Athens 2 Atlanta 87-mile team skate
Skating 87 miles of Georgian gentle rolling hills seemed like an unreachable dream at the end of half-distance 1999 A2A. I was happy with my 11.3 mph. Actually, I didn't care about the speed; I was just glad I didn't get on the SAG wagon when my legs really wanted to. I also remember some faces come up the last hill before Dacula. They reminded me of patients passing kidney stones. How could a normal human do another 38?_The Dream
The impossibility made it a cool challenge. I told Jack Neal I'd do the full distance with him the year he turns 60. I imagined I'd roll in Piedmont Park around dusk with all kinda foot and muscle pains, and I would understand why people cried at end of Iron Man. I hoped I would be in time to watch Jack claim his age group prize. But I thought the more likely outcome was I'd send him an email in March and say I couldn't train because of work.
3 layoffs and 4 years later, I became a more dedicated skater. I committed to skate A2A with Jack and other TX Flyers. I was skeptical about the team approach: I couldn't imagine Mike and Chris Ritter slow down enough to skate with us mortals. But I had nothing to lose; it beats my original plan of trying to hang on to my 60-year-old friend for as long as I can.
_The Preparation
The team made everything easy. I didn't have to worry about when and where to train. I had a team to practice going down the hill with only 1 person with clear view of the road. I was forced to train at low heart rate. I figured out how much fluid I need per hour and how much food I could tolerate. The only thing we didn't go over was how to pee, which I learned from Eddy.
Brenda took care of all the details: training and travel schedules, flights, hotels, van rental, restaurants, and even supermarkets. All I did was showing up and whining about having to get up early. 9-time participant Fred flew to the event just to support the team.
_Pre-race Dinner
I was a little down Saturday night at Chilli's, where I had pre-race dinner with Jack in 99. Jack's training this year didn't go well. He abandoned the race after 4 years of anticipation. Duane was ill and wasn't breathing too well. I felt weak from sleep deprivation. Then the rain came.
I was determined to skate the next day, regardless of the weather. Heck, I have short legs. I'm genetically blessed to make sharp left turn at bottom of the hill, puckered or otherwise. All I need is a healthy back in the morning.
_Athens
I was ecstatic to see the dry road Sunday morning.
The start line was the most relaxed of all major events. There was no 20-min team warm up. No one practiced the final sprint. People just skated around greeting each other. No one fought too hard for position after the gun went off. After some gentle pushing and shoving, we got our red and yellow pace line.
_Easy First Miles
It didn't take too long before we started to pass others, especially going downhill. Our long tight train was much faster than the small packs. Several skaters kept passing us going uphill and were quickly swallowed. Gravity of many, wind resistance of one. This was fun!
Everyone was fresh and stable. We enjoyed the weather and scenery. We were a chatty bunch.
Chris Ritter and Mike worked so well together pulling the pack many skaters gave up out-skating us and just joined our pack parasitically. A few didn't feel right sucking our wheels and went to the front and offered to pull. We didn't care if other skaters use us to save energy. Our objective was to finish the event safely as a team; the time and placement were secondary.
_Pucker Hill
At some point we had a pace line of 40+ various bright color shirts hanging off 12 red-yellow jerseys. Awesome sight. I was in the 12th position going down BP Hill. I opened 5 feet in front of me then sneakily sprinted to close the gap to shake off the attachment. The lead skater of the new pace line didn't quite know how to react to the sudden wind resistance and the sharp left turn; his line went into pieces. It was a rare chance for me to try these little team tactics without worrying being dropped by the pack. It was great.
_Little Puppy on a 20-foot Chain
Many cars greeted the skaters with hand waves employing variable number of fingers. A few dogs also greeted us enthusiastically as we roll by their homes. One rottweiller came close to the road, barking. What a cute little puppy!
"It's OK, he's on a chain." Someone said reassuringly.
Next thing I knew we had the most unsafe looking animal in Georgia running next to us dragging a 20-foot chain. He skillfully cut through the pace line and played chicken with an oncoming Buick. The canine won! He was unable to keep up after a few more minutes and dropped out of sight. Everyone gave a sigh of relief. Or maybe he stopped chasing only for celebration dance after the victory over car.
Like Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction," the beast reappeared out of nowhere, not looking particularly pleased. I wanted his recovery speed. The 2nd stalking didn't last as long. Perhaps he didn't find just the right calf to sink his teeth into. Maybe he was already full from eating a skater from the lead pack.
Hopefully the puppy found his way home.
_Bonk Alert
Some of our teammates got weak. We shuffled the team members around for better positioning. Biff fell off the pack briefly, but we didn't drop our teammates that easily. He was hurting but was determined to hang on.
_Brief Encounter w/ FL Pegasus Flyer
We caught our Florida friend Paul on a short steep climb. He didn't have sufficient momentum to catch up to our pack but went on to win his age group. You da man, Paul.
