Amber and I haven't had much luck lately riding the Anaheim to Oceanside ride lately. Last time there had been massive wildfires in Camp Pendleton so they had closed it. We felt it was time to try again.
We started early (for us) at 8:00am but it was already 80F in Anaheim when we started. The climb up Santiago Canyon was harder than usual because of the heat but we got to Cook's Corner a little after 10am where it was 85F. Amber had the French toast and I had a breakfast burrito. When we got cycling again it was 90F and climbed as high as 95 before we got to the coast.
By the time we saw the ocean it was back down to 80F and we picked up a nice tailwind. At San Clemente we stopped at a coffee shop and I had a caramel sea-salt iced coffee. It was fantastic and cooled me down wonderfully. After a leisurely 20 minute break we got going again and the climb up through San Clemente was no problem at all.
The leg through Camp Pendleton took us a mile or so from the ocean and I swear the temp went up 5 degrees until we returned to the coast at Oceanside. We had almost two hours to kill before the train so we enjoyed a slow dinner at Angelo's. I had a cheese quesadilla plate and Amber had a turkey burger. The refried beans were unusual - we think they had garlic in them - but the taste was awesome.
The train turned up on time for once but was so crowded there was standing room only. No problem- I told the conductor - we've been sitting all day.
It's not a tough ride by any means but the heat really drained me. I slept well that night.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Sunday, August 10, 2014
2014 Night Audax 200k
Last night (Aug 9th) was the second edition of the CIBC Night Audax 200k brevet. This year we had ten riders, slightly fewer than last year, which may actually have improved the ride because the group was far more coherent this year. On the other hand more than half the group had experience in Audax riding which may have helped. (Audax is a style of riding where the group rides together, the stronger riders doing more pulling).
We met up at LeBard park in Huntington Beach and I got everyone's paperwork done and handed out a 5-hour energy to each rider. Just as we were about to leave at 7pm Greg, our fearless leader, showed up. He got caught out by the heavy Saturday evening traffic and begged us to wait. Of course we would, he's our RBA. Ten minutes later we got started.
We had a strong tailwind headed inland (by design) and flew the first eight miles to Edna Park at around 20-22 mph where we took a much anticipated nature break.
Ten minutes later we were flying again. It was a challenge at times to hang on but I gritted my teeth and we stayed a compact group all the way to Green River hill. That hill always splits the men from the boys - with the boys up front and the men dragging behind.
We regrouped at the top of the hill and rode the final five miles to the Chevron in Corona where we stopped to refuel. One good thing about this course is there's only one control. The Chevron wasn't a control but everyone got receipts anyway - we're training the staff to give all cyclists receipts! I accidentally got a turkey with pepper jack cheese sandwich. Yuck but I forced it down anyway.
Thirty minutes later we were back on the bikes enjoying the last shreds of the tailwind climbing through Norco and up to the Hidden Valley Nature Reserve. We held about 18 mph still with a slight tailwind and stopped at Anza Narrows park to get water and make our own restrooms as the formal restrooms were locked. Why do they lock restrooms? Don't they know we're going to pee anyway? Ten minutes later we were riding the last 15 miles to the In-n-Out burger in San Bernardino which is the turnaround control. We reached it at 11:25pm - 4:15 elapsed and about 3:25 ride time.
After 100km of hard riding an In-n-Out burger is like a slice of heaven in grease-proof paper. I payed for everyone and was once again amazed that I could feed ten hungry cyclists for only $55. Five minutes later they brought out trays loaded with burgers and fries, sodas and milk shakes. We hung out for about an hour and then hit the road headed back to Huntington Beach slightly slower than we came in.
Now the idea of this ride is that we enjoy a tailwind in the first half that miraculously disappears while we are at the turnaround control. This year the plan worked pretty well. We did have a gentle headwind on the way back but it was nothing like as strong as the tailwind had been. Our two international riders, from South Africa and Sweden, did a lot of the pulling on the way back and we maintained a double paceline much of the way. When you're riding at 1am you can use the entire bike path safely.
I lead the group through the twists and turns of Norco and we got to the Arco in Corona at mile 96 without anyone getting lost. I was craving a cheese danish and redbull. Yummy. I also broke out some Perpetuum to avoid bonking the last ten miles like I did last year. Thirty minutes later we took off for the last section of the ride and a couple of miles later David pointed out there were only nine of us. Somehow we had left Chris back at the Arco. We waited and a minute later we saw his lights approaching. Oops - my bad.
