As I headed to the west, I could see the city lights straining against the low hung clouds as if the light could push up the clouds so its beauty could shine higher. As I looked forward it was black; the type of black that is the absence of color. A few lights marked houses or grain bins in the distance.
I had studiously watched the weather maps as I tried to choose which day to ride through the night. The thunderstorms had been predicted at various times for the weekend and I chose to go Friday. I had first ridden south and made a pit stop to see Bob at the Tap. His words of encouragement and support that I could ride through the night pushed me to head out into the vastness of gravel roads and fields. A Snickers and pretzels, and a serenade from some happy revelers who were quite concerned that I would be riding the trail alone. I did not bother to tell them that I was riding gravel until well after the sun rose the next day.
I was surprisingly apprehensive to head out into the dark. I did not expect my mind to start playing emotional games with me this early. After self-arguing, I decided I would head out and if it was not going well I could cut back up to Booneville and head home. That worked; off I went!
My plan was simple, pedal, read queue cards, eat, drink, restock, keep pedaling. I had a lot to learn on this ride. I had been awake since about 6 a.m. on this Friday. I was a bit tired but was trying to prep for what TIv13 might feel like. There was the dark when the sun had recently set and city lights were visible. Then there was the dark of almost nothing with light around me. As I rode on, I adjusted to the view from my headlight. I was headed toward Winterset which is a route that I am pretty familiar. The cemetery hill on Old Portland Road was painful as I had just raced the TT the night prior. Otherwise, things were going smoothly.
I made it to the Cedar Bridge and took a photo. This has been a right of passage as I ride over each covered bridge. This photo would become very bittersweet by the time morning rolled around. Then I headed into Winterset. I actually found the Cstore with navigation instead of dumb luck. Getting my sense of direction had been a struggle for many years. I fueled up and loaded more water. It was midnight and time to roll on. The next several hours were over miles that I had never successfully navigated in the daylight. There was some pressure to get it right tonight.
My goal was to watch the number of miles to the next turn and chant the name of the street in my head. Pretty soon I learned that there are not a lot of choices. If the next turn is a right turn, check the next green sign. It was very disorienting to not be able to see the grade and top of the climbs. I had an egg-shape of light in front of me of about 20'. The sides of the road always looked to be headed upward. But the tension on my pedals told me something else. The optical illusion fascinated me all night.
I was eventually going to head back north. Whomever told me that the wind dies down at night flat out lied. That south wind had been about as strong as ever. It seems unfair, but gravel often is. Heading west at least was a cross wind. Challenging but better. When I finally headed north, it was pleasant. Most of the night the gravel had been damp from earlier storms. Not too bad, I thought. That changed quickly as I headed to the north. Soon it looked like wet concrete and was about and inch or so deep. There really was no line to take. Often as I slid I was very thankful for a mountain biking background. Light hands, relaxed arms, no panic, pedal steady. Soon it became a thoughtless rhythm.
Time...what does it really mean. I did not have a standard clock. So the concept was lost. I just knew that I had to pedal until I found Redfield. I guessed it would be about 3 hours. Sometimes I wished I had looked at how far it would be from town to town, but then I won't know how far it is to whatever town is on the TIv13 route. I had enough stuff for 7 or more hours, so it was time to relax.
I decided that I like N/S as I can figure the distance by the street numbers. I wished E/W had that. Then pondered the confusion of all number streets and avenues. I actually laughed out loud at the silliness of it. I guess one's mind has a lot of time to wonder when your line of sight is just an egg of light. No trees, houses, cattle, birds, etc to watch. But the frogs kept me oriented as to when the next climb was near. The louder and closer they got I almost always figured I was in the bottoms which meant the way out was up. All of the sounds of the night held clues as to what was surrounding me that I could not see.
The most startling sound is the barking dogs and hurried feet across the gravel or grass. One benefit was that the dogs usually were by the barn or house. This meant that there were many yards to get to the road. Several times I really appreciated the length as opposed to when the dog is in the front yard as they often are in the daylight.
