300K

I was checking the weather report on Friday so that I would know what to wear for the 300K on Saturday. Things did not look great: rain and upper 50's to start, warming up the upper 70's later, and strong winds out of the south all day. At least I would have a tailwind on the way back.

I was a little confused by the brevet schedule so I emailed Jon to make sure that there was a 300K scheduled. I must not have been the only one confused because when I got there, everyone else was doing the 200K. This meant that after the 200K riders turned around at Okaville, I would be on my own for the last 100+ miles.

There were only 5 riders: 3 recumbent riders, Robert, and me. It was not raining at the 7:00 start but we knew it was coming. Two of the recumbent riders did not try to keep up with Robert and me, but the other one, Leonard, did. It was sprinkling off and on at this point. Leonard and I stopped briefly in Pocahontas (mile 24) and Robert kept going. We had to put the hammer down to catch up to him. Even so we didn't catch him until about mile 33.

Even though we were heading south we had a tailwind. Apparently the front that was coming through was causing the wind to change. Another thing that the front brought was rain. By the time we got to Breese (mile 51) at 10:10 we were soaked. We did not stop for very long but it was long enough to cool down. By the time we left I was cold for the first time on the ride. Fortunately, it did not take too long to warm back up.

We got to Okaville (mile 78) a little after noon. The rain had let up so while we were wet, we weren't dripping. Even though my jacket was wet, I didn't take it off. I did not want to have to put a cold, wet jacket when I started up again. I said goodbye to Robert and Leonard when they left. I rested a little longer and set out on my own at about 1:00.

The first part of the ride was easy enough, just head east until Hoyleton (mile 93). Then the route turned south again. The predicted wind had shown up and I was headed straight into it. There were brief periods when I would ride west but it was primarily south. During this time the sun cam out and I took off my jacket and tights and put on sunblock. Finally I reached the southernmost point of the route (mile 111) and turned west. I just hoped that the wind would still be there when I headed north.

I got to Oakdale (mile 121) at 4:45. I was pretty worn out from fighting the wind so I spent almost an hour there. I called Helen and told her that I expected to finish around 11 or 12. Originally I had hoped to finish in 15 hours but I realized that it was not in the cards today.

Now that I was headed primarily north, things got easier. I stopped a few miles before New Baden to put my reflective gear back on and turn on my lights.Shortly after this I missed the turn onto Airport Rd. and had to backtrack about a mile. The mistake was all the more surprising because this part of the route was the same as the 200K I rode two weeks ago. Of course, that was in dylight with other people. I am not used to reading a cue sheet by myself at night.

I got to New Baden (mile 151) a little before 8. I called Helen and told here that I expected to finish around 11. She told me that I didn't need to call her when I finished. After I left New Baden my routing mistakes continued. This time, I thought I had missed a turn and backtracked a mile to find out that I had been going the right way. After this I became paranoid about checking the route sheet all the time. Needless to say, this slowed me down.

I had been worried that the wind would die down once the sun went down. Luckily, it was just as strong as ever. I had a little bit of bad luck between St. Jacob and Marine (about mile 169). My rear tire went flat and I had to change the tube. This was my more difficult because the ground was a little muddy and the only source of light that I had was my headlight.

It took about half an hour to fix the flat. I did not find anything in the tire so I'm not sure what cause the problem.While I was working on it a couple of people stopped to ask if I needed help. One gut even offered to take me to Edwardsville. I thanked him but told him I had everything under control. People do seem to be nicer is small towns.

After that there were no more problems. I finished the ride at 11:41 for a time of 16 hours 41 minutes. The route sheet said 187 miles but with my wrong turns I rode 194 miles.

200K

I've often said that I should be able to roll out of bed and ride a century with no preparation. I put that theory to the test today today when I rode the Saint Louis Randonneuring 200K. I had not ridden a ride other than my commutes since a 23 mile ride in September.


The weather was perfect: the ride start in the mid 50's and ended up in the mid 70's, with not too much wind. I was riding my Lightspeed because riding my fixed gear would have been a little too ambitious. At the start of the ride I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of serious riders. I did not expect to be able to keep up with the fast group today.


The ride started in Edwardsville at 7am and the first few miles are on a bike path. After we turned onto Fruit Road, there were 10 people in the lead group. As expected, the pace was pretty hot, about 20 mph into a 5mph headwind. One rider dropped after about 7 miles, and I decided to drop off about a mile later. When I later stopped to take off my jacket, the rider who dropped before me (Bob) and another rider (Ed) caught up to me. We rode together until Ed stopped in Pocahontas (mile 24) and Bob and I continued on.


Bob is a very experienced randonneur who did PBP last year. He also does multiple 600K rides per year. He drove down from Madison Wisconsin to do this ride.

