I came (to Nebraska), I saw (lots of gravel), I (didn't quite) conquer: Odin's Revenge Recap

While the St. Louis area was baking in 100°+ degree heat last weekend (and most of this week as well), I escaped for the cooler weather of western Nebraska for the inaugural running of Odin's Revenge.  The race was starting at 6 AM Saturday morning, but there was a pre-race meeting Friday night at 7:00.  Since Google shows it being a 10 hour drive from my house to Gothenburg and I didn't want to be in a rush the whole time, I took off work early on Thursday to head out and split the trip into two days.  Luke from Team Virtus graciously offered to loan me some bags for the race, so I had to pick those up in Jefferson City.  I had also arranged to meet a former co-worker of mine in Kansas City for dinner that night before spending the night at a childhood friend's house in Topeka.  I don't get to travel much these days, so on the rare occasions I do get out, I have to kill as many birds as I can with one stone.  If I left Friday morning, I'm not sure I would've had time to do any of that on the way out.

After waking up bright and early Friday morning, I finished my drive out to Gothenburg, arriving around 5:30.  I checked in at the campground and received my racer packet, then went over to the hotel I was staying at to check in there before going back to the campground for the racer's meeting.  After getting into my room, I had a little bit of time to kill, so I found the grocery store in town and bought me some bananas, crackers, and peanut butter, which I hoped would tide me over for food during the race.  I also had a few Clif Bars and Honey Stinger Waffles that I brought with me from home.

Milling around before the meeting.

I was expecting somewhere around 75 people attending the race, because that's what the cap was listed at on the web site, but turnout at the meeting seemed a lot sparser than that.  As it turns out, as it became apparent that it was going to be much warmer than the average high of 87° for this time of year in Gothenburg, racers started bailing out.  The organizers said that 30-some people cancelled in the week leading up to the race.  It's their loss, as there was lots of goodies being given away as they explained everything that was going to be going down the next day.  As they were throwing stuff out, I managed to snag a Backcountry Research TulBag, some Salus Muscle Relief Gel, and a second sample of Climb On Intensive Skin Repair creme (one came in our goodie bags) that they were throwing out to the riders, then when they drew names for a pile of goodies they had on a table, I got a pair of Q7 Sock Guy socks.  Not a bad haul for a free race!

Afterwards, I went back to my room and started getting my gear out for the race, deciding what I would bring with me and what would be left behind.

Lots of stuff to bring with me!

I decided to stick with the the Tangle Bag and Gas Tank from Revelate Designs for supplies and left the Mountain Feedbag behind.  With my map case holding the cue sheet, I felt that having the Gas Tank and Mountain Feedbag would be too much in the cockpit area of my bike.

As you can see, there's a lot of gear on the bike.

To help ensure that my water would stay cold, at least at the start, I filled up the bladder Luke let me borrow and one of my water bottles with water, then put those in the freezer in my room.  I was planning on filling my bladder and the other bottle up with Sierra Mist in the morning.  At that point, I felt ready and went to sleep, setting my alarm for 4:40.

Morning came really fast, as I was sleeping GOOD that night.  Having full control of the thermostat worked wonders for my sleeping as I cranked it down to about 70°.  When I woke up, I went downstairs for something, I forget what, and discovered that they had breakfast out (the hotel crew was awesome for having stuff out at that ungodly hour), so I grabbed a quick bite to eat.  Going back upstairs, I pulled the bladder out of the freezer and was a little shocked at how much it expanded.  Whoops, basic physics lesson that I forgot!  At this point I started panicking since it wouldn't fit in the Tangle Bag, but it would fit in my backpack, so I threw it in there and decided not to use my bladder, since it wouldn't fit in the Tangle bag empty (my bladder has a hard back, so it's not that flexible).  I still had that and both water bottles, so I thought I'd be okay.  At this point, I decided that I would start with 1/3 of my waffles and Clif Bars, send 1/3 of them to the second checkpoint, and the other 1/3 of them to the last checkpoint.  I figured I'd stop by the hotel when I got back into town and eat the crackers and peanut butter for energy at the half way point. 

Go time!

About 5:30 or 5:40, I drove back over to the campground, lubed my chain, aired my tires as they called the 10 minute warning, then it was time to get going.  After the incident with the frozen bladder, I was starting to get nervous that I was in for a bad day (I felt like I was constantly rushing after that), but as we rolled out and I reset my odometer, I slowly started to feel better.  The one thing that I was surprised about at this point was how humid and foggy it was outside.  My thermometer was showing a cool 69°, but it was sticky, and I started sweating almost immediately after we rolled out, even though I wasn't hot at all yet.

Rain?!?!

About an hour into the ride, the sun was brightening things up a bit, but there was still a thick cloud cover, and then it started looking pretty gray off to the south.  I also heard a couple claps of thunder and was starting to wonder if I would get rained on.  I wasn't really worried, as rain (to a point) would be preferable over sweltering heat.  Obviously, a downpour would probably render some of these roads impassable, but I wondered if a little bit might just firm up some of the gravel, which was very loose in places since it's been so dry out there.  Unlike Missouri dirt which is mostly clay, there's a lot of sand in the dirt out here.  But alas, while I got hit with a few sprinkles, it was fleeting, and before long, I started seeing patches of blue in the sky.

I have to say, the scenery along this part of the course was amazing.  The Platte River Valley is as flat as a pancake and reminds me of Central Illinois (right down to the corn in the fields, but they need a lot more irrigation to keep it going out here), but once you get out of the valley, it's amazing how rugged and remote it looks.  I was surprised to even see this railroad trestle along the route.

Before long, I came to the first Minimal Maintenance Road, and at first it looked like it was someone's driveway, or more likely, a path to someone's pasture, but this road was part of our route.  At the top of the photo, you can kind of see a giant cut in the hillside.  I think that was the start of one of the tougher climbs we had, and before long, I was hiking up the hill.  Reading various accounts of Dirty Kanza, I saw some people mention how walking the tough climbs helped save them for later in the race as walking uses different muscles than cycling.  I took that advice and had a good half dozen hike-a-bike segments along the ride.  If they were paved, some of them I probably could've geared down and gotten up, but with the loose dirt, I was spinning out a little bit and decided it was just easier to walk.

First MMR (Minimal Maintenance Road)

It was around this time I had my first experience with several cattle grates as well.  These made me nervous enough to walk my bike over them at first, as those cross bars seemed just far enough apart to make riding across them sketchy, but by the end, I was just slowing down and taking it easy as I crossed them.

There were cattle gates all over the course.

