Well, the wind wasn't always at our backs but we made it through just fine and now Lauretta has her first double completed! We started at about 4:45AM (she forgot her water bottles so her Dad had to go back to the hotel to get them) . . . but we eventually got on the road about the same time as Linda Bott and Ron Smith Jr. who we would be with (pretty much) all day.
And a beautiful day it was, though kind of cool starting out (my Garmin shows a low of 37) and a bit toasty in the afternoon (Garmin says 105 but it didn't feel that hot). Some of the climbs really challenged Lauretta, esp. the Knoxville Grade with its 14% sections and the Cobb mountain climb after lunch . . . but in both
cases she kept going and made it to the summit wihout stopping or walking.
The photo below was taken by Lynn Katano at the Triple Crown breakfast the morning after the double. Lauretta, her proud parents and me. Her parents were impressed with the whole Triple Crown community. One of the Quack workers was deaf and I hadn't realized that Lauretta was fluentin sign language. She had a fun time signing with that guy! I have no idea what they said of course!
David Slaton was inducted into the Hall of Fame, so that was the highlight of the breakfast meeting. Andrew and Peter did well on their first Knoxville and Ulmont said it was "easy," plus David's friend Alysia had no trouble; very fast and excellent endurance (a tri-athlete too).
Lauretta had one flat tire, torn at the bead, so I booted it to get to lunch, then her parents were there (working the lunch stop) and had a new tire in their car. The Quack mechanic put on the new tire and tube and we had no flats or mechanicals after that.
Due to the lower speed of Lauretta I ran into trouble by not riding fast enough to get to my lights in time at dusk, but fortunately a friendly Quack drove up to the #5 rest stop, picked up my lights, and drove them to me back to me on the course. Very nice of him! He drove a Mini Cooper with "MINI-SAG" license plates!
After that our only worries revolved around our light batteries, i.e. would they last long enough, so we would turn one of our lights off and both Lauretta and I used the same light to roll down the road. That worked okay but whenever we saw a SAG vehicle we had to turn them both on to stay "legal" with the rules.
Here is the Garmin: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/383530465
Coming into the last checkpoint my light bracket came loose and while a kind Quack did fix it for me, I think he accidently turned off my Garmin too . . . so the last 13 miles didn't register on the Garmin feed, so you have to add 13 miles to the total. Lauretta text'd her parents from the last checkpoint so they were there to meet us when we finished. We finished at 11:45 PM, just 15 min. under the Midnight cut-off, but (big picture) the Quacks aren't enforcing the cut-offs so it really wasn't an issue.
Overall, quite the adventure but a very positive experience for Lauretta and her parents. Near the finish, Lauretta was hammering along the steady climb after the final checkpoint and I said, "Here you are, finishing your first double, riding strong up this climb, so you see; it really wasn't very hard was it?"
She gave me really funny look (for Lauretta), shook her head and replied, "Oh no, this was hard, this was really hard."
Still, she finished in good spirits with no real issues (a little knee pain at one point) and quite triumphant finishing her first double . . . and not an easy one at that. Linda Bott and Ron Smith Jr. finished just after us so that worked out well too.
So, a very unusual Knoxville for me (my 10th), riding at Lauretta's speed instead of my own. A few times I've finished this double in daylight, so it was very different finishing at almost midnight! Still, a fun day, and good seeing Lauretta through.
Thanks to the Quacks for a wonderful weekend!
Rick / OCRR
Last edited by Rick@OCRR; 09-30-13 at 11:23 AM.