Finding The Motivation

 

Renewed Focus (again)

I seem to recall being reasonably focused and kinda fit in 2019.  SheilaT and I were among the few to finish the Grand Gravel 500 in the spring.  I had a solid 260 mile Texas Water Safari early summer then headed out to try the west coast to east coast Bike Non-Stop just 2 months later.  This was a failed attempt, but fitness was not the issue.  After I returned home, I had no problem cranking out the El Camino gravel 100 in east Texas. 

It was November 2019 I noticed a switch.  I didn’t want to do the workouts.  The actual training.  I super enjoyed getting home from work and plowing through a bag of chips, usually with a glass of wine.  Consistency is my worst thing anyway, but this was different. Burnout?  My diet and being sedentary were definitely starting to show results – in a bad way.  I put the GG500 for 2020 on my calendar thinking that having a goal would help.  It did not.  During my annual trip to the Big Bend desert in the winter, my lack of fitness was quite evident.  I came home and made weekday morning hill repeats my friggin job. 

Then with spring, came the pandemic.  All events were cancelled.  That was sort of OK by me as it took the pressure off of trying to get back into some sort of presentable condition.  I kept up the hill repeats and added longer rides with more elevation.  I saw my fitness metrics improving though the weight was not really coming off – the chip/wine habit was now fairly ingrained.  Then in the fall, the wheels came off.  A work project I’d been involved in for more than a year was finally rolled out and it was not pretty.  I was working (from home at least) long days and weekends.  I had this fabulous excuse to not do anything.  And I didn’t -  through the fall and winter of 2020 and through the spring of 2021 (where we also sold our house and moved).  I had to buy new clothes.  Even the most basic ride with friends was too much.  Something had to change. 

I found some inspiration from an old friend who was on the other side of a similar struggle.  She recommended a training program that I signed up for.  Its been 2 weeks and I just got home from arguably the most difficult structured workout I’ve ever done on a bike.  But it didn’t kill me and my metrics are improving.

This sounds terribly rambling (my mother, who is probably reading, is saying aloud “and boring”) but sometimes I just need to put things out to the universe.  I hope later I’ll go back and read this and say “Good job!” and be forgiving.  The struggle is real.  Trying to be an “athlete” with my fluffy eastern European gene, post-menopausal self is on-going hard work. 

 

Current helpful mantras (I have a lot more):

Show up - Rebecca Rush

Your brain will tell you what ever it needs to to keep you comfortable.  Ignore it. (maybe Billy Rice)

Don’t over think it, just go (my sister 💚)

Trainer is under cover but outside, in Texas.  Just sayin 

 

Eunice Reiter - Retired

 

The opening picture is a sunrise.  A sunset would be more appropriate, but it was in the wee hours of the morning that I was driving from Austin to Houston to help mom close her office.  Mom is finally retiring. 

Mom has always worked.  It does not seem remarkable now, but in the 1960’s, not many women had careers outside of nursing and teaching.  My grade school friends had moms that volunteered as “room mothers”, bringing treats and decorations for holidays.  Those moms where home when their kids got out of school.  Our upbringing was different.  Dad traveled extensively (also unusual for parents in those days, but this is about Mom).  Daycare was non-existent back then, so Mom hired housekeepers fill in the gaps while she and Dad worked.  We were rather feral, but didn’t die. 

I can’t imagine what it must have been like in those days for a woman with children and personal aspirations.  When she was pregnant with my brother, my dad would go get her paycheck so her boss would not see her. Once she really started to show, she had to quit.  Pregnant women were not allowed in the workplace.  Nothing like adding additional financial stress to a growing family. 

Mom is a tax accountant.  I say is because she kept a couple of clients.  Our lives literally revolved around tax season.  Brother Joe was born in May.  I was born in August.  I’ll bet my mom was super pissed to find out Elaine was going to be born in January.  I can’t, or don’t ”its tax season” was ingrained in our DNA. 

 Memories:

·        Mom was (is) super put together; professionally dressed at all times.  I did not inherit this sense of style and  dignity.  It’s a pandemic and I’m happy to wear 2-day old “daytime pajamas”

·        There used to be a television show in Houston where people could call in and ask tax questions.  We would sit in front of the TV for hours hoping to catch a glimpse of our famous mom.  I don’t recall the exact setup, but we could only see her skirt hem and legs occasionally walk by. 

