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| Emma, Victor and I dance to show tunes at the start while Dan from St Louis looks on photo by Urvi |
Location: Wells, ME
Distance: 100 miles
Time: 6:59:05
We turned
into the third rest stop at Hollis Elementary School and I bee-lined the bike
for a patch of grass in the middle of the parking lot. Zephyros Megalyteri (“Greatest Zephyros,” the mighty West Wind) had
battered and beaten and blasted us for the past 19 miles or so. I flopped to the ground and laid in the grass
for a few minutes before refilling my water bottles, refueling with Cape Cod
chips and resuming onward back toward Wells.
****
Three Hours
earlier, and not long after Eosphoros rose, no winds had been problems. I had had an emergency tire replacement at
the start area and missed the start of the Century by 10 minutes. This was probably fine, since I was told by
Jason and Victor that everyone else started out too fast. Soon, I was riding with one guy – Dan from St
Louis – who had also gotten a late start.
The first 40
miles of the ride winds its way along the coast from Wells up to
Scarborough. And while the sun was
probably rising up over the coast, we saw little of rosy-fingered dawn.
Instead, it was fog as thick as pea soup. 10 miles into the ride the fog had
gotten so dense that I could not see more than five feet in front of me. I was worried I would have to stop. It was then I realized that while it was
really foggy, my glasses were accentuating the fog. So, I removed them and it was much better.
Dan, who was
riding the Tour de Cure in his Seventh State, and I rode into the first water
stop. We met Victor and Jason. Jason had already done the Biddeford Pool
loop, but decided to do it with us again.
The fog had begun to burn off and we got glorious views of the sea and
shore.
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| Biddeford Pool |
Dan had
dropped off while Jason, Victor and I continued our journey. At mile 28, Gaia-ochos (“earth-shaking”)
Poseidon struck us with our first mechanical issue. I looked back and Victor was stopped about
400 meters behind us. Jason and I looped
back around and tried to assist. Victor’s
rear derailleur had stopped derailing. He
couldn’t shift at all. Jason tried to
help. He did get it to move one
gear. I was absolutely no help in this
situation. Eventually the bike was “good
enough”; and Victor was going to go back to the 100k route and follow it and if
it was too bad he’d drop.
Jason pushed on to the second water stop at the Clam Bake in Scarborough as I would follow and tag along on his work. After walking about ½ mile through the depths
of the Clam Bake for the bathroom, Jason and I were ready to head off.
Homer warns of Zephyros in the Illiad: "As two winds rise to shake the sea where the fish swarm, Boreas and Zephyros, north wind and west, that blow from Thraceward, suddenly descending, and the darkened water is gathered to crests, and far across the salt water scatters the seaweed." Unlike the Illiad, however, we were heading away from the sea when we met the mighty blows of Zephyros.
What had
been nothing at 7 and a breeze at 8, by 10 am was a steady 15 mph wind blowing
right at us as we headed west. Although,
gusts were only 20 mph, at this time.
For the next 20 miles, I largely just got in front and Jason tucked in
behind as I drove into Zephyros Megalyteri.
This furious headwind coupled with climbs found only in rugged Ithaki,
was the toughest part of the ride. From
mile 40 until mile 55, we went from 30 feet of altitude to 375 feet.
My exhaustion
at the third water stop was understandable and my few minutes in the grass was
excusable. In fact, including the stops
we had done miles 40-60 faster than the flat windless coast roads from
20-40.
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| Jason on the road |
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| Wind graphs from weatherundergound.com |
The nearly forgotten Oppian, attaches
the epithet “rapid” to this West wind in his Cynegetica: "The
swift tigers, the offspring of rapid Zephyros .”
After we
left Hollis, there was a brief respite from the headwinds. But it was brief. And despite his cycling acumen, Jason is no
into the wind cyclist. So, each time we
would hit another headwind from rapid Zephyros, our speed would go from 17 to 11 or 12 mph. When this happened, I would jump to the front and try to drag
us back to the 15-16 range.
The problem of course is calculating your ideal speed with so much wind and so much distance to go. Fortunately Dr. Brad Anton has determined how to calculate the proper speeds and power based on given conditions:
The problem of course is calculating your ideal speed with so much wind and so much distance to go. Fortunately Dr. Brad Anton has determined how to calculate the proper speeds and power based on given conditions:
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| Dr. Anton's model from "Optimal Time-Trial Bicycle Racing with Headwinds and Tailwinds" |
Where:
P+=
Power output into a headwind
CD=
Drag coefficient
A = frontal
area
p = Air
density
v = constant
speed
w = speed of
rapid Zephyros
Unfortunately,
I both understand little of this math, don’t have a power meter for output AND I didn't have an anemometer handy to get anywhere close to an exact measurement of wind. So instead, to paraphrase last week's race: JKP - Just Keep Pedallin'.
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| York and Beachhouse we rented photos and collage by Urvi |
At mile 75, Gaia-ochon Poseidon struck again. This time he hit Jason's tire. Jason slipped through a turn to find he had lost pressure on his rear tire. We were about 4 miles from the next water stop, so Jason decided to just pump up his tire and see how far he could ride. We had to stop again at mile 77. But this time it was a quick stop. I handed him the pump, he got the pressure back up to 60 or so and we made it the last two miles to the 80 mile stop.
Our plan had been to change the tube there, etc. Fortunately, there was actually a volunteer bike mechanic at the stop who just replaced Jason's tube for us. (Take that Earth-shaker!)
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| Jason at Mile 60 |
The final section took us on an extra 18 mile loop. At mile 82, the 50k ride turned for home while the 100k and 100 mile routes still continued. From 82 until 87, I basically said nothing. I just put my head down into Zephyros with Jason following.
Miles 88 and 89 however were what we'd been waiting for all day. We headed ESE back toward the ocean and Wells. This meant Boreas and Zephyros were pushing. But, as we know from experience (and as Jobst Brandt shows in "A Practical Analysis of Ærodynamic Drag"), tailwind - not even "strong-hearted winds" - help as much as they hurt as headwinds.
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| Laura, Lisa, Emma, Ryan, Amy, Amie, Robbie, Jason, me, Victor and Urvi at the end |
Boreas and Zephyros were blowing one last hurricanic blow. In fact, Mile 96 was the slowest of the day outside of those Buxton hayfields at the halfway point (where we saw neither big oaks nor pieces of black volcanic glass). I pushed and struggled through it to the "4 miles to go" sign.
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| Carrie-Anne at the Reservation after the finish photo by Urvi |
I came into Wells Reserve and passed a few people. I crossed the start line for one last little Ronde type hill as Cyclotrons who had finished cheered me to the top and got my medal - 55 seconds under 7 hours.
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| Finished - medal and all! |
We cheered in Jason as he finished right behind me and then Lisa and Urvi as they finished despite Zephyros Megalyeri accentuating various injuries.
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| Alehouse mussels from Portsmouth Brewery - yeah, baby! I had their Diggler DIPA as the accompaniment |
