Pain is inevitable; suffering optional

There seems to be no way to avoid pain on a 21 mile run, especially on a cold, windy January day. Despite the winter hazards, I had my best 20+ mile run ever on Saturday. While there was more than enough pain, it was not acute, just a constant thrumming in my lower legs. So pain, but little suffering.



I was supposed to be running on the Des Plaines River Trail, but was blocked by the Des Plaines River which had broken out of its banks and flooded (and then iced) the trail. Got my mileage in by doing loops of Sterling Lake and cautious loops (it was very icy) of the Van Patten Woods and access roads. Only one more 20+ miler to go before the Myrtle Beach Marathon. After Saturday, I am psyched!

Festivelo de Charleston

Four days of cycling squeezed in between Thanksgiving and Christmas...what more could you ask for?!
A little less traffic. All of the routes started out on a pretty busy thoroughfare, but at least that part of the ride was on a four-lane road. The scary stuff came later each day, when we were sharing two-lane country roads with traffic moving at 55 mph (or more). Some scary stuff.
A little warmer weather. Starting off each day in the upper thirties to the low forties made for a cold ride. It would eventually warm up and the riding became much more pleasurable. Staying warm in the tent at night was another challenge.
Better food. The food was mediocre. Frogmore stew and steamed oysters at the nightly movie was fun and tasty, but the entrees each day were not very good. Sadly, the seafood night was probably the worst :-( The best food we had was actually at the rest stops. The vegetable soup, cornbread, and pistachio cake at a local church and the shrimp and grits at the turnaround point on Day One were memorable. So was the Italian wedding soup, cheese and crackers at beautiful Mepkin Abbey (where we were greeted by Santa with some minty chapstick).

My goal was to get a December century done and I accomplished that on the first day, despite my head cold. Would I do Festivelo again? Maybe. Not many other bike rides going on in December.

Hell of the North

Here's the trailer for a film about Paris-Roubaix, the Queen of the Classics, The Hell of the North, arguably the toughest single day road race in the world.

On the MP3...summer running tunes

Made in China by Juliana Hatfield

Consolers of the Lonely by The Raconteurs
(gets my vote for best rock album of the decade!)

Death of the cassette?

This NY Times article says it is coming. It's about time! I do love my MP3 players.

RAINSTORM

After last years bike tour, Bicycle Illinois, I definitely wanted a tour with more varied terrain. The miles of endless corn fields was enough to drive me mad. This year I rode in the inaugural edition of RAINSTORM, a touring ride through southern Indiana that culminated in the Ride Across Indiana (RAIN). RAIN is a "one day, one way, 160 mile" bike ride from Terre Haute to Richmond.

RAINSTORM preceded RAIN with 5 days of 100+ mile riding through the beautifully rolling Indiana landscape. Road conditions were superb, the drivers were unbelievably courteous, and the ride organization was near perfect. We stayed in state park lodges/inns or hotels every night, which really helped with the recovery, and recovery was the name of the game.

Other than couple of brief showers, the weather for the 6 days of riding was excellent. Dogs were the only nuisance on the trip, with at least a couple of chasers every day (though no bites!) It was as near perfect a bike trip as I could have ever hoped for! Hope to find something similar for next years tour.

National 24 Hour Challenge

June 16-17, 2007 I rode in the National 24 Hour Challenge in Middleville, MI. My wife, doing her part as crew, and I arrived in the afternoon of the 15th to set up base camp at the Grand Rapids Airport Hilton, a very nice hotel relatively close to Thornapple-Kellogg Middle School where the event is hosted. After checking in to the hotel, we drove over to pick up my rider packet and take a peek at the roads. I was really worried that the course was going to be very hilly and I would bonk well short of the 24-hour mark.

Number pickup was a breeze and we decided to go ahead an stake out a location to pitch our tent from which Mary would provide me overnight support. I thought there might be a lot of competition for camping space (there was not) and I wanted to save time on event day (which we did).

I always have trouble sleeping the night before a big ride, and this ride was no exception. The problem was exacerbated by some very loud neighbors in the hotel...a youth baseball team and their rowdy adult escorts. I managed a few hours sleep before getting up early to start the fueling/hydration process. Breakfast cookies for everyone! And a boiled egg, bananas, coffee, and water. That would be all the "real food" I would eat until about 8 pm.

So we got me safely to the start (this often seems the hardest part of every ride) and I was ready to ride. The pre-ride festivities begin with bagpipers marching through the grounds, followed by the national anthem for each country represented, a little pep talk from the organizers, and finally the start.

It was going to get hot...maybe in the nineties, so we had a cooling strategy for the day. First, I was wearing my "cooling scarf" which contains some hydrophilic substance that would provide some evaporative cooling during the ride. Next, Mary had a pitcher of icy water and a towel at each checkpoint, and finally, we had a little personal mister filled with cold water. Using all of these, I survived the heat very well, unlike several of my fellow riders.

The course was not as hilly as I had feared, but actually suited my abilities very well. At the 100 mile mark I was matching my personal best pace for the distance. I completed the first loop which was several mile short of the advertised distance because of the