'Reach the Beach' 2005
A bike riding story by k Munson
Our day on May 14, 2005 started at 6:30 am a fine Saturday morning (for some anxious souls like my buddy Tonya, the day started about 4:30am). The clouds loomed high but we kept our hopes for a perfect weather day. Tonya and I left the house with my truck packed with bikes, gear and breakfast in hand. Soon after on the road we find that we weren't then only crazy ones out early in the morning with bikes in or on our car. We just followed the crowd to Conestoga Middle school where the route of our choice began. We then parked the truck, grabbed our bikes, headed for the school entrance and picked up our numbers. We felt slightly out of place, aside from my mountain bike, we were pretty much the only ones there withoutcrazy sponsor covered shirts and monster calf muscles... but we were there and ready to do this thing. Our 104.6 mile journey was to start somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30 am. So pretty much whenever we were ready to leave, we could just go.
A little background before we move on with our story. Several months ago I asked Tonya if she'd be up to doing the ride with me, her response was "Sounds great, sign us up!" From that point on I knew I was screwed. She's the kind of girl that will hold me to an invitation such as this. So for the next 4 months we
started training pretty hard for our little ride. She asked if we should start at one of the shorter starting points and work our way to the 104, I said "Na if I'm gonna kill my self I'm going the whole way to make it count". I should tell you also that neither I nor Tonya had ever rode our bikes for that mile length before. We did what we though was adequate training and felt confident in what we were about to do. Me on my big fat mountain bike tires and Tonya on her street bike. What a pair eh? My original plan was to swap out my tires on my mountain bike for some less knobby ones... to make a long story a little shorter... by the time I went to swap out my tires, I found that I couldn't fit anything else on my rims. Seems that mountain bikes are made for one reason... the mountains. And at that point it was too late in the game to start on a street bike... looked like I was going to be pushing my big fat fatty fat fat tires for 104.6 miles. And that I did.
The first lovely event happened upon our first big hill. This was the hill that you wanted to have a particular mind set to get up and a decent running start. My running start including running a red light and some lovely noise coming from my front de-railer. I had some de-railer issues in the past but we thought we'd fixed them. Seems to reared it's ugly head just in time for my gears to freak out upon the base of the hill. I'd unclipped myself plenty ahead of time for such the occasion so I wouldn't crash in some lovely fashion. Now that I had stopped and thought I'd fixed my issue I needed to join back in the crowd. With my mind set ruined for the hill, I climb back onto my bike and before the first petal I clipped my left foot in. As I step onto my petal to take off again I suddenly find myself on the ground in the middle of the bike path at the base of this 7.5 grade 1 mile hill and several dozen bikers coming up behind me. As I jump up to my feet and try to get out of the way I realized I'd once again lost my chain. Noting the blood coming off my left knee and what I knew was going to be a really nasty bruise on my right, I realized that this was going to be a perfect day. I am without a doubt the person that has to start every event wrong just to get it all out of the way so that I can get down to business. I did finally make it up the hill, Tonya was waiting at the top. I have to give all the credit in the world to my friend Tonya for being so patient with my big fat tires, little did she know that this was the first stop that she'd be waiting for me on.
We then headed out, out to where we didn't really know, we just knew that we needed to keep other riders in site so that we knew who to follow and thus where to go. This ride at the start was not very well marked. It wasn't until after the first rest stop that it was actually marked with road signs. The good thing is that we were given a map back at the starting line so that if we did indeed get lost we would have something to consult. Soon we found ourselves traveling along some beautiful back roads up and around some hills and back down some others. About half way into the first leg of the ride we came upon the first casualty. As we passed we noticed a gal laying on the ground with issues and a half dozen people around her. It put us into check a little but we kept on going. By the time we reached the first stop we'd already passed a number of individuals along the road changing out tires. I'm so glad that I had my extra tubes, who knows what we'd run over.
