drmweaver2

Tomorrow morning at 5:30am is the start of my longest ride yet - a 266km permanent. A year ago I really never intended to do something quite so "not me" as this. No longer riding either the DF I was on then or the trike I switched to for the summer and fall.. now I'm on a Gold Rush Replica and the perspective has definitely changed.

As the title says, I'm awake with nervous energy when I probably ought to be heading off to bed/sleep, or at least getting ready for it. Spent the day doing maintenance on the bike - rigged a new light (and checked it on a 10-miler after dusk with the new GPS [see next paragraph]), double-checked all my bolts, re-rigged my fairing to provide more "cushion" for the attachment points, my clothes are all laid out. And I'm sitting here wide awake thinking, "what the heck HAVEN'T I done???

I received a Garmin eTrex 20 this week after winning an eBay auction. Pretty nice deal. One of the best "features" is that it's reported to have upwards of 19 hours run time on 2 AA batteries! Spent the day yesterday loading maps, the route and learning how to use it. It will be my first longish ride with it tomorrow - obviously bringing the normal cue sheet and map(s) as backup. I'm really looking forward to using it. I haven't taken off the cyclometer in a just in case move.

This is just a rambling post... So, I'll end it for now.

Fingers crossed.. Wish me luck. I think I'll need it.

CbadRider

Good luck.

It sounds like you've got everything ready to go. Just don't forget your water bottles on the way out the door.

dave5339

Good luck and have fun!

I look forward to reading your write up after you finish.

Semper Fi

StephenH

Good luck!

One thing to remember for the future is to make any changes in your gear well in advance, not the night before, that way, if something is rattling loose, etc., it'll happen on a short ride, not the long one.

Jamesw2

I've done that

drmweaver2

The ride basically ended before it even started. I didn't get to "the ferry" less than 15 miles from the ride start in time to catch it. Total morning mileage, embarassingly low.

The long version is at https://cruisingtiger.wordpress.com

The story of the ride in a nutshell follows:
Too fast a start at someone else's pace with too little warmup. Knee rebelled. Would miss the ferry or blow up and suffer the rest of the day - potentially catastrophically. Better part of valor/live to ride another day - turned for home before the ferry. DNF.

Post-ride perspective:
To put this in what some might label an ego-saving perspective, I only learned about this ride on Tuesday, after having scheduled an Imperial century ride (Wednesday) and an 80-miler (Friday) for this week. I hadn't started the week even knowing about this permanent - the route owner only "publicized" he was riding it Tuesday and asked if anyone wanted to join him. Half of today's riders signed on for this 266km ride while an equal amount said they'd do a shorter 200km permanent that overlaps this route - the start of the shorter route requires a 15-20 mile ride or drive for me either way. The appeal of the longer ride for me was primarily to better my previous "longest distance ridden". Riding "with" a large group was what we in Louisiana call lagniappe, something extra for free.

I've ridden 2 Imperial centuries, multiple metrics and a 200k brevet this month already, doing my best physically with a slow, warmup pace over about 10 miles, which didn't happen this morning (details in the long version linked to above). So I was fairly confident I could do the ride distance and looked forward to the company of riding friends. The possibility of giving or receiving co-rider support in case of mechanical problems in the hinterlands was also fairly attractive.

It'll take a day or two to mentally recover from this DNF. I really wanted to do it. I have to believe that things would have been different had I scheduled/planned doing the ride earlier or, especially, planned to do it as a solo. It's a mental thing.

I AM definitely going to ride this route, for RUSA "credit" or not, before the end of April, maybe much sooner - but at my pace, solo or not.

Lesson learned, bitter though it was.

Ride your own ride.

Dudelsack 

I'm going to read your long version. It sounds like events conspired against you.

I share your concern about the pace on these things, even though I was able to pull up the RBA's times of completion on the populaires and clearly he slows down for the slower and less confident adventurers (on his non-populaire rides his times are very speedy). Fortunately, the pops here all start on the flats and don't get into serious climbing for at least 20-30 miles. That's where I'll get fired out the back like a retrorocket.

edit - Just read your blog. Wow, this was a snake-bitten week for you. At least you lived to ride another day. Having had IT band pain for about three months after a half-marathon, I feel your pain.

drmweaver2

Stuff happens and you(I) adjust. So, I have the following rides planned for the upcoming week: an 80-miler, a 150-miler and either a metric or Imperial century. The first two are "the only/final research rides" in preparation for probable submission as permanent/permanent populaire routes to RUSA. The last is just to register some RUSA mielage for the week. No idea what I'll be riding on Saturday/Sunday of next week.

Dudelsack 

Well good luck, good ride, and keep the rubber side down.