2000 MS150 UPDATE
- I'm Back -
180 Miles, Tired, Sunburned, and Happy
From: zachcox@pobox.com
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2000 9:47 PM
To: 2000 MS150 Supporters
Subject: 2000 MS150 UPDATE - I'm Back 180 Miles, Tired, Sunburned, and Happy
Hello,
I made it, the entire Emerald Express team made it.
Four of us; Scott, Bob, Tim, and Olivia even did the century option.
Early Saturday morning I dropped Olivia off at Southeast Raleigh High School,
the start of the century, she Scott, Bob, and Tim all looked ready to go.
They actually started on the course about 8AM. Meanwhile I took off for the
start of the 75 in Clayton. In fact, I "took-off" a bit too much. While
traveling on a part of US70 that I have not driven since they completed I40
I found myself in the sights of a "radar-gun". My arrival at the start was
delayed while I waited for the ticket to be written out. Near
the starting location I stopped at a food-lion and picked up a "one-use" camera.
At the start I met the rest of the Emerald Express:
Chris, Greg, David,
John, and George. George, Chris and I started on the course at exactly 9AM,
a few minutes before the "peleton" left. We paid for our haste by missing
the third turn and crossing the Neuse river valley a second time (and third
time coming back) adding about 5 miles to the trip. Once we got back on
the course we found ourselves right in the middle of the ride.
The weather the first day was super, a clear blue sky with only a few
white clouds, what wind there was, was mostly on our side or back, my
bike was in super shape. Friday afternoon I picked up the bike, the
only part of the drive train that survived was the big chain-ring.
I now have a new middle and small chain-ring, a new rear cassette, and
a new chain. I now know I'm supposed to get a new chain every 1,500 miles
(while this on had almost 6,000 miles on it). A worn chain apparently
takes all the other parts down with it.
The only thing that could have made Saturday a better day was if I had
remembered to put on some sunscreen. I wound up with the most amazing
"bikers-tan" you've ever seen. From my wrists to half way up my upper
arm was bright red, as was my nose and from my ankles to half way up my thy.
When we arrived at the end point of the first day, the Hampton Inn at
the intersection of US70 and US258 in Kinston we stored our bikes in
one of the most secure locations in eastern North Carolina; a tobacco
warehouse filled with bales of tobacco ready to be shipped off to the
factory. At over $2.00 a pound that warehouse must have contained 100s
of millions of dollars of tobacco. We just rode in and leaned our bikes
up against a handy bale of tobacco. I was talking about all this to one of the
other riders and he said, "These bikes are worth a lot more per pound
than that tobacco." The lighter the bike the more expensive it is.
At around 6K$ for a 20LB bike, that comes out to 300$/LB which is a
couple of orders of magnitude higher than tobacco.
Once the bikes were stored we were off to our various hotels or the
campground. George, Greg, Olivia, and I went to the campground.
Olivia and Greg stayed in the conference center while George and I
pitched tents. There were only two showers and long lines so the MS150
organizers got the bus back to the campground and took us over to a
local sports club to shower in their exclusive locker rooms. After a
shower it was back to the Hampton for a fine supper of Pasta, we had most
of the Emerald Express there to eat together. After supper, they even
had a keg of beer, and a short program most folks went to bed, I certainly
did. I dropped right off at about 9PM. At about 2AM I woke up with a
bad cramp in my right calf. I know exactly what caused it: failure to
properly re-hydrate after the long ride. Well I live and learn, drink
like there is no tomorrow especially after a cool ride like that one,
you do not realize how much fluid you are loosing. I drank 4 litres of
liquid just from my "camel-back" and more at the rest stops.
At 5AM Sunday morning my internal alarm clock went off, right on
schedule, and I made my way to the facilities and back to get dressed
in my bike stuff and pack up everything. At 6AM sharp the bus showed
up to take a whole load of folks back to the Hampton Inn for breakfast.
Breakfast was a light continental affair, just right for the start of a
long bike ride. At 7AM the course opened, and Scott, Bob, and Tim were
right on it at 7:09AM. I hung around looking for members of the team.
I saw John and he told me Olivia was waiting in the breakfast line.
I decide to ask her if she wanted to ride with me this day. When I
walked up beside her in the breakfast line and said hi she said, "Hey,
no jumping the line!" When I explained that I already had breakfast and
did she want to ride with me I got a curt "No". Well the only reason I
offered was because she rode a 120 miles the day before due to making a
wrong turn and then after getting it right having to chase down a couple
of other riders who made a wrong turn. You know Olivia reminds me of my
daughter Anna, interacting with her in the morning is a religious
experience, that is - like that religion in the mountains of NC where
they handle rattle snakes.
So 7:23AM and I'm off, by myself, since no member of the EE is handy.
I did OK; I stopped at each and every rest stop, I stayed hydrated, I
even ate two of those "goo-packs", a power bar, and some "luna-bars"
and lots of bananas and apples. I caught a few pace-lines too.
