My ULCER report.

[bYuPride]

so let me tell you how i trained over the month leading up to my longest ride ever. i think it consisted of about 3 or 4 rides between 20-30 miles. Work had taken all my energy and motivation to ride. The last ride before the month leading up i did my longest ride of 35 miles. Needless to say, I was blindly optimistic for the 111 miles to come.

i picked up the team packets earlier in the week with our jersey numbers and what not, and remembered the night before ULCER that i conveniently forgot the packet at work. so at 5:15 am i had to call New York and tell them i was entering the office solo so they could watch me on the cameras during the non-office hours. i arrive at thanksgiving point shortly after 6 and meet Arch, Viking, and Big Piney. i see all the riders everywhere and start to get excited about what is to come. there were tandem riders (creekster would have dominated) there were bikes that had one ring... Viking called them a single speed. there were fat people and people that seemed like they were taking this ride very seriously..

so we line up in our chute and i'm taking the rear position. we start riding and i feel like my adrenaline is carrying me because we were passing other teams right and left. i felt like we were just flying. after about 20 miles or so i keep getting cut off and narrowly avoiding other crashes i don't see big piney's USA jersey anymore. i was probably frustrating the riders behind me because at every turn i was just grateful i didn't die, but i realized after the 10th sharp turn i was supposed to accelarate through the turns to keep up with the group.. i would guess around mile 30 i was starting to get the hang of the turns a little bit and then i see another crash... my stomach turned as i saw it was arch with big piney and viking standing there with other bystanders. another rider who was making phone calls to make sure we got the right people there to take care of arch said it was a very bad fall with arch sliding across the street. he said it was bad, but it could have been worse. i hop off my bike and my butt was already sore and numbing. arch's shorts were all ripped open and the back of his jersey was shredded. after arch was taken away in the ambulance viking gave me a shot block that i hoped would take away the butt numbness.

i followed viking and big piney for while, through provo and springville. the course wasn't marked very well because we got lost, found another team who was lost, but we found the other riders eventually and continued on. viking and big piney had to wait for me as i was already slowing down and the damn traffic lights weren't cooperating. soon after finding the rest of the riders i found myself alone going into the head wind.

at about mile 50 i'm riding by myself and experiencing the sleepy peepy mike warned me about, my butt is numb and my legs and feet are numb... then my bike starts to act funny and i look down and wouldn't you know it, i have a flat. so some guy stopped to help me and was cussing up a storm and trying to make me feel bad because he was making great time. he asked me where my team was and i said one was in the hospital and the others where flying. apparently that was an unacceptable answer because he continued to drop the f-bomb because he couldn't operate the C02 cartidges correctly. luckily some lady stopped in a truck who was there for the triathalon group giving assistance. she had a pump and helped changed the tire.

soon after i was back in business and i noticed my pedal stroke seemed off... i looked down at my seat post and noticed i was basically sitting on my top tube. a wedge piece that fits into the tube that holds my seat post in place had popped off and my seat fell down. so i'm already dead tired, and ticked off that i got a flat, my peepy is asleep and now i'm sitting on my top tube. not to mention i'm riding into ridiculous head wind. i found a fat lady and rode behind her for a while but that didn't seem to help. i kept telling myself that this was so stupid. cycling is stupid. i just want someone to pick me up because i have no idea why i was doing this. i was definitely losing the mental battle. at mile 67, there was a stop off for lunch in Goshen. as i'm entering the street leading up to the lunch area i see piney and viking. i'm wobbling in there with my eyes glazed over ready to pass out. i really don't know how i made it there. we talked for a second, but i was so wasted i told them to just go on and i'll see them never...

i go to the bike repair station and they recommended replacing the wedge with coca-cola cardboard cups and duct tape. so after i ate everything in sight and rested for a bit and thinking it would be a good idea to just ride in the truck with one of the volunteers because my body was already so sore i could barely sit down or make any movements let alone ride another 40+ miles. we put my coca-cola cup in my bike frame and duct tape it and i'm just hoping it would stay. i decided not to be a wuss and just ride. so back into more head wind and a 1/2 mile down the road my seat falls down to the top tube. after much cursing i see more fat people and decide to hide behind them. it just didn't seem to work because i felt like i was working too hard and the wind was still pushing me back even though i was just a couple inches from their tires.

we make the turn back towards thanksgiving point and to the finish and no more head wind. for whatever reason, hours into the race i seemed to have gotten a second wind. my pedal stroke must have looked hilarious but i pedalled on. i was actually passing people and was cruising along. after mile 88 there were some down hill stuff that really gave me hope that i would finish.

at the 5 hour mark of ride time i was just over 95 miles and i hit the century mark at 5 hours 13 minutes. I ended up finishing 111 at 5 hours 38 minutes and averaged 18.9 mph. so i learned to accelarate through turns, that i just need to put a pump on my frame instead of cartidges, i need to get extra wedges from kestrel, i need to prepare better, and work on my mental game. all in all it was a sucky day, but i'm glad i finished.

arch, viking and big piney were all great guys. it was good to meet them. arch's buddy same made fun of my COUGARS jersey at the starting line, but that's okay. it was good to have the Y represented even if it was by me. so that's my report. I'm open to questions and advice. now, my main focus is tailgating sept. 1.

[ewth8tr]

wow, huge props for pushing through and finishing when you could have quit.

[fusnik11]

Sounds like an interesting day.

Hopefully next year I'm invited to ride with ya'll.

[bYuPride]

i think the whole day would have ended up on a more positive note had i finished at the real finish line. i went all the way around thanksgiving point following a small group of riders who i eventually found out they were NOT going to the finish line.. my wife and baby girl and some family were waiting for me to cross the finish line and i was robbed of the glory! ha ha!

