The post that shall remain postless...

Until a later date.

I'm going to start writing this post to document the rides that I'm getting in this week, but I can't post it until the mileage challenge is over. The good news is that while you'll have to wait until Friday, your patience will be rewarded with a long winded, overly thorough, completely unnecessary account of the week that was. Right now, it's Wednesday, so I've got to back track a bit, but you'll get it all, I promise. Just what you always wanted. Yea.

Monday.

Wait, actually, I think I should start on Sunday.

Sunday.

Yesterday, Clint and I were back country skiing on the back of Mount Washington. We hiked into Tuckerman's Ravine, about a 3 hour hike with 2200 feet of vertical gain. Skied for a couple hours, then we volunteered to help hike out an injured skier on a Ski Patrol sled. We then had to hike back up to the bowl for our gear, and then finally, had to hike out to the car, cause they closed the trail that you can use to ski out. Needless to say, my legs haven't been used like that in a long time. It was a great day, and the only sour note we got was a phone call from Chad telling us the crazy mileage that he put in while we were gone. Great. So now having done all that stuff yesterday, I had to get off my butt and get in a ride. Oh, did I mention it was April 26th, yet for some reason it was 90 degrees in CT. Ridiculous. Luckily, I married a girl who also enjoys a good workout, and she helped motivate me to get on the bike. She went for a run, I went for a ride and we met back at the house to collapse on the couch together.

Monday.

No rest for the weary. At this point I have updated the Monday Mileage post and know that my lead over Chad has gone from 50 miles to a mere half mile. I also know, that he already got in a ride at lunch today, and Clint too, has been on the bike since the Monday update. OK, get home from work and get in a ride. Easier said than done. Today I have to go to NYC to do some work on the movie after work. Oh, I forgot to mention that this morning, Becky got up early, leaving me lying awake waaaay before I needed to get out of bed. Knowing that my brothers are crazy like me and will do untold things to win this challenge, I thought I should also jump on the crazy train and capitalize on this early rise, so I got out and put on an easy, quick 5 or 6 miles. By the way, I'm still no cyclist, but that easy 5 or 6 miles in the morning, was definitely the same 5 or 6 miles that I could barely finish a month ago. Little pat on the back for myself. Who am I kidding, this blog is the biggest, most self centered, 24/7 pat on my own back ever, kinda embarrassing, but your the one reading it. Anyway, back to Monday. After work I did manage to get in my sixteen mile loop, then a quick dinner with the wife, then off to NY.

Tuesday.

This was my day to ride this week. I mentioned that Becky had some plans for us this Wed. and Thurs. which is great but severely limits my crunch time riding. To help combat that I had to make today a banner day. This is what I came up with. I threw the bike in my car and took it to work. Today, lunch wouldn't be spent surfing the Internet and chowing on cold cuts; today I would get in a ride. This stupid hot weather in April has continued and my ride turned into sweat fest 2009. I got in about 15 miles, but my coworkers probably weren't too happy when I got back. It took me till about 4 o'clock just to cool off. Mental note, changing into jeans after a hot ride sucks. I head home, grab a bite with the wife, and hit the road once more. Yes, this is over the top, but who knows what my brothers are doing to log mileage. I did not wait long enough after dinner to start riding, turning my dinner into a rock in my stomach which made the next 20 miles pretty terrible. At least it was dusk so it was a bit cooler. P.S. My butt is really not liking my bike saddle at this point.

Wednesday.

