SBR "U" (Page 67)

Welp I just sheared off one of the screws holding the elbow rest on my integrated bars.  1 week before Alcatraz.  Good times.

I was leaning towards bringing the road bike anyhow, but it looks like my choice has been made for me.

Yikes, did that happen in the middle of a ride?  

I'm taking my road bike too.

got an hour swim in some late morning chop so swim is ready, just hoping this 101 degree fever that popped up this afternoon is not something serious....

Rose City (Welland) 1/2 - put on by the same MSC group that runs the Barrelman.  It's not too far from the Barrelman event, but will have a small turnout 200-300 folks I imagine.  First time for me racing a flat course, so I'm very curious to see what it will feel like.

My biggest concern is that I'm in need of a bike fit as I just can't get myself comfortable in aero for long periods of time.  I think part is fit and part is adaptation since I avoid aero on the trainer.  My swim is kind of crappy at the moment, but the run is feeling pretty reasonable.  All in all, I'm trying to go in with no expectations and just execute as best I can on the day.  9/10 times I have thoughts about placings, overall times, etc., and I'm just trying to avoid that for this race and keep the pressure low.  Focus on my stroke in the swim, hit my power target on the bike, keep the run in the pace/HR range that's prescribed, and see how it all flushes out.  

I'm just copying and pasting from the other thread but I wanted to share a little bit of my adventure.  What an experience!

It took about 10 hours and was the hardest running I've done in my life. I think it ended up being between 34-36 miles (there was a reroute of the trail due to erosion) and 6-7k of elevation gain.

Unfortunately I was pretty sick during the run but I decided to do it anyway because I didn't see another opportunity opening up in the near future. So I toughed it out. My heart rate was through the roof on the ascents.

 here are a few photos:

I kid you not I drank 10 liters of water (it was 80 degrees) and only peed once. Other fuel: 3 sandwiches and 1 bag of sour patch kids

Wow! I've got nothing else, except that looks pretty amazing.

Curious how much you took in afterward?

water or calories? 

I only drank about 2 liters after and a cup of coffee (had to drive 3 hours home) I ate some chocolate covered pretzels but wasn't really hungry for much else. 

SAY WHAAAAAAAA????? That seriously MUST have been the hardest run you have ever done. Seriously Salty - that is awesome - and from the fantastic pictures I am guessing you had great weather for it? Goodness gracious, I cannot wait to find out what you have up your sleeve for next time! Hopefully you are feeling better from the sickness and already recovering well from the run.

Ugh - Chris - how are you feeling today?

Sometimes the bike gods intervene against our better judgement. Hope it did not happen while you were riding? That can be disastrous. Just because I am not familiar with the course at all, what is making you all lean toward roadies? terrain, turns, crowded course, or all three?

All 3 + the five days after the race where we will be in the Sonoma area for some riding.

All of the above plus I completely don't care about my time in this race.  I actually want to go as slow as possible then try to set a record up the sand ladder

As for the tri bike, I have an old spare set of bars I can use for now, but it looks like the seat tube is possibly starting to show a hairline crack.  A known problem with this bike.  So I might finally have to start upgrading bikes this year or next.  Yech.

Feel much better today.   Every so often I get a 12-24 bug that knocks me down but seem to recover quickly

As for the roadie, all 3.  Very crowded bike course and lots of hills.   There's only three flat sections, at the beginning/end and in GG park.  I just didn't see a lot of opportunities to be in aero.  That said there are a lot of tri bikes there and Bryan D went super fast, so it can be done.   But like Mark, I am just experiencing the race

Well, you all will probably find my race report from this past weekend somewhat amusing: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=532685

Oh  yeah, the weather was beautiful. Although, I am not sure if you exactly want 80 degrees when running an ultra marathon in exposed conditions with limited water sources

I do have some other adventures planned...after the national mountain running championship (up Mt. Bachelor) I am going to run summit South Sister (10,358') and then of course Pikes Peak Ascent ( 14,115)

All of this should hopefully prepare me for the 105 miles (25,00' gain) of the PCT that Brad and I are running at the end of summer. 

Ouch Rusty!  Glad you and the bike are relatively okay.  Good reminder though about not being careless sometimes. I know I have caught myself in a few situations on a normal ride where I might be eating or reaching in my pocket and not paying attention to bumps in the road where I need to make sure my one hand grip won't slip off.

Awwww man! Glad you are alright-ish!

Sheesh.

But can we just talk about that glamour shot coming out of the water???? Woooowwweeeeee! Obviously you planned that

I dunno, looks like he has half the lake coming out his sinuses

I was going to commend Rusty for not being so predictable as including road rash pics, I mean everyone does that, right?  But then I scrolled down....

Glad you and the bike are oK, and that JT was there to tend to you (although it must have been hard to watch)

Yeah, good she was there to help but not so nice to see.  I was right behind Tab when she went down - not pleasant.

Here is my kinda-sorta-run-report of Mount Saint Helens

Hypothetical question for those of you who train and race with power:  if you had a 40k TT scheduled and your power meter crapped out on you and replacing/repairing it is unlikely to be able to be done in time -- would you still race?  Why or why not?

The real goals for this race were to 1) get my biking back to where it was last year, and 2) use it to get a better estimate of my current FTP.

Goal #1 has not been achieved, but I'm at least moving in the right direction....goal #2 is not possible without my power meter.