speedevil 

Melt implies warmth, there wasn't a lot of that on Saturday.

steelbikeguy

and I think Mom used to yell "and wear some warm clothes, 'ya dummy!"

Seriously, there were a number of cases of sagging in due to hypothermia. Some folks were seriously unprepared for the conditions.
Even among our little group, I think I was the only one not concerned about loss of body heat. I was wearing a heavy jersey, tights, and arm warmers under that rain jacket and pants and helmet cover.

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

As noted by Robbie, Saturday was a wet nasty mess. Not a good venue for pulling out a proper camera and taking pics! Fortunately, Sunday was much more suitable for photos!

We've got a few BF members ... @RobbieTunes, @nomadmax (Allan), and @speedevil (Dale). We were also joined by Gail, friend of Robbie who did SAG duties on Saturday and watched out for our general welfare and did photo duty. On Sunday, we were joined by Tom, a budding C&V enthusiast that Robbie had run into and invited to join.

First, a few bikes....
a shot of a nice Independent Fabrications bike parked near my Borthwick (fully fendered and equipped with a saddlebag capable of carrying rain gear and warm clothes that are shed as the day warms)




At the same rest stop, a shot of Allan's Eddy. I think he needs to give us the full rundown on this bike/frame!



Robbie's Eddy (and his Dairyland Dare socks). Lovely frame, of course, and I feel bad for not getting better photos. The Eddy was not subjected to the horrors of Saturday's deluge... instead, it was his Fiorini(?) that was abused thusly. No photos of that either <sigh>.


Dale was also riding an Eddy, although a bit more carbon-ish, if I recall.


okay, now some shots from the road!

(L-R) Allan, Gail, and Robbie cruising along.


Robbie and Gail


Dale on the CF Merckx (moving much faster than when I met him at last year's Tanner's ride! Lots of credit for such improvement)



Allan and his Eddy






end of part 1...

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

part 2......

Allan and Robbie cruising along



The sun finally comes out, brightening things up a bit for Gail



Robbie and Tom chatting at lunch



Robbie, Dale and Tom



getting back on the road after the lunch stop. (L-R) Tom, Allan, Gail, Robbie



Allan and Robbie on a typical tree lined road



on a relatively rare flat and straight stretch of road... Gail, Robbie, and Allan



Tom and Allan



Steve in Peoria

nomadmax 

Where do I start?

It's like a week in the field compressed into two days, but what a week it was. In a good, no, make that a great way. My wife Donna and I drove over to Bloomington for the 2019 Hilly Hundred to meet friends, some of whom we knew and others not yet acquainted with. We had dinner Friday night at a brew pub and got to meet Robbie's friends from St Louis. Steve wasn't able to make it so we didn't get to meet until the following morning before rolling out. The smartphones were out at dinner, every one was tuned into a weather site and there were some serious rumblings of "not me" or "I'm not going out in that, I'll ride Sunday". On the one hand I wish I had that kind of common sense and on the other, some of the best and most memorable times in my life have been difficult; to put it mildly. At dinner I made the case for riding for two reasons. First, because sunny, mild temperature days with a tailwind are hard to recall; however, hot days like RAIN ride or a bone chilling 40 degree windy rain is easy to remember. Second, and quite possibly more important than the first, is if you don't ride the bad days, how will you know when you get a "good one"? Those two points aside, riding is supposed to be fun and I don't fault anyone for using good sense, especially when it comes to conditions that could be dangerous. In hindsight, the cold rain and wind produced just enough discomfort, diminished skills/visibility to make the steep descents covered with wet leaves lethal if not negotiated with caution. All of that said, on with the story.

Saturday morning at the hotel I had breakfast with Dale @speedevil and @Boxkite who I think was rooming with him. I enjoy meeting Bike Forum members, they're always interesting people and this was no exception. After breakfast Dale and I loaded up and headed to the start. The GPS was apparently "aware" of the bike ride and routed and re-routed us a couple times making for a few moments of "will we make it in time to meet the others?". I got my bike out and suited up, Dale went to change and we agreed to meet at the start line; which was not where we were As soon as I got on the bike I knew it was gonna be a cold slog, all day. I rode over to the start, met Robbie, Gail and Steve who is only IN Peoria, not FROM Peoria As it turns out often enough, we had more in common than the bikes, Steve was in the Marine Corps the exact same years as me, yet another connection. It was getting close to the time to start and I was worried about where Dale was. It was still dark and I was thinking he'd gotten lost (very easy to do) so I jumped on the phone and called. Here's a transcript of the conversation:

ME: Hey man, where are you?