Crazy train officially boarded. Wednesday presented a problem. It was mission critical to get in some miles, but Becky has made surprise plans for our evening after work, so a ride then is out. On Monday, while talking to Chad I joked that to win this thing I'm gonna have to bike to and from work. Not that funny except I live about 35 miles from the office. After I got off the phone with him however, the idea started to make a lot of sense. For the last hundred or so miles I've been able to maintain about a 16.5 mph average. So for 35 miles it should only take just over 2 hours. I don't have to be to work until 9 am, so leaving at 6:30 actually is doable. It doesn't take much for my brain to convince itself that it has a good idea, and before you know it, the alarm clock was buzzing and I was on the bike riding to work. Here's a map of the ride. 35 miles is way longer than 20, which makes me a little freaked out, cause 100 miles, is way, way, waaay longer than 35 miles. Yikes, I guess it's good that we are pushing each other to ride this much. The ride actually went pretty well. I underestimated how much hauling my laptop and change of clothes in a back pack would wear on me, and the wind seemed to have it out for me, but I kept churning the cranks and I made it. Luckily it was nice and cool, almost too cold when I started, so I arrived at work on time and not too foul smelling. As you can tell from the elevation map on the route, there were 2 significant hills. My first 2 hills ever really. The first was only about 2 miles from my house, I was still fresh and put it behind me without too much trouble. The second however was about 27 miles into the ride and was a doosey. It is a notoriously steep hill, and having driven up it countless times, so the whole ride I had a clear picture in my mind of the unpleasantness that awaited me. I literally had to to the "I think I can" thing in my head the whole way up, but I made it, no stopping, and I was paid off big time. The down side of the hill was great and I set a new max speed on my bike, 39 mph, sweet. The best part of this whole plan. Becky's surprise plans for us tonight include picking me up at work. Jackpot. I got in 35 miles for the day, and I don't even have to ride home.

Wed. Continued.

Becky's surprise B-day present to me was a flying lesson. Ridiculously awesome! Here is a picture of me after my first flight. It was a ton of fun and I hope to get some more flying in soon. Thanks to Mike and all those at Premier Flight Center in Hartford.

Thursday...D-Day

Today is the last day that counts towards April's total, so it's do or die time. We have agreed to all get on the phone and do a group update around 8 or 9 tonight. It will get the suspense over with, plus this will allow for personal verbal jabs and abuse instead of swapping emails of questionable content all day long tomorrow. There have been some emails floating around today and from the looks of it, we are all pretty close in mileage. Clint has gotten in 4 good rides this week, Chad three, with plans for a fourth tonight, and you know what I've been up to. I will be riding tonight. I'm hoping to get in about 20 or so miles to finish the month and hopefully that will be enough. Depends on how long their rides have been obviously so I still think it's up for grabs. We'll see.

Thursday, continued.

Just what you wanted more information. I just got in from my ride tonight and it was my first magical bike ride. Magical might be a bit strong of a word, or a bit but I'm sure you real cyclists out there know what I'm talking about. Tonight was the first time that I could just keep going. It was weird, I've had a few runs in my day that just felt great, and I had the sense that I could just keep running forever. It doesn't happen often, at least not for me, but when it does, it's awesome. Until tonight, I didn't know what that was like on a bike. It was pretty great. My legs some how just kept going. Even after all the riding I've been doing this week, I couldn't burn them out tonight. I set out to get in 20 miles, and wound up getting in 35 cause I just wanting to keep pushing it, to see how far I could go. I'm not naive enough to think this is going to be a regular thing, but man was it fun. I stopped at home, ready to end the ride, but I was only a few miles away from 250 total miles for the month, so I said Hi to Becky, told her the situation and that I was thinking of heading back out for a few more quick miles. She said go for it, and I was off again. Weird that I could just keep going, I really hope I feel like this come race day, cause it would be a big help. Anyway, like I said, I got in about 35 tonight so my monthly total has doubled in the past four days and I'm up to 251.1 total miles for April. If the boys beat me, they earned it for sure. This was everything that I got, so we'll see if it's enough.

The End of the Month is Looming

The Mileage Challenge Get's Crazy

So I feel like I need to put up a post but at the same time, it's serious game time between Chad, Clint and myself, so I can't give away too much about mileage.

Here's what I can tell you. They may kill me, and I shouldn't speak for everyone, but the Frost boys are all very alike. It's probably fair to say that we all have a little procrastination in us however, we all also have an unbelievable sense of determination and drive when push comes to shove. For the past three weeks we've been loafing around, taking a couple rides here and there and slowly accumulating mileage for this mileage challenge not to mention our century training. Now, at the very end of the month, Chad turns it on and the spark has been lit for everyone. Clint has been an animal this week, having already put on 40+ miles by yesterday afternoon. Chad got in 25 on Monday and has been silent since. I squeaked in a ride Monday before I went to NYC but that's all I can give away.

