Ultra Rider: In Search of the Ultimate Long Ride

"It is our birthright to go from success to success, from glory to glory. We all have one more to..."

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:43:19 -0500

“It is our birthright to go from success to success, from glory to glory. We all have one more to give.”

- Jimmy Cliff

"It only takes about 12 weeks or so to fully build anaerobic fitness. This is the kind of fitness..."

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:00:50 -0500

“It only takes about 12 weeks or so to fully build anaerobic fitness. This is the kind of fitness that makes the breaks, gets you over the lung-burning hills, and makes all the suffering bearable.”

- Joe Friel

Sweat Rate Test Protocol

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:47:34 -0500

If you don’t stay properly hydrated on a long ride, then you won’t likely get to finish the ride. Even if you do finish, you will feel terrible and won’t perform to your maximum potential.

Proper hydration is simple - just take in enough liquid nutrition to replace the water and minerals that you lose through your sweat. There are two keys to meeting this goal.

First, you need to find a good sports drink that carries a strong metabolic payload. Most of of the sports drinks that you find are absolute junk. A mix of food-dye and sugar and fancy marketing intended to convince you that it will make you faster, stronger and more competitive. They do no such thing. Don’t expect to get good performance from any sports drink that costs you $6 a cannister in powdered form. Look for a reliable brand with a good balance of minerals and electrolytes along with a good sustainable form of energy. Hammer Nutrition makes some good products and I rely on Endurance made by Amino Vital.

Second, you need to know how much to drink. You can’t know how much fluid to replace if you don’t know how much you are losing.

To understand your sweat rate, you will need to do a sweat rate test. It isn’t highly scientific, but it will get you in the right ball park and get you started on the road to better understanding your fluid requirements. Since I started regularly testing my sweat rate, I’ve been riding stronger and more evenly because I’m no longer letting my body hit fluid depletion on these long rides.

The most notable sign that I’m on to something with these tests is that I no longer come home with a huge headache after spending the day in the sun. I used to think my helmet was too tight or poorly adjusted. When I started hydrating properly, the headaches instantly went away.

The sweat rate test protocol is pretty simple. I’m presuming that you will do this test on a stationary bike of some sort. First, weigh yourself without any clothes on. Get dressed and record this number as your starting weight.

Then, ride your bike for at least 45 minutes in a high aerobic zone. I usually shoot for 70%-75% of my maximum heart rate. Throughout the test, keep track of how much fluid you are drinking. I try to drink complete bottles to keep the math easier.

When you are done, remove your cycling gear, towel yourself off as completely as you can and then weigh yourself. Put on a robe and record this number as your end weight.

Now we’ve got all of our data:
Starting Weight = SW
End Weight = EW
Fluid Consumed = FC
Duration of Test = D

We will probably need to do some conversions before we can do the math. You need to convert your fluid consumption into liters. There are .7 liters in a regular 24 ounce bottle. If you drank a different amount of fluid, just go to Google and type the following into their search tool “X ounces in liters” where “X” equals the size of your bottle.

Also, if you weighed yourself in pounds, you will need to convert this to kilograms as well. Just go to Google again and type in “X pounds in kilograms” where X equals your weight. Do this once each for your starting weight and your finishing weight.

Now that you have the amount of fluid you consumed in liters, convert that number to kilograms. 1 liter of fluid equals 1 kilogram of mass. So, a 24 ounce bottle, will weigh approximately .7 kilograms.

Now from here, the math is simple, just plug your variables into the following equations:

(SW-EW-FC) /D=SRM

i.e. Joe had a starting weight of 78.92kg, and end weight of 78.45kg and drank .7 liters over a 45 minute test. His math would look like this:

(78.92-77.45-.7)/45= .017 liters per minute

To make this number more relevant, just multiply it by 60 to get your sweat rate per hour. In Joe’s case, this would be 1.02 liters per hour. That works out to 34 ounces per hour, or 1.5 bottles.

So for Joe to stay properly hydrated, he knows he has to drink approximately 1.5 bottles per hour when he is out on the course. Of course, on a hot day, this will be slightly more, and on a cooler day, slightly less. If you are training for a specific event where you know what the approximate temperatures are, it makes sense for you to do the test under conditions similar to the race so you have more precise information to make decisions with.

