Category: Trip Reports—Shorter Cycling Events

200K ride with Anthony Blauer from Manti. Rando Roulette Permanent in Las Vegas. This route is nice as it goes to the red rocks on the west and down to Lake Mead on the east. This was first time riding this Permanent. It was designed expressively  so I would have a winter route, thus maintaining my RUSA R-12 status without driving 10 hours to Arizona or 12 hours to S. Calif. (Las Vegas is about a 5.5 to 6 hour drive). Temps were in the 60s. NICE. Some 6500 vert. Slow going day. I hate my speeds in the off season. Little wind. No flats or mechanical. Only my creaky crank. (Need to take it in.)

For February I may be back to Las Vegas and do the other Permanent called Hump to Pahrump that Susan and I co-authored, or perhaps, if it is warm enough, do a ride in St. George.

SPECS: Bike ODO showed 129 miles with a short detour (wrong turn), pedaling time was 8:31 with a total time of 9:47. Average speed of only 15.22 MPH. Too many lights. Out of shape.

Desperado Dual 200 mile ride at Panguitch Utah. August 21st, 2010. My third year in a row attending.

I was hoping to break the 12-hour barrier for 200 miles. Last year it took me something like 12 hours and 18 minutes. This year it took longer at 12:28. Rats. Lots of wind on the second half. Anyway here’s some overall notes on the ride.

1. No water at the Jct of US89 and SR20 like last year, but I asked the day ahead and knew that was the case this year, so I tanked up at the previous stop. (The route had the usual head winds going into Panguitch.)
2. The water stop at Panguitch Lake was unmanned most of the time and from what I heard, they ran out of water later in the afternoon. That is REALLY bad.
3. The next stop was placed too early…at the junction of the turn off to Mammoth Creek, instead of in “town.”
4. The Alton stop was OK with water and food, but no cooler with Cokes. No one checked bib numbers to see if everyone really went to Alton. We had timing chips on our helmets, but of course they didn’t read them there. At least one person missed the sign (both on stop sign and on road) and turned left at 89/14 junction, instead of heading down to Alton. Not sure why they bothered with bib numbers as they had chips on helmets.

On the positive side…
1. They gave away Tech T-Shirts, which I personally would rather have than a pin or patch. A hat was also given to finishers.
2. The pasta dinner at the end was nice with table service and strawberry short cake. The metal folding chairs were a pain!
3. They had Heed and decent food at the stops.
4. This year, most of the tables were right on the road side and for me, as I was trying to beat my previous time, made for quick in and outs on some…I just paused with my bike between my legs, grabbed some goodies and kept on going (assuming there were not others there). Despite that, I got a slower time than last year.

Last April, during the Zion 200K brevet, Lonnie “epic” Wolff, my local Utah RBA and rando mentor, introduced me to a site called Cyclos Montagnards. If one completes a brevet series (200, 300, 400 & 600K) within a percentage of the cut off time for each ride, you get listed on their honorary page on the site. Big deal — few people know of this site, right? But somehow it intriguing me and it became a new item to my bucket list. Please note that this concept is not endorsed by RUSA, as it can turn a “ride” into a ”race” and brotherly love and helping fellow riders can go out the window!
Shortly after hearing of this so-called organization or website, I attempted my best time at a 600K (375 mile) at the 2009 Arizona Tombstone ride. To make a long story short, I worked by myself most of the time and ended up with a dismal time of 29:54 which only qualified me for the R80 rating. I had little companionship and lots of wind that year. I was hoping for an sub 28-hour time to get a R70 rating. By the end of the season I had a R70 rating in the other distances, just not a 600K. The Tombstone six only has about 10,000 feet of climbing, but can have nasty winds. It was still by best chance for a fast time, compared to other 600s in the western US.

This year, for the Tombstone 600, I contacted a few riders in advance, to see if we would work together as a team and thus help me  fulfill this goal. We shared some time splits and had a informal “plan” in place. They were Dick Wiss of Boulder Colorado (now with a 2nd home in Ariz.) and Carlton van Leuven of Phoenix. I rode with both of them on the last Ariz. 300K. They climbed better than I, so that worried me though. The morning of the ride, Dick also had a friend, Russ Cummings, also of Arizona, riding with us as well.

