Monty's Account of the HHH

Monty, as a guest poster, writes about his crazy experience with the Horribly Hill Hundred:

HHH:
Man, what a ride. The 124 miles took me 8 3/4 hours. I consider that a good time. It was the lowest time of any of the Oshkosh people. It was very hot, in the upper 80s and windy. 20 mph with gusts to 31mph. And yes, it was HILLY. As a matter of fact it was all hills. Go up, go down up, down, up, down... I got a great night's sleep and I stated out very strong. The hills were melting away and I could climb them all w/o too much effort. I really didn't feel any fatigue or pain until around mile 75. Some of the hills were unbelievable. Very steep. 1st gear hoping I can keep the petals turning. And I could. But a problem was brewing, I was becoming dehydrated. I thought I was drinking enough, but as I found out I was not. It was hot, so I was sweating a lot, it was also windy so a lot of sweat was evaporating and I didn't realize it. The salt rings on my shorts and jersey should have tipped me off, but when I noticed it, it was already too late.

Before I continue, a little about the course. The first big climb is just over 3 miles. We repeat these 3 miles at the very end of the ride. But instead of turning downhill to continue the ride, at the end of the ride we turn uphill and climb just under an additional mile. In the morning we parked our cars at the top of the final climb, so I knew what was coming.

Okay, back to the ride and I'm dehydrated. My blood is thick and is no longer efficient delivering oxygen to my legs and brain. I started having trouble around mile 110. Really suffering. Hoping the only remaining climb would be the final 4-mile climb. Not so, I had another HARD climb to do, then a long downhill to the last four miles (all uphill) I started the climb doing 4-5 mph. Remember I rode this at mile 8 also and really flew up it. Not so this time. After a mile or so a guy slowly passed me, I hooked on his wheel and let him pace me. Not much of a draft at 6 mph, but it was good to follow someone. After another mile he was holding me back, so I passed him at 6-7 mph. On the previous 10-15 miles my right leg would cramp, a symptom of dehydration. Very painful and all it wanted to do was straighten out. When I came to the point where we turn right to go up the final mile I could not continue. I decided to get off the bike and walk the rest of the way. Total humiliation, walking up a hill. But my legs would have no part of it. Both legs cramped and I could not walk. I stood there leaning over my bike while others slowly climbed the hill. I didn't care. After a minute or two I was able to walk across the street and sit in the shade with my back to the road. I sat there holding my head waiting for the sag wagon for a ride up the hill. I could not continue. My heart rate was low, but I could not catch my breath. Weird. Is that another thing caused by dehydration? After 5 minutes a sag wagon appeared. "Are you okay?" I couldn't talk, I couldn't think, I couldn't be driven the last mile in a sag wagon! "Are you okay?" they repeated. I don't remember what I said. Something like I just gotta sit here a while, check back. I was still a little winded. I slowly stood up and tried to get started. I couldn't get in my clips. It took three revs to get into the toe clips. I was starting out in a steep climb. oh god.... I weaved back and forth on the street to cut the slope down a little. I slowly recovered and could maintain 4mph. I hit a short flat and then up the LAST part of the climb. It was awful. I could hardly turn the pedals over. People were lined at the edge of the road to encourage us. They were clapping, shouting encouragement saying "You’re doing good, just a little way to go!”. All I could do is shake my head as if to say "NO, I FELL LIKE SHIT, I’M DYING HERE” A kid hollered "only 50 yards to go" He might was well have said a mile to go, I could not figure out how far that was. I still could not see the finish line. I muttered "How far?" to another person. "Just around the corner" It was close. I could not look at any of the people on the side of the road, all I could do is look at the road in front of my bike. I didn't want anyone to recognize me feeling so badly. I got around the corner and there it was, the finish line!!!! I glanced at the ride time, and rode to the 1st open piece of grass and fell on my side and laid there! I slowly recovered and started eating and drinking... Proof of dehydration:The last four days I have weighed 170# in the morning. I weighed myself when I got home and I weighed 165# Now that is not bad until you hear what I ate b/4 I weighed myself.

