My JBK Haleiwa Metric Century started, as most of things do, a couple of days before the ride. It was Friday night and I’d attended the UH Rainbow baseball game against the UCSB Gauchos. They are a really good team with a stunning pitcher, Dillon Tate. That, of course, is a digression.
The point is, when I came out of the game I discovered that my rear tire had flatted. I didn’t feel like dealing with it so I tried pumping it back up. It seemed to hold so off I went. About halfway home I had to stop and pump it up again. This wouldn’t do.
At home I checked and discovered that I only had one new inner tube left and as I didn’t want to trust a patched tube on an hundred kilometer ride I used it. I also decided that as I had a new tire available, I’d use that too. The tire I was using wasn’t completely worn out but I’d had a couple of flats in the last month or so. Good enough I thought.
On Saturday, while running my usual errands and visiting some friends at a picnic at Kaimana Beach I picked up some new tubes. Then I got thinking. Never a good thing, and bought a new 8-speed chain as well…just in case.
Before I headed out to another bas weball game, which we actually won – Go Bows! – I made some hard boiled eggs and counted my string cheese. All good.
Then it was off to the game where i mistakenly had a cup of coffee. The game was great, fun to win, and this time, even better, my bike didn’t have a flat. The new tire was working well. At home I tried to sleep.
It was the coffee. I don’t get all that nervous before a ride, though I’ll admit to some worries about making it time to get on the return bus. Let me explain. Two years ago I did this ride, some 75 pounds heavier. I had no trouble with the ride, nor did I have time worries. I was going with a friend and we took his pickup truck. We got back before the event was over, but not by much.
This year I was going alone, which as it turns out was a great move, and taking the transport bus provided by a local tour company. Actually the provided several buses.
I arrived at the bus at around 4:45 AM. I had to get up at 3:30 AM which only made having the coffee worse. I should know better, but hey, that’s the way I roll.
The bus ride was uneventful. We packed the bikes badly and in an emergency there’d have been some real problems. We solved the problem on the way back just so you know.
When I got off the bus with my bike, an exercise in applied geometry I can tell you, I needed to use the restroom…soon too. The view was one I was all too familiar with from RAGBRAI…
Soon I was finding my place in the crowd of cyclists raring to go for a ride. What else is there to do on a nice Sunday morning after all.
You meet the nicest bike while waiting too. Here’s a Bike Friday Haul-a-Day. It’s their new model of folding long tail. Really…
I would see that bike on the road several times.
And then, after a few obligatory words about being nice to each other, the folks living in the neighborhood and some thoughts on rules of the road, we were off.
That’s a time lapse of the first half of the ride. I use an ‘Re’ camera set to make an image every five minutes. I was surprised it all worked as I had to connect it to a battery. It seems it hadn’t charged overnight and had no juice. Luckily I had one of those batteries you can charge your phone from and yep, it worked.
The ride itself was fine. I was experimenting a bit with food for the road. Having just lost 75ish pounds by cutting carbs I couldn’t very well start eating donuts. In fact, I ate nothing before the ride. I had a two cups of coffee, one blended with a pat of butter and a tablespoon of coconut oil, and one regular, but nothing else. I had packed my eggs and string cheese, but thought I’d see how I did.
Darn it all, I was fast. Fast for me that is. I rode the first half ot the ride in 01:52:00 or so. Basically I was over 15 mph the whole way.
Wow. I’ve never ridden so fast for so long and I did it without a break on no breakfast. In fact I wasn’t even really hungry when I arrived at Swanzy Beach Park, the turnaround point.
I’d been worried about making the round trip in time to get on the bus at 1:30 PM, a six hour ride, or just right at 10 MPH which is a pretty normal time for me (that would have included a couple of breaks and a photo or two along the way – something I do enjoy). Well now I wasn’t too worried. It wasn’t even 9 AM and I was already half finished. I could take it easy on the way home.
Even though I wasn’t too hungry, I ate a couple of hard boiled eggs, had a couple of pieces of string cheese, and drank a lot of water, something I knew I needed.
Then I headed back. This time it was into the wind for the first half of the return, it had picked up a bit and was definitely slowing me down. Indeed on the return I averaged 1.9 MPH slower, though on a few legs, when I was out of the wind or it had calmed, I was almost as fast as on the first half.
Now that I look at the time delays I realize I really need to do something about the mount and my brake cables. Or maybe not…at least you can tell I was on a bike.
I did make a stop on the return. About halfway back it became evident that I had, in fact, been drinking enough water. Whew…I worry about dehydration, it can happen pretty easily out here, especially on days when there’s a cloud cover, it’s kind of cool, and you don’t think about how much is going out and how little coming in. No worries today though.
And then I was approaching Haleiwa. It was almost noon and I really, really wanted to make it in by noon. It was quarter to twelve and I didn’t think I’d make it. Then it was ten to twelve and I thought I might if traffic, which can be bad in Haleiwa cooperated; there was none. Then it was seven minutes till twelve and the road from town to Kaiaka Park was longer than I remember.
I made it. Yes indeed, with a couple of minutes to spare in fact.
Now I figured, I’d pay the price for getting back early, a 90 minute wait for the bus. I had a couple of cold drinks, ate another egg, and…well there’s a bit more to the story.
I met some great folks, had a great bus ride home, went out for coffee with a new friend, rode home and slept great. Yeah, it was a great day!