The first few miles were pretty easy, with a mild tail wind but this quickly changed to a fairly strong quartering head wind for the next 60 miles. Our group of five used an echelon approach to help us break the wind.
Brian, Steve and Clay spread out to break the wind
Steve Reed and Will Oberton share the pace line lead responsibilities
After 65 miles into the wind, it suddenly became calm, and the wind actually shifted to a tail wind.
We knew this was not a good sign, particularly after a Sheriff's Deputy stopped to tell us about golf ball sized hail within 15 miles of where we were and another car slowed to tell us a big storm cell was right behind us.
We knew this was not a good sign, particularly after a Sheriff's Deputy stopped to tell us about golf ball sized hail within 15 miles of where we were and another car slowed to tell us a big storm cell was right behind us.
Waiting out the storm in the trailer
Five miles of fast pedaling got us to the next rest stop just as the big drops were starting to fall. Will initially suggested we go on anyway but couldn't get any takers so we huddled in the trailer and watched a strong thunderstorm blow through for the next 20-30 minutes.
Once the big storm passed, we continued on in a light rain up to the lunch stop where we were served Mac & Cheese, Potato Soup, Ham & Cheese sandwiches or chicken for lunch, while we found places to sit in the trailer.
Will and Scott dining in the support trailer
After lunch we passed through the little town of Cement where we saw many trees ripped up, building severely damaged and many signs destroyed from a wind storm that went through earlier in the day. 30 miles further on, there were drifts of ice pellets in the ditches, remnants of a huge hail storm that went through a couple of hours earlier. We were very fortunate to be just a little behind these weather problems. One rider, Brad Haslam did get caught out in the thunderstorm without good rain gear. When he got to lunch he was pale and in early hypothermia. Brad got warm and had some food and was able to continue and finish nicely. in 2007 on the same section of the Elite Tour, Brad fell in a peleton accident, smashed his knee and was unable to continue. We are all hoping Brad has this bad karma day behind him now.
The last 90 miles after lunch, was filled with rollers and more rollers, but we are getting into a rhythm so the four of us in the group were able to knock them down one at a time with a team appraoch. Will and I separately rode a part of the way (30-40 miles) on our own. For me, this worked out well after the stressful headwind morning and miserable rainy miles it was nice to be on my own for a while. It helped too because when we all finally got back together, I felt really strong coming through the last 50 miles.
About 2 hours from the end I felt something wrong in my saddle. I kept on riding and when I checked it at the finish found the saddle rails had broken off (see picture) on my well used and comfortable Brooks Swift saddle. This saddle has over 25,000 miles on it so it was a shame to see it break, but the support crew came up with a Selle An-Atomica that feels very comfortable, at least in the parking lot.
We finished the 205 miles in a little over 12 hours, head wind, trailer time, lunch and several other breaks included, with an 18.4 average, not too far behind the first finishers. All in all a pretty good day to have in the books.
This is the board we all check at the end of the day for instructions on where to eat, when we start the next morning and where the massage is!
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