Just like last year some of the weaker riders were starting to struggle with the pace and it became more difficult to keep the group together although I feel we did a better job this year. It wasn't long before we were within a couple of miles of the end and we all managed to join up and ride in together at 4:33. Our overall time was 9:23 minutes and our ride time was about seven hours. You may not get to the end of the ride sooner in a group, but you feel stronger when you get there.
Finally I was able to say what I had been thinking for a while. This was as close to a perfect 200k as I remember riding. No flats, no accidents, no mechanicals, no sickness, excellent weather (~65F), cooperative wind, great food, great group, and a full moon all the way. I've had four hours sleep since the ride and I'm already looking forward to next year. I hope everyone else got home safely too.
Thanks to everyone who rode. A ride like this is only as good as the riders. It was a great ride.
We met up at LeBard park in Huntington Beach and I got everyone's paperwork done and handed out a 5-hour energy to each rider. Just as we were about to leave at 7pm Greg, our fearless leader, showed up. He got caught out by the heavy Saturday evening traffic and begged us to wait. Of course we would, he's our RBA. Ten minutes later we got started.
We had a strong tailwind headed inland (by design) and flew the first eight miles to Edna Park at around 20-22 mph where we took a much anticipated nature break.
 |
| Much anticipated Nature Break |
Ten minutes later we were flying again. It was a challenge at times to hang on but I gritted my teeth and we stayed a compact group all the way to Green River hill. That hill always splits the men from the boys - with the boys up front and the men dragging behind.
We regrouped at the top of the hill and rode the final five miles to the Chevron in Corona where we stopped to refuel. One good thing about this course is there's only one control. The Chevron wasn't a control but everyone got receipts anyway - we're training the staff to give all cyclists receipts! I accidentally got a turkey with pepper jack cheese sandwich. Yuck but I forced it down anyway.
Thirty minutes later we were back on the bikes enjoying the last shreds of the tailwind climbing through Norco and up to the Hidden Valley Nature Reserve. We held about 18 mph still with a slight tailwind and stopped at Anza Narrows park to get water and make our own restrooms as the formal restrooms were locked. Why do they lock restrooms? Don't they know we're going to pee anyway? Ten minutes later we were riding the last 15 miles to the In-n-Out burger in San Bernardino which is the turnaround control. We reached it at 11:25pm - 4:15 elapsed and about 3:25 ride time.
After 100km of hard riding an In-n-Out burger is like a slice of heaven in grease-proof paper. I payed for everyone and was once again amazed that I could feed ten hungry cyclists for only $55. Five minutes later they brought out trays loaded with burgers and fries, sodas and milk shakes. We hung out for about an hour and then hit the road headed back to Huntington Beach slightly slower than we came in.
 |
| Chris, Todd, Charlie, David, Amber, and Mel after the burger-fest. |
I lead the group through the twists and turns of Norco and we got to the Arco in Corona at mile 96 without anyone getting lost. I was craving a cheese danish and redbull. Yummy. I also broke out some Perpetuum to avoid bonking the last ten miles like I did last year. Thirty minutes later we took off for the last section of the ride and a couple of miles later David pointed out there were only nine of us. Somehow we had left Chris back at the Arco. We waited and a minute later we saw his lights approaching. Oops - my bad.
Just like last year some of the weaker riders were starting to struggle with the pace and it became more difficult to keep the group together although I feel we did a better job this year. It wasn't long before we were within a couple of miles of the end and we all managed to join up and ride in together at 4:33. Our overall time was 9:23 minutes and our ride time was about seven hours. You may not get to the end of the ride sooner in a group, but you feel stronger when you get there.
Finally I was able to say what I had been thinking for a while. This was as close to a perfect 200k as I remember riding. No flats, no accidents, no mechanicals, no sickness, excellent weather (~65F), cooperative wind, great food, great group, and a full moon all the way. I've had four hours sleep since the ride and I'm already looking forward to next year. I hope everyone else got home safely too.
Thanks to everyone who rode. A ride like this is only as good as the riders. It was a great ride.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Unexpected storm
Most of my riding lately has been survival riding - either at home on the trainer or at night - to try to avoid the very worst of the heat.
Amber and I rode Sunday evening but instead of going to The Crema we decided to ride the other way and eat at the Lucky Greek in Corona. This has the advantage of having a tail wind, not riding through Santa Ana at night, and adding some hills for variety.
