TandemHearts

In order to improve my running I’ve decided to sign up for a local trail run, the Tarantula Run,  which will be held in late October at Los Vaqueros Reservoir.   Today was the first time I went out and ran the 10 K (6 mile)  course.  WOW!  Trail running is hard!  The hills are much steeper and longer than anything I have done on the road.  There are two significant climbs, the paved one goes to the top of the dam and I have ridden up it many times on my bike.  It  is tough on  a bike, it’s even harder to run.    My Garmin GPS says the average grade is 8%.   I’d say it’s pretty close to that and I can see me being able to run all the way up it at some point.  The second climb is steeper and unpaved.    The Garmin said that this averaged 16%.  I’m always a little leery about believing these numbers, but it was pretty darn steep since I  stopped three times to rest my hips as I walked it.  It is followed by a very steep downhill that I was too chicken to even think about running down today.

It is also very dry out there and not a lot of shade.  I had also  forgotten how windy it is out at the reservoir.  That really threw me off a bit at the start as I had a headwind for the first half of the the run.    Even with a tailwind, the second half  of the run is much harder than the first.  I  had the misfortune of disturbing some hornets as I was closing one of the cattle gates.  I got stung on the top of my right ear OUCH! and on the back of my right calf.  I  still had about a mile and a half to go when that happened.  I walked slowly and rubbed my owies for about half a mile and then tried to pick up the pace for the last mile.  I was happy to get back to the truck and drink the cold ice water that Thom had waiting for me.  My overall pace wasn’t great, but it’s a start.  Training out there is definitely going to make me a better runner.

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We rode the rim of Crater Lake in 2007 as part of our “Work is Overrated Tour – 2007.” Crater Lake is the most beautiful place we have ever ridden and that is saying a lot when you think about all of the places we’ve ridden.  The lake is an incredibly deep blue, fringed with evergreen trees and every  glimpse of it as you cycle by is breathtaking.  When friends suggested we do the organized century ride with them this year it wasn’t too hard to  figure out a way to fit it into our schedule.

Over the years we have met several people whom we really enjoy riding with.  Unfortunately in the past few years some of these folks have moved away from California so this ride was a great opportunity to hook up with them again.  We stayed with two other couples in a rental house that was the central gathering place for about twenty riders.  We gathered together there for good food and conversation both Friday and Saturday nights.

The ride was on Saturday and we woke up to a temperature of about 33 degrees and frost on the deck of the rental house.   We had already decided we were not doing the full century because the first twenty miles or so were an out and back flat section through a  valley.  We had planned on just riding straight up to the rim, around the rim and back down for a total of about eighty miles and over 7,000 feet of climbing.  The cold temperature was definitely a downer.  It’s August.  I don’t ride in freezing temperatures in August.  Fortunately for us, one of our friends was planning on being shuttled to the rim and they had room for us in their car.  This meant we could start our ride at 10 AM instead of 7:30 AM.  It was loads warmer at 10 AM!  Just riding the rim is about 30 miles with about 3,000 feet of climbing.  We had a great time stopping at the overlooks and looking out at the lake.

The last twenty miles of our ride were mainly downhill with a flat section at the end.  As we started down Thom asked me if I wanted to coast or hammer. I answered that I wanted to coast and he whined, “Fine,” in an Eeyore sort of way.  So I hammered.  I don’t usually pedal when I’m going downhill unless I’m racing.  Downhills are suppose to be for relaxing, not for working hard.    I also don’t really like drafting, so I took the lead for about 17 miles, most of which was downhill with an average grade of about 3%.  We averaged over 22 miles an hour;  and it was a blast!  Thom took over the lead for the last three flat miles and we averaged just under 19 miles an hour.  Yeah, fast is fun!

We’ll definitely be riding the rim again.

For our big vacation this summer we went to Maine and Vermont.  Maine was mostly about spending time with family, but we did sneak off to the Yarmouth Clam Festival to watch the bike races.

After spending time in Maine we went to Vermont to ride some Gaps.  The gaps of Vermont are mountain passes. These are usually around 2,000 feet tall, and tend to be much steeper than the roads in  California.  Weather and some knee problems kept us from doing the six that we targeted, but we did ride Middlebury, Brandon and Appalachian gaps over a couple of days.

We stayed at the Middlebury and Waitsfield Inns.  Middlebury was more of a large Inn, while Waitsfield (a B&B) was  more casual and charming.  The innkeepers at Waitsfield were extraordinarily accommodating and friendly. Both  places were pleasant to visit and we will return at some point to tackle the gaps we missed.

When we were not riding we visited Fort Ticonderoga and the Ben & Jerry’s factory.

I recently noticed that the water from the bottles I use on the bike tasted funny.  I tend to use a hodgepodge of bottles gathered over the years.  They are generally clear plastic, generic bottles.  I realized that if I can taste the “bottle”, I’m drinking some chemicals from the plastic.  That can’t be good.  Coincidentally, Camel Back now makes an insulated stainless steel bottle, the Better Bottle.  I figured it was a good time to make a change.  When I went to the store I found that the SS bottle was too large for a standard bottle cage.  Fortunately Topeak makes an adjustable bottle cage that will hold the SS bottle – the Modula Cage. While in the store I found that Camel Back also makes insulated plastic bottles – the Podium ChillJacket, challenging Polar, the established king of the insulated bottle market.  I don’t use Polar bottles because I find them hard to squeeze on the bike, but Veronica uses them, so we have several in the house. Clearly, it was time for a show down.  Could Camelback’s insulated plastic bottle get the best of the reigning king? Could I get the larger SS bottle to fit on my bike? Would the SS bottle be good enough to justify the $30 price vs $12 for the ChillJacket? (more…)

Wow! I knew I would finish, but it was tough! I went into this race knowing how under-trained I was and knowing I would have to play the mental game.  A Half Ironman is a LONG race – a 1.2 mile swim, 56.2 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run and it wound up being my first race of the season.  Due to unforeseen events I went into it without having done any bricks, having swum only 3,800 yards and ridden 556 miles on my bike since January and my longest run back in May was seven miles.    So… I had a  plan: swim easy, bike moderately, run what you can and take a big “Suck It Up” pill.

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