(im)deebers: The Dangerous Summer Chapter 5: Hitting Our Stride(s) Part One

So we've trained and trained (and trained some more), it's time to start reaping the rewards of our diligence and prove (to ourselves at least) that it's all been worth it. Starting with:

Pamperfest (aka Ladies Rockwell Relay) July 20th, 2013

Another near perfect day for a bike race. July of 2013 was the hottest* ever recorded in Utah but thankfully the mercury for this particular Saturday was slated to stay at or below 90 degrees f (about 32 C), a relatively cool day compared to the summer so far.

*my source for this is a Rodney facebook post so take that FWIW

An event is only an event until Rodney shows up, then it's (officially) a party.

Time enough before the start to pin bib numbers

below the pocket line, so you don't snag it while reaching for nutrition but careful not to pin the pockets shut (little bits of race wisdom you pick after you done a few of these).

snap some pre-race photos,

Pamperfest teammates past & present: Liz & Kerri.

Jenn & Matt (the other half of the pamperfest support crew)

Kerri & Liz (and some oversized cycling fan in sunglasses) just before the starting gun

and we're off!

The start of this race was designed with Liz in mind: a short, intense climb that she tackles and finishes before we have a chance to mount up and leave the parking lot, then a long descent with fast sweeping turns. By the time we catch her Liz is already on the flats, rounding the Pineview reservoir and running with the lead group of cyclists. She finishes the first 21 mile leg in just under an hour and manages to do it without even looking winded.

Jenn takes over, knocks out the biggest climb of the day and drops into the 'Canadian-power tuck' on the backside.

She finishes the leg strong but not without incident. About three miles from the exchange point, while she is down in the drops and pedaling with everything she's got, a wasp dive bombs her with apparent malicious intent. As she reaches down with her right hand to swat it away, her center of gravity tilts and Jenn gets a physics 101 level lesson in inertia (complete with road rash and dropped bike chain).

One of the support crew from another team sees her predicament, helps her right her bike and gives her a push to get rolling down the road. She finishes strong and with minimal complaint, cause she's a hockey player* and that's just what hockey players do.

*Actually Canadian ... but yeah, pretty much the same thing.

Back on the bike, Liz chases down more cyclists, works with them for a while, then drops them. Not on purpose but Liz tends to run and ride like a wind up toy, point her in the right direction, tell her how far she has to go and cut her loose. She'll power up and keep pouring it on until she runs out of steam or road to race on. It's a technique that can bite you on endurance events but perfect for these 20 mile relay legs. It's actually really entertaining to watch, even more fun to listen to the befuddled comments of other four rider teams wondering when these two rider teams (namely Liz and Jennifer) were finally going to slow down.

Even the energizer Bunny needs an extra 'twist' now and then. Liz gets a hand from Matt (who pushed half a dozen lady-cyclists up this hill ... kinda wish he would have been there on that same hill three weeks later when the Ultimate challenge riders rolled through. I could have used a push too).

About 2/3 of the way through the race they reached the community center in Oakley and (for today anyway) Pamper-Central. A dozen ... what's plural for masseuse? 'Suesses?

Masseueres? Whatever you call them when they travel in groups, they were there and they knew what they were doing. I tried to watch closely and take mental notes (and not look like a creeper at the same time) so I could learn how to help Jenn out after future physically punishing events.

Eventually, as the day wore on, the miles accumulated and the temperatures rose, team Hill Hath No Fury (did I mention that was their name, it was but nobody knew that on race day so I guess it's OK that you didn't either) did slow down. On Jenn's final leg she was caught and dropped by BC Babes (a four-rider team that had been trailing them all day).

Watching Jenn on these final climbs of the last leg of the race she looked completely gassed. I rushed to the finish line to drop Liz and Matt off and to return to make sure Jenn was OK. I hadn't seen her look that wilted since we did the 75 mile Mount Nebo loop last fall. I didn't have to drive far. At some point Jenn found her second wind (or are we on the third wind now ... fourth?) and was charging to the finish. She closed the half mile gap the BC Babes cyclist had opened on her to just over a 100 meters and was reeling her in like a trout. I flipped a hard u-turn and just barely arrived at the finish in time to snap a photo.

182 miles and 7K of climbing in under 9 1/2 hours, good enough for 6th overall (out of 75 teams that started the race). Not bad for a couple of middle-aged moms.

All in all a really great day, mostly because it's hard to have a bad day if you spend it with Liz. She's just one of those people that makes you feel good, about yourself, about what you're doing, about life. She manages to be positive without being saccharine, encouraging without being insincere and takes real and genuine delight in the success of others. She is, in a word, good people (ok, two words).

Ironically, Jenn signed up for this race mainly as an excuse to spend the day with her friend, only to spend the entire race not hanging out with Liz (apparently she neglected to do the two rider team arithmetic). In fact it wasn't until the post race meal and debrief that Liz learned of Jenns major* injury. I think it's at this point that the two decide in the future if they sign up for events they will be ones they can ride/run concurrently, not consecutively.

*minor

But other than the skinned elbow look at the two of them, fresh as two daisies, you would never know they had spent the better part of the last 10 hours and 200 miles on a bike. I think Matt and I came away from the event feeling more stiff and sore than they did.

We eat our Rumbi grill rice bowls (Gluten free option available), finish telling our war stories and then call it a day.

Jenn & Liz are great teammates but even better friends

It would be glib to call the Pamperfest (aka Ladies Rockwell Relay) a pleasant diversion but if we're being honest it (and the River-Rail Relay earlier this summer) was merely the under card to Jenn's main event, the overture to her symphony, the prologue to her Magnum Opus. It's the Half Ironman that occupies her thoughts, regulates the type and amount of calories she consumes and dictates her workouts. So after taking a day off (Sunday) it's back on the road (and in the pool). Two and a half weeks post Pamperfest she has planned:

Trial Tri-run, August 1st, 2013

We got up at 5:30 (actually Jenn got up at 4 and had breakfast cause she read somewhere she needs to eat 3 hours before exercising ... I'm not supposed to talk about it). She went back to bed and then at 6 we went together to the rec center where she swam a kilometer (not pictured).

Then we drove out to Herriman and rode the Mountain View Corridor for 40(ish) miles.

We ran into our buddy Zach the proselyte (two months into cycling and he's already all-in)

told him to jump on and we rode a wicked tailwind north for 15 miles, grabbed some Strava PRs and top tens then ground our way back (into the wind this time) to Herriman. We dropped Jenn off and she changed into her running outift

Except she didn't change at all, that's the same suit she's been wearing since she jumped in the pool at the rec center. Good thing for her she looks fabulous in it (it's true, you do, no matter how you perform in the event it will be clear to anybody just by looking at you that you've come prepared to take care of business, have I said I'm proud of you? how impressed I am by you ... well I am).