Once again reduced to a number: 1183. This was going to be tough. Does 1183 have any significance? Did anything historically noteworthy happen in the year 1183? 1183BC? Not that I was going to be able to find out!

Yup, it was time for another organized bike ride, and 1183 is the number I wore during the ride. In April in Minnesota, there *is* only one organized ride, the granddaddy of them all, the Ironman. This ride started perhaps 32 years ago by some hard-core cyclists who thought riding a century (100 miles) in April, still soft from a winter of no cycling, in unpredictable weather, would be a nice change of pace. It has grown to Minnesota's largest ride, with about 4500 riders. A metric century (100 kilometers, or 62 miles) has been added, along with a 30 mile ride, to this last-Sunday-in-April, rain-snow-or-shine event.

This past winter was quite mild so I was able to keep right on commuting to work via bicycle with hardly a break. That left me in good shape for "going for it all" with the century ride. Being a one day event, and to quote my brother, I could "leave myself all over the pavement if that's what it takes."

The ride started and ended in Buffalo, MN, about 50 miles west of Shoreview. I wanted to be on the road (by bicycle) by 7, so left home at 5:30am. I hate getting up that early on a weekend. I hate getting up that early on a weekday. By 6 I was halfway there, riding in a caravan of about a dozen vehicles on an otherwise empty highway, each loaded with at least one bicycle. If that doesn't just get the adrenaline flowing.... :-)

The parking went very smoothly (it's certainly a lot of vehicles to descend on a town that isn't quite up to handling that many in one shot) thanks to some good volunteers directing traffic. It wasn't as easy to figure out what clothing I should wear and bring along. Over-eager cyclists ready for August were out in shorts and jerseys. Didn't they see the bank thermometer that said 38 degrees?? Didn't they see the football field-size flag at Perkins fully extended toward the southwest?? It certainly wasn't a nice summer day with a nice warm summer breeze blowing! My experience and common sense overruled my over-eager emotions and I was later quite thankful for that. I was also thankful that it wasn't raining as per the forecast, or worse yet, snowing. Actually, the snow would probably be preferable to rain if it didn't melt and soak into the clothing.

Anyway, a couple of years ago the ride came close to being discontinued because the number of motorist complaints about the attitudes and actions of some of the 4500 cyclists had grown to an alarming number. Last year the organizers had success in putting all riders through a ten minute presentation, so it was repeated again this year. We went through the school's gym in bleacher-size groups and from there to the registration tables organized by our numbers. I still didn't know what I was going to do about 1183.

I got going officially at 7:08. Darn. Eight minutes off schedule already. My goal for the day, which is usually meaningless, was to average 12 mph including stops. As I headed northeast out of town and into the 20-30 mph northeast wind, I looked down at the speedometer and it registered 11 mph. Ya, those goals are usually meaningless. I've pedaled into strong winds enough times so that I'm generally tired of battling them. I usually end up pushing harder against such a wind than I push without one, which makes it hard to pace myself on a longer event such as this. The 100k riders seemed to be struggling even more, so between getting around them and out of the way of traffic and faster cyclists, and the wind, the first hour was pretty strenuous. All that at 11.5 mph and no stops. :-)

The longer century route was for the most part a super-set of the metric century route, with the former leaving the latter three times to get the extra miles. The first rest stop we reached was in Monticello, one not visited by the metric crowd. Several were lined up for the hot coffee when I got there. No, it wasn't July. :-) At least the rain wasn't materializing and it looked like the cloudy sky was going to break up. There were ample food supplies, so I freely grabbed about 800 calories-worth. It's about the only time I'm somewhat conscious about forcing as many down as I reasonably can. Various charts show that this was about 20% of what I'd use on the ride. (The green side of me just has to mention recently seeing a figure that an automobile consumes about 1800 calories per mile.)

