The List (of ill fate)

Somewhere out there is a list. It's a list of those things that can possibly go wrong. There is a section of things you can screw up yourself, and things that just sort of happen. Many things on this list we can head off before they happen. Others simply happen but it sure helps if we know what to do when they do come up. Problem is we don't know how long the list is or all the things that are on it.

Fellow blogger, XXC friend and novice endurance racer Zandr found one of those things the hard way and inspired this post.

Caveat Lector: Kind reader. Please forgive my loquacious rambling here, but I find that this is something I'm fairly passionate about. It is not my purpose to preach or claiming any special knowledge. I've simply learned a lot  - mostly through suffering - and want to pass on what I know. That's really what this entire blog is about. If you're not completely satisfied you can ignore everything here and I'll refund your money. Moving on...

Cursing the gods

Some things just happen, and we have absolutely no control over them. Remember the video of the guy getting run over by an antelope in South Africa? Yeah, I don't think you can predict or avoid that. Sometimes shit just happens. It doesn't have to be this wacky though, it could be some completely unpredictable mechanical or equipment or health failure.





While the totally unexpected out of your control does happen, not too many people run into a bear at 45mph. Usually there's some reason, a cause we could be aware of. When one of these oddities happens though it's actually a bit easier to handle. Why? Well, for starters you have no opportunity to blame yourself. There's nothing you or anyone else could have done. It just happened. Secondly, it's so rare that these things happen out of the blue that they're not likely to come up very often, and they can happen to anyone.

Birds crap - it happens. Sometimes it lands on you. There's no possible way you can learn the flight patterns and bowel movement indicators of birds to dodge their evil little bombs. Wipe it off and move on. This is on the list, but you don't control it, you can only deal with it.

Some measure of control

Some things are completely out of our control. But others, not so much. Sometimes we know about them, or that they could happen ahead of time, and others we don't, but we could possibly still handle the situation without is ruining the ride. Some can obviously have higher consequences (rattlesnake bite) than others (a flat tire without a spare in a race). Here's kinda how I see it:

Things on the list of ill fate 

		Do you know about it?
		Yes	No
Know how to deal with it?	Yes	Safe. It may happen, and it may suck but it’s no big deal.	Not a huge issue. You didn’t see it coming, but you have the right skills or attitude so you can keep rolling.
	No	You’ll probably beat yourself up about this one. You knew it could happen and for some reason don’t have the skills/knowledge to deal with the issue.	Unexpected pain and suffering lurk here without a good sense of humor.

Cursing someone else

Some days it's someone else screwing with you. Here's a sadly not uncommon event - locals (usually kids) changing course markings. You're in an event, the course has flags or other markings. Sometimes those markings fade or disappear. Sometimes those things are more or less maliciously moved. It could be local teenagers pulling a prank they think will be funny. I've also heard of locals who don't like events, or other trail users of a different modality trying to exact some sort of revenge.

It's unfortunate and often frustrating, but there's often not a lot you can do here. I say often, but not always. Sometimes you can be a bit prepared with a good cue sheet or navigation, but not always. If someone moves a sign that indicates a road I'm supposed to take I'll probably follow that road (and be pissed and confused later). If I'm on unsigned singletrack, I'm from out of town and have no knowledge of the system, and there's no real mile marker system to follow, I'm going to end up lost if someone removes or changes the markings. In the SYDC 2012 I listened to two different locals say I was on route when I thought we might have missed a turn. I went three miles off course before I finally paid heed to what my Garmin told me and got back on course. No malice on their part, and I don't blame them, but it did happen.

Sometimes it's a course director that gets the blame. "That $#%*!^@ didn't even __________." (Fill in the blanks as as you see fit for the tape in your head.) I know this happens and some folks have thought or even said this, but again it's not something we can really predict. I haven't been racing that long, but have yet to encounter much of this or meet people who have. Most event planners (paid expensive events and free grassroots events) try really hard to make the thing work so everyone has a good time. We all make mistakes. I can forgive that and move on. One the other hand, I also know there are some idiots out there. I'm not so starry eyed and optimistic as to think otherwise. The lesson? If you're unlucky enough to find one, don't go back to the events run by idiots.

