JP1971

Anyone have any first-hand news about any So Cal riders at the 508? Time Splits on the website haven't been updated for a large percentage of the racers since the middle of the night!

Anyone heard anything from anyone???

cjbruin

I was wondering the same thing. Some racers have almost all of their splits showing, but others (like George) have one or two. I know it was really windy out there starting on Friday and it got cold last night. Maybe they have a ton of DNF's...not sure.

JP1971

It seems hard to believe that hard-core riders with crew would DNF because it was cold. More likely that the race organizers are having technical difficulties with their webcast.

I noticed that Kenny Souza (pro athlete and 508 course record holder) DNF'd due to "mechanical." I wonder if that means his only allowed crew vehicle broke down... because it seems strange that he'd be racing with only one bike!

If he had to quit the race because his car broke down, it's further evidence that the rule restricting racers to only one crew vehicle is lame.

cjbruin

Sorry, I didn't mean because of the cold but rather the winds. They came up really big on Friday and I can imagine that riders were getting pushed around pretty bad by them...possibly to the point of it being too dangerous to ride. I drove the course from Kelso to 29 Palms...it was howling.

merider1

Well, I can't tell any better from the webcast either, but I think my buddy, Francis, is still pedaling away. I was looking through some of the pics and caught this one:




I don't believe the pics from the webcase are for sale, so it's okay to post them here. Francis was someone who road up to Baldy with me the first time I went up there and was so supportive. I've always appreciated he's wonderful spirit, sense of humor and insanity on a bike. I'm proud of him and I hope to hear that he has finished safely soon.

cjbruin

Looks like they posted an update on Vireo (29h 30m to Shoeshone -- 327 mi). By contrast, Terry Lentz (another fixie rider) finished the entire event in 30h 13m...WOW!!!

merider1

Francis stopped. I hope he's okay. He's such a strong rider, so something must have gone wrong. I'll call him and get the skinny tomorrow.

spingineer

did you really say "skinny"?

merider1

Brandy

ME...I was really sad to see that when I checked the board in Shoshone. According to Eric "Ostrich" Ostendorf (sp) who was manning the time station, Townes Pass really did Francis in. When I told George, he got really bummed out. The thing with 508 is that EVERYONE out there is really pulling for the other teams. The experience was AMAZING! We were in the back of the pack, so we saw several DNF's late in the game and I was so bummed for each and every one of them.

We just got home, by the way. George did amazing...says he'll never go fixed gear again on 508...chose too big of a gear. There were times that it was painful to watch him struggling in the gear he chose 49-17, particularly on Townes Pass...but you look around and nearly everyone was suffering to some degree or another. George was very consistent throughout and didn't sleep a single minute. I'm not sure how he did it. More later...need to unpack.

BTW...our crew was GREAT! I had the pleasure of riding with Timmer Vadheim who some of you may know as a doubles rider and volunteer on some PU rides, and RAAM race director Terry Zmrhal. What a treat. It was truly an experience.

Mr. Beanz

Great job Georgie Boy!

jschen

Welcome home, Brandy.

VanceMac

Congrats George, and all the participants/crew! Maybe we'll have a few BF teams there next year??

merider1

Hi Brandy. Thank you for your words above about Francis and the other riders. From the pictures on the website, it seemed like a very cohesive group out there with great support.

Congratulations to George! I can't even imagine riding it, let alone on a fixed gear.

I'm impressed with all of the riders' efforts. With the winds this past weekend, that could not have been an easy ride (not that is without the winds, mind you!).

roadfix

Great job!

spingineer

I am utterly amazed at those who first, attempted this ride, then completing it ... I'm doing the "I'm not worthy" bit ... that truely defines Long Distance rider.

markw

Just watching him struggle up the climb to Johannesburg made me grimace. I can't imagine Townes Pass on a fixie. Now you know why they invented gears and deraileurs. Good job George!

roadfix

Pushing 77 gear inches can be real tough on these climbs, especially after all those hours in the saddle. I'm curious to find out what the other fixed gear rider was pushing. Anyway, great job!

markw

I'm surprised George didn't have 2 bikes geared differently, one for climbs and one for flats/descents.

roadfix

That's not allowed......you must commit to only one gear ratio for the entire ride according to 508 rules.

Brandy

48-16 if I recall correctly. I keep wondering if he (Terry Lentz) would have come in first overall had he been on a multispeed. He's a VERY strong rider.

Brandy

Mark...you're right. It was nice chatting with you for a few minutes, by the way! Every time he was struggling like that we would listen to his concerns and then try to lighten the mood with "Well, you left your gears at home, silly!"

He has said it was easily the hardest thing he's ever done on a bike. It was tricky to manage his nutrition with those climbs because he would stand on them so much, that he would fall behind in fueling because he was unable to drink. At the top when I would be inclined to load him up with some extra Sustained Energy or Ensure to help aid in recovery on the descent...well...there IS no recovery with all of the pedaling on the descent. We seemed to manage though and looking at the logs, we were able to make up for some lost calories here and there.

Brandy

That's correct George. Seems that very few on the course knew these rules and assumed that he could also unclip and not pedal on the descents.

E. Fixed Gear Division: Bikes must use the same fixed gearing (ring/cog/wheel) for the entire event. Bike frames shall be steel, traditional double diamond design (forks are unrestricted) and wheels (maximum 25 mm rim depth) with 32 spokes minimum. Aerobar attachments and aero-designed parts are prohibited. Wheel switches are permitted only for wheel failures, and must be identical or essentially identical to the failed wheel. Bike switches are not permitted. Riders may not coast with feet off the pedals. Riders must declare their gear (ring/cog/wheel size) choice at check in, which may not be changed thereafter.

We're still adding up the numbers (cals consumed, etc.) but here's a good one...

508.5 miles and at 263 revolutions per mile he pedaled 133,735.5 times during the race!

roadfix

That's an interesting statistic Brandy. Funny thing is I also calculated how many pedal revolutions it took me to do the Grand Tour and I came up with a little over 60,000 revolutions.

markw

Yeah, Jim was the guy on the road that passed George. He went out too hard, and got into a deficit also. He somewhat recovered, but Michael was blazing on his pulls, so Jim didn't get the recovery he wanted. Those roads would jar the heck out of you also. If it makes any difference, Jim and Michael said they're legs were hurting also, even with the 29.5" low gear Michael rode on Townes. Glad to see George finished, we were checking the webcast to see if he made it. That gear inch rule definately makes it tough.