I started to ramp it up a little for the upcoming 12 Hours of Rim Nordic this month.
May 2009
Total Distance - 377.44 miles
Total Time - 38:13:32 hours
Total Ascent - 38,872 feet
Total Calories Burned - 28,040
2009 YTD
Total Distance - 1466.39 miles
Total Time - 162:33:464 hours
Total Ascent - 176,954 feet
Total Calories Burned - 112,688
Tags: mountain bike log
Stats were down a little bit this month due to a nice week long vacation on Oahu - not that I’m complaining or anything!
April 2009
Total Distance - 237.31 miles
Total Time - 25:39:12 hours
Total Ascent - 30,219 feet
Total Calories Burned - 18,782
2009 YTD
Total Distance - 1088.96 miles
Total Time - 124:20:14 hours
Total Ascent - 138,083 feet
Total Calories Burned - 84,648
One month to go before 12 Hours of Rim Nordic!
Tags: bike log, mountain bike, mountain bike log
Spent a lot of time on the saddle in March - due to Vision Quest and the 50 Mile Ride.
March 2009
Total Distance - 274.71 miles
Total Time - 35:07:20 hours
Total Ascent - 37,724 feet
Total Calories Burned - 22,239
2009 YTD
Total Distance - 851.65 miles
Total Time - 98:41:02 hours
Total Ascent - 107,864 feet
Total Calories Burned - 65,866
Tags: bike log, mountain bike, mountain bike log
I got to take part in the Project Rwanda 50 Mile Ride for the first time. This purpose of this event is to raise funds to purchase new “Coffee Bikes” for folks in Rwanda. This was the 3rd year that this event took place. The previous two years had always been scheduled right around Christmas and New Year’s and I’ve always been away on vacation.
I believe a total of 430 riders came out to participate and over $24,000 was raised. Not bad for a down economy.
Tags: 50 mile ride, mountain bike, rwanda
I had first heard about the Vision Quest a few years ago. At that time, I thought it was only crazy elite mountain bikers who could pull something like that off - 55 miles on dirt with ~11,000 feet of elevation gain.
Well, 5 years later, 35 pounds lighter, and a couple of unhealthy habits gone, I became one of those crazy mountain bikers (notice how I left the word ‘elite’ out).
Coming into Beek's
With the Counting Coup (aka Baby Vision Quest) under my belt from last year, I kind of knew what to expect, so the nervousness and anxiety from last year was no where to be found. The only thing I was concerned about was making the time cutoffs.
With the cutoffs constantly in the back of my mind, I think it made me push a little harder, and for the first 2.5 hours (Blackstar to Motorway), I went out a little too hard (avg HR 171 bpm). I think because of that, my close friend “The Cramp” came to pay a visit early on. I’ve learned to deal with cramps over the past few races. I can generally still pedal and ride, but I just can’t push very hard.
So slowly but surely, I kept going. I got to the last VQ cutoff point with 20 minutes to spare. There in my aid bag, I had stowed a bottle of Pickle Juice Sport. Like a miracle, my cramps started fading and I continued on my way.
The last leg of VQ has one section called West Horsethief that just plain sucks. It’s about 1.5 miles long, but you end up gaining 1,300 ft, and needless to say, for less than elite riders like myself, it’s mostly hike-a-bike. I think that ordeal lasted a good 50 minutes.
At the top of West Horsethief, there was only about 2 miles more of slight climbing to go to reach the top of Trabuco. That’s where happiness and relief starts to settle in, because from there, it’s a good 10 miles of downhill to the finish.
I cross the finish line in 9:13. Slower than I had wanted, but at least I finished. I got a beaded feather for my efforts and I’m already thinking about next year.
At the finish line
Tags: mountain bike, vision quest
A pretty much status quo month for me. Got Vision Quest this upcoming weekend. I can’t wait to get that over with. I’ll have a few weeks for “fun” rides. Then it’s back to training for the 12 hour in June.
February 2009
Total Distance - 282.97 miles
Total Time - 30:08:12 hours
Total Ascent - 33,549 feet
Total Calories Burned - 21,523
2009 YTD
Total Distance - 576.94 miles
Total Time - 63:33:41 hours
Total Ascent - 70,140 feet
Total Calories Burned - 43,627