Showing posts with label lotoja. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lotoja. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Losing the Lotoja Lottery
I just received my notification from LOTOJA that I did not get a spot in this year's ride. Too bad :( I guess I will have to wait until next year for my shot at redemption. Or, I could ride with a handful of guys that are going to attempt the LOTOJA route several weeks before the race.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Photos From LOTOJA
Here are some photos that Rosey took of me (and Chris) riding in LOTOJA. Note that you probably need to view this in a browser instead of an RSS reader.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Ninety One Point Eight Percent
LOTOJA kicked my ass on Saturday. I rode hard for just over 12 hours and made it 189 miles but just couldn't make it the rest of the way to the finish line. I am severely disappointed :(
I think that the biggest factor contributing to non-completion was letting up on my training regimen in the month leading up to LOTOJA. I had been riding about 200 miles a week for most of the summer but then dropped down to less than a hundred miles a week after riding ULCER in early August. Of course, it didn't help to train at a lower weight for most of the summer and then put on a few extra pounds towards the end of the summer.
It's kind of creepy that I finished exactly as much of LOTOJA as I did of RANATAD. I rode 147 of 160 miles of RANATAD and I rode 189 of 206 miles of LOTOJA. Those both work out to almost exactly 91.8% of the total. It's almost like a switch goes off inside of me and says, "You've done 91.8% of the ride... it's time to quit now".
After failing to complete RANATAD, I told myself that I just needed to have more mental toughness. I needed to push myself to get through no matter what. And, I was prepared to push myself to finish LOTOJA no matter what. The problem is that my body was ready to give up 120 miles into the ride. By the time that I had ridden over the three mountain passes (Strawberry, Geneva and Salt River) and descended into Afton my body was in agonizing pain.
It was sheer mental toughness that drove me through the next 70 miles to get me through Star Valley, Snake River Canyon and just outside of Jackson. From that standpoint I was actually proud of myself that I was able to push that far. It was particularly difficult becuase for much of the ride through Star Valley I was riding into a soul crushing cross/head wind. Several of the guys who rode last year said that the wind this year made the ride much more difficult.
The other factor that I think contributed to my failure was that I rode solo for much of the ride. The guys that I trained with from work all summer were actually riding in a different age category than me so I wasn't able to start at the same time as them. I stuck with my starting pack to Preston, got split up going into the mountains and then for the rest of the day just had a difficult time latching on to anyone. Riding 206 miles in a group is difficult but riding that distance solo is really just sheer stupidity. In retrospect, I think that I would have been better off even finding a slower group of riders and just sticking with them all day so that I didn't have to do as much work riding into the wind.
Again, I am hugely disappointed. I don't know if I dare to wear the LOTOJA jersey that I bought before the ride considering that I didn't finish. But all I can do is come back next year with a little more wisdom and preparation.
Rosey got some pictures from the ride, but I don't have the cable to get them from the camera while we are on the road, so I'll have to post them when we get back home in a couple of weeks.
I think that the biggest factor contributing to non-completion was letting up on my training regimen in the month leading up to LOTOJA. I had been riding about 200 miles a week for most of the summer but then dropped down to less than a hundred miles a week after riding ULCER in early August. Of course, it didn't help to train at a lower weight for most of the summer and then put on a few extra pounds towards the end of the summer.
It's kind of creepy that I finished exactly as much of LOTOJA as I did of RANATAD. I rode 147 of 160 miles of RANATAD and I rode 189 of 206 miles of LOTOJA. Those both work out to almost exactly 91.8% of the total. It's almost like a switch goes off inside of me and says, "You've done 91.8% of the ride... it's time to quit now".
After failing to complete RANATAD, I told myself that I just needed to have more mental toughness. I needed to push myself to get through no matter what. And, I was prepared to push myself to finish LOTOJA no matter what. The problem is that my body was ready to give up 120 miles into the ride. By the time that I had ridden over the three mountain passes (Strawberry, Geneva and Salt River) and descended into Afton my body was in agonizing pain.
It was sheer mental toughness that drove me through the next 70 miles to get me through Star Valley, Snake River Canyon and just outside of Jackson. From that standpoint I was actually proud of myself that I was able to push that far. It was particularly difficult becuase for much of the ride through Star Valley I was riding into a soul crushing cross/head wind. Several of the guys who rode last year said that the wind this year made the ride much more difficult.
