so im starting out on my long ride, and i have 2 gel flasks (10 gels in all). Im testing out that gel flask holder on my top tube, and with the horrible roads here, after 30 min i look down and its gone. That means i only have the one gel flask for my long ride. I do some exploring (breaks up boring long rides), and i end up going longer than i should have. I also run into two other guys at different parts of the ride, and both times, the idiot man inside of me tells me i have to prove to them im a fast rider, so im going way faster than i should for way too long. On the way back, my gels run out, my gatorade soon after, and a few hill later, i swear i hear a pterodactyl, you know, the giant flying dinosaurs. From then on out, my inner monologue gets louder and louder until im about to go deaf from the voice inside my head telling me to stop. Anyway, im pretty zoned out right now, and for some reason felt i needed to share that.
There, there, we’ll fix you some milk and cookies and it will all be better in the morning. Sweet dreams.
MY friend and I call PNF the pterodactyl…i thought u ran into her! BUt I liked your tale better! Bonk on my good man , enjoy the treasures:-)
I saw a pterodactyl on my long ride today as well! Luckily for me, though, the other guys I was with saw it too! We tried to eat it…sleep well.
Sounds like you had a day like mine.
I went for a 70 mile ride yesterday and felt completely shelled, but got up and did my long run this morning - 9mi trail run. After that I met my buddy and we were going to go out for a 35-40mi ride.
We latched on with three other guys from my buddy’s training group. One of whom has finished a few times under 10hr for IM, qualified for IMH last year at IMC, qualified for Boston and rides a fixed gear for nearly all his training. I decided to hang with him and along the way realized I’d left my Cytomax in the car (DOH!)
We ended up deciding to take a detour that took us through three more towns and along a highway adding at least 25mi more to our ride. I went through a rain storm, heat, sun, and came out the other side without the ability to have an inner monologue with myself. I lost almost all ability to think and all I could do was keep an eye on my watch and count my pedal strokes. I kept “chanting” as long as I’m over 90rpm I’m fine. At one point I counted 138rpm and then I realized we needed to get home and quick. We made it back safe and I sucked down both bottles of Cytomax, a blueberry, yogurt, protein and peanut butter smoothie, 8 oatmeal cookies, two beers, some chips & salsa and I’m currently attacking some Michelob Ultra.
Hope I can function tomorrow.
(nice story, by the way)
i swear i hear a pterodactyl, you know, the giant flying dinosaurs
A pterodactyl was not a dinosaur, but a pterosaur, which was a flying reptile. No dinosaur flew or swam (the swimming reptiles were ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs).
no, im pretty sure the pterodactyl told me he was a dinosaur. Next time i run into him ill tell him hes actually a pterosaur, which hopefully wont happen during the FL 1/2 IM.
Actually, a pterodactyl is any one of a number of different pterosaurs. It’d be like describing a person you see as a primate. While true…
So how did all the dinosaurs fit on the Ark, and did the pterosaur just hovever above the Ark while the ichthyosaurs swam below it…
Ok, never mind. 
Note: The back pockets of cycling jerseys are always the best spot to store essential, must-not-loose stuff for long rides like food, spares, tools and so on. Stuff that get’s stored on the bike has, as you experienced a tendency to fall off.
My tri top has two small pockets. I wanted to test the gel flask holder for this exact reason, to see if i could store a flask there, or if i have to use a bento box, or if i have to try to cram them into my tri-top pockets. I stored a spare gel flask in my pockets just in case, but it proved to be too little. It looks like bento box for me.
Ken, I’m starting to get the picture that you could sit stone-faced and angry through a Robin Williams or Eddie Murphy standup routine. You rain on more parades around here than summer afternoon thundershowers at Disney World.
. . .Lighten up Frances! Its a joke, not a dissertation.
Did you happen to notice the change I made to the Subject: line?
Actually, a pterodactyl is any one of a number of different pterosaurs. It’d be like describing a person you see as a primate. While true…
Technically, then, I could be confused for a badger … a small, swift, carnivorous, forest-living mammal.
Do they have badgers in the Pinelands? Is that the same as the Pine Barrens?
I’ll be in Chatsworth on Sunday for the District TT. Flat and fast, the way I like it.
(I remember the radio ads for Atco Dragway from when I was a kid: “ATCO! ATCO!”)
Do they have badgers in the Pinelands? Is that the same as the Pine Barrens?
I’ll be in Chatsworth on Sunday for the District TT. Flat and fast, the way I like it.
(I remember the radio ads for Atco Dragway from when I was a kid: “ATCO! ATCO!”)
Yep. Pine Barrens, Jersey Devil, Ancora State Hospital, Rt 206, Hammonton: The Blueberry Capital of the world. All those good things.
“Sunday!!! Sunday!!! Sunday!!! Atco Raceway!!!” Except, it’s more like “Every night!!! From April to October!!! We’re gettin’ loud, so Randy can’t sleep!!!”
I’m sure that there’s tons of skinny tire racing out in the SJ woods I know nothing about. I’m just a free-riding fat tire fool … As well as a badger.
“Sunday!!! Sunday!!! Sunday!!! Atco Raceway!!!”
Ack, flashbacks. That was it. You live near that?!? I used to live about 3 miles from the Langhorne ¶ Speedway; once a year, the big race would wake everyone up all weekend. Bleah.
“Sunday!!! Sunday!!! Sunday!!! Atco Raceway!!!”
You live near that?!?
Two miles by car, 1&1/2 by trail.
The jet cars sound like they’re across the street.
There’s an awesome junkyard down the street from the raceway that was used as a set in "Eddie and the Cruisers. It has a WW2 B-something, pretty much intact. I’d love to a hold of some of that aluminum and build a frame out of it.