Charity Events - Livestrong Challenge - Philly

Grahny,

That was me. Yep you mention it looks like you would finish in less than 6hr. You were looking real strong at the end! I may have been getting a little tired at that point. I really started to reflect on the ride and my lost ones, so I got sided with memories. Those memories kept me going and I could see you until that last little roller before Hwy 202 and the finish.

I did see another Kestrel out on the course it was red and a much newer model. I bought my in 1990 as a come back racer. I went to the Middle East for 5 years in less than six after buying it so I never retuned to racing. Too bad, I was not half bad. Won my share and made it to a Cat 3 RR. I probably would have been a better cyclist if I would have concentrated more on cycling instead of doing triathlons and running events. Those were the days.

I am feeling very confident about my cycling now. :) I don’t want to tell anybody how soon I’ve just returned to cycling. I will say this; the return was quicker than I thought. Quite frankly it shocked me. In no time I was back at 200 miles a week. Not really the distance or saddle time when I was at in my racing days, but good for now. I guess my LS Challenge showed and I will still get stronger. I don’t know if I’ll start racing again.

Grahny, did you ride a Cervelo R3? Like the one from your ~Velospace~ (http://velospace.org/user/1668). That is a sweat ride. ;)

Thanks... yes that was my R3 - my only road bike left in my stable. It's a really great ride. It was my first century on it and boy was it comfortable the whole way. I'm beyond pleased with it. I love these big rides where you can see so many different bikes and confiurations.

Congrats on coming back to cycling as strong as you have! You seemed to be doing just fine out there on sunday :beer:

I did the 70 mile ride and it was the longest and by far the hardest ride I've done to date. Been riding since about the end of May. I was one of those folks walking up some hills, and almost all of them towards the end. But I finished it and will definately go back next year if possible. Though I will get some lower gearing than my 39/53 double with 12-26 cassette:eek: and hopefully 50-60lbs lighter as well:o
Even though it was harder than I expected I am glad I did it. I just lost my father to lung cancer three weeks ago, so it was very cool to see so many people in support of a great cause.

btw did anyone else see the dude that did the 70 mile course on an old Schwinn sting-ray with a banana seat? Almost everyone at the rest stops was talking about him, man he could just motor up them hills on that thing.

Grahny,

Where did you start in the LS century formation? Did you start in the front of the fast 100 miler’s? You did catch up with Lance didn’t you?

I registered to ride in the slow 100 miler’s but slipped into the back of the faster group when they left. It was about 14 mph pace. I couldn't handle it so I started moving up but I never did see the big guy.

I started about 50 riders back from Lance in the 'fast' group, but I think he started with a few people and then they waited to let the rest of us go... it was kind of hard to tell. I worked my way up a little out on the road, and we were cruising at a 20-25mph pace, but didn't get all the way up to him. I think he pulled into the first rest stop but I just kept going (couldn't stop that early). I know a lot of people pulled into the first stop to see if they could mingle I guess, but I had my priorities at that time :) Apparently he turned at that point and road back with an escort (from reading another post in this thread it seems he made his way back once the 40 milers got out on the road).

I know where I'm going to start next year. :D

Well hopefully the course will not change for next year, at least the 100 mile course. I really enjoyed that ride. :) They will have a LiveStrong ride next year in Philly, wouldn’t they?

Grahny, what other rides do you do?

Here's hoping they come back to philly again. It's a prime location being dead center in the mid-atlantic/northeast corridor. Last year they had 5 livestrong challenges, but went down to 3 for this year, so we'll have to see if they keep the same locations going forward.

I wouldn't mind a change of route each year personally. Last year went through Philly, while obviously this year's didn't. It would be cool if they could keep changing it up a little, but keep it challenging.

I did a couple of charity rides in May:
- Bike for Bones in Limerick, PA - very, very small ride, more like a group ride where 1/2 the people show up... it's a new ride that's still building it's name. Right now it's a 25 miles ride only, with rollers. The husband of a coworker of mine is one of the organizers

- Chester County Cancer Hospital in West chester, PA - that's a good ride. Metric century (other options too), rollers with a few climbs but nothing really difficult. This year I had to cut off and do the 25mi ride only because I blew out my knee the day before and it immediately started to swell after a few miles... I had to pedal the last 15 miles with just my left leg :)

I did the Lancaster Covered Bridge Metric Century the week before the livestrong challenge with a whole bunch of BF members (there's a thread for that in the Northeast forum)... that was really fun and I'll definitely do it again next year.

I've got the Scenic Schuylkill Century on Saturday Sept 8th (I'm just doing the metric though, not the imperial century).
http://www.phillybikeclub.org/century.htm

The following day (sept 9th) is Bike Philly... 50 mile ride, lots of closed off streets through philly.
http://www.bikephilly2007.com/

The MS150 City to Shore is the weekend of Sept 29th & 30th (Woodcrest, NJ - just past camden - down to Ocean City NJ and back... 75mi sat, 75 sunday). This ride has a century option on the first day plus other distances as well for one or both days.

