I drove up to Columbus, OH to complete my third 200K this season. I had originally planned to stay an extra day and do the FrankenBike 50, and as such decided to just take one bike to do both: my Origin8 700CX, rolling on 29x2.0 Kenda Kozmik Lite II, with a 2x9 Shimano SLX drivetrain offering gearing of 36x22 and a 11-28 cassette. I figured this would be good training for the upcoming gravel season.
The Westgate-Chillicothe 200k is a flattish triangular route, with one decent climb around mile 55.
I left home at 3:15am to try to arrive by 6:30. It was raining, and I didn't expect it to let up until well into the ride. It was a bit chilly at the start as well, and dropped into the upper 50s as we left the city. While many of the other riders (there were 30 who finished, as several of the 40+ registered opted to not start in the rain) were opting for rain jackets, rain pants, helmet covers and the like, I opted for a simple wind vest over Swobo SS wool and wool armwarmers, with my 7-Eleven cycling cap under my helmet.
As we rolled out, I made a mistake in following the other riders, expecting them to know the route. Oops. We spent quite some time trying to figure out where to go. This killed about 5 minutes out of the first 20. I then decided to stay on the front draft for as long as I could hold on. Probably not the wisest choice, and I would spend the rest of the day trying to keep my over-cooked quads turning. It also put me off my fueling plan, and playing catch-up doesn't quite work.
On the other hand, I did average over 19mph for over 30 miles. On knobbies. Turning a 36x11 high gear. A four mile stretch in the middle of that averaged over 22mph! I don't see averages like that on my Soma!
At the first control in Circleville, Mile 33, I quickly got my card signed, ate a bar out of my bag and rolled on out. That took about 10 minutes, with the crowd at the control circling all the way to the back of the store to checkout/get signed.
Around this point, I joined up with another rando, Rich, who I ended up riding the rest of the ride with. He was a much stronger rider, having done PBP in '03, and allowed me to spend as much time as possible in his draft. It helped. Even so, the drag those big 50mm wide tyres create was undeniable.
The second leg, to Chillicothe, continued South, but was also the hillest part of the route, including the one major climb, Rocky Rd, a ~500ft 1.3m climb with a large 15% section. This was a very nice section.
The next leg started turning back North, towards New Holland, taking advantage of the Tri-County Triangle Trail for nearly 17 miles. A nice rail trail, with tunnels under other roads and bridges over creeks, It made for an enjoyable change from dealing with traffic.
The final 38 miles took us back to Columbus, straight into the wind pretty much the whole way. I spent much time continuing to draft Rich, 12-13mph was about all I could maintain into the wind, with my speed popping right back into the 15-17 range when we turned out of the wind momentarily.
After we finished, we each had to go over to the RBA's place to do our final control, and we also had a picnic.
I had originally intended to, as I mentioned at the beginning, stay overnight to do the FrankenBike 50, but considering how my legs felt after pushing those fat tyres into the headwind (and the hammering for the first 30+ miles probably didn't help), I opted to drive back home that night, having to eventually stop and catch some sleep at a rest area.
I was very happy with the way the bike performed and the overall comfort level. I will seriously consider using this bike more often for brevets and other long rides. Just not on the knobbies, that's what I have road tyres for.
