Ok, yeah it's been a while. 10 years? 12? More? Who cares. The point is that I've done a brevet recently and will share.
SO much life has occurred that isn't relevant to cycling, other than to say that it caused a reshuffling of priorities and interests for a while. I honestly didn't even know if long rides were still something that tickled my fancy. I'm still not sure if the longer brevets 400km, 600km, etc. are still something I yearn for, but let's just say that I've passed thru the first decision gate and decided to ride (and did) a 200 just to see.
I was very surprised when some of the folks in the Tuscaloosa area expressed some interest in riding some brevets - and I'm grateful they did. I think that's one of the things that nudged me to continue and commit to actually riding one again. Previously it was probably equal parts conquest of bigger/longer/faster and social interaction on the bike. I think that now things are much more heavily weighted on the social side of the equation.
A small group of us have set our sights on the Natchez Trace 200km in September, but I wanted a tuneup ride prior to this, so got a couple to commit to riding the Highway To Hale 200km brevet as a permanent on the 12th of September. Two committed, but one had to bail due to getting a nasty cold the day before. To say I was nervous about this ride is an understatement. In previous weeks I had maintained my mileage base, but on Labor Day, I had a bonk like I've never experienced. Total crash and burn complete with needing rescued. Yeah - a dnf. I was mortified to have this occur less than a week before a 200. Granted, a 200 used to be a snooze-fest for me. big deal, right? Well, many years have passed and the heat of Alabama has humbled me more than once.
OK - so after leaving my phone back at the starting control - doubling back for it to accumulate a handful of bonus miles, we were off, shortly after 6 AM.
It took 40 or 50 miles of nervous chatting to settle into a rhythm and see how I felt. The roads were pretty good, traffic was very polite and water stops surprising sparse. We were thrilled to come across some sort of small gathering sponsored by Auburn University - especially since TACOS were there. It was halfway thru this much needed snack that Trey decided he really like Randonneuring.
Not a lot special to report from this ride, other than it got pretty hot. We had some water concerns in the last 40 miles or so, but managed well enough. It was a great first experience for Trey, and a fun experience for me - made more meaningful to have shared a first with Trey. He rode well. We both enjoyed things. Job done. Looking forward with come confidence to Nashville and seeing some old friends.
Fresh as a daisy afterwards:
Data Geeks:
