Tour de Kota wrap up

Two more days on the TdK this year with the 100(+) miles yesterday from Lennox to Dell Rapids and another 50 today from Dell Rapids to Madison. I had originally hoped to ride tomorrow's leg to DeSmet, but have to work instead.

Our original gameplan had been to camp with the kiddos in Lennox and Dell Rapids, but a combination of things conspired against us. First, Maia had a bout of dehydration from spending her birthday in Mitchell with 90+ degree heat for several hours and woke up throwing up on Monday. She bounced back quick, but we didn't feel that camping was going to be the most conducive way for her to recover. Second, the weather has been hot and windy which made us think that sleep would be scarce in a tent with four people. Third, we hate camping.

So, at 5:00 am, I woke up, had breakfast, loaded up the bike and drove to Lennox to register. Folks were already rolling out of town as I arrived and I was on the road myself at about 6:30. Shortly before leaving town, I rolled up behind a guy in a University of Okoboji ride shirt who turned out to be Tim from Terrell, Iowa who we met on the first year of the TdK two years ago. We rode together for about the first 20 miles and caught up a bit. He had ridden to the start of the ride in Vermillion (139 miles) over the weekend with 100 lbs of gear strapped on the bike. He had a few war stories to share and we had great conversation until he needed to take a break. He's a bit of a lone wolf on the bike and I had a rendezvous scheduled with Amy and the kids up the road, so we said our goodbyes for the time being and I headed down the road.

At about 40 miles, I stopped at a gas station in Humboldt to wait for the fam. I was a little ahead of schedule, but Amy had texted me from the home computer because she couldn't find her phone earlier and we were unable to communicate. I had been at the gas station about 15 minutes when our next door neighbor Dick rolled up to the station. I decided to roll out with him and his group about 10 minutes later hoping to catch up with Amy later.

Our group was probably about 15 strong as we headed north and started in on the loop that would help extend the ride to 100 miles. The temp by this point was over 90 degrees and the wind was blowing at 20 mph out of the southeast, so we knew that we'd pay for our life of ease in a bit.

We turned west on the loop and Dick and I moved to the front with Dave Braley (who we went to church with at New Hope Family) to set pace for awhile. Before we knew it, the three of us were on our own. I guess our pace was a little ambitious for the rest of the group. When we hit the turn to head back into the wind the fun began. We immediately slowed to 14 mph and slugged it out for several miles until we reached Montrose. At that point, we saw my co-worker Jeffrey at a rest stop and invited him along for the next leg east.

We rode about seven miles back when I saw a familiar vehicle at an intersection. We had finally found Amy and the kids, so we holed up for a few minutes while I got some food and freshened my bottles. The stop was a bit abbreviated because I didn't want to hold up the other guys and we headed on to Hartford.

Once we turned south again, the carnage really began. First, we lost Jeffrey as the headwind proved a bit much for him. We didn't really want to slow down and prolong the agony, so Dick, Dave and I kept on. I started feeling like I was going to pop, but met the others pedal stroke for pedal stroke as we plowed along.

Pretty soon, something entirely unpredictable happened, Dick started cramping and fell off the pace. Now, Dick rides a lot. He's done an Ironman event, the Triple Bypass ride in Colorado on multiple occasions and often logs 100 mile days. He was among those that about put me in the ground on the group ride in March, so I really didn't expect to see him hit the wall before I did. Luckily, we only had a few miles to go to Hartford, so Dave and I pulled him in. We stopped at a convenience store with a bunch of other riders and Dick called it a day. He thought briefly about just riding home (about another 20 miles), but had Mary come to pick him up instead.

After a lengthy stay during which Jeffrey and most of our other pack riders met up with us, we headed back out. We had a stretch with a tailwind which helped put some wind in the sails again, but unfortunately, as soon as we turned east again, the pain resurfaced. It wasn't long before Dave and I found ourselves alone again and we just fought our way through the wind as best as we could. I really had to dig deep to make the next turn without blowing up, but we had another four or five mile reprieve before turning toward Baltic.

The stretch into Baltic was the longest stretch of the day for me. I didn't feel good at all and could only use Dave's presence as motivation to plod on. There was no power left in my legs and it was becoming obvious that the ride organizers had underestimated the total distance and we would be going into overtime. Dave knew that I was struggling and had pity on me allowing me to take what shelter I could behind him until we finally rolled into Baltic. We stopped at the fire station for water and met up again with Jeffrey and a few others.

While at the fire station I had a blast from my past when a guy came rolling up on an old Schwinn Circuit just like the one that I had in high school. I loved that bike but sold it so that I could buy a better trumpet (a fact I have lamented on more than one occassion). It was nice to revisit some memories, but I wasn't about to trade the Madone for the Circuit on a day like that.

We had about a two mile stretch back east before making the final turn for the tailwind run into Dell Rapids. Once we hit the corner, we flew. By the time we rolled into the park in Dell Rapids, Amy and the kids were there and we had covered 105.6 miles at 17.2 mph. Amy drove me over the the Catholic school where I hit the showers before we headed back to camp for lunch.

I love the TdK; the community, the challenge, the experience... But I really love the fact that it gives me an excuse to eat about anything I set my eyes on. I dove into a chili cheese dog and a "taco in a bucket" before eating what was left of Xander's ice cream. It was glorious.

