Karst Country: TMD Stage 2025

"You have to realize that the hard days

are what make you stronger. The bad days

make you realize what a good day is.  If

you never had any bad days, you would

never have that sense of accomplishment."

Aly Raisman

 

I have been looking forward to this ride with a mixture of dread and anticipation.  I know many of these roads from my own century to that city, and they are challenging.  And I am older.  How weird are we that cycle deciding to do something "for fun" that we know will quite likely be painful at times?   I have not ridden my Marengo Century for three years.  And while this course has many of the same roads, it also has new roads.   It is nice to think I will be on some roads I have not ridden before.  That is one of the many things I miss about riding brevets in different places. I no longer ride brevets, and I seem to ride new roads less and less other than the bicycling trips Dave and I have taken over the past few years. 

 

There are fewer people than expected at the ride start and many that are younger and don't normally ride with us.  For some reason, I often expect people who have ridden in the past to re-appear despite knowing that for most people, distance riding is short lived.  But I still  am somewhat surprised because of the cooler weather:  I thought it would bring people out. I also know, however,  that many shy away from the harder courses. But there is one rider from the past that shows:  Allen McCoy.  He catches us after we have left having ridden from his home.  But I only see him for a little bit because he is much stronger than I am.  Still it is good when someone returns, if only for a ride or two. 

 

Challenges are, I think, a part of what makes cycling  interesting.  Hard rides or rides where one has difficulties are often the rides that one remembers and looks back on with a mixture of pride and regret.  Pride at the accomplishment.   Regret that one did not take on additional, and more demanding challenges when one was younger and stronger, testing limits.  For I  admire endurance and consider it one of the noblest and most important of human traits.  And Ms. Raisman is right:  hard days make one stronger.  What she does not mention is that strength is not just physical, but extends to mental toughness as well.  

 

There are sixteen riders.  Not a bad crowd for a century ride.  Glenn "Clothesline" Smith, Fritz Kopatz, Jon "Lunchbox"  Wineland, Bob "Backpack" Grable, Larry "Gizmo" Preble, Thomas 
The Train" Nance, Vince "Invinsible" Livingston, Mike "Diesel"  Kammenish,  Steve "Mule" Rice, David "Bam Bam" King,  Stephen "Meat" Meredith, Steven Foster, Brain Corbett, Trish Torpey, Joel Gano, and Zach Coleman all sign in.  There is another young man who also rides, but I don't know his name as he did not sign back in and I don't have the sign in sheets. It is great to see some younger people showing for the rides.  I think they are even younger than I was when the tour started 23 years ago.  Trish should jersey this year barring anything unforeseen, and if she does, she will be the undisputed female winner.  

 

As we ride, I think of how the tour has changed since Tim Chilton invented it all those years ago.  Back then, it more closely resembled the Tour de France:  21 stages and a time trial that established initial rider times.  The leading rider and only the leading rider was allowed to wear a yellow jersey.  You could miss no more than two stages in a row.  After each stage, randomly, there was a drawing that could move one up in the standings.  The drawing would be something like riding a triple, being on a aluminum bike, riding with a backpack, riding a steel bike, etc.  There was also a random drawing that allowed whoever was drawn to penalize their choice of anyone and move that person down in the standings.  And then there was disqualification if you left the course and did not re-enter the course exactly where you went off course.  And many, many more rules.  

 

But on to today's ride.  Most of those rules have faded into mere memories and today's TMD only vaguely resembles the original.  Like everything else in life, it has adapted and changed.  

 

It is supposed to be cooler today, less humid, but dry with the occasional spotty shower.  Instead, early in the ride, shortly after the first store stop,  it begins to rain.  First it is just a suggestion of rain, the kind where your ask yourself and anyone you are riding with if they felt a drop, and then a steady downpour that at one time even draws a few claps of thunder.  Personally, other than the lightening, I am not unhappy at this development since it means cooler weather.  My only concern is that I am riding the Lynskey which does not have disc brakes, but then I console myself with all the rides I have done on the Lynskey without disc brakes.   I think it rained all of Paris Brest Paris in 2007 and I had no issue.  But oh, as I remind Steve at one point during the ride, did I begin to smell. When I opened my suitcase after returning home, I almost passed out.  The only time braking was an issue was on an overnight ride to Montgomery and on a gravel descent.  Between the gravel and the additional weight on my bike, my brakes would slow me but not stop me completely no matter how hard I pulled.  

The rain, of course, changes the ride. It means slower descents, more caution on turns, and slower riding in general.  But it also changes the look of the course.  The distant hills seep mist into the air  as if the clouds have descended to kiss the earth.  And everywhere are various shades of green, so fecund and alluring.  Soon the trees will begin their strip tease, skirts of leaves pirouetting in the wind, but not yet.  There is still Queen Anne's Lace and the last of the Black Eyed Susan's on the road side.  For a moment, Laura Nero's song, "Lazy Susan," wafts in my mind.  But it does not take long for another hill to arise and fancy gives way to reality as my legs grunt and moan. 

 

Bob Grable and I ride together before the first store stop until we come across Zach who has suffered a flat tire.  Zach seems to be making habit of this.  As I recall, he also flatted at the bottom of Leota Hill on my Hardinsburg Century earlier this year. But I'll be nice.  Zach works third shift and came to the ride after working all night, so despite being young and despite having a plethora of flats, you have to kind of respect someone that can ride a century on so little sleep.  Perhaps he should consider randonneuring?    

