Tappahannock 200k permanent - Hot, Hot, Hot

The Tappahannock is one of my favorite rides in VA, partly because of the 2-hour drive from my house and partly because it has just enough climbing to keep it interesting. The majority of the route is on narrow 2 lane roads with little traffic.

The first 75 miles flew by with cooler temperatures (read only 90F), a slight breeze and some cloud cover. What a great way to spend the morning!

Unfortunately after leaving the Tappahannock control, the cloud cover lifted (or burned off), and the oven was on. Kim and Keith caught up to me on the road to Sparta. I hung on for ~4 miles but then started getting chills and thought it best to slow down and ride at a sensible pace marking the beginning of a very long afternoon baking errr..riding. A few miles later I found some shade to relax in, drank some water and ate a little.

Eventually I found myself in Sparta. Sounds exciting right? Sparta is a village marked by a post office/gas station. I think the majority of the population was chillaxing outside. They informed me that Kim and Keith had just left. A toothless (for real) fellow had a bag of ice that Keith left and was about to take it to his cooler. He was kind enough to ask if I wanted it. I left little doubt as to my need at the moment.

I had been thinking about ice socks for the previous ten miles and this gave me the opportunity to give it a try. I filled a tube sock with ice and placed it around my nape under the jersey. Not sure how much this helped the next 20 miles but it was worth it to have something feel cool. Dr. Lim formerly of Garmin now with Lance says it works so why not give it a try.

I was sitting on a bench having a beverage and some nuts outside the 111 mile control when Ron and Tom arrived and talked me into riding the final leg with them. Sure, why not. I felt great until the last 4-5 miles. I drank too much water and felt nauseous but needed to eat to avoid the monster. In the words of Jon Pasch, “Bro, this is not good.” I pushed onward making it to the final control.

Summary:

What a great way to spend a summer day. Riding a bicycle through the beautiful country side.

I enjoyed the permanent version of this route. The finish is different than the brevet version.

This will be a great October-November route.

Stay tuned, the adventure is not over…not even close!

Tom, Ron and I went to the Waffle House before venturing back home and had some grease to top off our empty fuel tanks. Once on the road I was good until I approached Williamsburg, VA. My automobile became Apollo 11. In indicator told me to check my breaks, next the ABS light went on. A few more miles and the dash lights went out. A few more miles and the headlights, dash, and air were all off. I pulled over and coasted up the exit ramp near Toano, VA. I called for a tow to a service station that would open on Sunday AM and got a hotel down the road.

I was standing out front of the service station when they opened on Sunday AM. They got to work on the vehicle. The battery was dead (ya think?). They told me nothing was wrong with the alternator. Hummm, truthfully I think they didn’t want to replace the bad alternator. Somehow I drove home. The car just spent the day at the dealer getting a new super expensive alternator.

Conspiracy theory:

1. Car paid off on June 1.
   
2. The title arrived in the mail last week.
3. There must be a self-destruct sequence programmed into a chip somewhere in the vehicle. “They” will get their money one way or another.

Morrisville-Siler City 200k 2010

Saturday marked the traditional the beginning of the NC brevet ‘season.’ This is not entirely the case with the additional offerings being offered on the calendar. Most of the riders had several brevets or permanents under their belt before toeing the line on Saturday. I still like to think of Al’s 200k as the beginning.

As a side note, Coho bicycles were rolling 5 deep on Saturday. I had the opportunity to check out Jerry’s ride with wood fenders and Wes’s with some serious gold flake. Nice machines gentlemen.

While we prepared bicycles in the parking lot and registered for the brevet, the ride actually starts days prior. It reminds me of a show like the Blue Angles. Their show starts before they arrive at an event. Once the logistics are set up, and the planes arrive. Everything they do when they are at a venue is choreographed. On show day, the real show begins. They march out to their F18s in a ceremony. Each member is introduced as they climb in to the cockpit. The ritual continues one by one. On a cue, number 1 plane taxis followed by the rest. Soon they are in the air performing a masterpiece of precision. The crew and pilots spend hundreds of hours preparing for 10 minutes of flying. A brevet is similar in that weeks of preparation go into a single event.

My preparation for the event in the crucial days prior was horrible and it showed within the first 10 miles as my gas tank emptied. A 24 hour post at work Thursday evening left me drained physically. I had poor nutrition on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I could have done a little better on the food part. The biggest mistake the morning of the ride was not fully topping off the liver glycogen. It only takes a few hundred calories to do the trick. I think I had only1 Gu. OOPS.

After dropping from the pack, I decided to just ride and make the best of it but I still wasn’t eating and drinking enough. Sometime before the first control in Snow Camp, I started feeling a little achy all over. I came up with a plan that would change the day for the better. 1. Drink more water. 2. Eat more chow. 3. Get some electrolytes in the system. Shortly after leaving the control, I felt like great and rode strong. Of course that is easy with a nice tailwind.

My second mistake occurred at the Siler City control. Once again, I had an exact plan of what I needed to do and started executing upon arrival. I planned to top off water, grab a sandwich for the road, get card signed and depart. I was held up by the lottery players in the gas station. The NC lottery must have some good pay outs because this happened at every several controls on the Fleche as well. Things went as planned, I thought. I headed back to Snow Camp. When I arrived, I realized I left my card in Siler City. OOPS.

I continued with my plan, topped off water etc. Another rider mentioned he saw it sitting on the ice machine in Siler City. I debated returning to get it for a second but thought I should wait to see if Sridhar grabbed it on the way out. He arrived like Saint Nick with the card. SHWEWW.

Another successful ride with some good lessons learned. Thanks to Sridhar for grabbing my card and to Al for a great route, the sandwich and cold ESB at the finish.

Congrats to Mike D and his accomplishment of 100 straight months of at least 100 miles.