So here we are, the month ends tomorrow at midnight, it's anyone's game, so we'll see what happens. No matter what, the best thing that has come out of this is the fact that we're all out riding. I know, like I mentioned the other day, we shouldn't need a mileage challenge and cash on the line to get us out of the house and into the saddle, but life happens, we all got stuff going on, so this is working for now. I can't wait to see the lengths that my brother's go to claim the number one spot, it should be an interesting post on Friday.

Mileage Monday Gets Interesting

A note about the blog - Comment moderation was turned on for some reason, which resulted in a few of you not seeing your comments posted immediately. Sorry about that, I have switched the settings, and now you should be able to post comments without delay. Enjoy. - NC

Chad Kills it This Week

Ouch. One word pretty much sums it up. Going into this week, Chad had been bringing up the rear in a big way. He's been crazy busy at work, and he's got two young kids that are into a lot of stuff. Clint and I have been doing moderately well in taking advantage of this but apparently not well enough. Chad rocketed onto the scene by putting on 82 miles this week. Yup, you read right, 82 miles last week alone. That's twice as much as he had done in total leading up to last week.

Calculated Timing.

This is what I think happened, although I may be giving Chad more credit than I should. He has known for some time now that Clint and I were going up to ski/ride Tuckerman's Ravine last weekend. Chad, rightfully so, was a little bummed about not being able to go this year, but I think he was plotting all along to wait until this, the last weekend of the month, to pounce. He rode enough this month to stay within striking distance but not too much that it would make Clint and I worry about adding a couple miles here or there to lengthen our leads. Then, while Clint and I were enjoying the avalanches and perfect weather on Mount Washington this past weekend, Chad turned it on and is now effectively tied for the lead. Whether or not this was premeditated or not, I guess it doesn't much matter. I have to say, the mileage challenge is working for sure. There is no way that I would have gone out for a ride last night if I hadn't been thinking about the competition. The day before, we hiked for about 6 hours with untold vertical feet thrown in there. My legs were not happy with me when I tried to get off the couch, let alone trying to pedal my butt down the road. I know, I know, I should just be getting out to ride for the love of riding, and purists will scoff at this, but I'm a noncyclist remember. We all need a little push once in a while, right. Anyway, it's all about the numbers so here they are.

April Totals Thus Far

1st - Clay: 125.5 miles

2nd - Chad: 125.0 miles

3rd - Clint: 110.4 miles

And here is the photographic evidence for me and Chad, Clint seems to be resistant to getting his photo in on time, but we believe him.

Chad's mileage, finally a hand gesture that's both positive and family friendly.

Here's mine, finally over the 100 mile mark on my bike.

OK, so that was the last Mileage Monday of April but the month isn't over yet. Here is how the rest of the month is going to go down. The final mileage picture for the month must be submitted by 11:59 pm Thursday night, the last day of April. Any mileage not properly documented by then will not count. The winner of the Mileage Challenge for April will be announced on Friday and the donations made by the losers (I mean non-winners) soon after. My guess is that the boys are going to be playing it pretty close to the vest this week. I know I'm gonna be pressed to get in some riding but I'll do my best. I have to head into the city tonight, and Wed. and Thurs. Becky has some surprise B-Day plans for me. Sounds awesome, but that leaves me with only Tuesday to really do some damage. Wish me luck.

What a Ride.

Where do I even begin?

As you know I'm short on mileage this week and really needed to squeeze in a ride tonight. It just so happens that my company's first softball team practice was tonight. Being the captain that I am, I couldn't miss it and it turned out to be a great time, (we're going to have a blast this season) but it meant that I didn't get home from work until 6:40ish. On my way home Becky called and upon hearing that I was still a half hour away, said that she was going to eat. Perfect, I can get home, change, head out for a ride in no time, and warm up my dinner later.

