Lake Gaston 210K NC to VA out and back

SO.

I figured that since I was going to be vacationing with my wife and kids for 10 days, and going to be in another state, I would get a permanent in, and in the mean time get a state or two more towards my "American Explorer" award, which is cycling at least a 200K in at least 10 states. Once this is achieved in a RUSA cyclists lifetime, they can get a metal plaque that state magnets can be added to, with the goal of "filling the map"!

This is set up as a goal to accomplish over a number of years, I am going to try to accomplish it in my first year as a RUSA randonneur, since I have finally committed to giving up the goal of a Super Randonneur award for the year, because of scheduling difficulties, and the fact that it would mean I would have to drive back to NC twice in the next few months, to ride 240+ miles, and then 360+ miles in likely high temps and heat, I thought it would be more logical to try for that goal next year. Riding severely fatigued and dehydrated can lead to accidents, as well as other problems, and I don't need to be stupid.

I decided to do this particular ride because it includes two states, NC and VA. I already have rides in NY, PA, and NJ, and have looked at some more rides closer to home that include WV, and MD, so I wouldn't be "wasting a state" by riding in a state that would overlap. I am hoping to get some other states later this year.

I contacted the route owner, this is the person who builds the route and is in charge of it, and he told me that he would be out of town when I was here, but I was more than welcome to do his route, and also recommended a route out of Raleigh owned by a friend that was a loop as an alternative. I am not a huge fan of out and back routes, but he told me that his route was a little more rural, and I always prefer a route with less traffic involved.

I decided to do the route on Monday morning, since that was the second full day of our vacation, and it would assure I was more rested and better prepared for the ride, without cutting in to too much of our vacation time. The weather promised to be in the mid-90's, with humidity near 60%. It was warmer than I had ridden before, and though I wanted to ride my Fuji, since it was a bit flatter of a course, I went with the CoMotion because of more water bottle holders. This proved to be a very wise choice.

I started at 6AM, trying to get as much ground covered as possible before the heat set in. I brought a stocking with me to make an ice sock for later in the day, and traveled light. Water bottles were filled, and I brought 6 mini PayDay's with me, and 4 baggies of INFINIT Endurance powder that I put in the 3rd water bottle that sits under my downtube just in front of my pedals, one for each segment of the ride. I grabbed an orange juice at McDonalds to get my receipt and card signed and got rolling.

It was a foggy morning, with 100% humidity, but also 73 degrees, so I wasn't complaining. My glasses fogged up quick, and I took them off. About 8 miles out of town I saw a sign for "Bailey - 9 miles", so of course I had to stop and get a picture. As I got back on my bike I noticed about 30 little round "seeds" on my legs. Shoot, are those ticks?  That caused another quick stop to verify that they weren't in fact ticks, they were seeds of some kind, but they bothered me for the rest of the trip, as I would look down, and there would be more on my legs from cars kicking them up as they passed.

These rides all have time limits, both too fast and too slow.. You can't get there too early or too late. The first Control, 37 miles into the trip had a 7:58 opening time, and a closing time at 9:56. I was doing well, with my stops and starting slightly after 6 and I pulled into the stop and got my card signed at 8:10, which was after getting my water, and chatting with one of the locals about what I was doing. He had seen "another fella" doing this a few weeks back, and was aware of where I started from and where I was going. He followed me out the door, and I filled my bottles and got on my way. I had 4 dogs chase me on the first leg, and was thinking it was going to be a long day, as the dogs can cause you to "burn matches" that you may need later.

This segment promised to be prettier, with more remote roads, and a 1 mile long lake crossing as well as crossing from NC to VA. The open time for the next control was at 9:30, and I arrived at 9:50, so I was still going strong.

It was starting to heat up now, and I should have filled the ice sock here, but I wasn't feeling uncomfortably hot, and thought I'd be OK. About 3 miles down the road, I realized I was wrong about that, between the heat and headwind, it was going to be some real work. I had made it to the midway point in 4 hours, it was possible to finish in 8 theoretically, but I knew immediately that wasn't going to happen, and was hoping to finish between 9 and 10 hours total.

I kept my pace very reasonable over the next 28 miles, making sure that I didn't over-exert too much, and trying to stay cool. There was little shade, and the temps had popped to 90 degrees in no time. Each hill was work, even though they were really very slight grades. I was just concentrating on how much fluid I was taking in, and taking it reasonable. I  drank 2 bottles of INFINIT mix (27oz bottles) in the first 65.5 miles, and probably finished another 27 oz bottle of water. I also ate 2 of the mini paydays. I was starting to feel full, which was a bad thing. I was also starting to feel very hot. Over this next 65.5 miles the Garmin said that the temps got up to 104, I don't think that was the air temp, but I'll bet you with the road heat, it might have been pretty close. I know I thought a couple of times about letting a little air out of my tires because I was concerned with the heat that they might pop, but they held out. I stopped a couple of times for photo ops crossing Lake Gaston, the NC state line, and  for a pile of what I at first though was a HUGE snake hit by a mower, but went back to see it was a bunch of alligator gar someone had thrown in the ditch.

I got to back to the middle control at 12:10, got some water and ice, and filled all my water bottles with only water, and filled the stocking with ice to hang around my neck and try to keep my body temp down. I only had 37 miles to go, but knew it was going to be painful. There were some long stretches of nothing but sun and rolling roads. No stores to stop and fill my water, so I had to plan accordingly. You can see in the following photo with my bike, the panty hose loaded with ice that I put around my neck.

