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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)