Well, my official posted time for the 106 miles I finished Saturday was 6 hours 11 minutes. I'm not positive that it's right, but it would make sense, my on bike time was 5 hours and 50 minutes. That's 21 minutes at stops. Which now that I type it, seems short, especially since we stopped to change a flat along the way. I'm pretty sure that the guy who I was riding with was named Brian (sorry, Brian, I'm horrid with names) and I think the only Brian on the list is at 6:41, which is the time that I remember hearing when I checked in, I'm going to go with that, seems more realistic.
I don't like seeing the DNF after my name. Looks like, as expected, I'm not the only one, though. Not that that makes me feel all that much better about it.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Fail
So, I guess before I start stating all of the reasons, I should first say that I failed. I quit 105 miles in, after lunch. And I've been beating myself up for it ever since. Though, arguably, it was the right thing to do I'm still pissed. I'm upset. I'm heartbroken. I'm dejected. I'm depressed.
All because 96 more miles just seemed like it would be too much.
The excuses:
1. My right foot, which I think I mentioned here before, started, at about mile 70~ish, to kill me. It starts like a hot spot, and within a few miles it feels like I'm stepping down on a hot spike every down stroke. And it starts to move up the leg until my knee hurts as well. It really sucks. I iced at lunch, which kept me there longer than I planned; which left me there alone after the guys I'd been riding with (thanks, Brian, and I mean that sincerely for the 1st half company) had all left already. When I did decide to start again, no one else was leaving. And when I pulled up before leaving the parking lot because the pain was already back, no one else was there to force me to suck it up.
2. Lack of sleep. I didn't fall asleep until probably close to midnight Friday night. I know this about myself, I have a hard time sleeping in hotels, especially if I'm alone. I should have taken my own pillow. I should have shut my mind down better. I should have dealt with the nerves better.
3. Lack of motivation. Sounds weird to say since I've been planning on this ride since, well, probably over a year. But when I got it in my head that I wasn't going to be able to do it, well...it really got into my head. The thought of being 20 or 30 or 40 miles into the second half and having to bail freaked me out. One, because, though the website claimed that there'd be SAG, I never saw any out on the course, and other riders suggested that I would have to call my wife (who was in SLC, 4 1/2 hours away). Two, because of the second part of number one, Robyn was in Salt Lake, I was really on my own and would have no one to call if / when things went bad. Not that there would be cell service anyway. Anyway, it got in my head and I let it. I was weak.
Now for the possible good side. Me quiting prevented me from having another blow-out an hour or so later. I wrote about how my rear tire blew apart while I was at work a week ago, splitting a two inch gash into the tread. Well, an hour or so after getting back to the hotel, my front wheel blew. Same thing, about a two inch gash. I would potentially have been stranded with no tire, anyway.
The only other positive is now I'm truly going to obssess about this ride. The first half was amazingly fun and beautiful and I hear that the second half is amazing, if you can catch the view while suffering up the climbs. I will be riding next year. And you can be damned sure that I'll finish.
I'm going to call in a while to get an appt to discuss the details of the foot surgery I need with my doctor, and to get something scheduled for soon after I get back from Guatemala in September. It's supposed to be six weeks of recovery. I have to try to decide if I'm going to try to talk him into going ahead and fixing the left foot too, since it's progressing, just at a slower pace. I'd hate for it to flare up this time next year.
More later, when I'm not kicking myself so hard.
All because 96 more miles just seemed like it would be too much.
The excuses:
1. My right foot, which I think I mentioned here before, started, at about mile 70~ish, to kill me. It starts like a hot spot, and within a few miles it feels like I'm stepping down on a hot spike every down stroke. And it starts to move up the leg until my knee hurts as well. It really sucks. I iced at lunch, which kept me there longer than I planned; which left me there alone after the guys I'd been riding with (thanks, Brian, and I mean that sincerely for the 1st half company) had all left already. When I did decide to start again, no one else was leaving. And when I pulled up before leaving the parking lot because the pain was already back, no one else was there to force me to suck it up.
2. Lack of sleep. I didn't fall asleep until probably close to midnight Friday night. I know this about myself, I have a hard time sleeping in hotels, especially if I'm alone. I should have taken my own pillow. I should have shut my mind down better. I should have dealt with the nerves better.
3. Lack of motivation. Sounds weird to say since I've been planning on this ride since, well, probably over a year. But when I got it in my head that I wasn't going to be able to do it, well...it really got into my head. The thought of being 20 or 30 or 40 miles into the second half and having to bail freaked me out. One, because, though the website claimed that there'd be SAG, I never saw any out on the course, and other riders suggested that I would have to call my wife (who was in SLC, 4 1/2 hours away). Two, because of the second part of number one, Robyn was in Salt Lake, I was really on my own and would have no one to call if / when things went bad. Not that there would be cell service anyway. Anyway, it got in my head and I let it. I was weak.
