Updates...

Not much happening 'round here...in brief:

1.) Got a good one in on Wednesday, whereby I rode about 75-to-80% of the 100 mile+ Heck of the North course with a bunch of great guys from Ely, Grand Marais, and Duluth. It was very hot & windy, and because I had to be back at 3:30 I had to bail early. So on Friday morning, solo, I back tracked and rode the last half of the course in relatively good time as the weather was perfect. The Heck of the North course is unique to the Midwestern gravel road routes that I am familiar with, in that it is decidedly not farm country. Also, there are three short, but tough sections of squalidness on the course that can help to even up the playing field to some extent as there are long sections that could favor the pure roadie-types...

As of last week the first squalid section was quite ride-able except for a brief swampy pond that required a quick dismount. Yet the last two sections consisted of pure squalor forcing one to dismount many times and hiking-the-bike through high grasses, complete with swampy morasses and unforgiving hummocks.

October 2nd is the date and itz gonna be a great one!!! Bravo Mr. Kershaw!!!

2.) Been reading some really good books of late: Right now I am working through Betty Smith's, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This is a great work of American Literature and in my mind should rank up there with To Kill a Mockingbird or the equivalent.

3.) As of Saturday, for the first time since before the Trans-Iowa, this week I have broken the 20 hour barrier for training rides and more importantly, I have further regained my excitement for racing, which has suffered since completion of mid-June's Trans Wisconsin and compounded by my poor showing a few weeks ago at the Levis-Trow 100. Due to all the construction on our house and the headaches that come with it, I am limiting myself to racing just the 24 Hours @ Seven Oaks for the remainder of the summer season. To prepare for the 24 hours trial, I plan to concentrate on longer rides on single-track. As alluded to above I am also totally pumped for the Heck of the North, December's Tuscobia 150, and the classic 2011 Arrowhead 135...

4.) We have watched several films of late with adult themes as off-spring was off to YMCA camp including the Swedish film, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Shutter Island. The Swedish work was top-notch and highly entertaining if somewhat disturbing, while Shutter Island was an utter failure and cannot be recommended...

5.) I am still trying to get at writing up that last chapter in what will surely go down as the highlight race of the 2010 Summer season for the author; namely The Trans-Wisconsin. Once school starts, I will surely have more ambition to really sit down and put pen to paper in an attempt to convey the surreality of those last hours of that epic experience that I shared with Jeremy Kershaw...

Jason Buffington of the DBD currently holding on to second place at the 24 Hours @ 9 Mile...

Whilst mowing my smallish lawn yesterday around dusk under the watchful eye of a discerning wife, I felt a slight fatigue in me legs and thus stopped for a brief respite. Suddenly a salty, incomprehensible watery solution began to fill my eyes...Confused, I first thought that a remnant of what is left of my house had flown into my eyes, but then reality struck. I knew that it was the bittersweet tears of the aged and washed-out warrior...For in that moment, I was confronted with an inescapable truth: That as I grumbled and tottered about mowing my little lawn, my DBD comrade was well into the most manly of endeavors--24 hours @ 9 Mile...Whilst I complain about a little mundane yardwork, BRAVE Buffington is fighting the devilish and unrelenting foes of physical exhaustion and mental doubt...Humbled, I pressed on with the mowing, but with a gait that revealed a pride in having trained with that man...such is the only comfort available to a domesticated man, a man well past his prime...with a bleak future filled only with yardwork and the like....

Update: (Sunday, 8:00 a.m.)
With just four hours left, Buffington is in second place behind the formidable Ron Stawicki....such honor is a rare thing! Bravo Buffington!!! Capital Effort!!!

I am still out there....

Please forgive me for my lack of recent prose production...but the remodel of this OLD HOUSE, including itz 1920s wiring has made updating this blog from home very difficult during the deconstruction/construction project. A project that will take until October to complete...The bad news is that it may very well bankrupt us. The good news is that once this project is complete, we will be happier, better, and more committed US Citizens...Content in knowing in your hearts that we have done our part to help stimulate the Northland's economy by providing local employment for talented craftsmen and helping the nice bankers to get back in their yachts!!!

