Who's first?

I'll start with the mountain bike leg for "The Pickle".

While Glen was out on the run I got myself good and warmed up on the trainer. When Glenn came into sight I meandered over to the transition zone with plenty of time to spare. The PJ said, "don't forget your helmet". Crap, so I sprint back to our rack, grab the helmet and sprint back arriving the same time as Glen, no time lost. Once on the bike I pass a couple folks before the stairs then steadily walk to the top. Back on the bike and I catch Ryan heading up Forest, wish I had blown it a little wider. Next adventure was on the North trail inner loop, I mis-judged my closing rate and ran into the back of a female racer. I apologized and she was cool with it. As I approached the climb to Ledge trail I thought about dismounting and running it, but there were a few people right behind me and I decided to show off a little. Next thing I remember was the girl I just ran into asking if I was OK and trying to unclip while laying on my side and hoping not to roll back down the hill. Mark was the next Pinnacle racer I would catch just after the water towers. The entire length of the new trail was spent alone, there was one guy a couple switch backs above me that I did not catch until fern alley. I caught him and three others at the same time and plowed through all the dead ferns to make the pass, I think Bob was part of this group. Hail trail was the point that Massa was reeled in and passed in a not so polite manner. He made a comment about my grandmother must have done the run, sorry Glen. I hit Pinelink feeling strong and had wide open trail the whole way, closing in on Dan at the very end. Early on Bypass Dan lets my go by, but he does tell me to make it quick. Five seconds later I hear a big crash and a tree falling, figured Dan must be logging again. No screams of pain, so I figure he is either OK or knocked out and I continue hammering down the hill. After Snake Alley I look up and see a bunch of confused looks at the entrance to Tower Circle. I scream, "go left" and they all take off. Once I get to the top I realize the arrows have been messed with. So I hop off the bike and make a quick fix and continue on to the finish.

I had alot of fun during my turn, the trails were in great shape. In a long standing Pinnacle tradition, our team ended up second. Great day of racing, I can't say enough about the effort that the Rotary put into this event, simply amazing. It will be hard to inprove on this for next year, but we will.
Brian
 
[img:7c60f52a7e]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/albums/bc_personal/120x90.png[/img:7c60f52a7e]

Where to begin is always a problem for me when writing these race reports. Many of us have been thinking about the event for weeks. A few months ago I actually thought seriously about doing it solo. I bought a new pair of shoes and practiced for a couple weeks getting my running legs under me. But I soon came to accept that running is not in the cards for me if I want to be competitive with others doing the event. So I set out to find an experienced fast runner. A couple years ago I heard about Steve LaValley?s running abilities and by chance I bumped into him and his wife at the Cycledepot sale last month. Steve and I then formed Team O?Valley with the agreement he would do all the running and I would do the biking. I thought we would do well but I never thought we would take first place. Steve performed beyond my expectations.
For me the first difficult part of the event was trying to get the correct clothing combination. Too hot, too cold etc, etc. Finally settling upon a combination that was too hot half way up the first climb. Going up the new single track parallel to Summer St. I heard ?Good Job Dan? as I watched Nathan dance around me and disappear into the landscape. He is like a ghost in the woods, now you see him now you don?t. About ten minutes later I hear ?Go Team Pinnacle? I turn around and see Brian coming up fast on me. We are on the down hill side of the road to the Pinnacle. I say to myself try and stay with him and watch his line. Well that worked for about 45 seconds and I took out another tree. Both the tree and my bike fell on me with the tree completely blocking the path at about knee high. I manage to get up pull the tree off the path and continue my usual ride down. The down hill and new single track up was really fun.
During the transition I decide to strip the excess clothing off. The leggings get stuck inside out around my ankle because the zipper was not released the arm warmer on the left gets stuck on the watch. The helmet latch seems to disappear as I go to remove my skull cap and lastly my shaking hands can?t seem to zip up my jersey or open my hammer jell. All in all the transition sucked up big time from my road ride and I also look like a idiot laying on my back with my legs in the air and my leg warmers inside out stuck on my ankles.
The road ride was ok but with the wind not favorable in either direction I was not expecting an exceptional time. The new aero bars were a real treat to use, not. I practiced Saturday on a short ride to Skinners and back. Before the race I told PJ I was not sure if the wobble I experienced in using them would off set the advantage I would gain in less wind resistance. He said Dan you wobble all the time anyway. He?s right and I have several trees to prove it and even road riding buddies have had to give me that extra space. But I think they do make a difference. The Loverin Hill was not attacked hard but was steady and smooth I wanted to save as much as I could for the other side and Rt. 10 back. Unlike the mountain ride I passed about 4 riders on the road. The marshals were great and I gave the ones at Rt. 10 and Croydon Flat intersection a little show on ?Gurneys Corner? I came out real fast and low in the turn and my right peddle hit hard. My rear tire went airborne and to the left for about one foot nearly causing a wipe out but I recovered. It sounded worst than it was. But it scared the heck out of me.
This was a great year end cap to an exceptional year for me. I really appreciate all of the encouragement and support of my riding buddies, thank you and congratulations to everyone on completing a very fun year.
Dan

