Tuesday, October 16, 2012
2012 Brasil Ride - Day 7
Last day:
It's funny how a 40 mile day on the mountain bike sounds like an easy day after being tortured for 6 days. I was told today was going to be fast and it was not a lie. We cruised down the paved highway for 10 miles then onto dirt road mixed with double track and singletrack.
I somehow caught the lead pack which had over 80 riders. I kept moving up until I was off the front. I figured as wasn't killing myself so why not. I was out there for 2-3 minutes, others went by, and I was reeled in by the main pack. One of the leaders even talked to me "you're seat bag is open!". LOL!! Not a seat bag but an awesome strap. I guess they don't have them in Portugal yet (leaders were from Portugal).
I slowly got moved back to my place and I started to think I was in a dangerous place. Too many people. Tour de Tucson kind of thing. And that's when it happened, a big screeching sound of metal and flesh hitting the ground. Rider right in front of me catapulted over other riders on the ground. About 10 riders went down and we were going over 25 mph. Must've hurt.
I got around the wreck and caught back on to the leaders. I knew once we hit the dirt road it would everyone for themselves so I wanted to stay close to them. I was feeling good. The pack broke apart as soon as we hit the road and I just rode. I was enjoying the stage, staying out of trouble, making no mistakes. Finishing was the goal. I hooked up with another team and just drafted them. I was in no rush.
At one point my buddy Paul comes by flying in his TT position so I jumped on his wheel. There were about 7 of us. Some were willing to work, others weren't. I helped. We hit the road back into town - first 20 miles in under an hour. WOW!! We had 8 miles of paved road and then we had to do the prologue course from day 1.
The only aid station was on the side of the road, and we were going over 20 mph. No way you stop. I took an orange soda took a big drink and dropped it. I assumed there would be another aid station up ahead - wrong assumption. At this point I'm probably in the top 40 riders - I don't think a I/we placed in the top 100 teams and here I am with the top 20 teams. Feeling good.
When we hit the spot on the prologue course where Trever broke his pedal and I flatted I was being very careful with rocks when all of sudden I spin out. I thought I had broken my chain, but. It had only fallen off. Same spot!! WTF!! Back on the bike in less than 15 seconds but it threw my mojo out of sorts and I started to miss my lines couldn't find my rhythm. Took me about 5 minutes to work back into it.
Two more sections of singletrack and pavement and I was done. I got passed by a couple of teams but that was pretty much it. I was surprised. I figured everyone would pass me sooner or later. The sandy section on the singletrack was much worse today than last week. I struggled going up it. I actually had to walk most of it today while last week I rode it all. Not a big deal. Just FINISH!!
Out of the singletrack onto the road. Last road section. Bombing descent followed by a painful ascent. Last dirt section. Technical, but I'm able to ride all it except for one section where another rider was too slow going thru the section. Finally back in town. Not really a paved road, but a rocky, bumpy street. My ass still hurts by the way. FINISH LINE!! Get the finishers medal. No t-shirt?!?! WTF?!?! Not a big deal. I know I finished all 7 days and I'm a Brasil Ride finisher.
Would I do it again? Probably if a few things were changed and I did a few things differently. I want to thank Trever for stepping up and coming down here with me with such short notice AZ Sportscenter for getting my core in tremendous shape. BK Coaching for direction and guidance. ESI Grips for making the best grips in the world. All my family and friends who read the blog and provided me with words of encouragement. And most importantly, my wife Wendy for being the love of my life and supporting my sometimes crazy adventures.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Ride Brasil - Day 6
Day 6;
Ok, I was wrong, today was not f?&king hard. It was just hard. 76 miles with 5000 ft of climbing....does that sound easy? In a sick sorted way it does after the days we've had. It was not the most spectacular day for sure. Almost all dirt road. The last 25 miles were same as yesterday's stage with the same climb that I had to walk, so I was a bit concerned before the stage and decided to be conservative at the start.
Race started at 8 am and it was pretty cool and windy, with some riders wearing vests or arm warmers. I was relieved, a cool day is better than a hot day!! I stayed with my buddy brasileiro for the first 7-8 miles when I saw the only other American at the race Paul Romero on the side of the road. I guess his knee didn't hold up. Another casualty to this torture ride. Nothing I could do to help.
