Earlier this year Mary Crawley posted a message
on the Georgia Randonneuring list. It was a
request for a tandem captain to ride the Georgia
600K. This presented an interesting opportunity
as I'm always interested in mixing up the rides.
A tandem brevet would provide a whole new
perspective to the Georgia series. Mary and I
successfully rode both the Georgia 300K and 600K
brevets together. The latter we rode straight
through, a brutal ride that got me thinking of
various modifications if I were to ever pursue
a 1200K on the tandem.
After riding the Cascade 1200K with Ed Felker
and Mary Gersema, I contacted Mary Crawley about
riding BMB. She had unsuccessfully attempted it
the previous year, but was willing to give it
another try. I rode BMB in 2002, and had an
idea of what to expect on the ride. Our first
task was to decide on a ride strategy. Mary worked
out a proposed schedule, including the following
overnight stops:
I made the following modifications to my tandem:
a) new chain rings with lower gearing; b) Panaracer
35C tires. The tires had just enough clearance,
but we would come to appreciate riding these fat
tires on the bumpy New England roads.
Shipping the tandem turned out to be easily
handled through Sports Express for $100 each
way. The airlines would have charged $80
each way and I would have had to drag the
huge tandem box - kindly lent to me by Paul
Kitchens - through the airport terminals.
Thursday - Day One
We started out with the 4am group, the same as
most of the BMB riders wearing our night gear.
We waited for most of the riders to clear
out so we had room to maneuver the tandem. It
appeared that we were to be the only tandem
riders on the course this year.
Traffic was almost nonexistent early in
the morning so we had a chance to chat with
the other riders. About 10 miles into the
ride someone pointed out that our tool bag
was rubbing against the rear wheel. Apparently
Mary's seat post had dropped a bit, so we stopped
to raise it. I also used a velcro strap to
secure the tool bag tighter against her saddle.
The suspension seatpost was to cause us problems
all morning. It would slowly, inperceptibly
drop over the bumpy roads. Finally I got just
the right amount of torque on the bolts (without
snapping them, thankfully) and the seatpost
stayed in place for the remainder of our ride.
This issue has been a problem in the past and I
may consider an alternative (e.g. Cane Creek
Thudbuster) for future events.
As daylight arrived we took off our night gear
and were treated to the gorgeous rolling New
England countryside. The temperatures stayed in
the perfect 60-80F range all day. Our first
control stop was Bullard Farm (mile 75) about five
hours into the ride. We refilled our CamelBaks
with water, ate a quick breakfast, then moved on.
One thing that everyone "knows" about riding a
1200K is that you have to ride it at your own
pace. Sometimes this fact gets forgotten when
riding with a group of fast riders. Fortunately
with the tandem it was easy to ride within our
pace because that was often our *only* pace.
We crossed briefly through the tip of New Hampshire
then into Vermont. Mary's ride schedule took
into account the terrain which included climbing
up Mt. Grace and Mt. Pisgah. I recall the latter
fairly well because there was a secret control at
the summit in 2002. Although the day was warming
up, we were blessed with lot of shade in the
Pisgah State Forest. The roads were much improved
compared to my earlier BMB ride.
All morning I'd been anticipating fried rice, a
traditional staple at the Brattleboro control,
and it did not disappoint us. Although we stopped
to sit down and eat, we still managed to keep our
off-bike time to a minimum. Fueled with fried rice
we started out on a busy stretch on Route 5, but
soon turned onto the smaller roads that would lead
us to Ludlow. The first section of this stretch
includes a series of extended rolling hills. We
would frequently be passed by singles only to pass
them again on the descents. Along this section
we were passed by many of the faster 6am riders,
many of whom looked grim and determined.
Two more major climbs - up Andover Ridge and up
the easy side of Mt. Terrible - then a 2 mile
descent down a 10% grade brought us into Ludlow. The
control at Ludlow is fairly small, but everything
is easy to access (food, water, bikes, and drop
bags). Cheese macaroni, rice and peanut butter
on saltine crackers filled out a pleasantly bland
meal. Our last major climb of the day would be
Middlebury Gap. We were still feeling pretty
strong.
