I think Jumble Jambles means that I'm going to have a bit of what some may call a stream of consciousness. I have some verbal vomitus that needs a purge. Thank you ahead of time blog for listening.
Kombucha is dead and dumped due to furry growth. Sad news to me. However, there is hope. I found a scobi source and I'm going to try try again.
My running. After going to California and having my road trip extravaganza I was sure my "other goal" of running the Run Like Hell Half-Marathon would be nixed due to some very poor training. I however, am lately a girl of my word and after numerous attempts at trying to back out of the 1/2 and into the 10k I failed (at the back out). I ran the whole 1/2 marathon and more. I somehow managed to follow the 10kers through the finish line, but oopsie I had committed to running the half, so back out of the finish line I ran and back to the split. The girl at the split had inadvertently told me the WRONG WAY because the stupid number patches or whatever the hell they are called were so close in color (light orange 10k and one shade darker orange 1/2 marathoners) that I got to go through the finish line twice...um not so cool, but whatever. I'm not bitter I ran more that the 1/2 that day and 14+ miles are more than these little legs have trucked in a single shot evah! Okie dokie, done with the vent and on to the fun details.
I ran the first 6 miles with Saori my bff. She did so fantastic for not having trained at all. She was going great and at mile 5 she got reallllly quiet. I looked at her and thought she needed a talking to, so I joked with her a bit and tied to get her to laugh, but to no avail. She just shot me some really funny looks like: shuddupbitchi'mtryingtobreath...so I backed off, because I have totally been there and I was just proud of her for joining us this frigid morning. We're good and we joked about it later. I left her after the dirty looks and ran throught the finish line. Then back out of the finish line to the split I went :grumble grumble:. The next few miles went all up hill and it was nice. I don't mind running uphill, but by mile 9 I was starting to experience some knee pain which would stay with me for the next 5 miles and just get worse as I trotted back down hill for the last 4 miles. Ugh. I'll spare you all my complaints. It hurt, I didn't walk any of it and I made it back across the finish line to the cheers of my family and friends (Saori and her Mama) . The icing was that my oldest 2 kiddos ran through the finish line with me!! Fun stuff. I'm not a runner, but I did it and I need to thank Mara for holding me hostage to my commitment :) Thank you Mar!!
Heres my mug shot. It looks like my feet are barely leaving the pavement :P
Last news on the Jumble front...my bike is back on the road with me on it fo shizzle and I'm all decorated in soft merino wool :swoon:. My new affections lie in my comfort. Fo rizzle...out.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Road Trip through the desert!!...er I mean Crewing for George as he rode his bicycle 509 miles
2921234082_b3f7a3b735_b.jpg (JPEG Image, 1024x685 pixels)
Furnace Creek 508: My crewing perspective from a comfy air conditioned Kia mini van.
A few weeks ago Brandy had asked me to help crew for George who would race in the FC 508. That is 508+ miles in a 48 hour time period and 35,000 ft of elevation gain. Yes, insanity on wheels. After some consideration I thought it would be fun spending time catching up with Brandy and I'd be motivated by watching all these crazy ultra cyclists on their bicycles riding through the desert for 48-ish hours.
The race would begin on Saturday morning at 7am and officially end on Monday morning at 7am. Brandy picked me up at my Mom's house on Friday morning and we headed over to her house with a couple detours (Grandmas', Coffee, and Target). We got to her house where George was going over the route with Jason. I had met Jason at the Anthill Crit in Irvine when we were last out in California and he seemed like he would be good company for this adventure (read: he seemed able to tolerate our constant blabbering with great finesse and little complaint). George asked us to bring out the tub of FC "stuff-gear-etc" and take pictures of all we were going to stage in the van. My job was going to be helping out however I was told and to "Act like a tourist" of which *I* know how to do. What a great job for me. We loaded up the van and headed up to Santa Clarita where registration and vehicle inspection would take place at the Holiday Inn.
