GLR 300K

Today was the 300. What can I say? The conditions were near perfect but the main conclusion was that many of us just road way to fast in the first 75 miles of this ride.
I know that I certainly did!
Let me give you an example. The lead group got to Broadhead in 2 hours and 2 minutes.
That's well over 20 mph for a very hilly Brevet. To the second stop at 72 miles the group was still well over 20 mph.
Not that this is bad or anything its just not what my ride plan was early in a 300k with massive climbs.
Well, just got caught up in the whole spirt of the game like many of us did.
But, bottom line I did suffer for this latter in the ride.
I was recovering from a pretty intense illness this past week and for me anyway I had no business riding this fast that early in a 300k. Live and learn. And if one is smart one will apply what one has learned on the 400k I plan on this for sure.
The Super 8 hotel needs more parking for its customers. If needed please park across the street at future Brevets.
Some of our events seem to have a lot of riders and we need to be considerate of our hosts.

This is a super cool recumbent set up for Brevet rides

This is a RANNS model 'bent and has some interesting features.
First the wheels are both the same size. The frameset has a double diamond for stiffness. Third this bike is set up for going to the moon and back! Lights and a super comfortable seat and full camel back bladders hung on the back of the seat for about 500 miles worth of hydration!
Speaking of recumbent's I saw two of them on this ride the other one was a Bacchetta super fast dual 26 deal.

A little Bluemounds history

Bluemounds rest area

I decided to take a short brake here at this location in Bluemounds.
Much more scenic then the Bareveld BP Amoco.
I took a few pictures of the area and some pictures of some of our club riders powering by.

GLR riders in Bluemounds

Bluemounds riders riding down the road

Top of the world on Offerdahl Road

Offerdahl Road hiltop

On today's GLR 300K Brevet I climbed up to this ridge top on a leg busting 15% grade to get to this view!
The water tower in the back ground is Oregon Wisconsin where the control was located.
What beautiful country in the Wisconsin Driftless Area!

No extra charge for bounus miles

I got a bit lost in Stoughton looking for hwy 59 to Carl's Shell station.
I had to double back for an addition of about 4 miles.
GLR would never charge extra for these miles.
I just consider them "Bonus" miles...

GLR 200K Brevet

Today's ride put on by the Great Lakes Randonneurs was a super well organized event with a great well marked course.
Great job to Jim Kreps and his staff as the RBA of this club!
Jim told me that there were 84 riders on this 200k an increase over last years rides.
I must point out that the age of riders of Brevets seems to be dropping as ultra sports seem to be gaining in popularity. In years past a number of us "older" Brevet riders were lamenting the lack of growth particularly with the 20 something crowd.
That seems to me to not be a problem anymore for Brevets.
I was in the lead group of riders until flatting and the pace was tough and there were plenty of young fast riders into ultra cycling. I think that this is one of the most positive developments in ultra's in quite a few years.
Of course time will tell if I am right or wrong with these observations.
Just reporting what I observed out on the road...

Broke down on the road

I simply must practice what I preach.
Ride smart and have a few tools on you and have a few tubes and have a good pump weather it be CO2 or a hand pump.
I must confess that I did not check out my CO2 system before the ride.
I found out my mistake after flatting. Thankfully for me a well equipped Randonneur came to my rescue with a great hand pump.
And that is the spirit of Randonneuring since they are more like tours and not races folks will stop and help you if you are in trouble.
Another rider's idler pulley exploded leaving his only option to put the gear in one gear for the rest of the ride.
That is another thing about Randonneuring is that you never know out on the road what will happen and the creative part is figuring out a way to finish the ride!
So, if you have problems out on the road and you over come them and finish the ride that will be a memory you will have forever!
So, its best to maintain a positive attitude and hope for the best when adversity on the road hits. And it will hit you it happens to everyone if you ride long enough...

Broadhead Control

As the first control at 45 miles into the ride this is where I had to check my attitude about this days ride. I had a flat and lost a bunch of time.
It was time to regroup fix the bike and move on down the road...

Leaving the Brodhead Control

I had just arrived at the first control and the second group of riders was leaving.
So I got my card signed and decided to hook up with this group of riders...

Evansville Control

I just hung with the second group of riders.

Oregon Control

I just took it easy on this leg of the ride.

Oregon Control

The great thing about these events are the people you run in to.
There was a clerk at this station that was just so positive and encouraging that it just perked up every one to continue the ride.
I apologized for asking her to sign my Brevet card.
This woman was very positive about our ride. She said "I can't wait to see everyone" and encouraged all of us to finish our ride and to be safe!
Well that encounter made up for all of the annoyance's I had on this Brevet!

Edgerton Control

This control had a lengthy break for a good lunch at Taco John's.
I was all for a good lunch and a long break off the bike!
After this long break though I decided to part company with my ride partners and just get this 200 K ride done.
So I put down a lot of power laid out on my Aero Bar into a killer head wind.
I caught up to a struggling rider and slowed the pace down for my "bud" to catch up so we worked those head winds until they did change to a bit of a tail wind.
We flew back to Delavan with those tail winds for a great ending to this great ride!
Again, Kudos to Jim Kreps and his staff for such a great well organized Brevet!!!