Recently I made a poor decision to join a strong group of friends for a little adventure. To celebrate Rox’s birthday, they all decided to ride the Dirty Pecan 200. Merrill asked me if I wanted to join, maybe back in January, and I said ‘sure’ as it was time to put a goal down on the calendar. That plus I have the best time riding with these crazy people. They have always been a little stronger than me, or at least more disciplined and have consistently made me stronger.

Merrill, Rox and Greg had done the 200 several times. Kevin was hopping on for his longest dirt ride ever, and Casey was in it to ride with us to at least Boston. I attempted the 200 once in 2022, and after having a couple flats and no more spare tubes I bailed at Boston and headed back to the start for a total of 137mi, which was my longest one day dirt ride to so far.

Kevin brought his wife Tammy along, not only to be there to celebrate him at the finish, but also to be there for us if we needed her. She made a tough day in the sand so much better. She met us for lunch at LJ’s Buzzery and had hot pizza at the table waiting for us as we rolled in. She gave Casey a lift back from Boston after lunch. And she came and extracted me at mile 155 when I had decided that I had had enough. I was very content with my new longest one day dirt distance and it was also nice being able to get a shower in before cheering the birthday party riders in at the finish line.

We all met up Friday afternoon at 3:30pm at Gum Swamp Road to ride a little bit of the worst part of the course for recon. Tammy joined us on her e-bike, and we got a good 11 miles in finding plenty of loose dry sand. On about half of it you could find some good hard clay sitting just beneath it which rolled pretty fast. The last time I rode this course I was on 42mm tires. This time my 47s felt so much better, and there were no spots that I had to walk at all.

After our pre-ride we all checked in to the hotel and then walked across the street for dinner. While it would never be my first choice, I always know that if I eat out of town with this group we will be eating at Walk On’s if there is one. OK, their food has protein, carbs, calories, the only thing missing is flavor imho. That said, the blackened chicken alfredo and a side of cheese grits gave me what I needed. I was happy that we got back in time for me to get in a good almost 8 hours of solid sleep before having to get up at the butt crack of dawn to be able to roll out at first light.

We rolled at 630am from the 4-H in Monticello which this ride is a fundraiser for. It was dark as we got our gear together, but light was just breaking as we started rolling. It was nice, cool, humid and mid 60s as we got started. It didn’t take long for the sun to start to warm things up. The roads were in excellent condition for the first half of the day as it had rained a few times in the past week and packed the sand down nice and tight. It got up to 90 at the worst part of the day and by then all that hard packed sand had turned into beach.

We had a store stop at mile 54 to have a snack and fill up bottles. After that we didn’t re-supply again until lunch in Boston, GA at mile 107 at about 2pm. After lunch was the first time that I put sunblock on, as my eyes had been exposed to the light I had not noticed that I had already started turning red. If I put on sunblock before I start to burn, I can go all day, but the sun was what eventually did me in. Well, that and the constant pedaling as the entire course was flat, sand getting softer by the hour, noticing that I had paused my computer during lunch two hours later, I digress. What helped me get as far as I did was the company. We kept each other cracked up and did a great job of sticking together and waiting for each other when needed.   

At mile 155, I had had enough. The sun had finally knocked me out of a pretty happy place that I had been in all day. I don’t think I complained too much before that point, but once I hit it and told them I was done, they could tell. Tammy scooped me up about 30 minutes later. We got back to the start and cheered the rest of the group in at almost 11pm. Afterwards, Kevin, Tammy and I went to Waffle House on the way back and I got to see Kevin inhale a 3 egg omelet in 30 seconds.

Sunday morning there were a few trips to the breakfast bar at the hotel. It was nice getting to see everyone else looking as zombie-ish as I felt. I had a great time and for some sick reason am planning on giving it another go next year.

Pics and Video: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5ontoszgf37oko4g6qcud/ADFr5lclkRdrU40IArMXP3g?rlkey=pov4jv8tfi61er92h1t99146k&dl=0