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Mike Garrison

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Twenty mile sprint

Despite the title of this post, the twenty mile sprint does not, in fact, exist. (And by sprint, I mean actually standing up and pedaling hard, the standing up part being key to this story.) Feel free to try if you want, but don't say I didn't warn you.

My saddle fell off 15 miles in to a 35 mile ride last Tuesday. So, I rode the remaining 20 miles with my saddle in my jersey pocket and the inability to sit down. Seemed like the logical thing to do.

Funny thing is, everyone on the ride seemed to think that I had a screw loose. Got a lot of comments like "I would have called my wife!" and "It fell off all the way back there?!?". To most of those folks, finishing the ride wasn't just an undesirable choice, but a non-choice.

But when you're used to doing adventure races your decision making might just be a little goofy compared to normal social standards. There may not have been a race director there telling me that it was time for the "riding without a seat" special challenge, but finishing out the ride not only seemed to make sense, I kind of looked forward to the challenge.

Maybe we do all kind of have a screw loose...

Labels: Cycling

2009 Three State Three Mountain Challenge

For a couple of years now I have been hearing about how awesome this century ride is. An amazing and challenging 100 mile loop course that takes you over three mountains (Signal, Sand, Lookout) and through three states (TN, AL, GA) with somewhere around 7000' of climb. This year I decided to pony up and head down with a big crew of Rootstockers and others.

The weekend had an ominous start with about the worst drive to an event that I can recall. (The drive to the PA Sprint in the apocalyptic rain storm last year was wild, but short.) It rained constantly and the traffic was ridiculous. I eventually lost track of how long we had been driving but we at least didn't have to drive straight to the start line.

Dinner Friday was fun other than the fact that those of us with internet capable phones could not resist checking the weather every 37 seconds or so, as if that would somehow bring a more desirable forecast for the morning. Greg just kept saying "it can't be worse than last year" as the heavens opened up throughout the meal. (Apparently no one has ever educated him in the finer points of "jinxing" yourself.)

We all got out to the start line the next morning under overcast gray skies. Sure enough within seconds of the ride starting I felt the first raindrops. By the time the pack was moving through the streets of Chattanooga, it was raining for real. The rain continued to pick up as we got into the first climb up Sand Mountain.

I have to say of all the climbs this one was probably the prettiest with Suck Creek running just along the side of the road for the majority of the climb. I've never done a climb even close to this long (5 miles I was told?) and I must say it was a blast. I managed to hang with Greg for about 2/3 of the climb then I had to ease up a bit or else blow up on mountain one of three. (As I watched Greg ascend away from me, which would become a theme for the day, I thought he was giving every single rider he passed "the look". Turns how he was just being social and greeting all those that he passed.)

Just as I reached the top of the climb the rain got crazy hard. There was thunder and some lightning, but I didn't see any ground strikes, and no one around me was slowing down so I kept on. I couldn't see anything between the rain from above and the rooster tails and splatter from the road. The descent was five miles and it wore my hands out more (riding the brakes) than the climb wore out my legs. Coming out of the descent I caught up with Greg at the first SAG. We were cold and it was pouring so we pushed on.

By the time we reached the second SAG both of my feet were ridiculously numb. Wearing new shoes for a century started to seem like a really bad idea. Thankfully a few minutes out of the shoes and walking around brought the feet back, and they didn't have any problems the rest of the day. Turns out I had just cranked them down a bit too tight at the start of the day.

Michael caught up with us at this point and the three of us pushed on together. By the time we got to the split for the metric century any thoughts of doing anything but the full century were gone. I definitely think having an adventure racers mentality and ability to suffer made this ride more bearable for us than a lot of the folks out there. It was a miserable first 35 miles!

The climb up Sand Mt. was shorter that Signal, but had some gnarly switchbacks. At the top was a beautiful ride along a ridge line. The views were great, even with the valley filled with clouds. I'd love to see it on a clear day! At the SAG after the Sand Mt. climb I started to realize how gassed my legs were feeling. The infamous Burkhalter climb was going to be challenging for sure.

Some rollers brought us to the descent off Sand Mt. and a quick ride brought us to the SAG at the bottom of Burkhalter. We made a quick stop so I could get a bathroom break then kept moving. I realized at this point that I had forgotten my Endurloytes AND Greg had forgotten his. I also didn't realize until the SAG at the TOP of the climb that they were providing them at each SAG! Whoops...

I'd heard all kinds of horror stories about Burkhalter so I was a bit worried as we got started. Greg's pace separated us and a few moments after he took off my right hamstring started to cramp. Wonderful. I tried riding with one leg for a bit to stretch it out, but realized that was not going to accomplish much as I sure as heck wouldn't be doing the whole climb like that. A minute or so off the bike to recover and I was on my way. I never felt like I could go "all out" on the climb for fear of cramping on the steep part, but the legs cooperated enough. The climb itself was very cool as we ascended into a cloud.

As we neared a steepening section there were two volunteers out there offering pushes to those that had fallen or just plain stopped in their tracks. At this point I thought there was still more climb, but it turned out that was the top. A tough climb for sure, but to be honest, not as bad as I had been expecting. There's something to be said for being "oversold" on a climb's toughness.