In Ludlow we installed a powerful Light & Motion
lighting system, brought along at Mary's insistence
to supplement my Schmidt hub/E6 light. A single
charge on the L&M provides 5-6 hours of riding,
and we had a second charger waiting for us in
Williston.
Shortly after leaving Ludlow a bat (yes, a bat!)
hit the side of my face on a short descent. I
was more surprised/amused than hurt, though
it left a minor welt on my skin. However, we
soon encountered our first major mechanical
issue - one that was to haunt us through the
remainder of the ride.
As I shifted out of our big ring on a climb the
chain dropped in between the rings and jammed
hard in two places. At first I attempted to use
a hex wrench to gently ease out the chain. The
manner in which it was jammed didn't give me much
leverage to extract it and I was worried about
twisting the chain. I recalled riding a 400K in
South Carolina several years ago when the same
problem occurred with Cary Way's bike, which
caused him to DNF. Afterwards, either Bill Glass
or Alan Gosart told me the problem could be
solved by simply loosening the chainring bolts
to free the stuck chain.
In the meantime Jerry Phelps had stopped to
assist. I didn't want him to lose time, but he
insisted on staying until we got back on the
road. Finally, after 30 minutes of tinkering I
got the chain fixed and my hands and gloves
covered in grease. Jerry pulled out some Wet
Wipes and gave us the entire pack. I had been
calling him Gary since the Georgia 300K, because
I misheard him on our first introduction.
Meanwhile, Mary was waiting patiently, offering
kind words of encouragement to my fumbling efforts.
Just as we were getting ready to depart, Pierce
pulled up in the support van. He waited for us
to depart, making sure I hadn't bollixed up our
roadside repair by weakening the chain.
The climb up Killington wasn't too bad. We had
a nice easy descent while there was still enough
light outside to enjoy it, then mentally prepared
for the last major climb up Middlebury Gap.
Climbing up the south side of Middlebury Gap
isn't as steep as the return trip, but it still
has a tough section up towards the end of the climb.
We stopped to manually put the chain into our granny
gear then proceed slowly up the road. For the most
part we had to stay in the saddle spinning, with
brief respites of standing up to give us some relief
from the saddle and our leg muscles.
I was pretty impressed with our steady progress.
It was a hard effort this late into the ride, but
we kept our legs spinning and our breathing under
control. At the summit we donned on an extra
layer and were soon joined by other riders. We
gave everyone some time to descend first so we
wouldn't be attempting to pass them on a difficult
technical section. As the descent flattened out,
we joined up with some other riders who were having
a hard time finding the Middlebury control.
At Middlebury we encountered many of the riders
who'd already changed clothes and were preparing
to bed down for the evening. Our plan was to
keep pedaling down the road another 38 miles and
check into a motel in Williston. We left Middlebury
after a brief meal, sometime around 11pm.
The distance between the Middlebury and Rouses
Point controls is almost 90 miles, so having an
overnight in Williston helped break up a long
stretch of riding. It was mostly rolling
terrain, well-suited for tandem riding. Traffic
was light and we could relax and carry on a
conversation. I was riding caffeine-free so
far and was only slightly drowsy. Just enough
to slow our pace, but not enough to cause
serious impairment. Caffeine tablets were
available if the situation should change.
During this portion we were pretty happy about
our progress. We would soon arrive in Williston
on schedule and have completed a pretty good chunk
of the ride on the first day. We were pretty much
riding solo this entire leg since many of the other
riders had decided to spend the night in Middlebury
or were much further down the road.
We arrived in Williston around 2:10am and it was a
treat. We had shipped fresh clothes/toiletries there
to await our arrival. Maybe it's counter to the
hardcore randonneur ethos, but there's nothing as
refreshing as a hot shower, a warm bed, and a
room with heat and A/C to lift your spirits at
the end of a hard day's riding.
Our sleep goal was to get rested in 90 minute
increments and maximize daylight riding hours. I
brought along a small kitchen timer to punch just
before we hit the sack - giving us 3 hours of
sleep, plus a bit more to wind down. We'd be
ready to roll at 6:30 am, just as the breakfast
bar opened up.
