Bryan McKenney raced 12-hour TT. 5 hours into race, he stopped and chatted as I got ready for 6-hour TT. He looked relaxed and pointed out the 2nd place a hundred yards behind. He had a few moments to spare. Must be nice to have this level of confidence.
_Low expectation
TTTT was my 2008 “D” event. Unrecovered from Montreal. A2A was 8 days away. If I have to pick an event to suck less, A2A wins. My IM CDA housemate Erik Bricker arrived late. He dashed in the registration when his competitors already lined up to start.
I reminded myself, “No risk. No digging” as the gun went off. 20-mile loop. I’d do 80 miles. 100 max.
_Crash
Drafting was allowed the first few miles. 1 guy took off like a rocket. Rest of us formed a nice pace line. The pace lifted, I let the pack go. This was a recon ride; I didn’t need to trust everyone in front of me. I saw the wreck 4 miles into the race. I rode slowly with another racer waiting for the pack. Erik caught us: 1 bike broke; pretty much everyone went down. Erik, hanging off back of the pack due to late arrival, was one of the few escaped. 1 girl was hurt bad. There was no cell phone signal. Some racers rode back to the start to alert medicals. All the sudden I was one of the leaders. I lost my resolve of not racing. 120 miles was the new goal, which seemed insufficient to surpass the lead guy, but this was cycling. Everyone was 1 mechanical issue away from stopping.
_Direction
The organizer made it clear “2 right turns only.”
The first turn was clear: green right turn arrow + manned intersection.
At next intersection, I saw black left turn paint on the ground. It didn’t occur to me black meant, “Erased.” I asked the cop at intersection by pointing left. He nodded. I follow the arrow. A few miles later I rolled to a boat ramp looking at the pretty lake. My race was over. The covered left turn was used for July Goatneck ride.
_Reconnaissance
I changed GPS to map mode and got back to the course. The 3-year old GPS locked up, which never happened before. Freaky day. I saw McKenney on the course and used him as a guide. He wouldn’t get lost after being on the course for 7 hours. Using cosmetic arguments, he convinced me to chase the 6-hour woman leader.
I lost motivation by end of 2nd lap. I’d seen the course and have no chance of a top finish. I took a long break at the car before 3rd lap. Legs got pretty tired of climbing. I was uncomfortable in aero position and had no reason to go hard. I finished the lap and called it the day.
At the award I got to pose with a trophy. The director promised I’d get one in the mail. I wanted to tell him my performance didn’t deserve a trophy but didn’t want to be disrespectful.
McKenney had the win in the bag before his rear tire self-destructed. The organizer announced his 2nd place qualified him as “rookie of the year.” He shrugged off the mechanical issue as “part of racing.” It turns out he really has a non-imaginary girl friend who’s not a hired actress. No actress could hammer out 500 miles under 36 hours.
#’s
4:06
official mile: 60
approx mile rode: 70
2551 cal
avg HR: 76%
crash: 0
off course count: 1
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Montreal 24-Hour Inline Race 9/6/2008
24-hour skate, loop course, Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve (4.32km)
2 Texas Flyers, Biff and I, skated Montreal 24-Hour last weekend (http://inline24.com/). Skatey-Mark got 2nd in this event last year.
Smooth road surface. Each relay team has up to 10 skaters. Laps are 2.7 miles; team members take a lap usually every 1 to 1.5 hrs. Or if you're going through midlife crisis, you can skate the 24 hours all by yourself. Below is my very wordy story for the long ass event.
Montreal is a fun town to visit. Drivers treat daily commute like a marathon races. Smoked meat sandwiches are excellent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Expectation
I decided to make Montreal the 2008 "A" event when Tibetan border closed.
I looked at past winning times and thought them reachable.
For 2008 the field would double in size, and Le Man winner would participate. Other factors included the single-mindedness of Lawrence, the top-returning participant. I thought getting on podium would be a moving target and picked 300 miles as the goal.
Race Plan #1.
This plan also didn’t match the goal, but it was early in the season and all my neurons were devoted to duathlon and the Tibet trip.
July Austin rehearsal
Brian Shicoff organized the 12-hour skate in Austin.
I suffered unexpectedly. I went out too hard, ate too much. I watched in awe as Lawrence (aka More Cowbell) tapped out steady rhythm.
Lessons:
Biff got a solo spot few weeks before the race. This resolved many issues. He would hand me food and provide an hourly lap pull. We would discuss race strategy on the course. I didn't want Biff to overexert because of his upcoming Austin Ironman 70.3
During actual event, Biff surprised me by hourly 3-lap pulls at the speed I needed to recover and provided flexibility of variable heartrates between his pulls.
Race Plan #3
I wanted to hammer out a quick lap the moment I saw the smooth course.
Participants prepared their space with lawn furniture, air mattresses, hammock, clotheslines, shelves, heat guns, and espresso machines.
I resisted the urge to socialize and lay on the paddock floor.
Biff reminded me yet again this is a 9-month journey and a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, and that I could consume large quantity of comfort food after the race. My heartrate was in racing range before I put skates on.
15 minutes before the race, I finally laced up and started the warm up. My body felt heavy after the 3-week taper, carrying friends’ expectations, good wishes, and GPS’s.
Crazy first hours
In less than 1 hour the big solo pack caught us slow starters. I jumped pack, started to average 18+ mph. I monitored my heartrate thinking these fast laps could be my undoing, but free speed was hard to resist. I vowed not to repeat my Austin mistake while flirting with anaerobic threshold.
We spotted the somewhat-official 24-hour skate record holder Philippe Coussy. He wore the same outfit and $1200 frame as in Le Man photo.
Soloists chatted away. No one seemed to breathe hard. A 23-year-old with knee brace described how he blew the left knee doing single-leg 400-lb press. Brian Schicoff and Bryan McKenney seemed to have too much fun. Brian actually cut the line to do extra pulls. Majority of the soloists were capable of impressive marathon times.
Finally it was my lead at bottom of the hill. I slow the pack down to 11 mph climbing.
"You don't pull?" A skater complained with French accent when the impatient skaters formed another paceline to pass me. It was pointless to explain I don't pull fast when there are 22+ hours left. Someone answered the question:
Wet
Rained. Just like last 3 previous years.
Energy bled with each stroke. I double pushed just to avoid slipping. Inner thighs started to complain. I don't know how Mark Sibert skated with yellow Matters in the rain in 2007. He must have better technique. But it was too late to sign up for his workshop. Most of us left the paceline of unsustainable speed.
I made a wheel change stop. So much for skating the entire 24 hours. 2 Hours later I heard that lead pack was down to 6 but still hauling donkey. I started to question Lawrence's and my chance for a top 6 finish.
I was glad I chose the Giro Pneumo with visor instead of the lighter Giro Atmos. Water still got into my eyes. Not putting sunscreen on forehead was a good decision.
Skaters crashed left and right. There were 2 invisible slippery patches at a turn Biff and I kept losing traction yet couldn’t avoid stepping on it. I focused on minimizing underpush and staying in the draft. Under the condition there was no way to avoid crash if the lead skaters went down; might as well draft aggressively. A pretty red fox showed up oblivious to the danger of human presence. She didn’t laugh at supposedly good skaters losing balance all over the road.
Energy
To reduce calorie requirement and muscle strains, I underpushed the turns and threw no crossover the whole race.
Biff brought my nutrition to the course; I pick things directly out of his fanny pack. This eliminated speed variation required to grab items from stationary supports’ outstretching arms.
I did spent extra calories to high-five the guy who skated backward. Just had to.
Real-time decision
Skaters were chatty after adrenalin returned to normal level.
Mistake
Temperature dropped with the rain.
I asked Biff to get my arm warmers and long pants ready. I mentally ran through each step and suddenly realized putting on tights required taking the skates off. I didn't think I could bear to put the skates back on. I decided to resolve the cold knee issue by ignoring the problem.
Negative incentive (9pm)
BBQ in the air. I became immensely hungry. The event organizer had a sick sense of humor and made the skater go through the aroma every lap. This probably would seem funny when I look back. I wolfed down all nutrition in the pockets and craved a big hamburger with no lettuce, no tomato, and no buns.
This was when I noticed some relay teams used Madison-style exchange. Many of these racers held speed beyond my competency. They usually flew by as if I were standing still. Morgan passed me twice; each time I felt the need to improve my DP.
Brief cooperation with US competitors
While I focused on staying in others’ slipstream, Lawrence tapped out consistent strides like a metronome. We finally hooked up in the dark. Our alliance came to an abrupt end due to his cramp. We wished each other luck before parting ways. He was hurt, teammateless, laps behind, and unable to hold 25+ mph for the fast straightaway. Yet somehow I thought he could still kick my butt.
Saw Shicoff couple times. He looked uncomfortable but said he was OK.
I couldn't recognize McKenney in the dark.
Surviving the 2nd half
Getting through the first 12 hrs without significant discomfort was a major goal.
Biff told me to continue the strategy of not worry about my ranking.
I had little confidence about reaching 289 miles at this point. I tried to pump myself up:
Confidence evaporated at hour 12.5. The outside of right knee stiffened from the cold. I took my first slow recovery lap, which didn't help enough. I reinstated the 12-hour break and spent 5 minutes to warm up the knee while Biff put the yellow Matters back on. I doubled the ibuprofen for remaining of the race.
Mistaken identity
I registered as Texas Flyer but wore a plain jersey that allowed changing without taking helmet off. Biff wore the very visible red-yellow skin suit. People started to congratulate Biff on the top 5 standing and probably wonder how he skated that far while spending so much time in the pit preparing nutrition.
Grave yard shift
Statistically 3 ~ 6 am is a big hurdle.
I was busy finding drafts, monitoring nutrition, and generally being terrified of crashing. The 3 hrs flew by. My stomach was digesting well. I added 2 Gu’s to reduce the chance of confusing hypoglycemia with a character flaw.
I was amazed how my form held. “Trust your training,” Biff reminded me.
The other French skater
2 French skaters entered the race after good results from LeMan 2 months ago.
It was about hour 16 when I noticed #222. He asked the usual:
I was concerned about Biff. The cold and wind couldn’t be easy on someone who made 1 hourly long stop. I actively sought out a pack to stay in so Biff doesn’t have to work so hard for remaining hours.