Screwing ourselves

Many times, when something goes wrong, we DO have someone to blame. Often it's ourselves. I could have done X differently. I should have known how to handle Y. I could have prepared Z (equipment) better. We either knew, thought we knew, or were completely ignorant. If we're smart, we learn from the experience and move on. (If you wanna up you're Karma points help someone else learn the lessons you had to learn the hard way.)

The stuff we know

There's quite a bit on the list we know about that could screw us. I know I should wear sun protection but on the Echo Valley 60 in 2011 I didn't and got a heinous burn. I knew about sunburn, but didn't deal with it.  Now I use sun sleeves and recently purchased leg coolers that I'm testing. I know that I want my ride in perfect working order for DK200. That's why I'm taking it into the shop today to get a race check even though I do most of my own work and things seem fine. I'm doing this 10 days before we leave so I have plenty of time to fix or get parts for anything that comes up. Didn't have to learn this one the hard way.

The stuff we think we know

There's also stuff we think we know. The obvious one is nutrition. After climbing for 15 years I thought I knew nutrition. I could get away with a Clif bar every 2 hours. Yeah, that just doesn't work on the bike. I thought I knew nutrition after months of prepping for the High Cascades 100 in 2011. Yeah, it turns out after 70 miles what I thought I knew fell apart (I cannot eat a gel ever again). I learned from that experience, I read, I sought answers, I experimented. I thought I wanted calories in my hydration. I experimented with Skratch Labs Exercise Hydration Drink Mix (I also wish they still just called it Secret Drink Mix) and found I did much better eating my calories and drinking fluids. Up until this last ride I had trouble eating around the 9 hour mark. On SPDF 2012 I was tired but food didn't start to taste bad. I still have plenty to learn.

The point is, nutrition is an evolving knowledge. It's not like knowing how to set-up a tire tubeless; knowledge of nutrition is deep and evolves. There are layers of knowing that are uncovered as we evolve in the sport. I'm a far different athlete now than I was just a year ago when my longest ride was 60 miles. Our understanding evolves as we change how we play the game too. What worked for a 50 mile race did not work for a 100 miler. What works for me now at 65-75 degrees in Colorado may not work for me at 90 degrees when I tow the line in Emporia for DK200. It's just not that hot here and I can't turn up the heat to see what I need. I'm trying to be as prepared as possible though.

Ignorance - The stuff we don't know we don't know

Ignorance isn't an insult - it's simply a lack of knowledge. You are ignorant when you don't know ______. You might have known that you could break a chain and knew how to use a replacement link, but had no idea that you could remove a link or how to do this. You may know that you need a bike that fits right but perhaps you didn't really understand just how critical fit is once you start logging big miles. You may not understand terms like varus, vargus, pronation, supination or how leg length imbalances impact cycling.  And this ignorance may actually be causing you physical pain and potential long term injury. (read this  to learn a lot more - I learned more from this book than any other)


A wise man learns from his mistakes. An even wiser man learns from the mistakes of others. 


You can find this aphorism attributed to several folks, but usually it's an Asian source (a Zen proverb or the Buddha). In this case it's true. Learn all you can. Be self aware. Learn from the mistakes you make yourself and DON'T repeat them. Learn from others as much as you can too. Read books, listen to podcasts (XXC and MBR are good options), talk to those with more experience. The lessons you learn yourself are always stronger than those you learn from others (my chances of forgetting the option to remove a link are greater than Zander's). There's always something in the column that you didn't know, but make that part of the list as short as possible.

I had shifting problems beginning on the AntiEpic pre-ride where my chain kept dumping off the big ring. At the time I didn't know how quickly chain stretch would occur and that this was one consequence. Now I do. Now I have a better chain checker. Now I have a backup chain in my gear closet because I know I'll wear this one out and I absolutely do not want to ride a worn out chain on a big ass event like SPDF or DK200. You can bet that I check this pretty frequently now and I know how to deal with this.

One big bastard of a lesson, or a different kind of training

With all of these things that do or can happen we have the opportunity to learn and grow stronger.  Z broke a chain and walked farther than he needed to. I highly doubt that will EVER happen to him again. I pushed a bit hard by setting the High Cascades 100 as my 1 year cycling goal and got to learn what a muscular avulsion fracture is. It's still on the list of stuff that could happen, but now it's in the "I know how to deal with it and have the confidence to deal with it" category. That's where we want everything. It's a different type of training than simply going on long rides, doing hill repeats, or learning to ride technical terrain. My own personal list of ill fate has items in each of those categories below, but I'm doing my best to have as much as possible in the green.

