The longest and luckiest day - LOTOJA 09'

It was a long day, a tad over 13 hours, which may translate into a long post - be forewarned.


First item of mention, to stick with what seems to be the overriding theme of the race reports thus far - how on earth does an organization that pulls off a massive undertaking in putting that race together, let some ridiculous suggestion at some meeting that all but one person had to have been sleeping at, come to fruition by having boxes full of clothes hangers - that's right, clothes hangers, to hand out to the good folks who had put in a grueling 206 mile ride as a congrats for their finish. Would poke fun at the guy who invented the stupid thing, but he's trumped on the bad idea scale by the guy who bought boxes full of them. Suspect maybe a family favor or something, don't know how else it could have happened. Those things don't even qualify as a decent swag bag item.


But I digress - the ride...

Lined up with the following intent given the circumstances of my summer and the implications they had on this race/ride (see the "gimp" category). Priority 1 - finish. Had no intention of starting and seeing how far the hand would hold up, or how long the legs would last after the month off. The inner argument all week was knowing that if I started I wouldn't quit, and trying to decide if the wouldn't quit part was going to be a reasonable thing to do. Priority 2 - Race it as far as I could, then get home from there.


There were some things that went great, relatively. First, the hand held up really good for about 70 miles, a good bit further than I had thought best case scenario would be. Had guessed it to be 40 miles, so my attitude was that I'd gotten a 30 mile hall pass in dealing with the hand. Part of the deal with myself was to go au naturel, no pain killers or other aids for the hand - let it be what it be, so the 30 mile bonus was a blessing. Second - the legs held up all right for about 50 miles, until the pitch turned permanent for a time. Rode with my start group until then, felt good and was really enjoying being back on the bike. It wasn't for lack of trying that I peeled off early on the Strawberry climb, the legs just weren't there, and probably the more pronounced weakness from the time off, was the lack of capacity to recover - I just couldn't, at all, so when I blew, I didn't bounce back - ever. So that was my race, it lasted 50 miles, and was really enjoyable, and I gave it all I had in me that day.


With priority 2 out of the way, the remainder of the day reverted to nothing more than sticking to priority 1, regardless of how bad or miserable it got.


Steve, Mark and Sam came by fairly early on Strawberry, leading a massive group up the climb. Adam came by not much later, told me to jump on his wheel and come on, and I was sorry to have to tell him I couldn't, and to have a good ride.

For a 206 mile ride, there were relatively few highlights, but here are a few of the moments that defined my limp home to the finish line.

• Mentioned the hand lasted till mile 70, from there it slowly deteriorated and had gotten to that worthless state I've mentioned before by around mile 76-77. Worthless may be a little dramatic - I could find positions on the bar where it could bear weight with pretty minor discomfort, so long as the road was pretty smooth. I had lost all capacity to shift, brake, squeeze hard enough to hold or grab a water bottle, or reach into a jersey pocket with the left hand, or hold the handlebar steady with the left hand so the right could grab a bottle or reach into a pocket for food - with the exception of really nice stretches of smooth road - and there were some.


• Biggest joke of the day - me having Mussette bags. Rachel had been kind enough to make a few extra for me, and pre race I actually loaded them with my food and intended to use them. By the first time I came up to Annie in Montpelier - I had absolutely no intention, nor physical capacity, of riding through and grabbing it out of her hand - Didn't have a spare hand, and I was looking forward way to much to the stops to waste one. Mark's dead on - if your slowing enough to put a foot down, the mussettes are unnecessary and kind of an embarrasing public display of how much you overestimate yourself. Maybe useful for me in a much shorter race, but plain stupid and vain of me to have them in this one.
• I had the completely counterproductive desire to avoid people and ride alone. In part because of handling challenges with the hand along with the accordianlike behavior of most packs I did ride with for a few minutes - the constant surging then braking can be more taxing that riding alone. But it was mainly due to attitude. You know how sometimes animals, when injured, leave the group and wander off by themselves to suffer in isolation and die a lonely death. It was weird, but I get that now, I really wanted to be by myself, so I was, with the exception of the first 50, a few miles coming out of Afton with EB and ER, and maybe another 5 miles of cumulative group riding throughout the afternoon/evening - and for whatever reason, I liked and preferred the loneliness that day.
  
