TOSRV (it isn't TOSRV without rain!) (LONG)
Back in the day, I rode TOSRV eleven years in a row. So after I returned to cycling, when I realized that this year would be the 25th anniversary of my first TOSRV, I knew I had to do it. Never mind that I hadn't ridden a century since 1993.
Honestly, I was a little scared going into it. The terrain isn't difficult, but the weather in Ohio in May is very unpredictable, and the winds and temperatures can be brutal. I hadn't been super-motivated to train, either. I just had to keep telling myself - I already had two-thirds as many miles this year as I'd done all last year - there were years I'd been in worse shape and finished TOSRV just fine when I was 20 years younger - my sister told me if I can ride 30, I can ride 100 yeah but can I get up in the morning and do it again? - I was fine doing 74 hilly on Monday, and TOSRV is flat...
All during the day Friday I kept checking the weather report. All week really, but Friday I started watching the hourly forecast and figuring out what to wear and what to pack. The forecast was for sunny Saturday, rainy Sunday, cool temperatures, and tailwinds both ways :D
We drove in to Columbus Friday night so DH could have the car for the weekend without having to get up at the crack of dawn to drop me off. I got registered for the ride and checked into our room. The choice of hotel was the first mistake. I'd asked for a non-smoking room, and it was billed as one, but it was permeated with tobacco smoke. It was dirty. (and this was not a cheap place, either - not super expensive, but not cheap by any means) And worst for my health, feathers. We've grown to expect feather pillows - they must be really cheap, since even roadside motels are full of feather pillows these days - but the bed toppers were feather, too; the sheets were saturated with feather dander. The only time I've ever woken up with paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea was the last time I slept in a down sleeping bag, and I never want to have that feeling again. We had to call housekeeping twice to get replacements - and then they brought up one blanket and about 37 pillows. I put the poly blanket that was in the closet on top of the sheet and slept under the one that housekeeping brought, and prayed I wouldn't wake up with an asthma attack. DH slept under his bedspread.
Thankfully, my breathing was okay when I woke up Saturday morning, and I was just a little congested. We got breakfast in the hotel, dragged my luggage to the truck and set off - not as early as I'd planned, almost 7:30. The wind was light, but what there was, was at our backs, and the sun was shining as predicted. It was a little cool and I was dressed just right in wool base layer under a my new hi-viz jersey, wool arm warmers, wool socks, full fingered gloves and toe covers. At the first food stop I ran into someone from my club - we rode together for a little while, but she's a stronger rider than I am, so she went ahead. We hooked up again at the second food stop, and also three other guys from our club, and I rode out with them for a while.
The ride is mostly flat (obviously, since it's a river valley ride), but there are some little rollers after the second food stop. There's one hill that is infamous for foiling flatlanders - Schoolhouse Hill, for the elementary school that used to be at the top of it. It's really barely a hill at all, but to people who do most of their riding north and west of Columbus, or in northwestern Ohio, the hill has acquired a reputation. I admit, there were years when it challenged me, too. Since I hadn't seen that hill in 14 years, I wasn't sure quite what to expect with my aging legs. I knew it wasn't that big of a deal, but would it be hard? Ha. I got to the bottom of the hill, and I recognized it, and I'm looking at it, and I'm thinking, "Is this it?" And I got to the top of it, and I'm still thinking, "Is this it?" The worst of it was, I really had to pee, and they always have some portajohns at the top of the hill because people wind up stopping there to rest and catch their breath. It was such a freda thing to do, but I had to stop at the top of Schoolhouse Hill. :o:p
Anyway I went on, leapfrogging the other riders from my club here and there. As big as the ride is, you're never alone, so we didn't make that much of an effort to stay together. The day warmed up a little, but never so much that I took off my arm warmers. I did switch to fingerless gloves and pulled off the toe covers, and for a while I just pushed my knee warmers down around my ankles. To people who ribbed me for this "fashion statement," I said it was just like Flashdance. :p
The city of Portsmouth has been painting murals downtown depicting local history. They're really amazing artistry. Most of them are on the river wall, but the latest one - with finishing touches still being applied - is on a building on the TOSRV route just after we cross the bridge into town. It depicts TOSRV riders coming into the city of Portsmouth! What a great way to greet us! And it shows how big this event is every year for their town.