At the end of the ride I ate and drank
3 ice cream cones
3 servings of some good veggie stuff
at least 3 quart sized water bottles of water
3 small orange juices
In the car on the way home I ate and drank
1 1/2 water bottles
a bunch of nuts and Kashi shredded wheat
At home I drank more water, then walked upstairs and weighed myself, 165#I would not be surprised if I weighed mid to lower 150s when I crossed the finish line.All in all the ride was... fun I guess. But, I will have to think hard b//4 deciding to ride it again :)

It is now a week after the ride and I am already looking forward to riding the HHH next year!

It's Wedding Season!!

So the past 96 hours have been pretty crazy to say the least. On Thursday my bro and I went down to Kenosha to get ready for my sisters wedding. We did the rehearsal thing, very informal dinner following. Woke up day of wedding and went on a pre-wedding run with Tasso, Greg, and my brother-in-law-to-be Joe. Although it was only 25 minutes my quads felt shocked...damn I'm weak when it comes to anything but circles. Afterwards the running crew plus other members of the male wedding contingent went out to Franks Diner. Franks is small, cramped, has awfully slow service, and is one of the best diners I've been to in my life. They have what is known as the Garbage Plate. The Garbage plate (ordered as half or whole...guess which one I got-think lots of food) has hash browns, ham, green peppers, and hot peppers, scrambled in 5 eggs and served with homemade toast. Joe aptly described this plate as, "an orgasm of the senses!" After the garbage experience, chill out with family, DQ, then wedding time. The service was short but elegant. The reception was really cool; there were a lot of hip non-traditional things going on. No dinner more of a schmogazport of food as buffet. No cake, but a chocolate fountain which you would dip fruit into. No obligatory cheezy DJ, but instead a live jazz band. It was the perfect wedding! I'm soo happy for my sister and Joe. I love them both soo much.

So after the nights escapades, tons of good byes at a post-game coffee get together. After Joe and I went to his uncle's house to pick up my 'new' car that has been in storage over the winter. Off to Spooner hopefully. Got on the other side of Milwaukee and stopped for Subway. Came out of gas station/subway and radiator fluid all over the parking lot from my car-shit ballz I'm thinking. I start the car up, engine hot, radiator leaking, turn off. At this point a series of bad circumstance came together to create one of the worse possible situations imaginable. I had left my cell phone in someones car and Dan left so early that morning that I didn't think to grab my wallet out of his camera bag, so basically I was screwed. I asked the dude behind the counter at the gas station if I could use his phone. Called Joe (the only number I had) and he said he'd be there in a jiffy. He arrived looked at the car, asked the guy behind the counter if he knew of a mechanic that would be open. He made a call and minutes later a dude (Adam) in a Jeep came rolling in. Looked at, new radiator for sure. Made a call, found one. Joe and I were off to pick it up. Came back Adam brought his tools and started to tear the old one out in the parking lot. Threw the new one in--bam! Adam, the coolest dude I know! On the road 3 hours later.

I only made it to EC Saturday night, but in the morning I flew up to Spooner for the 12 hours at the Park. In my hurry to get up there I had for gotten my shoes-fuck. Borrowed some from Matt, thanks a ton, that were a size too small so I didn't wear socks. Race started Lemonds style. Lap times were sub 30 mins so they were hot! The first two laps were really me trying to find my lugs, cause I hadn't done anything basically the whole week before. Eventually I got used to the pain as I found out the main difficulty of endurance races-eating. Eating between the first laps was really hard, but as the race went on my body's needs took over as I started eating doughnuts and fruit. To make things more competitive the three teams that were doing the race evened up. Chase, Grant, Derrilick and I made up team foreskin which ended up 3rd out of 3 and way back. Chad's team took second in a heated battle that was decided the final laps. Jez and Josh's team brought home the W with hard efforts being put forth. The course was perfect, the planning right on, the venue great, the schwag bountiful. Mad props go out to Chad, Chase, and all who were involved in throwing that together.