·        During tax season, Mom worked late and 6 days a week.  Somehow on Saturdays, she managed to work and get her hair done and get the grocery shopping done for the week.  Those Saturdays, Dad was in charge.  Typing this I can’t recall a time where he was out of the country on a tax season Saturday, but surely it must have happened.  Gawd knows what we did if he was gone.  When he was home, there was a fabulous rotation of easy food or take out to keep us fed; Jack in the box where the clown gave us balloons, Antone’s po-boys - we had to go with Dad here to make sure we didn’t end up with tuna sandwiches as all the different ones were color coded and he was color blind.  BBQ of course and cooking at home meant kosher hot dogs. 

·        Our house had a formal living room but no formal dining table.  Mom set up a desk there.  I remember many a night going to sleep to the sound of that crank style adding machine as she ran tapes late into the night. 

·        Kids winning tax season – when Mom would bring home mainframe computer tape and punch cards for us to play with.  Punch cards turned into play school flash cards or to attach like playing cards to bike spokes.  I remember using the tape once to come out of a cardboard robot’s mouth with words written on it. 

 Fun memories of a career that I’m sure was not easy.  To you mom.  This April, do what ever you want! xo

5 1/4 Floppy Disk  Still uses this software today

Her computer CD drive is broken but this is the OS

Instructions for mainframe punch operator - hands up if you even know what that means!

Last load

Oh wait!  One more thing.

One last moment before the door is locked with the keys inside

Boxes, bags, chairs oh my!

The scariest moment of my life.  Plugging in that DOS computer and praying it booted up!

Ok Mom.  Rest is up to you

Dave Blumenthal

I’ve wanted to blog for a while.  Out for a hike or long bike ride, streams of consciousness flow by that I promptly forget about by the time I get home.  But I marked today on my calendar knowing I’d want to make this blog post. 

In the summer of 2010 I was researching how to accomplish a race that would change my life.  I wanted to do the Tour Divide race from Canada to Mexico in 2011.  If you are here, then you’ve likely read my accounts of the various exploits. 

Today, there are so many gear makers, gear reviews and detailed gear lists easily available with a simple Google search.  Almost nothing of the sort existed in 2010.  Riders relied heavily on posts in the old-school (still in use) http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/.  There were no how-to websites detailing everything a rookie needed to know from gear to re-supply.  You painstakingly researched everything on your own.  I was doing just this when I came across the blog of Dave Blumenthal https://type2fun.wordpress.com/   

Dave was preparing to do the Tour Divide race in 2010.  In his blog, he documented his do-it-yourself (DIY) bike bags, sleeping kit and setup.  I went back to his blog often.  Zooming in on pictures to see how he designed this or that, or how he mounted his GPS or his lights... 

On this day, 10 years ago, the following post was made on the Tour Divide website: http://tourdivide.org/blog2010/memory_dave_blumenthal

Dave was gone.  An accident just past Brush Mountain Lodge in Colorado.

A year later, SheilaT and I made our way on CR 82/116 and gratefully, the Brush Mountain Lodge came into view.  We’d traveled 86 miles from Rawlings WY and the iconic lodge was our destination.  As we approached, I saw people sitting on a covered deck and all were wearing matching cowboy flannel pajamas.  My first thought was wow, everyone here gets matching pajamas!  How cool! 

Of course, that was not the case.  It was Dave’s family.  They had come to the lodge, a beautiful and welcoming place run by the immensely loving Kirsten Hendricksen.  They wanted to be at this place on the year anniversary of his passing. 

That evening as riders gathered around the table, Dave’s wife Lexi joined us.  We told stories and ate our fill.  Then, in the morning, SheilaT and I left, cognizant that we would be passing the location of Dave’s accident.  The rigors of the divide quickly took our attention, but we took thoughts of Dave and his family with us.

Now it is 10 years on.  Christopher Bennett has been collecting Tour Divide stories each year since and publishing the Cordillera, the proceeds of which have gone to a college fund for Dave and Lexi’s daughter Linnaea. 

I just wanted to put Dave’s name out into the universe today.  Ride in peace Dave and thank you for helping to light the way.

Great Basin  Photo by Dave Blumenthal

Self Supported Racing Soap Box

My page.  My .02 
I have my 5th one-way ticket to Banff and as such feel, perhaps with arrogance, that I can spout  my opinion of what is and what is not self supported bikepack racing.