DALE: I'm in the truck.

ME: What are you doing in the truck? We're getting ready to leave.

DALE: Where are we going?

ME: You're kidding, right? We're going on the ride.

DALE: What ride? It's raining like h*ll. Is this Allan? I haven't heard from you in a long time.

ME: What in h*ll are you talking about? I just left you.

DALE: I think you have another friend named "Dale", this is Dale (not @speedevil's last name).

Then it came to me, the Dale I was talking to was my motorcycle riding friend back home I made my apologies to my other friend Dale and had Robbie call the real Dale because I was not competent to do so. The cold and rain had already sapped what little mental horsepower I started with We met the real Dale under a tree and off we went, Robbie, real Dale, Steve and me with Gail sagging for us as a follow car.

More to follow.

speedevil 

But I just lit up a Lucky Strike!

nomadmax 

It was wet, cold and at some point it got windy. The descents were covered with wet leaves and I rode down them faster than was prudent for no other reason than I could. As noted before, one day I will have a hand in my own undoing but until then, I'm gonna have fun The first rest stop came and all they had was donuts and cider. After 32 years in law enforcement you would think a donut stop would right up my alley. Alas, I am in a minority and can't stand the things and don't know why. Thankfully, I had some Cliff bars in my pocket and was good to go. Did I mention that I forgot my ride number and you don't get anything to eat without it? The best part of the first rest stop was after having ridden in some serious rain for quite some time (some of which was sideways) I saw a group of cyclists huddled under a small canopy trying to stay out of it I said out loud what I was thinking, everyone got a chuckle and many moved out from under the canopy. That created just enough space for me to get under it and out of the weather. Sometimes a low IQ is enough to get by

Back on the bikes with more climbing and descending. Sometimes talking among ourselves, sometimes looking into the mental bubble we were each riding in, alone with our thoughts. We stopped for lunch and I was seriously cold and shivering, despite having everything I owned on. The other guys ate fried chicken and I had a PB&J. We got back on the bikes and I wasn't warmed up again until nearly an hour had passed. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't have stopped. I followed Robbie, we skipped the last rest stop and was unaware that Steve had flatted until we reached the finish. Gail had somehow found out about it and couldn't locate Robbie either. It all worked out and we agreed to regroup at dinner. As a side note, Gail followed and took photos of us the entire day. When I saw them it allowed me to remember those moments that were only one continuous stream of awareness, some I didn't even remember and still don't. I am thankful for her efforts and now, thanks to she and Steve, I have tangible keepsakes from the experience.

Dinner that night was a completion of the ride of the ride because each had their own story which all fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. I'm glad I didn't miss it. Back to the hotel, lay out the gear to be dried, a little wine and off to sleep. The next morning Dale and I had breakfast again, this time joined by Tom from Louisville. He was there to ride and showed an interest in C&V bikes so I suggested he ride with our clan and get to know some of us. A very nice gent and a good rider who I hope logs on here and becomes part of the community. Gail was riding with us as well and it was neat to be in our own little peloton. Getting back to one of those why we ride on the crappy days points, when I mentioned to the group that the day before had made this 49F, cloudy but dry day seem like a gift, everyone agreed

We rode the previous day's route backwards and I would have never known it. Given the conditions on Saturday, all I saw was what I needed to make sure my front wheel was were it was supposed to be. When the sun came out it made the countryside come alive and I was almost euphoric with the reversal of fortune. Yesterday made the previous day worth it. I would have ridden three days in those miserable conditions to get a day like the one that followed with friends and sun on my face. Saturday I rode a Craig's List special, the only modern road bike I own because it has fenders and disc brakes but mainly because I don't care if I crash and break it in half. On Sunday I rode my Merckx Corsa Extra 7-Eleven and it's one of my two favorite bikes. I've ridden and raced more bikes than I can count, for me, nothing handles like a Merckx SL or SLX. Going up and down those hills being one with the bike was something I can't describe and sitting here now I think "that just sounds corny". But it's true, it was one of those days where I felt like a Centaur and I'm sure others in our group felt the same way.

