Cascade 1200K DNF Afterthought

As is normal for me, I’ve done a lot of post ride analysis of my DNF.  To briefly recap, I rode strongly the first day (223 miles with more than 10K feet of vertical).  I DNF’d after 137 miles and lots of climbing on the second day with back pains so severe I could barely stand to push the pedals.

I was in Sunnyside, WA.  I arrived at the control at 16:20 and had until 09:10 the next day to ride the 97 miles to the next control so I was under absolutely no time pressure.  I stopped at the control, got my brevet card signed and then lay down and stretched my back for a while.  I walked over to an adjacent Burger King and got something to eat then stretched some more.  I then went around the side of the building and lay down and stretched even more and perhaps even dozed off for 20 minutes or so.  Got up and stretched some more.  

I set off at about 18:00 and tried to keep riding.  I made it about 1.5-2 miles and just couldn’t stand it anymore.  I turned around, went back to the Burger King and called the ride coordinator to tell them I was done.  DNF.  

I then called my wife to come and get me.  We got a hotel room in Sunnyside, had dinner and went to bed.  Started the drive home the next day tail firmly planted between my legs.

I honestly thought at the time that I’d done everything I could do to keep going.

However.

There was a hotel right next to the Burger King.  What if:

• I’d gotten a room in the hotel.
• Gone in and taken a long, hot bath to relax my back.
• Slept for 3-4 hours.
• And then set out for the next control.

 Chances are it wouldn’t have made a damned bit of difference.  

BUT

The worst thing that would have happened is I would have ended up at a hotel in Sunnyside which is where I ended up anyway.

AND

it JUST MIGHT have worked.  The combination of a hot bath, some stretching and laying on a bed for a few hours MIGHT have allowed me to continue.

At this point, I’ll never know and as I said in my Cascade ride report I did everything I could think of at the time to continue and I’m at peace with my decision to DNF.

The point of this already lengthy post is this: it absolutely never even occurred to me to try the hotel/bath/sleep option.  Never crossed my mind, not once.  I thought I’d tried everything I could do to keep going but there was this other option that I never even considered.

So, lesson learned: if you’re thinking about quitting and aren’t under time pressure make sure you’re open minded about things you might try.  

Food for thought

And then things get worse - Cascade 1200K DNF

As those who've read my posts thus far (all one of you), I spent most of the winter and spring out of action and/or rebuilding after my ToC mishap and collar bone reconstruction.  Coupled with this was a pretty bad back injury at the end of March that had me off the bike for a couple of weeks and soft pedaling for a few weeks after that.  As a consequence, I didn’t have the kind of preparation I would have liked going into this year.

I tried to accelerate my conditioning and gauge my progress by doing a 200K, 300K, and a 1000K with a 400K less than a week later.  Although I had to stop and stretch my back a lot during most of these rides, especially the 1000K, I thought things were progressing OK.  

As a further test, when Marcia and I drove out to Washington, we stopped at Winthrop and I climbed the Washington and Rainey passes.  I hit those climbs moderately hard and felt pretty decent both while doing them and afterwards.  Here's a shot at the top of Rainy Pass.

I’ll preface my route discussion by saying I didn’t have a protractor and tape measure with me so distances and gradients are suspect.

The first day, most of the first 150 miles was fairly moderate and my pace was pretty decent. The real action started at 150 miles with a climb up Elk pass.  My recollection was it was about 4-5 miles of 8-11%, a flat section, then 4 miles of 8-10%.  This went pretty well and I felt good during the climbing.  An amusing aside: the climb was long and steep enough that there were several times when it appeared to “level out” and I thought “finally, a break” and looked down to see it was “only” 5%.  At any rate, I got to the top of Elk pass in good order and froze my ass off on the descent.  I stopped at the top to don all of my clothes but was soaking wet with perspiration and the cold wind (it was 48 degrees at the summit) really chilled me.  When I got to the control between Elk and Oldman passes I was shaking like a leaf.