Climbing that hill on the first MMR though, I was rewarded with this pretty awesome view from the top.  Going back down that hill was fun too, once I was fairly certain I wasn't going to be hit with any cattle grates coming up on me all of a sudden.

See for miles.

 About 9:30, I finally made it to the first checkpoint.  This was just a water stop, but Chad (the race promoter) and his wife were there with some yummy M&M Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and protein balls (some mixture of peanut butter and nuts from what I could tell) as well!

Checkpoint #1

At this point, the sun was definitely starting to come out, and my temperature gauge, which was indicating 75° or so when I pulled in to the checkpoint, was rising well into the 80's if not 90 when I left.  It's amazing how fast sitting in the sun will elevate the temperature on that!  There was a group of five that I left with here, but over the next 8-10 mile stretch we separated and with the exception of having a couple of them almost catch me on one killer climb that I walked, I didn't see any other racers for a long time.  It was almost 30 miles to the next checkpoint, but along about mile 57 or 58, I came down a hill and saw a couple volunteers hanging out with their dog and taking pictures.  They also had some water or Gatorade.  I took them up on their offer of cold Gatorade, and replaced the water in my hydration pack with it.  It was pretty strong, but that was just fine.

Right after leaving this surprise water stop, I saw some cows blocking the road and starting to stare me down.  But as I continued to pedal slowly towards them, all of a sudden they turned and ran away from me.  This was about as fast as I've ever seen any cows move!  I'm not sure if I knew they could run like that!  In the picture on the right, you can kind of see one of them running away from me. 

From here, it was a pretty easy ride to Checkpoint #2, where I would be able to replenish my food stocks.  The volunteers manning this checkpoint also had a bike stand, so I was able to get some of the dust and dirt out of my drivetrain.  However, at nearly 70 miles into the ride, I was starting to feel it a little.  The heat, which had to be in the low 90's now (I think my bike computer was showing 113° when I left, but it "cooled" to 105° or so pretty quickly once I got moving), was taking a toll as well.  There was one guy leaving this checkpoint as I pulled in, but while I was there, none of the riders behind me came in.  I figured that I would be riding solo the rest of the way back to Gothenburg.

However, a couple miles out of the checkpoint, I briefly caught up with the guy ahead of me.  He was hurting a little worse than me, but as we ascended a couple hills, I had to slow down and walk one of them and he started to leave me behind.  Once we crested the hills though, I caught back up with him and we started to draft off of each other for the next few miles.  This stretch between miles 72-80 starting messing with my head though.  Up until now, the thought of not finishing hadn't really crossed my mind, but this 8 mile stretch on one road just seemed to drag on forever.  Looking at the map now, there was an early peak with a long gradual downhill to the next intersection, but there was a not-insignificant headwind along a lot of this road which made it tougher than it might have otherwise been.

(You can tell I'm getting tired now because there are no pictures from this section of the ride)

Finally, at mile 80, I turned back north and with an immediate hill, I decided to hoof it once again to the summit.  I was getting hungry now, and the Clif Bars and Honey Stinger Waffles weren't cutting it.  I felt like I was having a carbohydrate revolt and needed some protein in my system, preferably in the form of a cheeseburger or something like that.  The golden arches in Gothenburg were calling my name.  Nevertheless, once I crested this last hill, the course was downhill back into town.  What I wasn't quite counting on was a stiff headwind once I came out of the hills and entered the Platte River Valley.  Here, the course followed an access road to the Tri-County Supply Canal (as labeled on the USGS Topo), an irrigation ditch for the farms in the river valley.  This was good and bad.  The close water kept the temperature down a degree or two, but it was still hot, and with the headwind, I felt like throwing myself and my bike into that canal more than once.  A couple miles into this 5 mile stretch, I again caught up with the guy from a little earlier.  He said he was really hurting at this point (to where he wasn't planning on continuing), and again we blocked the wind for each other until we could finally turn north and cross the valley back to Gothenburg.


Getting out of the headwind was a huge relief to me.  At this point, the checkpoint was only about 4.5 miles away, and I just gave it everything I had to get back.  I wasn't sure if I was going to continue at this point, but I knew I wanted to sit down on something more comfortable than my saddle for a while.  However, as soon as I turned north, I could feel the temperature rise a couple degrees, which gave me that much more reason to get to the campground as fast as I could.

I made it back to the campground without further incident a little before 3:00.  There was a 4 PM cutoff where you would have to call it quits after that, so I had at least cleared that hurdle.  At this point though, I wasn't really feeling another 80 miles of riding.  While I rested for a bit, I grabbed a cookie or two and went in the general store at the campground to get a bottle of soda.  I was hungry, but none of the food in there looked really appealing.  I was also disappointed that the route was not using Highway 47 to get to the north side of town, so going back to my hotel room to get my supplies would add another mile or two that I didn't feel like riding.  Going to McDonald's would tack on yet another mile.  Ick.  So I waited to see what the riders coming in behind me were going to do.  If people coming in after me were still going out, that might push me a bit into continuing, but the only one who really wanted to finish had to fix a flat tire, and by the time he got that finished it was 4:15 or 4:30.  Going back out then was liable to make me finish around midnight, which I was hoping to avoid.  Even though I was carrying a 12 mph or so average to this point, I didn't want to count on anything over 10 for the last half.  So as 4:00 passed, I didn't hop back on the bike, and decided to call it a day.

Once I officially DNF'ed, I packed up and went back to the hotel and got cleaned up, then I went out to get dinner.  After driving around town to make sure there wasn't anything that looked interesting other than Runza, Pizza Hut, or McDonald's, I pulled into the Pizza Hut parking lot and ordered my dinner.  After a long day riding, it sure hit the spot.  Once I finished, I went back to the campground to hang out while the other finishers came in.  I missed the winner, who came in just before 7:00, but was around for the other 6 guys who came in, 5 solo and one part of a relay team.

I also immediately started regretting my decision to pull the plug (even more so when I saw as I started writing this that the high that day was 95° and not 98° or 100° like was predicted - it was hot, but it wasn't quite the sweltering heat we've had in St. Louis since I've been back), and when I saw the last 3 guys come in at 10:37, I started wondering if I could've caught them had I left the checkpoint right around 3:00.  I'm probably a little delusional for thinking that, but all I would've needed to do would be maintain an 11.5 mph pace with a 30 minute rest stop at the 40 mile point.  If a full hydration pack plus my 2 water bottles were enough water, and I didn't run into too many nasty hills or headwinds, 11.5 mph seems doable, but I also need to keep in mind I was struggling to do 10 along the flat canal where I only had a headwind.  Instead of hoping someone behind me was going to go back out, I probably should've asked how long it had been since someone had gone out in front of me when I got into the checkpoint.  That would've given me an idea as to whether or not catching someone was in the cards.

