Chafing at LIVESTRONG: The Century 80-Mile Ride

Pre-Ride Ride

For me, the day started at 5:30am... with wheels down at 5:39am:

I was displeased with this:

See that behind me? That's nighttime... not bicycles-riding-time. As you'll recall, I did this because the LIVESTRONG Challenge only offered up to a 90-mile route (actually 87 miles according to MapMyRide.com), so I needed to do more than 10 miles as a warm up around the neighborhood in order to get my daily total to the Century marker.

Alas, this was not meant to be, as I'll get to.

The Start

Andrew and Spencer were waiting for me when I finished the warm up, and we loaded up and headed out. We planned to get there pretty early... but I guess so did the other 3,100 riders. So traffic pretty much stopped once we got to Dripping Springs. In a long line of cars, we proceeded to the park that served as the parking lot, and hopped on the bikes and hustled over to the starting line.

It was pretty packed. We weren't even able to get into the starting corral in our 90-milers section. Luckily, they planned for this, and we were able to sneak into the coral as the first wave went out. The "Elite" riders, led by Lance, went out in front of everyone as soon as he finished his pre-ride speak. And, as just mentioned, we were able to follow in the first wave.

The first 15 miles or so, were a complete zoo. So many riders. So many of them obviously with no intention of going 90-miles, but somehow in our wave anyway. So... slow.

The ride was supposed to start at 8:00am, but due to the large number of people rolling out (and rolling in--since the parking line was so long), it didn't actually start until 8:15... which meant we didn't actually start until like 8:20.

I mention this because there is a cut-off time for the 90-mile route: 11:00am. You have to reach the 38-mile rest stop by that time, or you get re-routed to the 65-mile route. (Hint: This is called "foreshadowing.")

So, the slowness of the crowd and the tardiness of the ride was already working against us. But we were having fun, and picking our spots to pass people.

There was one such spot that I was able to pick, that Andrew and Spencer couldn't get to. So we ended up getting separated between a bit before the second pit stop (we didn't stop at the first one--trying to get ahead of everyone).

So I was out in front for a bit by myself... and enjoyed a faster pace. I pulled off at the second pit stop, and got in the long line for the bathroom while waiting for Spencer and Andrew to catch up. Unfortunately, this is where things deviated from plan.

The Crowded Port-a-Potty Line of Death

While I was, uh, making use of the facilities, Andrew and Spencer blew through the second rest stop without stopping. I got out of the facilities... and continued to wait for them.

And while, yes, we all had cell phones, they are pretty hard to hear while you're pedaling away, trying to catch up to a team mate who's out in front of you (or so they thought).

So, despite my calls, none of us had any idea what had just happened. I spent 20 minutes at Pit Stop 2.

At this point, I decided to keep moving... thinking perhaps Spencer's ankle had started acting up (he'd twinged it the day before during the 5K), and that they had just been moving a little slower. Confident they'd call when they got the chance.

There was a beautiful stretch of river that we rode by for about 8 miles:

Pit Stop 4: Where Dreams are Beaten Mercilessly with Baseball Bats

After which, I arrived at Pit Stop 3, where I stopped and waited again. By about 5 minutes into my stop, Spencer and Andrew probably had a cumulative bagillion phone messages and texts between them, as I was getting nervous about making the cut off. I called Hillary to see if she had any advice... during which time, I noticed the clock was ticking dangerously away, and that I should get moving.

As I pulled away from Pit Stop 3 (after waiting another disconcerting 20 minutes)... my phone rang. Spencer and Andrew were checking in: they'd just reached Pit Stop 4, where the cut-off is. They were expecting me to clue them into how far ahead of them I was.

Needless to say... we were all quite surprised by the answer.

So, the scene is set: Spencer and Andrew are 12 miles ahead of me. It is 10:30am. If I was going to be able to complete the journey I set out to make, I would need to ride 24 mph... in hills.

