Kevin:

Congrats on an awesome ride. I think I saw one guy ahead of you and
you were within 10 minutes of him at the second to last control
point. Jim was not too far behind you and he was flying out of the
Edwardsville Control Point. Did you run him down during the last 48
miles?

I had made the big mistake of riding the bike with 170mm cranks. I
injured myself 2 years ago by using cranks that were too long. After
I switched to 150mm I had no problems. As for my new bike, I was
looking for 150's but couldn't get them in enough time. during the
last 50 miles, my knees were in so much pain I had to DNF the ride
with about 25 miles left. My wife had to pick my lame ass up from
Janesville after she finished work. As I'm writing this I've got
icebags on my right knee and an Ibuprofen bottle on the table. I
think I limped off to Janesville by 4:30 pm. You were probably
drinking those victory beers back home by then.

One thing you weren't kidding about was the hills on these brevets.
The portion that went out and back from the secret control point made
Barrington's hills look like speed bumps. No wonder you fly right
over them. I was talking to a couple of roadies along the way that
did the 400K and they said the entire course was like that. That's
killer.

Anyways, congrats on your fantastic ride.

-Keith