MSers Training in 2014

[Veronica]

Hi all: So while several of the South West crew were Pedaling Los Pueblos ( whose stories I am eagerly awaiting!), I was in Norwalk, Ct. Paddling Los Aguas! That's my translation for the Lighthouse to Lighthouse Race out of Shady Beach. My first kayak race. What a hoot! This was the East Coast Championship event for Surfskis ( very sleet, and FAST kayaks) in addition to racing open to all " Human Powered Crafts". You could do a 14 mile paddle or a 7 miler on the Long Island Sound. There were kayaks, singles and doubles, rowboat, dragon boats and stand up paddlers...about 160 boats total. My ski instructor, and now good buddy is a paddle guru and talked me into doing the 7 miler with him in a tandem kayak. It was a terribly hot and humid day, but I did fine with it.... We finished in a respectable time, they didn't need to tow us in, I didn't freak out when the turnaround buoy just seemed to get farther and farther away, and I didn't cause us to tip. So success in my book! And it was a needed break from "Trike Training"..... I've enclosed two photos....of us coming in.. and getting our GOLD! ( The only ones in our category...oh well, a medal is a medal....) Fun, fun, fun. And the beer after never tasted so good....

[teena marie]

Veronica, beautiful! Gold medal is pretty impressive-no need to say anything else.I've frequently been encouraged to kayak. I keep saying I prefer being in the water as opposed to being on the water. Although, a friend recently tried dragon boat and I was thinking I might like to try. Good for you to be mixing up your exercise routine.

Take care,

Teena Marie

[Marinadca]

That is awesome Veronica! The pictures are awesome

[AMFADVENTURES]

Pedal los Pueblos, 2014

Pedal los Pueblos … this ride just gets better and better every year. I wondered how New Mexico MS could top last year, the addition of the beer truck being the cherry on top of an already super ride, but they did! The climb up to the Puye cliff dwellings was spectacular, truly exceptional! Thank you Maggie for making that happen. And of course, dear Krista, whose volunteers once again were impeccable. If I get to cast a vote for best rest stop, it would have to go to the Polynesian theme folks on day 1. How can you top mango juice and a fist size brownie served up by a couple of hot Polynesian babes at exactly the time you need a little energy and encouragement to get to the finish line. This really is a remarkable ride, as difficult as a cyclist wants to make it but with facilities as convenient as imaginable for everyone. It's no wonder so many MSers participate.

But let’s recap. Day 1.
Maybe I’m getting a little long in the tooth, or I didn’t taper quite right, or the trip to Santa Fe took a bigger toll than usual, or any number of other worthless excuses, but I only did 58 miles the first day, 29 out and 29 back. Based on the analysis of my computer data, there was no good reason for not doing the century. My heart rate was low, speed was high, cadence was good and there weren’t any show stopping hills on the route. It was a good thing neither the Hot Blond Yoga Chick nor the Bullet was with me. Neither would have let me get away with that crap.

I got in early and after a bite to eat, went back to the room for a shower and a nap. Upon my return who should I see on his trike, crossing and re-crossing the finish line like a man possessed but Dave Bexfield. It’s a smart looking trike, impressively quick and nimble and I felt obligated to coax Dave into crossing the finish line a few more times so I could get some pics. If I can ever figure out how to get them off of my ‘smarter than I am’ smart phone, I’ll put them up here somewhere.


Dinner was fabulous and Maggie had a lot of support from the New Mexico MS community assisted by Houston NMSS VIP’s. Dave presented the final episode of the “Dave Bexfield vs The Presbyterian Insurance Co.” saga, in which Dave, a.k.a. 'The Hulk', finally wins the war against the stubbornly greedy behemoth insurance company. Did I mention that the oh so appropriate theme for the evening was Superheroes.

Day 2, the Puye cliff dwellings. If there was a small silver lining to not completing the century on the first day, it was that the Puye climb was that much easier. The turnoff to the out and back road up Puye was along the same route as the turn off to Truchas and I felt a conflicted pang as we rode past it, something like “I know I could do better on that hill this year, I sure would like give it another shot”, mixed with “Thank God we don’t have to ride up that ‘Death by Bike’ monster again”. I rode on by with only minimally mixed feelings though.

On to Puye. I’d briefly seen the Puye climb on MapMyRide but it disappeared before I had a chance to fully analyze it. I thought there was a moderate climb up to a very steep two mile long segment so everything seemed to be on track as we rounded the turnoff and headed up a moderate incline.