I hope this information is helpful for you. I’m not the originator of this test, but it has served me well over the years. If you have questions, feel free to drop me a note at ross@ultrarider.ca

Top Ten Toughest Endurance Races

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:02:03 -0400

According to National Geographic, the Furnace Creek 508 is the 8th toughest endurance event in the world. Wish I’d known that before I signed up :-)

10. Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

9. World Bog Snorkeling Championships

8. Furnace Creek 508

7. Arrowhead 135-mile Winter Ultramarathon

6. Manhattan Island Marathon Swim

5. Barkley Marathon

4. Extreme Winter Ultra Marathon

3. Marathon des Sables

2. Race Across America

1. Badwater Ultramarathon

The Official 2009 Furnace Creek 508 Recap

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:51:20 -0400

(excerpted from the AdventureCorps email newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.)

The race began with the traditional CHP escort followed by excellent tailwinds as the racers sped north through the Mojave Desert. A full moon would rise that evening. On Saturday, the high was 82 degrees, but that would rise to 90 degrees at night in Death Valley.

Turning east onto Towne Pass, the 10-mile, 5000 foot ascent which is the entryway to Death Valley, the began to blow in a less favorable direction. By the time the racers started to traverse Death Valley proper, near the giant sand dunes at Stove Pipe Wells, the wind was blowing a steady 30mph from the south, with sand blowing across the road like a river.

As the race route turned due south on the way to Furnace Creek (the halfway mark) and beyond to Badwater, the wind was blowing straight in the racers’ faces at 30mph or faster, with gusts up to 50 to 60mph. Some racers walked their bikes into the wind. Many averaged no more than about 5mph through the night. Race leaders required over six hours to cover the 73 miles from Furnace Creek to Shoshone. The wind truly terrorized the competitors in this year’s race, easily outblowing the “thermonuclear headwinds” of the 2004 race.

Chris Ram Ragsdale, 32, of Seattle, WA led the race to Furnace Creek, just barely, then fell to second during the worst of the wind conditions, with three-time champion Michael Alpine Ibex Emde, 39, of Spokane, WA taking the lead. At Baker, mile 383, Ragsdale decided he would catch Emde by the top of the twenty-mile climb into the Mojave National Preserve. Ragsdale passed through the Kelso time station a mere one minute behind Emde, then was just 15 seconds back at the final time station at Amboy. Shortly thereafter, he made his move and took the lead, putting 15 minutes on Emde on the final climb up Sheephole Summit.

Ragsdale’s victory, with a time of 29:10:31, represents a five year effort: 9th in 2005, DNF in 2006, 2nd last year, then the victory in 2009!

Michael Alpine Ibex Emde took 2nd in 29:47:34 and has the strongest 508 career record yet: 3rd in 2005, 1st in 2006 06, 2007, and 2008, and then 2nd in 2009. He earned his Furnace Creek 508 Hall of Fame entry, too, with his 5th finish in 2009.

Rookie of the Year honors went to third-place finisher Brian American Kestrel Ecker, 37, of Bellingham, WA with a time of 33:14:06. Ecker left 100% of himself out on the race course; at the finish line he required over 90 minutes to ready himself to receive his finisher’s medal and jersey.

Note that the top three male solo finishers are from Washington State. What’s up with that, California???

Charlie Water Dragon Engle, 47, of Greensboro, NC took 4th solo in 33:19:25 and broke the ten year old Death Valley Cup record set in 2000 by Kaname Sakurai by one hour, 20 minutes. Engle was 1 hour, 12 minutes faster at the 2009 508 than his first effort in 2007. He was also 1 hour, 58 minutes faster at the 2009 Badwater Ultramarathon than in 2007.

Women’s winner Leah Mighty Mouse Goldstein, 40, a dual citizen of Canada and Israel, is a professional cyclist, racing for Team ValueAct. She is the current Israeli national champion in the road race and time trial. At the finish line she stated “I’ve competed in the Tour de France, the World Championship, National Championship, and many other races and can honestly say that the Furnace Creek 508 is the toughest, hardest race I’ve ever done.” Her time was 35:01:50, also placing her 6th overall among all the solos.

19-year-old Nick Hollon of San Diego, CA, who also completed the Badwater Ultramarathon this year, crossed the line in 44:06:44, the youngest ever Death Valley Cup finisher and in his first bicycle race!

US Navy SEAL and two-time Badwater Ultramarathon finisher David Goggins, 34, of San Diego, CA, had heart surgery in May. He finished the 508 in 41:45:58, in 17th place, in his first 508 appearance.

The 2x teams were led by 50+ Team Ratel, comprised of four-time finisher Doug Patterson, 49, of Orange, CA along with his rookie teammate David Elsberry, 58, of Laguna Niguel, CA, with a time of 33:06:50. Not only did they win the 2x division, but Patterson (AKA Polar Bear) notched his fifth finish and thus his Hall of Fame membership. Close on their heels in 33:13:53 was the first place 2x mixed team, Team Godwit, Cara Gillis and Jeff Lawler.