The Aussie... Chase really had to lower the lizard level....

Chad after 12 hours of riding...

My feet after 12 hours of riding without socks in shoes that are one size too small...

The teams, now that's comaraderie...

So back in EC today, letting the dust settle. Basically I need some RnR. Sorry for the length lots happening. Peace.

Fun on Two Wheels

This past weekend was a blast I have to say, but it wasn't always that way. I left EC Saturday with the Bros as well as Matt and Jez and stayed in a crapped hotel room in Green Bay 0nly to wake up Sunday morning with rain. Reluctantly we all loaded the Blazier up and headed over to the adjacent Denny's for some b-fast. Crazy busy there, ended up in smoking section (good one liner: having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a pool), moved to a fridged non-smoking section, tons of food, and we're off. We arrive at the venue, which they made a mockery of but did eliminate the road race aspect of the previous staging area, to find that the rain that was previously soaking us from our car to restaurant walk now was down graded to a mist. We rolled over to registration. As I was sitting there signing here dating there, I looked up from the park bench where I was seated only to see mud-clad racers running/riding/cursing their bikes as they made their way across the road section. I looked back down at the half-written out check, then back up at the struggling sport racers...a decision had to be made. To race or not to race--that's not really a question. I didn't freeze my ass of all winter, give up drinking and ice cream, or drive 5 hours just to be a spectator. Sign name grab some extra Clif Shots.

Knowing what I know of meteorological trends I called that it was going to get really tacky out there and was going out on a limb to say that it was going to be good while warming up. Partly b/c it had altogether stopped raining and it was hot, but mostly cause i needed some motivation.

The race started out slammin' into some crazy burmed atv trail and I was sittin' pretty third wheel. I was really kind of amazed at how I felt right from the start and I tried to assure myself that I would blow it. I didn't blow it, surprisingly, but I did make a couple mistakes that will forever be engrained in my mind as mistakes to learn from. Through out the race I seemed to be on my own for a lot of it, but at one point I did pass Phil, a guy I was gunning for. He hopped on and we exchanged pleasantries while making our way through a grassy section and down an off camber section. We started climbing the rocky hill and I saw that there were three elite women on the climb. I knew that after the climb was a single track section at the bottom of the following hill, so passing might be a good idea (I say now). Phil's behind me pulls past and says "lets get past them," and lays it down trying to close the gap. I lagged on the response thinking it wouldn't happen, or it won't make a difference, or maybe just owwie, but whatever caused me to hesitate was my undoing. Phil, never to be seen again, passed all three of them and I only picked off one and got bottlenecked behind as we entered the single track. Hindsight being 20/20 I totally didn't understand how dire of a situation that one move was and that it meant the difference in maybe a couple more spots. Outside of the subsequent power outage during the chase to Phil I finished out with a satisfying 3rd in my age and 8th overall. A good race overall, the course-perfect like I expected, the competition-mostly there, and the moments-priceless. I even managed a smile during the race, which normally doesn't happen often...

This being an afterthought as I look at my pics, Jez really was enamored with the showing of BFTs--Got Parking Stall?...

The clouds this weekend were pretty picturesque...

Do I smell a changing of the guards on the horizon...
Enough with the pics. Thanks a ton to Chad and Ron K. for driving. We'll see ya'll at 12 hours at the Park baby!!

Everybody's Workin' For The Weekend

Another week down in the books doin' the CA thing here in EC and I'm lovin' it- working, training, sleeping, reading, suit buying, bike building!

Working: Well basically I've been going around to all the rooms throughout the hall and write up work orders for everything...again. Needless to say it seems tedious and arbitrary since all the work orders should've already been done, but it a "double check" thing.