I was riding alone today and it felt a bit weird at times. Less thinking, less talking, ride by feel. I started feeling pretty good and even started pulling a group. Brasileiro was in the group - finally caught him again - and he came over to tell me to stay out of the wind. LOL!!
I told him I was feeling good. I also rode with our Swiss friends trying to help the a bit but I eventually rode away from that group.
I rode alone for a while until the climb. I hooked up with the second place grand masters team and another team and we rode together to the last aid station. Legs felt heavy on the climb, but I managed to ride the whole climb, not like yesterday when I walked a good portion of it. What a difference a day makes.
Last 20 miles are flat. Half on dirt road, the other half on pavement. There were now 3 teams and me. One of the riders from the second place team was struggling and his partner and another team were trying to help him, so I decided to help out by pushing him or blocking the wind. I did the bulk of the work and kept asking the third team to help out but they never did - dicks!!
When we got 1km from the finish I saw the third team exchange looks and head to the front. I think they wanted to attack after sucking our wheels for 20 miles. I don't think so!! As soon as one of them moved up I blocked his partner from moving up and then moved right next to him. I just looked at him and shook my head "nope, you're not doing that". When we finally hit the last 200 yards I just blocked them. I knew they wanted to come around me but it wasn't going to happen. I let the grand masters team finish in front of me. They were so happy with my help, they were hugging me, and took pictures with me and one of them wants to exchange jerseys with me tomorrow. He even washed my bike. LOL!!!
Tomorrow is 40 miles with the prologue course being the last 12 miles of the race. It'll be interesting how the body does on the same trail after riding for 6 days. My biggest worry is my ass and how it holds up for one more day!!
Ok, I was wrong, today was not f?&king hard. It was just hard. 76 miles with 5000 ft of climbing....does that sound easy? In a sick sorted way it does after the days we've had. It was not the most spectacular day for sure. Almost all dirt road. The last 25 miles were same as yesterday's stage with the same climb that I had to walk, so I was a bit concerned before the stage and decided to be conservative at the start.
Race started at 8 am and it was pretty cool and windy, with some riders wearing vests or arm warmers. I was relieved, a cool day is better than a hot day!! I stayed with my buddy brasileiro for the first 7-8 miles when I saw the only other American at the race Paul Romero on the side of the road. I guess his knee didn't hold up. Another casualty to this torture ride. Nothing I could do to help.
I was riding alone today and it felt a bit weird at times. Less thinking, less talking, ride by feel. I started feeling pretty good and even started pulling a group. Brasileiro was in the group - finally caught him again - and he came over to tell me to stay out of the wind. LOL!!
I told him I was feeling good. I also rode with our Swiss friends trying to help the a bit but I eventually rode away from that group.
I rode alone for a while until the climb. I hooked up with the second place grand masters team and another team and we rode together to the last aid station. Legs felt heavy on the climb, but I managed to ride the whole climb, not like yesterday when I walked a good portion of it. What a difference a day makes.
Last 20 miles are flat. Half on dirt road, the other half on pavement. There were now 3 teams and me. One of the riders from the second place team was struggling and his partner and another team were trying to help him, so I decided to help out by pushing him or blocking the wind. I did the bulk of the work and kept asking the third team to help out but they never did - dicks!!
When we got 1km from the finish I saw the third team exchange looks and head to the front. I think they wanted to attack after sucking our wheels for 20 miles. I don't think so!! As soon as one of them moved up I blocked his partner from moving up and then moved right next to him. I just looked at him and shook my head "nope, you're not doing that". When we finally hit the last 200 yards I just blocked them. I knew they wanted to come around me but it wasn't going to happen. I let the grand masters team finish in front of me. They were so happy with my help, they were hugging me, and took pictures with me and one of them wants to exchange jerseys with me tomorrow. He even washed my bike. LOL!!!
Tomorrow is 40 miles with the prologue course being the last 12 miles of the race. It'll be interesting how the body does on the same trail after riding for 6 days. My biggest worry is my ass and how it holds up for one more day!!
