RAIN

The Ride Across Indiana is done. After this year I think their slogan should be; One Way, One Day, 160 Miles, 100 degrees.

This weekend was the hottest weekend of the year to date for the Midwest. It was 85 degrees before we even got started and that was at 630am. The temperature hit 90 degrees very early and I am guessing it topped out around 95 or so. On the bike with pure sun beating off me and the asphalt it felt like 100+ degrees. Yes, I am trying to tell you it was freaking HOT.

Psimet2001, my buddy from BikeForums.net, invited me to do RAIN with him this year. He needed a suffering partner and for some reason I eagerly accepted. We departed town Friday afternoon from the Burbs. He had his car loaded with any and all cycling gear that we could possible need. Wait, did I mention it was hot? He did not get that memo and forgot to pack his water bottles, so we had to make a quick stop at Performance Bike. It is hard for some of us, me included, to just go in and out of a bike shop, but he managed this feat somehow.

July 15th, 2006, RAIN, Ride Across Indiana, 7am departure from the Illinois/Indiana border.

I think I have a riding hangover and am finding it difficult to recall all the details of this event. Anyway, we arrived at the start around 645 am, unloaded, then headed up the road to get in line. There were already hundreds of riders present and waiting for the police escort to roll out. The shear number was intimidating for this noobie.

The clock struck 7am and we rolled out slowly eastward directly into the still rising sun. I was nervous about my skills in such a big crowd, but all was good. I was surprised to see no mishaps of any kind as we rolled out.

The surprises kept coming as we started out very fast. The speeds were in the 20s and I could not help to think, "Hey we got like 150 miles to go, can we slow this train down??" We didn't and the first 60 miles flew bye. I think our average was around 20 mph at the 60 mile mark/rest stop. I felt good at this point, but knew the suffering was soon to come.

I just recently obtained my roadie card. This summer my longest rides have been two centuries, one metric, and a couple of just for fun 50 milers. I have been running this summer and did have over 1000 total miles coming into the event, but I was worried what miles 100 to 160 would bring.

Suffering. They brought suffering. Especially the last 30. I feel like I handled the heat well, until this last 30 miles. My legs were good, but my stomach was going crazy and my heart rate was low for the effort I was putting in. I had no dizziness or light headedness, but my heart rate was holding at 100 bpm during the last 15 miles and I felt like I might toss my cliff bars at any time. I drank, I drank some more, I paced myself, and I controlled my thoughts to positive ones AND I finished. No tossed cliff bars, no dizziness, no light headedness, just stomach issues and a low heart rate. Did I mention it was really hot?

The ride was very well ran and organized. The four rest stops were well stocked with the basics and all the volunteers were very nice. Speaking of volunteers Psimet2001 recruited The Sarge to drive our PSV. He treked across Indiana at 20 mph, took tons of pics (surely you will see these later on), found the best parking spots at the stops, gave encouragement and always had the car waiting for us with the A/C on MAX. We don't finish without The Sarge. He is one cool dude.

We finished in 12 hours and 25 minutes. I am proud of that too. We had seven total stops; 4 RAIN rest stops and three of our own. Did I mention it was hot?

My ride stats: 159.1 miles, 9 hours 22 minutes 33 seconds of ride time, 16.9 mph avg with 33.7 max, 84 avg cadence with 116 max, 129 avg HR with 171 max, and 6548 calories burnt.

I guess it is time for a recovery ride? Later.