We got to the first checkpoint in Breese (mile 51) a little after 10am. I had eaten a pop-tart on the way and I ate a payday bar and drank some chocolate milk while we were there. Ed caught up to us while we were there and the three of us left together.

About 8 miles before Okawville, Ed either got faster, or Bob and I got slower, and Ed rode off ahead of us. Bob and I got to Okawville (mile 78) a little after noon. I ate a ham and cheese sandwich, some potato chips, and drank some bug juice.

As we left the checkpoint, we were headed west so we had a little bit of a tailwind. We were still making excellent time. We did not stop at a C-store in New Baden (mile 92) where I usually stop because we were both feeling pretty good. This feeling didn't last that long for me and I started to slow down. I told Bob that I wanted to stop in St. Jacob (mile 107).

When we got there I had a slice of pizza and a Pepsi. I had given up soda for Lent but I said that I could drink it on long bike rides. The ride qualified. I had wanted a soda in Okawville but I didn't drink one. Now I needed one. I felt a little bad that I was slowing Bob down. When another rider passed while we were stopped, Bob asked if he minded I he caught up to that rider. I told him to go and that maybe I would catch him on the road.

I left St. Jacob about 5 minutes after Bob did. The sugar improved my performance considerably. I must have been on the verge of bonking. I was riding by myself for a while but at about mile 114 I saw Bob and the other rider in the distance. I finally caught up to them around mile 118, after we had turned onto Fruit Road.


About mile 120 we saw a group of 5 riders coming up from behind us. I did not think they were part of the 200K because anybody moving that fast would not have been behind us. After they passed us I told Bob that I was legally required to chase them. I am like a dog; if something is running away from me I chase it.


After I caught these riders they told me they weren't part of the 200K. This was already obvious to me because we were doing about 24 mph. I stayed with them for a couple of miles until it was time for me to get back on the bike path.


I reached the the finish at 4:07. Bob and the other rider rolled in 3 minutes later. I apologized to Bob for sprinting away but he just laughed it off.


My final stats: 9:07 clock time. All other stats are based on rolling time:
Dist: 129.19 (cue sheet distance was 126.64)
Time: 7:43:30
Speed: 16.72 mph
Max speed: 27.92
Avg cadence: 76


If you're wondering why I list the foods that I ate on the ride, it's so I can read this later and figure out what I did right and what I did wrong. This time I did not eat enough while I was riding and I almost bonked.

Cutting the cord

I was an early adopter for satellite TV. I got fed up with Charter in 1995 or 96 and signed up with DirecTV/USSB. The receiver cost around $500 but it was worth it to not have to deal with cable anymore. I stayed with them for quite a while.
In 2004, I wanted to get a DVR so I called DirecTV to see what it would cost to upgrade. I didn't like the deal they offered so I checked with Dish Network and they offered me a better deal. When I called DirecTV to cancel, all of a sudden they had a better deal available. I told them "Too late."
Over the years the prices crept up. When I got a HD TV I added the HD package. I also upgraded to the top 250 package to get Versus (to watch the Tour de France). Eventually I was paying $87/month, without any premium movie channels. I cut back to the Top 120 for $51. I then found out that it didn't include Fox Sports Midwest so i added it back for an extra $5.
$56/month still seemed like too much so I started looking around for options. Dish did not have a better deal available. U-verse is not available in my area. Cable still seems to be more expensive than satellite. DirecTV wanted to mess around with a 2 year commitment that was cheap the first year and whatever they felt like charging for the second year.
I was starting to get frustrated that I would not find a cheaper option. Then I talked to someone who did not have cable or satellite and just had Netflix. After looking into it I decided to switch.
My wife does not watch much TV so she did not have an opinion. My kids were concerned about the shows that they wouldn't be able to watch any more, but they were sold once the saw all the things that they could watch. My 11 year old was nostalgic about watching Rugrats again.
The sticking point for me was watching the Rams. Now that I've watched football using a DVR, I can't go back to watching it live. I can get all of the local stations using a cheap antenna so that's not an issue. And I discovered that I have everything that I need to use my computer as a DVR. It came with a tuner card, and I can use my XBox the show it on my TV via Windows Media Center.
Baseball will be an issue next year, but I am hopeful that there will be a solution. I will detail the issues in a future post.
I officially canceled Dish Network on Sept 5. Of course, all of a sudden they had a new deal available. They same package I had but for $36 instead of $56. If they had offered that when I had first asked, they probably could have kept me as a customer. Of course, by then it was too late. I was quite happy to be able to turn them down.

Zap and Me

Even before we got married, Helen let me know that she wanted a cat and I let her know that I didn't like cats. Eventually I relented and in 1992, after we had been married for about 4 years, I told her that she could get a cat for her birthday.