Training: Crazy-Craig and I went up to Chippewa Falls to pound some nails at the Spring Street road ride. I remember the last time (and only time) I did this ride...it was about two years ago, when I just had started to actually ride voraciously, and I got dropped like I was hot and eventually got lost and had to ask for directions. This time I was determined for that not to happen. Prefacing the outcome, I have been training a butt-ton more since then and I knew I wasn't going to get dropped, but I was more worried that I wasn't going to win any of the sprints. I didn't get dropped and actually contested for 3 of the sprints who's where-abouts I didn't know so I just kind of guessed. I felt awesome though, I'd be doing threshold and above efforts and not even feel a thing except the need to push harder. So needless to say I think I'll be ready for this weekend at WORS 4.

Sleeping: Well I basically keep my own hours so it's 10 hours every night!! Some funky dreams though...foreboding...

Reading: I've been reading this book called The Map That Changed The World and it pretty damn interesting. It's a historical recount of William Smith (nice name....haha) and how, where, when, and why he drew the first geological map that included stratigraphy. Obviously this book is for a curious and scientific minded fellow, but it was a New York Time bestseller. I'm about 1/3 of the way through, and so far proves pretty good.

Suit Buying: Well I bought a suit yesterday, after about 3 shopping escapades, and it just happened to be the second suit I tried on. Pretty much it rocks and I look "balla' " as Chad would say. Next week is my Sister's wedding, which pretty much rocks my socks!! I can't wait to see all my relatives and finally see those two love birds tie it up (no Joe that isn't a Cubs reference)

Bike Building: So I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of my family (name not yet know).... She's a double lugged Cro-mo Bianchi Brava with Surly flip/flop on Open Sport rear and Surly track on O.S. in the front. Sugino crank with a 48x19 fixed ratio. Since this is my first fixed gear bike I figured I should probably roll both front and rear brakes, especially cause in EC we have a big fuckin' hill.

I have big plans for her and I!! Possibly riding to Stout and back...maybe the Euro-Trash Road Ride....hmmm that might be dangerous, but curiously arousing!?! I'm just super stoked to have a townie bike for grocery runs and pub crawls!!

Well I think I should start on my 10 hour journey through my unconsciousness. Dreams are like a box of chocolates-ya' never know what'cha gonna get! I just made that up...anywho. See ya'll at Kewaunee!

This One Had It All

The Craig-man and I rolled out today for a little taste of epic. To acheive this feat we decided to drive out of town about 20 miles in hopes that we could hit some crazy climbing south-east of 121. Ladened with drinks and powerbars to boot, we cruized through the town of Eleva to start our ride. Almost instantly I regretted the decision of leaving the arm warmers behind--it had to've been high 50s-low 60s. Starting so far south of town it was kind of wierd climbing the hills I'd would normally be climbing after an hour or riding, but that was the point. The overcast skies, occasional rain, and the cooler temperatures reminded me of a bike tour I did in Scotland when I was a junior in high school. Funny story about that, the first day had to've been like 70-80 miles and it rained, was sunny, rained, overcast, windy, crazy, and I was on my old Klein mtb suffering like a dog. By the end (raining) I was bonked out of my mind, but I did make it to the hostle alive. I went into my room, took off my soaked crap, got into some warm clothes and underneath my sleeping bag, opened up a box of granola layed it by my face and proceeded to eat-but fell asleep possibly mid-chew.

Anyways, so today was awesome I tell ya. We spent most our ride climbing up Montana Ridge, skirting along the top, or slammin' some crazy switchback decents from it. The views were simply spectacular. (this is where I'd put a picture, if I'd not forgotten the camera, of a really sweet relief photo) Up the climbs Craig and I twisted the screws trying to see when the other would crack, but we pretty much matched it up today. We stopped about an hour from the car at a general store, that was crazy back country; some old guy was makin' sandwiches and wrapping them in butchers paper for the only other people in the place. I grabbed a coke and a fig newton for the ride home. In the end we rolled into Eleva at 4 hours 70-something miles and with some blue skies--a perfect end.

