London Sprint Triathlon (750m swim/20k bike/5k run) - 1:20:54 - 107th (of 1,405) - top 8%

The day of the London Sprint Tri dawned wet and stayed wet. I may have been slightly less enthusiastic to accept the Wiggle prize entry to the event had I known what the weather would be like!

We set off from West London a bit later than planned, at 1pm. This still seemed like tons of time. Google reckoned it would take just under an hour to reach the Excel centre at Victoria Docks in East London. From the start we were stuck in traffic. After an hour we hadn't got far but I thought, even if it takes another hour we'll be there in time. By 3.15 we were a mile away and stuck in thick traffic. We sat stationary at one set of traffic lights and watched the lights change several times before I realised I was not going to make it to the start. Unfortunately you cannot take a bike on the tube or the DLR so competitors were recommended to bring their own transport. With this being the biggest Triathlon in the country, it was likely to be part of the cause of the traffic. I wish I had cycled from west london - it would have been faster but a lot wetter and colder.

Just sitting in the car and looking at the traffic lights change with no traffic movement triggered our decision. With just 45 minutes to get to the race, queue up for my timing chip, queue up to rack my bike, set out my stuff, put on my wetsuit and get into the water, we decided to ditch the car.

I got to the Excel centre. Ran through the crowds with my stuff. Got my chip. Hussled along the bike racking, which was frustrating slow since many people were racking for the race on the following day. It was the biggest transition area I had ever seen! The racks were all full so I had to find someone who was hogging too much space and budge them up a bit. I had planned to buy some locking laces for my running shoes but in the end had to do a trick Ben had told me about a week before. I laced the shoes up quite loosely, shoved some talc in there and hoped for the best. I set out my bike helmet and shoes and then slathered my legs in Frys cooking oil before donning my wetsuit and timing chip on my ankle.

With scant 8 minutes to the start I asked the marshals where I had to go to the start. They were not very helpful (especially since quite a lot of people had been stuck in traffic) and told me I had to go the long way around. I ended up running through the Expo in my wetsuit trying to get through the crowds. I completely missed the race briefing but managed to reach the other 285 people in white hats making their way into the water.

After such a hectic time to getting to the race it was with considerable relief that I jumped into Victoria Docks. Visibility wasn't terrible, you could see about a foot, - in fact I saw many feet during the swim! I gradually got used to the temperature and made my way to the deep water start over the other side of the dock. I hadn't been there long when the race starter started shouting encouragement to the swimmers to quickly get to the start line. They weren't all there when the horn sounded for the start and we were off.

At the club relays the week before I was uncomfortable in the swim, couldn't settle and was borderline panicing. In this swim it was a mass start with 285 people and quite a narrow course. Oddly, although it was a bit of maul I managed to finally feel some benefit from swimming close to other swimmers - the swimmer version of drafting. I really noticed this for a while when I found some clear water and it felt like harder work. Unheard of for me, I headed back into the crush! My first race victory was my mental state during the swim. I had settled from the very start and despite the worst maul I'd been in. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration since I think the London Tri has a huge proportion of novices so they are perhaps kinder in the water than the more gnarly regular triathletes.

Finishing the swim felt like taking a long time because from in the water I couldn't see anyone getting out. I expected to see people in front running along and couldn't. I soon saw the exit point though and headed towards it, a sloping and slipperly plastic thing hanging into the water with marshals stationed to help pull you out. As we jogged along out of the water and began getting out of my wetsuit I quickly realised that this race was odd - you had to get the wetsuit off during the run in and bag it. My Frys spray on cooking oil worked an absolute dream and I quickly got out of the suit, was handed a bag by the marshal and set off again - up a flight of stairs to the transition area.

I was very lucky to quickly locate my bike, though the flag I had put on the saddle helped. A race referee wasn't happy about that and told me it was illegal. This conversation slowed my transition a bit. I told him to write me down for a penalty if he wanted and that I didn't realise this broke some rule - I guess I had better not do that again! I quickly had my glasses and helmet on and wriggled on my bike shoes before running off with my bike. I mounted pretty quickly and set off. After a while I realise my race number was still stuffed down the back of my shorts so pulled that out, stuck my head down and pedalled.

Cycling is the only event I had been training at race pace this year with weekly time trials with Team Cambridge. On the bike then I was quite comfortable and soon set out overtaking people. Many people were on mountain bikes or various hybrids so there was not really very much satisfaction in overtaking them since the technology on my bike gives me such a huge advantage over them it is quite imbalance. Mind you, my bike is worth about 1k whereas some of the bikes out there are significantly better than mine - worth about 5k some of them! Anyway, technology aside I got the bit between my teeth and picked people off. The course was wet and had quite a lot of roundabouts, tight sections and inexperienced cyclists on it. The latter was a problem at times when it came to overtaking. One cyclist was busy hanging out on the right side of the track waving at his friends as I tried to get past him, though like most he responded well to my, "On your right" as I edged past. Another cyclist was asking anyone if they had a pump. I'm not sure he really expected someone to stop to give him a pump and thereby wreck their race because he had come out unprepared. I even thought about stopping but not for too long.

I don't know how many cyclists I passed but only one or perhaps 2 went past me. I was quite confused in the race though. Some people on the bikes in front of me were spectacularly slow so I figured they must have put in olympic efforts in the water to be ahead of me and to have managed to slow down so much. It wasn't until the end of the race that I realised I was overtaking people from the race heat that started 30 minutes earlier. It was really impossible to tell who I was racing against. The only hint really was that anyone moving at my pace was probably someone I should be racing against. Because I missed the race briefing I had to ask another cyclist if the race was of 2 laps and he confirmed that yes, indeed it was, so I set off for another.

I'd finally done the 20k and cycled back into the transition hall, hopped off my bike and headed for my rack to get my running shoes. I racked, switched shoes and set off. It struck me that there were very few bikes racked by this point. I was frankly staggered. That had to mean I was doing rather well in my heat since the vast majority had not finished the bike yet. Aware that some triathletes excel at the running part I didn't hang about. I ran off making time to tag little hands poking through the rails trying to get a 'high 5' from the 'athletes'! I saw Yolanda too and managed another high 5 before continuing down a slippery slope to the waterfront.

It was pretty tough to run after the ride but I felt ok, just a bit of disappointment that I couldn't get more speed out of my legs. I like running through a busy field since I can pick someone in front and reel them in. When I have reeled someone, even before I overtake them I try to focus on the person ahead of them. Otherwise I can fixate on someone just ahead who might only be going quite slowly - I'm sure that slows me down. It was funny to catch up with people who were walking. I was thinking they must swim like absolute fish and ride like the wind to be in front of me and be walking! It wasn't until later that I figured out they were from a previous heat, though I had my suspicions that something was amiss.


(photos available from SportsCam)

Eventually I found someone in front who was hard to reel in. It took me a while but I was eventually past him but not very convincingly. I felt he was close behind and might come back at any moment so it spurred me on. With 1k to go I picked it up a bit and tried to overtake a few more folks. Coming up the ramp to the finish I was quite frustrated with 3 runners side-by-side blocking the way and failing to move aside when I said 'on your right'. Expending more effort to say it again I pushed through and rapidly accelerated past them to the finish. The guy ahead of me was moving pretty slow but was 20m from me. I hit the 'sprint' button but was too far out to get to him.

Over the line I laid down to get my heart-rate down (my running coach taught me that one). The guy I struggled to pass came over and shook my hand to thank me for pacing him. I could see his point. It's nice to run with people who are just a little faster than you want to go.

