April 6, 2019

It seemed like a beautiful day for a bike ride, and the temperature was perfect.  However a persistent wind of more than 10 miles per hour from the southeast wore the riders down during the first half of the event.

Pictured above are eight of the nine riders who rode events on April 6.  Gay Ely and I completed the 200k.  Jerry Cabeliza, Scott Ebbing and Todd Ranney completed the 300k. Tom Gee and George Jarad completed the 400k.

Kelley Wegeng attempted the 600k, but decided to end her ride when the prospect of riding 180 miles alone in the dark in the rain seemed like less fun than a warm hotel room in Mount Vernon.  Kelley was riding at a good pace into that ever present headwind.  She is an excellent rider and hopefully she will be back to finish the 600k.

Scott Thompson attempted to ride the 200k, but fell victim to heat exhaustion.  As an experienced randonneur, he wisely called for his wife to rescue him in Okawville.  Just a reminder that a rider can suffer from dangerous heat exhaustion even in cooler weather.

Thanks to Robert Tesar for pre-riding the 300k course.