We made good time to the Lucky Greek and I was pleased that I rode up Green River hill stronger than usual. As we were eating I noticed heavy, black clouds to the south of us that were clearly dropping rain like giant jellyfish tentacles draped over the land. That was the direction we had to ride.
Sure enough we saw a flash of lightning just as we left the restaurant and ten seconds later we heard thunder. That put the lightning strike about two miles away. A few miles later we stared feeling raindrops which we tried to ignore but pretty soon it was raining so hard it was bouncing up six feet and coming down a second time. IT WAS AWESOME!
I don't mind the rain if it isn't cold and this was like a warm shower. The thunderstorm stayed close for a while, then drifted away. I wasn't worried about being hit by lightning because the roads had buildings or trees on either side which were much taller than us.
Fantastic ride.
Amber and I rode Sunday evening but instead of going to The Crema we decided to ride the other way and eat at the Lucky Greek in Corona. This has the advantage of having a tail wind, not riding through Santa Ana at night, and adding some hills for variety.
We made good time to the Lucky Greek and I was pleased that I rode up Green River hill stronger than usual. As we were eating I noticed heavy, black clouds to the south of us that were clearly dropping rain like giant jellyfish tentacles draped over the land. That was the direction we had to ride.
Sure enough we saw a flash of lightning just as we left the restaurant and ten seconds later we heard thunder. That put the lightning strike about two miles away. A few miles later we stared feeling raindrops which we tried to ignore but pretty soon it was raining so hard it was bouncing up six feet and coming down a second time. IT WAS AWESOME!
I don't mind the rain if it isn't cold and this was like a warm shower. The thunderstorm stayed close for a while, then drifted away. I wasn't worried about being hit by lightning because the roads had buildings or trees on either side which were much taller than us.
Fantastic ride.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Buying a touring bike
Another hot weekend but I was able to get some good rides in. On Saturday I rode The Crema with my wife and youngest daughter. We got lucky with the heat and the temps and had a good ride. I really must try the prosciutto crepe - it looked lovely on Sabrina's plate. We had a strong tailwind on the way back which is always nice, especially when it gets warmer.
On Sunday I rode Back Bay with my eldest daughter. It was much hotter but I really enjoyed the Champagne Bakery which we hadn't been to for a while. Can you believe that on this 60 mile ride the bike paths were closed in four places! The Walnut trail has been closed for five years now. It was supposed to be reopened last January but now they've delayed it until next November. I honestly don't think they even plan on giving it back.
There was a strong headwind for the last 8 miles and two detours off the bike path. Why is the bike path the go to place when they want to stage construction equipment? Felt like crap by the end of the ride. This is the first ride in years that I didn't overall enjoy. It felt like it was over 90 but it probably wasn't.
When my Serotta was stolen last year I bought a Trek 520 touring bike because I do a lot of touring and randonneuring. I actually rode it on Saturday for the first time in a month and I think the Brooks is finally broken in. I double wrapped the handlebars and it's much more comfortable now.
One of the things I like about the 520 is the ability to add wide tires, rack, fenders etc. There's a lot of riding I'd like to do that's on hard packed dirt or very rough pavement and 23mm tires with a Carradice bag isn't ideal because dirt is difficult to ride on with narrow tires and the roughness puts a lot of stress on the single bolt that holds the Carradice bag to the saddle. I've actually had one snap on the Galloping Goose trail on Vancouver Island.
I've decided that my next vacation (hopefully cycling from Aspen to Denver in CO) will be on my 520 - even though it's heavy and there are insane amounts of climbing.
Amber feels she is coming to the end of the useful life of her Trek TCT carbon bike. It has done very well but she has decided to replace it with a more general purpose bike that can also do some heavier touring and handle off-roading better.
She's really drawn to a Ti Touring bike such as the Lynskey Backroad but it's expensive. On the other hand it should be light, strong, and comfortable. The nice thing is there's a dealer nearby in Orange, about 5 miles from where we start our rides.
She is also considering a Trek 520 of her own and a Surly Long Haul Trucker. Most people seem to think the two bikes are very comparable which will probably give the Trek the advantage in her mind. We've always had tremendous luck with Trek bikes.
Some of the things Amber is looking forward to are...
