2018 Kentucky
The alarm beeped at 4 am. Today, is going to be a great day because we get to ride our bike ALL DAY! The weather was suppose to be gorgeous reaching 60 F by afternoon. We quickly got dressed, ate breakfast, and grabbed our bags. The start of the ride was at Red Roof Inn in Shelbyville, KY just down the road from the AirBNB we were staying in. We pulled into the parking lot around 5:15 am and saw no other cyclists. The website was very clear that cyclists needed to arrive early to fill out paperwork and get our cards. I checked the lobby and the doors were still locked so I walked over to the night window. The attendant had his feet up, sock footed, watching videos on his phone. He didn't hear me tap the window twice. After banging on it, I learned he didn't have a clue about the bike ride starting from here. Ok, back to the car, Steve almost had Champagne Storm put together. I started loading our bags and getting geared up. During this process another cyclists walks over. It's Joe Bolan. Not only is he a member from our cycling club, Wabash River Cycling Club, but he's a pretty legendary randonneur within Indiana, finishing rides wicked fast. Joe explained that everyone else was on the back side of the hotel and Steve Rice, KY Regional Brevet Admin had rented a room for registration. We signed in and got our cards. 10-15 minutes until go time! "Where's Molly, and Dean?" They are members of WRCC as well and very accomplished cyclists. Dean rode over 20,000 miles last year and already has several centuries under his belt this year. Molly loves racing 24 hour events and at the most recent one she logged 375 miles in a 24 hour period! While this was Molly and Dean's first brevet and I had no doubts they would do great things today. They both have great skills, put in the work over the winter, and have a large amount of sheer determination and grit. As I walked outside Molly and Dean rode up! I started doing some off the bike warm-ups and stretching. Dean, "You're making me tired!" Sorry Dean, gotta keep the hips loose today.
We chatted about the weather as it was a little crisp around 33F. However, there was frost on the car windows and in places the ground was frosted as well. "Just wait until this afternoon when the temp gets to 60F,”I smiled, "besides we get to ride our bike ALL DAY which is something we all love!" Leading up to the ride, I expressed that at brevets everyone rides their own ride whether that means riding with friends, going for a personal best, or just taking it easy. We did not make plans on sticking together. As a tandem team sometimes it is hard for us to ride with others. We are sometimes slower uphill but speed past others on the downhill. We can really push the pace on rollers because of the built up momentum. There was no pre-ride discussion lead by the RBA, instead a "Let's Ride" right at 6 am and we took off as a group. Less than a couple miles into the ride we heard something hit the ground and slide across the pavement. Crap! It was one of our water bottles. The water bottle was very difficult to locate in the dark even with lights on my goggles. I had not strapped the water bottle in correctly and when we hit a tiny bump it flew out allowing the whole group to pass us in the process. I was hoping to stay with the group for a little while, selflessly to follow their GPS computer instead of me trying to read a map in the dark. We missed our first turn just slightly and had to turn around. I'll admit that this was completely my fault. I did not familiarize myself with the map prior to the start of the ride and was miss reading it for the first 10 or so miles. Throughout the day, I would find myself getting confused and telling Steve the wrong mileage. In the future I need to take the time to look at the route, cue sheet, and map ahead of time and tailor them to what will minimize mistakes on my part. We caught some of the group while waiting for a train to pass and rode with them into the city. Most of the group got stopped at a traffic light on top of a hill, I was a little nervous as Steve suddenly stopped and the bike leaned hard. The light turned green and we were off into the countryside. This would be the last time we would see Molly and Dean for a long time.
The route to the first control stop was breathtaking....literally it was so cold and with the frost I found it hard to breath. The route followed creeks and the roads twisted and turned while going over some small roller hills. We passed two riders as we were able to move along at a good pace, which kept my body warm. My fingers and toes were numb however. One of my favorite things about early morning rides is watching the sun come up as the light spills over the landscape, and hearing and seeing everything come alive. We rolled into the first control near the city of Campbellsburg about 33 miles and 2,800 feet of climbing into the ride and saw Joe hopping back on the bike to head out. Steve and I had made it a goal to focus on controllables today. That meant, focusing on nutrition and hydration, making sure our layers of clothing were appropriate and we were not getting overheated or chilled, to make sure we were efficient with our time at the controls, to make minimal mistakes with navigation, and to keep a constant effort of pedaling. We did not want to focus on the overall time, our average speed, the weather, or the hills. We made a plan before getting to the first control and successful executed the plan by being in and out in under 15 minutes. As we were leaving the two riders we passed earlier arrived. One rider mentioned the next section of the route would be the coldest area of the route! We had a really fast two mile descent before we would climb two moderate hills and fall into a valley. There was a light fog and the ground was still frosted. There were several moments it felt like we were back in Scotland riding on a tiny lane in a valley with a stream flowing on one side and a hill with cattle grazing on the other. There were no cars, and we didn't see any people out in their yards. The calmness made us feel like we were invading a scared area.