The first stop at the Sherwood Elks lodge was a real treat. Some time after we stopped a gal told me that the white vans had mechanical support aboard and maybe they could help me with my de-railer issues. "Oh happy day!" we thought, because there happened to be two vans there. So Tonya and I ate just one of the many Cliff bars we would be eating that day, watered up, used the facility's, had a quick chat with the old guy at the bar passing out bubble gum and headed for the white vans. As I approached I asked one of the fine gentlemen if they could help me with my de-railer... he said "No, we don't have anyone that can do that, but there is mechanical support at the Amity stop". I said "thanks" got back on our bikes and said "CRAP!". Amity is the lunch stop...3 stops which equals about 34 miles away, after all the hills. Needless to say at that point I was trying to quickly figure what the heck I'm gonna do. But off
we went... every time I'd hit a hill CHINK CHINK and off comes my chain. I had to take every hill with much pleasure and delight. I had to pretty much ride each hill in a higher gear so I wouldn't loose my chain. Oh that sucked! Aside from being taxed heavily due to my big fat fatty fat fat tires, I got taxed again on each hill. This... was going to be... a long... day!
Next rest stop was well needed. Shoved in a banana with peanut butter, more Accelerate drink mix stuff and bathroom. There was always plenty of bagels, bananas and hard boiled eggs at every stop we took. However I do have a feeling that they were always the same eggs at each of the stops... other that at the starting line were I did eat one egg, I stayed away from them. Then off to the next stop. The first two legs were the worst as far as the ups go. The downs however were mighty fun. You get to a down and it was very much a welcome sight. Stand on your petals... butt off the seat... highest gear... petal as fast as you can... and head down. Good good fun speed. That made every up hill worth it. You just prayed that you didn't have someone bail hard in front of you, or you bail, cuz if you did, one of those many Medic Aid vehicles that were behind us would be taking you somewhere closer to a morgue rather than a hospital.
By the time we reached Amity, we needed the lunch. I quickly found the mechanical support and tossed my bike in line. The gal was nice and asked what was up, she said it wouldn't take too long it would just need a couple adjustments and I'd be ready to go. "GREAT!" I said and off to grab some grub. I tell you the hot, loaded baked potato and chili tasted pretty darn good. While they were working on my bike we had almost enough time to take a nap. The guy worked on it for quite a little bit it seemed. So I made my call to Ken. He and his 2 car loads of fans were headed out to intercept us that the next stop. I had to tell him we were running a little behind but coming along. We'd started a little later than planed but ... still making good time all things considered.
Off to Sheridan High School where we were to meet up with our friends and family. Somewhere along the way Tonya and I found ourselves being the only ones on the road. We swore we took a wrong turn somewhere or something, there was nobody for what seemed to be miles. Finally we saw someone behind and in front of us. Oh that would have NOT been good at all. We caught up to a couple guys that seemed to be struggling a little. We'd keep leap frogging them along the way. It was kind of nice to find someone else that was about our pace and was still alive. So the rest of this leg we stuck it out together. We all get to the High School to be met by the remaining volunteers, eggs and our friends. What a sight to see. It was very encouraging to see them. Though we smelt something close to a sweaty hot gym on a 100 degree day and looked like we were about to fall over... but we were so glad they were there. We chatted briefly, shoved down more food, changed out some clothes, dumped some gear and packs and off we head for our final 3 legs.
This is were the endurance and auto pilot came in very handy. Our muscles knew exactly what to do by this point. We knew the routine of what and when to feed our body and when to stop for a drink. These last miles were a true test but good. Our friends all went off to the beach to let the kids play in the sand (which was good!), but my Ken sniped the truck and followed us until the end. We didn't know that he was even there until close to the next stop. He came around a corner while we were on the last hill of that leg and it was a very nice surprise needless to say. Got to the stop, did our routine and off we went again, this time we knew we were being followed.
A few miles into the next to last couple legs, we realized we were being leap frogged by one of the white vans, an "official" motor-cycle guy and Ken. We all met up at one stop for a quick rest. I said to the guy on the bike "What, are we like dead last or something?", he said "Na... there are still several behind you". Then the guy in the white van jumps out and say's "YAH you two are DEAD LAST, why do you think we are following you?" We had a good laugh. We may have been last but we weren't giving up. There were several that did give up, by choice or by Aid car, but wewere going to Reach the Beach on our bikes!
