My story
If I got any details wrong, please comment. I'm a bit rummy, so writing quality will be even worse than normal, if that's possible. And no pics! If you got any, send them my way and we'll get them on midnightcentury.com.
I got a flat about 3 miles in. As soon as I flatted, I saw this image of Rory, in a devil outfit with flames all around, and he's holding a pitch fork and laughing, "Hetres."
Anyway, flatting on the Cent Trail sucked because everyone is all amped up and hauling ass. So my 10 minute flat change totally put us at the back of the pack. Justin was nice enough to hang with me as I fixed the flat.
I really wanted to pull up with the rest of the pack, so I made a decision right there to just ride hard and hammer. I didn't want the stupid flat to define my night. So I got all amped up and hammered like crazy pretty much for the rest of the night.
I lost Justin on the Cent Trail (how's that for loyalty?), I passed Eric (Rawland rSogn) who was riding with someone else. Then I passed Hawkins (CX bike - Jake the Snake?), who was fussing with his seat on the side of the road. Then I passed a group that was Joe (Elephant 29er), Dan (double boinger), Joe (91 RB-T). Then I passed Pat Rick (Karate Monkey). I was hoping to catch the front. I was looking for Sully (CX) and Kyle Smith (CX single speed) -- I figured those dudes would be off the front -- not up there with Jake (29er SS) or Tom (Hard tail mnt bike 26" wheels), but around the front where I wanted to be.
I didn't stop at the water park. I hammered on. Right before the Liberty Lake climb, I passed a big group of cyclists. The Garretts, Greg Welton -- and Sully/Kyle, which I didn't realize at the time.
I climbed the Liberty Lake hill with DB (SS IBIS CX) and a couple road bike guys. Then I caught up to Roger Young (rigid 90's Nishiki Mt bike), who had ridden the 8 Legs Ache earlier in the day.
Roger hooked DB and me up with a water spot at the Liberty Lake golf club.
I climbed up Molter alone, hoping to catch the lead group and didn't see anyone until the end of Linke. A group of 4 guys: Cory Juddy, George Grable, and Joe Foote. The 4 guy (Matthew) was in bonk mode. Matthew ended up crashing on the Bruno descent and dislocating his shoulder. His wife came and picked him up.
That was the last I saw of anyone. I kept hoping to reach the lead group and I saw some flickering lights in the distance a couple times, but was never able to close the gap. I learned later that the flickering lights were Jake and Bill (Bronson).
My basic strategy was to hammer the hills, go moderate on the flats, and coast on descents. By the time I got to the Spangle Creek Hill climb I was pretty cooked, but getting to the top invigorated me for the final push.
My goal was to minimize stops by shooting for < 10 total minutes off the bike. My flat tire screwed that deal and I ended up with about 25 minutes of stoppedness.
Stuff I shouldn't forget next year:
- Don't bring so much food. Especially sweets. I should've gone with the Ruffles plan. I had 3 small burritos that were really hard to eat on the bike. And they had habanero hot sauce on them. Not sure what I was thinking there.
- Three water bottles is good.
- The Elephant rocked. I've got the fit dialed in. No fenders is good and simplifies tire changing.
- Consider going back to Fatty Rumpkin tires.
- My clothing was good: Ibex "Commuter" Shak was awesome with the full zip. It's all I had and it was perfect. I should wear bike shorts next year. The taint is a tad tender. But I liked the knick's.
We had 38 people start.
Here are the finishers:
- Tom -5:44 (course record -- and Tom also provided chaulk-spray smiley faces and direction indicators and the perfect spots)
- Pete Headamark - 6:21
- Jake McBurns - 6:27 (course record - single speed)
- Bill Bronson - 6:27
- John Speare - 6:43
- DB - 7:30
- Rheanne Garnett (first female finisher ever!) - 7:31
- Dan Garret - 7:31
- Greg Welton - 7:31
- Justin Becker - 7:31
- Joseph Yacker - 7:39
- Joe Latranio - 7:58
- Sully - 8:00
- Kyle Smith - 8:00
- Rick Cadwallader - 8:05
- Corey Judd - 8:10 (Corey's write-up)
- George Grable - 8:10
- Joe Foote - 8:12
- Jon Hawkins - 8:14
- Jon Eberly - 8:25
- Roger Young - 8:29
- Patrick Sullivan - 8:30
- Jace/Kevin (ND bike shop) - 8:41 (first tandem finishers ever!)
- Barry Fischer - 8:41
- Dan D - 8:42
- Daniel Addington - 9:20
- Brian Kelley - 9:20
- Stephen Morgan - 10:15
- Ben Bray - 10:21
- Coffee Joe Thomsen - 11:24
- Mike Southworth - 11:24
- Eric Erikson - 12:12
- Larry Bibb - 12:13
DNF:
- Tom Carleton - Highway 27
- Matthew (dislocated his shoulder) - Bruna Road
- Tandem #2: man and woman team
Oooh, major suckiness for Bruna.
