The last 300K.

[Ken]

There have been tough rides before, but sometimes the new one seems to out- horror the one previous. Such was the 300K on Saturday. Hot, windy, and very very long. Forty miles would have been a good outing, once into it, this 190 miles seemed a tad masochistic. The fun stopped before we had reached Chappell Hill, and from there it was all downhill, or to be exact all uphill and Saharan in extremes. What is it about some roads that seem to be uphill going both ways?

I was riding with John, or the be more correct, we started off together some time after the official start and then met each other along the way. I missed him in Chappell Hill. Bill and Dan said he had gone onto the Exxon station so I filled my water bottles in the visitor center loo then hung around for some time on the main street expecting him to appear. Twenty minutes or so later, no John, so I assumed he must have passed me while I was inside, so, anyway, he had and I caught up with him again riding with Bill and Dan along the road to Washington.

Bill dropped down into the state park and I put my feet up against the Washington entrance sign for John to appear, who had said earlier he was running dry and thought he might have to fill his camelback in the park.

Navasota strikes me as a town looking for a reason to be, but it does have a fairly decent emporium on the main drag near the junction with La Salle (turn for the check-point) . I rummaged outside the shop for a while as John toiled along Hwy 105 – one of the worst roads anywhere in Texas for cyclists and those bridges should have a scull and cross bones sign mounted on the approach to them. I’m not doing that route again.

At the check point, (long haul up to Hwy 6 and Spur 515 junction) we looked for the Valero station but all we could find was a Chevron and a Shell, so we elected to visit the Shell station because I had been there before on some previous 300K. I asked the clerk if anyone had come by asking to have their brevet sheet signed and was told not today but there were a couple here last week, so that must have been the pre-riders, so I knew we were on safe territory.  We assumed the other 300’s must have elected to visit the Chevron.

The last I saw of John was at Carlos. I hung around the Summit to see if he was going to put in an appearance and once I was sure of that, I dragged myself out onto the road and commenced the return journey as shagged out and weary as I have been for a long time. Hot Houston summer riding is not for me anymore. The heat just sucks the energy out, short rides are okay, but near double centuries in that heat and that wind and those roads is best suited for those who have camels for parents. I walked a section of FM 2726 to get rid of cramps in both of my inner thigh muscles, which helped.

Obsessive visions of frothing streams of coca cola from the soda fountains in Chappell Hill sustained me. I never drink the stuff ever any other time, but when my energy leaves on these blistering summer rides, I have hallucinations about drowning in gallons of it. Whatever works, I guess.

I was determined to at least reach Bellville before needing lights, and I made it with about ten minutes short just after 8. The return along FM 529 is not my favorite stretch of road at night, particularly solo, but once I was on 359 and the wide shoulder, I felt as if I was already home.

Back at La Quinta, I loaded the bike and went in search of John and found him trundling along FM 529 near Sunnyside. I was prepared to drive behind him to give him protection from the traffic all the way back, but he seemed as happy as Larry and said he was experienced with night riding and glad it was no longer hot and he was okay. John exhibits all the qualities of the best of Randonneurs.

I think that’ll do it for me with long rides until the weather cools off considerably, maybe near the end of the year. I don’t mind the wind, and I can manage the hills, but that heat is something else.

A family wedding first weekend in June, hiking the John Muir Trail in the Sierras starting July 23 and hopefully traveling to Tuscany sometime in September will take up most of my activity time for the rest of the year, oh, and there’s work of course, I have to pay for it all somehow.

Take care everyone, stay safe and do something different. Hike a trail, climb a mountain, row the Atlantic, have something to talk about when you final hang up your shorts.

Ken.

[Mark Wooldridge]

Hi Ken-

While the sentiment expressed in your email below is laudable, shadowing another rider in this manner would have put him at risk of disqualification (see RUSA's Rules for Riders, Article 6, which begins by stating that "Each rider must be self sufficient. No personal follow cars or support of any kind are permitted on the course. Personal support is only allowed at checkpoints. Any violation of this requirement will result in immediate disqualification.")

Thanks,

Mark W

---

From: Ken <kenneth...@sbcglobal.net>
To: houstonra...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, May 7, 2012 1:01 PM
Subject: [HR] The last 300K.

.....

[kenneth jessett]

Actually, after I left him I wondered if that would have been the case, so I'm happy he declined.

 

Thanks.
 

Aspire to Inspire. 

 

---

From: Mark Wooldridge <mdw...@yahoo.com>
To: Ken <kenneth...@sbcglobal.net>; "houstonra...@googlegroups.com" <houstonra...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Mon, May 7, 2012 6:24:38 PM
Subject: Re: [HR] The last 300K.

[JohnPM]

I do appreciate you checking up on me, when I realized that I was no longer going to keep up we should have traded cell no's. When I arrived back at Navasota, I was glad to see that you headed on down the road, we all ultimately have to ride our own pace sometimes and it's almost as painful to go too slow as it is to go too fast. The clerk said you had left about15 minutes before I arrived so I kept up pretty well on this leg, I actually enjoyed the headwind from Carlos to Navasota as it had a cooling effect. Then came the leg to Chappel Hill, the wind and the heat reared their ugly heads ever more and I started feeliing really puny and I just kept getting slower and slower, it took me 3 hours to go the 25 miles. Looking back I think I fell behind on nutrition (low sodium? - oops I could have had a V8 but forgot to). When I reached Chappel Hill I downed a Whopper Jr, fries with about 5 extra packs of salt and the frothy Coke you speak about and I was totally rejuvenated fo the last 40 miles. The wind layed down nicely when the "super moon" rose and it was just a beautiful ride the rest of the way. I noticed that traffic was a little heavier that normal but everyone was courteous on this Cinco De Mayo and gave me a wide berth without exception.

[william schmidt]

I really enjoyed reading your narratives! Inspiring!

 

Thanks for writing them.

 

Bill

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