Ok, you asked for it, you got it:

Having spent most of the Summer training and getting psyched up for the 06 Challenge I was shattered when I had a physical melt down the weekend before the race. This was not part of my pre-race tapper plan. Forced to virtually take the whole week off before the race, I was not in a good state of mind coming into race Weekend.

I had neglected my equipment pretty much all season and knew it needed work before the race but put it off until the last minute on Sat. Cleaning up the road bike I made some minor adjustments, then moved on the the mountain bike. I felt my spirits starting to improve just in time to see tube sticking through my rear tire in 3 places, yeah, not the kind of sign I was looking for at 3:30pm the day before the race. Off to the bike store I go. Tire, tube, and completely new rear shifting cable, housing, and routing to the rear of the bike and I was ready for a nighttime parking lot test. Wow, everything works good, almost like new, and on the very first adjustment test. A calm comes over me and I know everything is going to be alright.

Race day self wake up at 5am and I knew I wasn't going to be pressed for time, check, one less thing to worry about. Things are starting to look up.

Gear is in the transition zone and I'm on the start line, stage back, thinking will it be a 9 minute warm up first mile or 10 minute... we're off!

Suddenly I find myself a kid again, jockeying for position, old take it easy plan out, new go go go till I drop plan in. Hey this is fun, imagine that. We have just crossed the Sugar River and I take great pride in clarifying a fellow competitors comment, "So when does the pavement portion of this road run start anyways?", chuckle, I reply with, "not for another 2.5 miles". Still timid not knowing how much juice is in this box, I find my stride and attempt to settle in. Just about that time Bob "I bleed" Herrin pulls up next to me and says something about "settle in and take it easy Ryan", hmmm... isn't this the guy that was just telling me last night he hasn't run since the VT 50 3 weeks ago because he could barely walk... hmmm... about that time his hat flies off and I don't see Bob again for a half mile or so.

Floating out there 50 yards give or take is Mark "I can't Run" Gurney. Boy this is starting to feel painfully similar to a recent trip up Sunapee. I say to myself I'm not going to think about that Gurney guy and how badly I'd like to beat him anymore, always taunting me just out of reach.

Soon there is enough bodies between us I can just focus on reeling in the body in front of me and so goes most of the "cross country" portion of the "road run". Here comes Bob again as this time he zips right past me, "Settle in" what kind of strategy you playing Bob, that don't look like anything I know about Settling in. Turn the corner onto the Pavement, yeah we are almost half way through this road run. Ok, Bob walking the only hill on the road course, what's that about, moving on now, not going to worry about Bob anymore.

Ok minor jockeying at this point most people have settled in for the return trip to the transition zone,.. there goes Bob again...

