The group that couldn't ride straight

SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2009

Short story: Long group ride goes haywire due to crash, the wrong equipment and outriding conditioning.

Long story, read if you want to learn how not to undertake a long group ride:

Yesterday I had my fellow Glen Ellyn Tri riders come together at our family beach rental in New Buffalo, Michigan, for a long ride, swimming, food, etc. Last year we did the same; three of us over a 50 mile ride wore out lurker tri-dead Margaret Ford to the point where we left her near dead sprawled on the front lawn after the ride. Great times!

This year our group grew. Though other Glen Tri tri-dead Kevin Kelly could not make it this year, we had strong rider Brad Webb and his Ironman vet friend Carolyn, who came down from her cottage in Paw Paw, Margaret who came with newer rider Soni Rosely, and also new rider Jeff Vilamek and some what experienced rider Diane Vilamek. Most of us have been riding together in various combinations and permutations this year and some in past years. Brad, Margaret and Soni were using this as their last long workout before tapering for the New York Triathlon.

The day was beautiful, blue sky. Not too hot. There was some wind but nothing serious. Finally, we all were assembled and ready to go, a bit later than hoped - par for the course with this group.

The ride started innocently enough. I led and guided through the back streets of town, riding an ad hoc course I constructed as we went, pulling from experience gained from riding these roads for 20 years. We wound up going out the back way up to Three Oaks, MI. The rough road led to a smoother road, still a bit bumpy down in the aerobars but good riding. After a bit at the front as ride instigator/guide I thought I should fall back and cheerlead for the slower folks, encouraging them to stay connected with Brad and Carolyn.

Suddenly I saw the group ahead hestiating at a junction. "Straight!" I yelled up. They still hesitated, and then I noted the road had recently been chip sealed and had loose gravel on it. I rode up and we continued ahead, slowly, not having difficulties if we stayed in the tracks where car tires had pushed away the loose stone. I knew this section would not be too long and it was rideable. Down a shaded hill and back up and then onto a flat open stretch we rode, I still at the back. Suddenly I heard a shout ahead. Jeff had crashed. He was in the ditch between the road and the cornfield. When I came up he was standing, looking dazed, trying to sort out his bike. Soni, Diane and I had all stopped while Brad, Margaret and Carolyn were riding on, oblivious to what had happened.

Jeff said he thought he was OK, so I turned to his bike. The only obvious problem was a seat that was turned, which I easily straightened. I inspected the alignment, which looked OK, and the drive train. After getting the chain back on the bike seemed fine. But Jeff pointed out his rear tire was flat. Hmm, from the crash or a contributing cause of the crash? First, I tried to reinflate the tire with CO2, but the tube would not hold air. I then pulled the wheel and happily started to demonstrate to the newer riders how to change a tire in a flash without tools. I quickly worked the tire off and pulled out the tube, got Jeff's spare tube out of his bag, inserted the valve in the rim, pulled it around - and noted it was too large for the rim! Yep, Jeff had a 700 tube for a 650 rim. His bike was brand new and the bike shop had supplied the wrong size. Moral: Check your gear!

Meanwhile, Jeff was oozing more blood through his road rash and his thumb was swelling and looked misaligned. Jeff continued to minimize his injuries but it was becoming apparent that beyond the road rash his thumb was going to be an issue. We called ahead on a cellphone to alert the riders that had continued to turn them back.

My next strategy was to try to patch the 650 tube. Diane came up with a patch kit. Soni isolated the leak. I sanded the spot and applied the glue as Diane supplied the patch. It was done quickly and we waited for it to dry. As were we waiting my cell phone rang. Diane helped me answer it so I would not get glue on my phone. Margaret had had a flat up the road on the return and Brad and Carolyn had not realized this as they were riding back to us. She said she would change it but I said I would send someone in case she needed a hand. This was getting complicated!

It was time to try the patched tube. I put in a little CO2 and prayed. No luck - the tube would still not hold air. Either we had not accurately covered the puncture or I had not glued the patch properly. I prefer the former explanation. Now we had to hope that Brad, Carolyn or Margaret were running 650C wheels, which I doubled as they are all tall riders.