We had already decided that we would just forget the last rest stop, and a good thing since they had already started pulling out all the santi-cans etc. Ken was great! He would leap ahead of us get out of the truck and hold out a bite size chunk of banana and chocolate for us to grab as we went past. Aside from my missing the first chunk and loosing 1/2 the banana, this worked for awhile, that is until we were so sick of banana and chocolate that if we'd try to poke anything else down our throat we'd a puked it back up. But this was ok, we were totally running off of auto-pilot by this point, it was all our bodies could do to get to the top of the last nasty hill. This last one was coming up quick but no body could see it, that is until we saw Ken in the truck heading up it in a more vertical fashion. My words were pretty much "OH $&%@#!*!!!!" Needless to say I wasn't quite in the right mind set for this thing, well up we went. I had unclipped my feet from the petals just incase my bike tried to pull what it had been doing all day, because of my odd slow down I ended up stopping about 1/2 way. Which was fine, I needed it. Though I knew if I didn't get back on my bike soon I would have to forget the finish line. So back on I went for the final push and over the top. Once we were on the down side all was gravy! DOWN DOWN DOWN, ohh it felt soooo good not to have to work for a few minutes.
Not long after we reached the bottom of that last hill, we saw the beach, it was about 5 or 6 miles yet to go but we were home stretching it. Soon reached the sign that said Cape Kiwanda 4 miles... turned the corner to see our entourage of friends and cheer staff... and kept going. They passed us and headed to the
finish.
The finish was the most beautiful sight of the day. Right on the beach, beautiful sky, no rain and wonderful friends and family waiting. We got off our bikes for the last time that day and it was so good to be done. We may have been dead last... but dang it we... reached... the... beach!!!
Aside from pushing big fat fatty fat fat tires, the crotch itch a day or two later due to the dry skin that develops from the slight rash one gets from wearing sweaty bike shorts for long distances, couple scabs, bruises, a sore knee, sun burn, slightly sore shoulders from hunching over the bike and an over dose of Cliff bars, bananas and chocolate... we look forward to doing it again.
Maybe next year you will come with us!
Our day on May 14, 2005 started at 6:30 am a fine Saturday morning (for some anxious souls like my buddy Tonya, the day started about 4:30am). The clouds loomed high but we kept our hopes for a perfect weather day. Tonya and I left the house with my truck packed with bikes, gear and breakfast in hand. Soon after on the road we find that we weren't then only crazy ones out early in the morning with bikes in or on our car. We just followed the crowd to Conestoga Middle school where the route of our choice began. We then parked the truck, grabbed our bikes, headed for the school entrance and picked up our numbers. We felt slightly out of place, aside from my mountain bike, we were pretty much the only ones there withoutcrazy sponsor covered shirts and monster calf muscles... but we were there and ready to do this thing. Our 104.6 mile journey was to start somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30 am. So pretty much whenever we were ready to leave, we could just go.
A little background before we move on with our story. Several months ago I asked Tonya if she'd be up to doing the ride with me, her response was "Sounds great, sign us up!" From that point on I knew I was screwed. She's the kind of girl that will hold me to an invitation such as this. So for the next 4 months we
started training pretty hard for our little ride. She asked if we should start at one of the shorter starting points and work our way to the 104, I said "Na if I'm gonna kill my self I'm going the whole way to make it count". I should tell you also that neither I nor Tonya had ever rode our bikes for that mile length before. We did what we though was adequate training and felt confident in what we were about to do. Me on my big fat mountain bike tires and Tonya on her street bike. What a pair eh? My original plan was to swap out my tires on my mountain bike for some less knobby ones... to make a long story a little shorter... by the time I went to swap out my tires, I found that I couldn't fit anything else on my rims. Seems that mountain bikes are made for one reason... the mountains. And at that point it was too late in the game to start on a street bike... looked like I was going to be pushing my big fat fatty fat fat tires for 104.6 miles. And that I did.
