Copper Country Color Tour (warning: very long)
Forecast: 55-60, winds NE 10-20mph, gusting to 30.
Starting area: Looks like a good turnout. Maybe 100 people? Possibly more. I signed up for the 200k, fully expecting to ride the whole thing alone after the 50k split off. There is also a 100k, which follows the same route as the 200 for the first 25 miles. Anyway, I think most people do the 50k. But I really don't know how many are doing the 200.
Yay - I ran into some friends who live 100 miles away, and another one who I don'[t see often, and don't train with (pretty cool - he's my Dad's age). They are all doing the 100k, so at least I can spend time with them for a little while.
8:00am: About 52 degrees. I'm glad I bought those toe warmers last week. Guess I'll wear the jacket and the arm warmers and the light tights for a while. No wind right now!
Mile 2: Okay, there is that wind, but it isn't too bad yet. Probably will be worse up on the peninsula.
~Mile 15: First food stop. Don't really want anything, but I'll have a chunk of banana and a Shot Block. I'm carrying several Power Bars, Gus, Shot Blocks, and Gummy Bears (special treat!). My pockets and saddle bag are crammed and heavy.
I hope Jim and Jo don't mind, but I can't stop for long, or I'll have to warm up all over again. I'm the only one of our group doing the long one, and I really need to do it my pace, or I don't know if I'll make it. They grab their bikes and we go - Mary says she's right behind us (I never see her again).
Mile 25: I say goodbye to Jim and Jo, wishing they'd change their minds and keep going. But Jo is doing another tour tomorrow. As I make the turn in Gay, a group of several bikers come up the road I'm turning onto, and turn onto the 100k course. That's right - they didn't mark the course. We'd stopped another guy who'd missed the turn in Lake Linden. I haven't seen a course marking all morning. Luckily, I live here and know the route well.
Mile 25.5: There is that headwind. Gusty. Not 30mph yet, but it's going to be a long 35.5 miles up to Copper Harbor. I see nobody ahead of me, nobody behind me. Okay - just try to maintain a comfortable pace. 20 miles of flats ahead of me before the big climb.
Mile 28: Another biker heading the opposite way. I ask him why so many people are turning around. He says "Hmm - I don't really know. Do you know where the 100k course goes?". That answers that question. I give him directions and keep riding.
Mile 30: Cool snowshoe hare in the road, just hopping around. Seems confused, maybe? You'd better get out of the road - it isn't safe!
Mile 31: Way up ahead - are those road signs or bikers?
Mile 31.5: Are those road signs or bikers?
Mile 31.75: Darn - looks like road signs. Wait - the furthest ones - they're moving!
Mile 33: I'll catch them eventually. Still nobody else in sight ahead or behind.
Mile 34: Food stop #2. I almost had them. Use the outhouse, go to the food table and get confused. Just water jugs. I ask about food, and one of the guys pushes one box of raisins and one sample-size granola bar type thing toward me, "This is all that is left". I express dismay. He tells me a huge group came in all at once. Okay - well, this is why I carried all my own stuff. This is a college student run tour, and I know what to expect. I eat half of a Power Bar and leave their food for someone who might need it. The next stop isn't until mile 60 or so.
Mile 34: My targets are on their bikes first, so it takes me a couple hundred yards to catch them. Cool. I ask if I can hang out behind them for a minute (I've been fighting the wind alone for a while). Start talking - they are both Tech seniors. Hard to hear what they are saying with the wind. Still not as windy as I'd feared.
Miles 35-45: Hang out with the guys. Not a blistering pace, but I don't want a blistering pace - still unsure of my ability to ride 120 miles, even though I did 100 2 weeks ago. I start getting ahead of them on the few small hills, and adjust my pace (better to ride with someone, I think). We stopped for a minute to check on bikers with a mechanical issue. One of my guys has the tool they need. We're on our way. The group of 3 we'd stopped for eventually gets ahead, one of them riding in a way that worries me (windy road, double yellow line, and he's in the oncoming lane). There isn't any traffic to speak of, so it turns out okay, but I don't want to see it happen, or be the one the car swerves into when it sees the guy right in front of him. I see how bikers around here get a bad name.
Mile 45: Lac la Belle: Make my own food stop. I like to stop at this park and fuel up for the climb. A Gu and the rest of my Power Bar, and a few swigs of Heed. The guys stop there, too. The Sag vehicle stops by to check on us, offer us warmer clothes (I'm removing a layer for the climb), admires my bike (so I like the guy instantly:D).
Everyone ready? Okay - climb time! I've done this hill twice this season, so I have no doubts. The guys never have. One is on a mountain bike, and the other an old Schwinn tank with suicide levers. They get chicked. Okay, before you get too impressed with my biking prowess, as a 42 year old woman 0n a standard double chicking two 22 year old guys on a 12% grade, there is extra information. Tim MTB has a longest ride of the season of 35 miles, and Tom Schwinn was laid flat with strep on Monday.
