How can the blind lead the blind?

So, I'm not blind okay? My perspective may be a little skewed, but that has nothing to do with the biological function of vision. That's all about what's happening inside this little nugget sitting atop my neck. Sometimes I hear voices, they say all kinds of weird things. I might just be a closet advertising exec 'cause most of what I hear in my head is an advertisement for something.....Like I just heard something about..a what???? oh, a local grocery store.......oh shoot, that's the radio after all, not some stupid voices in my head!

So yeah, I can see just fine, sometimes when I'm at work and my office mate or me has to turn on those stupid flourescent bulbs overhead......IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!!!!! In 3 minutes and 12 seconds (ok fine, let's leave it at "about" 3 minutes), my eyes feel like they've just run a marathon!

OK! OK! so my eyes really can't run a marathon, although after those 3 minutes and 12 seconds (if you're going to get particular, so am I!), they are leaking, and when your nose does this, you say "my nose is running", so why can't I say my eyes are running?

Where am I?

Oh yeah, the marathon comment....It really doesn't have anything to do with moisture coming from my eyes, it has to do with how my eyes might feel IF THEY COULD run a marathon - you know the feeling - completely wiped out with not one single shred of energy - ready to bend over at the waist and toss your breakfast cause you just left your heart and soul (and what was left of your mind) somewhere in the last 27.2 miles?

You don't know what that is about? Yeah, I've never run a marathon either. But, I have ridden a mile or two on my bikes! So this brings me back to the biological function of vision.

It's funny how your eyes work - you open them and you see stuff, you close them and you don't see stuff. What, you thought I was going to go into some scientific explanation of the physics of light and lenses??? What am I, an engineer? ($#!^ - i have to remember that doesn't work - I AM an Engineer)

Ok, so back to how your eyes work. This vision thing depends, of course, on how much light there is available. If there is lots of light, you probably can't see a thing (unless you have a super cool pair of shades). Conversely, if you have very little light - well, actually it's not converse, cause you probably can't see anything either! So let's just say when light is available, you see things better than when light is not available

There's this thing that mountain bikers like to do, it might be considered a little kinky by most. But mountain bikers are a bit of a kinky lot anyway, so we don't really care what you might think. Of course, it involves the bike, and it usually involves a group of other bikers. In fact, it's absolutely the best with a group. It's great when the lights are out, but most people do it with the lights on.

I'M TALKING ABOUT NITE RIDING!!!!! GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!!! Sheesh! what did you think I was talking about???

Hello, my name is John and I'm a nite rider....

Yes, it's so fun, that indeed it is addicting! You can spend huge money on a light, but I've actually found a good light that didn't set me back a huge amount. I usually meet a group of guys from work on tuesday nights at Paris Mountain State Park. We start out about 530-545pm and usually finish up about 8pm. By that time, we're pretty much spent, and so are the lights....get your mind out of the gutter....

This week, I arrived at PSMP at the usual time and alas found myself alone at the trailhead. While this might be an issue for some, I have the voices in my head to keep me company.....;)

It was FREAKING (yes, I refrain from using cuss words at times) COLD!!!! (see my other blog to understand how to deal with cold weather biking) I honestly didn't really want to ride it was so cold and I was SO LONELY!!!! Kidding about the lonely part, but IT WAS COLD!!!

Being the masochist (or sadist or whatever the term.....maybe self flagellator?) I am, I pushed through the negative vibes and onward down the trail. Remember, it was 545pm, so the sun was down, but there was light remaining in the sky. I started off without my light - well, because there was enough light to see - you remember the little lesson about light and lenses and physics and stuff! As I rode, wouldn't you know it, the light level was reduced...imagine that....middle of winter and it gets dark around 6pm....

So, here's where the blind part comes in - I decide to leave the light off and keep riding up the hill. Now for those of you that don't ride mountain bikes, this should not be tried at home, Professional (c'mon, stroke my ego a little here) rider on a closed course! Really, by this time, most of the less deranged bikers on the mountain have already turned their lights on full blast. Here's little old me just cruising up firetower trail - riding by brail.

