Short Story: Brutal and Very Disappointed
I will update with pictures and links later.

Long Story:

A 4 AM race start means we were out of bed at 3.  The wonderful people of the Bluff Inn in Dacorah, Iowa were nice enough to lay out the continental breakfast hours early so we had a snack before we were to leave.  I had spent alot of time the day before to make sure everything was packed up right so I did not have to worry about it so early in the morning.  We all put on our new Team Pegasus kits, bikes on top of the mini van and off we went.  Through a completly deserted Iowa town to rural road that lloks like any other road in the middle of the night except for the 50 or so blinking red tail lights of the other riders.

We pilled out of the car to join the group of people waiting to start.  It was about 15 minutes until the start, occupied by lustfully looking at all the hot rides that everyone seemed to be riding.  The time of speculation and planning was over.  There was nothing eft to talk about as everyones mind was anxiously, nervously, excitedly awaiting the start.  The Guitar Ted gives a few anouncements.  One of which was that there were going to be some hills in the first 15 miles where the riders could easily top 40 MPH and in the dark, headlights are not going to project far enough ahead of you at that speed.  BAsically to be careful in the first 15 miles becasue there are still 300 to go.  Everyone gets a little quiter and clipps in.   His little blue honda starts rolling up the starting hill, which started off the ride in the fashion it would countinue in.  That first hill was really long, and really steep.

For me, the next 20 miles in the dark were pretty uneventful.  It was fun, seeing as I have never ridden in the complete dark before.  My headlights are super bright, but when I had to be going slow (under 6 MPH) up really steep hills, I had to turn off the secondary head light so the main one was bright enough.  As day started to break, Guitar Ted's comment about fast hill decents became a reality.  All the climbing we had done for the past hour was now culminating in a super steep downhill.  The road widened and the turns widened as we swooped through the fog into a valley.  The temperature dropped dramatically.  The valley was super pretty, there was a stream running through it and there were cows that had been "put out to pasture" and were moving through this field in a long group.  Quite, pretty, cold.

The transition between complete blackness, dawn and day was alot faster than I expected.  Stopping to put on sunscreen early.  As soon as the sun was up there was something that was bothering me.  All along the side of the road, sometimes at only 100 foot intervals, would be empty beer cans.  Alomost entirely comprised of Busch Light.  Knowing that I was going to be riding through another night, probably alone, I was worried about dealing with drunk cowboy folk happening on a lone rider.  (Later in the day) It occured to me that Julie was behind me and probably alone as well.  The problem I was worried about with drunk drivers at night was bad for me, but could be worse for her.

I chugged along at a decent pace.  Averaging about 13.5 MPH which would have been respecatable overall and was really close to the pace I wanted to keep.  Through a small town and down some more gravel roads.  We rode by some cows that had escaped during the night on one of those roads.  Funny thing, they did not go anywhere.  They were just eating the stuff on the outside of the fence.  Stupid Cows.  After that is was alot of the same thing.  Brutal hills.  Long and steep.  It is hard to explain without actually having seen them.  They would go up, then turn a corner and go up further.  And they were really steep.  Or they would be short and steep, but once at the top, it would drop right back down, just to go up again.  I rode primarily alone, allowing me to ride at a pace I wanted to keep.  *Insert start of knee pain here at about mile 50*

Rolling into postville, Cale and the group he was riding with was just about to roll out of the parking lot of a grocery store.  I shouted a few things insulting his manhood about why he had to stop for supplies, since I was carrying everything I needed, and rolled out with them not stopping, except to switch water bottles.  I only rode with them briefly, as they were going a little faster than I wanted to be going, which was alright.  I did not want to hold them back and they did not want ot be held.  The rolling hills kept up and the wind got stronger.  By mile 80 my knees really were starting to hurt and thoughts of Julie (and the drunks) were pretty persistant.  Entering a small town with little in the way of services, I stopped and rested under a tree.  I was there for about and hour, seriously doubting that I'd finish, but knowing that Julie is strong and was determined.  I wanted to wait and ride with her, and I'd ride with her as long as I could and through the night so that she was not a girl alone on a dark road in the middle of nowhere.  After about an hour, I figured I would just press on and wait for her at the one and only checkpoint at mile 130.

So off I went into the wind.  You know it is a strong wind when you are going down hill at 15 MPH tops and climbing them at around 6 MPH.  It was strong and steady and the knees were not helping.  My knees only got worse from here on out.  By the end I could only barely press down on my pedals.  The cyclocomputer said 116 miles and I made the call.  Dan said that Julie was already out, to my suprise, which made it a little easier to stop.  I told them where I was and to please come get me.  They were about 50 miles away (an hour) and I kept pushing foward.  In that hour I rode 4 miles, finishing my ride at 120 miles.

I will probably post tomorrow or later about how this has potentially changed what type of cycling I am going to continue doing.  The last few months have helped me really understand and focus on what I really enjoy about cycling and what I want to get out of it.  But at the same time, I have never been prevented from finishing something because of pain.  Being forced to stop becasue my body could not continue is strange.  I can usually push through the pain, but when you are at the point where it is a neccessity to stop because of pain, you never want to be in that position again.  It has made me feel very weak.

So good things: I rode 120 miles completely self supported.  I never needed water or food.  I did not flat once.  My arms are nice and tan.  Sunrise.  Miles.  Hammer Perpetum Rules, I was never hungry.  After 120 miles I was still strong, energetic and comfortable.  It was just the knee pain that stopped me.  Fastest speed 33.2 MPH.

Bad things: steep hills and a heavy load.  There wont be a next time, but if there was I'd carry much less.  I would not switch pedals the day before the race.  Fatter tires.  The 28s were good, but made it so I had to go much slower on the downhills.

And a gigantic congradulations to Cale Wenther.  Team Pegasus teammate and the one who got me to try this in the first place.  He finished ~350 miles in just over 30 hours on his single speed.  Fucking amazing job buddy.  I am really proud of you.