Now that I have two of these endurance races under my belt, I think I have a better idea of what I need to do to prepare.  At Cedar Cross, I never got around to preparing a drop bag, but since that one listed a gallon Zip-Lock in the rules, that's what I figured I was allowed to use here.  As it turns out, I could've filled up a small cooler, and maybe if I knew that was waiting for me at the last checkpoint, I would've been more inclined to push myself.  Or maybe I just needed to have that cooler in my car at the halfway point instead of my hotel room.  The one thing both races had in common was unseasonably warm temperatures, and with the way hot weather annoys me, that had as much to do as anything with me throwing in the towel.  It's just at Cedar Cross it was a blessing in disguise since my flat was due to a blown tire rather than a blown tube.  Today's high in Gothenburg was 89°.  I wonder what would've been different if the race were this weekend.  They probably would've had more than 25 starters, for one thing.

In closing, I have to say that I was impressed with the way this race was put on.  I'm sure there were some kinks to be worked out, but they got us started, they had the water stops that we were promised (along with some surprise treats!), the course was definitely a challenge (everyone who had ridden Dirty Kanza said this one was harder), and I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of goodies that were given away at the start of the race.  I can't say for sure that I'll be back next year to avenge my DNF, but if I can convince another person or two to go with me and split the travel costs, it's going to be very tempting.

Odin's Revenge: It's Here!

All ready to go!

 The time for Odin's Revenge has finally come.  Unfortunately, along with it came a record heat wave.  Yesterday it was about 105+ everywhere along the I-70 corridor between St. Louis and Topeka, where I stayed last night.  Ewww.  However, being the obstinate type that I am, I am not throwing in the towel before the race and staying home, I'm going to let the vultures and hawks eat me after I pass out from dehydration and heat exhaustion along some deserted gravel road where I couldn't get a cell phone signal (I don't have a signal here at my friend's house two miles from downtown Topeka, you really think I'm going to have anything anywhere along the race route?) to call someone to come rescue me.  Not that I anyone I would call would be able to get there soon enough to help.  This ride is truly going to be self-supported for me.

On a happier note, preparing for the trip has (so far) gone much better than my ill-fated Cedar Cross adventure.  Everything started last week when I went down to Maplewood Bicycle to get a bike fitting, which I'm hoping will eliminate any knee pain for the ride.  Most of the time the bike is all right, but occasionally on long rides my knees will start to scream at me.  Luckily I haven't had many issues this last month, but it would not be cool if something flared up at mile 80.  While I was there I also picked up two spare tubes, hoping that will be enough, and finally had the water bottle cage I had to pull off at Cedar Cross put back on.

Sunday was the Trailnet Bridge Birthday Bash Ride, which would be my last sizable training ride.  It was forecast to be 100 in St. Louis that day, so I got out early, but luckily we got some cloud cover during the late morning and the temperatures didn't spike until after I was home.  My bike computer said it was about 90 during the ride, but when I pulled the bike off my car after it had been sitting in the driveway for a couple hours, it was showing 122.  Ouch!  (that was most definitely influenced by the sun, but I haven't seen anything over 110 or so on it when I've actually been riding)

Monday I started working on the bike.  I put the Specialized Borough XC Sport 700 x 45's back on that I bought for Cedar Cross, and while I had the sidewall tear in the one tire from that ride, I did get that tire replaced with a new one.  Hopefully this one holds up better.  I was pleasantly surprised with the ease I changed the tires out.  The Continentals I use for most of my riding came right off, and I almost didn't need my tire levers to get the Specialized ones on.  I can only hope I'll be able to change a flat that easily tomorrow, but hopefully I won't have to.  After I got the tires aired up, I gave my chain a good cleaning.

My Supplies

Tuesday I went for a short ride around town to make sure everything was in good working order, and I didn't notice any issues (thankfully, no pinch flats from the tire installation), so Wednesday I started packing.  I'm bringing two jerseys and two pairs of shorts in case I feel like I need some fresh clothes when I get back to Gothenburg at the halfway mark.  On my bike, I've brought the map case I bought from Adventure Cycling for the cue sheets and the Revelate Designs Gas Tank to hold food for the ride.  I also have my Serfas seat bag (mountain bike size) that has been my go-to storage bag for all of my bikes - I have 3 of them.  On the way out to Topeka, I stopped off in Jefferson City and borrowed Lukas Lamb's Tangle Frame bag and Mountain Feedbag, also by Relevate Designs, that helped him complete Dirty Kanza this year.  I plan on using the Frame bag for extra water - he gave me a bladder to put in there as well, but after loading up the bike, I think I'll leave the Feedbag behind, especially with the map case on my handlebars.  I'll make my final decision tonight when I get to Gothenburg.  I have two water bottle holders on the bike, and have my Polar insulated bottles for those.  I also have my Novara hydration pack that I won from Trailnet 3 years ago, which I may or may not use.  I brought it mainly to put the bladder in the Tangle bag, but the more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to bring it as well.  My hydration pack plus the two water bottles will give me almost 120 oz. of liquid, and if I use Luke's as well, that will give me in the neighborhood of 200. I don't know if his is 70, 100, or something else.  I haven't looked at it yet.  The equivilant of 2-3 2 liters of soda should get me through any 40 mile stretch, right?  The bigger trick will be keeping all that cold so I actually want to drink it.  Finally, to make sure I have a superior state of mind throughout the ride, I plan on wearing my Team Seagal socks that I won for coming the closest to predicting Wendy Davis's finishing time at Dirty Kanza.  Congratulations on finishing Wendy!

Sunday on the KATY Trail

Father's Day was last Sunday, so Trailnet didn't have a Bicycle Fun Club ride last weekend.  However, Odin's Revenge is now less than two weeks away, and I still need miles.  With no organized ride to do, I threw out a last minute attempt to make one on Facebook:

I didn't really expect anyone to show up with the less than 12 hours notice I gave, and as you can see, I had no takers.  That night, the hourly forecast was showing a 30% chance of rain all day, so the forecast didn't help matters a lot.  As it turns out, the much-needed rain came overnight and knocked our power out for a few minutes while we slept, but by morning, the sky had cleared somewhat and the chance of rain was pushed back until at least 1:00.

