Immunity Challenge Week 14

Danielle

I forgot to include in yesterday’s entry what happened with the immunity challenge. Adam devised a game which was a variation on spin the bottle, except it was spin for immunity! He put a water bottle on a bolt that had a washer that allowed the bottle to rotate and the bottle was then attached to a piece of wood. The piece of wood had CAF and Million Dollar Challenge stickers on it. A really nice piece of engineering!

Immunity Helmet

All of the radio contestants were put in a circle around the bottle and Adam did the honors and spun the bottle. Whoever was closest to the direction that that bottle end was pointing got a kiss from Adam. Scary thought! Actually, they got eliminated from the circle and weren’t eligible for immunity. I was about the third or fourth person out and the eventual winner was Keith. But there was a little catch; Keith had to give immunity to someone else. He had about 30 minutes to think about it since we finished with the challenge before the morning announcements at 7:00. His choice was Danielle, which was a great pick. She has kept us organized and on track with our group fund raising efforts, and she is a super nice person. Congratulations Danielle.

And the immunity helmet now has a head with hair. Too funny. Chris did a great job with the additions to the helmet!.

Week 14 Training

John having a good laugh before the ride

Some days on the bike you have one of “those” days and by “those”, I mean not good. On paper this looked like it would be a great ride. I love riding along the coast especially in a group (where you can take turns blocking the wind) and about 22 miles of this ride was along the coast. Also, there wasn’t going to be a whole bunch of climbing, only about 2700 feet. Finally, it was going to be warm but I thought we would be done with the ride before it got really hot.

One of approximately 30 flat tires

I was riding with Group 2 today and at about 5 miles into the ride we pass Group 1 who is along the side of the road fixing a flat. I hoped that a flat this soon into the ride wasn’t going to be a bad omen. So much for hoping … it was a bad omen. We soon had our first flat in Group 2, and I stopped to help. Usually one of the ride leads immediately fixes the tire, so all I do is watch and maybe donate a CO2 cartridge. I usually stop even if I don’t get to do anything because I think it helps to have at least three or four people working together to catch the rest of the group after the flat is fixed. The flat was fixed in less than 5 minutes and we started working to catch the rest of the group. However, we soon came across another three or four people fixing a flat. Our original group stopped and waited and then about 8 of us started out again. We then came across another group fixing a flat. Same thing as before, stop, wait, and start again. By the time we got to the fist SAG at 25 miles, there had been 5 flat tires in Group 2. The only good part of this story is that Group 1 caught us not too far before the 76 bike path, so they pulled all of us (more than 20) along at some pretty nice speeds, averaging about 24 or 25 mph for about 10 miles.

Good place to get a flat, what a view!

At the fist SAG, there were several people putting additional air in their tires with a bicycle floor pump.  But the pump wasn’t making a tight seal on the valve. More air was coming out of the tire than what was going in. Not good! So I donated my 2nd cartridge of the day to a woman and got her tired filled up just prior to Group 2 rolling out. Jesse Mindlin, a fellow contestant who unfortunately was eliminated two weeks ago, and who had started out with Group 1, was in the same situation. The pump had let out more air from his tire than it had put in, and he was trying to get a cartridge to fill up his tire. I decided to wait for him rather than roll out with the rest of the group. I’ve been left once by myself at a SAG and it’s no fun riding by yourself when it was supposed to be a group ride! We then worked together for the next 15 miles trying to catch the group. We never did catch them until a water stop at mile 39, but it was sure fun riding with Jesse. He also thought it would be fun to see if we could my heart rate monitor to a new high while climbing up Circle R. We did; the monitor (which of course means my heart rate!) hit 170 which is just 2 bpm below my theoretical max of 172 (220 – age, but of course that is just a rule of thumb. I have no idea what my max heart rate actually is).   Thanks Jesse for keeping me motivated while climbing that hill!

Coach Pat

Later in the ride, I did something you should never do, which is follow too closely while on a high speed descent. I’m usually pretty conscious about following too closely and didn’t even realize I was doing it on this ride. Coach Pat though let me know about my error though since it was his wheel I was following too closely!