My time was 1:20:54. I later found this was 17th in my heat (out of 285) and 107th overall (out of 1,405). This is perhaps my highest ranking in an event like this, putting me in the top 8% - huge thanks to Wiggle for the race entry competition prize! What fun!

Comparing my results with the other competitors it seems that my bike time was respectable, swim a little slow, transitions a tiny bit slow. The run though, disappointingly, was where I lost a lot of time. I know I can run faster than a 23 minute 5k but doing that at the end of an event is pretty tough.

So, an excellent event for me, marred slightly by the deadful traffic on the day. We walked for half an hour after the event to find the car and then had another 90 minutes of driving/traffic to contend with.

Detailed results:

Swim (750m) 00:15:27
T1 (transition swim-bike) 00:03:18
Bike 00:37:30
- lap 1 00:18:17
- lap 2 00:19:13
T2 (transition bike-run) 00:01:40
Run 00:23:00
- lap 1 00:12:15
- lap 2 00:10:46

10 mile Time Trial - new PB even with Asthma - 25:38

I've been wondering for a while how fast I could cycle 10 miles on a less "sporting" (hilly) course.

I've not trained for a while and my asthma is playing up a bit so I wasn't completely on form. Nobody else took water along during the Time Trial and I followed the herd and regretted it about 2 miles in.

I didn't push it as much as I have on previous events but I did catch 2 people up tonight. One of them overtook me again and I took him again and this went on for a while. Such mental games add something to my speed as did wearing a Garmin GPS.

So, the Team Cambridge TT saw a time of 25:38 which works out as an average of 23.41 mph - I'm quite pleased with that given my fitness level but it is unlikely to be quick enough for the National Relays this weekend or my surprise new entry into London Triathlon. Just checking the results I noticed my team mate for the National Relays beat me by 6 seconds and I didn't even know he was in the Time Trial! As Don says, he is old enough to be my Dad - he still kicks my arse!

Sport Relief - Ran 2 miles - 13.06

My mate Rod at GE set up a lunchtime running race today. 2 laps of Midsummer Common in Cambridge. On paper I looked likely to be the second fastest with Adam WAY out in front. As it turned out, Dave overtook me near the start and was 10 seconds ahead of me for most of the race. Towards the last half a mile I had narrowed the gap to about 5 seconds. As we came up to the finishing line I sped up a bit and then, a bit more. As I drew level I was carrying too much speed for Dave to respond so I pipped him on the line. That's my fastest ever 2 miles but it isn't very impressive really. I should be able to run faster than that.

Good fun though and nice to see so many people out!

St Neots Riverside Half Marathon - 1:35:41 (7:17 min/mile pace) - new personal best by 3 minutes

Ivan paced me to a personal best half marathon time on the St Neots Riverside Half Marathon Results 2007.

I awoke, not keen to exert myself out in the cold but after cycling to Ivan's house, his enthusiasm was soon catching.

We were soon parked up by the local army cadets, had a last quick toilet break and were off to the start with a couple of minutes to spare.

The race was chip timed, meaning we had a chip on our shoes which would time when we went over the starting line. This makes for a much more leisurely start. Normally nobody wants to waste time waiting to cross the start line whilst the clock is ticking so there is often jostling. No so today but the adrenalin kicks in and everyone wants to get going, so the race was still quite thick for a mile or so.

It was a cold day with some strong wind across the fields at times - it certainly encouraged some drafting. The course was really nice with a couple of hills to play on, though the road was slippery underfoot at times.

We deliberately set out slow, a little behind the 7:28 min/mile pace I had chosen as a target. Then we picked it up a little to get some time in the bag so we could accommodate the slow miles over the hills.

The first couple of miles were quite hard as cold and creeking muscles try to get working. I reckon mine start to settle down after about 6 miles and I feel fine for a few miles after that if I'm pushing the pace (I feel fine ALL DAY after that at a relaxed pace!). I was pleased to have got rid of a stitch I'd picked up early in the race too. Ivan told me to breath out slowly with my chin on my chest and I was astounded by how quickly the stitch faded - I wonder why that works!

Our performance felt quite measured. If a reason arose to pick it up a bit, I could always do it without over-stretching it. Sometimes, for example, when it's windy it is worth catching up to a big group of runners ahead and using them as a wind break. At other times, like, during a hill climb, everyone suffers a bit so it's a good time to turn it on a bit. So, this was perhaps the most measured race I've ever done. I think it was partly cardio-vascular fitness that allowed Ivan and I to run like this. Even after 11 miles we were breathing easily and still making a good time.

As the race progressed we both started having a few muscle problems. By 12 miles the pain behind my right thigh was pretty intense and I was wondering whether I would make the last mile still running. I tried to make a big effort to run lightly, as Ivan seems to always do. I was pretty surprised that the pain faded.

After the mile 12 sign appeared I realised that I had a bit left and so closed up to some of the folks ahead. As we passed the 20km sign (12.5 miles) I started picking it up even more. Seeing the 400M sign I really pulled, with Ivan alongside me, and we made up quite a handful of places. With 200M to go I heard Keith cheering me on, and although I thought I might have gone too soon but I locked on to the guy ahead and started working up to a full sprint. I didn't think at the time but this was a bit unsporting since I got just ahead of Ivan in doing so, and he had clearly had an easy run of it pacing me around. The whole race he had seemed extremely relaxed, ad if he was walking whilst the rest of us were pushing. Well, in my mind I was outclassed and our finishing times are the same, I just couldn't help the sprinting antics! I think I might be part sheep dog.

So, my official time was 1:35:41 which was done by the chip so is probably accurate. The GPS I was wearing made it 1:35:30 with an average pace of 7.17min/mile and an average heartrate of 159BPM.

Splits- mile 1 / 7:24; 2/7:09; 3/7:28;4/7:35;5/7:22;6/7:14; 7/7:07; 8/7:15; 9/7:30; 10/7:26; 11/7:17; 12/7:20; 13/6:49.

Good fun to see Anthony, Stanni and Keith their too. Keith put in a blistering time of 1:27 something. Hard to imagine running that fast!

Sharon and Ange sent me a link to a photo of me crossing the finish line (not very flattering!).

Bungay Black Dog Half Marathon (Suffolk, UK) - personal best 1:39:15

Adam encouraged me to run The Black Dog half marathon. Living over 7,300ft makes the prospect of a run at sea level very attractive.

With a respectably late start to the event we got going. It was pretty crowded for a while and difficult for Adam, Natale and me to stay together but after half a mile or so we were together and had some space. Despite the space I was far from settled. My heartrate was already around 170 (where it would stay for the whole race) and the pace was 7:15 min/mile and faster.

As we passed other runners we got a bit spread out again with Natale a little way behind. Adam did his usual thing of running with me for a bit and then dropping back to run with Natale. After 2 or 3 miles of this he decided to head off into the distance. As ever he encouraged me to keep up and had briefed Natale to pace me I think, when she caught me. Natale is a very solid runner and I fully expected to see her catch me throughout the rest of the race, especially towards the end but today I managed to stay ahead.

The course had some hills over the first 6 or 7 miles and was facing in to the wind with the remaining 6 miles mainly flat. For about 10 miles I was pacing at 7:15 min/mile pace and up to about 8 min/miles on the hills. This was averaging out just less than 7:30 pace, which I was very happy with.

By the 11th mile, as the course became easier I was disappointed to fade badly only just managing to stay below 8 min/mile pace for the last 3 miles.

