The start at West Point dam for the Georgia bicycle record. (left to right) Chris & Kevin Kaiser with Phil Cohen (official) and his wife.

My memory of this route goes back to 1999 when I was attempting to finish my first BRAG (Bicycle Ride Across Georgia). I was relatively new to cycling and had to abandon BRAG the year before after three days of riding. Cycling 60 to 70 miles a day was within my ability, but could I recover well enough to do seven days in a row and get across the state? It was a fun event, but more so a real challenge. Anyhow, rumors started circulating about a guy (Barclay Brown) who was planning on riding BRAG in a single day. I was absolutely amazed. I was more than a little excited to finish this same ride in a week!

The years have gone by and I've made slow and steady progress - slow enough that sometimes I forget how far I've come since I was a 30-year old couch potato. Part of this progress recently has meant leaning more toward supported cycling events like 24-hour races and the Heart of the South. Through randonneuring I've grown accustomed to relying on myself, so the transition has been more difficult than expected. It's not easy to ask five or six friends and family members to give up an entire weekend to help you meet a training goal.

Kevin Kaiser cruising across Georgia at dusk when the temperature was still in the low to mid 90's.

By the start on July 15th, I had four crewmembers from my family. My brother Chris is a long distance cyclist with experience crewing at the Furnace Creek. Lisa Montano, Gil Montano, and my wife rounded out the crew, all of whom had experience crewing at the Heart of the South. Phil Cohen, a friend from Augusta, was my official. I was warned before the ride that friendship would not come before duty, and I would be penalized if he didn't see my spokes at every stop sign.

The biggest decision made for this ride was the start time. I could have started at 6 a.m. and done the ride almost entirely in the daylight, but weather forecasts called for 97 degrees. Because I tend to wilt away in the sun, I chose to start at 6 p.m. I would be a little slower at night and have to carry better lighting, but traffic would be lighter. My goal was to ride 175 miles to Dublin without a break, and then take a short rest while we changed crews. As many times as I've done long rides, I still went out too hard. However, after about an hour and a half I settled into a good rhythm.

About 75 miles into the ride a deer bolted across the road as a car was passing me. I'll never know if the deer would have hit me because it never got past the grill of the passing car. It was a grisly scene. Though we weren't directly involved in the accident, we stopped to call 911 and help the driver. He was lucky he was okay and the deer didn't come through his windshield, but his car was pretty wasted. After he made a call or two, we decided to continue. Despite the delay, I finished the first century in 5 hours 7 minutes.

"My mouth isn't wide open, so I must be cruising."

My next stop was in Dublin at 175 miles where we made a crew change. I'm glad we had a spare set of amber flashers because a fuse blew just before we got there. I was a little disgruntled to note while riding through Dublin at about 3 a.m. that the banks were showing a temperature of 83 degrees. I felt great at that point and wished I didn't have to stop, but by the time I hit 200 miles I was starting to get in trouble. In a very short period of time things caught up to me and I lost my appetite for food and drink. I completed the second century in 5:53, but I could tell that I would need to spend more time off the bike.

The last century was a little tougher. Things flattened out near Savannah so my speed was decent, but I had to spend entirely too much time off the bike. Couple that with a ton of traffic lights before we hit Daffin Park, and the last 102 miles was finished in 6:20.

I did the entire ride on my Kestrel Talon SL. It was a comfort to know that I had a spare front and rear wheel (with proper cassette) waiting in the vehicle if I had a flat. I'm very thankful to my crew who performed flawlessly, and Phil Cohen who rode the entire 17:20 behind me. Including the drive to the West Point at the start and the ride home from Savannah, he probably spent 24 hours of his weekend in a car. It's no wonder they were as tired as I was at the conclusion of this ride.

At the finish: (L to R) Gil Montano, Lisa Montano, Chris Kaiser, Kevin Kaiser, & Lisa Kaiser.

Official Record: 302.4 miles in 17:06, average 17.68 mph
Start: GA/AL state line at West Point Dam west of West Point, Ga.
Finish: Daffin Park, Savannah Georgia