Jay Challenge

The ramblings of Team Weak and Feeble (Sven Cole, Dennis Morgan, Josh Mac, Nick Lebel, and Abe Wrobleski) as we prepare for the Jay Challenge mountain bike race.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

reality check

the closer we get to jay, the farther 70 miles and the higher 12,000 feet seems. i'm bound and determined to make it through, and really have no doubts that it's going to be the hospital or a dirt nap for me, but this is going to be the most difficult thing most of us have ever done.

if there's ever a time to listen to your own body and realize when to push and when to hold back, this is the time to do it. so, like the dr. says: the team is alive and well, but, come july 30, each member needs to pay attention to his own pace - five begin the challenge, five complete the challenge!

korea slim

Keys?

When did we get a treehouse? I feel left out of this. I dont have keys either. Its a conspiracy I thinks.

Regardless I concur with DEA.

JJ

Oh sure

Turn your keys in for the Team Treehouse.

No I agree. The Team idea is a good motivator for training but may kill us all at Jay. Besides, now North Korea can take aim and try to beat Tinker.

Any thoughts on 24 Hours of Great Glen, team or solo? We've talked solo, is that the plan?

A1

Team

As I reflect on this whole Jay Challenge mountain bike event that is looming on the horizon I have a few thoughts about the concept of Team Weak and Feeble.

The Team concept began as a great way to get everyone out riding and developing fitness so that we could all have our best shot at completing the epic challenge that Jay is going to present. We’ve ridden in snowstorms, rain, wind, and just about everything else as we move towards the event. It has and continues to be a great way to get out and enjoy the company of others while we beat ourselves silly.

As with anything in life everyone takes a different approach to preparation, both physically and mentally. And come race day it will be the same way, we will all need to take on the challenge in our own way, at our own pace. It had been discussed that we would try to ride the Jay Challenge together as a group- but I have doubts that doing so will be possible or advisable. Once we hit the start line each of us will need to regulate our efforts and pace based on our own knowledge of our bodies. I think we’ll see a great deal of each other on the trail and we may find we do ride long sections together and I’m sure there will be a fair amount of leap frogging. But I think everyone needs to know that they can be free to ride their own event.

Coming to this conclusion leaves me questioning the concept of Team Weak and Feeble, but then I realize that the Team aspect has been and will continue to be the training/riding together, the constant abuse that we use as motivation, the camaraderie that we have developed as we face this monumental event, and the stories we will share for years once we have all dragged our asses back to camp for our first beer and massive quantities of food post Jay.

So those are my deep thoughts.


Dr. Evil out.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Team ride and such

A good weekend for Team Weak and Feeble, we had all accounted for and present for a little ride out in Davis Hill on Saturday. If was in interesting start to the ride as PJ and I headed out from my house, JJ from his house and we met in the clearing. NK was supposed to have met us but he hadn’t shown so the three of us went out for a loop to warm up the legs before meeting up with A1. When we came back to connect with A1 at the beaver pond we saw NK emerge from the woods.

So we were off for a tour of mud, mosquitoes, and single track. It was a good ride, NK had to bail a touch early (I hope that’s not foreshadowing of Jay!) and A1 then lost his breaks (but it didn’t seem to change the way he road to much!). All it all we rode about 12 to 13 miles, depending on where you started. So only 58 miles more to go!

Sunday JJ and I went out do put in a hot lap on the Davis Trails, pretty fun but I felt like junk trying to keep up to his pace. It was a good loop, despite JJ doing a bit of hardness testing of granite on one of the descents, I guess he went over the bars, I didn’t get to see it. But he ended up alright, but has some nice tough guy wounds.

Then yesterday I got on the road and rode over to the folks house, a mild distance but I was feeling pretty flat and every climb had a bit of a bite, looks like Tuesday is a day off the bike.

Jay is only a short bit away- oh me, oh my, I hope we don’t all die!


DEA

The Team unites...

Team Weak & Feeble got together for the first full team ride on Saturday. Hoping to get a taste of team riding we met about noon for a little ride in the woods. It stared out as Dr Evil, PJ, & JJ and after s short loop we met up with A1. Within another 5 minutes, NK arrived and we were at full strength. We were rode a little over 13 miles in a couple hours. Definately not a killer pace and probably a little off race pace. We had one mechanical issue in A1 losing his brakes. Guess that could be an issue over 13,000 feet of climbing assuming there is a corrsponding 13,000 feet of descending. So with roughly 60 days to go til Jay I think we have some additional suffering that needs to be banked in order to be ready for the race. Not sure what others thought but it seemed that after about 1/4 of the race distance we were not as fresh as we need to be to finish, especially considering we had not done but about 1/10th of the climbing for the race. IMHO as Team Weak & Feebles mid term ride came to an end I would give us a C+. Definate room for improvement, but not a total wreck.