Coussy was all over the course, jumping from paceline to paceline. You could spot his seemingly inefficient arm swing miles away. Biff confirmed Coussy's lap count was untouchable. 2nd place was #202. I didn’t see him the first 18 hours and for a while wondered if it was McKenney.
7:30am (5.5 hrs to go)
The 2 hills became huge about this time. I was in so much pain I didn't notice thesun came up. I looked forward for theankle blister to pop to reduce the pressure. I found a French-speaking pack doing modest 12-minute lap. Coussy sat in this pack and skipped all hispulls. So did a well-dressed jovial guywith no bib number on the back. Hepulled out the phone and apparently asked about me. Biff found out that the numberless skater was 2ndplace Normandeau Patrick; he had 1 lap on me. We tried to lap that pack but #203 and #204 countered our every move.
#201 and Coussy were also protective of Patrick. #201 looked like it was hard for him to skate this slowly. 5 against 2, not counting possibly other Quebec skaters recharging in paddock. I wanted to attack but needed at least 5 fast laps assuming everything went my way. Chances were I would bonk, not to mention lengthening Biff’s recovery for very little gain. What I really wanted was surpassing Coussy, which seemed mathematically impossible at that point.
House of cards
Difficulties climbing. Bladder full. Left ankle not holding correct wheel angle.
I was several laps ahead of Lawrence. 5 skaters working together could attack me in various ways. Alternatively I could draft behind Lawrence and lose at most 1 lap, but Lawrence had incentive to pass me.
I took the easy way out: a short nap before rejoining the paceline. Patrick and his teammates finally relaxed with this 1-lap bribe. 'til the last lap, my heart rate stayed lower than pre-race when I lay on the floor. Top 3 skaters used little energy while Lawrence cranked out his miles, ready for us to falter.
I stayed in the comfort zone and counted all the things that could still go wrong: cramps, crashes, lower back spasm, mechanical, GI…. I started to ignore the race script to focus on staying upright. I skipped gels and water, assuming all the heavy lifting was done. I skipped the sunscreen and GPS swap to reduce the chance of dropping things. All I had to do was keep moving. There ain’t nothing wrong with a 4.5-hour cool down skate.
Biff went to the front to control pace. At every little climb, he tried hard not to put a big gap in front of the world record holder who skated like god just few hours ago. Coussy grabbed his left thigh the whole morning. He gave me a blank look when I asked him what’s wrong. Should’ve learned some French for this trip.
I had no idea about my mileage. I decided to focus on the podium finish. The body strongly suggested that I minimize muscular usage.
Happy ending
15 minutes to go. I jumped out and announced,
That little 600-meters fun probably cost me days of recovery time. I spoke with French accent by this time.
[world record holder, the sponsored skater, top 2 women, and me]
Post-race
Watching the 24-hour community tearing down the paddock home was a bit depressing. Many skaters departed before the race ended. Felt like I missed a party.
Biff didn't want me help packing.
I return to assigned space to take skates off and found heavily blanketed Lawrence in shock paying for his pursuit. I accidentally stepped on his toenail sitting on the floor all by itself. He graciously congratulated me and commented my speed range as a major factor. The silver and bronze finishes were team efforts. Lawrence's podium chance was slim by hour 18 simply because he was out-teammated. We couldn't touch him if this were a time trial.
Back to real world
The salt in hotel bathtub made me notice all the cuts on my shins torn open by rear wheels. I again marveled at Lawrence’s wattage.
Walking wasn’t too difficult for the next 3 days, though Biff and I briefly considered abandoning Guinness because the bar had big stairs.
Wednesday morning. I sat at a Dallas Dunkin’ Donuts watching the SUV wives doing morning shopping. The suburban scene looked surreal and easy to give up. I limped in the car park full of Lexus and Infinities and couldn’t remember how I pictured my future at the Mercedes-filled Orange County Costco parking lot in 1993. 15 years ago I didn’t know I’d appreciate donut with coffee this much.
I still wondered how much my training would need to change in order to close that 1-lap deficit. Maybe all it'd take was a pair of knee warmers that could be put on while skating. But races are unpredictable. Without that 1 lap lead, the Canadian team could've exhausted me by 10 am. I was lucky to have few enough things to go wrong that I had a good race.
Thank Yous
Blisters: 2
Distance data:
2 Texas Flyers, Biff and I, skated Montreal 24-Hour last weekend (http://inline24.com/). Skatey-Mark got 2nd in this event last year.
Smooth road surface. Each relay team has up to 10 skaters. Laps are 2.7 miles; team members take a lap usually every 1 to 1.5 hrs. Or if you're going through midlife crisis, you can skate the 24 hours all by yourself. Below is my very wordy story for the long ass event.
Montreal is a fun town to visit. Drivers treat daily commute like a marathon races. Smoked meat sandwiches are excellent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Expectation
I decided to make Montreal the 2008 "A" event when Tibetan border closed.
I looked at past winning times and thought them reachable.
For 2008 the field would double in size, and Le Man winner would participate. Other factors included the single-mindedness of Lawrence, the top-returning participant. I thought getting on podium would be a moving target and picked 300 miles as the goal.
Race Plan #1.
- Stick to the eventual leader like glue.
- Stay with paceline when possible.
- Basically race like an Italian road cycling sprinter.
- Stop every 4 to 6 hours.
This plan also didn’t match the goal, but it was early in the season and all my neurons were devoted to duathlon and the Tibet trip.
July Austin rehearsal
Brian Shicoff organized the 12-hour skate in Austin.
I suffered unexpectedly. I went out too hard, ate too much. I watched in awe as Lawrence (aka More Cowbell) tapped out steady rhythm.
Lessons:
- Steady pace
- Minimize non-rolling time
- Minimize calorie requirement
- Don't challenge the climbs
- Let Lawrence set the pace.
- 3 scheduled stops at hours 12, 18, 21
- Reduce calorie consumption.
- New goal: 289 miles.
Biff got a solo spot few weeks before the race. This resolved many issues. He would hand me food and provide an hourly lap pull. We would discuss race strategy on the course. I didn't want Biff to overexert because of his upcoming Austin Ironman 70.3
During actual event, Biff surprised me by hourly 3-lap pulls at the speed I needed to recover and provided flexibility of variable heartrates between his pulls.
Race Plan #3
- First 12 hours: Ignore ranking.
- Stay mostly aerobic and keep moving.
- Shoot for 144 miles.
- Assuming podium finish unrealistic, hold 13 ~ 14 mph.
- No stops. Rolling recovery.
I wanted to hammer out a quick lap the moment I saw the smooth course.
Participants prepared their space with lawn furniture, air mattresses, hammock, clotheslines, shelves, heat guns, and espresso machines.
I resisted the urge to socialize and lay on the paddock floor.
Biff reminded me yet again this is a 9-month journey and a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, and that I could consume large quantity of comfort food after the race. My heartrate was in racing range before I put skates on.
15 minutes before the race, I finally laced up and started the warm up. My body felt heavy after the 3-week taper, carrying friends’ expectations, good wishes, and GPS’s.
Crazy first hours
In less than 1 hour the big solo pack caught us slow starters. I jumped pack, started to average 18+ mph. I monitored my heartrate thinking these fast laps could be my undoing, but free speed was hard to resist. I vowed not to repeat my Austin mistake while flirting with anaerobic threshold.
We spotted the somewhat-official 24-hour skate record holder Philippe Coussy. He wore the same outfit and $1200 frame as in Le Man photo.
Soloists chatted away. No one seemed to breathe hard. A 23-year-old with knee brace described how he blew the left knee doing single-leg 400-lb press. Brian Schicoff and Bryan McKenney seemed to have too much fun. Brian actually cut the line to do extra pulls. Majority of the soloists were capable of impressive marathon times.
Finally it was my lead at bottom of the hill. I slow the pack down to 11 mph climbing.
"You don't pull?" A skater complained with French accent when the impatient skaters formed another paceline to pass me. It was pointless to explain I don't pull fast when there are 22+ hours left. Someone answered the question:
"He doesn't pull; he's from Texas."I thought it was pretty funny.
Wet
Rained. Just like last 3 previous years.
Energy bled with each stroke. I double pushed just to avoid slipping. Inner thighs started to complain. I don't know how Mark Sibert skated with yellow Matters in the rain in 2007. He must have better technique. But it was too late to sign up for his workshop. Most of us left the paceline of unsustainable speed.
I made a wheel change stop. So much for skating the entire 24 hours. 2 Hours later I heard that lead pack was down to 6 but still hauling donkey. I started to question Lawrence's and my chance for a top 6 finish.
I was glad I chose the Giro Pneumo with visor instead of the lighter Giro Atmos. Water still got into my eyes. Not putting sunscreen on forehead was a good decision.
Skaters crashed left and right. There were 2 invisible slippery patches at a turn Biff and I kept losing traction yet couldn’t avoid stepping on it. I focused on minimizing underpush and staying in the draft. Under the condition there was no way to avoid crash if the lead skaters went down; might as well draft aggressively. A pretty red fox showed up oblivious to the danger of human presence. She didn’t laugh at supposedly good skaters losing balance all over the road.
Energy
"It's not how much energy you use, but how much you save."I divide the 2.7-mile smooth course into 3 parts.
--Robbie McCuen on 2007 Tour de France.
- Climbs and turns
- Headwind
- Tailwind straightaway
To reduce calorie requirement and muscle strains, I underpushed the turns and threw no crossover the whole race.
Biff brought my nutrition to the course; I pick things directly out of his fanny pack. This eliminated speed variation required to grab items from stationary supports’ outstretching arms.
I did spent extra calories to high-five the guy who skated backward. Just had to.
Real-time decision
Skaters were chatty after adrenalin returned to normal level.
"You have to climb 100 steps to get to the washroom." A tired soloist complained.
"Then you have walk down 200 steps just to come back down." A local relayer agreed.This was how I decided Gatorade bottle was the way to go with which Renee was very impressed with.
Mistake
Temperature dropped with the rain.
I asked Biff to get my arm warmers and long pants ready. I mentally ran through each step and suddenly realized putting on tights required taking the skates off. I didn't think I could bear to put the skates back on. I decided to resolve the cold knee issue by ignoring the problem.