As I expected, after about 2 miles we hit a steep pitch. We could call this one “The Gatekeeper” since it was a good 10%, although only about 1/3 of a mile long. There were several riders walking their bikes up it too, but not me of course. I had my brand spanking new “I ride with MS” jersey on, which Maggie had personally presented to me, so I felt there was no alternative but to pedal up the beast, which I did, non stop. (So, Ha, screw you MS!) My speed was around 4.5, cadence in the low 50’s, and my heart rate barely touched the red zone, a good thing since I thought there would be a little less than two more miles of this yet to come and I wanted to conserve whatever matches I had in my book. (In the cycling world one burns matches as opposed to spoons in the MS world. I like the matches’ analogy much better.) I pulled off a little past that pitch to consume a few calories and swallow some electrolytes, which I knew I’d need for the rest of the hill, and continued on toward the cliffs that were only now becoming visible far in the distance. The landscape morphed from desert to grass to trees to forest over the next several miles of gently rolling ascent and pretty soon the rest stop appeared in a beautiful setting right at the bottom of the cliffs.

That was it? That one little third of a mile 10% grade? Well, yes, apparently so! There was no 2 miles of 7.5% average grade on the way to Puye. I was surprised to find myself at the top with half a book of matches left to burn.

Everybody was at the Puye cliff rest stop. Our team captain’s wife and children greeted him as he rolled in. I ran into my most admired fellow MSer, the wife, mother, career woman, and Ironman trainee, Beth. She was looking extraordinarily fit as she mounted up with the MilesAndTrials team for the descent back down.


Of course Maggie was there, greeting riders as they came in and seeing to it that everyone was offered a cyclotini (I got a personal hug too). And Krista, walking around in remarkably good form speaking with all of the successful climbers (another hug). I think Krista's been working out.

There were a couple of riders so excited to be there and apparently also with a few matches left to burn, that they felt the need to do pushups before they headed back down. This was definitely where the party was and a cyclist only had to climb one short nasty little hill and ride a few more miles to get there.
Puye1625.jpg

The descent was thrilling and fast, almost as fast as Truchas and, with the exception of those grass skirted Polynesian women, Polynesian babes 3988.jpg the last 15 miles passed uneventfully. I decided to burn my leftover matches on the final miles, sitting and standing and hitting the last of the shallow hills on the way to the finish as hard as I could. When our team captian and contingent caught up to me, a few hundred yards from the finish, I'm afraid I didn’t have enough energy left to even draft in behind them. The team was cheering for me as I crossed the finish line though, and that alerted my wife who ran out of the tent to catch me as I began to dismount. I borrowed her shoulder to get to the tent and enjoyed the best double cheeseburger I’ve ever had in my life.

You know Pell, a person could do Truchas and Puye on day 2 if we get the same ride next year. It might take a little extra hill training, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to bring some insurance in the form of say, the Bullet or the Hot Blond Yoga Chick to insure it gets done, but it is a thought!

Pedal los Pueblos
for those who dare,

Veronica, congrats on the GOLD! The kayaking sounds fantastic and knowing how to pick your poison is half the battle even for the pro's and that much more important for an MSer. Well done.

Larry

[pawpaw]

Donuts vs hills...

Larry, you certainly make Pedal los Pueblos sound appealing. While you were climbing those hills, we were riding the Tour de Donut in Arcanum, Ohio. There was something under 600 feet of elevation change in the 64 mile route. There is nothing noble about this ride- not a fund raiser, no fabulous scenery and mostly donuts at the rest stops. The race is usually 32 miles but this year there was an option to do a double loop with 4 chances to eat donuts instead of the usual 2 stops. For each donut you eat, 5 minutes are subtracted from your time. Awards are given for the fasted time in each category, the most donuts eaten in that category and the fasted "donut adjusted" time.
We did this on the tandem as we can generally hold over 20 mph. We had no idea what competition was out there. Last year on the 32 mile route a tandem team went into negative time. We saw lots of tandems on the course but there was a 15 miles route, 32 mile and 64 mile route- all sharing the same roads and donut stops.
We had planned to eat 6 donuts- 4 for Mike and 2 for me- and maintain 20 mph while moving.
The mass start was a huge bottleneck with a combination of serious riders and old bikes found in the garage with even older riders. We had a timing chip on the bike and crossed the start line 2-3 minutes after the gun.
The field thinned faster than expected and soon we were riding in a pelaton through miles of corn fields. We skipped the first stop but stopped at the second donut stuffing station at mile 28. We each ate a donut- stale, large, slimy glazed donuts. These did not sit well and it took us over 5 minutes to get them down.
Back out on the road, we completed the first loop at 1:34 and headed out again. There seemed to be no one on the second lap. We double checked our map, looked ahead and behind and finally decided we were basically alone. We elected to push on without any stops on the second lap as we certainly weren't going to eat any more donuts. We started lapping riders on the 32 mile route and finished at 3:05 total time.
Then the fun started. The awards ceremony was to start in an hour and it started pouring. We stood around for two hours while they crunched numbers and donuts and awarded some of the divisions. Finally, we gave up and went home.
Turns out we had little competition- only one other couple. They ate no donuts and were a bit slower, so we won all of the categories in our division.
In the men's division, 32 mile route, one guy ate 28 donuts and in the 64 mile route 48 donuts was the record. Makes me sick to even think about it.
Larry, you were certainly on the classier ride, but we did have a ball.

