Un course quatrieme: the 600
km brevet The final qualifier brevet for
PBP was the 600K, which was held June 14-15. The route was mostly the
same as the three previous brevets, leaving Rochester MN and
passing through Byron, Stewartville, Chatfield, Wykoff, Harmony and
then entering Iowa. On the 400K, the route went into Decorah; on the
600K, the route turned south before Decorah and went down into
Spillville, West Union and Elkader. It was highly recommended that
riders get a hotel room and sleep in West Union; unfortunately, by the
time the 400K was held, all the rooms in West Union had been booked
and there were no vacancies in the three hotels in town.
Searching the Internet, Tim found a B&B in Spillville. We would
pass through Spillville in midafternon, check in to the B&B , and then
do the leg out to Elkader and back. This would be about 400 km,
leaving us with 200 km to complete the brevet the next day.
Had we slept in West Union, we would have had about 255 km to ride on
the second day.
All of the brevets had been a mixture of gently rolling
terrain and flats. As it turns out, northeastern Iowa has very little
flat terrain. In fact it is very hilly. Someone completing
the brevet with an altimeter indicated that the total climbing
for the event was 18,600 feet! By way of comparison, that's
equivalent to climbing Alpe-d'Huez five times.
Saturday morning found us in the Wal-Mart parking lot at 5:30 AM.
The forecast was for fine, sunny and warm weather. We had a wind out
of the northeast with predictions for easterly winds on Sunday, which
would be quite favorable for a bunch of crazy randonneurs. There were
about 15 starters, each successive brevet having had fewer
riders. After preparatory remarks by Martin, we rolled out promptly
at 6:00 AM. From there to the first controle at Stewartville,
as rode as a tight fast bunch. As is the case, the group
disintegrated at the first controle, with some riders getting
out in a minute or so and some riders stopping to use the bathroom,
buy a snack, fill up waterbottles, etc. Tim and I left Stewartville
with just each other for company. This was actually a relief in some
ways, as it allowed us to pick our own pace and to not have to deal
with pack dynamics. Some of the randonneurs did not seem all that
skilled in close pack riding, others were very good. Interestingly
enough, one of the worst was an upper category bike racer who really
should have known how to ride smoothly with a group.
The stretch from Stewartville to Chatfield is one
of the worst on the route. It's flat, boring, and the pavement has
cracks and uneven seems about every 15 feet. There's no shoulder and
traffic volume is rather high. We're always glad to have that behind
us. Chatfield is heralded by a fast descent, one of the larger hills
on the course. This controle is the 50 mile mark, and from
Chatfield to Wykoff- about 14 miles- is one of the most lovely
stretches of road in southern Minnesota. The stretch ends with a long
climb up into Wykoff, followed by basically flat to rolling terrain to
Harmony.
It's about 27 miles from Wykoff to the next official
controle in Harmony. In between is Rottweilerville, also known
as Greenleafton. The farmhouse on the north edge of Greenleafton is
home to some Rottweilers with a penchant for silently (and with
intent) chasing bicyclists. Tim and I were first chased by two of
them on the 400K as we came back through at dusk. We kept a sharp eye
out as we passed the farm, and sure enough one of the Rottweilers came
blasting across the yard from the back of the house. We had too much
of a gap and he stopped well before the property line. About 100
yards further down the road, we were waved into the secret
controle. When we mentioned the Rottweilers to Bob, he looked
puzzled and said he hadn't seen them! As we asked around throughout
the ride, we found that none of the other cyclists had seen or been
chased by those Rottweilers. We hadn't seen the last of them,
either.
A few miles south of Greenleafton, the route turns left onto a
highway. A boring, flat highway. 11 miles of boring flat highway.
Usually with no shelter from the wind. On the upside, it's new and
the pavement is excellent with wide asphalt shoulders. Today the wind
was more of a crosswind and we made good time into Harmony and
the controle. For the first time, I noticed that there was a
sign for the trailhead of the Harmony-Preston bike trail as we
approached the controle; this trail links up with the Root
River bike trail which has had the effect of revitalizing the
economies of a number of southern Minnesota towns. After a brief
stop, we resumed our peregrination south. We were still on familiar
roads for a few miles, following the same course we took to Decorah
two weeks ago. This time, however, we turned south to the
next controle, in Spillville IA which was also going to be our
home for the evening.
The road became distinctly more rolling as we went south through
several river valleys, including the Upper Iowa River. The terrain
was charming and the road quality very good. Iowans seemed to be
tolerant drivers, waiting behind us if they couldn't see a clear road
ahead rather than exhibiting the typically dangerous passing habits of
Minnesotans. After many ups and downs, we climbed a rise crowned with
what appeared to be a grain mill, adorned with the "Spillville Milling
Company" name. We descended into town, past what looked likely to
have been the original mill on the small river on the north side of
town. Spillville turned out to be a well-tended town with a number of
amenities, including the Bily Clock Museum.
