If you know (or have learned) one thing about me it is that moderation is not my strong point.  Doing 5 hundreds this year after 3 years of not doing so much kind of fell into that category. On Wednesday night, I started to think I was kicking my cold and decided to go behind the house for a 'light hike'. My light hike turned into an hour + of trail running on pretty rough terrain. The only walking I did was when I feared I was going to bust my face open on a rocky descent or boulder field and I probably would have gone farther had I not feared my headlamp battery was on the brink of death. I haven't run in a long time. Okay, so I'm a SSer and I am off the bike and walking/trotting/dragging the bike a lot, but it's not the same. My engine felt great and it wasn't enough time for my tendons and joints to scream at me. Thursday, I didn't feel so awful. I even bragged about it a little because Mike told me I was going to be crippled. Today, well that's another story. I feel like I am going to pull a hammy getting in and out of the car and my cold seems to have come back with a vengeance. On the bright side, I covered more ground in that time than I ever have. So I'm gonna say it was worth it.  I will never learn....and maybe I don't want to. 

Sickety Sick

Where have I been, you ask? Well, I've been in a post-Shen/hundred cold/flu funk, that's where. Not feeling so bloggy lately. I had a feeling the night sweats I had the two nights before Shen were not a fluke. Looking back, my snot rockets during the race were more productive than usual. I thought it was allergies and my body reacting to some flora that we don't have in Northern NJ. I've been out of the office for a few days and today was the first day I showed my face and I have to say that I didn't get rave reviews. I was told I still look and sound like crap. Actually, I was told I sound like a man. At least they didn't say I look like a man. It's a tough crowd. If you ever want an honest opinion about yourself I'll give you the address to my office because they'll tell you. It may hurt a little, but sometimes it's good to know where you stand.

I've really not done a thing that resembles any sort of activity since Shen. I've wanted to, but couldn't get my sweaty, snotty self off the couch to do so. I did go with Mike to the Riedlbauer's Round Top Rally in NY. It's one of my favorite courses and I was really bummed I couldn't race it or bring my bike to even ride a lap. I had delusions of running a lap. That grand plan was kiboshed when I carried Mike's bottles to the feed zone and I was wheezing and hacking. I had to sit down and rest. I was better off just sitting in one place and feeding Mike. I'm hoping I can kick this soon and that it does not go into my chest. My immune system isn't the best ever and for those of you who have or know people with certain auto-immune diseases, well, our bodies sometimes like to go from a common cold to pneumonia with the awesome bronchitis label in between. The doctor and hospital visits have been kept to a minimum this year and I'd like to keep it that way.

I have a few things I'd still like to do this year. I'm not used to this whole setting and completing a goal thing so I've been pretty content and not too worried about having some forced rest time. I'll probably do a local road metric on Sunday and hopefully, learn a new route or two from the house to keep the winter more interesting. There probably will be some Iron Cross in my future and maybe, just maybe, the Terror of Teaberry. I may even tag along with Mike and attempt a few cx races. That'll be entertaining and horrifying for all parties involved. I'm also just looking forward to being on my bike and enjoying the fall. There will definitely be some bike squatchin in my future. The good bike stays home and the old faithful beat up ss will come back out to be thrown, dragged and hiked across Northern NJ. Can't wait.

SM100

Well, that was a rough one. I knew the day before when we were spinning our legs out and it was raining that Sunday was going to make for an interesting day. 300+ of my closest friends ripping through the wet trails before I got there would make for some mud and slop. The start was uneventful. I didn't remember the flat road section being so freaking long last year. Maybe because I had gears last year. I tried to just chill and not overspin for what I knew was coming. I got to the climbs and my legs didn't feel as chipper as I would have liked for a full day on the SS ahead. I eased off and really tried to chill out. I've been having some left leg-hip-IT band issues lately and a couple of times I had to stop and pull over a stretch it out. It was so tight and uncomfortable that it felt like someone had a string tied to my knee cap and was trying to pull it off my body. I'm sure I looked like an idiot. After a couple of hours, things started to warm up and cooperate.