Even though I wanted to get started around 6, I didn't actually wake up until 6:20 or 6:30, then I had to gather a few things before I headed out.  While I prepped for this ride more than I did for Cedar Cross, I didn't do as good of a job as I had for the CAC.  At any rate, I got my clothes on, grabbed my water bottles and a couple Honey Stinger Waffles, then headed out the door.

On my way to the trail, I made a quick stop at Schnucks to get a bottle of Sierra Mist, a banana, and some cash for along the trail.  Finally, about 7:30 I was at the Weldon Spring trailhead of the KATY Trail.  I spent the next half hour or so cleaning off my chain and airing up my tires (stuff I probably should've taken care of Saturday night), and just after 8:00, I headed west.  I was 2 hours later than I really wanted to be, but at least I had gotten out there.

Weldon Spring trailhead.

My original plan was to try and ride for 3 hours at something close to a 15 mph pace, or somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-45 miles, then turn around and come back.  However, with my late start, I decided to adjust that to more like 2 hours before I turned around.  I didn't really want to be gone all day, and with the chance of rain in the afternoon, I didn't want to risk getting my phone soaked.  My iPod was in a dry bag, but I only had one, so my phone was vulerable.

With the rain the previous night, the trail was damp in the early going, so I took it easy for the first few miles, hoping to avoid getting any more muck into my gears than necessary.  The rain also left it more humid than I'd been used to.  It was nothing atypical of a St. Louis summer, but it's been really dry here lately.  During the heat wave last summer, you could go outside at 2 AM and start sweating.  So far this year, even when it's been in the 90's during the day, the mornings and evenings have been tolerable.

I was not that far into the ride when I had another kamikaze squirrel try to commit suicide by running into me (read about my other incident here or here).  This time, the squirrel came at me from my left side, brushed up against my back wheel, then decided he wanted to live after all and managed to turn around and run back into the woods. 

Defiance was the first of 5 small towns I would be passing through on the trip, and it came up pretty fast.  The good thing about it is that there is a bike store in the town, so if you need something for your bike, you can stop there and pick it up.  I was running without a backup tube (I did have a patch kit though), so I was hoping to stop in and pick one up.  Riding by, however, their back doors weren't open like they are most days when I ride by, so I crossed my fingers and continued on. 

After I left Defiance, I passed the trailhead at Matson and Klondike Park before arriving in Augusta, which is home to several wineries and the Augusta Brewing Company.  If you are arriving by bike, there is a giant hill you have to climb to reach anything other than Augusta Brewing Company, so be prepared if you want to explore.  While I was starting to hope for a convenience store, I wasn't going to climb that hill to get to one, so I pressed on toward Dutzow.

Rear view of Washington Regional Airport

Heading toward Dutzow I started to get my initial dose of trail fatigue.  When I got to the point where I could see the Washington Airport, I figured I had to be getting close, but what I didn't realize until I was looking at a map just now is that here the trail is almost paralleling the runway at the airport, so there was a good mile and a half to two miles where I thought I just HAD to be closer to the town than I really was.  Finally, I arrived in the town and rode up 94 a few blocks to see if there was a convience store open.  I was hoping to get a snack and some more soda, as mine was getting warm and running low.  Not seeing one, I pressed on to Marthasville, only 3 1/2 miles further.

KT Caboose snack shop

When I arrived in Marthasville, I was initally disappointed at the lack of services along Depot St., which parallels the trail.  However, reaching the west end of the street, I saw this red caboose with some picnic tables on a deck.  Jackpot!  As I get closer, I see a sign advertising Hawaiian Ice.  Even better!  My eyes were too glazed over and my sunglasses were covered in too much sweat to really read the menu, but I saw enough to order a strawberry sno-cone and a can of Sierra Mist. 

Fuel for the trail, but hard on the stomach.

After ordering my food and taking a restroom break (nice clean restroom BTW), I took a seat at one of the tables on their deck to relax.  My order was quickly brought out to me and I began to dig in.  I also grabbed my Strawberry flavored Honey Stinger Waffle so I at least had a little bit of solid food.  After finishing my waffle and sno-cone, I poured the can of soda into my water bottle and decided a second can would be good, since the first one was only half the capacity of my bottle.  After I poured that can in, there was a couple swallows left, but after drinking that, my sugar alarm started going off.  Uh-oh.  I hoped that getting back on the bike would fix that in short order.

After a few minutes on the bike, I did feel a little better, but that was short lived as I was starting to feel more and more of a headwind, and then my stomach started to rebel against me again.  When I arrived in Treloar, I parked the bike and decided to eat my other Honey Stinger Waffle and the Clif Bar I had with me.  According to the Bike Katy Trail website, there is a restaurant/bar right off the trail called Murph's that has awesome cheeseburgers.  However, before I left, I had forgotten to check to see whether it was Treloar or Tebbets (closer to Jefferson City) that had this eatery, so I didn't go in to sample the food.  Plus, I was looking forward to steak when I got home, and I didn't want to kill my appetite.  Now that I know it's Treloar, I'll have to make another trip out there before this summer is over and sample their fare.

After resting for 10 or 15 minutes, I started to feel better, so I started the album that made Bowling for Soup as famous as they are probably going to get, A Hangover You Don't Deserve, on my iPod, then turned around and headed east.  It was now 11:00 (I just figured out that I can look at the time stamp of when a song was last played on my iTunes to verify this), so as it turns out, I did ride west for almost 3 hours, though there was probably 30-45 minutes of rest time in those 3 hours.  Once I got going, I immediately felt the effects of the tailwind and starting making really good time.  What was down to about a 12-13 mph pace as I got close to Treloar was all of a sudden a 17-20 mph pace (20 when I was really feeling like pushing it) and when that album finished up an hour later, I was already near Augusta and feeling good.

Along Augusta Bottoms Road.  The hill in the distance runs into town.

Nearing Augusta, I thought about taking the blacktop into town just to do a bit of exploring.  This would get me some hill work in, which would be beneficial for next weekend.  After thinking about it long enough to take the picture above, I decided I didn't care that much about hills and stayed on the trail.

Since the first BFS album I played worked out so well for my riding, when that one finished up, I put on the studio album they released after A Hangover You Don't Deserve, The Great Burrito Extortion Case.  After I passed through Augusta, trail used picked up considerably.  Heading west it was still early enough that I would pass someone every 5-15 minutes, but now it was around lunchtime and families were out in force for Father's Day.  East of Augusta, it almost seemed like I would pass someone or a group of someones every minute or two.  The parking lots at Augusta, Matson, and Defiance were all full heading back to Weldon Spring.

