Dan - LOTOJA results 2011
I just responded to a guy at work who wanted to know how my ride went. So I'll paste that same response here. I read Ladd's report. I want to second his comments about all the great help we got and for those who let us borrow the van and trailer, sleep at their house, great support crew, etc. We were spoiled!
We started together as a team and I was hoping to stay with the team until the first major climb that started about 35 miles into the ride. I think we were averaging around 24 MPH for the first 20 miles. It was our team plus a number of other riders that were in the same classification and start time as us. Then one of the other riders went to the front and ramped it up to 27-28 MPH and I couldn’t hold on. So I fell off the back and was pretty much on my own from there.
The three major climbs were harder than I thought. Mainly because there was a fairly stiff headwind. The summit of the third and last major climb came at about mile 110. The last 2 miles of that climb had been at 7-8 percent grade. At that point I didn’t think I had the energy or the time left to get to the finish. But I felt like I should keep pushing hard and keep on pace to finish to give myself a chance. If I ran out of gas at some point I would know I tried.
Luckily I made good time coming down off the climb and into the next stop at mile 125. I am guessing I had a tailwind through there. At the feed station Jon gave me a good pep talk and convinced me to hop on with another group that was leaving at the same time as I was. That was a lifesaver. I was able to draft with that group for the next 35 miles to the next feed station at mile 160.
After stocking more energy stuff and water, I started OK, but was definitely feeling tired. The group I had drafted with came up behind me and told me to hop on again. I was able to work with them for just a few miles then fell off the back. I didn’t have the energy. At that point I was sure I had bonked and was done for the day. But I decided to cram all the energy stuff I could stand into my system and drink a bunch of electrolytes and see if I could recover. It was hard. The terrain was mostly flat with some rollers. I think I was only sustaining in the 12-15 MPH range at the time. But after 10 minutes or so the fuel kicked in again and I was able to ramp up the pace.
Near the top of a small climb there was a man on the side of the road with water for any that needed it. It was not one of the official stops. I stopped and remarked that I didn’t think I could make it by the 8:15 deadline but I would gladly fill up my water keep plugging along. He told me he had heard they were going to keep the finish open until 8:30. That gave me renewed resolve to push myself. I think I had just over 20 miles to go at that point. Over the next while this same man drove ahead and pulled off the side of the road and cheered for me as I went by. Probably 4 times.
With about 10 miles to go it was dark. I had brought lights for the bike but didn’t have them with me. So I rode in the dark for the last 30 minutes. I was worried at any moment the race officials would pull off the side of the road and tell me to quit riding. But it never happened. I could feel parts of my body start to feel numb. Kind of weird. Like my lip, my hands, and parts of my right leg. And of course anything sitting on the saddle. My feet were cramping and burning like somebody pointed a blowtorch at them. But I finally pulled into the finish at 8:40. They were just putting away the last of the finisher medals. But I got one.
Looking back, the only thing I would change is to sign up for the fun ride class instead of the citizen race class. Then my start time would have been almost 2 hours earlier. I could have used more time. But no complaints. As I hear from my nieces and nephews all the time... It was epic!!!
Inspiring!
Dan, you are the MAN! What Dan did took some serious mental toughness. The rest of us were so impressed with what you did buddy; as the kids say, "mad props". It is one thing to ride with friends for support and a regular rotation, but to tough it out solo is off the chart hard core. You have had quite the year between Iron man and LOTOJA. Those are a never in a life time to once in a life time event for most people, but you go ahead and pack them both in to the same year. If George Costanza can have a "summer of George" then I declare this the year, "The year of Dan"!
Everything Rob said
And then some Dan! You definitely get the tuff guy award. Way to grind it out til the end.
As for me, well, I have had much better days on the bike. The human body is a peculiar thing. I had thought going into LOTOJA that the first 100 miles would be hard but was worried how my body would react once we got past that point. The furthest I had ridden before LOTOJA was 110 miles so anything beyond that was unknown territory for me. I coul tell early on that my legs weren't feeling fresh but once we got to the climbs I fell apart. Steve Olsen was great and pulled me up the first climbed. It was frustrating not having my legs perform the way I am use to. My heart rate was low but I just didn't have any power. Going into the second climb I couldn't even hang with the group on the gradual climb and when the climb kicked up my left hamstring started to cramp. I figured out that if I soft pedaled it made it worse so I kept the pressure on and was able to ride through it. After the second climb I felt even worse and a while later I called up to the guys and told them we may get to a point where they just need to go on without me. Don Larson asked, "Why are you talking like that?" I wanted to tell him because my legs felt like you know what but I just said my legs don't have any juice in them. I ended up getting dropped on the next false flat leading up to the next climb but was able to latch onto the back on another group I caught. Rob fell back with me (I will let him tell his story) and at the base of the climb we were both running low on water. I asked a very nice lady if she had some water she could give me and not only did she give me water she gave Rob and I some Ibprofen and peach wedges we could squeeze out of a mini water bottle. It was a life saver. I climbed that final climb at around 5.9 mph or just over. I felt like I could have gone faster walking. It was brutal. Don later told me that when he saw me at the top he thought I was going to cry I looked so miserable. So here is the peculiar part. At that point we had 100 miles to go and my legs finally decided to wake up. I could actually accelerate and recover. From that point on the ride actually became enjoyable for me. My neck and shoulders were sore but not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. We pacelined and just kept picking people off. It was awesome to see the strength of our team. When people would latch on to us as we passed they would draft for a while but it wouldn't take too long for us to just ride them off our wheels. It was cool. As we came into Jackson I thought we were done and peeled off the side and told Matt, " Bring us home! You earned it." Then he responds " Bring us home? We still have 14 miles." My heart sunk. I went from, "Yes we made it" to "Crap 14 MORE miles!" I think the worst though was when I saw the 5K sign. Those were the longest kilometers of my life but the feeling of accomplishment as we rolled through the finish line was awesome. I couldn't have done it without my awesome teammates and friends.
You are the "men"
You guys are awesome! You are my heroes and sounds like you definitely had a epic ride. Dan, you are the man, unbelievable. Way to mentally fight. Wish I was there, but it is great to live vicariously and read your stories!! Maybe you guys will be up for it another year and I can tag along - yah? - what do you think? I'm crazy right?