We located the B&B easily, as it was
on Main Street, and found that it was conveniently next door to the
controle. When we had reserved a room, there were only a
couple of options: a room with a queen sized bed and a room with a
king size bed. I opted for the latter. We were the first randonneurs
to arrive for check-in, so it turned out that we had a choice. We
could have the kind sized bed, or we could stay in the "Woodshed" room
behind the house, which had two beds, a shower and bathroom (in
contrast to the shared facilities in the main house). We opted for
the woodshed. Sharon, Martin's girlfriend, had managed the bag drop
and our bags had beaten us to the B&B by several hours. We were able
to put our stuff in our room, and then we hit the road.
Immediately south of Spillville, the road climbed for about a mile
and rolled up and down across Iowa easterly through Festina to Ossian,
where we turned off the B32 to the W32. I had not been feeling good
from shortly after leaving Spillville, feeling bloated and somewhat
nauseated, but by Ossian I felt better and was soon back to normal.
From Ossian, we went south to West Union for a total of about 34
miles. From West Union, we were supposed to go to Elkader.
Unfortunately we misread Martin's route markings, didn't have a cue
sheet and had to rely on directions from locals to find Elkader. But
we did finally find the road to Elkader, found the controle at
the Sinclair station and signed in. The folks of Elkader turned out
to be a warm and friendly bunch of people, who seemed to have some
kind of hot rod rally going on. Elkader was a lovely little town,
quite hilly and straddling a lovely little river.
On the road from Elkader back to West Union, we saw five
randonneurs coming into town. All of them had big grins on their
faces and were obviously enjoying the fine roads and fine weather. We
rode west into the sunset quite literally along the B64, noting a
remarkable number of churches as we went. One church was standing in
the middle of a pasture of cows; we decided that must be the Church of
St. Bovinus. As we rode through Elgin, we passed a campground full of
people waving to us. Iowans wave a lot- even people who overtook us
in their cars gave us a friendly wave after they had passed.
Eventually we could see bright stadium lights a few miles off as dusk
was falling. We were a couple of miles away when we started to hear
the roar of stock car engines. The road passed about a half mile
south of the track, and it was so loud during what sounded like ten
lap heats that conversation was impossible. One of the hotels was
said to also be about a half mile from the race track; I wondered how
well the randonneurs there were sleeping.
Tim and I checked in at West Union, had a snack and headed out of
town back to Spillville. Dark had fallen, so we switched on our lamps
and rode through the deepening night. Night riding has a special
quality. Normal perceptions of space and time seem to collapse into
the small cone of light in front of you. You can't really see how
fast you are progressing across the landscape, and places that seem
like they should be close take a long time to reach. Conversely,
places that seem far away are arrived at quickly. The night was clear
and about an hour after sunset the nearly full moon rose and began to
bathe the fields in light. The moon was greeted by barking dogs all
over the area around us, further excited by us riding past their
territories. At least one dog also tried to chase us for a while. We
spooked a couple of deer and one grouse as we rode along. The down
side was lots of traffic- we presumed these were folks coming from the
races in West Union. A few of them shouted curses at us, but the
majority were fine.
After an hour or so of delightful night riding, we came back to
Ossian and stopped for a snack at the convenience store. Ossian also
had a couple of loud parties going on, one of which seemed populated
by young kids and their cars. Might have been some of the people
yelling at us earlier when we drove by. Once out of Ossian, traffic
was very much lower. It seemed like we went through Festina in just a
few moments, passing the "Church of Our Lady of the Seven Dolorz"
(sic). We rolled up and down some hill, and then at the foot of a
long sweeping descent we suddenly saw Spillville. We arrived at
the controle at 12:10AM, and we were in our room by 12:15. By
comparison, this 400K ride today had taken us 2:25 less than the 400K
two weeks ago. A quick shower to wash of the grime and sunscreen, a
snack and then more than six beautiful hours of sleep.
Tim got up about 7:00 and I got up a few
minutes later, feeling refreshed and happy even though I'm not a
morning person. We packed up our bikes with the stuff we'd need for
the day, packed our bags and took them to the front room to await
pickup. Breakfast was at 8:00 AM, with six hungry randonneurs and one
bemused couple who were in town for a wedding. We packed away a lot
of food for six skinny people! By 8:30 we were ready to get on the
road and probably left by 8:45. The folks who had stayed in West
Union had planned to get up about 5:30, so they had passed through
Spillville about 7:45 to 8:00. With an easterly breeze for company,
we left Spillville into the cloudless morning.
The route retraced itself through Ridgeway to Pole Line Road, back
to Hwy 139 and Harmony. The return leg seemed faster than the
outbound leg, and suddenly we found ourselves at the controle
in Harmony. We had passed a couple of randonneurs between Spillville
and Harmony, and one of them caught up with us at the controle.
