20070828
LiveSTRONG and prosper
Sunday, 0515, the alarm sounds and the day to pay is on me. I tackled some dank bay blend coffee and loaded THE GEAR into Mobile-1. Made good time on the way into Mont Co. As of this day I am familiar with the layout of eastern Montgomery County, PA and I will say that it is a lovely piece of earth. I am a big fan of the drive out of Manayunk up Ridge Ave. to Conshy and so on. The roads that housed the Lance Armstrong Foundation's LiveSTRONG Challenge 40 mile bike ride were also very green and welcoming. And scenic, and bloody awful at once. Compared to the hard dogs that rode the 70 and 100 mile courses I took a walk to and from the pisser, yet at a body weight of 275+ this ol' Jarhead cannot help but rest satisfied at a time of 3:17 +/-. The opening 8 miles were very leisurely. Most of the riders were in pro form (I think?) and Mike and I had mountain bikes, he without road tires and I with some road rubber but just over 2,000 miles road experience in the last 3 years. All of it on the same bike and much of it earned up and down state road 252. So we lay back for 3 miles and then start making aggressive moves and pulling two-man jobs for a good wake up. We bust into a crop of geared up riders who lose their shit on the first little hill. Those shoes that clip to the pedals were a bitch for some folks. Mike and I ate hills and licked our chops afterwards for about the first 15 miles. When we got close to the turn around, those with more road experience held up better than I. Mike did excellent until his gears got crossed and I bailed on him. We made the turn around together and at about 23 miles (out of 44.7) I broke hard southeast. With a crotch full of motivation I rode hard for about 13 mile son my own. TOOL was in my earpods and I was livin' it. I passed the MILE 32 OF 40 sign and managed a loud "Fahk Yeah!" as I did. With in 2 miles I was feeling it. I dug down and pulled some shit out but twice I was on the verge of tears. It was a hard few miles and then I just crashed. Save for the one rest stop we made to piss (zipped and clipped in 2:30) I did not get off the bike. No hill or acidosis would get my feet to touch the earth. I got to the main road and wondered where the fuck everybody was. I was all by myself on state road 63 and the sign says 5 miles to go. I knew that the course was over 40 miles, and that a 44.7 mile ride is forever going to be called a 45 mile ride if you hear it from me. So at mile 32 of forty-f&*%in FIVE I tough I was golden, but was trashed by the time I was all by myself. So these gradual, gruesome inclines busted my ass wide open in the final 5. I was passed by no less than 15 people and when I crossed at 3 hours 17 minutes I knew it could have been a Sub 3 if I had more guts, or didn't kill some of those hills at the turn around, and thus kill my chance of a sub 3, which is what I want on my next 45 miler. Mike B. closed in at like 3:25. His legs were burnt and he went right home. Sarah and I hung out for 2 glycogen repairing beers and then went home. At 1:45 PM I crawled in bed and was out until 0800 Monday. Quite the inspiring series of events, this was. And If the LiveSTRONG Challenge makes its way to Philly again I'm buying a road bike and having 70 for dessert. OUT>
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ReplyDeleteI don't know if registration is still open but (I believe) Sept 9th, they're closing off the streets in philly for a leisure ride. I was thinking of doing it, but that's the weekend of my virtual meet.