GLR 300K (DNF)

Click below for route and ride stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84300685

What was proving to be a great day of riding ended with a dissapointing unresolvable mechanical breakdown just shy of 2/3 of the way through today's course.

As with the 200K two weeks ago, throughout the past week, forecasts called for scattered thunderstorms and rain during the day.  It was 48 degrees at the start of the ride with winds from the east at about 10 mph at the start.  We once again headed west for the first 45 miles to the first control in Brodhead, except this time, we would have a decent tail wind rather than the 20+ mph headwind we had two weeks prior.

Western skies were dark and ominois looking but my earlier glance at the radar indicated that it only appeared to be one initial line of thunderstorms and scattered after that.  Rain, as it turned out was fairly light and uneventful, not even enough to bother with putting on a rain jacket. 


Got to the first control in Brodhead in just over 2 hours compared to nearly 3 two weeks ago.  The route then turned more to the northwest and became a bit hillier from this point forward.  The climbs went a bit more smoothly than 2 weeks prior but were still slow going on some of the steeper pitches.  Nothing terribly long but a few kicked up to 12 to 14%.


Lots of rollers on the way to New Glarus

After a secret control at the top of a hill I was still about 10 minutes behind the RAAM boys, but not chasing, just trying to ride a comfortable pace for me.  Never saw them again ... except from the SAG wagon later on.  Next, onto New Glarus, a cool little artsy town tucked back in the hills.

New Glarus


I think its now a hot dog stand.


Couple of lawn ornaments got loose.

Winds from the east were picking up as I stair stepped to the northwest toward Barneveld.  This was ticking me off because I was drawing an annoying cross wind and already knew it was going to be a tough 90 miles back to Delavan after the turnaround which was still a ways away.

Got into Barneveld at the century mark and up until the last 10-15 miles before this I was feeling pretty good, but was starting to melt as I overdressed for the anticipated rain and some tough climbs in these last sections.  Got ticked off again as I stood in line at the BP control for over 10 minutes waiting for everyone to buy thier cigarrettes beer and lottery tickets.  Left Barneveld to the east, happy to begin the return trip back to Delevan but was not feeling good.  Was probably low on calories and the wind was no longer a help.  It was about a 9 mile slog east to Mt. Horeb on a pretty straight and smooth road but still somewhat hilly.  Speed came way down at this point and I was still going OK but knew it was too early to start counting the miles left to the finish. 

It was during this stretch that I started hearing a sort of pinging sound coming from my crank.  Almost like a bearing was loose and rolling around inside.  This became aggrevating as I have had the bike in the shop a couple of times following the Elite Tour last year and I hate these types of unexplained noises.  Not terribly fun shelling out a lot of coin for a nice bike to not have it sound tight.

I made it into Mt. Horeb OK but as I was leaving, as I shifted, the chain began derailling.  I knew something was not right and was hopeful I could nurse the bike through the next 80 miles to the finish.  And then in another mile, wham ... my left leg completely collapsed as the crank arm bolt sheered off on a downstroke.  I knew right away I was skrewed.

Called Jim our RBA to report I was likely out of action for the duration of the ride.  Jim reminded me that there was a bike shop in Mt. Horeb and I remembered passing one as I went through.  Jim was still in the control at New Glarus, probably 30 miles away.  I needed to backtrack about 4 miles to get back into town.  The drive side of the crank was sort of working so I pedaled with my right leg only which helped build momentum down hills.  Up hills were a different story, they were walkers all the way.  The guy at the bike shop was great, although we quickly realized he didnt stock the parts I needed so I was pretty much out of luck there.  Another call to Jim to tell him I was out of commission.

Even though the concept of randonneuring is predicated upon self-support, it is clear there remains a great amount of effort which goes into planning the event and providing support in situations such as mine today.  A big thanks to Jim for saving my butt out there today. 

My new no gear bike, not a "fixie", a "nixie"