Here we go! The LT 100 start is only 12 hours away and it is time to check off the list of pre-race requirements...
Miles and Miles of Training - Check
Adjusted to Altitude - Check
Registration Complete - Check
Bike and Gear Ready - Check
Carbo, Calorie, and Sodium Loaded - Check
Physically and Mentally Prepared - Check (well, that may be debatable - ha!)
Spiritually Prepared - CHECK (Thanks to family, friends, and Teammates for your prayers)
I think we are ready! Are you?
So today was pretty exciting! Headed up to Leadville early and completed registration, marked the two support krew areas with tarps, and listened in to the pre-race briefing. And wow, finally met a fellow FCA Endurance Teammate, Joe Stiller. How exciting! This is Joe's first LT 100 but he's been up to the Leadville area often and is ready to crank it up. Joe, if you read this, know that your in my prayers for a great race as we bring Glory to God! Amen!
Before leaving Leadville, we had the now traditional lunch at The Golden Burro. Back at Vail has been final packing and preparations. Now we are about to get some grub and then get some sleep before an early start to the day tomorrow.
Here is the line-up at the Support Stations:
Mile 20 & 80 = Jandy, Ken, Jenny, and Bryce
Mile 40 & 60 = Julie, Alec, Brady, Mom, and Dad
FLOATING = Gary, Shelli, and Gary's Sister - Randi (they will be watching from different locations through the day)
So, I'm out of words and thoughts for now...no comments from the peanut gallery! Ha! But I'll share my experience in a blog post tomorrow night! Until then, it is time to pack up the computer and go give it everything tomorrow!
God Be With Us, Bring Us Home Safe, and Give Us the Strength and Courage to Honor and Glorify You In This Endeavor! Amen!
Saddle Up, Dig Deep, and Ride Hard!
TNT OUT-
This BLOG is dedicated in memory of Kailey Wilmarth and in support of Kailey's Krew, a not-for-profit organization. This BLOG will share the story of Kailey as well as my challenge to complete the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race. Our mission is to give Hope to other families that need support during their trying times. Your contributions to Kailey's Krew can help us reach our goal.
10 August 2012
09 August 2012
Wednesday...I mean Thursday
Okay, so I missed yesterday...I got it! Man, where did Wednesday go?
We (Alec, Brady, Bryce, and I) did some downhill riding on Wednesday. We took the Gondola up Vail Ski Slope and had a good time taking the trails back down...well, sort of. Alec took off on some technical single-track and I went with Brady and Bryce on some "easier" trails. We left the "easy" stuff for "more difficult" and oops, we had a few little bumps along the way...but darn if I didn't see a single one of them. First I came up to Bryce, brushing the dust off his backside and just 15 feet in front of him but just as far off the trail, was Brady, picking himself up out of the weeds. Guess they came into the turn a bit too fast. Bryce tried to catch himself and stressed his wrist a bit. Says he is good to go today, though. Brady has some nice looking bruises and scrapes and yes, some sore muscles. I believe he needed a little help getting out of bed this morning as he was a bit tight. He actually took two different spills...I missed them both - RATS! HA!
Alec has found his passion, I think...he ended up making three runs down the mountain and the third was on the "Experts Only" course. He had a good time! I think it is a skill that will come in good use, in Illinois! HAR-HAR!
So, some technical fun yesterday meant I needed to get a good spin and a few miles in today. I hit the good climbs and pushed 27 miles in pretty quick time today. Even improved on a section of the "course" which is 3.7 miles with some awesome elevatiuon gain. I dropped nearly 20 minutes off my climb time today...I finished with a nice downhill spin back into Vail and then spent the remainder of the morning cleaning, lubricating, and adjusting my bike in preparation for the race on Saturday.
Tomorrow morning a few of us will head up to Leadville. I have medical check-in and packet pick-up. Then we will head out and mark our support crew spots with tarps. And following will be the mandatory pre-race meeting. As soon as it is over, we will head back to Vail and begin packing up for the early morning departure on race day. Tomorrow night will be pasta and pizza for the final carbo-load (plus I need the left-over pizza for race food - Perfect) along with some pre-loading of sodium to hopefully prevent any chance of cramping (it worked great last year)!
We continue to get donations and challenges and are moving closer to our "adjusted" goal but we do have a ways to go, still. Spread the word and help us make our goal. And if you have a minute, give a shout out. Would love to hear from you.
Until tomorrow...
Saddle Up, Dig Deep, and Ride Hard!
TNT OUT-
We (Alec, Brady, Bryce, and I) did some downhill riding on Wednesday. We took the Gondola up Vail Ski Slope and had a good time taking the trails back down...well, sort of. Alec took off on some technical single-track and I went with Brady and Bryce on some "easier" trails. We left the "easy" stuff for "more difficult" and oops, we had a few little bumps along the way...but darn if I didn't see a single one of them. First I came up to Bryce, brushing the dust off his backside and just 15 feet in front of him but just as far off the trail, was Brady, picking himself up out of the weeds. Guess they came into the turn a bit too fast. Bryce tried to catch himself and stressed his wrist a bit. Says he is good to go today, though. Brady has some nice looking bruises and scrapes and yes, some sore muscles. I believe he needed a little help getting out of bed this morning as he was a bit tight. He actually took two different spills...I missed them both - RATS! HA!