• The luckiest seconds of my entire life....

My biggest fear in cycling is a high speed crash on a descent. What you see in the photos happened at 50+ MPH going down the backside of the Geneva Summit. I had just gone by Taylor Wiles and the three girls she was bombing the hill with when it happened in what felt like slow motion... the sound - It didn't just start to soften, it blew, instantly, tubies are loud when they blow at 160 psi, the realization of what had happened, the immediate fishtailing - you've seen PBR on Versus, the bike bucks just the same at 50 MPH on a blown rear tire - whipping the rear end back and forth, the several things that flash through your mind - a few of which are completely unrelated to the moment - just like you hear in the stories, the huge surge of adrenaline that hits as you prepare for the inevitable - it was surreal, and I didn't think for a second that it would end any way but very badly. And then....... I clipped out and put my foot down as it rolled to a complete stop. I don't know how many, or the summation of all of the things that had to go exactly my way during the episode, but I know a few..... 1 - Taylor and her train, along with the rest of the folks descending that hill doing a hell of a job handling their bikes at speed to get around the guy that looked to for sure be going down, the lightest of contact would have been disasterous. 2 - having tires glued and having them stay glued to the wheel, would have been a much different story had that happened with a clincher. I've replayed it over and over and I still don't know how the bike managed to stay upright, I can't begin to tell you how bad it would have been had it not. That shredded tire will be my momento for this race/ride - not the stupid hanger.

• Insult to injury - so the hand was what it was, I knew what it would be going in and was prepared for it. That, along with the sheer distance of the day should provide plenty of suffering right.? I agree. So explain to me why the hell 1 - I even start the day without chamois cream and 2 - how the hell I manage to forget, every time, to tell Annie to bring it to the next feedzone. There were no open wounds by the end, to the credit of Pearl Izumi's fantastic bib shorts, but there was no need to ride that far without the salve either - stupid, stupid ommision and contributor to a long day on my part.
• Did anyone still like their shoes at the end of that race? If so, what kind did you ride in? I hated my Nike's by Afton - my feet hurt, bad... sat and rubbed them at every stop from Afton on in.
• The road from Afton to Alpine was the roughest part of the day on my hand, and by default, my right arm and shoulder which bore the brunt of it. I felt lucky that the road up the canyon/river was nice and smooth for the most part, I really needed it at that point.
• From Afton in, stops at feedzones were measured by remaining time till darkness, not wanting to leave any earlier than necessary, but leaving a little cushion for a brief mishap or two. This was absolutely the right way to manage my day - I think I needed every bit of the rest I took, as much for my brain as for my shattered body.
• I made a conscious effort, once we turned off the highway near Jackson, to forget the struggle of the day behind me and try and really enjoy the rest of the ride in. And I did, that tree lined road is a place I'd go ride to relax any day, and in the condition I was in, I thought it was a really great stretch of the course to enjoy at the end of that long day. I was grateful for it.
• There was no big sprint, hard push, rush, sense of exhileration, any of that stuff for me at the finish. There was a small sense of winning the contest I'd made up in my mind with the hand and not letting it prevent me from another race/ride, but it was mostly a sense of a really long day, and a pretty pathetic, broken and crumbled man being really glad it was finally over.... and I'm still glad it's over...
  

How to install a tubular tire

Tools of the trade: Two glue options in this photo:
1 - Can of Conti glue on the left, with disposable acid brushes for application. This is what I've used for the last few installs due to hearing stories about the Tufo tape on Conti Tires mentioned below.
2 - Tufo glue tape in the orange box on the other left. Used this the first time I put tubies on, and it's dramatically easier, faster, and cleaner - and worked just fine during the rides/races I did on it. But, had a few guys tell me that the Tufo glue compound eventually eats at the Conti tires, could very likely just be a rumor Conti put out there to up sales on cans of glue. But, being a newbie to the tubie (forgive me, feeling a little inspired from Dug's poem today) this year, I still have images of rolling a tire and am playing it safe by following Conti's recommend install instructions. Not unlikely I'll revert back to the Tufo tape at some point though, it really is much simpler and you can ride on it an hour later vs. 12-24 hours.
3 - Yellow box is Tufo's sealant - same function as Stans, meant to plug up the small punctures on the fly. The TT puncture that brought on this install was a small one and the stuff didn't seal before I was flat. Reinflated the tire later that morning and it held until half way through the afternoon race, then lost half my pressure before it sealed back up. Verdict still out, put a little more in on this install, if it fails on this one I'll look for alternatives.

Here's the wheel after removing the old tire. Pulling off the old tire is no more fun than installing the new one, should have taken a photo of raw thumbs as the visual for that process. I left the glue that remained on the wheel there, counting it as layer one of anywhere from 2-4 layers that I've read of being the recommended dose. I put a fresh layer on top of this one, then let it dry for 16-24 hours.

Cool action shot of the glue drying... Major, major key in this photo - While the glue is drying on the tubular wheel, it's a good, check that, really good idea to inflate the new tire on a rim to stretch it. The ensuing wrestling match, the crux move of the whole process, will go much better if you don't skip this step. I put it on a normal clincher rim, just because I don't have spare tubular wheels lying around, and inflate it to 100+ psi and give it a full day ticket to watch the glue dry.

One photo of glue drying is one to many already, so no photo of putting a layer of glue on the tire and letting that dry for another 12-24 hours, but you need to put a layer of glue on the tire and let it dry for 12-24 hours before the next step.
After the glue on the wheel and tire have dried, it's time for one more fresh layer of glue on the wheel. Immediately after gluing up, you start the wrestling match. The 6 year old has seen this drill before, and is already laughing in anticipation, well ahead of any grunting, panting, or thrown wheels. I use the one foot brace to get it started...

Starting to strain just a little, grimaced lip and a little moisture/glare action going on with the forehead.... getting everything into position....
Then the full court press... move to the two foot brace, put the back into it, and pull and hope like hell you can get it on before having to stop and unglue fingers and/or clothing from an unseated tire.

Once on, get some air in it, make sure it's centered by giving the wheel a spin and making any adjustments to get it aligned, and then I like to put some weight on it and roll it around on the floor a few times to make sure it gets compressed well all the way around. Am sure the air pressure does this just fine, but I'm still a little paranoid, and it's an easy extra step for peace of mind if nothing else.

Other notes:

• if installing on an aero wheel, I like to put the sealant in the tire before putting on the valve extenders, seems to be a little less mess/leaking while squeezing it in.
• if I suffer a crash due to this tire rolling, I will make it public here, and change the post title to how not to put on a tubie.

Snakebitten - chapter 2

For the most part, I consider myself a pretty lucky guy - so I don't like adding chapters to this heading.

So, after my previous post on getting a little concerned all over again about the tubular tires I've started to experiment with - I decided to strip them off of the Tufo tape and reglue them with the glue recommended by continental - the maker of my conti competition tires - and you guessed it, they recommend continental glue be used to glue their tires - go figure. But I bit, you know, just in case it actually might hold them on better on top of conti selling an extra can of glue.

I won't beat around the bush. Installing tubular tires is laborious. Stretch the tire. Put a layer of glue on, let it dry, put another layer on, let it dry, put another layer on, then wrestle with the wheel while trying to stretch the tire over it, while it has wet glue on it - yeah, it's like that. But once on, you should be set for a might long time right. That's how it's supposed to work.

So after this process - I got out Tuesday night with Zeph (who recently got caught wrestling something else), Brandon and Tyler - a few of the conmen who suckered me into leadville, and piled it on by making throw my name in the hat for LOTOJA. Once again am crossing my fingers I don't get drawn. Anyway, back to the ride. I put on the Easton Aero wheels with the newly glued tubies on them - thumbs still raw from wrestling the tires on - and head down the north side of the hill to the local grocery store, then back up to meet the gang for a quick tour into Utah County and then back up the hill to get home.