Cruisin on into the transition zone, good, there's still some juice left in the box. I take my time and have a rather uneventful transition to mtb. Get some liquid and rest for the stairs, few that went well, all I got to do is get on my bike. Attempting the moving mount I find myself firmly mounted between the tire and the seat, ouch, #@$%! Rectifying the situation I'm on my way now.

Here comes Brian, I say to myself I'll let that one get away but we ain't setting any precedence here, that ain't going to happen again. I heard a group closing in on me and thought, you guys have no idea what is ahead of you, but if you want to play that, I ain't going to make it easy on you. Soon I'm approaching a head of steam and am on my way, bye, bye, let the passing commence (me passing others, that is). On this I take a side note, not that I am an avid racer, but never have I seen such a courteous group of fellow competitors, I passed many people on the mtb course and only twice did I have to initiate the passing dialog. People would just move way over on their own like parting of the sea, and twice people asked me which side I was passing on before I even got to them. 1 person on Inner North, 2 on North, 5 on Ledge including Bob. Starting up Summer I slowed down to conserve and a group starts to close back in on me, they will soon enough know why I slowed down, I think a couple even got by but that was short lived. Once on Brian's slick new single track the passing commenced again, 4 more down on the single track, woohoo I like this.

Cresting the Pinnacle turnoff on Summer and I got downhill and no one in sight and you know I'm liking that. I had her in just about top gear blasting down Summer, turning off Summer at the bottom I nearly caught air on the rock wall. Hey, someone refurbished the ladder bridge, oh yeah, I'm closing in on another allusive prey now, finally I nab him on Ryan's Pine Link Reroute at like 20 mph, I had to earn this one. Hit the technical section before Lafayette hard, too hard, lost it and had a little off trail excursion but I'd put enough ground between us in a hundred yards and I wasn't giving it back. I get my mojo back and I'm on the yellow brick road now, I know this section, and I'm closing in on another courteous rider who is more than happy to pull over for this tornado coming, big ring and climbing the gears approaching my favorite section of trail at just about top end.

I slow down for the zig zag climb but carried enough speed through the zig zag climb I had to rely on bar ends and several trees to stay on course. I nab another at the last rock wall before Pinnacle Bypass. Pass Dana on the beginning of the Pinnacle Bypass descent, I'm around the slow down and launch off a rock as I'm building speed into the Bypass Snake.

Downhill baby, rock on. Next competitor I see is on Tower Circle, got em on Forest, take another on South just in time to hit the single track, back on the downhill, toboggan shoot, no rocket launcher, I hit the field with a high rate of speed, and lone behold there is the allusive Gurney again, I was closing in fast but I wasn't going to clip him before the transition zone so what's the point.

Transition 2 goes relaxed but a little disorganized when I forget to change glasses and have to drop my bike to do so. But wait I'm out before Mark, that was slick, I say to myself, as I'm attempting to mount my road bike. It is then I discover payback for all the people I passed on the trail, as my calf muscles lock up tight and I nearly fall off my bike. I have to stop and quickly massage my left calf before I even reached the tar because I can't even get my foot into the pedal. Finally I'm back on my bike on the tar and coasting as I attempt to get my left foot in and settled down. There goes Mark, this time I was pretty sure I'd be saying goodbye for the rest of the race. Eventually I get a cadence going but those cramps are right there just a few strokes faster away in waiting, but I keep it right there just a few strokes away not wanting to toss in the towel on the road like I did last year.

At this point not being able to maintain any kind of tempo and knowing I was just a few minutes away from the final assault, I opted to conserve as much as one can while climbing Loverin and the return trip to the TZ. All in all I only give up a few spots on the road.

Getting off the bike I'm really feeling, well you guys know, not good. That juice box only has but a few drops left in it, my legs are cramping, and I have that you are dehydrated feeling coming on but at the same time I can't drink or eat because it's starting to slosh around in my stomach, so I forgo my last transition GU, probably a mistake. I walk out of the transition area and begin my run / crawl, not sure, but I begin something, and about the only positive thing I have going on in my head is, "boy am I glad I'm not starting the road ride, like those people".