You didn't know I could ride by brail? Well, you should, I just told you! Yep, that's kind of what it is like, the trail is a less dark ribbon in a much darker forest. Details are just non-existent. Like that rock that just about tore the handlebars out of your hands, or the branch that just tried to really make you blind, or the tree trunk that tried to dislocate your shoulder - yep, can't see any of it. It's really fun - you should try it......

So, I pass a few other bikers on the way up, as previously stated, mountain bikers are a good lot (ok, I said kinky, but hey, it's a matter of perspective right?), and most of them asked if everything was ok - that is once they actually saw me when I came into their little beam of light! To avoid any accidents, I would pull off the side of the trail as I saw them approach.

At the top I made the choice to head back down the same way I came up (not only on the same trail, but sans light). By now, the number of riders on the trail has significantly increased. I nearly had a head on collision with another dude riding without lights. Again, everyone is asking me if I'm ok. 'Just having fun' was my reply.

And I was having fun - although I was about as blind as I could be!

Cold Weather mountain biking is really cool!

Today was one of those cold but clear days we get on occasion here in the SE. I had to turn my heat up in my house because it was actually cold outside. The forecast called for a low of about 12 degrees F last night, and it certainly was chilly both last night when I returned from dinner and this morning when I rolled myself out of bed. It's great to sleep in sometimes. But this blog isn't really about sleeping in or about meteorologists, it's about the bike. Unlike Lance, this one is about the bike.....or, maybe it's really about me and my bike. Yeah, that's it, a kid and his toy...

So, after sleeping in (yeah, bear with me here) and feeling super lazy, I got up and had some breakfast - a bowl of cereal! Now you might be saying to yourself, did he fire five or was it six....oh sorry, that's something Dirty Harry said, but you might really be saying to yourself who cares about a bowl of cereal?? Well, I DO! It's my first bowl of cereal in nearly 3 weeks! My mouth is finally healing up to the point that I can start back to eating real food! It tasted really good. I was very happy with this foray away from the morning yogurt I have been putting up with. Not that there's anything wrong with yogurt....

So after breakfast, I decided to jump online to see what the world has to say. Read an interesting story about the plane that landed in the Hudson River. Props (get it!) to that pilot for bringing that plane down safely. Dude's got mad skills. People calling him a hero, I'm calling him a guy with lots of flight experience who applied the lessons learned flying fighter jets and nearly 30 years of commercial airline experience. I'll call him a stud, but I won't call him a hero, he did a damn fine job of keeping those people safe, but that is what his job really is. Again, kudos to the guy for a job well done.

But this blog isn't really about airplanes or pilots or yogurt or cereal, so who cares. I do, cause I'm the guy writing this. It's fun. So, ok, let's get back on track.

After spending way too much time online, I decided to have lunch before loading up my gear. Heated up my tasty vittles that I brought home from the Bohemian last night. Chicken curry and a little slice of fish my friend Donna didn't want to take home. It was still tasty today, and now I'm ready to head out.

The big question when preparing for a cold weather ride is how much clothing to wear? Today was one of the coldest days we've had this winter, so I thought it best to layer up with all of my gear. Well, not really all of my gear, cause I wouldn't be able to move if I did that! Of course, the more I wear, the more likely I am to overheat on the long climb I knew was coming at the beginning of the ride. In the end, I added one layer to my normal winter riding layers. That means 2 layers on my legs, plus my cycling shorts underneath it all. It also meant 5 layers on my upper body plus my riding jacket (to make it six) for the start. I also threw my wind pants and an extra top layer in my pack just in case. Perhaps you can see that I don't like being cold. But, we're not here to talk about the cold or my layers...

Finally got out of the house about 1315 or so. That's 1:15pm if you're not up to speed on the 24 hour clock. Had to stop for gas on the way out and I was really surprised at how the cold bit through all of my 6 layers. For the drive up I was wearing a long sleeve fleece jacket which would be replaced by a gortex shell for the ride. No matter, standing there waiting for the tank to fill I was a little chilled. I began to think I might have to start out with the extra layers I was carrying!

The Bent Creek experimental forest - near Asheville, NC, is tucked back behind a little neighborhood that you have to drive through to get to the trailhead. As I'm driving down the road entering the forest, I pass a group of cyclists - all of these fools are wearing shorts! They probably only had a layer or two up top as well! Boy do I feel like a wimp with all my layers!! Not really, I actually don't give a rip about how many layers they're wearing, cause this isn't about them at all, it's all about the bike - you remember the bike don't you? yeah, mountain biking - that's it!

