RAIN Report 2012

90 miles in and 70 to go!

Ah! Finishing at last!

This RAIN report is such a contrast to last year's. This is a good thing! Last year was full of drama and heartache, full of problems and frustration. This year? All of that was absent. Can we say that it was an uneventful event? I think we can.

There were four of us riding together: Tim Strunk, Troy Young, Brent Roberts, and me. We decided to avoid the dangerous, congested, basically meaningless start and roll from our hotel. We estimated that it was only about a mile's difference. We started around 7:05 and connected with the huge stream of riders in just a few minutes after starting. 

Our wives were our primary support. Kedra and Jamie (and let's be clear about these next few words) called themselves the SAG Nags. They chose that title and had lots of fun with it. SAG stands for support and gear. They, along with the other two wives, did a wonderful job of supporting us all day. We did stop at some of the official stops, including the first one, which was nearly 40 miles in. Everything went so smoothly. It was a cool morning and a nice day.

The best leg of the day turned out to be the one we were dreading the most. The leg from about 90 miles to around 115 takes you south and east around Indy. It's a tough time physically, and last year I really struggled. This year I eased into the leg. As we were rolling along, a huge group from the Columbus Cycling and Fitness Club came by. They were not going that fast, so I, surprising my partners, jumped into the Columbus group. They pulled us along at 18-20 mph for most of the leg. It turned out to be the easiest part of the day.

Perhaps my most significant "take away" from the day occurred at 112 miles. I was watching for this number, wanting to note how I felt. As 112 showed up, I told Tim that I needed to stop and run a marathon. Of course, 112 miles is the distance of the bike ride in an Ironman event. I actually felt really good at this point and believe I could have completed the run portion of an Ironman. It's that swim thing that concerns me.

The rest of the day/ride just kept rolling along. There just wasn't anything that exciting or memorable about it. The finish at Earlham College was nice, and it was a relief to be finished. We had a lot of fun, and our wives were wonderful support. For the record, there was no nagging at all.

We finished in a little over 11.5 hours on clock time, and our ride time averaged 16 mph. My very soft goal was to finish in 12 hours, so I was very pleased with all of it. All 4 of us finished with in a minute or two of each other. The only negative of the day was a headwind most of the way, but the cooler and dryer temperatures made up for that.

Following a quick shower, we made our way to Greenwood to eat at Famous Dave's with the Strunks and the Youngs. Real food tasted really good. We got home around midnight, which made for a short night for me. Oh well, I managed to make it through yesterday. I was in a bit of a fog but I made it.