Fall Classic 600: These are few of my favorite K

With PBP behind me, I had 10 days to tool around Europe, eat food, and ostensibly rest. The rest part didn't quite work out since there were so many nifty things to see. But I finally got back to minnesota on the 7th of September. The fall classic apple valley 600k was on the 10th.

Sure, my bike had been stuck in a box for two weeks, but I had done miles of walking so I should be in shape. More importantly, I had committed to doing this ride to help several new randonneurs have a better experience than I did on my first 600k (375 miles riding alone). I had also wanted to see if perhaps I could ride my trek Madone on a ride of this distance. It's set up as close as possible to the princess and my new seat pack from Distance Biker did not require a rack.

I still had jet lag going from France which meant that it seemed a few hours later than it actually was. Getting up for a 6 am start at 3:30 was a snap. IronK drove me to the start. I have an aversion to driving after a ride as long as a 600. The forecast was for sunny skies in the 70s with lows in the high 50s. I packed my drop sack sparingly. I'd learned a thing or two from France. In fact, I packed light enough that I worried I could not possibly have enough. Wrong! I had plenty of everything.

It really was a beautiful day to ride. Just a tiny chill in the air and almost no wind at all. Renee, Ed, and Phil were all at the start along with some out of town faces. There was Dave from Vancouver and Bob from Colorado. Also present was Marlin, from Iowa, who I had not seen since April. The 7 of us were to leap frog and for the most part ride together for the first 212 miles. There were about 19 people total on the ride.

So we started out. It's easy to go too fast out of Apple Valley and I was cautious to stick between 15 and 17 (hey, I was supposed to be setting a good example). As expected, Renee, Ed and myself along with Dave from BC wound up together. The leg to Cannon Falls was pleasant with many conversations going on. Dave wound up pacing through a good bit of this section. There was just the slightest amount of fog and a nice morning so the slight chill was actually welcome.

At Cannon Falls, I hustled the others through the control and we kept it to 20 minutes. Not bad for a larger group and there was time for a couple to eat sandwiches for the 40 mile trip to Lake City. As we pulled out, Phil pulled in. He'd had a flat tire and I was sure he would catch up. The rest of us went on. The larger rollers started up and this stretch was really pleasant. I had discarded everything but my knee warmers and it was already fixing to be a hot day. Still no wind.

Renee is the descent queen so the big hill down to Lake City was especially fun. We were still hopping with Dave and Colorado Bob. But all of us wound up together in Lake City along with Phil, who did catch up. Another 20-25 minute stop. Tht included a hot dog for me was welcomed before the hilliest section of the route. The Kwik Trip is brand new and has lots of amenities including a place to sit inside. No picnic table though.

I ditched the knee warmers and we hit the rollers well. Ed has a new titanium bike and it's really improved his climbing. I kept cautioning to not ride too hard early in the ride. It's great to see someone really get so much out of a new bike. He has great power on it.

By Plainview, the heat had started in earnest. It was now about 1:00 pm and with the sun at it's highest point and only a small headwind, the sweat was pouring off me. I still pushed us through the control in about 30 minutes. Lunch was waiting in Rushford, 40 miles away. W had to pause for a drink break in Utica and at this point, I realized we had lost Dave. He'd stopped to rest under a tree some miles back. The woman at the bar was supe rnice and filled bottles. Phil bought everyone a soda. There were now 5 of us including Marlin.

The next section is full of rollers and we spread out a bit. I talked to Phil about his adventures on the Arrowhead 135 (think brevet at 20 below). I may have to think about trying this. The final descent into Rushford put us into the control at about 5:30. There we were treated to the very best rando food ever. All freshly made by one of the randonneurs wise and served up by Charles, who makes a great host. That whip cream jello salad was awesome.
There were several other riders also aking a break.

We spent a little extra time here and left at about 6:15. Only 100k until we were back for more tasty food. By this time we were really wondering where Dave was, but continued on. The Root River trail was especially nice on this run. Late in the summer, there are always omits of brown eyed susans that line the trail in places. Of course, there are also lots of walnuts, sticks, leaves and other things that make it a bit tricky on the return too. Ti time, it was also thick with knats. My arms were black with dead bugs by the end of the trail.

We started seeing some of the faster riders returning from La Crescent after the trail. I think the fastest of the riders was probably 2-3 hours ahead of our group. Gary and his fabulous headlight (which he loaned me for PBP) passed us waving. The rapidly cooling temperatures favored faster paces at this point, but we had a little headwind as we turned north to the control. It was just getting dark at this point and we paused to turn on lights and vests. We rolled into the control just on 7 pm. Richard, whom I had ridden with on the previous 600k was there looking a little lonely. He rode with our group back to Rushford. I finally go the details of his accident at PBP. Fortunately, he wasn't severely hurt, but had been in the hospital in France. It's hard to see a sunset on this stretch, but I suspect it was spectacular. There has been quite a lot of smoke pollution due to an array of fires up north.

