Ride Reports July 2008
Jefferson - Adamstown - Buckeystown
June 8, 2008 by Mike Procario
I only got in ten miles of riding last week due
to family and work commitments as well as
regular thunderstorms, so I was looking forward
to today's ride. I had originally planned to do this
ride at the end of June, so I planned an early start
of 8:30 AM to beat the heat. It turned out that
even though the ride was much earlier in the
month than originally planned, it still was not
early enough to beat the heat. George's computer
was registering 99Ί F regularly on the second half
of the ride.
George showed me this route a couple of years
ago, but he has not led the ride yet. He wouldn't
even need to write a cue sheet. In a fit of
desperation rather than inspiration, I named it
Jefferson-Adamstown-Buckeystown. I should
have named it All the Hills That Mike Can
Handle.
Colm, Doug, George, Jeff, Joyce, Martha, Ray,
and I were ready to go at 8:20 AM, but we waited
until 8:30 AM hoping a few more people might
show up. When no one did, we took off and
headed south on Ballenger Creek until we
reached Cap Stine Road. We then turned back to
the north on Cap Stine Road. This part of the
ride has big loops to pile up a few miles while
people warm up. Like we needed to warm up
today. On Cap Stine we ran into Chuck who
showed up a few minutes after we left and
figured out how to run into us without chasing us.
Chuck rides those roads regularly, and he knows
his way around.
The group stayed pretty tightly packed until we
started the climb on Jefferson Pike going into
Jefferson. At this point we spread out a bit. I
pulled a Big Brown at the Belmont and watched
the pack go by me. Marlu Ridge went by
uneventfully. We climbed up slowly, not
appreciating the scenery fully, and then raced
down the other side. We stopped to regroup at
Lily Pons and Park Mills and a young couple
on some nice shiny new Jamis bikes stopped and
asked us about the hill on Park Mills
. We told them it was steep but manageable. We
left them thinking about it and did not see them
again until we were all sitting in front of the Flint
Hill General Store at the top of the hill taking a
refreshment break. It took them a long time to
make it up the hill, but they seemed less
bedraggled than we were when they did go by.
Maybe those new bikes have a great-granny gear.
This ride always seems to fall apart at the end.
The finish is close enough to town that many
folks just head directly home instead of returning
to the ride start. Last year we had people
breaking off at several different points, and I lost
track of who was still returning to the start. We
lost track of Chuck last year and only figured out
he made it back when we discovered his truck
was gone. This year I stayed at
the back of pack, so if anyone had a breakdown, I
would know it. Although Chuck and I did take a
shortcut at the last mile, so we could
avoid the last little hill. I had had enough of hills
at that point, and it was getting hotter.
The temperatures were higher than ideal, but
everyone seemed to handle them well. On the
two mile ride home from the ride starting point, I
was really starting to feel the sun roasting me. I
am glad we finished when we did.
Metric Century
May 25, 2008 by Bill Smith
We had quite a crowd on this ride. On a
beautiful, warm Spring day we left Emmitsburg,
taking the metric century route from last Autumn,
to Bonneauville, McSherrystown (drink stop),
Littlestown (lunch stop Subway), Taneytown,
and back to Emmitsburg.
Those on the ride (that I recall) were Catherine
Badger, Mike Procario, Ray Gable, Colm Lynch,
Dawn Hough, Brian King, Joan Wicks, Martha
Bush, Frank Scotto, Jamie Scotto, Jeff (Bike
Lust) Johnson, Vicki and Bill Smith (tandem)
and two visitors from Germantown who did the
25-mile version of the ride.
Michigan Nation 24-Hour Challenge
June 14, 2008 by Bill Smith
Editor's Note:
The story you are about to read is true. The names have *not* been changed
so you can give these 'distance-challenged' riders a wide berth if you ever see them on the road.
Background
Held every Father's Day weekend in
Middleville, MI (near Grand Rapids), this event
challenges each rider to pedal as many miles as
possible in the 24-hour time period from 8 a.m.
Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday. There are three loops
that must be ridden in sequence; a 122.2-miler
(one time), a 23.7-miler (at least once), and a 7.5-
miler (ridden numerous times all night). Drafting
is acceptable, which makes personal records
much more accessible for the average cyclist
(such as me). This well-supported event is for
both the racer, the fit long-distance recreational
cyclist and the incurable wacko.
Riders
There were 333 riders in this year's Challenge,
and all five from Maryland came from towns in
Frederick County! From our area were Sheldon
Shealer (his second time), Henrik Olsen (his
first), me (my ninth) and the McAllisters (Dan
and Caroline). Numerous states were
represented, as well as Canada, Mexico and New
Zealand.
Preparation
I always begin my preparation for this ride in
December of the previous year. That's when I
pull out the trainer to try to keep in some kind of
decent shape over the Winter. Mix in the
Wednesday Night hilly Lights & Pizza rides,
some weekend 50-milers in the cold months, and
I hit Spring in decent shape. It is important to do
speed work as the weather warms so that one has
the snap necessary to stay in the pacelines
when they occasionally slinky. Unfortunately,
I did no speed work this year, but I did have
tandem rides with my wife, Vicki and riding a
tandem is a good workout. For long rides I did a
couple of centuries and several of us did the
second annual Big Honkin' Ride (181 Miles of
Joy) over the mountains of PA. I came to the
ride, for me, unprepared with no speed work
and too few long rides. But I was forgetting the
training value of riding a tandem. Actually, my
biggest worry this year was how much pain I
would feel from the aftermath of my broken heel
last summer.
The Ride
So, there we found ourselves, ready to ride.
Me, Henrik, Sheldon, and 330 more folks, on a
beautiful, sunny Saturday morning, bagpipers
playing, surrounded by all sorts of bikes: singles,
tandems, recumbents, tandem recumbents, trikes
and tandem trikes. A bit like the parking lot of
Mt. Airy Bicycles just a bit more organized.
Vicki snapped photos as the national anthems of
those countries represented were played, and at 8
am, as those at the very front were making the
calculations for the jump to light speed, we hit
the road...
Mass Start
Mass starts creep me out. Since I never race,
and rarely am in a crowded pack, I get nervous. I
am equally concerned with my bike handling
skills as much as those around me. Somehow,
the 300-plus riders leave the school, get out on
the road, and speed up with no mishaps.
Typically I start back in the pack, but I wanted to
have an opportunity to find the perfect paceline,
so I started near the front this year. We moved
along quite nicely for the first 35 miles, with the
exception of one knucklehead in the beginning
who was flying down the right-hand side on the
white line closely passing riders without any
warnings whatsoever. I informed him of his
foolishness, but he was in no mind to listen. I am
pretty certain he survived the ride and took no
one out, but Darwin tends to weed those people
out of the population eventually.
Uber-Support
I did come equipped with a secret weapon this
year, unlike all other years: my wife, Vicki. At
each checkpoint, she would already be armed to
the teeth awaiting my arrival with water,
Accelerade, Gatorade, Iced Tea, Clif Bloks, gels,
hugs and kisses (not the Hershey variety). It is an
advantage not to wait in line for water and food
it is a tremendous time-saver. It's also wonderful
moral support.
Pacelines and Canadian Lesbians What's
Not To Like?
I joined a great paceline from the start, and we
rode to the first checkpoint (35 miles) at an
average pace of 20.2 for me, that is exceptional.
A quick water bottle exchange (courtesy Vicki)
and I was on the road again. As usual, I found
myself without a paceline to call my own as the
riders I was with had stopped. Not good.
Fortunately for me, the 24-mph front pack tends
to leave its collateral damage behind in the
form of fragmented groups of riders attempting to
reform pacelines at a more reasonable pace. I
saw a group of six ahead about a tenth of a mile,
so I gave everything I could and caught them.
They had not yet collected into a cohesive group,
otherwise I would not have caught them. We
joined forces nicely and moved along effortlessly
at about 19.5 mph. There were three Canadian
ladies (one of whom was such a smooth rider that
a surgeon could perform a circumcision while
sitting on her shoulders), me, a guy named
George (a very tall fellow who was a pleasure to
draft behind) and two gentlemen in the line with
excess testosterone issues. By that I mean that
their rapid acceleration and aggressiveness made
it difficult to keep the line together and
consistent they eventually pulled away from us.