I get home however, to her just pulling dinner out of the broiler. Yes, she's a sweetheart and waited for me. Yes, it was a double edged sword 'cause I wanted to get out on the road ASAP. Yes, my common sense could be called into question; the whole signing up for a bike race without owning a bike thing, but I'm wise enough to know that when the wife waits to have dinner with you, you sit and enjoy dinner. Dinner was great, ahi tuna burgers, and I didn't even rush it (too much). Although, as I was chowing, I was contemplating how this would effect my ride. More on that later.

With dinner over, I hurry up and change and get out on the road. The only thing worth mentioning here is that this change included some new biking attire. My father-in-law Larry, besides being kind enough to loan me his bike, also saw to it, to outfit me with some new gear. Awesome. He got me a high vis Pearl Izumi biking vest. When I say High Vis, I mean shield your eyes, HIGH VIS. Exhibit A. (and this picture doesn't even do it justice)Basically the perfect garment for this ride, as it would soon be dusk. So my new vest and I roll out of the garage and get pedaling. For the most part, while still light years away from being a real cyclist, I'm feeling pretty confident these days. I can get in and out of my pedals, I'm getting my cadence and speed up, and I can even wipe my nose while riding without swerving around. Everything about this particular ride so far was falling right in line with this new found confidence, but oh how quickly things can change.

Here I must admit that I am breaking the cardinal rule of any good cyclist or boy scout; always be prepared. I'm sure it doesn't really surprise you that I don't yet carry around a tube and pump, but I bet it's a little disappointing. So around the halfway point is where this ride started to derail a bit. I was forced to the side of the road a little further than I would've liked by a passing motorist and found myself riding over some sand, rocks and glass. The last one being the most concerning, especially when you hear it crunch under a tire and then ping out from underneath it like it was coming out of a sling shot. After hearing that, I'm now on high alert for a flat tire. It would sure be a nuisance, but I had my cell phone so it wasn't panic mode, but it was like my senses were in overdrive. Every little bump, hum, wobble, or new noise made me look down to see what was going on. No flat yet, but it was the beginning of the dominoes falling.

When it rains it pours. I now have my first real encounter with an automobile. I'm riding along, still semi worried about the tires, when up ahead on the left, I see a car about to pull onto the street that I'm riding on. This young woman saw me, how could she not, and proceeded to pull out. OK, no problem yet, we're both going the same direction, plenty of room, my parents taught me how to share, so it's fine at this point. By the time she makes the turn onto "my" street, I am right on her bumper. Now, if she had just accelerated away, this wouldn't be much of a run in, but she didn't. She's didn't really accelerate much at all, and I had about 3.7 milli seconds to think this is a little weird, until it all made sense. I wouldn't accelerate much either if I was going to make another immediate turn. Yup, not only did she pull out in front of me, now she is taking the next immediate right hand turn, crossing right in front of me. Blinker you ask? Ha... why would she use a blinker, that would tip people off to her next move and that wouldn't be much fun at all. Let's just say, that I can now somewhat control my bike when the brakes lock up, and I managed to not rear end her. I'm sure these stories are a dime a dozen amongst seasoned cyclists, so let's keep moving. This is getting long winded.

That was right around the halfway point, and I made it to about a mile and a half away from my house until the next incident. I thought I was home free; no flat tire, I didn't hit that lady, but no, it was just getting interesting.

So I'm rolling along at a pretty good clip, when I see some fellow bike riders. I'm heading down my street and there are heading up a street that will soon meet the one I'm on. There happens to be a big clearing on this corner, and no building close to the road, so you could see us converging on the same corner for quite a bit. No joke, you couldn't have timed this better if you tried. Right as they were turning onto the street I was on, I was coming through the intersection. At this point, my mind is racing a bit and trying to figure out my options. When I first saw them, I thought maybe they won't be heading my way, but now clearly they were. Another problem was that I was rolling along at about 20 or so miles an hour on a flat road and they had just turned onto that road having come up a slight incline, and having just made a turn.

Option A: Squeeze the brakes, and fall in behind them.

Option B: Continue my original heading and speed, and pass them.