Steve broke the silence, "I can't believe it's been fifty miles already!" Mile 53, "next turn is in 7 miles! You got that Steve!" "Keep your eyes peeled, we are looking for Dividing Ridge Road which should be coming up in the next 0.5 mile." Steve exclaimed, “there's a road but there's no street sign." We decided to keep going to the next road and figure our mental math game was off. The next road never came. I pulled out my phone and checked Google maps. Oh here's dividing Ridge! It's just a little further up the road." A little further up the road there was no side road. After consulting google maps again I realized I had us go in the wrong direction. We kept going on and meet back up with the route adding over five bonus miles to our total. We rolled into the second control in Sparta just as the two riders we passed at the first control where leaving. The control, a love's truck stop with a couple restaurants, was extremely busy. We again made good time and we rolled out within 15 minutes. We saw no sign of any other riders. Strava fly bys later revealed that we just missed crossing paths with Dean and Molly. The next section was the hilliest, and in additional to the continuing with the rollers we would encounter some steeper climbs with some of those getting into the double digits for percent grade. The descents were terrifying as we speed (that's right Steve was over the speed limit) down twisted roads. We talked about how we felt we were doing effort wise, and can we maintain this effort for the rest of the day. Popping up out of the valley we realized the wind had considerably picked up all morning. We can't control the wind so we focused on constant effort. We passed a rider nearing the next control. The traffic picked up as we neared Crittenden, the turnaround, the halfway point in our ride and the 3rd control stop. We decided we would spend a little longer here to eat a good sized lunch. I had packed "tuna" salad sandwiches. I rounded out the meal with some peanut butter MMs and some chips. Healthy, I know!
We should had left sooner than we did, and we were a little concerned we haven't seen Molly or Dean yet. We figured with the bonus miles we had that they shouldn't be that far behind us. We left around 1:40 pm about 30 minutes after arriving. I thought for sure Molly and Dean would have caught us by now, especially with us getting lost. I was really hoping to hear how their ride was going. We left the control and traffic was still a little intense. Within 2-3 miles we saw Molly and Dean! We hollered well wishes and kept moving. The wind was still intense and we again focused on a constant effort. I turned my cycling computer to read distance only and resisted the urge to flip to mph. The route was rolling just briefly before dropped down a giant hill to immediately climb it again. Riding along the top of the hill we could tell how much the wind had picked up over the last hour or so. We dropped back down into the creek valley hitting a PR mph for the day of over 40 mph. The hills were rolling for a hot second before the steep gradual climbs. We continue with a constant rate of effort but my power output was not as strong as the first time around. With each downhill Steve tried to get a new faster mph PR. I tucked into what I call super aerodynamic mode and closed my eyes. We almost hit 46 mph in an area where the speed limit was 30! The temperature was great and the views of the creek bed along the hill side just as beautiful as the first time we came through. Because the roads were so twisty it varied whether we had a headwind or crosswind. We made it to the fourth control back in Sparta and focused on getting in and out within 20 minutes. I took some time to stretch my hammies and hips. We didn't see any other cyclists. Leaving the control I was bound and determined not to miss Dividing Ridge again! Just under 2.5 miles we need to watch for a road to our left. Well, about that mileage later was a road called 2984. "No, Steve! That's not it, we need Dividing Ridge!".
We kept going, but another road didn't come. We took the next left which according to google maps should take us to Dividing Ridge. This little detour added another 5 miles and a significant steady 2 mile long hill climb. We made it to Dividing Ridge finally! We couldn't agree which way to turn so I consulted Google maps again. I noticed I had a missed call and voice message from Dean. I hit play. In a soft shaken voice I hear Dean say, "Molly was hit by a car." My heart dropped to my toes, I didn't breath, and everything became a blur. The next few sentences were an eternity. Steve kept saying what's wrong? Why did you gasp? Why did Dean call? I somehow mumbled, "Molly got hit by a car." The voice message became inaudible. In that moment I have never felt so helpless. I had no idea where we were, but the rough idea put us exactly halfway between where Dean and Molly were, and where the truck was. I heard Dean's voice again and an audible, "She's OK. She's in the CT room right now." Whew! Steve called Dean and I figured out where we were. Molly and Dean (a little behind Molly) were approaching a light to turn left. They both signaled that they would be turning. Out of nowhere an impatient driver speeds past (in a NO PASSING ZONE... aka Double yellow line) Dean's left and hits Molly. Molly cartwheels in the air and lands hard. The driver didn't initially stop but eventually came back. A volunteer took the bikes and Molly and Dean went to the hospital. Rads and CT revealed she had a 10% compression fracture on Lumbar 1 and 2 which will end her cycling dreams for this year.
