Accidental IronMan
Now now, gentle readers. Before any of you actual IronMan finishers jump down my gullet, I'm not claiming that I completed a full race. I could swim 2.4 mi in a "life or death" kind of situation, but I will never fin run a marathon. EVAR. And I definitely wouldn't combine these activities in the same day.
No, I'm talking about the cycling leg of an IM. 112mi, under normal conditions. Yesterday? A bit more. E and I met for a ride, around 10:15am. The plan was to head out to Snohomish and Monroe, for 5-6h of saddle time, and around 80 miles. On the approach to Snohomish, we started to see signage for the Tour de Cure. Incidentally, the directions were pointing right where we needed to go!
So rather than worry about our own cue sheets (sitting forgotten next to the computer anyway), we opted to follow the Tour de Cure markings. Signage and Dan Henry's made it easy. But in following the proverbial trail of breadcrumbs, we were locking ourselves into a slightly different course. The TdC returned to Marymoor via Issaquah-Fall City Road (could I find it in a car? No. A map? Maybe.). This was the bit that took us a bit out of our way. By the time we got into Marymoor, we had already done 93mi. Stopped for a brief respite and a water refill, we set off on the last leg to home.
At about mile 35, I had planted the seed of "fries and a Coke", so we stopped in Kenmore (Bothell? Lake Forest Park? Who cares, Mc-Frickin'-Donald's!) for a snack. Best fries EVAR. I told E "Even if these make me puke, it'll be worth it." They didn't, but by that point the last 18 miles or so home were sore ones. My ass had had enough. Gotta love all the roots under the BGT in the Lake Forest Park part of the trail. Rolled through that, past the U-district. Said goodbye to E at 25th Ave NE, and finished the ride home. Final tripmeter, 199.63km (124mi) to the back door. I could have kept it rolling to make it show an even 200, but my body said no. Especially since it had totaled 8:08 in the saddle.
The other bit about this trip that made it a pain was the forecast. Or at least my interpretation of it. I saw mid-fifties and a 30% chance of rain for most of the day, so I opted for water-resistant tights, rain jacket, booties, long-fingered gloves, etc. The day turned 70 and only partly cloudy, so I was suffering. The good news is that I managed to stuff booties, undershirt, tights and my long-fingered gloves into various pockets to get a cooler ride.
But as E pointed out during the ride, it was a good confidence builder to know that the legs can handle the punishment of 200km without feeling miserable. Just have to work on that ass thing.
No, I'm talking about the cycling leg of an IM. 112mi, under normal conditions. Yesterday? A bit more. E and I met for a ride, around 10:15am. The plan was to head out to Snohomish and Monroe, for 5-6h of saddle time, and around 80 miles. On the approach to Snohomish, we started to see signage for the Tour de Cure. Incidentally, the directions were pointing right where we needed to go!
So rather than worry about our own cue sheets (sitting forgotten next to the computer anyway), we opted to follow the Tour de Cure markings. Signage and Dan Henry's made it easy. But in following the proverbial trail of breadcrumbs, we were locking ourselves into a slightly different course. The TdC returned to Marymoor via Issaquah-Fall City Road (could I find it in a car? No. A map? Maybe.). This was the bit that took us a bit out of our way. By the time we got into Marymoor, we had already done 93mi. Stopped for a brief respite and a water refill, we set off on the last leg to home.
At about mile 35, I had planted the seed of "fries and a Coke", so we stopped in Kenmore (Bothell? Lake Forest Park? Who cares, Mc-Frickin'-Donald's!) for a snack. Best fries EVAR. I told E "Even if these make me puke, it'll be worth it." They didn't, but by that point the last 18 miles or so home were sore ones. My ass had had enough. Gotta love all the roots under the BGT in the Lake Forest Park part of the trail. Rolled through that, past the U-district. Said goodbye to E at 25th Ave NE, and finished the ride home. Final tripmeter, 199.63km (124mi) to the back door. I could have kept it rolling to make it show an even 200, but my body said no. Especially since it had totaled 8:08 in the saddle.
The other bit about this trip that made it a pain was the forecast. Or at least my interpretation of it. I saw mid-fifties and a 30% chance of rain for most of the day, so I opted for water-resistant tights, rain jacket, booties, long-fingered gloves, etc. The day turned 70 and only partly cloudy, so I was suffering. The good news is that I managed to stuff booties, undershirt, tights and my long-fingered gloves into various pockets to get a cooler ride.
But as E pointed out during the ride, it was a good confidence builder to know that the legs can handle the punishment of 200km without feeling miserable. Just have to work on that ass thing.
posted by Sanford Owings at 1:06 PM
2 Comments:
That's a great ride!
I finished up an event yesterday (blog entry to come when results are up) and my snack on the way home was a coke and salt/vinegar chips. :)
Regular coke is the best thing ever. Ever. But only after you've earned it, and that's what makes it taste heavenly.
Killer ride. Hope you saved some legs for this weekend. :)
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