_Steeplechase
I've skated some rough roads, but this is the first time I skate a race with actually break on the course. Due to some efficient bureaucratic communication (example of sarcasm), a small section of the course had no surface. Everyone rolled slowly on the 1-foot wide concrete, tip-toed over rocks and mud, then climb over concrete barriers covered with blankets.
Later we heard Eddy's pack just ran over the mud.
_Dacula
Soon we reached the town I always mispronounced and was famous for a pumpkin story in newspaper. 10 of us cheered on as our 38-miler crossed the half distance finish line. I was so proud of them knowing how hard Biff worked to come this far and seeing how Tonya conquered the hills.
_Into 3 rd Quarter
Critter and Mike continued to pull. We passed and picked up skaters. All the sudden I heard a small pack coming fast from behind and thought maybe Eddy overslept. It was the 52-mile lead pack. They looked fast. They looked skinny.
Duane continued to do well and showed signs of breathing. Jason and Little Chris seemed recovered from helping Biff earlier. Tiffany and Brenda still looked strong. Everyone was comfortable in their places and started chatting again. It was a social skate on the gentle rolling hills. It's also obvious all legs are a little tired from the climbs.
One problem we did not have was direction. Brenda would use her cut up map and shout out the turns and distances from the back. The lead skaters look for street signs. Rest of us just concentrated on skating. We had motorcycle police escort for a long stretch, which helped tremendously. Another perk of going with a large team.
_Unscheduled Stop
The unthinkable happened. Our king of mountain, who probably has red polka dot tattooed on his torso, got severe cramp. After a brief rest, he continued to skate with a little help from teammates. At some points we were sure we'd reach Piedmont Park with a missing man, but we got through the remaining gentle hills together. Not letting Dave go is my proudest team achievement. Thanks for hanging on, Dave.
We also earned the right to make fun of him until the A2A 2004.
_50-mile Stop
Fred, Tonya, and Biff waited for us with each skater's feedbag on the curb. David sat down with obvious pain trying to consume everything with potassium. We swapped water containers, loaded more energy food and resumed with what we though was sufficient supply. Only 37 miles to go. I thought rest of the trip would be easy as long as Duane's lungs and Dave's legs continue to move.
_Challenges
I learned to climb by trying to keep up with Dave. It's only logical that my quads started to give out too. I kept up with the group but was unable to help others.
Coach Mike, who won 38-mile in 2000, finally got tired. He rested in the middle of the pace line and continued to direct the pack. Critter demonstrated his superpower by pulling against strong wind for much of the way. Chris, you're not even human. Rick was also strong near the front, always ready to take over.
Apparently I didn't learn from Hotter'n Hell where I threw away a water bottle. As temperature rose, I lost water quickly. I started to look for extra supply. Fortunately Speed Spray Bob showed up with water bottles and bananas every half an hour. It would be difficult to finish the trip without his support.
_The Big Long Downhill
Not everyone felt strong by the time we reached Silver Hill. We went down the long hill in scattered packs. Duane and my 2-man train reached a measly 42-mph behind Jason's 1-man bullet. This was disappointing but everyone made it safely.
_Atlanta
The rolling hills finally ended. We were on relatively flat Atlanta streets. My legs stopped cramping. The streets were so patchy I wanted to call out "crappy road next mile" instead of pointing out each bump and manhole.
The traffic got hairy by lunch hours, but police manned the intersection usually gave us priority.
We went through the Restaurant Street 5 hours into the race. I got really hungry. I hoped the sandwich waiting at finish had half a cow in it.
We asked the non TX Flyers in our pack to go ahead so we would go in as one unit.
We reached Piedmont Park with spectators welcoming us. It was a beautiful moment. Great weather. Great support. Great company. No blood. Everyone stopped talking about food and got a little emotional as we realized this is the final stretch. The pace line became horizontal. 10 of us crossed the finish line, hand in hand.
Wished it were longer.
Wished it were 7am so I could do the whole thing again.
Wished Jack were there.
_Post Race
I sat on the grass and talked to my teammates and other friends. I was happy to find out Eddy and Stacey both won their divisions. Barry didn't skate. The missing road and head wind prevented any new non-default record this year, but Eddy managed to blow his competition away by 7 minutes.
After sandwich and soda, I was ready for another long skate. Went to the hotel and took a shower. Suddenly all I wanted to do was rest. I fell asleep on a couch at award ceremony amongst hundreds of skaters still pumped with energy.
We went to a burger place for dinner. The items were logically named on the menu. I picked the obvious -- Coronary Bypass. Wondered whether the little black dog ever had Korean for dinner. Wondered if my friends knew how much I appreciated them. Wondered if I'd be in a team this good and feel this proud again.
Still can't believe I finished A2A!
