iceman
i've finally mustered up enough energy to write a post-iceman report. one word can describe the race for me...DISAPPOINTING. it seemed like so many things worked against me. i am not making excuses. i gave it everything i had, and i sucked. i came down w/ the stomach flu late friday morning. i thought i was in the clear when i woke up friday morning and still felt decent. but a couple hours later, at work, it hit me. same shit mason and jackie had. nausea. and lots of it. you just felt like you wanted to puke your guts out but you never really reach that point. then the throat started hurting. then the body chills set in. by the time i got up to traverse city, i was in rough shape. oh yeah, i almost forgot. my legs felt like hell on friday! they hurt so much i was walking stiff-legged (not the good kind either) because they were too shaky when i bent them. BUT, i tried to shake all this off and pretended i felt fine. i picked up some drugs to help w/ the nasea and chills. tried to eat but had no appetite. i just wanted to sleep. so i did. around 11:00. i totally expected to wake up in the middle of the night w/ a 102 fever and chills and puking my brains out. i woke up at 3AM. nothing. well, i had a bad stomach ache but that was all. no chills. no sore throat. no fever. hell, i felt so good and was so excited, i was ready to race right then and there. no dice. it was three in the fucking morning. i tried to fall back to sleep but just tossed and turned for the next two hours. talk about torture. i guess you could call it chinese torture, right? i finally fell asleep and awoke to daylight. i knew it was time to go.
i got up, choked down some oatmeal, which didn't sit to well and packed up for kalkaska. the familiar nervousness that comes before every race settled over my body. we were running a touch late. actually, we were running really fucking late. by the time we geared up and got the warmers positioned, the tires inflated, the chain lubed, it was time to go. i mean people show up one, even two hours before the race to get settled and warmed-up. nope. not us. our start time was 10:10. we still had to ride to the start and drop off our clothes bag. it was 10:03 at this point. i handed off my bag and told all the riders that were already in line that i was in the next wave. luckily, they were nice enough to let us get into our proper wave. 10:07. damn, that was close. too close. 3 minutes and off we go. but another road block was thrown up when i heard the announcer say that they had extended this year's race course to 28.2 miles. fuck. not good. my longest training ride was only just over 2 hours. i was hoping that would be good enough. i took it easy the first 5 miles. hell, i took it easy the whole race just to conserve energy for the hills at the end.
about half way through, things were going pretty smoothly. i felt decent, my stomach was okay, the legs didn't hurt and i was cruising along. until some racer boy came out of nowhere and cut in front of me throwing an inch diameter stick into my front spokes. it was in slow motion. i remember seeing the stick come up, and then i saw the tread on my front tire...not moving. at that point, i knew i was going over. and over i went. involuntary noises. i hit the ground hard. my left foot got caught in the pedal and tweaked my foot so hard my calf locked up. that was what hurt most. i was rolling around on the ground trying to unlock my calf while there were several riders that stopped to see if i was okay. it must've been quite a spectacular crash. imagine someone going 17-18mph and then locking the front wheel. i must've flew quite a long ways. luckily, i was okay. i bit shaken, a sore left calf and a slightly sprained left wrist. i got back on the bike and was on my way again. i probably lost about 45 seconds.
mile 20. that's where the fun starts. and that's when my legs started fading. oh shit climb was what did me in. i walked up the hill with pretty much everybody else and my legs were cramping up mildly. luckily, i brought a reserve supply of endurolytes so that took care of the cramping. but, i got slower and slower. i was going so slow, i wasn't even breathing hard. i just had no juice in the legs to push the pedals. so i started getting cold. and miserable. and nauseous. i just wanted the race to be over. last aid station. 5 more miles. fuck. that means i'll be out here another half hour. the last 5 miles were ridiculously slow. my legs were weak but they never burned. thanks to sportlegs. if you have legs that burn on the climbs, check this product out. it really works. my legs didn't burn at all the whole race. now, they don't help you w/ endurance or anything but, hey, no pain. there was one point i asked myself what i was doing out there. i didn't want to race ever again. it was stupid. i hated the race. i hated the course. i hated it even more when i entered the campground and thought i was done. nope. i had to ride another 1km through that stupid-ass maze before i finished. 2:30 and some odd seconds. sad. i felt like puking. not because of the ride but because i was sick as fuck. nothing ever came up and i slowly started feeling better. hell, by the time i picked up the car in kalkaska and driving back to tc, i was saying how much fun i had and how i couldn't wait til next year. once you're bitten by the bug, you're hooked...forever.