Jeff told me he had been sightseeing rather than paying attention to the road when he crashed. I politely suggested this was not a good riding habit. He agreed. I wondered to myself if the flat came first and then when he got over into the deeper gravel he was unable to control the front wheel sufficiently. We discussed what to do next while Jeff held his thumb aloft and showed off his oozing road rash. Not pretty! A plan was hatching when Brad, whose cellphone had died, and Carolyn, whose number we did not have not think to ask for, rolled up. We filled them in. Neither were riding 650s. Brad volunteered to help Margaret. He took off back up the road. Then Diane and I started riding back to the house and her car; she would toss our bikes into her SUV and we would drive back for Jeff. The rest of the group waited with Jeff.

Diane and I made good time going back, but as we pulled up to house I heard her recite an expletive and say, "Jeff has the keys." Oops. But my car was there, not an SUV, so I got my keys and tossed them to Diane and told here I'd get myself back to the bunch. I time trialed it back to the crash site. About two-thirds of the way Diane came driving my car in the other direction. We reconnoitered; they were wisely abandoning the ride, would get Jeff bandaged and collect their kids from his parents in South Haven. Bummer that it worked out that way!

The crash site was vacant. More time trialing. Soon I connected with Margaret and Soni. Brad and Carolyn, strong riders, were ahead. Margaret said she was not feeling that great and did not want to ride hard with Brad and Carolyn. I thought I had best stay with Margaret and Soni, so I backed down the pace and we continued on the agreed upon route, which would take us through Three Oaks and then north on country roads into the hills and past the wineries. The group reassembled several times at stop signs; I gave Brad the turn point after Three Oaks, knowing that we would likely be disconnected again very soon. I was right; after the turn at Krueger Road Brad and Carolyn were off the front while I continued at an easier pace with the others, sharing the lead with Margaret.

In our riding around Glen Ellyn long uninterrupted stretches are not to be found. In the farmland west of us long stretches can be found, but they are still infrequent. The pull north on Mill Road that we rode yesterday is a long distance biker's desire - it just goes and goes and goes, mostly straight and flat. I might have preferred a faster pace, but I very much enjoyed the long stretch, on which I did most of the pulling. Finally as we neared one of the few turns I heard Soni say behind me, "Is this ever going to end?" Hmmm.

We took the road into New Troy, the self appointed "Center of the World," where a choice of route could be made. I knew the hills and winery were ahead on the road we were on, but as we rode by the turnoff I thought I saw two riders way up the road disappearing into the distance. Shit! I thought Brad knew the route. The three of us stopped and conferred. We could not call them. I might have been able to catch them after a long hard ride, but I would not leave Margaret and Soni, who had no idea where they were. As long as we were all were on the same route I figured we would reconnect at some point. Now this would not be the case. Oh well...

Margaret again said she was not up to par and Soni had been figuring out mileage and pointed out that the ride would be well over 50 miles for her; they had ridden while Diane and I were going back and forth to the house for the car. Soni's longest ride had been about 40 miles and she had had trouble on that ride. I had been talking to Soni in the past week about her inconsistent training and when I learned she would be joining us on the ride had been a bit concerned that she was biting off more than she could chew. Now the bite had gotten even bigger. I figured we had perhaps 25 miles to go and thought that by keeping the ride pace down we would be OK, so we continued ahead.

After Cleveland Road the hills started. For me they we fun and easy, Margaret mostly kept up and Soni lagged. Periodically I would slacken the pace and we would regroup. We rode past Tabor Hill Winery and Round Barn Winery, where I had tasted wine, vodka and beer the day before. It was tempting but we did not stop. Past the wineries we were nearing the northern most point on the ride. We rode past the Snow Road turnoff. A lightbulb went off in my head. We could shorten the ride some by taking Snow Road back southeast rather than riding straight east into Bridgman. I stopped the group and explained. They agreed. I got back across the road, pointing the other direction, waiting for them to join me. They did not join me. What the f*k? Turns out Soni had a leg cramp and had to stretch before she could continue. This was not a good sign.