Things I am working on or need to get busy with: 1. Finishing up the last chapter of the Trans-Wisconsin; 2. Race Recap on the Levis-Trow 100 (it hurt me); 3. Critiques of recent books that I have read (including the weighty, Unbound: Women of the Long March, and WAR by S. Junger).

I am working on getting my immediate authorities (the wife and off-spring) to sanction me for participation in Salsa's 24 Hours @ Afton... Mostly because I want to support Salsa...because they are such a cool group of people and I am still planning on (and dreaming about) racing Solo at the 24 Hours @ Seven Oaks. I am getting in some quality rides, short but high paced...plus I have a solid base built up so I don't need a ton of time in the saddle right now anyway, but with this thing going on at home....Afton and 7Oaks may be my only races until October's Heck of the North...and then, of course, the real season starts with the Tuscobia 150 miler in December and the Arrowhead 135 in Late January 2011...

In brief: Kudos to Jason Buffington for an impressive effort at Levis!!!!

You think long distance gravel/dirt/single track racing...

...is hard. Try having your 1919 house remodeled from the ground-up!!! You won't be hearing from me much for the next four or five weeks....weeze under CONSTRUCTION!!!

Part I of two final parts of the Trans-Wisconsin Recap....

Part VI: Summit Day

“…Good leaders know that exhaustion is partly a state of mind, though, and that men who succumb to it have on some level decided to put themselves above everyone else…I still remember how to negotiate the long, horrible process of physical collapse. It starts with pain, of course, but pain is at the edge of what I thought of as a deep dark valley. At the bottom of the valley is true incapacitation, but it might take hours, even days, to get down there, working your way through strata of misery and dissociation until muscles simply stop obeying and your mind can’t even be trusted to give commands that make sense.” …from WAR; Sebastian Junger’s new work on his experiences in the Afghanistan War

From last bivy to Drummond…Working our way ever farther down into the “strata of misery.”

Amid an infinite air-force of merciless mosquitoes, we made ready to put in a huge day after again just a few hours of rest, (bivyied in squalor, next to the route). We were “bone-deep” tired (my femur bones even hurt, if you can believe it!), yet there was a collective sense of excitement in the air as we knew we could make it to Lake Superior in the time frame that we had set for ourselves. However, compounding the mixed messages, there was also a kind of sense of desperate urgency as well, for it was the general consensus that for the both of us, three nights like the ones we had just “spent” represented about the extent or limit of our endurance; we were near what Junger describes as the “bottom of that valley of true incapacitation.” In other words, we calculated that if we did not make it to the finish before our next bivouac, we would require a long time on the ground before being able to continue. This realization in fact matched my understanding of what I am capable of in terms of riding a bike. I figured given my affinity for a good stout, average level of fitness, and very average genetic tools; ninety-six hours on the go (toss in a few hours of rest each 24 hour cycle) was at about my maximum ability to ride my bike without a significant sleep (eight hours or more). It is amazing to me how the top guyz in events like Race Across America (RAM) can go for days and days without any sleep! But I digress…

…..In any event, we were low on water (and food) as we had failed to make the desired campground at Black Lake the night before where we knew we would be able to get water, so that was our first goal of the day. Just thirty minutes down the gravel, at Black Lake, we find a hand pump and nice bathrooms where we took a quick break and got ready for what we knew was going to be a big effort to push it to the end point. Our next goal was to get something good to eat and to reload our packs with food. So with that in mind, in gorgeous early morning sunshine, we rode at a good pace towards Hayward on beautiful, yet rather convoluted, backcountry roads.

