200k in one day!

April 25, 2009 - Team Tati rode 200k in One Day.

T-Storms lurked on the weather forecast, but the day disarmed everyone with its sun and balmy temperatures ... I hesitated while packing my Arc'teryx Beta AR, thinking I'd regret having to cart it around all day and the resulting sweaty back. Even if it does rain, I thought, perhaps I would be really hot in this jacket. For some reason, I even packed a Craft long sleeve base layer. As I shed my arm warmers within 2 miles, I considered myself insane and wished we had a Bike and Build style van that I could pack it into.

Before the ride, I had told people that I would ride Bike and Build style: 15 mph no matter what. It started out that way, but then J attacked, luring out Liam, Maris, and Loren. Dan, John Ozik, Liz and went a more sane pace. At some point it was just Liz and I, and we got in a lot of great girl talk (haha). Us women gotta stick together in the sea of testoserone.

Some 10 miles into the ride, it got darker and started to rain. Then it hailed. Liz and I each put on our respective jackets, and continued on. It did start to T-storm a bit, and I wished I had a camera to capture the imagery of bike riders against the livid skies.

By the first rest stop, it was pretty cold, but it wasn't too bad yet. By the second rest stop, it was freezing, and everything about it reminded me of the 6 days of rain through Pennsylvania. At that point, I changed out my sopping cotton socks for my thermal Craft socks, which I discovered randomly in the pockets of my Arc'teryx. I also covered my toes with sandwich bags. Bernard found these free disposable plastic gloves by the food display, and most of the people opted to try them out.

On leg 66.9 miles - 100.3 miles, I somehow found myself pulling J, Dan, Liz, and Bernard at 19 miles per hour, even hitting 31 mph on the downhill. I thought, odd, will I even be able to keep this pace much longer??? It didn't last too much longer, but we still kept up a ridiculous pace.

At the final rest stop, I simply couldn't stop eating. Energy gel, Larrabar, coffee, small bean burrito, 1/3 of a churro, potato chips. It wasn't inhaling pace, but as long as we sat there, I kept eating. Delaying the hardest leg, probably. I told Loren about the reason why I no longer ate donuts during a ride. Liam told people about his stomach gnome that needed to be placated. Everyone agreed that the gloves worked - our hands were still cold, but they weren't absolutely stiff and painful.

Leg 100.3 - 128 miles, J, Dan and Liam sped off at race attack pace. Loren took a monster pull for probably over 10 miles at 18 mph with Liz and I holding on. Liz vanished at one point, to take a phone call. Dan told her that apparently J and Liam both got lost and lost their cue sheets... Yikes. (They did get back safely eventually, but rode an extra 10 miles) However, the last 15 miles were just me and Liz ... She took a monster pull into a long stretch of headwind. We mooed at gloomy looking cows standing in the rain. At some point I took a pull, and then we kept up a steady cycle of short pulls until finally ... 2 miles ... 1 mile ...

The early arrivals had rented a room in the Super 8 to take showers. Everyone took showers and relaxed in the sauna like temperatures of the room: awesome. At dinner we shared stories of what we started to hallucinate after mile 100. One person imagined having handlebar tape on his bike that notably has none. Another heard voices and saw bears. As for myself, during Liz's monster pull, I kept imagining that the paint stripe on the road was telling us to turn right, out of the headwind. Go figure.

Conclusions:

1) This ride has converted me to Arc'teryx-ism. Previously, I thought people were insane for considering getting these ridiculously priced technical outergear, but it's probably the biggest reason why I'm not hacking up a lung right now. It kept me dry, but breathed enough that when I did warm up, I didn't get too hot. Also, although it's not snug-fitting, it did not flap in the wind because the fabric is really stiff. Of course, more than the jacket, it might have been the socks I discovered in the jacket pockets that really made me happy. Take your pick.

2) Team Tati =/= Bike and Build !!! OMG. On Bike and Build, I was usually in the front group going at a decent, steady clip. Here, even with randomly interspersed 19 mph pulls or pacelines, I was usually in the "slow group," with the fast group going upwards of 25 mph. Atmosphere was entirely different too, much more business-like.

3) Tati women's team >>> Tati men's team.

4) Nebraska is still worse.