I was in a near panic this morning when I received this message from Strava: "You just lost your KOM on Panera uphill final...SPRINT!! to Raffy Soriano by 4 seconds." :eek1 Turns out to be bullshit. Soriano didn't beat my record at all, he just tied it. I'm gonna sue Strava for the mental distress their mistake caused me.
Couldn't get myself to Newport Coast, turned around at Fashion Island. That was a hard ride. Max was only 170, but averaged 139. Four hours work: <iframe height='405' width='590' frameborder='0' allowtransparency='true' scrolling='no' src='http://app.strava.com/activities/70547430/embed/eb6218f16b9c216d5afa78cf8baba0ba3ba58f7f'></iframe> Caught a big guy that came past real fast. I chased on the way out for a mile or two and caught him on the first little jump back up from under an overpass. I stayed out front for about 8 miles. At 6 from the beach the wind really kicked up, by 4 I was done. He came back by, I couldn't keep up. Rode south on PCH after a natural break and taking on more water at the tower 2 rest. By the time I got to Fashion Island I knew that was going to be my turn for today. My legs were beginning to tell me I was a dumbass. Another fast guy came by on PCH, I caught up at the next long light. He took off in way too big a gear, sort of stood on it and just stayed there. I rode by, he must have turned off, at least he was gone by the time I got to the river trail. Caught a pair of young people training for a tri. Slowed down form the red-zone speed I was doing to sit on and talk, and recover. She missed the turn across the bridge and I stopped at the Fill station to add more water and use the facilities. I caught back up as they had gone up the east side of the golf course at the next overpass east. Hugh with them for a bit until they u-turned at about mile 16. By the time I got to the regional park I needed some Gu and lots more water. No shade and a light wind had my legs at the edge of cramps. The Gu worked it's magic, one bottle of water there, then back on the trail. I'd caught a couple of guys who had been motoring along at about 20, right about the time I pulled off. I caught back up to them a half mile form my turn up the hill. They had slowed down a lot. :eek1 Like I was doing 18 and went by like they were painted on the fence. The one guy might have lost some Trek stickers on that one. The climb. Damn, that was tough. I had to drop into the triple, but didn't have to climb all the way to the basement to get up the hills. No shade this time of day out there and back in the houses like it is there is no wind. Just heat. Those last two bottles got me home. Legs up rest and a fresh cold bottle of water later, I'm beginning to feel almost normal. Just about time to go finish the chores, then to bed early for sure.
Probably 30% of it was singletrack... rocky, snap-your-leg-in-pieces singletrack. The remainder was double track and jeep trails. The only pavement was at the start/finish, leaving the town we were in. I managed to bounce my rear chain stay off a nice rock whilst trying to avoid hucking my body off a cliff to a meat grinder demise. I now have a sweet dent in my drive side chain stay and the derailleur is out-of-whack. Gotta see if I can find some frame repair. Couple of sweet bruises and cuts but intact for the most part. Luckily it did not rain on the course or I seriously might not be here to type this. Those rocks were dangerous enough without being wet.
Well the CX bike is pretty cool. It rolls really well and rides pretty smooth The gearing will take some getting used to, I am still trying to get the tension on my clipless pedals set properly, need to adjust my cleats as well. Just the normal fine tuning stuff, seat angle and for/aft positioning, etc...Biggest adjustment for me is going back to rim brakes, and canti's at that. Hydro disc spoiled me. Need to practice wheelies too the short wheelbase is different All in all I am pretty happy. I did lose 2.5lbs this week, trying to pedal my way back below 170lbs. Im down about 13 total since the middle of June. In riding form but no water in the water bottles it was 17.5lbs on the bathroom scale. Shake down ride was 25 miles, I just did an out and back to try to stay in cell service incase of a major mechanical. <IFRAME height=405 src="http://app.strava.com/activities/70153503/embed/251429bda6f21916313f91085565bce749536007" frameBorder=0 width=590 allowTransparency scrolling=no></IFRAME> Great ride, I was on the road by 7:30, didnt have a single car pass me in 2 hours, saw more deer, goats and atv's then people SuperX by Rider_wv, on Flickr SuperX 2 by Rider_wv, on Flickr Strava App and Garmin dont always jive. Garmin said 1800ft, Strava said 1450ft, Yes I hillbilly engineered my Montana to the stem Picture 007 by Rider_wv, on Flickr I squeezed in 20 flat miles yesterday. I had been fighting a migraine most of the morning. Uploaded from .gpx and it did the stupid straight line crap again and added 9 miles on the ride. It was 20 miles with an average of 15.4mph. <IFRAME height=405 src="http://app.strava.com/activities/70648976/embed/6b9118142c58e37c88b42e494645606f4a2b0dda" frameBorder=0 width=590 allowTransparency scrolling=no></IFRAME>
Do you also go by Dimitri? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/emMY4prGaK4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
RAGBRAI ended on Saturday afternoon. The wife and I rode every day except Monday (which was also the longest day). Had to pick one day to drive the team vehicle so I figured I may as well pick the hardest one Hit the road most days around 8:30am, which meant that pretty much everybody else was already on the road. Most days were right around 50 miles and we finished up around 3pm most of the time. Longest ride I'd gone on this year previously had been about 33 miles but doing more miles is easy when you've got all day and there are plenty of places to stop. 62-odd miles on the last day was my all-time record, but beautiful weather and a bitchin' tailwind made it easy. A few pics:
Pretty good actually, I think I'm going to buy one. Only problem was that it was breaking in during the whole ride. So I'd do 40 miles and it would feel great and then my ass would start hurting. So I'd tighten up the leather a little bit and then it would feel great again. Then another 40 miles later my ass would start hurting again. So I put a little more tension on it. By the end, I'd figured out how to keep the tension where I wanted it and it worked great. I wasn't really interested in a seat with that much maintenance but it takes all of 15 seconds to get the tension right so I think I can deal with it.
