I rode the West Out & Back 255k route yesterday. It turned into one of those tough rides that serve to remind me that, big surprise, I’m not bulletproof after all.

I joined rando friends Stephen, Sharon, Vickie, and Pam for a 6:30 am start at Lynn Creek Marina at Joe Pool Lake. From there, the route goes south to Italy, then on to West, then back. Pam had knee issues early, and we made a couple of stops and rode a pretty easy pace.

I had no problem with that. I’d already decided that I would need to ride an easy pace in this heat, and brought my lights and reflective gear, even though I figured we’d be done hours before dark. Stephen and Sharon, riding a tandem, felt great all day, but Pam, Vickie, and I all suffered from the heat before the day was over. The temperature reached 100 by shortly after noon, and we hadn’t even reached the turnaround point at West by then. By that afternoon, the temperature was 108, and we were seeing 114 degrees on the road.

I was fine when we made an unscheduled cool-off stop at Malone at mile 95, but by the time I reached a small store at Milford, at mile 111, still 7 miles short of our next control stop, I was barely moving, and feeling like I couldn’t go on. Vickie had also stopped at this store, also feeling overheated. I had fallen behind Vickie and Pam when I had a flat at mile 97, but picked a spot right beside Vickie on the store floor to rest, cool off, and recover. I looked so bad that the couple who owned the store did their best to talk my riding companions into not letting me continue. But of course, that didn’t happen.

We continued on, with frequent stops the rest of the way. I did a better job of keeping cold water poured on my arm coolers, and never got that overheated again, though I can’t say I had much speed or strength the rest of the way. Vickie and I finished the ride at 9:16, 14 hours and 46 minutes after we started it, and the rest of the crew was a few minutes behind us. I ended up with 160.1 miles. And thus ended another great rando adventure that brought on the thought: “What was I thinking?”

West Out and Back 255k route.