GuitarWizard

As some of you may know from my other thread, I had signed up for the Vernon (Vermont) to Vernon (Connecticut) century.....so, here's the trip report. It's a bit long.....a novel, really.....but should be somewhat entertaining.

Ride time: 2:26:31
Miles: 40
Feet climbed: 1,102
Average gradient: 5%
Max gradient: 11%
Average Speed 16.1 mph

Now...I'm sure a keen eye will quickly notice that I was...oh...about 60 miles short....65 to be exact, since the route was 105 miles. I have been sick the last week, and while I thought I was feeling better (up until yesterday afternoon) it was rather apparent this morning that deciding to ride was not one of my better ideas.

We'll start with yesterday. Bring my bike over to my buddy Tim at Eastern Mountain Sports to give it a quick look-over before the ride. I was feeling ok....not great, hadn't ridden since last Sunday, body was aching like mad....but I figured that was due to not riding; which I was actually right about - bones and muscles feel pretty good now, post-ride. We bs'ed for a bit, and he said that he had planned on starting out nice and easy, which I was all for since I still wasn't 100%. I then shoot over to Vernon Bike in Vernon, CT to drop off my bike, sign in, and get my number. They load up all the bikes Saturday afternoon to drive up to Vernon, VT early Sunday morning, and then drive all of us up there on buses.

So, I get home around 2:30 p.m. or so after dropping off my bike.....feeling a bit tired, as I had a strenuous morning of washing my bike and my car. Really worked up a sweat. In hindsight, I probably should've realized that working up THAT much of a sweat in high 60/low 70 degree weather should've told me something, but....ya know. I felt fairly ok, just tired. Layed down for a bit as I had planned on relaxing the rest of the afternoon in front of the TV and such. Tried to fall asleep...couldn't. Hmmmmm. I feel a bit wired. Quick check of the pulse.....100 bpm. Ah...this ain't good. You know it's a bad sign when you've been laying in bed doing nothing for nearly 2 hours and your pulse is in the triple digit range. Well....too late to go grab my bike off the truck, since it was 4:30 p.m. and sign-in closed at 4. Looks like I'm off to Vermont in the morning.

Didn't sleep for crap last night, as I have found trying to sleep with a racing pulse is a bit challenging. Not really sure how chain smokers and meth addicts/cokeheads do it. Oh I know....they don't. I think I got a solid 4 hours in, so I figured that was better than nothing. Didn't sleep well the night before either, so I'm batting 0-2 at this point. Just the kind of odds I like. I get up, take a shower, and head out. Crap. Forgot to eat breakfast. Faaaaantastic. Now I'm 0-3.

I get to the shop at around 5:30 a.m., and am one of the first few to arrive. I think there was something like 60-80 cyclists, so it was a pretty decent turnout. Fortunately, they have breakfasty-type stuff.....fruit, bagels, etc. I grab a couple bananas and an OJ. I ate one banana, but wasn't too enthusiastic about eating for some reason, so I took a short break before downing the second one. After standing around for what seemed like 30-40 minutes, we all board the bus. I then remember I had the OJ, but decided to hold off drinking it since there was no bathroom on the bus.

The ride up was fairly uneventful until the last couple miles....the driver of our (lead) bus missed a turn, and took us down a small residential street....which was actually a cul-de-sac, graciously pointed out to us by one of the neighbors as we were attempting to back down his driveway as he was on his way outside with a camera to take pictures of a big charter bus pulled into his neighbors' driveway. I guess that's not something you really see everyday, certainly not at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning in Vermont.

The driver of the bus in the neighbors' driveway managed to bend his newspaper mailbox a bit, and sorta collapsed about 3-4" of his driveway off the edge....basically where you'd never drive anyway, but the guy was having a bird about it. That was a few tense moments, but then some of the riders piped up that perhaps we should drive across his lawn and find the leech field. That would've been great.

So as I'm several paragraphs into this and haven't started with the ride yet, we'll start now; gotta work in all the details, after all. We finally arrive, and everyone....and I mean everyone....makes a bee line to the bathrooms. This is the first time I've seen the mens' line longer than a womens' line for a bathroom....and some of the men even went into the woods to pee. It was really weird. As we're standing in line, for awhile I thought only 1 of the 2 toilets were working, but apparently someone was passing the entire contents of their bowels. I head in, do my duties and throw on some chamois cream....praying that my chaffed areas have had plenty of time to heal up in the past week that I've been off the bike. I then get geared up, grab my bike, and locate my buddy Tim and a friend of his who we'll be riding with.