There was a strong headwind for the last 8 miles and two detours off the bike path. Why is the bike path the go to place when they want to stage construction equipment? Felt like crap by the end of the ride. This is the first ride in years that I didn't overall enjoy. It felt like it was over 90 but it probably wasn't.
She is also considering a Trek 520 of her own and a Surly Long Haul Trucker. Most people seem to think the two bikes are very comparable which will probably give the Trek the advantage in her mind. We've always had tremendous luck with Trek bikes.
- Relaxed geometry means you can ride hands free to stretch your back out
- More water bottle cages
- Better climbing gears
- Ability to add fenders, racks, and even a kick stand
- Ability to ride rougher roads without cracking the frame
- Repairable frame
- The option of wider tires for off road fun
- Spending money
- More weight
- Saying good bye to her beloved Trek TCT
Monday, June 23, 2014
Kayaking the Crema
A hot day today - 83F predicted but it was that hot by 9am so it was probably going to be hotter at 2pm. Amber and I decided to ride to the Crema in Seal Beach but add an hour of kayaking at Sunset Beach on the way.
There wasn't much wind on the way to the coast until we got close to the ocean. Turning North we picked up an unusual tailwind which was lovely. The beach path was predictably crowded so we rode carefully until we were passed by a crazed guy on a mountain bike who was threading through the crowd at a very unsafe 17-19 mph. Amber and I kept pace with him but more cautiously which is more work as you are constantly slowing and accelerating. When we got within a 1/4 mile of the end of the bike path the pedestrians had thinned out to almost nothing so Amber and I blew past him at 27 mph. No response. I think our point was made.
We got to Sunset Beach kayak rentals and they were busy. Lots of eye candy, especially one surgically enhanced woman wearing a thong. Amber and I kayaked for an hour then jumped back on our bikes and headed over to The Crema. There was the usual 45 minute wait so we headed over to the Seal Beach pier and hung out for a while. More eye candy and another thong. Nice! I dread the day when gay men start wearing thongs - or straight ones for that matter.
There is a small bike store going out of business across the street from The Crema so we checked it out. It's always sad to see a local bicycle store going out of business. The guy manning the store was a body builder in cycling gear two sizes too small (to make sure that EVERY muscle was clearly defined!). As I have just finished reading "Seven Deadly Sins: My pursuit of Lance Armstrong" by David Walsh, I found it odd that someone who so obviously abused steroids, HGH, and probably testosterone, would wear cycling gear. There's no race that he could enter and pass the drug test - they wouldn't even need a urine or blood sample.
The Crema was awesome as usual and I got to say hello to Heather. The servings were particularly generous today so Amber and I we pretty full when we climbed back onto the bikes. On the way back on the beach path we saw a cyclist riding with one hand and towing a kayak with the other. Some of the best kayak handling skills I've seen in a while!
The beach path got really crowded before Huntington Beach pier so we jumped over to Atlantic which was much better. After getting onto the SART we got passed by a strong teenager - earphones, no helmet @:-( - that's the emote for exposed brains - so I jumped onto his wheel and he pulled us up to a group of five riders who were riding a very nice paceline. We stayed with them until we were within three miles of the Anaheim stadium and they pulled off. We thanked them profusely.
It was bloody hot at the end of the ride. I'm sure it was more than 83F. We had a great ride and the kayaking made it even better.
There wasn't much wind on the way to the coast until we got close to the ocean. Turning North we picked up an unusual tailwind which was lovely. The beach path was predictably crowded so we rode carefully until we were passed by a crazed guy on a mountain bike who was threading through the crowd at a very unsafe 17-19 mph. Amber and I kept pace with him but more cautiously which is more work as you are constantly slowing and accelerating. When we got within a 1/4 mile of the end of the bike path the pedestrians had thinned out to almost nothing so Amber and I blew past him at 27 mph. No response. I think our point was made.
We got to Sunset Beach kayak rentals and they were busy. Lots of eye candy, especially one surgically enhanced woman wearing a thong. Amber and I kayaked for an hour then jumped back on our bikes and headed over to The Crema. There was the usual 45 minute wait so we headed over to the Seal Beach pier and hung out for a while. More eye candy and another thong. Nice! I dread the day when gay men start wearing thongs - or straight ones for that matter.