Finally, just after 1:00, I arrived back at my car.  I loaded my bike up, put a t-shirt on, and drove back home.  Mileage for the day was just under 60 miles and after that sugar from the sno-cone got out of my stomach and into my system, I felt good.  Granted, for 60 miles, this was an easy ride, but I hope this translates into Odin's Revenge being more of a mental challenge than a physical one.  Race Day will start to appear on the 10 day forecast in the morning, and I was getting hopeful earlier today when the prediction for the day before was "only" 90°, but as of just before midnight, that's been revised up to 95° with a 30% chance of rain.  We'll see what happens there, but I'm hoping for something closer to "average," which is 87°.

Odin's Revenge Preperations

Odin's Revenge is coming up in *gasp* 2 weeks, and it's time to get my s**t together.  Last night I scheduled a bike fit over at Maplewood Bicycle to help ensure I'm fitted on my bike as best I can be.  I'm convinced after I took my road bike to them for a fitting there was an immediate improvement in my riding, and I'm hoping for something similar here.  I also will be swapping out the saddle I bought for my road bike with the one that came on my CX bike.  While it's been 4 months since I've been on the road bike now, I do seem to remember that saddle being way more comfortable. 

I also need to look into some accessory bags so that I can carry more than just spare tubes and a multi-tool on me.  A place to store food or extra liquid will be mandatory with 40+ miles between stops and from the sound of things, there won't be any convenience stores along the route (I'm spoiled with the Trailnet Bicycle Fun Club rides having their rest stops mostly at gas stations - I can always hop in and grab some M&M's or other candy and some soda to provide energy for the next leg).  If anyone has suggestions from riding DK200 or something similar, I'm open to suggestions.

The big thing I'm looking for now is a support crew.  My wife doesn't want to drag the kids out to Nebraska, but she doesn't want me to go alone.  If you're interested in an almost free trip to Gothenburg, let me know!  I will pay for the gas up there and provide my car, as well as pay for the motel room Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.  You cover your food.  Here are the requirements -

1) You have to be able to drive a stick shift (unless you want to take your car).
2) I plan on leaving St. Louis the afternoon of Thursday, June 28th and returning late Sunday night or in the wee hours early Monday morning (July 1-2), so you'll need to be able to take a couple hours Thursday and all day Friday off work if you have a standard M-F 9-5 job .  I'll try and make sure you're good to go for Monday.
3) You need to keep me motivated at the checkpoints to keep going.  Only reason to let me quit is if I have a major mechanical (flats don't count), crash, or you feel that my death is imminent.
4) At the rest stops, it would be really awesome if you can wipe my bike down, lube my chain, and check to see that everything looks good.  This isn't mandatory, but apparently my friends that were riding DK200 got this treatment, and I'm jealous.
5)  You need to be fun to be around.  I have to be with you for about 80 hours except for the 16-18 that I'll be riding this course.  I don't want the trip to be miserable.

This is what the course looks like.  Does it look like I could get help if something goes wrong?  I didn't think so.

Still reading, want to go?  Leave a comment here, send me a PM through Facebook, e-mail me, or give me a phone call!

Biggest Loser Final Week

The week before Memorial Day was the final week for the third installment of The Biggest Loser where I work.  We started this round right after Thanksgiving and now 6 months later, it's over.  There were 7 of us doing it and 3 of us actually lost 20+ pounds.  Since winnings are based on percentages though, the final weeks were coming down to me and one other guy that started off 10 pounds lighter than me.  The third guy is 300+, so while he was leading in total pounds lost for a while, he wasn't really threatening for the percentage lead.  Like I've mentioned in a few posts, I've had the overall lead for a month or two now, but the race was still close, and it's narrowed through the month of May as I spent about 3 weeks right around 202.  I finally broke the 200 mark with a week to go, and knowing the other guy was a former wrestler (meaning he knows every trick for dropping water weight), I figured I'd need to pull out all the stops to hold on at the end.  I decided that to be safe, I needed to try and shoot for about 195 to make sure I held on.

I haven't seen a number like this since 2000.

I rode to work the Thursday that I broke 200, so I had the ride home that night to work off some of my lunch, then I took it easy on Friday, but at home that night, I could hear a concert going on at the town center from my house.  After looking on the city's web site, I saw that there was free food, so I decided to ride my bike up there to get some of it.  Really, all I was interested in was the snow cone (after I'd stopped to get one on the way home), but it got me on the bike that day.  The concert was a country band that I wasn't interested in staying for (country music is not my thing), so after I got my snow cone, I came home.

Saturday my wife and I took the kids to Grant's Farm so they could have fun feeding the goats.  When we got there, they had a deal to get 2 milk bottles, a ride on the merry-go-round, and a snow cone for $5, so we we got the kids those passes.  K is big enough that she went in the pen with the goats, but I stayed outside and let J feed them through the fence.  After that, we took them on the merry-go-round, but J didn't want to get off, so I took him on that again while K went to feed the goats again.  After a snack in the food court and an unwilling elephant cut the elephant show short, we headed out and decided to go over to the Belleville Art Fair.  We stopped at Fazoli's (one of my favorite fast food places) on the way over there where I ate more spaghetti than I probably should have.  I think I might have made up for it by carrying J around most of the art fair.

Sunday was the Bicycle Fun Club Strawberry ride, so even though it was pushing 90 with a pretty strong wind out of the west, I did the 55 mile extra long route with Jules, Greg (his first ride of the year), and Kristen.  After those miles, I didn't feel guilty about the Pepsi and strawberry shortcake a la mode afterwards.

Monday I rode into work, but I needed to make a trip to the bike shop after work.  On the way home the previous Thursday, my grip tape started unraveling, so I needed to get some new tape put on.  With the shop being in Maplewood, I decided to take the bus down there and back, so instead of the 28-30 miles I usually put in on the days I ride, I only got 21 miles in that day.  Coupled with Mr. Goodcents for lunch, I was set back a bit on the scale.  Bread is so awful for losing weight. 

Tuesday I had a dentist appointment at 2:00, so I had scheduled to take the afternoon off work.  My dentist is over in Illinois, so I packed my bike and decided to go for a ride on the MCT Trails while I was over there.  I parked where IL 157 crosses the Nickel Plate Trail, then headed out to Alhambra & Worden before coming back, which got me 55+ miles in that day.  Even with Burger King before I headed out, I managed to work off the weight from Mr. Goodcents and was showing 196 on the scale at my parents' house.