Friday - Day Two
Amazingly we were up, ready and relatively
refreshed in the morning. We joined a few other
riders for breakfast. Mary microwaved a ham &
cheese biscuit for road fuel and I packed a
couple extra bananas.
Pleasant temperatures and a sunny sky lay ahead
to greet our morning departure. As we pedaled
down the road with a mild tailwind, we rode
around Lake Champlain and caught up with some of
the other riders, most of whom had left Middlebury
before dawn. We saw Dan Wallace, who finished the
Cascade 1200K in June and Chris Kaiser who was
back riding on his recumbent bike. Both had ridden
all night with virtually no sleep. Dan was
relatively alert, but Chris appeared to be
working hard to maintain his concentration. I
know the feeling well.
We soon encountered a small group of riders and
offered to pull them into Rouses Point. After a
short stretch they decided to pull off, not being
able to maintain our pace without breaking up
their group. We'd see them soon enough again at
the control. We also saw many of the faster
riders (including Tim Bol from Florida) heading back
inbound on their return leg. By this time Tim was
over 100 miles ahead of us and I'd estimated that
he'd reached the halfway point in 24 hours - a
very impressive ride for such a hilly course.
Refueling at Rouses Point is critical. There are
50 miles of road to cover and nowhere to stop
until you reach Huntingdon, Quebec. We ate
another meal and topped off our CamelBaks.
Shortly after we left, we crossed the Canadian
border. I didn't even have to present my ID.
As we rode into Quebec, it became obvious we
were riding in a foreign country because all
the signs were in French.
Except for one major climb, this section of the
profile looks pretty flat. The appearance can be
deceiving. With the sunny day and lack of shade,
we weren't able to take advantage of the terrain.
About 25 miles into this section we encountered
the dreaded Covey Hill. I knew from 2002, that
it's appearance from a distance looks worse than
the actual climb. Back then, I thought it was a
fire break rather than the road we were to climb.
We were slowly passed by other riders up to the
approach of Covey Hill, then had to stop when our
chain (again!) jammed between cogs. For this and
all successive jams however, I didn't have to
loosened the chainring bolts. We now recognized
the problem whenever it occurred and immediately
stopped pedaling. It was still a pain to dismount
the tandem and manually extract the chain, getting
my fingers covered with chain muck. I joked about
having my hand tattooed black so I didn't have to
keep wiping off the grease.
Mary provided solid power all through the steep
section of Covey and we soon crested the summit,
drenched in sweat. The remaining miles into
Huntingdon took us over some rough roads. We
were gradually - almost imperceptively - losing
some elevation as we passed some of the earlier
riders in Huntingdon.
Some years ago the control in Huntingdon had a
poor reputation for the quality of the food. This
has since been remedied. Ladies awaited to take
our order for almost any kind of sandwich imaginable.
My only complaint was the lack of ice to fill our
CamelBaks for the return journey, but this was
a minor gripe. I ate half a turkey and cheese
sandwich, packed the other half, and ate many
slices of fresh watermelon. Mary had a sandwich
and drank a couple of Cokes. I was going to
attempt a soda - neither the water nor the
Gatorade was very cold - but couldn't decide
if it contained caffeine. Canada may have
different labeling requirements and I didn't
want to take the risk.
After applying prodigious amounts of sunscreen -
something I neglected on the outbound leg - we
left Huntingdon in the heat of the day. Henk
Bouhuyzen was pulling a group of 5-6 riders out,
looking very strong. In 2002 we encountered a
strong headwind on this portion, but fortunately
had almost no wind at all today. The descent
down Covey Hill was bumpy and fun. I doubt we
hit 50 mph, though we could have easily exceeded
60 mph if I'd been willing to lay off the brakes.
As we approached the Canadian border, we started
to aggregate with other riders. About 7-8 of us
were grouped together behind a long line of cars.
Mary approached the border on foot, her DOJ ID in
hand, to ask if they would open up a line for the
BMB cyclists. No problem. Hey, it's great to get
the VIP treatment. After processing us through,
we made it back to Rouses Point a few minutes
later.
Another 55 miles and we'd be back in Williston,
possibly by midnight, right? Wrong. In the
first place, we were seriously depleted from
riding all day in the heat. Second, we were
to encounter a series of unexpected obstacles
along the way out.