I finally arrived at the Bent Creek Experimental forest trailhead. It is a really great place to ride with about 40 miles (give or take) of trails and some killer climbing. It actually felt warmer at the trailhead than it did back in Greenville! Surprising because the trailhead is probably a couple thousand feet higher in elevation than Greenville. OK, I really don't know how much higher it is, but I was expecting it to be colder, not less cold! The decision I made was to replace the fleece jacket with the gortex shell to start.

The route I like to take starts at the Hard times trailhead. From the trailhead, you take the hardtimes connector trail up and over a hill. Now this isn't just any hill, it is steep in a few spots, and somewhat technical - let's just say it is one heck of a way to warm up! As I've grown older, I realize how important it is for me to actually do a little bit of warming up before I launch into maximum effort. With this little hill, the only way to do that is to drop all the way into Granny gear and just spin up the hill. Works pretty well, especially if there are no uber-cool mountain bike chicks that need to be impressed with my powerful (and fast) ascent of the hill (I know what you're going to say - they're really not impressed with my physical prowess, so just give it up...). So, today, although there was an uber-cool hiking chick back at the trailhead, she was well out of sight. I could just take it easy up the hill. At the top, I began to think I had the proper number of layers as I was not feeling like I would overheat.

Then, I passed the group of shorts wearing, under-dressed fools as they were coming up the other side. They were stopped, so I know they had to be freezing...I didn't see any blue faces or anything and it appeared that their smile muscles were operational, so they must not have been bordering on hypothermia quite yet. It's just a matter of time....why am I talking about layers again???

Down the hill and cross the road and an easy climb to the north boundary road. When I got to the boundary road, I had to peel a layer. Turned out, I was wearing one too many. That's the great thing about layers - you can always peel yourself like a banana if you start to overheat. Of course, the start of the boundary road is also the start of a ~4 mile climb. I knew the blood would be flowing full force for the climb, and if I needed to, I can always re-add the layers!

Climbing up the boundary road is as close to a road bike experience you can get while on a mountain bike. It is not technical, nor is it especially steep. There are enough rocks to keep the suspension unlocked - especially if I can maintain a smooth pedaling cadence. Easy enough. My goal was to ride to the top of the climb staying in the middle ring. I'd done it several times before, but I haven't been riding as much these last few weeks, so I had to push a little. Much of the climb was spent in the big cog, but hey, I stayed on the middle ring.

About the time I arrived at five points, I caught a glimpse of another rider up in front of me. Nothing like having someone else in front of you to make you push yourself. At first I was catching him, but he was sandbagging a little and started to pull away when he realized I was back there. Nothing like having a rider come up behind you to give you a motivational push. I tried, but he slowly pulled a small gap on me. He's a strong rider, but remember, this isn't about him, it's about .....what is it about??? oh yeah, it's about cold weather mountain biking....well, this dude was a mountain biker, so maybe it is about him (a little at least).

Climbing up this last mile to the top of the climb, there are great views of the blue ridge of the Appalachian mountains. I feel really lucky to be living in this area with so many outdoor opportunities so close by.

As we approach the top of the infamous Green's Lick trail - a killer downhill trail that was made famous after National trails day last year (2008). We had over 100 people show up to make some modifications to the trail. Folks were bombing down the trail and having to be med-evac'd out of there. Not good for those of us who would like to keep this trail open! So, we put in a bunch of features to slow peeps down. It appears peeps have slowed down on the trail, reports are that the number of injuries have reduced since the modifications.

This dude - you remember the sandbagger who wasn't sandbagging anymore was still in front of me and he headed down the trail. I had considered adding another layer for the downhill, as it takes about 5-8 minutes to make this descent, then add another few minutes down the fire road to the lower sidehill trail I intended to ride. However, my ego didn't need another layer, it needed to dominate this dude on the downhill.

Off we go, ripping down the trail. He's into going up high on the berms. It actually slows him down a little - he's not really going fast enough to ride as high up on the berms as he is, so I can catch him by staying lower on the berms. There are a lot of jumps on this trail, and I'm the last guy who needs to be catching air on a bicycle. I have terrible balance when the wheels are off the ground and the last thing I need is to be med-evac'd out of there. Remember, this is why we modified the trial last year - to keep idoits like me from hurting themselves. Thankfully, these features we added do work to slow me down, but not so much to slow down the dude in front of me.