Wednesday was my make or break day.  I didn't do anything crazy at lunch time, then after work I went over to Greensfelder with Scott & Brad.  Unfortunately, I got a flat just a few miles into the ride, so that took enough time to change that I didn't feel like a second lap when I got back to the parking lot.  I was going to risk that one lap would be enough.  When I got home, the scale was showing 195.0, so I was getting close to where I needed to be.  Since the official weights are in work clothes (for obvious reasons), I wanted to be 193.5-194.0 at home to make sure I was around 195 at work.

Waking up Thursday, I was disappointed to see that I'd only dropped 1/2 a pound overnight.  I didn't really want to ride into work that day because they were forecasting temperatures into the low 90's, but I wanted to get something of a ride in.  I decided to throw the bike on the car and ride the levee trail before work.  I parked in the middle of the trail and rode to one end and back (8 miles round trip) which was all I had time for, so if I was going to win, it would have to be based on that.  After doing 140+ miles already that week, my legs were shot, and I was just cruising on this ride - 13-14 mph rather than the 17-19 than I will do on that trail when I'm feeling good and the winds aren't crazy.

After getting into work and taking a shower, it was time for the test.  I got my witness and headed for the scale.  As I stepped on the scale, I was told that as long as I didn't gain, I had the overall win.  When 192.8 showed up, I was shocked!  After seeing 194.5 when I left home, I did not expect something that low.  So that not only got me the overall win, I won the weekly jackpot as well and went home $84 richer that day.

***Epilogue***

So now that it's 2 1/2 weeks later, have I kept it off?  Obviously, there was a lot of water weight lost that last week so 193-195 probably isn't realistic right now.  Unfortunately, with Memorial Day and parties for my daughter's birthday the last two weekends, I have been back over 200 for most of the last week, but not by much (~202), and 6 months ago I would've been ecstatic to see a number like that. 

After riding 500 miles in May to win the competition, June has started slowly.  My legs needed to recover some after that last week.  I only have about 75 miles in 10 days so far, and 70 of those were Saturday.  I also have indulged in all of the things I was avoiding for most of the competition, so now that I've done that, it's time to start watching myself again.  Hopefully this blog will keep me honest.  With a little self-discipline, maybe I can be down at 190 by the end of the summer.

Just as I Thought Cycling Was Easy: The Cedar Cross (a.k.a. How not to prepare for a self supported event)

I've been putting off doing this for far too long, probably because I've been too tired to do much writing the last week or so I still don't want to admit how much I failed to live up to my own expectations. 

Back to the beginning - after attending the first annual MLK weekend Berryman ride and discovering how good of a post ride party Team Virtus and the Hoosier Daddies can put on, I immediately signed up for the 100+ mile Cedar Cross, not even worrying that I didn't have a bike that was ideal for the ride.  There was no way the skinny tires on my road bike would be able to handle the gravel, and the 26" wheels on my mountain bike would be way slow with everyone else probably on either 29ers or CX bikes.  I mean, I'd just done 25 miles of Berryman in January and had done 50 miles on the KATY trail in a morning with my mountain bike, and I had 4 road centuries under my belt.  It couldn't be that bad, could it?

Fast forward to March, and I actually bought the CX bike that most people would probably be riding in the race.  While I immediately fell in love with the new bike (and relegated my Schwinn to the rafters in my garage), the brief stint of gravel on the century I did a week and a half before the race made me nervous enough to decide that even wider tires than the 700x33's that came on the bike were necessary.  The CAC and that century also both aggravated my knee that I had bruised in a low speed mountain bike crash at Castlewood last October.  I don't know if what I did at the CAC is really related to the fall at Castlewood (since there was no pain in the 6 months between the two), but it was the same part of the same knee that hurt.  So while I felt I had the base miles in to be successful at the Cedar Cross, doubts were starting to creep into my head.

After researching wider tires, and finding out that the LBS closest to my office only had tires as wide as 700x38's, I found a shop that had the 700x45's that Luke from Team Virtus said he was going to be using.  The day before the race, and an hour before the shop closed for the night (right after Super Kate dropped off her famous chocolate chip cookies), I headed over to it to pick them up.  My plan was to put them on when I got home, then spend some time cleaning up my bike and getting everything ready to go so that I could wake up in the morning and leave, just like I did for the century ride a week earlier.  However, when I got home, everything started heading south.  I pulled in the driveway to discover that my lovely wife had started to clean out the garage.

-I only add the next two paragraphs because I think they started a string of bad luck-

At this point, I'll admit that I'm a bad husband sometimes.  About 2 or 3 times a year (usually depending on how many big snows we get), I get nagged to hose out the garage, and I HATE doing it.  I usually fight it for a good month before I grudgingly drag my butt out there to do it.  This year, since we had 2 months of crazy warm weather in March & April, all of the kids outside toys were cluttering up the garage instead of the basement which made it that much more of a chore.  I haven't been able to park my car in there since mid-March.

Anyway, after earlier in the day in which she told her parents not to clean out their garage in the 90° heat, she was cleaning out our garage, which meant that I would have to take over doing that or keep the kids occupied and out of her hair.  I opted for kid duty.

After the garage was put back in order, I was finally able to put on my new tires.  Unfortunately, when I finally got them on, it was pushing 9:00, and I knew that I needed to get to bed since I had a two hour drive to Jefferson City the next day for a 9AM start.  I didn't have time to do much else in the way of bike maintenance that night, so I decided to set the alarm for 5:00, then wake up and finish preparing for the race.

I actually woke up closer to 5:45 because while I set the alarm on my iPod, I neglected to turn the volume up, so the alarm went off, but it didn't make any noise.  That meant I had to rush around even more to get ready and finally, I was ready to go around 6:30.   The drive to Jefferson City was uneventful, and I managed to get into town right around 8:30, about a half an hour later than I really wanted to.  I made a quick stop at a gas station to get a 2 liter of Sierra Mist and some ice for my water bottles and hydration pack, then crossed over the bridge to the park where we were starting.  I quickly got registered and changed, then got in the group for the pre-race meeting.

Coming into Jefferson City on US 50.

About 9:10, Bob fired up the truck that was going to be the lead out vehicle, and we were off.  I started off in the middle of the pack and I figured that soon enough I would either start passing people or getting passed.  I knew there were some really strong people out there and some others who I could probably hang with no problem.  Not long after we hit gravel though, I starting feeling my water bottle rubbing against my leg.  Uh-oh.  I looked down and the top screw came out of my water bottle cage, so it was flopping around as I was pedaling.  I pulled off and the pack immediately passed me.  Unfortunately, in my haste to pack, I did not have my multi-tool with me, and I had to flag down Luke and Adam who were sweeping the course.  Adam didn't have his multi-tool either, but Luke managed to find his and I unscrewed the other screw and put the cage and water bottle in my jersey pocket.  Great.  More weight on my back to carry around all day.

