This was my first year riding the Bone Ride and I could not have chosen a better year to test my fitness becaues the weather was perfect. The ride out to Madison was fast which was helped by the tailwind. We were flying and the groups were very organized except for the occasional surges. I felt great riding into Madison and finished with the second group. We stopped for lunch at Noodles (which rocked, serving 30-40 riders in minutes). We headed to Yellow Jersey to organize before heading back to Milwaukee. This is where I made a huge huge mistake, one that I’m not likely to make at next years ride. I was not able to connect with the SAG that had my supply bag so I wasn’t able to get my second set of bottles or the extremely important chamois cream. I did have enough food but I would’ve liked more. I refilled my bottles at Noodles with water and some lemonade. One the way home I found my self in the second group again and I was feeling great, strong legs, good breathing, no cramping and a 20mph pace. Ten miles outside of Johnson Creek I saw the SAG with my supplies so I pulled out of the paceline to grab my supplies. All was good until I looked back and couldn’t see another group coming so I was forced to ride solo all the way to Johnson’s Creek with the headwind. I saw the Run Away Sports motor home out ahead of me but as soon as I got close it would take off again, taunting me 3 times. I caught a few riders that were ahead of me but they were in bad shape so their pace was too slow to hang with them. Eventually the Wheel and Sprocket van pulled up and shuttled me into Johnson’s Creek where I was able to connect with a group of about 20 riders. We were once again rolling at a 22mph pace when we caught up with another group of 10 riders. Then the pace stepped up and we were flying all the way to Pewaukee. I was battling significant leg cramps, trying to stretch them out on the descents and refueling with my electrolytes. When we rolled into Pewaukee I pulled off to get more water with a large group but most of those riders were ending their rides in Pewaukee, my next big mistake. I caught up to another rider and we worked together all they way to Brookfield where we caught up to another rider on Bluemound Road. and limped our way home. Total distance was just right around 160 miles, at a 20-22 mph average speed which was right around 8 hours on the bike.
Here is some video footage that I found:
Bone Ride 2010 from Roger Ecks on Vimeo.