I recall Oldman pass as being 5 miles of never less than 10% starting at about 190 miles in.  Once again, I felt pretty good and passed several people on the climb.  I made it to the top in good order, put all my clothes on again and did the long downhill to the first overnight.

I got to the overnight and have to say I generally felt tired.  As I posted on FB, I only got about two hours of fitful sleep before the start and I was really feeling it.  Not sleepy, just no energy.  Ate, showered and got about 3 hours of not very restful sleep.

Next morning started off with about 48 miles along the Columbia river gorge (beautiful) and Klickitat river (even more beautiful) followed by a long (about 7 miles) and steep (I didn’t look at my altimeter but I’d say 8-11%) climb up from the river then a fairly flat run into Goldendale.  My back started to tighten up, then hurt, toward the top of the climb.  It was steep enough that I didn't want to stop and try and get started again so I pressed on.  I made it to the top and stretched which helped some but I had to stop and stretch several times between the summit and Goldendale which was very concerning since it was flat to downhill.

Like an idiot, I rode straight past the control (an “over a beer” story) for 5 bonus uphill miles then turned around and went back.  From Goldendale, there was a longish 5-7% climb and then an absolutely screaming descent with lots of twists and turns.  I thought to myself “the piper is going to have to be paid at some point” and, sure enough, I got to the bottom, went around a curve and immediately started climbing.  This started off pretty steep (8-10%) then settled down but the real issue was first that it was hot and secondly that I was climbing for 15 miles non-stop.  Not steep the whole way, some times as little as 2-3% but still, I was going uphill and working hard.  This was the swan song for my back.  During this time, the interval between needing to stop and stretch kept shrinking.  I got to an unofficial control at Bickleton and stopped to get something to drink and did a lot of stretching.  

Between Bickleton and the next control at Sunnyside it was generally downhill though against a slight breeze.  I went as hard as I could but my back really wasn’t happy by this point and I was in a lot of pain. 

I got to Sunnyside at 16:23 well in advance of the control close at 20:04.  I spent a lot of time stretching, got something to eat at the Burger King, even slept for a bit.  I was under no time pressure at all, the next control was at Mattawa, 47 miles away and closed at 02:07 so I had just under 10 hours to ride 47 miles.  I knew that stretch contained one very steep and extended climb and a number of smaller ones.

After eating, stretching and resting for a while, I took off.  I could barely push the pedals, even on level ground my back hurt so bad I could hardly stand it.  I gave it about 3 miles with stops to stretch hoping my back would loosen up but it never did.  I turned around and rode back to Sunnyside and called Marcia at about 18:10.  Ride over.

Now that I’ve had a few days to chew on it I’m of course disappointed that I didn’t finish but I’m at peace with the decision.  I simply couldn’t have gone on and I’m fairly certain that I was risking a much more serious and protracted episode with my back had I done so.  Even if I’d have made it to the overnight (I had until 09:12 the next morning to ride 97 miles from Sunnyside to Ephrata) I seriously doubt I could have done Loup Loup pass the next day followed by Washington and Rainey the day after.

It was perhaps stupid to even try the Cascade given my physical problems over the winter.  The thing is, I don’t have a gauge implanted in my navel that says “ready for a 1200K”  when I’m adequately prepared so all I know to do is try my best to get ready and give it a shot.  I will say that “normal” aches and pains notwithstanding, I felt MUCH better the entire time at Endless Mountains than I ever did at the Cascade so I know my preparation was lacking.

I’m still planning on doing the High Country in a little less than three weeks.  I’m going to hit the core strengthening hard between now and then and hope that along with a few more weeks of riding will be enough to get it done.  I know that if you have any weakness at all a hard 1200K will find it and I can only hope that I can ameliorate the back problem enough to keep the pedals turning for 1200K in three weeks.

