C.O.G.40 Report Part 1

Your host, N.Y.Roll

 Welcome to the C.O.G. 40 ride report. I know...... I said I thought I'd have this done in one post. But there are so many images to share I cannot do the ride justice with just one post. So....

Getting There:

I started off on Sunday morning being awakened at about 3:00am by our cat, Minka, walking on my head.  I tried to go back to sleep but she was sitting on my back purring so loudly I don't know if I did really get anymore sleep. Anyway..

After I got up and got going I had some breakfast and a cup of coffee. I put on my kit, save for the cycling shoes, loaded up the 4Runner, (which needs a name, by the way), and took off a little after 8:00am in the morning.  N.Y. Roll texted me he was already there. I arrived at about 8:40am, and there were two riders there talking with N.Y. Roll already.  

David had pulled in a bit before I got there. He drove all the way over from the Chicago suburbs to do this ride!

Ben's custom made titanium gravel bike. 

David and Tom were there, and a bit later Ben rolled in and that was that for riders. So, after we had everything all together, and those guys had grabbed some C.O.G. 100 hats, we se4t out at just after 9:00am. 

David (L) and Tom riding behind me on the road out.

Getting Going:

We had a stretch of gravel once we got out of town and then two miles of pavement on County roads. The stretch of gravel headed Westward just out of Reinbeck had me really worried. 

I was blowing up. II could not catch my breath and I was working hard  just to keep up with those other three who were chatting casually as if they were on a recreational bike path. I was fearing the worst and thinking I may not have it in me on this day. I'd been under the weather with some weird muscular deal all week. In fact, Saturday evening was the best sleep I had gotten all week. 

Fortunately those two miles of pavement came next and this allowed me to not have to be at red line all the time, but I wasn't hopeful I'd recover enough to make it very far. The weather was supposed to have been breezy, but the wind was strong out of the Southeast and this made matters worse for me. Don't ask about the Sun. It was hiding. Even though it was forecast to have been Sunny. I was actually glad it wasn't because of the issues it would have caused for drivers and us as riders. 

I was able to find a groove on this paved section.

There were four miles of dirt road in the first 12 miles. 

Slowly I found a groove and my breathing became more controlled. Level B dirt roads came up and these were smooth and fast. This also allowed me to get settled in. Then we pulled over for a "nature break", which I was in dire need of after having had two cups of coffee earlier in the day! 

First stop of the day. It wasn't a long one. 

Harvesting isn't 100% finished yet. 

We stair-stepped South and West until we reached C Avenue and a long slog into the wind. Eleven miles of rollers. Somehow or another I more than found my groove on this section and was way off the front. I had to stop once and slow way down twice to let everyone else catch up with me. 

We skirted the West side of Gladbrook, crossed HWY 96, and kept on truckin'. Ben ended up keeping me company after the highway crossing and we both reached the turn off for Union Grove Park first. For about a mile and a third it would be all pavement from this point until we reached our halfway lunch stop.

I was a little surprised by the lack of Fall color and by how many trees are still green. By this time most years we are all done with Fall color and the leaves are blowing off the trees and all over the place. Not so this season. I'm glad we saw some Fall colors, and at least we had good tempreratures with no rain whatsoever. 

 

Just before the rest stop for lunch we had to climb this ridiculous hill. It was short, very steep, and right into the wind. I made it about 2/3rds of the way up before I bailed and walked. Ben said he saw 14% for a grade. I do not doubt it for one second. It was all of 14% or more. Oh, and Ben, Tom, and David made it all the way up. I think..... Anyway, Ben was cheating. He had a geared bike! 

We rolled off the backside of this hill right into a parking area by the dam for the impoundment where N.Y. Roll's Bluetooth speaker was blasting "Debaser" by The Pixies. I rolled in, dismounted, and prepared to delve into a plate full of freshly grilled parogies. Kat was there to help N.Y. Roll too, and there were other goodies to eat as well as the parogies. 

N.Y. Roll tending the grill. 

Yum! 

Next: The Lunch break ends and we head back North on a Southeast wind toward Reinbeck.