We did not chase. Remaining were me, George,
and the ladies. We made a couple of quick jokes
about the two fellows who went on ahead they
invited me to go ahead as well, but I declined I
wanted to remain in this line, as I felt very
comfortable and safe with them, as they were all
strong, consistent riders. I mentioned that I have
fewer testosterone issues due to the fact that I am
actually a lesbian trapped in a man's body; they
told me their sexual preferences as well, so we
matched up perfectly (birds of a feather). Our
paceline remained tightly together all the way to
the 71-mile checkpoint, excepting the uphills,
where we would break apart a bit but then reform
quickly. This was one fantastic group if you
ever have the opportunity to ride in a paceline
with Canadian lesbians, do it! I reached this
checkpoint feeling fresh, traded out water bottles
with Vicki and continued on alone as the others
stopped for a break.
It was not long before I caught up with five
other guys in a paceline and joined up with them,
just after I gave away one of my spare tubes to a
rider in distress. He asked me for my number I
suppose so he could return the favor later but I
don't recall seeing him again, as I never got his
number and he likely forgot mine. Our paceline
was a good one, and we remained together until
the checkpoint at mile 96 with an average pace of
about 18.9. I still felt fresh. I swapped bottles
with Vicki again and went on my way.
Fastest 122-miles for me
The last 26 miles were uneventful. It was
beginning to get warm, and I was tiring a little
bit. I did not find any good pacelines in this
section I suppose they were all taken. I reached
the school (122 miles in) at about 2:50 with an
average of about 18.3 and with only ten minutes
off the bike since 8 a.m. This was the fastest, at
least in terms of overall time, that I've ever ridden
this part of the course. I was at least a half hour
ahead of my usual overall time. I was still at
least 30 minutes (likely more) behind Sheldon
and Henrik, who were burning up the course out
there somewhere.
Afternoon Loops:
Guths, Knee Pain, Vitamins
I and V, More Canadians, Bush and Cheney
I rested for about ten minutes and then headed
out for my first of three journeys on the 23.5-mile
afternoon loop. This is the most scenic part of
the ride, and the most shaded. It passes Gun
Lake, where one can usually spot people fishing
and just relaxing by the water. Sometimes I
wonder how nice it would feel to jump in that
water.
I drafted John and Nancy Guth for a little bit of
the first loop Nancy is making a habit of
winning this thing in the ladies division, and
husband John is a good, solid rider behind whom
drafting is a pleasure. I remember running into
Tall George again, too. One of us dropped the
other, but I cannot recall who outpaced whom. I
think he was the faster of the two of us.
I don't remember much of the second loop.
That happens to me a lot. I do recall being tired,
and not riding very fast. My right knee began to
hurt badly, so I swallowed some Vitamin I
(Ibuprofen) and raised my saddle about onequarter
of an inch. That helped some, but I
needed to raise it another increment after the
third loop. I had also brought along my stash of
Vitamin V (vicodin) left over from` my broken
heel incident of last year it was unneeded, but
nice to have along just in case.
The third loop was spent discussing politics
with a guy named Jonathan from Canada I
won't go into details, but discussing our President
and Vice-President got me riled up enough (him,
too) that, even if we did not ride very fast, the
time sped by quickly. There was no adversity in
our discussion, as we felt similarly.
I finished the daytime loops at 7:40 with 193
miles. My overall speed had dropped below 18
mph. My stomach was beginning to feel the
pains of a day on the bike with too much
Accelerade and too few chocolate chip cookies.
Waterloo Sunset
My first night loop ended under a brilliant
sunset and reports that a severe storm was on
its way, with high winds and heavy rain. Despite
the possibility of the course closing, I kept going,
and this particular storm passed north of us. I put
in two more laps before...
