The Louisville Bicycle Club had the first of its PBP series yesterday, a 200K. I decided to make the trip since I'm so frustrated with our endless snow, ice, and cold in the western suburbs of Chicago. Of course, some big weather system decided to come through the Midwest this weekend. The forecast was for rain the entire ride. But the temps were supposed to get up to 60 degrees so I figured that had to be better than the cold and ice.
Temps were in the low 40s and it was light rain when the 7 of us started just before sunrise at 7:00am. But after about 10 miles the rain stopped! The next 87 miles were very pleasant. The roads were in good shape, there were lots of horse farms, and even some distilleries. Oh and hills. Nothing was flat and roads were rarely straight! It was an out and back course that started in Shelbyville and went east through Frankfort (capital of Kentucky if you didn't know!) and continued on to the turnaround in Georgetown. It was in the mid 50's when I got to Georgetown. I even saw the sun come out for a few minutes on the way back.
When I got back to Frankfort at mile 95 after climbing up Devil's Hollow Road and got to the control, I picked up a text from my husband. He said I should ride fast as the rain was coming back through. Hah. I don't ride fast so within 2 miles the rain had started up again but it was heavier than the morning and constant. I had finally caught up with another rider at Frankfort but he got out of the control faster than I could. I did seem him later on during some long climbs. When it got dark about 10 miles out from the end we stayed closer and finished at the same time.
I'm really glad I didn't let the weather forecast deter me from doing this 200K. The countryside was so pretty. I'm going to do another permanent tomorrow that starts in Frankfort heads to Georgetown and then heads north to make a loop back into Frankfort. There is some overlap with the 200K but not much. I was going to ride it today but the winds have been crazy with gusts up to 50mph. I also found out by pre-driving that one of the roads is closed due to flooding of the Kentucky River. I've figured out a detour and have cleared it with the route owner.
My rain gear got a good stress test and the only fail was my Sealskinz gloves. They are fine for damp, misty days. But the constant rain left me with puddles in my fingers at the end.