The final miles were in fact tough. I stopped 10 miles in to fill my bottles, and again at 20+ miles in. When I stood after filling my bottles at the 20 mile stop, I had to grab the wall to stay up from being a little woozy. I had gotten to the point of overheating, and was having trouble consuming anything, including water, but was thirsty, so forced it down. The final 10 miles were tough, with just cranking the pedals becoming quite the task. I averaged under 10 mph, and was stoked when I saw the sign for the Cracker Barrel in the horizon ahead, knowing it was next to the McDonalds that was the final control.  A little further on I saw the Hampton which hosts the parking lot which you ride through to get to the finish. I rolled in slow, and was damned happy to be done. The receipt from Mickey D's said 3:34, so 9 hours and 34 minutes.  I was dreaming of under 9, and if it had been cooler I might have made it.

I am glad I did the ride. It was an eye opener about riding in the heat, which CAN be done, but you have to ride smart. I do know that coming back to North Carolina at the end of July to ride a 400K, and then again at the end of August to ride a 600K is out of the question.

I also found out between the ride and writing this report that another good friend, and guy I rode with a couple of times earlier this year died in a ride in Virginia. It was a major event. 2000 participants, and it's a multi-day tour. Mark Hogan who was a gentle giant of a man was riding with another guy I have ridden with a few times, Blaine Chamberlain, and Mark was crossing railroad tracks, and fell. He was wearing a helmet, but the impact with the road caused too traumatic of head injuries for him to survive. He was another guy in the 60 year old range. In fact I rode earlier this year with Mark Hogan, Mark Sheehan, Bill Fischer and myself on an 80+ mile ride around the southern tier of NY.

During my first ride with Mark H. I was lagging behind, so when we crested a hill, I told the group to go on ahead, and I would finish on my own. He refused to leave me, and said we all ride together. He was a great man, and will be dearly missed. What a great guy.. It's just not fair some times.

Letchworth 300K - June 2nd

OK...  So this ride is actually not called "Letchworth 300K" - it's called 300LR-1, but what kind of fun is a name like that?!

Friday night I drove from work to my parents house in Caledonia, and stayed within 1 hour of the start. The ride start time was scheduled for 6AM, so this would give me a bit more sleep and a chance to catch up with my parents, which is always a good time, and alot of laughs. I got to sleep around 9, and headed out for Ontario NY for the start.

I arrived at around 5:30, and got everything prepared to ride. 4 riders were there including myself.  Ride organizer Peter Dusel (left), and two others, Al (blue), and John (yellow).. John had tried the same ride a couple of weeks earlier and DNF'd, so was bound and determined to get it done this time. Check out those tires on Johns bike! 45lbs... Man - that has to be some rolling resistance, but a cushy ride.

We rolled out together and headed for our first stop in Canadaigua 30 miles down the road. There were some slight rollers, and the wind hadn't picked up much yet, so it was a nice ride. I felt great, thinking hell, it's only 160 more miles! No problems, right? We stopped at the park across from the Hess Station Control and got our cards signed and were on our way.

Next stop would be Naples - Bob and Ruths diner, which was only 25 miles further down the road, so we headed down the East side of the lake, up on the "scenic route". We continued down the road together, and the wind picked up some, and the rain spit a little bit along the way, but all in all, it was still quite decent.  We rolled in to Bob and Ruths and got our cards signed at 10:15. When we came across the bottom coming into Naples, the wind was something. It was a cross wind, but you had to lean sideways into it riding, not looking forward to hitting the hilltops climbing out of Naples to Dansville, and then Dansville to Canaseraga. I was shaking from the cold, so decided to keep rolling, but stopped long enough to get the "legit" Naples photo with the grape vines in the background.

Interesting thing about the cold and dressing appropriately. If you're doing it right, you're going to be cold when you stop, but when you're rolling you should be comfortable, which I was. Of course sweating and getting the clothing soaked doesn't help a bunch, but I have no idea how you're going to ride and not sweat. At least not me.

I got going just before the others, and saw them in my mirror as I got back on the bike after taking the picture. As I stated earlier, I felt great, and had a dream time of 15 hours. I figured with the wind, if I could do the first 100 miles, and get to Letchworth (102 miles) by around 8 hours, I should be able to do the next 90 in another 8 hours as there was less climbing and should be a strong tailwind. The hills out of Naples are decent. Some long climbs, but nothing really horribly steep. Then you roll downhill into Dansville, and go through town, and out the other side to climb up Ossian Hill Rd. One thing I have learned is that long ago most roads were named, and when they were named the vehicles were a bit different than now lets assume, so, when a road has the name "Hill" in it, there is very likely a good reason.. This was no exception. It's a 2.5 mile stretch climbing over 600 feet, then when you think you've topped out, it still gradually climbs, but by this time, you're "on top" with farm fields around, and nothing to buffet the wind, and I couldn't get up over 6 mph for probably a 5 mile stretch..  I kept pedaling towards Canaseraga, expecting at any time to have this long downhill stretch, but that never happened. I figure that Dansville must just be a low spot, so when you take that long fast ride down into Dansville, there's only one way to get out, and thats climbing...

Once I got to Rt 70 in Canaseraga, it was only about 8 miles to the next Control point. There was some wind, but the woods on the right side do a pretty good job keeping the breeze under control. I rolled into the "Seager Farm" control at around 1:30. I was just over 90 miles into the ride, and had been on the road for 7.5 hours. If I was hoping to keep up this pace, I really needed to keep rolling, but I sat down, had some rice cake, a swig of gatorade, and some pretzels that they had there. As I was standing to get going again, Al and Peter came up the road. I hopped on my bike and said "hey" as I was pulling out of the driveway.