At one point, we came upon a segment of gravel that was being tarred for the first time. They had one of those rookie-type guyz standing out there with the SLOW/STOP sign. As we came upon him, with dramatic flair, he flashed point-blank, the STOP side of the sign and told us, in the kind authoritative voice that betrays a rookie’s confidence, that we could not go any further, that we would have to find an alternative route. “You guyz are gonna have to turn back and find another way!”

As a testament to where we were both at in terms of commitment to our goal, we simultaneously and in no uncertain terms replied with trumping confidence, “No Way! We are not turning back!”

Before he could respond or even take more drastic measures, we took off in pursuit of this huge red-asphalt machine that was putting down the hot tar-like asphalt, several hundreds of yards ahead of us…behind the machine was the usual cadre of guyz with shovels and rakes that, like always, just seem to stand there and look tough, maybe take a shovel or a rake every once in awhile for good measure. We quickly got directly behind them, they ignored us, and then I boldly bolted over into a wet swampy ditch next to the shoulder of the road and carrying my bike Belgium CX style, blew past the crew and enormous machine. Jeremy, a more law-abiding citizen than the author, hesitated, but then, he too, took off and made the dicey move to get past and onward…It felt great as we laughed and did the high-five thing! We were the Lords of our Universe!

Not long from there, we were able to stop and get a good solid breakfast and to reload on calories and fluids. The weather had become decidedly hotter and more humid, but we still gained favor from the friendly tailwinds. Never in all of my experiences have I enjoyed such a consistently favorable wind…

We made the CAMBA trails in good time and felt the ease that comes with the home turf advantage. I recognized aspects of the route from both the Chequamegon 100 and the Chequamegon 40. We even encountered signage left over from the Chequamegon 100 (probably should have been removed, we thought…but itz easy to contemn whilst typing away in the comforts of home! And also begs the question; “If we felt so strongly about it, why didn’t we remove it?”). The clouds began to darken as we worked our way through the CAMBA section of the course, but Jeremy assured me that it appeared to be just a passing thing…”Itz moving fast…we should be fine.”

Just as Jer predicted, the rains came and went near the end of the CAMBA trails, which of course, got us wet but it was warm out and the result was manageable. Then, about an hour or so southeast from Drummond, we got hit with the kind of swirling rains that would have stirred Noah’s loins to action! Never in my long life have I encountered such torrential rains while riding a bike (it was worse than April’s Trans-Iowa!)…It was crazy scary as the terrain was very hilly with many blind corners, but due to the fact that we were close to Drummond we soldiered onward rather than take shelter in the thick trees that lined the roads. Near to Drummond the road turned to asphalt and we encountered some car & truck traffic. At one point during the height of the biblical deluge, as I was blindly cruising down a long curvy descent, inexplicably two cars (as if racing) flew by me with such speed that I nearly soiled myself! It was just simple luck that they missed me as I am sure that they never saw me. The second car missed me by a matter of a few inches. I remember thinking in my heightened albeit exhausted state, “Wow! This is getting serious!!”

We finally made it to Drummond, home to a kind of gas station/fishing/hunting store and a bar. At that point we were soaked to the bone and extremely cold. I am reluctant to use the word “hypothermic” as I am sure the outside temps were in the 60s, but we were both shivering and having difficulty speaking. In my mind what happens next over the course of the final ten hours or so begins the final phase of this story…Reality begins to falter and the absurdity associated with exhaustion comes to dominate my recollections…stay tuned for…

From Drummond to Point Detour to Home Sweet Home… The “Dissociation Phase” when “muscles simply stop obeying and your mind can’t even be trusted to give commands that make sense.”

Entering the store in Drummond was like crawling out of the refrigerator into the freezer……
...for the last installment, you gotta wait until...next week!!!! After I get back from the Levis 100

It aint against the law to just think about it!!! At least it didn't use to be? But now w/the Patriot Act and all???

http://jkcadence.blogspot.com/2010/07/last-push-to-shore.html

I am still working on writing up a final narrative regarding the last 24 hours of surrealism surrounding my recollections of the Trans-Wisconsin...But for a much better and realistic account (complete w/ pictures) go to Jeremy Kershaw's blog (see above for how to get to his work)...