 

 I ride ahead knowing they have what they need and that they ride faster than I do, but I thoroughly expect Bob to catch me shortly.  He does catch me, but it is not until the first store stop.  I feel like a jerk for just riding on and leaving him when he does not catch me, but he does not pull in alone.  Oh, well, if the shoe fits.  

 

Prior to the first store, the entire group is stopped by a road that is closing due to electric work.  The workers confer and decide to be kind and let us through so we don't need to re-route.    I ride with Dave and Steve to the store, something I have not done for a long time.  I laugh at Dave when I ask him which bike he will ride at PBP and he says probably the bike he has not yet unpacked from the prior PBP.  Only Dave.  But, of course, he is special to me, warts and all.  I am jealous of their PBP plans, but I also enjoy listening to them chatter and I am glad that they are both hoping to go next year.  

 

It has been three years since I last climbed Depot Hill, and it is as steep as I remember, particularly after the climbs that came before it.  I am with Bob G., Glenn S., and Fritz K.  Bob and I came across Glenn and Fritz sheltering from the lightening.  I tell them that when I first came across Depot Hill, it was only partially paved and there was a dog mid-way up the climb that was determined to have a rider for lunch. Now it is nicely paved and the dog has long since gone to dog heaven.   The road is better paved and easier to navigate, but the legs are older. Still, I have no trouble climbing it and neither do the others.  And it does bring back memories.  

 

When we reach Merango, nobody has a strong opinion about where to eat.   Bob wants to try the pizza place and so we go there, but the lady taking orders tells us it may be a thirty to forty minute wait.  As we leave I tease him about expecting him to add the additional mileage to our club mileage record.  We turn around and head back to Van's where the majority of the riders are eating.  I expect to be miserably cold and am pleasantly surprised to find the restaurant is warm enough that I am not a shivering ball of flesh who would feel immensely sorry for herself and question her sanity in riding today.  

 

Steve Rice has joined us outside of Van's restaurant as his Wahoo has quit working in the rain.  He has already eaten at the gas station, something a few of the other riders evidently did as well.  Bob tells us his Garmin has also quit in the rain.  It is then that Steve points out to Bob that his cue sheet ends at the bottom of the last descent, rather than the end of the ride.  Evidently he truncated the cue sheet while printing it.  Bob got the cue sheet from Jon who has one that has the entire route which he is kind enough to give to Steve.   

 

The large group that was eating when we arrive leave before our food is served, but we don't have a terribly long wait and the food is really good.  Bob seems surprised by this, but I have eaten at Van's before.   Before they leave, I tease Dave about not getting ice cream as normally when we eat at Van's he does, but of course while it isn't miserable inside, it is not ice cream weather.   

 

Bob, Fritz, Glenn, and I head out.  We are the last group to leave the lunch stop and I expect Fritz and Glenn to shoot ahead, but they end up finishing the ride with us.  Bun not before Bob has a front flat and shortly thereafter I have a rear flat.   Bob's is a front wheel and he rides tubeless and had just put in new sealant, so his flat holds.  Mine has to come off the bike.  Luckily I have a multi-tool with me because I quickly spot the cause of my flat but struggle to get it out.  It would not have been a disaster if I could not as I carry a spare tire as well as tubes on these rides, but it was nice to just be able to slip a tube in, fill it with air, and move on.....at least once the chain was threaded around the pulley it had slipped off of during the process.  Fritz is helping and by the time we finish, both of our  hands are black.  Fair enough for me since it is my tire and I use grease, not fair for Fritz.  Not his tire and he waxes his chain.  

 

At least by this time, most of the hills (29 per Wahoo) are behind us.  We finish by winding through the streets of New Albany meandering over to the bike path.   When we arrive, the group in front of us is still there.  Trish is worried about her friend who did not sign in and did not finish with them.  She later finds he was fine.  He had ridden to the ride and rode on afterward.  My legs are shot and I can't say I am sorry the ride is over, but I have no regrets about riding.  Even bad days, or hard days, and I suppose there is a difference, bring a feeling of accomplishment.  As we sign in, I am happy to notice that Joel not only finished, but finished strongly.  I also laugh at Zach's comment on the sign in sheet asking for more hills next time.  Laughter is always a good way to end a ride or any other activity for that matter.  All of us who rode today can pat ourselves on the back for finishing a tough course that included rainy weather but had some really nice roads.  Bikes, roads, hills, friends......doesn't get much better than that dogs.  Those that missed it, missed a nice road.  Thanks for the new course, Bob.  Climbing involved depended on GPS units.  Some had 6,000 feet or so and some 7,000 feet or so.  Regardless, it was a hard day but a good day.  One to be proud of.  

 

Finishers were as follows:

 

Zach Coleman        4:00             group of 1

 Thomas Nance        4:15        group of 2

Vince Livingston    4:15        group of 2

 Larry Preble            4:25        group of 2

Stephen Meredith    4:25        group of 2

 Jon Wineland            4:55        group of 1

Joel Gano                    5:02         group of 1

Michael Kamenish        5:10        group of 3

David King                5:10            group of 3

Steve Rice                5:10            group of 3

Trisha Torpey            5:15        group of 3

Brian Corbett            5:15        group of 3

Steven Foster            5:15        group of 3

Glenn Smith            5:32        group of 4

Fritz Kopatz            5:32        group of 4

Melissa Hall            5:32        group of 4

Bob Grable            5:32        group of 4