My time from the official results was 1:39:15 but the actual time, allowing for crowds at the start, was probably around 1:38:55. I placed 67th of 445.

All entrants got a pretty cool lump of glass with a 3D image of a black dog in in it, which was pretty nice.

After the race I went for sunday lunch with Mum and Fred. Mum cooked the roast potatoes without fat for me due to my Survivor Challenge's no fat week.

Training Log: Run - 3 miles on treadmill - held 6:30min/mile pace

Programme: 3 miles on treadmill flat with a half mile warm-up first at 9mph.

How was it? It took quite a lot of focus to do that! 3 miles at 9mph is pretty quick for me. It may be my PB for 3 miles, even on the treadmill.

Ely 10k - 43:27 (Personal Best) - 89th of 539

I was really pleased that Stanni let me have his entry for the popular Ely New Years 10k. I'm not that fit at the moment and tried to do a quick 10k on thursday only to do it in about 48 minutes I think (GPS was playing up as usual).

I got pretty nervous about the prospect of trying to run fast. Although I did a 50k race in December I was well aware that running a fast 10k is nothing to be sniffed at. Mum helped with my 'carb loading' the day before, and even some of the race organizers helped too (Adam and Natalle had me around for dinner on Friday night - really nice lasagne).

Come race day I was quite well rested, with no aches and pains and nicely carb loaded. I got up early for my breakfast and had a couple of cups of tea and was ready.

I normally like to start a race in the middle or at the back of the pack but then always kick myself for wasting so much time being held up. This time I jostled to the front. It looked a bit crowded but after the off things quickly thinned out sufficiently to run well. Adam led the way but this time in the pace(?) car.


As I came out of the village of Little Downham I saw Fred and Hector stationed to forewarn Mum of my location in the crowd so she could take some photos. I think I was the only one of the serious front runners waving like that! Oops, unprofessional of me.

I would like to say that I soon settled down but that didn't happen until much later (like 4 miles in). During the first mile it was amazing for me to be with the real runners. Almost everyone had shirts on from various clubs. I waved to Natalle at the 1k point and I could even see Adam in the pace car for the first couple of miles. I summised that I must be going faster than usual and my GPS told me I had 0.16 miles on the virtual partner (quite a lot). When the first mile clocked up it said 6.06 minutes. My first thought was a fantasy one, 'if I can do another 5 miles like that I'll break 40 minutes!' I quickly realized that wasn't going to happen but still tried to hang on. Of course, I'm not trained for stuff like this and the adrenalin filled first mile was rather unhelpful. I think it's the fastest I have ever run a mile. Not clever in a race.

The second mile was an effort in trying to hang on. Unusually, I found myself unable to latch on to another runner. I'm not quite sure why. Other people apparently had fewer problems. After a while I could hear breathing very close by and saw a young lady on my shoulder. As the wind changed direction so did she. I was a very convenient wind break. Eventually, perhaps after 3 miles she had sufficiently rested up to leave me for someone else ahead.

At about mile 4 the wind was directly in our faces. I saw a guy I'd noticed at the front who had a hair style as cool as mine and I managed to catch up to him. He seemed to have started too quickly too and was one of the few people ahead I was able to catch. For a while I drafted from him too - it worked well! Then I pulled up to take my turn in the wind and really noticed the difference. Pulling back in for another 'rest' did not seem on. I tried to pick up the pace to drop him and another 'passenger' but failed. Then some guy with a more sensible race strategy shot past us. I accelerated after him and managed to drop the others, though couldn't stay with the new guy.

After a little while though I noticed the girl who had orginally drafted off me (see photo), she was slowing up. After some effort I caught her at the bottom of the little hill, which had the sound of bagpipes playing(!). I tried to draft off her for a while but it didn't work so well. As we went up the hill I past her. I shouted "keep it strong", which normally motivates people but she didnt take it very well! So, I said she was looking good and legged it.

Somehow during the last 1k I picked up the pace. Got convincingly past one guy and went for the older guy in front. The first guy came back at me but I'd dusted him pretty well and he didn't seem to have it. The second guy was harder to crack. The last 100 yards was on grass. Some people hate running on uneven surfaces and as I got into my stride I remembered that I'm not one of those people. So I picked the pace up a whole lot. Unfortunately the guy in front heard me coming and did similar. He beat me by a second! Looking at the results it's clear that he wasn't actually that much older than me!

Fred and Hector greeting me!

So, final results are:
43:27 minutes
7.00 min/mile pace
8.58 miles an hour

I was 89th overall out of 539; 80th out of 314 men.

My age-graded result was apparently 63.24%. I'm not sure exactly what that means but it looks like it could be better!

My split times were awfully inconsistent. I'll pull them off my GPS a bit later.

This is my fastest 10k by 1 minute 27 ! Living at 7,200ft must be good for something.

These local races organized by the Ely Running Club are quite something. They always seem to get the local community involved and the atmosphere is great! You can even buy a cup of tea at the end to go with your bottle of beer that you get for participating.

Fred was quite funny after the race. He was very impressed at the speed of some of the older runners and could see himself taking up the sport, since he used to be a champion sprinter. A great idea! It's odd but running seems to attract people of all shapes and sizes, old and young. Great to be reminded of this at the friendly Ely event.

Ultra-marathon 50k (31 miles) Ridgecrest - Over The Hill Track Club (OTHTC) - 50k Personal Best (5:00:47)

Yesterday Sienna's Scott and I headed down the I395 for 5 hours, past Yosemite and Mammoth to Ridgecrest in the Mojave desert, for our first Ultra Marathon, the OTHTC 50k. Neither of us have even done a marathon before but that didn't stop us 'carb loading' on the journey down managing to cram in pizza and pasta in the space of far too few hours. We had a few beers in preparation too.

I'd done a little more training than Scott having run the Rim Trail recently. For his first ultra he aimed to try and beat 6 hours; I figured I'd try to break 5 hours though I didn't have much to base my target time on other than wishful thinking.

7am came around quickly and before we knew it, we were off and running with about 300 other people of all shapes and sizes and ages. The start was quite busy, clogged up and slow in the way that most races are. After a mile things had thinned out a bit but there was still a lot of swapping of positions going on. This meant I was overtaking quite a few people for a while. Scott was being more sensible and was sticking to a more sane pace so we split up pretty quickly.

The day started pretty cool, just above freezing I think (in fact we ran over a patch of ice on the car park). I had gloves on for perhaps as much as 10 miles.

After about 3 miles I got chatting to a lady who, like many other runners, had a bright pair of Dirty Girl gaiters on (I think her name was Kristen Farley). Actually the maker of the gaiters Chrissy, was also racing. Kristen was a former geology professor and is now a wellness coach helping to introduce people to the concept of getting fit and eating well. After a couple of miles I discovered that she was also not unfamiliar with running 100 miles races and seemed quite well known in ultra running. Wow did I feel outclassed. Pretty soon another lady joined us, Ceal Klingler, who was the race director of the Bishop ultra marathon and a very cheerful person to run with. Both women looked extremely strong and consistent so I really enjoyed running with them. One GPS measured mile was paced at 8.08 pace - WAY TOO FAST.

After about 4 miles the first lady slowed a little to talk to a friend and I carried on running with Ceal. After a while she told me she was casually aiming for 4 hours 30 pace. I had to explain that I wasn't and I worried that I was slowing her down. But Ceal wasn't super competitive and was happy running at the pace we were going at so we carried on together. At the aid stations she wasn't too keen to stop at all and because I was carrying quite a bit of water with 'Perpetuem' in it I didn't need to stop either. So we ran together, chatting for about 20 miles. Ceal is the first person I have heard express saddness at the California flag which proudly boasts a Grizzly Bear - extinct in the state for more than 50 years.

