Ok, I get it

So they say that if you are sick then you should be careful while cycling.
Ok, I get it.

Useful visual, if it's above your neck, it's ok. If it's at or below the neck, don't do it.
Ok, I get it.


I started feeling some scratchy throat on late weds.  By Friday's spin class I decided that it was important to be there to support a couple other folks who are just getting into it... again.  Also, I'd just 'burn' the bug out of my system like in the past.  The entire time on the bike, I felt fine just a little weaker than normal.  During that big summit song, I pedaled all the way up to 80% of what is 'normal'.  Felt the heartrate go up (no monitor on purpose today, it tends to drive me hard sometimes), and then backed off after 45 seconds or so.  As soon as the summit was done I sat up, and nearly lost my breakfast all over the cycling studio floor.

Whoa! After that, I just took it real easy as the surprise nausea was not a happy surprise. Spinning lightly of course is very hard when you're used to pushing every ounce out of your body during spin class.  Training hard is what it's all about in my mind.  Taper periods before a race, and recovery rides are the only exceptions to that rule.  Taper the effort level down, to be able to perform well on race day.  Keep the intensity low after a hard ride, to improve recovery.

Well I learned one more thing: The flu virus don't mess around.  It will kick you in the stomach, and leave you on the toilet all night (16 times anyway).


Ok, I get it.

Kirkland Triathlon -Race Report -Part 2 of 2

Swim starts to the right of the dock.  

Swim (25:11)

Elite folks take off, probably about 12 of them, smooth toward the first orange buoy off yonder.  Then the announcer tells us to go ahead and get ready.  I clamber over the slippery rocks up to the front left side.  I'm on the inside of the buoys and know that I should head even farther left as our folks will most likely run me over if I don't stay away from the pack of 60+ swimmers.  So I wait.  It's too late to turn back, and I wouldn't have turned back even if given the chance.  Having thought out this whole dilemma of 'not being able to swim' and the fact that this particular sprint tri has a 1/2 mile swim as opposed to most that are only 1/4 mile.  I determine that I'm just going to go at my own pace and do the best I can at the swim.  The real time to get serious will be the bike and run.

So the announcer yells GO!

...You may be wondering what I did with that wedding band that was very likely going to be lost into the abyss if left on my finger.  Well left with no pockets, no way to get ahold of the family, and no time left.  I remembered an article I had read about someone losing his goggles in the melee of an ironman.  He had recognized that under the swim cap is the safest place for many things, as you never hear about a swim cap getting kicked off someone's head!  So I quickly stuff the wedding band under the cap up on the very top of my head.  I'm sure if anyone was paying attention they would have thought it was a pretty funny sight!...

As I begin my freestyle crawl stroke in Lake Washington for the 2010 Kirkland Sprint Trathlon, the form feels smooth.  I breathe bilaterally every 3 strokes, and am actually enjoying the sight of seaweed passing by below.  Then I'm done.  Tapped out of breathe.  All of maybe 100 yards in I flip over onto my back, never again to catch my breath enough to make a solid go of the freestyle stroke again.  ARG!  Ok, so realizing that skulling on my back is extremely slow and also taxes the legs too much, I flip over to a side stroke on the left side.  At this point I'm beginning to run short on my bag of tricks for swimming.  In the pool the only thing I practiced was freestyle and skulling on my back.  So this is actually a fallback from childhood, next stop would be doggy paddle or a pair of water wings.

As I round the first buoy (of 5) I'm feeling totally spent in the water.  There's a nice straight line of 4 buoys to go around and I'm wishing it was over already.  So it was time to battle the mental demons already!  Ok.  So I begin to do a reality check.  "Where are you right now?"  In the water talking to myself and barely staying afloat... at the Kirkland Triathlon... "What have you been training for this whole time?" This Triathlon, the bike and run legs. "What is something nice to focus on?" [thanking God for things, edited out].  Ok mental is done, now to thing about the physical.  Since I'm either doing the side stroke on the left side, or a sloppy backstroke, I'm beginning to feel some fatigue in the right hip area, and my left kneecap.  So I swap to right sidestroke.  The only problem is the the right side is completely inefficient and I may as well be on my back.

