Soles 4 Souls Century Ride

Hi...my name is Kevin and I have a problem with training. 

Yes, on Sunday I did yet another 103 mile charity ride.  What is it about the training pain that I can not seem to get enough of?  Does anyone else have this addition?!  Bonnie called me a beast to her friends (of course she is doing her first century ride this weekend).

Funny but back to back weekends of century rides has not seemed to have effected my legs.  They are not sore or tired.  They feel great.  Strange?!

Sunday's ride was the Soles 4 Souls charity ride.  The course was in the shape of a figure 8 with the sag stop in the middle of the 8.  You hit the sag stop every ~33 miles.  Three loops made 103ish miles.

The first two loops were easy.  I did not draft at all and was holding about a 20 mph pace.  The last loop got REALLY windy and was brutal.  I finished the 103 miles without drafting in about 5:30:00.  Not to shabby for me considering I just did 105 miles the previous Sunday.  Average around 19.4 mph.

The after party was really fun.  They had several coolers of really good craft beer and smoothies.  There was a BBQ going with chicken, vegetables and hot Italian sausage.  It was a ton of fun.

This weekend is my best friends 60th birthday so it will be a well deserved rest weekend for me.  That means I will go crazy without sneaking in some form of exercise.

Champions Ride for Charity Review

Champions Ride for Charity Review

(IMAGE SOUCE)

Ride Website

Sunday I completed my second 100 mile century cycling ride.  It was the Champions Ride for Charity.  It was a great ride!!  It was hosted by the Rotary Club of Lake Mary - Florida.  Being a Rotarian I always like to support their events.

The ride had several distances to choose from (10, 33, 66, 100 miles).  Overall about 160 riders showed up for the rides.  Maybe forty riders did the century distance.

There were about nine SAG stops for the century.  Each SAG had plenty of oranges, bagels, peanut butter, Gatorade, water, bananas, ice, etc.  They were staffed by warm and friendly Rotarians and Boy Scouts. 

The route was pretty and safe.  We started from Lake Mary, FL and went through Deland, Deltona, Lake Helen, Cassadaga ( "Psychic Capital of the World") and then back to Lake Mary.

The first half the ride was at a monstrous pace.  The century group was so small that you didn't want to get dropped so you hung on for as long as you could.  There were several 66 mile riders in the century group also so they did not need to ride at an endurance pace.  The average pace for the first half of the ride was about 22-24 with several sprints up to 28 mph.  I hung onto this pace for the first 50 miles.  Then after that I got dropped from the group when some riders did not call out that a car was coming and a few riders almost got hit by a car.  I had to stop and never caught back onto the main group.  This meant that the next 55 miles would be spent pretty much riding alone at about an 18-19 mph pace. This was good practice for next year's (2014) Ironman that I plan on completing(more on that in a later blog).

The total race distance was 105 miles.  At mile 100.00 I blow a rear tire on what looked like a piece of wire the size of a record needle (for those of you old enough to know what a record needle is).  It took me 10 minutes to get it out of my tire because it was so small.  From that experience I learned to take some tweezers on my future rides to save time.

Overall it was a great race and I had a great ride.  My legs the following day felt great.  No soreness or stiffness at all!!  Adding so much extra miles to my cycling training has benefited me greatly!!

This weekend I can add a second century tally mark to the bike!!
Two Centuries and ten 70.3s.
(Note they tallies look crooked in the
photo because of the curve of the bike)

Annual Horrible Hundred Cycling Ride Review 2010

Annual Horrible Hundred Cycling Ride Review 2010

Source

Official Photos of the Event

Photos Take of Me at the Event
 
Yesterday was the Annual Horrible Hundred Cycling Ride in Clermont FL.  Clermont is “THE” cycling area in FL.  There are ton of challenging hills and safe places to ride.  This is location where the hills have names (see this post). 

The weather for the ride was wonderful.  The air temperature was in the 70s and there was a slight overcast so the Florida sun was not beating down on you.  At some points during the ride there was slight misting rain but not anything that would get you wet.  On some parts of the ride the wind did start to kick up to about 12 to 15 mph but luckily this was mostly on the flats.


So I started off the ride planning to do the 70 miler with my buddy Angel but at around mile 15 he started talking to a friend and got lost in the crowd.  I stopped and waited for him at the first swag station and he did not show up.  At that point I was by myself and feeling good so I decided to chance and see how I felt at the 100 mile turn off.

 I felt great at the 100 mile turn off so I decided to push myself.  I joined up with a cycling team called “Butterbean.”  I rode with them for about 30 miles before I joined up with another group of cyclist that I rode with from mile 70 – 100.   These riders were great and fun people.  I hope to ride with them again.  They were going to email me some pictures but I think the lady got my email incorrect.  If I get those pictures I will post them soon.  It was interesting because one of the riders lives about 2 blocks from my house and I have never seen her riding.

