andy reagan only the interesting stuff

Six hours of Dirty Dawg

After a crazy week (Lyric Monday, TOTS Tuesday, Wed comedy night, Thurs baseball game), I spent a night in the woods Friday night (hammock style of course) and then partook in the longest bicycle race I've ever done, and it was on a mountain bike! I was hoping to get some time to think about what I want to study, and that didn't happen, but the race was nothing short of EPIC.

The idea is to complete as many laps as possible of a 5.7mi course in 6 hours.  Laps were rumored to take 45min, and Christian was shooting for 50min, so having only mountain biked twice this summer I set my goal at 1hr pace for a total of 6 laps.  There were three categories: solo, duo, and single speed. Duo guys alternate laps, solo do it alone, and the real crazies aren't the solo guys (myself included) but the single speeders. They're riding with one gear up and down the mountains for 6 hours...

Kirby sent us off at 1PM, to do a small part of the course before coming through the start/finish area.  I started near the back, and that turned out to be a huge mistake.  At the first corner, someone ahead didn't make it up the steep and technical little climb, and there were 40 of us that had to get off and walk up too.  Then the pace was pretty weak, and it wasn't until we hit some grass that I could open up and get around everyone.  It was probably good that I didn't hammer out of the gate though.

The first few laps went without issue, and I turned in some 45min lap times which I was happy with while still learning the course.  I went hard up the long climb, but wasn't really feeling too fatigued.

Crash 1

There were some gravel sections, and on one of them I locked out my front fork because it's easier. Basically, turned off the suspension.  Well, having been riding for like 3 hours, I forgot to unlock it and went bombing down the ensuing downhill. On the downhill, there's a log in the way, and I'd been fine bunny hopping it every other time.  But when I landed, the suspension didn't absorb shock...instead sent it right back at me, and it sent me flying through the air.  Realizing I was in the air, I had a pretty cool moment, and thought about what I should do.  "Tuck and roll" popped into my head, and that's exactly what I did by lowering my shoulder into the trail below and rolling along.  Turns out, this is the best way to crash, and I got up , saw no blood, and kept right on going.

Rain

During the race, somewhere around 3hrs I think, it started pouring. Just downpouring.  I got soaked to the  bone, which was fine, but my cell phone I had left in the hammock probably wasn't as happy.  Nor was the trail, which for real real sloppy, and the rocks on this very rocky course, which protested by becoming extremely slippery.

Crash 2

At the 3hr mark, I was one minute off finishing four laps, and figured I should keep it up and go for nine laps. I'd get to finish the 9th lap if I came in before the 6hr mark.  So, two laps later, on what was my 6th lap, I was again bombing down the really rocky downhill.  Having seen Mark Zhu crash on it right after it started raining, I had been pretty intent on focusing on the trail.  But after 4.5hrs of riding at this point, constantly monitoring the trail ahead for every root and rock, my focus had dwindled.

I'd just lapped Cecil, and then before I knew it, the bike was gone from underneath me and I was headed for the trail.  I didn't have time to react, and the trail was really rocky = not a good combination.  I landed hard on my leg and rolled onto my back, still attached to the bike in one big clump of mud, person, and aluminum.  Cecil saw this and stopped when I asked him if the bleeding gash on my leg needed stiches, and being able to see the white fatty tissue underneath when I pulled it apart, it seemed that I did.  After debating whether to head back up the climb to the start/finish, since there weren't actually any paramedics there, I decided to just take a really really easy lap.

Emma caught up, and we all rode together which actually turned out to be a lot of fun!  After losing something like 30min on that lap (and getting passed massively), I spent another 20min at the support area cleaning out the mud and putting on some butterfly bandages.

The Moment

After the adrenaline from the crash had long worn away, and I'd been riding for five hours, now bleeding, my body ached and I was about to throw in the towel.  On my slow 6th lap, and the time I'd been at S/F, a bunch of people had passed.  I wandered over to the tent where they we're keeping places, and looked that I was now in 7th, but not too far behind.  One more guy came through for his 7th lap, and then something clicked.  I said "I'm gonna go get him" and hopped on my bike and sprinted off.

I hammered hard for the next 40min, and turned in my fastest lap time of the day on lap 7.  Coming back through, I checked and have passed up to 3rd place overall.  Looking back, there was someone coming down the trail behind me, so I took off without grabbing food or water.  It was now 5:50 into the race, and I just had to hold off everyone behind me to hold onto 3rd place.  2nd place was 15 out, so there was no catching him.  My legs cramped on the long uphill, forcing me to stop and stretch.  I'd look back and see below in the woods, and hop back on and spin as hard as my legs would let me (pretty easy).  I took advantage of my knowledge of the course and hopped off and ran the few really short, really steep sections, and held my speed on the downhills.  On the gravel, I opened up as much as I could, and by the time I was coming to the end, had done it.