Crossing the field to the woods, much to my surprise my legs started to air out a bit and the cramps starting to subside, perhaps due to not enough energy left to cramp. Much to my surprise I pass someone heading towards the woods. PJ is at the entrance to the woods chanting some crazy talk about Mark only being 2 minutes ahead of me, as I respond with, "I think I'll let that one go".

Ahh,.. my friend the stairs is coming, all Summer I have been saying to myself I want to be able to run the entire trail run, here comes the test, I'm on the beast and putting forth an effort for the first 30 or so when the engine stalls, that's it, forget this, I'm walking... cresting the beast I attempt to regain some resemblance of a stride and so goes most of my ascent.

Thank the almighty above I finally reached the top for the last time, gravity is on my side now and is about the only thing keeping me going. I think to myself god help you if you go down now, you'll never get up. I pass one other in the woods and Well before I ever reached the field I knew there wasn't going to be any kind of sprint thing happening and I was just glad to get it done at that point.

Leaving the shoot someone calls out can I have your "chip", I think what kind of crazy person is this anyways, and respond with, "only if you get it". For the next 45 minutes or so I fight the urge to fall or sit down, fearing I will not get back up again.

And that just about sums it up. I did the best I could with what I had. Thank you to all those words of encouragement, before, during, and after the race. They were heard and appreciated.

Ryan

Brian with all your mtb antics, I have no idea how you were that fast!

Dan, you're the only person I know who's fastest and most efficient line between 2 points is a curve. And how the heck did you have a faster mtb time then me out there mowing down trees? I can except you beating me up on the road, but not in the woods, not in the woods....

2 billy goats with quick recovery reflexes, that's all I can figure.

Ryan

"There is no failure for the man who realizes his power, who never knows when he is beaten; there is no failure for the determined endeavor, the unconquerable will. There is no failure for the man who gets up every time he falls, who rebounds like a rubber ball, who persits when everyone else gives up, who pushes on when everyone else turns back." O. S. Marden

The Race started for me on Saturday.......early in the AM.

8:30 Kindergarten Soccer, coach, help organize, get equipment, ect.
10:30 Meet Brian, we walk the trails and determine what needs more arrows/blowing off ect, finish final marking at 12:30
McDonalds Lunch
1:00 Meet Elvis at Opera House.....get crew organized for big show, help decorate (ok move stuff around)
2:45 Meet crew to set up transition. 8 guys 12 drills. Some problems arose when our plan didn't mesh with the Timing folks. For some reason we thought they had 1/2 mile of extensions cords for their timing matts, apparently not. Finish up at 5:00, home wolf down 2 pancakes shower.
5:30 Opera House- Final Prep for Show. Things go relatively smooth. A few glitches when I can't find tickets for folks who spent 200 bucks on them. Great show, Dance, socialize. Clean up goes until just past Midnight. Head home, Octoberfest and sit and organize the evenings finances. Brain doesn't function, but get it done by 2:00
2:30 Sleep
5:30 Race day, up and adam, meet Janitor at High School, Set up Registration and meet Rotary Crew at 6:00, play music for walkers on the Track, while Brian is blowing trail and marking the field.
The rest of the morning I pretend to be important while The Rotary crew and Brian take care of everything. ( I did level one of the porta-potties )

Team Pickle came about a few years ago, when Brian, Glenn and I did an adventure race in New York. The lady at registration said she loved our name. She misread Team Pinnacle for The Pickle, She asked who was the Pickle? Brian and I pointed to Glenn while Glenn pointed to Brian. 2-1, Glenn is "The Pickle".

