Double The Event… Double The Fun!

It didn’t take me this long to recover… I just had a couple of days off for an extra long weekend.  The weekend, in which, I double booked myself on events.  In my last post, I talked about racing
The Doughman with three friends from work at 8am Saturday… then jumping in the packed car and driving almost 4 hours over to the mountains for “The Beest” Beech Mountain Time Trial by 3pm.  I would just have enough time to get out of the car… put the bike on the trainer… warm up… and then start to climb a very steep 3.5 miles as fast as I could.  But let’s go back to the beginning… I was up at 5:45am… coffee… and a biscuit.  I had to get something in my stomach before it was time to eat and compete.  We checked in and we were ready to race.  It all started with Katie who had to eat Blu Seafood’s Crab Mac n’ Cheese with a fried egg on top.  But something about that dish and Katie didn’t mix.  She had trouble getting it down and she told us she looked up and realized she was the LAST one left at the table out of 51 teams.  But she took off running after consuming her dish and was able to pass two other runners.  At the end of her run… she had to jump in a pool with a raft and paddle to the other end where I was waiting to be tagged.  I slapped her hand and took off as the third to last cyclist.  I was going all out which wasn’t easy with hills and a cold start.  But I passed 3 cyclists in my first 2 miles.  I got to my restaurant, Four Square and started shoveling in a BLT sandwich with chips and a pickle. I left 8 people still eating and my ride continued… 5.5 more miles… more hills.  My legs started to warm up and my engine was doing its best to process the fastest meal I have ever consumed.  I passed 8 more cyclists and almost hit a curb speeding into the next stop where I tagged my teammate Josh.  He had to eat Nosh’s Tomato Triple Threat sandwich and then run almost 2 miles, the last of which was a good hill climb.  He made it to Dain’s Place where Penn, our last teammate, had to eat a 1/4 pound hamburger topped with chili and a cut up hot dog and steak fries.  Penn is 6′4 and is a human trash compactor.  So, he finished the entire meal in what seemed like two minutes and sprinted out on a 2.5 mile run.  We were there waiting for him to finish his leg but that was NOT the end.  We all had to eat dessert together before the finish.  The place… Daisy Cakes… which meant choking down cupcakes and then… sprinting two blocks to the finish while holding hands (a requirement to finish as a team).
And we did! We finished with speed… we finished with confidence.  In fact, I really think I heard the theme song from Chariots of FIre playing in the distance.  After starting off in last place, we clawed and consumed our way back to finish 12th out of 51 teams.  We Kicked Dough!  And… a special thanks goes out to our Team Captain Kristin.  She was our driver, organizer, photographer and cheerleader.  Thanks Kristin!

Soon after, I was off to the mountains working to prepare myself mentally to climb Beech Mountain (see Elevation Gain chart) like Lance… but I didn’t really feel like Lance.  In fact, I didn’t feel like much at all.  I certainly could not imagine putting any food into my system.  I drank a lot of water… but just couldn’t eat.  We made the drive in good time and I managed to eat some dried fruit and almonds about 30 minutes before my ride.  I hopped out and the last two cyclists were preparing to start. They were going every 60 seconds.  The organizer was very gracious (Thanks David!) and told me to take time to warm up.  I hopped on the trainer and got in about 18 minutes of warm up but I could tell no matter how much I warmed up… I was running close to empty.

I just didn’t feel strong but I knew the old Tour DuPont finish banner was waiting for me to sprint under at the top.  So, I gave it my best.  Once I made it around some of the first switchbacks, I saw this first sign that confirmed the pain… the gradient running at 12.63 percent.  I quickly cursed the sign ( in the nicest way) and turned my head to focus on the road ahead.  My wife and boys were in the car and would pass me yelling… “Allez… You can do it daddy… Go daddy go!”  I couldn’t respond because I felt like every last ounce of my energy was going into the pedals… but they knew how much they were helping me!  I realized soon after I was starting to count the switchbacks and had to make myself focus on something else like knowing I was turning the pedals over… rather than lingering on how much more I had to go.  But when I came around a turn and saw the new speed limit sign… I knew that’s the point where I was close to the top.  I reached down deep and turned it up as much as I could. Then I got out of the saddle and sprinted around a big turn and flew under the Tour DuPont banner.  My finishing time… 25:35.
It felt GREAT!  Great to have taken part in the first (hopefully annual) Beest Beech Mountain Time Trial… Great to have found a little more power… Great to be done with a very long day.  I went, I competed, I got the T-shirts and a couple of great door prizes at The Beest… and the finishes were pretty good.  But the GREATEST part… my wonderfully supportive family following me ALL day and being there again at the finish with big hugs.  My 5 year old son ran up to me and gave me a handful of little yellow flowers.  He said, “Just like they do in the Tour de France daddy”.  That… will always be with me!

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