Aside from the general disappointment in not finishing, another serious regret in my DNF is that the weather was about as nice as it will ever be for the Cascade 1200.  There have been years where the temps were well over 100 or well below 40, howling winds, rain, etc.  It wasn’t a cakewalk from a weather point of view but it’s probably as good as it gets.

Quad Cities Randonneurs 400K

As detailed in my last post, I felt like I should continue to test my back prior to the Cascade 1200K and I also needed a 400K to qualify for the Natchez Trace 1500K in September so I signed up for the Quad Cities Randonneurs 400K put on by RBA and all around good egg Joe Jamison and his lovely wife Rosemary.

Joe Jamison and Matt Levy

There were 6 of us doing the 400K: myself, Matt Levy, Paul Carpenter, Julie Zierke-Clark and her husband Brian (first 400K for him) and Doug ? (didn't get his last name) along with two people doing a 200K.  The morning started out cool and the winds were mostly favorable.  We made good time through the first two controls (60 miles) then it started to warm up and the winds shifted to mostly headwind.  Made it to the third control (Morning Sun) and it was really starting to get hot.  Julie had a flat just outside of town but because she and Brian were together the rest of us rode on.

Leaving the Morning Sun (90 miles) control, Matt, Paul and I were ready and Brian and Julie were not so the three of us rode on.  Paul dropped us fairly quickly (he would later DNF due to rain and lightning) and Matt stopped to adjust something but told me to ride on so I did.  I rode the rest of the way to the turnaround (130 miles) by myself.  It was really hot by then and a headwind all the way there and I was really fried when I got there.  Felt sick as I usually do from the heat when I'm not acclimated.  Matt arrived shortly after me and we sat there a long time cooling off and waiting for Julie and Brian.  She'd had another flat just outside of town.

Julie was convinced her flats were being caused by the rim tape being crooked.  We took the tire off and it was indeed crooked and a number of the spoke holes were exposed.  We got some electricians tape and applied it over top of the existing rim tape.  I'll say here that her tires (Vredstein) were a major S.O.B to remove and remount.  There's no way in hell Julie could have done it by herself on the side of the road.  It took Matt and I more than 20 minutes to wrestle the tire off and back on  every time we had to do it.

Continuing on to Morning Sun without incident other than about 10 miles of rain.  Leaving Morning Sun, about 5 miles later Julie called out she had another flat.  The gnats were dreadful so I suggested rather than repair it on the side of the road we pump it up and see how far we could go.  Made it about 8 miles, stopped and pumped it up again.  We repeated this all the way to Columbus Junction.

When we got to the Casey's at Columbus Junction I started giving orders (sorry, it's my nature).  I sent Brian across the street to a Dollar General to buy some duct tape and clear glasses (he didn't have any night glasses and the bugs were terrible), told Matt and Julie to remove the tire while I went in for insect repellant.  

I insisted that rather than just assume it was the rim tape we pump up the tire and make sure the hole was on the inside of the rim (which it would be if a spoke was causing it).  Turns out it was on the outside and finding the hole allowed Matt to feel carefully at the right spot of the tire and find a tiny sliver of wire that was causing the flats.  I also tore the duct tape into a 1" strip, removed all the other rim tape and replaced it with the duct tape.  Brian was ready to DNF at this point, concerned that Julie would have another flat out on the road.  I assured him we'd found and fixed the problem and if she had another flat it would be a completely new one.

The rest of the ride was uneventful.  We got to the control at Nichols (60 miles left) at 11:15.  The store normally closes at 11:00 but Joe J. was there and persuaded them to stay open until we arrived which they did - very nice of him and them!

Finally finished at 02:00.  

I wanted to test my ability to recover after the 1000K.  I was very pleased with how quickly I recovered and how good I felt through the whole ride.  Other than the heat related illness, my legs were good (tired, but good) with no cramping and I felt pretty good the whole way.  I got to bed at 03:00 and slept until 11:00 and felt pretty good when I got up.