Dealing with Things on the list of ill fate 

		Do you know about it?
		Yes	No
Know how to deal with it?	Yes	Safe. It may happen, and it may suck but it’s no big deal. Nice job! It'll be even less of a problem if it happens again	Not a huge issue. You didn’t see it coming, but you have the right skills or attitude so you can keep rolling. Learn a bit more so you're even more prepared.
	No	You’ll probably beat yourself up about this one. You knew it could happen and for some reason don’t have the skills/knowledge to deal with the issue. DON'T beat yourself up. Get over it and learn how to deal with it next time, so it's not a big deal.	Unexpected pain and suffering lurk here without a good sense of humor. Assuming you live through it, this was a hard lesson to learn. You now know it could happen, I hope you take some time to figure out how to handle it next time.

Coda

I'm sure I missed stuff in here. I'll admit that I'm not the most experienced rider (my vast worldly experience with cycling won't even hit the two year mark till September 2012). I've learned as much as I can from others, but made a lot of mistakes. My aim here is to pass on what I learned so hopefully you will have more fun and suffer just a little less. If you have any input or insight, if you've benefited from this (or any post really) please leave a comment. 

AntiEpic - trip report

The AntiEpic gravel grinder. This race really rubbed me the wrong way (see below).



Odyssey, quest, journey, jaunt
While we all took nearly the same route, the personal journeys were quite varied . We all froze in the early am 28 degree start and we all battled a viscous wind,  but some elected to take a shorter path (100 mile route), some added a bit extra to stop and resupply food/water (+3 to Deer Trail), some wrestled their flat tire demons (at least one guy had 7 flats), and I'm sure there were also plenty of inner demons battled in the gravel arena.


Cock-a-doodle-do!
After a 4am wake up, 15 minutes to get in the car, and a quick stop in Boulder to pick up Adam, we were on the road to begin our journey. The temps dropped from 40 at my house to 28 at the race start. I wore what I had and it was thankfully just enough. While the sun was supposed to shine bright all day, I checked on Larkspur, Kiowa and Deer Trail and the weather prophets predicted it would not get much above 60 for the high. This was just within  range to wear my leg warmers and long sleeve jersey all day. I had purchased a Jandd seat bag which gave me room (2-3 L) to store extra food then later stuff my jacket in there. While I didn't overheat, I did freeze a bit in the morning. With my warmer gloves on and lighter pair in a pocket I had numb fingers for the first hour or two. Long after my fingers returned I began to feel my right toes. My left ones were slow to catch up - it took about 60 miles for them to reappear.

I lugged a camera around for 161 miles and took only 1 fuzzy photo at the start. 

The group did a neutral roll out for the first two miles to where the official end was supposed to be. Then Ben gave the word and the actual race began. The lead group was cranking fast and I didn't make any attempt to keep up. I rolled casual for a couple miles chatting with Ben before getting into my own pace. I still kept the lead group in sight for the first 40 miles but slowly fell further and further behind. A few folks passed me, some of which I caught later. A few other folks from the lead group began to slow to their own paces and I rode with some of them and overtook others. I had planned to mostly ride at my own pace and not deliberately spend too much time making this a social ride. It didn't take much effort on my part for this to be the reality of the day.

This blows
The route began by heading East and then curving North to a high point where we turned back due East to head towards Deer Trail. The due North segment flew by. The road was in near perfect hardpack condition and a slight tailwind made it easy to push well over 20mph without much effort. As soon as we turned East, however, the casual ride was over and the battle begun. The rest of the day was spent fighting a solid headwind or cross wind. This added tremendously to the effort involved to push through this route. The wind can be incredibly demoralizing. I'm honestly not sure whether the headwind is harder than the cross winds. I had done the pre-ride with Ben a month before and two other rides out here solo, all of which avoided any serious wind. There is only a very small segment of the entire route that has trees to abate the gusts, but I was thankful for their brief respite.

