I show up early and got my area set up. I took over a plot of real estate and dumped my bag of extra clothing; a crate with bottles of Hammer Sustained Energy and HEED, Hammer Gels, and some electrolytes; my cooler with water, an extra hydration pack bladder and some backup food--Snickers, PB&J and Red Bull for when/if my body rejects the good stuff; and a spare wheelset. It looked strangely like a garage sale. I got my gear ready, warmed up, stretched, and hit the porta-johns. Ready.
Equipment: 2008 Cannondale Scalpel Carbon with Lefty Speed Carbon rolling on Stan's ZTR Olympics with Michelin XCR Dry2 (regular tires run tubeless thanks to Stan's juice), Crank Bros Egg Beaters. Diadora Team Racer shoes, Rudy Project Actyum helmet and Horus sunglasses. Zoot Cyclefit arm warmers. Chamois Butt'r. Huge Thanks!!!
Here's what went through my mind...
Start: It's 7:15am. Am I really going to ride until 5:30pm??? Goal: 6 laps. That'll be 94 miles. That's enough. Does it matter that my longest ride was 4hrs? How bad can it be? Just start out slow and ease off from there.
Lap 1: This ain't so bad. Just ease into it. Grrr...Why can no one ride in sand? Oh, no! This sand will suck on lap 6. This downhill is fun! What are all these water bars? They're huge! Stopped to fill bottles. Lap time 1:06; Cumulative time 1:06
Lap 2: Easy does it. Get in nutrition. These water bars are getting annoying. I like this track. It's good to be riding again! Stopped for water an
d new Hammer bottles. Lap 1:09; Cumulative 2:15Lap 3: This is starting to hurt. What am I doing out here? I can go home and take a nap instead. Sun's getting high...sweet. Stopped to remove knee warmers and vest. 1:10; 3:25
Lap 4: I need food, real food. I also need to train...yup, training would help. Maybe I should take that up. What's up with these flipping water bars???? Stopped to grab a PB&J sammich for the road. 1:09; 4:34
Lap 5: The short break (2 mins) was nice. Just go steady. This saddle is starting to hurt. I wonder if I have another lap in me. Its great to be riding again...I could be on the couch in a cast again...nope, riding is good! Body need real food...stopped to fill bottles and grabbed a Red Bull. 1:11; 5:44
Lap 6: Crap, the guy who just passed me is solo also. That's it...I'm counting these friggin' water bars. There must be 100 of them per lap and they keep getting bigger. Stopped for a Snickers. One more lap...you can do it. 1:10; 6:55
Lap 7: Why do they put the transition area at the bottom of the long hill so you feel good and keep going??? 368 $%^ing water bars per lap?!?!!? What??? Why am I spending every daylight hour today on my bike? Oh yeah...because I can! (Euphoria setting in). Legs getting numb now. This is now my longest ride since the crash. Stopped for water and another Red Bull. 1:12; 8:07
Lap 8: Unless I go under 1:00, I won't make the cutoff for another lap...I'm ok with that. There's the guy who passed me earlier. See ya! Now don't make him think I'm about to fall off my bike from fatigue. These hills keep getting larger each lap, too. Water bar # 2920, 2921, 2922, ... Ah, the last hill. Halleluiah! Good, no one behind me. Smooth sailing. My longest ride ever. Sweet. 1:19; 9:26
Finish: Owwie. I want my mommy. I need a new lower back. And a new saddle. And butt.
Success: 11th of 52 solos. 8 laps; 125 miles. It's the longest ride I've ever done, and the longest amount of time I've been on a bike (for good reason). Only my Ironman races have been longer events. No mechanicals--every thing ran smooth and easy. Makes a huge difference. Lessons learned: I like this stuff! Bring Chapstick next time. I need to train.
It's good to be back on the bike. Thanks for supporting me in my adventures...all it takes is a touch of insanity to truly live!