I especially feel good about getting Julie and Brian through and finishing.  I'm certain they'd have DNF'd were it not for my and Matt's help.

Things get better- Lone Star Randonneurs 1000K

Early in the year, I decided that there were several 1200K's I wanted to do but was uncertain exactly which ones.  Since the 1200K's tend to have relatively low rider limits they fill up fast so I knew I'd have to register quickly if I was going to have a chance of getting in.  Accordingly, I signed up for the Cascade 1200 in June, the Colorado High Country in July and the Natchez Trace 1500K in September.

Given the physical problems I had over the winter (detailed ad nauseum in my last post) and the fact that I was only able to start riding "seriously" again in mid-April I thought I'd better hit the training hard and do some "tests" to see whether even attempting the Cascade made sense.  I did the Quad Cities 200K on April 26th.  This went OK in general though I did have to stop and stretch my back several times.  I followed this with the Quad Cities 300K on May 10th which also went OK as far as my back was concerned.

I then went to Texas with Matt Levy and did a 1000K over Memorial Day weekend.  Here's a brief synopsis of that ride:

Day 1, hotter than hell (my Garmin showed 103) not acclimated, sick for about three hours but kept going.  Group included 200K, 600K and 1000K riders on the same route (200K's split off at the second control).  200K's went like rabbits and everyone (but me and two others) chased them.  Rode with Rob Tulloh from Austin until he broke his left crank arm, rode with him to a True Value HW where he told me to leave while he got it fixed (he did).  Recovered well from the heat once it started to cool off around 5 PM.  Rode on wet roads the last two hours but didn't get wet.  Hooked up with Vicky, Stephen and Sharon (the latter two on a tandem) and rode the last 60 miles with them.

Day 2, windy as hell.  Headwinds for the first 103 miles then the winds died.  Rain for a lot of the morning and in the evening.  Rode by myself until at about 41 miles, I misread the cue sheet (thought it said 40.3 when it said 46.3) and turned around for a few miles.  Ran into Rob coming the other way, rode the rest of the day with him.  Felt good the whole day, despite the heat (mid 90-s).  Came out of the second last control and had a flat, shit happens.  Other than that, no mechanical issues.

Day 3, major storms around Waco.  Stopped at the control at 90 miles and ate at a Subway, looked at the radar and all red just south of us (we were headed south).  Waited, waited, waited.  Finally got tired of waiting, went too soon.  Huge climb (5 miles at 4-5%) just out of town and we ground against 40-45 MPH winds for 30 minutes and only covered 4 miles.  Hard to control the bike, getting blown all over.  I stopped and told Rob (rode with him all day) we were using a lot of matches for not a lot of return, found shelter in the lee of a hill and sat and waited it out.  Finally the winds abated to 25 MPH.  Did 25 miles straight into the wind to the next control, grinding hard.  Got food/cards signed and came out and Rob had a flat.  It took us 5 hours total to cover the 25 miles between those two controls.  Looking forward to the tail winds on the return but the front had moved through and the wind died.  Last 40 miles Rob was getting sleepy.  Told me he'd nearly crashed on day 1 when he went to sleep briefly so he was afraid he was going to do it again.  Stopped at a gas station (closed) and he got a Mountain Dew from the machine.  Rode the last 40 miles at about 11 MPH talking non-stop to help him stay awake.  About 1/2 mile from the finish HUGE, HUGE, HUGE, lighting strike about 200 yards in front of us.  I thought "I can see the headline now, 'two dumbasses killed 1/4 mile from finishing 1000K bike ride' "  Major downpour just as I rolled to the stop at a little before 2 AM.

My back hurt on day 3, the good news is that if I stopped and stretched it only for a few seconds it felt better and I could go on so I stopped about every 10 miles or so and stretched.  I was a bit worried the interval would go from 10 miles, to 5, to 2, to 1, to 100 yards, done, but that never happened.  Shoulder hurt the whole time but bearable.

