Bikes: Ulcer Revisited

The fact that I'm typing this blog implies that I survived the ride. In fact, my goal of finishing the ride and feeling good the following days was met. I still have a few aches and pains but they are much less than the agony of the IT band syndrome pain that I experienced last year. Furthermore, I rode my bike to and from work today with minimal discomfort. My right calf hurts a bit when I plantar flex my foot (go up stairs, etc) and my  thighs are still a little full of lactate but other than that I'm doing very well.

My timer chip shows I left at 6:59:53 am. The first miles were a breeze. I was trying to keep at least an average pace of 15 miles an hour to be back at around 2:30. I feel like most of the miles between Thanksgiving Point and the 48 mile break were mostly downhill which made riding fun. I did have a pinch pop at about 10 miles which I fixed in record time. I hooked onto a group with some experiences riders a little further along that pulled me and some others behind them at 22-24 mph.

"Lunch" was provided at mile 48, right before we started up the biggest climbs of the day. As far as climbs go the ULCER doesn't really have any. I think the website says the 105 (really 107) mile course has a climb of 741 feet. That isn't really a climb, but all throughout the second half of the course are long steady uphills/false flats that can really punish a rider. Especially if the rider has a heavy headwind. There were a few portions where we had a stiff headwind which pushed our pace down to 11-13 mph riding in a group. The only way I was able to make it through these portions was the help of other riders who I drafted behind.

The last 30 miles we had a pretty good tailwind which pushed me back to the finish line. I'm not sure if I didn't sleep enough the night before, or if I wasn't used to riding for so long in the heat or what but I was extremely tired by the time I got to the food stop at mile 87. If I hadn't had the strong tailwind I don't think I would have made it. My rear tire bubbled from the heat of the road, my chain was popping occasionally on certain cassette cogs and I was exhausted. Seeing a couple of people from the groups I tagged along with at the water and food stops helped me along as well.

I finished my ride at 15:04:23 pm and my cyclometer said I had been in the saddle for 6.5 hours. I was pooped but I was done. As I was telling someone yesterday, the ULCER is one of those things that you can look back and feel great that you've done but while you're doing it you think, "Why did I ever get myself into this?" I'm glad I did it and I might just do it again. Maybe...

Bike: ULCER (Utah Lake Century Epic Ride)

For the third time I have signed up to ride the ULCER. This is a killer ride for a couple of reasons. First of all it's in the beginning of August... in Utah. It can be super hot. It's not a super hilly ride but it's around a lake so wind can be all sorts of crazy. It's not a race per se, just a ride. It's still a 112 mile ride, that's hard no matter what.
The first time I did this ride was the summer that I got my bike and had a buddy to ride with. I trained pretty hard for a month and did the 67 mile version. I finished the ride and felt great. In fact I thought I could have done the whole thing but I thought I'd start slow because this was the longest ride I'd ever done. The night of that first ride I was playing soccer with a youth single adult group and almost got compartment syndrome playing soccer. That halted my enthusiasm and training for a log time. That's also when I got the nickname Lexi-hop-along.

The next year I did the 112 mile version of the ULCER. I didn't train as well, didn't stretch the week or day of the race. I attribute the fact that I finished the race that to a group that I latched onto in the last 40 miles of the race. However, I didn't really walk for the next week or so because I really injured my left IT band.

This year I plan to repeat the good things and leave out the bad from my previous experiences. On August 6th I will be giving this ride a third go-round so can't really slack off now. I've already started training and I'm implementing lots of stretching in the workout. The first few training rides were a little rough and I felt really out of shape - mainly because I was. The most recent rides have been much more encouraging and my endurance and speed have increased. I've included a couple of pictures from my rides this year. I will continue to update here and there about my progress and how the race goes. Wish me luck!