2013 DD2TB, Did I confuse tough and stupid again?

Part 1: The Intro
Part 3: The Recap

For those of you who have been following me this year, you are already familiar with my training for the 2nd annual Double Down 2 the Beach which takes place on June 8th....just five days away now.  In all of the communications about this ride that I have read, there is one post that has really hit me in such a way, that I had to borrow it for the title of this entry.  The exact quote from Jimmy Knight reads "6 days, wondering if have gotten tough and stupid confused AGAIN".  There is no doubt that he is not alone in that thought.  While I haven't put it into words, that's exactly how I feel about this ride at this point.

As you can see from the map at the top of this entry, this is no short bicycle ride.  That red line represents 207.4 miles....over a third of the 560 miles that the state is wide!!  I'm not even a fan of driving that far in one sitting, but on Saturday I'll be riding a 17LB bicycle that distance in the course of one day.  Why would anyone want to do that, subject their body to that kind of strain?  Is it the sticker we get, maybe the t-shirt, maybe the free Subway sandwiches at the midpoint?  No...none of that is even remotely worth what a body goes through in 200 miles of riding.  So....why in the world do we do this?  Simple, we do this ride to prove to ourselves that we can.  To be able to say that we did.  It is a badge of honor that means very little to others, and will be forgotten in time by them.  However, it is one of those accomplishments that can be looked back on years later and will give you a sense of absolute pride in yourself and your abilities.

In the closing days of preparation (training is now behind me), I am left to really wonder if I'm really as tough on a bike as I think I am, or if I've bitten off more than I can chew?  I won't know the answer to that until the evening of June 8th, because I have never attempted this kind of mileage before.  All I can do is hope that my training has gotten me ready, that my prep work this week will have my body ready, and that my mind will be right for the ride.  One thing I have learned over the short time I have been a cyclists is that when it comes to achievements, the body is only a small percentage of what counts.  Well over half of the ingredients for success is purely mental.  Something as simple as replacing "I think/hope I can" with "I will do this" can mean the difference between success and failure.  That's not to say its all mental.  There has been a lot of preparing of my body for this ride, and it started in earnest on January 1st when I rode 50 miles in a cold rain.  I've been shooting for this goal every day since that ride.  Even one of my other goals helped me for this ride.  The Assault on the Carolinas 100K ride was a brutal climb, but even though I had never climbed anything remotely like that, I did it.

I have done a lot of riding this year....A LOT!!!  As of today, I have ridden 2,885 miles since that first ride on Jan 1st.  I have put time on the trainer, I have worked on climbing, I have worked on speed, and I have worked on endurance in all of those miles.  I have become a better cyclist that I have ever been before.  Just with that, I am counting everything as a success....but is it enough, enough to get me through Double Down?  I think.....no......IT IS ENOUGH!  I will complete this ride!  I know this because of how I've improved on my century rides since last year.  The major difference is I can now go and ride a century at the drop of a hat because I feel like it.  Its not a special occasion for me anymore.  This is good, because I have needed to do many more century rides to really dial in my nutritional needs for this one double century.

Lets look at the significant rides I've done for training this year.  I have completed 11 different metric centuries (62+ miles) with many of them going well into the 70-80 mile range.  I have completed two full century rides (100+ miles), and two additional 200K (124 miles) rides.  Three of the four century+ rides I did happened in the month of May.  Folks, that is a lot of time in the saddle of a bike.  Also, keep in mind that my training rides are almost always solo.  So, for about 7 hours I have only myself to talk to, and the only thing I have to discuss is what gear I'm in, how far back that truck is, and what turn do I make next.  Needless to say, I enter into a deep philosophical place at some point and just meditate.

As you can see from the elevation profile, there is not going to be any significant climbing involved in this ride which is the only reason I signed up for it.  There will be a lot of pedaling though...just a constant barrage of pedal strokes until the end of the route.  The key is to keep a high cadence so that the muscles aren't worked overly hard.  Its all about pacing and conserving energy.  Fortunately, there will be somewhere between 100-130 other cyclists on this ride.  We won't all be together, but there will be clusters of groups.  This will help conserve, or more accurately share the workload.  Just the person on the front of the paceline will be doing the lion's share of work, and that slot will rotate out regularly to allow for rest.  There will also be conversation, hopefully to include something other than "are we there yet?"  Group rides go much quicker, and easier than solo rides, so I'm really hoping that 207 miles in a group feels easier than 124 miles solo.  The theory is sound, I'll know for sure in less than a week.