I don't know if there is any cycling etiquette for a situation such as this, so I had to make a quick decision. Option A seemed a little weird to me. I was thinking I would feel a little like the uninvited dork who shows up to the jocks party after prom. They didn't ask to go for a ride with me, they don't know me, so I chose Option B.

I didn't know any proper protocol, but I managed to say "On your left" and one of the guys, also decked out in some high vis gear, said go ahead buddy and waved me by as I passed. I think I heard the other one say something too, like "take us home" or something like that, I don't know and at the time I didn't care as I had other things now on my mind. As soon as I was passed them, I regretted my option selection. I suddenly realized that now I'm in front. What did he say? Are they gonna speed up? They were just coming off a little uphill and a turn, maybe they normally fly along at 25 mph. So now what? Well, I decide to do the same thing I always do during this part of the ride. It a nice, gradual downhill for about 3/4 mile and normally I like to get up some speed. Also, I didn't want to seem like the punk who just passed them and is now slowing them down, so speed seemed like a good choice. So now I'm turning it on, cruising along at about 26-28 mph and wondering if they're back there. I felt like turning and looking back would give a weird vibe, like I'm trying to hold onto the lead until the finish line or something, so I didn't look back.

I did however, need to spit. Yes, I'm still crazy snot filled, and I needed to halk a loogie. (I must've said that 10,000 times in my life, but that's the first time I've ever written it...humm, wierd and a little gross, and that can't be spelled right, oh well) Anyway, you can see where this is going. I go to spit said loogie, and out of the corner of my eye, as it's leaving my mouth, I see him. He's right on my wheel. Probably normal in cycle land, but I've never had anyone that close, especially going almost 30 mph. Not only am I a bit startled, not only am I trying to go as fast as I can, but now I'm also spitting towards a total stranger. Like I said, it was already out of the barrel, no stopping it now, so I immediately get out a "Sorry man" to which he replied "No problem". Really? No problem? Cause I'm pretty sure I just spit in your general direction. Granted, I put some muscle behind it, so the really gross part shouldn't have made direct contact with my cycling stranger, but surely he got some residual mist action. Again gross, I should've put a parental warning on this post, although kids love gross.

Anyway, now I'm a little embarrassed, still a little nervous being in the lead of this unplanned, make shift paceline and not to mention winded, snotty, and my legs were about to go on strike. About a half mile later there was a fairly major intersection, so I used it as my excuse to slow down. I figured if they were still back there, they could take the lead and hopefully not spit on me. I got past the intersection, slowed down, but no one passed me. I gave it a minute, but then did look back, and they were gone. The craziest couple minutes I've spent on a bike so far.

Fellas, if you're out there, you have my apology. Now you know, that guy who passed you wasn't some inconsiderate cycling jerk, but rather a nervous newbie, not really knowing what he was doing, making questionable decisions. I owe you a beer or something and would love to actually go on a ride with you all, especially since you gotta know better routes than I do. If you live in CT and know 2 guys that ride together in Meriden, forward this to them for me would ya, thanks.

Anyway, there you have it, the most eventful/interesting/confidence shattering ride to date, and certainly the longest blog to date. If you made it this far, good for you, you're a champ.

Thanks for reading.

Gotta Get in Some Riding Today.

It's been an ugly week here in the northeast and rain has kept me out of the saddle all week. Today may be the only day I can ride, although I won't be home from work until probably 6:30. Tomorrow Clint and I are heading up to Mount Washington for the last snowboarding trip of the season, backcountry at Tuckerman's Ravine. It's going to be awesome and I will bless you with photos and hopefully helmet cam video on the blog come Sunday, but it means that cycling Friday and Saturday is out. Sunday I may have time to ride, but my legs will be fresh off about 8 hours of serious hiking and snowboarding on 50 degree pitch, so mashing the pedals may prove difficult. Bottom line, my mileage is going to be even weaker than normal if that's possible, and the door is wide open for Chad to dominate Clint and me this week.

I know we have to step it up if we're going to be ready in 121 days for the 100 mile race.

