Velo Distractions

20080329_OH200K

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On March 29th, 2008 I rode a 200K Brevet out of Lewis Center to Loudonville, OH. Many thanks go out to the Ohio Randonneurs and Bob Waddell for the effort to organize it. Prior to this event, OH was still getting no mercy from a nasty winter, but other then a little chilly weather and headwinds, we where cut a break today. Complete ride report follows.

As with any event, all of the pre-ride “scrambling” was going on, someone needed a spare helmet, Bob was on the phone giving last minute travel directions, others where hurrying to get their bikes together. Other then a lack of sleep from the previous night, everything was going well for me this morning, this worried me. See, for me every Brevet always has at least one significant “event” that occurs during the ride. Usually is is at the start when I realize that I have forgotten something (like my bike). This time I remembered everything, that meant my significant “event” was to occur on the road. At 7:00 a.m. everyone was lined up and ready to go. Anticipation was high as this was the first brevet of the year for many, and you could tell a lot of people had a bad case of “Brevet Envy”.

The ride started below the Dam of Alum Creek Dam north east of Columbus. This starting point offered good options to get to the back roads avoiding the Central Ohio traffic. The sun was rising, which was a good thing considering the thermometer read 26 degrees F about an hour earlier. Starting off, I rode with a moderately fast group of riders, holding an average of between 17 and 20. This is a pace is faster then I normally ride, and I knew that staying with this group would waste a lot of energy. But my strategy was two-fold, first I needed to warm up, second I wanted to bank some time on the first leg of the ride. I stuck with this group for about 35K, then eased off and continued at a more conservative, energy saving pace.

The first leg was from Lewis Center to the south side of downtown Mount Vernon, about 60K in length. This leg was pretty much flat, with the only issues being headwind. After falling off from the main group, I rode by myself for a few K and then joined up with Steve from Lima. We both had a pretty similar pace, even though I feel like I might have slowed him down a little, we rode together for the next 100K. Riding with someone always seems to make to things go faster.

At the first control in Mount Vernon, Steve and I moved through the control quickly. Utilizing the Speedway to its full potential, I grabbed some calories (doughnut), water and took a nature break. Once finished, I returned outside made some adjustments to my pack, dumped the ice that had formed in my water bottles, and mixed up some Gatorade. In short order Steve and I saddled up and where off to Loudonville. You can never make up time lost at a control and we didn’t waste any. Navigating the rolling hills for the next 40K, we rode out of Mount Vernon, battled headwinds and passed through Mohican State Park. When we where less then 10 kilometers from Loudonville, Bob Waddell passed us, also heading to Loudonville, moving along at a pretty decent pace. We where also passed by a number of riders heading back to Mount Vernon.

Once at the second control in Loudonville, we met up with a number of riders and ate some lunch. We also caught back up with Bob Waddell who decided to pose for the camera.

These guys where also willing to become vicitims of the camera, I forgot to ask them their name, but if I remember correctly, this is Thomas and Jonathan Walker. Someone send me an e-mail using the Contact Me page if I screwed this up and I will make a correction.

I ordered something to eat, got my Brevet Card signed by the lovely control worker, then went outside to eat and prepare for the return back to Mount Vernon. I kept thinking to myself, my “event” has not happened yet, maybe I was going to get lucky and be “event free” this brevet. Maybe?

This is the elevation profile of the ride from Lewis Center to Loudonville, as you can see there is a decent drop in elevation for the last 7 or 8 kilometers. It was on this climb back out of Loudenville my “event” occurred. Going into the hill, I was running middle front ring and the chain dropped off. My hands where still a little chilly so I figured I must have hit the shifter and didn’t realize it. Not thinking too much of it, I climbed the rest of the hill on my smallest ring. On the peak of the hill, I switched back to my front middle chain ring, and it dropped it again. I trimmed the derailleur , it seemed fine for the moment, however I was careful with my shifting and started to really slow down. Steve was pulling way ahead of me, and would wait at the top of each hill for me to catch up. After another 15K of hills the middle ring dropped again, this time it would not stay on. Stopping to take another look, I recognized that the middle ring was warped out of center in one spot and was pretty much kaput. Steve was already way out in front and headed on without me. With only the large and small chain rings available to use, I was in for a slower finish, but I continued on anyway. The rest of the leg to Loudonville went significantly slower, I had to stay in the small ring most of the way.

Near Mount Vernon, I fell back enough for Adi Gerblech to catch up with me. I was able to stay with him on the hills but he would frequently outrun me on the straight aways due to my reduced gear set. My legs where getting tired at this point, and I chose not to hammer the larger gears to keep up with him.

The last leg from Mount Vernon was pretty much flat and uneventful. The route steadily declined in elevation most of the way, so my reduced gear set was much less of an issue. Once arriving back at Alum Creek Dam, Bob Waddell was waiting in his car with a well deserved “Congratulations” and final brevet card signature.

As for the chain ring, I guess it is more my fault then anything. All along I have had concerns about the durability of the model that was on there, I figured I would chance it and see, I guess I “saw”!

Final stats:
124.3 miles / 200 kilometers
11 hours 8 minutes
2 frozen water bottles
80K of hills
100+K of headwinds
8 badly thrown newspapers from the paper boy (they where laying out in the middle of the road to dodge)
6 instances of road kill
1 skunk
1 lama
2 elpacas
7 dogs
1 bent chain ring
1 good time