The next stop was behind the Glen Iris Inn in Letchworth State Park. It was what is called an "info" control. I needed to write down on my card, how many acres the initial donation was, which could be found on a large plaque overlooking the falls. I spent more time here taking a good picture of my bike and trying to upload it than finding the answer and was quickly on my way again.

Right out of the parking lot you start climbing.. There are some short steep climbs in Letchworth, and I believe this is where I made the biggest mistake of my ride. I was doing OK for time, and was really trying to make the whole ride in what I figured now might be a possible 16 hours, but I knew I would have to keep moving. The second half of this ride appears on paper to be less hilly, which it is, as far as long climbs go, but it has alot of rollers, and I didn't take them at a reasonable enough pace, and didn't allow myself time to recover. I wasn't even through Letchworth when I started feeling sick, and that feeling that I wasn't absorbing anything, including water. Even drinking water was making me feel sick.. This wasn't good. I did have time to stop and take another photo though - make the most of it, y'know!

I headed out of Letchworth towards Geneseo, and stopped in town at the mini market to try to find something I could keep down, and fill one of my water bottles. I bought a Dr. Pepper, and a bag of those little chocolate chip cookies, ate 3 cookies, drank half the bottle of pop, and felt worse.. Screw it, time to keep going.  I stopped in the middle of town, at the bear statue, and took another shot of my bike - looks like I am in France!

This was the last picture I took for the ride. When your ass gets dragging like that, you don't care much about anything but finishing..  I will say that I looked for other photo ops, but nothing jumped out.

Into Canadaigua, the last stop before the end before 9:00. Just 28 miles left.  I was a hurting unit. Al and Peter pulled in 5 minutes after me, and Peter got me straightened out on my nausea.. I hadn't eaten or drank much of anything since probably 2:00. I was pretty badly dehydrated, and craved the fruit smoothie I grabbed, but couldn't drink it, too much acid.  Peter said that I really needed to go empty my stomach. I was shivering so bad I was shuddering, and this was inside the Tim Hortons.. Anyways, I took Peters advice, and immediately started feeling a bit better. I got some chicken noodle soup (much needed sodium), and some water, and felt like I was ready. We all got our reflective gear on, lights going, and I was shaking again, so got on my bike, and got going again. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I heard the bell on Johns bike ding, as he was pulling in.

I was ahead of Peter and Al by only a few minutes, but they made a wrong turn and ended up further behind me than expected. The last part is fairly flat with some small rollers, but thankfully it's a nice stretch, and I slowed to let the others catch up, didn't seem right to finish the ride alone after these guys sat around and helped me out at the control giving me the pointers I needed to feel better.. With about 15 miles left I saw the lights coming up behind me, and we rode the remainder of the ride together. Talking some, and enjoying the night. We pulled into Peters driveway, and the final control at 11:40PM, just 17 hours and 40 minutes after we had left.

According to the Garmin, I spent 15:56 minutes in the saddle pedaling, which means just over 100 minutes of off the bike time. I climbed over 9100 feet - not my most climbing for a ride, but with the fatigue you get on the longer rides it seemed plenty. I burned about 8000 calories, and according to the scale lost 5 lbs since Friday morning. By Monday morning I had gained 3 lbs back, and was likely still dehydrated, so am still working on getting the rest of the fluids I need - oh yeah, and the rest I need. I had very little saddle discomfort until around mile 180, and then not enough to bother me all that much.

Not sure what the next ride will be for me, at least the next long ride.  We have a couple of busy weekends, and a family vacation coming up at the end of the month, then the Boilermaker the second weekend of July, so, sometime after that.. Was hoping to maybe try to sneak a 400K in, and maybe even do a 600K this year, getting me my Super Randonneur Award for the year, but I am not sure that will be happening, we'll see.

The only other two things to mention.

1 - Peter and his wife told me to stay at their house for the night, and when I told them I was heading out, they said "get going then". Peter said it will be about 25 minutes after your butt settles into that car seat, and you're going to have a horrible time staying awake. He was right. The clock on my dashboard said it had been 26 minutes when it was all I could do to stay awake. Even coffee didn't help much. I will make alternate plans next time I do any ride over 200K.

2 - We lost a friend in cycling on Saturday. Not one of the four in my group, but a guy I had ridden with earlier in the year. His name is Mark Sheehan, and I enjoyed riding with him, and talking with him about his recent retirement - actually, at the time it would be his future retirement. He had left NYSEG to take vacation before coming back for a single days work to retire back in February, and was home for a few days from a year long house rental in Florida where he, his wife, and his doberman were going to spend a year and check things out. He had worked very hard the previous year, we talked about my goals, about his goals, what those goals had been, and what his plans were. About riding with his wife, going to Fredericksburg, TX to ride some long ride down there, one day with his wife, and another on his own. About a lot of different stuff..  He was out riding Saturday with a group, and pulled his bike off the side of the road and died. I am not positive about the details, but that doesn't matter. He died doing what he loved.  I found out from a friend today that he had over 3000 miles in this year already. He was loving his retirement. I am sorry he didn't get to enjoy more of it, and am sorry for the loss for his family. Goodbye Mark. It was nice riding with you. I am glad to have known you.

“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking."


Arthur Conan Doyle

Pine Creek 200K - Jersey Shore Start

Beautiful - this can not be argued with.

Pine Creek 200K - Jersey Shore Start

This is an absolutely beautiful ride through the land of Eagle, Bear and Snake. Called the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, the Pine Creek Rail Trail is a crushed limestone walking and biking path that runs 62 miles End to End, from Jersey Shore, PA to Wellsboro, PA if going south to north, which is the uphill direction.  Of course, uphill is 3600 feet, end to end, at about a 1% grade, so it's not noticeable. 

