I had been wanting to ride a double century, 200 miles, for the past couple of years, but somehow it had never happened. The timing was never right. When I had the time off work the weather would be 100 degrees, or there would be a 20 mile an hour wind, or I didn’t have anyone interested in riding with me. I knew if I was going to do it, the stars would have to align. On July 2, 2016, it seemed the stars had aligned. It was a three day weekend because of the 4th of July, and it was forecast to be 60 to 70 degrees with only a 4 to 5 mph wind all day. Marc had made a route which include the three states of Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana. Also, as luck would have it, Eric, Jeff, and Marc all said they were in for the ride. I knew that a 200 mile ride just wasn’t going to be possible for me solo. Endurance solo rides are torturous, but with friends the hours seem to fly by.
We had planned to get up at 5:00 am on the 2nd, and be on the road by 6:00 am. However, as luck would have it, Marc woke up nauseous that morning. He had eaten a Subway sandwich the night before, and he thought he may have food poisoning. Then Eric texted and said that he too was feeling sick. Jeff had texted the night before and said he may join in later in the day, but he wasn’t able to ride at 6:00 am. So that meant I was on my own if I was going to ride. Since my bike was packed and I was up, I decided to just get on the bike and see how far I could go. Marc had loaded the route on my Garmin, so at 6:30 am, off I went.
Less than a mile from home, I looked at my Garmin and saw that it wasn’t registering the course. I headed back home to see if Marc could figure out what the problem was. He checked the Garmin and saw that the course was loaded, but for some reason it wouldn’t show the route. He then loaded a “Ride With GPS” route on my phone and told me to use GPS. I knew the first 20 miles or so of the course, so I decided not to turn on the GPS until I needed it, in order to save my phone battery.
The morning was overcast and very chilly, and it was depressing riding with no one. After I passed Stoney Run county park about 45 minutes from home, I decided to turn on the GPS. When I turned it on, I got an error message on the phone, saying I didn’t have a paid account! At that point I knew I just had to go by the route map on my phone. I decided to try and memorize every 5th turn or so, and try to ride the course that way. The next few hours proved to be very frustrating, trying to memorize the course, then stopping when I would come to an intersection and not knowing which way to go. It also did not warm up as forecast, and I was very cold, even in my jacket. The skies continued to be overcast and it looked like it was going to storm. Traffic was awful, even on the normally deserted county roads, because of the 4th of July weekend. However, I was taken aback at times by the incredible beauty of the countryside. There were rolling tree-lined hills and pastures of cattle, rather than the open cornfields I was used to. I stopped to take a picture of some cows grazing in the woods, and they looked at me with total disinterest.
I stopped at a little park in Shelby, Indiana, to fill my water bottles. The old fashioned red well pump in the park didn’t work, and I figured that I needed to prime it. I used the rest of the water in my bottle, and it seemed to work. However, the water that came out was brown and very scary looking. I kept pumping and pumping, to no avail. The water didn’t change color, even after five minutes of continual pumping. I had wasted my water, and now I couldn’t refill my bottle! I used the porta-potty at the park and figured I’d fill up in Momence.
I rode out of Shelby and crossed Highway 41. I immediately hit what can only be described as an “apocalypse” road. Literally every inch of the road was a pothole or a patch! What was even more frustrating was that it was a high traffic road, making it difficult to try and dodge the worst potholes. It was almost impossible to maneuver this road on a road bike, and I found myself wondering why Marc had made the route down this road! After a few hundred yards of potholes, the road would turn into a patch of chip and seal that looked like it hadn’t been tended to in the past two decades, then it would go back to potholes. It was extremely painful and frustrating riding down this road, 241st Avenue, until I reached the Illinois state line. Miraculously, the road across the state line was smoothly paved and wonderful. It made me think immediately about our governor, who is a superstar when it comes to a surplus and finances, and bringing big business into Indiana. I thought the surplus is obviously in part because of the shameful lack of spending on road repairs! The best roads in Indiana are chip and seal, and smoothly paved roads are paid for by individual counties that can afford them. The roads have become so bad, that I can foresee the day when travel by a road bike will be impossible. However, even though the roads were terrible, this section of road meandered through a beautiful protected wetlands nature preserve. A young hawk swooped and screeched at me as I was dodging potholes, and I remembered thinking how lovely it was.