I was able to get out on Sunday with Dr Evil for a little ride in the woods as well and covered about 10 miles in and hour and a half. Other tahn a minor endo ina rock garden leaving me bloody and bruised it was good.

My luck continued on Monday and I got out with some of the guys from Davis Hill faor another 10 miles in the woods. No incidents with the rock garden this time. Rode right through the bastard. Anyone have any Deet?

JJ

Friday, May 26, 2006

All by myself

So I decided I needed to get some more climbing in and maybe some repeats/intervals. Unfortunately I couldn't find any friends to ride with. I rolled out and headed to the botton of Davis Hill and turned around and rode up it and then back down, again, and again and again. Boy that was fun. I was happy to see my HR drop nicely after each lap. Looks like a nice ride being planned for Saturday morning on the dirt(mud).

JJ

Thursday, May 25, 2006

More bad ideas

Dr. Evil Ass and I ride home Tuesday night. Good ride up Peaked down the power lines to Sears. Out on the road to Stritch road where there's a trail that connects back to the lake. we couldn't find the trail to the lake so after a few miles we ended up couple hundred yards down from where we entered. Good ride, very wet. 48 minutes door to door. Considering it took over 48 minutes to do Peaked early last year, I'll take it.

Today, Amato's for lunch. Ooh, 2 large Real Italians for $6.99. Being with North Korea and Dr. EA one would have thought we'd split the cost and each get a sub. Hell no, game on. So after 2 Real Italians and 1576 calories later I'm full and so is the Good Dr.

A1 overload.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Hold on a minute

Just to set the record straight, I didn't start racing until I was 14. And A1 has done a hillclimb TT AND a crit all part of a freakin' stage race! While true JJ hasn't raced on the road he has EXTENSIVE experience racing mountain bikes, years even and if memory serve me he has raced TT's while competing in triathlons, he even has those special bars to make you look all aero. That's all just to set the record straight. So where's my money!

Ok now I'm laughing

Dr. Evil

Fools in the rain

So Dr. Evil thinks that he didn't pull a fast one on us??? He had faith or beleived in his heart of hearts that both A1 and I would do better than we did. Hmm, let's take a look at some of the facts. Who is the only one who has raced this race in the past? Dr. Evil, counltess times no less. Who has raced on a road bike before? Dr. Evil is the only one, since he was like 4 years old. He even knows actual pro racers. Closest for me is watching OLN. Which one of us has ever done a hill climb? Thats Dr. Evil. And the only one to ever race a TT on a road bike? Could it be, yes, Dr. Evil. Who set the splits? You guessed it, Dr. Evil. Who won the cash? Again, Dr. Evil. His name alone should tell one the real truth. As a result, A1 and I were just riding our first road race of our lives and we were taken advantage of. Now all I have to do is think of something I can kick his ass in and challenge him to that, and maybe spot him a little, just to make it fair. Golf anyone????

JJ

Cash- now pay up!

I’m getting accused of setting both JJ and A1 up for failure in terms of our time gaps at Crank the Kanc- I feel it’s a very unfair accusation. It’s just that I had a much great faith in my fellow teammates then they had in themselves, oh well.

Either way the first event of the season went pretty well. I didn’t do the time I wanted but in looking at the results I’m fairly happy as a lot of people were slower this year then last and I was able to pick up a couple minutes over last years time. With that said the climb really didn’t go quite the way I had hoped. A few people that I had blown by on the flats returned the favor on the climb. Towards the end pride took over and I lifted the pace to pass them again, but I paid the price as my HR went well over 190.

A1 took the wise route down by riding down in the truck with K and the kids. JJ and I let it rip on the downhill and then two man TT’d until we came up onto Matty Braun and then we had a killer three man TT down to the finish- needless to say my HR on the trip back was only marginally lower then on the way up.

JJ and I then had a good “recovery” dirt ride on Sunday, out for a touch over an hour, that was fun. I took yesterday off and rode this morning with David from work. He and I did a small loop on Sticks and Stones and then he peeled off and I did a TT leaving from the SS entrance (north side)- up Peaked to the traverse, down to the new beaver pond (waded through that) and then down to SS entering on the south side and back to the CCC sign- 26:13- so that was kinda fun.

