Clusterfuck

There is no other way to describe things this week so far, going back to Sunday.

So Sunday I got a flat while I was in the lead of a 100-mile ride.  While it was not a race, it was one bitch of a day, and I consider that an accomplishment in and of itself.  LGL was filthed up to the max, and I planned on cleaning her up yesterday.

Monday I had a rest day and day off from work, and while I had a list a mile long of things I could do, what was most important was to continue resting and eating.  Every muscle was sore--doing all that climbing takes a toll on the arms, chest and back muscles in addition to the legs.  I took a nap, got groceries and cooked a meal that will hold me through the week.  So Monday was all good, and I tried to retain my good feelings from a weekend away.

Tuesday saw the return of the remodeling crew.  Around 10AM, I come downstairs into my kitchen (one of the last bastions of cleanliness, although "clean" is a relative term now) and feel like I'm slipping on the floor.  I look at the bottom of my shoes and there is a fine coating of some sort of dust on them.  My guy had taken down the plastic barrier from the kitchen to the family room, was removing the stairs, and someone else was sanding wood down there.  I tried not to throw a fit at this stupidity, and instead asked the present crew to reattach the plastic door because I just will not put up with that dust coming upstairs.

I requested that some trash be moved away from part of my patio so I could use the hose so I could clean bikes later in the day.  It was moved.  Just before 1PM, I headed out the door on Skull Kingdom on a beautiful day for a 2-hour ride including hill repeats.  I was skeptical about my ability to manage hills, but I'd had a Coke just prior, as I was still feeling peaked from Sunday, and I'd run just over 4 in the AM.  No sooner than I hit the button on the Powertap, I see the head unit is dead.  Fuck.  Oh well, I can ride without that.  I put it back in the house and headed out.

Sometimes when I ride with no indicators, I do pretty well, as in IMLP 2009, with no power and no speed, no nothing, and it was a PR.  I headed east, and felt mostly a crosswind, but I didn't care.  I immediately popped into the BCR and was having some fun and surprisingly didn't feel too bad at all.  It was nice to ride on some easy hills compared to that shit on Sunday.

I was on my way back home thinking I'd do the hill repeats in this other area that I would need to pass by home to get to, but instead decided I'd use the 1-mile hill that I do run hill repeats on for the bike.  First one, great, second one, better, third one just starting out and flat tire.  OK, I'm good at this.  Pull the old tube out, put new one in, run an entire CO2 and it's not inflating.  Try the second CO2 and no good, either.  Fuck me.  So I call my remodeler guy and ask him to bring my pump, I'm only 3 miles from home, easy-peasy.  Well it takes him like 35 minutes to get there.  He had to jump the now missing stairs to get upstairs for the pump since I'd locked the front door and he didn't have a key.  Then he took some crazy route that ended up taking way too long, and tells me he first thought The Stick was the pump!  Um...no.

So I try my pump, no go, it's a bad tube.  By this time, I've run out of time to keep fucking with it, so we put my bike in his van and drive home.  I was like fuck it all, ate lunch, worked, then decided I'd better mow the lawn while I had time (I could work late), then I set up to clean bikes.  I hooked up the hose system and it was leaking in 2 places.  Fuck.  I'd paid to have these all pristine with no leaks, but guess not, huh?  Got one of them doctored to at least not leak so much, and I cleaned Clipless Fuck first, then LGL all nice and pretty.  Finished work, then I returned back to finish Skull Kingdom's flat.

I had to go into my crawlspace to find a replacement tire, because it was time to change the one on Skull Kingdom as it had seen lots of trainer time and was the original from when I got the bike in 2010, so it was quite worn.  In retrospect, I should have changed it sooner, because that may have caused the flat, but oh well, hindsight is 20-20.  So I go into the crawlspace and guess what?  Every fucking thing in there is covered with dust.  I am too pissed off to make a stink about this, but I can recover from it--most of my stuff that I moved out of the family room is in boxes or bags and should be OK, but still I'm pissed.

I took the other tube that had been on the bike, put it in there, tried to get the tire on, but it's got a tough bead, so I figured I'd just inflate it a bit and let it sit overnight to stretch.  Fine.  Remodelers left, and I had to lock the back door (with a brand new lock on it) from the outside, which I did.  Ate dinner, watched some TV, turn out the lights to sleep and I hear BANG!  I figured the other tube had blown, went downstairs and I was right.  Fuck.  But I laughed.  I'm like, let's keep this clusterfuck going, shall we? 

I did manage to sleep OK, even though I woke around 1AM and my head was just spinning.  I know this is all stupid shit, but it's been one day after the other like this.  So this morning I wake up, have coffee and breakfast, and even though I had a swimsuit out from the weekend that I hadn't used upstairs, I wanted to wear a different one, so I go outside to open the back door so I can get to the laundry room where all my swimsuits are. 