Ride Brasil 2012 - Day 5
Day 5:
When you wake up before a stage of any stage race you ask yourself if you feel good, human, semi human or like shit. Here, after stage 2, we asked ourselves if we felt kind of shitty or totally like shit. After yesterday stage I thought I would feel totally like shit but I was surprised I didn't feel horrible. Unfortunately, Trever was feeling like shit.
We went out slow. Mellow. Got a good warm up. It was almost all dirt roads today. We got with some good groups and kept a decent pace. The course today started uphill from town and then a long descent followed by about 30 miles of flat washboard roads. Not good on a carbon hard tail.
We hit the first aid station after 30 miles about 2:30 hours in. I could see Trever starting to struggle. About 5 miles past the aid station Trever had had enough. He said he was quitting and for me to go on. Well, I couldn't really leave him so we agreed to ride to the next aid station and decide there. We stopped for a few minutes on the side of the road to recover then headed towards the aid station - I could tell that Trever was physically and mentally exhausted By luck a pick up truck came by. We waved, they waved back. I had to sprint to catch them and ask for a ride. They said yes, no problem.
We each went our own way. I took off a little fast - I was feeling good - looking back probably a mistake. You pay for these mistakes here sooner or later. I made if to the second aid station at pretty quickly. Next station was at mile 65 but first I had to climb around 3000 ft. I started slowing down a bit, I was running out of juice.
Finally made it to the aid station and refueled - btw, I officially hate heed, come and warm water. Aid stations suck down here. 30 km to the finish with one steep climb, one long washboard filled road and finally 15 km on the highway. My ass is raw by now, my knee hurts, my toes were numb, my back muscles were screaming at me. A few riders came by me but I didn't have the strength to grab their wheels.
Finally was able to hold the wheel of a mixed team with 4 km to go and I was so grateful. Made it to the finish in under 8 hrs. Not sure if I wanted to ride tomorrow, but I'm feeling better as I type this so I'll give it a shot. Tomorrow is 119 km with about 5000 ft of climbing with lots of fire road. Hopefully no washboard, but I would not bet on it.
Thanks for reading.
When you wake up before a stage of any stage race you ask yourself if you feel good, human, semi human or like shit. Here, after stage 2, we asked ourselves if we felt kind of shitty or totally like shit. After yesterday stage I thought I would feel totally like shit but I was surprised I didn't feel horrible. Unfortunately, Trever was feeling like shit.
We went out slow. Mellow. Got a good warm up. It was almost all dirt roads today. We got with some good groups and kept a decent pace. The course today started uphill from town and then a long descent followed by about 30 miles of flat washboard roads. Not good on a carbon hard tail.
We hit the first aid station after 30 miles about 2:30 hours in. I could see Trever starting to struggle. About 5 miles past the aid station Trever had had enough. He said he was quitting and for me to go on. Well, I couldn't really leave him so we agreed to ride to the next aid station and decide there. We stopped for a few minutes on the side of the road to recover then headed towards the aid station - I could tell that Trever was physically and mentally exhausted By luck a pick up truck came by. We waved, they waved back. I had to sprint to catch them and ask for a ride. They said yes, no problem.
We each went our own way. I took off a little fast - I was feeling good - looking back probably a mistake. You pay for these mistakes here sooner or later. I made if to the second aid station at pretty quickly. Next station was at mile 65 but first I had to climb around 3000 ft. I started slowing down a bit, I was running out of juice.
Finally made it to the aid station and refueled - btw, I officially hate heed, come and warm water. Aid stations suck down here. 30 km to the finish with one steep climb, one long washboard filled road and finally 15 km on the highway. My ass is raw by now, my knee hurts, my toes were numb, my back muscles were screaming at me. A few riders came by me but I didn't have the strength to grab their wheels.
Finally was able to hold the wheel of a mixed team with 4 km to go and I was so grateful. Made it to the finish in under 8 hrs. Not sure if I wanted to ride tomorrow, but I'm feeling better as I type this so I'll give it a shot. Tomorrow is 119 km with about 5000 ft of climbing with lots of fire road. Hopefully no washboard, but I would not bet on it.
