First 300k Brevet

2/19/05

       Well,  I have to say to describe the week leading up to this brevet as hectic would be an understatement.  I managed to lose at least an hour every night leading up to the the night before where I got to bed late and woke up at 1:00 AM and couldn't sleep.  In any case, it was not a week conducive to providing the best possible ride.

        The day started out with my son waking up at 1 AM and getting me up.  I tried to get back to sleep for an hour and a half but couldn't.  This turned out to be a good thing because I kept forgetting things and was almost late to the start line so I guess I should be thankful to his annoying sleep habits.  I checked the weather before I left and the storms seemed to be tracking Northest of Casa Grande.  I was pretty happy with that but the clear weather east of Casa Grand wouldn't last out the morning so I was glad I left the fenders on.  I was also glad I took the time Thursday night to make a new pair of rain pants out of the goretex I have had in the closet for many years.  In the the end only thing usefull that I forgot was my mirror and I missed it most of the day but not enough to stop at a bike shop and buy another.

     I barely had time to organize my stuff and check in and then we were off.  WE followed Susan over to Trekell  and she took off ahead.  I followed a cyclist right at Kortsen which turned out to be a wrong turn as Sue had lead us around some flooding (mental note to self,  if you were to busy to hear the ride announcements,  don't ride near the front).  In any case, Susan caught up with us before we had gone too many miles off course.  The next fauxpaux would be on our way up Cox.  I saw the sign that said Woodruff and thought great woodruff is up ahead.  We then proceeded to shoot right by woodruff.  I figured something was wrong after a few hundred yards and mentioned it but the group cruised on up the road.  Susan took up the chase (she really got to do a lot of chasing on this ride)  (second mental note to self,  if you go into a ride lacking sleep and mentally dull,  check your mileages and cue sheet religiously).  Anyway,  we all eventually got back onto the course and shot off through the darkness.

    I have to admit I rode this part of the course too fast.  I need to work on pacing for the first hour of these longer rides.  I had to stop on the corner of Martin andAZ287 to get some water from Susan who was directing  navigationaly challenged (at least at night)  riders (of which I am one he admitted sheepishly).  At this point most of the pack passed me.  Between Coolidge and AZ79 just  the rest of the group would pass me.

    It was in this section that the sun came up.  We were riding through farms and saw horse and cows in green (I know pastures are usually green but not in Arizona,  we have had a really wet winter and everything is green.) pastures.  It was really funny just before sunup as you could tell who owned chickens as the roosters would crow when our lights went by (glad I don't own a rooster).  It was really pastoral.  Even after we left the farms and entered the desert the ground was green from grass and the wildflowers were just coming into bloom.

    At the first control I realized I was in the last group, and that they had in fact passed me just before the control.  The 36 mile section of road from where we turned onto 79 to where we turned off of it is almost entirely on gentle climb.  I had a real tough time keeping up any kind of a pace on this section and eventually jumped onto the back of the group after they caught me after the control.  It was around here that the rain started up again and I discovered that drafting in the rain is not necessarily a pleasant experience.   We kept on cruising and eventually reached the top of the hill after what seemed like an eternity.   Just after the top Bruce got a flat so I stopped and helped him while the others moved on in search of facilities.

   Bruce had a very interesting older bike with the old style dropouts so it was interesting watching him realign the tire after putting it back on.  We were off again after not too much time and kept a nice 20+ pace all the way down to the Oracle hwy where the others were waiting.  From there we continued a good pace (after pumping Bruce's tire up the rest of the way) into Tucson.  As we approached Oro valley the rain really let loose.  I was in the lead and thought I heard a pop in my back tire but after having checked it it was fine.  I rode on.  Somewhere in here I looked back but couldn't see anyone.   I weighed my options of waiting for them or continuing.  As my pump was stuck to my frame and I couldn't remove it I determined I wouldn't be much help to them.  I was also freezing my tail off and wanted to get away from the mountain and out of the rain so I moved on.

    As I approached Tucson the first of the annoying songs was about to start in my head.   People without kids have the wonderful luxury of missing out on all the infectious and repetitive childrens songs so rampant in todays cartoons.  I however, unfortunately had the foggy fog song stuck in my head from Dora the Explorer.  I think this particular song crept in there because it matched my cadence and the peaks  near Oracle rd.  and Ina were shrouded in fog making them look like the old Paramount trademark.  It was beautiful but I had to move on.  Eventually I was able to shake the foggy fog song after about a hundred repititions and enjoyed the ride down Ina road mostly (I must have hit every red light except one or two).  Until I finally got to Silverbell.

