This was my first formal `double century’ and I was curious how this might be different from brevets and other ultra events. So far as I can tell the difference must be in the number of people (164 for the JTDC14) and the many, many SAG stops (9).
Anny Beck, the event organizer, warned us many times in emails to be prepared for anything. So: a 3-liter camelback under the seat; two 24 oz bottles of liquid fuel; spare foldable tire; two tubes; cartridges, pump, tools; arm warmers and wind vest. A veritable `ton’ of weight.
Also, typically recumbents don’t form pacelines or echelons … because there usually aren’t enough of us in any event to do so.
I don’t mind taking pulls on an upright paceline but, as most uprights admit, they don’t get much draft from a recumbent. And I refuse to draft behind a paceline if I can’t `pay my way’ with pulling.
So … I rode the JTDC14 entirely alone. Didn’t recognize a soul.
Brutal wind. So many times as I was cranking uphill (2-5% grade) for hour after mile after hour I recalled what a fellow cyclist said at dinner the night before: “The worst for me is long, straight, 2% grades without any letup.” And I was thinking: “Jim must be hating this!”
It is exactly 27 miles of unrelenting 2-5% uphill grades from Desert City to Sag 7, 144.7 miles into 200 mile ride. North into a stiff 15-20 mph headwind. Midday. Intense, cloudless sky, beating sun.
Climbing doesn’t bother me, living in Prescott, AZ, as I do. I had done an out and back 90 miles from Prescott to Congress and back two days earlier. About 8,500 feet of climbing. And the tame 3%’ers put me into my usual `grind and bear it’ mode. 650,000 feet of climbing on a recumbent every year has a way of preparing you for hills.
All the upright / standard cyclists had formed protective pacelines of 5 – 9 riders, reducing the intense force of the wind. I felt sorry for myself. And … ANGRY, too. That 27 mile section is where I wasted myself (“burned all my matches”), becoming empty and hopeless by the time I got to SAG 7.
I was ANGRY that I was being passed by so many packs of upright cyclists! Anger got the better part of me and I decided to chase down every rider ahead of me and watch them getting smaller and smaller behind me in my mirror.
There is a `wind’ advantage to the recumbents. And as long as the grade is in the 2-3% range a fairly fit bent rider can hold his/her own. By the time I got to SAG 7 … I was barely able to walk straight.
I wear sandals / SPDs so hotfoot hasn’t been an issue for me for years.
When I got to SAG 7 I tried to quit. There was a SAG van with several bikes on top and their riders inside. I asked: “Is there any room for me?” The driver (Andy) said he’d “drop off” this “load” and come back from 29 Palms to get me in about “2 hours.”
I am constitutionally unable to “wait” for anything. I told him that I’d just take off up that series of godawful hills, into the wind and into the setting sun, taking up each of the remaining 52 miles, one at a time. And if he saw me on his way back … well, honk or something.
Slow, painful grind. Mile after mile. Reaching the summit after ten miles only to find it to be a false flat, followed by another slow grind.
Started at 4:30am. Finished at 10:30pm. 18 hours at TwentyNine Palms, CA.
Unforgettable.
The final `finish’ report noted that 1 out of 4 riders starting didn’t finish.
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