I manage to keep him in sight for the most part, but he is indeed faster than me on the final parts of the downhill. We stop for a brief chat where Green's lick meets the fire road. Seems as though he is heading the same direction I am, so we ride together. He's the district indiana jones - digging up fossils and old archeological sites for the forest service. Pretty good dude - goes by Scott. We head off down the fire road and take a right onto the lower sidehill trail. I let him go in front cause he seems to be a little stronger than me. However, I'm starting to feel my oats, and manage to stay right on his wheel along this trial - which has a lot more climbing than I remember! We chat as we ride along - mountain bikers are generally a cool lot. It's starting to look like snow with some wicked looking gray clouds coming in. Starting to feel colder....that additional layer is looking more and more appealing!!

From lower sidehill, it's a short blast down another fire road, then up yet another fire road to the upper explorer trail. He hadn't ridden this little trail before, so I lead out. It's a nice little climb with a couple of cool switchbacks finishing up with a cool downhill with lots of jumps. I show him another little blast of an uphill, and he finally recognizes this part - he has descended this trail before.

We take the short way along the pine tree trails back towards the trailhead. He's got an archeological site he needs to take a peek at while he is out, so I follow along to see the area. He stops by the side of the road - this is it! The site of an old millhouse - apparently a 2 story mill that once had a dam built up on the river. He points out the remains of the dam - also tells me there once was a whole community here with a school and houses and the mill. Wow! an impromptu history lesson. Had he not told me about it, I would have never guessed a community once existed here.

We're really close to the trailhead and he's parked in a different location so we part ways. I pull up to my car thinking I'm really glad I got out to Bent Creek today. It was an excellent day - cold weather and all those layers even. But, it's not about the layers or weather or the bike - in the end, it's all about the ride.

The First Fifty is always the hardest

Originally posted 3 January, 2009
Today I enjoyed some great fellowship with other bicyclists at the Greenville Spinner's First Fifty. This is a ride through Northern Greenville County (SC) from Furman University to Table Rock State Park (Details here ). Although I have been riding regularly lately, this ride was going to be the furthest I had ever traveled on 2 wheels (well, on 2 human powered wheels anyway!).

I arrived at Furman University's PAC building parking area about 20 minutes before the ride started. The weather was foggy and cool. It was tough trying to decide how much clothing to wear, as of course, I'm going to be working up a sweat once I start pedaling! I decided to layer up as I HATE being cold!

I got signed in and we had the safety briefing and off we went. We followed the roads through Furman's beautiful campus, intermixed with the local YMCA's Resolution Run half Marathon. I was a little concerned about us being mixed in with the runners, as those folks are going for time, we're (supposedly) just out for a tour.

We got clear of the campus and the runners, and I was trying to get into my groove. This put me in the front 1/3rd or so of all the riders (G-ville Spinners report something close to 175 riders). I caught a real break as we approached a stop light - it was changing to red, and I was just lucky enough to be the last bike through. This kept me in the lead group.

I heard later that there was a group of 6 riders being chased by 3 riders then the massive peleton I had hooked up with - we initially had about 50 riders (give or take - I'm trying to keep up, not count the riders!;). As the miles came on, riders started dropping off. I was able to hang on the tail end, but it was touch and go for a while. I began to get my second wind at about 13 miles. By this time our peleton had dropped to maybe 20 riders. We were moving at a pretty good pace, and other riders (hanging out at the back of this group) mentioned that as well. We lost a rider here and there, but to my surprise, I was feeling well and was managing to keep with the group. Still at the back though.

We crossed Hwy 11 at about mile 21 - our peleton now down to 15 or so. This put us into a hilly section that started breaking up our little peleton further. From Table Rock Road, we got back out onto Hwy 11 for a couple of miles before our break / turn-around point at Lake Olenoy. There was a nice downhill before spitting us back onto Hwy 11, so I managed to make up a little distance on the lead riders from what was our little peleton. I pushed as hard as I could, and managed to bring another guy along with me in an attempt to reel this little group back in. He did a great job pulling us up a hill, and I took over for the downhill on the other side. We thought we'd catch those guys, but alas, we were maybe 20 seconds behind them coming into the break area. While not earth shattering, I had clocked an average of 18.5mph for the 29.5 miles. I'm pleased with that result.

