Sunrise was at 7:01 AM. I'm sure I would have been fine with a 7:00 AM start, but I set it for 7:30 instead just to make sure I had plenty of light. I certainly didn't mind another half hour of sleep either! I drove to the usual starting location for the Athens 200K, which is a motel in Watkinsville.
My stomach had been rather unsettled that morning. Maybe it was the remnants of a bug I had a few days before. On Wednesday I wasn't feeling great and lay down as soon as I got home from work. I wound up taking a three-hour nap and didn't even cook dinner. I had a slight fever, too. The next morning I felt much better, though. On Friday I felt more tired than usual at the end of the day, but I attributed that to my 14-hour day of teaching. Regardless of whether I was still recovering on Saturday, I wasn't exactly sick, but my stomach was bothering me just enough to be an annoyance during my ride. A randonee, even a "short" 200K, is challenging enough without extra worries. However, I was determined not to let my stomach stop me.
It was my coldest ride of the season so far, but I was dressed well for it. Although I'm a heat lover, I still enjoyed the beauty of the bright fall morning. The Athens 200K route follows quiet, lovely roads through the exurbs and farms between Athens and Madison.
My Trek, which I use for randonnuering, has a detachable bike bag, i.e., the Yogi Bear picnic basket. Usually, I use my Yogi Bear picnic basket only on 300Ks or longer. Yesterday, however, I had a particular use for it on this 200K. As soon as possible after teaching a class, I have to mail my students' certification exams to be scored. Because Monday is a holiday (Veterans Day, observed), I didn't want to wait until Tuesday morning to mail the exams from my Friday class. Therefore, I carried the exams in my Yogi Bear picnic basket. I stopped at the post office in Madison. The timing was perfect, and my students are taken care of. There's more than one way to skin a cat (although I don't know why you'd want more than one way).
I wasn't feeling particularly hungry during the ride, but I made myself eat something about every 25 miles. At the control in Eatonton, I got a can of Coca-Cola Classic (the magic elixir of randonneuring) and some dill pickle-flavored peanuts. Those both hit the spot.
I'm glad I refueled at that point because the next 25 miles were the hardest of the day. The headwind was significant. I hoped it wouldn't set me back too far on my goal of finishing before 5:00 PM (close to sunset). Although the going seemed slow, my speed didn't seem too bad as I checked it on my Garmin. I was performing OK despite my still-wonky stomach.
On one of my Garmin checks, I was just over 82 miles. Ooo, if I kept a close eye on it, I could watch when it turned to 82.28 miles - a palindrome! It was a minor thrill when those digits appeared. I could do it again at 83.38 miles. Oops, I was thinking about something else at 83.38 miles, but I had plenty more palindromes after that. (Hey, I'm easily entertained, and entertainment of most any kind is welcome on a solo permanent.)
Palindromes became the theme of the rest of my ride. My rides frequently acquire themes. I can't predict them; they just happen. That reminds me of one of Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts:
"If you get invited to your first orgy, don't just show up nude. That's a common mistake. You have to let nudity 'happen.'"
After 100 miles, my Garmin display changes from two decimal places to one. Therefore, once I got to 100 miles, I'd have only a few more palindrome opportunities: 100.1, 111.1, and 122.1. I was determined to see these three.
At mile 97 I stopped at an intersection. It was only a few miles to the next control, but I wanted to go ahead and eat something. I sat in a nice grassy area and ate a Clif Bar.
When I got to the next control, a convenience store control in Rutledge, I got some Powerade. Certain Gatorade and Powerade flavors can be kind of icky, particularly well into a long ride. I selected some kind of "frost" flavor. I hoped it would be something like grapefruit, which appealed to me at the moment. I definitely didn't want the cherry flavored glacier/frost flavor, but this one didn't say cherry. As I opened the bottle, I thought, "Please don't be gross. Please don't be gross." It was gross. But I drank it anyway because I needed the liquid and calories.
Between the Clif Bar a few miles earlier and the gross Powerade, I felt much better. In fact, I felt better during the last 25 miles of the ride than I had the previous 25 miles. I knew there was a steep climb shortly after Rutledge as I exited Hard Labor Creek State Park. That climb didn't faze me, nor did the two or three others between there and the finish. I was grateful to be feeling so much better.
During the remaining miles, I transitioned to word palindromes. There's redivider, the longest single word in English that's a palindrome.
I also thought of Madam, I'm Adam. If my name were Adam, every time I met a woman, I'd introduce myself this way.
Dammit, I'm mad. Not really, because when I thought of that one, I laughed.
A few miles from the end, I was riding on a sunny straightaway. I glanced to my right and saw my shadow. Just at that moment, two other shadows of bicycles approached my own! A friendly couple greeted me and asked if I was having a good ride. I said yes, but I was about ready for it to be over because I had been on the road since 7:30 AM. They asked how far I had ridden, and I said 122.5 miles so far. The woman asked if I was training for something. I didn't want to take the time, and I didn't think they were really interested anyway, to tell them about my fifth R-12 or next year's PBP, and so I simply said, "I'm just crazy." She smiled and replied, "That's our kind of crazy!" Ride on!
I rolled in at 4:50 PM. It was before sunset. Also, I was satisfied with my finishing time, especially considering that my stomach had felt less-than-optimal all day.
I went inside to the motel restroom to change clothes. My legs didn't feel too spry as I walked across the parking lot. Then, when I went inside, my quads felt like they were about to seize up! That's only happened to me once before, at a 5K run several years ago. Fortunately, yesterday my legs soon felt better, particularly when I went back outside. I suspect it was some kind of muscle reaction to the significant change in temperature between inside and outside.
Before I headed home, I had one more stop - the Quick Trip next door. My friend Julie had clued me into their hot, soft pretzels, which she said are good post-ride food. She was right! It was perfect for the drive home and also sat well on my stomach. I didn't even mind that I had forgotten to put mustard on it in my eagerness to get home.
To close, I'll leave you with the best palindrome ever: taco cat.
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