A few miles before the lunch stop I passed some folks and cranked my
pace up to about 19-20mph. A bit later I looked in my rear view mirror
and saw the big group of riders. I thought they were the "cannon-ball"
team, which had zoomed past me a couple of times on Saturday. Instead
they were part of the "CAT" team. And they were riding a "caterpiller"
pace-line. This is a double pace-line where you spend about 15 seconds
"pulling" up front. The way it works is that the right pace-line goes
about 20-22mph while the left one goes about 19-20mph. When you reach
the front of the right pace-line you "pull" just long enough for the
left pace-line to drop back far enough for you to slide over. When
you do this you reduce your speed a couple of miles per hour and the
next person in line on the right pulls over in front of you. While in
the left line you drift back (or are passed by the right line). When
the last guy in the right line passes you pull in behind him and
speed up. I managed to get to the front a few times before we got
to the lunch stop. That was some experience, I've heard and read
that this is the most efficient way to get a bike down the road.
When I left the lunch stop I left at exactly the same time as a couple
of fellows on a tandem bike. My teammate Scott has an expression
"Nothing drafts like a tandem!" I hoped that I could catch them and
I would have nothing to worry about for as long as I could hang on
their wheel. Well they pulled over to wait for someone and I kept
going. After a bit they caught up with me and there was another
rider on their wheel. I jumped on the back of that wheel and off
we went zooming along at 22mph. That tandem knocked such a big hole
in the wind that I felt like I was being sucked along. Then a loud
"Bang-Hiss-Flap-Flap-Flap" the tandem had "flatted". Oh well there
went my draft.
After the next rest stop three young women who had ridden the century
on Saturday passed me. They were averaging 17-19mph and I felt that
this was just about right. One of the riders was a, right on the
second, timekeeper and every 3 minutes she would sing out "Switch!”
It was time for the lead rider to drop back to the end. By this
time we had caught up with another member of the EE and I said
"Hi Greg" as we went by. Greg grabbed on the end of the line and
off we all went. Greg was doing all he could do to keep on the
end of the line and as riders would rotate back he would drop back
and let them in still struggling to keep up. That also means that
Greg was not moving up the pack to be at the front. So when the
timekeeper dropped back she said to Greg, "Get in and pull or drop
off!" Wow! What a drill sergeant. We also caught up with George
and he jumped right on the end and started rotating with the rest
of us. Well this pace line lasted all the way to the last rest
stop, which is impressive for this kind of ride.
I noticed that between the next to the last and the last rest stop
a pace-line going about 23 mph came zooming past ours and right
after that another pace line catching up to the first one came
zooming past. And in the lead of that pace line, well there's
Olivia. She must have left the starting point a good half hour
after I did but she was back blasting along. Just after the last
rest stop we turned left onto NC24 North at Swansboro NC and headed
up the last leg. The traffic was horrific and the wind was right
in our faces. This was not fun. The shoulder of the road was
full of gravel and dusty and nasty. A couple miles from the
bridge a biker about two in front of me yelled out "Slowing!"
then the rider just behind that one left the road briefly (rather
than swing left out near the traffic) and his wheel hit something
funny and "Bang-Head-Over-Tea-Kettle" he went. Everyone started
slowing, a guy sort of bumped elbows with me but we did not go
down. I turned around went back and to see if the fellow who crashed
was OK and even helped him put his chain back on the bike. Except
for a little "road-rash" he was fine. He could actually boast a
visible wound at the end of the ride. I also commented to him
that he looked for a while there like he was putting on a gymnastic
exhibition.
We finally made the turn back on NC58 south and climbed the high
bridge over the inland waterway. I tried to get a running start
on this thing and upped my speed to 20mph and "attacked-the-hill".
As I did this I kept thinking "What are you doing, you idiot!"
Well I made it fine to the top and down the other side with room to
spare. Right after you come off the bridge and turn onto "Coast
Guard Road" you turn left into the campground that is the end of
the ride. Some guy took my picture someone else handed me this
spiffy button on a ribbon and there right in front of me were
Evelyn and Rob. They had come down the day before and spent the
night with Evelyn's sister Mary Vann. What a neat welcoming at
the end of a long ride.
The whole team showed up pretty quickly. David was the last one
in. George, John and Olivia rode back to Clayton on the Bus.
Chris rode back with Evelyn, Rob, and me, David and his wife rode
back together, and Scott, Bob, and Tim rode back on the "century-bus",
I think Greg took a later bus. I'm still amazed we could get some
bags and two bikes in the trunk of that Honda. When we got back
to the parking lot Evelyn and Rob took the car I drove on home
and Chris and I started out to his house. Just then we saw John
in the parking lot and got to visit with him George, and Olivia
before John and Olivia set off for western NC.
On the way back to Chris's apartment I commented that I thought
it was great that he did the ride, Chris then said, "Well it is
an adventure I can look back on this when I'm older, like when
I'm 30 or 40." Wait a minute, 30 or 40! Hell I'm 53 and still
looking for adventure. Well I guess everything is a matter of
perspective.
Thank you all for all your support,
Later...
Zach
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