Mike Across America

Wow, 2011 zoomed by. I ended up with 11,522 miles for the year. Not quite as many as last year (11,960) but I really eased off during November/December.  Now 2012 offers new cycling challenges as well as some familiar “old” ones.  I’m planning on the Almanzo 100 on May 19, Rushmore Ultra Cycling Challenge (488 miles)  July 2-4 and Gut Check (412 or 824 – not sure yet)  August 17.  This leaves plenty of room for other events to yet be determined.

2012 – Here we come!

I’m starting to make plans for which 2012 cycling events I’d like to take part in.  After going out to Oceanside, CA the last two years for RAAM and then RAW,  I currently do not plan to be there again in 2012. The race I want to ride for sure (I’ve already entered) is the inaugural Rushmore Ultra Cycling Championship July 2-4 in Hill City, SD. Ultra cyclist Jeff Bonk has organized this event.  The race route covers most of the central Black Hills. It will entail completing an 84 mile loop which totals over 10,000 feet of climbing – six times – for a total of 504 miles. Riders have a maximum of 48 hours to complete the race. The distance (504 miles) and total feet of elevation gain (over 65,000) will be complicated in that while on the race course all riders most be self-supported. A follow vehicle is not allowed nor can your crew provided any assistance along the route. You can receive support at the completion of every 84 mile loop, but not while on the course.  A  lighting system will be required on each bike from 8:30pm to 5:30am to participate. This event will be a huge challenge. When I rode RAW – Race Across the West – this year the total climbing was over 50,000 feet over 860 miles. This ride packs more climbing in fewer miles. For more information about the Rushmore Ultra Cycling Challenge go to: http://www.rushmorecycling.com/ on Facebook.

In August I’d like to take on the Gut Check – Hell & Back race – an 824 mile double crossing of South Dakota. I did this event in 2010 in 65 hours 34 minutes. I really think I can do it in less then 60 hours. So if I “survive” the Rushmore cycling challenge the “flatness” of most of South Dakota should look pretty good.

2012 here we come!

The first annual Steeple Chase Harvest Ride was held in Yankton, SD on Saturday, Oct. 8th. After a night of rain the decision to carry on was made and 10 intrepid souls took off on a 50 miles ride through back roads of Nebraska. The ride started and finished in Yankton, but most of the riding was done in Nebraska just across the Missouri river south of Yankton. The first 5 miles of the ride welcomed us with a steady drizzle, but that passed and the rest of the day we had partly sunny skies with temperatures in the 60′s. The riding on gravel was OK but the minimum maintenance roads do not handle water well and the sand/clay mixture meant riding in many areas was impossible. So hiking through the ditch or field or pasture was the way to continue forward on the route. We would ride through the “gumbo” clay as far as our bikes would allow, until our wheels became so impacted with mud they would not turn. Once this happens you dismount – before falling – and drag your bike out of the mud and try to dislodge as much of the mud as possible before pushing it forward to an area where we would try to remount and continue on. This might mean walking and pushing for several hundred yards to up to a half a mile. They say misery loves company and for most of the ride 3-6 of us would stay together and offer moral support to each other as the day and frustration of the situation continued on. Really, it was mostly fun as the absurdity of the situation keep us pretty relaxed and appreciative of being able to go out and do crazy things like this. We finally finished up after 5 hours of ride time – remember the distance was 50 miles – so you can do the math on average speed.  Hopefully in the future the ride coordinator will have a rainy day option that does not include back roads that make riding impossible and we can stick to just gravel. Wet gravel roads looks pretty good after slogging through gumbo clay. Another fun day on the bike.

Here we are in October already. It’s hard to believe how fast summer came and went. I hit 10,000 miles for the year a few days ago so now it will be fun to see how many more days of outdoor riding we will get before cold weather moves us back indoors.

