GLR 200K

Click below for route and ride stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/81070396

Today was the first in the 2011 brevet series on the Great Lakes Randonneurs calendar.  I didn't come into this ride expecting much, having spent the last 5+ months with hardly any physical activity at all, including a broken pelvis last November, followed by my wife breaking her foot just at about the time I started feeling better.  Since she was unable to drive, my early morning bike commutes were replaced with getting kids to and from school.  So for this first long ride of the year, I would be thankful just to survive.

What I found was that it is pretty difficult to fake it.  While I was certainly excited about spending a long day riding around southern Wisconsin, it is very difficult to feel good without adequate preparation or conditioning beforehand.

We were treated to a pretty nice day overall.  All week, until a day or two before the ride, forecasts were calling for rain.  Rains fortunately left the area the night before, so at ride time conditions were damp roads, low-mid 40s and mostly cloudy with winds at about 20 from the west south west.  This was good news as our first leg of today's ride was due west.  With any luck, those winds would build a bit more and blow us home in the latter part of the day. 

Rick is already booked for Paris-Brest-Paris in August

I overheard that there were about 70 riders at the start line at 7 am which is pretty typical for the 200K, but I thought there might be more given this was a PBP year.  Within the first couple of miles we were already on the outskirts of town headed west toward Brodhead, our first control stop at about 45 miles.  I knew this would be the hardest part of the ride given the strong winds and pretty long distance to the first control so I planned mentally on spending close to 3 hours of fighting the wind.  By the time we got to about 10 miles out, most riders were now spread out into small groups taking turns in the wind.  I found myself in a group of about 5 which soon became 3. 

One of the better paved roads today

While I got into a fairly decent rhythm early on, I could tell my legs did not have it just yet.  Me and 2 other guys spent another 10 - 15 miles swapping turns in the wind and when I fell back after a pull, I could not hold the pace and had to drop back.  Even the short climbs were a struggle.  I would have to slowly lumber up and coast on the way down.  Shouldn't have put those extra 20 pounds on!  I was able to keep the two others ahead of me in sight until Brodhead, but didn't want to blow myself up trying to play catch with 100 miles still to go in the ride.   

I took a quick stop in Brodhead, after which the route turned to the north for the next leg to Evansville.  This was only a short hop of about 15 miles and there were some nice sections with a tail wind so it went by quickly.  Since I was now riding solo, I kept the stop times to a minimum to keep things moving along.  After Evansville, it was another short trip of 13-14 miles to Oregon.  This section was tougher than the last as the route kicked back into the wind in more of a NNW direction. 

By the time I hit Oregon, I was tired but not overly wiped out.  This was a bit more than half way into the ride at 75 miles but the best part was that it was the turnaround point ... to the tailwind home!

After a mile or more jog to the south, the route turned to the east on County A.  Wahoo!  Nice descent and huge tailwind.  Pedaling became instantly effortless and it was hard not to go fast.  I was able to maintain upper 20s with minimal effort.  Unfortunately, the route sort of stair stepped between easterly and southerly as it turned back toward Delavan.  So every right turn to the south was greeted by a ripping cross wind which slowed things back down considerably.  No worries though, the easterly tailwind sections were much longer than the southerly steps.

Hardly saw more than a handful of cars in 125 miles.

It was about another 25 miles from Oregon to the last stop in Edgerton before the final leg back to Delavan.  I finished this leg in about an hour and ten minutes before rolling into the infamous Carl's Shell.  I can't count the number of times I have been through this gas station over the years ... or the number of cheddar filled sausages consumed.  Mmmmm, just one more perhaps. 

The final 26 mile stretch back to Delavan was uneventful.  There is about a 12 mile stretch of County Hwy M which is straight as an arrow (a/k/a/ boring) and some of the worst pavement on the planet.  This, coupled with many memories of strong head and cross winds from prior years and you can tell, this was not my favorite.  But not today.  I still had a fairly favorable cross/tail wind which made this section pass by fairly painlessly this time around. 


One last downhill to the approach to the finish.

I was glad to have had the opportunity to have come out today, despite my trepidations about my fitness for long rides given my long hiatus and recovery.  Overall things worked out as well as could be expected.  I am wanting to come back in another 2 weeks to ride the 300K.  Hopefully I can build on my stamina a bit more before then.  That will be a better test to see if I can complete some of the longer rides later on.

Can smell the barn now.