Thursday, August 8, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Endless Mountains Followers Guide
This year's 1200K adventure starts on Thursday, August 8th at 4:00am in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. As I have done for my past 1200K's, I will be posting as much information as I can during the ride for anyone interested in riding vicariously through the mountains of northeastern Pennslyvania. I will try to post as often as I can but it will depend a lot on how my energy levels hold up.
Endless Mountains is 770 miles long with approximately 60,000 feet of climbing. To be an official finisher, I need to finish by 1:00am on Monday, August 12th.
I will be using my SPOT locator during the ride. To check out where I'm at, follow this link: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0QrJWA4uXSyjyeTEbQreZGE9oy7Njq7dT
There is lots of information about Endless Mountains at the official ride website.(http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/PA1200K.html).
Link to the route map: http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/EM1240K_B_map.pdf
The route profile looks intimidating to say that least: http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/EM1240K_B_profile.pdf
There is also an official rider tracking site at this link: http://trackleaders.com/endless13
I've trained pretty hard to get ready for Endless Mountains. By the end of the week, we should know if its enough.
Endless Mountains is 770 miles long with approximately 60,000 feet of climbing. To be an official finisher, I need to finish by 1:00am on Monday, August 12th.
I will be using my SPOT locator during the ride. To check out where I'm at, follow this link: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0QrJWA4uXSyjyeTEbQreZGE9oy7Njq7dT
There is lots of information about Endless Mountains at the official ride website.(http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/PA1200K.html).
Link to the route map: http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/EM1240K_B_map.pdf
The route profile looks intimidating to say that least: http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/EM1240K_B_profile.pdf
There is also an official rider tracking site at this link: http://trackleaders.com/endless13
I've trained pretty hard to get ready for Endless Mountains. By the end of the week, we should know if its enough.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
BRF Randonneur Weekend
This past weekend the Minnesota Randonneurs made their second annual trek to Black River Falls for a full weekend of brevets and socializing. As a prelude to the weekend, Rob, the Minnesota RBA came in to town on Friday afternoon. We did a brisk 30 mile ride on one of my favorite training loops. We had a good time but the real fun was on deck for Saturday and Sunday.
Saturdays options included a 300K (188 mile) loop through Pepin or a 200K (127 mile) loop through Coon Valley. I opted for the 300K as part of my training push for the Endless Mountains 1240K randonnee. Six other riders also thought the 300K was a good idea. Seven riders decided to do the 200K route through the Coulees to Coon Valley.
We could not have asked for a better day. Temperatures were comfortable, only rising to the upper 70's, and winds were light. On the 300K, a group of 5 formed right off the bat and ended up riding the entire day together. I rode with Mark O., Jerry C., Jerry H., and Hall S. We had a nice, uneventful day riding over the undulating roads of western Wisconsin. The total route included somewhere around 8,000 or 9,000 feet of climbing. As usual, the Harley motorcycles were out in force along the River Road, just to keep things interesting. At various points in the day I seemed to be approaching a bonk, but managed to eat and drink my way through it each time. Our group ended up rolling into the finish, which was conveniently located at my house, just before 8:00pm for a total elapsed time of 13 hours and 54 minutes.
Saturdays options included a 300K (188 mile) loop through Pepin or a 200K (127 mile) loop through Coon Valley. I opted for the 300K as part of my training push for the Endless Mountains 1240K randonnee. Six other riders also thought the 300K was a good idea. Seven riders decided to do the 200K route through the Coulees to Coon Valley.
We could not have asked for a better day. Temperatures were comfortable, only rising to the upper 70's, and winds were light. On the 300K, a group of 5 formed right off the bat and ended up riding the entire day together. I rode with Mark O., Jerry C., Jerry H., and Hall S. We had a nice, uneventful day riding over the undulating roads of western Wisconsin. The total route included somewhere around 8,000 or 9,000 feet of climbing. As usual, the Harley motorcycles were out in force along the River Road, just to keep things interesting. At various points in the day I seemed to be approaching a bonk, but managed to eat and drink my way through it each time. Our group ended up rolling into the finish, which was conveniently located at my house, just before 8:00pm for a total elapsed time of 13 hours and 54 minutes.
Heather and the girls had been working hard all day and has an awesome party set up to greet finishing riders. There was a big spread of food, pop and beer. The girls also made a Welcome sign congratulating riders.
By the time our group finished the 300K, the 200K finishers were enjoying beer, burgers, brats, and stories from the road. I think everyone had a lot of fun spending hours talking about our sport and whatever topics popped up. For me personally, there are other riders that I normally only see at the start of a ride before the power away from me. The chance to kick back and talk with these Randonneurs was lots of fun.