A bunch of us are planning to head to Yankton next Saturday – Oct. 8th – for the “Steeple Chase Harvest Ride”. This is a new bike event for around here. It  is a gravel road ride. Gravel rode rides/races are springing up as a new type of bike adventure. The culture of these events seem to be: self support/no sag – “you are on your own” , environmentally friendly, cue sheet directions, good luck, see you when you get back type of rides. Gravel roads pose their own type of challenge in that road bikes really don’t work unless you modify the tires (get wide/cyclocross types) or actually use a cyclocross or Mt. bike because of the nature of loose gravel/dirt/rock/mud that these roads are made up of. Plus, there are steeper hills (lots of them) then you typically find on paved roads. So this combination of loose gravel with frequent steep hills makes for some interesting sensations – terror/suffering – that you don’t have on paved courses. There are few if any gas station/convenience stores along these routes, so planning ahead for nutrition and hydration is critical and the fact that no support is provided or allowed in most cases. I did a 100 mile event – the Almonzo 100 – in May and the ride Saturday is advertised as 45-50 miles. I’ll let you know how this turns out.

Wow, Labor Day weekend already. We must be having fun because time is flying by! We are heading out to Leadville, CO this Friday. The plan was to crew for Joe Stiller in the Leadville 24 hour Mt. bike race. But the race was cancelled so now we are going out there to just ride and have fun. I’m taking my Mt. bike and Joe and I hope to ride most of the Leadville 100 race course on either Saturday or Sunday. Karen will have her road bike and Leadville has a bike trail we will check out. As soon as we get home on Monday, I’ll head up to Detroit Lakes, MN for the 9th annual Dick Beardsley Marathon running camp. I’m one of the “coaches” Dick brings in to help the 30 adult campers become better runners. Other coaches include: Bill Wenmark, Joe Henderson, Rich Benyo, Mary Coordt, Rhonda Provost, Jenny Stinson and this years special guest is Bill Squires – who coached Bill Rogers, Greg Meyer, Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley at one time or another. The camp is always a blast and its something we all look forward to every year.

I’ve really been enjoying my cycling ever since Gutcheck on August 12.  After the race I took 3 days of total rest, no riding. But once I started again – I’ve been flying. I really feel like this is the best I’ve felt riding in a long time. I hope the feeling lasts!

It’s hard to believe this was my 5th time riding in the Gutcheck road race (gutcheck212.com) across South Dakota. If time flys while you are having fun I must be having a blast! I’ve ridden in all the divisions – solo one way and both ways (hell and back division) and the two person team relay (twice). This year I was back for the solo one way(412 miles). Last year a rider from Minneapolis – Bruce Marten- won the solo one way breaking my course record of 22 hours, 45 minutes with a time of 20 hours 48 minutes. So this year I thought I’d see if I could get the record back and break 20 hours in the process. I needed favorable weather (cool temperature/tailwind) and a good nutrition/hydration plan. Well, I did have favorable weather and a good hydration/nutrition plan and I did break 20 hours – 19 hours 40 minutes. Its just that Bruce Martens came back and he rode 19 hours 25 minutes. So he keeps his course record. My hats off to Bruce, he rode super and did a great job. The Gutcheck is a heck of a challenge and I’m sure I’ll keep coming back to take on some portion of it for years to come.  Of course a big thanks to my wife Karen for once again crewing the whole thing alone for me !! As usual – I owe her.

My training buddies Joe Stiller and Bryan Brinkman set a new two person relay record of 19 hours 40 minutes as well. Great job you guys!

Since the Triple Bypass July 9-10, it has been nothing but hot and humid here in Sioux Falls, SD.  This makes for shorter training rides (40-60 miles) even though I did get in a couple 100 milers on July 16 and 23.  The Gut Check race across South Dakota is two weeks away and hopefully the weather will start to cool down by then. The Gut Check starts at noon MST on August 12 on the Wyoming/South Dakota border on Hiway 212 and you can bet it will be hot. The good thing is things should cool down riding into the night and hopefully I’ll be done early enough on Saturday, August 13th,  so the heat won’t be a factor that day.  Without any detours for road construction the distance is 412 miles. Last year a rider from Minneapolis won in 20:48. That works out to 20 mph average speed – including any stops.  They had some favorable winds last year and I can only hope for the same this year. The trend this summer has been SE winds and since the course is pretty much straight east – well you get the picture.

