John Jost, the St. Louis Region RBA, offered a full brevet series last weekend starting in Edwardsville, IL. I still needed a 200K and 600K brevet to complete the series for the year, so I drove up there Friday evening with the idea of riding one of those two events depending on the weather and who was riding. John had told me earlier he was only going to ride a 200K because he had to do the bag drop for the 600K. He had also told me there should be four or five 600K riders.
A storm front came through Springfield before I left, and I caught up with it around Rolla. There was no rain after Rolla, but I expected it to come through during the night while I was sleeping at the Innkeeper Motel in Hamel, IL. However, it never did having stalled out west of the Mississippi River.
The ride started at 4:00, so I got a 2:45 wake-up call. I was on schedule until I decided to stop at McDonald's to get some breakfast. They were not serving breakfast yet, but since I was there, I decided to get a milkshake. I ordered and then waited in line behind another car for almost ten minutes until I bolted because it was getting late.
When I got to the start, I learned that John had decided not to ride the 200K and was only going to take a short spin. There were two riders signed up for the 400K and four riders for the 600K. John said one 600K rider was pretty fast, two were methodical and one, Toshiyuki Nemoto (RUSA #1918), might ride through the night. I was hoping someone was planning to ride through the night because that had been a successful strategy for me last year on the Rochester, MN, 600K. Based on my familiarity with the route, my plan for the 600K was to ride the first 200K in ten to 11 hours; the second 200K in 12 to 13 hours; get a couple hours sleep in a motel or along the road at a store; and finish up with the time remaining, hopefully between 35 and 37 hours. Talking to Toshi, he told me he was a slow rider and would ride through the night if necessary. Although I was concerned about the weather (potential for rain and a strong south wind), I decided to ride the 600K. Then I had to hurry to get ready to leave. I started shortly after the other riders, and in the rush I forgot my camera, riding gloves and cap. I only regretted not having the camera.
Shortly after we started, it began to rain, but the rain only lasted until Pocahontas (24 miles). The wind had also picked up from the south to SSE, but not enough to cause much delay. I was a little concerned that I had not seen Toshi who was still ahead of me. Maybe he was not that slow. I knew that the two methodical riders were behind me because they pulled into the c-store at Pocahontas as I was leaving. The c-store is not a control, but I always stop to pee. Both riders were long-time randonneurs: Johnny Bertrand (RUSA# 2) and Steve Wyatt (RUSA# 747).
I rode solo to the first control in Breeze (51 miles) arriving at 7:51 and the second control in Okawville (78 miles) arriving at 9:50. Both times were well within the pace I set for riding the first 200K. I caught up with Toshi in Okawville. George Jarad, who was riding the 400K, was just leaving as I arrived. I left Okawville before Toshi, but he caught up with me when I stopped at the c-store where the route crosses US 57 (111 miles). I left before him again, and he came in right behind me at Markham Lane c-store (132 miles) where the route begins the long pull south to Vienna, IL. We bought water and ice at the c-store and rode together down to Belle Rive where John had arranged for Miles Stoneman, the Marion Illinois Region RBA, to have food and water next to Wilkey's Cafe, which was usually the control but was closed for remodeling under new ownership. Miles took some photos of me and Toshi that are included at the end of the post. After a short break to eat and drink, we headed out again. This is the toughest time of the day for me because it is the warmest time. I perceived I was slowing down, and my stomach was bothering me. However, we made it down to the control at Thompsonville (166 miles) in good time (17:33). We were still on a 5-hour pace for the third 100K.
John had set up a detour out of Creal Springs because the usual route involves riding about 15 miles on a gravel bike trail that was too soft because of the recent rains. The detour was on roads that Toshi had ridden several years ago when the overnight control for the 600K was in Anna, IL, rather than Vienna, IL. We put on our night riding gear, turned on our lights and headed out of Creal Springs. I followed Toshi since he seemed to know where he was going. About half way to Vienna and just before I-24, Toshi suddenly made a left turn, and I asked if this was our turn. He said “I think so.” I hoped he was right because we dove down a big hill. This was the toughest part of the detour because it was mostly big rollers, and the road was really crappy with potholes and poor patch jobs. It is tough to build up speed to mount the next hill when you are trying yo avoid the pot holes and raised pavement. We made it to the control in Vienna (211 miles at 22:09) in one piece and decided to get a room there for showers and a couple of hours sleep. We had been talking about stopping in Anna (233 miles) or Murphysboro (258 miles), but we were tired and had made good time. We were only slightly under a 12 mph pace, so I felt good about a longer stop even though we had not ridden at least 400K.