We finished, said our goodbyes and rolled out on our separate ways. As we drove home, I tried to tell Donna everything about the weekend of riding but I wasn't able to stay in chronological order; it's all one experience in bits and pieces. The photos that Gail and Steve took are on the hard drive and I'm about to go start collecting my gear and making ready for my ride tomorrow. I would like to piggy back on something Steve mentioned. Dale has improved more than I've ever seen a cyclist accomplish in a single season. Kudos friend, you've become the real thing.

I'm sorry for the long and boring account. While it was my intent to put it to paper (I can't work a camera) I also wanted to inspire anyone here to come to one of the events that BF members meet at. Experiences like this make our community a special place.

RobbieTunes

I came into this between two groups of folks:

a-serious riders from the St. Louis area who can ride long, climb hard, and are great people to be around, any time, cycling or not.
They are, however, intelligent and educated and they know better than to ride all morning in the cold rain and wind.

b-Allan, Dale and Steve, BF C&V bumpkins. Of the 4 of us, Steve has the most sense, being an engineer, he actually prepared for cold rain and wind.

Friday night's dinner set the tone.
Common sense vs. dumb-ass sense of adventure.
Of course, dumb-ass sense of adventure won on Saturday, early. As the day went on, it waned (quite a bit).

So many thanks to Gail. She is squarely in the common sense camp, but she suited up on Saturday, anyway, and drove to the start, ready to ride a Di2 bike in a cold steady rain. She must like us. Then, when everyone else she knew was back in the hotel, she was sagging the entire course + some, helping not only us, but other cyclists as well. Now that's a person who knows and loves cycling. What she sees in me, I do not know.

So let's get back to Saturday morning. Dale's GPS decided to park him and Allan quite a ways from the start. So here is my conversation with Dale, after Allan called the wrong Dale...

Robbie: Dale?
Dale: Robbie?
Robbie: Where are you?
Dale: Sort of under a tree, by 2 cops.
Robbie: What tree, what cops?
Dale: On the course.
Robbie: What?
Dale: I started, then didn't see you guys, so I'm waiting.
(It's raining, it's 46 degrees, the wind is blowing. This guy is waiting for friends )
Robbie: We are on our way.

Of we go, Steve, Allan, myself, and a follow-car with flashers on (Gail).
Shore 'nuff, we come to an intersection, there is a tree, 2 cops, and Dale. Soaked.
We don't even slow down, Dale hops into the caravan of crumbling minds.
Then, Dale says something, and off he goes. And I mean off. He laid down a serious pace, in the rain, cold, wind. Puddles, bad pavement you couldn't see, and wet leaves.

Steve: Is this the same Dale from Peoria's ride last year?
Robbie: Yep, and he's been working, riding, and suffering (like RAIN).
Steve: Can he do this all day?
Robbie: I don't know, but if he does, we've got a problem..the man can suffer.

So, we let Dale set the pace and we kept him in sight. At rest stop 1, we all realize we need to stay warm. Dry? out of the question. Dale is wearing a short sleeve jersey under a long sleeve jersey, and bibs. He is cold. We're cold just looking at him. Then a young lady pulls in, normal almost-booty shorts, a t-shirt and long sleeve jersey. She's in the early stages of hypothermia (euphoria) and we try to tell her it's too late, she needs to stop and get dry and warm. She sort of argues with us and I tell her boyfriend he needs to end that ride right there and get her inside something and dry. Not sure if they did.

We pull out, climb up out of the stop, and actually go down the 24% incline we will climb on Sunday. Wet leaves and all. Dale again leads. We slog, thankful for the climbs. You can't see your gearing if you look down, and you don't care. Every climb is a chance to get warm.

Rest stop 2: Lunch. Most of us can't eat because we're too cold to stand still. Dale is a pale, solid chunk of near-ice, and he wisely decides that 1-he's not gong to get warm, 2-he can't stop shivering, and 3-he needs to end his 26.5 mile hammer time. He tells us he's going to stay at the stop a while, so we leave. He decided to get warm. Thanks to Gail, he has a way to do so.