Sunday was a whole new day. To start with I only got about 5 hours of sleep because I didn't think it was right for the host to not be awake to greet the final 300K finisher. I ended up getting to bed shortly after midnight. I had entertained thoughts of switching to the 100K cruise option for Sunday but Mark O., who is also signed up for Endless Mountains, persuaded me to ride the 200K route instead. Not even a forecast promising widespread rain could dissuade us.
As it turned out, our Saturday group (minus Jerry C.) reformed for the Sunday ride. We started on a nice, cool morning that stayed dry through the first 40-ish miles. Fortunately a light rain started just as we arrived in Foster for the first control. As we were getting ready to roll out into the drizzle, the thunder and lightning started. A quick look at the radar on my smartphone showed a large, ugly storm bearing down on us. We voted 3-1 (Mark will ride through anything) to wait around and monitor the weather for a while. Within minutes, it was raining hard enough to pull cars off the interstate and fill up the gas station. Once the thunder and lightning stopped, we left Foster, even though it was still raining hard. All told, we had a 55 minute control.
The rain continued for the next 50 miles or so, before the sky finally lightened and the sun came out. I actually seemed stronger as the ride went on. By the time we got back to BRF, I was riding better than I had all weekend. Hopefully, that's a good sign for Endless Mountains.
Endless Mountains starts on August 8th in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. The ride is reputed to be one of the hardest 1200K's on the calendar, featuring aroung 60,000 feet of climbing. I feel like I have done everything I can do to be ready. Now we'll have to just give it a shot and see what happens. I plan to post updates to this site throughout the ride (at least as long as I stay coherent). I also will be using the SPOT locator to update my position to anyone interested in following along.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Another 300k, Another Windy Day
I signed up for the Great Lakes Randonneurs 300K to be ridden on Saturday, May 11th. As the day approached the weather forecast started looking familiar. The weatherman said we could expect temps in the upper 50's or lower 60's. The problem was winds, like 20-25 mph winds from the west-northwest. Not exactly good news on a route that travelled west and northwest for the first 101 miles.
At registration, I ran into long-time rando friends, Bob Booth and Michele Borugher. I decided it would be fun to spend the day riding with, and catching up with them.
At registration, I ran into long-time rando friends, Bob Booth and Michele Borugher. I decided it would be fun to spend the day riding with, and catching up with them.
The first 45 miles to the Broadhead control. Bob, Michele, and I spent lots of time sharing stories from our recent road adventures and mingling with the riders doing the 200K which shared the route to the first control. We arrived in Broadhead to find a convenience store swamped by randonneurs.
The ride from Broadhead to New Glarus got WINDY and hilly. The combination of hills and winds dropped out average speed to some very pedestrian type numbers. Several times wind gusts dropped my speed to 5 or 6 miles per hour and we needed to pedal down all but the steepest downhills. By the time we arrived in New Glarus at mile 72, the tank was in deparate need of refueling. Someday it would be really nice to arrive in New Glarus without feeling like I've been run over by a truck.
The trek from New Glarus to Barneveld was more of the same. Big hills, big winds, and dwindling energy. I felt like I was approaching a bonk when we finally arrived in Barneveld at mile 101. We arrived just 60 minutes before the close of the control. Fortunately, a long, refueling break and a switch to tailwinds was just what the doctor ordered.
The trip back to Delavan by way of Oregon and Edgerton was largely uneventful. Our group did pick up Andrew C., who rode the last 75 miles or so with us. We finished at 12:24 am for a "blistering" 300K time of 17 hours and 24 minutes. That was my slowest time for a 300K by a substantial margin. At the finish, super-domestique, Melissa, was waiting with a 6 pack of Sierra Nevada.
All in all, it was a fun and challenging day.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Brevet Season ..... sort of
As I sit writing this it's snowing like crazy here in Black River Falls. We probably have 3 inches on the ground and it looks like it's not going to let up for a while. This has been one crazy "spring". However, even with the protracted winter, there have been chances to get out on the bike. To this point I have just over 500 miles in for the year. I've also done both of my 100K permanent routes and have completed a 300K brevet (admittedly, that one required driving to Kansas City). In other words, the "spring" hasn't been a total loss.
As I said I drove to Kansas City for the April 5th 300K starting in Oak Grove, Missouri. I had made plans with my friend, Spencer, to come down and join him and his gang for this ride back in January. At that point I figured we would have a fairly normal spring and I would have plenty of base miles in to get through an early season 300K. OOPS! The week before the ride I waffled back and forth on whether it made sense to spend 8 hours each way to do a ride that I was in no way prepared for. In the end I decided to just and give it a shot. I figured that when I got dropped, I would just slog in by myself.
