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ADK 540

It was another epic ride for me in a year of big personal achievements. Most climbing in a single ride PR. I completed one lap of the 136 mile course. Four laps comprise the entire ADK 540 event.

The course is really quite breathtakingly beautiful (even with overcast skies all day). There are soaring mountains, roaring rivers, sheer cliff faces, and even some wide open spaces giving you a tremendous panoramic view (I’m looking forward to seeing John’s pics).

The climbs were not steep mind you, just long and frequent. The consequences of this record-setting climbing have made me seriously considered chamois cream. Sitting on the utilitarian chairs in the pizza place afterwards for dinner was very uncomfortable.

The pavement was great except for one noteworthy–scratch that– horrific, stretch of road towards the end. It was a constant task to look ahead and choose the easier path between the rhythmic pounding of seams in the concrete or bunny-hop over the rut/ridge to the broken, stone-strewn asphalt shoulder.

It was a treat riding on roads that were totally new (I had never driven on many of these roads, let alone ridden them).

The organization was very good, though the support was sparse near the end of the loop (next time, I’ll bring more water bottles with me). Once on the bad stretch of highway, I didn’t see another rider or support vehicle for about an hour and had serious doubts about my navigation. After stopping for a few minutes to triple-check the abbreviated cue-sheet and my GPS I determined that, yes, I was still on course and destined for many more miles of crap before turning east onto 74.

Ah, Rt 74. Finally, the last leg. Great pavement. Good shoulders. And rollers. Ok, I’ve gone 120 miles now, I figure the worst is behind me, I can take a few rollers. No sweat. Well the rain starts now. Ok, I can take some rain, I’m warm, I’ve been wet on the bike before and for a lot longer. No problem. Actually, the rain is sometimes a welcome change, and this time no different. Now, since I have a GPS, a consequence of this is that I’m always aware of my altitude. I’m a numbers geek, so I like having that info. Here I am 120 or so miles into a ride that started around 200 feet of elevation (I forget exactly, but know it was very low). These rollers are keeping me around 700′-900′ (again, my memory is a little fuzzy, but the numbers are good enough for this story). Where’s the big descent? Around mile 128 or so I look ahead and see this LONG climb. I’m talking LONG. Especially after 128 miles of what felt like 100 of ‘em uphill. Where the hell is the descent?! You’re giving me MORE climbing? Well, I let loose with a string of expletives that would have made my dog blush.

Once I got that out of my system, it was easier to climb.

The descent was glorious. Though I had to ride my brakes since it was raining and the stinging drops were getting painful. And, the three 18-wheelers that passed me made me very nervous. Each one left me momentarily blinded by the spray, deafened by the roar, and shaken by the wind. The finish was a mere mile or two away from the descent.

Thankfully, the rider I chatted up in the first 1/2 mile, John B., invited us to indulge in his hotel room’s shower. What a relief that shower made! John B. was doing three laps and on his way to a course record (no one has done three laps before, so his would be the record!)

I met Mark who competed in this year’s RAAM on the Webcor Team and is training for a solo RAAM next year. And, rode briefly with Ross from our 200k ride at the beginning of the season.

I also ended up leaving the event with a plaque for 3rd place (John got 2nd… Great job John!). Whether or not I can keep it after Saturday’s riders have a go at a single lap remains to be seen–I’m not holding my breath on that.

Things I noticed:

• a preponderance of Monarch Butterflies
• you absolutely HAVE to check your tire after a flat for the offending object
• I’m faster at patching than changing tubes
• three Pontiac Fieros. This must be where the remaining wannabe sports cars went to live out their lives.
• Endurance riders are really friendly
• Young endurance riders, slightly less so and more focused on their performance
• the submenu button on my HR monitor isn’t working well anymore
• leaf-peeping in this area has to be stupendous
• fishermen (and one fisherwoman) in full waders n’ gear getting ready to do their thing
• all the fishing boats in the hotel parking lot when we got back (must be a tourney going on)
• the ski jumps in Lake Placid are really TALL!
• the realization that I had 10 slices of pizza within 24 hours
• 45 to 60 mins between feeding comes REALLY fast. I felt like I had JUST eaten all the time, but have learned the hard way to ignore that feeling and watch the clock.
• a creak on the right side of the bike again. I thought it might be the bottom bracket, but it still might be the right pedal.
• quaint and pretty towns dotted the course
• this event’s t-shirt is much better than the Saratoga 12/24 t-shirt
• finished feeling like I would NOT want to do 2 laps in the future
• a day later, felt like I POSSIBLY could do two laps since it would take about 18-20 hours. But the climbing! Mon dieu!

Burning down the house

Well, maybe not burning so much as toppling. This is what I saw on my ride on Wednesday:

This was in Mechanicville. (Click here for satellite view of location. The center of the map is the location of the factory.) It was one of the factory buildings damaged in the tornado years ago. John and I were about 70 miles into our 110 mile ride when we passed this just before it toppled. Three big pieces of equipment were working on this–two on the left were pushing and one on the right was pulling. For a better sense of scale, notice the guy walking around in the middle of the frame.

Luckily John has a video capture mode on his digital camera. Oh, the joy of being gadget geeks.