Jim Joy (32:41) Jim has been riding brevets for many years and has ...

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Michelle’s first brevet was the AV 400k a few weeks ago. She followed up with this 600k. Michelle has been riding 150+ mile rides for a number of years. She was the only woman to enter and complete the ride. Yeah, that was a tough ride. Females seem to be an under-represented group since I was the only one. I did finish, though I think I was the last to come in. It was around 8:30 (I can't even remember the exact time now) when I got to the parking lot. I didn't think the hills were nearly as difficult as the 400k, but I ride in the coulees of WI quite a bit. These were very spinnable. The thing about it for me was that I did very nearly the whole thing alone except for a couple of very short periods - lots of solitude. I usually ride with my friend, Rick, but he was unavailable this weekend. Kind of like Robin riding without Batman. I definitely used quite a bit more energy both physical and mental being alone. Just having someone to pace off of makes a difference when you are going for hours and hours. No one to quick duck behind while you are eating something to avoid losing speed. But I really didn't mind and had a great time. I stopped for a rest in West Union at midnight, but I should have continued on because I never slept anyways and I really enjoyed the night riding. I started back up at 4:30 am and saw a spectacular sunrise through the fog. I was amazed at the number of deer. One of them actually watched me do a big climb somewhere outside Harmony. He stood at the top and would hide when cars came by, but would then retake his post watching. Maybe he thought I was another deer? I wanted to ask him if he had any gatorade, but he decide to bolt once I got about 20 feet away. I had seen a nutritionist about how many calories to eat since previously I always completed long rides but with low energy and loopiness for 2 days afterwards. Though this year is the first I have done brevets, I've been riding 150+ rides for several years. The nutritionist suggested Hammer Sustained Energy so I tried that out. Instead of gatorade, I mixed it in a shaker at the controls. Sure enough, I didn't have any blood sugar issues and despite the fact that I never felt like eating solid food, I never got really hungry (the nutritionist said to shoot for about 500 calories per hour based on data from my heart rate monitor during my spring rides). I am completely lucid today (unlike after the 400k). One thing I still have to work on for rides over 300 miles is electrolytes though I must have had about 6 V- 8s every day (one per control). It stopped me for about an hour and a half in Highland (12 miles from Rushford). Outside Harmony I started feeling very strange and had some really odd non-bonking kind of symptoms like unstoppable non-salty tears, sweats and having my nose run constantly. Though I could still think very clearly, I had trouble with fine motor coordination - I thought I was going to have to call it quits. But I was saved by fortune. There is a really old looking cafe on the corner in Highland that I went into that I thought would be a greasy spoon, but was actually run by health food gurus. They gave me spoonfuls of Celtic salts and a shot glass of liquid magnesium (not to mention some really good pie once I felt better). That place is a must visit for Highland the next time you go through. I also had the misfortune of getting a bunch of tar on my rear wheel somewhere outside Chatfield - must have been the hot weather but it seemed like the tar got quite soft. That led to the first of 3 flat tires between Chatfield and Stewartville. I finally lined the tire with all my tire boots and all my money to protect my last tube and that lasted the last 30 miles. I took the remainder of my gel in Stewartville and powered my way to the finish with only a very quick stop at the Byron control. I absolutely loved the scenery. For me, the highlight was West Union to Elkader and back. I went out starting at 7 and returned at midnight so I saw the sunset, dusk and the night with the stars and moon. Breathtaking. I am definitely doing the Iowa 600K in July and will ride through the night. Will see everyone again on the road. I think I will be doing the 300k in August as well. Congrats to everyone. Especially Ahi - I know he totally rode through the night by himself - I asked about him at the
Quik Trip as I pulled out on Sunday so I now he made it through the second visit to West Union. He's a machine! What a guy. Mike Fox (Waterloo, Ia) (36:21) Mike has been riding brevets for a number of years and has completed several 1200k rides, including PBP. Mike also has set up a number of permanent routes in the Waterloo area. I had a good ride, but I was kinda surprised how tired I was at the finish. With low winds I felt pretty good most of the time and had a pretty confident attitude. I even felt pretty good about the stretch between Rushford and Chatfield. It is definitely a tough stretch though. I debated on whether to stop in Chatfield or not and decided to stop get refreshed and then thought I would basically push to end. Something I learned was that a tough stretch of road may not be done with you even after you have completed it. I rode a steady pace to Stewartville, got my card signed, slammed a V8 and off I was. I had assumed that I would barely stop in Byron to get my card signed. About 10 miles out of Stewartville, I started to feel weak and had to focus on keeping the bike going. I got some refreshments in Byron which allowed me to get up Oxbow hill. Just when I thought I had it in the bag that last stretch got long. In hindsight, I should have probably taken in some calories in Stewartville even though there was only 30 miles to go. From Mike’s response a day later. I'm glad to hear how your ride went and that overall it went well. I was feeling decent when I arrived in West Union on the return. The thought had crossed my mind to keep riding, but then I remembered that the winds were not supposed to be bad on Sunday and no one was heading out at that time so I opted for the nearly full night's sleep. In hindsight, I would have liked to do the hill section in the cool of night. Richard Soderberg (32:56) Richard started riding brevets last year with TCBC and has continued to growth his interest and success. He achieved Super Randonneur status with the completion of this ride. Rob, I've put together some thoughts after completing my first 600k. If you think this can be helpful to other new riders, feel free to use in your article. The theme of my experiences, and lessons learned, in every brevet so far---but maybe most so in the recent Rochester 600k---is: it's all about variation, variation, variation. First, I'm adapting to the fact that not just one type of food or energy supply will work for an entire brevet; variation is needed. At the beginning of a brevet, things are usually fairly rosy on the nutritional front: gels taste good, energy bars taste good, and so on. After a few hours, though, my body won't take any more of that, so I need to look for variation in whatever is available at the controls: so far, muffins, bananas, energy drinks, cola, coffee, hot chocolate, sandwiches, potato chips, cookies, pizza, candy bars and even apples have worked for me at various times, but there is no one food that will always fit the bill.
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Jim Joy (32:41) Jim has been riding brevets for many years and has ...

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