As 20 miles neared I could see Ceal was looking very strong and was starting to stride ahead of me a bit. I told her to get going but she spent some time trying to motivate me to carry on at the same pace. After another mile I really had to send her packing since I was slowing and feeling heavy and she was looking light and strong. Ultimately she beat me by 15 minutes - quite some margin.

At 20 miles I was still ahead of my virtual partner on my GPS who was pacing at 9.38 min/mile but after the next 3 miles of climbing I had dropped to .7 mile behind 'him'. On the downhill I was able to reel in the virtual partner but only very slowly. By mile 23 it looked like I would finish around 10 minutes behind the virtual partner with a time of 5:10. This was disappointing but I really didn't have the legs to eat in to the lead enough on the downhills.

As it neared 11am I was too hot with my helly hanson (smelly helly) and windproof shell on. So I had to wrestle the shell off whilst running along.

My legs were hurting by now. Early in the race my adductors felt notchy but that had faded early on. By mile 23 I had a lot of pain in the hip flexors and startings of pain in the gluts. Another couple of Ibruprophen seeemed to help a bit.

I passed the 26 mile point with nonchalance, it didnt seem very relevant today but the time looked like 4:18 or so (the GPS was under reading so perhaps it was a little faster).

I got to the last aid station and slowed for a little rest and a drink. I thought there were 3 miles to go but I noticed (late) that there was a sign saying 1.6 miles. I had 15 minutes left before the 5 hour mark and I realized I could make it so I picked up the pace a lot and shut the pain out of my mind (I was surprised how well that worled). I caught up and overtook the older guy in front of me and ploughed on. As I rounded the front of the college I had 3 minutes to get to the finishing line. I had no idea exactly where the finishing line was though so I just hussled. As I made a lap of the car park I knew I wouldn't make it but still gave it everything. I crossed the line at 5:00:47 - dammit. Fortunately there was free beer on tap to console myself with, and, in fairness I was quite pleased with my time. I was 46th overall and 15th in my age group. My GPS tells me that I burned 5,150 calories over the distance - lucky we did a lot of carb loading!

Scott came in under his target time of 6 hours and was also glad of the beer.



Here are my splits (roughly due to GPS problems):
0:09:38
0:07:47
0:08:09
00:09:08
00:09:42
00:08:08 0:52:32 -----10k
00:09:21
00:09:37
00:10:55
00:10:42
00:09:32
00:08:19
00:08:49 1:59:47 ----- 13 miles
00:10:07
00:11:12
00:09:58
00:10:21
00:09:43
00:09:36
00:09:43
00:11:59
00:12:57
00:11:58
00:10:36
00:09:27
00:10:12 4:17:36 ----- 26 miles
00:10:29
00:10:01
00:10:41
00:09:53
??:??:?? 5:00:47 ----- 31 miles

There is something quite nice about the ultra runner community. People were extremely friendly and chatty. The race itelf was extremely well organized with race directions some of the best I have ever seen. The route was marked with orange tape and chalk arrows. Aid stations were also very well organized and friendly and at each one they took everyone's number as they came in - very safety consious. At the end of the race we got excellent running shirts and every runner got a raffle prize - whoever had worked the sponsorship angle had done a splendid job. For our $65 entry fee we got a whole lot of stuff - even Pizza and Beer at the end!

Ceal and her husband Stacy, friendly folks.

Sienna met us after the race after a multi-hour epic drive down from San Francisco. Scott and I stiffened up a lot on the way back and were glad to have dinner in the very nice Whisky Creek Restaurant in Bishop before the last leg of our drive home. At one point on the drive back I saw Sienna brake - she later told me that a mountain lion ran out in front of her car! It's unusual but there are lots of deer around and that is the mountain lion's favourite food. Wow.

Many of the pictures on this page are from Bad Water Ben Jones the race photographer. Most excellent - huge thanks. Larger versions of some images are on his website.

Alta Alpina at The Big Kahuna Half-Ironman Triathlon (1.2 mile swim; 56 mile bike; 13 mile run)

After a wrestless night I decided to finally fully awaken at 5am. I lay there thinking, why am I just about to go and jump in the sea at 7am. It seems in recent weeks I have done a lot of open water swimming involving jumping into cold water before most people wake up. The thought was not motivating at all but having spent $200 to enter The Big Kahuna I was sure going to get on with it.

I sneaked into the dining hall and had some Grape Nuts and tea and dutifully washed up my bowl. I threw everything in the car and headed to Jeff and Pike's hotel to dump my car.

Whilst I was driving, Pike was up and about and setting up his bike in transition to make sure of getting a good spot and getting organized. For a triathlon - this is a very smart thing to do. Note for future reference.

I arrived a bit late and dashed to transition with my bike and big rucksack and laid out all my stuff in some kind of order. I got numbers written on my limbs and my age on my calf (so everyone knows who is racing who) and jumped into my wetsuit (after applying a bit of 'body glide' to my legs, neck and arms. I dumped a pile of vaseline on my arms too, in the hope it would keep me warmer. I looked around wistfully at people with full arms on their wetsuits (which was most people). Pretty soon we were told to hussle to the beach for the race briefing so we plodded the 400 yards or more from the transition area to the beach. I had my wetsuit around my waist and no shirt on and was warm enough, perhaps 7am isnt so bad in Santa Cruz.

I later discovered that the right thing to do in triathlon is to wear your cycling shirt underneath your wetsuit. Putting on my small (tho' Large size apparently) Alta Alpina shirt on cost me a lot of time in transition but I wanted to wear the shirt to support my club.

Photos available to purchase from www.brightroom.com.



So we Alta Alpinas (Me, Pike, Jeff Bryan and Mike Sharp) arrived on the beach and met Lisa, Cindy and Taylor. I think all of us were wearing sleeveless wetsuits and were in the minority. In the end, it didn't matter though, they worked fine for 59 degrees (15 degrees C). Pike took the opportunity to spray Pam (sprayable vegetable cooking oil) on his legs and wetsuit. We figured this was probably more palatable to sharks than our Body Glide.

After the race briefing I decided I needed to get used to the water. So, with 10 minutes to go I waded in. Through the waves and it was already waist height. The last lurch into the water brought it over my head and then I quickly came up gasping. I tried to be cool and swim a bit but it was awful. I did a bit of breaststroke but even that was tough when it came to putting my face in the water. After a while though I acclimitized and it felt ok. A girl was suggesting that taking a pee would be a good way to warm up. When I explained that I couldn't she thought I was being silly so kept telling me what a great idea it was. Thing was, I had already exhausted that option! (highly recommended!)

Pretty soon it was getting near the start time for our wave of 90 people in the 35-39 age group. We lined up and nervously chatted with fellow competitors - those in sleeveless suits finding a special thing in common. Then the race was under way and we ran towards the sea, almost like we were keen to get in the water. Thankfully my acclimization trick worked very well and I was quickly relaxed and able to swim. None of the hyperventilating I did during the 3 mile Donner Lake swim. I was also pretty cool about swimming with the pack and being clambered over as I tried to swim. To be honest, with all the sea life around it was nice to have some human company in the water. I stayed with some of the pack for quite a while before things started to separate. On reaching the first bouy, near the end of the pier we were swimming around, I looked up for the next one and realized the swell in the sea was noticeable and I couldn't see it. There were loads of people around though, and kayaks and such, so I just followed the crowd until I saw it.