We eventually got started and turned off at Snow Road. Soni was clearly not happy. In fact, very soon as we were splitting a large cornfield Soni uttered a loud noice and stopped dead in her tracks. We went back to her and she was clearly in pain, her whole leg captured by a very painful cramp. She had dropped her bike in the road while she was writhing. Margaret dropped hers and grabbed Soni, while I tried to give advice. We made her lie down flat - I had thought that would be under the one tree in the area that we just happened to stop at, but she laid flat in the road.

As I was giving Soni ideas of how to work out the cramp it dawned on me that we had literally set up a road block of bicycles and the prone Soni. I did not want to set my bike down because I likely would lose my drink from my bike bottle, so I enlisted Margaret to move the bikes. Good thing, because moments later a car did come along. It did stop and the driver asked if we needed help, which we declined. However, just as likely it could have been a teenager or a good old boy driving at high speed right through us...

While we were waiting for Soni's cramp to release it became apparent that Soni was out of fluids. I gave her what was left of my bottle that Jeff had used to irrigate his road rash and commented on the need to bring enough fluids and to be properly hydrated.

After a long time, the cramp abated. I would not leave Soni in this nowhere place, so we rode slowly along Snow Road. At the intersection with Cleveland we wanted to proceed southwest, but the next section of Snow had been chip sealed and was graveled. We turned onto busy Cleveland and rode slowly onward, encouraging Soni on. Finally we hit Shawnee Road which I knew would take us to Bridgman, farther north than I wanted but civilization where we could drop off Soni and come back for her later. We proceeded very slowly along Shawnee; I led and followed, being as encouraging as possible, but at a driving range/9 hole golf course, Soni stopped. She was done. We rode into the parking lot, had her check out the place to be sure it was safe and OK to wait at, and then Margaret and I rode on.

The pace picked up some, thank god, but Margaret was clearly getting toasted as well. I pulled her into Bridgman, where we paused in the middle of a forming motorcycle/custom car parade. We tried to raise various people on our cellphones to let them know what was happening. We found that Brad and Carolyn had already finished their ride. We still had an hour to go at the slow 16 mph average pace that Margaret and I now were riding.

We turned on to Red Arrow Highway, which I ride up to St. Joseph for my longer rides to get my distance in in the area where we do the Steelhead Half Ironman. It's busy, certainly busier than Margaret probably liked, but I wanted up to get back as fast as we were able to with Soni marooned at the golf course. I asked Margaret if Soni played golf. Margaret said yes, Soni was a golfer. I said if it were me I'd use part of the money Margaret had given her when we dropped her off to rent a bucket of balls and hit on the driving range. She said Soni would not do that.

Our ride back seemed long and I wanted to be done, but had to hold back the pace. My legs were fine, but with new, lower aerobars my upper rib cage on either side was getting sore. I was nearing the end of my fluids and dropped my final gel in the road and was not about to go back for it. The ride was supposed to be 50 miles and less than three hours, not 64 miles and more than four hours not even counting the stops.

Margaret was slowing and I was finding the traffic annoying, becoming grumpy due to lack of food. We needed a more peaceful end to this ride, so I led Margaret off the highway at Lakeside and we rode Lakeshore Road through Lakeside and Union Pier, enjoying the homes and the shade. Then we got back on Red Arrow, rode the big hill down across the river and back up, and then into town and back to the house. I grabbed some food, Gatorade and my keys and drove back north to pick up Soni and her bike.

It turns out Soni played the first hole, twice, in bare feet, and had plenty of liquids and something to eat. She was glad to see me but feeling great.

Back at the house Jeff and Diane had returned with their children, Brad had been swimming and the party part of the day ensued. I learned today that an x-ray of Jeff's thumb showed it was not broken.

For me the ride pace was slower and ride distance was higher than planned, still a good ride. Brad and Carolyn had good rides, as well. Margaret was overextended in the ride but was afterward glad she got the distance in as training for New York. Jeff says he wants to get back to riding as soon as he can. Diane rode today to make up for her lack of riding yesterday. Soni said she has no idea why she had been thinking about doing a half Ironman next year.