I’ve had some stomach issues in the past on my rides. Once I stopped using Perpetuem as fuel, my problems seemed to go away. Even when I had the problems, I’ve always been able to keep my food down. I never really imagined that I would be holding a whole team of people up while vomiting on the side of US 101 at midnight in below 40 degree weather.

The night time start really screwed up my eating habits. On a morning start, I can take in liquids, Ensure and light foods like bananas so I have a nice and settled stomach. Friday was spent eating a number of things that ended up being a violent cocktail later on that night.

Lets bring this back to the beginning. Matt Mikul, Dan Boxer and I had caught the 4:40pm ferry leaving from Seattle towards our Bainbridge start. Joe Platzner and Greg Cox met us at their favorite coffee shop. The fleche would have us on the road from 6pm Friday until 6pm Saturday, like it or not. Caffeine was going to be helpful.

We had a brisk start out to Hood Canal. The sun was still out and we were all pretty chatty and happy to be on our bikes. The weather threatened to be very nice on Saturday and we were happy to not have chosen a Thursday night start since it was raining most of that night.

The Canal Bridge was surprisingly uneventful, especially after my last time over it at night with heavy cross winds. The sun was still out and there was little wind to speak of.

My bikes fenders were annoyingly squeaky and my rear rack shook itself loose. To top it off, my brand new headlight was flickering like an old fashioned movie reel. It was going to be a long night for sure.

At the Hadlock control, we stocked up on water and a few snacks. I fixed my rack issue, but the fenders never really shut up for me. I need to put some new leather washers on them in the future.

On our ride down US 101, I started to feel a rumbling in my stomach. I’ve managed to ride through it in the past, but I never been sure if that was the correct way to take care of it. If I keep the sickness down, I ride at too slow of a pace and just hope that it goes away. If I stop and throw up, I lose any calories that I might have eaten and suffer at an even bigger deficit in the miles afterwards.

Suffer I did, but I was glad to have my stomach start to settle. I’m sure that I was burning through muscle in those hours though. I was very anxious to get some solid food at the Hoodsport control coming up. We were told that there was a 24 hour store in town. It wasn’t until we got there that we realized that nothing was open.

We pulled up to the grocery store and I sat down for a bit. I was really bummed out but I didn’t want to show it off too much. I had a pack of peanuts and some gel packs left. Both sounded equally unappealing for whatever reason.

We took note of a pallet of water that just happened to be sitting in front of the store. It turns out we were in need of such a product… After some second guessing, we tore open one of the cases, grabbed some bottles and left a five dollar bill. I’m sure they will understand.

Joe had offered me a candy bar earlier in the night when I was feeling sick. I turned it down at the time, but I really needed something in me. He kindly repeated the offer and gave me his Payday bar.

Sometimes there are moments where a single piece of food or drink can turn your ride around. The Payday bar saved my ride for sure. I can’t describe how happy I was to not have an upset stomach and a little bit of energy. I probably was a little delirious on top of that, so I got very chatty right away. It made the next few miles fly by.

Since Greg Cox has such a low RUSA number (he is an old timer with the group), he pulled some strings to let us use his cabin on Mason Lake as a control. There were some killer little climbs leading up to it, but the heated rooms and comfortable beds more than made up for it.

He had the fridge stocked with rando type snacks. I made myself a wrap and started to eat it as I walked up stairs to find a bed. I was literally still eating as I laid down, and barely finished it before passing out.

Less than two hours later, the Greg Cox alarm system woke me up. We all stumbled to find out gear and get our stuff together, but it was agreed that the short rest was very helpful. We got out the door somewhere around 6 am.

Our original plan for the morning was to get breakfast in Matlock, about 30 miles out from the cabin. Greg seemed to think there was a breakfast joint there, and he is older than me… so I took it at face value. We kept an okay pace for a bunch of tired guys that had to drag me along.

Greg and Joe were harassing each other most of the way and everyone in the group seemed to have problems with gas. I suppose I should say that they didn’t have a problem letting it go. Honestly, this is the smelliest ride I have ever been a part of. That includes my trips through farm counties.

Somewhere along a busy road, we crossed paths with Amy’s group of fleche riders. Mark Thomas let us know that there wasn’t any real food in Matlock. It was decided that we would get a snack there, and move on to eat in Montesano which is 25 miles from there. I’m sure you see where this is going. I had “breakfast” at 11 at a Subway. So much for that great sit down meal I had in my head.

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There were so many beautiful low traffic stretches heading out towards the coast. Blue Slough was a particular highlight right before we hit Cosmoplis (just south of Aberdeen). Our group was starting to split up a bit more. Greg and I leap frogged for last place. At some point the whole group seemed to rocket past and I was riding solo towards the 22 hour control.

I made it to the 22 hour mark with maybe 5 minutes to spare, if that. We stocked up on some food and drink and opted to get back on the road. There was one more control at a Taco Bell less than 2 miles from the finish thanks to some silly distance rule on our previous control. Thanks to that, I was able to roll in to the finish with the group where our spouses were nice enough to greet us.

The ride was much more difficult than I had anticipated, but that made the finish all the more beautiful. Jane and Norman drove down to share a room with me and attend the next day’s banquet ceremonies for the teams.

I was on a food binge Sunday morning. I finished off some of my left over dinner from the night prior, went down to eat breakfast at the banquet, then we got food right before leaving town at Olympia Hot Dog Company (new favorite Oly spot).

Team Painted Fleche won awards for “Best Name” and “Quintessential Randonneurs” which is a nice way of saying “average”.

Medals and awards are nice, but the stories of the road are the greatest gift.