So round and round I go swapping between strokes, seeing all my fellow red caps go past... but not ALL of them!

Towards the end I don't even have the mind to flip over and freestyle in.  "Why bother" I think at the time, just try to relax and enjoy this... (note the guy in front of me slipping on a rock, I'm about to trip over)

T1  (3:11)


Exuberant to be getting onto dry land, I stand as quickly as possible and slip slide my way up to shore.  Up past the crowds, oh and I hear cowbell coming as I climb out!  My wife and kiddos are there, and so are the mom-in-law and dad-in-law.  Big smile never left my face from that moment on.  If only I could bottle that for the ENTIRE swim.

Since I had just practiced T1 at home I begin by unzipping the wetsuit immediately pulling the arms out, and run toward the pre-memorized position of the bike rack in transition.  To my relief the wedding band is still there safe and sound under the latex swim cap.  Both cap and goggle come off with one swipe.  I drop the ring cap and goggles in my duffle bag zippered pouch, and rip off the wetsuit at the same time.  Dry a foot, put on sock and cycling shoe, dry another foot put on other cycling shoe. Put on race belt, ooops.  Forgot to put on jersey first.  Move the belt, and ripppp, race number falls off the belt.  Reattach number and learn lesson (don't snug the number up to the belt, leave some slack in the little elastic bands that hold the number in place.

Glasses, Helmet, grab the bike and go.  Buckle helmet on the way to mounting area.  Hop on the bike and roll!  On the way out, I rip the gel off and stuff it in the jersey pocket next to my Bike MS handkerchief.

Bike (37:53)


One other person is immediately in front of me, and one behind. The Hammer Espresso Gel tasted GREAT, and washed down with Bannana Nuun, hit the spot. The one in front is not in my age group (age is marked on our right calves) but he's got more expensive gear than I do, so he's marked.  He's wearing a fancy time trial helmet, and has aerobars on his carbon fiber frame.  I'm old school steel frame (of course) and spent around $430 less on my helmet.  So he must pay for having nicer gear, not jealousy, just a whole lot of fun!  He falls away in the first mile or so of flats.

My secret weapon is the massive amounts of hills that Campy and I have done between training for Davis, and just a couple weeks prior doing some Cougar Mountain hill repeats.  That was an incredible workout with multiple double digit gradients!  So my strategy is to match speed or just a little bit heavy in the flats, with very heavy pumping on the hills.  I will stay seated as long as the heartrate will allow, and my speed remains high.  Once the speed drops or the heartrate gets out of control, it's time to stand and muscle through.

The first few hills in Kirkland fly by.  There's one fellow with tatoos on both arms that I begin to play cat and mouse with, and will for the rest of the ride.  He's not in the age group either, but was a lot of fun to race against.  Note: I saw him later after the race, really nice guy.  I'm sure we'll be running into each other at events alot. Yet another Tri friend made.

Even though the race briefing was to be careful on the wet roads, I've done this ride many many times for training and feel very confident.  So as we rip on down and over the bridge across 405, I begin to really feel the legs light up (in a good way).  Speed picks up and for most sections I'm able to keep it between 22 and 23 mph.  Downhills are WAY faster, and climbs are still very aggressive.  HR remains pretty much pegged between 170-173 the entire time.  Looking back, I could have gone lactic (175+) a few more times and shaved some time off the split.  I nurse the gel one more time and wash it down with Nuun, deciding to save the last shot for post race, or perhaps T2 if needed before the run.

Finally we arrive at the goods, the hill going up past Lake Washington Technical College on NE 132nd is the toughest climb of the day.  100+ feet of climbing in 1 mile.  I opt to stay seated to conserve energy then unleash once it starts to get really steep.  Unfortunately, I misjudge when that is and remain seated for a bit too long.  So when I finally do pop up into a standing climb my HR is a bit high and it's hard to get a good tempo.  Regardless many folks fall back, and I once again realize that smile is still there from earlier in the event.