Negative incentive (9pm)
BBQ in the air. I became immensely hungry. The event organizer had a sick sense of humor and made the skater go through the aroma every lap. This probably would seem funny when I look back. I wolfed down all nutrition in the pockets and craved a big hamburger with no lettuce, no tomato, and no buns.
This was when I noticed some relay teams used Madison-style exchange. Many of these racers held speed beyond my competency. They usually flew by as if I were standing still. Morgan passed me twice; each time I felt the need to improve my DP.
Brief cooperation with US competitors
While I focused on staying in others’ slipstream, Lawrence tapped out consistent strides like a metronome. We finally hooked up in the dark. Our alliance came to an abrupt end due to his cramp. We wished each other luck before parting ways. He was hurt, teammateless, laps behind, and unable to hold 25+ mph for the fast straightaway. Yet somehow I thought he could still kick my butt.
Saw Shicoff couple times. He looked uncomfortable but said he was OK.
"Just slow and steady."His body had difficulties holding core temperature, and he wisely brought the cold-weather gears.
I couldn't recognize McKenney in the dark.
Surviving the 2nd half
Getting through the first 12 hrs without significant discomfort was a major goal.
"You should feel so fresh you could do another 12."I felt great at 1 am.
Biff told me to continue the strategy of not worry about my ranking.
"All the rabbits have gone to sleep."Road was mostly dry by now. All body parts functional. Stomach complained only once about this unnatural diet.
I had little confidence about reaching 289 miles at this point. I tried to pump myself up:
"I'm just like the record holder Eric Gee except I have smaller legs and inferior techniques. I have no previous experience on the course, seldom skate on wet pavement, don't make my own boots, don’t train as hard, and never came close to winning national title at any distance."But Eric fought the 2007 wind using aerodynamic equipment; my race condition enabled me to minimize headwind while enjoyed full benefit of tail wind. Advantage was clearly on my side. Yeah, the official record was going down.
Confidence evaporated at hour 12.5. The outside of right knee stiffened from the cold. I took my first slow recovery lap, which didn't help enough. I reinstated the 12-hour break and spent 5 minutes to warm up the knee while Biff put the yellow Matters back on. I doubled the ibuprofen for remaining of the race.
Mistaken identity
I registered as Texas Flyer but wore a plain jersey that allowed changing without taking helmet off. Biff wore the very visible red-yellow skin suit. People started to congratulate Biff on the top 5 standing and probably wonder how he skated that far while spending so much time in the pit preparing nutrition.
Grave yard shift
Statistically 3 ~ 6 am is a big hurdle.
I was busy finding drafts, monitoring nutrition, and generally being terrified of crashing. The 3 hrs flew by. My stomach was digesting well. I added 2 Gu’s to reduce the chance of confusing hypoglycemia with a character flaw.
I was amazed how my form held. “Trust your training,” Biff reminded me.
The other French skater
2 French skaters entered the race after good results from LeMan 2 months ago.
It was about hour 16 when I noticed #222. He asked the usual:
Where are you from? How many times have you done this? How can your French be worse than my English.…Pretty soon we realized we were competing for the same podium spot. Biff confirmed,
"He has 2 laps on you. You’re 4th."Biff and I launched attack after attack; he valiantly cameback every time, digging deep. #222 labored to get back to my draft after Biff left the course for the hour. I spotted 2 fitness skaters and pulled the closer one to the other's slipstream. 3 of us hammered for next 2 miles and left the little dude in the dust. 2 very strong relay racers pulled my next 2 laps. I was spent but made up a lap toward the podium. Lap time later showed that #222 blew up trying to defend that lap and Lawrence moved up to 4th.
I was concerned about Biff. The cold and wind couldn’t be easy on someone who made 1 hourly long stop. I actively sought out a pack to stay in so Biff doesn’t have to work so hard for remaining hours.
Coussy was all over the course, jumping from paceline to paceline. You could spot his seemingly inefficient arm swing miles away. Biff confirmed Coussy's lap count was untouchable. 2nd place was #202. I didn’t see him the first 18 hours and for a while wondered if it was McKenney.
7:30am (5.5 hrs to go)
The 2 hills became huge about this time. I was in so much pain I didn't notice thesun came up. I looked forward for theankle blister to pop to reduce the pressure. I found a French-speaking pack doing modest 12-minute lap. Coussy sat in this pack and skipped all hispulls. So did a well-dressed jovial guywith no bib number on the back. Hepulled out the phone and apparently asked about me. Biff found out that the numberless skater was 2ndplace Normandeau Patrick; he had 1 lap on me. We tried to lap that pack but #203 and #204 countered our every move.
#201 and Coussy were also protective of Patrick. #201 looked like it was hard for him to skate this slowly. 5 against 2, not counting possibly other Quebec skaters recharging in paddock. I wanted to attack but needed at least 5 fast laps assuming everything went my way. Chances were I would bonk, not to mention lengthening Biff’s recovery for very little gain. What I really wanted was surpassing Coussy, which seemed mathematically impossible at that point.
"You were out teammated" Bryan commented later.I made the logical move. I begged:
"you keep me in this pack, and I don't attack."A win-win proposition except they didn't trust me and apparently thought my legs could still throw lots of sub-10-minute laps. They didn't ask me to pull, which was a bad sign.
House of cards
Difficulties climbing. Bladder full. Left ankle not holding correct wheel angle.
I was several laps ahead of Lawrence. 5 skaters working together could attack me in various ways. Alternatively I could draft behind Lawrence and lose at most 1 lap, but Lawrence had incentive to pass me.
I took the easy way out: a short nap before rejoining the paceline. Patrick and his teammates finally relaxed with this 1-lap bribe. 'til the last lap, my heart rate stayed lower than pre-race when I lay on the floor. Top 3 skaters used little energy while Lawrence cranked out his miles, ready for us to falter.
I stayed in the comfort zone and counted all the things that could still go wrong: cramps, crashes, lower back spasm, mechanical, GI…. I started to ignore the race script to focus on staying upright. I skipped gels and water, assuming all the heavy lifting was done. I skipped the sunscreen and GPS swap to reduce the chance of dropping things. All I had to do was keep moving. There ain’t nothing wrong with a 4.5-hour cool down skate.
Biff went to the front to control pace. At every little climb, he tried hard not to put a big gap in front of the world record holder who skated like god just few hours ago. Coussy grabbed his left thigh the whole morning. He gave me a blank look when I asked him what’s wrong. Should’ve learned some French for this trip.
I had no idea about my mileage. I decided to focus on the podium finish. The body strongly suggested that I minimize muscular usage.
Happy ending
15 minutes to go. I jumped out and announced,
“I will lap you twice!”The well-rested pack actually reacted before figuring out the joke. The racers were allowed to finish the lap they're on at the 24-hour mark. Our slow-moving paceline organized to make the cut off. I sat behind the domestique #201 and beat the clock at 25+ mph. That boy could move! It was so exhilarating we didn't realize we dropped our teammates.
That little 600-meters fun probably cost me days of recovery time. I spoke with French accent by this time.
"*&^$! We have to climb this *&^%$# hill again...."Everyone congratulated Coussy. I shook hands with #222, Patrick and his helpers. I received pats (above waist) along with bunch friendly-sounding French words. They let Biff and I move ahead, and I forgot to ask about Coussy’s left thigh. Biff and I crossed the line under the Christmas light together. I was grateful to have a teammate to share that moment.
Post-race
Watching the 24-hour community tearing down the paddock home was a bit depressing. Many skaters departed before the race ended. Felt like I missed a party.
Biff didn't want me help packing.
"Get out there and have a good time."He knew I wanted to visit with racers from DC, skatelog, and the new friends who helped me in past 24 hours. I only knew them by backsides and voices. I never hooked up with those skaters. My brake ability disappeared and I kept running into walls, cars, and people.
I return to assigned space to take skates off and found heavily blanketed Lawrence in shock paying for his pursuit. I accidentally stepped on his toenail sitting on the floor all by itself. He graciously congratulated me and commented my speed range as a major factor. The silver and bronze finishes were team efforts. Lawrence's podium chance was slim by hour 18 simply because he was out-teammated. We couldn't touch him if this were a time trial.
Back to real world
The salt in hotel bathtub made me notice all the cuts on my shins torn open by rear wheels. I again marveled at Lawrence’s wattage.
Walking wasn’t too difficult for the next 3 days, though Biff and I briefly considered abandoning Guinness because the bar had big stairs.
Wednesday morning. I sat at a Dallas Dunkin’ Donuts watching the SUV wives doing morning shopping. The suburban scene looked surreal and easy to give up. I limped in the car park full of Lexus and Infinities and couldn’t remember how I pictured my future at the Mercedes-filled Orange County Costco parking lot in 1993. 15 years ago I didn’t know I’d appreciate donut with coffee this much.
I still wondered how much my training would need to change in order to close that 1-lap deficit. Maybe all it'd take was a pair of knee warmers that could be put on while skating. But races are unpredictable. Without that 1 lap lead, the Canadian team could've exhausted me by 10 am. I was lucky to have few enough things to go wrong that I had a good race.
Thank Yous
- Shicoff for coordinating.
- McKenney for encouragements with that confident McKenney style.
- Renee, Rick and Andrea for staying up all night to support the solo skaters and for peeling me off the floor.
- Mark Sibert for making me thinking about the event at 2007 a2a dinner.
- Eric Gee for saving my skin and convincing me a sprinter could do well at such event.
- Texas Flyers, my team, for providing paceline skills, discipline, introduction to endurance, and camaraderie.
- Relay racers for slipstreams and extra room at the relay area.
- Lawrence for education, encouragement, and inspiration.
- Biff for going beyond the planned roles (manager, support, trainer) and risking his Ironman 70.3 to optimize my race. And for being a friend.
- Tanisha for guiding me through triathlon then taking away my bragging rights by finishing the same Ironman 3 months after C-section, and for giving Biff up for the duration of the event.
