Lighthouse Challenge

This weekends ride was awesome. Did the metric century or 60 mile ride. My buddy "Rick" and I teamed up to make sure we stayed at a brisk pace. Which was nice of him considering he could have left me a couple of times.

We started off great with a real nice group that was traveling at a good pace. It takes me a good 5-8 miles in one of these things just to shake off the nerves so I was proud to be moving along so swiftly without panting so hard. But then I had to get greedy. I rarely move into the big chain ring, I should but I just don't. So here we are moving along nicely and I switch up to get more speed. I don't know why because I immediately had to slow down in order to keep from hitting the person in front of me. That just shows my inexperience in the pace line. So I shift back down and I must have clicked twice because it goes into the small ring and the chain and the chain slipped off. I was so mad.

I moved out of the pace line and Rick did also while I put the chain back on. So here we go, we lost our group and now are trying to catch up with them. It is so frustrating to see the people in front of you and get so close but you just can't quite get up there.

I really believe that the frustration in that contributed to my high heart rate and heavy breathing. I don't think the extra peddling to catch up did, and I am serious about that. It was all mental. The only thing that kept me from psyching myself out was that Rick told me we were averaging about 20 MPH.

We got to the first rest stop and did the break thing. The first leg was pretty nice. It had a couple of hills but nothing too bad. The roads weren't all that great but we had a good time.

Hill reality set in awfully quick. My wife is from Wingo which is in Graves County, the scene of the crime. .I mean ride. She told me one time when I thought of riding to Wingo from Murray that is was hilly. It seems the rest of Graves is also. The whole rest of the route was hill after hill it seemed. Just when I would recover from one, bam! there was another.

We hooked up with two riders for the last 20 and that made it easier but man those hills were tough. Unfortunately I was not able to pull the group as much as I wanted but everyone was cool about it. One was a Mountain Biker and he wasn't a happy guy even though I figured the hills wouldn't be that bad for him. Of course he was doing a whole lot better than he thought he was doing. The other rider I had met the week before and I think he could have left us whenever he wanted. I sure appreciated each one of them.

My back hurt through the whole thing which tells me I really need to lose that weight and get some back exercises in but we did the course at 18 mph average and I am very proud of that.

The ride was great and once again the people were great. I belong to the cycling club in dues only and bought my bike from a place a lot of them shop so I knew the owner and he introduces me to people but all of these guys know each other. However they always make a new guy feel better. I am convinced it is southern hospitality.

Third Person Is Tiring

Ok it is too hard to write in the third person and nobody is reading this yet but me. Yeah it makes it look somewhat more clever but it is no fun having to rephrase everything. And really this is just a journal for me anyway.

So I may refer to myself as the fat guy but I have got to start writing I you know what I am saying.

Sharpe Resurection Ride

The fat guy did an orginazed ride this past weekend in Sharpe KY. which is a small town in Marshall County. This ride was sponsored by Sharpe Baptist Church and WoodnWave in Grand Rivers. I have mentioned them before, that is were the fat guy got his ride.

The 40 miler was the longest and since there had been no peddling since spring break that was probably the best.

The ride started off on the wrong foot because the the computer quit working on "Jane". That is the fat guys name for his ride. The full name is Jane's Addiction. Kind of a play on the band name but also because the fat guy has an addictive personality. He was addicted to alcohol and then gave all that up and purchased the bike. Now he is addicted to the bike, thus the name.

This is the second time the computer has crapped out. Each return to the bike shop ends up with the computer working and the fat guy looking like the beginner he is.

Anyhoo.. .the fat guy caught up with two riders and asked if he could ride with them. They said sure so we were off. It took about 8 miles to shake the nerves. The fat guy gets real jacked up and nervous before long rides. Especially with people he doesn't know. A few etiqutte mistakes were made in the begining but overall the fat guy held is own and had a great ride.

One thing for sure, people in this area are just nicer than anywhere else. No knocking Cape or Destin but around here we really take and interest in new people. Several of the riders there new each other but did not hesitate to ask the fat guy who he was and how he was doing.

Hopefully going to Mayfied for a ride this weekend. This one is 60. If the fat guys buddy Rick will not take off from him then it should be a good ride and fast.

Robin's Bikes and Fitness

After much internal debate the fat guy decided to go to the 7:30 a.m. ride at Robins Bikes and Fitness. The fat guy was extremely nervous do to the very nature of cycling and the lack of clydsdale riders in most areas.

Upon arrival the suspicions were confirmed as the two or three who had arrived were extremely atheletic looking and more than likely at average to better than average cycling weight. Over the next few minutes some more came in and you could distinguish the vacationers from the locals. Pretty much by the fact that the vacationers were the only ones talking to each other as the locals went on about thier business.

We started the ride and eventually formed into a pace line. The fat guy has never done a pace line of over 5-6 people so he was very nervous about one that contained around 20. After a while things settled in the fat guys tum tum and the ride was very enjoyable. The beauty of a pace line is that the people in the middle or back exert about 40% less energy than the ones in front. So we were cruising and not really feeling the affects. Which can be good but also bad because you don't get the same workout.