I started the ride at 7:30 from the Weis Mart parking lot in Jersey Shore. It was about 40 out, and I had both water bottles filled, and was wearing my rain jacket because it was still a little misty out. You have to travel the roads from the parking lot for less than a mile till you're on the Rail Trail. Except for the short ride to the 3rd control, at the top of the trail, and some road crossings, this is the only spot that you encounter vehicles. 

The trail runs along Pine Creek for the most part, or within a few hundred yards of it for the complete time you're on it. Along the trail you can see some of the original New York Central Railroad mile-markers. The “L” references Lyons, New York, a major railroad juction 168 miles north of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania.

The reason I chose to start in Jersey Shore which is 2 hours from home for me instead of starting in Galeton, which is another option, because I figured it would be all uphill for the first half of the ride, and then I would turn around, and it would be all downhill back to the car. Excellent, right? The problem is, with little to no grade, it quickly became apparent that one issue would be the fact that you never get to stop pedaling. You never climb that hill to coast down the other side. You don't HAVE to stand to climb, you have to remind yourself to stand for a bit to keep the blood pumping. It's not a hard ride really, it's just a taxing ride. You have to keep pumping, the whole time. 

About 20 miles into the ride I saw a black thing up ahead through the trees. As I rounded the bend, I see it's a black bear about 80 yards ahead of me, walking the trail, heading the same way as I am heading. So I stop the bike, and quietly take a picture. Then I start pedaling again to see how close I can get. I get about 50 yards away and he glances back and takes off running away from me down the trail. I chased him to see if I could get a better picture when he ran off the trail, and do end up getting within 25 yards, but the weeds are deep, and he's hell bent to get out of there.  Very cool! 

About 5 miles further down the trail I look between myself and the creek, and see two Bald Eagles sitting high in a tree watching the river. Also very cool!  Now, I am just hoping to see some Rattlesnakes. Something the trail is known for. There are educational signs all along the trail to keep your eyes open for them, and what to expect. Unfortunately, I never did see any.

The first stop is in Cedar Run at the Cedar Run General Store, which is a really cool little store at mile 33 in the ride. You pass through a couple of other small towns, and pass a store in Slate Run at mile 27 which is the last Control of the ride before the finish line on your way back. I got to Cedar Run around 10:00, and unfortunately the store doesn't open until 11! SO - I will have to swap this Control to be the control on the way back down the trail, and have the Slate Run stop on the way up. Anyways, the Cedar Run Inn was open, and the lady there gladly signed my card and I was on my way. I still had 1 full water bottle, so I figured I was OK. 

About 2 hours later I run out of water. Of course there is a creek right next to you, but I didn't have any iodine tablets, and don't like to trust creek water, because if you're wrong, you can end up very sick. There are also bathrooms at spots along the trail, but the same thing there, I have read that the water tastes like rusty pipes.. I figured, I would just push on, and be fine. It was up to about 72 or 73, and still a bit cloudy, so it was tolerable. When the trail ends, you can cross a bridge on a grass lane, and get out on Route 287 which quickly joins Route 6, and ride a mile down the road to an Acorn, where I was happy to drink a whole Big Gatorade, and fill my water bottles, grab some pretzels, and relax for a few minutes before I got started on the downhill section! It MUST get easier going downhill, even though it's only slight, right? 

Wrong. The whole trail is covered with fine crushed limestone. It's pretty, sure. It's smooth, yeah. It's even resurfaced in spots! But - it's not fast, and you never roll smoothly and get any speed up. I pushed along fairly consistently, and my average moving speed was right around 12 mph. 

The sun came out in the second half of the ride, and there was much more action on the trail and in the river. A lot of folks canoeing, kayaking, and rafting. There had been rains for a few days before and the river levels were around 3 feet when I checked online after the ride, which is perfect for canoeing. I am looking forward to heading back with the boys to do a trip, and hope I can convince Kris to go along with us, either in the Kayak or the Canoe with the boys. 

The second half was uneventful, beautiful, but part of the negative of an out and back is the fact that you've seen it all before. When I passed the Cedar Run Store, it was open, and alot of folks were eating ice cream. I pedaled on the 6 miles to the Control at Wolfe's General Store, and enjoyed a ice cream Twix bar, more Gatorade, and filled the water bottles. Short rest here, and back on the trail. 

I finished the ride around 6:45PM, about 10.5 hours of moving time, and that was split about evenly between the ride up, and the ride back down. I hoped to gain time on the way back, but the trail's lack of assistance and not being as fresh as I was at the start didn't help me to make up any time. 

I went across the road to the CVS, grabbed some water, and a Mango Sorbet out of the freezer, and a bag of tootsie rolls, and headed home. It was a good ride. 

It's funny about these Rando ride.  Fatigue and your mind play games with you. You are riding along this beautiful trail, and stream, and people are lounging downstream, letting the stream push them, and laughing and having a blast. All I kept thinking was that I couldn't wait to get home, and get the boys back down here as soon as possible. When you take one of your weekend days and choose to spend it away from your family, a little guilt sets in. When you're doing it, you realize that you're not doing it because it feels good WHILE you're doing it. It's about the feeling of accomplishment afterwards! But - it's a fine line. One of my friends said they stopped doing it not long after the rode by a lake on a long (multi-day) ride, and looked out to the lake and saw people drinking beers, having a cookout, relaxing in the sun and shade, and enjoying each others company. He asked himself why the hell he was doing this, and stopped for years shortly after that. BUT - like any addiction, he's now doing it again.