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Brasil Ride 2012 - Day 4
Day 4
Another tough one. 50 miles with almost 8000 ft of climbing. Last 2000 ft started at mile 40 and ended t mile 43. That's right 2500ft in 3 miles with a pretty steady grade of 20%.
We started off in a nice pace. I could see Trever was feeling good or at least MUCH better than day 2. I, on the other hand was feeling nauseous. I kept burping some guava juice from breakfast and was having issues eating.
We covered the first 20 miles under 2 hrs so we were doing ok we then hit a 10 mile section of with some pretty technical parts and most people were having issues with it. We were not having the same problem. It was actually fun. I did realize that there are cool people and assholes everywhere. I flatted on this section, fixed the flat and kept going.
We've been hanging around with this couple from Switzerland, Yvonne and Simon. Really nice couple with a great sense of humor. We came up on them and they had stopped on the trail. I came up on Simon and had one of those "oh shit, I can't clip out" moments and headed down the hill. Nothing major, just some scrapes and bruises. Trever tried to help and almost fell on top of me. Kind of comical at the time.
We made to the second aid station and it was getting hot. We covered the first 30 miles in just over 3 hours. Still doing ok. Still not feeling well and not eating very much We stayed here for about 5 minutes and then moved on. We only had 20 miles to go. Piece of cake, right?
At this point I was doing fine as long as the grade was less than 5%. If it kicked up and I couldn't spin I was in trouble. Suffering. We expected the last aid station at mile 40 before the start of the last climb. Well,we hit mile 40 and no aid station. The aid station was at the TOP of the hill. WTF?!?! We were almost out of fluids. Trever was overheating. I could hardly pedal. This climb was a steady 20% for 2-3 miles and we had to sit down in the shade. We were both pissed. Most of the riders offered water. One in particular who calls me "americano" and truly thinks I speak Portuguese because somehow we communicate, filled up my bottle from his camelback. I call him "brasileiro". We pretty much walked for about a mile. Neither of us could pedal up the steep grade.
When we finally made it to the aid station it was scorching hot. Phoenix hot we heard it got up to 110 degrees. Brasileiro gave me a cold red bull and I chugged it. He then poured cold water on my head. He knew I was in trouble and was trying to help. About 60 seconds later I vomited the red bull and the last few gels I had taken. The medic saw this and had me sit down while they tried to cool me. Trever was waiting in what little shade there was.
Last 5 miles- why the fuck would they put an aid station 5 miles from the finish. We climbed a bit more. Brasileiro came by me and pushed me for a few seconds. Thank you!!
Finally back at the finish with a 2 mile descent. Back though town to the finish. Took us about 5:45. We were hoping for 5 good news is that we finished. I did find out that Trever gets a little grumpy when he's exhausted.
I got checked out by the medics because my body was burning up for the next few hours but they said I was ok. Just tired. No shit Sherlock.
Tomorrow we have 129 km / 80 miles but the climbing should not be too bad. Thanks for reading.
Another tough one. 50 miles with almost 8000 ft of climbing. Last 2000 ft started at mile 40 and ended t mile 43. That's right 2500ft in 3 miles with a pretty steady grade of 20%.
We started off in a nice pace. I could see Trever was feeling good or at least MUCH better than day 2. I, on the other hand was feeling nauseous. I kept burping some guava juice from breakfast and was having issues eating.
We covered the first 20 miles under 2 hrs so we were doing ok we then hit a 10 mile section of with some pretty technical parts and most people were having issues with it. We were not having the same problem. It was actually fun. I did realize that there are cool people and assholes everywhere. I flatted on this section, fixed the flat and kept going.
We've been hanging around with this couple from Switzerland, Yvonne and Simon. Really nice couple with a great sense of humor. We came up on them and they had stopped on the trail. I came up on Simon and had one of those "oh shit, I can't clip out" moments and headed down the hill. Nothing major, just some scrapes and bruises. Trever tried to help and almost fell on top of me. Kind of comical at the time.