In addition to physical training for a ride, there are also equipment concerns that come into play.  Before a ride of this magnitude, you want to make sure that everything works as it should.  So far this year, I have replaced the bottom bracket, cables, brakes, cleats, and fine tuned the shifting throughout.  At the end of last year, I had developed cracks in my rear Mavic Ksyrium wheel which prompted me to purchase a set of Zipp 101's and send my compromised wheel back for warranty repair.  In the short time that the Zipp has been on, I have had problems with keeping it true, but finally worked that out.  Right about the time that I participated in the Assault on the Carolinas in mid April, I started to hear a clicking sound.  It took some time really tell where the noise was coming from, but after some trial and error, it was determined to be my rear Zipp.  So, with just over a month until Double Down, I took the wheel off, stripped it and left it with my local bike shop for return to SRAM to repair it.  Fortunately, I had my Mavic wheelset back and working as a replacement.  They are heavier, and not as aerodynamic, but they are round and allowed me to keep training.

While I was waiting for the Zipp wheel to go back to SRAM, I kept wondering about something.  When I was taking the cassette off of the Zipp wheel, the retaining nut was looser than I would have liked.  That was possibly causing the noise, but I wanted to make sure that everything was right with the wheel, so I kept with the plan to send it back.  Unfortunately time ticked by, and the wheel never left the shop.  On my third call to check on the status, I found that they were still waiting for SRAM to authorize the return.  I was now within 10 days of needing the wheel back....not enough time.  Screw it!  I decided I would put it all back together and torque the nut down and hope.  Well, after 75 miles, there is no more noise.  So, I have to assume that the last one to pull the cassette off (not me) was to blame for the noise.  At least I have the wheel back, mounted to the bike, and ready for a double century.  Being lighter, and more aerodynamic will allow me to use less energy over the course of the ride, and quite frankly, that is of utmost importance on a ride like this.

One of the improvements that I made to my bike long ago in order to help me with longer, self sustained rides in the summer was this nifty bottle carrier for the back of my saddle.  I've used this countless times, and really like it.  However, when I was loading my saddle bag with a 2nd spare tube I found the right mounting screw had broken, and there was only one screw holding this contraption on.  That was just not enough, and the screw was a special piece and I didn't have any laying around.  Hmmm, decision time.  I could go out and try to source a spare screw, or I could just take the whole thing off.  I decided on the latter for one reason.  I didn't really want the weight of 50 more ounces of liquid on the bike when we were lucky enough to have rest stops every 30 miles with water and gatorade.  I wasn't going to have to rely on what I could carry for once, and two bottles will easily cover me for 30-40 miles, even in the heat.  So, for the first time in well over a year, I have shed the rear cages.

With the rear bottle cages off, I had an opportunity to get a new tail light and mount it higher on the bike than what I had had before.  I chose to get a Flea 2.0 recharable light that has a blinking run time of 12 hours which will be plenty for all of my rides except for Double Down.  I'll keep my existing tail light on as a supplement for this ride since it is battery operate.  The flea is a good bit brighter and should be more visible during the day.  I like that it mounts directly to my saddle bag instead of to the seat post which makes it less visible in my opinion.  Lighting is going to be an issue on this trip at the beginning and possibly the end if I'm out past sun down.  I will also be using my Serfas headlight which is also rechargable, but will only last long enough for the beginning and end, and any rain that we might run into.  I won't be able to leave it on for the whole ride.

Let the countdown start for the first pedal stroke of the ride.  I'm as ready as I will be, the bike is ready except for some last minute lubrication and fastener checks.  Toni is all set to provide some SAG support for me along the way, and to carry me back home when its all done.  All thats left to do is hydrate, and carb load starting Thursday evening.  It will be an epic journey across the state, and I can't wait to be able to say "I did it!" instead of "I'm planning to do it".  In a short time, I will know if this decision was because I'm tough enough, or if it was because I was stupid.