We rolled out of Harmony westbound on Hwy 4 for 11 miles to Cty Road
9, which took us north through Greenleafton, a.k.a. Rottweiler
Rendezvous. Right on cue, as we passed the last house on the north
side of town, the dogs came barreling after us- this time a pack of
three! Having expected them, we already had a head of steam up and we
quickly outdistanced the dogs. I muttered imprecations about ignorant
dog owners who do not restrain their animals and let them chase
bicyclists, wildlife, etc. I suppose I should call the Fillmore
County Sheriff and report the dogs as a public nuisance.
Rolling terrain brought us to Wykoff once again, past the truck
tractor mechanics' shop and Ed's Museum. We stopped for water and a
snack, and then pushed off into the most beautiful part of the ride,
the section from Wykoff to Harmony. Unlike the other rides, we were
to see few of our peers today and none between Harmony and Rochester.
Stopping at the controle in Chatfield only briefly, we were
soon climbing the hill out of the valley onto the plain and heading
for Stewartville. This is the worst stretch of the trip, with bumpy
asphalt and boring scenery. At least the wind wasn't against us, but
I noticed that my left knee was aching and my right ankle was, too.
It took about an hour to get to Stewartville, with my leg hurting more
and more as we rode. I was also getting tired as the ride finally
caught up with me. By this point we'd ridden about 340 miles in two
days and climbed a lot of hills. We were met in the controle
by a guy with a pickup truck, looking for a friend of his who was
doing the brevet but hadn't been seen since Ridgeway at 9:00 AM
in Iowa. We'd passed him on Pole Line Road at probably 9:30 or 10:00
AM, at which point he seemed really happy and was just rolling along
at his own pace.
Between Stewartville and Byron, the last controle before the
end. I really started to get uncomfortable. My saddle was getting to
me, my left knee was aching more and my right ankle was getting to feel
like someone was stabbing me with every revolution of the pedals. My
speed dropped and I had a harder time staying on Tim's wheel. The
last few rollers into Byron were almost insurmountable, my ankle hurt
so badly. I contemplated quitting the ride, but the only way home was
to ride back to the car in Rochester- at which point I might as well
ride the last 200 yards to the controle! After a few minutes
rest, we hit the road for the final 10 miles of the brevet
series.
The road into Rochester from Byron has one steep hill, which I
tried climbing in a granny gear. That was actually worse, as it meant
more pedal revolutions. Past that, it was only a few miles of rolling
terrain and one very short hill before the last, mostly downhill mile
to the end. We signed in at the Customer Service desk at Wal-Mart,
and then returned to the car. We found Martin a few yards away, ready
to collect our final brevet cards and to give us our drop bags-
as well as a little celebratory champagne. We were done! And
qualified for PBP!
RASC 600K brevet Results
June 14-15, 2003
Foster Renwick 29:32
Daniel Stahlman 31:45
Charles Breer 31:45
Jim Joy 31:50
Robert Alwin 31:54
Dan Dunn 32:35
James Hopson 33:00
Bill Johnson 33:02
Martin Fahje 33:15
Greg Barkley 35:07
Jim Foley 35:50
Tim Bruns 36:20
Tim McNamera 36:20
Bob Thompkins 38:21
Tom Miller 38:40
The stretch from Stewartville to Chatfield is one
of the worst on the route. It's flat, boring, and the pavement has
cracks and uneven seems about every 15 feet. There's no shoulder and
traffic volume is rather high. We're always glad to have that behind
us. Chatfield is heralded by a fast descent, one of the larger hills
on the course. This controle is the 50 mile mark, and from
Chatfield to Wykoff- about 14 miles- is one of the most lovely
stretches of road in southern Minnesota. The stretch ends with a long
climb up into Wykoff, followed by basically flat to rolling terrain to
Harmony. 
We located the B&B easily, as it was
on Main Street, and found that it was conveniently next door to the
controle. When we had reserved a room, there were only a
couple of options: a room with a queen sized bed and a room with a
king size bed. I opted for the latter. We were the first randonneurs
to arrive for check-in, so it turned out that we had a choice. We
could have the kind sized bed, or we could stay in the "Woodshed" room
behind the house, which had two beds, a shower and bathroom (in
contrast to the shared facilities in the main house). We opted for
the woodshed. Sharon, Martin's girlfriend, had managed the bag drop
and our bags had beaten us to the B&B by several hours. We were able
to put our stuff in our room, and then we hit the road. 
Tim got up about 7:00 and I got up a few
minutes later, feeling refreshed and happy even though I'm not a
morning person. We packed up our bikes with the stuff we'd need for
the day, packed our bags and took them to the front room to await
pickup. Breakfast was at 8:00 AM, with six hungry randonneurs and one
bemused couple who were in town for a wedding. We packed away a lot
of food for six skinny people! By 8:30 we were ready to get on the
road and probably left by 8:45. The folks who had stayed in West
Union had planned to get up about 5:30, so they had passed through
Spillville about 7:45 to 8:00. With an easterly breeze for company,
we left Spillville into the cloudless morning.