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General Category >> Ride Reports >> Tippecanoe and Tyler too
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Message started by aikigreg on Jul 12^th, 2010, 2:18pm

Title: Tippecanoe and Tyler too
Post by aikigreg on Jul 12^th, 2010, 2:18pm

So Friday I spent hours and hours in the thunderstorms and got (sun) burned and trashed. Saturday was iffy so I stayed out of the Peach pedal. And was glad I did since yesterday I tackled this George Evans route from Rockwall to Canton, to Tyler, and Back with Steve Barlowe, Mark Metcalfe, Gary and Dana, Debbie Breaud, and Charlie who I don't think I knew.

Legs were a little heavy and rubbery at the start, so it was a good thing I'd taken all of Saturday off. I still hadn't recovered from the 11 hour 200k on Friday. This route is an out and back, and is extremely deceptive. It's nearly downhill all the way to Tyler, and I hadn't noticed it at all. The stops were all chop-chop and Steve Barlowe and I hit the turnaround control, and the first control on the way back, way ahead of everyone. But I was feeling it by then and wanted to stay inside in the a/c until I stopped sweating completely. It didn't help that I was under-caloried. Hot water and mix, and very little food that works with my diet left me under-caloried. Steve and I left behind everyone but caught up after a few miles.

Mark Metcalfe decided, like he always does, to just start ratcheting up the pace and I hung on his wheel until we started some seriously long climbs up to Canton. We'd catch up on a couple good downhills but mostly Mark just drifted away and we rolled into the control a couple minutes back behind him. (I say we, and I mean ME. Steve could have gone on at any time - he was great on the bike even after a layoff.)

Everyone again rolled out ahead and this time we never caught up. I thought I had a loose cleat and stopped (it's just finally wearing out after 20k miles), Steve lost a bottle, and then we hit this section of rough road, then 2 stretches of pretty nasty fresh boulderseal, uphill, sun right in your eyes. I was limping along and in a lot of pain and took an extra long break in Terrell as well as one on the side of the road, where I noticed my FRONT tire unraveling. Got some calories and painkillers and things were much better after that. The sun had fallen just enough and cooled down just enough that my pace picked up and we rocketed back to Rockwall.

Had an awesome time in spite of the heat, and no nausea so I think I'm good there now - I was really worried about that. Also had my longest rando weekend ever (524k) and my fastest 300k time in spite of everything with a 15h5min. What's not to like?

Title: Re: Tippecanoe and Tyler too
Post by FlyingLaZBoy on Jul 12^th, 2010, 4:29pm

Greg, glad we could put you up for the night, so your drive to Rockwall was nice and short in the morning, and glad you had a good ride... However, having your bedroom door closed must have P.O.'d one of the housecats something fierce, because there was a 6" log of cat doo-doo just inside of the front door (that I'm surprised we didn't step in) that I found just after you left... [smiley=huh.gif] [smiley=grin.gif] [smiley=tongue.gif]

Guess they (or at least one of them) didn't think much of you as a houseguest... [smiley=wink.gif]

Title: Re: Tippecanoe and Tyler too
Post by jayg on Jul 12^th, 2010, 4:39pm

What brand and model of tire unraveled on you, and about how many miles did you have on it?

Title: Re: Tippecanoe and Tyler too
Post by aikigreg on Jul 12^th, 2010, 8:43pm

Only in the fog of my exhaustion could I have forgotten to thank Paul, without whom none of this would be possible, as there was no freaking way I was getting up at 4am to drive to Rockwall.

And yes, I was tripping over cats every time I walked out of the room, so I can only presume that it must contain the door to the cat-universe with the "Kit-Kat Klub" just on the other side.

Jay, the tire was a Kenda, which comes standard on a lot of bikes and (hopefully) everyone knows it's a cheap and short-lived tire. I should have replaced them as soon as I got them, but wanted to wait until there was need. To my surprise they lasted probably 2000 miles over some tough terrain.

FlyingLaZBoy wrote:

Title: Re: Tippecanoe and Tyler too
Post by mleuck on Jul 12^th, 2010, 9:20pm

Front tire unraveling? Why does that sound familiar? :)

Title: Re: Tippecanoe and Tyler too
Post by barlows on Jul 13^th, 2010, 3:42am

Paul, I don't want to alarm you....but are you SURE it was cat doo-doo? Just asking.... you found it right after Greg left? [smiley=duel.gif]

Greg, it was great to catch back up. It's been too long.

Steve

Title: Re: Tippecanoe and Tyler too
Post by FlyingLaZBoy on Jul 13^th, 2010, 7:31am

barlows wrote:

Paul, I don't want to alarm you....but are you SURE it was cat doo-doo? Just asking.... you found it right after Greg left? [smiley=duel.gif]

Hee, hee... I'm not gonna comment....