- avg: 67%
- max: 90%
- 12005 cal
- time: 24:14
Blisters: 2
Distance data:
- avg = 13.8 mph
- fast lap = 28.748 km/hr = 17.97 mph
- lap count = 124
- total distance = 334.8 miles
- total race time = 24:13:53
- 5 min, change to rain wheels
- 1:30am 6 min, wheel change + nap
- 10:30am 8 min, bathroom + nap
- Hammer gel; espresso 8
- Gu gel; no caffeine 2
- Red Bull 5
- Amino Vital 8
- ibuprofen 12
- Viviran 4
- SportLegs 30
- Antifatigue Cap 26
- Endurolyte 23
- Perpetuem 15
- Caloriesper hour 233
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Road to Montreal 24-Hour
Long Practice
2008 Father's Day. The Baileys came out to keep me company for the boring 0.43-mile loop parking lot skate. 6 hours into the session, Perpetuem sat in my stomach like wet cement looking for the first opportunity to project. It was now evident that the nutrition plan wouldn't work for the event that's less than 3 months away. The thermometer leaning against the tire said 103. My blisters were poised to have their own blisters. "You look great," Tanisha lied. She finished an Ironman 3 months after C-section and knew the loneliness of long distance training. Sam the 1.25-year-old boy enthusiastically maximized the breadcrumbs spread in the brand new Baileymobile. I wished I had his energy. I felt hopelessly unready for the 24-hour skate.
Motivation
I met my 2007 goals:
Ø fulfill the Ironman promise
Ø skate Hotter n Hell 100
Ø improve my A2A 38-mile time
Ø run a sub-8:00-pace half marathon
2008 wasn't scheduled around fitness targets; it would be the year I light a lamp inside of the Tibetan temple. I signed up for Montreal as a fun event and a chance to visit the city. The original plan was 200 miles: 10 mph was a speed I didn't need to train for, and 4 hours sounded like reasonable naptime. Chinese government closed Tibet boarder, then Danny Dannels threw his hat in the ring and asked me to skate pace line after his coast-to-coast skate. He convinced me to up my training using very few words. I wrote "300" on the wall. Friends visiting the house assumed I was a fan of the movie. Danny changed his skate plan and ditched Montreal. I couldn't think of a good reason to back out. Brian Shicoff, Bryan McKenney, Renee Coffman, and Mark Sibert encouraged me to stick with the plan. "There is nothing to be scared of, it's a really fun event. " emailed Bryan. Biff agreed to help with the trip. Biff and Tanisha guided me through triathlon and had a good understanding of my fitness limitations.
Foreseeable challenge 1: Aero or not aero
Past participants commented on the "aero helmet guy." A few actually laughed at the wearer who eventually won the solo event. Unable to find wind tunnel data for skaters, I found Eric Gee on facebook. He graciously shared his decision-making processes.
I took the aero helmet out of the box and started practicing with it.
Foreseeable challenge 2: Boots
In the custom Simmons boots, I could handle events up to 3 hours. The skin was very unhappy after 6 hours A2A in 2007. Mark and Lawrence both had major feet issue after their 2007 podium finishes. I seek more advice from Eric whom stayed in his homemade boots for the award. I adopted his grease system and had smellier but bloodless boots.
Foreseeable challenge 3: Nutrition
My philosophy had been "I don't participate in events long enough to worry about it. Proper carbo loading should store 2000 cal of glycogen. Body had 4+ lb of water to spare. Fat doesn't run out. Just need to consume some fixed amount of gel per hour and drink when body wants it."
Simple calculation shows this approach doesn't work for 24-hour skate even on paper. I started to keep track of food/fluid intake during long skate, where I stand on the bathroom scale hourly. Arrogantly ignoring Hammer's 280 calories / hr limit, I finished many long skates feeling ill. I started over using data from triathlon and 100-mile runs and reach a stable plan with gel and powder (233 cal / hour intake).
Hammer gel; espresso 8
Gu gel; no caffeine 2
Red Bull 5
Amino Vital 8
ibuprofen 12
Viviran 4
SportLegs 30
Antifatigue Cap 26
Endurolyte 23
Perpetuem 15
Training
Started with simple weekly programs:
Mon yoga or short run.
Tu TX F. Popeye fry chicken
Wed trainer ride w/ movie, low HR, 3+ hrs; meal on wheels
Th TX F. Korean Tofu bowl.
Fri rest
Sat group bike ride || hill repeats, short run. Stretch. Balance board.
Sun long parking lot solo skate
I increased the weekend volume weekly 'til body told me to rest. I'd start another mesocycle. This worked well 'til the long skate got to 7+ hours. Lower back pain and sciatica forced me to look for ways to trim training while maintaining the 1 long weekly skate. By July I was in survival mode.
Dress Rehearsal 7/19/2008
Brian secured Driveway in Austin for 12 hours for the long practice (Thank you Brian).
Hot and humid. Smooth surface. Lots of turns. 1 longish mild climb per lap.
I started comfortable and tried to sing for Brian when his iPod failed. I chattered away on mobile wishing for the Bluetooth headset. I looked forward to the hill every lap; the slope fed into the under-push so perfectly. The fun lasted < 3 hours. By midnight I was 4 lb lighter and had unnatural amount of fluid sitting in the gut. I skipped 500 calories of Perpetuem and felt weak. The core somewhat recovered by 3am and was able to hold reasonable speed in Lawrence's draft. I felt defeated. I focused on getting through each lap. Quads threatened to quit at every climb.
I ended up with 140 miles that night I was no longer confident about the 300 miles or getting through the event vomitlessly. I started thinking hard about pacing and reducing calorie.
2 weeks after the Austin skate I was unable to hang in the usual bike pack. The legs had no acceleration for run, bike, and skate. Eric told me about his 2007 months-long recovery experience. I was dismayed how I arbitrarily decided 2 weeks were sufficient recovery time. I thought all was lost at this point. Somehow I didn't freak out. Watching teammate Scarlett recovering from brain surgery helped put things in perspective. I would go to a beautiful city and enjoy a relaxed event. Weather and legs will do what they want. Worrying won't help recovery.
Power gradually returned 3 weeks after the 12-hour skate.
Daily Nutrition
I found myself losing weight steadily when training started (Oprah's dream). I ate junk food to fuel the weekend long skate just to slow the weight lose. I also frequented pizza buffet, Popeye's Tuesday manager special, and Osaka all-you-can-eat sushi. The downside of eating all the time was food no longer tasted as good.
After the Austin skate, I decided to lose 5 lb to reduce calorie need. Weight control has been the 1 aspect of endurance sports I did well, but this time it was difficult because of recovery from the long skate; I constantly worried about nutrition. The drastically reduced training volume made required fuel difficult to gauge. Somehow things worked out, and I left for Montreal with target weight. I thought of writing Oprah to explain how to do this: step 1, sign up for a long-ass endurance event….
Goal
I was disappointed to learn 300 miles wouldn't necessarily break the course record. No one knew how far Eric Gee skated due to a defective timing chip. I usually assume 13 mph is my forever speed, but I was unable to hold that speed after 5 hours at 2007 A2A.
13 mph x 23 hr = 299 miles
The official course record is 288 miles.
I decided to go for 110 laps = 289 miles => average 12.6 mph for 23 hours of skating.
Mileage is function of weather and draft opportunities
Teammate
Biff received a last-minute spot for solo racer. Montreal would be part of his preparation for his upcoming Half Ironman event. He would deliver hourly nutrition, supply, standing updates, and slipstream. I happily crossed out 2-way radio and aero helmet off the pack list.
Uncertainty
Lots of questions remained unanswered during last mesocycle. Usually decisions are arbitrary made when the deadline knocked on the door:
Ø 100mm or 110mm wheels?
Ø Am I better off with 2nd weekly long skate or yoga?
Ø Fluid intake at much cooler climate?
Ø How many pee bottles?
Ø Wheel changes?
Ø Bearings. 6 or 7 balls? Oil or gel?
Ø Jersey change?
Ø 3 20-min stop or no stop?
Ø Lights on helmet?
Ø Could I walk Montreal downtown the next day?
Ø Could I recover in time for Texas Time Trial?
Ø Could I recover for A2A?
Shoulders of the Giants
Participating endurance events is like solving engineering problems:
Finishing Ironman is about identifying weaknesses and paying the minimum price to get around them.
Skating Hotter n Hell 100 is about moving quickly enough before Hell's Gates and dehydration become factors.
Skating 24 hours is about minimizing down time while holding the parameters within tolerance.
Having no experience with 24-hour events, I rely on others' footprints:
1993: Kevin Setnes used 25-5 strategy at the Olander Park 24 Hour run to set the North American record of 160.4 miles.
This was the base of Biff and my 2007 marathon strategy. Biff continued to drill into my head: recover _before_ fatigue. Start at the speed that barely feel like working, then go a little slower.
1995. Dean Karnazes ate a cheesecake after a large pineapple and ham pizza while in motion during a 199-mile run.
This is almost as cool as Kobayashi ingesting 10000 calories in under 10 minutes.
I was forced to accept Hammer's 270 calorie/hr limit after ugly experiments.
I also rejected Karnazes run-'til-drop approach.
Start easy and go slow 'til someone provides draft, and then enjoy Montreal the day after the race.
2006. Carmichael added 700 calories/day to Dean Karnazes diet before Edurance 50.
I increased calorie intake by junk food to fuel the weekend long skate March ~ July. The downside of eating all the time was food no longer tasted as good
2007: Michael Secrest Indoor Track unpaced cycling: 535.86 mi in 24 hours at age of 54 and didn't let an asthma attack stop him
Training: 1 weekly long ride. Boring unchanged routes. Alternating hard-easy days. Ignore age
Race: All liquid-based fuel. Even-ish splits. Backup equipment. Ignore pain
2007 Robbie McCuen commented on the Tour: "it's not how much energy you use, but how much you save."
I routinely bonked within 4 hours of what I thought was reasonable pace. I lasted < 5 hours at 2007 A2A.
Need a realistic pace strategy that's more concrete than "Start slow, stay slow, and maybe go harder after the 16-hour warm-up."
Drop 5 lb to reduce calorie need.
2008: George Hood pedal stationary bike for 176 hours at a suburban YMCA, never slept for more than 12 minutes at a time. Allegedly Hood used Will Ferrell movies to pass the time.