I scarfed down a couple of yogurts, a chocolate pudding and a gel pack, stripped off a layer of clothing (the sun was now out and it was feeling pretty warm!). I wasn't sure who I might link up with on the way out, but I looked up and saw a small group of guys who had been in the group I had been traveling with up to that point. I rushed to hook up with them for the ride out.

Heading out of the break area we had formed as a group of about 5 and as we travelled Hwy 11 towards our turnoff, four other guys joined up in our group. We had a nice little pace line going and it was working pretty well. Everyone took a turn out front - some stronger than others pulled for a greater distance. It is really fun to ride inches from the rider in front and all I see when I check my helmet mounted mirror is the head and shoulders of the rider behind. Great Rush!

Before we made our turn, we picked up another rider in our little group - this now made us 10 strong. As we turned off of Hwy 11, we caught a glimpse of the Land Rover team out for a training ride. We pushed ourselves (or I should say the guys leading our group pushed all of us) and we managed to catch this Land Rover Team. We rode with them for a while. There was a bunch of those guys - we must have now had 25 or so bikes in our little peleton.

We had a great pace line going and our average speed was increasing ever so slowly. The Land Rover team turned right when we turned left on Hwy 288. Somewhere along Hwy 288 (~mile 40 or so?) we started dropping people - including me (I thought). This is where I started getting cramps in my quads (first time ever for that!). I managed to stay at the back of what was now 6 riders until mile 46 or so. At that point, I knew I was done, so I just dropped to the small ring and tried to keep spinning for the remainder. The 5 (or so) guys remaining from our original 10 kept moving at a good clip although I think they dropped slightly from the pace we had been running. I'm sure they finished strong.

The last 10 miles were mostly a battle to keep the cramps at bay. I was mostly by myself. One of our original 10 (who had gottten caught at a traffic light just after we left Hwy 288) caught and passed me - kudos to that guy! I passed one other rider before I made it back onto Furman's campus.

I pulled in with an average speed of 17.7mph - again, not earth shattering, but respectable based on my riding level. Obviously, I was well off the pace for that last 10 miles or so. I'll need to re-evaluate my hydration and nutrition before the next ride.

One thing I can say in my own defense - I had surgery last monday and have not really been able to eat solid food since then. This definitely held me back a bit today

Overall, it was a great ride. After packing up my bike and getting changed out of my wet riding clothes, I immediately stopped at the nearest McDonalds and treated myself to a large chocolate milkshake. I think that made the day complete!

Jonathan Pait who has his own cycling blog saw my original comments on this ride on the Spinner's yahoo group. He has published a copy of this on his website: The Fabulous First Fifty.

JD's return to Camp Merrill

Originally written in an email to friends I served with in 2/75 (1984-1987)

23 years after my first visit I finally had an opportunity to go back
on to the hallowed grounds of Camp Merrill. I was there to participate
in the Mountain Ranger Duathlon <http://www.5thrtb.org/rangerrun.htm>
along with several adventure racing friends. The duathlon starts with
the 5k run, followed by the 34k bike course and finally a 2 mile run.

I had set a goal of 2:40 for myself. I did this knowing little about
the actual courses. I knew the basics of the terrain out there, so I
knew there would be lots of climbing - I didn't know how much! Camp
Merrill's Rangers put on a great event and the course maps were
helpful in setting my goal time.

My runs were a bit slower than my typical trail run pace, but those
hills out there are killer! The 5k is an out and back course, or
should I say down and up course!! Yep, run down the fire-road for ~1.5
miles, then turn around and run up it! I ran my typical 5 miler pace
(~7:30/mile) on the downhill, but slowed way down on the uphill. I
needed to save something for the bike leg.

Had no way to know how many people were actually doing the duathlon
except for the number of bikes piled up in the transition area. When I
got there at the end of the 5k (first run leg) a large number of bikes
seemed to have dissappeared - I knew to where!