After that, it's the 3 of us, but we do not know that. We push ahead as if Dale will be along any time. We climb some more. That never seems to stop, so it's a pattern of white-knuckled descents on wet leaves and pushing up hills where sometimes, those same wet leaves give you a nice little wheel spin. We then get out into the open, and decide, after that open space, that we'd rather slog up tree-covered hills. Meanwhile, back at the start, a couple of the vendor tents blow down.

We get into one of the last longer climbs, pass Gail taking pics, and we don't even realize Dale is there, too. He's still trying to get warm with the heat on full blast in the car. We start the climb, and Steve flats behind Allan and I, but in the rain and noise, we don't hear him. Allan stops at the top for a pit, and I keep going because I cannot feel my feet and the hands are going, too. These are the "alone with your thoughts" moments that are invaluable in character building , as if at our age, we need it.

Allan catches up, and we decide that last rest stop is simply not worth it, as by now, the shifting is getting iffy due to lack of feel, so we head-hunt riders on the way back, pick them off and take turns pulling, to keep warm and get in. Of course, then we're not hungry, thirsty or tired, and somewhat warm from the last 10 miles. We head to the hotels to warm up, Steve retires to the campsite....

Saturday night, we meet back up for a rather benign dinner, but well worth it to chat with some folks from St. Louis, and Steve again.

Much shaking of heads.

RobbieTunes

Sunday dawns early with clouds and cold, but no rain.
Those who rode Saturday are thankful and appreciative.
Everyone else is cold. We smile inwardly....

As the day went on, it got better and better. Spirits rise, people soar. Dale is back on the pedals, dry, and our little group now includes Gail, Dale, Tom (whom Allan met at the hotel), Steve, and myself. A few times, others join us because, we seemed like we knew what we were doing. We close up and scatter, close up and scatter. Allan and Steve are the class of the bunch, but gracious enough to ride with us. Still, we had some "carving" moments.

On Blossom, a 1.4 mile hill with a short Cat 4 section, we have both of our group's "mechanicals." My saddle nearly comes off. Perhaps that's why I was 2nd on Strava for a while on that segment...fear. Gail also lost the ability to shift to the big ring. She's a downhill bomber, so she wanted it back... Steve pulls out his multi-tool and I fix my saddle, more nose-down than preferable, but hey, only 17 miles to go. Gail finds out that a good SAG bike shop includes a portable Di2 charger, and she's got green battery lights in 20 minutes at the SAG, accompanied by the Not So Bad Band, fried chicken, and ice cream.

Yep, on a cold day, mint chocolate bars are to die for. Tom agrees. We ogle bikes, and then decide to take off. Mount Tabor (11% to 24%) awaits. We stay together until then, and up we go. First time out of the saddle, and no biggie running a full size crankset. I didn't see a lot of them. We collect at the top, and off we go. We decide to go ahead and stop at the last rest stop, since it's a nice day by now, sunny, warmer. Then in we go. But wait, the course has a lot more climbing , and we do it , scatter a bit, then collect again to roll in.

And a good time was had by all. As Allan said, and proved, misery can put decency into perspective. A shower and 2-hour drive later, I'm good. Gail went on to Tennessee, Dale to the cabin in SE Indiana, and Allan made it home. Steve's photos this morning means he made it back, and I'm going to assume Tom did, as well. We can get that guy onto something steel and Italian (he used to have an 853 Lemond, so he knows the deal), and add to our world dominance.

Gratitude to all. Sincerely and freely given.

RobbieTunes

More.

crank_addict

The 'Wild Bunch' adventurous ride!

Morning read with coffee spewing laughter.

nomadmax 

I wish you could have come.

ryansu

I got cold just reading @RobbieTunes account and I live in Seattle so I am no stranger to wet cold rides, I salute you stalwart Saturday riders (while at the same time questioning your sanity).

speedevil 

These are a couple of fun photos from the HH - full credit to Gail, Steve, etc.

steelbikeguy

I did think that was funny too. (photo credit to Gail)

I wonder if they get enough riders from urban areas to actually need to explain the livestock in the area??

