4CGG - A boy and his Mule

Yes this is all about me my ride, the bike, tire selection and my two ton mule. Here are a few of my thoughts the hits and the misses.

A one hundred mile self supported point to point ride takes some planning and experience. Its easy to plan but getting that experience takes time and can be a painful process.

The temps started off in the low 30's and would be in the mid 60's when completed. So I went with some layers but the feet and the hands were the real challenge. For the hands I carried two pair of gloves but they were still really really cold for the first couple few hours. The feet I just went with my thickest pair of wool socks and no toe covers (dumb) they were cold to frozen for the first half of the ride.

The bike I went with my gravel grinder bike which is a really a rigid steel road bike with big tire capabilities. I ended up running a WTB 38c on the front and a Kenda 30c on the back. The front was OK a little on the minimal side and the rear was just plain wrong. I didn't think it would make it the whole ride but it did. Besides the may pop feeling it was the braking on the downhills and the grip on the loose gravel climbs that I missed most. In hind sight 700x42c front and rear have been the way to go.

The gearing was a little heavy at 38x16 after all we were at a grinder not a spinner. I couldn't sit and spin many climbs and people would just ride away from me. If the other side of the hill was real loose or big gravel I was on the brakes and falling back. Of coarse if we got a stretch of flat with anything other than a headwind (wasn't much) I could start to reel people in.

The Mule - I had it packed full and could have survived about anything. I am going to do a whole post on the contents of that thing. But for now I will say it was heavy to the point I had to adjust the air pressure of the rear tire. At one point on the first big climb it felt like it had slid up around my neck and was choking me out seriously. After I had used up some of the water, gels and the extra perpetuam bottle it became bearable but that wasn't till about the 50 mile marker.

I hope that doesn't sound like complaining its really just a laundry list of things I could have done better because I had a really great time. Seeing so many of the usual cast of characters out there and meeting a few new ones like Tony, Terry and Chuck was awesome. It was good to finish up with Tony and Chris not because he has the same name as my son but I know how much he put into the planning and execution of the event and I appreciate it.

Good times...
Duke