Lac la Belle hill has a 12% grade for the first 1/3 mile or so, then continues up for quite a while at varying lesser grades. 8% average, I think, over several miles. It's pretty hard on a double, but doable. My riding buddy was afraid this year - she's done it before, but was still afraid she'd tip over (also a regular double), but she made it. I keep looking back, but they aren't visible. I keep riding slowly once the grade becomes easier, hoping they'll catch up. It levels off for a bit, so I turn around and ride back until they catch up. Then we motor on up the rest of the way to Hwy 41. We're a bit more shelterd now, and the sun is coming out.
Mile 50: Turn up 41 toward Copper Harbor. No shoulder for the next 11 miles, with windy, twisty, rolly road. Not much traffic, so we're fine. Tom is falling back, so we take it easy.
~Mile 59: We climb the big hill at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, catching the group of 3 as we go. One of them asks me if we;re almost there, and I assure him there is one big downhill, and then we're in CH.
I cruise down the last mile - 38.9. Not the fastest ever, but fun after so many miles of flats followed by so much climbing. I feel pretty good.
Mile 60: Food stop. I want the pasty (for those who don't know, not "paystie", but "paasty", as my Canadian MIL pronounces Mazda). Basically a crust with meat & veggies inside. Old Cornish miner staple. I learned last year - that thing tasted sooo good last year, but not worth the next 10 miles of recovery. I find the package slips into my jacket pocket (supper). I make myself 1/2 a pb sandwich, use the bathroom, fill a bottle.
Hey - there is Di-Bear! Hi! She was at the CH stop last year, too. Not doing the ride, but volunteering. We talk bikes. She's already selling the Trek Fuel she got a year ago, and has something even better. We talk carbon fiber shoes, and how mountain biking in Copper Harbor will destroy them.
Well, I need to go, Tim & Tom, or it will take me miles to get into the flow again. They want to do the optional Brockway Mountain Drive route. A nine mile stretch that runs parallel to a 9 mile stretch on the regular route. I've skied it many times, in the opposite direction, but have never attempted it on a bike. I've been afraid. It is REALLY steep, the direction we are going. It starts about 1/2 mile from the food stop, so I'm glad I didn't each much.
My DH has ridden this thing several times. He claims it isn't much steeper than Lac la Belle, and is in very short sections, with rests in between. And the only really steep part is the first section - then you are home-free. I was pretty sure it was significantly steeper than LLB, but there is only one way to find out.
~Mile 60.5: We make the turn onto BMD
~Mile 60.75: Wish I hadn't eaten anything. Wish I hadn't agreed to climb this thing!
~Mile 60.8: Note to self: KICK DH'S A$$ WHEN i SEE HIM!!!
I'm traversing the hill, not sure if I'm going to make it. Think I'll tip over. Will I be able to unclip in time? If I unclip, then it's all over, I'll fall, scratch up my new bike, bloody myself, and have to walk the bike to where I can get going again. Whew - it just eased up slightly enough to glance down at my computer without crashing - 3.1 - and I'm going fractionally faster than I was just before. This is HORRIBLE! I finally make it to the top of the first section. Tim is back a ways, Tom isn't visible. Here he comes. I break out the gummy bears to share - we earned them.
Next hill shouldn't be as bad. We all agree that this was a terrible idea. Next hill - darn near as steep, and I'm traversing with screaming legs! Wait agin after it levels off. Ooh - downhill!:D Ooh! Exploded, patched pavement everywhere!:eek: I love a good, screamin' downhill. This ain't it! I'm going to die! Start braking as much as possible on the downhills. In and out of the shadows, sometimes I can't even see the potholes. I am terrified on the downhills, and totally maxed out on the uphills. We agree never to do this again. (must punish DH)
Finally, the last uphill, but now there are several miles of downhill! I turn into an official downhill weenie, and just try to stay alive. The last couple of miles are more gradual, and better pavement. Whew.
Mile 70: Back on M26. I feel like I'm safely on the ground again!
Takes a long time for the legs to recover from those climbs, but eventually I'm okay.
The rest goes well. We stop at 83 to eat something.
Mile 95: Last food stop. They do have food, but I look at it and know it wouldn't stay down. So I pop 2 or 3 bears and a Shot Block. Pretty sure there is hurling in my future.
It is confirmed - we are LAST. However, there were people behind us for the first half, but they all stopped at Copper Harbor. It seems that a lot of people sign up for the 200k, with the intention of stopping there.
Mile 95.5: We start up the long climb from Ahmeek, through Allouez. Pretty much some degree of climbing for 5 miles, until we hit Calumet.
Mile 96: I hear a cheary "Hello" coming up on my left side, as we climb. A helmetless, shirtless guy wearing black cargo shorts, a big wad of keys hanging off a belt loop, riding a bike loaded down with panniers cruises right past us. We've been Fredded!
I actually feel quite good. I'm not sure how this is possible, but it feels almost effortless. Except for the urge to puke.
Mile 100: Whee! A little flat, and then a big, long downhill.
~Miles 105-115: Slow down until Tom catches up, then we ride and yack, losing track of Tim. Oops - better slow down. Tim's 35 mile training ride wasn't enough, so he's going to be really happy to be done. I really need to pee.
Mile 119.83 (by my computer). We made it!:D