Shaming Glenn into running wasn't as hard as we thought. Pretending I had a stud (female runner) and then at last minute said she got hurt worked just fine. Glenn paced out a nice run considering his lack of training, he still had his nice running gait and pulled a good run leg about 2 minutes faster than expected. I had hoped to be able to pass a few pinnacle guys on the road portion, but no......Currier gets all the glory. I know something was amiss when I didn't see Boobar come out of the woods by 40 minutes, Ok maybe his transition took longer? no way he is an Xterra champ, something is messed up. Then the German guy comes back in bewilderment. He was somewhere downtown, I start to run in the woods and see Boobar and Denning (local New London rec director) come up. Yep they said something is messed up. What am I going to do? Run up and fix it? What if I miss Currier? Currier will fix it? Nathan will fix it won't he? I see Nathan, "how are the arrows?" fine is his reply. Ok good sign, but of course Nathan probably never saw an arrow, he knows the course so well. Ok here is Brian......he gives me the scoop. "arrows awry, problem taken care of" Off I go.

At this point there was only about 7-10 guys up ahead, so I go off in search of someone to pass, I pass 2 guys early, then get passed by the 3rd place Solo. Man he is smoking me, I think. Wouldn't it be nice to get in his draft? No I can't, can I? Ah better not. Climb Loverin, hammer back through Croydon. and zip into transition, pass the baton to Halleck. I Ask about arrows and realize no one else had problems, so felt good.

My top 10 of the Day, in no specific order.

Massa's redemption: While giving us a good showing last year Jason really tore up the course this year, knocking 2 minutes off his time.

Title Defense: On a slightly longer course Nathan gave a good go of it. Too bad the fastest 3 guys were in his age group. His "Gremlins" did help him earn 25 Mountain bike Dollars, though.

Finding Confidence: O'neill's mountain bike time, after suffering some setbacks, he came through in the clutch.

Mission Gurney: A well-oiled machine, who did what he set out to do. Trying to make Gurney laugh during a race, just doesn't happen. I look forward to hearing about his family Monopoly nights.

Sub 40: With Staple Gun, Currier ripped out a sub 40 Mountain bike leg, fixing the course during the ride, and having some foot setbacks saved us from seeing sub 38:00

Halleluia: After downing 2 Chickens post race, I feared the big clean-up. Nope, The Mighty Rotarians took down the whole transition, while I sat and ate more chicken.

H20Man: The slickest timing operation in the business.......not to mention Randy's Trail run was the fastest on the day.

Man of the Year: Seeing Ryan's reaction to his award was a great feeling, not to mention the proud look of his wife. Ryan, you done good, kid.

Team Shull/Aldrich: Just seeing a team comprised of kids makes me happy, when their mentor is Nellie Aldrich it makes me worry.....Kidding Nellie.......kidding.

The Outlaws: The Jeckyl and Hyde team, while Lori kicks back and does some solo stretching. Tara peppers me with technical questions about each of her disciplines. It worked though, knocking off a whole bunch of all male and co-ed teams. 10th out of 15.

Thanks for listening.......oh and by the way, my stud female runner really did get hurt.

PJ

What a cool race! Long enough to challenge endurance, but each stage is short enough that you can?t help but go full speed ahead.

Chris and few others warned me of the dangers of going out too hard on the first run. No, no, I won?t do that. Of course, just three minutes into the run I am already at the highest heart rate I?d see for the day. Slow down, nitwit. (Does anyone else talk to themselves like this during a race, or am I the only schizoid?)

Of course, slowing down means being passed, and I like that even less. I figure I haven?t vapor locked yet, I might as well keep going. The railroad bed is a good place to settle into a rhythm and gets things more or less under control without conceding too many places.

Nathan went by me early at the start, but I had no idea where anyone else was - Chris, Ryan, Glenn, Jason, Bob. I felt like I was going too slow.

Not much passing going on any more, but I was passed by a guy who wore a jersey that read ?B.O.B? (something On Bikes). I passed a muscular guy whose breathing rate was about as fast as my heart rate. As soon as I went by, he dropped in right behind me, huffing and puffing, and pretty much screwed up my running AND breathing cadence. Yikes! Time to stretch out a bit and get some personal space.

Over the bridge, turn the corner, up the hills, and I?m gaining on those in front of me, dropping those behind. Woo-hoo! I Passed one on the way to the bridge, one along the airfield, the one I passed along the airfield passed me back going down 10, and then we both passed B.O.B.

PJ greeted me with a hearty ?Great run!?, and my wife and kids were cheering me into the T zone. I just love and appreciate cheering and encouragement, I was pleased with my run, and couldn?t have been happier. If you asked me, I?d say I was in high spirits. I had no idea I was a race ogre. I?m usually only grumpy when I?m hungry (which can happen on a long race, and PJ has witnessed it) or I can?t ride my bike. And sometimes I even let my kids win at Monopoly and air hockey. I haven?t raced them on a bike yet.

Out of the T-zone, B.O.B passes me again. Up the stairs we go. Up the hills we go. I am slow on the climbs, my legs hurt from those stairs. No chance at North Boundary, I get off before I?m forced to. Soon after, I passed B.O.B as he struggled on some of the more technical stuff. I figure he?s a better athlete, but in the woods I have home court advantage.

I passed another racer as I cut to the inside to stay left around the water tower, but a few moments later he?s right behind me and says ?I know you?. I got a good look when I went by, and I didn?t recognize him, so I asked ?Who are you?? He replied ?Broken Foot.?

I?m amazed at the absurd thoughts that go galloping through my brain. In just the briefest of moments, I thought ?How could I possibly forget meeting a Native American bike racer named ?Broken Foot?? I glanced over my shoulder, and it?s Brian Currier, who?s so darn smooth I never heard him sneak up behind me. And the way he pedaled away from me, he looked as if his foot injury was healing quite nicely. He then rescued some folks who were stuck in the Inaugural Team Pinnacle Water Tower MTB Criterium.

Finally, height of land on Summer, time to have fun. I had a smooth, fun, near clean ride, one dab on the bypass. The trails were as sweet as could be ? thank you Broken Foot. I cut loose down the toboggan chute (can?t disappoint spectators, can we?) and I was happy to see Rhonda and the kids again. I think I even smiled.

Into T2, quick change of shoes, pull on leg warmers and gloves. I came out behind Ryan, trying to clip in. I thought he had been ahead of me the whole way. By then my legs hurt and I couldn?t get my heart rate up, so I just tried to spin myself silly in a high cadence ride up to Loverin. I settled into a reasonable climb up Loverin that was maybe .5 mph slower than usual. I was pleased, until B.O.B passed me. And he was cruising. No aerobars, though, maybe I can catch him on the way home.

I hit 40 mph going by the church. I gave Gurney?s corner wide berth. I had a nice cruise home. Never saw B.O.B again.

Dan and PJ were full of encouragement at the last transition. I was thrilled with the way the race was going. Jason Massa shouted some words of cheer as he headed out for the trail run. For some reason I decided that I would catch him. MISTAKE. The man can run. By the time we reached the top of the stairs (and Jason galloped off into the sunshine) I had to collect myself for a moment and recalibrate my goals. The second climb up those stairs brought me from ?Let?s see who I can beat? to ?Finish, don?t die, take up knitting.?

I consigned myself to walking the steep parts of the trail, and I had to remind myself more than once to get back to running once the steeps settled to less steep. I hit awful hamstring cramps on the way down. I stopped, stretched, and to my delight, the cramps went away. I cruised downhill (telling myself to go easy, a fall would be a disaster) and popped out into the field. I caught some motion in my eye, and saw Randy closing in on me fast. I tried to accelerate to stay ahead of him. MISTAKE. (Second time, same mistake, different runner leaving me in the dust.) I finished with dignity on emergency rocket boosters. Gas tank was on E.

The Rotary handled this race like they?ve been doing it for years. Job well done, folks.

I can?t thank PJ and Brian enough for the work they did on this race, and for guiding our entire season, nor can I thank Ryan enough for all of his work. And I thank all our Team Pinnacle members for coming out and joining the fun all season long.

MG

"I'm f'in tired" Thats my quote for the day.