There are worse addictions to have. Vanity plays it's part, as it always does with fitness, and competitive sports, or you wouldn't bother doing them! Even if it's just to say I did this! I am not saying don't set goals for yourself. I have likely not been this fit in a long time, and I feel great! But -- at the end of the day, who's keeping score? Fitness is a very good reason to do it, and I truly enjoy riding, but I do it for my own piece of mind, and look forward to the day when the boys may come along with me. 

New Old Skool Fuji!

SO !

I got a new bike ! Well, I got an old bike, but it's in awesome shape, and it's going to be a blast to ride.


It's a 1984 Fuji Del Ray.   Middle of the Fuji line at the time, but considered something along the sport / touring line. Its going to be perfect for my Rando rides. Plus - I am thinking I may even ride it in this Triathlon I am doing this fall - the Willow Creek Triathlon. I am considering going all out old skool. Cutoffs, old skool chucks or puma's, mesh shirt, headband and wrist band, aviators....   Just go have a fun time!

It's actually a sweet bike, and in great shape!  I have my great friend Paul from the local bike shop I spend my money at to thank for keeping his eyes open and finding this gem for me. It's got a Zefal pump, Velcro water bottles, Rhode Gear Flickstand, downtube shifters, lugged steel frame, pedals with cages, fat foamy handlebar wrap (I guess you could call it wrap), leather saddle, it's just sweet.!


Anyways, so far I have replaced the tires, repacked the hub bearings in the wheels, and replaced the brakes.  I am getting ready to take my inaugural ride!  Hopefully this weekend!



SWEET!!

Allegany 200K - April 14th 2012

Brisk! 28 degrees driving the 5 miles to the start of this one..

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1054033

This is a permanent route that I built from my little one light town in Scio, NY. It starts, not at the local mini market filling station, but at "The Store", a little local town general store that has been in this town since my family has been coming here in 1973, lets say as long as I remember. It's that kind of little store with everything you need for sustenance, the kind of store that in the 50's and still today, can see some old chap pulling up in his 5 window pickup with the window down and his dog sitting next to him on his ripped and torn front seat, get out and head in for the morning paper and a quart of milk and a loaf of bread. It has a little butcher shop in it, some movies for rent, and a round table and some chair just inside the door in case you want to sit and chat for a while, maybe catch up with someone you haven't seen in a while. I really love these kind of stores. The one in Germania on my Dark Skies ride is an awesome little store too. Just friendly people, good mojo, and what you need to keep you going.

This day, I decided to ride the Giant. My carbon fiber bike. It's lighter weight, with thinner tires, which makes for faster rolling, both of these are huge benefits and mean less work for the ride but come at an expense also. You're going to feel more of the imperfections of the road, especially for a ride that will have you on the road for over 10 hours, so your hands and butt are going to feel it. I had just upgraded my saddle to a Fizik Aliante VS after reading an article about how wonderful the saddle was for bigger guys. I had the "Arione" model on my Tri bike last year, and didn't like it much. It just wasn't comfortable, a little too narrow. Anyways, the light weight of the bike paid off with less work which I was glad of with the 13 mph headwind that I came up against in the second half of the ride. The saddle was great for the first 6 hours, but by hour 9 I was "feeling the pain", and wouldn't have been surprised by the time I got off the bike to find blisters, but you keep riding.

I left around 7 AM and headed East with my first control in Canaseraga, NY. The weather was actually quite comfortable, and I made decent time covering the first 30 miles in 2 hours. That 30 miles included one of the steepest climbs of the ride, I thought aptly named Bailey Hill, as I would find out later, this ride, though the total climbing doesn't "look" too bad, has some pretty serious climbs!

I grabbed some donuts, and grapefruit juice at the first control and headed down the road on my way. I still had some of the rice bars that Kris made for my last ride and had frozen, so I unwrapped one, and started to eat it.. Well, they didn't freeze well, and tasted like crap, and wasn't holding together well, and I got a couple of bites, ended up with it crumbling all over me as I was riding down the road, and even got some in my shoe.!

From mile 30 - 42 it's real flat and fast, pretty easy rolling, some wind while you're riding past open fields, but it's enjoyable. Then you cross the Genesee River in Portville, near the South Entrance to Letchworth State Park, and take a left turn and start climbing towards the next control which is at mile 62 in Centerville, NY. Along this stretch, there are some pretty good climbs, and I had a couple dogs chase me. I personally have been lucky enough to not have been bitten by a dog (yet), but this was the first time I had one run into me. It was a Weimaraner, pretty big, and I think he just miscalculated that I was riding towards him, and he was running towards me. His face ran into my ankle, which I promptly pulled my shoe out of the clip and kicked at him with. He was a bit surprised, and left me be after that. Of course the next house had a dog also, but it was an older farm dog, and it couldn't get to the road in time to tell me what it thought, thankfully, I was spent from the first sprint and encounter.

I rolled into the Centerville Control at around 4:50 into the trip. This was just shy of the halfway point. I topped off my water bottles, got some Dr. Pepper and Gatorade, and something to eat. Sat on the step where the local cats hang out, and relaxed for a few. The guy who runs the store, Tom, asked me where I was headed, and I told him my next stop was in Portville, and I was going  through Rushford, and past Cuba Lake. He told me about the "big climb" coming up, and I told him I was aware, and knew that it would be less climbing after that.

I left the store, and started down the road. I looked up and thought, no way, that's not the road I am supposed to take. It looked like a climb from the Cobblestone Classics you watch this time of year on TV. One of those tree covered sliver of a road that climbs up through the distance. This is where I was wrong, and made a wrong turn that cost me an extra 3 miles of riding I could have done without. That extra 3 miles also included a nice little chase from an old farm dog and 2 pit bulls. One thing about Pitts, they never bark when they chase you, which I don't like much. They just kind of run along, and spend all their energy trying to figure out how to get you off that bike! Well, I didn't have to climb the monster, but still had to do the same amount of climbing over 3 miles instead of 1, and at this point I was now heading right into the wind.

