From Proctor to Hinckley: A Tale of Two Crashes

I was spending this evening staring at the TV until a thunderstorm rolled through that killed our satellite signal. So I decided to turn off the tube, turn on some music, and write while I listen to the thunder and the rain outside my windows.

I promised to write part II of my cycling adventure this past weekend so hear it is.

We were so lucky with the weather on Friday night into Saturday morning.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temp only dropped into the lower 50s. Wow, such a change from prior years when the tent and grass surrounding it were covered in frost.  It was definitely a welcomed change.  We were awake and up by 4:30 when everyone else around us started rustling in their tents. I never sleep well on the ground so I did not get a full night's rest but I was up anyway.  Dad and I assessed the weather and dressed appropriately.  There was a chance for rain so we had our rain gear in tow.  We got our teeth brushed and broke down the tent, packing things away. The MS 150 organizers allow each rider two pieces of luggage, which we both utilized. Camping gear sure does take up a ton of room.  The other great thing the organizers do is transport your luggage from Proctor to Hinckley, and then again from Hinckley to our final destination in White Bear Lake.  After we got our baggage on the truck, we decided to skip the lines for the complementary pancake breakfast and get on the road.  The ride didn't officially start until 6:30 but we departed right around 6:00 to beat the crowds.  There were 3,800 riders this year!  That's a lot of people to share the road with.

We were off! The air was a little chilly and the side roads we certainly bumpy.  Because of last year's flooding in Duluth (pictures) we had to delay our entrance onto the Willard Munger State Trail.  This year's high rains still made some of the rivers a sight to be seen.  We finally hopped on the trail in the town of Carlton where our first rest stop was located. Ride organizers place rest stops every 10-15 miles along the route. It's helpful to break down the ride into smaller segments; it doesn't seem so daunting.

The ride was going smoothly until we got to a curvy part in the trail.  Most of the trail is an old rail line so, as you can guess, the trail is pretty flat and very straight. These curvy hills really snuck up on us with no warning.  They were fast and fun. That is until we came up on a group of people stopping us at the top of a hill.  A rider was on the ground off to the side of the trail. Another man was holding his head still and blood was dripping heavily from his nose.  A few other riders were stopped on their cell phones.  We jumped off our bikes and started walking, along with the other cyclists that had been riding near us.  We were told an ambulance had been called and was coming.  That was true.  We were forced off our bikes again, happily, when we encountered the emergency vehicle a few miles up the trail.  We later heard that he was passing another cyclist on one of the uphill climbs and the person he was passing lost control of his bike and swung out in front of him, hitting his tire and causing him to crash.  As far as we heard, he broke his collar bone but was going to be alright. 

At the last rest stop, Dad and I slipped in with a group of riders that said they average about 15-16 mph, just a little faster than our 14mph averages we typically ride.  We were keeping good pace with them for the last 12 mile leg of the ride into Hinckley until we came up on the second crash of the day.  This time though the trail had been shut down with a SAG vehicle blocking the path at an intersection.  We were told there was a multi-rider crash about a mile up the trail and they were not letting us through until it was cleared.  Understandable.  Dad and I waited for about ten minutes before we decided there had to be a detour around the crash.  We asked some of the support volunteers where the highway was.  We found out it was just half a mile from where we were.  We were warned by the SAG that we would not be supported.  I dont think they realized that we never ride supported and that we would be fine.  Dad, another rider from our team, and myself set out on a great adventure down the highway.  We soon found that a lot of the rest of the stuck crowd followed us. We were sure glad we did that. We later heard that riders that stayed waited another hour and a half after we left. The crash made the local news.   We also found out that one of the members of our team was involved but was deemed alright with a concussion.

