12 days until RAAM

The days are ticking away much faster than I would like. I am anxious but nervous that I haven't gotten everything handled before my departure on June 12, 2007. It is a two person team not solo but I'm still concerned that I haven't put in the requisite miles needed to complete the event. By the way, we are not trying to compete in this event we just want to finish

Breathless Agony Picture

Picture from Breathless Agony on the Oak Glen Climb MAY 5TH 2007

KOM Series Breathless Agony & Heartbreak Double Century

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I want to thank my sponsors for all their support this season without them I wouldn't be able to race as strong as I have been. Thank you. Here they are in alphabetical order:

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Accelerade- Sports Drink with Protein a must for Ultra Cycling-- Chris Facas

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Bonk Breakers-Peanut Butter and Jelly nutrition bars very tasty --Jason Winn

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Cervelo Bikes-- Truly the best engineered and best riding bikes in the world- Phil White

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Finish Line- Your chain is the life of your bike lube, clean it. Love your bike clean it too--David Clopton

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Kenda Tires-- You must ride the C2C tire developed especially for RAAM- Jim Wannamaker

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I have been training and working so much lately I haven't been able to issue my race reports as promptly as I used to. But here I am posting about two events that are part of the Planet Ultra King of the Mountains Series. There are three events are:

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1. Mulholland Century Challenge although I did the Double Century and then the Century the next day.

2. Breathless Agony
3. Heartbreak Hundred which I did the Double Century


So first I will talk about Breathless Agony. 114 miles and 12,000 feet. Of which 11,000 feet in 73 miles. We climb to a max altitude of 8,443 up to Onyx Summit. I had a a great day on the bike. My goal 5:45 and top 30. I did even better than I expected. In training I had done the course in 5:51 so I thought 5:45 was doable. I finished in 5:40 and 21st place overall and 7th out of 144 in 40-49 age group.

Next was the Heartbreak Double Century 202 Miles and 17,000 feet. I had a bad day on the bike. It was my worse race day on the bike this year. I went out with the lead group and suffered quite a bit. By mile 25 I was dropped and 6 riders went away. It continued to get hot during the day and I knew I was heading for a meltdown eventually. It happened sometime before the lunch stop. I was overheating and feeling miserable.
Mile 104. 6 --At the lunch stop I soaked my head twice once when I got in and once before I left.

I stopped consuming calories after my first century. I then started drinking sodas. I had a Mountain Dew at lunch.
Mile 119--Vanilla Cola at the base of the Heartbreak climb.
Mile 126.7 --1 bottle of water
Mile -171.4-- I had 1/2 an Orange Sunkist (knock-off).

The last 30 miles I hooked up with another rider who helped me get through the next 14 miles and then I helped him get to the finish. I was not feeling good all day and lost valuable time climbing Old Ridge Route --two years in a row I have faded there.
My goal was sub 14 hours I finished 13:28 for 5th place. I'm quite happy with the end result but the process to get there was one of the most challenging days on the bike in recent memory.