After Gut Check I don’t have any events on the calendar – just riding for fun.  Karen and I will be going out to Leadville, CO on Labor Day weekend to crew for my buddy Joe Stiller as he is taking on the Leadville 24 hour  Mt. bike race. That should be interesting! Then I’m back home on Labor Day to head up to Dick Beardsley’s running camp north of Detroit Lakes, MN for a week where I’m one of the “coaches” for 30-35 runners who come for training/coaching. It’s always a great time hanging out with a group of athletes who enjoy running enough to come to a camp.  A group of us are heading to the Black Hills for a weekend in late September and then the whole family is heading to Boston, MA to visit daughter Kallie in mid October. Hopefully it will be cooler by then!!!

On July 9th and 10th I rode the Triple Bypass bike ride. This was the 23rd year they have had this ride and this year it had a new option. Besides the traditional Saturday 120 mile ride from Evergreen, CO to Avon, CO over three mountain passes (Juniper, Loveland, Vail – the Triple Bypass with over 10,000 of climbing), there was a return ride option on Sunday.  I had signed up for the traditional ride back in January, but then a few weeks ago I found out that a friend who had signed up for the Sunday ride could not go so I used his entry and rode both days. Hence, the double – Triple!  I got to ride 240 miles with over 20,000 feet of climbing in the two days. Mountain weather is amazing. Hot in the valleys and cold on the mountain tops. Rain is a constant threat and reality. We were lucky on the first day and stayed dry. But on the second day rain on Loveland pass and again on Juniper pass made for some very cold descending.  All in all it was a lot of fun and a great challenge. Karen crewed for me both days and did a great job. The ride organizers put on a great event with over 5,000 riders doing either one day or both days. And believe it or not the event fills up to where they have to turn riders away. This is one of those rides you should put on your “bucket list” to do.  I highly recommend it.

The 4-5 days after finishing RAW were interesting. I weighed in on Monday night after getting back to Sioux Falls at 180.5lb! Over the next 4 days my weight dropped to 160.5lbs!! I went for my first ride on Friday afternoon with Joe and Tina Stiller and I felt absolutely great! My theory is my body has “super compensated” from what I had put it through – 860 miles with over 50,000 feet of climbing in 100+ degree weather for 3+ days.  I’m still dealing with some numbness in my pinky and ring fingers of both hands (makes typing a challenge) and some “saddle” issues. Plus, I’m sleeping every chance I can. All things considered I’m doing good.

Now the plan is to go to the Triple Bypass on July 9-10. That’s right I’m riding both days – east to west of Saturday and west to east on Sunday. 120 miles both days with over 10,000 feet of climbing each day. After what I’ve been through I figure this should be fun!

I finally have a chance – and energy – to put up a quick note. Thanks everyone for your words of support and encouragement! The crew would read them to me over the PA system on the van and that definitely helped!  Also, you will never know how much the crew meant to me in this adventure. They worked so well together and each and everyone one of them filled such a necessary role(s). The last day especially was a tough one. I gained 8-10 lbs of fluid – mostly in the abdomen – I looked like I was in my 3rd trimester! Its called “third spacing” were my electrolytes get “out of balance” and the body removes fluid and stores it in the tissues so my blood doesn’t become too dilute.  I was uncomfortable, but the crew kept pushing more sodium in my drinks and in capsule form and we were able to control it from getting worse. Chad took the aerobars off the bike as I couldn’t use them – my stomach was in the way! Chad also rotated the handle bars so I could set up higher on the bike. In short – the team saved me from what could have be a disaster.  Also, Lori’s Ki Hara techniques really are amazing and would enable me to keep riding at a high level for hours and  hours! So now we get ready to come home – well the crew gets things ready to go home. Chad is driving the follow van/bike/etc back to Sioux Falls – starting tomorrow. The rest of us fly back tomorrow.  Thanks for following this adventure with us. We will remember this experience for a long time.