Post ride, I feel pretty good.  Major muscle spasm going on in my shoulder which hurts like hell but other than that and a few saddle sores, I'm OK.

The absolutely best part about the Texas 1000K was getting to meet and ride with (or at least at the same time as) a bunch of fine people including Dan Driscoll, Pam Wright, Brenda Barnell, Rob Tulloh, Mark Metcalf, Vicky Tyer and Jeff Newberry.  I'd see some of these people again in the near future and it was a genuine pleasure to meet them all.

After the 1000K, I needed to do a 400K to complete a RUSA SR in order to qualify for the Natchez Trace.  I also thought a couple of "back to backs" would test the back (no pun intended) so I did the Quad Cities 400K the following weekend.  A tough ride in its own right and certainly deserving a separate post.

Off to a bad start

OK, I'm doing a blog.  Hey, it's trendy and I'm a happening hi-tech sort of guy.

Sadly, I'm going to start this blog with a recap of the last several months and the story isn't all that great.

Last year (2013) I finished the Endless Mountains 1240K.  A great result and a terrific brevet organized by RBA Tom Rosenbauer.  This was my first 1200K.  I decided to sign up for possibly the hardest 1200K in North America (60K feet of climbing) with the idea that I'd either finish or give up this crazy nonsense all together.  Unfortunately, I finished ;-)

Next up was the Taste of Carolina in October.  As a side note, I'd scheduled AC reconstruction surgery on October 21st.  I rode strong first day, 230 miles at just under a 17 MPH average into a 20+ MPH headwind.  Eleven miles into the second day I was crossing an old steel grated bridge that was wet from the incessant rain.  I vacillated between walking and riding across but the person I was riding behind (Luke Heller) had crossed with no problem so I decided to ride across.  Big mistake.  I didn't even make it 5 feet onto the bridge when both wheels slid out and I crashed.  I broke my handle bars and, even worse, broke both of my thumbs.  This was on October 14th.

On October 21st I had the aforementioned AC reconstruction surgery.  This necessitated 16 weeks (yes folks, that's four months) with my right arm strapped to my torso with instructions to not use the arm at all during the first 12 weeks.

So there I was, both hands in braces and my right arm completely immobilized.  Even simple things like putting toothpaste on a brush took an extraordinary amount of effort (put the brush on the vanity, grip the toothpaste between my fingers and palm and unscrew the cap by holding it in my mouth.  Set the tube on the vanity and press down on it to squeeze toothpaste onto the brush).

Opposable thumbs are a REALLY good idea.

In addition to this, I don't tolerate analgesics (pain medication) very well.  They make me sick, even in small doses.  As a result, I spent October-December oscillating between being in incredible pain until I couldn't stand it anymore, taking pain meds for a few days then spending the next three days throwing up.  Rinse and repeat.  I lost 20 lbs.

Life sucks huh?

Finally (!) at the end of January I started riding on a trainer and my wife and I headed to central Texas for our annual escape from the godforsaken frozen north.  I rode on the road (or is that road on the rode?) for the first time on January 28th.  I rode 526 miles in February then 922 miles in March.  Things were looking good.

But then my innate stupidity kicked in.

At the end of March I was determined I was going to do a century.  I also realized I hadn't resumed my core strengthening that had been a regular part of my routine.  So on March 24th I resumed core strengthening.  Did I start easy recognizing it'd been 6 months since the last time I did them?  Nope.  Did the full regimen.  Same routine and same number of reps as 6 months previously like nothing had happened.

Next day, I rode out from Fredericksburg to Harper with a nice tailwind that was gradually building.  When I turned around it was into a howling headwind for the next 52 miles back to Fredericksburg.

Next day, my back was hurting.  Not "hurting" but "oh jeezuz, I'm seeing stars, take your breath away" kind of hurting.  This went on for two weeks.  After that, back on the bike for some "long" 10 mile rides in a lot of pain.

Off to a good start huh?