RR: Vermont 50 mile ride and run

4:45am is an ungodly hour to wake up! who thought this up? who's bright idea
was it to sign up for this? coffee!! O.K. get dressed and geared up for the
5:30am Racers meeting, nothing special, just the usual pre race drill. I'm
racing novice, so I stand around for a while as the experts go at 6am, the
Sports at 6:15, and then its 6:30am, Go!! and so begins my first Vermont 50
mile ride and run.

For the first 2 miles your flying downhill in a huge pack. it starts on
pavement, then turns to dirt road. then comes the first big climb, time to
stop by the side of the road and loose a layer or two of clothing as the
body starts to warm up. Shove the arm warmers and the knee warmers and wind
breaker into the camel back, and keep it in the back of your mind that the
weather channels top story the night before was the severe weather headed
for the north east so chances are you'll be happy to have carried the extra
weight by the time this thing is through. get back to climbing and climbing.

According to the bumper sticker in the race packet there is 1.5 miles of
climbing on tap over the 50 mile route, so as I use up the gears and get
down to about 3.5 mph I figure that its wasting more energy to ride uphill
than to walk so I get off and use the opportunity for a bit of a stretch and
dig the tissues out of the camel back and blow my nose. The cold I've been
fighting for the past 5 days isn't laying me up in bed any more, but its
also not quite gone and the river flowing from my nose is driving me crazy.

As the trail evens out I get back on and start in on some really sweet
single track! twisting and turning and flowing through the trees and
whooping up and whooshing down and this is the stuff you ride for!! and then
without any warning your back to climbing some more, quickly going through
the gears and back to the point that you might as well walk and stretch and
relish the opportunity to use some different muscles for a little bit.

As the route goes on the weather slowly starts to turn. it starts to drizzle
some and as the course gets more worn, and the moisture builds up, things
start to get slippery till around the 20 mile point when on a flying
downhill my rear wheel goes out from underneath and next thing I know I'm on
the ground, dazed, wondering what happened. Diagnosis: I whacked my left
shoulder and hip into the ground, but they still work fine. about a mile
later I made it to rest stop 4 just as the sky's open up and the rain comes
down in buckets.

As I eat some bananas, turkey sandwiches, pb&j, and peanuts I figure it's
time to pull those knee warmers and wind breaker out of the pack. and as I
ride away into the rain, still happy, I look at my watch, 10:15am, and think
to myself that I can probably get this done with in about another 4hrs or so
for an 8hr time. sound's good. that's about when things started to go south.
from there on the rain kept coming.

With all the rain the trails turned to mud real quick. over the next 10
miles the mud slowly turned to pudding. the mud started to get caked on the
bikes, and anybody who started without a brand new drive train found
themselves with a singlespeed. It got so bad at one point that the mud
started to stick to the mud, until the rear wheel couldn't spin any more.
breaks where rendered useless, yes even disk brakes, because the tires could
grab anything. The wheel's would stop spinning, but you'd keep sliding.
Riding uphill wasn't an option any more, even a slight uphill. there was no
traction at all. going downhill was more like mud surfing than riding a
bike. Even going through a grass field was near impossible to ride.

Somewhere around the 30 mile mark, as I was washing my bike off for the 5th
time in 2 hrs with a hose that one of the land owners had left out for us, I
was thinking very strongly about bagging it. Another rider that was lined up
for the hose that I'd been playing leap frog with for a little bit was also
miserable and thinking of calling it quits. It was there that we decided to
ride together and make sure that we both crossed the finish line.

Over the last 20 miles, we mostly hiked, pushing our useless mud crusted
bikes along. It was a long slow slog through mud that was at least deep
enough to cover the tops of your shoes, and at times was up to around your
calf. We hiked through river crossings, lot's of river crossings, that had
the added benefit of being a good place to wash some mud off you and your
bike, reducing the weight by about 20 pounds.