I had a good transition to the bike. Looks like about 2 minutes (much
better than my previous triathlon attempts). Started the climb just
behind some guy
- managed to get ahead of him relatively quickly and I could see
several more bikes in front of me. I started picking them off one by
one - nothing easy about it the climb to winding stair gap - it's
horrible (but in the best way!!!)! I think I was actually catching the
tail end riders from the bike race (bike race started at the same time
as the 5k) before I got to the top. One guy caught and passed me on
the bike - I wasn't pleased, but he was strong on the bike for sure! I
tried to keep him in sight, but there was too much climbing for me to keep
with him.

By the time I got to the top of the main climb (winding stair gap), he
was well out of sight. Coming down from Winding stair gap was awesome!
My top speed was about 37 mph. I'm sure there was some crazy folks out
there faster, but that was comfortable for me. Passed a bunch more
people - I have no idea how many were from the bike race and how many
from the duo - but I did my best to keep up the pace. About 3 miles
from the end of the bike leg, the terrain gets hilly again. Short
uphills followed by short downhills. Some of those uphills were very
tough! The bike leg ends on the same section of fire road that the 5k
used - that means the last 1.5 miles was all uphill!

Made another good transition (just under 2min) to the second run leg
and took off with the one guy who passed me on the bike in sight. I
must have re-gained enough on the downhills to negate most of the lead
he managed to get on me during the climb. The last run leg is similar
to the 5k - down and up the same section of fire road. This time the
total distance was only
2 miles. I was able to catch and pass my arch nemisis (he really did
piss me off by passing me on the bike) before the turn-around. More
importantly I was able to hold him off for the climb back to the
finish line. I crossed the line at 2:34:06 - beating my goal.

When I came across the line, the volunteers handed me an info sheet to
fill out my race information - they used this to immediately calculate
the placements for each category. While I was far from first, I did
come in 3rd for my age group. This pleased me greatly as I would be
able to take home a very nice plaque.

After the awards, my friend and I went over to watch the Hooahs in
action demo. It was very cool and brought back a bunch of memories.

Funny to think how much I missed doing that stuff. I envy those of you
who stayed with it. I don't regret getting out, but I sometimes wonder
how my life might have been different had I stayed in. Revisiting Camp
Merrill was a good thing for me. It was an inspiration to see the
young soldiers pushing themselves to be their best.

I thought I'd share this story partly because I know several of you
served with the cadre at Camp Merrill, but mostly because I want to
hear your stories about things going on with your lives and families.

Take Care Brothers!
RLTW!

2008 Mountain Ranger Duathlon

Originally posted in the trailblazer adventure racing forums

Great Courses, great event! The Rangers in Action Demo is worth sticking around for as well. Well organized and kept on schedule. All of the Rangers and volunteers were awesome! Thanks!

I was there to do the duathlon along with Coker and Pedlgrinder. I had set a goal of 2:40 for myself. My runs were a bit slower than my typical trail run pace, but those hills out there are killer! Had no way to know how many people were actually doing the duathlon except for the number of bikes piled up in the transition area. When I got there at the end of the 5k (first run leg) a large number of bikes seemed to have dissappeared - I knew to where!

I had a good transition to the bike. Looks like about 2 minutes (much better than my previous triathlon attempts). Started the climb just behind some guy - managed to get ahead of him relatively quickly and I could see several more bikes in front of me. I started picking them off one by one - nothing easy about it the climb to winding stair gap - it's horrible (but in the best way!!!)! I think I was actually catching the tail end riders from the bike race before I got to the top. One guy caught and passed me on the bike - I wasn't pleased, but he was strong on the bike for sure!

Coming down from Winding stair gap was awesome! My top speed was about 37 mph. I'm sure there was some crazy folks out there faster, but that was comfortable for me. Passed a bunch more people - I have no idea how many were from the bike race and how many from the duo - but I did my best to keep up the pace.

Made another good transition (just under 2min) to the second run leg and took off with the one guy who passed me on the bike in sight. I managed to catch and pass him before the turn-around and hold him off for the climb back to the finish line. I crossed the line at 2:34:06 - beating my goal.

Lots of awards won by trailblazers out there! My time got me 3rd in my age group. Pedlgrinder came in the top 5 overall and got an award for his age group (I'll let him fill it in so the record stays straight!). His partner Karen did the 15K run and she also brought home an award plaque.