Here's me (aka Biggles!)


On rounding the next bouy I was able to head for shore. The sound of the sealions barking as they sat under the pier was perhaps an extra motivation to get out of this unfamiliar environment. The tide heading towards the shore also seemed to provide a little welcome push. As I finally neared the shore I wondered about being careful to time my landing to not coincide with a big wave. In the end though I just floated in. Jeff wasn't so lucky. He's the best swimmer of all of us by a long way and he got picked up by a wave and tumbled on his way in, nearly losing his goggles!





Here's Jeff...


Out of the water with a hint of jelly legs and over the timing mat. Thanks goodness. The 300 yard run to the transition area was a nice change. In transition there was a slow person next to me and I think that mentally slowed me down too. I spent far too long in transition which cost me a lot of time. I really must sharpen that up next time. Pike is something of an expert at transitions with absolutely no messing around at all.

Glad to finally get out on the bike. The commentator called me out as I left and made a big fuss about me being from Gardnerville since it was his home town. The theme continued throughout the day.

It took a little while to get going on the bike. I was going fast enough but the miles seemed to take a long time to clock through. After what seemed like ages it said 3 miles on the odometer. Settling down though I started riding hard. It was very satisfying to start catching people from my agegroup and from previous waves in the swim who started 7 or 14 minutes ahead of me. The new aerobars on my bike seem to add a lot of speed but I was a bit worried about the toll it would take on my back if I stayed leaned over like that for 56 miles. The bike course had gently rolling hills and lovely views of the coast. Riders ahead seemed to bunch up on the hills as they struggled up them but as an Alta Alpina rider I had grown somewhat used to climbing and used each hill as an opportunity to overtake - very satisfying!

Here's Pike...


After a while there were a couple of cyclists around me doing a similar speed and both in my agegroup. We took turns at the front, each of us confidently firing past the others at various points, thinking we had dropped the others and none of us every achieving it. This went on for quite some time, perhaps 25 miles. I began to realize that what would separate us would be our running ability. In preparation for running I got out of the saddle a few times on climbs on the way back. I was a bit alarmed at how hard that was and how tired my legs were. I thought taking Pikes advice of just 'racing hard until you fall over' was unwise but I was happy to have made an average of over 20mph on the bike and hoped I could still run 13 miles.

Happily, we started making our way back through town and began to see people on the run leg. In to transition again I quickly racked the bike and got my running shoes on and out. Pike's bike to run transition was I think the fastest of everyone in the whole race.

Out of transition, more commentary about Gardnerville and the great haunts there, and starting the run. As if bike to run isnt hard enough it started with a hill. Fortunately the number of spectators around shouting encouragement provided motivation. Pretty soon I was up the hill and feeling surprisingly good on my running legs and was quite cheerful about it all and moving pretty quick.

After about 7 miles the running got a bit tough. Mike overtook me looking strong and it was nice to see Pike and Jeff on the way through too - it all adds to the motivation to anticipate seeing your mates on the course ahead.

Here's Mike...


My running seemed ok. I very occasionally overtook someone in my agegroup, which was always a thrill. Then, about mile 8, 3 guys in my agegroup came past me fast and I couldn't stay with them. It annoyed me a bit to be so mentally weak. The another guy came past about mile 9 and he wasn't so quick so I stuck to him. I followed him for the next 3.5 miles at a pace slightly harder than I wanted to run at. It worked well. I was focussing on my sprint finish which would let me sail past this guy. After 3.5 miles of pacing too fast I lost it and wound back a bit. The course wound its way to the beach and into thick sand. If that wasn't awful enough we had to run under the pier with the tide coming in. This meant running in the sea. Sea water is extremely corrosive stuff so I was pretty fed up at having to run in sea water in my best running shoes but I did that and then spent the next 200 years dodging waves and skipping between deep soft sand and sea water in a very graceless finish.

The Alta Alpinas, Jeff, Pike (also from the UK) and Mike (who I'd not met before) had great races respectively - all getting agegroup 3rd places. This is more impressive than it sounds - Mike (48) was 8th overall and Pike (42) was 11th! If there was a prize for transitions I think Pike would have been first in the bike-run transition!

I was age group 25th, and looking at the stats I can only really be disappointed with the transition times, which alone cost me several places. The run wasnt great either at 8:38 pace - room to improve there too I think. My lungs felt were GREAT throughout the race, I hardly felt like I was breathing at all. The muscles in the legs were the limiting factor. This living at 7,000ft business seems to work!

Here are the results (official results are on The Big Kahuna Triathlon website....




Great to meet Lisa, Cindy and Taylor too and hang out in Santa Cruz for a bit. The Land of Medicine Buddha (retreat) was fun too.

Donner Lake Triathlon - Olympic Distance - 1.5km Swim; 40km Bike; 10km Run

Awoke at 5.30am in my tent at Granite Flats up near the race. I had not been molested by bears (my bear spray was in reserve) but the traffic on the 89 was right outside my tent. It was like camping next to a freeway but it served its purpose and I was rested enough.

Unfortunately, when I breathed in fully I noticed a pain in the centre of my chest. My cold had clearly not completely left me. On a normal day I might have decided rest was a better option than racing, but having signed up the day before for $124 I wasn't about to miss the race. Though, the thought of jumping in Donner Lake at 7.35am did give me another reason to wish for the wimp out clause.

I kicked myself into gear and got my tent down. I thought I was going to miss the camping attendant and fail to pay my $15 but he was there, 5.40am, ready to collect cash. Very diligent.

My new racing strategy involves doing whatever I normally do for breakfast on race day. I couldn't logistically manage cereal (too hot for the milk to keep) but I managed tea at mac donalds (disappointing service and tea both). I drove on towards the west of Donner Lake with some semblance of my regular routine, tea, and a chelsea bun with butter icing (not the best choice).

I parked up over a mile from the start, because there was hardly anywhere to park near the start, and joined the parade of triathletes on their bikes with the rest of their gear in rucksacks. I was the only one carrying tea :-)

I headed for the transition area to set out my gear, got my number written on my arms and legs and my age on my calf (useful for figuring out who is racing who in the race). I found a slot for my bike, laid out my gear and put up the flag from my Bob Trailer. People were quite jealous, and some quite grateful, for the extra signpost for finding my bike amid the hundreds of other bikes parked up.

Pretty soon I donned my brand new ProMotion wetsuit, which I'd only ever tried in the lake the night before the race, and headed for the start with the x44 other orange caps (35-39 year olds).

Count the buoys, there are 3 in the picture - the far distant one was part of the course!


The race started under a balloon arch within the water, so there was no shock of running from dry to cold to getting going. The water was actually quite pleasant and the wetsuit very buoyant indeed and very nice to swim in. We watched the red caps head out at 7.30am (30-34 year olds) and then it was our turn, under starters orders and then off. Perhaps the funniest shoal of any kind to be seen swimming in Donner Lake (since last year's event!). Things were pretty crowded at first but people were not too aggressive, just quite confused I think. It's not easy for a pool swimmer to suddenly be left without lanes painted on the floor to follow. I didn't quite know how to proceed so I just swam. Sometimes I managed to keep an eye on someone else to my side, and I cruised along next to them for a while. I tried to "spot" the way ahead but the sun was just coming up on the east side of the lake, right in our eyes, and it was pretty hard to see anything. I could sometimes see a big yellow buoy out there but struggled to navigate a straight line to it. I seemed to spend more time nearer to the kayakers who were out there at the boundary to watch over us.