Picked up an old Chris Carmichael book that he and Lance wrote on training. Started looking over what we should be doing as we get closer. The good news- we still have close to 10 weeks, but if we were to take the week before Jay kinda easy then we really only have 9 good weeks of training. A lot of work still to be done! I need to pick up the intensity and do a bit of hill specific work as well as some LT training. Looks like we’ll be doing some intensity work on our longer rides- hmmm fun.

That’s it from me.


DEA

Monday, May 22, 2006

Do yu take credit cards?

So with the first race in the books, I owe some money to JJ and Dr. Evil Ass. Good race overall, lessons learned:

1. Ride bike your going to race more than once two weeks prior.
2. Warm up better
3. Eat, eat and oh yeah...eat
4. Don't forget Monkey Butt Powder
5. Don't forget Monkey Butt Powder

So with those in mind I'm not making excuses. I thoroughly got it handed to me by JJ and Dr. EA. At mile 5 or 6 I realized I had forgotten the Monkey butt powder and the discomfort set in. That coupled with the unfamiliarity of the saddle (hadn't been on it in two weeks) and the game began. Finding a comfortable position wasn't easy and really wanted to bag (no pun intended) the rest of the race. Mile 15 or so, still very uncomfortable but now very hungry. Empty stomach vertigo started, great only 6 miles left, 5 being a climb to the top. Wind and rain. Super.

So a few lessons learned. Luckily it was a short TT and not a 24 Hour or worse, Jay. With only a couple rides over the last few weeks it's time to get out in the morning 3-4 times a week again and Sunday long rides. Jay is looming we're approaching 2 months till race day.

Not feeling the love from Dr. Evil Ass, I think he pulled one on JJ and I on our split times. Dirty Dr. Evil Ass.

A1

Thursday, May 18, 2006

First race

We’re a scant 36 or so hours away from our first bike race of the season, Crank the Kanc. It should be a good race and it should either confirm our fitness coming into place or that we are in deep do-do. Being the only one of the crew who has raced this before I have some idea of what I would like to do for a time. I’d love to post a 1:17 or better. If I go sub 1:15 then I’ll feel like I’m coming into form.

We have some sort of bet going on between A1, JJ, and myself. If I beat JJ by two minutes or more- he owes me $.01 for every second that I beat him by, and if he gets me or coming in closer then two minutes I owe him $.01 for every second. You get the gist. A1 is in on this as well and I’ve got to get him by 7 minutes and JJ has to get him by 5.

A1 is talking big story about how he’s going to blast out of the start house and just “sprint” the 21 miles. I kinda would like to have a camera and telemetry of his effort as I think by Albany bridge he may be rethinking his strategy. JJ is the one who may post the surprise. He crushed me on the Evans climb a few weeks ago, and has been secretly training on Hurricane- only time will tell.

Speaking of TT’s I’ve got to give props to my wife’s leading “list” man- Jan Ullrich. He finally put down the Krispy Kremes long enough to post a win in today’s Giro TT, posting a sub 59 minute 50km TT- damn that’s fast! D’Kaiser still can TT, now we’ll see if he can climb next week.

While JJ, A1 and myself dial up the pain meter on our bikes NK will be out grabbing at other men’s shorts while the play with a funny shaped balls. PJ- who knows what he’ll be doing, hucking steel or something like that.

Am I the only one that has been looking hard at their gear, and wondering what tweaking I can make to get comfortable on the bike for 9+ hours? I found some new grips/bar ends that look pretty trick- the Ergon r2m. I’m also looking at the gearing and wondering if a slightly larger granny gear might help to eliminate chain suck- any thoughts? (going from a 22 to a 26)

That’s my story. It’s raining, it’s been raining, and it’s going to keep raining. But beyond that life is good.

The good Dr. Evil Ass

Game on

Crank the Kanc, a 21 mile TT on Saturday probably in the rain. Last four miles climb pretty significantly. So, we're making it interesting. A penny a second based on these time gaps. Dr. Evil Ass has granted us these times: JJ- 2 minutes A1- 7 minutes. So I got 7 on the Dr. and 5 on JJ. So the plan, go as hard as possible for as long as possible (hopefully 21 miles). I'm guessing I blow up at mile 11. I'm guessing that's the only way I'll beat the splits so graciously bestowed upon me. So at mile 11 look for me, or more importantly look for what remains of me. Oh I'm feeling frisky.

