Livin’ La Vida Fuerte
I just signed up to ride 100 miles. In a row. In August. In Philadelphia. With thousands of other people. This strikes me, as someone who’s never done a ride of this scale or distance, as a strange turn of events. Perhaps you think so too. But once I explain, I think you’ll agree that I never had a choice.
You see, I wasn’t able to get the Fat Cyclist jersey I was hoping to score. I hemmed and hawed over which one would be the most awesomest, and then they all sold out. Like, in a week.
So I was kind of down about not being able to have participated in the big Twin Six Fat Cyclist sale, and was thinking about writing about it, and then thinking “no one wants to read about that, and I don’t want to write about it.”
Which led to thinking about what I do want to write about. I mean, I can tell you about the finer points of my goat trails, the ride to Ruby’s school, the commute. I can tell you about the even yet finer points as well, there are truly splendid driveways over by Trinity University that I could fill pages describing. I could do a daily post, in all-caps, yelling at the motorists who taunt and torment me. But you don’t want to read that. And I don’t want to write it.
And then I caught a glimpse of a slide from a presentation by BikeHugger’s own D.H. Byron, a presentation that included a couple points about making your blog better. The seed of advice that took root in the fertile soil of my imagination was: “make yourself more awesome”. Which led to the next slide, the practical implementation of that advice: “Do Epic Shit”.
About the same time, Fatty announced that he was going to put together a team for each of the Livestrong Challenge events that would be bigger than any before, raise more money for cancer research than any Livestrong Challenge team ever before, and would involve a bike ride longer than… well, any ride I’ve ever done before, by probably 75 miles. And I thought, “Hey, that sounds suspiciously… epic.”
It is a big event thought out and managed by people who are good at those kinds of things. It’s not a race, the ride’s well supported, and I’ll be undertaking this quest with my teammates, who will (hopefully) be about a thousand strong. So it’s kind of beginner level, as far as an Epic Adventure! goes. In other words, a perfect fit. And, it’s for the best of causes, under an auspicious banner, and I may get a FatCyclist jersey out of it after all, hopefully something smaller than an XXXL.
So, between now and next August, I’ll be training for a big long ride, writing about the process, and perhaps bothering folks about sponsoring me just a little bit. If you’re interested, this here’s my personal fundraising page, and I’ll leave a link over on the right in case you’d be interested in stopping by it later. If they make a thermometer widget or a bat or something, I’ll put that up too.
If you’re interested in joining Fatty’s Livestrong Team for one of the events in Austin, Seattle, San Jose, or Philadelphia, visit this post for quick links and info, as well as the rundown on all the nifty rafflings he’s personally doing for folks joining his team. You’re worth a million in prizes. You don’t have to walk, run, or bike to join, there’s plenty of ways to help. And you don’t have to ride 10, 20, 50, or 100 miles, but you sure could.
I’m excited and nervous and ready to get on this, like I’m at the beginning of something… epic. Feels good.
[UPDATE]: Kent Peterson also asks that you join the team. I imagine that when you’ve done the Great Divide Race on a single speed, you’ve probably got a hundred-mile ride laying around under your couch cushions.
[ANOTHER UPDATE]: I found a thermometer on the Livestrong Challenge site, but it appears to suck. I put it on my sidebar, it was bright yellow with heavily aliased white text and an obviously white background. Not gonna do it. If I find out they have something like an RSS feed, perhaps I’ll whip something up that doesn’t suck.
Tags: bicycling, Livestrong, The Point
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:59 am
It’s pretty far out there, so you have lots of time to prepare. If you can ride 75 miles in prep, you’ll ride 100 the day of. Personally, I just get tired of riding a bike after 80 miles, but some guys are cool with riding all day.
Just throw in one long ride on the weekend to with regular commuting and you should be fine. If you can find a non-race oriented local club, they usually have weekend rides that are various distances and to cool places. Plus they often have a no-drop policy and suggestions for bail-outs if you are struggling.
No matter how you slice it, struggling on a bike is way f-ing better than a lot of alternatives.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
All of that sounds good to me. There’s a lot of very cool and interesting rides in this part of the country that I’m really lookin’ forward to doing as the rides get longer. I mean, I know that it’s going to be a lot of effort, but I’m finding it hard to think of it as “work”, ya know?
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
A lot of these “thons” have food/water stops every 10 miles or so. Riding ten ten-mile rides, punctuated by pastry injections, is way easier than riding a hundred miles all at one stretch.
A friend who is an accomplished randonneur told me that “after 150 miles, it’s all mental.” I would revise that estimate downward for normal people. My first long ride was 40 miles, and I was nervous at the outset. A few weeks later, I rode 60 miles. Shortly thereafter I did a century, then most of a 300k brevet (I left early to go home to my newborn daughter), and a week later a 175-mile ride to the start of a 2-day 150-mile charity ride. This was all in the space of a couple months. And I’m no athlete.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I should add: please be careful on the charity ride. Those events tend to bring out riders who ride in ways that require more skill than they possess. I do not ride in mass-group rides anymore for this reason.
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Thanks for the pointer:
The distance is not difficult, but the riders may be dangerous, noted.
Couple questions for y’all: what was the pace over the course of it? I’m also wondering if I should bother making the leap into clipless pedals and shoes? I mean, if we’re gonna be doin’ 12-15 mph most of the time, I don’t even think I’d need to put the toe-clips back on for that?
December 4th, 2008 at 12:08 am
I always figure on a pace of 10 mph for long rides. It sounds slow, and maybe you’ll do better, but that seems to be my average for long rides. That includes stops, by the way. The rolling average is probably closer to 14 mph. Faster downhill.
I don’t like clipless pedals or toe clips for long rides. MKS Sylvan Touring pedals are my choice. Over the course of many miles, I like the freedom to have my foot roam around the pedal unconsciously. On the other hand, there’s a real danger to getting fatigued and having the footwork get sloppy and slipping off the pedal, especially in wet weather. Maybe a set of Power Grips is the ideal compromise.
December 4th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Excellent. The Trucker’s set up with Sylvan Touring pedals now, and we frequently reach a friendly agreement on 14 or so, that’s all good news.
I put the toe clips back on last week, rode it in this morning and wasn’t enjoying the constriction around the arch, so I think those might have to go.
However, I also ride my mountain bike in, ya know, when I’m feelin’ frisky, and I love how the Wellgo BMX pedals grip. They take enormous hunks of flesh out of the shin if they do come swingin’ up into it, but a pair of those and a stiff pair of Vans would probably be pretty swell?
August 11th, 2009 at 9:21 am
[...] like to apologize. Searching through these posts, I realized I used the couch cushion metaphor on December 2 of last year, when I signed up for this thing. You deserve better than a recycled quip, therefore, I’ve [...]