Up to the top, then bomb down the backside of NE 70th back towards our finish.  In this section I clock in at just under 40 mph.  Which on dry roads is no problem at all (with no traffic).  However it is wet and rainy so I  tap the brakes here and there on the sharper corners, as well as give a safe distance between painted lines and tar stripes (aka road snakes).  I hover in the left wheel lane as this seems the safest place to ride, and there's only 1 person in front of me.  So far 1 person has passed me the entire time, and he is nowhere to be seen.  As we come down past Houghton market, I eyeball the Starbucks (of course), but don't have time to enjoy the aroma of fresh coffee.  The entire road is plastered with warning signs about the race, there's Police officers at most every uncontrolled intersection, probably 6-8 officers total.  Then there's volunteers on the less busy residential side streets.

Regardless of all the warnings, as we whip through town at roughly 38 mph on wet roads sure enough 2 pedestrians are in the crosswalk, look right at us coming, and one of the two tries to make a brake for it across (an older heavy set woman).  I don't even bother hitting the brakes as I know that if I did at that speed it could be messy, and my stopping distance is welllll beyond the crosswalk.  So just whip out the Campy horn. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!"  The pedestrian get's the point and scurries a bit faster through the crosswalk, ducking her head.  What was she thinking?  That could have been seriously catastrophic for both of us!

The rest of the ride goes smooth, and I barrel along the flat portions, passing the fellow in front of me... before coming to the bike finish.  Dismount and run in.  Again the family and friends cheering!  Again, huge smile.

T2 (1:55)


This time I run quickly back to the rack, again using the lampost as a guide to find my spot (handy tip from something I read earlier in the year).  I strip the helmet and glasses, as well as jersey, swap shoes, and am off. I make the last minute decision to bring the gel, so end up stuffing it in the back of my shorts.

Run (20:50)


By the time the bike was put back on the rack my knees were already starting to groan.  I think the cold from the water and wind as well as the constant side stroke on one side has done it's damage.  Although I'm achy, there's no serious pain anywhere.  So out the gate, and up the first hill we run.

...I remember that the course description points out that the hills for the bike portion are moderate-heavy.  But it also says "mostly flat" run.  It's interesting because I wouldn't describe it as mostly flat at all.  As compared to the Tolt-Pipeline, which is a great area to train for running, it's flat.  As compared to all the hills on the swim, it was pretty intense!...


By this point it was time to make a game changing decision.  Do I go easier on the run than I had hoped in order to save a potential injury to the knees and my complaining hip, or do I go flatout and see how far training has taken me.  It actually did take a minute for me to weigh this one out, and I chose to push through the pain. This is the last big race of the year, and if I did get injured I'd have plenty of time to rest and recuperate before some November plans.

As we run away, I'm seeing more of my age group folks falling away.  It's amazing as I hear the run is the great equalizer for many athletes.  We can be moderately out of shape and still really move during the swim and bike.  But when it comes to running, the lighter you are, it makes a huge difference.  But as they say it also depends on the motor!

So I set my cadence at 92 and run, run, run.  Doing alot of training on the treadmill has paid off bigtime as I know exactly what 90 cadence feels like and my upper body is much more relaxed.  It will be fun to take this running technique out on marathon distances to see how it holds up.

On the way up, I see a buddy and cheer him on, and look for other folks that I know. By the time the first water station arrives, I'm ready!  Even though I've been drinking plenty on the bike, I down almost the entire cup of water at our nearly halfway mark.  Then push hard as we get back to mostly downhills. The downhills scared me.  Being that the knees were already achy, tired, and cold I was very concerned about all the downhill pounding that they may get.  So for the first couple minutes I took it easy to see if there was any pain.  Since nothing showed up, I opened the throttle and started to sprint the last mile and a half.  Lonnnnng strides, same cadence.  This is the effecient way to do it, as Joe Friel describes.  Also, whenever you get to see the elite runners from Kenya go, they almost always have huge strides with the same cadence 92-96 per minute.  So I open up the stride, and every so often look over my shoulder.

As I head back to the finish, I'm encouraging and yelling to all the runners heading UP the hill.  "Go for it!" "You can do it!" "This is the last of it, go!".  Of course inadvertently I'm really pumping myself up with enthusiasm and energy!  I'll have to remember that trick for later, longer distances.