We soon found our way into Hinckley.  Saturday's festivities were being held on Grand Casino's grounds.  Our team tent was set up with tables, chairs, pig roast and beer.  Oh! That beer certainly tasted wonderful!  I had one as we were walking to the shower trucks (semi trailers set up with shower stalls) and another soon after my shower.  There is nothing as good as a hot shower and a cold beer after riding 73 miles on a bike in one day.  Mom and Alyssa drove to Hinckley to join us for dinner in the tent. There were awards given, more beer drank, and a team picture taken.  Since it was supposed to rain early in the morning, Dad and I opted to set up our tend under the big top.  After the tables and chairs were broken down in the team tent, we set up shop, along with 5-6 other campers that didn't want to brave the rain in the morning.

Join me next time for Part 3.  "From Hinckley to White Bear Lake: Mostly Rain and a SAG Wagon

C.H. Robinson MN MS 150 2013: Part I

Well, I did it! I completed the 2013 MS 150 mile bike ride.  I'm a little achy and a little stiff but it was so worth it AND I had a great time with my dad.   I don't have many pictures from the weekend so I'll just recap the ride.

I drove to the Twin Cities on Thursday afternoon.  I wanted to make sure I didn't feel rushed getting to Century College on Friday afternoon.  After running some last minute errands on Friday morning, Dad and I loaded up the car with our bikes and gear and set off. 

Sporting Team Donaldson jerseys.

This is the first year I rode with a team.  I chose to ride with Team Donaldson because my dad works for Donaldson.  This year, Team Donaldson was the largest team with 278 team members and we raised over $220,000.  I will tell you my individual results at the end of my post. 

My dad and I were lucky enough to get on the first bus to Duluth.  It was great to get to Proctor early so that we could pick any camp site we wanted for our tent.  There are tons of hotel options in Duluth, which is just down the interstate, but we always choose to camp out. There is something about freezing in the cold June air with other strangers snoring around you.  We end up camping in Hinckley too.  We realized while we were setting up our tent that we managed to forget the tent stakes at home.  We figured there was a hardware store in town that might have some that they would sell us. Our camping neighbors had some extras they lent to us so our tent wouldn't blow away in the mean time.  We did find some stakes at the store and, since we were in town, we ventured out to find some dinner. We found that most of the eating establishments in Proctor were shut down, probably due to poor economic times.  We ended up at the Moose Lodge where they had some great people serving amazing hamburger baskets for $5.

On the way back to camp, we picked up our bikes from the corral and stopped to talk to the guys at the Erik's Bike Shop tent about getting my aero bars taped up (which I had forgotten to do before we left.) Since they were so bored (not many riders had gotten into town yet), we decided to have them fit both of us for bike seats for future purchases, as well as adjust our bikes to make sure they will ride great in the morning.  Thanks Erik's!  We were soon back in our tent, all staked down so it wouldn't blow away in the dark.  We settled down for the night at 9pm knowing we would have to get up around 4:30 to start packing to make a 6:00 start.

Stop by tomorrow for the first leg of the ride, "From Proctor to Hinckley: A Tale of Two Crashes".

Garmin Cycling & Running

I got a Garmin for Christmas from my Hubby. I'm sorry if I've already written about this but I don't believe I have. It was something I had wanted for a long time. It is a great tool to use for training. Of course, it's not necessary but it does make things easier.

When I was running this last Spring and Summer, I was using a combination of a watch with a timer and mapping out my distances when I got home from my run. The numbers weren't exact but I am hopeful they were pretty close. It took some extra work but it was the only way I had available to me for tracking my progress.

Well so Hubby bought me this Garmin watch for Christmas along with all the accessories. He got me the foot pod, the heart rate monitor and the set up for my bike.

The first time I put this one on, I thought it was really bulky. I've gotten used to it the more I wear it.  I like how it is able to keep track of my running while I'm inside with the foot pod. During the Summer, when I'll be running outside, it has a GPS feature that I am sure I will be using more often.

The accessory that I am really just starting to use is on my bike. My wonderful Hubby, that keeps buying me healthy Christmas gifts, got me a Cyclops trainer for indoor training for my bike last year. The problem i was running into was tracking my speed and distance. When I ride my bike outside, the computer that is attached tracks from the front tire. On the trainer, its the back tire and not the front tire that rotates. Since the front tire isn't moving, I'm not getting any numbers on my computer. I really didn't want to buy another wired computer for my back tire since it would only be for the Winter months. So Hubby thought this would be a great compromise because the Garmin has a bike kit that will allow me to use the watch to wirelessly receive information about my cadence, distance, and speed while I work out.