Other than riding a lot, I've been occupying myself with trying to buy a suit for my sister's wedding. I think I found one that I really like, but it's pin-stripped, which is a problem since I'm in the wedding and I kind of need a black suit. We'll see what shakes out of that ordeal. Besides formal wear, I've been chillin' with H-bomb a lot catching up, b.s'in and the like...pretty boring.

Just throwing this out there, a great quote from The Usual Suspects, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he didn't exist." Peace.

Yes I'm All Lit Up Again

Ok so around hmmm the end of Alpine Valley I decided that I needed to work on my core so I can actually finish out a race without my back and upper body feeling like i was just in the gym...or jail house shower. Thinking I'd be alright for this week Ok so around hmmm the end of Alpine Valley I decided that I needed to work on my core so I can actually finish out a race without my back and upper body feeling like i was just in the gym...or jail house shower. Thinking I'd be alright for this weekend with some auxiliary exercises I headed this past weekend to the Big Ring Classic--Holy shit was i wrong. The race started out perfect I'm not going to lie. I knew that I needed to stay behind a couple people on the lead out b/c it's like a road race at that point. Chillin' out sitting 3rd wheel I was feeling great. I knew though that the single track entrance would just be a cluster-fuck so 600 m. out I nailed it past the leaders and slammed into the single track first. At this point I was in the thick of it feeling the whole comp. field breathing down my neck and trying to asses whether I feel good or not. About halfway through the first or second section of single track we started to catch up with the elite woman--no prob just pass aggressively...at least that's what I thought. I was beginning to pass a lady on her left when a dude behind me yells up to her to let us through. So what does she do...move over to the left effectively lapping my front wheel and sending me down. I got up fast and did a running leap onto the bike-chain dropped, tried to spin it on-nil', hop off to find my chain jammed between my crank arm and rings, shit-ton of dudes rally past my as i'm two-handedly jerking my chain out, hop on, hang on.

From there it was a demoralizing mental battle and survival of the fittest and smartest. The single track was crazy rocky, but the ski trails were a road race. I know that a lot of people got flats, but by the end I was almost squinting/no looking where I was going, cause I really didn't care cause I hurt so bad. I was miracle that I didn't flat or outright die out there. I road with Matt from Spooner and a dude, that I'm sorry I don't remember your name, who kept calling me Wolverine. In the end I was 5th in the age group, 24th overall and in desperate need of a massage and some more core work.

After the race Ann (my bros GF) drove me back to EC where I was greeted by a war zone of a room, and not too much food. On the up side though, Christina called last night and we're hanging out today...maybe I can get some massage action from her...we'll see. Peace out.

Take the Night Train with an Extra Pair of Jeans

Yesterday I did my normal bum-round at the OC b.s'in' and the like. While I was there Brad and Ben convinced me to roll the night ride last. I started thinking about it, but couldn't compute a night group ride to a good workout, so the only way I concluded to amend this is to ride for 2 hours before hand doing 40 mins of LT crossovers. I went out north of town hammered that out and rolled in the parking lot on 9th at 8 o clock only to find Brad. Peps started rolling in an we were off no later than 8:10. These Thursday night group rides are pretty sweet. Running 7 strong we glided along chatting. I met up with Monty talked about what we've been doing and how much we've been riding. He has something like 4500 miles on now...crazy for being 53 not 60? like I previously sermised. We hammered a little but all in all it was a fun time. I'm disappointed that I didn't do a lot more of those rides last summer. In all honesty these rides are where it's at...I came back and pounded a two fried egg sandwich with two extra pieces toast, a piece of pizza and breadstick left over from my bro--a wierd combo I know, but that's what happens when you don't have a lot to eat around the joynt. Operation recovery is in effect. See ya'll SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!!

