Saturday, June 28, 2008

Ok, now I am scared



Today was absolutely brutal. Here are the stats as Suunto X6 sees it, max heartrate 203, min 79, average heart rate 141, 5720 feet of climbing and believe me, I felt like every bit of it. 90 kilometers of absolute pain and agony. I seemingly bonked early this time as about half way through the race, my downhill skills were falling apart and I went over the bars on a steep non-technical downhill. I face planted and slammed my knee on a rock and sliced it right open.

I was going through all kinds of pain, frustration, gear problems, and most of all depression when I got back as most of the field was already here. ; (

When we sat down to eat, the route was explained to us...125 kilometers. I am without a doubt frightened for what tomorrow will bring. The saving grace: there is no saving grace.
Fortunately Roy is still calm, cool and collected.

I did see a part of Roy I haven't seen before. While we made the cutoff by the skin of our teeth, I was in bad shape and he was in front. I heard a disembodied voice saying "Ed, its 15 to 3, Ed its 10 to 3, Ed we only have 5 minutes!". Roy was asking that I throw the hammer down.. I couldn't. I was hammered. Finally at 3pm, we arrive. I am out of water, I am feeling horrible and they are out of water. Out of nowhere came this Canadian accent suggesting another water station 22 kilometers away. I thought to myself, 'you have got to be kidding me.' I started eating what was there. We ate what we could and left. I am growing emotional as we continue uphill...and finally some reprieve the downhill. We started heading down only to experience more pain, and specifically in my hands! I thought, I just can't get a break, can I?'. 22 kilometers a nice man with about 6 5 gallon sparkletts says 'you want water, eh?'. I said '. I was about to drink my own urine!' We had about 25 kilometers to go, all flat and straight...thankfully...but unfortunately I was still in the woods literally and figuratively...I was still showing signs of weakness and fatigue. I had to stop at least 3 times to eat and drink. Still didn't help, I was just simply tired and broken and nothing was helping. I continued on, crossed the finish line with a time of 8:50:13 and 182 place out of 187. Things like this makes me just want to stay home play legos.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

2 comments:

dick blanco said...

come on mo fo!...you're a bad dog...you're with one of the most experienced riders on the planet...learn...eat...hydrate...eat hydrate...pedal...listen to the master...be the bike...and don't fucking give up no matter what!!!

love and mad respect for you both...

Team Trailgoon said...

We like our bike.
It is made for three.
Our Mike
sits up in back,
you see.

We like our Mike
and this is why:
Mike does all the work
when the hills get high.
-Dr. Seuss


"The thing that separates pros from top amateurs is their willingness to endure great amounts of pain." - Greg Lemond

"It never gets easier, you just go faster."
Greg LeMond

“I sometimes used to sit on my bike, weeping with the pain” Eddy Merckx

You're doing this race so you can experience suffering at its finest. Guess what? You're getting every penney's worth!


Do I make you randy?

Yeah baby!

-greg p.