We made to the second aid station and it was getting hot. We covered the first 30 miles in just over 3 hours. Still doing ok. Still not feeling well and not eating very much We stayed here for about 5 minutes and then moved on. We only had 20 miles to go. Piece of cake, right?
At this point I was doing fine as long as the grade was less than 5%. If it kicked up and I couldn't spin I was in trouble. Suffering. We expected the last aid station at mile 40 before the start of the last climb. Well,we hit mile 40 and no aid station. The aid station was at the TOP of the hill. WTF?!?! We were almost out of fluids. Trever was overheating. I could hardly pedal. This climb was a steady 20% for 2-3 miles and we had to sit down in the shade. We were both pissed. Most of the riders offered water. One in particular who calls me "americano" and truly thinks I speak Portuguese because somehow we communicate, filled up my bottle from his camelback. I call him "brasileiro". We pretty much walked for about a mile. Neither of us could pedal up the steep grade.
When we finally made it to the aid station it was scorching hot. Phoenix hot we heard it got up to 110 degrees. Brasileiro gave me a cold red bull and I chugged it. He then poured cold water on my head. He knew I was in trouble and was trying to help. About 60 seconds later I vomited the red bull and the last few gels I had taken. The medic saw this and had me sit down while they tried to cool me. Trever was waiting in what little shade there was.
Last 5 miles- why the fuck would they put an aid station 5 miles from the finish. We climbed a bit more. Brasileiro came by me and pushed me for a few seconds. Thank you!!
Finally back at the finish with a 2 mile descent. Back though town to the finish. Took us about 5:45. We were hoping for 5 good news is that we finished. I did find out that Trever gets a little grumpy when he's exhausted.
I got checked out by the medics because my body was burning up for the next few hours but they said I was ok. Just tired. No shit Sherlock.
Tomorrow we have 129 km / 80 miles but the climbing should not be too bad. Thanks for reading.
Ride Brasil 2012 - Day 3
Day 3 - XC stage
Today was a different kind of stage than what was presented to us as a cross country stage. The program said 5 laps around a 7 km loop and we didn't have to ride together. Both Trever and I were still tired from from yesterday - very tired.
We decided to ride by feel. I wanted to do well but wasn't sure how the legs would react. I decided to start fast and see how I felt. Trever was going to do the opposite. Start slow and increase the pace if he felt good.
We started at 10 am. The start was crazy with 300 racers trying to get the hole shot. The course was a true mountain bike course with fun twisty singletrack, double track, one hellish 50 yard hike-a-bike, a treacherous singletrack downhill and a section of pave on steroids. I had a decent start and did the first lap in about 25-26 minutes, then slowly started slowing down after each lap.
I lost one of my water bottles on the first lap so I had to stop after each lap to fill up so I wasted a little time. I started to get lapped by the pros halfway through my 3rd lap and I started to struggle a bit so I decided to stop "racing" and just ride it out. At the end of my fourth lap I was told that was it. I was a bit confused. Apparently everyone finishes on the same lap as the winner.
Trever managed to pull in 3 laps so we did ok. Not sure how they calculated times but we moved from 20th to 13th. Not bad for a short stage when both of us took it "easy".
Tomorrow is a 80km day so we hope to be done in about 5 hrs. We hope!! :-)
Today was a different kind of stage than what was presented to us as a cross country stage. The program said 5 laps around a 7 km loop and we didn't have to ride together. Both Trever and I were still tired from from yesterday - very tired.
We decided to ride by feel. I wanted to do well but wasn't sure how the legs would react. I decided to start fast and see how I felt. Trever was going to do the opposite. Start slow and increase the pace if he felt good.
We started at 10 am. The start was crazy with 300 racers trying to get the hole shot. The course was a true mountain bike course with fun twisty singletrack, double track, one hellish 50 yard hike-a-bike, a treacherous singletrack downhill and a section of pave on steroids. I had a decent start and did the first lap in about 25-26 minutes, then slowly started slowing down after each lap.