We begin the ride. Man it feels weird to be riding your bike two states away, and going back home. We settle into a pretty steady rythym. It's in the upper 50's/low 60's, and I'm really glad I decided to wear my long sleeve neoprene/fleece jersey underneath my cycling jersey, as I'm sure I would've been a lot colder. We're cruising along between 20-25 mph, with Tim's friend Roland setting the pace. Hmmmm. If this is "starting out easy"....I can't wait to see "hard". Roland is about 6'3" or so and a great person to draft, BTW. I'm putting forth a little effort, but it's still the "warmup" phase, so I don't think too much of it. The terrain is pretty flat from what I'm used to as well, so it's all good.

The first 30 minutes or so flash by pretty quick. Average speed, 19.8 mph. Ok, this is gonna be a problem. We're catching and passing groups, and occasionally hanging with some to "rest" a bit. My breathing is a bit labored, but I figure it's because of the pace. More on that later. I then decide to take a swig of my OJ that I had from earlier, which I put in my jersey pocket. I'm sorta thinking now, 6 hours later, this wasn't one of my brighter ideas. Within 5-10 minutes, I feel like I want to be sick....it came on slightly, and then all of a sudden....WHAM. Holy **** this is bad. It was at this time I started to back off the pace and drift back from Tim and Roland....and now working up quite the sweat with my long sleeve jersey on. I didn't want to hold them up, so I sat up and started pedaling a bit easier. I was about 15 minutes out from the first rest stop, 17 miles in. I was thinking of how nice it would be to be done with the ride at this point.... a really bad sign of things to come. Breathing was not becoming any easier....was becoming more labored, and even the thought of food was making me want to puke. Great. On a century, and can't eat. At the first rest stop, I mill around a short bit in a half-daze, take off my long sleeve jersey and meet up with Tim. I tell him I'm seriously not doing well....he's a bit concerned, and told me to take it easy and he'll hopefully see me at the lunch stop. Him and Roland head out as they're starting to tighten up, and I grab a 12 oz. Gatorade to fill up one of my empty 24 oz. bottles. They had some cookies there to munch on, and just looking at them turned my stomach so bad. I probably should've made myself throw up....I would've felt better.

Well...17 miles down, only 88 to go. I've been on some fairly monumental physical "epics" before, and I knew this definitely had the capacity to be in my top 5 at the rate I was going. Being a mountaineer and climbing in the wintertime, you learn really how far you can really push yourself, and then sometimes have to learn to push even beyond that at times. As the saying goes...what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger. Or dumber...I can't figure out which. I down a gel pack about an hour and ten minutes in, as I figured I need to at least put SOMETHING into my body other than Gatorade. The positive thing was, I didn't throw it up, but I was feeling worse and worse by the mile. However....I must say that this was one of the nicest (and flattest) rides I've been on. Nice and scenic, plenty of lightly traveled roads, wide bike lanes in parts, and did I mention pretty flat? Oh....and there was barely any wind. Why couldn't this ride have been 2 weeks earlier?

People were now starting to catch and pass me more often, and ask if I was ok. I would catch a wheel for a bit, and then eventually fall off. After an hour and a half into the ride, we were essentially cruising on flat, straight roads in farm country. Between smelling Dunkin Donuts and horse****, it was all I could do to keep the contents of my stomach from coming up. At least I could drink Gatorade though. I got passed by two women from a local CT club (Rooster somethings...I forget), and I managed to keep them 100-300 yards in front of me for the most part for the better part of the next hour. That was nice, as it gave me something to concentrate on other than how I felt. Occasionally I'd catch them, but then I'd back off.

Being the type who doesn't normally "quit", I was seriously entertaining the idea at this point. I was to the point of breathing somewhat heavy cruising along at a lofty 14.2 mph on the flats. This is bad. I also feel like I have to take a dump now, and have to pee. Wonderful. Only about (unbeknownst to me at the time) 20 minutes from the lunch stop.