At the 8th aid station, somewhere around the 43 mile mark, they had some
nice hot chicken noodle soup. I've never tasted Campbell's soup this good
before, it was a godsend! after warming up for a bit we headed out again, on
our long hike to the finish. trying to ride once in a while when it was
possible but mostly hiking.

At one point the trail came out onto the road and we had a sweet downhill on
pavement for about .75mile to the bottom. that's when we realized that we
where of course and had to ride all the way back up, the course really just
crossed the street but some of the markings had fallen down. then it was
through another field with water up to mid-calf on slippery grass. and then
back to slogging through the mud.

More soup at aid station 9. we made it in right at 5:45 to beat the cut off.
after a quick warm up with 2 cups of soup, we where off for the last 3 miles
of slogging through mud, walking through rivers, and trying ride whatever
looked ride-able. Finally at around 7:10, covered head to toe in mud, with
barely any light left in the sky we made in to the finish area. Thankfully
there was still food left at the post race cookout, and we where able to
gorge ourselves on potato salad and baked ziti and lamb stew (apparently
made from one of the cooks very own lambs).

I think that over the 50 mile course, it broke down to a 20 mile ride and a
30 mile hike-a-bike, sometimes I wish I was a runner, at least they didn't
have to push 40 ponds of mud and bike along.

So, when does sign up for next years Vermont 50 begin?


--
~~~~~~~~~~
__o
_-\,_ Jason Byrnes
(_)/ (_)
~~~~~~~~~~

"slartibartfast" wrote in message
...
snip
So, when does sign up for next years Vermont 50 begin?

We know a few people that did it, sounded like a blast.

- CA-G

Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!

"Carla A-G" wrote in message
...
"slartibartfast" wrote in message
...
snip
So, when does sign up for next years Vermont 50 begin?

We know a few people that did it, sounded like a blast.

It was the most miserable thing I've ever done on 2 wheels, and I can't wait
to do it again.


- CA-G

Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!

On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:42:45 -0400, "slartibartfast"
wrote:

-snip brutality-


So, when does sign up for next years Vermont 50 begin?


Jeez, that sounds like fun man. Just like being a kid again...

"slartibartfast" wrote in message
...

"Carla A-G" wrote in message
...
"slartibartfast" wrote in message
...
snip
So, when does sign up for next years Vermont 50 begin?

We know a few people that did it, sounded like a blast.

It was the most miserable thing I've ever done on 2 wheels, and I can't
wait
to do it again.

You learn alot about yourself when you race.

Kudos to you for sticking it out and finishing.

--

CP

On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:42:45 -0400, "slartibartfast"
wrote:

4:45am is an ungodly hour to wake up! who thought this up? who's bright idea
was it to sign up for this? coffee!! O.K. get dressed and geared up for the
5:30am Racers meeting, nothing special, just the usual pre race drill. I'm
racing novice, so I stand around for a while as the experts go at 6am, the
Sports at 6:15, and then its 6:30am, Go!! and so begins my first Vermont 50
mile ride and run.

For the first 2 miles your flying downhill in a huge pack. it starts on
pavement, then turns to dirt road. then comes the first big climb, time to
stop by the side of the road and loose a layer or two of clothing as the
body starts to warm up. Shove the arm warmers and the knee warmers and wind
breaker into the camel back, and keep it in the back of your mind that the
weather channels top story the night before was the severe weather headed
for the north east so chances are you'll be happy to have carried the extra
weight by the time this thing is through. get back to climbing and climbing.

According to the bumper sticker in the race packet there is 1.5 miles of
climbing on tap over the 50 mile route, so as I use up the gears and get
down to about 3.5 mph I figure that its wasting more energy to ride uphill
than to walk so I get off and use the opportunity for a bit of a stretch and
dig the tissues out of the camel back and blow my nose. The cold I've been
fighting for the past 5 days isn't laying me up in bed any more, but its
also not quite gone and the river flowing from my nose is driving me crazy.

