Sunday, May 29, 2005
Bike the Drive
I managed to complete 30 miles at this year's Bike The Drive.
Highlights:
4:15AM - Shea & I leave the house early in order to get on Lake Shore Drive before it is closed for the ride.
5:00AM - All registered and warmed-up, we sit on our bikes near the front of the pack at the starting line. I start to wonder if maybe I'm a little nuts.
5:35AM - Off we go! Shea sets the pace at speeds up to 21.5 MPH. Keeping up with him downhill towards 18th street remarkably easy.
5:45AM - Not so easy anymore. Shea pulls further and further ahead as I gasp for breath and clutch my chest on the approach to 31st street.
6:15AM - Museum of Science and Inudstry driveway, turnaround at the southern end of the course. Many miles to go, but fortunately there is plenty of free junk food available to intrepid cyclists.
6:45AM - Oak Street "S-Curve" and the day's only mishap. Drop my water bottle onto the road. As I dismount my bike and start to run back I suddenly realize, I can't run at all--my legs wont pull up more than an inch from the pavement. Limping back to my bike, I realize I have no choice now but to finish this thing, as walking away no longer possible.
7:10AM - Bryn Mawr on-ramp, north end of the course. Lots of people, junk food, and grassy space to collapse upon. 22 miles down, 8 to go. Shea has already finished and indicated by cellphone that he we will do another short course for fun, thus proving that he is even more nuts than I am. Lots more free junk food. Strapped a candy bar to my bike and headed off for the final leg downtown.
7:20AM - Shea mistakenly thinks he sees me riding south at Fullerton and abandons his second ride. He is still convinced that he saw my evil twin.
7:45AM - Crossed the finish line at Monroe. Feel like a million bucks, except in my legs where I can't feel much of anything.
8:00AM - Pancakes and sausage have never tasted so good!!
9:00AM - Not much to see but crappy t-shirts and overpriced bikey things. Having regained the ability to walk, Shea and I get back in the car and head home.
Later that night we had a huge barbeque with a bunch of friends. After dinner, while our friends played Crainium, Shea and I passed out on the back porch over a bottle of Knob Creek.
(Note: I would finaly take the candy bar off my bike Wednesday night and eat it at work around 2AM. It was yummy.)
posted by Full Metal Lunchbox @ 12:00 PM
Highlights:
4:15AM - Shea & I leave the house early in order to get on Lake Shore Drive before it is closed for the ride.
5:00AM - All registered and warmed-up, we sit on our bikes near the front of the pack at the starting line. I start to wonder if maybe I'm a little nuts.
5:35AM - Off we go! Shea sets the pace at speeds up to 21.5 MPH. Keeping up with him downhill towards 18th street remarkably easy.
5:45AM - Not so easy anymore. Shea pulls further and further ahead as I gasp for breath and clutch my chest on the approach to 31st street.
6:15AM - Museum of Science and Inudstry driveway, turnaround at the southern end of the course. Many miles to go, but fortunately there is plenty of free junk food available to intrepid cyclists.
6:45AM - Oak Street "S-Curve" and the day's only mishap. Drop my water bottle onto the road. As I dismount my bike and start to run back I suddenly realize, I can't run at all--my legs wont pull up more than an inch from the pavement. Limping back to my bike, I realize I have no choice now but to finish this thing, as walking away no longer possible.
7:10AM - Bryn Mawr on-ramp, north end of the course. Lots of people, junk food, and grassy space to collapse upon. 22 miles down, 8 to go. Shea has already finished and indicated by cellphone that he we will do another short course for fun, thus proving that he is even more nuts than I am. Lots more free junk food. Strapped a candy bar to my bike and headed off for the final leg downtown.
7:20AM - Shea mistakenly thinks he sees me riding south at Fullerton and abandons his second ride. He is still convinced that he saw my evil twin.
7:45AM - Crossed the finish line at Monroe. Feel like a million bucks, except in my legs where I can't feel much of anything.
8:00AM - Pancakes and sausage have never tasted so good!!
9:00AM - Not much to see but crappy t-shirts and overpriced bikey things. Having regained the ability to walk, Shea and I get back in the car and head home.
Later that night we had a huge barbeque with a bunch of friends. After dinner, while our friends played Crainium, Shea and I passed out on the back porch over a bottle of Knob Creek.
(Note: I would finaly take the candy bar off my bike Wednesday night and eat it at work around 2AM. It was yummy.)
posted by Full Metal Lunchbox @ 12:00 PM