On a more positive note, fundraising has officially begun and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the donations and well wishes. Many people responded very quickly and I'm always impressed with the generosity of my family and friends, not to mention my new (many anonymous) blog friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

If you are contemplating a donation please seriously consider how cancer has affected you and your loved ones. If you're like me and have ever been hurt, angered, scared, or saddened by cancer, please help in this fight and make a donation. You can click here to make a secure donation online. Big or small, it all helps and together we really can make a difference. Cliche I know, but it's very true. Team Fatty has truly banded together and when you get a group of liked minded people together, focused on a common goal, good things happen. So far we have raised $159,315.00 and the total goes up everyday thanks to you guys. Keep up the good work, and thanks again!

Official Mileage Monday Update

I know it's Tuesday, but blame it on Clint.

Clint broke radio silence and weighed in late last night with his mileage and some pictures. To his credit he was on a couple business trips last week so things got a little dicey for him training wise. Since he was out of town, but in an effort to make sure he could still get in some documented mileage, Chad came up with what he likes to call the time/distance warp continuum to calculate the mileage that Clint got in on a stationary bike in his hotel gym. Even if you don't bike, you can guess that putting down 20 miles on a stationary bike in a gym is a lot different than 20 miles on the road. It got a bit complicated and kudos to Chad for his creativity but here is the lowdown. In his own words this is what Chad came up with...

"My take on the spin bike - It can somewhat count. I think it's way easier to rack up mileage and MPH on those, than outside. So I don't trust the mileage number they put out. That said I don't think you should be docked all the spinning time (although for the sake of me winning, I wish otherwise). Here's what I propose. A time / distance warp continuum. Take your average speed of your last several rides, and use that against the time you ride. However, to keep you honest, and make sure you don't just spin at 1mph for 10 hours, you have to show photographic evidence of time and distance ridden. We will accept the lesser of the two (time warp continuum calculation / distance on machine)

Sound good? of course it does - I just talked to you about it on the phone. Any issues Clay?"

I did not have any issues with it and luckily after all that, Clint put it into use and racked up 13.5 (adjusted) miles while in his hotel gym. Props to Clint for getting off his butt and into one of those small, dark, funky smelling hotel "gyms" while on a business trip. In his own words, here is his evidence and his calculations.

"Now for the calculations: According to the stationary bike, I rode 16.73 miles in 45 minutes. That works out to an average speed of 22.3 mph. Based on my last 4 or 5 rides I have been averaging right around 18 mph so it does seem that Chad was right and the computer may be a little generous with the mileage counting. So then we include the continuum calculation and say I averaged 18mph for the 45 mins I was on the bike and I get a total of 13.5 miles. Since we agreed to take the lesser of the 2, that means I should have 13.5 miles to add to my weekly total for next mileage Monday. Sound good to you guys?"

It did sound good, plus then he got in another ride on his real bike. With everything added up here are the official totals.

April Totals Thus Far

1st - Clay: 93.0 miles

2nd - Clint: 80.4 miles

3rd - Chad: 43.0 miles

Mileage Monday

I think I'm holding my lead, but Clint is playing coy.

The long awaited update is here. I'll keep it short and sweet since you already had to put up with that video slide show today. Clint has been under radio silence since last Wednesday. He was at like 13 miles then I think, but I have no idea what else he may have gotten in since then. I'm actually up to 93 miles and here is my picture. My math wasn't wrong this morning, but my memory sure was. The 72.5 on the GT plus the 20.5 that was well documented on the Lotus brings me to the 93 mile mark for April thus far.
Chad got in a good ride this week, but you read right...singular not plural. He's a bit bummed but here's his picture. You can see his hand gesture this week is a bit of a downer, but definitely more family friendly.
He started at 1742, so he's up to 43 miles so far in the April Challenge.

Unofficial April Totals Thus Far
Pending Clint's Update

1st - Clay: 93 miles
2nd - Clint: 65 miles
3rd - Chad: 43 miles

There you have it, not really century training kinda miles, but we'll get there. 124 days until race day; it'll come quick but we'll be ready. Either that or we'll be really, really, really miserable the whole race, not to mention the weeks afterward.