I met Lorna for the first time, and she brought home an award as well!

Coker came in very close to his goal time and better than his last year's time.

Great showing by the trailblazers for this event. Congrats for all the participants. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Santee State Park Challenge 2008 Off Road Triathlon

Originally posted on the trailblazer adventure racing forums

Another great day of Racing today for the Santee State Park Challenge. This was the final race in the three race Challenge IV racing series. Despite morning thunderstorms with lightening, the race started with only a short delay. Chris and Lisa put together an excellent event that was made even better with the unpredictable weather. Big thanks to the Williams and the great sponsors of the series. Also big thanks to those who braved the stormy weather to volunteer their valuable time to make this event happen.

While the field was not as full as the previous two events, the competition was as stiff as ever. Series contenders Chuck Hiers and Adam DeWitt were on hand as well as series 3rd place Steve Anstoetter - and believe it or not series fourth place - ME! On the ladies side, series 1st and 2nd place Katie Felton and Theresa Dawson were ready for the final showdown.

Several trailblazers were on hand - I met both Bill Jordan and Dwight Shuler. While they were not contenders for the series bragging rights, they were definitely contenders for the day's bragging rights.

The weather was not extremely pleasant for the start of the race, but it certainly was not at the level of the Checkpoint Zero race! The course was very wet and intermittent showers kept the racers cool. During the paddle we even had a brief spot of sun (I think this is when Chris called in a favor from the big guy upstairs).

Two events were offered at this race. A short course and a long course. The short course was 3mi, 3mi, 7 mi and the long course was 7 mi, 6 mi, 10 mi (trail run, kayak, mt bike respectively). Most competitors opted for the long course, but a fair number tested themselves on the short course.

The run was out and back for what I measured to be 7.6 miles (to the kayak put-in). My personal rhythm was thrown when I had to stop shortly into the run to re-tie my shoes! What a rookie mistake - I failed to double knot the laces! Maybe half a dozen people passed me when I stopped, and that is always tough to take! I managed to re-catch two of the people who passed me. In the end, I wasn't thrown by much, as my run time and average pace were faster than my goal.

The kayak transition was not as fast as it could have been. I need to work on that a bit. I had trouble getting my PFD zipped up and I just felt a little slow. Thanks to the guys who assisted us with the boats. That is a physically demanding job!

In the kayak I was hoping to make up some additional time. I tried, but those guys with those really nice composite boats (and strong paddlers!) are tough to catch. I managed to pass two more in the boat, but couldn't catch up with a third I had my sights set on. I measured the paddle at just under 5 miles. I was on track to meet my finish time goal at this point.

The bike transition was slow as well. I was passed in the transition area by a guy who I had passed near the end of the run. He was really strong on the paddle and caught me as I exited my boat.

He got out ahead of me, and I set a goal of keeping him in sight. He got away a little at the beginning, but I managed to catch sight of him less than a mile in. This gave me a boost in motivation and I was able to reel him in. I was surprised to pull away a little before running off the course about 3.5 miles in. Just before running off the course, my calves started to cramp up. He caught me when I stopped to turn around, and got back on the trail in front of me.

I was keeping him in sight, while playing the mental games with my calves....talking to myself out loud, trying every different riding position I could imagine - stretching whenever I had a brief moment where I could slow up on the pedals....it was mentally the toughest part of the race.

The bike course was kind of a figure 8. Chris was manning an aid station that we would pass twice at the top of the 8. I have to give some props to Chris - he was cheering me on big time - he had seen how close I was to the guy in front of me. When I came past Chris the second time, I still hadn't caught the guy, but Chris' encouragement gave me a mental boost to kick it up a notch. Somewhere in there my calves had begun to settle down a little bit.

After we passed Chris that last time, we were on the running course, so I knew how much we had left. I could see the guy in front of me and I pushed for about all I had to catch him. I rode his back wheel for a while after catching him - I guess I thought it would give me a little rest. Not really, but I saw an opportunity to pass the guy, and in the space of a mile or so, he and I switched places twice. The second time I passed him, he had stopped pedaling, and I could tell he was fighting a calf cramp. I knew this was an opportunity I had to capitalize on so I dug deep and convinced my own calves that they were stronger than that guy's calves. I managed to pull away from him - to my surprise!

