RAIN 2018

I slept great overnight. I was awakened earlier than I wanted by eager cyclists in camp. There were a couple of groups of guys and I pictured them all outside showing off their TT bikes with their giant grins on their faces. Their was a big discussion about tire pressure and what was the best to use. Despite what studies suggest, because who cares about rolling resistance, they decied to run their pressure at over 110 psi. I rolled off the camp pad and cleaned up a bit with baby wipes. I put on my Jules Thread kit headed outside the tent. Steve was working on breakfast, oatmeal. I went to the bathroom. The line wasn't too long at the porta potty. I was next in line when a guy was like hey this one is open! Thanks I couldn't see the green symbol from where I was. I pull open the door to reveal a guy pissing in the urinal. Nope, not open! Back at camp, I packed my decaler bag and rear bag for the day. My rear bag was carrying all my tools and spare parts. While Steve was sagging for me today, but I was still treating it like a brevet and wanted to carry everything I would typically carry. I also threw in my rain jacket, and my med/bathroom bag. My front bag held food, my phone, and my battery pack. As I was getting my helmet on Steve comes over and grabs my hand and says you're doing an interview! Next thing I know there's a guy hooking a microphone up to me and the camera is rolling. He asked if I was nervous. I said I was more nervous doing this interview than doing the ride as I have ridden further distances several times. He asked about my goals, nutrition, and what I was looking forward too. Unlike every gravel race we did this year I didn't have an emergency nervous poop before the ride. After the interview, I had like two minutes to get over to the start. I haven't really thought about where I wanted to position myself, I just knew I didn't want to be in the group start here if you hope to finish. I squeezed past a couple hundred riders and just had time time turn strava on before the mass of riders got rolling. I immediately saw another rider with bigger tires and a fender. We chatted. He did the tour divide this year and made it pretty far until he got hypothermia twice. I felt great because after yesterday's headwind I was hella excited about a tailwind all day! I couldn't tell you how many times it rained as we rode across the state because I was so happy the temps were perfect and a wind in my favor. Sometimes I didn't know if it was raining or if i was just getting sprayed with a large rooster tail. Fenders! I don't care if they add a bit of weight. I love them! My goal for today was to accomplish 250 miles in under 24 hours. The RAIN ride is 160 miles starting in Terra Haute and ending in Richmond. Over 1,100 riders decided to ride despite the rainy forecast. I past fellow WRCC member Sarah and saw she was riding with fellow randonneur Donald. Still feeling great I didn't want to slow down and continue to push the pace. I'm sure Sarah understood as we never made plans to ride together. I had made the decision to not draft with any groups. With only 50 riders at the 1200k we are bound to get split up. A part of me also wanted to show that I and I alone could complete RAIN in a great time and that last year success wasn't all on Steve. RAIN was a training ride for me, I wasn't trying to be the fastest female out there or set a PR record time. I chatted with several cyclist along the way. Many who were doing RAIN for the first time. I told them don't think about the total distance, just the distance to the next sag stop, to keep the sag stops as short as possible, and don't neglect eating and drinking. I told every women I saw what a badass they were and how they were crushing this ride. I was having so much fun chatting with other cyclists and hearing their stories. I ran into Toshi a randonneur from Ohio. He was a riding his recumbent. I was great at keeping my control stops to 10 to 15 minutes. I missed Steve at the first control because I was in and out so fast. So many people commented on bike either because they loved it or they wanted to know about the gearing. One person even said he liked the vintage vibe! Yes, that's what I was going for! Towards the end of the ride the comments shifted from my bike to me. I was getting pasted by the same all male pacelines for the 5th or 6th time. They couldn't believe I was out there riding as fast as their were and I wasn't even on a road bike. Yes, it's a road bike... but set up for long distance aka comfort over speed. One group commented that they couldn't believe I hadn't drafted with anyone all day and was still pushing great speeds. I got called a beast, incredible, amazing, unstoppable, and a machine. Retrospectively, I wonder if some thought I was riding a single speed because a rohloff hub isn't as well know. I never hit a wall, never cramped up a hill, or dreaded for the miles to be over. It couldn't have been such a polar opposite from my first RAIN ride back in 2016. I crossed the finish line smiling at just after 6pm. 160 miles in 10 hours ride time with 1 hour of total stops meaning I finished 3 hours faster than I did in 2016. There were no tears. I felt happy and really to continue on my journey back across the state. Back at the truck, I ate a bunch of food, like an insane amount of food. A group that had passed me several times was packing up in the truck next to us. They again commented how impressed they were. Steve commented how this was nothing for me. He talked about my 600k and how I rode down to the start and was getting ready to hop on my bike and head back the other way. Their jaws dropped. I changed my clothes and grabbed the blanket. I