Just 4 miles out of the control, about 7:15pm,
we saw Gerald Goode sitting on the shoulder of
the road, tangled up in his bike. A raccoon had
darted out into his front wheel and caused him
to crash. Mary called the Rouses Point control
and we waited for them to pick up Gerald. He
had landed on his shoulder, possibly separating
it, and was feeling somewhat nauseous. Once the
control staff arrived to take him to the hospital,
Mary and I remounted the tandem and continued
moving south.
The temperatures dropped back into a pleasant
range as the evening arrived, but we could not
get comfortable. A muscle in my left leg was
not working and prevented me from pedaling out
of the saddle. I was trying to explain this
to Mary and how it might effect the remainder
of our ride. This was BMB Low Point #1 - a
confluence where everything physically and
mentally conspired to bring us down. Mary was
having her own issues related to exhaustion and
soreness.
Along Lake Champlain a fox darted out, just missing
our front wheel. I was getting paranoid about
the wildlife, all of which appeared to be involved
in a conspiracy to ruin our ride. The oncoming
cars wouldn't dim their highbeams, so Mary suggested
we install our superbright L&M light. As I was
installing it, Pierce stopped by in the van to make
sure we weren't having any problems. He helped
block the lane from traffic as we pulled back onto
the road.
About 20 miles later we pulled into a market.
Mary had a coffee and I drank some chocolate
milk. Ten minutes later we were back on the
road, just as the Kentucky riders passed by.
I caught up with Dr. Royse, a General Practitioner,
and he proceeded to conduct an on-bike diagnosis.
His conclusion was that I'd torn my Tibialis
anterior (?) and suggested a remedy: I could
tightly wrap an arm warmer around that part of
my leg to support the muscle. Knowing what the
problem was, and that there might be some relief,
helped get me through the remainder of this section,
but it was still quite a slog into Williston - probably
even harder on Mary. We were never so happy as
to finally check back into our room around 2am.
For a supposedly easy portion of the route, today's
ride had been pretty rough.
Saturday - Day Three
As with all things related to randonneuring,
everything looks better in the light of morning.
We stopped to eat in the lobby and were back on
the road no later than 7am. The morning was dark
and heavy with clouds and crosswinds.
I had tied a bright red arm warmer (complements
of Gran Fondo) around my left leg in a square
knot, almost as tight as a tourniquet. Dr.
Royse's suggested remedy appeared to be working,
but I wouldn't know for certain until later in
the day.
Our plan for was to ride 160 miles into Brattleboro.
It was not too many miles compared to the previous
days, but a lot of climbing. But once we reached the
summit of Middlebury Gap, we would be progressively
dropping elevation into Brattleboro. The Brattleboro
control was an important goal, because it meant that
we'd have less than 200K to ride on our final day.
We soon joined Steve Rice and Steve Royse on the
way to Middlebury. Dr. Royse asked how the
homemade sling was doing and I thanked him for
his advice. We rode into one of the small
Vermont towns around 8:00 am and stopped in a
drugstore to purchase an Ace bandage. The arm
warmer was working, but the knot was rubbing
against my leg. Steve Rice was disappointed
when he next saw us -- he said the Ace bandage
lacked the style of trendy gangbanger fashion.
The skies soon darkened and it began to rain.
The temps were pretty reasonable, so my light
rain jacket was more than enough protection. After
the heat of yesterday's ride, a little rain was
welcome.
The rain continued on and off until we arrived in
Middlebury. In 2002, Mike DeLong and I had
wandered around Middlebury at midnight in a daze
trying to reach the friggin' control. Seeing our
approach today in the daylight, it's no wonder we
were so confused. The inbound route meanders around
the backside of the control through a residential
area - you lose all sense of reference.
At the Middlebury control we grabbed our drop
bags and withdrew everything we'd need to make it
into Brattleboro. It was raining on my last BMB
and I remember how cold we were around the
Saxton's River section. So I grabbed every bit
of warm clothing available and suggested the same
to Mary.