Once I got packed up, I rode with Luke and Adam for a while, but gradually started to pull away from them.  Eventually I even started to pass a few other riders as we made our way through the edge of Holts Summit towards the first piece of singletrack, which also happened to be the same pasture that I had hiked through during the CAC.  This time though, I didn't see any of the cows that were out there that weekend.  About halfway through the pasture, I saw a pickup truck with a few people hanging out around it.  As I got closer, I realized that one of the people was Todd from the Hoosier Daddies and their team had brought a keg of beer and some bottles of water out to hydrate the riders.  That was a welcome site!  The temperature was climbing pretty rapidly towards 90, and I wasn't about to turn down any cold liquids.  I also was able to give Todd my water bottle cage to take back to the finish line so I could get it out of my jersey.  I hung out there for several minutes while everyone bringing up the back of the race came in, and when we took off, there were about 15 or so of us that formed a pace line through the rest of the singletrack and back onto the gravel.

Refreshments!!

Once we hit gravel again, the pack started to thin out again and I found myself riding with Jim Davis of Team Seagal.  We'd only met maybe once or twice before at some GORC functions, but it was nice killing the miles talking to him.  After a while, we pulled into the first official rest stop, a church that had a water faucet in their yard.  At this point, I combined the Sierra Mist from my water bottles into one and filled up the empty one with some nice cold water.  I also downed the two packs of M&M's I picked up at the gas station in Jefferson City.  There was only 40 miles to the next place I could buy food, it wouldn't be that bad, right?  Not two miles after leaving that church, we were back on the second stretch of singletrack.  With the rain the area had a couple days earlier, this was still pretty muddy, and there was a lot of hike-a-bike through here, so what might've taken 20 minutes if it were dry wound up taking probably closer to an hour.

Creek crossing on the singletrack.

After finally exiting that section, we had about 3 miles on gravel before we crossed over this old bridge only wide enough for pedestrians and started climbing another section of doubletrack.  This was also familiar ground as it was where we exited the singletrack on the biking leg of the CAC.  Unfortunately, it was a lot soggier this time around, and coupled with the narrower tires on my CX bike, it made for a fair amount of hike-a-bike as well.  Fortunately, after we trudged through the muck, the Hoosier Daddies made another appearance with their beverage truck!  At this point (mile 35), we had about 15 miles to the next rest stop where our drop bags were, and 35 miles to the next stop with a convenience store.  While we were done with the singletrack until that rest stop, that also meant that we were going to be riding through a lot more open areas without much in the way of tree cover, so those 15 miles were hot!

Bike & Pedestrian bridge across Cedar Creek

While I was wishing I had more food with me by now, I also thought I was making pretty decent time, and I was still passing the occasional rider that was getting worn out in the heat.  Everything was going all right until I heard a loud POP! and saw my front tire go flat.  While I did have a spare tube and CO2 cartridge, I had also forgotten a CO2 applicator (the downside of having 4 bikes!) in another bike bag.  Fortunately, about this time I had a double stroke of luck.  Another rider named Dave and his wife pulled up about the same time, and Dave helped me air my tire back up while his wife, who was driving the course in a van with their 4 kids, offered to take me back to the start if I wanted.  I was getting to the point where I was thinking about heading back when I got to the rest stop anyway, so I graciously accepted his wife's offer and put my bike in the van and cooled off while we headed back to the park.

When I returned, the Hoosier Daddies were back grilling their famous bratwurst (see MLK Berryman report), so I ate a couple of those and grabbed a couple of the baked potatoes that were promised to all of the riders.  Super Kate's chocolate chip cookies were locked up at this point though, so those would have to wait.  It was getting to be about 3:00 now, so after refueling my body, I chilled out with some of the other people who DNF'ed and we waited for the winners to cross the line.  Just after 4:45 the first group of 4 came across the line.

The Cedar Cross Winners

I continued to hang out at the pavilion for a while, but I was starting to get thirsty for a soda or something like that.  Too much beer and I wouldn't be in any shape to make the two hour drive home.  Caffeine would also be good to keep me awake.  I hopped in my car and headed across the bridge back into Jefferson City, and immediately after getting off the highway, I saw this:

Snow Cones! (US 54 & Missouri Blvd)

It's not soda, but I love snow cones, and when I saw that stand, I had to stop.  I ordered me a strawberry one, and went back to the pavilion to eat it.  After I finished that though, it was after 6:00, so I had to start thinking about heading home.  As much as I wanted to stay until everyone finished, it was looking like I would be there well after 8:00 if I did that, and then I wouldn't be home until after 10:00 (as it turns out, the final group of 4 didn't come in until 11:00).  I decided to say my goodbyes and head out.  So while the ride didn't work out for me very well, Bob put on a really well run event, and I hope to give it another shot next year.  Hopefully, I'll prepare myself a little better next time.

The Cedar Cross Training Century

I'm a little torn about which report I should write first - the training century with Team Virtus from a week and a half two weeks ago, or the Cedar Cross that happened yesterday five days ago?  In order to keep this somewhat chronological, I'll write the training century report first.  Plus, I have the pictures from that on my computer already, and I'd have to go get my phone to do the Cedar Cross report.

Anyway, about a week into April, Team Virtus posted that Luke & Bob were going to do a training century the Wednesday after the CAC.  Since I had vacation to burn, I put in for the day off and made plans to join them.  At the time, I didn't think doing the race 4 days after the CAC would be a big deal, but when I could barely walk for two days after finishing the (non) race, I started wondering what I'd signed up for.  Luckily, by Tuesday my knee felt fine, so before I went to bed that night, I packed up my car, filled & froze my water bottles, then set the alarm for 4:45 AM to be in Jefferson City for the 7:30 start.  With the 2 hours of travel, I wanted to be able to roll out of bed, put my bike on my car rack, then leave.

When the alarm went off, I was able to get up and go like I planned.  The drive out to Jefferson City was pretty uneventful, and I was able to make good time on US 50 getting over there.  Heading against traffic after I got off I-44 was nice as I could see the line of cars heading east towards St. Louis, but there was hardly anyone going west.  I had plenty of time when I was getting close, so I pulled off to grab a quick breakfast when I got to the town of Linn.   Shortly after that I was in JC.

50/63 Heading into Jefferson City

We were setting off from the North Jefferson trailhead of the KATY Trail, so I made my way downtown and then crossed the bridge over to the north side of the Missouri River.  The forecast was for near record high temperatures of about 90° but when I arrived it was overcast and in the mid 60's - very pleasant for a long day in the saddle if it were to hold.