Also, I am just back from a delightful, but brief backpacking trip on the North Country Trail (NCTS) with off-spring and off-spring's friend. Our Point A to B to A route started in the Pattison State Park and while we were harried unmercifully by the bugs, we still had a great time...Note: Not that I'd ever consider it, but for the rogue cyclist, this immense trail of over 4000 miles long could provide for an amazing off-road adventure. A rebel, amoral, and/or unscrupulous rider could potentially leave the town of Superior, Wisconsin and ride that single-track trail all the way to the Porcupine Mountains in the UP (and beyond...)...Itz just a harmless thought!

Part V: Will this race recap ever end?

Part V: Creature in the night gives way to Adaptability, Redemption and Hope…Day Three delivers the needed miles!

Andy Dufresne: [in letter to Red] Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Day 3, like itz predecessors, presented itself as another beautiful one and once again a little before 5:00 a.m. Jeremy yelled at me to get going and so I got going! With little, if any, food left in our packs and a long way to anyplace to buy sustenance there was nothing holding us to that campsite! As we packed up to go, an early riser from a nearby tent, the only other occupant in the area, sauntered over to ask if we had heard that strange (and seemingly very close) barking noise in the early morning hours. I had indeed heard it, had yelled over to ascertain if Jer was hearing it, but he was fast-asleep, and even had caught the beast’s green eyes several times in the focused light of my headlamp as he boldly encircled our camp. The persistent, even aggressive, but decidedly hoarse bark, that continued for sometime, was such that I had never heard before, like a dog barking in spite of a severe sore throat, and given the size and low ground clearance of the animal (based on my quick and intermittent lighted views of his eyes) leads me to think that it may have been a disgruntled Right-wing badger?

I am happy to report that by Day 3; we were both really pleased with how well we seemed to be recovering after just a few hours of repose. Of course, we both felt generalized fatigue and localized discomforted in the nether regions, but our legs and more importantly, our cognitive motors seemed up to the task each and every morning. Jeremy’s ability to hit the ground sleeping is a most desirable trait for the enduro-cyclist (and alpinist), perhaps a hereditary characteristic that I unfortunately lack. I am the kind of guy that needs a significant amount of time to essentially unwind before falling asleep (a luxury that is not afforded one during these kinds of endeavors). After fighting it in my youth, I have come to accept the fact that I simply cannot fall asleep without a relatively long prelude…so it goes. Yet, I have, through experience, developed a very elemental coping mechanism, maybe even sort of a “yoga-like” technique (itz not yoga, but maybe itz on the right track?), where I can really really relax and then presumably rehabilitate and renew. As a young man, I use to lay there and stress out about not being able to get to sleep (a self-fulfilling anecdote), compounding my anxiety was the fact that the other guyz appeared to be sleeping. Now, resigned to the high probability of no sleep, I fully embrace the lack of movement, concentrate on deep, but easy breathing, and try to think positive thoughts. I no longer freak out or agonize about not sleeping, if sleeps comes thatz great, if not I try to relish the moments…I mean it really is great to be alive! My conclusion is that in the near term, especially for a few dayz and maybe for up to a week, one can get by on such a regime. Or at least it allows me to accept my fate.

My overall point being that perhaps our greatest attribute as a species is our ability to adapt to our environs. I remember reading an Outside magazine account of a regular guy’s effort in the classic Great Divide Race in which he maintained that if one could get through the first three dayz, he/she would have essentially passed that critical phase where many drop out. Presumably, the notion being that three dayz of exposure to the trials and tribulations of riding the Continental Divide was sufficient time for most in the race to adapt to the new reality, accept their new “paradigm,” and thus go on to complete the task. The idea to take from this is that if one can just “hang-in” long enough, for just a little bit longer, adaptability will often kick in and make the effort easier as the time progresses…In our case, the paradigm had shifted…and we were ready (and able) to push it hard to make the 90 hour completion goal.

