The Horribly Hilly Hundreds
First off, just a week after finishing finals, I put on a bit of a different cap.
Alright, well not just literally. I turned from being a rider and racer to being an organizer of the Toughest One-Day Challenge Ride in the Midwest. For those of you unfamiliar with the Horribly Hilly, the event (not a race) consists of 100k and 200k routes over some of the steepest, nastiest climbs that southwest Wisconsin has to offer, featuring 5,700 and 10,700 feet of vertical elevation gain, respectively. Five years ago, with the ride having already sold out its 1300 slots, I stepped into the role of an organizer, being a rest stop captain.Let me tell you: that sucked. Seriously consider your sanity before taking on a similar job.
Four years ago, I was actually planning to ride the darn thing, but before I could sign up, I got roped into being Route Commander, meaning that I was in charge of making sure the routes were not under construction, marking the courses ahead of time, and coordinating SAG vehicles on ride day, among many other tasks. I must have been crazy. I still think I'm crazy.
But four years on, I'm still doing the same job, and loving every minute of it.
Becoming an organizer is a different experience. It allows you to see all the behind-the-scenes goings-on that it takes to put on a bicycle ride/race. It really gives you an appreciation for the volunteers at any of these events, without which, our racing would not be possible. It allows you to lose a significant amount of sleep (in the years I've been doing this, I have stayed up for periods of 44 and 39 hours straight).
But most of all, it allows you to meet new people. My interest in HAM radio is a direct result of the HHH, and I couldn't be more thankful for that experience. Electronics geekery aside, I highly recommend that everyone finds at least one event to volunteer and give back at. It is highly worth it.
The Insane Terrain Challenge
The second major event put on by the Viking Biking Club (which explains the horns in the first photo) is the Insane Terrain Challenge. Not satified with only 10,700 feet of climbing in 124 miles, the designer of the Horribly Hilly set out to create a route with at least 100 feet of climbing per mile.
With the Insane Terrain, he succeeded.
My involvement with the HHH punched my free ticket to ride the ITC. I learned this on Thursday before the event, meaning I had two days to prepare for the 125k, 7,800 ft epic.
Thursday night, I decided to go and test my fitness on my favorite hill for repeats. It's been a few years since I've done repeats on it, but a few years ago, while I still had my fitness from being a ski racer, I would do 5 x 5 min intervals, which would take me to the top of the hill, and be hard as hell.
Thursday, I did 5 * 3:45. I think I'm going to need a bigger hill.
With the reassurance that I was actually on form, I started out last Saturday at 6:30 AM. I soon found out there is one thing in any ride that I absolutely cannot stand:
Big guys who can climb.
It upsets the natural order of things! Skinny guys are climbers, big guys are sprinters (or just guys like Alphonse in the new Lance commercials), and guys in between are just wankers at both. Everybody knows that! That's exactly the reason I don't typically go for sprints, and you don't see Clydesdales winning mountain stages.
But this guy was just unbelievable.
First off, he could just waste me on the downhills, which was to be expected, as he had a bit of an advantage in potential energy. We didn't actually ride together until after the last water stop, when I stopped to refill a bottle knowing that it was going to be freakin' hot, and he didn't. We got into a pattern of him getting away on the downhill, me catching back up halfway up the next climb, and riding together up the rest of the climb and on the few flatter sections of the course. This continued until I think 3 major climbs to go, when something amazing happened.
The guy dropped me. Flat out dropped me.
I was dropped on a climb by a Giant-factory-team-kit wearing Clydesdale. WTH?
I wasn't even feeling bad. The entire ride so far had gone great. Moving in a pack of mostly fast 200k riders, we covered 19.5 miles in the first hour (with several big climbs included in that stretch). I was one of the first few 125k riders, and up until meeting with this guy, I was pretty much alone after the 125/200k split, with not so much as another rider, car, or even a farm in sight. We were in the middle of nowhere, and it was very peaceful. I felt like I was on a long, solo breakaway.
Until Mr. Giant (the bikes, not the rider's physique) ruined it.
I still managed a decent time (despite this not being a race) of 5 hours, which could have been a bit better had I not been suffering on the final climb up Mounds Park Road (Nats riders - that was the last climb you did). Somehow, I made it to the top, and someone took a sweet shot of me trying to post up in my polka-dots before nearly falling over due to going 6 mph. Alas, I have yet to find said shot, but you can be assured it was full of awesomeness - just for the Womens.
Moving
If you haven't figured out the title of this rather lengthy post by now, each word refers to one of three events. Which means the third event is an upcoming move.
That's right. In about a month and half, I'm packing up my stuff, and moving here.
Sylmar, CA (click on image to hugeify).
There are two things I immediately notice about where I'll be living:
1) It'll be hotter than bejesus.
2) Mountains!
The reason I'm moving out there is a co-op position with St. Jude Medical. It's a 6 month position, meaning it will basically take up Fall and Winter quarters before spitting me out for my final quarter at NU.
While I'm saddened that this won't give me a chance to see Northwestern's fledgling mountain bike team succeed (other than at Michigan Tech), the opportunity to come directly into Spring Break as a lean(er), mean racing machine makes it totally worthwhile. I'll have to trade the ChiCrossCup for the SoCal Cross series, the Velodynes for actually riding outside, and Walker Brothers Rides for . . . well, nothing compares to the Walker Bros. rides. Maybe surfing. I'm stoked on getting to surf again.
Shaka!
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