so, looking back at the race, i really wasn't physically ready for it. i looked at my ride log yesterday. i didn't do ANY rides over 2.5hrs since the addison mudfest back in may. so, the whole summer not one long ride. no wonder i failed so miserably. you just can't do infrequent hour and a half rides and expect to kick ass at iceman. it's a tough course (for me) period. i don't care what anybody says. the last 6 miles are brutal. i WILL be ready for this one next year. more long rides, and more hills. maybe even single speed.
i got up, choked down some oatmeal, which didn't sit to well and packed up for kalkaska. the familiar nervousness that comes before every race settled over my body. we were running a touch late. actually, we were running really fucking late. by the time we geared up and got the warmers positioned, the tires inflated, the chain lubed, it was time to go. i mean people show up one, even two hours before the race to get settled and warmed-up. nope. not us. our start time was 10:10. we still had to ride to the start and drop off our clothes bag. it was 10:03 at this point. i handed off my bag and told all the riders that were already in line that i was in the next wave. luckily, they were nice enough to let us get into our proper wave. 10:07. damn, that was close. too close. 3 minutes and off we go. but another road block was thrown up when i heard the announcer say that they had extended this year's race course to 28.2 miles. fuck. not good. my longest training ride was only just over 2 hours. i was hoping that would be good enough. i took it easy the first 5 miles. hell, i took it easy the whole race just to conserve energy for the hills at the end.
about half way through, things were going pretty smoothly. i felt decent, my stomach was okay, the legs didn't hurt and i was cruising along. until some racer boy came out of nowhere and cut in front of me throwing an inch diameter stick into my front spokes. it was in slow motion. i remember seeing the stick come up, and then i saw the tread on my front tire...not moving. at that point, i knew i was going over. and over i went. involuntary noises. i hit the ground hard. my left foot got caught in the pedal and tweaked my foot so hard my calf locked up. that was what hurt most. i was rolling around on the ground trying to unlock my calf while there were several riders that stopped to see if i was okay. it must've been quite a spectacular crash. imagine someone going 17-18mph and then locking the front wheel. i must've flew quite a long ways. luckily, i was okay. i bit shaken, a sore left calf and a slightly sprained left wrist. i got back on the bike and was on my way again. i probably lost about 45 seconds.
mile 20. that's where the fun starts. and that's when my legs started fading. oh shit climb was what did me in. i walked up the hill with pretty much everybody else and my legs were cramping up mildly. luckily, i brought a reserve supply of endurolytes so that took care of the cramping. but, i got slower and slower. i was going so slow, i wasn't even breathing hard. i just had no juice in the legs to push the pedals. so i started getting cold. and miserable. and nauseous. i just wanted the race to be over. last aid station. 5 more miles. fuck. that means i'll be out here another half hour. the last 5 miles were ridiculously slow. my legs were weak but they never burned. thanks to sportlegs. if you have legs that burn on the climbs, check this product out. it really works. my legs didn't burn at all the whole race. now, they don't help you w/ endurance or anything but, hey, no pain. there was one point i asked myself what i was doing out there. i didn't want to race ever again. it was stupid. i hated the race. i hated the course. i hated it even more when i entered the campground and thought i was done. nope. i had to ride another 1km through that stupid-ass maze before i finished. 2:30 and some odd seconds. sad. i felt like puking. not because of the ride but because i was sick as fuck. nothing ever came up and i slowly started feeling better. hell, by the time i picked up the car in kalkaska and driving back to tc, i was saying how much fun i had and how i couldn't wait til next year. once you're bitten by the bug, you're hooked...forever.
so, looking back at the race, i really wasn't physically ready for it. i looked at my ride log yesterday. i didn't do ANY rides over 2.5hrs since the addison mudfest back in may. so, the whole summer not one long ride. no wonder i failed so miserably. you just can't do infrequent hour and a half rides and expect to kick ass at iceman. it's a tough course (for me) period. i don't care what anybody says. the last 6 miles are brutal. i WILL be ready for this one next year. more long rides, and more hills. maybe even single speed.
posted by Alden at 9:15 PM
1 Comments:
Alden,Good times, good times!!!!!
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