The line up of the 2011 TD was only the 4th running of the event.  There were something less than 80 people going both north and south.  We'd all done our homework. 
We'd taken months to pick bike, gear, lights, tires.
We had to figure out how to even sign up. 
How to get a SPOT tracker and register it.
We spent hours figuring out how get to Canada with a bike.
How to get from Calgary to Banff. 
Where to stay before the race.
How to load tracks on our GPSs and how to navigate.
We studied the route and made notes of where we should re-supply or where there was water.
It literally took me a month to edit the ACA cues (I joined ACA and paid for cues and maps) down to what suited my style and purpose. 

I just completed a 500 mile race in Texas.  The process used so many times, now repeated. 
Where is the water?
What re-supply points are open when?
What gear for what weather?
The track.
The cues.....

All of this brings knowledge.  It's part of the journey. 
Did I talk to others and ask a ton of questions?  Of course.  But I still had to find my own way. 
If someone hands you a package with everything you need and all you have to do is ride, to me, that's a tour.  If you want to take a bike tour, fantastic.  Any time on the bike is time well spent.  If you want to do an "un-supported bikepacking race", do your work.  It's part of it. 

Standing down.

 

Perspective

Self talk.  Especially the negative kind, is the bane of any athlete.  I am certain that the wiring of some athletes keeps the negativity at bay.  I am terrible at this. Even knowing the boat-anchor effect that negative thoughts have on every pedal stroke does not push them aside.  I don't have any answers.  Just selfishly using my blog space to vent about sluggish morning on the bike.   I had no gas and it was already hot by 8am.  It was easy to turn back.  

I put on a podcast to distract me for the ride home.  Bikepack Canada posted a new one today so I loaded it up.  Ryan Correy is the host of the podcast as well as a successful bike racer.  He received a cancer diagnosis last week and used the podcast platform to tell his story to the public.  

I still had no gas in the tank as I made my way slowly home, but sure had some new perspective.  

Respect. 

https://www.bikepack.ca/podcast/2017/7/28/35-smile

July True-up:

Rode a solo version of Bicycle Sport Shop's El Diablo event that hits each of their 5 Austin stores.  65 miles and quality elevation.  

Sun coming up over Mansfield Dam

BSS Research - 5:30am

 

After a year and a half (and 2 TD line ups), I decided my Salsa Fargo Ti  SM was just the wrong size.  I worked with a great fit expert, but just threw in the towel.  A friend had a medium steel version that he let me borrow.  What a difference.  I'd never understood how riders were able to use the drop bars on the Fargo.  Now I understand.   My bike was too small.  I located a brand new 2917 in WV.  Lucky again that my peeps from Dirt Components were in the area and played the mule to bring it back to Texas.  The build is under way.  

John Erskin's Fargo meets the new elevated Hwy360 bike path

And...Another TD Scratch

Still unfinished business or move on?
It has been forever since I updated the blog and perhaps I'm starting at the wrong end of things.
I've been back from the 2017 Tour Divide Grand Depart for 2 weeks now.  The 1st to Antelope Wells, Brian Lucido has been home for a week while the back of the pack relegated to touring are still making their way.

As long as I'm at the end of things, I'll relate how it ended.  I woke up Thursday before the race with a sore throat.  The kind of sore throat that you don't even pretend is allergies.  I gathered all the cold remedies I could find and hoped the next morning I would at least not be any worse.  Friday morning I was running a fever and had other fairly gross signs of infection.  I texted my doctor cousin Steve and begged for a Zpack to be phoned into any pharmacy in Fernie, BC - 2 days away.
Maybe not the hardest 2 days of my life but contenders.   Got the Rx and climbed into a hotel bed for a day to burn it out.   We left Fernie with me on the mend but slow and struggling.  By Whitefish, I did not want to burn vacation for a finish.

Add caption

Now, the back story and the adventure:

Of course after last year I wanted to go back and try again.  Last year, I was happy with my training as being stronger than 2011 or 2014 and never saw the knee thing coming (details related already in post from last year).  It took forever to get over that injury.  Tendinitis is just a slow thing to begin with, but add that I kept trying to ride the Fargo not realizing that incorrect length cranks were on it.

It was fall by the time I was back on the bike if only for brief, rather flat rides.  I went to Big Bend as planned in December but most of the rides were cut short when my knee began to complain.  As I related before, I eventually got it all sorted but in terms of fitness, the calendar was already speeding by.  I went back to Big Bend in February for the annual Desert Fest.  I consider this long weekend of mountain biking that includes the 60 mile Epic loop a benchmark of fitness.  It wasn't pretty.  I finished the Epic but was super slow.  It was February!   Doubts about my being able to do the divide were already starting to creep in but I ignored them.