Greg and I got a few handfuls of grapes at the SAG (and I got a very welcome pack of Endurolytes) and then took off. I think one of the volunteers might have said something along the lines of "it's all downhill from here!!" Uh, not so much. Those last ten mile or so of rollers from the top of Burkhalter to the descent off Lookout are BRUTAL!! If you ever do this ride, DO NOT mentally checkout at the top of that climb thinking you are cruising home. You're not. There is still some pretty serious work to be done.

Greg dropped me at this point and I kind of limped my way to the descent. Some more leg cramps forced me to take it pretty easy. Again, even with the clouds the descent was beautiful. Only the traffic and one clueless rider (he made multiple trips across the rumble-stripped center line and somehow figured out how to cut me off form the left on a wide left turn at the bottom of the descent), made the downhill a little stressful.

The ride had great support back through the city with cones almost the whole way to the finish. A nice crowd and some cowbells were there to greet the riders. All in all, a great day of riding!

Mike Garrison

Indy Rootstock

Labels: Cycling

2009 BCSP road race

This past Sunday I decided to take a crack at a cycling road race. I've been road riding for just under two years to train for AR, and was intrigued by the course for this race. It was a five mile clockwise loop in Brown County State Park, the "southern" loop for those familiar. My group, the Cat4/5 riders, would have to ride 5 laps, for 25 total miles of riding.

To say that this course was hilly is a bit of an understatement. I know, it's nothing like riding in actual mountains, but for Indiana I don' think it's overreaching to refer to some of those hills as "brutal". Heck, two of the hills on the course had signs instructing riders to dismount and walk their bikes down. It made me smile every time I rode past one into the downhill portion of the course. I'm sure if I had looked for the other one at the top of the climb I would have found it, but I was too busy trying to keep the pedals turning and not pass out!

The race started with 68 riders riding immediately to the downhill with the warning sign. For a first timer it was wild. You could smell the burning rubber as the majority of riders were on their brakes at least a little bit. (I would brake on the hill every trip down until the last where I finally got the courage/stupidity to go no brakes. It's a bizarre combination of exhilaration and fear the first time you approach 50 mph on a bike...)

The whole field stayed roughly together until the first climb and then the carnage began and the field split up almost instantly. I lost all track of where I was relative to pretty much anyone else and just tried to climb as steadily and quickly as a I could. The "up" portion of the course consisted of short steep sections interspersed between some easy rollers. I imagine it was only 5-7 minutes of effort, but if felt a lot longer.

On that first lap I managed to stay in a group of about 12 riders as we left the top of the climb for the short section back to the start/finish. Being in a group was a huge help in keeping the pace up. I knew that it was important to stay with at least a few other riders if at all possible for the flatter sections of the course, and I did pretty well for the first three laps. Unfortunately I spent most of the last two laps by myself and I know I had to have lost time (and worked harder) on the flats.

The middle laps were the hardest for me mentally as the body just keeps getting more and more tired, but you know you still have more trips to make up that hill. It helped having Cristal waiting for me at the top, but it was still a painful ordeal getting that bike up the climbs each time. At this point in the race it almost didn't feel like a race since I rarely saw other riders. It made it hard to stay focused and always make sure I was pushing myself hard enough.

Coming in to the fifth and final set of climbs Tim Casady from Nebo Ridge caught up with me (a familiar face!) and we pretty much rode in to the finish together with him edging me out at the finish. It was a fitting end as he helped convince me to do the race in the first place.

In the end I placed 31st out of 68 riders. Pretty much smack in the middle of the pack. (There were a total of 17 DNF's. I'm not sure how many riders typically DNF at a road race, but I would not be surprised if that number is high.) Not too bad for an adventure racer that had almost no idea what he was getting into. To go that hard for just over an hour is not like anything I'm used to doing. Throw in the importance of strategy (and having some friends on the course) and it was definitely a new experience.

Can't say that I'll be making a habit of racing road bikes, but the challenge of this particular course will certainly have me coming back again.

Mike Garrison

Indy Rootstock

Labels: Cycling

What happens when...

...an adventure racer signs up for a cycling road race?

I'll let you know Sunday afternoon...

Labels: Cycling

New Bike!

Got a "new" bike this week. (Used from eBay, but new to me). It actually fits, which is nice. Road it on the Thursday night Nebo ride and on a 60 miler with Michael, Cristal and a few other folks (rode to Avon to see how Dave was doing after his knee surgery).

It's amazing what a few centimeters can do when it comes to fit. It will still take a few rides to get used to the new body position, but so far so good!

On another note, the few "hills" that we rode on Sunday (if you can even call them that) felt good, I'm really looking forward to riding some hills for real at some point this spring.

Labels: Cycling

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Archives

Mike Garrison

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Twenty mile sprint

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

2009 Three State Three Mountain Challenge

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

2009 BCSP road race

Friday, April 24, 2009

What happens when...

Monday, March 23, 2009

New Bike!