Longest Day 6/11 (207 miles) Really long, uhm post

I originally wasn't going to report this as I thought it was a
disaster. The sort version is we rode 211-212 miles of a 207 mile
single day ride. We started at 4:55 and finished at 8:55. It started
out at 67F +90% humidity, hit a high in the mid 90's F and finished at
82F. We had a South wind all day long which really started kicking in
around mile 130. At the same point we road for about 25 miles with no
shade in the hotest part of the day (NJ Pine Barrens). We had
mechanical problems early on and 2 additional flats later on. The heat
probably slowed us down more than anything else. The reason I thought
it was a disaster was the latest we had ever arrived was 8:25 PM and
that was my first year. We've always arrive earlier and the speeds
when up (16.2, 16.6, 16.8, 17.8). Start time varied. But we had
seasoned teams the last 3 years. This year we had 6 of 9 who were
first time riders to a double century.

The REALLY long version.

We had trained with a number of folks (7 of us) over the last few
weeks, getting ready for the Longest Day (LD). We seemed to be a team
that grew out of 2 teams of 3 & 4 to 3 teams that totaled 12. The
night before the big ride that exploded to 17 and we reject a third
teams offer to ride together (that would have been 22). So we broke
the group up into 9 and 8. My group of 9 had 3 multi LD survivors and
the rest were first timers. The other team had 2 or 3 survivors and
the rest first timers. The 3rd team had 3 hammer heads, a first timer
(4 1st timers) and a survivor. You can't ride the LD as a hammer head
(riding as fast as you can for as long as you can) and be a 1st
timer. You don't know what the 4 weather zones will bring you and the
terrain does some ionteresting things to you (starts out hilly and
flattens out, then you hit the plains, the Pine Barrens and the
coast). The weather is just as different (seems to be about 4 zones).

We started out late, 4;55 (we wanted 4:30). The first 26 miles went
very fast and smooth, even with the nasty construction zone (thanks to
our SAG wagon following behind). During this time we discussed the
strategy for the day and got to know everyone a bit (we had 3 people
we hadn't trained with).

Just after our first stop we had a problem rim give us a lot of
trouble. The hook wouldn't stay on if we added more than 90 lbs of air
to a tire which could handle 120 (really old rim). That took nearly a
half hour. Team 3 with the hammer heads goes by. Once we got going we
seemed to climb the hills pretty well my friend Mark & I would lag a
bit but we'd always catch up (we had one rider who had done a hill
climb of the the Tour as a tourist). We had problems keeping stops
short and the temperature began to heat up around mile 70. Also at
this pointone rider suggested that we take a detour that added 4 miles
to the ride (he assured us that it would about the same). We did some
relief from the early morning heat (it was around 10 AM) down around
the Raritan Canal which is tree line and the canal provided us with
cool air off the water. We felt pretty good but the heat was started
to take a toll on some of the riders and I hadn't properly noticed. We
continued to Allentown for lunch at a riders home. We washed, ate &
drank, changed, ate & drank, put on new sun block, ate and drank and
started to really sweat! It was getting hotter. We officially started
doing pace lines with a 60 second pull outside of Allentown. It over
25 miles to get it working real smooth but we were doing it.

We flew through the Ft. Dix/Wrightsville gap, through Browns Mills
(think Orson Well's War of the Worlds), New Lisbon and finally into
Wharton State Forest (start of the Pine Barrens). We sttoped at a
local Ranger's station and they offered to hose us down. The water was
cold at 55F (the Barrens is the worlds largest aquifier and we were
being soak with that water). The intial shock gave way to relief. I
hate the cold but I loved this! I also downed a Red Bull. I advised
anyone who could handle it to down a large shot of caffine and malaise
(no not mayonnaise) tends to set in and the caffine boosts your spirit
a bit

Our next stop was supposed to be 30 miles more. But this was the
hardest part of the trip. The Pine Barrens are not well know for tree
line roads and the sun was right over head. We rode our pace line
really well and we were flying but the heat was taking it toll. At
around mile 150 one of the riders suggested we needed to stop. I
started looking for shade and we stopped the group was looking pretty
ragged but the stop seemd to help out.

One thing to note, that last 50 miles contains long stretches of
straight as an arrow roads. Bordom sets in quickly and the scenery
doesn't change much. We got going again and a short time later we road
through Egg Harbor (a real town with a main street). We weren't going
to see that agian for about 33 miles. But we were going to have to
deal with an increase in traffic, lots of woods and towns but no
stores that we could see. Somewhere in here we got one more flat I
managed to fix in 10 minutes (the bad rim got a snake bit flat). Don't
ask me how I changed that tire so fast.

Back on the road again, at this point on of the survivors (7 time
rider) started wondering if we had made a wrong turn. I had been
giving directions from memory (5 time rider) and I was really certain
we were going the correct way. But I could find any land marks he
would recognize. Seems our 4 mile detour had thrown him off and he was
expecting a bridge we hadn't crossed yet. The problem here is that the
scenery really looks all alike. Busy roads, small homes, boarded up
gas stations, closed deli's and auto specialty shops. I finally found
a Fuchia garden center where one of our previous rider's (not on the
ride this year) Mom had stopped. She had a parrot with her and at the
at shop it made such a racket as we passed. Easy to remember and my
memory was again trusted (yipes).

So we're riding, riding, riding. The wind is blowing, blowing,
blowing. This is boring, boring, boring. And we get a flat. Others
tend to it and we end up lolly-gaging for about 45 minutes despite
efforts to speed things up (I'm ready to explode). It's getting dark
and it's only 6:30. We're not at the mile 185 WaWa and we have a lot
more riding!

Back on the bike, boring, boring, boring, my ass is swollen, swollen,
swollen (Raw Hide!, come on sing along, if you've done a double you
know the words). Finally the WaWa! We meet up with several other teams
including team 3 (the hammer heads) seems we did better in the heat
than most teams. Many of those left much earlier than we did. Team 3
leaves a few minutes after we arrive. This stop took the cake and
nearly pushed me over the top. I rallied everyone to get ready and go
by 7:15 and we still had people lolly-gaging about at 7:35. I kept my
cool (yelling and screaming at a bunch of tired folks is not the way
to motivate really tired folks). Finally we get going with 25 miles to
go (remember it's 7:35, dark at 8:30). At this point I make a real
bone head move. I know we have to go 12 mile before our next turn yet
I go a 1/4 of a mile and make a turn. Good news is that we only go a
few hundred feet but it is very annoying. Back on the route. A few of
the strong riders kick up the pace taking us up to 20 mph at a
stretch, while the wind tried to slow us down to 15 mph at a
stretch. Despite this the pace line held together really well (I was
really impressed). We make the turn onto the bridge which is high
enough for a battle ship to go under. Quick history lesson: during WW
II battle ships going to the Philadelphia naval yard would not going
into the Delaware wher the German subs were they would take a short
cut through a canal that was built for battle ships. We had to climb
that bridge. We flew down to the light house and when we finally saw
it we had to drop the pace because the lack of street lights and
lights on the bikes. We arrived and survived with a 17 mph avg but
there was one more thing to over come. Some of the team memers wives
wanted to take pictures. The biggest problem with arrive at Cape May
after 7 PM is that the mosquitoes come out for dinner. Well at 8:55 PM
we were the only diner open and we had to not move for 2 minutes. I
feel like a pin cushion!

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog