Done with the 400K, getting reading for the 600K

Sometimes it seems like writing the blog post about my rides is harder than the ride themselves. Once again I am writing a report of a ride just before my next ride. I guess this is also a side effect of doing so many rides this year.

I did the Kansas City 400K on April 27. The weather report called for less wind than the 300K but rain at the start. It was about 45° with a light rain when we rolled out at 6:00. The rain kept our speeds down so I didn't have to worry about burning out early. Even so we made a good pace until our first stop in the Burger King in Cameron (mile 45) around 9:00. This wasn't a control, just a good place to grab breakfast.

The first control was in Pattonsburg (mile 73). I was a little late leaving this control, but I figured I could just catch up to the main group. I was hammering hard but I could not seem to close that last quarter mile. I caught up to Spencer for a little while but he later joined the main group.

Another rider fell off the main group. This was Steve who I had met briefly at the 300K. This was his first 400K. We ended up riding the rest of the route together. The next control was in Lamoni, Iowa (mile 117.8). We saw one rider here who made it to the turnaround and was on his way back. We decided to stop briefly here and make a long stop on the way back.

On out way to the turnaround we saw the rest of the riders who were ahead of us. We made it to Davis City, Iowa (mile 124.3) before 4:00 PM. This means that we had done the first half in less than 10 hours. This put us on a pace to finish in 20 hours but I knew we would be slower on the way back.

Steve and I rode back to Lamoni (mile 130.8) and had some pizza. When we left, I was feeling strong. I little too strong because I kept leaving Setve behind. I slowed down because I wanted to have someone to ride with.

We got back to Pattonsburg (mile 176.6) before 9:00PM. We were averaging 10 mph (including stops) since the turnaround. This pace would have as finishing around 4 AM. That would be 22 hours which would be fine with me. When we left the control it was Steve's turn to slow down for me.

Unfortunately we made a wrong turn somewhere near Winston. We ended up going 5 miles in the wrong direction before I figured out that we had done something wrong. We figured out our mistake and turned around. Steve seem to be a little deflated by this, or maybe he was just tired. After we got back on the route, we stopped at a c-store somewhere near Winston for about 30 minutes.

As we neared Cameron Steve told me that we was about to fall asleep on his bike. I told him that we would stop and let him try to take a nap. We had plenty of time so no need to take chances. I had heard about one of the riders talking about sleeping in the Walmart in Cameron (mile 203) on a previous ride so we decided to stop there.

We each lay down on a bench in vestibule of the Walmart at about 12:45. I don't think Steve actually slept much (I did not sleep) but the rest did him some good. After 30 minutes we got back on the road.

It was starting to get foggy. At first there were only patches in the low areas. Later, it was everywhere. It wasn't thick enough to be dangerous but it was disorienting. It was also wet. We made one more stop at a closed gas station to swap out batteries. I was very impressed with Steve's headlight and decided to buy one just like it.

As we neared the finish Steve was getting tired again. We swapped Airplane quotes to stay awake. In the last bit I pushed our speed a bit because I wanted to finish in under 24 hours. The time limit is 27 hours so we still had plenty of time. We finished in 23:58.

Being sleepy was the biggest problem on this ride. That's going to be a bigger challenge in the 600K which I'll be doing today. It starts at 10 PM on Friday. That means that there will be two nights of riding.

Since I've never done a ride with a nighttime start I'm not sure what to expect. My tentative plan is to ride the first 268 miles in 22-24 hours. That would put me in Butler, MO  at 8-10 PM Saturday. I can sleep in a motel until 2-3 AM and still have 11-12 hours to finish the last 100 miles.

Of course I might have to take naps at other time which would cut into the cushion. I might decide to take several shorter naps instead. I haven't done this before so I'm going to have to play it by ear.