I lost one of my water bottles on the first lap so I had to stop after each lap to fill up so I wasted a little time. I started to get lapped by the pros halfway through my 3rd lap and I started to struggle a bit so I decided to stop "racing" and just ride it out. At the end of my fourth lap I was told that was it. I was a bit confused. Apparently everyone finishes on the same lap as the winner.
Trever managed to pull in 3 laps so we did ok. Not sure how they calculated times but we moved from 20th to 13th. Not bad for a short stage when both of us took it "easy".
Tomorrow is a 80km day so we hope to be done in about 5 hrs. We hope!! :-)
Brasil Ride 2012 - Day 2
Queen stage :-)
Things I learned today:
The reason why this race is a 2 person team event
One month is not enough time to prepare for this event no matter how fit or experience you are
Garmin 500 battery life is just over 10 hours
My bike is lighter than Trever's
Stage 2 we were told was the hardest stage with a distance of 90 miles and over 10000 ft of climbing. It sounded menacing and it was. The stage started with 10 miles of paved road and then another 10 on a rolling dirt road. We covered the first 20 miles in about 1 hour. We rode with the lead pack for the first 10 miles and decided to back off and be conservative. It was going to be a long day.
I knew Trever was not having a great day when he started falling off of my pace on the climbs so I started backing off or slowing down at the top of the climbs. We made to the halfway point in about 4 hrs and thought we were doing good time. Not slow, not fast. Steady. The weather was cooperating also with light rain for the first 4-5 hours. I was trying to help by pushing when I could.
This is about when things started to get ugly. Trever was looking worse even though he was eating and drinking. We hit the first singletrack which was fun and we kept motoring. At about mile 60 we started the most difficult crazy 30 miles. About 10 miles of technical singletrack with tons of steep hike-a-bike sections. This section was called vietnam. By the way I HATE VIETNAM!!
Just before the tough section Trever clipped his handlebars on a rock and did the most amazing endo. It was a thing of beauty. He landed hard on his shoulder and I truly thought he was done. I expected a broken collar bone or damaged shoulder. Luckily he only bruised his thigh, took some skin of his shin (nice memory of Brazil) and bruised his hand. We sat for maybe 5 minutes and then continued on.
At this point I was very worried about Trever. He looked bad so I started taking his bike on the hike-a-bike section and pushing both bikes up the hills while he walked, drank and ate. I was feeling very good. Felt strong. (this is why this race is a two person team event - you never know what can happen and why I know my bike is lighter than his).
Trever is one of the most fit people I know and has done more stage races than anyone I know, we've done a few events together and he has pushed and pulled me on more than one occasion so it felt good to be able to repay and I was set on doing everything I could to get him to the finish line. I must say that Trever only got a one month advance notice about this race while I have been preparing for 3-4 months.
We finally made it out of Vietnam and to the last aid station. We got Trever some medical help. They checked his blood pressure, gave him some anti nausea medication and forced him to eat and drink. We were probably there for about 30 minutes. All we had left was 13-14 miles of dirt road, 3000 ft of climbing with pitches up to 30%. OUCH!! We had 4 miles of rollers then the big climb and finally the descent into the finish. I pulled Trever again at the bottom and then the doors fell off. All of a sudden it was me feeling nauseous. I had to get off my bike a few times when it got too steep. At one point I got off the bike, took my helmet off and sat down. Another 10 minutes lost. Cramps started hit me near the top so I had to pedal one legged while still climbing.
Top of the hill and 2 mikes to the finish. Relief!! We made it to the finish in about 10:30 hours. Barely!! Trever got two I.V. Bags in him while I found us a hotel (1 mile climb - MOFO). Rode back into town, got some burgers, picked up our luggage, dropped off bags and hitched a ride to the hotel. An exhausting fucking day,,
Tomorrow is the XC day so we don't have to ride together five laps of a 4 mile loop. I wonder how much energetic I'll have. At least it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. Stay tuned.
Things I learned today:
The reason why this race is a 2 person team event
One month is not enough time to prepare for this event no matter how fit or experience you are
Garmin 500 battery life is just over 10 hours
My bike is lighter than Trever's
Stage 2 we were told was the hardest stage with a distance of 90 miles and over 10000 ft of climbing. It sounded menacing and it was. The stage started with 10 miles of paved road and then another 10 on a rolling dirt road. We covered the first 20 miles in about 1 hour. We rode with the lead pack for the first 10 miles and decided to back off and be conservative. It was going to be a long day.