It also spit a little rain, but not too much. By mile 70 I was ready to quit. I was totally in. Every mile dragged.  Around mile 80, I was nearing Cuba Lake, and knew it would lift my spirits, just because it would bring about that thought of fun times at the lake. You have to trick your mind at times, and make it think that this is really just nice little stroll that you're out for. Looking at the tree's and lakes, and birds. Anyways, I was really down, just pushing along, and I look up, and 8 Boxers (the dog), come running off this porch at me, it must have been a breeder, anyway, I sit up a little and just laugh and say you have got to be F'ing be kidding me! I figured I was just going to lay down when they attacked me, and let them eat me. I didn't care. Well, they all stopped 5 feet from the road, and I could see them wearing invisible fence collars, and laughed as I rode past. It wasn't much farther and I got to Cuba Lake at 82.5 miles, and the next 5 miles were OK till you get to the next climb after Cuba. By the time I topped out that climb at mile 90, I was committed to sucking it up and finishing the ride. I was WAY behind what I was hoping for as far as a schedule went, but still well within my cutoff times. I got to the next control at mile 102 at 8:35 into the trip.

This control is in Portville, NY and is at a Wilson Farms with an awesome ice cream shop across the road. It's like a cold stone creamery where they mix your stuff right in the cone, and I thought about going over, but didn't want to take the time. I had about 25 miles left to go, and at this point just wanted to get home.

From here to Bolivar at 114 miles was a pretty smooth ride without any real hills. Outside of Bolivar is the last hill of the ride, which tops out at mile 118, with the last 10 miles being downhill. I was able to average over 20 mph over these last miles, and enjoyed riding past our road just 5 miles from the finish. The ride took me 10 hours and 42 minutes. It was 128.2 miles with 7500 feet of climbing. According to the Garmin site I burned over 4600 calories, which is interesting, because the last ride was 126 miles and 7800 feet of climbing and I burned over 8000 calories. One huge difference was the fact that I rode my CoMotion on that ride, which is 10 lbs heavier, and more work no doubt, and my average heartrate was 1bpm higher (133 vs 132) for that ride, but over an 11+ hour ride it makes a difference.  That ride also took me longer, which accounts for some of the difference too.

Even though this ride gave me some trouble, I was ready the next day for my next ride. Still getting stronger, and talking to friends who do this alot, they say that feeling of "when the hell is this going to be over" comes and goes no matter how long you do this.

Till next time..

Skunk Cabbage Classic - Half Marathon - April 1st 2012

SO!

With all of the riding I've been doing, I figured I would attempt to keep up on my running - I mean hell, that's where this all started isn't it?  Well, I guess it all started with me sampling over 1000 different beers in a year, but that ended in August of 2009.

When that task was accomplished a friend of mine, Rusty Willmon asked me what I was going to do to get in shape after abusing my body for a year. I started with running, was working with a Radiation Oncologist from Binghamton Dr. Fallon, who talked me into signing up for a Half Marathon in Sedona Arizona in February of 2010. Friends got talked into it. Kris's cousin and his wife Brenda decided to run it with us, and Christopher shamed Kris into running also. This was big stuff for her, because she HATED running, especially distance!

We ran our first 5K - the inaugural Keuka Dash and Splash that August (2009). My first official race ever, other than high school track, and I didn't run distance then! Then we did the Wineglass Marathon Relay with her cousin Jon, where I ran a 9 mile leg, and the rest is history. I signed up for the Keuka Lake Triathlon that would be held in June of 2010, and started training. Running, Spinning and Swimming. I didn't even own a road bike at the time, and my mountain bike hadn't been ridden in years. I ended up buying my first road bike since high school in April of 2010.

Well, most of the riding stuff is here in this blog, but I figured I would talk a little about my running experiences.

The Skunk Cabbage Classic 10K and Half Marathon is something I have wanted to do since the first year. The event happens in Ithaca, NY at Cornell College and the Half Marathon Route passes a patch of Skunk Cabbage about half way through the race which is where this race got its name. For me, though my 4th Half Marathon, it was what I would consider my first successful Half.

My very first Half in Sedona, Arizona was a beautiful race. Some day I will do that race again. We had a great time, Kris ran the whole thing, and I ran/walked it. Kris beat me, and did a great job. I was proud of her, but she paid the price. She could barely walk the next day in the airport. I think my time was somewhere around 2:30 or 2:40..

My, I should say OUR second half was the Rock and Roll Half in Nashville in April of 2010. For this one I beat Kris slightly, and my time was 2:27 and change, and I walked in this one too.. This was a pretty cool race. People cheering and lining the streets. It was very cool, my first event with the crowd so involved.

Our third bigger race was the Boilermaker in Utica in July of 2010. This is a 15K (9.3 miles), and I stuck with Kris in this race and we ran/walked it, and crossed the finish line together, and kissed going across the line... Ok everyone.. 1...2...3... awwwww... Also an amazing race crowd support to rival the Nashville 1/2, phenomenal after party, AND, though we skipped last year, we're signed up for this year, I can't wait!

Our third half marathon was the inaugural Wineglass Half Marathon last fall. This was the first half that I ran the whole thing. I suffered horribly in the race, but ran it.. My time was 2:14 and change, and Kris was 2:11 and change.. We started the race together, I felt good and ran on ahead, and around mile 7 started to suffer, and fell apart around mile 10. Kris passed me in the 11th mile. In the last mile my vision was blurring, and I crossed the finish line and had trouble even standing. I sat down, had some chocolate milk and started to feel better.

