Let it RAIN!

RAIN 2011
By Matt Wandtke

Hey everybody. I thought I’d write a quick report about a recent bike ride that a few of us participated in on July 16. The race… excuse me, not-race… The ride is called RAIN. The acronym stands for Ride Across INdiana. Even some of us riding in it weren’t aware of what RAIN stood for <ahem, Michele>. The ride begins at Saint Mary of the Woods College in Terre Haute, follows US highway 40 across Indiana and ends 163 miles later at Earlham College in Richmond. The slogan for the ride is “160 miles, one day, one way”. Our small group consisted of me, Dave McCall and Michele Applegate, but there were other Evansville area runners participating including Janell and Jake Bessler, Linda Molinet and Scott Culiver to name a few. Extra special thanks goes out to Rhonda McCall and Wayne Ricketts for the excellent support they provided during the ride. You guys rock!

Everyone departed Evansville on the 15th so we could spend the night in Terre Haute, suffer from nervous insomnia and have very “loud” hotel neighbors. The morning of the ride, we made a quick trip to McDonalds for a calorie packed breakfast. By 6:00am we had the gear packed, tires pumped, sunglasses cleaned and headed out to St. Marys. After a snapshot or two and the customary pre-race rituals, we made our way to the start line at about 6:45a for the 7:00a start. I would estimate the number of bikes at the starting line to be somewhere around 1,600. That’s a lot of sardines packed on a 14 foot wide road. Finally the time had come and the ride commenced. It was start/stop for a hundred yards or so until the sea of carbon fiber and lycra in front of us made it through the main gate of the college. We were blessed with fairly cool temps and cloud cover as we made our way to downtown Terre Haute just after dawn. Someone told me the mayor of Terre Haute was going to be there holding up a sign saying “Go BOR Go”, but I didn’t see it ;-). Maybe his alarm didn’t go off.

Other than a stray dog darting across the road (and potentially wiping out a large number of riders), the trip to the first rest stop (36 miles) was uneventful. Dave and Michele both looked fresh and ready to get back on the road within a few minutes. I was cramping in the calves a little. Fill water bottles, slam down as many calories as possible and go, go, go. Let me stress… this is not a race. Next rest stop was about 35 miles away in Plainsville. Most of the riding takes place in what’s known as a peloton, pace line or a pack. We rode in packs ranging from 10-40 riders. It takes a lot of faith to ride 6-12” from the rear tire of people you don’t know. Michele seemed a little concerned about it at first, but quickly realized how beneficial it was. We were easily maintaining speeds of 21-25mph.

Coming up to Plainsville on a particularly long and boring piece of hwy 40 we had a state police car fly by us with siren blaring. A minute later, a sheriff’s car blew by followed by an ambulance. We all looked at each other and I said “There’s a good chance that’s related to the ride”. Then we could see in the distance where they had all stopped. We really didn’t want to see what had happened up close and personal. When we got to the crash site, we saw a rider sitting up on the side of the road with his jersey cutoff and attention being paid to his right shoulder area. Usually that means a broken collarbone or a separated shoulder. Thankfully, his injuries weren’t caused by a collision with a car and didn’t appear to be life threatening. Later we learned that a bee had flown into his jersey and caused the accident.

Somewhere around the 50 mile mark it became clear that the cycling shorts I bought with my new jersey were NOT going to cut it for the entire ride. The discomfort level was rising in a hurry. I needed my pearl izumis and I needed them no later than the next rest stop. When it finally arrived, I dove into the van, switched them and jumped back out…. Ahhh, much better. But the damage was done... lesson learned. At least the calf cramps were gone. Once again; fill water bottles, consume maximum possible calories, go go go.

It was time to loop the south side of Indy. The perfect weather we began with vanished. Temperature and humidity soared and the sun was beating down without mercy. To make matters worse, a bit of a headwind developed. Dave, Michele and I did our share (probably more than our share) of pulling the pack as we made our way to the lunch break at a high school somewhere around mile 96. Wayne made a quick repair on Dave’s front derailleur that made his life on the road easier. I’m sure I looked similar, but Dave and Michele were starting to get a little bit of a distant stare in their eyes. We still had almost 70 miles to go and it was officially hot! I talked to a young lady I knew from Evansville who was driving support and she told me a lot of people were calling it quits due to the heat. But the thought of quitting never entered our minds. After a wait in the chow line, a lot more calories in the shade and water/Gatorade it was go, go.

Michele suggested we stop and do a dance at mile 112 since that will be her ironman distance on the bike. The motion was denied with two votes no to one vote yes. More pulling, more drafting, more friends made and we finally make it back to highway 40 on the East side of Indy. Another quick rest area. Water, Water and more water. Someone said there was ice cream, but I couldn’t find it. Michele’s purple jersey was starting to change color. It was now sort of a tie-dyed looking white and purple. Her shorts were developing white areas too. She was doing some serious sweating. The heat and sun were taking their toll on all of us. The general consensus was “Let’s get this over with”. We’re down to just one go at this point.

Back on highway 40 we headed East on the final leg to Richmond. Saint Rhonda and Saint Wayne were showing up on the side of the road more frequently for support. I can’t tell you how good it was to see familiar faces. We crank out mile after boring mile with the only entertainment coming from the occasional deer that would dart out of the woods just for a lick of Michele’s Jersey. Did I mention it was really salty and largely white now? Then we reach the unexpected detour; 2 miles South, half mile East, 2 miles back North. During this loop Michele starts to develop calf cramps, bad ones. If you’ve ever had these, you know there is no recovering from them without rest. We had around 20 miles to go. The last big hill arrives and we start the 1.5 mile climb. Everybody struggles up it.

Finally we make it to Richmond and the hill at the finish is in sight. I can vaguely remember Michele asking if we could turn before the hill. I hated to tell her no. It was a cemetery. Having the cramps that she did and still making it the final 20 was very impressive. She is one tough cookie. We all cross the line together, receive our RAIN keychain (a little anti-climatic) and make our way to the nearest piece of open lawn to collapse. It was finally over after 11 hours in the saddle. After a very quick shower (made mandatory by Rhonda and Wayne) we packed up and headed back on the 3 hour trip to Terre Haute. I think the first thing on Dave’s mind was beer. I didn’t follow it closely, but there was something wrong with the beer on board so we made a pit stop for some more. I thought the beer was outstanding. Stopping in Greenfield for a quick meal at steak and shake, I wish I had a stopwatch on me. I’ve never seen 5 people eat so much food, so quickly without uttering a word. The rest of the van ride went by quickly as we shared our stories from the day. I don’t think anyone said they wanted to do it again at the time, but maybe that’s changed since then.

It was the first RAIN for Dave and Michele and my third time in a row. I said I was going to take next year off, but I’ve already changed my mind. Let me know if any of you want to attempt it next year and we’ll have a great time training and trying. I’ll give you as much good and as little bad advice as possible.