I put the key in the lock, turn it, can hear the dead bolt release, but the door won't open.  Fuck.  Try again.  No.  Door is stuck closed.  I'm pissed.  Oh well, I don't have time for this shit now, so I go and swim, call my guy and tell him the door is fucked, but I will live until he returns tomorrow to fix it, but he will have to jump the stairs which aren't supposed to be walked on just yet. 

When I got back from swimming, I tried all the other 4 brand new keys and they barely even work in the lock.  I call to update the remodeler on this.  I'm pissed, but what are you going to do?  I have put a new tube into Skull Kingdom's wheel, and am letting the tire stretch again.  Hopefully, I'll get that all straight by end of today.  Tonight I have my night class, and I am just not in the mood.  But I don't want to have to do a make up class, so I'll be there after what I hope is a long nap, after I go for a run.

This taper isn't going so well.  If I get through it and make it to Triple T in one piece, I will be happy!

More Big Training, First Big Event and Taper Time!

So there's what happened last week.  Ugh...I'm tired just looking at it!  I had one no-op workout, my ride on Tuesday.  In coach's log, I wrote WORKOUT FAIL.  I was just tired and had no power in my legs.

This weekend (still here right now, actually), I drove up to New Glarus, Wisconsin to stay and then ride the Quadrupedal Century yesterday.  I'd wanted to visit the brewery in New Glarus, but my timing was off--it closes at 4PM, which is about when I arrived on Saturday, I didn't get back from the ride yesterday until 5PM, and it opens at 10AM today but I intend to be on the road by then.

I was looking forward to this weekend away from home, as it had been 8 months since I had a weekend away, and I hoped the change of scenery would relieve my mind of thinking about the remodeling and other stressors.  It was nice to take a different route into Wisconsin for a change of pace, since I was bypassing the Madison area which is where I typically stay.

I got to the hotel and they had a sign at the desk NO BIKES IN ROOMS.  WTF, right?  I didn't want to leave LGL in the car, so I asked where am I supposed to put her?  In the "bike shed."  After I lost my city fear of theft, I caved and put her in there.  There were gardening tools and dirt in there, but I had to trust that was fine.  Actually I could have left her in the car.

I had some New Glarus beer at the bar in the hotel and watched the Kentucky Derby.  I don't think I've ever watched that before, but in the spirit of just relaxing and doing whatever shows up, I enjoyed it.  I had dinner in the hotel restaurant, and it was enough to feed two easily!  Lamb chops, green beans, rolls, salad and Roesti, which is like hash brown potatoes with cheese.  I did polish off the great salad, all the Roesti, green beans, 1 roll and 2 lamb chops, so I did pretty well on the calories anyway.

Next, back to the room to obsessively watch weather on TV and computer.  It wasn't looking good for Sunday.  Rain, possibly thunderstorms.  I'd brought a trainer with me, and if the weather was bad enough, I'd figure a way for the hotel to let me have the bike in the room and ride 5 hours on it.  But I didn't really want to have to do that.

I managed to sleep for 9 hours, and just from my lack of thoughts when I'd wake in the middle of the night, it was a good thing to get away from home.  When I woke up, the weather forecast was pretty much the same, so I just thought, oh well, let's do this thing.

I had to jump the gate at the hotel front desk to get the key to the bike shed since nobody was there until 6AM and I needed to be on the road, with about a 30-mile drive to Dodgeville.  When I left just after 6, the woman at the front desk noticed the key just laying on the counter, and she asked if I'd jumped over and I said yes!  She laughed heartily, and so did I.

The drive to Dodgeville took me through some more nice countryside and of course, plenty o' hills.  This area of Wisconsin is just loaded with them.  Once again, it was a nice change of pace to be on roads I'd never driven--or possibly I had while married, but I don't remember.

It wasn't actually raining at the start, but I decided to take my rain jacket rolled up in a pocket.  I was wearing a long sleeve technical shirt, a very lightweight short-sleeved bike jersey (the one my brother Mike gave me that I love), a bright green Pearl Izumi windbreaker, regular gloves, regular shorts and loose fitting run tights.  I had toe warmers on my shoes and wore a helmet beanie for warmth.

It felt cold to start, but as we began riding I warmed up nicely.  I started out with a guy John, but like 15 minutes in he realized he'd forgotten his water bottles, so he turned around and I never saw him again.  It began raining not too far in, but what are you going to do?  I was in the middle of nowhere and just wanted to hit the first rest stop.

The first one was 27 miles in and they were holding a few of us brave souls there because there was a front of hail passing through.  I was like BRING IT!  Stopping makes you cold when you are all wet like that, so when they gave the all clear, I was shivering for a bit.  I don't know if I actually got hailed on--it felt like it--I was surely pelted a number of times by either rain or hail--who knows? I got soaked pretty much through except for my upper body which was protected by the rain jacket (I knew to stop when I felt the first drops and never took it off), although I was all sweaty under there.  My feet were wet, but oh well.  At the first rest stop, I asked how far to the next one and someone said 13 miles.  Um...no.