was going to take a quick nap while Steve wrote my directions down. As I was napping I heard Sarah in the background. Hooray, she finished! I was too cold to go congratulate her. I took too long to get back on the road. My route took me on a bike path after traveling less than a mile threw town. I crossed paths with a couple of teenagers on bikes. It was sprinkling again. A few miles down the road I had to go to the bathroom really bad. I leaned the bike up against the handicap portapotty and raced inside. A few minutes later I heard the teenagers. I hope they don't steal my bike. Why did I not bring it inside with me! The bathroom is plenty big enough! Back on the path I was cold without my rain jacket but hot with it on so I kept it on but opened the zippers so my chest was exposed to the wind. I saw two kittens cross the path and stopped way too long to try to catch them. I almost cried biking away because I had saw a fox a mile back. Dark approached rather quickly. You could tell some bad storms went threw the area because there were several down branches. oh and trees! Good thing I have an awesome light to see pretty far up the road to allow me to stop in time to avoid crashing into the trees. My legs felt heavy and everything seemed hard. It felt like I was constantly going uphill the whole time. I got a little sleepy and decided to pull over to take a 5 minute nap on a park bench. Just as I laid down a truck drove up quickly into the parking lot. WTH! Who is out this late? It was Steve. I yelled at him for scaring me and ruining my nap. Back on the bike trail I saw several more creatures and they all gave me fright...opossums, groundhogs, owls, birds, rabbits, squirrels, frogs, and bats. As I approached another town I saw what looked like a guy standing in middle of path. Shit it is almost midnight, am I seeing things or is that actually a person. It was Steve. He was worried about me and did not want to go straight to camp. I told him I would text every hour if that helped. The bike path seemed like it would never end. I passed threw a town and a cat ran out in front of me. I got turned around and went the wrong way at first. I passed a garage and two men were outside by a trash barrel fire. What are they doing up? I was back on a trail and passed several houses with lights on. Why, its 2 am? The trail was pitch black and silent out of town. I screamed at every movement in the branches. I got a case of the sleepies again so when the next bench came along, I slept for 5 minutes. I came across a sign that the trail was out and I ignored it. I saw a few cut up trees on the side of the path and thought oh that is probably why the path was crossed. I also noticed fresh gravel laid on the side of the path. I came across a orange caution fence. I ignored it and kept going. A little ways down the path I saw a huge shadow blocking the path. From the limited light I had it looked like a wooden bridge that was above the path and creek came crashing down. Hmm There was no way I was turning around so I decided to climb up and see if I could cross it. I had to climb up around 10 feet. Walking across and looking down on the other side I sighed with relief seeing the drop was about four feet. I walked back over and very carefully with my arms threw the gaps hoisted my bike up and over. I carefully set her down on the other side and got myself down. I tripped on some wood leaving and my bike fell over. Bent the handbars a little but later Steve was able to fix it. The trail took me to another town and across town I was suppose to get back on a trail but I could not find it. I got really sleepy on the road and noticed I was swaying closer and closer to the center line. I panicked trying to find a place I could rest. There was never a spot but the activity of looking for one woke me up. Google maps took me on more gravel roads then another bike path. One section had flooded and even with me trying really hard not to get my shoes wet I did. The next section went past a factory that smelled so bad I almost puked multiple times. More gravel roads and more hills. I have been on enough rides to know that I had easily double to tripled the feet of climbing that was predicted. For some reason the route kept re routing and I tried not to get angry for another gravel road. Why am I going so slow. The service at camp was limited and I knew I would not be able to question steve further where camp was. The sun had started to come up and I saw on the map there as a service road that went to the back side of camp that would cut out several miles. YES. I did not care it was gravel. I scared a doe and fawn on my way up the hill. Luckily, the first road off the service road was the road steve set up camp. I crawled into the tent just a down pour came down. I set the alarm and went to bed. I had rode a total of 260 miles in 23 hours, within my goal. I slept for about three hours. My plan was to meet with some local club members for a ride in Peru then ride home from there. I showered and got ready. Steve noticed my front tire was flat and asked how long it had been like that. IDK. We changed my tire just as another huge down pour occurred. I stood in the tent and waited. The weather did not look promising all day. The peru ride was canceled. I could not do it. I could not get back on the bike and ride in the rain home. After two days of being wet I could not do it for a third especially for just a training ride. So after the storm passed we tore down camp and went home. I lay on the couch cuddling the cat napping on and off. Each time i woke it was storming and I was like nope and back to sleep i went. Fingers crossed it does not rain every day at Mac and Cheese!