I'm riding with team Copaxone:
My page: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=2733652&pg=personal&fr_id=2750
Team page: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=2750&team_id=3989

If you want to join up for this ride, let me know. BF member uncadan8 got me onboard with this team for the ride. I know thehistorian is also on the team. Can't beat a free jersey! :)... and of course I'm sure some very nice people to ride with for a good cause.

Lastly for the year is the Bucks County Covered Bridge Metric (October 14th). That should be a really nice fall ride. I started a thread for this one in the northeast forum as well.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=335158

All of these (except the MS ride I think) can be found on Active.com and are relatively cheap to sign up for.

I know where I'm going to start next year. :D

Well hopefully the course will not change for next year, at least the 100 mile course. I really enjoyed that ride. :) They will have a LiveStrong ride next year in Philly, wouldn’t they?

Grahny, what other rides do you do?


I can confirm there will indeed be a 2008 LiveStrong Challenge Philadelphia, so start getting your teams set up and raise more money! We did awesome this year, and hopefully next year will be even bigger.

I am glad everyone seemed to enjoy the course. Keep the good comments and constructive criticisms coming because I'm making sure I pass them along to our event organizing committe. The Landis Store stop won 80% of the favorite rest stop votes, and yes we had a VERY VERY busy day in the SAG Wagons. I ended up driving Sag 4, and we had our hands full all day....I'll let everyone know when I hear if the course will change for next year, I'd expect a few small changes but I'm almost positive the general route/direction will remain the same.

-d

That's great, please keep up posted. Thanks!

I'm trying to recall...can someone help me out? Where along the 100-mile route were the big climbs? I remember the first one being around the 33 to 35-mile mark. And then of course there was the 55-mile mark monster. And, by looking at the elevation profile provided on the course map, it looks like there was small, but not insignificant climb around mile 70-73. Am I missing anything?

Also, anyone happen to have the distances and percentage grades for those big climbs?

Thanks!!!

The Austin organizing committee is having a meeting next week. If there is something you didn't like about the Philly ride, please let me know. I will pass it along, so the same mistakes aren't repeated.

I'm trying to recall...can someone help me out? Where along the 100-mile route were the big climbs? I remember the first one being around the 33 to 35-mile mark. And then of course there was the 55-mile mark monster. And, by looking at the elevation profile provided on the course map, it looks like there was small, but not insignificant climb around mile 70-73. Am I missing anything?

Also, anyone happen to have the distances and percentage grades for those big climbs?

Thanks!!!

Those were the big ones, there was also the first significant one at Hill Road, I think somewhere around 20-25 miles if I remember corrrectly. You could look it up on the cue sheet.

That first short steep climb around the 25mi mark was registering in the 20%+ neighborhood on my garmin for most of it. The first big climb was averaging around 9-10% I believe. The 2nd big climb I didn't think was all that bad, although I was grinding it out in my lowest gear... I was so pumped and warmed up by then it could have ben the col d'galibier and I would have crushed it :D.. it was probably in the same range as the first, 9-10% average.

CardiacKid The only suggestion I have is to review the course and make sure that everyone can actually ride it ;)... think of the poor SAG vehicles! :)

EDIT: Ditto on Tasr's comment about the chip seal. Go through the course to make sure there are no hazzards.

The Austin organizing committee is having a meeting next week. If there is something you didn't like about the Philly ride, please let me know. I will pass it along, so the same mistakes aren't repeated.

I did the 100 mile course. The only thing I would change is the 3-4 miles of oil and chip rode section. It was pretty loose at some points. I think I even got sideways on one of the steep grades. Maybe put another hill or two in it's place. :)

I would NOT go with anything less than the total elevation of what the 100 mile 2007 LS Challenge course was. I ended up with something like 8456 ft, oh yea I made a wrong tune going up. :rolleyes:

I love that course................................:D

Photos are up...

http://www.kreutzphotography.com/

Here's yours truely...

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/6522/2007082622261x113mh6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff100/gabworx/20070826_01990_P57.jpg
Here I am ...

grahny & engine looking good..........:)


Here is one of me at the line.


http://home.comcast.net/~jrokowski/pics/1LS07.JPG

Here's Me!
http://www.kreutzphotography.com/PP_LAF/20070826_Ride_70mi_Start_2/20070826_07638_X110.jpg

Good looking shots...

My photos are all of some old hairy guy! What the hell? I am not sure what made them think this guy is me, but it is really kind of dissapointing.

Here's Me!
http://www.kreutzphotography.com/PP_LAF/20070826_Ride_70mi_Start_2/20070826_07638_X110.jpg

I rode out right behind that little kid on the MTB and his mom, so I guess I am right behind you.

Good looking shots...

My photos are all of some old hairy guy! What the hell? I am not sure what made them think this guy is me, but it is really kind of dissapointing.

A bunch of mine came up with somone else too... I had to sift through the thousands of photos to find the rest of me. Luckily it was a slow day at work that day :)