We had another 20 minute turnaround and a pretty fast trip back arriving at about 10:30 pm. This gave us about 5.5 hours until the control closed. I advised Renee and Ed to leave with at least an hour or two of time buffer. Phil really wanted to continue on sooner so we all chatted and decided to split our group in two for the next day. Renee, Ed, and Marlin would aim to leave around 3 while Phil and I would take a shorter sleep and leave at 12:30. This relieved me considerably; I had no desire to repeat the hot, windy afternoon of last year on the west-bound trip to Faribault. Besides, at 60 degrees and clear, it was to be a beautiful night to ride.

After more delicious food (casserole, jello salad, etc). Phil and I were out the door right on schedule. We gradually warmed up on the way to Peterson with one fairly dense fog patches. Teenagers were blasting radios in town which was strange, but they didn't harass us at all. A this point, the Peterson hill which I normally enjoy, was a little tougher. My Madone does not have a 32 tooth cassette as the princess does. So I was working harder on the hills than I am accustomed. Part of the experiment to see if this bike would work and what mitneed changes. My butt was hurting more than usual too, seat needs breaking in. We stopped to apply more chamois butter at the top.

Indeed, the night riding was simply gorgeous. Tinkling stars, no wind, beautiful near-full moon. All the best elements of a good ride. I had halfway expected the faster riders to start catching up by the Amish market, but a brief water stop yielded no one. We rolled into Eyota around 3:30 for food and a 10 minute snooze. Phil has the same napping ability asi do, which is really convenient. Though I asked, the kwik trip clerk eventually chased us out of our nap. He didn't favor nappers in the empty store, even ones that spent money. I ate as much as I could including a somewhat overdone hot dog.

The next leg to Zumbrota was a 40 mile stretch and fairly hilly. The nice weather continued to hold and we had another brief nap on the side of the road right at dawn. Charles and Dave, who had dnf'd due to heat, passed us in the van on their way back to apple valley, but we still had seen no one. The hills around Mazeppa seemed larger this time and we jadeite Zumbrota at about 7:30 after being treated to beautiful sunrise on the river.

We had a bit of a longer stop here with coffee and donuts tasting really good. Still very little wind blowing and Faribault only 38 miles away. I took off some clothes, but not all. Phil had a nap. By a little after 8, we were off.

My legs seemed to take forever to warm up and the wind had begun to start up by the time we hit Nerstrand. The pavement was also chewed up here which didn't do anyone's keister any good. The final few miles into Faribault did have the wind kicking up, but an 11:30 arrival was just fine. It was also heating up and at this point, I had an ice cream sandwich along with lots of water. All the clothes that good taste would allow were off at this point.
We continued on and fought the wind for the last small western stretch outside town. Only about 7 miles long, I was happy to have a tailwind when we turned north to Lonsdale.

Of course, the tailwind also ended the breeze and in the dead of the afternoon, this wound up being a very hot 24 miles. It's rolling on Dodd and my quads were starting to cramp up. Probably a combination of heat and a small cassette was at the root of the problem. I started eating pecans and cookies as we arrived in Lonsdale.

There, we had an electrolyte break. I ate all my pecans, a v8, and lots of water. Phil had another short nap and I started to perk up as we rode out. This was the last 28 miles. By the turn onto 280th, I was promising myself to change cassettes if I were ever to ride this bike again. The jet lag also started to get to me and I was suddenly tired (it was my bedtime in France). But we rolled along well enough finally arriving at about 4:45. Less than 35 hours.

Rob was at Old Chicago waiting for us and I was astonished that we only about 3-4 others had gotten in before us. Another rider had had a heat episode and had gotten a ride back to the finish 23 miles from the end. We convinced him to recover and get a ride back to his stopping place and finish the ride. This was Phil's first SR and many congratulations were in order. This was my 4th 600k of the year and only a couple weeks after PBP. I was pretty happy with the result. Though it was an hour longer than my last run on the course in the spring, the hour of difference was at the overnight and there was not 2 days of tail winds.

Renee, Ed, and Marlin all finished as well, but my asthma was kicking in and IronK drove me home. I had lost my steroid inhaler on PBP and not using it for 2 weeks had also really curbed my lung capacity. I used my emergency inhaler a lot on this ride. Amazing what correcting that problem does for me.

It was great riding with Phil and we will hopefully ride again together. He may yet persuade me to try my hand at the Arrowhead. All the camaraderie on this ride really put it into the favorite category among my rides this year. A great overnight, and thanks to Charles and the creator of the tasty food, along with great weather and good company are all elements that are sometimes missing. The miles seem less and the pleasure even greater at the finish.