George registered and collected his goodie bag of stuff, took his pre-race photo, had his reunion moments with other riders and then we headed out to hunt down Cindy (a race official) to inspect our van. I learned quickly that she had no system, but rather a parade of people getting progressively impatient trying to get her attention toward their vehicles. If I could suggest anything it would be that she carry around a little batch of numbers and give them to people as a way to create some order in this little chaotic parking lot circus act. I just told someone: "I'm behind you", this caught on and we all acted like school children barking who was next and who we were after lol. It took a long time.
After our vehicle inspection we headed over to the Best Western, checked in, dropped off the bikes and headed over to Denny's where I witnessed an amazing feat of belly stuffing dynamics. George consumed 2 full meals (some breakfast taco concoction of pancakes, sausage, bacon AND a bacon cheeseburger with french fries). All I could think was how I hoped he wouldn't pay for this tomorrow on the race day. That's a whole lotta food for a guy his size; um for anyone any size.
We came back to the hotel where we dropped George off to try to sleep and Jason, Brandy, and I headed to the grocery store to stock up on food. We were full from our dunch or linner meal so picking out the food that we would be offering George and eating ourselves proved very challenging. We got into a lot of conversations that were funny.
Here was my favorite:
Jason: I love these.
Brandy: Do you want them?
Jason: Nah!
Brandy: Get them if you want them.
Jason: No, it's okay.
Next isle...
repeat above conversation :)
We walked out of the store with cases of Diet Pepsi, regular Pepsi, cheese its, marinated salmon steaks, bread, bagels, woven wheat's, dill cheese, turkey, provolone cheese, mayo, beaver deli mustard, pickles, bananas, pretzels, and stinky feet chips aka: Salt & Vinegar chips.
We realized that we were running late dilly dallying through the store and we had to make this pre-race mandatory talk or orientation or whatever Chris Kostman calls it. He is a crack up by the way in his Lone Ranger boots demonstrating a proper hand off. Just sayin' The talk by John Marino was especially motivational. I enjoyed that part as well as watching ALL the riders get on stage for the group photo. That is a whole lot of ambition up there at one time!
We headed back to the grocery store again after dropping George off at the hotel to go to bed and try to sleep. We decided to get the ice and a few other odds and ends. We got back to the hotel where Brandy figured out how to stage the van. She really had a great system back there with everything organized well. It took very little communication to find everything because the system made very logical sense. We went to bed or I went to bed, Jason slept on the floor???, and Brandy went off to find a computer to blog update.
Saturday Morning
We were up bright and early. We headed over to the start where we found George a bit upset over the food choices and generally a bit anxious (must have been the pre-race adrenaline). Brandy and I took photos of the start line and we watched all the riders launch out on a very long bike ride. We ran to the van and headed out to the "canyon"; however, we were shortly after pulled over by a race official letting us know that we needed to cover up our triangle..DOH. Thank goodness this would be our only oopsie the whole race. I took the first "leg" of driving. I figured I couldn't screw up too much, um wrong! When we got to the top of the canyon to yell our shouts of encouragement George wasn't looking too happy with us. We would explain later that we weren't where he expected us due to being reprimanded about the triangle. So I was instructed to "leap frog". Well, my understanding of leap frogging was not what George was expecting. I thought leap frogging meant I drive ahead a few miles, pull over, await further instruction, pull ahead another mile or more and hand off, etc...repeat. Um, NO. George pulled up to us on a pass and shot a very frustrated and angry look. He told us or me :P "I'm only going to tell you this once: If you can't see me you are not helping me." I quickly agreed "okay okay" as he told us how he made a wrong turn and we should have been there, etc. I felt really bad that I had screwed up so soon in the "game". Then I looked over at Brandy and Jason and apologized profusely telling them they should tell me what to do. Tell me in detail exactly what to do and I'll do it. After they schooled me on exactly what leap frogging meant I got it and even got an approving shout out from George on our next pass. This little road bump was the only real problem we would have for the remainder of the race, oh yeah there was one more when my sleep deprivation kicked in and I miscalculated a summit and a climb, I'll get to that too.