The worst part of the ride though was about an hour or so later.  I thought I was going to go take a nasty spill and probably take a bunch of people with me. I was about 5 or 6 people back from the front while we were descending a pretty long, steep hill. I assumed that the route had us going to the bottom of the hill and then continue along the road we were on. Our speed was about 35 to 40 mph and I was actually starting to pick up some more speed. The riders in front weren't slowing or making any hand signals when I hear a call from the back that we are supposed to turn. The bad part is that I’m only about 100 yards from the intersection! Oh..Oh. Everyone in front of me then starts to slow rapidly and I have no idea if people behind me are slowing. So I jammed on the breaks as hard as I could and try to hold my line/position without hitting anyone in front of me. I can’t do anything about the people coming up behind me. My back tire starts to slide but I’m still closing quickly on the riders in front of me, and I hear lots of squealing brakes. Definitely not good! Somehow I manage to keep the bike upright while fish tailing, not hit anyone in front of me, and no one hit me from behind! Probably one of the scariest moments I’ve had on a bike. Fortunately, I wasn’t following anyone too closely (earlier lesson in the day!) and was able to keep the bike mostly under control. The morale of the story, don’t assume the riders in front actually know where they are going and know exactly where you need to turn before you start a high speed big descent. In the future, I will definitely be paying closer attention to the distance to the next turn.

It doesn't get better than this.  Riding along the ocean with a breeze at your back!

The post ride was the best part of the day. I stayed around until all of the Group 3 riders got back and met more people who I had never talked with before. It was really great to hear the various ways people are raising money for the CAF. And special thanks to Francesca who brought the left-over’s from her party the night before! She had chips, some great burritos with some fabulou ssalza, and a keg of Bud Lite. How great is that!

We also got word the Group 4 had a bunch of flats also and it would be awhile before they were finished. They are extremely dedicated group of cyclists! All together, the 4 groups had over 30 flats!    But the worst day on a bicycle is still better than doing just about anything else!

Post ride food and beer!  Thanks Francesca

After getting home, my son and I went and passed out more Rubio’s flyers for the fund raising event. Over the two days, we handed out over 600 flyers. Dave Mitchell also passed out another 100. Unfortunately, when we went to eat at Rubio’s, we were only the 2nd person to use a flyer and Dave was the first! Hopefully we did better at some of the other stores.

Our fund raiser for this weekend is at Pat and Oscars. Please use this flyer  and support the CAF by eating there this Sunday.

CAF Paratriathlon Camp

On Saturday I spent several hours, along with Mark, being a ride escort at the CAF Paratriathlon training camp. The goal of this three day camp was to take the skills and abilities of amputee paratriathletes to the next level. Previously, the camps were less than one day long so this was a big undertaking by the CAF. In the afternoon session there were about 17 athletes who were mostly below the knee amputee’s. Their ages ranged from 17 to 55 and their bicycle skills ranged from novice to proficient. Helping with this event was very inspirational, made me appreciate the resiliency of the human spirit, and that I have nothing in my life that is really worth complaining about.

One of the athletes that I helped was a semi-proficient rider but her hill climbing abilities needed improvement. She lives in an area where it’s mostly flat and was surprised about how many hills we have in San Diego! I was finally able to pay back people that have helped me in various ways on rides by “pushing” her up the hill with my hand on her back. She definitely had a stick with it mentality. She kept pedaling all the way to the top of the various hills even though her quads were burning and it would have been easier for her to take a breather. Hopefully, I was able to help her with some hill climbing skills/techniques.

After the ride, I talked some with a remarkable person, Amy Purdy. She has a blog at http://amy-purdy.blogspot.com/  There are also some good interviews with her at http://cooler.mpora.com/features/-/interviews/interview-with-amy-purdy.html/ and at http://flickamag.com/2009/05/18/element-eden-advocate-meet-amy-purdy/   Her story and the work she does with Adaptive Action Sports is truly amazing. Please take the time to read about her, you will be inspired!

