kurthiggins.com

The Saratoga 12/24 endurance ride

The day after
I feel really good. My knees are the worst with lingering aches–I was pushing harder on my final lap to try to keep my average up and probably did the most damage then.

The big day
While the never-ending rain was a hindrance physically, it was actually a little invigorating and compelling emotionally. I had gone to Blue Sky Cycles earlier in the week and noticed they had rain jackets–I didn’t think much of it because I already have one, but theirs had vents the entire length of the arm and body whereas mine just had small vents in the pits. I bought the redundant jacket and used it instead with greater success I think. I also noticed a cold-weather jacket on a clearance rack… I may have to go back for that… My feet were chronically cold. The sock changes helped me tremendously, but I need to get better protection in the future.

The women’s record setter, Christine (Graham of Westerfield, Ohio), and I rode together a fair amount (as together as the 10 meter no-drafting rule can be). At one point, after the northern checkpoint, I had to chase her down about a 1/2 mile because the missed the right onto route 29. She does a lot of these rides with her husband (the bloke on the recumbent) even though he’s so much faster than her. She says she likes the safety net of the support crew and doesn’t have to rely on herself or her husband as much in an emergency.

Save for one issue, my equipment performed flawlessly–the front derailleur got progressively harder and harder to shift. I suspect grit got into the cabling. Imagine that, another water-related issue for me! Rick is going to get tired of me coming in saying “Ok, I got stuck in rain, and…” (Note: later I found it was a problem with the cable guide under the bottom bracket–a little lube and it was all better.)

Random things I remember:
- the high-wheel (how *does* he ride that thing!?)
- the dead cat and dead deer carcasses greeting us at the beginning of each lap
- the stinging of the rain on the descent of Bacon Hill
- the dreamy comfort of pulling on clean dry socks
- the joy of finding a new hand/arm position on the hoods and staving off neck and shoulder aches another few hours
- the flora and fauna–tiger lilies en masse, goldfinches, horses and little sheep looking noncommittal
- whistling to the horse and watching him respond and trot next to me for a few meters
- that tiny peter pan action figure on the shoulder on 32 by the xmas tree farm
- Gabriel’s mailbox. No there’s nothing special about it, it’s just the one name I kept seeing.
- the sickly-sweet smell of manure
- noticing I was in a minority by not having aero bars (John, dude, we *have* to have those for next time!)
- counting at least two riders listening to music.
- having the crap scared out of me when an overly friendly rider shouted a greeting while passing me
- speaking of scaring me, the pack of dogs on the north end of 32 were just a couple of MilkBones away from launching themselves right over their paltry 4 ft chain-link fence
- hitting 100 at 5:40 (woo hoo! only 22 mins off my group century PR!)
- counting the seconds between light changes to time my uninterrupted pass through the intersection
- passing my previous high mileage PR of 137 (almost) effortlessly
- eating the *best* peanut butter sandwich *ever*
- thinking, “hey these organic Clif bars are pretty good”
- the unsociableness of the guys in the thepeloton.net support car
- the remarkable sociability of the volunteers
- getting out of the saddle on the flats just to change things up a bit
- counting to 100 in French
- thinking how unnatural a cadence above 90 feels for me (gotta work on that)
- enjoying the comfort of my car as as a home base (man, was that a scary sight at the end of the day, even only using it 3 times)
- not having a single mechanical
- a smiling and enthusiastic Anthony snapping pix and cheering me on (Thanks a million, buddy!)
- realizing that the fact that I *can* do this is reward enough

John sent me a link to an article in the Saratogian: http://www.saratogian.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1169&dept_id=349537&newsid=14835361&PAG=740&rfi=9

Saratoga 12/24 website:
http://www.jjctech.com/saratoga24.htm

From the Post Star newspaper:

From the Ultracycling website:
http://www.ultracycling.com/results/saratoga2005.html

Later the organizer, John, emailed me a corrected list of results with me in one position better–14th.

Hi Kurt,
Below are the corrected final official results! We did make a few errors, and apologize to everyone involved. If you still see anything, please let me know as soon as possible. If I don’t hear any objections, I intend to submit these results to the UMCA and post them on our website this weekend.
Now, for a little business:
If you wish to purchase a plaque commemorating your experience, you may do so now. The cost is $25 (which includes shipping) payable to JJC Technology. Please let me know by July 18th if you intend to get one. Delivery time should be about 14 days.
Sandy Whittlesey is going to write an article about the race for the UMCA magazine. If you have a story or comment you wish to be considered for his article, contact him at: saundersw03@yahoo.com.
Many thanks to all of our volunteers, including: Bill Schwarz, Mike Kazmierczak, Jen Kazmierczak (I) and Jen Kazmierczak (II), their friend Lisa, Amanda Nann, Lynzee Nann, John Ceceri III, Anthony Ceceri and especially Kathy Ceceri for helping out. I’d also like to thank all of the riders and crew members who stayed after they finished racing and helped. Even if you just hung around the table and kept us company, it was very much appreciated.
I would also like to thank our sponsors: Hammer Nutrition, Princeton Tec Lighting, Clif Bar, Cycle Therapy, Stewart’s Shops, Freihofer’s Bakery, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Allerdice Building Supply. Their donations of food and supplies was very generous. I would also like to thank the Burgoyne Motor Inn for putting up with our craziness once again and the Village of Schuylerville for all of their support.
Finally, I would like to thank you for coming and helping to make this the great event that it turned out to be. Without your participation, this race would not be possible.
Thanks again for coming, and I hope to see you next year. If you can’t wait till then, we are holding the Adirondack 540 September 16th – 18th!
John Ceceri, Race Director

