Training Archive: phatty

AR Competition 8:10:00 [5]

Logs, Rocks, and Steel - Miller is a marked man. He's lucky he left the country otherwise, he would have been washing or dodging everyone's bike to allay racers' deerfly and muck induced frenzy and insanity.

FB and I pushed each other (at least I know he pushed me!) through the bike and paddle and the finish on the bike was epic...I thought anyway.

16 km trail run - The horses at the front (Rydlo & PhattyJR) pushed the pace while a duo, Piller, FB, and I gave chase. REALLY great trail for running as we were up, down, side to side, over rocks, roots, grass, gravel, mud and had great views alongside the ridge we ran along. The heat got to me near the end and my shirt wouldn't have been any wetter had FB dunked me in the river at the bottom of the ridge. Leanimal directed me into my boat and I stumbled through the TA to give chase to the disappearing PhattyJR boat about 1 km in the distance.

14 km paddle - Leanimal had taped a map of the paddle perfectly on my cockpit (yikes!) so I could see where I was supposed to go - huge help! I chanced that the first portage would be 'paddle-aroundable' and pulled my Paluski over the dam with my fingers crossed. Thankfully, it paid off and the swamp water was high enough to get through with no worries. I heard later that Rydlo portaged whilst PhattyJR had the same strategy as me. When Rydlo saw him paddle by, he cursed and got back into the water to give chase. I felt pretty good going along but the heat was definitely affecting me. I didn't feel my usual 'pop' so early in the race - instead, I felt heavy and fatigued. Then Piller went by at mach-7 in his rocket sit-on-top boat. Wow, did he ever put time into me before the second portage in not so long a distance. My special portage system worked quite well and I was out of the water and speed walking as quick as I could as I hoped that Piller's rocket would be difficult to carry. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some writing on the portage sign indicating that I should turn left onto boardwalk to Nora Lake rather than stay on this drivable road. It wasn't the pink arrows that we'd come accustomed to through the racecourse so far but I took a chance and it was the right choice. FB just followed blindly behind me no doubt, having full confidence in my route choice! Good thing because PhattyJR and Rydlo did not make the turn and portaged and extra bit of distance before finding another trail to the lake we wanted...controversy! I put in right behind Piller and then heard the unmistakeable dragging of FB 'portaging' his boat. An excellent strategy...not unfamiliar to him as he typically can be found dragging coolers of beer around the finish line area at events. Corner showed up as well in his SRS Dart and while I tried to stay in his draft, he smoked me and ended up in 1st by section's end. My bony a$$ was freakin' killing me and I wanted so badly to get out and swim the rest of the way with only 1 km left. I didn't tip, didn't lose too much ground to the leaders, didn't puke, and was still in the race somewhat...so mission successful thus far I figured.

50 km ride from hell - I took off after Corner, PhattyJR, and Rydlo ahead of FB and Piller starting what can only be described as a 3/4 bike, 1/4 trek-with-bike (at least for me on this day) in muck and bug infested backwater sludge pit. I could already feel myself circling the drain a little and video coverage of my TA only confirms how goofy I was moving around - PhattyJR on the other hand skipped through the TA, excited to prove that his rholoff 'deraileur' was superior on a tough bike section..which he ended up doing of course. Made my way south and after the torture of watching only metres click by on my odo, I eventually made it to the HWY118 crossing where water was ready for us. I filled my bladder (having drank almost all 3L in only 20 km of biking) and was buoyed by the fact that Rydlo remained about 10 minutes ahead - or so they told me - and that no one had passed me while I struggled along. The next bit was a tease as there was some quick and fun (imagine that!) riding. Then more of the same on-and-off the bike. I was frustrated that the tire tracks here already went through and over some of the crud that I had to walk around and through but I did what I could and just tried to keep spinning if my derailleur and chain suck would allow it. My favourite part was the 10-15 minutes it took to go from 24 km to 25 km on my odo...awesome. Just before the powerline, I finally heard a bike behind me and thankfully, it was a team of two. I managed to keep them behind me until ol' creaky knees (FB) came up to me. I think he saw that I was struggling and made sure I had enough water and eats. I told him that I was almost cooked and had just enough to make a final push. Off he went ahead and while I tried to give chase, my cramping muscles (the VMO pulsating was really creepy!)and clogged drive train had different thoughts. I told myself that if I could hit the pavement with FB in sight, I'd give it everything I had to pass him. We did hit pavement and while the volunteer told me to go a certain way, it didn't make sense and I sort of guessed at it. Thankfully, he was wrong and I was right. I hit the last bit of trail and I knew there wasn't much racecourse left so I pedalled harder down the downhills, hoping that FB may have glided down. Then I saw his jammer shorts flapping in the distance. I cooked down the last mucky hill, trying not to brake so as to rouse his senses of my presence. Error! I blew into to rocks and muck too quickly and bailed hard...cramp! Sh!t that hurt but he didn't hear me swear or yell at myself to get the %^&* up. I hit the pavement knowing there was a few km left and put'er into the big ring, stomping on the pedals. On a downhill, I cranked it up to the biggest gear and tried to go by as fast as I could - I'd need every bit of momentum at this stage. One more hill to climb, uggh, and then the downhill to the finish line in 4th. I really hurt and it was good to be done.

FB is a rock star (two recently rebuilt knees and a torn ab wall) and pushed me so bloody hard to try to beat him. Well done to the top three and to the organizers for making this first time event run smoothly from a racer's perspective. Massive congratulations to my little bro who crushed and won the race - I don't know where he gets his 6th gear on the bike but the 30 minutes that he beat me by is just awesome.

Please find some more rideable stuff for next year!!!

C • Excellent report 8

Trail Run 1:00:00 [3]

Around the black trail at Albion with a good gaggle of Caledon trail runners.

Trail Run 1:00:00 [3]

Tried out my secret weapons for the LR&S on the HVHTA. How nicely they work...and they're not shoes!

Trail Run 1:00:00 [3]

Tried to dodge as many deerflies as possible while picking up a couple of CPs for the race (RockstAR). Fun to burn the bush as per usual.