4x men’s team Bloodhound, with three veterans on board, placed first among the 4-rider team with a time of 28:59:29.

4x female team Hammer Frogs, fueled with Hammer Nutrition, finish in 32:39:33! Lee “Maggot” Mitchell was their lucky, hard-working crewchief.

For those with the courage and commitment to rise to the challenge, Furnace Creek 508 has a category for everyone. This year’s race included 2x and 4x tandem teams, 2x classic bike teams, 2x fixed gear teams, 2x recumbent teams, and more. More details to follow in the full, official Race Report! Meanwhile, here are some stats:

179 racers began the race.

There were 59 solo, 52 on 2x teams, 68 on 4x teams.

15 US states and 4 Canadian provinces were represented, along with seven countries or nationalities.

There were 148 males and 31 females.

There were 92 rookies and 87 veterans.

98 of 120 team racers finished = 81.67%.

29 of 59 solos finished = 49.1%. Although that is low by recent years’ standard (finishing averages went up when the race organizers implemented a selection process, rather than first come, first serve, to determine the race field), it is line with the historical solo finishing average of 49.35%.

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where..."

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:47:39 -0400

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

- Teddy Roosevelt

The Toughest 48 Hours In Sport

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:57:00 -0400

39 hours and 41 minutes after leaving Santa Clarita, I arrived in Twentynine Palms.

There’s only one word that can adequately, and without hyperbole, describe this race.

Epic.

I will post a more thoughtful summary after I’ve had a chance to collect my thoughts, but here are some glimpses into what makes this race great.

- Death Valley is hot. Mojave is hot. And I mean hot. Really hot. This year, the temperatures were incredibly cool. I can’t imagine doing this race in the blistering heat that they’ve had in prior years.

- Death Valley is windy. I rode into a straight headwind of 40 miles per hour for almost 9 hours. At one point a strong gust literally stopped my bike as I descended a small rise in the road. I weigh almost 200 pounds, it takes a lot of wind to stop me.

- Most of the roads are awesome. The roads in the last 100 miles are not. My hands are a numb, blistered mess. I can barely move my fingers. Potholes, chiptop, you name it. We rode on some of the worst pavement I’ve seen in a bike race. There’s something disconcerting about descending 10 miles on pavement that hasn’t been tended to.

- The people are awesome. All the racers, crew, event staff. Everyone was friendly, helpful and fun to be with.

We’re packing up the van now for our trip back to L.A. Tonight we’ll probably go to Alejo’s and tomorrow might just be spent in the hot tub, with a red-eye back to Toronto tomorrow evening. I’ll gather up the pictures, video and story and post something coherent here.

As much fun as I had, I’m glad its over. :-)

"Absolutely brutal head winds, the fiercest in the history of the event, are terrorizing the racers..."

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:46:00 -0400

“Absolutely brutal head winds, the fiercest in the history of the event, are terrorizing the racers tonight. It’s going to be a long night and a very long slog to 29 Palms at The Toughest 48 Hours in Sport.”

- AdventureCorps realtime race report from the Furnace Creek 508, October 3, 2009

Just Outside Baker

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:39:25 -0400

9 miles til Baker and Ross looks terrific. Still a bit of a headwind but nothing compared to this morning (or worse) last night. He’s on a steady 20MPH pace on the flat and shows no material sign of fatigue.

(Tom McDonald)

Backlog Of Posts

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:09:13 -0400

No connectivity for hundreds of miles so I’ve been making mock posts. Rather than risk losing the connection again I’m going to paste them all here now… we can make it pretty later. BTW, we’re 15 miles outside of Baker as of now.

—————————————————————————————-

Saturday

12:38pm

Just ran a smoker’s marathon… about 100 feet up and back, without stoppng! Phrase coined by Matt as I staggered back to the car. I was running up to see the condition of the railroad tracks ahead but Ross passed me with a, “Where ya goin Tom?”. Doesn’t sound funny here unless you imagine it with a Canadian accent and the special Ross inflection.

(Tom McDonald)

——————-

3:15pm-ish

We stopped in Trona to report time, get a bit of gas and water and, on the advice of many of the vets, grabbed ourselves killer burritos from a stand outside. Excellent seasoned beef for me and Matt, chicken for Larry. We at them later while waiting for Ross at one of the water swaps. Wow! It may be a long night in the van though. They seemed worth it at the time. We’ll see.