I was overjoyed to see that I would soon be crossing I-80 as it was a solid landmark that helped me to feel safe. I stopped at the closed CStore and grabbed some more food from my bag. It was proving to be more difficult to eat in the dark. The lack of a concept of time made it confusing. I had packed X amount of a certain food so that I knew how many I had left. I picked up the eating a little bit. What I wanted was real food. My coach told me that at some point in the gravel season I would be at Cstore late at night the hot dog that had been on the rollers all day would be the best food I had ever eaten. I laughed! It really hit home that I would have been ecstatic to have the hot dog!
The night had been very dark thus far with no moon. I saw lightning off to the west. These two combined made me fearful that more storms were coming. I kept taking a smell....the air smells different as the front comes through. I did not get that nor did I get the sudden temp drop. I kept watching the lightning off in the distance and hoped it went northeast away from my route.
A while later, an hour, several hours, who knew, but the moon appeared. I was very happy to see it. That meant that it was no going to rain, at least at that moment. It also added a new dimension to what I could not see. I felt like I was aware of the trees that bloom with the white flowers. What is my imagination trying to see something or was it the little bit of moon shimmering just enough to allow me to be aware of these trees?
Time flies when you are pondering the physics of life. I saw signs of a town and Redfield appeared. Of course, the Cstore was closed like everything else. It is a weird feeling to be in a town when everyone is asleep. I come and go without any record.......... But tonight I needed to get off of my bike for a few. minutes. I stopped in the car wash. I checked in that I had found Redfield. Then noticed the water was running a bit from the wand. I looked at the muck caked on my bike. Sure, why not wash some of it off? For some reason, this whole scene was very funny to me. Again I was laughing out loud (yes, some security tape has all of this, I am sure). Was I losing my mind? I felt slower in the brain but not tired. I seemed to still have logical thought patterns. I also took that is was a sign to get moving again. I can't finish if I don't pedal.
I started to wonder when the sun would rise. I seemed to really need to have that longing just out of reach but coming soon..........I hoped. As I was heading back south I thought I saw a mirage.....a CStore sign brightly lit. Was I getting close to I80.....would my route take me near to it? I wish I knew better where in the heck I was in this gravel maze. Where I crossed I80 was not the Cstore place so on I pedaled.
More south into the still brisk wind; up hills; down hills; up more hills. My headlight hit a grey mouse in the middle of the road..........chasing his tail in circles. That lead to lots of pondering and giggling.....did he just see his tail because of my light and was so fascinated he had to chase it? I was getting dizzy watching him. I hope he stopped as the light left.
My navigation turned to the east, a found a bit of pavement and THEN, an open Cstore!!! I have to love Cstore employees, no matter what time of night you stop in, covered in mud, with a helmet on, they greet you like you looked completely normal. I got what I needed and learned that if you take the top off of your water bottle and then bend over to get something off of the bottom shelf, you make a mess. Crap. When I checked out I owned the mess that I made and got a: Don't worry, it happens more than you'd think! She must really be a morning person. An open Cstore also meant that sunrise was imminent.
Off I went, hoping to get back to places that I knew. I enjoyed the sun as it rose for a few minutes before the cloud snuffed out its beauty. Then I found roads that I was familiar with and I was excited. Knowing the roads and being close to the end are vastly different concepts but I was taking what I could get.
So.....overall I pleased with this ride. Got close to 14 hours. I really like the night riding so I am not sure if that is the gravel holy grail or if it's just the bent side of my life. I still have few kinks to work out to make it better or I guess smoother.
Thanks to all that did not put the phone on sleep so that if I needed help I could call. It loaded a ton of confidence into me to know that I had this support. Also that my biggest supporter is not a sound sleeper so there always was a text when I stopped. That will keep my sanity in check.
Hoping the next blog will be my post-race report!