The next one was 25 miles later, and thank GOD because, well, I wanted a reason to stop.  So we're 52 miles in, and I'm thinking this is just half way.  It wasn't raining right at that moment.  I'd caught up to and passed 3 guys during this second leg, and took off from the second rest stop just as they were pulling in.  Yay me!  I'd only seen 2 other riders pass me so far.

The way I read the map, the next rest stop was at mile 70, which made me temporarily happy.  But when I got to mile 62 and saw the water jug and a veer left for the 100-mile route, I knew I'd read it wrong.  I had to make the split second decision am I riding 100 or not?  Yes, I am.  WTF it can't get any worse, can it?  And this stretch, just for the 100-mile route, was actually pretty nice!  There was almost some flatness!  But of course, it did have some nasty climbs, too.

Finishing that loop I was up to 77 miles, and it was really nice to go inside a bar to use the restroom.  At least I wouldn't turn all cold like the outdoor rest stops.  I'm sure I looked pretty weather worn, judging from the way the few patrons looked at me.  I guess you don't see too many women out riding in shit weather like that, do you?

Turns out I was the FIRST person through that checkpoint for the 100-mile ride!  Yay me!  I was in first place!  This made me feel good, even though I wasn't going very fast, it was more that I was toughing it out.

But now, I could wrap my head around the remaining 23 miles.  I caught up to another guy who had to be doing "only" 85 miles and passed him, and it made him mad so he picked up the pace and repassed me.  Like I didn't expect that.  Then, I almost caught him again and BOOM flat tire at mile 80.  Fuck.  Oh well, I know how to do this.  Got the old tube out and new one in pretty fast and then WTF is with the CO2 inflator.  Not working.  Fuck me.  So I waited and 5 fast guys showed up and blasted my tire, and I thanked them for being fast, although they started just after I did so I guess I was doing pretty well on the day.  I couldn't hang with them, though.

Right after the flat is fixed, we turned into Norwegian Hollow.  I remembered this fucker from the 2 prior times I'd done this ride.  Screaming downhill to start, we got rained on some more, and then the climb out is horrible.  I saw it coming and thought I'd need to bail and walk.  But I didn't.  I was barely moving on the climb, but I made it.  Sitting down.  The 2 amigos who weren't as fast as their 3 buddies weren't far ahead of me, and I'd thought the next aid station was at mile 90, but it was before that, and they just bypassed it, and I thought I'd do the same, since I had enough Infinit and water left to ride it on in.

A few miles later, the other 3 guys came by, and turns out one of them had a flat, too.  It happens when it's raining all day and all the road grit and shit is everywhere.  Now, you would think they would make the last few miles of the ride "gentle," but fuck no.  We hit Berg Road, and I remembered it was another grinder and I hate that fucking thing.  But I did it, and still, now you think the last 3 miles wouldn't be so bad, but you are climbing right up until you finish.

I finished with 101 miles on the dial, and I was happy!  I stripped almost everything off, wiped the bike down a little (to get worms off it mostly), put it in the car, grabbed a towel and fresh clothes and headed in to shower.  Of course, it was the BEST SHOWER EVER!!!  Then I got in the chow line.  I had Salisbury steak, noodles with beef, eggplant Parmigan, a piece of regular white bread with butter (it was GREAT!) and water.  I wanted to hit the road, and they were passing out bags of individual snacks, so I grabbed 4 Cheetos.  They also made bags of 4 or 5 homemade cinnamon rolls, so I grabbed one of those.

On the drive back to New Glarus, I chowed a bag of Cheetos, then I stopped at a gas station next to the hotel to load up on New Glarus Beer--3 six packs.  Back to my room, crack a beer, and I ended up finishing my 2 lamb chops from dinner the prior night, a dinner roll with butter (I wanted an entire stick of butter), then I ate another bag of Cheetos, 2 more beers, and I ate all 4 cinnamon rolls!  I have no idea how many calories that was, nor do I care, but I know when I did the ride 3 years ago, the Ergomo said I'd burned 3800 calories, so no worries!

I slept 9 hours again, and am tired, but my legs don't feel too bad.  Today is a rest day and the official beginning of my Triple T taper.  I am so glad I toughed out that ride, a little sad I wasn't the first 100-mile finisher, but what the hell, I did good on the day, and another deposit has been made in the mental toughness bank.  I am now going to eat breakfast at the hotel and then take off for home, where no doubt I will WANT to do a million things on a day off but instead will most likely lay around and eat.

Time to start thinking about Triple T.  Shit!  Well at least I got a good dose of hills in me so that shouldn't be too bad!