A1.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

still soggy

actually, we're at mass saturation. got the iron horse back from the shop this weekend, took it out yesterday in the deluge - with just a quick bit of pavement before the shelter of the trees.

didn't help, though. it was so wet my eyeballs were soaked, and dirt/mud/grit found its way everywhere.

but, i heard that the dr. climbed hurricane (apropos in this weather) after work yesterday. cheers to him... too bad if it rains any more we won't be able to get on the trails for months until it dries out and erosion has destroyed them.

but, just getting out on dirt compared to riding pavement was a welcome, welcome change. let's do it tomorrow, damn the torpedoes!

nK

Monday, May 15, 2006

A wet one

Saturday's planned epic ride was virtually a washout. A1 and I met early to start and decided to take a pass as it was raining in Ark like amounts. A little later in the AM the rain subsided somewhat and we met Dr. Ass about 10AM. None of the other folks who said they would venture out with us showed. No surprise there. So we got about 2 hours in and I logged about 2k in vert climbing and the DR and A1 got about 2300 feet. It was a cold wet ride. Sure hope Jay is at least warmer. I think I can deal with the wetness, but the cold was getting old after a while. Well this weekend is Crank the Kanc, weather forcast is for rain. Surprise.

JJ

Hey it's raining again.

Sweet. Not sure how many days it's been rainy, too many for sure. JJ and myself met at 6:45 Saturday in the pouring rain, decided to get a coffee and go home. JJ used the trail excuse, he really didn't want to get his Yeti wet me thinks. Ok, it was a mutual decision, it was miserable out. So at 9:15 as I'm watching Spike TV rain lets up, JJ lets go. We meet Dr. Evil Ass and head out. Starts raining again. Two hours later we're soaked and cold but fun ride. What happens if it rains the day of Jay, that's a good reason to get out in the rain now and get used to it. Rain all week and looks like rain for Crank the Kanc on Saturday. Anyone want to put some money on the splits for JJ, Dr. Evil and myself?

Watered-Down Steaksauce

Thursday, May 11, 2006

The days keep ticking by

Jay is getting closer every second and I keep wondering what we need to do to get ready. We did have a good ride on Sunday, at least A1 and I did. JJ got out for a dirt ride w/o us, but A1 and I went out for a multi notch tour. It was fun, but it was only half the climbing, and it was all on pavement- that gives me reason for pause.

This weekend won't be a good one for riding for me, but I'll still get out. Sounds like A1 and JJ have a good game plan in place to put in some serious dirt saddle time, I'll work to connect with them around 10am but I've got to go do some TV time to pay for a new pump and a couple cases of Cliff Bars!

I've been riding the fixed this week, trying to clean up a bit of my pedal stroke. It's interesting how you approach hills differently on a fixed, you try to go slow so your legs don't get ripped off. I find I'm always ready for the road to tip up a bit so that I can have a bit more control over the pedal stroke.

At this point I think we have these things going for us: we all have a bit of base and seem to understand how hard this is going to be, we seem to be working through a few key issues- like how to stay well fed while riding, we're slowly dialing in our gear. What I think is against us: the unknown- the difference between a 5 or 6 hour ride and a 9 or 10 hour ride is HUGE, dealing with technical terrain when dead tired, dealing with riding at different peoples pace, weather, thinking we're "fit enough". I'm sure we'll make it, but like they say for those who are training for a marathon- you don't train for the actual race- you train so that you can walk the following week.

We'll see.


peace out- Dr. Ass

Monday, May 08, 2006

Doosey

Yeah you can say that. Here's my random thoughts from this weekends ride:

It was pretty cool heading out at 5:00am. Nice views from Bear Notch with the sun coming up. The ride, we'll I'm going with it was the toughest ride I've done. 6,900 something feet of vertical kicked my ass. I want to be a meterologist, I don't understand how there's a headwind in every direction. Props go out to the good Dr. Ass for pulling me down route 3 and most of the rest of the ride. Lack of food intake was an issue and route 3 was tough to stay in pull even on the down hilll. Tonights plan is to mount a feed bag to the handle bars. All in all, good ride. It further prooves how hard Jay will be as we only did a little over 1/2 the vertical gain. Animal count - 3 moose, 1 bear. I'll let the good Dr. tell his side, but fun ride all told.

Town lines - A1 3, Dr. Ass the rest (5-7?).