March.  Still wanting to pull it off, I contacted Billy Rice.  Billy agreed to take me on and put together what he called the "emergency plan".  I'm sure most of his athletes work with him for a year or more before attempting the TD.  We hoped that my depth of experience would give me points in the black.

What ensued was 3 months of interval training.  I can say, that without question, I worked harder and got stronger than I would have left to my own devices.  But the hours of saddle time to dial a bike and body can not be replaced.  Getting sick was just the nail.  To be honest with myself, I should have waited a year.  My biggest regret is SheilaT coming along for the ill-fated jaunt.

Every year on the divide is unique.  2011 had snow and fire detours.  2014 had a bridge out and a river ford while snowing in the first 5 miles, plus rain every day.  2016 had rain early but zero snow. For 2017, everyone will talk about "the re-route".  With bridges out on route, an epic hike a bike alternate just before Elkford was put in place.  It was so epic that I'm sure it will become part of the TD challenge going forward.  Cuz that's how they roll.

With on and off rain and my being sick, not to mention bear country, we rode past the re-route and into Elkford the 1st night though that meant backtracking some miles in the morning.  Just as last year, no hotels were available so a quiet bathroom floor provided a few hours sleep.  We rolled at sun up, stopped at a gas station where there was no food but hot coffee, did some bike maintenance, forgot my gloves and moved on.

I could describe the re-route over a mountain pass, through snow melt river "trails" while it was sleeting and me running a fever but you would not get the magnitude.

We made Fernie by midnight Saturday (almost colliding a moose in the dark)  and were grateful to find 1 restaurant open.  Inside were 3 other riders looking just as shell shocked as we felt.

Notes from Fernie:
Best Western no longer allows bikes in the rooms.
Canadian pharmacies will not fill an Rx from a US doctor.
Has super nice people!

Though sick, certain things still have to get done while in a town.  Food for the next leg, any bike repairs...  But we took Sunday off so I could rest and I did a lot of that.  Sleeping hard and sipping hot lemon water.  My fever finally let go Sunday night and Monday morning none to early we left.

Scary trucks on Lodgepole Rd.
Harvey Pass.
Cabin Pass.
Moon rise.
Cold ramen.
Slept with mice.
Rolling - moon gone.
The wall with the sun.

Every time I ascend the wall, I brainstorm some possible way to make it easier.  This year it was so slick and worn off-camber,  I could only think of installing climbing protection and hooking up from 1 pitch to the next.

Galton Pass was dry.
The border guard was cute.
In Eureka there was pie....and a storm brewing.  A really big one.  We just happened to check the weather. It was only noon-thirty and our plan had been to re-supply and roll.  With the local news warning residents to tie down their children, we opted for a room and a wee hours departure.  Such a good call.  We were in bed at 2pm and hotel was being rattled by 5.   Rolled in the dark.

Whitefish divide
Climb more to Red Meadow
Soft snow pushing.
It's hard.  I've been struggling.

Whitefish.
Steep, never-ending hills into town.  So much more difficult than I remember.  SheilaT ahead seeming unfazed.

I stopped here.  Took in the bluebird day and made a decision.


Critter Report:
1 Moose, 2 black bears, 1 grizzly, 1 golden eagle, marmots, ground squirrels, mice and some bird that whistled every sunrise and sunset.

The bike and gear:

I ride a 2015 Salsa Fargo Ti size small.  I'm still not 100% certain if I should be on a medium instead. I was still trying to dial bike fit in the 11th hour.
Working with a fit guru, I replaced the stock Salsa lay-back seatpost with a zero setback.  A much longer stem as well.  Bike seems fairly maxed out and if in the next month or 2 I'm still not in love, I will replace it.

I outfitted the bike with a mix of hardy and light.  Stans rims rolling Specalized FastTracks, SON dyno upfront, RaceFace Next cranks on a 2x10 drivetrain, XTR cassette.  I kept the Woodchipper bars but cut off the sweep as I never use the drops.  I still use the same Syntace aerobars that I first used in 2011.  Off the dyno I have a K-lite, Sinewave and cache battery.  I carry my phone on airplane mode and use an ipod for music.   Loaded with some food and water - just over 44lbs.

There is some miscellaneous gear that, after all this time should be dialed but isn't.   The Terry saddles I started with in 2011 are now garbage and after trying 1/2 dozen different alternatives have settled on the Specialized Oura - for now.  Perl Izumi dumbed down the AlpX line of womens shoes so I'm still trying to find a stiff shoe that is narrow enough and yet walk-able.