Incredible Wind, We're Not In Kansas any
more
Oh my! At about 9:30 the wind whipped up
reminders of The Wizard of Oz. People
transferred belongings into their tents to keep
them from blowing away. The volunteers at the
checkpoint held onto the canopies tightly to keep
them from ending up in Kansas. The volunteers
outside, in order to remain on the ground, tied
themselves to heavy rocks (okay, I might have
made that up). As the winds hit 40 mph, it
became unsafe (in my opinion) to continue, so at
10:15 p.m. I parked the bike and went inside the
school with Vicki, Henrik and Sheldon. Then the
rains came. When they abated about 11:30 I
went back outside. I spent more time off the bike
(75 minutes) in this span than in the entire ride up
to this point. At this time I had 230 miles in the
bank and 8 ½ hours remaining in the event. The
wind was mostly gone, so I went back out on the
wet roads. Many of the riders were slow to get
back out there at this time it was cool and
serene. This was a lovely time to be out there.
Even the bugs got washed out of the air for a
while. I enjoyed one loop of riding almost
completely alone in the darkness.
Out of Gas The Wrong Stuff, Too Little, Too
Late
I should have the spent the down time eating,
but I did not. I was not hungry, and my stomach
was a bit tipsy from having swallowed five
bottles of Accelerade at this point. While it is
wonderful fuel, one can have too much of a good
thing. (A friend of mine has a motto: Too much
of everything is just enough.) I spent the rest of
the night riding slowly perhaps at 13-14 mph,
and stopping too much. In the final 8 ½ hours, I
rode only 105 miles. Normally I would put in at
least 25 more in that time span. Had I eaten
properly overnight (I ate too little) I would have
done better. I should have delved into the gels
and the Clif Bloks more, as well as the fig
newtons. Anyway, lessons learned I suppose. I
started eating better around 6 am, but it was too
little, too late. Vicki encouraged me to do four
more laps, but I was too tired and unmotivated to
do so. I should have, because I would have
broken 340 miles and reached a total of exactly
3000 miles in nine Challenges. Instead, I fell 7.5
miles (one night loop) short. At 7:38 I ended my
ride. Had it been eight minutes earlier, I could
have done one more lap. At this point, in order to
do one more lap I needed to average 20 mph
only full laps counted. With relief I put my bike
back in the van, helped Vicki pack up the tent,
and then showered.
Finished: Awards, Sleep, Beer
I met Vicki, Henrik, Sheldon and Kelly
(Sheldon's girlfriend and support person) in the
cafeteria for the awards ceremony. Nancy Guth
won the women's division again (with 348 miles).
Sheldon rode 353 miles (fourth in his division).
Henrik rode 284 (eleventh). I did 335 (seventh in
mine) and averaged 16.2 mph overall. The
overall men's winner (Chris Ragsdale) rode 473
miles. Sheldon and I committed the same sin
not eating properly later in the ride. I think
Henrik wore himself out in the first 200 miles;
he'll be back next year with a triple century I
suspect. I still think that Sheldon has a quadcentury
awaiting him some day soon.
Pasta!!
Once the ride is over, there are three things
remaining on my "to-do" list. One sleep.
Two drink (rehydrate). Three eat. We
usually go to our friends' (the Piggs) house near
Lansing and spend Sunday night there before
driving home on Monday. Vicki drove the van
for the 45-minute trip to the Pigg Mansion while
I navigated (in between naps). Once there, I slept
from about 11 in the morning until 3 in the
afternoon, then got up slowly and ambled
upstairs. Bob Pigg and I will usually slug down a
beer or two while smells of fine food waft toward
us from the kitchen. That evening, as is always
the case on Fathers' Day, we were treated to a
fine heaping of pasta, meatballs, salad, garlic
bread, dessert and more. Vicki is an excellent
cook, but due to the circumstances, there is no
meal I more look forward to than this one,
cooked up by Sue Pigg.
One week later, I am still hungry all the time
and weigh four pounds less than when I started
the ride. I am tired even now, and expect to be
recovered in about one more week.
Next Year
The next running of the Challenge will be June
20-21, 2009. You can join us, you know.