Now for the possible good side. Me quiting prevented me from having another blow-out an hour or so later. I wrote about how my rear tire blew apart while I was at work a week ago, splitting a two inch gash into the tread. Well, an hour or so after getting back to the hotel, my front wheel blew. Same thing, about a two inch gash. I would potentially have been stranded with no tire, anyway.
The only other positive is now I'm truly going to obssess about this ride. The first half was amazingly fun and beautiful and I hear that the second half is amazing, if you can catch the view while suffering up the climbs. I will be riding next year. And you can be damned sure that I'll finish.
I'm going to call in a while to get an appt to discuss the details of the foot surgery I need with my doctor, and to get something scheduled for soon after I get back from Guatemala in September. It's supposed to be six weeks of recovery. I have to try to decide if I'm going to try to talk him into going ahead and fixing the left foot too, since it's progressing, just at a slower pace. I'd hate for it to flare up this time next year.
More later, when I'm not kicking myself so hard.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Four days
So, it's now four days until the big Dual. I'm getting nervous. I should probably be out riding right now but, well, there's always a but, isn't there?
I came out from work yesterday and walked over to where the bike was parked and noticed a very flat back tire. Cursing myself for having just a couple of weeks ago bragged to my friend that I've never had a flat on the rear of this bike, I started to remove the wheel and dig out the tools. When I got the wheel off, I noticed a two inch rip in the seem where the bottom, thicker rubber part of the tire was bonded to the rest of the tire. Well, I thought, that looks like failure to me, not my fault. I figured that once I got to the LBS, I'd mention it and maybe get a 10% discount. Kind of a bummer since they're $55 tires (Specialized All Condition Pro). Well, I went in and picked out a replacement, walked up to the counter and mentioned what had happened. The guy asked if I had the tire, I said yes and went out to the car to get it. He took one look, rang something into the register and handed me the new tire. No charge. Seems that Specialized has a satisfaction guarantee and as you can't be very satisfied with a blown tire, they gave me another one. Very cool. This may be S.O.P. for this kind of thing but it's cool nonetheless. I was prepared to spend the money and happily so since the tire blew on Monday and not on Saturday, somewhere on a 200 mile loop outside of Panquitch, UT.
I'm still nervous.
If anyone's out there, wish me luck. I have every confidence in the world that I can do this ride but the usual pre-ride doubts are kicking in early. Probably since I don't know anyone else doing the ride (yet) and since I've never traveled so far for a ride. Or maybe it's just the fact that riding 200 miles in one day is starting to sound a little nuts.
That's probably it.
But, I have to tell you, I'm already thinking of LOTJA...
I came out from work yesterday and walked over to where the bike was parked and noticed a very flat back tire. Cursing myself for having just a couple of weeks ago bragged to my friend that I've never had a flat on the rear of this bike, I started to remove the wheel and dig out the tools. When I got the wheel off, I noticed a two inch rip in the seem where the bottom, thicker rubber part of the tire was bonded to the rest of the tire. Well, I thought, that looks like failure to me, not my fault. I figured that once I got to the LBS, I'd mention it and maybe get a 10% discount. Kind of a bummer since they're $55 tires (Specialized All Condition Pro). Well, I went in and picked out a replacement, walked up to the counter and mentioned what had happened. The guy asked if I had the tire, I said yes and went out to the car to get it. He took one look, rang something into the register and handed me the new tire. No charge. Seems that Specialized has a satisfaction guarantee and as you can't be very satisfied with a blown tire, they gave me another one. Very cool. This may be S.O.P. for this kind of thing but it's cool nonetheless. I was prepared to spend the money and happily so since the tire blew on Monday and not on Saturday, somewhere on a 200 mile loop outside of Panquitch, UT.
I'm still nervous.
If anyone's out there, wish me luck. I have every confidence in the world that I can do this ride but the usual pre-ride doubts are kicking in early. Probably since I don't know anyone else doing the ride (yet) and since I've never traveled so far for a ride. Or maybe it's just the fact that riding 200 miles in one day is starting to sound a little nuts.
That's probably it.
But, I have to tell you, I'm already thinking of LOTJA...
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Long time
It's been over two months since I posted here. So much for keeping up with things. Not too much has been going on. I haven't ridden as much as I'd like, or need to for training for the Dual on the 23rd. Let's see, since June 4th I've ridden the MS150, where I rode the century (100 mile) ride on Saturday followed by the 75 mile option on Sunday, making it my biggest mile weekend ever. More exciting for me on that ride was that Robyn rode 75 miles on Saturday, her longest ride ever! Did some training rides in July, but nothing big.