As the trail evens out I get back on and start in on some really sweet
single track! twisting and turning and flowing through the trees and
whooping up and whooshing down and this is the stuff you ride for!! and then
without any warning your back to climbing some more, quickly going through
the gears and back to the point that you might as well walk and stretch and
relish the opportunity to use some different muscles for a little bit.

As the route goes on the weather slowly starts to turn. it starts to drizzle
some and as the course gets more worn, and the moisture builds up, things
start to get slippery till around the 20 mile point when on a flying
downhill my rear wheel goes out from underneath and next thing I know I'm on
the ground, dazed, wondering what happened. Diagnosis: I whacked my left
shoulder and hip into the ground, but they still work fine. about a mile
later I made it to rest stop 4 just as the sky's open up and the rain comes
down in buckets.

As I eat some bananas, turkey sandwiches, pb&j, and peanuts I figure it's
time to pull those knee warmers and wind breaker out of the pack. and as I
ride away into the rain, still happy, I look at my watch, 10:15am, and think
to myself that I can probably get this done with in about another 4hrs or so
for an 8hr time. sound's good. that's about when things started to go south.
from there on the rain kept coming.

With all the rain the trails turned to mud real quick. over the next 10
miles the mud slowly turned to pudding. the mud started to get caked on the
bikes, and anybody who started without a brand new drive train found
themselves with a singlespeed. It got so bad at one point that the mud
started to stick to the mud, until the rear wheel couldn't spin any more.
breaks where rendered useless, yes even disk brakes, because the tires could
grab anything. The wheel's would stop spinning, but you'd keep sliding.
Riding uphill wasn't an option any more, even a slight uphill. there was no
traction at all. going downhill was more like mud surfing than riding a
bike. Even going through a grass field was near impossible to ride.

Somewhere around the 30 mile mark, as I was washing my bike off for the 5th
time in 2 hrs with a hose that one of the land owners had left out for us, I
was thinking very strongly about bagging it. Another rider that was lined up
for the hose that I'd been playing leap frog with for a little bit was also
miserable and thinking of calling it quits. It was there that we decided to
ride together and make sure that we both crossed the finish line.

Over the last 20 miles, we mostly hiked, pushing our useless mud crusted
bikes along. It was a long slow slog through mud that was at least deep
enough to cover the tops of your shoes, and at times was up to around your
calf. We hiked through river crossings, lot's of river crossings, that had
the added benefit of being a good place to wash some mud off you and your
bike, reducing the weight by about 20 pounds.

At the 8th aid station, somewhere around the 43 mile mark, they had some
nice hot chicken noodle soup. I've never tasted Campbell's soup this good
before, it was a godsend! after warming up for a bit we headed out again, on
our long hike to the finish. trying to ride once in a while when it was
possible but mostly hiking.

At one point the trail came out onto the road and we had a sweet downhill on
pavement for about .75mile to the bottom. that's when we realized that we
where of course and had to ride all the way back up, the course really just
crossed the street but some of the markings had fallen down. then it was
through another field with water up to mid-calf on slippery grass. and then
back to slogging through the mud.

More soup at aid station 9. we made it in right at 5:45 to beat the cut off.
after a quick warm up with 2 cups of soup, we where off for the last 3 miles
of slogging through mud, walking through rivers, and trying ride whatever
looked ride-able. Finally at around 7:10, covered head to toe in mud, with
barely any light left in the sky we made in to the finish area. Thankfully
there was still food left at the post race cookout, and we where able to
gorge ourselves on potato salad and baked ziti and lamb stew (apparently
made from one of the cooks very own lambs).

I think that over the 50 mile course, it broke down to a 20 mile ride and a
30 mile hike-a-bike, sometimes I wish I was a runner, at least they didn't
have to push 40 ponds of mud and bike along.

So, when does sign up for next years Vermont 50 begin?


Too Damn Good To Snip!

Peace,
Bill