RAIN Ride 2011: Report from the Gruppetto

My RAIN Ride report starts at 5:30 in the morning with a big breakfast at Denny’s.  My wife and I split a Grand Slam breakfast.  Letha had one pancake and I ate the rest plus a bowl of grits.  This is my traditional breakfast and it works for me. Then Ken Dau-Schmidt, Kathy Cummins and I were off for the start.  We made the start just minutes before 7:00 a.m.  It was a nice, cool morning and a good start for an all day ride.  I don’t have much sense of the ride in relation to actual time of day but I know we were slowly falling behind my time schedule I had set for a sub 12 hour ride.  I was still feeling fine at my unofficial halfway mark crossing Hwy 37.  This year’s route deviates from past years by turning south on Bluff Road and then left on Stop 11 road.  I enjoyed this year’s route much more.  It was a long straight shot across and seemed easier to me.  As we approached the 92 mile mark for lunch I found myself really looking forward to a break.  The general consensus in the group around me was the same.  We had great support at the rest stops from Letha and Betsy.  At lunch they set up chairs for us under some pine trees.  Our lunch stop was rather long but by this time the goal was to finish and not die trying to beat 12 hours.

The next section of the ride from lunch to Casey’s General store isn’t terribly long but it always seems to be the hardest for me.  I always end up riding that section during the hottest part of the day since I am not fast enough to get through it earlier.  Seems like my streak was intact again this year.  I have learned that a Camelbak full of ice and water is a great thing to have for this section.  You have lots of cold water and the Camelbak actually cools your back and keeps the sun off of it too.  I often drink two water bottles and 60 plus ounces of water during that 23 mile stretch.  After completing that section we refueled at Casey’s General Store.  I knew Letha would be waiting for me there so we skipped the club rest stop.

Usually I know I have it made and will finish once I get to Hwy 40 at Casey’s General Store.  I felt the same way this year, at least I did for the first few miles back on Hwy 40.  There was a slight headwind the rest of the way to the finish.  It wasn’t much and it wasn’t all the time but the more usual tailwind would have been much kinder to us at this point of the ride.  I should comment that there were a lot of riders stopping in whatever shade they could find along Hwy 40.  We even stopped a time or two for rest in the shade to eat, drink and rest.  The only year I have seen more people stop to rest was in 2006 and it was 95 degrees with a heat index of 105 degrees. People were dropping like flies that year.  The last 30 miles were the hardest.  If it weren’t for my riding buddies, Ken and Kathy, I don’t know how I would have done it.  RAIN is a physical and mental challenge.  Having friends to ride and suffer with you makes it easier.

We finished around 8:30 p.m.  It took us 13 and a half hours, my personal longest finish time ever.  I am still proud of my ride no matter how long it took.  My riding buddies, Ken and Kathy had great rides and finished with me.  Ken finished his second RAIN Ride and he was much stronger this year.  Kathy rode her first RAIN Ride this year and finished very well.

I will quote Paul Sherwin from Versus TV when I say, “The harder to suffer, the sweeter the memory” sums up RAIN 2011 for me.  Kathy reminded us with ten miles to go of another Paul Sherwin quote.  I had asked her how she was doing and she replied that she “was reaching deep in the well of pain and agony” but was OK.  It is moments like that that makes the RAIN Ride worth it for me.

CE Taylor