To practice boredom, I scheduled weekly 4-hr trainer rides and learned that Jackass is superior to yearning –based French films. It's hard to stay awake unless something happens on the screen, which is defined as car chasing, automatic weapon firing, or Sharon Stone re-crossing her legs.
2008: Barefoot Ted skateboarded 242 miles in 24 hours.
This became the lower bound. There ain't no way I'd let him beat me using a skateboard no matter how perfect his race condition was. Somewhere between 242 and 535 is my optimal skate mileage.
2008 Steve Larsen explains his Ironman strategy after qualifying for Kona
"No matter what I do with the swim, I know I'm gonna suck.... I'm only going to focus on my strength and completely ignore my weakness."
My weakness is pacing. I can't hold constant pace even with GPS. I'll pick a steady skater and follow him/her as much as I could. This means skating at other's optimal speed, which beats skating too fast then burn up.
2008 Le Man solo winner skated 355.6 miles under good dry light-wind at age of 49.
I probably ain't old enough for this sport.
2008 July. Lawrence Pelo, the top returning participant from Montreal 24-Hour 2007, tapped out machine-like steady pace in Austin for 160+ miles in 12 hour.
I watched in awe every time he lapped me on the 1.6-mile course. I would use his pace during the event.
8-31-2008, last weekend before the event
2008 Father's Day. The Baileys came out to keep me company for the boring 0.43-mile loop parking lot skate. 6 hours into the session, Perpetuem sat in my stomach like wet cement looking for the first opportunity to project. It was now evident that the nutrition plan wouldn't work for the event that's less than 3 months away. The thermometer leaning against the tire said 103. My blisters were poised to have their own blisters. "You look great," Tanisha lied. She finished an Ironman 3 months after C-section and knew the loneliness of long distance training. Sam the 1.25-year-old boy enthusiastically maximized the breadcrumbs spread in the brand new Baileymobile. I wished I had his energy. I felt hopelessly unready for the 24-hour skate.
Motivation
I met my 2007 goals:
Ø fulfill the Ironman promise
Ø skate Hotter n Hell 100
Ø improve my A2A 38-mile time
Ø run a sub-8:00-pace half marathon
2008 wasn't scheduled around fitness targets; it would be the year I light a lamp inside of the Tibetan temple. I signed up for Montreal as a fun event and a chance to visit the city. The original plan was 200 miles: 10 mph was a speed I didn't need to train for, and 4 hours sounded like reasonable naptime. Chinese government closed Tibet boarder, then Danny Dannels threw his hat in the ring and asked me to skate pace line after his coast-to-coast skate. He convinced me to up my training using very few words. I wrote "300" on the wall. Friends visiting the house assumed I was a fan of the movie. Danny changed his skate plan and ditched Montreal. I couldn't think of a good reason to back out. Brian Shicoff, Bryan McKenney, Renee Coffman, and Mark Sibert encouraged me to stick with the plan. "There is nothing to be scared of, it's a really fun event. " emailed Bryan. Biff agreed to help with the trip. Biff and Tanisha guided me through triathlon and had a good understanding of my fitness limitations.
Foreseeable challenge 1: Aero or not aero
Past participants commented on the "aero helmet guy." A few actually laughed at the wearer who eventually won the solo event. Unable to find wind tunnel data for skaters, I found Eric Gee on facebook. He graciously shared his decision-making processes.
I took the aero helmet out of the box and started practicing with it.
Foreseeable challenge 2: Boots
In the custom Simmons boots, I could handle events up to 3 hours. The skin was very unhappy after 6 hours A2A in 2007. Mark and Lawrence both had major feet issue after their 2007 podium finishes. I seek more advice from Eric whom stayed in his homemade boots for the award. I adopted his grease system and had smellier but bloodless boots.
Foreseeable challenge 3: Nutrition
My philosophy had been "I don't participate in events long enough to worry about it. Proper carbo loading should store 2000 cal of glycogen. Body had 4+ lb of water to spare. Fat doesn't run out. Just need to consume some fixed amount of gel per hour and drink when body wants it."
Simple calculation shows this approach doesn't work for 24-hour skate even on paper. I started to keep track of food/fluid intake during long skate, where I stand on the bathroom scale hourly. Arrogantly ignoring Hammer's 280 calories / hr limit, I finished many long skates feeling ill. I started over using data from triathlon and 100-mile runs and reach a stable plan with gel and powder (233 cal / hour intake).
Hammer gel; espresso 8
Gu gel; no caffeine 2
Red Bull 5
Amino Vital 8
ibuprofen 12
Viviran 4
SportLegs 30
Antifatigue Cap 26
Endurolyte 23
Perpetuem 15
Training
Started with simple weekly programs:
Mon yoga or short run.
Tu TX F. Popeye fry chicken
Wed trainer ride w/ movie, low HR, 3+ hrs; meal on wheels
Th TX F. Korean Tofu bowl.
Fri rest
Sat group bike ride || hill repeats, short run. Stretch. Balance board.
Sun long parking lot solo skate
I increased the weekend volume weekly 'til body told me to rest. I'd start another mesocycle. This worked well 'til the long skate got to 7+ hours. Lower back pain and sciatica forced me to look for ways to trim training while maintaining the 1 long weekly skate. By July I was in survival mode.
Dress Rehearsal 7/19/2008
Brian secured Driveway in Austin for 12 hours for the long practice (Thank you Brian).
Hot and humid. Smooth surface. Lots of turns. 1 longish mild climb per lap.
I started comfortable and tried to sing for Brian when his iPod failed. I chattered away on mobile wishing for the Bluetooth headset. I looked forward to the hill every lap; the slope fed into the under-push so perfectly. The fun lasted < 3 hours. By midnight I was 4 lb lighter and had unnatural amount of fluid sitting in the gut. I skipped 500 calories of Perpetuem and felt weak. The core somewhat recovered by 3am and was able to hold reasonable speed in Lawrence's draft. I felt defeated. I focused on getting through each lap. Quads threatened to quit at every climb.
I ended up with 140 miles that night I was no longer confident about the 300 miles or getting through the event vomitlessly. I started thinking hard about pacing and reducing calorie.
2 weeks after the Austin skate I was unable to hang in the usual bike pack. The legs had no acceleration for run, bike, and skate. Eric told me about his 2007 months-long recovery experience. I was dismayed how I arbitrarily decided 2 weeks were sufficient recovery time. I thought all was lost at this point. Somehow I didn't freak out. Watching teammate Scarlett recovering from brain surgery helped put things in perspective. I would go to a beautiful city and enjoy a relaxed event. Weather and legs will do what they want. Worrying won't help recovery.
Power gradually returned 3 weeks after the 12-hour skate.
Daily Nutrition
I found myself losing weight steadily when training started (Oprah's dream). I ate junk food to fuel the weekend long skate just to slow the weight lose. I also frequented pizza buffet, Popeye's Tuesday manager special, and Osaka all-you-can-eat sushi. The downside of eating all the time was food no longer tasted as good.
After the Austin skate, I decided to lose 5 lb to reduce calorie need. Weight control has been the 1 aspect of endurance sports I did well, but this time it was difficult because of recovery from the long skate; I constantly worried about nutrition. The drastically reduced training volume made required fuel difficult to gauge. Somehow things worked out, and I left for Montreal with target weight. I thought of writing Oprah to explain how to do this: step 1, sign up for a long-ass endurance event….
Goal
I was disappointed to learn 300 miles wouldn't necessarily break the course record. No one knew how far Eric Gee skated due to a defective timing chip. I usually assume 13 mph is my forever speed, but I was unable to hold that speed after 5 hours at 2007 A2A.
13 mph x 23 hr = 299 miles
The official course record is 288 miles.
I decided to go for 110 laps = 289 miles => average 12.6 mph for 23 hours of skating.
Mileage is function of weather and draft opportunities
Teammate
Biff received a last-minute spot for solo racer. Montreal would be part of his preparation for his upcoming Half Ironman event. He would deliver hourly nutrition, supply, standing updates, and slipstream. I happily crossed out 2-way radio and aero helmet off the pack list.
Uncertainty
Lots of questions remained unanswered during last mesocycle. Usually decisions are arbitrary made when the deadline knocked on the door:
Ø 100mm or 110mm wheels?
Ø Am I better off with 2nd weekly long skate or yoga?
Ø Fluid intake at much cooler climate?
Ø How many pee bottles?
Ø Wheel changes?
Ø Bearings. 6 or 7 balls? Oil or gel?
Ø Jersey change?
Ø 3 20-min stop or no stop?
Ø Lights on helmet?
Ø Could I walk Montreal downtown the next day?
Ø Could I recover in time for Texas Time Trial?
Ø Could I recover for A2A?
Shoulders of the Giants
Participating endurance events is like solving engineering problems:
Finishing Ironman is about identifying weaknesses and paying the minimum price to get around them.
Skating Hotter n Hell 100 is about moving quickly enough before Hell's Gates and dehydration become factors.
Skating 24 hours is about minimizing down time while holding the parameters within tolerance.
Having no experience with 24-hour events, I rely on others' footprints:
1993: Kevin Setnes used 25-5 strategy at the Olander Park 24 Hour run to set the North American record of 160.4 miles.
This was the base of Biff and my 2007 marathon strategy. Biff continued to drill into my head: recover _before_ fatigue. Start at the speed that barely feel like working, then go a little slower.
1995. Dean Karnazes ate a cheesecake after a large pineapple and ham pizza while in motion during a 199-mile run.
This is almost as cool as Kobayashi ingesting 10000 calories in under 10 minutes.
I was forced to accept Hammer's 270 calorie/hr limit after ugly experiments.
I also rejected Karnazes run-'til-drop approach.
Start easy and go slow 'til someone provides draft, and then enjoy Montreal the day after the race.
2006. Carmichael added 700 calories/day to Dean Karnazes diet before Edurance 50.
I increased calorie intake by junk food to fuel the weekend long skate March ~ July. The downside of eating all the time was food no longer tasted as good
2007: Michael Secrest Indoor Track unpaced cycling: 535.86 mi in 24 hours at age of 54 and didn't let an asthma attack stop him
Training: 1 weekly long ride. Boring unchanged routes. Alternating hard-easy days. Ignore age
Race: All liquid-based fuel. Even-ish splits. Backup equipment. Ignore pain
2007 Robbie McCuen commented on the Tour: "it's not how much energy you use, but how much you save."
I routinely bonked within 4 hours of what I thought was reasonable pace. I lasted < 5 hours at 2007 A2A.