Texas Water Safari 2016 From the Banks

I'm a 2-sport girl.  In alternating years I've been either cycling or marathon canoe racing.  Every year, the 2nd weekend in June is a choice.  The 260 mile San Marcos to the coast Texas Water Safari canoe race starts the day after the 2700 mile Banff to Mexico Tour Divide mountain bike race.

In 2015, flood postponements derailed my TWS plans so I jumped into the Missouri River 340 as a solo racer.  I was quite satisfied with the just under 50 hour finish in flood water so it was easy to turn my attention to the bike and dedicate 2016 as a Tour Divide year.  Well, if you read the previous blog posts, you know how that went, so it happens I was home for the postponed date of this years TWS.

Jeff was running in a very competitive 4-man with Debbie Richardson and Bobby Smart with Amy Boyd coming in to replace RD Kissling who could not make this years flood postponment.  They had a more than full and capable support crew so if anything, I would just be following along to watch.
jjj

Angela (AssCap), Becky and SheilaT (TCs), Bobby, Pam (AssCap), Amy, Debbie, Jeff 

A few days before the race Jeff got wind of 2 2-man teams coming from California.  We'd been aware of the guys as they'd originally been asking around for a 6-man boat.  They were counseled by veterans about how incredibly difficult it would be to get a 40+ foot long boat down a skinny river they'd never seen.  Advice heeded, they decided on 2 tandems for the race.

A 2-man team can be supported by 1 person but it sure is easier with 2.  One team, Sean Dickson and Mike Durkin were supported by both their wives.  The other team with Joe Decker and Mark Jones had only Joe's wife Nichole.   By now, they'd already reached out to John Bugge who not only has done like a zillion TWSs but also makes and rents boats.  As is John's way, he was generous with his knowledge and gave the teams much advice about the river.  They also reached out to Jeff.  This is how I got connected.  Jeff told me they could use a 2nd support for Joe's boat so I offered up and they accepted.

The idea to do TWS stemmed from Joe Decker who in the 1990's saw a list of the then 10 most difficult races in the world.  He decided to do them all and has since been ticking them off his list.
http://gutcheckfitness.com/about/company-history/ 
It would seem he gathered some accomplices and headed to Texas.  They arrived just 2 days before the race and were able to only scout the first 25 miles of the course.

Unlike the wide open Missouri, the TWS follows the skinny, twisty San Marcos river then the Guadalupe.  The rivers have down trees, dams, small rapids in addition to snakes, alligators...  The majority of participants will spend from January to June repeatedly running sections of the river to learn how to efficiently navigate all of the obstacles.   A day and 1/2 to see it would be on the light side.  Not impossible, just, well, challenging.  This short film by Yeti features Jeff's team last year and is a good summary of what the race is like.
https://vimeo.com/142413700 

I met Mark, Joe and Nichole on Friday - race check in day.  They stopped by my office to pick up flares I was loaning them.  Right away I was impressed.  Not by their resume.  I know lots of people with equal or better.  I was impressed with their attitude.  Their intentions were not coming from a place of arrogance but came with a humble respect for the race and what they were about to try.  I became excited to see them tackle it and to help them however I could.  

They were pretty well organized.  Not their first ultra distance rodeo so they needed very little from me at the start,  That was perfect because I wanted to see Jeff's team come though the Rio Visa rapid section early.   A video I took from there:

https://www.facebook.com/sheila.reiter.9/videos/10209874286203477/

For the rest of the day Saturday, I followed Nichole down the river, helping at hand off spots and checkpoints.  I gave river advice where I knew it, drawing pictures in the dirt and sharing pages from my TWS binder.    At every stop, the guys might have been tired but were all smiles and Ok, what's next.  I stayed as long as the Palmetto State Park bridge.  It's a very tricky spot and I wanted to see them safely though.  They did fine and went on their way, making it to the finish in a very respectable 59 hours.  Well done guys.  I hope you come back!

Leaving Fentress

Portage Luling/Zedler

Seadrift!

I went home Saturday and got to paddle some myself Sunday morning.  

I then drove south again to catch up with Jeff's team #444.  They were running in 3rd place with 4th and 5th within minutes.  It was a nail biter all the way to the finish but 3rd it stayed!

Rio Vista

STB-TC Makein it happen!

Leaving Salt Water Barrier

Finish!