What a Vacation!

My coach gives me the week off. First time in a very long time that those words have come out of his keyboard. Absolutely nothing on the calendar for me last week. Struck me that I had a couple of options: a. Do nothing b. Do anything I wanted. I chose option b and had a nice week of riding just for the fun of it. Mind you, I neglected to take it easy on myself:

Monday: 1:30 of easy riding
Tuesday: Tuesday Night ride with the MVW - never an easy ride, hammer fest.
Wednesday: Easy ride on fixie
Thursday: NO RIDING
Friday: couple of hours of riding around on the fixie
Saturday: Sprint intervals with RS - not so pleasant
Sunday: Breakfast ride - similar to Tuesday, only almost 4 hours of riding

I think I need a vacation from my vacation. Now on to cx training!!

Read it Quick!

Results

It won't last long.

The Good, The Bad, The Not so Pretty

These guys asked me to race the 12 Hours of Pando with them. Why, you would have to ask them, I'm not sure either. I agreed, thinking, I can race 100 mile races, shouldn't be a big deal. I should have done a little more research before nodding my head. Maybe I was falling asleep and that was why my head was nodding?

Race day arrives and I had arranged to pick up Nate and his wife Meaghan on my way to the race. I woke up at 5:30 and got myself moving out the door in a timely fashion. Picked them up and off we went. Meaghan has been at these races before and would be referred to as our "pit bitch" shortly after the pit area was set up and functional. It turns out to be a self-inflicted moniker and done in good fun - they are a fun group to hang with!

Pando is a small ski resort near Grand Rapids. Certainly not as intimidating as Breckenridge, the last ski resort I raced at. I did a quick pre ride with Andy and realized that indeed, they were 4.5 mile laps, and they would be done at a high rate of speed. The loop starts with a sprint up the 'front' slope of the ski hill and immediately turns 180 degrees to come right back down along the tow rope line. Then it heads around the back on some two track, throw in some reasonably fun singletrack, a climb and descent on another ski slope and you pretty much have the circuit.

Here is what the start line looked like:


Somewhere near the middle of that group is Andy Brown - our lead off rider. His goal was to get the hole shot. He got it in front of Dan Jansen. Here is Andy on the downhill followed by Dan:




Once the race was on, we started with doing two laps each. The batting order was Andy, Nate, Eddie, then me in the anchor (I feared the worst). I realized somewhere along the way that the basic strategy was kind of like a cx race. Basically go to red line and pin it there for the entire lap/s. I was not prepared for that mentally. I have been training to ride all day, not sprint for short periods of time with rests in between. Off we go!

My first two lap times were pretty good. My goal for the day was to remain consistent with my times and not be a total load. We then switched to a one lap rotation. this meant riding for approximately 20 minutes, and then resting for 60. As the day progressed, we settled into a battle with a west coast team that was nip and tuck all along. My times were pretty solid, creeping up when night and rain rolled in. It got kind of unpleasant, 55 degrees and rain combined with dark are not the best conditions for anything, especially mtb racing. We survived. There was controversy on my last lap with the other team. They had a mechanical and had to cut the course to fix, thus aborting their lap, and having to start that lap over again. This erased the 10 minute deficit we had at that moment and put us back in the lead. Unfortunately, the official lap counters somehow screwed this up. At the end of the day, in the words of the promoter, "maybe got 2nd and the other team maybe got first". Not so pretty!!

All in all, the race was a lot of fun. I am hoping it was a good start to getting ready for cx season. It kind of felt like doing mini cx races for 12 hours. The ride home was TOUGH! We left Pando at around 1:30 and I got home at 5. Thank goodness Nate was willing to drive, still not sure what was in the chocolate chip muffins. I am now up to 3 hours of sleep and looking forward to my second nap of the day.

Miscellaneous Stuff

1. My legs finally felt 'normal' riding yesterday

2. An exciting day ahead at Cedar Point - nothing like rubbing elbows with a bunch of people who wish they were on the Jerry Springer Show instead of at an amusement park.