Soon after I rode through the wetlands, I had to maneuver my way through the town of Momence, Illinois. I couldn’t remember all the turns, so I looked at the map and tried to look at landmarks. I remembered to go straight past the Subway and then turn left at the Dairy Queen. Unfortunately, I missed the park where I had intended to get water and stop for a bathroom stop. As I headed out of town, the route got very confusing. There were three-way intersections, and I couldn’t tell which way the signs were pointing. I took a wrong turn and ended up on a gravel road, then became totally confused as to where I was. I called Marc, who was tracking me on my iPhone, and he tried to tell me which way to go, but I couldn’t figure it out. The signs that were turned the wrong way made it hard to know which way to go, and the overcast sky made it impossible to know which direction I was facing. I ended up riding towards the wind, which I knew was forecast to be coming from the east.
I finally made it out of town, riding on a road that would take me back to Indiana. I was facing an east headwind all the way to Indiana, and it was at this point that I just wanted to go home. I now doubted that the double century was going to be possible, and I just wanted to get home to eat lunch and get a warm shower. The only positive thing about the last 30 or 40 miles home was that I knew the route, so I didn’t have to stop and check my phone any more. The east wind was downright bone chilling under the overcast skies, and I never took my jacket off. The wind was soul sucking, and all I could think about was getting home to a warm shower and food. I was in the middle of nowhere, however, and it was somewhat liberating to take a bathroom stop at the side of the road with no civilization in sight!
I had eaten an Aldi granola bar at about mile 20, a banana as I got close to Momence, and another nut bar about 20 miles later. 17 miles from home I stopped to eat my last two mini peanut rolls at the Demotte Plaza. I took off my jacket, as the sun had started to come out. I was at mile 90, and I was simply done. I ached all over, my knees hurt, and I had no energy at all. I waited for a few minutes in the parking lot of the plaza, not wanting to get back on the bike. As I headed north home, the only positive thing was that the east wind was now a cross wind, and I was able to ride about 17 mph.
Shortly before I got to the Kankakee river, I noticed a turtle in the middle of the road. This was a high traffic road, and I felt panic for this poor creature. I stopped and got off of my bike to rescue him, and he got so frightened that he scampered off the road into a ditch. A car stopped and said that they had passed him and had turned around to help. I told them he had made it safely to the ditch, and they thanked me. It was very encouraging to see that these motorists were as concerned about the poor turtle as I was!
I passed the river, and then continued to head north. As I headed up the hill out of the Boone Grove woods and turned the corner, I saw Jeff and Eric riding towards me. They yelled “Hey Lou! We came to pull for you!” Eric was feeling better and he, Jeff and Marc were ready to join me for the double century! Call it peer pressure, but I just couldn’t let them know I did NOT want to ride any more! I told Jeff I was starving and he said that they would wait for me at home to eat a sandwich and then we could be on our way. Jeff hinted that Marc just might have something waiting for me.
When I got home, Marc was waiting with a Life Water, a Jimmy John’s veggie sub, and some Lay’s potato chips. The boys told me to eat and they would wait for me. I really, really, really just wanted to eat and take a nap, but I felt like I had to ride with them, at least for a little while. Jeff had ridden all the way from Chesterton and Eric had ridden from his house in Valparaiso to ride the double century with me, so I couldn’t say no.
I ate, then I changed into a dry pair of shorts and headed out. When I got to the end of the block I realized the shorts were all wrong, so I turned back to change again. The boys rode in circles waiting for me. After I changed, I caught up with them. They were going 17-18 mph against the east wind, and it was way faster than I wanted to be going after 107 miles. I told them so, and Jeff said, “Lou just tuck in. You’ll be fine!” When we got to mile 119, close to Wanatah, we stopped to cross Highway 30. I honestly didn’t think I could finish the ride. I calculated that if I turned around now I would still have about 12-13 miles to ride home. I told Jeff I was worried about not making it, and he told me not to worry. He said if we got up north and I didn’t think I could make it, then he would take me home in his pickup truck. With that promise in mind, I kept going. The ride north was nice because the wind had shifted a little, and it almost felt like we had a tailwind.