That brings us to the Skunk Cabbage. This is the first race since I have been doing 200K's on the bike on a monthly basis. My base fitness has improved incredibly with my distance stamina improving by leaps and bounds. Riding a bike is no substitute for running, and you still have to train to run, but my legs were stronger, my heart is stronger, and my lungs can handle more work. My speed hasn't improved much, but that's coming.

Kris and I headed to Ithaca Saturday night before the race, to stay in Ithaca. Her mom watched the boys, which gave us a nice night alone without the kids, which is always good for us. We went downtown and got our race packets, and headed to Wegmans for the pasta bar, and some black bean enchiladas. We got a good nights sleep, other than a thin walled hotel room with noisy neighbors coming home around 11:30, but the race didn't start till 10, so we didn't have to get up too early, and we had no real drive.

I always feel stronger in my mind than Kris going into these events, every event we've done I have trained more, but Kris is a natural athlete, so I have learned not to take her abilities for granted. We tried to run a 10 miler the week before this race, and at 6 miles her knee was bothering her, so I ran back and got the car, and picked her up. She had been running and walking, and was less than a mile behind me by the time I got her.

Anyways, I told her my plan was to run all of the races this year WITH her. This plan kind of fell apart in Dallas when we ran together during training, and she was wearing a headset, I run with no music, so her pace was all over the place depending on the song. I told her I couldn't run like that, so when we lined up for the Skunk, we just figured whatever happened, happened.

It was a pretty cool morning, and there was the threat of rain. A couple of guys on the Rogue Race Team were there. Tim Andrus was running the half as well as Jim Derick who has won something like the last 4 of this race, and he's 50! Kelly Andrus was running the 10K, as well as Jim's wife Sue who decided not to enter because she was running Boston two weeks later, and didn't want to push herself. She just ran with the group, and reported to us after the race that she would have won her age group had she joined. Jim got second overall, and Tim won his age group.  Jim finished nearly an hour ahead of us.

Kris and I ran together for 9 miles. Around 6 miles I asked her how she felt and she said her knee was bothering her slightly, but it wasn't bad. Around 9 miles she asked me how I was doing and I told her I could run the rest like a 5K! I felt awesome! So, she told me to go ahead, and I did. She was not having her best race. She felt good, but not awesome, and told me to go on ahead. I picked up my pace, and started picking people off. I finished strong, felt great, and got a PR (Personal Record) of 2:12:29. It's a long way to where I want to be, but it's the first step in the right direction. Funny thing is, Kris, who wasn't feeling the best and told me to go ahead, picked up the pace, and finished about 2 minutes behind me. She is a bit competitive for those of you who don't know her. So far for me, each run has been a PR. Baby steps! My goal is to some day get that under 2:11 (10 minute mile average), then under 2 hours, and maybe under 1:45!

Our next running race is the Utica Boilermaker. This race is awesome, and I can't wait. It should be an easy PR for me since our last one wasn't the best. The after party is the best. We can't wait!

Then we have the Wineglass Half Marathon in September. I am hoping to finish that in under 2 hours. It's a super flat course, and if I continue to run through the summer I should be good.

I would imagine that nutrition also played a big part in this race. Loading up the night before on pasta, and black bean enchilada's didn't hurt me. I am not sure about the runners behind me, but there weren't many behind me anyways.


Here's a shot of Kris (no 27) and I at the beginning of the race..

Dark Skies 200K

Why is it called the Dark Skies 200K? Because it goes through Cherry Springs State Park, on the top of this Ridge that Mount Broadhead is on (see photo below). Cherry Springs has an astronomy field, where you can rent for the night one of the domes to set your telescope up in, and view the skies. It's considered a Dark Skies area, with very little light pollution from cities and towns, and is said to be one of the best places on the eastern seaboard for stargazing and astronomy.

Bill Fischer and I left Wellsville at 7:30AM on Sunday March 11th. It was about 26 degrees out, but promised to get up to 60 degrees with 15mph winds. It did both unfortunately. The 60 was nice.  I could have done without the wind! This Permanent has 4 climbs that are quite nasty. The first one is at mile 10, and is about 1.8 miles long climbing about 500 feet then you stay on top of the hill for the most part with some rollers followed by a screaming downhill into Whitesville, NY at the 19 mile point.  After that it continues on pretty flat for another 6 miles to the control in Genesee, PA. At the top of the descent the temperature felt like 34 degrees and seemed to be starting to warm up nicely.  At the bottom it felt as if it was about 24 degrees, and warmed back up as we covered the remainder of this segment. We had seen 2 coyotes out hunting at different points in this first section. We had been on the road 2 hours.

At this point, it's important to mention that Bill was on what is considered a "fixie". There are no shifters, no options of an easier gear for climbing or a bigger gear for descending. His has a freewheel on one side, and can be flipped to true fixed on the other side.  It was like the old school bikes we grew up on, where you just pushed back on the pedal, and that was your brakes! This sounds great, but when you're screaming down a hill, and your legs are flying around at 150rpm, it's not fun. That's what I hear anyways.  Bill said it's also harder to get moving, balance, etc.. Obviously the bike is simpler and lighter, but I don't know that I am quite ready to buy one.. Not this year anyway.