George has all the details on his blog and website. I can barely find time to get this crew perspective out let alone remember all the places we were, the climbs, etc. I do know that most of the day went smoothly and George was looking strong and alert until the first signs of fatigue, but also elation came over him at the top of Towns Pass. He was very excited to get to this climb in the daylight. It was great to see how he and Brandy smiled knowingly as they celebrated this victory. The wind was so bad as he would come around curves on this climb that he was literally blown off the road at one point. I had a hard time watching this, it was making me really nervous. I think I shrieked a few times as he was blown over the yellow line or off the road. The luminous rain clouds and thunder and lightning added to the dramatic climb. At the summit we took pictures to capture this victory. He was looking tired, but knew he had a big descent to refuel on. Through the night we just helped support his nutrition needs which Brandy was totally on top of and knew what he needed when he needed it. She was awesome and could read his body language very well. We had to pull up next to him a few times and sing some Snoop Dogg to wake him up. We kept ourselves awake and alert by drinking buckets of Diet Pepsi and loudly assaulting poor Jason with many many hip-hop tune age. I hope he doesn't have post traumatic stress disorder when he hears Jill Scott and friends on the radio in the future ;). We were just trying to provide some culture and entertain anyone who happened upon our party van at 2am. Hey, we stayed awake. George seemed mildly entertained as he cracked a smile at our serenade. He was tired and the desert is a big big place both day and night. Brandy drove the whole night shift. She did awesome. I was terrified of driving at night and running over her boyfriend (that would be quite unforgivable) following so close was not something I had had much experience at. I would get a try at this "direct support" when the sun came up on Sunday morning. The other exciting event of the night was that I got a stick up my ass peeing ON a prickly bush rather than behind it doh! Oh the surprises that await in the desert in the dark of night, exciting and blog worthy stuff I bring you.
Sunday Morning
I took over driving sometime when the sun was just starting to rise. I was sooooo sleepy, but after the beautiful sunrise I became more alert. From here on out we all rotated our driving responsibilities. Priority #1: Don't run over George. Priority #2: Let me not have to poop in the desert behind sparse foliage. On the way to Baker George was becoming increasingly agitated. The heat and exhaustion was kicking in strong and the road to Baker was just so long. After a break of water over his head, some massage & kisses from Brandy, and some encouraging words from all of us he smiled again and got back on his bike. When we arrived in Baker we quickly refueled the van with gas, George checked into the time station, brushed his teeth, changed his kit, we got a burrito for him, then we went to Jack in the Box for the much needed solid food consumption. He had gone ahead of us and we caught up to him to feed him. Back on the bike he went and we provided direct support for the rest of the day and evening. Our driving shifts were getting much shorter as we were feeling the sleepies. My brain cells just stopped working at about 6pm and I couldn't even do simple math. On the way up "Sheephole Summit" (the last leg of the race) George asked what the stats were and I gave some really odd numbers like the climb was 1,500 ft and the summit was 800ft lol. Yes, that makes no sense unless he had wings I know...sleepy sleepy dumb dumbs were in full force. The last major road back into 29 palms was heavily traveled and it was dark. We were being passed by very fast moving traffic and that was stressing me out. People were flying by with big ATV's on trailers and at one point Brandy saw a "little green person driving a quad". I was seeing lights directly behind us that I couldn't make out and we concocted a story about the little person on the ATV who was "chasing us down". Can we say h.a.l.l.u.c.i.n.a.t.i.o.n. Poor Jason, see what he had to endure.
The FINISH LINE! As we made our way to the finish line and up over the last big hill we saw another rider approaching so we told George so that he would step it up knowing he was being chased down. So on to the finish line we trekked and we parked the van quickly and went scrambling to run through the final 20 ft all together which was fun. George was congratulated, pictures were taken, medals received and we got back in the van to hurry up and feed the man a big burger with bacon.