Need a realistic pace strategy that's more concrete than "Start slow, stay slow, and maybe go harder after the 16-hour warm-up."
Drop 5 lb to reduce calorie need.
2008: George Hood pedal stationary bike for 176 hours at a suburban YMCA, never slept for more than 12 minutes at a time. Allegedly Hood used Will Ferrell movies to pass the time.
To practice boredom, I scheduled weekly 4-hr trainer rides and learned that Jackass is superior to yearning –based French films. It's hard to stay awake unless something happens on the screen, which is defined as car chasing, automatic weapon firing, or Sharon Stone re-crossing her legs.
2008: Barefoot Ted skateboarded 242 miles in 24 hours.
This became the lower bound. There ain't no way I'd let him beat me using a skateboard no matter how perfect his race condition was. Somewhere between 242 and 535 is my optimal skate mileage.
2008 Steve Larsen explains his Ironman strategy after qualifying for Kona
"No matter what I do with the swim, I know I'm gonna suck.... I'm only going to focus on my strength and completely ignore my weakness."
My weakness is pacing. I can't hold constant pace even with GPS. I'll pick a steady skater and follow him/her as much as I could. This means skating at other's optimal speed, which beats skating too fast then burn up.
2008 Le Man solo winner skated 355.6 miles under good dry light-wind at age of 49.
I probably ain't old enough for this sport.
2008 July. Lawrence Pelo, the top returning participant from Montreal 24-Hour 2007, tapped out machine-like steady pace in Austin for 160+ miles in 12 hour.
I watched in awe every time he lapped me on the 1.6-mile course. I would use his pace during the event.
8-31-2008, last weekend before the event
Saturday, June 28, 2008
2008 Playtri Duathlon
I looked at the cold splashes against the lake shore in this 50-degree morning. Felt relieved I didn't have to swim today.
Playtri 2007 was my prep tri for Ironman. This year I signed up for my first duathlon: run bike run. 2+10+2 miles. Historically I average
8:00 pace (run)
20 mph (solo bike)
0.67 bike crash per triathlon
10+ minute combine transitions
I figure 1 hour is a reasonable goal; assuming T1 and T2 stay within non-laughable range.
The prep was focused on transitions. I even bought tri-shoes and practice leaving them on the bike pedals. This led to my first 2 stationary bike accidents. I'm so not cut out for this sport. I gave up sub-minute transitions: it's a short transition area; we're really only talking about 30-60 seconds of difference per transition any way.
My other glaring weakness is inability to run after bike. My March weekends were filled with bike-run repeats.
Game day.
The start was a zoo filled with athletes from multiple events: 5k, 10k, kids run, duathlon. I couldn't pace so followed some guy who seemed to know what he was doing. Made it to T1 in under 16 minutes and didn't spend 3 minutes looking for the bike. Put on helmet and bike shoes without incidence. Wow, what did I do that took over 10 minutes last year?
I passed a few racers at every climb and sensed I was near the front: the motorcycle showed a time board to the cyclist in front of me. He slowed down every time orange cones showed up at intersections. I took the lead half way into the race and realized I didn't study the course either and had to slow to see the arrows that differentiate the races. I decided to stay 15 yards behind my competition and save the legs for the run. "Keep it safe, you need to train for Montreal 24-Hour ASAP."
3 of us arrived at T2 within a 20-second window. The other 2 ran while I slowly walked on my cleats. No surprise there. I felt good after putting on running shoes but GPS told me I barely held 9:00 pace. A few weekend practices were insufficient. By the time my legs recovered, those 2 guys were gone. I saw 3 racers in front of me at the U-turn; the gap seemed unbridgeable.
1 mile to go. I heard footsteps behind and got ready to follow but gave up when GPS said 6:06 pace. "wow, this guy can't bike or transition to save his life!" I enviously watch him fly away. Later I learned he was from a relay team.
I was about to suck up for a strong finish when I remember my skate practice the next day. I was in no danger of losing my place and had no chance of improving it by reaching hammer zone. I finished the 2-mile run in 14:06. Among top-9 finishers, only 2 of us finished outside of 13:00 window.
2nd place beat me by 61 seconds, a time frame savable via good transitions. This is discouraging because transition skills ain't something I want to throw resources at. I shouldn't complain: my race went as planned. I unexpectedly won my age group with 58:22.7.
Lessons of the day: to maximize the chance of bringing hardware home:
1. race duathlon the same weekend most multi-sport athletes compete in triathlons.
2. don't crash.
Playtri 2007 was my prep tri for Ironman. This year I signed up for my first duathlon: run bike run. 2+10+2 miles. Historically I average
8:00 pace (run)
20 mph (solo bike)
0.67 bike crash per triathlon
10+ minute combine transitions
I figure 1 hour is a reasonable goal; assuming T1 and T2 stay within non-laughable range.
The prep was focused on transitions. I even bought tri-shoes and practice leaving them on the bike pedals. This led to my first 2 stationary bike accidents. I'm so not cut out for this sport. I gave up sub-minute transitions: it's a short transition area; we're really only talking about 30-60 seconds of difference per transition any way.
My other glaring weakness is inability to run after bike. My March weekends were filled with bike-run repeats.
Game day.
The start was a zoo filled with athletes from multiple events: 5k, 10k, kids run, duathlon. I couldn't pace so followed some guy who seemed to know what he was doing. Made it to T1 in under 16 minutes and didn't spend 3 minutes looking for the bike. Put on helmet and bike shoes without incidence. Wow, what did I do that took over 10 minutes last year?
I passed a few racers at every climb and sensed I was near the front: the motorcycle showed a time board to the cyclist in front of me. He slowed down every time orange cones showed up at intersections. I took the lead half way into the race and realized I didn't study the course either and had to slow to see the arrows that differentiate the races. I decided to stay 15 yards behind my competition and save the legs for the run. "Keep it safe, you need to train for Montreal 24-Hour ASAP."
3 of us arrived at T2 within a 20-second window. The other 2 ran while I slowly walked on my cleats. No surprise there. I felt good after putting on running shoes but GPS told me I barely held 9:00 pace. A few weekend practices were insufficient. By the time my legs recovered, those 2 guys were gone. I saw 3 racers in front of me at the U-turn; the gap seemed unbridgeable.
1 mile to go. I heard footsteps behind and got ready to follow but gave up when GPS said 6:06 pace. "wow, this guy can't bike or transition to save his life!" I enviously watch him fly away. Later I learned he was from a relay team.
I was about to suck up for a strong finish when I remember my skate practice the next day. I was in no danger of losing my place and had no chance of improving it by reaching hammer zone. I finished the 2-mile run in 14:06. Among top-9 finishers, only 2 of us finished outside of 13:00 window.
2nd place beat me by 61 seconds, a time frame savable via good transitions. This is discouraging because transition skills ain't something I want to throw resources at. I shouldn't complain: my race went as planned. I unexpectedly won my age group with 58:22.7.
Lessons of the day: to maximize the chance of bringing hardware home:
1. race duathlon the same weekend most multi-sport athletes compete in triathlons.
2. don't crash.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
2008 Texas Road Rash Inline Race
I had 5 skate practices in 2008. Practice #2 and #4 went badly.
I signed up for half marathon since 5k wasn’t offered. I packed the camera that I hadn’t skated with since Euroroll 2006. Time flies.
TXRR has matured and runs like clockwork under Richard Littrell and the City of Round Rock.
Saturday Elimination (11 laps, last man out)
Game plan:
Avoid being tripped by sub-80-LB skaters.
Keep the pace low and utilize my 10-second sprint.
Races seldom go as planned.
3 laps in, 2 bright orange skin suits had big lead.
I did a poor job organizing the chase group. Our pack fell to pieces when starting pursue. No other Texas Flyer entered the event. I went alone. I stealthily gained ground before the host Richard used the PA system to warn my competition. Thanks a lot, Richard! I kicked myself for not going earlier when pulled off the course.
The pros stirred when Joey Mantia showed up at registration.
I follow him a few min during his warm up. Effortless form. Very humbling.
Sunday. Sunny. Cool. Breezy. Beautiful day.
Jerry showed up at start preroadrashed. You gotta cut that out, Jerry.
Duane and Timo had the first pulls. I barely hung onto Timo’s cadence. 13+ miles to go. I took coach’s advice and skipped all my pulls after facing 3 seconds of alleged 6~8 mph wind (yeah, right).
Rest of the race was uneventful. I skated at the back of the TXF train for 13 miles then went hard at the last corner.
I stayed on the course with the camera. My legs suffered trying to keep my subjects in frame.
I didn’t adjust shutter speed as sun got bigger and ended up overexposing half the shots. Should’ve taken a course from Kautz Photography.
Happy racers thanked me for my teammates pulling. Many were envious I had such team to skate with. One skater poked fun of my Saturday performance, “can’t hack it without 8 supporting teammates, eh?” It’s not far from the truth.
Had dinner with friends downtown Austin. Never Again and Tiger Cry were excellent Thai dishes.
Saw bats leaving Congress Ave Bridge before driving back to Dallas. Quite a sight. Stayed clear of bat poopoo rain. A good day.
photo posted:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnny101/
Thursday, October 25, 2007
2007 inaugural Houston Inline Marathon
It was a fun and relaxing weekend with a nice hotel.
Wish more skaters were there.
photos by Shelley Kautz:
http://www.kautzphoto.com/pegasus%20photo%20site/Houston07/Texas%20Flyer...
result:
http://www.premierraces.com/results.htm
My chip time wasn't in the result no doubt because I cross the finish line too many times.
Here's the log:
_The Objective
2007 was a great racing season. I completed my 3 big events: IMCDA, HHH, A2A. I debated on goal for Houston Inline Marathon while feeling fat and happy from Halloween sugar. I didn’t want the chaos of a marathon race. Other options include:
1. get pulled by the Texas Flyers train in pro pack. This would involve declaring Tonya as honorary man so she could skate with us.
