Riding a 400K Through the Night

The brevet season is well under way with many randonneurs now riding 400K and 600K brevets to qualify for the Paris-Brest Paris (PBP) 1200K Randonnée this fall. On Friday, Dan Pfaff and I drove up to Grandview, MO, for the 400K that started at 20:00 that evening. There was also a 600K brevet that started at 18:00. Bob Burns, the KC Region RBA, scheduled the evening start so that the 600K riders could experience a start time like the 90- and 84-hour riders at PBP. We got there too late to see the four 600K riders off. There were two other riders for the 400K: John Grunzke from Arkansas and Gary McDaniel from Kansas City, MO.

It was cool and damp with a fairly strong north to NNE wind, so I put on almost all the clothes I had: wool jersey, arm warmers, knee warmers, and gloves; RUSA wind vest; cotton jacket; cap; and wool and gortex socks. After Bob sent us off at 20:00, we were soon delayed by a train about two miles out. We crossed lots of rail lines getting out of the metro area and a few scattered throughout the countryside, but this was the only time we had to stop for a train. We did have several near misses by a minute or less when trains passed behind us. The hills soon warmed us, and I shed my arm warmers and fingered gloves.

Just before Spring Hill, KS, we stopped by the side of the road to pee. If we had ridden two more miles we could have done it the civilized way at a c-store where the route crossed K-7 Highway. We almost missed the turn at the roundabout where the route crossed K-68 Highway. It is a five-legged roundabout, and the first turn after K-68 was marked “Paolo”, which was out destination. Gary, John and Dan turned. As I started to follow them, a car headlight flashed on the sign at the next street that said “Hedge Ln”. I turned back to check it out, but only Dan turned around when I yelled out to stop. We waited for the other two and then discussed which way to go. We headed down the road marked “Hedge Ln”. The other road would have gotten us to Paolo, but it would have added about a mile to the route and there was more traffic on the other road. Also by the rules, we would have had to turn around and re-enter the official route where we left it. One reason I was able to verify the correct route was because I had prepared a map, using Microsoft Streets & Trips, that had more detail than the que sheet. We arrived a Paolo just after 23:00, about three hours after the 600K riders.

When we left Paolo, we had some problems getting back on Hedge Lane because it does not cross US 169/K-7. We had to pick it up on the other side of the US 169/K-7/Baptiste Drive interchange, and one of the street signs was not the same as the que sheet. Later, we also missed the turn onto East K-152. There was a stop sign, but the road continued on straight. The street sign was on the left-hand side of the road and was much more obvious when we got back to the intersection after riding about a mile south. The La Cygne (pronounced “luh seen” by the locals) Generating Station on K-152 was well lighted as we crossed the reservoir dam in the dark. It was very obvious when we crossed back into Missouri because the road pavement was really crappy compared to the Kansas pavement.

We got to the Butler, MO, control at 3:46. As we were riding through town we saw a rider with taillight ahead of us. We thought maybe we had caught one of the 600K riders, but the rider turned off the route before the control. The 600K riders had been at the control a little more than three hours ahead of us. We stopped for breakfast at the McDonald's in Butler, but had to sit outside on the downwind side because only the drive thru was open. We had some problems getting our order through because the clerk did not understand there were four customers.

Between Butler and Appleton City, MO, the sun came up. Because the sky was overcast, it just gradually got lighter. Unfortunately, there was not the spectacular sunrise we deserved after riding the entire night. We reached the Appleton City control at 6:02. The 600K riders did not pass through Appleton City on their way to the Weaubleau, MO, control, so we could not ask about them. We headed back to Butler arriving at 8:41 and had another breakfast at McDonald's. We were able to sit down inside this time.

When we headed back, the wind was still out of the north to NNE, so we knew we would have a tougher time with the mostly west and north route. The low point of the ride for me was when we crossed the dam at the La Cygne Generating Station. The dam is about two miles long, and the wind was howling across the reservoir. By this time, the lack of sleep was also catching up with me. I began to drag behind the others, and it seemed to take forever to get across the dam and then climb a steep grade before swooping down a long hill into La Cygne. I needed to rest a while, so John and Gary went on.

After we left La Cygne, I kept falling asleep. I figured out that I should not stare at the road ahead. I needed to be constantly looking around to stay awake. I also ate some Clif Bloks with caffeine which helped. After we turned north again off of K-152, we encountered several hills we did not remember riding south in the dark. With the wind at our back during the night, that part of the route seemed fairly flat. The same was true for some of the sections north of Paolo we would ride again later. We got to the Paolo control just after 16:00 and ate at the Taco Bell where I slept for about ½ hour. Dan woke me up, or I probably would have slept for hours. I found some expired caffeine tablets in my bag before we left Paolo and took one even though it expired June 2010. I think the expiration dates are mostly advisory.

We arrived at the Grandview control a few minutes after 21:00, and called Bob so he knew we had made it back. We got something to eat a couple of exits down US 71 and drove to Clinton where we slept in the car in the Wal-Mart parking lot until about 4:00. Unfortunately, we hit a deer after we resumed driving, and it damaged the grill and front right lights on Dan's SUV. We assume the deer was killed, but we did not go back and try to find it.

Overall, it was a good learning experience riding a route at night that I had not ridden before. We got misplaced a few times, but by paying attention to the que sheet and map, we got back on track fairly quickly. I also learned some lessons for dealing with sleep deprivation.
 

Dan getting his bike ready

Bob Burns, KC RBA, & John Grunzke

Gary & John into the wind & fading light

Dan riding out of Grandview, MO

Waiting for a train in Grandview, MO

Appleton City, MO, control

Dan riding through Appleton City, MO

Barn north of Appleton City, MO

Missouri barn

Butler, MO, birthplace of science fiction writer Robert Heinlein

Butler, MO, control

La Cygne Generating Station & reservoir

Welcome to La Cygne sign at the top of the hill

Sun broke through about two hours from the end of the ride