The race was a big rectangle and the first side of it seemed about 10 miles out there. It took ages to get to it. My race nerves were unsettling me a bit but I found my swim rhythm a couple of times. Things quietened down at the turn but a guy swam over me a couple of times. I couldn't figure out if he was trying to unsettle me (it worked!) or was just as disorientated and confused as me (probably the latter).

Pretty much the whole way I had only a vague notion of direction and no notion at all of how I was doing compared to the rest of my shoal. On the second turn some yellow caps started to appear amongst us. A bad sign - they had set out 5 minutes behind us and had managed to catch up. There were some reds among us too but that was small comfort.

I was glad indeed to swim up the beach until my arms touched sand before hauling myself out of the water and running to transition. I pulled off the top of my wetsuit as I ran as I've seen the experts do. I then plomped myself onto my towel and tried to get the wetsuit off my legs. The left leg came off reluctantly and frustratingly slowly but the right was well stuck. When i eventually got it off I remembered the sensor strapped to my ankle and realized that had not helped me much. My Bently shirt dropped on fine, I fumbled with my socks but pretty soon was on my way pushing my bike out. Then I went back for my race number - D'Ohh. Then I went out to the road with my bike.

The bike leg was much nicer for me. It started with a 3.5 mile climb which went pretty slowly but after the Death Ride and my various Alta Alpina antics, this wasn't too hard. I managed to pull hard up the hill and take a few prisoners along the way. Mind games being an essential aspect I worked hard to pass people whilst looking relaxed and smiling, particularly those out of the saddle standing on the pedals.

After making the big climb there were a series of smaller climbs, nothing much flat. When people came past me I took the opportunity to tag along. You can't draft in triathlon but you can get a mental pull from keeping someone in sight. At one point a fairly large group came through, some of whom were 50 (ages written on backs of legs helped), and I joined the fun. They were awesome to ride with and very quick indeed.

Coming back was nicer and descending the 3.5 miles down to the start was a nice rest for the legs. I struggled to pass a guy in front but was quite chilled out about it. Towards the end someone hollered at me to get out of the way, which seemed unnecessary and annoyed me somewhat. During the race I shouted encouragement at most people who overtook me, it's part of the fun and sometimes it helps to get encouragement. Some people seem to take it all a bit too seriously like mr shouting person. Perhaps it was race adrenaline, totally forgivable I'm sure.

Event photos from Brightroom.com...


Coming down to transition we had to foot down stop (to make sure we slowed down) or face a disqualification (DQ). After the foot down we were encouraged to ride to the transition area across sandy, grassy mess - pretty tricky on narrow tyres. I would rather have run.

This transition went better. I racked the bike, got my running shoes on, grabbed my hat and Forerunner GPS and legged it.

Pretty soon I caught up to Mr shouty from the bike leg and had the opportunity to express my dissatisfaction at his vocalization. Somewhat surprisingly he was a pretty slow runner so it was with some pleasure that I cruised past him. That was the only part of the run that felt like a cruise, most of it felt pretty heavy legged to me. I employed my usual strategy of trying to catch people in front whilst seeking someone running a little faster than me, so I could get paced in.

After what seemed like forever I past the 1km marker. Wow I felt tired and 9 more of those to go. Only 9 I told myself, I'd done a tenth of it. As we went on there was a 45 year old guy in front pacing well so I kept him in my sights. Nearing a water station his leg gave quite suddenly. I asked him if he was ok but his face said it all, his race was over for the day. I felt pretty sad for him, it's a long way to get to not finish. A couple of other folks stopped to pee. I was pretty envious of that but wasn't prepared to waste seconds that way! So I soldiered on.

By the 3rd km marker we had already run the length of the lake. I wondered what kind of extra punishment they had built into the course to take us to the full 10km. Annoyingly the tree cover was interfering with my GPS so mostly it sat there with it's usual mindless question "Weak Signal - OK?". I was ready to take it off and throw it in response.

This was a hard run but at least now we were on a trail, which I tried to tell myself was pleasant even though everything about the run was hard. The water stations on the race were pleasantly staffed and plentiful but have both gatorade and water and I always want just water when I run - it was hard to find out who had what. I made a 'W' with my fingers as I approached the water station but nobody understood (once I had to wait to get water because things were so confused).

At around 3.5 km I caught up to someone I was racing (he was 36) but was stunned to see him walking so much whilst drinking. I urged him not to give up a place to easily and he was soon running again. I liked his pace so he was a good person to follow. We passed a couple of others in our agegroup too, who looked very worse for wear.

At around 4 km there was a big hill. By now people were walking and up that bloody great hill, and I could do nothing different. My new competition also walked a bit so I kept him in sight. Someone shouted that this was the only hill and it was downhill all the way afterwards. That lifted my spirits for a while, until I came to the next hill.

It was about this time when it was feeling like the longest 10km race I had ever come across. I must be really tired. I was starting to suspect that the KM markers were really mile markers. I fiddled with my all but useless GPS only to discover that there were 2 MILES left. They WERE mile markers and I was over halfway done. Thank goodness!

I was still trying to make the best 'W' I could with my fingers as I approached another water station. This time the kid caught on and promptly threw a whole cup of water over me, which he explained, is what he thought I wanted. I managed to articulate, 'I wanted a drink', which was the cause of some amusement. Apparently his Dad then said that this was the 6 mile point. A quarter of a mile later I saw the REAL 6 mile point, with some disillusionment. I knew the race was an overdistance 10km too, so it was hard to predict how far the end was (I thought it would never come).

By now my friend was still in sight but sometimes I was distractedly losing him. We easily past a young guy (24) who was flagging and I shouted "Keep it strong buddy" (someone said the same to me in a previous race). The difference in him was marked. He really woke up and picked up his pace a lot - he even came to thank me after the race.

I was tired by now but wasn't going to let this guy beat me, at least, I didn't want to, whether I could do anything was doubtful. I narrowed the gap using some of what Terry had been teaching me - I ran pick up drills. Between one tree and another a little further on, I picked up the pace. Then rested. Then picked it up again for another section. I managed to stay with this guy and close a little doing that.

We then turned a corner and I saw that delightful word, "Finish". Always one for a sprint finish I closed the gap on my nemesis, coming up directly behind him so he wouldn't see me readily; then I turned on the sprint and flew past him. I continued pushing it all the way to the line expecting him to be breathing down my neck. I crossed the line without seeing him, turned around, and he wasn't there. Slightly disappointing but I guess he wasn't a sprinter! So, I gained 1 place in the closing minute which was quite satisfying.

I got my medal, drink and then sat down in the shade. I could do nothing but sit down. I noticed my tight chest was still tight. That was quite a surprise. I wandered in for the free lunch (which was excellent) but before I ate I signed up for a sports massage. They had about 10 massage tables set up, so I decided that today was the day for my debut massage. I ate lunch and did yoga while I waited and then had the massage. It was pretty painful and pain relieving and oddly and I had no lower back pain after the race. So, I was impressed and would definitely try it again. He seemed very good at focusing on the pain points and tight muscles and SLAMMING that problem out of existence. Cool.

The medical tent was quiet so I wandered in to ask about my tight chest. I've had a collapsed lung once and the word 'pneumothorax' was sufficient to get the Dr to have a listen. It didn't feel to me like a "pneumo" but it felt strangely tight. The Dr said my lung capacity sounded pretty diminished throughout. I hadn't felt pain during the race but I guess this lung problem hadn't helped much. He figured my cold had brought on some Asthma, which I get sometimes in the Hayfever season, so that made sense.