Now! West out of Monticello! With the wind! I was using gears that had been freeloading the first 25 miles or so! A few miles out of town a Cannondale tandem with a husband and wife team caught up to me. The fellow remarked that we were paced quite evenly since it'd taken them five miles to catch up. Being a C'dale fan, I couldn't help but ask how they liked their tandem. The husband was giving me the most enthusiastic sell job on Cannondales until his wife hit him and said, "Well look, idiot! Don't you see what he's riding?" :-) We started leap-frogging on some hills, until we turned west again, into the wind, and they sailed on over one last hill. Time to start thinking about 1183 again. Is it a prime number by chance?

I caught a foursome after a bit, and while coming up behind one of them, noticed a couple of little neon lime green tags fluttering in the, uh, breeze. I recognized them! I "naively" asked about them and started getting an enthusiastic description of a ride called ‘CANDISC’—short for Cycling Around North Dakota in Sakakawea Country. I pointed out the little green tag still attached to my bike, and we chatted a bit about last year’s ride—her first and my second. Reminiscing would have helped pass the time battling the wind, but she had to stop to wait for the rest of her group.

A little bit later, hordes of cyclists were coming down a road from the north—the metric group. It was fun to see, as usually such rides in the country have a lone pickup or tractor coming from a side road at best. Shortly after the two groups converged, we headed south and west again, after a brief water stop. Several of us stopped to take off a layer or two of clothing (the sun was out! It was already warmer than the forecasted high of lower to mid fifties!) and put on sunscreen. Now it smelled like a bike ride! :-)

With the wind at our backs, we cruised the next few miles to the halfway point of Maple Lake. There, lunch awaited us, but unfortunately it was the same menu as before (and as that of the remaining stops). A nice deli sandwich of some sort would have really hit the spot! Granola bars and bananas get old in a hurry.

Many cyclists were at the stop, with many arriving and many leaving at any given moment. It was 11 and I thought there was a slight chance of seeing a couple of friends who were on the metric route. They had planned on leaving Buffalo around 8, but if they got going later, there was a chance. No such luck (and as it turned out, they were there about 10:30), but the people watching and bicycle watching was fun anyway.

More layers off and more sunscreen on. The sun was out in full force and the temperature was threatening to soar up into the low sixties. Now if only that wind would subside a bit. Everyone headed south from here though and got a little more help than hindrance from the wind for the next jaunt down to Howard Lake. I can’t think of anything significant about this stretch, other than that the final approach to town was really pretty, riding along the lake. Again, the rest stop was crawling with people. I was still stuffed from the last stop, so simply filled water bottles and took off on the final four miles of south. The metric crew split off at Howard Lake and headed right into the wind for the remainder of their ride.

At Mile 70, our route headed east and north back to Buffalo for the remaining 30 miles. It got to be a long haul. I found it more mentally challenging than physically challenging, even though I had several miles on my legs by then. Muscles and knees and hands and shoulders were holding up reasonably well, as was my bike. Yep, there was plenty of time to mull over 1183, but I’d given up on that for the day. I got lost in thoughts about life, briefly awakening once when a tandem zoomed past, with the captain muttering something about a long haul ahead. I didn’t have much sympathy for tandem riders at the moment. I didn’t really have sympathy for anyone at the moment. I felt we were all quite fortunate to be out pedaling!

I skipped the last rest stop at Waverly. I still had plenty of water left and a fairly full belly. Deep thinking came to a screeching halt when once again cyclists came streaming onto my highway from a side road. Guess who! With traffic quite heavy again, I had to pay more attention to driving than to the intricacies of life. The solitude of the century-only stretches was missed! There was one more short break but then we rejoined the metric riders for the last pull into Buffalo.

The parade through town must have continued for quite some time. I got back to the school to check in at 3:30, pretty much right on schedule. That was a first! Bikes and riders were all over the place, celebrating successful rides. Being a loner on this ride, there wasn't much left to do but pick up the freebies, find the car, and head home, into the wind, with several willing horses under the hood and a nice warm sun beaming through the windows. I never did figure out 1183, but, it was still a pretty nice day in April.