First off, I LOVE being a member of Team Pinnacle. Its an awesome group of guys, that somehow put on some of the best events, push you to your limits, constantly harass and still have a blast all at the same time. Me being the youngest of Team Pinnacle I get harassed the most, but I guess I shouldn't expect any less. I started out my year barely being able to make it up Loverin hill in the granny gear of my MTB. Because of Team Pinnacle, primarily 50% of H2O Men for waking up at 5:00 am every day to ride at 5:30am, yeah thats 5:30 AM Dan, I finished the year completing my first multi-sport event 31st out of 53. Seems pretty good to me. Now on to more important things.

My day started out in a bit of a rush, I had to get mentally prepared, get all my stuff to the school, get my kids to my parents house and then get back to the school and warmed up for the race. I manage to do all this in time, but then realize I haven't had breakfast yet. Shit!!!!! Fortunately, Justin Shull had an extra granola bar that he shared. I eat, stretch and head over to the transition. There I talk to Glen a little and then head over to Ryan, who tells me that he is not going to hammer. Here comes the start, GO, and Ryan is off like a bullet. Nice "Not hammering" Ryan. Well, I am really not a runner. Not Gurney's or Richer's examples of not being a runner, I am really not a runner. I watch everybody pull away and I get into my nice SLOW and steady pace for the 5, I mean 4.92, mile run. I am feeling alright, not burning up to much energy, I end up passing a couple people, get passed by one, but pretty much uneventful and I survive. I come into the transition area and by this time my wife is there cheering me on, which helped a ton, and I head into the transition area where everyone else is cheering me on.

During the transition, I decide that my heavy, long sleeve jersey is too hot, so I take off my TP jersey, take off my heavy jersey, go to put my TP jersey back on and tear my number. I get the jersey back on, get the number back on, change my shoes and get headed off with the MTB. This section would prove to be the beginning of a very painfull 2hrs and 10 minutes. I get to the stairs, make it to the top without any trouble, get on my bike and start to head. I get to North Trail and I start to feel cramping. Not the cramping that stretching will get rid of, the kind of cramping that only using the restroom will get rid of. I keep pushing and have a pretty uneventful ride to the new single track along Summer St. I was starting to get very tired and the cramping was getting worse, so I stopped for a second, took a Carb Boom, drank a little water/gatorade and continued. I ended up passing 2 people on the single track who were more than happy to get out of the way "Thanks!!". I get onto Summer and start hammering down the double track, get back onto the single track and start to feel much better. I pick up my pace and start hammering all the way to Bypass while I continue to pass 2,3,4 more riders. As I am getting closer to Bypass, I notice the yute's MTB rider is running. He broke his derailler and decided to have a little trail run to the finish. I hammer down the trails to the bottom, get into the transition, take on some more water, get on the road bike and I am off.

I started to feel much better on the road bike. I was able to start stretching out my legs, my stomach cramping was starting to calm down, I was able to take on some more water and Carb Boom and I was feeling good. I passed on person on the ride to Loverin. When I hit Lovering, I shifted down and just held a steady pace of between 8 and 9mph to the top. I see a group of people ahead of me. I catch one on the ascent and the other 2 on the descent down to rt. 10. As I am making the turn onto Rt. 10, my friend Tyler Dopp is there cheering me on. WOW!!! was there a head wind on the way back. Thank god its not to far to the airport, from there I am golden. I crank along, get to the airport and then hammer to the transition, where my wife is there waiting. She keeps cheering me on as I make into the transition. My cramping is starting to come back, I take off my helmet, shoes and get my running shoes back on.

Now starts probably the most painfull 40 minutes I have ever had. At this point I have had my stomach cramping for a little over an hour, and now I have 40 minutes of bouncing up and down. I make it up the stairs, to big rock, summer and then the new single track. Here I have to completely stop and rest a second. The pains are getting worse and I don't know how much longer I can hold things back. Justin Shull is coming up behind me, talks to me for a couple minutes and then hammers off. I make it to the top, suffer my way down, make it to the finish (I figure I don't have to explain the pain i'm going through in any more detail). I come through the finish like, take a break for a quick second, have my quote of the day and run off to the restroom.