For some context, up to this point I had been feeling great this whole morning, and riding quite quickly. I was averaging close to 18 mph, in the same hills, a pace which would have easily gotten me to the cut off in time, if we had avoided the (what would prove to be fatal... in the figurative sense) miscommunication. Even allowing for the twenty minute delay, one would only have to average 15 mph to make it.

All that said, with the Century on the line, I rode my ass off.

And 12 miles later I found out that I'd missed the cut off... by six minutes.

Luke Receives Bad News, Goes into Murderous Rampage

Well... not quite. But, pretty close. Spencer and Andrew had been kind enough to wait for me, even though that meant they'd miss the 90 mile route, too. But, having trained for this big day for so long, and having raised money from family and friends with the pretext that I would actually complete said big day... I was pretty awful company for the next several miles.

Instead of stopping (after pretty much exhausting myself trying to make the cut), and insisted on continuing at a pretty extreme pace. And basically, by beating myself into the ground, paired with incredibly kind words and observations by my team mates, I was able to turn it around.

The Sun Comes Out and Delivers the News: "You're still riding bikes! That's something you enjoy doing!"

Something that really stuck with me that Spencer and/or Andrew noted during my pit of despair/anger, was that despite the misfortune of not hitting the cut-off, we had really accomplished a lot: we had raised $1,725 together for cancer support services, and we were still about to complete the longest ride any of us had done.

And not only that, we'd not been cut-off because we weren't in shape (indeed, we'd really been crushing the course when we were riding: it was the standing around that killed us), we'd been cut-off because we were trying to do right by our teammates: I'd been trying to wait for them to catch up, and then they deliberately skipped 90 mile route (that they'd made it to in time), in order to ride with me to the finish.

Really, I couldn't ask for a better, more supportive team than that.

So, pity-party finished, I really began to enjoy myself. And yes, the sun did come out:

The last third of the ride was incredibly beautiful. And riding on a beautiful day with great company is really all I could ask for. We rode quickly, but took our time at the rest stops, since we were no longer in any hurry. We chatted up some other riders, and some of the volunteers and support staff, who were all very cheery, and helped make the day so great by the end of it.

Hillary and Bethany met us at the finish (that's Hillary's hand looking for a high-five as the three of us come into the finish area):

So despite not getting in quite as many miles as we'd hoped (with 13.5 miles in the morning for me... and around of 65.5 miles for the ride itself... at the end of the day, my odometer read just over 79 miles), the day was a success. Which obviously means one thing: let's eat!

We raided the lunch area for some good eats, as well as the "beer" garden ("beer" is in quotes, because they were serving Michelob Ultra exclusively... which is really more like carbonated mineral water than beer). But not before posing for a final goofy picture:

Afterword

I would like to quickly mention how great it was to be doing this event as a team. Kasey, Spencer, Andrew, and of course, Hillary: you were wonderful teammates. Thank you so much for letting me do this event alongside you. It made the experience that much more fulfilling.

Friends, Family, Donors, Readers, Chafing Enthusiasts: thank you. I've probably said those two words too many times in my posts and emails, to where they may have lost meaning to some of you. So, I'll say it again, but in a different language: ¡Muchísimas Gracias!

This event is really about the money and awareness we were able to raise together. Without each of you, these events would not be nearly as special or meaningful.

So once more, and finally: thank you, so much.

Epilogue

What? You thought I was finished?

As an update for devotees of the Chafe: Spencer, Andrew and I will be undertaking a self-supported (well... girlfriend-supported) Century Ride through the Balcones Canyonlands this upcoming Sunday.

I was planning on including a post, since this is really a sort of culmination of the whole LIVESTRONG experience (since we were unable to get the whole Century in during that ride).

But, since I'm sure most of you are sick of these sorts of posts and updates by now, I won't be mass emailing that post. So if you're interested in reading about more chafing, please tune in sometime next week: I'll have it up here.

Thanks again. And Happy Riding.