“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein

Friday, September 28, 2007

MS 150: Winds and Bonking

Last Saturday and Sunday I rode the MS 150 in Topeka. The route on Saturday started at Heartland Park Racetrack. We began the ride with a trip down the dragstrip and then a lap around the road race course. Black marks showed where drivers going much faster than I was had lost control and spun into the grass.
I rode out to Eskridge with a nice tailwind, making great time. But the wind gives and takes away. The return trip was into the wind. I finished 85 miles by 3:30 and headed back to KC to have dinner with the group I fell in with on the BAK this summer. One of them made a DVD from the pictures we had taken. Brenda told me before I left to make sure I was in the pictures I took and not just get pictures of scenery. So most of the ones I submitted to Kyle (the guy who did the DVD) had me in them. An embarassing number of the picturs on the DVD had me in them.
Sunday I was back in Topeka for the 2nd day of riding. The sunrise pictured is from Sunday. We rode from Topeka to Clinton lake. The winds were lighter, but the hills were many and steep. Most of the riders chose the 50 mile option and were finished long before I got in. There were only a handful of riders behind me. I didn't eat enough at the rest stops and was "bonking" at about 50 miles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonk_(condition) I did make it to the next rest stop and ate enough sugar to put me in orbit on a regular day and damn the trans-fat. Eating all that sugar was like buying gas for your car in Mexico: it runs, but not very well. I made it the next 20 miles to the finish, but could tell I had low-octane fuel in my tank.

2 comments:

Elan said...

Way to go!

Florence and Gary Deeter said...

I wonder where the word "bonking" came from. My picture is of someone banging his head against a wall. I'll check your reference to Wikipedia. Love, Dad