Back to work on Wednesday

Rode in to work as flat a route as I can, and didn't try to push the effort, but still got too warm with the fleece jacket I'd gotten at WalMart on Monday evening.  During the ride that lateral quads were feeling a bit sore.  Now that I've been sitting here too long, the anterior quads are starting to stiffen and feel sore.

Have calculated the ride time based on the distance and the average speed I was keeping track of in the morning as I was approaching the end.  The Mavic ALTI has yet to behave as advertise, so I can't trust it to be able to record the data i'd like to.
Avg Speed of 13.7mph, leads to a rolling time of 18:24 and stopped time of 7:06
Longest stops were in Pacific Beach, Cape Brown, repairing  flat approaching Hoquim, getting warm and dry in Aberdeen, restocking water in Westport, and then a 'power nap' on the porch of the Sharon, WA Grange Hall.


Lessons Learned (in no particular order):

• do tie off the ends of the helmet light mount.  If not, they flap around making a clicking sound and irritate the scalp a bit.
• do rinse off the helmet after each ride, to ride of dirt, sweat, and sunscreen.
• I ate about 1/2 of what I'd expected to eat, i.e. I brought too much food.  The bagels were hard to chew on, as were the Fig Newtons.  The frozen burritos did better, maybe because I had to stop to eat them. 
• Cutting off the end of the closed snack bag is a good way to get the contents (like the Vande Valde bars) out without breaking them to bits.
• On more than one occasion, I'd get off the bike and realize that I had a full bladder.  Most embarrassing was outside my room door, I couldn't stop the flow and I actually created a puddle on the landing. This is of course after 25 1/2 hour from the beginning and a good 7 liters consumed.
• the Planet Bike Super Flasher logic got messed up, I'd had found it early turned on, after I'd turned them off in the morning.  The switch wasn't working, so I had to remove the batteries, and then the switch would sequence through the modes properly.  When I had the flat around 6:30PM, I replaced the batteries, and it still didn't work.  Good thing I had two, so I new I had at least one back there.  Checking the batteries back at home, all four were in good shape.
• Amtrak's baggage rules are that folding bikes are allowed only in  the storage area at the end of the car.  This counters the Station Agent in Centralia, who said that it couldn't be more than 28 in in any direction.  Those measures are 28x22x14 for carry ons.  The BF in its  bag is 38x18x32.
• Don't ride alone overnight.  the dark road with only the headlight spot to pay attention to is monotonous.  So either with someone else (to provide conversation) or with a rest time between about 03:00AM and 05:00AM
• The extra weight of carry a pair of thermal leggings is minor, I was glad to have had the long fingered gloves, and used them.  The REI screaming yellow jacket was just to porous, and only really kept the wind off.  Jeff mentioned not needing to use his Showers Pass Jacket, I'm thinking that along with the tights would have saved me a good hour searching in the WalMart.
• find a good way to keep that cell phone dry!  Or get a SPOT device.
• Between being mentally tired and physically tired the average speed went way down, and I stopped enough to have trouble keeping up to 10mph.

I made it! I made it!

My 2011 New Years Wish is satisfied.  I actually completed a 400km brevet.  It was not without its challenges, not the least of which was the weather and that I was the only rider all day and all night.  Started at 06:05AM and completed by 07:20AM the next day.A good average rolling speed of 13.7mph, but the rain from about 11:30A to midnight and the 20mph headwind heading south from Pacific City to the jetty in Ocean Shores.  I was beat and missed the sign for the control, but took some pictures with the cell phone, before it became uselessly wet.  Worse, was that I was getting cold, and it was still daylight.  Once back in Aberdeen, I was trying to think of a McDonalds/Burger King to dry out things, a coin op laundry to dry my clothes, or look for a Target/Wal-Mart for some long underwear.  A Safeway came first and I used some paper napkins to dry out the phone enough to call Helene, the last contact.  Then I asked another patron, and she said the WalMart is just down the street, over the metal bridge.  That bridge had about 75feet of steel grating, and I was able to survive it without slipping at about 15mph and keeping a straight line.  Once in the Wal Mart, I asked the greeter about keeping my bike inside, and she got permission.
No long underwear, but they did have something in Sporting Goods, what turned out to be breathable waterproof pants, where one size must fit all, as they only had size XL for waists 40-48"  After finding them, I got back to the women's department and the nice salesperson had found some cotton/lycra tights that might fit.  As I came back after my pants find, I thought about getting a sweater, to provide some insulation for the uppper body.  There entire stock was t-shirts and dress shirts, though I did find a fleece pull over jacket.  I put those on, and it felt soooo got to have something dry on.  Then to pay for it all, $17.  I went to the bathroom, and tried to air dry the cell phone, but it was not to be.  I'e been getting messages since the Jetty, and wasn't able to see them, nor respond to them.   Then to the inhouse McDonalds for some chicken nuggets and a coke.  After this long interlude, I felt warmer and ready to go out again.  It was now dark and the lights went on.  There seemed to be no end to the gentle hills on the way out to Westport, besides there was a mild headwind the entire way.  Once there, bought a banana and a gallon of water to refill the bottles.
Helene must have texted me on my return trip to Aberdeen, I tried to respond, but the screen froze with some keystrokes only.  the reminder was bugging me, as I couldn't do anything about it, so I removed the battery, and thought about another dry stop at the WalMart in Aberdeen.  the Cue Sheet wouldn't have it, as we found a quieter way out of town than we'd taken in.
The Dinotte died all of a sudden after a rest in Montesano.  Search for some replacement batteries before I realized they were in the bottom of the rear bag.  I was lucky, as that set lasted the rest of the night.  One of the PB blinkies decided to not work anymore, I changed batteries, but that didn't solve the problem.  Earlier in the day, the switch or logic needed to be reset, and I'd removed and replaced the batteries, before it worked properly.
the absolute darkness, and lack of traffic, made it difficult to stay awake, and keep up the same average speed.  In Sharon, I saw, what looked like a school with a porch that was dry.  It turned out the be the Grange Hall, but that was good enough.  A power nap, probably from 04:15 to 04:30.  I did feel better for about 30 minutes, then I resorted to listening to Raggai on the MP3 player, until the sun came back up.  Good fortune that the return route came back along Harrison, where my Motel 6 was.  Since I'd started there, I had done the entire loop.

The hardest part is about over.

Carrying the Bike Friday folded in its bag on the left side with the strap over the right shoulder, the Rick Steve's bag as a backpack and the rear bag hanging on the right shoulder from the car into the station, to find the back of the seat assignment line, then slowly progress to get the seat asssignment.  Then directly out the gate and another 100 yards to make it to my car and into it to disgorge my load.  The BF and the Rick Steve's in the compartment at the end of the car, the rear bag overhead.  The netbook in lap and using the Amtrak Cascades Wi-Fi and we will soon be arriving in Centralia, about 20 minutes (despite a timely departure, on the dot at 18:15) late due to freight traffic getting out of the station and a Columbia River bridge lift for maritime traffic.  The sun should be setting as we arrive in Centralia.
Just need to offload all the baggage, and then use the BF  as the beast of burden to make my way to the Motel 6. then Dinner, set up the bike and get to bed

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go; PoorMans 400km brevet tomorrow