Sun June 13 - Thurmond Epic

[breynolds]

I'm there!

[Ted S.]

Still in see ya fellas in the morning.

[nitro]

Still in.

[dsquaredmsquared]

Yep, still in. Might have a buddy showing up as well.

Looks like it might be cooler tomorrow...only 98°F.

[seenvic]

Y'all skeered yet? Sleep tight.

[dsquaredmsquared]

Well...I exploded at the end of Bartram Extension and had to limp out on the road from WW to the cars parked at Keg Creek. Within a few minutes, the group came off the WW connector and refueled at the Keg parking lot. It was hot in the sun (car said 91°F) but they all looked strong heading into Keg.

[breynolds]

Jun 13, 2010 12:08:42 GMT -5 dsquaredmsquared said:

. . . they all looked strong heading into Keg.

Keg ended up wearing us down quite a bit. Seemed like a million trees down!

I started to go to Mistletoe, but feel behind the group on the climb out. I ended up taking a wrong turn, I think it was where the trail forks . . . I went left and they went right. This dropped me back onto Keg about a quarter mile before where we turned off. At this point, the thought of hitting that climb again killed it for me. Tucked tail and headed back to the cars parked at Keg.

I ended up at a measley 30.8 on my computer.

[brianW]

I finished Keg but the heat was kicking my butt. Will be back when the temps are cooler.

[nitro]

Ted, Dustin and I made to the ranger station at Mistletoe (about 38 miles), but the heat was just too much to handle. To quote Dustin's Facebook status:

"Defeated at mistletoe. The Thurmond Epic will have to wait for another day. 66 miles in 98* weather just ain't gonna happen. Made it just over half way before a major headache kicked in along with leg cramps. Just too hot."

Ted and I (and by the way, Ted is in pretty good shape) had a little gas left in the tank so we hit road and were able to pedal our way back to our cars. I made it back to Keg with 53 miles total. Ted was parked at West Dam, so he probably got about 57 miles in.

[dgaddis1]

Me, nitro, and teds went to mistletoe. I was starting to feel the affects of the heat at that point. By the time we got to the hike a bike up to the road near the park office my head was pounding and I was cramping. Still felt strong, but my head was killing me. Took the road to the office and put the rocking chairs to use. I decided I was done, didn't want to get back in the heat and get worse. Teds and nitro took the road back to their cars (at west dam and keg, respectively). Part of me wanted to go with them, part of me said it would be stupid to get out in the direct sun on the hot asphalt. I called dsquared to come pick me up. 37.6 miles for me.

I felt like I did everything right. Drank a lot, hitting the gel regularly, pace felt good. Just couldn't handle the heat.

Sitting at home eating some moes, my hands are a little shaky. Probably a good thing I didn't ride the road back.

I will try the ride again, when it cools down. It's a great ride.

[azdrawdy]

Thanks all for the ride report. Impressive.

Just riding HKSP this morning was tough. My gloves were soaked at 10am and I was having a tough time hanging onto the bars. I was pulling the fiver back to the house at 1pm and the truck showed the outside temp was 96. I radio'ed Yetichick (she was behind me with the boat) and commented about you guys.

Next weekend we will be at Bartram. If anyone wants to ride NEW Batram/Wildwood/Keg/back let me know. We'll do that Saturday morning, then cut the airstrip later...

MD

[seenvic]

It was HOT! I was cooked by noon. We were wondering about you guys in this heat. Sounds like a strong effort - and if you rode from West Dam to M'toe - you rode it all one way, right?

[brianW]

at the house when I arrived it was 98.4 just before I finished Keg I had to lift my bike over a log, which was perfect height for a seat. After a few minutes of sitting I heard a bike on the other side of the inlet. I was thinking "what fool is riding in heat like this" than i saw breynolds so I waited, we rode to my car and I gave him a lift to west dam.

had a tough ride but had great company for it.

[dgaddis1]

Jun 13, 2010 18:00:42 GMT -5 seenvic said:

It was HOT! I was cooked by noon. We were wondering about you guys in this heat. Sounds like a strong effort - and if you rode from West Dam to M'toe - you rode it all one way, right?

didn't ride all of mistletoe. Ccw on rock dam to the office

[Ted S.]

Thanks for the ride guys I had a great time. See y'all down on the canal Thursday.

[Mark Y]

Kudos to you all for having the cajones to even try it in this heat. Hat's off!

[dparrott]

Don't see how you guys did what you did in this heat and humidity. I cut my grass around 2:00 this afternoon and that was right toasty. We had a real nice breeze in Evans and if you had that off the water at Bartram and KC it would have helped.

[dgaddis1]

Hey guys, remember on Bartram I noticed the snake in the trail that we all rode past?

After looking at this site, I'm 99% sure it was a copperhead

Also, we had to wait at one of the creek crossings (the little one in Wild Wood IIRC) for a big turtle to move through. He was working his way down the creek, and Ted almost rode over him. It was big, over a foot long. I think it was a River Cooter. No really, that's what it's called - look here.

Also, I looked at my computer last night, and my moving time was only 4hrs and 13 mins (average speed of 8.9mph - not bad IMO). Yet it took us nearly 6 hours to get to the office at Mistletoe. Way to much stopping.

[breynolds]

Dustin, when I got turned around on the 4-wheeler trail I got dumped back onto Keg in a different spot from where we turned off. It was about a quarter mile before where we turned. It was a really washed out, rutty, sandy spot that came within a couple of feet of the water's edge. Did you know this trail was there?

[dgaddis1]

Yeah, that's the 4-wheeler trail we should have taken up and out of Keg. That trail actually is sort of horseshoe shaped, it goes back down to Keg. We got on there, at the 2nd spot it hits Keg, and we took a right onto another rutted 4-wheeler path up to the neighborhood. You missed the right, and continued on the horseshoe back down to Keg. Sorry you missed it, we all thought you were right behind us.