There is a small bike store going out of business across the street from The Crema so we checked it out. It's always sad to see a local bicycle store going out of business. The guy manning the store was a body builder in cycling gear two sizes too small (to make sure that EVERY muscle was clearly defined!). As I have just finished reading "Seven Deadly Sins: My pursuit of Lance Armstrong" by David Walsh, I found it odd that someone who so obviously abused steroids, HGH, and probably testosterone, would wear cycling gear. There's no race that he could enter and pass the drug test - they wouldn't even need a urine or blood sample.
The Crema was awesome as usual and I got to say hello to Heather. The servings were particularly generous today so Amber and I we pretty full when we climbed back onto the bikes. On the way back on the beach path we saw a cyclist riding with one hand and towing a kayak with the other. Some of the best kayak handling skills I've seen in a while!
The beach path got really crowded before Huntington Beach pier so we jumped over to Atlantic which was much better. After getting onto the SART we got passed by a strong teenager - earphones, no helmet @:-( - that's the emote for exposed brains - so I jumped onto his wheel and he pulled us up to a group of five riders who were riding a very nice paceline. We stayed with them until we were within three miles of the Anaheim stadium and they pulled off. We thanked them profusely.
It was bloody hot at the end of the ride. I'm sure it was more than 83F. We had a great ride and the kayaking made it even better.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Autonomous cars and you
I recently read that while the incidence of teen drunk driving has halved in the past five years, the number of teens (and older drivers) texting while driving has skyrocketed and is now the leading cause of teen death's and injury while driving. I've lost friends to both drunk and distracted drivers and totally believe this to be true.
If you search for "Autonomous cars" in Wikipedia you will find that Google is a leading player in the development of autonomous (or self-driving) cars. They already claim their autonomous cars are safer than human-driven cars as they have racked up a total of 700,000 accident free miles. Both California and Nevada have amended their laws to allow for testing of autonomous cars on public streets and highways. Michigan and Florida are looking into similar changes.
The legislatures of both states are also looking at laws that would help establish liability in the case of accidents involving autonomous cars. One day soon we will be able to buy autonomous cars although they will be expensive at first. Google estimates they add $150,000 worth of equipment to a car to make it autonomous - about half of which is the radar array.
Although autonomous cars might be available within five years it might be fifteen years before I can afford one. But eventually driving your own car may be something only rich eccentrics do. If 99% of all traffic accidents are caused by the 10% of cars being driven by humans, the cost of insuring a human driven car will become more that even the most die-hard individualist can tolerate.
So if your car is doing the driving, you can text and drink as much as you want and I and all my cycling friends can ride safely knowing your car will respect our safety more than you ever did.
My only question is - will they invent self riding bicycles? What would they look like? Would I want one? If I can say I want everyone to drive autonomous cars, do I have the right to say I still want to ride my bicycle?
If you search for "Autonomous cars" in Wikipedia you will find that Google is a leading player in the development of autonomous (or self-driving) cars. They already claim their autonomous cars are safer than human-driven cars as they have racked up a total of 700,000 accident free miles. Both California and Nevada have amended their laws to allow for testing of autonomous cars on public streets and highways. Michigan and Florida are looking into similar changes.
The legislatures of both states are also looking at laws that would help establish liability in the case of accidents involving autonomous cars. One day soon we will be able to buy autonomous cars although they will be expensive at first. Google estimates they add $150,000 worth of equipment to a car to make it autonomous - about half of which is the radar array.
Although autonomous cars might be available within five years it might be fifteen years before I can afford one. But eventually driving your own car may be something only rich eccentrics do. If 99% of all traffic accidents are caused by the 10% of cars being driven by humans, the cost of insuring a human driven car will become more that even the most die-hard individualist can tolerate.
So if your car is doing the driving, you can text and drink as much as you want and I and all my cycling friends can ride safely knowing your car will respect our safety more than you ever did.
My only question is - will they invent self riding bicycles? What would they look like? Would I want one? If I can say I want everyone to drive autonomous cars, do I have the right to say I still want to ride my bicycle?
Monday, June 9, 2014
I broke the streak of bad luck
Amber and I rode the RMCC 400k on the 7th of June in Louisville, CO. My last two brevet attempts failed due to mechanical problems. I have also been having problems with my knee lately so I was a bit worried.
RMCC has an interesting way of running.brevets. You join the club for $25 and you can ride as many brevets as you want. They have a very full calendar so there's a lot of opportunity to rack up the km. If I lived closer I'd join up every year. On the down side - there's no support at all. You get your brevet card at the start of the ride and that's it. Definitely on the unsupported edge of randonneuring.