Just yesterday (August 9), I rode the ULCER, 111 mile epic century. To challenge myself further, and to see if I think I can actually do the 200 miles in two weeks, I decided to ride to the event and home again as well. This added 27 miles on either end of the trip, and included crossing over Point of the Mountain for a grand total for the day of 163.1 miles, averaging about 16.8 mph (on the bike time, I didn't include the rest stops) Total time was about 11 1/2 hours, I think. I crashed pretty hard last night. We decided to meet some friends out at the Bayou since Gary (Robyn's brother) is here visiting. I was starving, so I was all on board. About halfway through the meal, though (and halfway through my second beer), I hit the wall, as would be expected. I slept very well last night and actually feel not really that bad today, which gives me great hope that I will not die on the Desperado! The weather there should be slightly cooler than here because of the elevation, so that's good. The climbing, though will probably be my (and everyone else, I'd think) biggest challenge. I've gotten pretty ok at climbing, much, much better than this time last year but the climbs on the way home yesterday were painful...and slow. I think I was averaging about 17.2 mph before having to climb home over the Point again...
And most of the big climbs, from what I can tell, on the Dual are in the second half. Fun times. They limit you to no more than 17 hours. Jason did it in 13 hours 40 minutes in 2006. I'd like to come in sometime around that time. There are fewer rest stops (about six plush lunch), which is a good and bad thing. Good because it'll make me stay in the saddle longer, bad because I know I'm going to have to work extra hard to keep myself fed and hydrated. And the longer space between stops means longer periods without kicking my shoe off for a minute, which with a foot like mine, may be a problem. I'm honestly more worried about that than any other part of the ride. The burning pain that starts up when it does is amazing, and not in a good way. This ride may be the determining factor on when I go for surgery, since the doctor said he would do it at my convenience. Convenient was going to be in October of November, so I can keep cycling for the summer and be healed in time to try more skiing in the winter. This may make me want to push that up a few weeks.
Anyway, enough of that. Other big~ish news, we're planning a trip to Guatemala for September, looks like we'll be there for my birthday, which is also their Independence Day, I think, so that'll be fun.
Just yesterday (August 9), I rode the ULCER, 111 mile epic century. To challenge myself further, and to see if I think I can actually do the 200 miles in two weeks, I decided to ride to the event and home again as well. This added 27 miles on either end of the trip, and included crossing over Point of the Mountain for a grand total for the day of 163.1 miles, averaging about 16.8 mph (on the bike time, I didn't include the rest stops) Total time was about 11 1/2 hours, I think. I crashed pretty hard last night. We decided to meet some friends out at the Bayou since Gary (Robyn's brother) is here visiting. I was starving, so I was all on board. About halfway through the meal, though (and halfway through my second beer), I hit the wall, as would be expected. I slept very well last night and actually feel not really that bad today, which gives me great hope that I will not die on the Desperado! The weather there should be slightly cooler than here because of the elevation, so that's good. The climbing, though will probably be my (and everyone else, I'd think) biggest challenge. I've gotten pretty ok at climbing, much, much better than this time last year but the climbs on the way home yesterday were painful...and slow. I think I was averaging about 17.2 mph before having to climb home over the Point again...
And most of the big climbs, from what I can tell, on the Dual are in the second half. Fun times. They limit you to no more than 17 hours. Jason did it in 13 hours 40 minutes in 2006. I'd like to come in sometime around that time. There are fewer rest stops (about six plush lunch), which is a good and bad thing. Good because it'll make me stay in the saddle longer, bad because I know I'm going to have to work extra hard to keep myself fed and hydrated. And the longer space between stops means longer periods without kicking my shoe off for a minute, which with a foot like mine, may be a problem. I'm honestly more worried about that than any other part of the ride. The burning pain that starts up when it does is amazing, and not in a good way. This ride may be the determining factor on when I go for surgery, since the doctor said he would do it at my convenience. Convenient was going to be in October of November, so I can keep cycling for the summer and be healed in time to try more skiing in the winter. This may make me want to push that up a few weeks.
Anyway, enough of that. Other big~ish news, we're planning a trip to Guatemala for September, looks like we'll be there for my birthday, which is also their Independence Day, I think, so that'll be fun.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
I've got to admit, I've never been more proud of my party than I am today. I grew up in the south, well, not really the 'south' - Texas (it's like a whole other country), where racism was not hidden. To think that we're in a position to nominate the first African-American to run for president on a major party ticket, and he's not only going to be nominated but is very, very, very, very likely to win...it's amazing to me. I know that Edwards was my first pick in this primary but Obama has impressed me all along with his tactics, his pride, his resolve and quite honestly, the prospect of having a president that I don't have to cringe when he speaks, well, that's almost too good to be true. Enough of this 'would you want to have a beer nonsense' or idiot David Brooks (NY Times), "Obama‘s problem is he doesn‘t seem like a guy who can go into an Applebee‘s salad bar and people think he fits in naturally there. He has to change to be more like that Applebee‘s guy..." (NOTE TO Mr. Brooks - Applebee's DOESN'T HAVE A SALAD BAR! If you're going to try to peg a guy as being not regular guy enough for America, pull you head out of your ass long enough to go actually SEE the 'regular guy icon' you're referring to, dumb-ass), I - for one- would actually like my president to be smarter than me.