First item of note - those of you who ride suncrest know that when descending the north side, you need to be ready for some wind coming around the second left handed bend on the way down. There's a little there more often than not, and sometimes it can be stiff, which can be sketchy at 50+ mph. I learned real quick that those deeper dish wheels make my bike buck a little harder when that wind hit's it - no fun crash story, but pucker factor none the less.

I meet a guy named Paul on the ride back up who was good company which makes the climb go a little faster, and meet up with the guys. We race down the south side trying to keep up with EB who makes his bike go pretty fast down hills and settle into a nice ride. The tubies feel great, no sketch factor at all. Then it happens. PSSHH. It wasn't pssssssssssss, it was PSSHH - and the whole group heard it. At first I thought it was my front tire, which had sealant in it, which I thought worked great. But no such luck - it was the rear tire, which had no sealant, and no sealant worked about as well as you'd expect.

So before I can rave about the pros of my new tubular tires, I've got a couple of con's to bring up.
1 - Your screwed if you get a flat. Granted- sealant should eliminate this the large majority of the time - but if not, your screwed. No tube to throw in or patch to throw on. The only fix is to carry an extra tire, which you'll need to throw on and ride gingerly home since there's not much besides a tight fit holding it on your wheel. After having to wrestle it on in public on the side of a road.
2 - Carrying an extra tire isn't really that much more of a deal in regards to weight and room than carrying your standard spare tube - other than I think I'd feel a little silly announcing to the group - "uh, hold up once second, forgot to grab my spare tire".
3 - Carrying that spare tire is that much more of a deal on a cost basis. That flat tire I got - it was a bad one, large slice on the sidewall, not sealable with sealant - so the tire's shot, with less than 150 miles on it. Here's the rub - those things cost $100 a pop. Yes, there are cheaper tubies, and I'm a frugal guy for the most part, but not in this case. So yes, I was a little peeved at ruining an expensive tire after so little use, and more peeved about the prospect of having to wrestle a new one onto that dang wheel again - it's currently being "stretched" in preparation for install tomorrow night.

While on the topic of cons - here's another. Cell phone reception can sometimes be spotty where I live in Suncrest - it's great most of the time, but there are moments. So, tire's blown, I tell the guys I forgot my spare tire, and to go on without me, I'll call my wife for a ride. It's about 7:30 and I'm up by Cedar Hills Golf Course - can see my house across the way. In fact, I can almost hear my wife's phone ringing, in my house, while looking at it while calling - but what's really going on in my house - silence - wife's cell phone is sitting on the counter taking a nap, and pretending I'm not calling it. No ring, no indication that I just left my 8th voicemail saying it's 8:30, cold, and I'm standing on the side of the road in cycling shorts and a sweaty jersey - trying to dramatize the phone into working by explaining I'm dipping into a hypothermic state. Still didn't work.

Luckily - the conmen's phone's were working, and after hitching a ride down to the gas station by a sympathetic fellow cyclist - thanks Kyle in the yellow truck, Brandon was gracious enough to drive back down the hill and pick my sorry behind up and take me home. First time I've been snakebitten on a road ride - and think I'm not due again for quite some time.

Sketchy

I've now ridden two races on my tubular wheels/tires. First race I was a little sketched out due to it being my first time gluing tubular tires, along with some questions out there regarding the tufo glue tape's compatibility with continental's tires, which is what I've got set up. Typical questions in the back of your mind - did I do it right, will it hold? It did.

Second race I didn't even think about it - out of sight, out of mind. Then I see this....

Perhaps more impressive than the crash is the leader's save, those track bikes aren't the most nimble breed of bike when they get sideways, he rode out of it - although he does look scared - or maybe just a little violated by his top tube.

I may relegate the tubulars to rides that go in a straight line and cyclocross - not to keen of the idea of having my tire wrapped around my foot/pedal after rolling it, nor of having my clothes ripped half way off by asphalt.

Photo Source - Casey Gibson gallery from Velonews.com