There were times it was pouring so hard that I couldn't see a thing. It was the kind of rain where the taste of all the crap and funk that has built up in your helmet over the season was now in your mouth. Mmmmm. Sunscreen, sweat and bugspray. I would put my glasses on to act as a shield against the crap getting in my eyes on the road sections, but there was no seeing out of them. I just prayed I didn't hit a pot hole or rut as I rode blind down some of the gravel roads. 



It was pouring as I was riding down US 250 to Bridge Hollow (I think that's what it was). This section is not SS friendly. It felt like it went on forever. As I was riding, there were MANY riders going the opposite direction. They had pulled the plug. Mass exodus. I knew there was an interesting hike-a-bike section coming up. I turned in and rode across the rocky creek, into the trail, dismounted and started my trek up. There was literally a stream coming at me off the trail. It was not an easy walk because it was so muddy and slippery. I remember it being a bitch last year and it was dry then. Soon there were more people coming towards me and trying to get back to the road and call it quits. I negotiated around them on the tight, slick, bench-cut trail one at a time. One guy told me that if I was smart, I would turn back. Luckily, I rarely take advice advice from strangers and slogging through horrible trail conditions is definitely my strong suit. I remember being able to ride a good part of that singletrack after the hike-a-bike last year. Not this year. I couldn't get any traction in the rear and I was burning matches every time I tried to ride. It was a long hike. I got to the last piece of singletrack before the Aid Station 4 and could ride a little more through the slop. I actually was pedaling on the downhills and was on top of the gear. If I stopped pedaling, the slop would stop me in my tracks. I made it to Aid Station 4, got an eye wash (they were gritty and burning), filled a bottle with water and carried on. I knew this was where it was going to get interesting. I only had 2 hours to make it ~20 miles to Aid Station 5 to make the cut-off for those who did not have lights. I could have quit right then. I actually felt pretty good. I decided that if I'm not going to finish it was going to be because they had to pull me off the course. Being conservative early helped and I was able to stay on the bike a lot more than I did last year on the climb all the way to Aid Station 5. I made the cut-off by 10 plus minutes. Some mean man told me I didn't. I fought with him. I had a few violent thoughts about him. A lady working the aid station told him he was wrong about the cut-off time (he was). As they were bickering and calling to verify, I snuck away. Screw him. I felt better than I had felt all day at this point. I knew I was making it home.

I'm not great with trail names, but after Aid Station 5 there is something I like to call the climb to the "Meadow of Death". There were mud holes last year for a dry race. Imagine what it looked like this year. It was a slog fest. It's rolling with some steeps that I had to get off because I was going nowhere. Even on the flats it was hard to pedal forward because of the pudding like mud. It was leg sapping, to say the least. I passed about 10 + people here. Carnage.

Made it to Aid Station 6 and knew I only had 12 miles to go. I had one more climb to go and you could not wipe the smile off my face at that point. I grabbed my bottle with calories out of my drop bag  and carried on for the final push. After the climb I knew what was left. Some false flats on doubletrack and a downhill that drops into the campground and into the finish. I saw two kids on bikes at one of the corners of the downhill and I knew I had made it. I rolled into the finish and my epic adventure was over (until clean-up). Although, lopping off a good chunk of last year's time didn't happen as I had hoped because of the conditions, I still came in a little quicker. That's still a win.


Please note that it is still light out and I'm drinking my celebratory IPA

Wow. It's over. It still hasn't set in that I finished 5 hundreds on the SS. I actually set a goal and was actually able to see it through without my body completely breaking down. It protested, and it's been a rough past month or so, but I pulled it out.

Thanks to my fabulous traveling buddies for a good time! I will apologize once more for the overpowering cat pee funk smell that my shoes emit. Like I said, we don't have a cat, so I'm not sure what that's about...