Wow, again. You guys are hard core! Enjoyed the report. Glad your ride was safe. Kp
Sent from my iPad On Apr 7, 2012, at 12:45 PM, "Tim & Susan" <[email protected]> wrote: > 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]. > 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.