As I got close to the end, I kept pushing as I did not know what my final time was and it was now a race against the clock. When the clock came into view, I could see that I had just missed my target. I crossed the line at 2:46:09. My target was 2:45. Despite missing my target, I'm pleased with the result.

I measured the bike course at 9.3 miles

This result put me in what looked to be 11th place overall. The day's winner was Chuck Hiers. This means he had a complete sweep of the series. Nice work! In the top five were (not in any particular order - I don't know the actual finishing times) Adam DeWitt, Bill Jordan and Dwight Shuler. I don't know who the other person was in the top five.

In the Ladies category, Katie Felton took the win and the series win, Theresa Dawson took second for the series. I think she was second for the day as well. If I understood it correctly, Lisa Williams took the win for the Ladies short course. Nice Job!

Thanks to all the competitors who made this a fun event as well.

jd

My Lesson learned from this race!
I'm not pleased with my calf cramps. Although I managed to get myself well hydrated starting on friday morning, I feel like my dinner on friday night was not sufficient. Next time, I'll repeat the meal (or close to it) that I had prior to the Clemson Challenge.

Clemson Challenge 2008 Off Road Triathlon

Originally posted on the trailblazers adventure racing forums:

I thought someone would have posted up by now - especially since I saw at least 3 other frequenters of this board out there - PedalGrinder, David M and Toby (username = Coker?). The Clemson Cycling club put together a great event - very well organized and lots of schwag!

The event started out with a run somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.5 miles. It consisted of three loops. Loop 1 started up the fire road then back towards the transition area on single track. This hill wasn't a killer, but definitely seperated the strong runners from the less strong runners.
Loop 2 started as we came past the start finish / transition area and down the fire road the opposite direction. At the parking area it changed to single track and went STRAIGHT UP (ok, so not really straight up, but it was long and steep!)!. This loop was cool as it took us down past the downhill / freeride course. Loop 2 came back on itself at the parking lot and then past the start/finish/transition area for loop 3 (a repeat of loop 1).

The paddle leg was staffed by a number of extremely cool volunteers. As I approached, they were calling out to me "Which boat?". As I pointed and called out the description, they were already moving the boat into the water! I jumped in and they gave me one heck of a shove to get me going!
The paddle course was roughly a diamond shape on Issaqueena lake. Four bouys marked the course, and we had to make two laps. Again, as I approached the takeout, the volunteers were right top of things and pulled me right into a good spot for me to disembark.

The short run back to the transition area was the toughest part of the course! My legs were beat from the run and from being immobile in my boat for nearly 50 minutes.

The bike leg started with something close to 2 miles on fire road before leading into some prime singletrack. The course was a bit different from advertised as apparently, less than a week before the event, a new trail was cut around and through some fresh clearcut by Tyler and ?clemson cycling club?. Although the trail was new (and still needed some compacting and further use), the bike leg of the event was excellent.
About six miles of singletrack spit you back on the fire road in the same location you entered. Then the final 2 miles to the start / finish line.

The same guy who won winter challenge 2008 (Chuck Hiers) won this event as well. This one he won with a finish time of 1:57 and change. If I recall correctly, Pedalgrinder came in 2nd for the Men's individual (2:02?).

I finished near the top ten (12th overall - I think there was 2 relay teams in front of me, so I might have gotten 10th place for Men's individual) with a time of 2:19:50. While I wasn't smoking the course like the winners, this was a very big event for me. Based on feedback from JimK, Labrat, Toby (Coker?) and a few others in the Greenville chapter, I completely re-evaluated my nutritional approach for this event. I arrived at the event well hydrated and with a supply of e-caps, gels and gatorade (my after race drink).

In my previous 2 tris of this type, my calves gave me wicked cramping on the bike legs. With this event I had only the light twitches in my calves about 7 miles into the bike leg. Thankfully, I was able to work through the twitches (stoked!). While this tells me I'm still not preparing myself properly, or getting the proper nutrition during the race, I learned a bunch about what I need to do for the next event. Thanks to those guys for the assist! I felt GREAT at the end of the race, and I could actually walk this morning!

I have to offer many Thanks to all the volunteers. This event was run very smoothly. Congrats to all who participated!