Veronica- Congrats on your gold

Pell

[teena marie]

dream

Hi all,

I had the funniest dream details I can't remember but many of you were in it. I was showing you how I'd mastered getting on my spin bike!

So funny-I awoke with a big smile on my face.

Good night-see you in my dreams. (isn't that a song?)

Teena Marie

[Veronica]

I love these cycling accounts! Larry you spin a mean wheel and story, that is for sure. Congrats on your ride this year, I am very happy for you. Dave may be "Da Man" in my book, but Larry, "You Da Bomb!" And Pell, what a hoot your Donut run sounded like...and a good ride to boot..
You both, and of course Beth, are Superheroes to me.....

and Teena Marie, I hope the sweet dreams have continued!

[ActiveMSers]

Rode for an hour yesterday, my first substantial time on my trike. So. Much. Fun. Even trained with Olympians from Japan. Story to come....

[Marinadca]

Rode for an hour yesterday, my first substantial time on my trike. So. Much. Fun. Even trained with Olympians from Japan. Story to come....

Yay! I am so glad for you

[ActiveMSers]

Since I don't have a bike computer, I tried to see how far I went on Google Earth, and I don't think I was very successful at figuring it out. But here are my stats (best guess). As you can see, my first time out was closer to a recreational jog than a bike ride:

Time: 1 hour (with minor rest)
Miles: 6ish
Average heart rate: 98
Time in cardio zone: 7 minutes
Time in cardio zone not associated with "running" to the bathroom post ride with hosed legs while in a minor state of panic : <3 minutes

As you can see, I was very conservative, going for time and not speed. Probably averaged 7 mph, as I was generally on pace with joggers. And on hills, of which there are few, my speed dropped to maybe 2 mph, an impossibility on a two-wheeler!

But it was great getting out on the trail again. Laura would speed ahead of me and then turn around, rejoin me, and ride with me a bit before repeating. We even got to see some long-distance runners from Japan in training for the 2016 Olympics. My god they were fast.

My Sunday upper-body 1.5-hour workout at the gym was a bit more taxing: 45 minutes in the zone (average HR 112, max HR 146) with heavy duty time on the arm ergometer and rower.

[Marinadca]

This is fantastic news Dave, I am so glad you're able to get out there.

I know I hate hills, but the issues of a 2 wheel bike on the hills are non-existent.

[Marinadca]

I have to say that I LOVE getting to go outside on my trike my motivation for the trainer, yoga, etc are crappy.

On Friday I did 15 and on Sunday 25. I am happy with that but pretty annoyed at my lack of motivation elsewhere. It annoys me so much as right now I CAN but am just NOT. No reason really. Gah!

[AMFADVENTURES]

Got out for the first ride since the NM MS 150 yesterday. No sooner did I get warmed up than I heard a few short hills calling my name and had to go check them out. I think you are really on to something Teena Marie with the mindful movement approach to regaining function. I at least thought I could really feel differences in my legs as I powered up those hills mindfully moving from slow to slower to not as slow. Kind of a new experience. I'd be honored to meet up in your dreams anytime.

Veronica, thanks, seems we both enjoy reading and writing the stories. Although medical science may not have specifically discovered it yet, reading and writing are undoubtedly good brain exercise too. Which reminds me, there is a pretty good article on "Maximizing Brain Health" in the Fall volume of InforMS magazine, worth a read. http://catalog.proemags.com/publicat...3c#/b860b13c/1

Pell, the donut ride sounds like fun but, although I'm sure you're past it by now, I'm still digesting the image of those "stale, large, slimy glazed donuts". Ive finished all of my planned events for the year, how about you?

Marina, like you, I'm having trouble doing anything other than get out and ride. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the days getting shorter and the end of the season growing closer? Are you still doing an MS ride this year?

Dave, ain't it just grand?

Cool group, thanks for keeping me going,
Larry

[AMFADVENTURES]

Time Out

Quick note, off to yoga in 10. I took a little time out to get a pedicure the other day, conned the hot blond yoga chick into taking me, felt like I needed a guide on my maiden excursion.

It's on my top 10 list of decadent self indulgences now. It'll never overtake the afternoon nap of course and it's not above a good massage either but it is one of those wonderful things. Except for the occasional message therapist, almost nobody other than me, has ever touched those toes, well - there was that whole toe sucking thing back in the early 70's, but that doesn't really count anyway.

It's been a good summer, give yourself a treat,

AMF

[milesandtrials]

AMF, thank you for the kind words. It is great to see you every year at the ride. Has it already been a couple of weeks since Pedal los Pueblos? Where does the time go? Oh yeah, it goes to work, family, and Ironman training. Not much time for anything else!

The Puye Cliff addition to this year's ride was wonderful. I enjoyed this out and back section (and the rest stop at the top!) and was secretly thrilled to not have to climb Truchas.

Maggie and the volunteers did another amazing job throughout the entire weekend. Dave, loved your presentation and video, sorry I missed seeing you and the new trike!