On a day when all local Strava posting noted the stiff cold wind from the NW, nine hearty MN Randos lined up for the Nelson Challenge. Doug Whitfield, Sam Carroll, Chad Hoyt, and Norman Ehrentreich aimed for the 150 KM. While Billy Whited, David Marsh, Rob Mosimann, James Shannon, and I threw caution to the wind and chose the 200K version. This route is notorious for perhaps the largest and steepest climbs of the rando season.
Shortly after starting Billy, Dave, Keith, and Rob found themselves together. The unspoken plan (at least my plan) was to ride together for the sake of the second half, which would be mostly straight into the wind. Rob and Billy did the majority of the pulling to get us to the halfway point, Fountain City. A herd of cows joined in as well.
Billy had an extra 70 watts on the rest, as evident by riding away on each of the major climbs. However, we would meet at the controls and start off together again. On the way back, into the wind, Billy separated off the front. He was riding strong.
I started contributing more to the pulling, sharing the load with Rob. At the top of a hill about halfway back, we waited for a moment for David. When he arrived, David said: “Don’t wait for me, you guys can just go ahead.” Rob and I laughed this off, knowing we would all be better together. That must have provided some serious motivation. David found not one, but two extra gears to crush the ride for the rest of the way. At times, Rob and I even struggled to hold on. We were all ready to call it a good day with 7 miles to go. Yet David powered on. We rode to the finish fast. As we got in, it was all smiles. Including Billy, who had waited for our return. As we talked about the ride, it was clear that we were all exhilarated by such a good day of riding. We felt good. Content that a warm shower and good rest were in our near future.