And for the record, sure I'd like to have a beer with Barack, for that matter, I'd slam back a few with John Kerry, too. I actually LIKE intellegent conversation over beers.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Sunday ride
My wife, Robyn, her friend and I rode from our house out to the Great Salt Lake marina this morning. It was Robyn's longest ride to date. They rode about 44 miles, I logged 47.51 (lapped back to check on them twice.)
I'm absolutely thrilled that she's liking cycling. She's scheduled to ride the Little Red Riding Hood ride on the 7th with a group of her friends. Very cool, in my book.
I'm absolutely thrilled that she's liking cycling. She's scheduled to ride the Little Red Riding Hood ride on the 7th with a group of her friends. Very cool, in my book.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Harmon's Best Dam Bike Ride 2008
I've signed up to ride in the Harmon's Best Dam Bike Ride 2008 for the Utah State Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society (MS 150). I plan on riding the full century route on Saturday, June 28 and the 75 mile route on Sunday, June 29. So, should you choose to support me, you're actually getting an extra 17% for your money!
If you'd like to support my ride, click the logo above or the link on the right. And, thanks in advance.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Today's mileage: ~8.4 (commute)
93 days and counting.
Not a lot to say today. All kinds of things happening politically that I haven't written about; like this and this. On the first, I'd like to say it's about time Mr. McSame; only took saying that god sent Hitler to force the Jews into Israel so all of the apocalyptic wet-dreamers can fantasize about the second coming to make you decide that this crack-pot may not be worth your political trouble, eh? On the second, we all know, Mr. Rove, that you're going to try to plead executive privilege, but if the president didn't know about this, then that wouldn't hold up, now would it? Here's to hoping that Congress sticks to it's guns and grows a set to enforce this this time. I'd love to see Karl hauled in in handcuffs, sweating like the fat pig that he is. (no offense to our porcine friends.)
Spurs lost last night and lost a 20 point lead in the process. But the Lakers have to win three more for it to really matter. Go SA!
93 days and counting.
Not a lot to say today. All kinds of things happening politically that I haven't written about; like this and this. On the first, I'd like to say it's about time Mr. McSame; only took saying that god sent Hitler to force the Jews into Israel so all of the apocalyptic wet-dreamers can fantasize about the second coming to make you decide that this crack-pot may not be worth your political trouble, eh? On the second, we all know, Mr. Rove, that you're going to try to plead executive privilege, but if the president didn't know about this, then that wouldn't hold up, now would it? Here's to hoping that Congress sticks to it's guns and grows a set to enforce this this time. I'd love to see Karl hauled in in handcuffs, sweating like the fat pig that he is. (no offense to our porcine friends.)
Spurs lost last night and lost a 20 point lead in the process. But the Lakers have to win three more for it to really matter. Go SA!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Cycle Salt Lake Century
My friend, Jason, and I rode the Cycle Salt Lake Century last Saturday (that's me on the red bike.) According to my computer, I rode 105.73 miles. Max speed was 31.0 mph. average was 14.3. That average is the total ride time, including breaks (7 hours 24 minutes). We took some long breaks, especially the last one while we were waiting for Jason's wife (Heather) and daughter and my wife, dad and his wife to show up and then hung out with them for a while.
Over all, it was a really good ride, we were really moving the first 50+ miles, averaging well over 20 mph. The worst part for me was crossing the causeway to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. I rotting brine shrimp smell really made me feel nauseous. I made a couple of mistakes. I bought new shoes on Friday (Pearl Izumi carbon soled shoes, got a fantastic deal at the outlet) and I got my new Selle Italia saddle in the mail on Friday. So I rode a new saddle and new shoes on a century, which in general is a stupid thing to do. I was having major hot-spots on my right foot and I had the saddle about a quarter inch too high, which caused some not-so-great soreness that, in the long run, I think this saddle will actually help reduce. Not smart, but I had to break them in sometime, right?
On Sunday, Robyn and I rode with Jason and Heather and some other friends up to City Creek canyon again to have breakfast (it's going to be a regular Sunday ride.) I rode up the canyon some and back, so I rode further than most of them. A total of 12.8 miles.
I rode City Creek again on Monday morning, for the first time up to the water treatment plant, for a total of 18.51 miles.
Tuesday and today I just did my regular commute. About 8.4 miles, round trip.
We've canceled our camping trip this weekend due to weather. (It's 50 degrees out now, and raining. It was 80+ yesterday.) So, I hope to get some good rides in this weekend. I have 94 days until the Desperado Dual and I need to really get some good saddle time in.
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