As previously covered in earlier posts, I successfully made it through the Mens Health Urbanathlon in Chicago this past weekend! Before I get to the race info, a word about Amtrak. I had never ridden the train to go anywhere until this past Friday. Let me say that if you are going to downtown Chicago for anything and live in close proximity to the Amtrak rails, TAKE THE TRAIN! For a total of $48 round trip you can relax in comfort for the 4 hour trip, no headaches, no crappy drivers, no gas, no parking fees. I arrived in Chicago refresehed and relaxed, just a short walk to the hotel and I was good to go. Anything in downtown Chicago, i.e. Soldier field, museums, Shedd Aquarium, Sears Tower, Navy Pier, etc is easily accessible from Union Station. I highly recommend the train to anyone taking a trip to the city, at least if you don't mind walking a little bit.
Back to the Urbanathlon! The weather, while very chilly for Oct. turned out awesome for a majority of the race. Rain was forcast the entire week, and I was not looking forward to running wet and cold, but the weather gods prevailed and it turned out partly sunny with a decent amount of wind. Temperatures got to upper 40's by the time the race was in full swing.
5,000 competitors pit themselves against the 11 1/2 mile course with obstacles to get over and through. Tyrese Gibson of many movies and stardome gave everyone a pep talk at each wave and set us on our way with the blast of the air horn. The course was very flat and the run itself not very difficult at all, if you are in shape to cover 11 miles of running. The first obstacle was tires on Navy Pier (like the football drills) then climbing over bigger tires, then football drills again, not too hard, a few more miles and we had the monkey bars, one length of the bars and you were on your way, again, not hard, but there were a fair share of people struggling with it. The marine hurdles were next and they were not hard at all, each obstacle gave you a little breather to catch your breath and recover a little bit. Once through the hurdles, we headed back north to Soldier Field, the north wind which helped us going south, now firmly in our face on the return trip. Upon returning to Soldier field we climbed up the stairs on the west side of the stadium (the new "spaceship" section they added some years ago. The race kind of bottle necked at that point and everyone was pretty much walking at that point. Doing stairs at Soldier field, very cool. A few more miles to the finish, as I was nearing the end, the north sky was getting darker and darker the lake effect rain was coming, the only question was when it would hit us. I made it to the finish line, jumped over 2 taxis and scaled an 8 foot wall (much harder after running 11 miles). I finished approx. in the middle of the pack, which was my goal having not done this race before. On the way back to my hotel to get cleaned up, it opened up and poured on us, at least it didn't happen during the race.
If you are looking for a good race with a little more challenge than a straight run, I would highly recommend signing up for the Urbanathlon. I will probably do it again, had alot of fun and enjoyed the weekend. The next challenge is yet to be announced, the three that I had planned were accomplished with flying colors, once I get the next events lined up, I will let you know.
Until then. . . .
If you know you can . . . YOU WILL!!!
October 19, 2009
September 14, 2009
100 Miles - Success is mine
Just completed the 100 mile Capital City Century in Springfield, Illinois yesterday!!! I have been riding my bike since I was 15 years old, and I finally completed 100 miles in one day. Granted, the course was not difficult by any means, but at the end of the day, it's still your leg power that has to get you through. The weather turned out near perfect, for central Illinois in early September, that's something to witness. Started out with a temp of 65 degrees and warmed up to around 80 with a 10 mph east wind, for riding your bike you can't go wrong with that scenario! Anyone familiar with central Illinois will tell you temps like that don't happen very often in the summer and early fall, but this year has definitely been the exception. The Springfield Bicycle Club did a nice job with the course, well marked, good food, good support.
Riding 100 miles is a long ride, overall it took me 6 1/2 hours total, which isn't very fast, but was a successful finish none the less. My nutrition and water plan worked out great, and I only had one section (between 60 and 70 miles) where I felt like I was struggling. Having completed a century brings a new found respect the riders in the Tour de France, these guys ride that distance in the European mountains, day after day for 3 weeks!!! Anyone that doesn't believe tha professional cycling isn't a difficult sport should dust off the old bike and try to ride!! I will do another one someday, the thrill and sense of accomplishment that came from crossing this threshold in my life will stay with me forever. As with any other challenges that come my way . . . no problem, If you know you can . . . YOU WILL.
Until next time . . .
Riding 100 miles is a long ride, overall it took me 6 1/2 hours total, which isn't very fast, but was a successful finish none the less. My nutrition and water plan worked out great, and I only had one section (between 60 and 70 miles) where I felt like I was struggling. Having completed a century brings a new found respect the riders in the Tour de France, these guys ride that distance in the European mountains, day after day for 3 weeks!!! Anyone that doesn't believe tha professional cycling isn't a difficult sport should dust off the old bike and try to ride!! I will do another one someday, the thrill and sense of accomplishment that came from crossing this threshold in my life will stay with me forever. As with any other challenges that come my way . . . no problem, If you know you can . . . YOU WILL.