Helen wanted a playful cat so she picked out the most active cat from the shelter, a female gray tabby kitten. I picked out her name: Zap. Little did Helen realized what getting a playful kitten meant. Zap had very strong instincts. She would stalk Helen, then run up behind her and pounce, bite, and run away.

I always thought that cats were independent and Zap was no exception. But Zap was also a loving cat. Unfortunately she sometimes seemed to love me more than Helen. Zap would lay on my lap and look over at Helen as if to say "I've got your man." Zap's idea of the pecking order was me at the top, then Zap, and the Helen as the number 2 wife. I think that Zap was willing to accept my dominance because I once bit her (not hard) on the back of her neck.

Zap was also affectionate towards Helen. We let her sleep in our bed even though she did the typical cat thing of laying on our heads.

When Rachel was born, Zap was 8 years old and had mellowed some. Even so, it took Zap a little while to accept Rachel. When Rachel got older Zap helped teach her how to be gentle with animals. She did this by biting anyone who got to rough with her. She would later teach A.J. the same lesson.

As time went on she slowed down but she was actually quite healthy. She had pink eye once so we had to put stuff in her eyes. There were also a couple of time when she had to take pills for several days. This was not fun for either her or us.

She gave us a scare a few months ago by getting outside and disappearing. We though that she was gone for good but a good Samaritan found her and was able to return her to us because we had her chipped when she was just a couple of years old.

Over the past week or so she really started to show her age. She could make it up and down the stairs any more so we put a litter box upstairs. She stopped sleeping on the bed and started sleeping on the couch, and eventually the floor. She wasn't eating solid food so we gave her chicken broth.

It was obvious that she didn't have much time left so Helen made sure that the kids told her that they loved her before they went to bed on Monday night. Zap passed away quietly in her sleep later that night.

You were a good cat Zap. I loved you and I'll miss you.

Moonlight Ramble

The Moonlight ramble is a midnight bicycle ride held on the Saturday in August closest to the full moon. Typically there are over 10,000 riders. I had never done the it before but I had always wanted to. I mentioned to Rachel in July and she was excited about doing it.

The weekend before the Moonlight Ramble we did a ride to get ready. We did 9 miles on a very hot Saturday. This was a new personal record for distance for my daughter. The weather cooled off in the next few days so we had great temperatures for the ride.

We headed to the start at about 10pm on the 13th. I wanted to get there early because we hadn't pre-registered. They were so well organized that it only took a few minutes to register. Since we had some time to kill we wandered around and bought some Ted Drewes. Rachel really wanted to do the long route (17+ miles). I told her that I we could try it but I would ask her again once we got to the point where the routes split. There was a lot going on in downtown Saint Louis that night: the Moonlight Ramble, a Cardinal game, a Rams preseason game, and a Taylor Swift concert.

They release the riders a few hundred at a time so it takes a while to get everyone on the road. I was a little worried that we might be the slowest riders but that was not a problem. The streets are closed off so we did not have to worry about cars, but we did have to worry about other riders. Only about half the riders had any sort of lights. I had put my extra lights on Rachel's bike so she had both headlights and tail lights. At one point another rider said that he thought we were a car coming up behind him with our headlights side by side.

Rachel had a great time and had no problem choosing the long route we we split off. There were a few time that the large number of riders cause some congestion but no real problems. Rachel listened to my suggestions and improved as the ride progressed. We were both annoyed by all the speed bumps in Tower Grove Park.

After we finished the ride, Rachel was willing to ride back to our car on the street. She normally doesn't like riding where there are traffic lights but her confidence was very high. She was already talking about doing this next year.

Familiar danger vs unfamilar danger

I rode with my friend Eric after work today. We rode about 23 miles, mostly on a bike trail. He drives to work and brought his bike with him. He mentioned that he was about halfway to work this morning when he realized that he had forgotten his helmet. He turned around and went back and got it. I told him that that may not have been the best decision from a safety standpoint.

I believe that riding with a helmet is safer than riding without one, So turning around made his bike ride safer. But what about the extra 10 miles he drove? Obviously driving has a risk associated with it so driving 10 miles is less safe than not driving that distance.

Any actuaries want to weight in on this?

(I don't know what the helmet laws are in St. Louis so let's leave them out of this problem.)

Equipment problems

Last week I decided to go on a group ride with some people from the St. Louis bicycling group on Meetup.com. Unfortunately I hit a pothole and got a flat on my way to the start. I put on my spare tube but I broke the valve stem while inflating it. This meant that I had to call Helen to pick me up.

On Friday, I had a spoke break while riding home from work. The rear wheel was rubbing the frame so there was no thought of continuing my ride. Helen had to pick me up again.

I haven't had to call for a rescue for quite a while and no I've done it twice in a week. I hope that this takes care of my quota for a while.

On the bright side, Maplewood Bicycle was able to fix the wheel while I waited on Saturday morning. I was expecting to have to leave it for a few days.