ReplyDeleteProps to Rheanne though!
And holy hell Roger, that was a lot of riding yesterday doing the 8 leg aches first!
Some day I might maybe, _maybe_ be able to do a ride like this (those 16 loaded miles out to your last S24O were pretty tough for me though!). (Ok, I'm totally dreaming.)
Until then, I'm glad I can read all about it every year - it's fun.
Whoops, Bruna's not his name, that's where he went out at.
ReplyDeleteSorry!
Wow, that might be more finishers this year than all previous years combined for the dirt-road course.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, my bike's not a 29er, it's 26. I like the perky acceleration and agility :)
I didn't have any flats or mechanicals, but I did have an "electronical:" my fork-mounted light was turning itself off and I had to stop and fuss with it. It's the surface-skimmer light that shows where the washboard is, so it was important to get it working.
Sorry to hear about the rider who got hurt! That's not the easiest place to arrange a pickup from, either! Get well soon dude, we'll see you next year :)
Oh, and that was an awesome comeback after your flat, John. Way to go!
ReplyDelete26's! Right on Tom. That makes me happy. I'll fix the post.
ReplyDeleteRachel/Tom -- yeah. I hate that we had our first injury this year. I hope he's ok.
Congrats to all MC riders; looking forward to joining you next year! I think "Jo Lofranio" should have been Joe Lotrario...
ReplyDeleteEric and Larry,the guy he was riding with rode with Mike and myself to the Harvester. They stopped and finish about the time we were fisinhing breakfast at Ittalia Trattatoria say 12:15
ReplyDeleteJoe T
Thanks for the write up, John. I will send you my write up when I have it done. Good job to all starters and finishers, Jake
ReplyDeleteEric and I (larry bibb) brought up the rear. Eric was kind enough to stay with me througout the ride. I have a total of 300-400 base miles for the year. I decided to do the ride at the last minute. Slow and steady was the game plan.
ReplyDeleteTimes are Eric E, 12:12 and mine 12:13 (both times included a breakfast stop at the Harvester). Most likely a course record for the slowest rider but DNF was not an option.
Great Ride.
Not totally sure, but I think it was Ben B. that I was jockeying with? He was riding an older yellow ten speed with glow wire or something wrapped around it. There was a Ben B on the smiley sheet at Dunn Rd from 5:21. I crossed at 5:54. He would have finished a few minutes after me...
ReplyDeleteHell Yeah Larry !! Rock on! Congrats to all finishers and especially to you John, fast time. Nice to see that DB was out there again, too. Wish I could have been there, maybe next year. Nice low attrition rate, shows that most people knew what they were in for and were reasonably prepared.
ReplyDeleteWow, sounds like an awesome ride, and congrats on the killer result! Sounds lime you were motoring! Wish I could have been there. Shoot me whatever words/results/pics you want on the website and I'll throw them up before I take off for France.
ReplyDeleteGood job to everyone! That is a very difficult ride without any doubt! Here are a couple more finishers to add to the unofficial list! Brian Kelley and Daniel Addington at 9:20:00....that is about when we cruised past the Elk on the way to Franks for a great breakfast :)
ReplyDeleteWow, congrats to all. That's some awesome riding.
ReplyDeletehetres
ReplyDeletewith mr tuffys
ReplyDeleteBack where I was the blinky lights I was gaining on turned out to be the towers on Brown. Bummer. A great night & enjoyed it very much. Wouldn't change a thing. Dan.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention my wildlife/meteorite stats for this year:
ReplyDelete7 bunnies
3 kitties
1 marmot
0 meteorites
1 deer (where were they all?!)
3 porcupines
Shoulder guy here. Around 3:45 AM, at the very start of the Bruna descent, going faster than I should have been, my front tire was sucked into a rut and I laid her down landing hard on my shoulder.
ReplyDeleteBesides the already mentioned excessive speed, three additional things conspired against me. I (1) didn't know the course, (2) was using an old 10W Niterider light that let me know the ruts were there, but not how deep they were, and (3) am used to riding on knobby 2.3s and not semi-slick 1.5s.
After dragging my wife out of bed to come get me (and giving George, Cory, and Joe a nice LONG break while waiting for her to arrive), we spent the next 8 hours getting to the hospital, getting x-rays and not being allowed to eat. When we finally got home around noon I was still in my bike shorts and VERY hungry.
Final tally: one grade 3 AC separation (i.e. torn ligaments), two fractured ribs, one fractured scapula, one cracked helmet and one shredded wool jersey. Luckily no surgery will be required, but I won't be back on the bike for two months or so.
Now I have to save up for a brighter headlamp and figure out how to get my wife to let me try and conquer the ride next year.
Congrats to all the finishers. Hopefully I'll be on the list someday.
Matthew, thanks for the update. I'm really sorry you got hurt. That's a first and it's a bummer. Yow! Two months off the bike. That's hard.
ReplyDeleteI hope it's the last injury we have. And I hope you are able to swing another run at it next year.