These rides have a way of turning into epic adventures, and this one was no exception. There were six riders on this permanent brevet. We started the ride in Princeton, at 7:00 am. I got to riding along, talking to Peggy, and the next time I looked around, there was no one else behind us. The crosswinds were already pretty gusty, even early, but we made decent time to the first control, and before we were ready to leave, the rest of the group arrived.
At Ladonia (which is home to one of the friendliest Deputy Sheriffs I’ve ever met), we turned north, and had a good tailwind the rest of the way to Honey Grove, the turnaround point. Peggy said she wasn’t feeling her strongest, and I had to admit I wasn’t either, so we didn’t really try to fly down the road while we had the tailwind. We just pedaled a comfortable pace.
At the Honey Grove control, John Droese pulled in just a few minutes behind us, saying he would keep his stop short, and wanted to join us. John is new to LSR, but is a strong rider. Before we left, the rest of the group arrived, so they were still just a short distance behind us. By then, the winds had to be blowing 30 mph, and the 12 miles straight south back to Ladonia were brutal. That stretch isn’t hilly, but it’s so open it really catches the wind.
After we left the next control at mile 95, it sprinkled lightly for a few minutes, but that was all. The 6.4 mile stretch from Lane to Merit is straight against the wind, with some tough hills, and that was one of the hardest stretches I’ve ridden in a while. My legs were toast by the time we turned west again.
With 15 miles to go, my rear derailler shifting cable broke. This instantly clunked the chain into the 11 tooth gear. This gives you a 3 speed bike, and you ain’t going to like the gears you have. The 3 gears are high, higher, and highest. It had been progressively getting darker outside, and of course it chose this time to start sprinkling again. I don’t know of a quick fix for this problem (if you do, this would be a good place to post it), so, knowing the skys could open up at any minute, I decided the best approach might be to keep going, doing my best to keep enough speed to get over the hills. I can tell you that I do not recommend trying to climb a tough hill at 9 mph with a 50 cadence, especially when your legs are already fried. By picking up my speed to try and keep going, I eventually lost sight of Peggy, and of course the minute I did, she broke down.
I knew I would eventually get stopped by a hill, so John said he would go back for Peggy. Sure enough, after walking my bike up a steep hill, John and Peggy showed up, and we spent a few minutes trying to do a fix to get me in a lower gear. John pulled the cable while I pedaled to get the bike into a lower gear, then we tied the cable. It did not work. As soon as I took off, it clicked into the 11 tooth gear again. I decided to keep going. I only had to walk one more hill, but I did struggle mightily on several. The 9 mph with a 50 cadence seemed to be my limit. If I fell below that, I had to stop. But, I sat right on the 50 cadence on several hills, my legs boiling in hot oil.
After my cable troubles started, I was so intent on just getting in that I neglected to keep drinking my carb drink, and I paid the price for that. As soon as I pulled in the parking lot, I bonked, and could hardly stand. A few minutes of sitting in my truck downing sugar made me feel much better (thanks for the Herseys chocolate, Peggy), but my legs were so fried, they looked like this:
Well, maybe they didn’t look like that, but they FELT that way. I ended up finishing in ~10 hours. Mileage was 125.6. On the bike time was 8:21, for a 15.0 average. Total climbing was 3958 feet. The wind made it feel like more.