Alec has found his passion, I think...he ended up making three runs down the mountain and the third was on the "Experts Only" course. He had a good time! I think it is a skill that will come in good use, in Illinois! HAR-HAR!
So, some technical fun yesterday meant I needed to get a good spin and a few miles in today. I hit the good climbs and pushed 27 miles in pretty quick time today. Even improved on a section of the "course" which is 3.7 miles with some awesome elevatiuon gain. I dropped nearly 20 minutes off my climb time today...I finished with a nice downhill spin back into Vail and then spent the remainder of the morning cleaning, lubricating, and adjusting my bike in preparation for the race on Saturday.
Tomorrow morning a few of us will head up to Leadville. I have medical check-in and packet pick-up. Then we will head out and mark our support crew spots with tarps. And following will be the mandatory pre-race meeting. As soon as it is over, we will head back to Vail and begin packing up for the early morning departure on race day. Tomorrow night will be pasta and pizza for the final carbo-load (plus I need the left-over pizza for race food - Perfect) along with some pre-loading of sodium to hopefully prevent any chance of cramping (it worked great last year)!
We continue to get donations and challenges and are moving closer to our "adjusted" goal but we do have a ways to go, still. Spread the word and help us make our goal. And if you have a minute, give a shout out. Would love to hear from you.
Until tomorrow...
Saddle Up, Dig Deep, and Ride Hard!
TNT OUT-
07 August 2012
Tuesday...4 days to go
So I have to start with talking about the weather out here. Talk about extreme's! We have had low 40's, low 80's, intense thunder storms, and relaxing upper 60's! All in just two days so far! Just crazy!
So the thunder storms rolled in late yesterday and the rain continued through the night, leaving everything rather wet when we woke up this morning...and the excitement starts here. My plan was to get 60-70 miles in today at a easy to medium pace (if there is such a thing when nothing is flat). Leaving our condo, at just shy of 2 miles I hit the long 3.4 mile climb (about 8,700 feet up to about 10,000) before getting a little relief and then continuing on over the Vail Pass and onward to Copper Mountain and further down to Officer's Gulch. Now back to the excitement...just after the hard climb, I hit the bike path and wind around some downhill (the relief part of the ride) and as I am in a corner, I see the wood-bridge and all I can think is "Oh Crud"! Yup, remember my comment about all the rain and the "wet"..."wet" on a wood bridge translates to "slimy slippery"! It happened so quick, I was picking myself up and checking my bike within a few seconds. Bike checked out fine, slight rash on the lower-left leg, and my elbow and shoulder were telling me "ouch" but that went away within a few minutes. So, I hop back on the bike and am still planning for 60-70 miles. Then I couldn't figure out what was going on with my right foot which seemed to be sliding in and out of my shoe...ha, snapped the buckle right off my shoe. So, I rode into Copper Mountain and stopped a few times to ask folks if they had any tape...JEEPERS, why don't more people carry duct tape with them? Ha-Ha! I did finally get some relief as one of the local tour company guides I asked was able to produce some sort of tape...it worked!
Back to the ride...so I decide to head back to Vail...umm, that is a climb back up through Vail Pass, with taped up shoe! Make things even more fun, I linked up with a group of roadies and well, if you know me by now, I can not resist keeping pace and once it was set, it seemed like the theme was "push until the mountain bike guy blows up". Surprise! I stayed with them all the way to Vail. We even hit 47+ mph on the curving downhill! Wow, what a rush! The reward? Well, I only ended up with 43 miles but man, it was a good hurt.
So, after some shopping that ended in Avon, CO, I am now sporting a new pair of cycling shoes. Now some serious riding over the next couple days to get used to them and make sure the cleats are properly adjusted! They won't look much like a new pair of shoes after this Saturday!
I'm checking out for the night. Check back with me tomorrow for another post. Plan for Wednesday is 30-40 miles followed by some fun downhill riding on the Vail ski slopes! Maybe someone will capture some pictures to post tomorrow! Until then...
Saddle Up, Dig Deep, and Ride Hard!