I arrived in Kansas City the night before the ride with a grand total of 260 miles for the season. Not exactly a large base for a 194 mile ride. Waking up the morning of the ride, the wind was immediately evident. Not breezes twinkling the leaves, but real wind. When I checked the Weather Channel the winds were listed at 20 mph at 5:30am. This was the kind of wind that was pushing shopping carts around the parking lot and knocking over bikes.
Nineteen riders lined up for the 6:00 am start. The ride was to ride generally east for 95ish miles and then return by the same course. On the way out the wind was mostly a cross wind. This was the kind of cross wind that made it hard to control the bike. I found it was nearly impossible to take a hand off the bars to eat or adjust clothing. I rode with Spencer across the Missouri River and out to the turnaround in Fayette, Missouri in reasonably good shape. As bad as the wind was on the way out, the main talk at the turnaround was about how hard the return trip was going to be. Spencer and I joined up with 4 other riders for the start back. As predicted the wind was a real force to be reckoned with. Crossing the 7 or 8 miles of the Missouri River floodplain, I really struggled to keep moving over 10 miles per hour. There were several stretches where I was topping out at a speedy 8 mph. At the controls, the local riders were trying to keep their spirits up with the encouraging news that the forecast called for the headwinds to drop to 18mph at 4pm or 5pm or was it 6pm. In any event, the winds did not really drop significantly until it got dark around 9pm. We did finally finish as a group of 6 at 11:02- for a 17 hour and 2 minute time. Thats a really slow 300K, but given the conditions and the lack of training, I was pretty satisfied.
Part of the crew enjoying the rando lifestyle in Marshall, Missouri.
On Saturday, April 13th, I decided to ride my Whitetail Wander 119K permanent. This ride is one of my favorites for a good, hard ride when time is limited. I waited until 11:30am to let things warm up a little bit. The temperatures never did get very warm. I think it was about 31 degrees when I started and got up to around 35 for a high. Throughout the day, I had periods of strong (not Missouri strong) headwinds, short sleet showers and the occasional snow flurries. Not exactly a great day to be out on a bike but I did get a decent workout in.
This is my bike parked near Lake Lee in Millston. At least the ice fishing shacks are off the lake. Real Spring can't be that far away.
I ended up finishing the ride in 5 hours and 44 minutes. Thats a pretty slow time but it's still early.
As I said I drove to Kansas City for the April 5th 300K starting in Oak Grove, Missouri. I had made plans with my friend, Spencer, to come down and join him and his gang for this ride back in January. At that point I figured we would have a fairly normal spring and I would have plenty of base miles in to get through an early season 300K. OOPS! The week before the ride I waffled back and forth on whether it made sense to spend 8 hours each way to do a ride that I was in no way prepared for. In the end I decided to just and give it a shot. I figured that when I got dropped, I would just slog in by myself.
I arrived in Kansas City the night before the ride with a grand total of 260 miles for the season. Not exactly a large base for a 194 mile ride. Waking up the morning of the ride, the wind was immediately evident. Not breezes twinkling the leaves, but real wind. When I checked the Weather Channel the winds were listed at 20 mph at 5:30am. This was the kind of wind that was pushing shopping carts around the parking lot and knocking over bikes.
Nineteen riders lined up for the 6:00 am start. The ride was to ride generally east for 95ish miles and then return by the same course. On the way out the wind was mostly a cross wind. This was the kind of cross wind that made it hard to control the bike. I found it was nearly impossible to take a hand off the bars to eat or adjust clothing. I rode with Spencer across the Missouri River and out to the turnaround in Fayette, Missouri in reasonably good shape. As bad as the wind was on the way out, the main talk at the turnaround was about how hard the return trip was going to be. Spencer and I joined up with 4 other riders for the start back. As predicted the wind was a real force to be reckoned with. Crossing the 7 or 8 miles of the Missouri River floodplain, I really struggled to keep moving over 10 miles per hour. There were several stretches where I was topping out at a speedy 8 mph. At the controls, the local riders were trying to keep their spirits up with the encouraging news that the forecast called for the headwinds to drop to 18mph at 4pm or 5pm or was it 6pm. In any event, the winds did not really drop significantly until it got dark around 9pm. We did finally finish as a group of 6 at 11:02- for a 17 hour and 2 minute time. Thats a really slow 300K, but given the conditions and the lack of training, I was pretty satisfied.
On Saturday, April 13th, I decided to ride my Whitetail Wander 119K permanent. This ride is one of my favorites for a good, hard ride when time is limited. I waited until 11:30am to let things warm up a little bit. The temperatures never did get very warm. I think it was about 31 degrees when I started and got up to around 35 for a high. Throughout the day, I had periods of strong (not Missouri strong) headwinds, short sleet showers and the occasional snow flurries. Not exactly a great day to be out on a bike but I did get a decent workout in.
I ended up finishing the ride in 5 hours and 44 minutes. Thats a pretty slow time but it's still early.
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