    Silverbell seemed to go on forever for some reason.  I kept looking up at the dark clouds on Gates Pass and hoping they didn't mean what I thought they meant.  The Santa Cruz river was flowing along beside Silverbell amazingly enough.   I had never seen water in the Santa Cruz river.  Sweetwater road eventually came up on the right and the climbing started again.  I had steeled myself down for a nasty climb as Bruce had told me about how hard it was.  The nice thing is the result of all that caused me to ride the hill conservativelly and as I climbed up the pass I dropped into the triple granny gear and just spun up the pass.  I had just enough energy for the last two little steep sections at the top.  The clouds were drifting in and out of the rocky crags and cliffs.  If you have to have a long climb it is nice to have good scenery to distract you. I had never been up into Gates Pass before and it is a gorgeous area.  Not to mention a blast to descend the steep roads on the back side.

    At the bottom was the second (or third control if you count the start).  I loaded up on some chips as I was afraid of stomache problems since I had troubles with them last time I mixed solid food with liquid energy food.  I should have grabbed my arm warmers out of the bag while I was there but it wasn't raining and the sun was almost peaking.  Anyway, hindsight is always 20/20.  I had it ingrained in my mind that it was downhill from here so when I start climbing soon after leaving the control it really put me in a mental slump.  My pace dropped and I really didn't get back into stride until after crossing picture rocks road.  I bonked pretty hard going on the road next to Saguaro national monument.  I had another kids show moment as I imagined Pollyanna saying, " now,  what can we find to be glad about a headwind and an uphill grade....?.....  No,  tis a silly game".   Needless to say I started eating.  Hearing pollyannas voice in your head isn't a good sign.

     At the Trico control I caught up to Rich.  We would play leapfrog for the rest of the day with him mostly in the lead.  It was a big mental boost to realize I managed to catch up to someone though.   He let me have the rest of the water he bought and didn't need and I went inside to purchase some honey roasted peanuts.  Funny thing was I just couldn't eat them the rest of the trip.  After this control things started to get real difficult with the legs.  They just didn't want to go anymore.  Part of it was the slight elevation increase on our way back to the freeway but even when I turned on the frontage road there just wasn't any energy left in them.  It just took willpower to drive them.   Anyway,  the ride down the frontage road was a long one.  You could see Pichacho peak in the distance (after the rain over it cleared a bit)  and it just didn't seem to be getting any closer.   At about 10 miles out from the peak it started raining again and just before I pulled in it really let loose.  I decided it would be prudent to stop and I am glad I did.  I ran into Rich again and I ordered some milk and fries.  The milk really hit the spot and I found between the fries and the milk I had enough energy to go the 20 miles to La Palma. 

      After leaving Dairy Queen the headwind had turned into a tailwind and we spent some time up around 20 mph for about 15-20 minutes.  It was much appreciated while it lasted.  By the time the wind turned around we were just about to the turn up Az87 so it didn't matter as we would be turning out of it.  Around halfway to La Palma my new Gen3 LED light pooped out (5 hrs runtime my foot!).  That left me with my trusty cateye el-500 which had batteries in it that I thought were pretty new but wasn't too sure.  I had intended to use it as a backup.  Anyway,  on to La Palma.  The lights were visible from a long ways away at night and it was very disheartening to keep pedaling and not see them getting any nearer.   I finally did arrive of course after much pedaling.  The store was out of batteries and their receipt machine was broken so I got a note on the back of a cigarette carton and bought some milk and powerade.  The milk and powerade went down really well.  Rich shared some chips with me (for which I was very thankful but too tired to voice it at the time).  I took off and headed towards the never nearing lights of Coolidge 10 short (sarcasm) miles away.  Somewhere in here it started raining and Rich passed me asking how my light was holding up.

       Around the edge of coolidge the rain let loose and I had trouble seeing with all the water in my glasses.  Somehow I managed to find the turn and waded (what else do you call it when riding through water up to your bottom bracket?) up to McMurray street.  I waded through several more intersections before turning onto Olive and arriving at the final control which was dark except for Susan holding a flashlight.  I checked in, grabbed my dropbag and made a beeline for my car to get some dry clothes on.  On the way home I had to stop and sleep 3 times as I was utterly exhausted with the days work and lack of sleep.  All in all it was a good ride and I would do it again now.  If you would have asked me at the final control I would have had to think about it.

Lessons learned-

•   Just keep spinning

• Don't forget the mirror (maybe it should be on the checklist)

• Make sure to stock up on sleep the week before.

• Milk is pretty good stuff at the end of a long ride.

• Test out lights beforehand to discover real burntimes as opposed to suggested.