It's a two day drive to Louisville from Los Angeles so we kept an eye of the weather on the way here. Friday was predicted to have early storms, Saturday was cool but with minimal rain, and Sunday had heavy rain and even tornadoes. Our ride had temps from 55-60, steady wind about 10-15mph from the east, and only 30 minutes of rain.
We started at the ungodly hour of 4am and headed north into the cool night. It was overcast with leaden skies and recently rained upon roads. We were ready for rain but hoped it wouldn't come to that. Fear of jinxing stopped Amber and I making any comments about the weather.
The first real challenge was the climb up Poudre Canyon which was running very high. Even so there were quite a few rafters coming down. We saw a kayak pinned against a rock but there was no-one inside fortunately.
Then we dropped down Poudre and climbed up to Forks. Nice restaurant but a nasty climb alongside a busy road. We turned around dropped back down alongside the same nasty road. Then we headed north to Wellington where we started working our way back to the start of the ride.
About 9pm it started to rain which messed our Garmins up so that we got lost and missed a turn. This only added about three miles but it was three miles we didn't need. The rain only lasted 30 minutes and was actually quite pleasant. This last 100k was the most difficult to navigate because it kept crossing our outbound route which was very confusing. I went into calorie debt and spent the last 50 miles trying to get out but never really succeeding. Part of the problem there was the oddly spaced controls (19 miles then 40 miles, etc).
Around mile 220 we came to the scene of an accident. There must have been six police cars there blocking the road. Normally they would not have allowed us through but we asked very politely and a police officer escorted us through the accident scene. I've no idea how we would have completed the ride on time otherwise.
We got to the end later than we had hoped because the last 100k took 7 hours instead of the 5 that the others took. Nevertheless I managed to break two bad streaks - major mechanicals and DNFing on the Colorado rides. No flats, no mechanicals, no crashes, minor rain, great temps, minor diversion.
The next day we took it easy to help my bad knee recover. We watched the tornado reports on the television. Thank God we weren't out in that weather.
RMCC has an interesting way of running.brevets. You join the club for $25 and you can ride as many brevets as you want. They have a very full calendar so there's a lot of opportunity to rack up the km. If I lived closer I'd join up every year. On the down side - there's no support at all. You get your brevet card at the start of the ride and that's it. Definitely on the unsupported edge of randonneuring.
It's a two day drive to Louisville from Los Angeles so we kept an eye of the weather on the way here. Friday was predicted to have early storms, Saturday was cool but with minimal rain, and Sunday had heavy rain and even tornadoes. Our ride had temps from 55-60, steady wind about 10-15mph from the east, and only 30 minutes of rain.
We started at the ungodly hour of 4am and headed north into the cool night. It was overcast with leaden skies and recently rained upon roads. We were ready for rain but hoped it wouldn't come to that. Fear of jinxing stopped Amber and I making any comments about the weather.
The first real challenge was the climb up Poudre Canyon which was running very high. Even so there were quite a few rafters coming down. We saw a kayak pinned against a rock but there was no-one inside fortunately.
 |
| Top of Poudre Canyon |
Then we dropped down Poudre and climbed up to Forks. Nice restaurant but a nasty climb alongside a busy road. We turned around dropped back down alongside the same nasty road. Then we headed north to Wellington where we started working our way back to the start of the ride.
About 9pm it started to rain which messed our Garmins up so that we got lost and missed a turn. This only added about three miles but it was three miles we didn't need. The rain only lasted 30 minutes and was actually quite pleasant. This last 100k was the most difficult to navigate because it kept crossing our outbound route which was very confusing. I went into calorie debt and spent the last 50 miles trying to get out but never really succeeding. Part of the problem there was the oddly spaced controls (19 miles then 40 miles, etc).
Around mile 220 we came to the scene of an accident. There must have been six police cars there blocking the road. Normally they would not have allowed us through but we asked very politely and a police officer escorted us through the accident scene. I've no idea how we would have completed the ride on time otherwise.
We got to the end later than we had hoped because the last 100k took 7 hours instead of the 5 that the others took. Nevertheless I managed to break two bad streaks - major mechanicals and DNFing on the Colorado rides. No flats, no mechanicals, no crashes, minor rain, great temps, minor diversion.
The next day we took it easy to help my bad knee recover. We watched the tornado reports on the television. Thank God we weren't out in that weather.
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