The OTHER Finish Line: The victory was not over for us as we still had to safely drive this van and it's human contents back to Huntington Beach (and Jason had to continue on to San Diego). I could not imagine trying to drive without losing my valuable cargo so I begged Jason to please drive us home or at least partially home. Brandy and George drifted off and on into sleep while my head would bob and I would wake up in a panic that I had inadvertently fallen asleep AGAIN AND AGAIN. I had no control over the nodding off. This has NEVER happened to me and was so scary. Again, Jason was patient with my crazy lady antics and accusations that went over and over like this: Are you OK? Jason, are you okay? Are you sure? Do you need to pull over? Should we wake up Brandy to drive? Are you okay? Repeat. Thank you Jason for getting us safely home ... really really. That was the longest drive of my life coming back from 29 palms to HB and when we got off the Euclid ramp I felt like we had truly crossed the finish line :)
It was fun and I would totally do it again!
Note to self: work on better hand offs, go back and study how to read those elevation charts, review 3rd grad math :)
Furnace Creek 508: My crewing perspective from a comfy air conditioned Kia mini van.
A few weeks ago Brandy had asked me to help crew for George who would race in the FC 508. That is 508+ miles in a 48 hour time period and 35,000 ft of elevation gain. Yes, insanity on wheels. After some consideration I thought it would be fun spending time catching up with Brandy and I'd be motivated by watching all these crazy ultra cyclists on their bicycles riding through the desert for 48-ish hours.
The race would begin on Saturday morning at 7am and officially end on Monday morning at 7am. Brandy picked me up at my Mom's house on Friday morning and we headed over to her house with a couple detours (Grandmas', Coffee, and Target). We got to her house where George was going over the route with Jason. I had met Jason at the Anthill Crit in Irvine when we were last out in California and he seemed like he would be good company for this adventure (read: he seemed able to tolerate our constant blabbering with great finesse and little complaint). George asked us to bring out the tub of FC "stuff-gear-etc" and take pictures of all we were going to stage in the van. My job was going to be helping out however I was told and to "Act like a tourist" of which *I* know how to do. What a great job for me. We loaded up the van and headed up to Santa Clarita where registration and vehicle inspection would take place at the Holiday Inn.
George registered and collected his goodie bag of stuff, took his pre-race photo, had his reunion moments with other riders and then we headed out to hunt down Cindy (a race official) to inspect our van. I learned quickly that she had no system, but rather a parade of people getting progressively impatient trying to get her attention toward their vehicles. If I could suggest anything it would be that she carry around a little batch of numbers and give them to people as a way to create some order in this little chaotic parking lot circus act. I just told someone: "I'm behind you", this caught on and we all acted like school children barking who was next and who we were after lol. It took a long time.
After our vehicle inspection we headed over to the Best Western, checked in, dropped off the bikes and headed over to Denny's where I witnessed an amazing feat of belly stuffing dynamics. George consumed 2 full meals (some breakfast taco concoction of pancakes, sausage, bacon AND a bacon cheeseburger with french fries). All I could think was how I hoped he wouldn't pay for this tomorrow on the race day. That's a whole lotta food for a guy his size; um for anyone any size.
We came back to the hotel where we dropped George off to try to sleep and Jason, Brandy, and I headed to the grocery store to stock up on food. We were full from our dunch or linner meal so picking out the food that we would be offering George and eating ourselves proved very challenging. We got into a lot of conversations that were funny.
Here was my favorite:
Jason: I love these.
Brandy: Do you want them?
Jason: Nah!
Brandy: Get them if you want them.
Jason: No, it's okay.
Next isle...
repeat above conversation :)
We walked out of the store with cases of Diet Pepsi, regular Pepsi, cheese its, marinated salmon steaks, bread, bagels, woven wheat's, dill cheese, turkey, provolone cheese, mayo, beaver deli mustard, pickles, bananas, pretzels, and stinky feet chips aka: Salt & Vinegar chips.
We realized that we were running late dilly dallying through the store and we had to make this pre-race mandatory talk or orientation or whatever Chris Kostman calls it. He is a crack up by the way in his Lone Ranger boots demonstrating a proper hand off. Just sayin' The talk by John Marino was especially motivational. I enjoyed that part as well as watching ALL the riders get on stage for the group photo. That is a whole lot of ambition up there at one time!