Next 20 minutes are fairly uneventful....more farmland, getting sicker, slower, still can't eat, and getting really tired of smelling cows. Up head I see people slowing down, and the road turning upwards. This must be the "big climb". My buddy told me there's an 8-10% climb about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile long or something. I catch those two women again, and they're actually going slower than I am, so in a weird way I kinda feel good about that. I make my way around them, and I'm really not feeling anywhere near as bad as I thought I would on the climb. My heartrate was the same as the rest of the ride....pretty high....and I kept my overall effort level in check. I felt halfway decent for a short bit.

Of course, reality set in about 10 seconds later, and I'm back to feeling like ****. I see about 30+ cyclists from our ride at the lunch stop. I dismount, grab my waterbottles, look around while looking really confused, and then put my bottles back on my bike. Forgot I had to pee and poop. Make my way to the bathrooms at the state park we were at, and according to the sign the mens' toilet doesn't flush. You've got to be kidding me. So while 4 of us were standing in line for the urinal, someone else asks me if I'm ok....to which I respond, no. He said "don't worry, I don't think your sponsor will mind if you drop out". I tried to laugh, but really couldn't.

I make my way back to the lunch area, and sit down under a canopy in the shade, to which someone else asks how I'm doing. I figure I must look like death warmed over at this point. Now I'm kinda pissed. It's probably *the perfect* day for this ride.....around 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, no wind....and I have to abandon. There's no two ways about it. I can't eat, I'm literally amazed I haven't barfed yet, and while my legs and body feel pretty damn good, my cardiovascular system is saying "stop". So....I walk over to a SAG wagon, and ask if I can abandon. End of the ride.

I must say, Vernon Cycle (Vernon, CT) was awesome. They had someone on the course who could give me a ride back to the shop where all our cars were parked, and within 10 minutes he was there to pack up me and my bike. It was a great event, that I REALLLLLLLY wished I could've enjoyed more, but it simply wasn't in the cards. They made sure I was taken care of and worked quickly to get me back to my car as fast as possible.

So....back home, it now feels like I have the beginnings of some very slight congestion in my upper chest, and my throat is still clogged up, as has been par for the course the past week. Breathing is still labored at times, even sitting here typing. My resting heartrate is slightly lower today though than yesterday....only about 94 bpm right now. My stomach feels ok now, and I managed to finally eat about 3 hours after I stopped riding. Gonna be a bad recovery day, but oh well.

I'm just going to take as much time off the bike as I need to get better. On the positive side of things, my chaffed areas fared actually pretty well. I was happy about that.

I know I most likely could've continued on and finished the ride....but sometimes it just isn't worth the risk of doing damage to oneself just to say I did it. As Mike from Vernon Bike who drove me back said, "don't worry about it, there's always next year. Go home and get some rest and I hope you feel better.".

Thanks again, dude.

JoeOxfordCT

Guitar,
Sorry to hear about your ride not going well. Stinks to have done all the prep work and your body let's you down because of illness.

I was supposed to do the CT AIDs ride on friday from Bridgeport to Madison. Same sort of thing.....all the prep work done and then the weather kicks you in the a$$.
Some folks I work with actually rode and only ended up encountering light spotty drizzle.....they called me at work (I went to work when I decided not to ride) to tell me they made it to Madison which made me even angrier for not having rode...

Well there's always the Harvest Ride in Westport on the 24th....I'll be there.
https://www.soundcyclists.com/Harvest.htm

Hope you feel better,

J.

GuitarWizard

Thanks.

Yeah, it kinda sucks, but I'm more bummed about the fact that it was an awesome day for it. Last year when they had it, I heard it was a downpour.....and you know with the weather we've had the last couple weeks, today was great. Ah well. Now.....if we can just get mid 70's in the mornings instead of low 60's/high 50's, then it would've been absolutely perfect .

I guess there's always at least one casualty per ride.

GuitarWizard

I'd also like to add that in regard to pretty much all of the riders out there today, I didn't notice any really squirrely maneuvers, which was a welcome sight. Granted, the field was small compared to some really popular centuries that draw hundreds (or thousands) of riders, but it was nice to be able to ride without worrying about someone running into you. I'd say at least half of the riders were club or team affiliated.

Hammertoe

Great report.....crappy ride....sorry you did not feel so well....it was a beautiful day for a ride....feel better soon....

