drive back home. Terry and his wife adopted me for the afternoon as I had no place to stay. They had a suite rented with a couple rooms, and they had a big bottle of wine. They also had wine and cheese downstairs. I had several recovery drinks. A big group of my rando friends were there as well. A great afternoon between naps. Before the first nap I had been up for 30 hours without sleep. Susan joined us at 6:00 and the four of us had a great dinner and to this story the end finally comes. -- 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]. 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