We headed back to the grocery store again after dropping George off at the hotel to go to bed and try to sleep. We decided to get the ice and a few other odds and ends. We got back to the hotel where Brandy figured out how to stage the van. She really had a great system back there with everything organized well. It took very little communication to find everything because the system made very logical sense. We went to bed or I went to bed, Jason slept on the floor???, and Brandy went off to find a computer to blog update.
Saturday Morning
We were up bright and early. We headed over to the start where we found George a bit upset over the food choices and generally a bit anxious (must have been the pre-race adrenaline). Brandy and I took photos of the start line and we watched all the riders launch out on a very long bike ride. We ran to the van and headed out to the "canyon"; however, we were shortly after pulled over by a race official letting us know that we needed to cover up our triangle..DOH. Thank goodness this would be our only oopsie the whole race. I took the first "leg" of driving. I figured I couldn't screw up too much, um wrong! When we got to the top of the canyon to yell our shouts of encouragement George wasn't looking too happy with us. We would explain later that we weren't where he expected us due to being reprimanded about the triangle. So I was instructed to "leap frog". Well, my understanding of leap frogging was not what George was expecting. I thought leap frogging meant I drive ahead a few miles, pull over, await further instruction, pull ahead another mile or more and hand off, etc...repeat. Um, NO. George pulled up to us on a pass and shot a very frustrated and angry look. He told us or me :P "I'm only going to tell you this once: If you can't see me you are not helping me." I quickly agreed "okay okay" as he told us how he made a wrong turn and we should have been there, etc. I felt really bad that I had screwed up so soon in the "game". Then I looked over at Brandy and Jason and apologized profusely telling them they should tell me what to do. Tell me in detail exactly what to do and I'll do it. After they schooled me on exactly what leap frogging meant I got it and even got an approving shout out from George on our next pass. This little road bump was the only real problem we would have for the remainder of the race, oh yeah there was one more when my sleep deprivation kicked in and I miscalculated a summit and a climb, I'll get to that too.
George has all the details on his blog and website. I can barely find time to get this crew perspective out let alone remember all the places we were, the climbs, etc. I do know that most of the day went smoothly and George was looking strong and alert until the first signs of fatigue, but also elation came over him at the top of Towns Pass. He was very excited to get to this climb in the daylight. It was great to see how he and Brandy smiled knowingly as they celebrated this victory. The wind was so bad as he would come around curves on this climb that he was literally blown off the road at one point. I had a hard time watching this, it was making me really nervous. I think I shrieked a few times as he was blown over the yellow line or off the road. The luminous rain clouds and thunder and lightning added to the dramatic climb. At the summit we took pictures to capture this victory. He was looking tired, but knew he had a big descent to refuel on. Through the night we just helped support his nutrition needs which Brandy was totally on top of and knew what he needed when he needed it. She was awesome and could read his body language very well. We had to pull up next to him a few times and sing some Snoop Dogg to wake him up. We kept ourselves awake and alert by drinking buckets of Diet Pepsi and loudly assaulting poor Jason with many many hip-hop tune age. I hope he doesn't have post traumatic stress disorder when he hears Jill Scott and friends on the radio in the future ;). We were just trying to provide some culture and entertain anyone who happened upon our party van at 2am. Hey, we stayed awake. George seemed mildly entertained as he cracked a smile at our serenade. He was tired and the desert is a big big place both day and night. Brandy drove the whole night shift. She did awesome. I was terrified of driving at night and running over her boyfriend (that would be quite unforgivable) following so close was not something I had had much experience at. I would get a try at this "direct support" when the sun came up on Sunday morning. The other exciting event of the night was that I got a stick up my ass peeing ON a prickly bush rather than behind it doh! Oh the surprises that await in the desert in the dark of night, exciting and blog worthy stuff I bring you.
