Springfield, MO, 200K Brevet

The Springfield 200K brevet was held Sunday, March 29, through the St. Louis region. Saturday was a real nail biter as a major storm pushed through dropping over an inch of rain. It began to taper off in the afternoon as predicted, but the Weather Service was still calling for snow ending around 1:00AM. I drove part of the route during the early afternoon to check for flooding. All of the streams were well within their banks, so I decided we would ride. John Jost, the St. Louis RBA, had decided Friday that he was not going to come down because of the weather, but he called Saturday afternoon and decided to risk it after we discussed the forecast. As the night progressed, the storm began to swirl back to the east, but fortunately, the whole system also moved to the northeast, and we only got a sprinkling of snow.

Seven other local riders showed up to start the brevet at a cold 32 degrees with a 12mph wind out of the WNW. The brave souls were: Bill Burton, Roy Chapman, Bill Hill, Dave Julian, Dan Pfaff, Dave Ritchey and Dave Schlink. This was the first brevet for all of them except Bill Hill.

There was some frost on the roads as we started out, which made for some exciting down hills, but nobody crashed. As the day started perfectly clear, the ice soon burned off. It was a little slow going because of the headwind, and we all made it to the first control in Miller a little slower than we usually ride the permanent that generally follows the same route. The route flattens out quite a bit after Miller, so we were able to pick up the pace. We all arrived in Golden City within about a 15-minute span and met at Cooky's for lunch. Cooky's is a favorite stop on the TransAmerica Trail. They have good home cooking and about 30 varieties of homemade pie.

John and I did not have a full lunch and took off first. About 10 miles out of Golden City, we passed a fully-load cyclist heading west. I was surprised to see someone touring this early in the year, and wondered why he was not on the TransAmerica Trail, which comes into Golden City further north. As he passed, he yelled that he was from St. Louis. He was also in short sleeves, while we still had our jackets on. He must build up a lot more heat pushing those full panniers. The temperature did get up to 54 degrees in the late afternoon.

John and I were not much faster on the ride back even with the tailwind, but we also made an extra stop at Hood's Truck Stop on I-44. We were expecting some of the other faster riders to catch us. They started coming in about five minutes after we arrived at the finish.

All nine riders completed the brevet in just over 11.5 hours. Dave Ritchey came in last because he had a flat about 1/2 mile from the end and decided to walk in. I believe he had the only flat. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the brevet, and several began to make plans for the 300K on April 18 (details here), asking about lighting and reflective gear. The only downside of the ride was the number of dogs that chased us. Fortunately, a really vicious-looking pit bull was well chained in his yard, but that didn't stop him, or her, from trying to make a run at us.

Special thanks to John Jost for allowing us to setup the brevets here in Springfield. Hopefully, we have been able to introduce some new riders to the sport of Randonneuring.

Riding out through the snow














Stretching at the Miller Control














Lunch stop at Cooky's in Golden City

Frisco High Line

For a change of pace, Tom and I rode the Frisco High Line this morning on mountain bikes. I recently built up a new single-speed bike using a steel Peugeot frame manufactured in Canada. I have not finished building the wheels yet, so I am running the original wheels with the 7-speed cog on the rear. I have it set up with a 46-tooth chain ring and the 15-tooth cog in the rear (the 15 provided the best alignment with the chain ring). I felt like I was riding up hill the entire way, particularly on the return with a 20-mph quartering crosswind gusting to 29 mph!

We started at the trailhead on West Kearney Street and rode to Walnut Grove, where we had pancakes and coffee at D. J.'s Diner. The pancakes were good, and the coffee was so so. The ride was about 34 miles round trip. My rear wheel slipped forward a couple of times on the way up causing the chain to drop. I finally got it tightened down good for the ride back, and we only stopped once to tighten it a little more. The trail was pretty soft in a few places because of the recent rains. It would have been a difficult ride on our road bikes, even with 32mm tires.

This afternoon, I stopped by Queen City Cycles and bought a 17-tooth cog and spacer kit to make the ride a little less intense.