Round the corner into Carrillon point, and there's a friend shouting, there's the family cowbelling, and it's time to finish.  Sprint as soon as I can see the finish line....



Results:

Here's the placement for my agegroup (30-34)
Bike: 8th of 64
Run: 8th of 64
Swim: 59th of 64!

Goal: Top 10 in bike and run for age group, done.

Now to put on some water wings and hit the pool!

Kirkland Triathlon -Race Report -Part 1 of 2

Background:

This was to be my "A Race" as Friel would put it. 5 years ago I volunteered to do body marking in the wee morning hours of a cold and slightly wet September.  I remember many nervous people anxiously getting marked on their calves with race number and age.  It was still before dawn, and as a volunteer I didn't realize how much fun it could be to be out early in the morning for such an masochistic activity as Triathlon.

Back then I remember thinking that 

1. "These people are crazy" 

2. "Shouldn't they all be asleep right now on a Saturday morning, shouldn't I?" 

3. "Is that guys legs shaved?" 

4. "this looks like it could be fun!"

Goals: So setting a few personal goals for this event while registering I wanted to hit top 10 for my age group in my two dominant portions cycling and running.  Swimming I didn't care about time.  Also, it would be nice to get transition time down to a reasonable level to have something to benchmark against.

Training:

Last year I started training too late to do the Kirkland Tri, and to be frank I didn't think it was in the realm of possible back then. My primary reason to train was to get better at cycling to enjoy a ride with the younger brother up Mt. Saint Helens.  

That was how it all started....

There was the MS 150 ride in September, then a friend suggested some crazy 200 mile ride in Davis, CA.  This of course was not outside the realm of reason, as the cycling thing was really quite fun by that point. Group cycling class for training on Mondays and Fridays, sometimes double classes, sometimes "bricks".  

Group Cycling tends to be very high intensity 85-100% of Maximum Heartrate for 45 minutes, immediately followed by a moderately aggressive run for 30 minutes on the treadmill.  Fun times.  What's funny is you truly do start to crave the workouts.  Yes, really.

Pre-Race Night:

Like a good student of Joe Friel, Mark Allen, and Dave Scott I laid out my gear bag.  Had my nutrition figured out, thank you Hammer Nutrition and Nuun. Hammer gel has the complex carbs, to avoid a rapid blood sugar spike followed by crash.  Nuun is just so freaking convenient in the water bottle.  I would carry the gel in a flask attached to the bike and rip it off on the way out of transition or on the first couple miles of the bike.  This would save 'fumble time' while in transition.  

In the center of the picture you can see the masking tape holding on my gel flask, just to the right of my race number 521.

I was also repeating to myself the famous motto: "Nothing New on Race Day" over and over.  Then it was off to bed.

Race Day:

Woke up early enough to finish the last minute prep.  Got coffee, oatmeal (yes traditional race food for me), finished laying out the gear.  Practiced going from wearing wetsuit, cap, and goggles to stripping off and donning cycling gear. Then into running clothes. Over and over.  Everything stuffed into the duffle bag, just as the kiddos were getting up.  Out the door we go!

Once we got to Kirkland, I had the wife drop me on top of the biggest hill to test out the wet roadway, and remind the instincts of what potholes and painted lines to watch out for.  Then led the wife down into the designated parking area for athletes at Carillon Point.

The transition area is at Houghton Beach Park, a smaller park located next to a very busy (normally) road in Kirkland.  The road of course was blocked off, and coned off to allow easy entry and exit for racers headed out by bike and foot.  It looked like a ton of prep work.  All for us.

The other interesting note about transition was that since it had been raining heavily the last 18 hours the grassy lanes between racks were starting the day a muddy mess. 

It would be fun to see how muddy they'd get by the end of the day!

Upon arriving at my spot on the rack, I saw a few of my buddies from previous events.  Also, I noticed that folks generally seemed calm, but definitely anxious.  If only people wouldn't lose the sense of humor first upon getting stressed out.  So regardless to say I'm sure some folks were just flat out annoyed at my mellow humor.  But also, some I hope found it refreshing.