To quote my friend Angel “whoever designed this course was evil.”  It included every major hill in the area and the hardest part is they all occur in the last 30 miles.  It was definitely a tough course but I surprised myself.  I even had to do the Buckhill 1.5 times because I missed my turn. 

There were approximately 5 swag stops placed about every 25 miles.  They were well stocked with goodies (peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, peanut butter & honey sandwiches, various chips, M&Ms, chocolates, water, Gator-aid, shot blocks, nuts, oranges, dried fruit, etc).  The SWAG stops where well organized and the volunteers were friendly and fast.  The only complaint is they ran out of water on the 2nd SWAG stop but they soon fixed the issue as the truck came carrying more water.

The cycling route was very safe.  The traffic on the roads was very light and the route keeps you off most major roads.  Every major intersection for the first 40 miles was controlled by police officers.  It may have been this way for the entire ride if you were doing the 35 or 70 but for the century the number officers soon dropped to zero.  But I kind of expected this because a century takes most of the day to complete and I do not expect police to stay out the long.

The SWAG vehicles were GREAT and they were EVERYWHERE.  About every 10 minutes for the entire ride I would see a SWAG vehicle drive by and check on the riders.  There was also someone at every SWAG stop to work on your bike if you need it.  Awesome job here.

There was a small expo at the event with about 10  to 15 vendors selling items.  David’s World came out and was doing free bike tune-ups before the race.

The race was packed with riders.  I believe they announced they had over 2000 cyclists attending the event.

I felt strong the whole ride and I never got off my bike on any of the hills.  Even more surprising I feel fine today.  My legs are a little stiff and my neck is a little sore but overall I feel good.

I would grade the ride an A.  It was well ran and supported.  The SWAG stops and vehicles were great.

This was my very first century and I had to pick Florida’s hardest century.  I rode strong and felt great on the ride.  It was one of the best sporting events of my life.   I am definitely proud of my accomplishment and hard work. 

Ride Elevation Chart (Click to Enlarge)

NOTE 1: I saw the Humble Triathlete at David’s World at the Friday registration.  Unfortunately, I was not able to talk to her because I was driving past her.  I honked my horn and yelled hello.  I saw where on the day of the ride but she was getting out of her car and parking the car after the race started on about mile 3.  I yelled hello at her and she saw me. Shirley if your read this what happened.  Did you do the race?

NOTE 2:   I saw my cycling computer hit 43 mph on one of the down hills.  It was AWESOME!!

Ride-4-Ronald 2010

Ride-4-Ronald 2010

Sunday I participated in the Ride-4-Ronald charity ride.  The donations for this ride went to the Ronald McDonald House of Central FL.  This is a great non-profit that “provides home-away-from-home for these families in medical crisis. Before the Ronald McDonald Houses, being with a hospitalized child meant parents were sleeping in their cars or in chairs in the waiting room, eating out of vending machines, or bearing the expense of impersonal hotel rooms” (http://www.rmhccf.org/about.shtml).

Bonnie and I before the ride

The race offered a 30mi, metric century (67mi) and a century (100mi).  I chose the metric century. Bonnie did the 30mi ride. This was my first race doing a metric century.  I have done a few with my friend Angel before but this was the first “official” ride.  The other rides were not planned to be long rides but the “lost boys” took a wrong turn and ended up really lost like usual.  I will have to blog about the “lost boys” some day.  There will be some funny stories to share about this.  (We want to get a set of custom jerseys made up so if you know of someone who does custom jerseys email or comment me there website.  I only need two made up.)

Fellow Lost Boy, Angel

From what I understand this was the first time they have ever put on this ride.  In some ways they did a great job and in others ways they needed improvement. 

Having Fun!

One area they needed improvement was in the number of portable toilets.   They only had three for several hundred riders.   The wait took forever and many people missed the start of the race.  The route markings were really bad also.  The spray paint on the road was really hard to find and in some places appeared to be missing.  There were also several other non-related markings that through some riders off course.  Oh course, Angel and I got lost and added a few miles onto the metric century. 

The ride itself was pretty dangerous.  It had too many really busy roads, stop lights and intersections.   Most of these roads did not have a bike lane, had tons of traffic or were narrow.  This is not a route I would ever choose to do again.

Angel & Me (Angel is in the black spandex on the bottom right)

At one point in the race we had three riders collide and fall on the road.  Luckily it was a slow collision and no one was hurt but they fell in the middle of the road.  A cop went past them and turned around to “check on us” but he did not care that someone had fell and was hurt.  The only thing he said to the downed rider was to “get out of the road”.  He did not even ask if anyone was hurt or if he could help.  What a jerk!! 