Photo is from Gordon Weldon/USA Triathlon taken at USAT Paratriathlon National Championships

Elimination Day

I couldn’t listen in from Charleston SC via the internet to the Scott and BR 1090 AM radio show today for the immunity challenge announcement. I later went to the Scott and BR Cycling Page and saw that Todd had been eliminated. These weekly eliminations aren’t any fun. Obviously I don’t want to be eliminated but it’s also tough because each week someone that you have ridden with and gotten to know gets eliminated.

No Elimination

Listened in from Charleston, SC on the Internet to the Scott and BR 1090 AM radio show for the immunity challenge announcement. But they ran out of time, so no announcement today.

Trek Sunday Ride

Rode with Sunday Southbay Trek group today since the CAF training was on Saturday this week. I haven’t ridden with this group in a long time because of my CAF MDC and XX1090 training and previous training for the San Diego century. It was good to see some of the regulars (Darcy, Edgar, Jose, Ron, and the HTC Columbia guys etc.) and also some new faces. There were about 17 people all together.

As usual, Edgar and Jose left me in the dust during the two big hill climbs. After all the riding I had been doing, I thought I might have a little better showing on the hills and hang on to their wheels until the top of the hills. Nope! At about the halfway point (7/10 of a mile), I start losing ground and was way behind them by the top of the climb. Of course, like anyone who is competitive on the bicycle, I had an excuse. My excuse is that I wasn’t feeling well (sore throat and extremely congested) and that I climbed about 5000 feet in 57 miles the day before. Etc. etc. The truth is it wouldn’t have mattered! They both are just really good “Billy Goats”! I guess I need to ride more hills or just admit defeat! I talked to some of the group about the CAF and the contest. Hopefully some of them will donate to a great cause.

After the ride, I added on some additional miles and while doing this met three great guys(John, John, and Roger) on Otay Lakes past the reservoir (great ride with no stop lights but watch out for both the speeding motorcycles and border patrol vehicles). One of the Johns’ is a very recent cancer survivor who just within the past month started riding again. He did great today! These guys all ride together a lot and also raise moneys for various events, like the MS 150. I’m looking forward to riding with these guys again.

Week 13 Training

Chris Glossner.  Keeper of the immunity helmet!

A great day of training but I’m definitely not an early morning person and I really hate getting up at 4:30 AM! Today’s ride (8/14) was “Kitchen Creek” and it started in Pine Valley at the Post Office. The radio contestants had to be there at 6:15 which meant I had to leave the house at 5:15 AM. For some of the other contestants this start location was a longer drive than our usual starting point at Fletcher Cove or at Flower Hill Mall.

We had an immunity challenge test, which was to guess how many calories were contained in a jar without going over. Adam had packed the jar full of various energy gel packets and “Cliff Bars”. I knew that each gel packet is usually about 90 to 100 calories and I estimated there was about 40 packets in the jar. So I guessed 4000 calories. Not a good guess. I was way over. The actual amount was about 3200 calories. Chris Glossner’s guess was within about 50 calories and was the immunity winner for the second week in the row. Congratulations Chris! He gets to decorate the helmet again!

Danielle

Mark Estrada

Part of the Group Two Peleton!

We (the radio contestants) then discussed various fund raising ideas and Sunday’s Rubio Fundraiser. Dave Mitchell and I will be passing out flyers for the Eastlake store. Please come out and support this cause by bringing the flyer (see link on left) to the restaurant. 20% of the proceeds go to the CAF. We also decided to try and have a poker bike ride on the 28th using the materials that Adam used last year. This doesn’t give us very much time to plan for this event.

Lake Cuymaca

Great Mountain Scenery!

Into the SAG after alot of climbing

The ride was great and one I had never done before. There was a lot of climbing but the scenery was fantastic, very little road traffic (part of the ride is basically on a path that cars don’t travel on), the temperature wasn’t’ too bad for this time of year, and there were no flats in Group 2 for a change. This is probably one of my three favorite rides now. The data from the ride is below. For the most part, we did a pretty good job riding as a group. We split into two or more groups during the climbing but for the last 1/3 of the ride we pretty much stayed together with various individuals taking turns pulling. As usual, I have a tendency to get out in front during the down hills just because I love to go as fast as possible on the down hills. In my mind the thrill of going fast downhill more than makes up for the pain of climbing! The only bad part of this ride was that I must have picked up a cold while in Charleston this week or on the airplane. I was extremely congested, which is not a good thing for climbing, and my throat was so sore that I trouble talking or swallowing. I stuck it out though and glad I finished the ride.