We knew the morning would involve more sand, but the hope was that we would be out of it in just a few hours and we were right. At one point, mid-morning we even came upon a short segment on the course that was so sandy that even Joe had been forced to walk; our hearts soared for here before our eyes was evidence of his mortality! In that same section, we encountered impressive bear tracks.
To be out of the sand was sweet liberation!

TWMBT Cue Sheet #7 starts on Highway 10 and ends fifty-seven miles north on Highway 64; in between lies the town of Thorp, where we stopped for a delicious lunch at the downtown Dairy Bar Café. From Thorp to Highway 64 is mostly good riding. Yet, using our better judgment, we decided to detour around a minor aspect of the course because it clearly appeared to cross onto private property. Based upon a later audio-report via Dennis Grelk, who also felt that to proceed would be to invite controversy; our instincts seemed to have been confirmed. It is our contention that this part of the course will need to be modified for next year’s race due to the problems often associated with traversing private lands. As stated earlier, while we feel there will need to be a few changes made to the course (including and especially with regard to the Jackson County ATV Trails and also a road, farther north, that dead-ends at a river), overall it is a thing of beauty that clearly encompasses the dramatic and distinct geographical wonders of the Beer & Cheese State. In any event (see page 74 of the required DeLorme Wisconsin Atlas & Gazetteer, as the course bisects it), the route winds through beautiful, remote lands interspersed with neat farms, small enclaves with impressive old churches complete with divine steeples, and a notable Amish presence.

Highway 64 was the start of the Perkinstown ATV trail section and the source of our number one anxiety of the day, for we were concerned that it too would entail long sandy sections. Fortunately, the Clark county ATV trails immediately north of Highway 64 are in stark contrast to those in Jackson County. Instead of quick sand, we found fast flowing, and even thrilling double track! It was fun, the temperature was mild, and the breeze continued at our backs….we were pumped!!!

Perkinstown is essentially a bar. Collectively feeling the stirring palatable urges of optimism that comes with progress, we stopped only briefly to reload on water and eat a few barroom delicacies. I did take time to ingest a life-giving Leininkrugels Honeywiess…Onward we rode in good time, praising the wind for its charity…

A plan-of-action began to evolve that basically held that if we could get to within about 180 miles of the finish before taking a substantial bivy break, we could pull it off and be back in Duluth by early Tuesday morning, perhaps around 1:00 a.m. This possibility of success was fostered by the fact that both Jeremy and I are quite familiar with the areas north of Hayward and further northward to the Lake (via Highways 77, 63, oo, and 2, etc.). Plus I have intimate knowledge of the CAMBA trails and supplemental gravel fire-roads as well, for my parents during my childhood had a cabin on Spider Lake and since then I have spent considerable time riding the CAMBA trails. Jeremy, too, is knowledgeable and experienced in traveling the area. So we were on the verge of entering our home turf and we could feel the pull, the excitement, for the proverbial light at the end of tunnel had been glimpsed!

Details blur together when I attempt to search my mind for interesting or noteworthy specifics of the ride after Perkinstown and the ATV trails....just grinding it out hour after hour, thankful for good company, a tailwind, and moderate temps. As mentioned above, we did experience a few navigational issues and I do remember that we fell short of our goal of resting at the Black Lake campground. As the clock ticked past 1:00 a.m. our energy stores were on “empty” and we began in earnest to seek appropriate terra-firma to crash out for a few hours. Respite came with a cost, the bugs had found us!!! By my calculations, we have ridden more than 173 miles on this our third day out. Or to think about in a different light, just 172 miles stood between us and Lake Superior. I lay my head down to rest with the knowledge that we could do it!!! More to come…

Look forward to Part VI: Hallucinations, Floating on Ground Clouds, and eventual Victory & Salvation (courtesy of Rich Hendricks) @ Point Detour, Lake Superior…