Numbers are always a good thing for me. Having numbers pushes me to push myself a little further. This is what Garmin gives me to track my numbers.

Check out this link for my readings.

What do you use to track your workouts?

Only 80 Days!

Happy July 4th!

Rhythm & Booms 2011 from Memorial Union

There are only 80 days left before my first duathon! It really hit me when my sister and mom came down to visit last weekend. My sister was down here to do a training run of the Iron Man route. She had made a comment about a few of the people doing the bike loops. Some of the people were only able to do the 40 mile loop. If they were unable to atleast do the 80 mile loop by now, they were going to be hurting by the time the race came around at the beginning of September. This got me thinking, am I really ready for my race? I hadn't gotten any road miles in that were more than 17. My ride in September is 22 miles! I know it's not terribly far but I should know that I can do that in under the time limit of 2.5 hours, right? Oh and I can't forget that I have to do that after running two miles, which I still can't do ( I am frustrated about that ). I did get in a 18 mile ride on Saturday, on mostly flat trail. I then did 20.75 miles today on roads. Boy, that was a hard one with some of the hills I came up to. I did walk my bike on one hill but stayed on for the rest of the hills.

I have to start working in some of those brick workouts. I know I can't run the required two miles but who really cares at this point? I know I can finish. I just have to get off the bike in 2.5 hours, which I'm pretty sure I can do.

I stopped by a sports store today to see if they had any tri-shorts. They did...they had one pair, size small...yea right! I will just have to start looking online to order them. I also need to buy another water bottle. I ran out of water about three miles from home today. I also need to start looking at some fuel for my rides. Any suggestions?

I've been so inspired this week by some of my friends that have completed some goals in the past few weeks. Trinona and a half marathon! You guys keep pushing me to train.

Oh and yay for long weekends followed  by a four day work week!

Failure and Success!

I'm not sure what I'm about to say is me admitting to failure or not.

I gave up being a vegetarian about 3 1/2 weeks into the adventure. I was finding that my legs were cramping up far too much during my jogging and thought that maybe it was due to my giving up meat. I'm still not very sure if this is really the real reason for the leg cramping. The real problem is probably that I actually find that I am gaining weight instead of losing it. I think I replaced a lot of the lack of meat with carbs, carbs, and more carbs. The carbs just wore me down. I found as I slowly worked some protein back into my diet in the form of meat, I felt like I had more energy.

This vegetarian thing has really opened my tastebuds to try new things. I learned that I love marinated onions and peppers. I learned that I really like to try new things and that vegetarian items are worth the try and really do taste good! I think I will be trying to incorporate vegetarian meals into my daily menu. My hubby is still doing the vegetarian diet and even opted for a vegetarian meal at Taco Bell today, which he actually liked!

When I got home today from work I was in a bad mood and on the fence about working out. I didn't really want to get out and run, even though the weather was perfect for it. I really just wanted to sit on the couch. I knew my bike was still set up in the basement and that my bike shorts were up on the bedroom floor. But I really just wanted to sit on the couch and watch the news.  But then I thought to myself that I could watch the news while I rode the bike. So that's what I did. I marched up the stairs to pull on the wonderful black spandex padded shorts, my sports bra and a tee shirt. I threw my hair up into a ponytail and slipped on my bike gloves. I turned on the tv and got moving. I pedaled so hard at one point that I broke off the plastic part that holds my foot in place. I suppose it is time to get my bike affixed with those nifty shoe cleats. I wanted to stop so many times but I just kept going. I did 40 minutes...and felt AMAZING when I was done.

Dinner was ready for me after I was done on the bike. It was so yummy and all I could talk about was how glad I was that I got off my ass to work out. I really want this to become a habit and I think I am slowly getting there.