Sunday Morning
I took over driving sometime when the sun was just starting to rise. I was sooooo sleepy, but after the beautiful sunrise I became more alert. From here on out we all rotated our driving responsibilities. Priority #1: Don't run over George. Priority #2: Let me not have to poop in the desert behind sparse foliage. On the way to Baker George was becoming increasingly agitated. The heat and exhaustion was kicking in strong and the road to Baker was just so long. After a break of water over his head, some massage & kisses from Brandy, and some encouraging words from all of us he smiled again and got back on his bike. When we arrived in Baker we quickly refueled the van with gas, George checked into the time station, brushed his teeth, changed his kit, we got a burrito for him, then we went to Jack in the Box for the much needed solid food consumption. He had gone ahead of us and we caught up to him to feed him. Back on the bike he went and we provided direct support for the rest of the day and evening. Our driving shifts were getting much shorter as we were feeling the sleepies. My brain cells just stopped working at about 6pm and I couldn't even do simple math. On the way up "Sheephole Summit" (the last leg of the race) George asked what the stats were and I gave some really odd numbers like the climb was 1,500 ft and the summit was 800ft lol. Yes, that makes no sense unless he had wings I know...sleepy sleepy dumb dumbs were in full force. The last major road back into 29 palms was heavily traveled and it was dark. We were being passed by very fast moving traffic and that was stressing me out. People were flying by with big ATV's on trailers and at one point Brandy saw a "little green person driving a quad". I was seeing lights directly behind us that I couldn't make out and we concocted a story about the little person on the ATV who was "chasing us down". Can we say h.a.l.l.u.c.i.n.a.t.i.o.n. Poor Jason, see what he had to endure.
The FINISH LINE! As we made our way to the finish line and up over the last big hill we saw another rider approaching so we told George so that he would step it up knowing he was being chased down. So on to the finish line we trekked and we parked the van quickly and went scrambling to run through the final 20 ft all together which was fun. George was congratulated, pictures were taken, medals received and we got back in the van to hurry up and feed the man a big burger with bacon.
The OTHER Finish Line: The victory was not over for us as we still had to safely drive this van and it's human contents back to Huntington Beach (and Jason had to continue on to San Diego). I could not imagine trying to drive without losing my valuable cargo so I begged Jason to please drive us home or at least partially home. Brandy and George drifted off and on into sleep while my head would bob and I would wake up in a panic that I had inadvertently fallen asleep AGAIN AND AGAIN. I had no control over the nodding off. This has NEVER happened to me and was so scary. Again, Jason was patient with my crazy lady antics and accusations that went over and over like this: Are you OK? Jason, are you okay? Are you sure? Do you need to pull over? Should we wake up Brandy to drive? Are you okay? Repeat. Thank you Jason for getting us safely home ... really really. That was the longest drive of my life coming back from 29 palms to HB and when we got off the Euclid ramp I felt like we had truly crossed the finish line :)
It was fun and I would totally do it again!
Note to self: work on better hand offs, go back and study how to read those elevation charts, review 3rd grad math :)
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Feeling not so Peachy on this century
On Sunday I completed my 2nd century ride: Peach of a Century. It was 102.66 miles and I was sick that day.
When I got to the registration table I realized that I had no checks, not cash and they didn't accept credit. I had driven 1 1/2 hours down to Salem to do this ride and here I stood looking like a big dufus with my wallet wide open and no payment. The very kind lady said that I could write them a check and mail it from home and could do the ride. Thank you so much kind registration lady!! Check is in the mail.