Next got the wetsuit and cap on. As it turns out my age group was due to go out right after the elite wave. Event started at 8:00am, we were going out at 8:01. Then all the rest of the folks were out to chase us down and swim over the top of us, if you believe the horror stories from Ironman distance events.  After our race briefing, (don't ride to fast on the slippery road, play it safe and don't pass people on blah blah road, follow the rules...) all us red caps huddled around near the corral for the water start.  

That's when it hit me.  Oh crap I've gotta swim a long ways.  Half a mile to be exact, and I've never completed a half mile swim in the pool or in the Columbia river for training.  Although both have been attempted... and DNF as they say. Now was show time and I finally started to get anxious. 

One more cliff hanger for dramatic purposes only, I was wearing my wedding ring and it likes to fall off these days, since I've lost a bit of body fat in the last couple years. I had almost lost the ring in many pool swims, but now I was about to go out on lake Washington for a half mile swim in just over 4 minutes with no family in sight and no pockets to be found.

Simple ride home

I had to drop off the truck at the shop for some work on the thangaputz.  It stopped working.

Fortunately, I just happened to bring my bike, helmet, shoes, and extra double shot of gel.  This was "just in case" they don't get done in time for my commute home on what was supposed to be the last nice day of the week.

Of course all summer I've been sitting in traffic watching cyclists on the trail in the sun.  I check out their bike frame, critique their team kit (clothing), decide if I would adjust the seat height, and note suggestions for form improvement.  Then the light turns green and I get to drive to the next red light and watch more go past.  In other words its torture.

Finally, the car broke (thank you thangaputz) and I was forced to ride home.  Of course right before my time to take off my father stops by the office and offers a ride back seeing as I have no car "Nooooo, it's ok".  Then my cell rings, the shop has the truck done, "Ok, I'll have to pick it up tomorrow".  Nothing will get in the way of the ride home today!

It felt great to connect muscle to steel.  For anyone who has never used clip in pedals, you are missing out on one of the best experiences of cycling.  The sense of "merging" with the bike.  It's really strange but when I clip in, it's as if the bike is now an extension of my limbs.  Except more powerful and fast.

I head down 15th, and opt to skip the usual fun downhill in favor of Perkins Way.  You see I still haven't forgiven Perkins for a painful bonk (good nutritional lesson though) back in April.  So curvy downhills here I come. Take the right hand turn, lift the inside foot, upshift and apply legstrength...smooth turns.  Speed limit says 25, but 35 is still safe.

Then on my left elbow a black Mercedes passes, on a downhill with solid double yellow, blind tight corners, when I'm over the speed limit already.  So of course I just shake my head at people's foolish choices... and accelerate after they pass.  It's important for me to let them know that they didn't save any time making a poor choice.  As we pull up to the stop sign they're 10 seconds ahead, and we both leave the stop sign at the same time, them turning right and me left.

Next onto the Gilman trail, another smooth left turn up and over a small rise, upshift again and accelerate. Oops then slow down to pass a cyclist, "Passing on your left, thank you", "On your left", "Passing on your left", over and over.  Watch out for the walkers, skateboarders, inline skater looking distracted.  Pass the mountain bike commuter in slacks and dress shirt.  Pass the guys in their HTC, Jelly Belly, Starbucks team kits, the local racer team kits, the people with the aero bars.  Just keep passing people.  Then finally some open trail to relax a bit.

The cell phone was ringing, so I call back the wife.  "Don't be late for dinner", so she agrees to come pick me up at the Woodinville office.  I drink some more Nuun from the water bottle and check my mirror.  Ah! Somebody is trying to catch me, with a tucked aero position and with their buddy drafting.  So I put the bottle away, upshift and gooooo.  A little while later I look back truly hoping they would still be there, but they're nowhere to be seen.

