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View Cue Sheet (PDF)
View Eric's Ride Report (PDF)
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Earlier this year Eric sent out an email, looking for riders who might be interested in doing a team endurance event - called a Flèche. A Flèche is not a race, and you must have three riders on your team, but no more than five. A Flèche must be completed within a 24-hours, and your route must be at least 360K. Here’s a link for the official rules - Flèche rules (PDF).
So, after receiving the email, I responded. And agreed to be a team member. It was something I haven’t done, in fact I have never ridden that far before. Though, last year I did ride 170 miles, under 12 hours, and I did some 200Ks, and some back to back centuries – so I felt it was doable. Unfortunately, this year has been difficult to ride outdoors, due to the bad weather. I would have liked to have gotten in more centuries prior to the Flèche, but no such luck.
Doing a Flèche or any long distance ride, requires a lot of planning. Plus, your route must be approved by RUSA. Eric did a great job planning the route. He even rode part of it earlier this year, out to Clinton, IA. The balance of the route Doug scouted out by car, but Robert (the RUSA Flèche organizer), who put on this event, gave Eric a route (or recommendations) to Waterloo, IA, our final destination.
Besides route planning, you need to determine where your control points will be. At the start, just like a Brevet, you get a control card. This card needs to stamped at the control points, signed, and the time must be indicated as well. Usually a control point is a gas station. And a place that is open all night. The stamp can be anything official, like a check endorsement stamp.
The next thing, besides being mentally prepared, is your bike needs to be in perfect condition. Then, you need to watch the weather, so you can bring the right gear. Lights are required (as well as a reflective vest, and ankle bands). Not the wimpy lights you find at LBS, you need headlights that will work all night long, and that will allow you to see the road, well. Eric and Doug have hub generator lights. They work great. I was using a high-end LED system. It’s made in the USA, by DiNotte, and I would highly recommend this system.
Now it’s April, and we have our team together. There are four of us, and I’m the rookie in the bunch. Our team:
Eric Petersen (also the team captain)
Eric is an amazing rider, and has a lot of accomplishments under his belt. Such as the GLR Brevet series, including Brevets in Iowa. And most importantly PBP 2007. Plus he rides 10,000 miles a year.
Doug McLerran
Doug is one of those riders you hear about, but never get to meet. But, we did meet him, and it was great experience to be able to ride with Doug. Doug has so many accomplishments, it’s hard to know where to start. I’ll just give you the highlights. First, he’s a Cat. 2 road racer. He’s also an Ironman, and has done PBP three times.
Ken Priddy
Ken has done many Brevets, but he also enjoys trail running. His claim to fame, is running 100 miles on trails, in one day.
Rick Cosaro (the rookie)
I haven’t done a lot in the four years that I have been riding, but enough. Plus, I have ridden a lot with Eric, who’s been one of my mentors. I also like to climb. And that helped on the Flèche, since we climbed 12,000 ft., according to Eric’s GPS.
So, with the team in place, we had a team meeting the week of the Flèche. We went over gear, the route, the pace, nutrition, etc.
May 2, we were to depart from Hinckley, IL at 4pm. Though, due to the weather, Eric called up Robert, to see if we could change the start to Saturday, May 3 at 8am. Robert said that would be fine. Plus, this was going to be better, since the other teams were also arriving on Saturday at 8am. I don’t mind riding in the rain, for special rides, but not in lightening/extreme weather.
Saturday, May 3
We all met at Eric’s home at around 6am. Eric had his van, with the roof rack on it. Kathy his wife drove us down to Hinckley, for our 8am start. It was sunny, with some wind when we arrived at Jacket’s Amoco (535 E. Lincoln Ave.). We had enough time to get our bikes and gear together. Then we went inside the station to get our Flèche/RUSA cards stamped. The gal who stamped our cards, said she was honored to do so.
And we’re off. Within a mile we were heading west, right into a very strong headwind/cross winds. As bad as what we had the following Saturday in Delavan, WI on the 200K Brevet. So, since the road didn’t have much traffic we used the whole lane doing an echelon paceline. The sun is now gone, and it’s starting to rain. We pulled to the side of the road, and put on our rain gear.
First leg, into the wind. Ken's rain jacket, or should I say sail. :)
The first leg was 51.7 miles to Dixon. On long rides, it’s best to think in terms of legs, it helps to make the journey sound easier. As we were on the first leg, Ken would fall back from time to time. Once we arrived in Dixon we got our card stamped at Amoco Super Pantry, at 101 E. Everett Street. We also grab some water. Then we headed over to McDonald’s for lunch.
Still windy...
Back on the road, our next stop was Lyons, IA (aka Clinton, IA). This leg was 44.7 miles. The rain was still coming down, and the headwind was still blowing hard. About halfway into this leg, the sun started to come out, and Ken was falling back again. Soon, we regrouped and Ken said it wasn’t his day, and that he did not want to hold up the team. So, we said our goodbyes, and Ken rode back to Naperville. He had a tailwind the whole way back, and ended up with 170 miles for the day.