After helping John with the post ride snacks for group 2, a large group of us went across the street for some food. The food was a little pricy but the chocolate malt felt really good on my throat! It was great to sit around and talk with everyone. I met some people that I haven’t talked to before, like Buzz, who is one of the leading fundraisers for this event. After lunch, went back to the parking lot and talked with some of the other radio contestants who were riding in group 3. During this time, I saw Fred, one of the Challenged Athletes, finishing his ride. It takes a lot of will power to complete this ride with all of that climbing just using your arms!

8/11 Elimination Day

Because Scott Kaplan was going out of town this week (Ironman training in Aspin at altitude), this week’s eliminations were announced on Tuesday. Chris had immunity from getting the highest test score about the CAF and XX1090 and was being interviewed when they announced the elimination. Even though I was in Charleston, SC, I was able to listen in via the Internet on my PC while taking breaks during my meetings. Isn’t technology great!

Both Jesse’s who had immunity from the previous week were eliminated today. I was extremely disappointed about Jesse Mindlin being eliminated as we had spent a lot of time talking during the Sunday ride (and me on his wheel because I was really tired from the Saturday ride!). Hopefully both of them will continue to come out and ride and continue to help with the group fundraising.

Week 12 Training

Shelby and Dave

Found out early Saturday evening that the radio contestants needed to show up at 6:15 instead of the usual 6:45 for an immunity challenge. I was worried that not everyone checked their email and so I tried to get phone numbers for everyone from Adam or Mike. Adam was in the car coming back to San Diego and didn’t have the numbers with him and Mike wasn’t available. I managed to find an email that Danielle had sent that had phone numbers for some of us that attended a fund raising meeting. Of the people I called, everyone but Jesse and Danielle had seen the email and Danielle would have seen it as she was about to check her email.

Today was our first immunity challenge other than the on-line voting which is why we had to show up at 6:15. It was a quiz about the CAF, XX1090, and had some pictures of various people associated with either the CAF or 1090. I thought I did pretty well but. . . . not good enough to win. Chris Glossner was the winner and he got less than 50% correct! Tough quiz and Adam must not have given us any partial credit for our answers. Congratulations Chris!

Ready to Roll

Today was supposed to be a recovery ride so I rode with group three (as did most of the radio group) so that I could maybe meet some new people in another group. Plus my legs were totally jelly from the 187 miles the day before and I didn’t think I could keep up with group two. For a recovery ride, the pace actually seemed pretty fast, especially at first. No issues or flats during the ride. I did stop to help one rider who had a chain come off and then I pulled him back to group. I also did chat with a bunch of people that I had never met before so it was a great ride.

After the ride, there was a very nice breakfast afterwards at the Rancho Valencia Resort and Spa. The food was great, the company better, and I again met some people who I had never talked with before (Scott and Nancy).  Trying to remember everyone’s name is tough! Scott Kaplan and his family also came out for the breakfast. 

186 Miles for the 1090 Cycling Team

Today was an epic bicycle ride with Keith Jensen, who is by far the strongest rider among the radio contestants. I foolishly let him talk me into doing a 300KM (186 miles) Brevet from San Diego Old Town to Sunset beach and back again. He is riding a Brevet series to try and qualify for the Paris-Brest- Paris 1200K bicycle race next year. This is the oldest bicycling event still regularly run.

This was the longest ride I have ever done and I’m glad I did it with Keith. I basically “sat on his wheel” with my head down trying to stay somewhat aero almost the entire ride. I was just trying to hang on the entire day. I would not want to ride this distance by myself even though riding this distance alone is typical for many long distance cyclists. I figured that if I could complete this distance that I would probably be able to complete the 620 mile ride down the coast in October. I also thought it would be a good way to promote the CAF and the Scott and BR cycling team since we wore the 1090/CAF bicycling jersey.

