buddy
08-06-08, 11:52 AM
Last Saturday I rode my first 200K brevet Abita Springs, LA to Folsom LA back to Abita Springs (out and back). It was a hot humid Louisiana day with the temperature the mid 90's. Some how with the grace of God I and the encouragement of the RBA (Pat) I completed it.
Since I started cycling three years ago one of my earliest goals was to complete a century. The problem has always been that most centuries in this area are on Sundays and because of my commitment to my church I can never participate in theses centuries.
This year I really wanted to be able to do my first century and I was researching dates of centuries that were on Saturdays.
By some chance I found Randonneurs USA (RUSA) web site and I was looking for rides in my area and to my surprise I found that there was an active group in my area that was planning a ride on a Saturday within a couple of weeks. It was 200k and not supported.
I made contact with the RBA (Pat) and he asked me about my experience on a bike. I told him that the longest I have ridden previously was 75 miles for the MS 150 and that I was riding about 50 miles on the weekends and during the week I was training on a trainer with a heart rate monitor.
He had some very legitimate concerns if I could make the ride. His biggest concern was would I be able to survive the heat since most of my Saturday rides were early in the morning and during the week I practiced on a trainer with a fan blowing on me. Also he was concerned that most of my rides were on flat land and most of this ride was over small rolling hills.
We even talked about only doing half of the ride as a training ride so that I could have an idea of what was in store on a ride like this.
I decided that I would go for it. Pat told me that he would ride with me at my pace.
I arrived last Saturday morning at the starting point and meet up with the group. There was going to be five of us riding and I was the only rookie. Most of these guys have been riding brevets for a long time there was even a 15-year-old guy (Nick) that this would be his third 200k. From the very beginning, the whole group made me feel extremely welcomed and a part of the group. I could not have ridden with a better group of guys.
The first control point was in a small town called Bush about 25 miles away. We made it to the fist stop with ease. It was like any other Saturday morning ride the weather was great, it was just a great day to be riding a bike.
We came to the second control stop in a small town of Folsom, LA the half waypoint. I was so glad that I had deicide to do the whole ride and not to quite at the halfway point. At this time I was feeling great. We ate at a small sandwich shop and had Louisiana Po-Boys.
After eating lunch and refilling our water bottles we were off again. At this time I was thinking that this was a piece of cake, no problem. But as the bible says “pride goes before the fall.” When we first started I felt that my legs were stiff and boy I was getting hot. Much of the ride was on open road and you feel the heat waives just hitting you. This leg of the trip was very hilly. The same hills that I was not having a problem with that morning now were killing me. I would climb a hill and just coast down. That when I start hearing a voice. “Buddy, you have to pedal, keep pressure on your bottom bracket or lactate acid is going to build up in your legs” or “Don’t stop spinning Buddy”, “Find your gear and pedal” this was the ominous voice of Pat. At mile 91 I thought I was going to die. I stopped on the roadside to rest. Pat stopped with me while the rest of the group went ahead and we were going to meet at the next control point. My strength was drained the heat was killing me. I tried drinking water, pouring water on my head, eating energy gels but nothing helped. Finally Pat looked at me and said, “You know we are only four miles down the road at the Control Point there is air-conditioning there.” That was enough to motivate me to get me off my ***** and start riding.
I made it to the third control point at 95 miles with only 30 more miles left to go. I knew that the last 30 miles was the flattest of the entire ride and I felt I could somehow make it in. I had 3 hours to do 30 miles that should be very easy, apiece of cake.
I started towards the finish on the last leg of the brevet. I was very excited to reach the 100-mile mark feeling that I had accomplished a major milestone. I had remembered this portion of the road to be completely flat but I was wrong. Somehow from the time I left that morning someone had put major mountains on this road. Again the climbing was killing me. I did not think I could make it. Pat was riding behind me and every time I tried to coast he would say, “Keep pedaling, you have to put pressure on your bottom bracket” “Keep spinning Buddy”. At mile 108 I had just climbed a mountain the size of Everest my heart was beating out of control I had to stop. But when we stopped Pat told me the best way to get my heart rate down was to start pushing the bike down the rode. I started walking and pushing my bike. I could see that we were running out of time. I was concerned that Pat would not finish in time because of me. I tried to get him to leave me so that he could finish. At one point I told him, “I quit, I can’t do this” he did not even acknowledged me. Then as a sign from God a truck stopped and asked if we needed any help. It would have been so easy for me to tell the driver, “Yea can you give me a ride into town” but no big mouth Pat tells the driver, “Everything is okay, we are just resting” when I saw the tail lights of the truck driving away I thought all hope was gone.
At this point I knew that Pat was not going to let me quit and I was going to have to either walk it in or ride it in. My main concern was that Pat would not complete the ride in time because of me. I realized if I did not mount my bike and start peddling both Pat and I would not finish and this would be wrong of me to cause Pat not to finish.
I did start riding again. Luckily for me that the last 10 miles of the ride was on a downward grade that helped make up some of the lost time. Somehow with the grace of God Pat and I finished the ride in the prescribed time period with 20 minutes to spare.
The other guys that we were riding with had gone ahead of us (can’t blame them) they were waiting for us to finish and they celebrate with us my completion.
Bottom line is that this ride was much harder than I ever imagined and I will never forget the first time. I hope to train harder so that my next 200k will not be so dramatic.
My sincere thanks are to Pat, who is my hero. He is one that has a love and a passion for long distance biking and his enthusiasm for the sport is contagious.