I wish I could write a report like that...Here's mine....went out for 40....forgot a snack...pedal, pedal, pedal....lost power with 15 to go....struggled home...found my car.....ate a tuna sandwich....

JoeOxfordCT

Your story's fine too.....tuna sandwich needs a better description though...

Panic

GuitarWizard - man, great report with an unhappy ending. Maybe next year me and my buds can join you on the ride. We talked about it as we were riding around F'ton "Today was the Vernon ride, damn. Its a great day."

next week is the Rocky Hill Metric, maybe you feel good enough for that?

GuitarWizard

Thanks guys. I wish things turned out differently. I went to work today, but I think I'll be working from home tomorrow and such. The joys of being able to telecommute....

I'm just going to rest as much as possible and not worry about the bike for at least several days.

Hammertoe

Was it the spinach that did you in........

botto 

you did the right thing calling it a day when you did. no reason riding yourself into pulp, and probably ending your riding for the foreseeable future.

btw -

was this the first large/mass starter ride that you've done? who needs bathrooms when you can pee in the great outdoors. smells a hell of a lot better than a toilet that has a brown mountain growing out of it

GuitarWizard

Yep, this was my first organized ride. I had to take a dump though, so I actually needed to go into the bathroom....as well as apply a healthy amount of Assos cream afterwards .

botto 

you're a brave man.

GuitarWizard

Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...

Although I think the guy next to me had a primary goal in life to try to fill up the toilet so it wouldn't flush.

newwheels

just thought i'd let you know i did actually empty most of my bowels that morning. it was my first century and i was pretty excited i guess...felt bad about holding everybody up, but whatcha gonna do?

i ended up finishing with your buddy tim. he pulled a group of us around the route most of the day. seems a good guy, as were most of the folks i met during the ride. i really enjoyed the ride and thought it was organized very well. thanks to all involved. see you again next year.

GuitarWizard

LOL

Is this Roland?

GuitarWizard

A bit of an update:

Got a steroid cream from the Doc today for the chafing/sores....it's gotten to the point of reallllllly needing it, so I'll be off the bike for a bit I think. I'm also finally starting to feel better now, but the Doc did comfirm a bit of lingering chest congestion.

Now that I think about it some more, I'm actually quite impressed that I lasted 40 miles with how I felt.

botto 

good to hear that it wasn't gangrene - like it sounded

GuitarWizard

Maybe I'll be able to climb like Floyd now, though!

Hipcycler

I can't believe you quit.
You just took the sag wagon home?

What kind of girlie rider are you?

Pain is temporary.
Quitting is forever.

You've let us all down....







OK, that ends my impersonation of EURO.

Look ma man, I was rooting for you since I tried to coach you through the whole 'cold' thing coming on.
Sometimes, ya just ain't right.
And it's not like you are making a living at it and need a paycheck so you keep going.

This is supposed to be fun.

You heal up....rest...start training again and go kick some ass next time out bro....

botto 

/\

Hip

If you knew what i know, then you'd be amazed that he lasted as long as he did.

Hipcycler

...sounded like a hell of an effort from the description.
I was with him in spirit, because I actually remembered he was doing the ride over the weekend.

GuitarWizard

Botto's referring to the IM I sent 'em last night about my saddle sore issue....

And believe it or not, that was pretty much the least of my worries during the ride.

Panic

Holy crap. This is one time where I have to say "Please don't post any pictures"

GW, rest well. I was hoping to take a recovery ride, my ass said "No dice", I listen to my ass, and you should too.

GuitarWizard

I've had two applications of the steroid cream so far, and it seems to be helping a lot. Itchiness seemingly went away immediately, and the healing process has begun. I still feel a little crappy from my cold, but that's pretty much all but gone (just having problems sleeping, and have had a dull headache for most of a few days now....and I never get headaches). So...perhaps if things are looking better by the weekend, I may be able to get back on the bike.

Or not. Either way, working from home is nice.

cdale56

That V2V ride sounded like quite an adventure but glad you did all right. It sure was a nice day to ride.

I think that you got in the best part (meaning most scenic and best suited roads for cycling) of the ride anyway, at least the flatest part because I think that hill up to the rest stop was the first climb of the day.

PS: The bus I was on last year got lost too, this was from the start in CT to Rte 84 and we had to do a tight turn around on a dead end too, maybe they should give the bus drivers directions.