Awesome El Guero! You might have caught me napping at my campsite in that fourth shot. I hope I'm able to do that ride next year. I need to coordinate work schedules and training so I'm ready. I don't intend to be in any pain during a ride like that. Right now I can ride one long day, then I'm beat for three and have to ride easy, shorter days. It looks like there was plenty of good food there. I'd need a motor by the end to pull me and all that pie and beer.
Racing these ultra-endurance mountain bike events is truly a life-altering challenge. I don't say that to be trivial or melodramatic... pedaling alone, in the remote wilderness, for 100 miles will cause you to reflect internally on your highest and lowest life moments. That much solitude, combined with digging into deep, deep reserves of mental strength to continue the physical stresses of forward progression will swing you wildly from temporary moments of Zen immediately followed with vile, Tourette's-level of cursed epithets at the cycling gods... It's cathartic. I've come to accept that I'll never be the guy on the podium at one of these events. It's not about that... truly. Entering an ultra race has more to do with soul searching and exploring the limits of my own abilities than overall placement. I'm not saying I go out there and soft-pedal the whole thing; I'm still racing the clock and pushing my body to its breaking point in every race but I've experienced these transcendental moments of reality that makes one appreciate being alive. It's those moments that I reflect on most often after an event. This past weekend I raced the Wilderness101 ultra in Coburn, PA. It has a reputation as one of the most historically epic races on the east coast and I now understand why. Coburn sits at, almost, the geographical center of Pennsylvania. State College (home of Penn State) is the nearest city and there are hundreds of miles of wilderness in every direction. Gravel roads and deserted hunting shacks dot the hills and landscape over some of the oldest geographic features in the nation. Rocks, rocks everywhere! I now understand why Pennsylvania is called the Keystone state. Every trail and off-pavement "road" is littered with rocks in every shape and size you can imagine. They start out small and harmless but quickly transition into immense boulders felled from turn-of-the century rail tunnels that would crush a car. The rocks are half-buried at times and jut out from the earth in blade-like formations along the trail. They sit idly by like the black widow silently awaiting her prey. One wrong move or mis-placed tire will thrust your foot into a crevice or along loose scree that sends your foot scrambling for traction. Picking your way through miles and miles of single track literally covered in every direction with rocks the size of car wheels will test your ability to maintain composure and calm. There is no clean line to ride over them. It's just point and shoot at every turn of the pedals. The crank arms hit and bounce along the tops of the rocks just to remind you that you are not in charge... they are.
You just have to learn to pace yourself... I did a little over 300 miles of riding last week, which is about 8-10x what I usually do in a week of commuting. You've got all day, there's no hurry, just pedal 10 miles, take a break, have something to eat, take a nap, go pedal some more. Nothing like what Ridge is up to now But seriously, people of all kinds of fitness levels were out there. I just made sure that I was aerobic every time I went up a hill, no matter how long it took me. And if it was a really tough hill, somebody had always set up a water and banana stand at the top of it Assuming I'm doing it again next year, I think I will try to ride more and lose some more weight in preparation, just to make it more enjoyable since the route will probably be more difficult. But, that wasn't necessary to have a good time this year.
I'm real sure I'll never even think about trying this. But, amazing. I drove around a lot semi-GARMIN-lost in central Penn when I was out there for work this Spring, (Our spring still pretty much winter there judging by how cold I was all the time). And found it to be steep hills and narrow valleys. I only strayed off on a couple of trails, and a little hiking but rain forced me back tot he car and Starbucks. I am after all a GS Adventure rider. Part of the reason I came back to cycling was to get fitter for riding that big pig of mine, but mostly for the fitness. I'd always judged mtb as about three times harder than road cycling partly due to the wheel mass, but mostly because of that terrain awareness thing. You don't get to relax much. 20 miles wears me out, 100 would leave me dead somewhere under a bush. Being out there all alone though is cool, creepy at times, but cool. Like when I fell off on a steep section at Mountain Lion Access and when I put a hand down to get up, noticed the paw print next time my hand.:eek1 Dusk, nobody knows where I am, other than away on the bike, and no cell connection. Zero traffic after work during the week. Yeah, that part of the alone is creepy. The part where I ride for seven miles and I'm away from everything that is the usual in Orange County, that is the cool part. Ride around a corner from desert blazing sun into canyon shade with song birds. And snakes!:huh More of the creepy... For now my mtb is still hanging upside down in the garage. I'll have to drag that thing down and do some harder core climbing training.
Part of me wants to just ride the distance, have that over, then sit and relax. Part of me likes the idea of a day long plod and waddle eating my way across my home state. Probably end up doing a little of both. 145 mile day? I'd a picked that day to drive as well. Good call.
Seriously awesome. I absolutely LOVE RAGBRAI! I'm bummed that I missed it this year but had to make a choice between it or Wilderness. In hindsight, I'm sure I would have enjoyed Iowa more but at least I now have PA under the belt. The best features of RAGBRAI (besides the little hotties riding alongside) is the Food! Tom's turkey breast sammich with a smoothie really hits the spot and they are always located perfectly along the route where I'm ready for a break. This is followed closely by Beekman's root beer floats... Dammit I want a turkey breast sammich now.
