Robert Havrda, Carol Havrda, & Terry Zmrhal at the start of the Colorado bicycle record attempt.

I chose to start the ride at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday August 24 to avoid the weekend warriors driving to their mini-vacation. Fortunately, my crew (Terry Zmrhal, and my husband Robert Havrda), and my officials (John Hughes and Fred Boethling) could oblige on this mid-week attempt.

We met in Grand Junction for a relaxing dinner over bread, salad and pasta. We mostly discussed Fred's recent RAAM adventure, which was a good thing! It kept the focus off of me!

2:00 a.m. rolled around a little earlier than I wished. We left Fred in Grand Junction (to rest up for his shift of officiating), and drove to our starting point at the border of Utah and Colorado, on I-70, where I was pushed out of the van and told to ride my bike F-A-A-A-S-T! Hmmm ... they had seemed like a friendly group at dinner.

At mile 11, we exited I-70 to catch Hwy 6 / US 50 toward Mack, CO, only to be stopped by a LONNNG train. Passing through Fruita, Grand Junction, the smaller towns of Delta and Olathe, and finally Montrose I completed my first century in 5 hours 28 minutes. There was very little wind, and only some 3000 feet of climbing for the first century "Hmmm.. . This isn't so bad" I'm thinking. "Only 370 more miles to go! " I was hoping to average four 6-hour centuries, giving me 400 miles in 24 hours, and then have a little extra time to complete those last 70 miles. At this rate, I was a bit ahead of my plan, but my second century was almost completely uphill.

End of the first double century at the top of Monarch Pass in Colorado.

Our second century took us through Cimarron, up to the Blue Mesa through the Curecanti National Recreation Area and into Gunnison. As we approached Gunnison, we could see nasty looking weather hanging over the peaks. It seemed like I was going to have to pass straight through it. I somehow managed to thread through all of the storms, and made my way up to the top of Monarch Pass dry as a bone. Two hundred miles and another 8200' of elevation gain under the belt now and I had been on the bike exactly 12 hours. It's always so good when a plan works!

At the top of Monarch I took time to change some clothes, eat a bit, and chat with my crew. Thanks to Terry and Robert, all of my stops were very relaxed, and full of happy chatter. They always had a plan, so that my time off was minimized.

My third century took me down the east side of Monarch Pass, a wonderful descent, on any day. The guys waited too long up top and had to chase me all the way down. They didn't catch me until we were nearly to Salida, where they stopped for food and ice to last us through the night. I continued on my own, through the very scenic Arkansas River Canyon, still losing elevation! Close to the base of the canyon, we had to light up for the second night out. One small climb into Canon City, and then a very quick descent into town. I hoped that Terry who was driving would be able to react quickly if I had to slam on my brakes for a deer in the road.

Chaffee enjoying her cross Colorado record ride.

I've done several longer-distance events, and each time it seems that the foods that "work " for me continue to narrow down until I end up with one food that is just "it" — tastes good, goes down easily, stays down well. Each time, that food has been different. This time it was chocolate milk. Robert is very perceptive and was wise enough to stock up on the stuff at one of the mini-marts. I hit my 300-mile mark at 9:48 p.m., 12 minutes ahead of schedule. Probably the chocolate milk [wink].

My fourth century was rather uneventful as we made our way through Pueblo, and the smaller towns of Rocky Ford, La Junta and Las Animas. At exactly 24 hours, I was at mile marker 399. Not quite 400 miles in 24 hours, but I'm good with it.

Both Terry and Robert did an excellent job of making sure that each other was okay to drive during the night. Bit of a different story for me, out there on that bike. I struggled a great deal with sleepiness. After narrowly avoiding hitting a concrete wall on an underpass around 2:30 a.m. I convinced Robert that I had to take some No-Doz, along with some Pepto, to keep my already-upset stomach at bay. Crazy all the things that one ends up ingesting on a ride like this just to keep going! At any rate, the chocolate milk, Pepto and No-Doz all stayed down [gasp].

Chaffee leaving Colorado.

We encountered a small storm around 4:00 a.m., but I only had to wear my rain jacket for 20 minutes. I had my one flat while it was raining. Robert popped on a new rear wheel, and Terry fixed the flat in the front seat of the van while they were following me. What a talented crew I had!

Sunrise came somewhere around Lamar and sleepiness disappeared immediately! With about 40 miles to finish, I had a 10-12 mile head "breeze", along with some of the worst roads that I had encountered for the entire ride.

I sensed excitement in the van at the prospect of finishing, and my perception of their pressure (although I'm told that it was non-existent), coupled with the pressure that I put on myself was more than I wanted to deal with at the time. I was quite happy when the sun was high enough that the crew felt it was safe for me to ride alone. We were traveling directly east, and visibility was a problem for everyone. I much prefer leapfrog support, as opposed to the van sitting directly behind me, which makes my progress feel SOOO slow..

I was now able to settle into my own pace and watch the mile markers pass. I was on US 50 for the entire route, and the mile markers read 1, 2, 3 . . . as I left Utah, so I never had to wonder how far I had to go or ask the crew "Are we theeeere yet? "

And happy at the Kansas border.

The last few miles flew by, and before I knew it there stood Robert, Terry and Fred, cameras in hand. After cheers and hugs and pictures we drove back to Lamar, where John joined us for a celebratory breakfast.

My crew was awesome and I could not have done it without them. They were very perceptive and always had a plan to make any little problem better immediately. Many thanks are due to both of them!

My officials brought lots of fun and experience to the entire ride. I hear there were some great conversations in the van, because of all of their experiences.

The team behind the rider makes or breaks something of this magnitude. Heartfelt thanks to all four of you for taking a couple of days out of your lives to make this record possible for me!!

Official Record: 465.8 miles in 28:09, 16.55 mph
Start: US 50/I-70 at CO/UT state line
Finish: US 50 at CO/KS state line west of Coolidge, KS Officials: Fred Boethling & John Hughes