The kiddos played a little and I found a patch of grass to call my own for a little bit. Finally, Maia decided to go into complete melt down and we had to take off. We got to walk all the way across the campground to the car with Maia trailing about 15 steps behind Amy absolutely screaming and throwing a tantrum like we had just killed her puppy. Between the kicking and screaming, we managed to get her in the car where she fell asleep within two miles but kept up the "sleep sobs" for the next 45 minutes. We drove to Lennox, picked up our other car and headed home.

After a relaxing evening at home (compared to the ride anyway), we got up this morning and did it all again.

Today's ride went from Dell Rapids to Madison which was an accurately predicted 50 miles. The one thing that I didn't count on (somehow) was that it was downpouring when I left the house this morning. I went out to load the bike in the car and was completely soaked in my gear for the day and I hadn't even left yet. I came back into the house to grab a towel and my arm warmers (since it was only in the 60's) and drove back to Dell Rapids.

It's always hard to tell how many folks have left camp when you show up like I did today, but I hit the road at about 6:30 again expecting that there would be at least 100 riders ahead of me. I think I passed 12 all day. The wind was still out of the southeast which would help us for all but the first little stretch. I headed the first seven miles east into the wind and into a downpour. It wasn't horribly cold, but the rain bit into my legs as though each drop contained a small metal shard. Thankfully, I love riding in the rain (with no lightning) and did my best to see through my fogged, wet Oakleys and keep it on the road. My feet felt like they were underwater as my shoes channeled not only the rain from above, but the streams of water that I was kicking up from below.

When I turned north, I got my first taste of how different today would be than yesterday.The rain hadn't given up, but the wind was a welcome friend instead of vengeful adversary. I flew along on cracked chip and seal roads (not my favorite riding surface) with visions of Paris Roubaix and some of the Belgian spring classic races in my head. I hit the town of Trent at 17 miles and saw what was to be my last rider of the day as he pulled into a rest stop for breakfast.

About two miles farther down the road I started wondering what my average speed was. I took a quick peak and saw that I was just a shade under 19 mph, not bad for riding solo and having done the first seven miles into the wind. My plan had been to ride straight through today as I'm used to doing 50 mile rides and had more than enough food and drink to get me to Madison. Now my plan included seeing how close I could push my average to 20 mph.

Things were going smoothly enough with the road surface as my only adversary, but when I hit Lake County, the surface turned to fairly new, smooth blacktop and I really took off. I started wondering if I was the first rider on the road and found myself looking back every once in awhile to see if anyone was coming with me.

Things continued this way until I hit Lake Madison. I know the area a little from doing a few deliveries out that way and knew that the ride was supposed to keep us on the south side of the lake. Usually there are pink signs with arrows at intersections telling us whether to turn or go straight. I saw no such arrows and the map that I carried (in a plastic back) was not detailed enough to tell me exactly what roads I was supposed to take. I realized shortly that I was not on the prescribed route and doubled back the 500 yards or so that I'd gone to grab the road that I thought I was supposed to be on. I kept thinking I would begin to see signs of some sort, but none were forthcoming. I knew that if I kept going straight, I would eventually hit highway 19 and could head north to get myself to Madison.

It turned out that for the last 15 miles, I had to go forward with no idea whether I was on the route or not. The map showed that I was to follow 19 to 34 and follow that into Madison. This I did. Then, I had to improvise. I rode into town not knowing where the camp was supposed to be. I called Amy to see if she had the details in the stuff the Argus sent me, but the info she had didn't shed much light on things.

The map I had included a couple of contact numbers for sag support for the ride, so I tried calling one of them to see if they could tell me where I was going, but the number that I had was for someone that apparently wasn't doing support that day, so he gave me another number. The next number was helping with the ride that day, but they were back in Trent where I had seen my last bike rider and started trying to give me instructions based on local landmarks. This proved less than helpful as I have never been in the town of Madison in my life. She finally told me to go to a convenience store to ask for directions. I stopped at the nearest one I could find, but the lady behind the counter didn't have the slightest idea of where to send me. I rode another three blocks to the Shell station and finally got detailed instructions only to discover that I had almost been in the right place when I called Amy.

I talked to Amy to let her know where I had arrived at and discovered from the plentiful volunteers standing around waiting for things to begin that I was, in fact, the first rider to arrive. My 20.4 mph average had been fast enough so that my slight detours and destinational confusion were unable to keep me from arriving first.

I got to mingle with the volunteers for a bit since I wasn't hungry yet and needed Amy to arrive with clothes before I could shower. Riders began to filter in about 45 minutes later and I had a chance to hang with a few of them for a bit before Amy and the kiddos rolled in. I loaded the bike up and hit the showers before downing a chili cheese baked potato, slice of pepperoni pizza and a Rockstar energy drink for an early lunch.

We were just about to head out when my friend Tim rolled in. He seemed in a rather jovial mood and we chatted for about ten minutes. I was glad to get to bookend my two days of the TdK with conversations with Tim. It reminded me of the circumstances that Amy and I found ourselves in when we met Tim having just moved back from Indiana with a vague sense of God's leading and no idea what we were doing or what the next two years were going to hold. I love the position that we find ourselves in now and have said on more than one occasion that I believe we are in a season of blessing.

The day concluded with a trip back to Dell Rapids to pick up the car before heading home. I finally got a nap in this afternoon and should return to work tomorrow without being too worn out but with a few more stories to tell.

I wonder where the TdK will go next year.