TNT OUT-
So the thunder storms rolled in late yesterday and the rain continued through the night, leaving everything rather wet when we woke up this morning...and the excitement starts here. My plan was to get 60-70 miles in today at a easy to medium pace (if there is such a thing when nothing is flat). Leaving our condo, at just shy of 2 miles I hit the long 3.4 mile climb (about 8,700 feet up to about 10,000) before getting a little relief and then continuing on over the Vail Pass and onward to Copper Mountain and further down to Officer's Gulch. Now back to the excitement...just after the hard climb, I hit the bike path and wind around some downhill (the relief part of the ride) and as I am in a corner, I see the wood-bridge and all I can think is "Oh Crud"! Yup, remember my comment about all the rain and the "wet"..."wet" on a wood bridge translates to "slimy slippery"! It happened so quick, I was picking myself up and checking my bike within a few seconds. Bike checked out fine, slight rash on the lower-left leg, and my elbow and shoulder were telling me "ouch" but that went away within a few minutes. So, I hop back on the bike and am still planning for 60-70 miles. Then I couldn't figure out what was going on with my right foot which seemed to be sliding in and out of my shoe...ha, snapped the buckle right off my shoe. So, I rode into Copper Mountain and stopped a few times to ask folks if they had any tape...JEEPERS, why don't more people carry duct tape with them? Ha-Ha! I did finally get some relief as one of the local tour company guides I asked was able to produce some sort of tape...it worked!
Back to the ride...so I decide to head back to Vail...umm, that is a climb back up through Vail Pass, with taped up shoe! Make things even more fun, I linked up with a group of roadies and well, if you know me by now, I can not resist keeping pace and once it was set, it seemed like the theme was "push until the mountain bike guy blows up". Surprise! I stayed with them all the way to Vail. We even hit 47+ mph on the curving downhill! Wow, what a rush! The reward? Well, I only ended up with 43 miles but man, it was a good hurt.
So, after some shopping that ended in Avon, CO, I am now sporting a new pair of cycling shoes. Now some serious riding over the next couple days to get used to them and make sure the cleats are properly adjusted! They won't look much like a new pair of shoes after this Saturday!
I'm checking out for the night. Check back with me tomorrow for another post. Plan for Wednesday is 30-40 miles followed by some fun downhill riding on the Vail ski slopes! Maybe someone will capture some pictures to post tomorrow! Until then...
Saddle Up, Dig Deep, and Ride Hard!
TNT OUT-
06 August 2012
Final Preparations
So, I haven't been doing so well with posting to my Blog this year...I know! No excuses. Regardless, we are here and the final preparations have begun. We arrived in Colorado this weekend and today was my first altitude ride. Rode from Vail up the Vail Pass and then back. Finished with just over 30 miles, hit a top speed of just over 42 miles per hour, and at one point was crushing the pedals and my lungs trying to maintain 10 mph up one of the climbs! Shew, the first one always hurts! Oh, did I mention the temps out here? Holy cow, woke up to high 40's and wow, the joints were reminding me of how they do not like the cold when I first started riding! HA! Supposed to be a high in the low 70's today with 60% chance of rain this afternoon.
The Krew began to assemble over the weekend as Jandy, Ken, Jennifer, and Bryce joined Julie, Alec, Brady and myself. My mom and dad will arrive on Thursday (the "Newbies") and then we expect to see Gary and Shelli some time before race day as well. You'd think we'd done this before, huh?
Donations seem to be progressing okay. I believe I will be a far cry from the original goal but boy, it sure would be awesome to be able to reach at least the same level of funds raised as last year...$10,000+!!! So, I need your help. Send me a note, add a comment to this post, or better yet, visit www.kaileyskrew.org a donation online. If you are a "FaceBooker", you can go to Kailey's Krew - Pedal of Hope page and "LIKE". Once you do that, you'll receive updates as Jandy and Julie post from the Start, 26 mile, 40 mile, 60 mile, 74 mile, and Finish. And they will post more than just how I am doing...they have a great time keeping everyone updated on the action.
Speaking of Action, the latest word from Leadville is that the field of riders this year will be very fast and records will be broken. Well, as long as that is all that gets broken, I'm good with that! ;)
Okay, stay tuned daily as I will post each day this week with an update of my final tune-up before we give it heck on Saturday!
Saddle Up, Dig Deep,and Ride Hard!
TNT OUT -
The Krew began to assemble over the weekend as Jandy, Ken, Jennifer, and Bryce joined Julie, Alec, Brady and myself. My mom and dad will arrive on Thursday (the "Newbies") and then we expect to see Gary and Shelli some time before race day as well. You'd think we'd done this before, huh?
Donations seem to be progressing okay. I believe I will be a far cry from the original goal but boy, it sure would be awesome to be able to reach at least the same level of funds raised as last year...$10,000+!!! So, I need your help. Send me a note, add a comment to this post, or better yet, visit www.kaileyskrew.org a donation online. If you are a "FaceBooker", you can go to Kailey's Krew - Pedal of Hope page and "LIKE". Once you do that, you'll receive updates as Jandy and Julie post from the Start, 26 mile, 40 mile, 60 mile, 74 mile, and Finish. And they will post more than just how I am doing...they have a great time keeping everyone updated on the action.
Speaking of Action, the latest word from Leadville is that the field of riders this year will be very fast and records will be broken. Well, as long as that is all that gets broken, I'm good with that! ;)
Okay, stay tuned daily as I will post each day this week with an update of my final tune-up before we give it heck on Saturday!
Saddle Up, Dig Deep,and Ride Hard!
TNT OUT -
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