Then I arrive at Wilmot Gateway, swing a left up through construction and onto 175th, nice new curb makes it much easier to get onto the road.  As I pull up to the light to go left, there's a motorcyclist.  When he looks over, I nod and say, "Wanna race?".  He of course laughs and being a young guy says "Sure!".  We chat a bit waiting for the light, he's riding a Honda CBR600.  Very fast bike, so I compliment him on his ride.  The light changes, and we both cross the intersection side by side behind a wall of traffic.  But he's stuck with the cars, I roll up onto the sidewalk and yell, "See you later".  Hang a right to go to the office, and meet the family.

Yes, daddy's sweaty, daddy's had fun, and daddy's hungry for dinner!

Gear -Running Shoes

Shoes: So having put in waaaaay too many miles on my Big 5 clearance New Balance 508 ($30), I decided it was time to buy a 'real' pair of shoes. Cause I take running seriously now (and I finally got the wife to ok it :P).

Everyday Athlete was the store of choice because
1) I like to support those that support the Tri community. Lance and company are great!
2) They would take the time to fit me to a correct shoe, and not just the latest style
3) The prices are roughly the same wherever you go

I've gotta say, having never owned a pair of real running shoes. Wow! Big big difference between the old pair and the new pair. I got Asics GT-2150, and took them out immediately for a run. Considering the majority of my training has been on treadmills (pesky convenience factor), I did 20 minutes on treadmill then took them out for 15 minutes on trails. I love running again!

Here's a great video to convince you to buy some.  If you're serious about running, really go get fit, it's worth it!

 

The video is right, it does feel great around the foot, and I tried on probably 14 different pairs of shoes.  Each time I would take it for a little 1/4 mile run outside the store, and try really hard to feel what was going on with my feet. After the purchase the hardest part was taking it easy. It's been a couple months since last seriously running, and I could tell that going easy at first, well below max HR was going to be very important to prevent injury.

Davis Double Century -Saturday- Day 3

The morning of the ride, we arise to find folks already getting ready.  Of course getting up early means no "Continental Breakfast".  Shucks!  Good thing we all planned ahead and I've got coffee and oatmeal hoarded away for just such an occasion.

Up, dressed, Butt'rd up and ready to roll.

We meet a buddy and his wife in the parking lot for a pre-dawn picture. 

(no that's not our bottle in the background)

Immediately after the picture we hit the road and are less than 5 minutes to the start line.... great hotel choice there Campy! With red lights flashing and white headlights going we four amigos mark the start time and reset the bike computers.  It always makes me pause when resetting the computer, and I wonder what the computer is thinking... "Oh boy, wonder how long I'll be working today". The legs like to wonder the same thing.  I do enjoy that feeling.

The first 40 or so miles is bound to be paceline work, which we have practiced together a couple times before the ride. The only thing I wonder is how long Campy will break the wind for us before I've got to keep the pace.  Everything goes fine and we end up picking up some folks on the rear wheel as Campy's keeping a strong pace on the farmland flats.  Even a Tandem hops on our line, quite the compliment!  All these riders are fairly stable and safe, but I'm glad to be sandwiched between friends rather in the rear or the front of the line none the less.

Eventually dawn breaks, and I can see an amazing purple haze out over the fields of wheat.  Clear skies, with the Sierra mountains in the horizon, flat fields as far as I can see.  We ride on a raised roadway, and the view was incredible (added to lifelong mental photo album).

Finally we begin to approach the first big climb of the ride.  Cardiac Hill.  Nice intimidating name for a reasonable climb up past Monticello Dam and the "Glory Hole".  This is an overflow point for the dam and I was anticipating a great show as millions of gallons poured through the overflow... eh water level isn't even close.

Climb up Cardiac passing quite a few folks, when finally we come to a long bend to the left and that's it.  One done, many more to go.

Overall the hardest climb for me was on Cobb Mountain.  The elevation profile shows straight up!  This is at mile 96ish, and I made the choice at one point to hop off and walk with a friend for a very short stint.  Chug up the rest of the way, then enjoy a forested fast downhill.