No major issues during the ride except I did have one flat which did slow us up some. I also tried to take Keith out very close to the end of the ride but no major damage except again for some lost time. I did get pretty tired at about mile 130 but felt better again at about mile 150. My feet also got a little numb toward the end of the ride for a little bit. I may move my cleats back on my shoe to try and get rid of this issue. We also had several close calls with some motorists who weren’t paying attention. The closest one being with a very large motor home who even though they had plenty of space on the road, managed to pass by us with a total of 6 inches to spare! Usually I’m extremely polite to motorists even if I think they are in the wrong but a few choice words were yelled at that driver!

I'm a little tired after 300K!

Several interesting parts of the ride were riding on the side of the highway between Oceanside and San Clemente. The vehicles going by you at 65 (or closer to 80 in California!) can be a little intimating. They actually do sort “of suck” you along though and our speed was probably one mph faster than normal during this stretch. The stretch through Laguna Beach is also interesting. Lots of art galleries, pretty scenery, beaches, etc. but lots of cars parked on the street with very little room to ride. This is not a stretch of the ride I would like to do again.

Our overall ride time was 11:34 for the ride and 09:41 of on the bike time for an average speed of 18.9. The scenery and weather were great all day! Special thanks to Keith for convincing me to do this and taking me along on this ride. He went slower than he probably normally does just so I could hang on.

And yes, I am sore from sitting for almost 200 miles on a little bitty seat but what a great day!

CAF BBQ

Great CAF BBQ last night at Dean Roeper’s house. Thank you Dean and special thanks to Scott Rhodes who did all the cooking! To cook everyone else’s food (it was bring your own) on a grill that is not your own is really challenging and Scott did a great job. Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray made it out for the event along with several Challenged Athletes, and Bob Babbitt who is Competitor Magazines editor and a very vocal advocate for challenged athletes. It was great to socialize with everyone off the bikes. It’s always amazing to me how different everyone looks with no helmet, sunglasses, and out of all the bright, lycra bicycling clothing. For example, you would never know that I was hair challenged (i.e. bald) underneath the bike helmet! I did get to talk with both Scott and Billy Ray for awhile. Both are really great guys and very easy to talk with. You can definitely tell that BR is an ex-football player (San Diego Charger) when you shake hands with him. He has some serious meat hooks for hands!

Left to Right:  Billy Ray Smith, Jesse Martinez, Todd Barrow, Jesse Mindlin,  Chris Glossner, Daniel Weickgenant, Dave Mitchell, Me, Mark Estrada, Keith Jensen, Scott Kaplan
Thanks Mark for the Picture

Week 11 Training

Great ride today! I started with Group 2 today. At about 5 miles into the ride we came across Group 1 with their usual beginning of the ride flat tire. It wasn’t long before they caught our group again and start passing us. I decided to make the effort to try and hang as long as I could even though there was a lot of climbing left before the fist SAG. I somehow managed to hang on (with a couple pushes in the back by Joe! Thanks!) until we got to Scripps Poway Parkway (SPP). I got dropped during the 1.75 mile climb to the top of SPP and 67. But the SAG was at the top of the climb and there were two more Group 1 riders behind me, so no big deal.

After the SAG, there are several climbs up the 67 toward Ramona. I knew that if I could stay with Group 1 for another 3.5 miles of mostly climbing, I could probably finish the entire ride with them. So, I rolled out with them but at about 3.1 miles, I got dropped. So I chased them by myself for the next 20 miles. I was bound and determined to try and catch them before they left the next SAG stop andto not let Group 2 catch me. And I did it! I rolled into the SAG just as Group 1 was getting to roll out, so I went with them. Not bad for an old guy who spent too many years smoking! What a great feeling of personnel satisfaction and I did manage to hang on to the group for another 18 miles until the end of the ride.

While riding near Ramona on Warnock Rd, I noticed some small signs stuck in the ground next to the road that had CAF and XX1090 stickers and some nice words about the radio contestants. I have no idea who put them there but it certainly cheered me up! (Note: A couple weeks later I learned that Keith’s wife, Esther had put the signs by the road! Very nice!)

I didn't take any pictures today :(