The first lovely event happened upon our first big hill. This was the hill that you wanted to have a particular mind set to get up and a decent running start. My running start including running a red light and some lovely noise coming from my front de-railer. I had some de-railer issues in the past but we thought we'd fixed them. Seems to reared it's ugly head just in time for my gears to freak out upon the base of the hill. I'd unclipped myself plenty ahead of time for such the occasion so I wouldn't crash in some lovely fashion. Now that I had stopped and thought I'd fixed my issue I needed to join back in the crowd. With my mind set ruined for the hill, I climb back onto my bike and before the first petal I clipped my left foot in. As I step onto my petal to take off again I suddenly find myself on the ground in the middle of the bike path at the base of this 7.5 grade 1 mile hill and several dozen bikers coming up behind me. As I jump up to my feet and try to get out of the way I realized I'd once again lost my chain. Noting the blood coming off my left knee and what I knew was going to be a really nasty bruise on my right, I realized that this was going to be a perfect day. I am without a doubt the person that has to start every event wrong just to get it all out of the way so that I can get down to business. I did finally make it up the hill, Tonya was waiting at the top. I have to give all the credit in the world to my friend Tonya for being so patient with my big fat tires, little did she know that this was the first stop that she'd be waiting for me on.
We then headed out, out to where we didn't really know, we just knew that we needed to keep other riders in site so that we knew who to follow and thus where to go. This ride at the start was not very well marked. It wasn't until after the first rest stop that it was actually marked with road signs. The good thing is that we were given a map back at the starting line so that if we did indeed get lost we would have something to consult. Soon we found ourselves traveling along some beautiful back roads up and around some hills and back down some others. About half way into the first leg of the ride we came upon the first casualty. As we passed we noticed a gal laying on the ground with issues and a half dozen people around her. It put us into check a little but we kept on going. By the time we reached the first stop we'd already passed a number of individuals along the road changing out tires. I'm so glad that I had my extra tubes, who knows what we'd run over.
The first stop at the Sherwood Elks lodge was a real treat. Some time after we stopped a gal told me that the white vans had mechanical support aboard and maybe they could help me with my de-railer issues. "Oh happy day!" we thought, because there happened to be two vans there. So Tonya and I ate just one of the many Cliff bars we would be eating that day, watered up, used the facility's, had a quick chat with the old guy at the bar passing out bubble gum and headed for the white vans. As I approached I asked one of the fine gentlemen if they could help me with my de-railer... he said "No, we don't have anyone that can do that, but there is mechanical support at the Amity stop". I said "thanks" got back on our bikes and said "CRAP!". Amity is the lunch stop...3 stops which equals about 34 miles away, after all the hills. Needless to say at that point I was trying to quickly figure what the heck I'm gonna do. But off
we went... every time I'd hit a hill CHINK CHINK and off comes my chain. I had to take every hill with much pleasure and delight. I had to pretty much ride each hill in a higher gear so I wouldn't loose my chain. Oh that sucked! Aside from being taxed heavily due to my big fat fatty fat fat tires, I got taxed again on each hill. This... was going to be... a long... day!
Next rest stop was well needed. Shoved in a banana with peanut butter, more Accelerate drink mix stuff and bathroom. There was always plenty of bagels, bananas and hard boiled eggs at every stop we took. However I do have a feeling that they were always the same eggs at each of the stops... other that at the starting line were I did eat one egg, I stayed away from them. Then off to the next stop. The first two legs were the worst as far as the ups go. The downs however were mighty fun. You get to a down and it was very much a welcome sight. Stand on your petals... butt off the seat... highest gear... petal as fast as you can... and head down. Good good fun speed. That made every up hill worth it. You just prayed that you didn't have someone bail hard in front of you, or you bail, cuz if you did, one of those many Medic Aid vehicles that were behind us would be taking you somewhere closer to a morgue rather than a hospital.
By the time we reached Amity, we needed the lunch. I quickly found the mechanical support and tossed my bike in line. The gal was nice and asked what was up, she said it wouldn't take too long it would just need a couple adjustments and I'd be ready to go. "GREAT!" I said and off to grab some grub. I tell you the hot, loaded baked potato and chili tasted pretty darn good. While they were working on my bike we had almost enough time to take a nap. The guy worked on it for quite a little bit it seemed. So I made my call to Ken. He and his 2 car loads of fans were headed out to intercept us that the next stop. I had to tell him we were running a little behind but coming along. We'd started a little later than planed but ... still making good time all things considered.