I knew Trever was not having a great day when he started falling off of my pace on the climbs so I started backing off or slowing down at the top of the climbs. We made to the halfway point in about 4 hrs and thought we were doing good time. Not slow, not fast. Steady. The weather was cooperating also with light rain for the first 4-5 hours. I was trying to help by pushing when I could.
This is about when things started to get ugly. Trever was looking worse even though he was eating and drinking. We hit the first singletrack which was fun and we kept motoring. At about mile 60 we started the most difficult crazy 30 miles. About 10 miles of technical singletrack with tons of steep hike-a-bike sections. This section was called vietnam. By the way I HATE VIETNAM!!
Just before the tough section Trever clipped his handlebars on a rock and did the most amazing endo. It was a thing of beauty. He landed hard on his shoulder and I truly thought he was done. I expected a broken collar bone or damaged shoulder. Luckily he only bruised his thigh, took some skin of his shin (nice memory of Brazil) and bruised his hand. We sat for maybe 5 minutes and then continued on.
At this point I was very worried about Trever. He looked bad so I started taking his bike on the hike-a-bike section and pushing both bikes up the hills while he walked, drank and ate. I was feeling very good. Felt strong. (this is why this race is a two person team event - you never know what can happen and why I know my bike is lighter than his).
Trever is one of the most fit people I know and has done more stage races than anyone I know, we've done a few events together and he has pushed and pulled me on more than one occasion so it felt good to be able to repay and I was set on doing everything I could to get him to the finish line. I must say that Trever only got a one month advance notice about this race while I have been preparing for 3-4 months.
We finally made it out of Vietnam and to the last aid station. We got Trever some medical help. They checked his blood pressure, gave him some anti nausea medication and forced him to eat and drink. We were probably there for about 30 minutes. All we had left was 13-14 miles of dirt road, 3000 ft of climbing with pitches up to 30%. OUCH!! We had 4 miles of rollers then the big climb and finally the descent into the finish. I pulled Trever again at the bottom and then the doors fell off. All of a sudden it was me feeling nauseous. I had to get off my bike a few times when it got too steep. At one point I got off the bike, took my helmet off and sat down. Another 10 minutes lost. Cramps started hit me near the top so I had to pedal one legged while still climbing.
Top of the hill and 2 mikes to the finish. Relief!! We made it to the finish in about 10:30 hours. Barely!! Trever got two I.V. Bags in him while I found us a hotel (1 mile climb - MOFO). Rode back into town, got some burgers, picked up our luggage, dropped off bags and hitched a ride to the hotel. An exhausting fucking day,,
Tomorrow is the XC day so we don't have to ride together five laps of a 4 mile loop. I wonder how much energetic I'll have. At least it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. Stay tuned.
Ride Brasil 2012 - Day 1
Pre race
Trever and I arrived in Salvador on Thursday afternoon after a three flight trip. There is a four hour time difference so jet lag was an issue for us so we took a nap and headed to dinner. That night we slept for almost 12 hours and next day we headed to do some touristy stuff. On Friday we walked near the beach, went to a marine museum and just lounged around. Nothing exciting.
Saturday we met the shuttle that would take us to Mucuge at 7:30 am at the airport. Bus was supposed to take 6 hrs but it took a lot longer than that. We didn't leave until almost 9 am so we didn't arrive until almost 6. No chance to preride the prologue course. We built the bikes, found a room, and got the lay of the land.
We decided to pre ride on the morning of the prologue and made the mistake of assuming we knew where we were going and rode for 30 minutes before we realized we were on going the wrong way. Once we found the course we decided to still preride even though we had already ridden about 1 hour. As we started , less than mile from the start, Trever sheared off the spindle of one of his pedals. Luckily he didn't go down. So we went back go the room to get the spare pedals we brought. To make the story short. We ended up riding almost 3 hours and that's before racing.