2. race the half distance
3. focus on helping teammates to have a good marathon time
The pro pack plan was scraped due to travel issues and injuries. I didn’t want to sprint against 7 and 9-year-olds. I promised Scarlett I’d pull her. My conviction wavered when I saw the size of the half-marathon trophy. Fortunately the Zen Buddhist in me reminded me I don’t need to be attached to another chunk of molecules.
Danny decided to stay in pro division even without the team puller. I love the boy’s spirit.
_Open Division
The road surface didn’t look bad but skaters went down left and right near the start: I saw young Phil and recently injured Jerry on the ground. Not good. Scarlett and I took our time. I planned to go slow the first lap of the 6 laps. I wanted negative splits.
The supposedly flat course was more challenging than anticipated with 2 U turns and 4 climbs per lap. Scarlett and I held a steady pace and slowly pick up Young Phil, New Chris, Shelley, and other random skaters. Couple skaters offered to pull; none seemed steady enough to follow.
We saw Hillary happily cranking on the other side of the street. Spectators and pro skaters cheered us on. Nothing but good vibes in the air. Suddenly Scarlett lost balance and torn the race number off my thigh. Hopefully the number wouldn’t end up caught in someone’s skate. Then Hillary went down after potty break. The street’s feng-shui worked against the Flyers that morning. I talked to a less happy Hillary as she made her way back to the start.
_Pro Waves
The pros started while we’re still on the course. Teenagers with 3 lungs dictated the pace for pro men. Brenda fell near the start; Tonya waited for her. They ended up doing a 2-person time trial. Danny lost his pack and enthusiastically skated his first pro division race solo.
_Half lap to go.
A few skaters in our pack started to “attack.” One actually asked me when he should sprint if he wanted to beat the guy who just left the pack. I found myself coaching complete stranger seeking advice during the race so he could beat me. I didn’t care. I was here for a team skate, and my teammates were doing well. Our pace line cross the line around 1:43. No unnecessary risk, no crash. Mission accomplished.
_Active Spectator
Before start, the announcer said we could skate as many laps as we wanted. I didn’t know if she was joking, but this was a rare chance for me to watch the race from the course. I jumped on the pro pack behind some very tired skaters. I slowed down before the downhill under the bridge to see rest of the pro racers. Chris and Duane’s small chase pack barely held 20 mph. More scattered racers struggled hundred yards behind. How hard was the first lap!?
Rob Bell, Mr. this is my taper exercise before Ironman next week, threw a flyer with more than 3 laps to go opening a huge gap. He smiled and waved at me like he was just warming up for the race. I marvel at the distance between gifted athletes and rest of us.
Danny stopped to re-lace a boot. Tonya stopped to remove a piece of white stuff caught in wheels. Duane and Chris’ pack was down to 3 skaters. Races seldom go according to scripts. I accompanied Danny for a few miles and saw the lead pack strolling on the other side probably going at 15 mph, toying with the people they dropped earlier.
Pro women pace line was a pretty pink blur of 4 skaters. The 2 Powerslide girls sprinted at end of lap 5 as if it was end of race. The move separated Debbie Race and a local skater; neither was able to close the gap.
_Long Distance Time Trialist in the Making
Danny was on lap 5, tapping out steady progress while the pro pack barreled down toward the finish ready to swallow everything in sight. Danny hammered and avoided being lapped by seconds.
Wish more skaters were there.
photos by Shelley Kautz:
http://www.kautzphoto.com/pegasus%20photo%20site/Houston07/Texas%20Flyer...
result:
http://www.premierraces.com/results.htm
My chip time wasn't in the result no doubt because I cross the finish line too many times.
Here's the log:
_The Objective
2007 was a great racing season. I completed my 3 big events: IMCDA, HHH, A2A. I debated on goal for Houston Inline Marathon while feeling fat and happy from Halloween sugar. I didn’t want the chaos of a marathon race. Other options include:
1. get pulled by the Texas Flyers train in pro pack. This would involve declaring Tonya as honorary man so she could skate with us.
2. race the half distance
3. focus on helping teammates to have a good marathon time
The pro pack plan was scraped due to travel issues and injuries. I didn’t want to sprint against 7 and 9-year-olds. I promised Scarlett I’d pull her. My conviction wavered when I saw the size of the half-marathon trophy. Fortunately the Zen Buddhist in me reminded me I don’t need to be attached to another chunk of molecules.
Danny decided to stay in pro division even without the team puller. I love the boy’s spirit.
_Open Division
The road surface didn’t look bad but skaters went down left and right near the start: I saw young Phil and recently injured Jerry on the ground. Not good. Scarlett and I took our time. I planned to go slow the first lap of the 6 laps. I wanted negative splits.
The supposedly flat course was more challenging than anticipated with 2 U turns and 4 climbs per lap. Scarlett and I held a steady pace and slowly pick up Young Phil, New Chris, Shelley, and other random skaters. Couple skaters offered to pull; none seemed steady enough to follow.
We saw Hillary happily cranking on the other side of the street. Spectators and pro skaters cheered us on. Nothing but good vibes in the air. Suddenly Scarlett lost balance and torn the race number off my thigh. Hopefully the number wouldn’t end up caught in someone’s skate. Then Hillary went down after potty break. The street’s feng-shui worked against the Flyers that morning. I talked to a less happy Hillary as she made her way back to the start.
_Pro Waves
The pros started while we’re still on the course. Teenagers with 3 lungs dictated the pace for pro men. Brenda fell near the start; Tonya waited for her. They ended up doing a 2-person time trial. Danny lost his pack and enthusiastically skated his first pro division race solo.
_Half lap to go.
A few skaters in our pack started to “attack.” One actually asked me when he should sprint if he wanted to beat the guy who just left the pack. I found myself coaching complete stranger seeking advice during the race so he could beat me. I didn’t care. I was here for a team skate, and my teammates were doing well. Our pace line cross the line around 1:43. No unnecessary risk, no crash. Mission accomplished.
_Active Spectator
Before start, the announcer said we could skate as many laps as we wanted. I didn’t know if she was joking, but this was a rare chance for me to watch the race from the course. I jumped on the pro pack behind some very tired skaters. I slowed down before the downhill under the bridge to see rest of the pro racers. Chris and Duane’s small chase pack barely held 20 mph. More scattered racers struggled hundred yards behind. How hard was the first lap!?
Rob Bell, Mr. this is my taper exercise before Ironman next week, threw a flyer with more than 3 laps to go opening a huge gap. He smiled and waved at me like he was just warming up for the race. I marvel at the distance between gifted athletes and rest of us.
Danny stopped to re-lace a boot. Tonya stopped to remove a piece of white stuff caught in wheels. Duane and Chris’ pack was down to 3 skaters. Races seldom go according to scripts. I accompanied Danny for a few miles and saw the lead pack strolling on the other side probably going at 15 mph, toying with the people they dropped earlier.
Pro women pace line was a pretty pink blur of 4 skaters. The 2 Powerslide girls sprinted at end of lap 5 as if it was end of race. The move separated Debbie Race and a local skater; neither was able to close the gap.
_Long Distance Time Trialist in the Making
Danny was on lap 5, tapping out steady progress while the pro pack barreled down toward the finish ready to swallow everything in sight. Danny hammered and avoided being lapped by seconds.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
2007 A2A 38-mile race + 49-mile cool down skate
Duane and I signed up for the 38 mile event toward end of the season. We had fond memory of the smooth pavement, chain-towing puppy, missing road, and gator back from our 2003 Texas Flyer team skate. I had vague recollection of the last 49 miles: insufficient hills, rough pavement, and a lot of traffic-basically things I can find in north Texas.
My original plan was to keep Duane (aka the cardio animal) in contact with the lead pack until he finds his rhythm. Duane's mom passed away and had to cancel. My new goals became: 1. Skate hard. 2. Have fun.
Tom Welsh and I consolidated hotel reservations to keep me under budget. Tom knows way too much about boot making and equipment in general.
Only other A2A Texas Flyer this year was Danny who had all kinda car problem on the way to Georgia. H and wife Hillary came close to buy a car during the jouney.
_Expected slow start.
5 minutes into the race, the lead pack was oscillating between 18 and 23 mph. Only at A2A. I was a little star-struck in the same pack as the big names: Matzger, Arndt, Doucet, Gayle. Dan Burger wore a weird brace wrapping his left calf. After the initial set of turns, skaters started taking seemingly unnecessary chances fighting for position. Pace lines reshuffled so often it felt like a 26-mile advanced men race. Several skaters stood up and refused to be part of the chaos.
Each climb took me a little longer to recover. 20 minutes and 6.5 miles into the start, I evaluated my chances of keeping up with the big boys. I decided to shut it down and wait for the chase pack. Man, I wished I were in better shape to do this. I wished Duane were in that pack to represent us.
I didn't see anther soul for minutes ‘til a lone skater passed me stealthily. Did he want to A2A all by himself? A few minutes later, a Boston John came by and invited me in. He did the lion's share of the work; my job was to buy him recovery time and provide additional mass going downhill. I didn't see how 2 of us could fend off the big chase pack, but we skated so well together I decided just to enjoy the moment.
Mile 17, we finally got caught by the big chase pack with Brian McKenney's 80 mm wheels in it. It's good to see Brian out of retirement. The pack wasn't well organized: 2 of the skaters had big back kick and no one wanted to stay behind them. We also had a few sub-100 skaters unaccustomed to all the pushing. The long down hills made it impossible for anyone to get away. Couple skaters in the pack were panting hard after each climb. My heart rate was in zone 2 but legs were full of sour milk. Maybe they're smokers. I led the pack for a few pulls and reached 36 mph feeling the big push on my back. What a rush!
The 87 milers were supposed to wear number on the left while 38-miler on the right thigh. I didn't have much faith in this system. 2 miles to go. I still had no clear idea whom I was racing against other than Herb Gayle. Big Herb was probably already taking shower. 4 of us acted like 38 milers and looked each other. No one wanted to lead. An 87 miler laughed at us and volunteered to pull for a few minutes. 1 guy started taking the smaller circle against traffic. I followed but chickened out after the first blind curve. All the sudden he accelerated and had 10-second lead. The bastard studied the course like I was supposed to. I let him go and watched his lead grow. If I weren't fighting to win, I wasn't risking towing others to the lead. I kept track of the 2 shadows behind me while anticipating attacks from the big pack of supposedly 87-milers. I started going hard before last turn with no one to chase after.