After I got all geared up and on my bike I rolled out. I have no idea what time it was, but I did start my watch to keep track of time. I was not going to keep track of the time, but I couldn't resist. Even though I was sick and was going out to enjoy myself a little voice told me I just needed to do this ;)
The first rest stop came up rather quickly (22.4 miles) and I had only gone through 1/2 of my water and 3/4 of my Accelerade. I had only had a couple bites of my breakfast (a bagel w/ peanut butter) and had 2 cups of coffee. I was not fueling very well. The bathroom line was soooooo long. 3 porta potties and over 1,000 people on this ride??? Shifty from Bike Forums was there and gave me a hello hug and encouragement. So I stood there waiting for what seemed like eternity, but had a nice chat with a girl behind me who was very friendly. I ran into my biker buddy Chalrotte and her friend Kim their smiles gave me encouragement. I topped off my water bottle, topped off the fuel bottle with some more water and popped 2 more Dayquils and was on my way. About 5 miles before the split for the metric people and century riders I latched on to a tandem who already had 2 other riders firmly attached. I totally get the sweet spot now. The guy in front of me was about 6'2" tall and created a HUGE wall. I will be a better wheel sucker in the future. I was flying with them and getting a full recovery while boogie-in at 25-27mph! Too bad they split off on the metric course. I was sad, but at least they helped me escape these 2 stubborn guys who got mad every time I passed them and had to pass me and then slow down. Hate that.
The next rest stop came up at mile 54.7. I had gone through only 1/2 of my water and 1/2 of my Heed and one gel. I refilled my water bottle, filled my fuel bottle with some Heed, grabbed a handful of pretzels to stick in my jersey pocket and made a 1/4 bagel with cream cheese and jelly. I saw another couple of friends at this stop, but one particular gave me a great laugh. Ernie came up with a friendly hug and with his chest all puffed out shouting: "I feel great! I feel like a ROCK STAR!!". This made me giggle and I told him I wanted some of what he was taking. So he gave me some electolytes and that was so nice because I stopped cramping in my calves after those. I got back on my bike after a quick potty break and went on my merry way. Oh almost forgot Mary, I saw Mary D. also she swore she had seen Mara, but indeed she had not (Mara was enjoying the comfort of her home--lucky girl). She told me of her adventures in wheel sucking.
I was feeling okay at this point, certainly not my best, but o.k. When we hit mile 70ish there was this really nice climb up from Stayton to Silverton and I loved it. I really needed some hills by now. I was starting to ache all over and focus on all my little body aches (neck, wrists, ankle, calves, etc). When we hit that climb I was just feeling energetic again. The endorphins totally kicked in...yay adreneline! Right after the climb was a nice descent into the little town of Silverton and the 3rd rest stop at mile 77.7...I MISSED IT.
I should have turned around and gone back to the stop, but all I kept thinking was: I have 1/2 a bottle of water and 1/2 the Heed, I'll surely be fine to make another 25 miles, it's just another group ride. I've done a group ride on a total of only bottle. I just want this thing to be over. At mile 85 I was DONE. I had no more water left, it was now in the high 80's, I had to pee like nobody's business and I still had 17 miles to go and I was allllll alone. I was not feeling the love. In the distance I saw a golf course and hoped there would be a porta potty on the green...there was and I ran through the ditch to get to that bad boy! Thank goodness for old man bladders that it was there. The other saving grace was the John's (not toilets), the John's (John C and John D) who heroically came by, stopped, smiled and then told me to ride back with them. I would not have made it back w/o a few tears had they not towed my spirits back to the finish. They rode slow for me which I thought was very nice considering John C's love of hill attacking and normal fast pace.
The last 3 miles I just changed my computer because I couldn't look at how slow the miles were ticking by any longer. We finished all together and I ran to my car to chug a V8. Then...I indulged in a giant slice of peach pie.
Conclusions: I should have fueled better. I should have eaten a bigger breakfast. I should not miss rest stops on accident any more. I need to do more sit ups. I need a new set of lungs. I need to not drink wine the night before a century. I really need to learn more about this base building stuff :) Smiling faces on a ride can get you through.
When I got to the registration table I realized that I had no checks, not cash and they didn't accept credit. I had driven 1 1/2 hours down to Salem to do this ride and here I stood looking like a big dufus with my wallet wide open and no payment. The very kind lady said that I could write them a check and mail it from home and could do the ride. Thank you so much kind registration lady!! Check is in the mail.