Stats:
Distance: 125.05
Total Time: 13:05
Moving Speed: 13.4 MPH
Elevation Gain: 3,334
Since I started cycling three years ago one of my earliest goals was to complete a century. The problem has always been that most centuries in this area are on Sundays and because of my commitment to my church I can never participate in theses centuries.
This year I really wanted to be able to do my first century and I was researching dates of centuries that were on Saturdays.
By some chance I found Randonneurs USA (RUSA) web site and I was looking for rides in my area and to my surprise I found that there was an active group in my area that was planning a ride on a Saturday within a couple of weeks. It was 200k and not supported.
I made contact with the RBA (Pat) and he asked me about my experience on a bike. I told him that the longest I have ridden previously was 75 miles for the MS 150 and that I was riding about 50 miles on the weekends and during the week I was training on a trainer with a heart rate monitor.
He had some very legitimate concerns if I could make the ride. His biggest concern was would I be able to survive the heat since most of my Saturday rides were early in the morning and during the week I practiced on a trainer with a fan blowing on me. Also he was concerned that most of my rides were on flat land and most of this ride was over small rolling hills.
We even talked about only doing half of the ride as a training ride so that I could have an idea of what was in store on a ride like this.
I decided that I would go for it. Pat told me that he would ride with me at my pace.
I arrived last Saturday morning at the starting point and meet up with the group. There was going to be five of us riding and I was the only rookie. Most of these guys have been riding brevets for a long time there was even a 15-year-old guy (Nick) that this would be his third 200k. From the very beginning, the whole group made me feel extremely welcomed and a part of the group. I could not have ridden with a better group of guys.
The first control point was in a small town called Bush about 25 miles away. We made it to the fist stop with ease. It was like any other Saturday morning ride the weather was great, it was just a great day to be riding a bike.
We came to the second control stop in a small town of Folsom, LA the half waypoint. I was so glad that I had deicide to do the whole ride and not to quite at the halfway point. At this time I was feeling great. We ate at a small sandwich shop and had Louisiana Po-Boys.
After eating lunch and refilling our water bottles we were off again. At this time I was thinking that this was a piece of cake, no problem. But as the bible says “pride goes before the fall.” When we first started I felt that my legs were stiff and boy I was getting hot. Much of the ride was on open road and you feel the heat waives just hitting you. This leg of the trip was very hilly. The same hills that I was not having a problem with that morning now were killing me. I would climb a hill and just coast down. That when I start hearing a voice. “Buddy, you have to pedal, keep pressure on your bottom bracket or lactate acid is going to build up in your legs” or “Don’t stop spinning Buddy”, “Find your gear and pedal” this was the ominous voice of Pat. At mile 91 I thought I was going to die. I stopped on the roadside to rest. Pat stopped with me while the rest of the group went ahead and we were going to meet at the next control point. My strength was drained the heat was killing me. I tried drinking water, pouring water on my head, eating energy gels but nothing helped. Finally Pat looked at me and said, “You know we are only four miles down the road at the Control Point there is air-conditioning there.” That was enough to motivate me to get me off my ***** and start riding.
I made it to the third control point at 95 miles with only 30 more miles left to go. I knew that the last 30 miles was the flattest of the entire ride and I felt I could somehow make it in. I had 3 hours to do 30 miles that should be very easy, apiece of cake.
I started towards the finish on the last leg of the brevet. I was very excited to reach the 100-mile mark feeling that I had accomplished a major milestone. I had remembered this portion of the road to be completely flat but I was wrong. Somehow from the time I left that morning someone had put major mountains on this road. Again the climbing was killing me. I did not think I could make it. Pat was riding behind me and every time I tried to coast he would say, “Keep pedaling, you have to put pressure on your bottom bracket” “Keep spinning Buddy”. At mile 108 I had just climbed a mountain the size of Everest my heart was beating out of control I had to stop. But when we stopped Pat told me the best way to get my heart rate down was to start pushing the bike down the rode. I started walking and pushing my bike. I could see that we were running out of time. I was concerned that Pat would not finish in time because of me. I tried to get him to leave me so that he could finish. At one point I told him, “I quit, I can’t do this” he did not even acknowledged me. Then as a sign from God a truck stopped and asked if we needed any help. It would have been so easy for me to tell the driver, “Yea can you give me a ride into town” but no big mouth Pat tells the driver, “Everything is okay, we are just resting” when I saw the tail lights of the truck driving away I thought all hope was gone.
At this point I knew that Pat was not going to let me quit and I was going to have to either walk it in or ride it in. My main concern was that Pat would not complete the ride in time because of me. I realized if I did not mount my bike and start peddling both Pat and I would not finish and this would be wrong of me to cause Pat not to finish.
I did start riding again. Luckily for me that the last 10 miles of the ride was on a downward grade that helped make up some of the lost time. Somehow with the grace of God Pat and I finished the ride in the prescribed time period with 20 minutes to spare.
The other guys that we were riding with had gone ahead of us (can’t blame them) they were waiting for us to finish and they celebrate with us my completion.
Bottom line is that this ride was much harder than I ever imagined and I will never forget the first time. I hope to train harder so that my next 200k will not be so dramatic.
My sincere thanks are to Pat, who is my hero. He is one that has a love and a passion for long distance biking and his enthusiasm for the sport is contagious.
Stats:
Distance: 125.05
Total Time: 13:05
Moving Speed: 13.4 MPH
Elevation Gain: 3,334