We pushed on to Lyons (crossed the Mississippi), and found our control point at Kwik Star, 249 Main Avenue After getting our cards stamped, we found this Italian restaurant. Real food is so much better than bike food. We asked the waitress if she could serve us fast, since we had a short window of time. We had a salad and pasta.
I think it was around 8pm when we pushed off again. Our next control point was Maquoketa, IA a distance of 34.8 miles. Now, the hills are starting. Though, there’s no rain, but there’s still some wind. About 15 miles out we stopped to put on some warmer clothes/reflective gear, and to turn on our tail lights. No blinking tail lights, because they’ll drive you crazy starring at them all night.
Doug asked me if I have ever ridden at night. I said yes, but just around town. When you’re in the country, it’s really dark. So, powerful lights are a must. It was really cool to be riding at night. We looked like some UFO riding down the road.
We arrived at KJ’s Convenience & Deli Mart, 916 1/2 W. Platt Street. Got our cards stamped and ordered a large pizza. Our next stop is Monticello, IA, 35.4 miles away. If I recall, we missed a turn, but only went a few miles out of our way. When we arrived in Monticello, at Casey’s General Store, 627 S. Main Street, the parking lot was rather busy at 1:30am. Apparently, it was prom night. There was also this cop talking to a bunch of kids in a car, by the store. I think we freaked the cop out a bit, when we came rolling in looking like a UFO.
Everyone is starting to get tired on. Plus, the back of my neck, right arm, and other body parts were getting very sore. So, I took some Ibuprofen. I have never taken pain pills while riding, but then again, I have never ridden all night. They seemed to help for awhile. The store had no place to sit, so Eric and Doug sat on the floor. Now, after a short break, we had the hardest stretch to complete. This is the stretch was were I hit the wall, but I would not give up. I wouldn’t let the team down. We had to be in Jesup, IA by 6am, and he had 62.6 miles to go. There were a lot of hills, but no cars. At Maquoketa this guy said watch out for the deer. We said we already saw one. Though, on the way to Jesup, three large deer ran right across the road, of course in front of us. Doug hit his brakes hard, so did I, and I could hear Eric behind me yell, holly shit or something like that. This stretch also had a lot dogs. One dog ran after Eric, but missed him. At around 4am, I’m just wiped, and things are really hurting. I was pulling, and pulled off, and almost went down. Lack of sleep does weird things to your body.
I asked if we could stop for a bit, so I could eat something. Doug also gave me a No Doze pill, though I’m not sure it helped. So, back on the bikes. I said to Doug, I can’t pull anymore. I should note, the wind is gone, and has been since around 10pm. But, it’s getting colder. So, Doug did most of the pulling until the sun came up. Keep in mind we would ride at our own pace up the hills, and then regroup at the top. I remember at one point Doug asked Eric, “is Rick still back there?” Eric said yes. I should have said, don’t worry, no matter what it takes, you’re not going to drop me.
We made good time on the stretch to Jesup, thanks to Doug. Around 5am you could hear the birds coming to life, and the darkness was starting to fade. But it was still cold, around 38° I would say. When I saw the sun coming up, I felt some sense of relief. We arrived in Jesup, IA around 6:27am at Casey’s General Store, 1330 6th Street. We missed our time of 6am. But, it was still possible to make Waterloo by 8am. We got our cards stamped, used the bathroom, ate something, and hit the road. My stomach was upset, I can’t imagine why.
It was around 18 miles to Robert’s home in Waterloo, and I kept asking Eric, how many miles to go. I needed to know so I could pace myself, as I’m just fried now, and every mile was torture. There was a construction detour on the route to Robert’s, out in the country, and we decided to go for it. The road was fine until the end. We had to ride through the dirt, hard dirt, and walk about ten feet. These two little dogs chased Doug, as he crossed the dirt first.
We’re now heading into Waterloo, and it’s getting very residential. Then we see some riders. It was another team, and we knew we were getting close. Eric was talking to some of the riders. One rider had the same bike as Eric. When we pulled onto Robert’s street, I could see Eric’s van, and knew Kathy was there waiting. It so great to be done. Kathy asked how do you feel, I said like shit, and I smell like it too.
We arrived about 7:55am. Robert had no problem with the fact we missed the 6am time slot in Jesup. He was surprised that we actually made it at all – due to the weather.
After having some food at Robert’s, we drove over to the hotel, were Kathy had her room, and used the shower. Then we drove back to Naperville, in the sun, after stopping for some food.
Ride Stats
Mileage: 252 (per Eric)
Ride Time: 18:40:59
Average Speed: 13.6 (thanks to Doug)
Max Speed: 33
Elevation Gain: 9,065 (Eric had 12K on his GPS)
Average Grade: 2%
Max Grade: 9%
Sleep: None, up for 24 hours
Finally, I just wanted to say thank you Kathy for all your help. You’re the best.
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