By mile 140, something miraculous happened. My lunch must have kicked in, because suddenly I felt like I had just gotten on the bike. I had renewed energy, and for some reason all I could think of was a Starbucks iced green tea, and I asked the boys if there was a Starbucks in Chesterton. Eric said that there was, and he suddenly had the desire for a triple shot espresso. We stopped at Starbucks and Eric had his coffee and a crazy expensive $2 cookie, and I had my tea. Jeff then said he wanted to stop at his house for snacks, so off we rode to Jeff’s house. Eric headed back home to Valparaiso, because Eric had promised his wife Sue that he would be home by 6 pm. We got to Jeff’s house around mile 151, and his wife Kathy was there with hummus, pita chips, and veggies. Then Jeff made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Jeff said to stay as long as we wanted, and he would drive us home. By this time, I was fully energized and ready to ride, so I declined the ride home. We stayed longer than I wanted to, while Jeff and Marc had a few beers and I had a Grapefruit Shandy. We got on our bikes to head home just as it was starting to get dark. Jeff’s 5-year-old son Christian wanted to ride with us, so Jeff and Christian got on their tandem to escort us out of town.
I looked to the west and saw that the setting sun was just incredible. I wanted to take a picture, but we were surrounded by subdivisions and I didn’t think I could get a good picture. As we passed over a bridge, I looked to my left, and I saw an amazing view. I was riding pretty fast and I had passed it, so I immediately turned around to go back to the bridge. I snapped the picture and hoped that it would turn out.
The ride back home was pretty miserable. It was getting cold, and even though I still had a lot of energy, the darkness and cold were getting to me. We got home around 9:30 pm, and I looked at my Garmin. We were at mile 171, far short of 200 miles. We went inside and I ate the other half of the Jimmy John’s sub sandwich that I had leftover from lunch. I was then torn. I still had a lot of energy, and a 200 mile ride had been on my to do list for years, but it was late , I was cold, and I wanted a shower. Marc told me that I would regret it in the morning if I didn’t finish the ride. He said he’d go back out with me if I wanted to finish it. So after being home less than 15 minutes or so, off we went. We decided to ride 15 miles straight south and back, on the smoothest road we have south county.
It was really fun being out so late, and it was incredibly dark. There are no street lights in the country, and no traffic. I thought about stopping and turning off our lights, but decided it would be too spooky. Marc almost hit a very large raccoon, which was a reminder for us to be on the lookout for critters. I loved being out in the dark with Marc, and we chatted about his 24 hour MTB race last summer, and about how cool it would be to go bike packing out west. I thought that this was the most blissful part of the day. I thought for a brief moment that it would be nice riding until the sun came up.
The light on my Garmin didn’t work, but I knew when we passed through Boone Grove woods that we were about four miles from home. A very strange thing happened as we passed through the woods. I was overtaken suddenly by an extreme sleepiness. I wasn’t sore, and I wasn’t tired or achy. I just felt like I needed to lay down the bike and go to sleep! It was something that I didn’t anticipate, and it was an extremely strange feeling. I found it very difficult to have the will to keep moving forward! I couldn’t see my Garmin, but I estimated we were going no more than 12-13 mph. Those last four miles seemed to take an eternity. When we got home I looked at my Garmin. I had ridden 203.4 miles, and it was 12:30 am! I couldn’t wait to take a hot shower and get in bed.
The next morning I woke up and was surprised by how good I felt. I also felt as if I learned a great deal from this ride. I learned that energy waxes and wanes during any endurance ride, and that you shouldn’t give up if you feel as if you’ve hit a wall. Also, fuel is key! I realized I hadn’t eaten enough during the first 107 miles and that was part of the reason why I felt so beaten up. I became energized when I made sure to eat throughout the second half of the ride. Also, I feel that I didn’t bonk because I had used Skratchlabs electrolyte mix in my water throughout the day, and I had not gotten dehydrated. This also reaffirmed what I already knew…that solo endurance rides are extremely tough, but the hours fly by when you’re surrounded by friends.
