On October the 13th we had the Moab brevet. This year, we offered two distances…the standard 200km and a shorter 109km Populaire. Both distances shared the same route, but the Populaire simply turned around earlier, before going into Canyonlands National Park. The temperatures were rather cool, starting out at about 47F, raising to only 65F in the afternoon. It was cloudy in the morning, but later gave way to a sunny, but cool day.
Five riders accepted the challenge and all finished. The prior day had some major storm activity including flash flooding. Consequently part of the bike trail was awash with large amounts of sand and debris, causing Patrick to get a puncture within the first five miles! (He later flatted again on the same tire, which caused him to fall behind the rest of the group).
Christopher, having just finished his first Ironman earlier in the season, was anxious to keep his fitness level up and set a fast pace for the others. Erika and David tried to keep him in sight and usually caught up with him at the checkpoints, only to see him leave, just as they arrived. Matt had perhaps the most comfortable ride of all with his fatty 33c tires and steel bike. All had ridden brevets before (David was a former RBA of the Boston region) except for Christopher, and this was his longest distance to date on a bicycle.
This brevet concludes our 2012 season with some 34 different riders participating this season. Aside from myself, no one else completed our complete series. Hopefully we’ll have more success in that regard next season.