Leisure activities are supposed to be fun, right? So I must really like when things suck, because I just rode 75 miles in the rain, eating road spray in a pace line for about 50 of those miles … and I had a blast.
This wasn’t the plan, of course. What was supposed to happen was I would pick between the Cleveland Fundo and the North East Ohio (Cookie) Century for my first 100-mile ride.
I did the NEOCC last year and completed a metric century – 100k / 62mi. I was trying for the full hundred miles, but 6 miles into the third lap I realized I wasn’t going to make it and turned around.
This year it was coming down to the weather. All day Thursday I kept checking the forecast and it was showing 5% chance of rain all day Saturday for the Fundo. Friday after work I signed up and went home to get my gear ready. Last thing before going to sleep I double-checked the forecast and it was still showing 5% chance of rain.
I woke up at 5:30 and it was raining. (You saw this coming, right?)
But wait, it gets better! The forecast called for 15% chance of rain … and a flash flood watch. Gotta love Cleveland weather.
Pre-ride
I added my thermal cap and rain jacket and headed down the Shoreway to the start. I had my head down because of the rain, missed the path at E 72nd and took the on-ramp to I-90. Whoops.
I considered whether I should hop the fence before deciding to just head back down the ramp. There’s a good shoulder there, and wasn’t much traffic yet.
I got to Edgewater Park about 7:40, and there were plenty of other riders already there. They were wearing everything from full-blown rain gear to just shorts and jerseys, as though it was dry out.
At 8:00, with little fanfare, we headed out.
First leg
We headed out into a light rain and up into downtown Cleveland. Suddenly we heard what sounded like a gunshot echoing off the buildings. Nope, just a catastrophic tire blowout, not three miles from the start.
By the time the ride was over, I’d passed at least a half-dozen people changing flats. I guess they weren’t used to riding city streets with lots of junk in the gutters.
The other fun sound was every time we bunched up at a stoplight, when it went green everybody clipping in sounded like popcorn.
After the first few lights we quickly spread out into 5 or 6 different groups up front. I knew I wanted to maintain 17 mph for the whole distance, and it took about 5 miles to settle in with a group doing that pace.
It was hard not chasing the lead group, but I didn’t want to get dropped off the back and burn out early. Is that the beginning of wisdom?
We went back the way I had just come, through Bratenahl, turning off at MLK. The ride through Rockefeller Park was nice, but once we hit Euclid Ave. it was nothing but stoplights. It almost felt like someone timed them to catch you at every single one. So frustrating.
Along the way I ran into Dennis, who lives down the street from me and does multi-day rides several times a year. I dropped in behind and decided to try to keep pace with him.
Past Tri-C, St. Vincent, Cleveland State, Progressive Field, before finally crossing the Cuyahoga and climbing up to Sokolowski’s for the first rest stop.
It had stopped raining, and the weather report was showing it should stay clear so I stowed the cap in my jersey pocket.
One banana, a quarter of a PBJ, topped off my water bottle with Powerade, quick bio break and … where did Dennis go? Guess he didn’t see me in the porta-potty and left. I caught up to him in a couple of blocks.
Second leg
Straight shot south to Old Brooklyn. More stoplights, but not as bad as when we were downtown. Then south-east to Brooklyn Heights, where the turn sign for Tuxedo Ave. was down. We saw the “Turn ahead” sign a block back, and pulled up on three other guys looking at the route map and their GPS.
Due east to Parma Heights, Big Creek Parkway, and the highest elevation of the ride. A whole 259 feet above the start.
It started raining again as we did a few miles down the parkway to the second rest stop. My calves were starting to cramp up a little, so I tried a shot of Pickle Juice. Tasted horrible, but 10 minutes later I was feeling fine.
More banana, and along with the PBJ they had peanut-butter and banana sandwiches, score! They were also much more enthusiastic than at the first rest stop.
While we were finishing our snacks, a couple groups rode by without stopping. We hadn’t been pushing hard at all – sticking right about my planned 17 mph – but I figured anyone who was still behind us would need the stop. Maybe they left late?
Third leg
We continued south-west on Big Creek Parkway until we hit Valley Parkway south of Berea, which we would take north all the way to the lake.
By now it was raining pretty steady, and we were starting to catch up to other riders. Cars kept trying to pass, but the road is twisty and our pace lines were getting pretty long. This could have been a really pretty leg of the ride, if I hadn’t been looking down the whole time because of the rain.
When we got to the third rest stop at Mastick Woods, there was a pretty large contingent already there.
I checked the mileage and realized I was now tied for my longest ride to date. Everything from here out was PR territory.
More pickle juice, more banana, more PBJ, and more PowerAde. And off we went with the largest group I’d been in all day.
Fourth leg
Five more miles through the park, then a short 5% climb back onto neighborhood streets, and down Clifton through Lakewood. We were a pretty good sized group by now, a dozen or so guys taking up an entire lane.
I’d let Dennis pull me most of the way, since I know he rides a lot more than I do and has a better feel for what pace he can sustain. Now that we were in the last 10 miles I headed up front for a bit. It was nice to stop eating road spray for the first time in 4+ hours.
Right at the edge of the park we turned south toward Detroit Ave., away from the lake. I wasn’t mad at all. I also wasn’t frustrated by the wind that had turned around and was back to gusting in our faces again.
Finally we turned up W65th and it was downhill all the way to the finish. We crossed the line and Dennis offered to give me a ride home after we ate. It was still raining, so I took him up on the offer. We strapped our bikes to his rack and headed off the the food trucks.