I planned to go to work after the race but was so tired that I ended up pulling my car over and sleeping on the drive back. After the Death Ride's 11h30 effort, a mere 2h50 seemed a bit light; but I was clearly pretty tired. Perhaps too from trying to digest the huge amount of carb loading I had undertaken!

And so the results of the Donner Lake Triathlon for bib number 577.

Time: 2:50:49
Overall in Agegroup Male 35-39): 19th (of 45 entrants)
Overall Place: 127 (of 411)
Overall Male Place: 104 (of 272)

Swim (1500m) Time 28:25
Agegroup Place: 33rd (of 45)
Overall Place: 240 (of 411)
Overall Male Place: 166 (of 272)
Pace: 1:53 per 100m (appalling!)

Swim to Bike Transition (getting wetsuit off!) 3.24 (very slow)

Bike (40 km/24 miles) Time: 1:23:27
Agegroup Place: 18th (of 45)
Overall Place: 87th (of 411)
Overall Male Place: 77th (of 272)
Pace: 17.87 miles per hour (hilly course!)

Bike to Run Transition: 1:07 (a little slow)

Run (10.5 km - 6.25 miles+) Time: 54:30
Agegroup Place: 17th (of 45)
Overall Place: 135th (of 411)
Overall Male Place: 102th (of 272)
Pace: 8.21 minute per mile pace (not too bad)

It's easy to over-analyze the results. I can quickly see that slow transitions alone cost me 2 places. If I had lied about my age and gone with the 30-34 group or the 25-29 groups I would have got 14th place. If I had lied about my age and said I was 40-44 I would've been 27th - those old dogs know how to compete. I'd better get training!

I certainly felt the strongest on the bike and am a bit surprised I didn't do relatively much better against my peers. It shows the quality of the entrants that I couldn't do better against them on the bike, even fully acclimitized, unlike some of them, and familiar with hauling up hills and racing. The run time doesn't seem terrible either, for me an 8.21 pace with heavy legs is forgivable.

For the first time ever I managed to convince myself to sit in a bath of cold water when I got home. I'm told this is good for the leg muscles, though gasping at the cold did nothing to help my tight chest problem.

The Death Ride of California - 129 miles / 15,000+ft

I arose at 3.45am and planned to be rolling on my bike by 4.30am. After a last minute bike cleaning session on friday night, eating pizza in between cleaning bits, I was quite tired and prone to considerable faffing in the morning. I eventually joined the weirdest rush hour in the world, heading through mountain roads to the start of the Death Ride, at 4.15 and had my bike set up and ready to roll for just after 5.00am. I was much more relaxed this year, understanding the format and having trained a little but was quite worried about my lingering cold (for which I had 2 days in bed, tuesday and wednesday) and was unsure how it far I would get. I was also questioning how sensible it was to run/hike up Job's Peak 5 days before the event but it seemed to make my legs stronger.

So, I wound my head torch around my handlebars, clipped my flashing light to the strap holding my race number, pointed my bike up towards the startline, reset my odometer and set off around 5.05am.

It felt warmer than I remembered last year's early start but I am better acclimatized now I suppose. The start was nice with the ride to Markleeville mostly down hill. I was quite surprised how quickly we got to the turn left towards Monitor.

As we started the first climb I was very pleased that a whole lot of people had started early. For some reason I like to pick a person up front and try to catch them up, a bit like a sheep dog chasing a car. So, I did a bit of that up Monitor and overtook quite a lot of people. Pretty soon I could feel the familiar niggle in my kneecap, which was responsible for considerable pain last year. Niggles early, on a long ride, are not great but it eventually wore off some with the normal feeling of muscle exertion replacing it. Still, I had a sinking feeling as soon as it started, and was worried to feel it on the very first climb of the day.

Monitor, before 6am...

I had expected Scott to have started after me and to come steaming past me at some point. I was quite surprised to look over and see that I had just overtaken him. I assumed he would pull out behind me and didn't think much of it. I was not feeling very confident I would finish the race, my cold was not fun the whole day but particularly early in the morning and the knee was a worry too. I figured at some point I would fade or even drop out, so whilst I was feeling good I was going to keep pedalling. So, I kept on, really expecting Scott to be just behind somewhere. Later in the day after not seeing him, I began to get worried that he wasn't well either.

View from high up on Monitor...


The top of Monitor - one down!


But I pushed on, enjoying overtaking and jumping in behind any fast people who went past me (a good motivation). The descent was the usual thrill. The back side of Monitor is a very fast descent and being near the front of the group there was not too much traffic (cyclist traffic) coming up the other way. I hit 47mph on the way down. This year I didn't get the sinking feeling that the thrill of the descent was to be tempered by the need to turn around at the bottom and climb back up the mountain. I guess I knew the drill.

At the bottom, some great advice from a marshal reminded us to change gears before we stopped (it's odd the things you forget). I got my sticker showing my first pass was complete, grabbed more sports drink, Citromax pink flavour, a couple of bagels and headed back off again.

Dennis, from work, had told me one of his tips was to keep the rests short, and I really focused hard on that. I remember Dennis legs moving like pistons as he rode past me last year. Apparently he passed Scott just after I did and Scott told him I was ahead but he didn't catch me until lunch, after 4 passes. I was pretty impressed with that. Dennis might be in his 50s but he is supremely fit, so I was pleased indeed to stay ahead of him.

I climbed the back of Monitor on the same form as the front, overtaking loads of people. What a thrill after the grind of last year. The descent was awesome as usual but with the added thrill of being able to cheer on the folks still doing their first climb, lots of the folks from work or from Alta Alpina. Near the bottom I saw Mel and a very large group of Alta Alpina riders starting very late but looking strong. At the bottom I stripped off my long trouser legs, my windproof and my lights and gave them to Big Daddy (who was fast asleep, but always on hand to fix bikes for people!).

The back side of Monitor before 8am, with cyclists like ants on the road below...


Near the top of Monitor (again) - two down!


Then on up to Ebberts. Things changed a bit on Ebberts. It has some very steep sections which you have to really attack. On Ebberts, I got overtaken by quite a few folks. I think the fit cyclists who were confident enough to start later were catching me up by now. I managed to hang in with a couple of them sometimes, which helped me climb.

At some point I felt a weird pain in my abs and realized it was like a muscle ache - it seemed very much that I was somehow using my stomach muscles, which have recently appeared from circuits class and yoga, to propel me on the bike. Odd but satisfying!

That's 3 - Ebberts...


At the top I stopped to take a photo of the summit sign so I would have a record of the time. The Marshals thought I was taking a photo of them with their fairy wings and so posed for me too! I didn't hang around there though, just got my sticker and rode through to the back side of Ebberts. A slightly more twisty and slower descent (I assumed Scott would be catching me by now with his fast descending).



Near the bottom, and doing 30-40mph around the twisties, some of us were quite surprised to turn the corner and be faced with some Winnebago taking up most of the road (which was supposed to be closed to traffic). It was quite a shock but I think everyone wobbled past it somehow.

The bottom of Ebberts was perhaps the best organized of all the rest stops. The volunteers had done an awesome job cutting the melon slices perfectly and even peeling the oranges. It is strange what's important in a race and these folks were getting a whole lot of thank yous from the appreciative riders. On a long ride you lose lots of salt as well as fluid, so you normally eat crisps and suchlike - at this stop you could even eat raw salt! Very thoughtful.

