Birthday #32 = 100K Bike Ride

Starting with my 30th birthday, I set down a challenge for myself to complete on or for my birthday. The first was a 30 mile bike ride, next was a 50K (31 miles!) run. This year was hard... my choices had been cut down; I couldn't figure out any way to spin a 32, pretty much anything with my legs was out, and because I wouldn't be far enough in training/I didn't want to hurt myself, the wheelchair was out. I was about to just settle on what had been deemed my "second choice" when two very big things happened; a friend asked if I was interested in riding a tandem bike and then told me about a ride in Shasta she was signed up for on my birthday. 100K, a metric century, 65 miles.

We got the tandem at the beginning of June and eventually named it Mack. On the front is my stronger and more road-bike-experienced Captain. Due to my lack of strength, I'm on the back, I'm the Stoker.... I basically just keep pedaling. Fortunately on my mountain bike, when I started losing strength I was told to turn my gears down and spin more rather than try to power my way up hills. In road biking, this made my cadence is high, which is a good thing and has the added bonus of making me feel like I'm still helping when we head uphill.

Although we were not exactly encouraged to shoot for such mileage in just a month and a half, we rode when we could with our crazy schedules and made it up to 21 miles with 800' of climbing. The ride would be 65 miles with 2200' of climbing, but that 21 mile day gave me hope that we really could do this. I also always had the back up that I would be happy as long as we made it to 32 miles.

We ended up as a group of six; the two of us, a friend doing her first 100 mile, my Rabbit friend doing her first 100K with us, and two friends of my Captain (one going for the 100 mile, one going for the double metric). And before I get too far, we had been warned of triple digit weather during the weekend so everyone was on high alert. Also, for my birthday, four of us wore "team" shirts; Thing 1 (my Captain), Thing 2 (me), Thing 3 (doing her first 100 mile), and Thing 4 (my Rabbit friend).

Things 1, 2, and 4 in the early morning!

For obvious reasons, we took the 6am start rather than heading out later and actually said crazy things like "I should have brought some arm sleeves". It was rather flat for the first part of the course and we were happy to take in the scenery, then there were some rolling hills, which actually make the tandem extra fun; although we're slow going up, we barrel down the hills. At about 28 miles, we made it to the 2nd aid station.. a quick stop before heading up. And up. And up for 6 miles. We varied between 2%-10% grades with some downhill breaks mixed in. My 32 mile goal was in there somewhere... on a fairly flat section so we were able to yell out celebratory "32!". At 34 miles, there was a fully stocked "lunch station" and a turn-around. We stayed there for a bit, and finally got to see more riders (we had been mostly on our own so far).
Somewhere along the hills Thing 1 had said something that made me vow we had earned the downhills by climbing the damn things, so we headed back out of the aid station. We flew down those hills, reaching speeds of 36 mph, losing Thing 4, and making the very nice lady back at that 2nd aid station wave to us with a shocked look on her face as we passed. By the time we made it back to the loop of the course, we were well past 40 miles and I thought might as well keep going and since I wasn't throwing tantrums on the side of the road, Thing 1 never questioned wether or not I wanted to keep going.
During the first climbs, I had started pedaling with my head down because it's easier to just keep pedaling when I can't see how much farther up we had to go.... when we got to another climb, it was much more important for me not to look. I was worn down, I hadn't been active for this long in quite some time, my knee hurt, my hip hated me from the last uphills, and my ankle had started to hurt somewhere near the end of the downhills. But I didn't dare say any of that out loud for fear of stopping, so I just kept pedaling. We got some cheering from a couple guys that came up behind us, one even put his hand on my back to push us forward a bit. They had brought me back to the surface enough to give him a tired thank you.
I requested a stop at what turned out to be the last aid station and headed in to fill our bottles with ice water (according to my Garmin, we peaked at 105 degrees), then we were off again. For some reason, we thought we were only going 62 miles, so I reassured Thing 1 and Thing 4 that I could finish since we only had a half marathon left. Also reassuringly, we had a long downhill that resulted in Mack taking us up to 47.8 mph. Then 62 miles came without any view of the fairgrounds, so despite my announcement that I was done, we kept going. My head was down again. And then I heard "What the f*ck is that?!" I looked up just long enough to see what turned out to be an 11% grade incline. Head down. Keep pedaling. It really wasn't very long, but at that point it seemed to go on forever. It was our last climb, then a ride through town a bit to get back to the fairgrounds and we were done!

In celebration, I got off the tandem and sat on the ground, leaning against the back of Thing 1's car. I was quickly inundated with questions that I'm not sure I answered, but soon there was ice on my knee and Saber was watching me closely, ready to help me get back to the tents. While Things 1 and 4 concerned themselves with things like food and checking on the three still out there, I spread my blanket in the grass and laid on it.... I at least did some stretching as well. I was given food and I also started in on the giant birthday cookie they had given me the day before, the only times I got off the blanket after was to share some of the cookie with the others. Thing 3 and double metric guy weren't answering, but 100 mile guy called it at about 50 miles due to a hurt foot and the heat (the peak heat for the day was 115 degrees) and would soon be dropped off. Soon double metric guy appeared out of nowhere and said he skipped his last out-and-back because of the heat and made his ride about 100 miles. After everyone had settled and the guys went to get food, Thing 1 finally got Thing 3 on the phone.. she was about to go up the "What the f*ck is that?!" hill so she wasn't too far off and had only one request; a cold beer.