Trailhead on West Kearney Street














Trailhead in Willard














Walnut Grove

Randonneuring Presentation at the January Springbike Meeting

Cliff Jacobs, a PBP veteran, and I will be making a presentation on randonneuring at the monthly Springbike Bicycle Club meeting on January 12. The meeting is at Primas Mexican Grill in Chesterfield Village and starts at 7:00PM. In addition to general information about randonneuring, I will have sample maps, que sheets and brevet cards for the 200K and 300K brevets that will be held in Springfield in late March and mid-April. Cliff will talk about his experiences at PBP and will show slides. I will also talk about the Fleche team I am organizing for a 24-hour ride on Easter weekend. You must be a member of Randonneurs USA to participate in the Fleche. There is more information on the Southwest Missouri Randonneuring web site. Hope to see you at the meeting.

The Long and Windy Road to Billings

Rae, Doug, Tom, Josh and I rode to Billings this morning under gray skies. The weather sent us to spin class the last several weekends, so it was good to get out on the road. The temperature was fine, but the winds were fierce (+20 mph) out of the south. We stair-stepped our way down and were able to break the south runs with west runs that were not too bad with the crosswind. We were going to stop at Petro's in Billings but stopped instead at Sassy's Cafe and Bakery. The food was good, and it did not have the smoke-filled atmosphere of Petro's. Sassy's is located on the north side of US60 on the block east of the Casey's. The ride back was much quicker with the south wind giving us a good push.

Riding through Republic













Sassy's


















Doug, Ralph, Josh & Rae

First Winter Ride

Saturday, Bill, Dave and I started out for Ash Grove for the first really cold ride of the year. The temperature was predicted to be 38 degrees at 8:00AM, but it ended up being 32 degrees with mostly cloudy skies and a stiff wind generally out of the west. By the time we got out of town, it was evident the clouds were not going to break up and the 8+mph headwind was going to make for a long, cold ride. We ended up breaking it off west of the airport and headed north to Willard where we got something hot at the McDonald's before heading back to Springfield. We had a good push from the wind on the return, and I ended up with 25 miles, rather than the planned 50.

Tim Moses Died Today

Tim was my best friend in high school. Together, we learned to fly in the Civil Air Patrol. I soloed but never got my license. Tim continued flying and was soon building experimental aircraft. He died today flying one that he built. I had not talked to him in a number of years, but I will remember him in the years to come.

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone
-Ripple by Robert Hunter

SW Missouri MS150 & Ike

The MS150 started and ended yesterday after Hurricane Ike came through the area last night and dumped 4 to 6 inches of rain. It was not raining when we left Clever High School on Saturday, but it started about an hour into the ride. It stopped by the time we rode into the lunch rest stop just before 10:00 AM. The rain started again after we finished the century loop that broke off from the main route about 35 miles into the ride. Like most riders, we got lost on the century route, but we did not add any extra miles. About 5 miles from the finish in Joplin, one of the volunteers noticed my tire was a little low. I stopped and added some air. I made it in about 3:30 PM without a problem, but after inspecting the tire closer, I found about a half inch slit. Josh at the Sunshine Bike SAG did not think it would make it another 75 miles the next day, even with a boot, so I had Josh install a new tire. Unfortunately, I did not need it because they canceled the second day due to flooding concerns at low water crossings. We did cross a number of low areas on the way to Joplin, so it was probably a good idea. The ride back on the old school bus was not the most comfortable, and we had to stop about 20 miles from Clever when one of the other bus drivers noticed the bus I was on had some type of leak. It was not the radiator, so we continued on after about 15 minutes and made it back without a problem. Overall it was a typical MS 150 because it rained as it has the last 5 out of 6 years, but we also had a great route and great support from the volunteers who were out in the rain with us.

At the start















Doug & Tom racing a buggy in the rain















Pirates took over this rest stop















One of the few sunny moments on Saturday















Doug, Rae & Tom racing past the sunflowers