Post-race

I pretty much tipped over, and supporters brought me a cheeseburger and beer, perfect!  I told Kirby that I was probably heading out to the ER to get stiches, and as I was packing up, realized my phone had been left in the rain.  Kirby said that he would do awards in like 10 min, so I pulled up my car, and took my third place! Top three in each category got to pick a prize from the table, and I got a seat which I desperately needed.  The one I raced on was really crooked the whole time.  Kyle and Brice won the Duo category, and Kyle got a tire that he needed (he'd rode the finish of the race with a flat to hold a 1min lead) and Brice got a bike cleaning kit (which we all desperately needed).

I was supposed to go over to Stephanie's for dinner, but it was already close to 9PM, I still had to go to the ER, and I was phone-less.  I sent her an email, and a tweet to my parents when I stopped at home, and headed out.

ER

Turned out that my doctor was a huge cyclist, after the PA saw me and said "Dr. ..., you have got to see this!" I was covered in thick mud, including my face, and did have a nice gash.  We talked for awhile, I actually felt a little bad for the other people in the ER.  The PA was super super nice, and got my cut cleaned up.  Turned out that I didn't actually need stiches, but I got it cleaned really really well and some supplies to bandage it.

As I was on the phone with my parents, (apparently the "I'm fine" prefacing my tweet is not sufficient to tell them I'm okay), Greg P walked out of another room.  He had come up from his internship in NC with Kevin and one of their other friends to do the MTB race, and against him, the race had won.  He came in because he had some pretty severe dehydration, and I wanna give some props to Kevin P for having only ridden a mountain bike like twice, bringing a small, fully rigid, commuter with v-brakes and finishing the race.  He was on a duo team with the other guy (sorry, forgot his name), but still he manned up.

One of the funnier moments was when Kevin walked over to my tent area with his bike before the race.  Immediately, all of us hardcore mountain bikers had tools in our hands, and were surrounding his bike; taking off reflectors, fixing his seat height, swapping out his pedals.  I let him borrow my other pair of clipless shoes and pedals, since I was borrowing James, and a VT jersey so he'd look legit.

Dinner/Crash

I was finally able to get ahold of Stephanie with Paul's phone when I got back home at 11, and she had actually waited! After I showered off, and dropped off the other guy's gear at James' place, I went over to her place for some delicious and much needed stuffed shells.  My Garmin told me that I burned over 8,000 calories, which is probably high, but still a lot.  After a long week, and a hard race, lots of food, I slept like a baby once I got back.

All in all, my first endurance race was awesome.  I'm proud of my "moment" to man up, and didn't get too injured really.  Although it's been four days, and my right quad still had a nasty looking bruise. It's actually getting worse.  That 12 mile run last night couldn't have helped.  Anyways, that's all for now, I shall post pictures once they're up!

3Sports Triathlon

I had an awesome weekend travelling to Richmond with Stefanie and Chad, and staying with Grayson to compete in the 3Sports Triathlon.  The course was flat and fast, allowing Stefanie and I to PR for a sprint placing 2nd and 3rd in our age groups, with Grayson taking the overall win!! Results: http://www.setupevents.com/files/3Sports_AGMen_2011.html

Swim

Again a pool swim, although much more hectic than Christiansburg. At a YMCA, the pool was 25 meters long, and we did a snake course through the whole pool.  The biggest difference was the width of the lanes, which was barely wide enough for two people (going opposite directions), which made passing in the open very difficult.  I didn't actually pass anyone at all.  Regardless, I survived this worst-of-leg of the triathlon, and headed for my bike.

Bike

Setting up for the triathlon the day before, I spent quite some time making sure that the mats lining the long jog to the bike were straight, and it was nice to not have to run like a drunk person to avoid hitting the gravel barefoot.  I put my biking shoes and helmet on, and took off running with my bike.  I also threw a spare tube and tire lever in my back pocket, just in case I had a flat I could still finish the race.

The third time is not the charm for getting on the bike correctly, as Chad graciously shouted whilst I attempted to hop on the bike directly in front of the mount line... but regardless I got going eventually.  It felt infinitely better to be on my own bike, although it would've been sweet to have bar end shifters again.  About a mile out, we crossed a torn up road, and I made sure to bunny hop the sharp edge on the other side.  You may wonder, did Andy leave his aero position for a mid-turn bunny hop? The answer is a resounding no.  I didn't leave my aero position the entire race except to shift and move my helmet up periodically with my right hand.  And once I got in the drops to power up a hill.  The course was very very gently rolling, and I felt like I was going fast, but struggling with having the power on the crests, too much running... Turns out my avg speed was a meager 22mph, but hey I'll take it.

Aero!

But not quite like this, I'd been looking at this picture on the way down to set up my bike ha.

Coming into transition, I was again way too fast, and coming up to 20ft from the dismount line at 20MPH after railing the corner wasn't ideal. As I performed a reverse (right side) cyclocross dismount, I locked my rear wheel and slid up the dismount line. Wish I had that on video, a locked disc wheel dismount!  I didn't realize until after the race that my disc wheel cover, which had been graciously loaned to me by Tyler Gorney, had come unclipped in two places.  I'm hoping it was during the skid, and not the race, but either way didn't matter much.

