Ultra Rider: In Search of the Ultimate Long Ride RSS

Biking is one thing. Bicycling 100 miles is entirely another. But what about the bicycle ride that last all day and all night? At some point, you cross a line and at that point, cycling, becomes ultracycling.

This blog chronicles the story of a guy, his bike and a strange obsession with finding the outside edge of his personal limits.

In this chapter, having broken the UMCA record, recovered from a bone-crushing crash and achieving a top 15 finish at the inimitable Furnace Creek 508 we find our hero grappling with the realities of completing a 100km foot race.

For the complete story, follow this link, and read from the back to the front. The story won't make anymore sense when you've finished, but at least you'll know as much as the rest of us.

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Getting ready for Sebring…

In just a couple of days I’ll be hopping in the truck and driving south for 2200 kilometers until I get to Sebring, Florida, home of the Bike Sebring 24 Hour Ultra Race. I’m doing this race as a warmup for The Next Big Ride. Originally Larry had suggested that I rent a bike for the 24 hour spin, but when I found out that it would cost me $600 just to rent the spin bike, I decided to look into whether or not there were any events a

round the same time that I could enter into instead. I was extremely happy to find the Sebring 24.

Finding a crew was a bit of a challenge - I need someone to drive down with me, help me with food and drink, etc. and just to generally support me. Originally I had assumed that my dad would be able to come along, but he is going to be in Cuba. Fortunately, a casting call sent out through the network came back with several positive inquiries - I was amazed that so many people would be willing to drop their lives to help me with this goal. Very special people indeed. Des Hopley and Patrick Scanlon will be joining me. I wish I had room for everyone that wanted to go!

I’m just finishing off the last bit of pre-event training - did a great 10k run w/ Larry this morning, and I’ve got about 2.5 hours of spinning tomorrow, and another hour on Sunday.

screencap 54

Monday will be my last serious workouts before I leave on Tuesday.

The map you see here is an outline of the course that Larry and I have been running - we’ll typically do one or two laps, although I suspect that we’re ready to graduate to three laps shortly. Perhaps when I return from Sebring.

Tomorrow night I’ll post some thoughts about the race, my goals and provide some more background on why I’m doing this.

Posted at 23:23 - Comments (View)

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