BRAN Report: Day Three

Spencer, Nebraska to Verdgre, Nebraska. Day Three and the plan was to ride the gravel route which was set to be 64.9 miles. 

a quick recap: I had two days straight of riding under my belt at approximately 120 miles total. I hadn't ridden 120 miles in two days since.....

I cannot remember when that would have ever happened. So, it stands to reason this, the restless night's sleep, and extreme heat may have had something to do with my failure to get much more than 30 miles in total for Day Three. 

We had eaten breakfast and I could tell something was off with my body. I just did not feel "right", but not in a sickness way, and this wasn't a good thing. We left town as a threesome on this day with Michael, myself, and Jacquie Phelan, who said she'd ride gravel if someone would shepherd her along. This was supposed to be me. However; it ended up being Michael instead. 

It felt very warm right away. The skies were sort of hazy, like I see in Iowa around late July or early August. It felt humid here. There was wind, but it wasn't bad. Still, the unbridled Sun was increasingly getting hotter. I mentally was feeling as though this was going to be a rough day for me. I don't do well in heat. 

The previous day's overcast skies are more my jam. Colder weather, rain even, but humidity and hot Sun wilt me, generally speaking.  I was willing, but would the body folow? I've had heat exhaustion too many times in my life and I was not looking to "go there" though. 

 

The first gravel section was fun-filled with short climbs and descents. Sweeping turns through lines of trees was a very pleasant surprise because in Iowa we just do not have roads like this. We then popped out on pavement and had to ride several miles on the route for the paved section of this day's ride until we reached the first sag stop in Lynch, Nebraska. 

On the way to Lynch and the sag stop I noted my left Ultegra lever's hood was pushing up off the lever. I knew these hoods were going bad because these were the original levers from my Raleigh Tamland Two. Yes....12 year old hoods! So, no big surprise that they were failing. 

Fortunately when I arrived in lynch our gravel sag support van from Berry Fast Cycles was there.  I asked John if he had anything for my problem. He came up with a near match, but it would require some carving with a sharp knife to get the hoods to stay put on those old levers. He did a fantastic job, and the repair held solid all the rest of the week. 

Seen at the aid/sag station for Day Three. 

John Berry working on my bike at the sag stop. 

This repair took some time, so Michael and Jacquie took off, not wanting to sit around any more. I understood, and I was hoping the rest time in the shade would help revive me. But I think I was fatigued and not rested after two big days on a bike in a row. The Sun was pounding out heat as well, and it was above 90° before noon. 

I rode out after the other two but I turned around pretty quickly. My legs were already going away and I could feel my body slipping into that heat affected mode where I did not want to go. Had this been the last day of BRAN I may have tried to push onward, but I had four more days to ride, (or so I thought), and I wasn't willing to sacrifice up to four days of riding just to finish this one day out. 

So I told John when I cam back I was done for the day. He threw my bike on his van's rack and I rode shotgun with him to Monowi, Nebraska. 

The Monowi Tavern. 

My bike loaded up on the "Meat Wagon" to get me to Verdigre. 

The Monowi Tavern is home to one resident. It is claimed to be the smallest population town in the USA. (Say "min-oh-why", by the way. It's how the locals pronounce the town name) Inside it was dark and cool, and the only lights were from a cooler with sodas and over a ramshackle kitchen sink. I purchased a Coca Cola from the lone resident of Monowi, Elsie Eiler who is 93 years old. 

John then took me to sag stop #2 and dropped me off so BRAN's route sweeper, the "Meat Wagon", could pick me up. I was at sag #2 for about a half an hour before I was collected and off on my way to Verdigre. The van was full, by the way, and the Meat Wagon was busy all afternoon hauling tired, overheated folks into the small village with a Czech heritage. 

Verdigre, Nebraska. Some of its streets are paved. Most were not. It seemed like a throwback village to an earlier era. Most villages like this in Iowa have either modernized or faded into obscurity. The campground was at the local football field. It was over 100° by this time, and the wind was relentless. Good for drying out tents. Not so good for Guitar Ted. 

This team of Percherons was the shuttle to the showers and downtown from our campgrounds. 

 In all the shuttling around after I dropped out of the day's ride I had forgotten to eat. By the time I had dried out my gear and set it up I was deep in the throes of bonking. It was so hot and windy, and my energy was ebbing. I got a shower but it did little to revive me. 

I was in a bit of trouble there for awhile. There was an old wagon there pulled by a team of Percherons outfitted in studded harnesses making this team look like 1980's era Judas Priest heavy metal rockers. These horses belonged to an Amish man on the wagon. His faded blue denim bibs were matched by the color of his eyes peering out from under the brim of a straw hat. I asked him about the team and he said they were two of 26 horses he owned and farmed with. He exclaimed that these two draft horses which were pulling us around were "getting a day off" as this was easy work compared to the field work they were accustomed to. 

The clip-clop pace of the wagon suited my fazed demeanor well, and I actually rode the wagon for about an hour. Afterward I wandered around Verdigre until I came across a Czech bakery. It looked neat and tidy. Inside it was clean and sharp looking. There were traditional Czech baked goods for sale including kolaches with about a dozen fillings you could choose from.

 

Two kolaches and a Coke. 

Those pastries and the Coke revived me and set me aright. Then I was human again. Amazing what eating can do for a person. At any rate, now I was ready to go and search for Michael and Jayme to see what we were going to do about the evening meal. 

Jayme got most of the way in before BRAN matters took him off the course. Michael and Jacquie made it quite a bit further into the gravel course, but ended up sagging in as well. No shame! It was a brutal day out there! 

The Czech Hall in Verdigre was rocking on Day Three of BRAN

 We ended up hitting the prime rib/baked potato dinner at Verdigre's Czech hall for our evening meal. It was packed when Jayme and I arrived and we had to wait in a long line., But it moved fairly quickly and we had plenty to eat. Michael sowed up a little later and I think it was on this evening when I discovered Michael is a bit of a cookie/desert freak. 

While we were finishing up our meals a rumor started to circulate amongst the riders that we would have to evacuate the campground due to an oncoming complex of thunder storms. Confusion over how to handle baggage was part of this, but eventually it all got sorted out. The final call would be the rider's. You could stay and ride it out in your tent or evacuate to one of three buildings in Verdigre. I chose to ride it out. 

In the end, it was just another Mid-Western thunderstorm with lightning and a few heavy downpours. My tent held up nicely, (hooray!), and I eventually got to sleep around midnight when the storms trailed off to our North. 

I was anxious to get back on gravel again, but this rain, and how much fell on our course, might impact what we would do the following day. Check in tomorrow for the Day Four report to see what happened.