A1.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Back in the saddle

Well the move is complete. We have made our way from Loop Rd over to Davis Hill. We're definitely not unpacked yet, but at least I can find my bikes. I was not able to partake in the long ride this morning, but it sounded like a doosey. I was however able to get out for about an hour and a half in the woods. So after almost a week of the bike it felt good to get back in the saddle. Where we riding this coming weekend? Montreal anyone???

JJ

Friday, May 05, 2006

Ouch

So last night Nikki and I decide to take the kids for a run in the double jogging stroller. So at 7:45 we get the kids in jammies and out the door. They were psyched as we gave them headlamps to wear when it got dark. Well we start down Old Mill and decide to run up Davis. Lets just say pushing 110 lbs. of kids and stroller isn't the easiest thing. Thoroughly exhausted at the top we turned down Henry Cotton Road and back. Short but very painful run.

So this Sunday, shooting for the 5am ride with Dr. Ass and maybe NK if he doesn't get to tired from scrumming all day Saturday. Plan is to ride together up until Twin Mtn. then I'll head for the Vermont border some 55 miles while he heads back down the notch. Round trip looks like 110-120 miles. Double ouch, but I have a 3 year old birthday party to attend so at least I can get some climbing in with the Good Dr. first. We'll see if I make it, Nikki is chasing in the car so I always have a bail out. Good times.

A1

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Do I go north, or do I go south?

It's been an interesting few weeks. So some of you know more than others, so let's bring everybody up to speed. The tent business has really taken off, way more than I could ever have imagined, which is awesome. The bad side is I still have a full time job. So for a few weeks it's been eating at me, I need to make a decision. Roll with my business and build it to where I want it to be, or stay where I'm at and be a good husband and dad who knows I'm not going to make my family lose everything we have.

So, after many hours of lost sleep the decisions was made. Take a chance, live a little. Figure it out. Resign. Jump full ship into the tent business.

It's funny I am usually pretty rough around the edges, don't pay attention to sappy shit (see). So I'm reading a blog the other day and this quote hits me,

"Even in this affluent country, many folks are in survival mode, nose buried too far into the grindstone to see the view, too numb to even be aware of their passions." Not sure who wrote it, sorry. But it pretty much confirmed what I wanted to do.

It's definately been an intersting few months and year. Who would have thunk it that I would have ever been so consumed with Cycling. Dr. Ass started it, came up to my desk and asks "wanna race the 24 Hours with us, it's in two weeks." Immediately it was a sure. I've never thanked him for that, so Dr. Ass thanks, I've loved every minute since then. And also to JJ and NK, it's great to know there is always soemone who is there to go for a ride, shit on each other but at the end really enjoy the ride and company, so thanks. It's awesome to be able to forget it all and go beat ourselves into the ground, with JJ that's literally (how's your shoulder?)

So why am I all soft today, well it's exciting. Ready to move to the next adventure, keep riding and finish this damn race we've started.

A1

Monday, May 01, 2006

My thoughts following Sunday's ride




I guess I'm just trying to bank enough suffering pre-Jay to survive as I did Hurricane & Red Tail on Friday afternoon and had a pretty nasty slow speed endo resulting in partial shoulder dislocation and mucho pain.

I followed that up with an early Saturday morning (6a.m.) ride with Dr. Ass. We thought a short 2 hour ride to work out the kinks in the woods would do us good. Well we made a minor miscalculation and got back at 3 1/2hrs. Luckily avoided violating hall pass privileges. Ride was very good, still suffering with shoulder from previous day but it was tolerable. Was cold but clear. So much for ride taking it easy prior to the planned long ride on Sunday.

Well Sunday morning came and it was 27 degrees when I left the house at 6a.m. So much for sleeping in on the weekends. I met the rest of the NH contingent to the W&F crew at Sears and the day really began. I was having real trouble keeping up the pace into North Conway and was wondering how the day was going to go as I was getting dropped after 6 miles. My legs were dead from the riding Friday and Saturday. Lucky for me, Slim was not prepared fro the cold and his hands were freezing. We made a pit stop at Sids to warm up. I found a Red Bull as I needed any help I could get. We headed north into Jackson and the town line racing began. Without me, Abe made a valiant effort, but our Team W&F designated sprinter reeled him in and nipped him at the line.