3. Any suggestions on the best bike storage system? Space will be available for anyone that helps me build out some space at my shop to store bikes. The space will be sort of climate controlled.

4. I have a senior in high school now. I am accepting donations to fund her college education.

5. I might be looking for a tt bike to borrow next summer for the Sylvania Triatholon. One of my daughters' friends thinks it would be a great idea to compete - she is a very good swimmer, I am a mediocre bike rider, we will be looking for a very good runner. Applications being accepted.

6. I never new that riding a fixie would be so fun. It is also a bit dangerous - I have no idea how people (messengers) do it in a big city. I would be under a bus in no time.

7. How many bikes are too many to own? Is it one more than the number you currently own? Is there such a thing as too many?

I need some coffee - TTFN

Why Do I do This?

Left for Wilderness 101 Friday morning with some pretty high hopes. After my disaster at Breckenridge, I was looking forward to a decent performance. I got registered Friday afternoon and headed for my hotel. The race starts in the town of Coburn and I was was staying in the town of Millheim. At the lovely Millheim hotel to be specific.

It is an interesting establishment. Built a long time ago, restaurant/bar on the first floor and rooms on the second and third floors. There is one bathroom/shower on each floor for the rooms to share! I was lucky that my room had a window air conditioner unit. Apparently not all the rooms have them. The room put me at a decided disadvantage for the race, it was pink! There was also a bird cage in the corner with a stuffed bird in it - what's up with that?







I had a decent dinner in the restaurant and retired to my room. I did my usual pre-race routine of getting my stuff organized. Bottles, gel flasks, etc. were put together so I would have minimal stuff to do in the morning. I slept okay, no better or worse than usual. I woke up before my alarm and had some breakfast. I woke up early enough that I was able to eat and get my morning stuff taken care and then lay back down for a 1/2 hour nap. Kind of nice. Headed for the race venue, about 10 minutes away.

I put my drop bags in what I thought were the right piles - must not have been paying attention. Warmed up a bit, never an overly important thing before a 100 mile race - usually 2-3 mile roll out to warm up and then many hours in the saddle anyway. Got to the start line in plenty of time. Tinker was there and the local gang, Eatough decided to sleep in - smart move. We rolled out on time. This course starts with a big climb right out of the chute. I was feeling pretty decent, set a nice steady pace that wasn't too much. I thought I was doing a good job of putting calories and electrolytes in my body. About mile 50 my world closed in on me. I did not have the bag I was anticipating at that stop, so I did not have the bottles I was hoping for. I had gotten behind on my calorie intake, I BONKED. I had not had that unpleasant experience before, nor do I want to have it again. I was in a bad way. Mile 50-75 was nothing but painful recovery and try to get calories into my body. Somehow I managed to get myself back into a ridable condition and finished pretty strong.

This course was not among my favorites. Incredibly long fire road climbs with very litte singletrack. Although the singletrack was a pain - rocks and roots do not make for smooth sailing. There were a couple of descents that were pretty scary! I do not like to downhill on rocks and loose sand, but that was what I had to deal with. I rode it pretty well all things considered. a: I rode it b: I did not fall in the process. Thanks to my disastrous nutrition work, I finished in around 10 hours - I had hoped for 8.5-9. Oh well, I at least finished and actually finished fairly strong given the middle portion.

On my way home, I managed to poach a shower from the Millheim hotel and hit the road. Stopping at a Dairy Queen for my now traditional post hundie meal:



For those keeping track at home: cheeseburger, fries, large shake, large diet coke, small coke. A couple of hours later I stopped for a Mountain Dew, ice cream sandwich, scone, and coffee. I am hoping to continue the eating today. I drove all the way home after the race - 6 hours. I would love to have slept in today, but my eyes were wide open at 6:15 and I could not get back to sleep. It is raining and I am looking forward to an afternoon nap listening to the rain.

I think it is time for me to make an honest evaluation of what I am doing by taking on these races. Do I enjoy it? Is it just the sense of accomplishment? The questions are endless, the answers not so easy to come up with.