Volunteers serving goodies!!

They did a great job in many areas. The SWAG points were at McDonalds restaurants along the ride.  They offered water, food and a place to rest.  They did a really nice job here and the volunteers were great.  After the race there were a team of massage therapists giving free massages.  There was plenty of free Myoplex, sports drinks, soda, water and pizza.  They raffled off a bike and other goodies.  They also had many triathlon bike racks so you had a place to set your bike before and after the race.  There was also plenty of easy and free car parking,

Humble Triathlete and Me

Along the ride I met up with the Humble Triathlete.  She was a great person to talk to, was really friendly and humble.  I was able to get a picture with her and meet her husband.  I hope to see her again at other events.  I really enjoyed meeting and talking to her.  He is an inspiration and I hope to be able to do half of what she has accomplished.

The REAL Ronald McDonald

I even got a picture with the REAL Ronald McDonald.  He was so much cooler than the fake Santa you see everywhere.  I approached him to ask for a picture but before I could say anything Ronald said “Dude, where did you get that jersey.  I want a picture with you.  Anyone who likes Pink Floyd can get a picture anytime.”  Obviously Ronald was a Pink Floyd fan. 

Crazy Eyes Jersey

The new jersey was a hit.  I had several people including Ronald McDonald comment on how they liked it.  Others who were do young to know Pink Floyd just wondered why I had huge eyes on my jersey.  Several riders went past me and said it’s the dude with the crazy eyes jersey. ;-)

The Crowd

Over 580 people showed up to the ride and by all accounts it was a success.  The Ronald McDonald House raised over $70,000 and everyone had fun.  I would do it again next year if they changed the route some.

UPDATE: 10/05/2010: Race photos can be found here.

Well, another race in the books (not the record books).

And in the beginning we discovered Kevin had a heart...

So here I go.  My first blog.  I wonder by the time I am done with this goal if anyone will actually follow this blog?  I doubt it but what the heck! It least along the way I will have a diary of my pain and suffering.  And just maybe someone will find some enjoyment from it.

So why am I writing this?  Late last year started it all.  I was having some fairly serious issues with my body.  I had some massive dizzy spells and I felt like I was going to faint all the time.  I was told by my doctor and close friend to go see a specialist.  That specialist ran all the tests (echo, stress, event monitor), poked prodded and told me he found nothing.  Then a month later I was told to come see him ASAP!  That is never good when a doctor tells you this especially when he is one of the best cardiologist in the country.  He said I might have a hole in my heart.  For some reason this always makes me sing this bad 80s song.  But it may not be anything.  I heard what he said but the look in his eye said this is serious. 

Well, I then had to go into the hospital for a TEE.  This means they gave me a ton of drugs to knock me out (thank god), shoved a tube the size of my thumb down my throat to listen to my heart.  The procedure took almost 2-3 times the normal time to complete (its good to have friends who are doctors because they go the extra mile for you).  Come to find out it there was no hole in my heart (stop the bad Extreme song in my head) but my heart does do some strange swirling motion in the upper chamber that is not normal but is harmless.  Good news is they proved I do have a heart so my significant other can no longer call me heartless.  :-)

The combination of this incident and my family history of heart conditions scared this thirty something to start doing something he dreaded, RUNNING!!!  My whole life I dreaded running with a passion.  Running was something that was only invented so the weak (people like me) could not be eaten by the creatures from Drastic Park.  It also gave me a chance to start running with Bonnie who had just started running. 

I fought through some 5Ks, some early morning runs and started to challenge myself to do a ½ marathon (13.1 miles) which I completed in January 2010.  Something clicked and I started to like running (minus the serious pain it caused my knees).  Within 4 months I was a Half Maniac (a club for really weird people who run way too many races).    A later post will be dedicated to these weird, running addicted people.

Then I bought a bike and decided to do a sprint triathlon, then an Olympic distance and then I was really addicted.  This was better than running! 

So then I guess I had a mid life crisis.  Since I finished my first goal of finishing college I have been stuck with no real challenges.  I was extremely lucky to have a successful career early in life and even before finishing college.  So what can I do that will be the next big goal?  How about the insane idea of a ½ Ironman?  No, not the comic book robot guy from the movies but the crazy triathlon that is 70.3 miles (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run).  So I signed up for the Rohto Ironman 70.3 Florida (Orlando) for May 15 2011.

So begins my adventure in pain, early morning exercises, sore butt from riding, bankruptcy from equipment purchases, bad unflattering pictures of me in  tri clothing (spandex) and this blog.  I hope you can fight through the bad grammar, spelling and my strange humor to enjoy my adventure...