Thing 3 and her cold beer!

When everyone was done and everything was packed up, we headed to a family cabin for the night. We ate barbecue, admired our surroundings, and slept wherever we landed. I was the first one up in the morning so I went out and sat on the deck to watch the rest of the sunrise over Shasta Lake. I was alone in the quiet for a little while and I couldn't help thinking about what great friends I had (even the ones I had just met) to give me yet another great birthday.. to take my crazy goals and make sure I accomplished them. I am also insanely proud of all them for the distances they accomplished in the three digit heat!

my morning view of the lake

Our whole group, our bikes, and my birthday cookie!

(none of the cookie made it home..)

Dirty Dozen: The Sequel

Like most sequels, doing this year's Dirty Dozen 12 Hour Endurance Run wasn't as "good" as the original... but while it lacked in areas that excelled last year, it brought its own new variables that were quite impressive. For anyone new here, last year I ran 31 miles to complete my first 50K for my 31st birthday last year, finally bringing my 7 year old goal to finish a marathon to completion. It was huge in its own right... this year was a lot of big moments that, in hindsight, made this one huge as well.

First, I want to say another congrats to everyone that completed their own huge goals this year! I am glad I got to be in the finish area for most of they day to be able to witness everyone's triumphs.. and if I didn't get to give you a hug, I owe you one!!

Going into this, I kind of just wanted to get out on the trail, so I ended up asking to be signed up for the 12 hour. That way I could just go out for a lap whenever I wasn't engraving medals. Then I thought I could take Phil out and got permission to make my own course on the pavement, but due to some lingering problems with the front tire, that went out the window the day before and I decided to take Saber and my cane and do whatever I could.

Saber and I started with everyone else, then I headed up to the pavement. It was lonely being on my own for a while, but I did have a short stretch where I was on the same trail with everyone else.. going against them first, then with them as I headed back. It was the heading back that was hard; on the way out I was going mostly downhill and with the crazy wind that had decided to join us for the day, the way back was into the wind and mostly uphill. That includes a long incline that gets steeper the higher up you get. My first lap ended up being 3.2 miles in about an hour. And I knew I would not be able to do that again for a while, but since I still had time before I would start engraving, I decided to head out on the official course with my cane-turned-walking-stick.

When the race started, some people had said something along the lines of "you're doing this?!", and not surprisingly, I got the same reaction with the cane. I remember saying "yeah! I figure can do three miles, right....?" I was then cheered out of the start/finish area. Less than a mile out, I already had my doubts. A couple friends had cheered as they went past, one stopped and walked with me for a bit, but my leg was already expressing its disbelief at what I was attempting. I passed the 1 mile marker in defiance. More friends passed by, building me up again and got me into the aid station, where I stopped to rest... and to learn some things about about making PB&J in mass doses. After leaving the aid station, I ignored the 2 mile marker.

Somewhere in the stretch through the grove of eucalyptus trees, it hit me that last year I had run through there nine times and now I was struggling for just once. That took me down for a bit, but a few more friends passed by with varying degrees encouragement/letting me work through. I did finally settle my mind with the knowledge that I was still moving even though I should not be able to. Then I gained a walking buddy, who distracted me with talk of his own 50K goal for the day and getting lost in the subject of bike tires and the mechanics of racing wheelchairs. I missed the 3 mile marker and we took each other into the finish, then he headed out again while I went to sit down..... and eventually found my Rabbit friend (Sheriff Rabbit for the day!) to lay on her shoulder for a bit.

I stuck around the start/finish area after that because I didn't have enough time or will to go back out quite yet, and it was nice to visit with others hanging around.... then I was engraving medals as fast as I could. At some point, I wanted very much to get out on one more lap with Saber. It took a couple tries to make it away from the tent, but I finally made a break for it with the encouragement of my helper for the day. This lap was better than earlier, but also harder when I turned back into the wind again. I was tired from the first two laps and when I left we were going into the 9th hour of the race, 10 hours for volunteers. I haven't looked at my Garmin yet, but unofficially I believe it was still my fastest lap of the day. I crossed the finish line with a total of 9.82 miles on my Garmin and was quite done. I handed Saber off to a friend, then went back to the race director, who was concerned... I'm not entirely sure if it was my limp or if it was just the fact that I had just come through the arch and was now heading towards him. I reassured him with "I'm done, gimme my medal!" He then very nicely laughed, carefully unwrapped my medal, and presented it to me with a cupcake on top.

I spent the rest of the day engraving medals and cheering on the amazing finishes. At the end of the day, I believe that everyone who had a goal met it.. and I don't know the final count, but I engraved at least 103 medals! I like the medal part because it gave me a moment with each friend and I got to see the miles they were going to remember for a long time.