Until next time . . .
August 19, 2009
RIM (Rapture in Misery 2009)
Well, I made it! I survived my first mountain bike race ever
RIM [Rapture in Misery],
and boy was it an experience. We had awesome weather for most of the day and the trails were a bunch of fun to ride. Hats off to the volunteers and trail workers for getting everything together and running a great event.
The race consisted of a 9 mile lap through Crowder State Park. We went through the woods, up 3 pretty substantial hills, over rocks, roots, trees, mud, creek beds, etc. etc. I ended up completing 3 laps = 27 miles and by the end was pretty wiped out, not so much with my legs, but my upper body. Just a little FYI to anyone that is new to mountain bike racing, get your upper body and core in shape before the race. I have front shocks on my bike (it's a hardtail) and still got beat up. In retrospect, I think I was TOO cautious and afraid of wiping out. When you grip the handlebars as much as I did that day, it's no wonder that my arms would give out before my legs. I only had one wipeout which screwed up my front shifters, but other than that, came out relatively unscathed. I passed quite a few competitors with flat tires, broken chains, busted freewheels, etc.
Some of the rigs were pretty impressive, anything from full suspension bikes to hardtails like mine and some fixed gear bikes as well. Kind of like Triathlon, the different types of people suprised me, guys and girls that you would never picture competing in something like this, out there giving it all they have and making pretty good time around the course. What was taking me 1 1/2 hours to complete the top guys were doing in 42 minutes (yes 42 minutes!!) They apparently don't use their brakes, or at least I don't see how they could and get a time like that. Also like the Triathlon community, everyone I met was nice and helpful, not ego driven and snooty like other sports. I would highly recommend mountain bike racing to anyone contemplating giving it a try, it was a lot of fun, highly challenging and, highly rewarding. Don't sit on the sidelines and wonder "what if" get out there and make a memory, take away a story that you can boast about a little bit, and rise to another level of something you previously thought impossible, now conquered!
They had a few photographers on the course to take pictures, here I am during one of my 3 laps.
RIM [Rapture in Misery],
and boy was it an experience. We had awesome weather for most of the day and the trails were a bunch of fun to ride. Hats off to the volunteers and trail workers for getting everything together and running a great event.
The race consisted of a 9 mile lap through Crowder State Park. We went through the woods, up 3 pretty substantial hills, over rocks, roots, trees, mud, creek beds, etc. etc. I ended up completing 3 laps = 27 miles and by the end was pretty wiped out, not so much with my legs, but my upper body. Just a little FYI to anyone that is new to mountain bike racing, get your upper body and core in shape before the race. I have front shocks on my bike (it's a hardtail) and still got beat up. In retrospect, I think I was TOO cautious and afraid of wiping out. When you grip the handlebars as much as I did that day, it's no wonder that my arms would give out before my legs. I only had one wipeout which screwed up my front shifters, but other than that, came out relatively unscathed. I passed quite a few competitors with flat tires, broken chains, busted freewheels, etc.
Some of the rigs were pretty impressive, anything from full suspension bikes to hardtails like mine and some fixed gear bikes as well. Kind of like Triathlon, the different types of people suprised me, guys and girls that you would never picture competing in something like this, out there giving it all they have and making pretty good time around the course. What was taking me 1 1/2 hours to complete the top guys were doing in 42 minutes (yes 42 minutes!!) They apparently don't use their brakes, or at least I don't see how they could and get a time like that. Also like the Triathlon community, everyone I met was nice and helpful, not ego driven and snooty like other sports. I would highly recommend mountain bike racing to anyone contemplating giving it a try, it was a lot of fun, highly challenging and, highly rewarding. Don't sit on the sidelines and wonder "what if" get out there and make a memory, take away a story that you can boast about a little bit, and rise to another level of something you previously thought impossible, now conquered!
They had a few photographers on the course to take pictures, here I am during one of my 3 laps.
The overall winner ended up doing 8 laps in the 6 hour time frame!?? That's 72 miles, unbelivable! There were some great athletes there and I enjoyed the ride very much, already looking for the next challenge, I can see myself getting into this.
I've had co-workers ask me why do I do these types of events, and my response is
"If you have to ask, you'll never understand"
The sense of accomplishment and boost to your self confidence is priceless, going above and beyond what you thought was possible is something that you can carry with you the rest of your life. Looking forward to the next big event, keep bringing it to everything you do!
If you know you can . . . YOU WILL! until then . . .
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