While I went to the motel to get a room, Toshi stopped at the McDonald's next door. Just before I got back to the McDonald's a tour bus had disgorged all its passengers, so I went back to the room and got my bike ready to leave after we slept. I then went back to McDonald's, ate, took a shower and went to bed. We had asked for a 1:00 wake-up call which would allow about two hours of sleep. I laid awake for a while waiting for some indication of cramping in my legs from the loss of too many electrolytes. The cramps never came, and I fell asleep. We rolled out of bed when the alarm went off at 1:00. The wake-up call was about ten minutes late. We rode away from the motel about 1:30. There were some good climbs on the way to Anna, and when the few cars and semi trucks passed us from behind, we always seemed to be on an up hill with a car coming the other way. How does that happen?
After we passed through Anna and began the climb to Alto Pass, Toshi told me he was getting sleepy again. I told him I was doing fine because I had taken a caffeine tablet. We stopped while he dug a tablet out of his bike bag. After we began climbing again, I slowly pulled away from Toshi until I could no longer see his headlight because of the curve in the road. As I was climbing the steepest part, I saw a bike headlight coming up behind me fairly quickly. I thought maybe the caffeine had kicked in and Toshi was reinvigorated, but it end up being Tom Gee (RUSA #246) who had been ahead of us the entire previous day and had slept in Anna. After saying good morning, Tom continued on his way.
When I got to the top where it was flatter, I started running into clouds of bugs that were swarming over the warmer asphalt in the cool morning air. I had to breath through my nose so I did not swallow them. A few larger ones found their way into my helmet, and I had to shake it to dislodge them. I made it to the Pinkneyville control (283 miles) at 7:29 and had breakfast at McDonald's. I began to get sleepy as I left town, and I stopped at the Mueller Hill Cemetery (285 miles) for a nap. There were only two trees in the cemetery, but they provided a nice shade. The wind was blowing quite strongly so it was cool in the shade. I tried to sleep, but a bird started scolding me from the tree. After about 20 minutes I got up just as Toshi rode into the cemetery.
The road out of the cemetery headed east, and the strong cross wind slowed us down. After about 15 miles, we turned to the northeast, which was much easier riding. In Coulterville (305 miles), we stopped at a c-store and ran into John Jost, his wife and Johnny Bertrand who had abandoned because of the heat. It did seem hot, particularly when the wind was at our back pushing us along. I mentioned I was having trouble with my stomach, and Johnny suggested I try eating yogurt, which the c-store did not have.
The road out of Coulterville headed due north, and we really took off with the wind at our back. On the flats I was doing 18+ mph without pedaling. If there had been the same 30+ mph south wind (gusts up to 56 mph) on Saturday as we headed south, I would have packed it in and gone home! I stopped at a small grocery in Lively Grove to see if they had some yogurt, but they did not. We arrived at the Okawville control (326 miles) at 11:58. Our slowest pace at 9.5 mph was along the section between Pinkneyville and Okawville. I was trying to figure out what to eat when I saw that Toshi had some Ramen soup. That sounded good, so I bought some, and it settled well in my stomach. Steve caught up with us just as we were getting ready to depart.
The first section out of Okawville was a little slow because of the cross wind, and it was getting hotter. Once we turned north again, our pace picked up. We stopped at the McDonald's in New Baden for a yogurt parfait. It did seem to help my stomach. I will have to remember that remedy on future rides.
We ran into two vicious dogs after Summerfield. Toshi was ahead of me and they chased him and then me. One of them got close enough that I sprayed it with Halt! to no effect. Finally, I outran it. We stopped again at the c-store in St. Jacob (355 miles) for another short break. The sky had begun to cloud up, and it looked like it could rain but never did.
The final seven road miles west into Edwardsville on Fruit Road were slow again because of the strong cross wind. The sun had also come out again. I arrived at the Edwardsville control (375 mile) at 16:55, a few minutes after Toshi. I was still bummed about forgetting my camera. I got a motel room a few exits west of Edwardsville on I-270, ate dinner and slept until 4:00 before driving back to Springfield. I was only an hour late getting to work, and it was a long day.
Overall, the ride went very well. I planned the pace of the ride and was able to stick to it so that I was not totally exhausted at the end. I also left enough buffer time (3 hours) that I could have dealt with unforeseen problems like flat tires. It was a big help to be able to ride with Toshi during the night from Creal Springs to Vienna and then from Vienna to Alto Pass. Not only is it safer to have a riding partner at night, it provides me a psychological boost to keep up the pace. Some day I hope to make it over to Ohio, where Toshi lives, to ride a brevet or two. Now all I have left is a 200K to complete this year's Super Randonneur series.
Toshi provided me a link to his photos. The following photos were taken by Miles Stoneman at Belle Rive.
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| Ralph arriving at Belle Rive, IL |
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| Toshi and Ralph taking a break at Belle Rive, IL |
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