——————————————

4:08pm

Heading down Panamint Valley (I think). Insane winding grade. We have to be care ful not to go too slow and hold up the riders but it’s tough to keep the car going that fast with such a steep descent. Ross is just gone…. way ahead of us.

(Tom McDonald)

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5:05pm

Ross hit the 200 mile mark. Just over 10 hours for a double century?!?

(Tom McDonald)

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6pm

Climbing Townes Pass, all lit up, hazard triangle mounted on the back of car… we’re golden. But this hill is a monster and keep running into a vicious headwind. Ross’ back is hurting pretty badly. Popped a couple of advil and had Larry “crack his back”.

(Tom McDonald)

———————————————

7pm

Ross summits Townes Pass at exactly 12 hours. Beautiful. Larry throws on Ross’ vest for some warmth, a smoothie and fresh bottle of amino water. Now the crazy downhill for 17 miles.

(Tom McDonald)

——————————-

7:15

Tom does not like being so close to the rider but it is needed so he can see. Larry and Matt are having a blast seeing watching my anxiety. :) He was doing 53-54 mph for a while… Tom’s heart rate was likely 200bpm.

(Tom McDonald)

——————————-

8pm

About 8 miles past Stovepipe Wells. The wind had subsided on the downhill grade and through Stovepipe. But now wind has really picked up. Sand is blasting Ross, initially from the side but now as a direct headwind and heading slightly uphill. Larry and Matt estimate 30-40 mph constant with 50-60mph gust. Brutal.

Meanwhile Larry is not only supporting Ross’ nutritional needs but mine and Matt’s as well. He just mashed up a few cans of sardines and dumped some spicy mustard into some pita bread. My first time trying sardines AFAIK. IT was a tasty and healthy meal to help get us through the night. Thanks Larry!

(Tom McDonald)

——————————————-

11:35pm

Wind is insane. With a slight uphill and direct headwind Ross is standing on the pedals and doing 1-2mph.

(Tom McDonald)

——————————————

Sunday morning.

Long night for all (mostly Ross of course. Very little sleep and moderate level of insanity ensuing through the night. Matt drove from the start through 12:30am on Sunday before I took over. By 6am I was nearly delirious but Matt had grabbed a few winks and took over. Larry has been doing all of the support and might have dozed off for a minute here and there but he’s way short on sleep.

We saw quite a few solo and team riders seem to give it up during the night. I can hardly blame them because the raging wind, likely gusting at over 70mph at times, was relentless. But I know Ross and there’s no way he’s giving in to the pain.

All of us are finding too much humor in the most ridiculous conversations. Sure sign of lack of sleep.

(Tom McDonald)

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9:15am

Just left the Shoshone check-in point. Matt and Larry work on Ross’s raw hands as well as correcting some bike issues. Ross is *tired*. Not just “I’be been up for 28 hours” tired…. This is more like, “I’ve never worked so hard in such a short period of time in my life *and* I’ve been up for 28 hours” tired. We have about 180 miles to go which is looking like 12 hours of fairly hard riding.

(Tom McDonald)

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10am

Ross’ appetite seems to be returning so we stopped for 5 mins for him to wolf down some oatmeal. Larry dumped some oats in a piece of tupperware, poured some water in and sat it on the dashboard to hat in the sun. Never did get very warm but the oats got soggy enough for consumption. Ross is back on the bike and riding stronger than I’ve seen in a couple of hours.

(Tom McDonald)

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10:40am

Summited Ibex Pass and on the other side is what looks to be a huge dust storm that spans the entire horizon. Wind is blowing pretty hard from Ross’ right side, pushing him around a fair bit. He’s got his bandanna over his face Jesses James style.

(Tom McDonald)

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Audio

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:45:16 -0400

Chocolate On The Inside

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:11:52 -0400

If I didn’t know any better I’d think Ross and Larry planned what just happened. When Ross was giving us final prep instructions he stressed that we take lots of pictures. Need to make sure we capture memorable events like food prep, perhaps the blender top blows off while Larry is making a smoothie or some such thing.

Well, we didn’t use the blender to make the smoothie… it’s more of a shaker with a flip top for easy pouring. So Larry fills it proper with water and chocolate Ultrameal and gives it a good shake and the damn top flies off. Everyone is covered in sticky chocolate goop and the car? Well, I’ll need to get it detailed before I let Kerri see it.

