Nice looking ride !

I finished my last long ride today, 101 miles in the cold Ohio rain. Tomorrow is my last long run.

Third time up is easier than the second. The second one has you questioning whether you'll be able to go for a third.

Roadworks in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park relegated me to doing loops on my favorite bike race course. 4 miles of nothing but hill. Let me tell you the loop sucks equally in both directions. Nice 5 mile transition run. Will be tapping into some just released Great Lakes Chillwave Double IPA's shortly. Two weeks....I. Like. My. Chances.

Based on my course scouting ride you're right, I did question whether I'd have anything left after climbing Mohonk a 3rd time. And I'm no more confident today after my last long ride. Man my legs are sore...

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To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Nice work getting done.

I got 50 miles in Harriman. My suffering paled in comparison to seeing many doing the Northface 50 Ultra. Ouch! Running up Tiaroti and Arden Valley cant be much fun. Glad I was riding!

Start line in sight!

You heard it here first:



Accueweather forecast. At least we can hope!

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Ha! Dare I dream? In my 4 year experience with this race I've come to learn to arrive prepared for anything. Fog lights for race bike? Check. Tights, toe covers, full fingered gloves when weather should be > 60, check, check, and check.

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To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Hope is not a strategy.

Forecast will change a dozen times between now and then.

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float , hammer , and jog

Last year onthe third run all strategy went out the window. It was more like "I sure hope I can get up the next hill"

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Gonna be what it's gonna be.

If you're doing the women's (like me) you ain't out there long enough to bitch in any conditions. Only the men's have that right!

After all we'll be drinking while they are dealing.

Froze on the bike for CDW three years ago;



I don't know how the long course people stayed on the bike for three laps

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Running the North Face marathon was really good training for CDW. 4200 feet of climbing.



Watch out.....

That was the "surprise EPIC" day - forecast called for like "30% chance of afternoon showers", and it was cold and rainy all day.
My kinda conditions!!!
Very ML-friendly.

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float , hammer , and jog

Yeah I didn't mind that day either.

Now, in 2011 I was stoopid enough to do the ITT. It rained for the 3 1/2 of the 4 laps.
7+ hours of being drenched, that sucked.

I'll take the wet/cold over heat anytime. Especially for 3+ hours.

2011 was pretty epic. But at least you guys had a few hundred people out on the course!
Harken back to the inagural....2005, with about 35 pre-registered after somewhat hasty late-in-the-year organization by tetsuoni. How'd word get around back then? Duathlon.com. 70-degree days preceded the race. Rain starts Saturday late afternoon. Temps dropped overnight. Race morning was rain and maybe 40 degrees (conditions held until sometime around around 3pm during my second run, at which point there was just fog). 17 of us showed up at the start. 10 of us finished. Tetsuoni's beer came in the form of bottles. I think all race participants received at least a case as a lovely parting gift.
Ahh, the good ol' days!

That all being said, two of my best (and least painful) LC finishes were in abysmal conditions. Seeing that I'm not doing LC, and will be doing a hell of a lot of standing around after I decimate my CWD competition (although, of course, being the human chicken wing does come with serious possibility of becoming extra tasty-crispy out there...let's hope I don't get chicked) - I say bring on the heat. I could use some sun.

Yup, 2005 set the bar for epicness, that not even '11 nor '13 could match.

My wife spent the entire night prior - while it was T-storming - actively trying to talk me out of doing it.

Nobody had a clue how long it was going to take, or if we could even finish before dark.
Or finish, period.
It started in the dark at 7am.
40 and pissing rain all day.
Wet leaves everywhere.

And after the first lap of the bike, it got pretty lonely out there.

I've had good results on those epic days -
4th LC in '05, 1st F1 in '11 and '3rd in '13 -
so sign me up for more just like that!!

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float , hammer , and jog

Shuffled...possible crawling this year. After doing LC 6 times, I still getting f*cking nervous about the bike...I hope the basement strength training I have been doing pays off, cuz the saddle time aint there.

I've been doing a shit ton of power hiking around home and in the Whites with an 80 pound backpack...so if anything, I have plenty of camp gear to camp out on the third run loop.

Since AmZof isn't nearly hard enough with my usual lack of training going into it...

I've just upped the ante.

Night before last, cat woke me at 2am to let him in. Since Mrs ML gets PO'd when he's out at night due to the coyotes in our area (and naturally it's all my fault if he goes out, and/or refuses to come back in) - I explode out of bed and down the stairs....

Where my foot slipped and I surfed my heels down 2-3 steps, only stopping when my foot then smashed into the banister.

Which dislocated my 2nd smallest toe.
Yay.

Can't run now, haven't biked since Sun.
What was going to be a "big" trail run week for me, is now the start of an uber-taper.
FML.

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float , hammer , and jog

Here you go:

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Here's another good one:
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Run course (it's actually a pretty small area that you're traversing.... just keep telling yourself that!)



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And from back in the hand-drawn era..... the bike course:

CeeCee! Bringing the goods.

So - are you going to be putting the Canadian Womens into the CWD this year??

It's been far too long since I've had a piss-warm Appletini. ;-)

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float , hammer , and jog

Oh man, that sucks.

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To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

According to Active, it appears that registration is still open and dare I say I am about to pull the trigger and sign up, once again, for the dreaded but fantasmagorical long course. Why, why, why do I get drawn to this evil every year. I guess it's just that good. By the way, best beer out there now is Sip of Sunshine. Past Topper on my list recently. Am I really going to sign up and do this again?

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Roar Lion Roar