An Ironman Cooks!: I am a total badass

As noted in my last post, I was TERRIFIED for the ride this weekend. 8,000 feet of climbing, with steep, twisty descents. After this weekend, I went from feeling terrified to feeling like a TOTAL BADASS.

This ride was RELENTLESS. The hills were non-stop, and they were long and steep. The final climb was from Deep Creek Lake, up to the top of WISP mountain, a ski resort. The AVERAGE slope was 13% (to put it in perspective, the biggest slope you typically see on the highways is a 6% grade). The downhills were pretty twisty/scary so I was almost happier to be climbing than descending. I did manage to work on my descending form although I probably wore out my front break. Here is the elevation chart (note that the scale is 2,000ft and there are at least 8 mountain passes):

The first 18 miles to the first aid station had 1500 ft of climbing (it was mostly down) and took 1 hr and 20 minutes. The 22 miles between the first and second aid station took almost 3 hours and had 3700ft of climbing. Total ride time was around 6 hrs 15 minutes (excluding time at aid stations).

While I think back on Bike and Build, the ride reminded me of the Berkshire mountains and the days leading up to Pittsburgh. However, I think that those rides stand out in my mind as being difficult mainly because of the fact that we biked several days in a row and I was a completely inexperienced biker. This time around, I have a lot of faith in my cycling abilities. And I can truly say that this is probably the most difficult ride route I have ever done.

Keeping this in mind, I totally rocked it (for me)! Due to the relentless, steep climbs that made me bike 2-3mph, I averaged only about 10 mph (compared to 14-16 usually). Every hill I saw bikers getting off their bike to walk, especially the final climb. I was tempted, but I remembered my badass friend Emily Pedneau who had a rule when doing bike and build to never stop mid-climb. With that in the back of my head, I just kept pedaling. (My mantra was chocolate - peanut butter - ice cream, chocolate - peanut butter - ice cream - true Mahoney on the inside.) Emily's rule and my mantra got me up all the hills but one. The one (see the elevation chart right after mile 45) had me going soooo slow, that when a biker passed me and I tried to make a correction, my bike slid out from under me and I hit the ground (only wounding my pride in the process, although I did end up with a grease mark on my upper arm somehow). Unfortunately, it was near the top of the hill, so I only could get away with walking about 50 yards before the road slope was such that I could get back on my bike.

Here is why I feel badass - I never would have been able to do this back in my bike and build days. I was not good at the whole biking thing and there are so many times I quit before I needed to. I was so proud to get through this ride and to feel strong up the hills (albeit real slow). The last 10 miles were mentally and physically rough, but I just kept pedaling and never gave up. I feel so awesome today and this is a reminder of why I do these things. It truly is masochistic (hence the name masochistic metric), but to be able to see what I am able to accomplish just gives me so much confidence in myself. And the chocolate peanut butter ice cream at the creamery later was a worth it as well.

After the ride, I showered and headed to the Team Z cheering station, positioned well on the final climb to help people up the hill. They were pretty much the only people cheering along the entire route (one of the reasons I love being part of the team). The ride was short of volunteers near the end and I ended up helping out at the final aid station for awhile before finally heading out around 6:30 to grab some dinner and ice cream from the local creamery. The evening ended with about an hour in the hot tub back at the rental house I was staying at, on the porch overlooking the lake.

This morning I woke up early, grabbed breakfast with the team, and then did a practice open water swim (sans wetsuit) in the lake before heading back home. It was a great morning and an overall great weekend. Would I do the ride again? While riding yesterday I was saying "Hell no!" but of course, as always, I am not rethinking that decision and will most likely end up back there again. (If you think I am a badass, there were people who rode 125 miles of the relentless terrain yesterday. Shoot me if I ever sign up for that).

And now some pictures:

Early Morning at the start

The view from the start

125 milers getting ready to start

off they go - that descent was SCARY! You could smell the brakes burning. One of our guys had his back wheel burst due to the heat of the brake-friction. Luckily he's okay.

Cliff - This guy did 100 miles with a smile on his face! He even recruited his wife to do the 25 (that included the final climb) - I would guess his wife had some choice words for him that climb