October 1, 2006
Roanoke VA
I have finally had an opportunity to peck out a few keys. I am sitting at the local McDonald's in Crisfield, MD. Why you ask? The winds and rain are too strong to get to Tangier Island. I am leading a week-long revival at Swain Memorial UMC on Tangier and its 1.5 hr boat ride from Crisfield to Tangier. So I am sitting at McDs listening to the same group of people talk about the same things in life at every other McDs across the country. It's the 9AM morning bunch. Mostly men fellowshipping over their senior discount coffee. Other than the dialect, the conversation is about the same stuff.
I would rather ascend Poor Mt twice than make this drive again. Dont know why, but I can ride a bike for 6 hrs yet get me in a car, the time seems to stand still. Total drive time is almost 7 hrs from Covington to Crisfield. I wanted to catch the boat in Reedville, VA but they are not available for my departure day. So I study the map and see that I have to go around Asia to get to Crisfield. It's an additional 300 miles through Hampton then up Hwy 13. Other than the cool bridges and tunnels over the Chesapeake Bay, there was nothing scenic. There were just flat straight roads. Almost reminded me of S. GA.
So here I am sitting at McDs at 10am trying to make use of my time and unsure if I will even be able to get on the island today. Don't even think there is a motel here if I have to stay the night.
Well enough venting, back to the race report. What a day! Beautiful weather and a great day to ascend Poor Mt. I have not ridden it before but I knew it was steep and would probably take me about 1 hr. I do a lot of climbing in the Covington area. There is the infamous climb in Clifton Forge, Rose Street. I think the Tour De Pont ascended this years ago. Its about 7 miles with some major switchbacks and steep grades the last 4. I do it in under an hour so I anticipated the same type of grueling, lactate threshold ride. I do enjoy long climbs, dont know why and under 130 lbs, I should be a stronger climber than I am.
I was a little worried about not having a good warmup but the ride to the start took care of that. I forgot it was a mass start and should have been closer to the front for the start. Oh well. Off we went and I began to make my way up the pack to get in touch with the front runners. I knew that a 15 sec gap on the road turns into a minutes when it gets steep.
Most the time I wear my Polar HR monitor. I have always wanted to get my VO2 measured but never have. I know my max HR is a few beats within 210. Yeah, that'ss freakn high. That puts my 90-92% between 190-194 so I figured my LT is close to 192. That's higher than most folk's max. My objective was to keep it in the low 190'ss.
I struggled more than I thought I would when encountering the more rocky areas. It was very difficult to pedal smoothly through that stuff and when I approached a slower rider, I had to take a few bad lines to get around. When someone passed me, I tried to stay with them without my HR getting above 195. Then there was the turn right uphill near the finish. That was really tough. I caught a couple of folks on that section and sprinted all of 5 mph to the finish. Total time of 1:00:40. I was wanting to beat an hr. Maybe next year. Average HR 190. Enjoyed, in my narcissistic way, the climb and look forward to it next year.
On the way down, I was trying to not flat. There were so many folks aside the road with flats. Made it to the pavement and this guy on a sweet Trek went around. Hey, he looks familiar, Jeremiah Bishop. Cool, I sped up a bit and sat on his wheel until we got to a flatter section. Chatted with him a while. He seems to be a really cool guy. Then we came to the RR tracks and I had too much clothes on to pedal the rest of the way back. So I shed my stuff and hopped back on the bike. Caught back up with Jeremiah and he was riding with some of the El Toreo team. Paula was leading the pack.
It was nice to be back at the parking lot. Team El Toreo received many awards for that race and the overall standings. My first Mtb series is over. Enjoyed the series and look forward to racing next year. Maybe get a few road races in next year too!
Well now its 12 pm still no word with the boat. This time I struck gold, foundrestaurantesteraunt with wireless internet and ESPN. Life is good! Like OMG, this is too weird. its now 1pm, i have posted my blog and working on other stuff and get a phone call from a very close aunt, lives in Atlanta, who happens to be 100 yrds from me right now. We both had no idea that either of us would be in Crisfield. We were waiting on the same boat, get out of here. too funny.
Crisfield Dock. Roads flooded
My aunt and uncle. that's a parking lot in the background.
Until then,
Ride hard for the end is near!