So, pretty soon I turned around and headed back up Ebberts at a better speed to see the beautiful high country scenery back there, still with snow covered peaks to see. The back of Ebberts is also steep so my 'picture taking going along' was a little limited. When I finally made the summit I stopped and looked around for lunch. The top of Ebberts was by now a zoo, packed full of people and no lunch. I had forgotten that lunch was down the hill a way, so kicking myself for wasting precious minutes not finding lunch, I hopped on the bike and headed down hill again. Descending more slowly than I perhaps needed to and imaging Scott catching me up fast.

The beautiful views from the back side of Ebberts...


I finally spied the lunch stop and joined Ron Sanchez and his son Aaron, and then Dennis for a spot of food. After about 20 minutes Scott appeared looking not so hot. It turned out that he wasn't feeling fully fit after all (and the bicycle helmet sculptured hair style didn't help the overall impression). Dennis stuck to his 30 minute lunch rule and hauled out. I was tempted to go too but felt it would be much more fun for me and Scott if we rode the next 50 miles together, working together to keep up the pace and the motivation. So, that's what we did.

We set off at a decent speed and then saw another couple of riders working pretty hard together so we tacked on the back of them to form an ad-hoc paceline. I'm not sure they were thrilled by the idea but we took our turn at the front but sadly we eventually dropped them, though we gained a good few miles working together in some of the windy sections.

In no time we were in Markleeville for the climb to Turtle Rock Park, where we stopped at our cars to change clothes and get a cold drink before the massive final climb up to Pickets and then Carson. I distinctly remembered these climbs were from last year's Death Ride and even from driving it a few times. It's a very long climb. However, working together we pretty much nailed it. I don't know how we did it really but we were lucky with the traffic on the ride to Pickets (which is pretty narrow and has no shoulder in places). There wasn't much wind but we still took turns to do a bit at the front and we got to Picket's pretty painlessly.

I'm not sure I understand the whole working together thing. In the wind, if you ride behind someone else it is clearly easier. When there is no wind and you are grinding up a big climb I'm not sure whether there is any physical benefit but there are mental and motivational things going on. At times I could hardly stay with Scott on the climbs and worked super hard not to get dropped. When I took a deep breath and went for my turn at the front, sometimes he would drop back quite a bit. I'm sure there is something that messes with your brain when someone rides quickly past you when you are already working on the limit. Whatever it is, there certainly seems a lot of physical and motivational/mental benefit to working together.

On the way up the climb I noticed a lady from Alta Alpina coming down having finished the 5th pass. I'd bumped into her at the lunch stop and we'd previously met on the Gardnerville 100. She's extremely nice and has retired but what is perhaps surprising for some, is that I think she did the whole Death Ride quicker than we did. It's a funny thing when you join sports clubs how quickly you get respect for the incredible stength and stamina of mild mannered club members in their 50's, 60's and 70's. It certainly stops you feeling ageist about sport, and quite careful who you choose to race against! Perhaps I will keep getting quicker year on year - it seems not uncommon around here!

We bumped into Scott Doerr and Marty at the Picket's rest stop looking fairly comfortable on some seats out of the sun. One of the helpers insisted on racking my bike for me and helping me get drink and stuff because I now had an Alta Alpina shirt on! We grabbed some food and water and took some time out, but not for too long. The last climb was waiting and there was to be ice cream at the top.

So, we set off as a 4 this time, well I thought we did. Pretty soon, me and Scott taking our turn at the front transformed into me and Scott riding on our own again. Near the top, but with still a few steep miles to go, Scott Doerr reappeared looking in good form and extremely fit and we worked as a 3 for a bit. Then someone we dropped original Scott about a mile from the top. I ploughed on behind Scott Doerr, quite unable to take my turn at the front. Then some miracle occurred as we turned the craggy corner near the top - the wind changed direction and started pushing us from behind. What a rush. I'm not sure how much it helped physically but mentally it was great. After a couple of minutes of that I was ready for my turn at the front, so I moved up and managed to drop Scott D this time. I saw a few people ahead of me struggling a bit so I put on a final burst of speed and overtook a 3 more people before the top, turned the corner and held my 5 fingers up to the photographer before steaming into the rest stop for my 5th sticker, finishers pin and more importantly, the ice-cream! I was pretty elated to be for the first time ever feeling anything like on a par with Scott and Scott - normally they out climb me with apparent ease so it was quite something to feel on the level for a change!

That's 5 - Carson Pass and ready for ice cream!


Ice creams all around, left to right, Marty, Scott Doerr, me (note Alta Alpina shirt sizes come up short!), Scott Roby...


Marty had a heart rate monitor which estimated how many calories he had burned through the day. It was nearly 8,000 by the top of Carson Pass!

Coming back down Carson was ugly. The road is extremely fast for cyclists but the cars were not doing a great job of overtaking. There was a whole mess of bikes and cars and bikes and cars doing about 40mph down the hill in close proximity. Not a nice cycling situation and quite disappointing not to be able to really rocket down this last descent as we deserved. But we all seemed to make it ok. Towards the end we were working in the wind some and worked together quite effectively back to Turtle Rock Park as the first drops of rain started. We got back to our cars (our person finish lines) and decided to go and say hi to Bill and Dennis who were having a beer back down the hill. In the 10 minutes that took I got drenched by what was now a thunder storm. Missing Bill and Dennis (the beer had run out!) I headed back up the hill and rapidly got my cycling shoes off (with metal cleats) as thunder and lightening were crashing all around - I ducked at one point as I felt the thunder clap through my feet. I threw the bike in the car and sat there feeling safe, after all, cars are very safe in thunder storms (it has to do with their being a Faraday cage I believe). As I sat there looking at the lightening striking between the trees just in front of me I realized the Faraday cage concept doesn't help much if a tree falls on your car! So, I prepared to get out of dodge but only after I'd spent half an hour trying to photograph the lightening, the hailstones (!) and the poor riders finishing in these grim conditions.

I was pretty convinced the race would have to be shut down because so many riders were still out there but they apparently had ok weather until they were nearly back to the start, which was very lucky.

The race wasn't stopped despite the thunder, lightening and hailstones...


Our little localized storm from the way home...


On balance, an awesome ride. I really feel like we rode hard all the way and quite nailed it! The organization of the event was again absolutely fantastic with an army of volunteers and people shouting encouragement and motorcycle riders and safety teams. I hope they realize how much they are appreciated, I think they do, I heard a lot of folks expressing their thanks along the way.

Now, statistics for 2006
Trip Distance: 123.25 (this is 6 miles short so the bike computer is a bit wrong!)
Average Speed: 12.8+ (last year 10.6)
Maximum Speed: 47.2mph+ (last year 48.9)
Wheels turning time: 9:23:33 (last year 12.24)
Total time including rest: 11:34:59 (last year 15:20)

Of these statistics, I'm most impressed by cutting 3hours 45 minutes from last years overall time and 3 hours from my wheels turning time. Inaccuracy in the bike computers seems to mess up the rest of the stats.

I wonder how I am so much faster this year. I guess it's a combination of being better acclimitized to the altitude and temperature; having a much better bike; doing a few big rides of around 100 miles (Gardnerville 100, Tour De Nez 100, Kingsbury - Luther loops 50); and doing some regular speed work with the Alta Alpina wednesday night race series; being lighter; having a stronger 'core' from circuits and yoga classes; from taking some advice from my friends about not taking too long for breaks and from riding with Scott and the others for long stretches. On balance I'm pretty pleased that I was able to ride at that kind of pace for so long. Looking back at the slog of last year it was really a different kind of ride to be pushing hard the whole way, much more enjoyable.