FINAL OFFICIAL RESULTS

HUDSON RIVER RAMBLE 12 HOUR RACE
MEN
Saunders Whittlesey • Deerfield, MA • 250.3 Miles • NEW COURSE RECORD!
Bud Eichorn • Somers, NY • 241.3 Miles
Brad Tanner • Henniker, NH • 226.3 Miles
Brook Wolcott • Camden, NY • 213.4 Miles
John Mc Cann • Schuylerville, NY • 207.4 Miles
David Hotaling • Latham, NY • 205.4 Miles
James Cartwright • Muncie, IN • 202.4 Miles
Kenneth Silvestri • Niantic, CT • 201.9 Miles
Patrick Flemming • Bloomingdale, NJ • 201.4 Miles
Joe Gaudio • Niantic, CT • 191.4 Miles
Herb Petersen • East Lyme, CT • 191.4 Miles
Chris Dutcher • Chaumont, NY • 191.4 Miles
Garrett Loomis • Williamsburg, MA • 191.4 Miles
Kurt Higgins • Gansevoort, NY • 187.9 Miles
Rick Gowen • Bolton, CT • 181.0 Miles
John Kazmierczak • South Glens Falls, NY • 162.5 Miles
Kyle Graham • Camden, NY • 159.5 Miles
Paul Evans • Waynesboro, VA • 159.5 Miles
Bruce Farenwald • Hopkinton, NH • 159.5
Dick Murphy • Glens Falls, NY • 159.5 Miles
Ronald Harlos • Bloomingdale, NJ • 159.5 Miles
Bjarte Furnes • Ithaca, NY • 95.7 Miles
Brian Lafferty • Longmeadow, MA • DNS

WOMEN
Christine Graham • Westerville, OH • 186.5 Miles • NEW COURSE RECORD!
Lisa Floryshak-Windham • Purdys, NY • 120.7 Miles

RECUMBENT
Larry Graham • Westerville, OH • 241.8 Miles • COURSE RECORD!

HIGH WHEELER
Bill Ingraham • Scituate, MA • 42.6 Miles

SARATOGA CHALLENGE 24 HOUR RACE
MEN
John Jurczynski • Holderness, NH • 420.7 Miles
John Fuoco • Ithaca, NY • 411.8 Miles
Russ Loomis • Williamsburg, MA • 369.9 Miles
Brian Uline • Sloatsburg, NY • 354.9 Miles
Ralph Pruitt • Holmes, NY • 326.0 Miles
Jon Pasch • Virginia Beach, VA • 319.0 Miles
John Blaszczal • Virginia Beach, VA • 287.1 Miles
Angel Mitevski • Rochester Hills, NY • 223.3 Miles
Jim Melville • Stuyvesant, NY • 208.4 Miles

Modifying users and groups in Mac OS X

From http://www.macosx.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-192.html

Apple took out the groovy util they had in DP4 which made it *really* easy to do all this. Now, you have to alter the NetInfo database directly. Here is what you do:

1. Run up /Applications/Utilities/NetInfoManager

2. In the window that comes up (looks sort of like the NeXT file browser, as it should, since NetInfo was an OpenStep creation), go to /groups. In the thid column will be a list of the user groups that exist thus far.

3. Select one of the groups (admin is a good example one). A list of properties and values will appear below. Each group has at least these properties: `passwd’, `gid’, and `name’. `passwd’ should be `*’ for all of the groups. If you don’t know what gid and name do, then you shouldn’t be messing with groups. (Although you sound like you know already). Some groups have a fourth property: `users’, which has, as its value(s), user names.

4. To add/remove a user, add/remove their name value from the `users’ property. If you want to add, you do it by selecting hte property and choosing “append value” from the “Directory” menu. Note: make sure you click the lock in the bottom left to make changes!

5. To add a user group, you can either create a new directory in /groups of the NetInfoDatabase, and add all the proper attributes, or, more easily, Duplicate an existing one, and change the name and gid. Then, add and remove users as desired.

6. IMPORTANT: You won’t be able to use your changes unless you either (a) restart, or (b), choose to restart the NetInfo Server from the “Options” menu.

7. You should be able to `chown’ directories (that are not on a classic drive) from su with no problems!