400k no sure what year

Mineral Wells 400k

I left on Friday.  I was planning on leaving around noon to get to the hotel to lay around but I got an email from a guy that just moved here named Marcus.  He was interested in doing the 400k and I was all about having someone split up the driving for once.  I also promised my father that I would not ride at night alone like I have done in the past so I figured that Marcus coming along for make my dad feel better.  Marcus could not get off work until 2pm so the earliest we could leave was 3:00pm.  I did want to meet the group for dinner to catch up Friday night and we were pushing for time to do that.  We did get on the road around 3:45 and I drove the whole way like a bat out of hell.  I love the Lonstar gang and wanted to spend some time with them badly.  They are my social life and we do not get to spend much time together on the bike.  We made it in time for dinner and I got to see everyone.  We had a really nice time.   Marcus also found someone to bunk with instead of sleeping in the car.  I was staying with Brenda and Raine so Marcus was not welcomed into the girls room.  He was going to be taking the van otherwise.  That is what is so great about this group. There is always someone willing to lend a hand.

After dinner we went to sign up for the 400k and Dan the master did not like the idea of Marcus doing the 400k when Marcus has only done a few centuries.  Marcus has only done a 60 mile ride this year but he trains and is in really good shape.  I thought he would be ok but Dan has been doing this for along time and knows best.  Marcus signed up for the 300k.  I was not sure who I was going to ride with.  Everyone else was doing the 600k.  Brenda did know of one guy named Clay that was going to do the 400k but that guy is fast.  I did not think I could ride with him at all.  I decided to go with the flow and if no one was going to be around for the 400k then I would hang with the group and only get 350k in..that is when the 600k people loop back by the hotel for rest if they need to.  I had a great evening with Brenda and we all spent the rest the night getting ready for the ride.  We did have bed bugs…just as I was going to get in bed a big stink bug came out from the covers and Brenda swept it across the room into her stuff.  We all were trying to find it and then it went to Raines stuff.  We did get it killed but we were all a bunch of screaming laughing girls.  After the lights went out about 5 minutes later Raine swore there was another bug close by and she could smell it.  When  she turned on the light there it was looking at her and smiling.  Yep…she squashed it too.  After that we all went to be and who knows how many more bugs crawled on us.

5:00 am-  The girls wanted to get up at 5 am and the ride did not start until 7am.  I could have laid there longer but I got up and ready to.  We had breakfast and got started right on time.  We were not even 5 minutes into the ride and I had a flat.  I figured that this meant I could quit the ride.  I did not even want to be doing the ride since I was only doing it for a plan B race.  One guy fell back to help me and it took us about 20 minutes at least to get the tire fixed.  I did a blond thing and put the new tube next to the old tube and we had to guess which one might be the good one.  We might have had the right tube in but the stem broke and so we were using some of the other guys tubes.  I also had to use a new tire and those are hard to get on the rim.  The flat was caused by the tire I was using. It had a little thorn in it and we were both unable to get it out otherwise it was a great tire.  After all this we got started and I found out that I was riding with Clay (Speedy).  I knew we were fixing to have to ride hard.  He wanted to catch the group and we were pretty far back.  The chance of him catching his friends and me staying with him were slim.  I was really struggling and had that darn tire in my camelback sticking out and poking me in the head.  It was driving me nuts and well someone will get a nice tire out of the deal.  I did leave it behind after a while.  It was messing my hair up.

We caught the group after a couple of time stations and Clay was happy.  He still had not caught his friend but he knew that I was going to be ok with the others and took off.  I still chased him and by the third check point Clay found his friend and I finally got a minute to use the bathroom.  It is a good thing that I do not shop around the stores long.  I pretty much drink milk at the stops and Hammer Nutrition on the bike this keeps me fueled right.  The only thing I hated about trying to stay with Clay is that I did not hang out long with Brenda and Raine when I saw them.  They were doing the 600k so I need to stay with the other guys.  It was really hard work.  The guys I wound up riding with were Bryan (Paris-Breast-Paris 4x) , Gary (PBP 5x), and Clay.  We all stuck together after about 100 miles.  Just so you know the route started in Mineral Wells and then went to Lipan, Glenrose , Meridian, Hico, Dublin, Gordon, Wataburger near possum kingdom, and then ended in Mineral Wells at about 260 miles.  It was two loops that had lots of hills.  We call it Mineral Hills.  WE all stayed really steady and had lots of laughs while riding.  Bryan’s wife was sagging for us and this was great.  I put that darn camel back in her car after about 150 miles.  I am training with a bigger one for Switzerland and I won’t be using it for that long there so the training was over for the junk-a-trunk. It was heavy and annoying me!

It was about night time when we hit HWY 160 to do our second loop.  If you make a right you go back to the hotel if you make a left then you still have a long way to go.  I decided to stay with the group. I promised my dad I would not ride at night alone again and I did have people to might as well finish the ride.  I really was trying to get out of the ride the day before and tried calling my coach to see if that would be ok.  He knows me to well…he just did not call back knowing that I would be glad to get it done.  We made it to the smallest wataburger in the world and it was closed but Clay and Bryan’s wife were there to give us some more fuel.  We were all ready to be done and it was getting cold.  I guess after this stop we still had a couple of hours but that seemed like forever.  I thought we were going the wrong direction at times and was afraid that Dan the promoter (master) was going to give us bonus miles.  He is a mileage junky and does not think it is all that big of a deal to do an extra 50k at times.  He did not do that to us and we spit out back at the hotel.  We all had a great ride and it was 1am in the morning. 

I do not think that I would have gotten any of these rides done if it were not for the Lonestar gang.   Two years ago I did some of these rides and rode by myself.  Last year I did not do any of them and did fine at RAAM..  This was my first 400k to do even though I have done some 600k’s.  These rides are all hard and these guys do them every weekend. I know that I might have finished RAAM but I could not do what these guys do every weekend.  They are all great people and none are full of themselves.  They always reach a hand out to help anyone get into the sport and hang together.  All of them have full-time jobs and most of them have families to take care of but somehow they do these rides and I admire all of them for doing them.  I am the baby of the bunch and may have done RAAM but what I do is nothing like the Lonestar gang.  I admire all of them so much you could not even imagine.  Some of the 400k guys were coming in at 5:30 am this morning.  That is one long night and most of them will do it again when there is another opportunity,   As for me,  I might show up for the dinner and a short ride from now on.  The part I love most about Ultra cycling is the people.  It does not seem like there is much competition.  Everyone is proud when someone is having a great ride.  For instance,  Pam ( Dan the master’s g-friend) has only been riding a little while and she is already riding with the lead group.  What a stud!  Another great girl is Brenda Barnell-  she is putting in more miles then all of them and gets better everyday.  She was the only one to finish the 1000k in lousy weather a couple of years ago.  I did not finish that ride when I tried it.  I could go on about all of them but that would be a book by the time I got done.  I wish I had time to tell you about all of them.

The ride home-  Well it worked out great with Marcus. He had a great 300k and rode in about 9:15 last night.  This meant that he was rested and ready to drive.  I was pooped and glad to have the company.  He is not sore and did great on his first ride.  He did much better then I did on my first one.  We stopped and had a hamburger along the way and I chilled in the passenger seat.  I do hope he can go to more events in the future but he might not care for the long stuff.  WE will see.