There was a get-together in the park at the end of the ride, and all the riders from our club hooked up there. We hung out for a little bit, then went to where we were sleeping to shower and change. The other woman from my club was staying in the same place as me, the new activity room for a Catholic church. It was really nice, clean, hot showers, and they even had chips and cookies and a water cooler for us! Like many of the local churches, the one across the street from us had a dinner for the riders, so we went there for lasagna, salad, baked potato and dessert. The three men met us there, and after dinner we walked back down to the park and hung out for a little longer. I got a mini-massage but couldn't interest any of the rest of them in one. It was really a nice night. We walked back and went to sleep.
I can't sleep at all in that kind of environment without earplugs and an eye mask - but when I wear those, I have no cues to get me up in the morning, so I was literally the last one awake at about 5:25. Give me credit though, I wasn't the last one out! :D I honestly don't even remember brushing my teeth, but I must have done it, because I put my contacts in, and I wouldn't have done one without the other. :p I scarfed a Clif bar that I'd stashed for breakfast while I was rolling up my Thermarest, and we were off.
Thank goodness for the National Weather Service. And for MSC for delivering my clear glasses on Friday, when I really didn't expect to receive them in time for this weekend. I was really, really glad to have those today! But at the time, what I knew was that I was really glad to have them this morning when it was dark and it was raining. I put on my wool jersey, my rain jacket, knee warmers again. I didn't even bother to bring along the fingerless gloves today, I knew I wouldn't need them. It was actually a little bit warm on the first leg, and I was wondering if maybe I shouldn't have worn a lighter top, but as the day went on, I was really glad for my Cortina wool jersey, 20 years old and still as warm as the day it came off the sheep.
It rained most of the first leg. We caught a wheel most of the way there, and pulled off for a little break. I squeezed about a cup of water out of my gloves. The rain actually let up a little bit for a while, but it continued to rain on and off. As we left the second food stop, it almost looked like it might clear up, but soon after we started hearing thunder and seeing black clouds to the west. Before long the storm caught up to us. The rain wasn't too heavy (yet), and there wasn't a lot of lightning, but it only takes one bolt to electrocute you (as we Floridians know too well). The good news is that with the storm, the tailwind picked up too. We were going 23-24 mph and barely exerting ourselves. We caught a couple more wheels and had even more fun... even when we came through some truly torrential rain. If I'd been on the motorcycle, I would've stopped, it was raining that hard. That's when I was extra super glad for my new clear lenses. My friend had taken her glasses off completely because she couldn't see - even with amber lenses, she said they were fogging up - and I heard later from more than one person that they couldn't see anything in that downpour. Me, I didn't think visibility was that awfully bad. :cool: (But if there'd been a hole in the road, it would've swallowed me up, I wouldn't have seen it under however much water was coming down!) I met a rider later at check-in who said he'd been through hail a little later, so I'm glad I missed that!
So we made it to the last food stop, shared rain stories, and went on. I was flagging a little and my friend was anxious to get home, so she dropped me before long. Riders were pretty sparse, actually, in the last stretch, and I think a lot of people may have dropped out because of the weather. Actually, the last leg was mostly dry and a little bit warmer. If I hadn't been in soaking wet clothes listening to noises from a dry chain, it would've been kind of nice. The only thing was... as we got into the city of Columbus, the tornado sirens went off :eek: Well, I was glad I was nearly back! The sirens went off two more times as we were riding in - but I guess the tornadoes never materialized, thankfully (and thoughts and prayers to the people in the central states who've been hit by tornadoes this weekend :().
So anyway - I made it. And - not sure quite how to phrase this but it's a thought I have - I've now lived more than twice as long as I had the first time I did this ride. Or, that was more than half my life ago. Something like that. So there it is. And I know I've been in more pain after this ride than I am right now (although tailwinds are a big help with that, for sure, for sure)!
210.9 miles, 15 hours 18 minutes counting rest breaks but obviously not the overnight break, too many cookies, not enough veggies, and heaven only knows how many gallons of rain.
Thanks to: the tailwind gods, the not-being-struck-by-lightning gods, the National Weather Service and MSC for dressing me perfectly, DH for dropping me off and picking me up, and all the many volunteers that make TOSRV such a great ride every year!
update after reading the paper
:(
One rider was killed after being hit by an SUV, the first traffic fatality in the 47 years of TOSRV.
He was off the official route, but on a road that many riders use even though it's not recommended.
A very sad note to end the ride.