After I got all geared up and on my bike I rolled out. I have no idea what time it was, but I did start my watch to keep track of time. I was not going to keep track of the time, but I couldn't resist. Even though I was sick and was going out to enjoy myself a little voice told me I just needed to do this ;)
The first rest stop came up rather quickly (22.4 miles) and I had only gone through 1/2 of my water and 3/4 of my Accelerade. I had only had a couple bites of my breakfast (a bagel w/ peanut butter) and had 2 cups of coffee. I was not fueling very well. The bathroom line was soooooo long. 3 porta potties and over 1,000 people on this ride??? Shifty from Bike Forums was there and gave me a hello hug and encouragement. So I stood there waiting for what seemed like eternity, but had a nice chat with a girl behind me who was very friendly. I ran into my biker buddy Chalrotte and her friend Kim their smiles gave me encouragement. I topped off my water bottle, topped off the fuel bottle with some more water and popped 2 more Dayquils and was on my way. About 5 miles before the split for the metric people and century riders I latched on to a tandem who already had 2 other riders firmly attached. I totally get the sweet spot now. The guy in front of me was about 6'2" tall and created a HUGE wall. I will be a better wheel sucker in the future. I was flying with them and getting a full recovery while boogie-in at 25-27mph! Too bad they split off on the metric course. I was sad, but at least they helped me escape these 2 stubborn guys who got mad every time I passed them and had to pass me and then slow down. Hate that.
The next rest stop came up at mile 54.7. I had gone through only 1/2 of my water and 1/2 of my Heed and one gel. I refilled my water bottle, filled my fuel bottle with some Heed, grabbed a handful of pretzels to stick in my jersey pocket and made a 1/4 bagel with cream cheese and jelly. I saw another couple of friends at this stop, but one particular gave me a great laugh. Ernie came up with a friendly hug and with his chest all puffed out shouting: "I feel great! I feel like a ROCK STAR!!". This made me giggle and I told him I wanted some of what he was taking. So he gave me some electolytes and that was so nice because I stopped cramping in my calves after those. I got back on my bike after a quick potty break and went on my merry way. Oh almost forgot Mary, I saw Mary D. also she swore she had seen Mara, but indeed she had not (Mara was enjoying the comfort of her home--lucky girl). She told me of her adventures in wheel sucking.
I was feeling okay at this point, certainly not my best, but o.k. When we hit mile 70ish there was this really nice climb up from Stayton to Silverton and I loved it. I really needed some hills by now. I was starting to ache all over and focus on all my little body aches (neck, wrists, ankle, calves, etc). When we hit that climb I was just feeling energetic again. The endorphins totally kicked in...yay adreneline! Right after the climb was a nice descent into the little town of Silverton and the 3rd rest stop at mile 77.7...I MISSED IT.
I should have turned around and gone back to the stop, but all I kept thinking was: I have 1/2 a bottle of water and 1/2 the Heed, I'll surely be fine to make another 25 miles, it's just another group ride. I've done a group ride on a total of only bottle. I just want this thing to be over. At mile 85 I was DONE. I had no more water left, it was now in the high 80's, I had to pee like nobody's business and I still had 17 miles to go and I was allllll alone. I was not feeling the love. In the distance I saw a golf course and hoped there would be a porta potty on the green...there was and I ran through the ditch to get to that bad boy! Thank goodness for old man bladders that it was there. The other saving grace was the John's (not toilets), the John's (John C and John D) who heroically came by, stopped, smiled and then told me to ride back with them. I would not have made it back w/o a few tears had they not towed my spirits back to the finish. They rode slow for me which I thought was very nice considering John C's love of hill attacking and normal fast pace.
The last 3 miles I just changed my computer because I couldn't look at how slow the miles were ticking by any longer. We finished all together and I ran to my car to chug a V8. Then...I indulged in a giant slice of peach pie.
Conclusions: I should have fueled better. I should have eaten a bigger breakfast. I should not miss rest stops on accident any more. I need to do more sit ups. I need a new set of lungs. I need to not drink wine the night before a century. I really need to learn more about this base building stuff :) Smiling faces on a ride can get you through.
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