House of Brew part I

Given that this blog is called "Coffee and Bikes" I feel that I've really been letting down the coffee chugging crowd (though bikers are of this disposition) with the lack in coffee talk. So to amend this absence in content, I've decided to start what will be an ongoing series of entries reporting on the various coffee houses that I visit. I will preface this series though in that I truely feel that the only way to get a truly 'perfect' cup of coffee is to brew it yourself, but we all know that it's hard to carry a grinder, thermometer, french press, kettle, and fresh beans on every trip you take. Also, the coffee house, appearing in England in the late 1600s and 1700s, was not just a place to drink coffee, but more of a place where ideas and concepts were born and controversy were discussed-a living public forum if you will. The same holds true today. Not only do I find myself subsidizing my standard coffee in take with coffee house brew, I often frequent coffee houses to chill with friends, study, study break, meet up with long lost's, and watch live music and poetry venues. Since I frequent a lot of shops, and have a lot of time on my hands at the present, I might as well guide the Midwest traveler to the best spots for brew in the series known as Houses of Brew. So without further...banter here's entry number 1 in the Houses of Brew...

Nestled on the corner of Main St. and Algoma in downtown Oshkosh lies a diamond in the rough- The New Moon Cafe. This cafe has been the epicenter of downtown Oshkosh since as long as I can remember. Back in the day I remember cruzing to Oshkosh to have a cup of joe there and go to the adjacent Exclusive Company to check out the new ska albums being released. Since my adolescence the New Moon hasn't changed much besides the various politically-charged art hanging from its walls. Last weekend my bro and I went to chill out and read while drinking our respective beverages (tea and coffee) on the plush semi-old couches (made chic' cause of the 'distressed' movement of furniture). We hunkered down reading, discussing, and people watching. Being at 8 pm there was a distinctly youthful crowd hanging out around the tables dimly lit by the high ceilling lights. Large windows on the west and south side converging at the apex of the street corner, are partially blocked by various potted plants and tables set up on the empty stage. While reading Into the Wild, Rilo Kiley mildly plays in the background topping of the urban/hip/art/homie feng shui resonating around the New Moon.

Today I went in to ask the owner (name not being disclosed) about the place, even though I had my own understanding of the Moon. For briefness I'll make a list of the questions and answers to make life a little easier...

Most Popular Summer Drink:
Gritty or Espresso shakes. The gritty shake is made by mixing espresso grounds in the shake where an espresso shake is obviously made with espresso.

Most Popular Winter Drink:
White Hazelnut Mochas.

Musical Acts Being Brought In:
The musical acts are widely ranged from folk, blues, to punk. Most of the bands playing are local, though he said they do have some traveling acts come in. I went to a punk cover show that played last summer and I found the intimate venue not lending well the anarchist energy of the band. Music though was real loud and the covers where of the NOFX and Dropkick variety.

The General Audience Frequenting:
The owner said that he sees anyone from kids pierced to hell to lawyers coming in for their coffee fix. From my observations I see a lot more business people early in the morning tappering off to college-aged chillers and older friends having lunch and after schools out the teenage rush holding down the night shift.

The Craziest Thing Ever Happen:
The owner was woken up at 4 in the morning by a call from the cops informing him that someone had broken into the Moon and broke the atm to get money.

My overall rating of the New Moon is a 8.5 out of 10. Its strong points are the supple couches, friendly faces, and awesome view. I'm a bit neutral on the coffee; they serve Victor Allen's lineup, which is a bit more acidic than my tastes, though I do applaud them for adding Fair Trade to their daily brew lineup. More indicative, though, of a good cafe is their espresso, which I have to say is mighty good--nice head, not too long, and little amounts of grit on the bottom. The worst part about the cafe is their "no bikes in the store" policy. I realize that they've probibily have had to deal with punk kids thrashing on their bmx bikes around the store, but what if a dude forgets his lock? Obviously that is a minor complaint and is pretty much the same where ever you go, so remember your lock. Overall though I'd have to say if you're ever in the Osh-vegas area I'd point you to The New Moon Cafe--the best in town.