Steve in Peoria (where we don't have that many farms raising livestock, oddly enough)

CV-6 

What they need is a sign in the cow pasture pointing down to a cow pie.

gugie 

Great write ups! I was shivering just reading them. Cold is one thing. Wet is another, but cold and wet...

Ferrouscious 

I know that if I came, I would say "yeah, I can get away with arm warmers and a backup jacket. If no jacket, then no gloves." Thank goodness I didn't go...

Gravity Aided

Wow. Guess I'll quit doing that then.

steelbikeguy

Absolutely!
If nothing else, you may have saved the SAG vehicle the trouble of taking you back to the school when you couldn't stop shivering.

As the only one of our little group who wasn't losing the feeling in the feet and hands, I'd love to say it was because I'm just smart enough to dress right.
In truth, I'm smart because I used to be ignorant.

Way back in 1981, IIRC, I got my education in how to dress on a cold wet day on a Monday on RAGBRAI. This is a day that became infamous and known as "Soggy Monday". It was very much like Saturday on the Hilly.... 50F and it rained all day and night. Of course, it was late July in Iowa, so no one was expecting this sort of hell. I was dressed in a t-shirt and bike shorts and suffered like just about everyone else. At the first town at the 20 mile mark, everyone was buying trash bags (which were sold out). The local men's clothing store had a sale going, so people were buying suits and riding in them. People were doing anything to stay warm.
Myself, I got a ride to the day's destination with one of many farmers with a car or truck and wagon. Probably the best money I've ever spent.

I will say that bike commuting has also honed my skills regarding dressing for crappy weather, as well as giving me an excuse for buying a wide variety of clothes and gear for the lousy conditions. Much better to have rain gear in the Carradice that I don't use than to put my health at risk (again).

Steve in Peoria (where we are looking at 4" of snow tomorrow!)

Gravity Aided

Wow, guess I'll quit doing that, then
Sorry to offend.

Mad Honk 

Well Steve,
It has been less than a week after the Hilly, and I am faced with getting the snow blower out to clear the driveway! Uugh! The weather for the Hilly runs from sublime to worst case scenarios and last week-end it was worst case. I guess that is what makes it the ride we repeat again and again. There was a bunch of carnage to vendor tents that I noticed on Sunday morning after spending some time with one of the three that stayed for Sunday's folks. Still another memorable ride even if for it's exceptional bad weather, but your stories have helped place it into the history books! Smiles, MH

RobbieTunes

So now I can blame you for that scorcher in July. And I can attest to this: it's 170.2 miles from the IL line to Ohio. I am still amazed that I finished it, but not that I tried it. Dumb and Dumber are my split personalities.

steelbikeguy

as one more way of wrapping up and summarizing our experiences from the ride, perhaps I can share a small detail.
Specifically, this is regarding my flat tire on Saturday in the last 10 miles or so.
As Robbie mentioned, I had come off the back of his wheel. Personally, I blame it on the extra clothing I was wearing and the 5 gallons of water it was soaking up....

But regardless, I heard a loud bang and wondered who had a flat.... there was no one else around, and I quickly felt the rear rim banging on the ground.
Crap...
Time to look for a nice place to pull over and check it out. Hmmm... I should probably go a bit further and find a flat piece of terrain. It took a bit of doing to find a spot that didn't slope steeply to the nearest creek, but having done so, I dug out the spare tube, tire irons, etc.

With the trusty Zefal, I checked the tube for a hole. It was bigger than a simple puncture, but not a gash such as would happen if the tire crept off the rim. With Conti Gatorskins, that wasn't very likely. A quick sweep of the inside of the tire with the hand didn't reveal anything still stuck in the tire, so I put in the new tube and pumped it up.

interesting observation: a talc'ed inner tube doesn't do much good in the middle of a good rain storm.

Anyway, the tube held air and served me well for the rest of Saturday and for Sunday.

Today, I'm tearing the bike down to lube the chain, etc. I take a quick look at the rear tire to see if there is any indication of what caused the flat.....




I can only assume that I grazed the end of one of many large branches littering the road on Saturday, and that was enough to tear the sidewall of a Gatorskin and cause the tube to have an aneurysm. I'm just lucky that the new tube didn't have enough pressure to do the same.

Steve in Peoria

RobbieTunes

Holy carrotsticks, Batman! That's a hole in one!