So, overall the day was great. Who knows what my times would have been without my emmmm... internal issues.

I can't wait till next year, now I have something to compare against.

By the way, Gurney, there is a new excuse for your book.
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

I?ll be right up front with yah-all; I wasn't looking forward with confidence toward this race. With my first and only course record soon to be smashed (along with my ego) by some stud performers, my anxiety grew as the race drew near.
First of all I had a fraction of the running base of last year, but that will happen if you?re not training for an ultra run, and secondly I have been slacking on the bike for the past couple of months. The one caveat to all my self doubt was getting Erin Lovely's sweet carbon road bike instead of Nellie?s '82 Cannotfail. Thank you Erin, as well as PJ for occupying her for 9 1/2 month. :wink:

[b:df3d45614f]Now To The Race[/b:df3d45614f] :D
What a killer day for a race of this magnitude. I couldn?t believe the amount of volunteers, in the woods, at the corners directing traffic, cooking food and chatting it up with big grins in the chilly morning air. My nerves were tamed once I arrived and began talking with friends. With so many folks stoked to be there to watch me and other wither in pain became kinetic.

I got to the start with about: 30seconds to spare and then pulled a rookie move by chatting with folks and giving my wife a good luck kiss in stead of checking my gear. The big guns bolted off the line, ?don?t worry? I told myself, ?there team runners, they can?t possibly be solos, can they?? I pushed the worries out of my head in time to see Jason Massa. Cool, he?s been training for Tri races all season, try and hang with him. At Mile-1 a few racers began to debate the proper placement of the marker, but I had other concerns, my lace was untied. ?Crap, you rookie, should have looked over your gear prior to the start.? Do I stop and tie it or can I make it the next 4-miles? That debate ran through my head the Oak Street Bridge, when I convinced myself that I couldn?t possibly blister in the next 4-miles and it would be easier to get the shoe off in transition. Once on Rt. 10 Jason had quadrupled his lead on my. My transition went smooth as I mounted the MTB ride all was good, but I was pooped.

Thank goodness there was a line up on the stairs it save my bacon. I passed a bunch of bikers, the only familiar ones being Jason after the stairs then Dan on the ledge climb who said something to me as we both botched the climb, but I did not reply, instead conserving my precious O2. I chose to use my old MTB ride thinking it would be easier to schlep up the ski jump and better on the field sprint, but the new trail combined with the fact that I am now so used to full suspension produced a poor lap. I know you?re saying ?how can he say that?? Well I screwed up several sections I typically clean and ended up on my head on the flat cross over trail to South Boundary, now that should not happen.
I pulled into the transition zone and PJ said I only had to riders in front of me. As I couldn?t see any one I could only guess how far in front they were.

The road ride went smooth, didn?t see another soul, wished I had gotten Erin?s speedometer to work for me so I could have gagged my progress. ?Check your gear prior to the race you rookie!? Pulled into the S/F still in third, but that wouldn?t last long.

I went out fast on the flats, got up the stairs in quick order then my legs bogged down on the climb. I couldn?t get into a good pace. This is were I excelled last year. My long run training programmed my legs to endure pain and still put out. I was swiftly past just under Big Rock never to regain my podium status. I told myself that perchance one of the three before me was in another age group and pressed on, ambling into the finish 1:12 off the podium 8 minutes out of second and some 12+ minutes out of First, but happy it was over.

In the end my ego wasn?t crushed, when I saw #1 in a US Ski Team jacket and #3 in a Navy Tri team jacket I knew the competition was upgraded from last year well beyond my training and talents. Still, what a killer day, the fat food fest that followed made me wallow out the door happy as a pig even though I choacked up my prize winning to Ryan and those little gremlins to swipe the arrows.
Great job PJ, Brian, Ryan, Rotary Club et all. Newport has gotta love you folks, you really put the town in a great light for visitors.
 
Alone in the woods, who stands to be King?

[url]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=Pinnacle-Challenge-2006&id=DSC02254[/url]

Love the comment!!
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini