Planting the PBP Seed
I started randonneuring in December 2013. Early on, I heard about PBP but didn't give it much thought at first. I was getting used to riding 200K (slightly longer than a century) and 300K brevets. Then, in the fall of 2014, I was recruited for a 4-person women's team for the 2015 Race Across America (RAAM). For the first half of 2015, I did little besides train for RAAM and work. In the meantime, I listened to my randonneuring friends talking about PBP 2015. After successfully completing RAAM, I quickly set my next goal: PBP 2019!
Tending the PBP Soil
Over the next few years, I did 400K and 600K events, building my endurance for PBP 2019. A 400K is the longest brevet I can do without sleeping. 600K's require that I take a sleep break. It really is a big step up from 200K to 300k to 400K to 600K.
I preregistered for PBP in January. To qualify, I have to complete a 200K, 300K, 400K, and 600K between January 1 and July 1 of this year. The Audax Club Parisien (ACP) oversees brevets all over the world and certifies the results. ACP has already certified my 200K, 300K, and 400K from earlier this year. As soon as it certifies my 600K, I can officially register for PBP 2019. Woo hoo!
Companion Planting with the Sweet Onion 600K
Although I'm not super experienced in 600K's (I had done only two before this one), I knew the Sweet Onion would be tough. Not just the ride itself, but working it into my schedule. March was full of other big rides (a 200K brevet, a 400K brevet, and a 200K dirt road race) as well as major work commitments. The Sweet Onion 600K was on March 30 and 31 - if I could just make it through the month!
Our Audax Atlanta randonneuring chapter has another 600K scheduled for May, but it's the same weekend as the Georgia Tandem Rally. The Sweet Onion was my best opportunity for my 600K qualifier for PBP. That was a great motivator during the hardest parts of the ride. And the sooner I can complete my qualifying rides, the sooner I can complete my PBP registration!
Sweet Onion Harvest Day
Seven of us gathered in Watkinsville for the 6:00 AM start of the Sweet Onion 600K last Saturday. The group included four of us Audax Atlanta members (Brad, Dick, Graham, and me) plus three from out of state who were also getting their 600K PBP qualifier (two guys from Michigan and Paul from Colorado). Wayne and Ian had pre-ridden the route a couple of weeks earlier.
Shortly into the brevet, Dick, Graham, Paul, and I formed a front group that stayed together. The route essentially was the Athens 200K route, which I have ridden a number of times, plus a long out-and back tail from Eatonton to Vidalia.
Peeling away the Layers
Following a few hours of pleasant riding, we arrived in Eatonton, an open control. I suggested we stop at Tienda Tarimoro, a very cool Mexican market and restaurant in Eatonton. We weren't yet ready for a full meal, and so we enjoyed a good snack. I got a Mexican Coca-Cola (made with real sugar instead of with corn syrup, like in the U.S.) and a Mexican pastry. They had several boxes of freshly made pastries of various sorts. It was hard to choose, but I got a piece of cake with nuts on top:
The cake was delicious and not too sweet. However, it was almost bigger than my head. The rule is never to eat anything bigger than your head. (There's one exception to this rule: cotton candy.) I ate some of the cake at the store and wrapped up the remainder for later, putting it in my large bike bag, affectionately dubbed the Yogi Bear picnic basket.
My Yogi Bear picnic basket really came in handy on the Sweet Onion 600K. Unlike the previous two 600K's I had done, there were no provisions for drop bags on the Sweet Onion. That meant I had to carry everything I needed with me the whole time: the usual repair equipment, food, brevet card, etc. as well as extra stuff needed for an overnight brevet, like toiletries and a fresh kit. This turned out to be good PBP practice. I've already reserved Airbnb lodging for PBP; I'll stop at the same place on the way to Brest and again on the way back to Paris. Robert is going with me to France, but because he's not renting a car (he's traveling by train and renting a bicycle), I'll have to carry everything I need with me for PBP.
After we left Eatonton, we entered the "tail" part of the route. The first part of the tail went through my regular stomping grounds near my house. We rode on Rabbit Skip Road, one of my favorite roads. There's lots to like about it: low traffic, good pavement, beautiful scenery, and the name!
We stopped at a convenience store in Milledgeville. Milledgeville wasn't a control, but it was a much needed refueling point between the Eatonton and Dublin controls, which were 86 miles apart.
We skirted Irwinton and started moving south of the Fall Line, where the terrain is significantly flatter. The Fall Line is a geologic feature that runs roughly west to east across the state from Columbus to Macon to Augusta. It's Georgia's ancient shoreline. Land north of the Fall Line is hillier with generally silty, clayey soils; land south of the Fall Line is flatter with generally sandy soils. We hoped to make good time as we rode the southern portion of the route.
Around 5:00 PM, we rolled into Dublin. All of us were ready for a sit-down meal. It was way too late to call it lunch, but it was rather early for supper. Lupper, anyone? We opted for Subway, which wouldn't take too long. That sandwich tasted soooo good!
A Long Ride, Any Way You Slice It
We had reserved rooms at the Red Carpet Inn in Dublin. The plan was to ride to Vidalia and back to Dublin, another 80 miles, before stopping to sleep. That would get us close to 400K for the first day, leaving a little over 200K for Sunday.
I felt pretty good as we rode into the dusk. Dick suggested that each of us pull for about two miles at a time. I was riding behind Paul. When Paul's turn came to roll off, me motioned me through with a graceful wave of his hand. I commented that he would make a good Vanna White.
That led to a spirited conversation of Wheel of Fortune that occupied us for a while. Interestingly, Dick's wife was once a contestant on the show! She even had pretty good fortune :) How cool is that?
Graham started talking about Passé Jack. Passé Jack this and Passé Jack that. I asked, "Who is Passé Jack?" and wondered why he was passé. Graham responded in disbelief, "You don't know who Pat Sajak is?" Oh! I had totally misheard him, which is probably understandable given that we had ridden 180-something miles at that point.
We also talked about funny interactions we've had with people we've met along the way during our brevets. A common question is: "How far have you ridden?" In fact, an older man had asked me this back in Dublin as I was walking into the motel lobby to check in. I told him, "159 miles." He replied, "Those little legs are going to get cramped!" That's one of the funnier responses I've gotten when I've answered that question.
Graham noted that locals often give advice on the best route to get from Point A to Point B. It doesn't seem to matter when we tell them that we have to follow our prescribed route. Sure enough, when we stopped at the convenience store control in Vidalia, a nice fellow gave us advice on how to get back to Dublin. We explained that we had to stick with our given route. He said, "Yeah, but if you go such-and-such way, it'll only be about 21 miles back to Dublin." We just smiled, thanked him, and retraced our route like we were supposed to.
We were making pretty good time between Dublin and Vidalia and back. I hoped we would get back to Dublin around midnight; 12:30 AM wasn't bad. I took a rejuvenating shower and set my alarm for a few hours of sleep.
The night before, Dick had been leaning sharply to the left while he rode. Graham asked if Dick was OK, but Dick didn't seem to notice that he was leaning. The rest of us were rather concerned because it couldn't have been good for him to ride miles at a time in that position... However, Dick was in good spirits at breakfast and seemed eager to get back on the road.
We got on the road around 6:30 AM and had to ride only about an hour before the sun came up. As we got closer to Irwinton, I stopped to take a picture of a church sign I had noticed the afternoon before. The Jordan Stream must be a tributary of the Jordan River.
 |
The section from Dublin to Milledgeville was one of the toughest ones. Dick was really struggling. When we got to Milledgeville, he made the difficult decision to stop, calling his wife to come pick him up. I hated to see him drop out, but I understood his concern about being a potential safety hazard.
Graham, Paul, and I continued on. All of us were feeling the miles in our legs. We simply weren't putting out our usual power. Even so, the two of them still could have dropped me easily at that point. I'm grateful they chose to stay with me. That's the true spirit of randonneuring - companionship and encouraging each other onward.
Eatonton was a control again. I had figured we would simply stop at another convenience store, but Graham wisely suggested we have lunch at Zaxby's. The much needed calories from an actual meal would help get us to the finish.
We had completed the out-and-back tail and were back on the Athens 200K loop with about 55 miles to go. That's not very far. At least that's what I told myself. However, the remainder of the route had significant climbing. I found myself at the edge of negative thoughts and knew I couldn't let myself go there. I told Graham and Paul that they needed to talk with me about some positive things.
This was the first time I had ever spent much time with Graham. He's always been extremely friendly, but it wasn't until getting to ride with him this time that I found out just how positive he is. He's actually one of the most positive people I've ever met. I think I'm pretty positive myself, but I forget just how important that is in this world.
Graham shared a great analogy that is as applicable to life in general as it is to ultra endurance cycling. He said you have to keep your mind either positive or neutral. Positive isn't Pollyanna, but it's recognizing the truly good things - feeling energetic at the beginning of the ride, appreciating beautiful weather, etc. Neutral is acknowledging that conditions might be difficult, but you don't dwell on them, and you might even think of constructive ways to work through them. The main thing is, don't let difficult conditions drag you into a bad place mentally. I told Graham, "I don't think I've had many negative thoughts on this ride, but I've spent a lot of time in neutral!" He laughed.
One way Paul and I coped was by telling each other silly jokes. He liked one of my favorites: Why does a chicken coop have two doors? Because if it had four doors, it would be a chicken sedan.
This was one of my favorite jokes that Paul told: What's the difference between a lobster wearing a brassiere and a Greyhound depot? One is a busty crustacean, and the other is a crusty bus station.
Trust me, these are pretty funny when you're 350 miles into a ride.
Graham actually seemed to get faster and stronger the longer we rode. I've never seen anything like it. About 10 miles from the end, he pulled ahead of Paul and me and stopped to take a photo of us as we rode by. I don't look nearly as wiped out as I felt.
At last, after 387 miles, we made it! We rolled in at 7:00 PM, exactly 37 hours total! Sweet!
Thank you, Dick, Graham, Paul, and Wayne for making the Sweet Onion 600K possible for me! Ride on!
No comments:
Post a Comment