Steve and I were back on route and it was so hard to focus to stay on course. We were pissed. We've experienced impatient drivers, distracted drivers, and road rage many times on our rides but it doesn't really hit you until someone gets hurt. What could possibly be so important to save 30 seconds by risking someone's dreams or even a life in the process? What could possibly make someone so angry, or what is going on in their life that gives them so much rage against cyclists that they would threaten to harm them? What is so damn important on social media that you can't put your fucking phone down and drive? Seriously, I shouldn't have to scream at you to get you to see me because you're staring at your phone. And don't tell me well I saw a cyclist once that ran a stop sign. Fuck! Really! Again threatening a cyclist's life is ok because one cyclist didn't come to a complete stop! And don't tell me to quit cycling and find a safer hobby! How about each and everyone of you make a commitment to put the phones away, and to give cyclist 3 feet when passing when and only when its legal and safe to do so no matter if that means you'll be three minutes late to your meeting. My anger caused me to lose focus on the controllables and I was feeling my legs not given the same amount of power. At the fifth control, I sat down in a subway booth. I was still shaken. I forced myself to eat some more "tuna" salad. Steve brought us some cookies and had the server warmed them up. A customer was at the gas station counter talking about a big storm coming in that was in front of a cold front both bringing lots of rain. Great! Two rando riders walk in. One rider was the RBA and I let him know a message on his phone was from me. I told him about Molly. He was upset. He grabbed some food and sat down. He scrolled through his phone and learned that another rider had DNF. Steve took a nap at the booth while I went to the bathroom. Idk why but all day cycling really keeps everything moving. Molly was texting. It was good to hear from her. We stayed at this control was too long.
Steve's energy picked up and he said he felt great again, and he felt really strong. He pushed the pace and I did my best to keep up. My legs kept turning over and over. I didn't feel fatigued per say I just felt like my effort was a little less than earlier in the day. The sun was setting ironically about the portion of the route we rode when it was rising. I had to open my jacket, I felt like I was over heating even though the temperatures were rapidly dropping. I hadn't taken my asthma inhaler since 2 pm and can could feel my chest starting to get tight. I only use my inhaler on long rides as my asthma seems to be allergy (which most are environmental) induced. We had to slow our pace just sightly to be able to read the street signs. As the sun disappeared it started to rain ever so lightly. At 9 pm we saw a guy digging a hole or finishing up some landscaping next to his mailbox. Strange. We approached the city and the rain picked up. Steve was losing focus with five miles to go. The traffic had increased and with Molly's incident earlier and us being in the dark and rain we were on edge. We finished a little after 10 pm with a 14.9 mph average. We were hoping for 15 and to finish by 9 pm. We are extremely proud of our accomplishments. We were in and out of controls much faster than we have ever been. We did great at maintaining a constant pace and effort and we do good focusing on controllables. As the miles begin to build and get past 150 we need to continue to push ourselves and keep the control stops short. Getting lost twice and adding over 10 bonus miles definitely hurt our overall time. We saw many dogs on this trip and of the several that chased us but only one had it's hackles raised. We saw many dogs chained up as well. We pasted run down farms and multi million dollar farms. A majority of the people we encountered were obese or smokers. One guy patting his belly expressed to us to never stop what we were doing and become like them. I didn't know what to say. I'm not a cycling superstar. This was the first larger mileage ride we have down that we didn't encounter road rage, or cars honking their horns at us.
It was hard to feel accomplishment at the finish. I signed my card and handed it over and that was that. No celebratory picture. No high fiving that this ride was over 5 hours faster than our 300k last year. It didn't feel right. We should be celebrating with Molly and Dean and making plans to go to a distillery. We packed the bike up and went back to the airBNB in silence. We showered. The hot shower felt great on my tired body. I was cold, I'm always cold. Supper didn't sound good, so Steve and I split a new vegan ice cream flavor. I couldn't fall asleep. I remember seeing midnight on the clock but my mind was still reeling everything that had happened today. Life isn't fair. I will continue to ride and in time so will Molly. For the love of people, SHARE THE ROAD!