I was about to grab some cold pizza, then saw
Mary with shredded wheat and milk. Thinking
maybe she had the better idea, I adopted it for
my breakfast and perhaps saved myself a nasty
case of heartburn. I should mention that all
along the way we were getting complimented on
our progress. As we were representing the only
tandem riders in this year's BMB, we were grateful
for the encouragement. At every control we either
announced, or were told, that we were still leading
the tandem division. A heartening thought!
Just before we left Middlebury, I got one of the
support mechanics to check out our shifting problem.
There was a lot of gunk in the chain and a slight
burr on a cog tooth, but he couldn't find
anything wrong. Mary and I left to begin the
climb up Middlebury Gap, the steep side. After
a brief warmup, we got into spinning mode.
Periodically we'd climb out of the saddle.
Before the climb got really steep, we were
joined by someone just out for a Saturday ride.
We chatted about BMB and the tandem for a while,
Mary carrying on most of the conversation.
As we approached the steeper section of the climb
I pulled off so we could manually put the chain
into the granny gear since we were still having it
frequently drop between chainrings. We got the
tandem launched sideways across the street and
back up the hill. The lower gears helped, but
it was still quite an effort to climb the gap.
Somewhere at the other end of the valley near
Killington we saw Steve Royse sitting under a
tree changing a flat tire. Steve was having lots
of mechanical problems on this ride. By the time
he arrived back in Boston, he would have 7 flats,
trouble with his freewheel (twice) and destroy
a couple of tires.
To save time inflating his flat, I used a CO2
cartridge, but it sprayed back in my face. Okay,
the tube has a bad valve. No problem, we've got
plenty of tubes. Next attempt. Nada. The tire
won't seat properly on the rim. Not wanting to
waste another cartridge (we had more waiting for us
in our Ludlow drop bags), I attempted to inflate
it using his pump. The tire still won't seat
properly.
Fortunately we had brought along a spare tire and
Steve is soon back in business. Our Panaracer tires
are holding out admirably, so I don't think we'll
need a spare. Anyway, BMB support is exemplary,
so we probably won't have to wait long in the
unlikely event we totally destroy a tire.
In the meantime, I've neglected Mary who's gotten
chilly sitting on top of the mountain. I've kept
warm by fiddling with Steve's tire. We have a
long descent coming up, which will chill us even
more, but once we lose some elevation and start
pedaling again we warm up.
After many miles of descending the terrain starts
to flatten out - though we're still losing
elevation over the next 20 miles. It's still
raining and we climb back up Killington with lots
of frogs on the road. Squish, squish. The southbound
ascent is much greater than in inbound climb, about
3000 meters. Finally we descend and start making
our way over the final 20 miles into Ludow.
This portion is pretty easy, but Mary is not saying
much at all, usually a sign that she's experiencing
some discomfort. Steve Royse is still at the control
when we arrive and he diagnoses her problem as tendonitis
in her knees. A control staffer takes her upstairs
where they can apply ice packs. Apparently they don't
want to do this in the main area because everyone will
want some ice for their knees too, but they can see
that Mary is in need of the treatment.
Despite Mary's tendonitis, I'm not too worried.
We have plenty of gears and can spin up the
remaining climbs at a comfortable pace without
putting to much stress on her knees. I have
slight tendonitis in my right knee, but it very
minor compared to my earlier problems. Someone
suggests that we raise Mary's saddle. I'm
reluctant to do this given our earlier problems
in keeping the suspension seatpost raised. The
net result could be worse if the seatpost won't
stay put.
When Mary comes down, she's in better shape.
The ice packs have done their job. The quality
of the food in Ludow has deteriorated since our
Thursday arrival, but I eat lightly and pack a
baked potato for road fuel. Next time I ride BMB
I intend to stop at one of the local restaurants
in Ludlow. (Like Taco Taco, yeah!)
Only 55 miles to our goal for tonight, the magic
town of Brattleboro. We're careful to pack lots
of warm clothes because it's raining and will be
getting dark soon. So far the rain hasn't been
too chilly except for the descent down Middlebury
Gap, but I know from previous experience that the
temperatures can drop rapidly.
We start riding immediately up the hard side of Mt.