Rain in the area?

There were going to be five of us on the ride, myself, Luke, Bob, a friend of theirs, Aaron, and fellow CAC racer Justin, who had made the trek from St. Louis as well.  Unlike me, he stayed with his brother in Columbia the night before, so he got to sleep in a bit more than I did.  Around 8:00, we set off towards Boonville.  

The Missouri River from the trail.

We ran pretty well at first with the cool temperatures.  Luke mentioned in the original post that he wanted to do a 12 mph pace, but we started off around 13-15 since everyone was feeling pretty good.  Plus, it's flat.  Not long into the ride, Aaron, Luke, and I were riding 3 abreast when a squirrel with a death wish ran out in front of us from the right.  It stopped in the middle of the trail, turned around, then turned around again and ran right into my leg.  At that point I'm not real sure what happened, but Luke said I ran over it with my back tire.  I don't remember feeling any huge bump, so I think it may have just brushed up against my tire before darting off into the woods.  We'll assume it survived.

Another shot of the Missouri.

As we got close to the turnoff for Columbia, we left the KATY for a bit and rode along some gravel farm roads.  At first we were curious why the route we were following did this, but just before we got back to the trail, we saw this tree right off the road.  At first it didn't really look like anything special, but as you got closer to it, the tree just got larger and larger.  It was one big tree!  There was some sort of monument next to the tree, but unfortunately, some less than stellar citizenry had decided to spray graffiti all over it.  I guess it's probably some sort of champion tree for it's species (oak, I think).

Luke showing his love for the tree, along with his bad-ass singlespeed bike.

Looking up at the tree.

By now, the cloud cover had dissipated and the mercury was rising fast.  It appeared that the weatherman was going to be right after all.  We decided to get back on the trail since it had more tree cover than the farm roads. 

If you notice the picture of Luke's singlespeed, there is an empty white water bottle holder behind his seat.  That originally had 2 bottles in it, but not very far into the ride, we hit a rough patch and they rattled off and hit the ground.  It was not long after we got back on the trail that we pulled up on a DNR pickup truck and out hopped a lady holding two bottles.  It was his lucky day!  They were warm by now, but at least he had his sports drink.

In addition to the crazed squirrel, there was also other wildlife on the trail.  This is the first of about 3 turtles I saw.  When we first came upon this little guy, he curled up in his shell, but after the other guys left, I was able to get a picture of him sticking his head back out.

Poking its little head out.

After going through the town of Rocheport, we were able to cool off briefly in the one tunnel along the whole trail.  Up until this point, most of the trail was surprisingly scenic compared to what the KATY Trail is like through St. Charles County.  While parts of the trail between Highway 40 and Defiance are pretty neat, there is a lot that is just next to open fields.  A lot of the trail along between Jefferson City and Rocheport was right up against the edge of the river bluffs.  It definitely made for some pleasant riding.

East entrance to the tunnel.

 Unfortunately, once we passed through this tunnel, everything seemed to change.  All of a sudden, the trail seemed to cut right through the middle of the flood plain, with the river a mile away on the left and the bluffs a mile away on the right.  In some of these areas, farmers had also plowed their fields almost right up to the trail and shade trees became scarce.  The trail was like this almost all the way to Boonville, 13.5 miles away. 

When we arrived at Boonville, we crossed the Missouri right into downtown.  We immediately saw a place to eat called the Riverside Diner, so we stopped in for lunch.  I'm sure the five of us in our bike gear were quite the site to the locals.  But my lunch of popcorn shrimp and fries with Sweet Tea to drink sure hit the spot.  Next time I'm headed west on I-70, it would be worth the trip into Boonville to stop.

When we left Boonville, to mix the trip up a bit, we got off the trail after we crossed over the river into Franklin and hit some gravel for a bit.  After all, this ride was a prep ride for Cedar Cross and Dirty Kanza, and the gravel on those rides was surely not going to be as smooth as the KATY Trail.  However, with my bike computer showing temperatures in the 98°-101° range in the sun (it was really only about 90°, but the sun was influencing the readout), we were baking out there on the gravel, so after about 5 or 6 miles, we got back on the trail.  At this point, I was starting to run low on fluids, so the tunnel and trailhead at Rocheport were looking very inviting.  I shifted into high gear and pedaled towards the tunnel just about as fast as I could. 

West Entrance to the Tunnel.  Darkness has never looked so inviting!

When I arrived at the tunnel, I just found the coolest part of the tunnel and hopped off the bike and stood there until everyone else showed up.  Thankfully, I was able to chill for 5 or 10 minutes.  After everyone regrouped, we headed over to the trailhead to take another rest and I refilled my water bottles.  The one thing I was pleasantly surprised about along here was that the more popular trailheads had full-blown bathrooms with running water and real toilets, not just composting ones.  I'm not even sure the trailheads around St. Louis have that.

After we left Rocheport, we realized that if we kept running at the pace we were going, we were going to be an hour later back to Jefferson City than we originally planned.  Aaron needed to be back close to 5:00, so he and Justin stepped it up a bit and took off.  I thought about going with them, but decided to hang back with Luke and Bob.  This was probably a good move on my part, because as we got towards McBaine and the turnoff to Columbia, my knee that was killing me after the CAC started acting up again.  With 25 miles still left, this wasn't going to be fun.  The weird part was, it seemed to hurt the most when after I'd coast for a bit and try to get going again.  The initial pressure on the pedal seemed to be what was irritating it.  By now though, I'd learned what milepost Jefferson City was at, so I immediately started counting down the miles as I'd pass the markers.  Of course, they never go by fast enough when you do that.  I also tried pedaling just with my right foot, but I got razzed for being a show-off.  That didn't help things much though.

It's really hard to see, but that's Jeff. City along the horizon.

Finally, after another rest stop in Hartsburg, we did the last 10 miles to Jefferson City.  I was getting pretty wiped at this point, mostly because of my knee, but after I came out of some trees and saw this view of the capitol, I did have enough left to for a 17-18mph sprint finish back to the car.  Except for the knee pain, it was a really good ride with this group of guys, and I'm glad I took the day off work to make the trip.  It was also nice getting to ride a section of the KATY that I'd never been on before.  Now I need to bust out the segment between Augusta and Jefferson City.  That part is only 80 miles, I should be able to do that without too much trouble.  Unfortunately, I hear it's more like the Rocheport-Boonville segment rather than the JC-Rocheport one.