JCBC 2010 Spring Classic 70 Mile - April 24, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

I participated in the Johnson County Bicycle Club's 2010 Spring Classic Ride held on Saturday, April 24, 2010.  When I went to bed Friday night I did not think I would be riding as the weather had been quite awful with lots of rain Friday and tornado warnings right up to 4:00am on Saturday.  After a weather check it looked like we were between fronts so I thought it would be fairly easy to get in the 70 mile route before more rain came in from the west.  For the most part I was right.

The Johnson County Bicycle Club, or JCBC as we call it, serves the Johnson County area of Kansas but I believe many from the Kansas City area of Missouri and others also join or participate.  I have been a member for several years now and I like to support their events as they are all very well organized, and the 2010 Spring Class was no exception.  JCBC also has big rides in June and August called the Lone Star Century and the Cider Mill Century respectively.  I also participate in them.

The 2010 Spring Classic had routes this year of 26, 46, or 70 miles that included the cities of Bonner Springs, DeSoto, Gardner, and Edgerton, Kansas.  The rides started and ended for all routes in Lenexa, Kansas at the corner of 95th Street and Loiret near 95th Street and I-435.  There were SAG stops every 17-18 miles that were well stocked with food and drink along with Porta Johns or bathroom facilities.

One SAG was setup at the corner of 151st Street and Gardner Road which allowed 46 mile riders a chance to stop and 70 mile riders a stop twice as the Edgerton loop started and ended here.  Pictured are volunteers Wayne Tuohig and Don Skinner.  Wayne is a past president of the JCBC and also lives on my street in Overland Park.  He participates in the Quivira Park Bike Group rides I organize, not to far from our houses starting and ending at Quivira Park at 119th Street and Quivira Road, Saturday mornings from May through October.  Don is also a avid cyclist and I know him through the church that we attend together.

The temperature at the start of the ride at 08:00am was around 62F and it was supposed to rise to around 67F.  It was very overcast and winds were only predicted to be around 8-10 MPH coming from the south east.  I spent a lot of time making the decision on whether I needed a light jacket or arm warmers but decided against both because it was fairly humid and I know I would be peddling pretty hard throughout.  It was the right decision until the very end as the rain came back sooner than predicted in the late afternoon just before noon.  Also I wore orange tinted glasses which really help with contrast on a cloudy day.

I had my camera but forgot to take a picture of the Quivira Park Bike Group Riders which included Joe, Kaleb, and Carlo.  We rode together only for a short time but there was a good amount of riders to ride with through about DeSoto where things started to thin out as we headed into the wind going south.  Up until that time I was showing speeds in the high teens and 20s.  The picture of me was taken at the SAG Stop on 151st the second time as I was headed back to the start area.

The winds, in looking at flags, seemed to me to be about 18-20 MPH, so going south was harder than I had predicted.  Once we hit Edgerton and headed north, however, it was delightful as again speeds were back up in the high teens and at times 28 MPH.  There was only one potential disaster north of Edgerton.  A group of three women were riding to the left of me in a pace line on time trail or triathlon bikes when all of a sudden a dog came at us from our right.  I did not see the dog until the last minute and the lead rider almost hit it but the dog backed down when she screamed.  I would have also been in the pile up if she would have hit the dog as we were going around 25 MPH.

The rest of the ride was uneventful except the rain started first in downtown Olathe on Kansas Road and then continued to get harder going up Woodland Road and then hardest once we turned right on Prairie Star Road which turns into 9th Street back to the start area.  There is a nice hill on this secion of Prairie Star Road but not too much fun when it is raining hard and it actually starts stinging as it hits you.  After quickly getting stowing my Trek bike and getting some dry cloths back at the car it was all worthwhile, however.

The posting of my ride is found at Daily Mile and a good map is found on my Garmin Connect Account that I uploaded from my Garmin.  Not much auto stopping of the Garmin today as I only briefly stopped twice because with the cool temperatures I could have made it with only two water bottles and the Cliff Bars and gel that I had brought along.