_Long Cool Down Skate
The moment I crossed the line, I stopped caring about the result. I skated hard and felt good and tired. Off-season started now. I craved protein with salty fat. I wished there were an all-you-can-eat restaurant at finish line. I'd been hungry for 2 months.
The reality of 2.5 hr bus wait started to sink in. Hillary told me Danny should be in Dacula real soon. "Good. Did he pack any bacon?" I wanted to ask her.
9:55am.
The Atlanta bound bus would leave at 12:30p; it's probably 1-hour drive. 49 miles at 13 mph was <>
I made rules for my Georgian edition of Pegasus Sunday Morning Stroll: no drafting, no hammering, must have fun. Several small packs asked me to join in; only 1 skater begged when I politely declined to be part of the Collective. It had been a long time since I skated just to enjoy the scenery. I took my time rolling the hills among the trees. The sky contained just right number of clouds. I was surprised to see so many streets without "peachtree" as part of their names.
_Sunday Afternoon Stroll
Mile 55. Left frame came loose. I didn't pack that wrench. "Why did I buy carbon frames with weird size axle bolt!?" I decided to adopt the presidential foreign policy: "ignore the problem; it'll go away."
Miles 60. I was in a bush as the direct result of taking the hot weather advice when a smiling Christina skated by. She claimed to be suffering when walking the grass on a hill. We passed each other a few more times due to my failed attempts to rectify my frame issue. She eventually won the 52-mile race.
Climbing became difficult around mile 65. I had no leg left after Silver Hill. The pavements were as rough as I remembered but with more inclines. At some points I hopped on and off the curbs looking for smooth surface and prayed the mounting bolt would hold. But I was in no rush. I got good looks of the stores and buildings that were a big blur in 2003. I missed my team.
I highfived Eddy who skated toward the start. The pavement turned nice for the final miles. A few skaters passed me shouting encouraging words. I had no urge to chase. The park came into view. I heard cowbells. I heard Cindy announcing the finishers. She's so nice.
The big clock said 6 hour something. I don't remember.
Brian and Renee sat on grass, looking comfortable and well rested.
_Nice Day at the Park
I think a few people came to say hi, but hunger overtook me and I don't have clear recollection of the event right after crossing the line. I consuming sandwiches and sugar water. At least 2 of those guys warned my frame was making weird clicking sound.
_Flyer Sighting
Hillary, whom I saw through out the day, came over and said Danny was doing well at their last meeting. Another skater also told me my teammate was skating relaxed and confident.
Danny came in, arms swinging, looking great. His wife got the camera out just in time for a clear shot of the other side. Danny might have to skate the course again just for the photo. I was so proud and happy for our boy. 87 is a tough distance, especially considering his short preparation.
Many skaters remembered the 2003 TX Flyer team. A skater actually thanked me for the draft from 4 yrs ago.
3pm, still no sign of my skate bag. No shoes, no cell phone, no problem. The hotel was paid for and I had the ID to fly home. I was surprised how little it bothered me. I checked into the hotel Duane booked. It had an indoor lap pool with hot tub. This was the best day.
_Award Ceremony
Our Austin friend Richard Littrell relaxed on grass, looking much better than his 2003 finish. Shortly before the 6pm awards, the last skater completed his 10-hour adventure. I went over to congratulate him. He attempted to raise his right hand. I patted his back, admiring his determination.
My skate bag miraculously appeared with my shoes in it. It felt good to be out of skates. I talked to old friends and made new ones. Danny and Hillary were all smiles. The world was perfect.
The Toronto skaters dominated the day. Stream of familiar faces claimed their awards. Mostly I saw many tireless people devote a big part of their lives to make this event possible. I was grateful.
My original plan was to keep Duane (aka the cardio animal) in contact with the lead pack until he finds his rhythm. Duane's mom passed away and had to cancel. My new goals became: 1. Skate hard. 2. Have fun.
Tom Welsh and I consolidated hotel reservations to keep me under budget. Tom knows way too much about boot making and equipment in general.
Only other A2A Texas Flyer this year was Danny who had all kinda car problem on the way to Georgia. H and wife Hillary came close to buy a car during the jouney.
_Expected slow start.
5 minutes into the race, the lead pack was oscillating between 18 and 23 mph. Only at A2A. I was a little star-struck in the same pack as the big names: Matzger, Arndt, Doucet, Gayle. Dan Burger wore a weird brace wrapping his left calf. After the initial set of turns, skaters started taking seemingly unnecessary chances fighting for position. Pace lines reshuffled so often it felt like a 26-mile advanced men race. Several skaters stood up and refused to be part of the chaos.
Each climb took me a little longer to recover. 20 minutes and 6.5 miles into the start, I evaluated my chances of keeping up with the big boys. I decided to shut it down and wait for the chase pack. Man, I wished I were in better shape to do this. I wished Duane were in that pack to represent us.
I didn't see anther soul for minutes ‘til a lone skater passed me stealthily. Did he want to A2A all by himself? A few minutes later, a Boston John came by and invited me in. He did the lion's share of the work; my job was to buy him recovery time and provide additional mass going downhill. I didn't see how 2 of us could fend off the big chase pack, but we skated so well together I decided just to enjoy the moment.
Mile 17, we finally got caught by the big chase pack with Brian McKenney's 80 mm wheels in it. It's good to see Brian out of retirement. The pack wasn't well organized: 2 of the skaters had big back kick and no one wanted to stay behind them. We also had a few sub-100 skaters unaccustomed to all the pushing. The long down hills made it impossible for anyone to get away. Couple skaters in the pack were panting hard after each climb. My heart rate was in zone 2 but legs were full of sour milk. Maybe they're smokers. I led the pack for a few pulls and reached 36 mph feeling the big push on my back. What a rush!
The 87 milers were supposed to wear number on the left while 38-miler on the right thigh. I didn't have much faith in this system. 2 miles to go. I still had no clear idea whom I was racing against other than Herb Gayle. Big Herb was probably already taking shower. 4 of us acted like 38 milers and looked each other. No one wanted to lead. An 87 miler laughed at us and volunteered to pull for a few minutes. 1 guy started taking the smaller circle against traffic. I followed but chickened out after the first blind curve. All the sudden he accelerated and had 10-second lead. The bastard studied the course like I was supposed to. I let him go and watched his lead grow. If I weren't fighting to win, I wasn't risking towing others to the lead. I kept track of the 2 shadows behind me while anticipating attacks from the big pack of supposedly 87-milers. I started going hard before last turn with no one to chase after.
_Long Cool Down Skate
The moment I crossed the line, I stopped caring about the result. I skated hard and felt good and tired. Off-season started now. I craved protein with salty fat. I wished there were an all-you-can-eat restaurant at finish line. I'd been hungry for 2 months.
The reality of 2.5 hr bus wait started to sink in. Hillary told me Danny should be in Dacula real soon. "Good. Did he pack any bacon?" I wanted to ask her.
9:55am.
The Atlanta bound bus would leave at 12:30p; it's probably 1-hour drive. 49 miles at 13 mph was <>
I made rules for my Georgian edition of Pegasus Sunday Morning Stroll: no drafting, no hammering, must have fun. Several small packs asked me to join in; only 1 skater begged when I politely declined to be part of the Collective. It had been a long time since I skated just to enjoy the scenery. I took my time rolling the hills among the trees. The sky contained just right number of clouds. I was surprised to see so many streets without "peachtree" as part of their names.
_Sunday Afternoon Stroll
Mile 55. Left frame came loose. I didn't pack that wrench. "Why did I buy carbon frames with weird size axle bolt!?" I decided to adopt the presidential foreign policy: "ignore the problem; it'll go away."
Miles 60. I was in a bush as the direct result of taking the hot weather advice when a smiling Christina skated by. She claimed to be suffering when walking the grass on a hill. We passed each other a few more times due to my failed attempts to rectify my frame issue. She eventually won the 52-mile race.
Climbing became difficult around mile 65. I had no leg left after Silver Hill. The pavements were as rough as I remembered but with more inclines. At some points I hopped on and off the curbs looking for smooth surface and prayed the mounting bolt would hold. But I was in no rush. I got good looks of the stores and buildings that were a big blur in 2003. I missed my team.
I highfived Eddy who skated toward the start. The pavement turned nice for the final miles. A few skaters passed me shouting encouraging words. I had no urge to chase. The park came into view. I heard cowbells. I heard Cindy announcing the finishers. She's so nice.
The big clock said 6 hour something. I don't remember.
Brian and Renee sat on grass, looking comfortable and well rested.
_Nice Day at the Park
I think a few people came to say hi, but hunger overtook me and I don't have clear recollection of the event right after crossing the line. I consuming sandwiches and sugar water. At least 2 of those guys warned my frame was making weird clicking sound.
_Flyer Sighting
Hillary, whom I saw through out the day, came over and said Danny was doing well at their last meeting. Another skater also told me my teammate was skating relaxed and confident.
Danny came in, arms swinging, looking great. His wife got the camera out just in time for a clear shot of the other side. Danny might have to skate the course again just for the photo. I was so proud and happy for our boy. 87 is a tough distance, especially considering his short preparation.
Many skaters remembered the 2003 TX Flyer team. A skater actually thanked me for the draft from 4 yrs ago.
3pm, still no sign of my skate bag. No shoes, no cell phone, no problem. The hotel was paid for and I had the ID to fly home. I was surprised how little it bothered me. I checked into the hotel Duane booked. It had an indoor lap pool with hot tub. This was the best day.
_Award Ceremony
Our Austin friend Richard Littrell relaxed on grass, looking much better than his 2003 finish. Shortly before the 6pm awards, the last skater completed his 10-hour adventure. I went over to congratulate him. He attempted to raise his right hand. I patted his back, admiring his determination.
My skate bag miraculously appeared with my shoes in it. It felt good to be out of skates. I talked to old friends and made new ones. Danny and Hillary were all smiles. The world was perfect.
The Toronto skaters dominated the day. Stream of familiar faces claimed their awards. Mostly I saw many tireless people devote a big part of their lives to make this event possible. I was grateful.
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