Tour de Kota Sunday Ride

Today was the first day of the Tour de Kota and it kicked off for us with a 5:00 am wake up in order to get to registration early enough to get a decent start. I was an idiot and stayed up until about 11:30 last night, so I was only working on about five hours of sleep. Not exactly the way you want to prepare for a big ride, but there you have it.

The day dawned with a temp of about 57 degrees, a light drizzle and very little wind. Not the idyllic start that we had last year, but it's been blowing like crazy the last few days, so we decided trading the wind for a little cool and wet was not altogether unreasonable.

Amy and I were out the door at about 5:30 and on to the registration area. There were three ride lengths to choose from of 30, 75 and 100 miles and I was crazy enough to sign up for the 100 miles. I was a bit surprised they gave us our century patches (a token to commemorate our feat) at registration. I told Amy, "Once we get the t-shirt with the rest of the registration packet, we should head home and get some more sleep."

Obviously, we didn't follow through, but hit the road at about 6:15. It was nice for me to ride on roads that were pretty familiar. I knew most of the roads fairly well and rode with a good deal of confidence. I tried to keep a reasonably controlled pace at the beginning of 15-17 mph. There weren't a whole lot of other riders out quite so early and there were stretches that felt a bit lonely. The other riders that I was finding weren't riding anything resembling my tempo, so I kept my own rhythm and kept rolling until my first break with Amy.

Amy had parked the van about 30 miles in and had only been there a short time before I arrived. I had a bit of food and a nature break and then was back on the road. It wasn't too long after that a group of four riders with a pretty decent paceline passed me. After about ten seconds I decided that they were riding a reasonable enough pace for me to join them, so I found myself in a nice draft line going just short of 19 mph.

For those that have never participated in a paceline, the idea is that several riders ride in a straight line formation in order to draft off of the first person in the line. When the first person finishes their turn, they peel off to the side, drift to the back and reassume a spot in the line. This way, everybody takes their turn doing work in the front where they receive the full brunt of the wind and everybody gets a good chance to benefit from this work by not having to work so hard farther back in the line.

Obviously, when I joined this line, I grabbed on to the back of the paceline and was in fifth position. The riding was pretty good as we kept a consistent pace and it was obvious that everybody was sharing in the work. The riders in front of me were taking pulls of 1-3 miles on the front which meant that I got to draft for the better part of seven miles. It was nearing my turn to take the lead when my phone rang. I knew the only person that it could be was Amy, so I pulled over to the side of the road to answer the phone before I ever got a chance to help out with the pace. It's pretty poor etiquette to just sit on in a draft line and I felt pretty bad for reaping all of the benefit for none of the work, but that's the way it went.

Amy told me about a pancake deal that the Lions Club in Vermillion was doing and asked if we wanted to meet there next. I said sure and got back on the road. Too far behind my previous group, I just started back into my own tempo. A few miles before Vermillion I caught up with a guy named Ross from Watertown who was headed for pancakes as well, so Ross and I rode in to Vermillion together. The food was very welcome, the people very friendly and Amy and I got a chance to talk to Ross a bit over pancakes and sausage.

Ross and I headed out of town together, crossed into Nebraska (just barely) and then headed back toward the west edge of Vermillion where we would turn west to head back toward Yankton. It was at this point that the wind began to pick up a bit more out of the east-northeast and we began to find it a little harder going. We kept a fair pace up until we were able to catch up with Amy again in Gayville. A Snickers bar some Fig Newtons and about ten minutes later and we were back on our way.

We headed back north to Volin (which we had passed through earlier) and it was just shy of Volin that Ross started to slow down a bit. The longest ride the guy had ever done was about 65 miles and we were past that point already, so I thought he was doing really well. He needed a bit slower pace and I felt the need to pick it up again, so we said goodbye and I was off to tackle the northern loop of the century ride.

Once we hit Volin, we finally started to hit some hills as well. Most people would think this a cruel joke to put the only real hills of the day in the last 30 miles of the ride, but I rather enjoyed it. The first stretch took us about five miles north with hills and a slight head/crosswind of about 15 mph that made itself a nuisance, but didn't really slow me down too much. As I prepared to turn west, I was met by the northern loop welcoming committee comprised of three vultures finishing the scraps of some indeterminate road kill and awaiting tired cyclists. The western stretch was fast with one pretty significant climb and was where I began to hit my stride for the home stretch. I was able to carry a speed of 20 mph or better from that point on and found that my easier pace through the day had left me with plenty of reserves.

I turned south and almost immediately passed the home of Dr. Frank and Judy Aiello. Dr. Aiello was Amy's advisor in college and I also took voice lessons from him. We've been fortunate to be able to keep in touch with them over the years and they are just really wonderful people. A few miles later, there was Amy and the van again.


After the last Snickers and a shortened stay at the van, I hit the road for the final stretch. Several miles later, the century route met up with the other routes and I had people to ride with again. I was still keeping a quick pace and was back on roads that I know well, so I didn't let up and powered on in to the finish. It was easily the strongest I've ever finished a century and also the best I've ever felt after one as well.

We headed back to Jim and Marilyn's where we grabbed a bite, a nap, some hot tub time with the kiddos and a trip to Murdo's for supper before driving back.

I can honestly say that I feel good about how I rode today, but I am exhausted. Unfortunately, I have to miss the next two days of the Tour because of work, but I'm looking forward to Wednesday's ride from Garretson to Volga.