Mile 0–43: Little wind at the 0500 start. Typically this is a high wind area. Nice quick trip into the first control. Last year I was already tired after this super-windy section. Lara joined us.
Mile 43–72: Rollers through Saguaro Natl. Park. Stayed together as a group.
Mile 76–103: Route climbs up and over Mission Road. I was dropped by the guys, but rode with Lara into the next checkpoint and then caught up with the guys. Lara was having leg cramps and stayed back a bit. We were meeting our R70 split times — actually exceeding them by about 30-45 minutes. Starting to feel good about meeting my goal that day.
Mile 103–111: Flat section. Fast paceline. Thanks gentlemen for the help & speed through this section!
Mile 111–128: Route climbs gradually. I couldn’t keep the pace so I had to finally let them go. Slight tail wind. Nice. I unknowingly passed the guys as they stopped for water.
Mile 128–150: Steeper climb up to the Sonoita Plateau. Slight cross wind, but temps were mild and I wasn’t sweating like a dog as I did in 2009. Dick, Russ and Carlton passed me on the climb (of course). Carlton was having issues and dropped back behind me. He finally dropped out completely at Sonoita. Bummer (no pun intended) — Cascade 1200 is looking doubtful this year for him.
Mile 150–160: Up and then down to Elgin for lunch and Susan’s famous wraps.
Mile 160–194: Left Elgin with Dick, Russ and I believe Tom Baker towards the turnaround point of Tombstone. VERY NICE SW tail winds, cruising 25-30 MPH, even on the hills. Forecast for winds to change from the SW to NW. Despite the tail winds, I still got dropped by the guys again. I just can’t climb like Dick and Russ!! Got them again at the Circle K in Tombstone. We were now about an hour ahead of our goal with lots of room on the back end for problems if they arose.
Mile 194–228: The return to Elgin wasn’t bad. At mile 212 it was getting dark so we stopped at the mini-mart and put on clothing and reflective apparel. Saw Lonnie & Joe going the other way towards Tombstone. Cross winds, so we formed an eschelon, taking up the width of the road. Dick and Russ finally accelerated ahead when the winds changed to an almost tail wind. NICE, getting a tail wind BOTH directions for an out and back. I caught up with the group at Elgin “overnight” stop for supper. Enjoyed more of Susan’s good cooking.
Mile 228–232: I left Elgin with Mike Sturgill as Dick and Russ were still getting gear organized for the all-night ride home. Dick’s back was bothering him. My left knee started aching — this was always “someone else’s problem” until now. Time for more Vitamin I (IB Profen).
Mile 232–270 (approx.): We met up with Lasse Bjerga at a border control checkpoint (this is very different than a RUSA checkpoint). His light bracket was broken and the border patrol jury-rigged it on his bars. He was attempting a sub 24-hour time. Most likely would have made it, had he not had issues. He is FAST. He left with Mike and I. We all three bombed the downhills with Mike’s homemade Dynamo Boeing 747-bright light. Mike was having GI problems.
Mile 270–298: Lasse accelerated ahead on a downhill section. Thinking he needed my light, I matched his speed and caught him. Dropped Mike as he was was trying to eat on the run. Sorry Mike, not intentional.
Mile 298–331: Mike, Dick and Russ caught us at mile 298 at the Circle K. Lasse wanted to keep moving, so he and I heading out together. This was a test of patience for Lasse as he is MUCH faster than I, but he needed my light. It was nice to have company on the final climb up Helmet Peak Road. Last year I almost feel sleep on this section. Lasse’s light was dead so he just followed me with a prayer of faith, esp. on the Mission Road descent — many, many potholes.
Mile 331–375: Getting cold, despite being in the valley floor. Lasse and I left the last control (Marana) with the other three behind us somewhere. Only one other rider was ahead of us. Little wind. Perhaps even a tail wind on this section. Too tired to tell. Nice to have company on this last boring section. Lasse stayed with me, despite having enough light to ride alone now. Occasionally he would accelerate up to 25 MPH hoping I could draft behind him. No way, as I could only sustain 17-20 MPH after such a day. We rolled into Wal-Mart at 6:46 a.m. I was most elated to have met (exceeded) my wacky goal. Total time was 25:46. Russ and Dick came in about an hour later. Lasse was DQed by Susan as he rode parts of the ride w/o any lights.

Many thanks to Lara, Dick, Carlton, Mike and Russ for working with me on this ride. Thank you to Susan for the great food and organization. Oh yeah, thanks to Lonnie for introducing me to Cyclos Montagnards, thus giving me another thing to obsess over this past year!

Stats:
Total time: 25:46
Time on bike: 22:37
Time off bike: 3:09
Average speed: 16.60 MPH (not taking into account breaks off the bike)
Maximum speed: 39.7 MPH
Trip distance (my cyclocomputer): 375.64 miles
No flats or mechanical issues.
I forgot my heart monitor chest strap so no data on ME.
Knee was swollen and painful. More Vitamin I and ice for 48 hours.

Products tested on this brevet for use or sell on my cycling gear site DistanceBiker.com:
1. I have a new elongated snack tray for the top tube bag. Inside I put in lightly boiled red potatoes (skins on, heavily salt and peppered & quartered). That sustained me for 3/4s of the ride until I ran out and then I switched to crumpets (they don’t dry out like bread) with PB & honey. This is wonderful compared to “tech food” which I frequently get tired off. I think I’ll order in some of the containers and add them as an another accessory for the popular Kinesis Top Tube Brevet Bag.
2. I mounted a 1/2-once Black Diamond Ion head lamp to my earobars to illuminate my cue sheet. Perfect. The previous LED light was too dim.
3. I tried out a pair of Continental Grand Prix 4-Season tires in 25mm width. I like them and will continue to use them this summer.