We went on for several miles until we came to a neighborhood where I was told everyone would do a 3 mile sprint and we would meet up at the end. Not knowing the area at all the fat guy decided to take off on his own and try and at least keep the fit riders in the view. This worked well except the fat guy started really huffing and buffing and with about a half mile left, about 4 dudes in a pace line flew by me like I was standing still. That wasn't fun.

Fast forward to the third day. . . The fat guy and another from Georgia decided to do like the day before and draft off of each other, it worked great and we stayed above 22 mph the whole time.

On this day I think the locals decided to have a race at the end of the sprint. So we are all grouped up together from pretty much the get go. We were flying. . The fat guy was waiting for the break away but it seemed as though it wouldn't come. So the fat guy took advantage and stayed with the group. Then it came to near the end and all of the sudden the atheletes took off. It was very impressive. The best part. . .the fat guy was very close in the end. The fat guy poured in off and overtook many riders. At the end, Robin, the owner told the fat guy "nice job". That meant a lot to the fat guy and it felt like quite the accomplishment.

The fat guy has a massive power plant. There is virutally no fat on the legs. Once the pony keg is gone the fat guy will be a force to be reckoned with. The speed on this days sprint never dipped below 27 mph for the 3 miles. It was awesome.

The Promised Land

The fat guy has just had the best week of cycling to date. The fat guy took the family down to Destin, Fl. for spring break. Under concealed protest (don't want to go there) from the fat guy's wife he took the Trek down to Destin along with all the baggage and the family.

The first two days were spent riding on HWY 98 which for anyone who has been down there is not the lightest traffic in the world. It can be down right dangerous. The first day was spent riding across Destin Bridge towards Okaloosa island. This was a fun ride and the traffic wasn't horrible since it was early on a Sunday morning. Going across the Destin bridge was fantastic! This was about a 12 mile ride and would have been longer if the territory was better known.]

Day two sees the fat guy traveling towards San Destin. The fat guy's wife wanted to go to the outlet malls the day before and we noticed it was around a 15 mile round trip. This day was different since the traffic was MUCH worse.

The fat guy really wanted to find a safer and better route and had made attempts before leaving Murray to find out if there were cycling clubs. The Destin Chamber of Commerce was nice but had no clue as to any routes and there was no time before we left to contact Ft. Walton. One thing is for sure, if there were any, you could not even google them. Nothing, nada, came up.

As far as bike shops, all google produced was Billy Bobs Bike-o-rama where for $30 a day you could rent a fancy beach cruiser or a moped.

It was on the way down to the outlet mall that the answer finnally came. On the right side of the road, there it was. . . .Robin's Bike and Fitness. You could tell it was a real shop from the highway.

The fat guy's wife let him drop them off that evening and go to the shop to have a look see. When asked for a ride map I was told by Amy that a group left from there every morning at 7:30 a.m. and did a 30 mile route. I made sure of the average speed and decided to try it.

The story will continue in another post. . .

Backusburg Hill

The fat guy has finnally climbed the mountain. Backusburg Hill has long been touted as the hill to climb around our area. The fat guy has not wanted to climb this hill because he hates hills. He doesn't even like small inclines. The unfortuante of the situation is that most areas aren't flat as a pancake so it is a nessecary evil.

Yesterday we decided to take a longer route that included this hill. The problem is that the hill is not until mile 22. Then to add insult to injury there are several smaller hills on the way there and they are all right in a row.

You know how it is when you aren't sure if something is as big a deal as it has been built up to be. Your saving energy and wondering when your going to get there.

We finnally made it and it was quite a hill. It is very decieving because it doesn't look all that long or steep. The fat guy can tell you that it is a hard climb. At least for him. However we did make it up and the fat guy was proud to have done it. Luckily the hill was not as bad as the two the fat guy climbed in the Tour de Cape.

All in all it was an awesome day. 40 miles when I got home and 2,900 calories burned.

Bad Weather-Bad Cold

Well the ride of the year so far ended up putting the fat guy to bed for a couple of days. Musta been the warm weather to cool weather transition that done it.

If the fat guy had knowed that he would get sick from that ride would he do it again. Oh yeah he would.

The fat guy started his road to the triathlon circuit the other day. A massive run of. . . . around the block.

Man was the fat guy huffing and puffing. What up with being able to ride and ride but not being able to run. Oh well the fat guy has never been a runner.

Next up. . . . .two laps around the block.

Training Partner A No Show

The fat guy has decided the wind is his new training partner.

The fat guys training partner was a no show this last Friday. There was absolutely no wind and it was awesome. It confirmed the fat guy's opinion that the day the wind died he would ride like a champ.

One of the fat guy's riding buddies said he would be a machine if he lost 20 pounds. The fat guy is hiding more than 20 and it needs to be more like 50 but the fat guy appreciated the comment. There is no doubt about the fat guy's skills in the overweight category.

These rides are laying a firm foundation and maybe by the middle of the summer the fat guy can stop talking in the third person and drop the name.