OK.. So NOW it's important to mention the second thing. I bought a great book on Endurance Cycling Food - Feed Zone Cookbook by Allen Lim who was the main guy keeping Team Radio Shack in the Tour De France last year. There was a recipe for Cashew and Bacon Rice Cakes which Kris made the night before, we wrapped in Reynolds parchment and foil wrap, and I ate at the first two, and fourth stops. They were awesome! About 275 calories.  We edited the recipe a little, skipped the cashews (which I wouldn't do again), they didn't sound that great the day before, but I was craving the salt and protein later in the ride. We also didn't have nut butter, and I didn't want to use peanut butter, so we went with agave nectar, which was awesome. I was able to pack 4 of these in my pockets of my jersey. Each was about the size of the packs of Winstons that Dad used to smoke.

Back on the road - we left Genesee rolling down the beautiful PA roads. There wasn't really much traffic, and the little we came across was friendly. We rode along Route 6 with our first tailwind, and a slight downhill grade, and enjoyed making good time. We turned south in Galeton, and started up rollers, and dealt with the headwind. At mile 50 we started what was a 5 mile climb going up over 800 feet, with the last 1.3 miles of this climb covering half of that, and then dropping to our second stop in Germania, PA.

We arrived at the Germania Country Store with probably an hour to spare. We weren't breaking any records but we were solid, and I knew our next leg was the worst. This is a cool little old country store, in this little Adirondack style town, that makes you wonder what caused people to settle here so long ago. I had my second rice cake, and some lemon heads (my favorite) from the store, and some of the Mango strips I had dried the night before. We were almost 6 hours into the trip, and I actually felt pretty good.

We left the Germania Store, took a quick right, and headed up a little climb which topped out, and Bill mentioned "this doesn't look good", I asked what he meant and he said, all I see is hills, BIG hills, and this road drops down into the valley, and there's no way out but up. I explained that we were at mile 56, and by the midway point of our ride, the worst climb would be over. See, coming up out of that valley is a stretch of road that climbs 850 feet in just over 3 miles. What does this mean ? Well, if you've ever watched the Tour De France, the climbs have categories. The lower the category number, the steeper the climb. The Categories are from 5 to 1, with a HC meaning Hors Category (I think the first part of that is self explanatory), the old story that goes along with it, says that in the old days the cars would be parked along the side of the climb, because they couldn't get up it, but the bikes had to. Those were when men were men though. Heavy bikes, limited gears, and they smoked to "open their lungs" while riding.! This hill we were doing is considered a Cat 2 climb. A good one!

What probably saved me a lot on this ride was the fact that with limited gearing, Bill would walk his bike up the real steep parts of the big climbs. This gave me the opportunity to catch up, or in the case of this hill, to jump off my bike and walk it up also, giving my legs a little break, and keeping my heartrate down. I think the problem I was having in the past had to do with nutrition (more on this later), but also when my heartrate gets above 160 and stays there for extended time, on the endurance rides, its too much for me. I need to keep it from staying up there, or worse yet above there. For now, getting off the bike worked, in the future my conditioning will likely eliminate this problem. Here's hoping! Anyways - we got to the top of that hellion of a climb, and Bill was waiting for me AT the midway point which happens to be a sign:

After this picture was taken, the road FAR from flattens out, and there are killer rollers 'til mile 74, where you start  to descend to Coudersport. On the map it's 8.5 miles downhill!  Sweet, right? Nope! This is where the wind picked up. After the first mile which is the steepest part, it flattens out and the wind buffeted us for the next 7 miles. I was barely able to keep my average speed over 15 mph, and that was on a slight downhill grade. The wind was just killing me. So, I rolled into the Sheetz in Coudersport around 3:30. 44 Miles remaining, and I was starving! Craving a burger and fries, but I settled for a tuna salad sandwich. This was a mistake, I was to find out over the next 44 miles. It was nowhere near as bad as other rides, but it was stomach discomfort just the same. I mentioned it to Bill, and he said "yeah, I wondered about that. Mayo never sits well with me, especially on the bike. I figured you knew what you were doing". Well, Bill was wrong. I didn't know a danged thing!

So - we kept going, wind in our face till Singlehouse, PA. I was feeling slightly better, got some water down, and a grapefruit juice, and half of my 3rd rice cake (shoulda gone with a rice cake in Coudersport!). We got back on the bikes. Bill said he was shooting for getting back to Wellsville by 7:00 (it was a little after 5:30), and I figured I would be behind him a bit, but was shooting for more around 7:30.

Bill finished the ride (126 miles) in around 11:24 on a Fixie, and would have finished much faster had he not been waiting for me at the last couple of stops. I finished in 11:36, but I felt pretty good. I went home and was able to eat (first time), and though at the end of the ride I couldn't imagine putting myself through more distance than this, I was ready to get on my bike the next morning, and wished I had gone on the group ride with the Team on Tuesday evening, but I wasn't ready yet. My legs weren't fully recovered.

All in all, I had a pretty good ride, on one of the hardest rides I have ever done. I had little pain or discomfort, and little stomach issues, but I knew what caused them (I think). My legs are getting stronger, and I am starting to get in better shape. I ran 9 miles today at lunch, and had no problems there either, so it seems that all this long distance training is really starting to pay off.

It did have me re-think some things though. As much as I do in fact feel that I am gaining some ground, I have decided to back off my initial intended schedule for the year, dropping the Flesche (a 24 hour, 360K+ ride, with a 5 man team all counting on working at the same pace, and dropping the 600K in Boston, which would make me eligible for the "Super Randonneur Award" from RUSA. In order to get that award, I need to complete a 200, 300, 400 and 600K brevet in the same calendar year. Maybe next year. I believe I have a couple more 200K's to get my legs, and then hopefully my pace will pick up, and I might be able to do a 300K and a 400K before the end of the year.

Thanks for reading..  I am learning..