Last climb of note was up the much dreaded Resurrection hillclimb. This comes along at roughly 135 miles in to the ride and of course by then your legs are getting all achy from being used all day.  The climb has a nasty reputation as being hot and miserable, but I actually find it to be one of the easier climbs of the day, similar to cardiac.  Plus leading up the rest stop there's scripture in chalk on the way.  I love that touch!  Suddenly the name of the hill makes sense, and I thank God for giving me the strength for the day, and much more.

We finish off the day with a long run (about 20 miles) back across the flat farmlands, and I begin to miss the hills! Long flat Time trials are a nice break, but quite boring after awhile.  A friend and I take turns drafting in to the finish line right as the sun was setting.  In fact we pull in to the Vetrans Memorial Center (starting line and chow hall) just as it seems useful to turn on the red blinkers.

Park the bike, take off the nasty shoes and socks, go inside and chow down.  BBQ chicken never tasted so good.  13.5 hours riding 15 hours on the road, the Sustained Energy and Nuun were finally starting to get old.  Gimme some SOLID FOOD!  

Best part, there was someone there doing massage and people hadn't noticed him yet.  So we got right in for a massage, and hung out going back for 2nds and 3rds and 4ths in the food line. Finally after a very long time we head back to the hotel and I jump in a bathtub full of ice (for recovery like the pros do of course) I love cycling!  

Davis Double Century -Friday- Day 2

We arise to enjoy a 'continental' breakfast.  What is so amazingly continental about a breakfast full of carbohydrates like processed cereal, stale bagels, way too sugary oatmeal, and some unripened oranges thrown in for good measure?  Continental makes it sound so savvy and unique.  I can get a sugary continental breakfast at Denny's and it won't cost me $80 a night

Excited at the prospects of a light ride around town and a chance to stretch the legs out a bit the breakfast didn't matter too much.  Next time I've got to remember to pack food better.

Before going out on the ride, we need to meet our 4th member of the team who was driving down separately in his own little version of torture.  Something about canine flatulence, and a droning parent that makes 14 hours in the car seem unique.

I can tell he's glad to see us, and eager to get on the bike, just like the rest of us.  But before then, we go to a local Pearl Izumi outlet, and I found alot of neat stuff, that was WAY overpriced for my taste.  Gimme a $30 pair of cycling bib shorts anyday (thank you Canari and Sierra Trading Post).  You can keep the 'really good deal' bib shorts for $120.  Someday maybe I'll work up the nerve to drop that kind of bread on something as frivolous. But I probably won't be married to the person I am now, nor have control of my bowels by that point.  But it was fun to drool.

Off we go, for packet pick-up and to put a limited number of miles in on the bikes.  This was our first chance for all 4 of us to stretch our legs, feel the heat of the day, over-hydrate from having a dry mouth, and feel the allergies flare up.  As we pull in to pick up packets from the Vetran's Memorial center I'm reminded why cyclists are so much fun.  Not only do we all walk around in Spandex.... er Lycra I mean.  We also all seem to have an unwritten understanding that we're all about to experience pain and suffering.  TOGETHER.

This creates a strange sort of fraternity (or sorority)  of middle aged college kids doing something big.  It's like we're all part of a big thing. I dig it, instant friends.

We pick up our packets, and say goodbye to our fellow crazies, and take off back to the hotel.  Time to start prepping the gear and getting nervous?

Last minute changes to the bike, remove the fenders, go through the saddle bag to remove broken open salt packets and Aleve gel tabs.  Note to self: do not put gel tabs in a saddlebag again, big mess.  Inspected tires for damage, looked over cables and derailleurs.

Watched "Breaking Away" a great classic of cycling I'm told.  Good flick, check it out.

Packed the 40 scoops of Sustained Energy into ziplock baggies, randomized by Nuun tabs in the containers.  Lemon-lime, BannanaNuun, Tri Berry, Orange Ginger, all random.  2 Tubes of Nuun.  Forgot the Gels.... arg oh well, one less thing to worry about.  I figure they'll most certainly have fruit at the rest stops if needed for simple sugars.  Put it all away, and hit the sack with anticipation of a great next day.  Sleep was quite easy, and didn't wake up at all during the night in anticipation, in fact I slept like a baby, a really tired... and well behaved baby... that dosn't wake up crying... all night....