Off to Sheridan High School where we were to meet up with our friends and family. Somewhere along the way Tonya and I found ourselves being the only ones on the road. We swore we took a wrong turn somewhere or something, there was nobody for what seemed to be miles. Finally we saw someone behind and in front of us. Oh that would have NOT been good at all. We caught up to a couple guys that seemed to be struggling a little. We'd keep leap frogging them along the way. It was kind of nice to find someone else that was about our pace and was still alive. So the rest of this leg we stuck it out together. We all get to the High School to be met by the remaining volunteers, eggs and our friends. What a sight to see. It was very encouraging to see them. Though we smelt something close to a sweaty hot gym on a 100 degree day and looked like we were about to fall over... but we were so glad they were there. We chatted briefly, shoved down more food, changed out some clothes, dumped some gear and packs and off we head for our final 3 legs.
This is were the endurance and auto pilot came in very handy. Our muscles knew exactly what to do by this point. We knew the routine of what and when to feed our body and when to stop for a drink. These last miles were a true test but good. Our friends all went off to the beach to let the kids play in the sand (which was good!), but my Ken sniped the truck and followed us until the end. We didn't know that he was even there until close to the next stop. He came around a corner while we were on the last hill of that leg and it was a very nice surprise needless to say. Got to the stop, did our routine and off we went again, this time we knew we were being followed.
A few miles into the next to last couple legs, we realized we were being leap frogged by one of the white vans, an "official" motor-cycle guy and Ken. We all met up at one stop for a quick rest. I said to the guy on the bike "What, are we like dead last or something?", he said "Na... there are still several behind you". Then the guy in the white van jumps out and say's "YAH you two are DEAD LAST, why do you think we are following you?" We had a good laugh. We may have been last but we weren't giving up. There were several that did give up, by choice or by Aid car, but wewere going to Reach the Beach on our bikes!
We had already decided that we would just forget the last rest stop, and a good thing since they had already started pulling out all the santi-cans etc. Ken was great! He would leap ahead of us get out of the truck and hold out a bite size chunk of banana and chocolate for us to grab as we went past. Aside from my missing the first chunk and loosing 1/2 the banana, this worked for awhile, that is until we were so sick of banana and chocolate that if we'd try to poke anything else down our throat we'd a puked it back up. But this was ok, we were totally running off of auto-pilot by this point, it was all our bodies could do to get to the top of the last nasty hill. This last one was coming up quick but no body could see it, that is until we saw Ken in the truck heading up it in a more vertical fashion. My words were pretty much "OH $&%@#!*!!!!" Needless to say I wasn't quite in the right mind set for this thing, well up we went. I had unclipped my feet from the petals just incase my bike tried to pull what it had been doing all day, because of my odd slow down I ended up stopping about 1/2 way. Which was fine, I needed it. Though I knew if I didn't get back on my bike soon I would have to forget the finish line. So back on I went for the final push and over the top. Once we were on the down side all was gravy! DOWN DOWN DOWN, ohh it felt soooo good not to have to work for a few minutes.
Not long after we reached the bottom of that last hill, we saw the beach, it was about 5 or 6 miles yet to go but we were home stretching it. Soon reached the sign that said Cape Kiwanda 4 miles... turned the corner to see our entourage of friends and cheer staff... and kept going. They passed us and headed to the
finish.
The finish was the most beautiful sight of the day. Right on the beach, beautiful sky, no rain and wonderful friends and family waiting. We got off our bikes for the last time that day and it was so good to be done. We may have been dead last... but dang it we... reached... the... beach!!!
Aside from pushing big fat fatty fat fat tires, the crotch itch a day or two later due to the dry skin that develops from the slight rash one gets from wearing sweaty bike shorts for long distances, couple scabs, bruises, a sore knee, sun burn, slightly sore shoulders from hunching over the bike and an over dose of Cliff bars, bananas and chocolate... we look forward to doing it again.
Maybe next year you will come with us!