The other factor that I think contributed to my failure was that I rode solo for much of the ride. The guys that I trained with from work all summer were actually riding in a different age category than me so I wasn't able to start at the same time as them. I stuck with my starting pack to Preston, got split up going into the mountains and then for the rest of the day just had a difficult time latching on to anyone. Riding 206 miles in a group is difficult but riding that distance solo is really just sheer stupidity. In retrospect, I think that I would have been better off even finding a slower group of riders and just sticking with them all day so that I didn't have to do as much work riding into the wind.
Again, I am hugely disappointed. I don't know if I dare to wear the LOTOJA jersey that I bought before the ride considering that I didn't finish. But all I can do is come back next year with a little more wisdom and preparation.
Rosey got some pictures from the ride, but I don't have the cable to get them from the camera while we are on the road, so I'll have to post them when we get back home in a couple of weeks.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Preparing for LOTOJA
Tomorrow is the ride that I've been preparing for all summer... LOTOJA. We'll ride 206 miles from Logan, UT to Jackson, WY in a single day. For the most part I think that I'm well prepared. I've ridden about 4000 miles on my bike since this spring. I'm a little concerned that I've let up a little in the last couple of weeks (things have been hectic between work and wedding preparations) but I think that I'll be OK.
I'm shooting for an overall course time of under 11 hours. That means that I'll have to keep a moving average of about 20 miles per hour and keep my stopped time down to about 45 minutes. I'll start in a pack of about 60 riders at 7:10 AM and hope to get to Jackson around 6PM.
Rosey will be following with the car, but she has already threatened that she will not let me into the car without finishing unless I'm dead :) She doesn't want to have to listen to me bitch for the next year about not finishing LOTOJA :) I guess I don't blame her.
I'm shooting for an overall course time of under 11 hours. That means that I'll have to keep a moving average of about 20 miles per hour and keep my stopped time down to about 45 minutes. I'll start in a pack of about 60 riders at 7:10 AM and hope to get to Jackson around 6PM.
Rosey will be following with the car, but she has already threatened that she will not let me into the car without finishing unless I'm dead :) She doesn't want to have to listen to me bitch for the next year about not finishing LOTOJA :) I guess I don't blame her.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
April Training Recap
It was my goal to ride 200 miles a week in April. That means that I should have hit over 800 miles over the course of the month. Unfortunately, I fell short of that goal and only got 714 miles of riding in. I think that the weather was the largest factor in not meeting my goal. There were still quite a few days that I couldn't ride because of the rain.
As I look forward to May, I want to keep the same total mileage goal, but I want to focus on riding fewer, but longer rides. In April my longest single ride was only 52 miles. Most of my riding was accumulated by lots of short 12-20 mile rides (i.e. commuting back and forth to work). I really need to get in longer rides to start building my endurance.
As I look forward to May, I want to keep the same total mileage goal, but I want to focus on riding fewer, but longer rides. In April my longest single ride was only 52 miles. Most of my riding was accumulated by lots of short 12-20 mile rides (i.e. commuting back and forth to work). I really need to get in longer rides to start building my endurance.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
LOTOJA Route Misunderstanding
I was talking to one of my coworkers yesterday who actually rode LOTOJA last year and realized that I misunderstood the route. The ride does not go through Logan canyon and descend on Bear lake like I had originally thought. Rather it continues North from Logan into Idaho and then turns Northwest at Preston and rides along Hwy 36. We will rejoin Hwy 89 just outside of Montpellier.
On the one hand I'm relieved to discover that I won't have to tackle Logan canyon as part of a 200 mile ride. On the other hand, I'm a little disappointed to discover that the epic ride that I was imagining is going to be a little less epic than I imagined. I've already told a handful people that I was riding Logan canyon as part of LOTOJA. Maybe I'll ride it my way anyway and meet up with everyone else in Montpellier :)
On the one hand I'm relieved to discover that I won't have to tackle Logan canyon as part of a 200 mile ride. On the other hand, I'm a little disappointed to discover that the epic ride that I was imagining is going to be a little less epic than I imagined. I've already told a handful people that I was riding Logan canyon as part of LOTOJA. Maybe I'll ride it my way anyway and meet up with everyone else in Montpellier :)
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