We don’t have a bunch of extra clothes with us (or any in a reachable location) so Larry wipes himself off and turns his shirt inside-out. He immediately smirks and says, “Chocolate on the inside…”. hence the title of this post. Snapped some pics just for you boss Ross!

(Tom McDonald)

42 Miles in

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:23:00 -0400

Signal will be going away soon so wanted to get this in. Ross is in great spirits and much more relaxed than the start of the race. The leaders have spread themselves out a bit which is nice because there are fewer cyclists for us to worry about as the roads begin to twist more.

Ross has a decent climb coming up. It’s beginning to warm up: 70 degrees.

(Tom McDonald)

First transition

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:49:23 -0400

Ross dropped two bottles and picked up two fresh ones, one each from Matt and Larry. We drove ahead toward the bottom of a hill. Those folks are *bookin*. Had to be doing 50mph.

(Tom McDonald)

Bah! Cell signal very spotty… trying another upload....

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:22:09 -0400

Bah! Cell signal very spotty… trying another upload. Ross was in great spirits this morning. Some joking around but you could see the focus in his face and mannerisms.

Crew: Matt Minton, Tom McDonald (me!) and chief Larry Optis. We’re having a great time so far. Should be seeing riders in a few minutes… will get more pics and try to get them up before the signal goes away completely.

(Post: Tom McDonald)

Photo

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:05:16 -0400

A dedication

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:17:35 -0400

Tomorrow I race.

Its been a long time coming and now that time is here. Tomorrow morning at 7am PST, I will turn the pedals on my bike and start an adventure of over 500 miles.

The Furnace Creek 508 Invitational is an ultracycling event like no other. Each year cyclists gather in southern California to start this inimitable race. The course winds its way through some of the most adverse conditions and terrain found on this contintent. Sandstorms, heat, hills, wind - the race has something for everyone.

Many riders don’t complete the journey, many do.

I’m here to race. I will do my best, but above all else, I will have an adventure. I will finish the race safely and I will have a lot of fun with my crew and competitors along the way.

It won’t be easy, but there’s nothing I can do now that will make it easier. I haven’t checked the forecast yet - I am sure it will be hot and windy. Some of those winds will be helpful and some will not. At night, the temperature will drop and it will be cool, or maybe even cold. I can’t change these things any more than I can smooth out the hills.

What is important now is that I focus on riding well, competing well and take everything that I’ve learned in my training and apply it to what comes next.

I will expose myself and I will experience it, and for having tried, I will be a better person, regardless of how I finish.

This race doesn’t use numbers to identify its riders, it uses animal totems. Traditionally, a totem is an entity that watches over an individual or group. I picked mine to represent a small bit of family history. My mom’s family all adopted CB handles that they used to communicate with one another at their lake in northern Ontario. Each had a different handle using the Wolf theme. Last summer, my grandpa Collier passed away while I was riding across Canada, and although I didn’t get a chance to tell him, I made the entire trip with a photo of him in my back pocket. He was ill, and I was thinking of him the whole way, even before he passed. I’ve carried that same photo on most of my long rides since.

When I was thinking of which totem to pick, I wanted to include him in there some way - he has been with me for all of these rides, and I could really use his help on this one. Claiming the Gray Wolf as my totem seemed like the obvious choice.

I also try to dedicate each of my rides to someone special. My record breaking ride across Ontario was dedicated to relatives and friends that were, and continue, to fight cancer. Similarly, with this ride, I am doing the same. I’ve spoken with these people, they know who they are, and although I won’t be naming them here, I would request that you include them in your prayers over the next few days. I will be thinking of them as well, and they could all benefit from our collective positive energy.

There’s nothing left for me to do now, but shower, sleep and get on my bike. Thank you to all of you for your support, assistance and motivation during my preparation for this race.

My special love and thanks to Amanda for having the patience to let me do this.

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children..."

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:56:29 -0400

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.”

- Helen Keller

I promised some pictures - here is one that I haven’t...

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:00:09 -0400

I promised some pictures - here is one that I haven’t posted to Facebook yet. This was taken on Tuesday in the area just before Towne Pass. The temperature was more than 40 degrees, the wind more than 40 miles per hour, and the sand was blowing pretty insistently across the road. This is what I have to look forward to on Saturday.

Watching the Race

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:14:03 -0400

The Furnace Creek 508 won’t be broadcast on network TV, but there will be a few ways that you can follow my progress on the web.

First, stay tuned to this blog. We will be posting audio, video and photo updates from the race as often as we can.

Second, follow me on twitter.

Third, check out the AdventureCorps Furnace Creek 508 Webcast.

Finally, watch my time splits.