Abe then bid us farewell and the 3 of us kept moving north, that is until about 2 miles later we were dealing with our first and fortunately only mechanical of the day. NK had picked up a nail. Once back on the road we headed to Pinkham and the notch. Well it was nice, with a good breeze in our faces we hit the top with the Dr in the lead to take the first climbing points of the day. The ride to Gorham was nice and after a short stop at GGTOC was had a couple more sprints which were contested, but the good Dr continued his winning ways racking up more points.

So as we approach the village of Gorham I see the Welcome to Gorham sign and race towards it. Apparently my fellow compadres didn't feel as though it was warranted. Oh well, I have to take my victories where I can find them. Even if they are not recognized. WE hit the local gas & sip and refueled. Turning East in Rt 2 we stared towards Evan's.

The temps were warming up nicely as we all started to shed layers and started to resemble hunch-backs with our jersey pockets bulging with rolled up jackets and winter gloves. The ride over to 113 was nice, North Road was a sort of relaxing roller coaster getting us ready for the climb ahead. One last stretch on Rt 2 and a run to the State Line. NK had a good 100 yards on Dr & I and we saw him start to make his dash for the line. The good Dr found another gear and tracked him down and got him with about 15 yards to go. If NK had a different gearing he probably would have held him off, but not today, Sven was bound and determined to win every test.

We made a right onto Rt. 133 and turned South towards Evan's Notch. A mere 8 miles of climbing to the top. It stared at a nice easy pace with the three of us chatting and enjoying the ride. After a bit I decided to see if I could go for the top and get a little glory from Dr win it all. I started spinning along and I could hear NK and Dr behind me talking and soon I couldn’t hear them anymore. I kept spinning along, keeping the cadence high. When I made my break my HR was cruising along about 140, about another mile or so and it was 155, another mile further and I was over 160. I knew there was a lot to go with no breaks, keep the pace I told myself. I was still feeling good, HR was 164 and holding. I was afraid to look back I didn't want to know how close the Dr was. I kept moving up and up. Then the last steep section came. I was starting to feel it. I couldn’t maintain the gear I was running anymore, to keep the cadence I had to downshift. I figured as soon as I did I would be caught. I decided it was time to look and see how close they were. I stood up and turned my head, just as I did my bike turned a little and I hit something in the road, I almost crashed in the middle of the road. I got back straight and tried to remember if I saw anyone. I didn't. I knew I had a shot. If they couldn't see me they didn't know how far I was ahead of them. It gave me what I needed and I got out of the saddle for the rest of the climb. I hit the top feeling good, but spent. I finally scored some real points on the day. I stopped at the memorial at the top and waited for the others. It was pretty cool sitting up there alone for a bit.

We headed down the south side of the notch and were ripping along pretty fast, it’s a hairy descent to say the least. We were now all looking forward to the next pit stop at the Stow store, unfortunately we were disappointed as it was closed. After assessing our water and food we decided to make the dash for home. 15 or so miles to go. No more town lines really, but one more State line was up for grabs. I sat behind the Dr as we approached. He stared to go for it and I sat on his wheel waiting to pull out and try to go by him. with 50 yards to go I made my move and as I did the road turned to shit, for both of us. Instead of being a mad dash to the line it was half that and half try not to hit this hole or that crack....at the line I nosed him by a hair. We were all pretty much done by then. We continued at a good pace as we split up at Shermans and made our way home.

It was my longest ride yet, had a great time with super folks. Thanks fellas.


JJ

Interview


"Yeah, that's right ladies, I can eat a donut and sprint for town lines better than the rest of my team".

Sorry DR. AP saw this image and couldn't resist.

A1

oh god

ladies and gentlemen, in addition to a t-shirt, all finishers will also be rewarded with a free IV and fluids!

korea Slim

Sweet

This was a new post on the Jay forum Sunday from the race director. We all could use a good cry now and again, mine usually is generated by watching Rudy.

"the course is 90% set, I will have the final mileage within the next few weeks, but I can assure you that it will be more interestiing than last year and you will all cry in the last 2 hours. The preliminary scouting on the ground has forced me to go from 10 Aid station last year to 16 or 17 this year.


The course should also be posted on the web site in about 2 weeks"

Thanks

Dan
_________________
Dan
The Jay Challenge, Race Director

Aah good times

After I spun back, it was over Thorn Hill back into town. Showered, out for breakfast. Bacon, pancakes, homefries, toast and coffee. I actually felt bad since I knew at that moment the rest of Weak and Feeble were sufferieng up Pinkham. Well, no I didn't.

A1.