Prologue
The start was interesting. They started us out 2 teams at a time. The team that we started with was not very fast so we quickly moved ahead. As we were going through the same spot where Trever broke his pedal I hit a rock and tore a chunk off the sidewall of my tire and it went flat in 3 seconds! We changed it pretty quickly in around 3 minutes. We got going again and started passing folks. The course had 3 sections of singletrack with the middle section having some VERY technical sections and quite a bit of sandy sections as well. I was on a roll passing people left and right, but Trever was having a hard time getting around folks. I stopped a couple of times to make sure he was still there and hadn't had a mechanical When I hit a sandy uphill section (we walked it on the preride) I was feeling strong and rode the thing and moved ahead of Trever. I think this is where Trever pushed too hard getting up the hill and started to struggle.
To get to the last section of singletrack we had to ride on the road for about 1.5 miles. Straight uphill - steep bugger. I had Trever hold on to my jersey as I pushed up the hill. Once in the last piece of singletrack, we just had a little more climbing to do and then all downhill to the finish - almost. That's when a mixed team we had passed earlier passed us. Both were strong climbers but had no tech skills. The guy let us go by but the gal was stubborn and would not get out of the way. She even got off and was walking as we were riding. Bee-atch!!! We finally got around her almost at the bottom - a little pissed to say the least.
We finished in 1:20 good for 13th place out of about 30 teams. Twenty minutes behind the master winners. We could have done a 1:10 but tomorrow is another day and the hardest of the race so I'm sure we'll move up. Still 6 days to go. Stay tuned.
Trever and I arrived in Salvador on Thursday afternoon after a three flight trip. There is a four hour time difference so jet lag was an issue for us so we took a nap and headed to dinner. That night we slept for almost 12 hours and next day we headed to do some touristy stuff. On Friday we walked near the beach, went to a marine museum and just lounged around. Nothing exciting.
Saturday we met the shuttle that would take us to Mucuge at 7:30 am at the airport. Bus was supposed to take 6 hrs but it took a lot longer than that. We didn't leave until almost 9 am so we didn't arrive until almost 6. No chance to preride the prologue course. We built the bikes, found a room, and got the lay of the land.
We decided to pre ride on the morning of the prologue and made the mistake of assuming we knew where we were going and rode for 30 minutes before we realized we were on going the wrong way. Once we found the course we decided to still preride even though we had already ridden about 1 hour. As we started , less than mile from the start, Trever sheared off the spindle of one of his pedals. Luckily he didn't go down. So we went back go the room to get the spare pedals we brought. To make the story short. We ended up riding almost 3 hours and that's before racing.
Prologue
The start was interesting. They started us out 2 teams at a time. The team that we started with was not very fast so we quickly moved ahead. As we were going through the same spot where Trever broke his pedal I hit a rock and tore a chunk off the sidewall of my tire and it went flat in 3 seconds! We changed it pretty quickly in around 3 minutes. We got going again and started passing folks. The course had 3 sections of singletrack with the middle section having some VERY technical sections and quite a bit of sandy sections as well. I was on a roll passing people left and right, but Trever was having a hard time getting around folks. I stopped a couple of times to make sure he was still there and hadn't had a mechanical When I hit a sandy uphill section (we walked it on the preride) I was feeling strong and rode the thing and moved ahead of Trever. I think this is where Trever pushed too hard getting up the hill and started to struggle.
To get to the last section of singletrack we had to ride on the road for about 1.5 miles. Straight uphill - steep bugger. I had Trever hold on to my jersey as I pushed up the hill. Once in the last piece of singletrack, we just had a little more climbing to do and then all downhill to the finish - almost. That's when a mixed team we had passed earlier passed us. Both were strong climbers but had no tech skills. The guy let us go by but the gal was stubborn and would not get out of the way. She even got off and was walking as we were riding. Bee-atch!!! We finally got around her almost at the bottom - a little pissed to say the least.
We finished in 1:20 good for 13th place out of about 30 teams. Twenty minutes behind the master winners. We could have done a 1:10 but tomorrow is another day and the hardest of the race so I'm sure we'll move up. Still 6 days to go. Stay tuned.
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