Terrible, but with rested legs we're making good
progress. Our goal is to get most of the
descending out of the way while there's still
some daylight hours. Traffic eases up as we
leave Ludlow.
As it gets dark, I get more skittish about
descending. The roads are wet with buckled up
surfaces that are difficult to negotiate. Mary
take the brunt of these bumpy sections, since I
often can't find a line to steer around them.
We're often riding through a combination of mist
and fog, so even our powerful L&M light doesn't
provide much assistance. My clear night lenses
have become a hindrance, so I remove them.
My memory of this section is somewhat fuzzy,
given how tired we were, but I think we were in
pretty good spirits. Despite the rain and dark,
we kept moving and were never too chilly. I was
mostly up and down with a couple of long climbs.
Traffic wasn't too bad and we had time to
converse and listen to the river. Our lights
against the trees played tricks with my eyes and
the lack of a fog line kept my attention focused
on the edge of the road.
About halfway to Brattleboro we encountered an
open market. It was warmer outside sitting on a
bench than inside with the A/C on. Mary picked
up a fresh turkey sandwich and split it with me.
The brief respite did us a world of good and we
took off into the evening before we got too
chilly.
As we got closer to Brattleboro, the rain picked
up. We began to pick up our pace, anticipating a
warm, dry motel room and hot showers. I was
grateful we had made reservations at the Motel 6
in Brattleboro, since other riders would have to
backtrack in the rain to find a place to stay.
At the Brattleboro control the constant rain had
penetrated through all the tables and chairs set
up in the parking lot, so everyone was huddled
against the building. Pretty much everything
Mary and I had was soaked through, except the dry
stuff in our drop bags. I changed into dry
clothes then sat down to eat some cracker and hot
soup.
At this point the toughest part of BMB was over.
We could get some sleep, eat breakfast, then have
a mere 112 miles (less than 200K!) left to ride
on our final day. We decided to sleep 3 hours,
which would put us on the road just after
daybreak.
Sunday - Day 4
A couple hours later I was woken with the sounds
of heavy thunder and lightening. My right leg
was bent in a 90 degree angle and I couldn't
unbend it - probably related to the torn muscle,
since I didn't sleep with the Ace bandage on.
I spent 20 minutes slowly massaging it, gently
increasing its range of motion, and was finally
able to get walking again.
I went downstairs to check our tandem. It was
thoroughly soaked through because all the other
bikes had gotten the choice parking spots.
Despite the rain, the temperature was pretty
reasonable. I put on a wool jersey, wool knee
warmers, and a light rain jacket. Breakfast was
shredded wheat, skim milk, and a bagel with
peanut butter. Conditions were somewhat cramped,
so we ate quickly then moved back to sort out our
gear for the final day.
We left out with a group of riders which included
Judith Swallow from the UK. She and her late
tandem partner used to ride very fast long
distance rides together, and she shared some of
her acquired wisdom of tandem riding.
About 7 miles out of Brattleboro Mary mentioned
that her bike computer had stopped working,
possibly because we'd left the tandem out in the
rain. We stopped and exchanged bike computers
(I'd even brought a third spare) and checked the
physical contacts, magnet, etc. to no avail. No
matter. My computer still worked and I could
call out the mileage at her request.
We still had two more tough climbs on the way to
New Salem, but with fresh legs and the rain
keeping the temperatures down, we just set to
work on Mt. Pisgah and Mt. Grace. A number of
other riders complimented us whenever we were
standing and pedaling out of the saddle, saying
that it's obvious we'd spent a lot of time
practicing (ha!). One of the of riders mentioned
that he'd love to do some distance riding on his
tandem, but he and his wife were never able to
prefect the technique of pedaling out of the saddle.
The kudos go to Mary who kept her form smooth
throughout the ride. It's relatively easy for
the captain to stand, but if the stoker rocks
side-to-side, the tandem won't remain stable.
Jim Koegel from Ohio rode with us on the way into
Bullard Farm. He reminded me that we'd first rode
together on a hilly SC 400K in 2002, where we'd
each gotten separately lost. We jammed our chain
(again) just a couple miles before the control and
rode in alone.
Along the way in I kept pointing out orange
salamanders on the road. Mary didn't see them.