Oasis 
The hardest decision I made to prep for the route was whether to stop in Deer Trail. This would allow me to just bring three bottles and carry less weight, but added three more miles and one more hill climb. I figured about 20 minutes to be added. I really didn't want to lug an extra gallon of water and don't enjoy riding with a pack, so I elected to stop. It was a good call - I would have needed the break and the facilities regardless.

Since Deer Trail is at about the 80 mile mark, I planned to reapply my chamois cream here. Sadly it was nowhere to be found. (I did find it on the dashboard of my car at the finish.) Let's just say I did A LOT of standing for the last 60-70 miles and sitting back down on the saddle was really starting to hurt. My legs were certainly tired from pedaling, but in the end (pun fully intended) the AntiEpic really chapped my hide.

We did have some news that the snow earlier in the week had left the three-mile B road in "VERY" muddy conditions. Luckily the wind and sun of the last few days had dried it up nicely. The surface was soft and a little sandy so it was a little slower, but honestly it was pretty tame.

Difficult to swallow
Food was an evolving interesting thing on this ride. I went with my normal rice bars and waffles on the hour and gummies every 15 min between. This worked well for ~125 miles. Then for some reason it just got harder to eat. The gummies, which really only take 3-4 chews and 10 seconds to eat, began to taste awful.  I'd endure about 5 minutes of them somewhat dissolving in my mouth before swallowing. Chewing the rice bars or waffles seemed like energy I could't spare from the pedals. I knew I needed to keep eating though and I did - up until the last 45 minutes. At that point it just became en effort to get to the end. Another rider I was near or with from mile 60-about 115 mentioned being in "survival mode" beginning at Deer Trail. I wasn't quite there (probably a few hours from that) but I didn't feel too far off.

There was brief tease near the finish. The technical route ended about two miles from where we parked. The last 1.17 miles headed to this line are due North (ergo the only tailwind in the last 100 miles of the route). So I'm not sure how fast the wind was blowing but that list mile - at a slight uphill - went something like this: Pedal twice, stand and cruse for 1/4 mile, pedal twice, stand and cruise, look down at computer (27.4 mph!). Then I rolled up to an empty lot :( I know what happened. They're at the parking area. I could swear I heard weeping and a violin at that moment. It's only two miles and it's mostly downhill but it couldn't go fast enough. I had been out for 12 hours, and the heat of the day was fading fast making that wind colder and colder.

Fin
Back at the car I found Adam who had elected to do a slightly shorter 100 mile version of the course. Fortunately he hadn't been waiting too long for me and had been able to take refuge with others (I had the only keys to the car). All my energy was gone at that point and I got out of my kit and into dry clean clothes pretty immediately. I had on a heavy fleece, fleece beanie, and a windproof insulated jacket with the hood up but I couldn't stop shivering. I should have been plenty warm enough, but my body just didn't seem to be generating any heat. I said a quick hello to Ben and some other folks waiting around (Ben's wife Amy and Eric whom I met on the B road). Adam and I made a quick exit to get some calories and headed to Larkspur where we had spotted a pizza joint. A Greek-ish pizza with olives, artichokes, feta and pepperoni was probably the worst recovery meal I've had yet. We ordered the 18" but just eating the first slice felt like work. I made it through a second, but had to stop there till I made it home (by which point I began to feel slightly human again). Somewhere around 5 minutes after sitting on the couch I passed out. Then woke at ?am and stumbled into bed.

Coda
Previously my longest ride was 106 miles in the High Cascades 100. This was 161. I'm fairly amazed at how well I feel less than two days later. It may not have been the best idea to plan a multi-pitch climb that involves and uphill hike in, for the day after an event like this, but some how that's what I did. I was fine, and had a fantastic day. I really felt exhausted after the ride and pretty beat when I first woke up, but it didn't last  long. My current training seems to be working great, and while my muscles feel tired and won't be fully recovered for a week, the only pain I feel is in my face. You see, I neglected to put sunscreen on my face, so now I have this lovely raccoon tan/burn.

AE route finalized

The final route for the AntiEpic is up on the AntiEpic Blog! Take a look, sign up if you haven't already and get ready for the boot to hit your backside. 

You can download the route from Garmin or from Bike Route Toaster. I love the toaster for most things and use it all the time on the Edge 500, but sometimes it has issues with the edge 800. However, the toaster has a cue sheet tab that's damn handy.