[bYuPride]

Originally Posted by fusnik11

Sounds like an interesting day.

Hopefully next year I'm invited to ride with ya'll.

i guess interesting is one way to describe it.. everybody was invited this year, and if we do it next year, obviously everybody is invited to do it again.

[RC Vikings]

Had the alarm set for 5:15 but woke up at 4:30 looking forward to the day. Grab some breakfast on the way only to find out they supply breakfast there also. I figure I've got some calories to burn today so I load up on food again. Thankfully Arch called and pulled me away from the food. We met and then found the ringer he brought in from Vegas and Big Piney. Pride arrived soon after and we were set.

We started out slowly but that didn't last long and we started picking off teams that had started in front of us one by one. Sam, the ringer, seemed content to stay at the front so we just followed him and enjoyed the ride. This lasted for 30-45 minutes until a team and about 25 others came up on our left side and they were flying. We hooked on and soon we are doing 28-30 on level ground without a tail wind. I was thinking to myself that they is no way I can continue at this speed but I'm going to enjoy it as long as I can.

At this point I was focused on keeping up with Sam and loving the thrill of riding in this big of group this fast. At about the thirty mile mark we round a corner with a big dip. I had just barely made it through the corner when I hear the terrible sound of a bike hitting the road. I heard the rider and thought to myself that it kinda sounded like Arch but really didn't think it was. I went around the next corner because I didn't want to lose this group but I started looking for the rest of the team and didn't see anyone. I turn around and backtrack the 1/8 mile and see our team with Arch in terrible pain laying on the ground.

I think one of the qualities that makes for a good cyclist is the ability to withstand a lot of pain and Arch was doing a great job of that here. His shoulder was obviously messed up and he had road rash all over his body but he was worried about not finishing the ride. Another concern was how this would affect his training and if his bike was okay. Most people at this point would be begging for anything to make the pain good away. The EMTs came and got him and like any good teammates we continued on with our ride. I knew then that the ride just got a lot slower for the rest of us.

Pride, Piney and myself proceed to get lost and finally found the route again but not after going a couple of miles out of our way. We joined some other rides and at this point I think the lack of miles was starting to get to Pride. A headwind was blowing so I didn't want to lose this group so I just put my head down and gutted it out. Piney did the same but Pride got dropped. I felt bad about it but when I'm in that same situation I just want to be left alone so I can go at my own speed and I was hoping he felt the same way.

Piney and myself continued on around the south end of the lake fighting the wind with several others. We were crawling at this point and that lunch break couldn't come early enough. We ate well and spent maybe 30 minutes in the lunch area. Figuring we better get going we left we ran into Pride just coming into the area. His seat was broken and he had that look of just get me off of this bike. When we left him I felt like those climbers up on Everest who leave a guy to die because they can't do anything for him.

The turn to go north was only about three mile from our luch area with was a good thing because I couldn't battle it anymore. We turn the corner and it felt like I had new legs. The next 25 miles Piney and myself did 27-30 mph all by ourselves. No one passed us during those miles but right around mile 100 we grouped up again with 5 guys. We followed them and processed to get lost again. They were good guys and we were ready for some help so getting lost was really no big deal this time. We rode to the finish with these guys.

We passed the 100 mile mark at 4:40 and finished at 5:10. That was actual bike time and does not include the rest time. For never going over 40 miles before Piney was an absolute stud for going that far that fast. Pride really showed some guts finishing the ride with a broken bike and Arch was everything I expected, tough and fast. I had a great time and would love to do it again.

Adam had us over to his house after the ride and after meeting his family and seeing his home it cracks me up that some would ever question his testimony.

I really enjoyed meeting everybody and had a great time.

[cougjunkie]

My Ulcer Report:

I live in Lehi and it took me 30 minutes to get to the freeway from my house because this group of about 50 riders decided to ride 6 and 7 wide.

thanks.

[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by RC Vikings

I felt bad about it but when I'm in that same situation I just want to be left alone so I can go at my own speed and I was hoping he felt the same way.

Speaking as one who's been dropped a fair number of times, I HATE when I'm toast and the fast people don't want to leave me. I'd much rather suffer on my own at my own pace than miserably try to stay with guys I just can't stay with. I'm sure Pride understood.

[bluegoose]

Great ride reports guys. It sounds like it would have been a blast, and I would have loved to have been there suffering with you guys, just so long as I was following RCV and not Arch in the paceline.

Pride, just so you know, there are few things in cycling more demoralizing than a stiff headwind or even worse, a cross wind blowing in your face. IMO, its worse than a steady 9 or 10 mile climb. It just saps the life out of you, peddling with everything that you've got and looking down and seeing 12 mph on the computer. Kudos for hammering it out to the lunch stop.

Nice work Piney and RCV. 4:40 century??? That is blazing fast.

[The Borg]

Good report. See...I feel like I've been on that ride with ya and I didn't even make it!

Hope Arch is ok....ouch....sounds painful. Can't wait to here his recount of how he got tangled on the turn.

My sympathy ride this weekend in Idaho in prep for the Sawtooth Century: Saturday- 50 miles to Buhl and down into the Snake River Canyon and back.

Sunday - 30 miles down into the Snake River Canyon (Twin Falls- http://www.twinfallspubliclibrary.org/twinfalls.jpg old pic) and a climb out, then back down inside the Snake River Canyon (Shoshone Falls- http://amber.rc.arizona.edu/vacation...honeFalls1.JPG) and back out again. (Noteworthy-saw an elk standing on the edge of the canyon...totally cool)

Good rides. Ulcer for me- next year. Pride - an average of 18.9 mph is great! Good job.