Recreation Through Endurance

The Virginia Off-Road Series has gone splendidly well and has caught on this year as much as Woody and I could have hoped. People are working hard at all levels to be ranked high in the standings for the regions top off-road endurance athletes. People from the highly trained and organized Trek/Bike-Factory team to beginners are competing for points all over central Virginia. I'm not just saying this because it's half my creation, but because I see it with people doing more races and hear people talking about.

Woody and I are now working on our end-of-the-season event, including a less-serious bike race because all the serious racing's done, a big cookout, and the presentation of the awards from our sponsors.


Registration is open at BikeReg.com

For my birthday last month, Liz got me something that's either a blessing or a curse. It's fun, yet pointless. It's hard and challenging, yet rewarding for no reason at all. It's a unicycle.

I've been playing around with it behind the house and have started to get the hang of it. After more and more practice, sometimes I'll make it 10 feet, sometimes a block or two including a turn. I could say how it's a metaphor for life and it's successes and setbacks, how important it is to get back on and keep trying, how with practice and dedication even the most difficult obstacles can be overcome, but I won't because, well, it's a unicycle. I have yet to commute anywhere on it, but maybe we'll ride/walk to dinner one night.

No, I'm not going to take up juggling.

Now, if I can just guide a missile by satellite, I'll have it made.

After being sick with a bad cold all week, I was indecisive about doing the Half that I was sure I'd be healthy enough to run by today. About 3am, unable to sleep, I decided that I wouldn't do it and just watch Liz in her first Half-Marathon. When we got there, I saw all the other runners, which is a good indication that I was going to make a bad decision.


My PR plan, had I been in PR health, was to run the first mile in 8, then the rest in 7:30s. I ran the first mile in 8, then 7:20, then a couple 7:30s, then I succumbed to sinus hell. At mile 6, I stopped. I could've toughed it out though my residual sickness losing a bunch of time, but still finishing, yet looking to the future I have some things to do in the next couple weekends. Better to paly it safe for the important races even if it did meaning riding in the Shame Shuttle.


Liz, on the other hand, did great in her first half. Her time for 13.1 this week was lower than her 12 miler last week. When she signed up for the marathon training group, she said she didn't know if she could do it, but reserved the right to fall back and do the half. I told her today that she completed her contingency plan 3 months ahead of time.

More Photos.

As I've been watching the Olympics, I've been comparing my performance to those in Beijing. I've either never done these races or it's been a while. Still, heres their performances vs. my own estimates.

Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Me
5000m Run Round 1:
13:37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20:00

Marathon (last day)
2:05-2:14 . . . . . . . . . . .~4:00

400m Freestyle:
3:41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~7:00

Cycling Road 232km (143 miles)
6:09 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~8:00

Triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run)
1:48:53 . . . . . . . . . . . . ~2:30

Maybe I should shift my focus to the trampoline.

The 18 Hour race last weekend was great. Actually, the further in the past it gets, the more fun I realized I had. After the race, I was telling Scott Schuppert that I really didn't see myself doing more than one of these types of events per year. The toll it takes on the body is just too much. As my legs were recovering this week, my health was getting worse. I've had a cold or flu or something pretty bad Wednesday through today, and it had to have come from breaking down my immune system, going without sleep, then sitting around in the cold waiting for the sun to come up so I could get on the bike again.

How much fun I had, statistically:
Milage: 122 miles, all singletrack.
Laps: 13 at 9.5 miles each
Time: 14:06 on the bike
Water: 2 gallons
Gatorades: 4 quarts
Electrolyte bottles: 3 16oz
Pepsis: 5
Urinations: 0
Also, many PB+Js and pizza.

Night laps: 6.5
Laps finished using someone else's light: 3
Place: 5th of 23 Solo Men

Not too bad. This is truly an endurance race. It's not about speed, but time on the bike. I did quite a bit of very slow hills, lots of granny gear, but tried to keep moving. At the end, I came it at 17:00 and decided not to go out again. My legs would've let me, but I didn't know If I could sit on a bike seat any longer. One more lap and I still would've ended up 5th, but then again, one less lap and I still would've been 5th.

When it was all done, breakfast was served. I filled my plate with sausage, ham, eggs with sausage, and a little potatoes. About 10 minutes later, I went back for 2nds of the same thing. On to the SM100!

Oh yeah, almost forgot. To whoever flattened my tire during the race meeting: I'm going to find you!

Dinner Is Done.

My first mountain bike race was the Dirty Dozen, a 12-hour race on a 4-man team in Texas. We got 2 laps each, then argued about who had enough energy to go out again to run out the clock.

This weekend is the 18 Hours on the Farm, which I'll be doing solo. If that doesn't make sense, I'll explain. I ride my mountain bike, on singletrack, for 18 hours, in a row. Still don't understand? Neither do I.

It's supposed to be great fun. I'm setting a goal for 100 miles, though I don't think that'll be a problem with that much time. I might end up with over 125. 150? Not likely.

I'll let you know how it went after I wake up sometime in the middle of next week.

I, who hardly ever finds time to watch TV, have been viewing the Beijing action probably an hour each night. I'm impressed yet bored with Phelps, who won't lose anything. Women's volleyball also is a gimme. Track and field is around the corner and the marathon on the last day. Now that's something exciting. Ryan Hall, Tyson Gay, let's see some action.


One that I'm really looking forward to is the Steeplechase. Anthony Famiglietti may or may not be a favorite, may or may not win, but will go all out. Pure guts who wants to win Bronze because the top two are cheaters and sees performance enhancing drugs as a hinderance to pushing your limits.

Listen to this. Watch this. Surf this.

No one took up the Cassette Challenge from last month. Perhaps it's as evasive in photos as it was on the bike. Hint: yes, it really was the cassette, but it wasn't jumping from one gear to the next. Look close, it's in there.

The Blue Ridge Relay is just a month away and I finally got our team together. It's actually been quite fun gathering 12 runners to spend a 4 day weekend running 208 miles through the middle of the night in the mountains. Compared to what Chris went through last year, I had it easy, but it wasn't without it's frustrations with several "definites" dropping. Still, we have a great team and they're going to have more fun than they know. I might even have some surprises in store.

In the meantime, there's some logistics that need to be taken care of. ...like cooking out, drinking beer, and talking about running.