Flashback: On my Furnace Creek 508 ride I
counted maybe 40-50 scorpions on the road, but my
crew couldn't see them from the support vehicle
(nor the two tarantulas). Afterwards, when I
mentioned this in my ride report, some people
assumed that I was suffering from a sleep-deprived
hallucination. So the next time I saw one of those
critters, I turned the tandem around, went back
point it out to Mary. She can now can confirm that
I wasn't hallucinating. There actually were orange
salamanders on the road!
At Bullard Farm we stopped for a second breakfast.
The mood of most the riders was cheerful since
everyone who makes it this far is certain to finish
on time.
Outbound from Bullard Farm is my favorite part of
the BMB ride. Usually the weather is forgiving.
Most of the hard climbing is over and there's
only 75 miles left to the finish. We left Bullard
Farm riding with a group that included some of the
people we'd started with in Brattleboro. The clouds
started to break up not ten minutes after we left
Bullard Farm, so we stopped to shed rain gear and
apply sunscreen.
The next 30 miles were pretty much longish climbs
and descents. We'd rush past the group on the
way down, only to have them pass us halfway up
the next hill. Some of the group wanted to stop
and eat about 40 miles outside of Newton, but Mary
and I didn't want to lose our momentum. We rode
on for another few miles in search of a market
for water and a snack. After a short break we
were back on the tandem in the heat of the day.
Soon afterwards, we were joined by the Kentucky
riders. The last 20-30 miles is mostly flat to
downhill, so we started picking up the speed.
We kept the pace up over 20 mph, knowing that
it would help make the miles go by. Mary
kept me fed with Gu gels every 30 minutes
because we never slacked our pace to slow down
and eat - though we were careful not to drop
anyone who started out with us.
Finally, just one mile before the finish, Steve
Rice's left pedal got locked up and wouldn't
turn. I had to laugh, if only because it was so
close to the finish line. After our blistering
pace over the past 25 miles, it would be amusing
to limp in at 7 mph, following Steve pedaling
with one leg.
Steve kept kicking at the pedal in frustration
however, and finally loosened it up enough to
turn with some effort. Five minutes later we
rolled across the finish line to the cheers of
the staff and earlier riders.
We made it. Mary and I completed the challenging
terrain of BMB on a tandem in 84 hours and 38
minutes. Even more remarkable is that this was
only our third time to ever ride the tandem together.
Virtually all of our training had been done separately.
Mary deserves a great deal of the credit for getting us
across the finish line. She bore the brunt of my
missed shifts, frequent changes in cadence, unannounced
sudden stops, and the arbitrary whims of the road.
Conclusions
A ride like this tends to strip away the thin
veneer of civility we normally wear. Between the
pain and exhaustion lies an abyss of hurt
feelings, suspicion, anger and despair. We saw
much of this manifested out on the road or at the
controls, but never with each other. Sometimes I
would forget to say "Please" or "Thank you". But
neither Mary nor I never exchanged anything but
encouragement to each other.
The frequent problems with our chain jamming
caused most of our mechanical frustration.
Stopping to manually extract the chain slowed
down our momentum and was generally discouraging.
It also made it difficult for others to ride with
us. Since the derailleur checked out okay, I'm
now suspecting it may have been a problem with
the left shifter, which had recently taken a spill.
Despite these annoyances, I'm glad we brought low
gears for this ride. No flats. The big, fat
Panaracer 35C tires served us well.
Lantiseptic is the One True Cream. I have been
proselytizing this stuff since the Cascade 1200K
with a fervor that would make a Jesuit blush.
Begone all you false worshipers of Bag Balm,
Chamois Butt'r, and Assos Cream. Lantiseptic has
the viscosity of caulking compound and requires a
putty knife to apply. Once it's applied however,
Lantiseptic stays on through rain, sweat, and
friction. Mary has joined the faithful.
Riding on the tandem is a blast. I purchased my
Co-Motion Speedster secondhand on a whim, not
really sure if I'd even enjoy tandem riding. It
changes the dynamics of a long distance ride, but
the advantages greatly outweigh any negative
aspects, especially if you're fortunate enough to
be riding with a stoker as strong and dedicated
as Mary Crawley