Getting ready for the run felt like it took me forever, and the second transistion was the part of my race that I am least happy with. We spend many hours training for the sports, I should've spent 30min practicing transition at some point. Grayson's transitions were together 1:36 faster than mine, and I would've been at exactly an hour. Chad apparently yelled at me to stop lighting a campfire or something haha.

Run

My legs were hurting on the bike, so I was worried about the run, especially considering my past two experiences with running in triathlons (both terrible).  But somehow, my legs felt strong as soon as I got going (which, took a long time).  I put down the first mile at sub-7 pace and was feeling great.  In fact, the only person who passed me was doing a relay (they didn't swim or bike, so doesn't count).  He was freakin hauling, and maybe I should've pushed myself to keep up. Being conservative, I held my comfortable barely sub-7 pace for the remainder, ramping it up for the finish.

Actually running

Across the line!

Overall

I finished 3rd place in my age category, with a first in my age category in the bike.  Overall, not as impressive, a 32nd overall with 20th overall bike.  I just looked at female results, and unfortunately, I got chicked as well (1 on the bike, 2 overall...).

I left my award in the Setup Events truck after tearing down, so Kevin should be mailing it to me soon! It's a picture frame, and I'm hoping that we get a picture from one of the photographers on course for free to put in it? Not sure, hope there's a good pic if there is.

As I was tearing down, two noteworthy things happened.  I could hear from the awards tent my number called, so I ran over there to see what was up.  They were giving out door prizes I think, but I went up the guy with the mic, and they gave me the mic, but I'm not sure what for.  I didn't know what was going on, so I was about to start thanking my friends and family for this great honor, but they realized I was working the event and gave the prize to someone else.  Idk what it was haha.  Also, Chad found a pair of white frame, black lense oakleys left in the transition area.  They were in pretty rough shape, but unless someone claims them, they're mine for now! Wore them to work today lol.

The ride back to BBurg was good (I drove the whole weekend) and Stefanie got the gas so a big thanks to her!

Here's a picture of Grayson laying down the fatest bike leg, and Stefanie out on the run course:

And now, back to work!

TriAdventure Summer Sprint: Race Report

I had an awesome time setting up for, and racing this triathlon two weeks ago. It was lots of fun, and I felt like I had days worth of activity accomplished by 8:30AM.

Second place in age group!

Part I: Finding a bicycle

After my best finish in Wednesday Worlds to date (second!), my SRAM Rival shifter broke as I crested Harding.  With the triathlon on Sunday, and not actually being sure that was shifter was broken until I took it to the shop on Friday, I had to scramble to find a bike.

Luckily, the triathlon team has a bike that was donated to them that I was cool to use.  So, I went over to their house and grabbed it Friday night, and cleaned it up real nice (it was gross, took four rags to get the grease off).  It wasn't until Saturday, however, that I went to put my own pedals and seat on it.  And that's where the trouble was.  One of the pedals was stripped out, and I couldn't get it off.  So, I took it to East Coasters to see if they could.  And they couldn't.  Ran into Christian at the bike shop and we gave it another shot at his house, to no avail.  By this point, it was completely stripped.  I called Chrissy and she said the pedals on it were no ones, so I went to Lowes and bought some cobalt drill bits to drill out the pedal axle.  They're supposed to go through hardened steel, but after an hour of drilling and little progress, I gave that up.  Lucky again, Alex Brown had his triathlon bike that I could use.  So I went on got that, and he even had Zipp 404 wheels! Sweet.  After switching the pedals, and raising the seat, I had a bike that would work.  Alex is tall, but not 6'4", so the bike was too small but with racing wheels, it was a nice bike to borrow.

Part II: Working PPU

SetUp Events puts on this triathlon series, and VT Tri Team has connections with them get "comp entry." Basically, you work packet pick up (PPU), set up for the race, or tear down and you get to race for free. Sweet!  So Saturday I spent five or so hours handing out race packets (goodie bags and numbers for the race).

Part III: Waking up at 4:30AM

Quite possibly the most difficult part of a sprint triathlon that starts at 7AM.  I stumbled over to the race as early as I could:

Part IV: Pre-race jitters

Not that I ever get nervous before racing, but the VT Tri Team instilled fear in hearts of our collegiate competition.  Everyone was in the pool with five minutes until the swim, and the VT team got together and chanted:

"Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy.
Techs, Techs, V.P.I.
Sola-Rex, Sola-Rah.
Polytechs - Vir-gin-ia.
Rae, Ri, V.P.I."

Followed by a "let's go!!" then "hokies!!" a few times right up until the race started.

Part V: The swim

Perhaps the least enjoyable part of any triathlon race, I surprised myself by starting near the front and actually passing a few people.  We all lined up on two sides of this huge pool, and were to swim 8 down and backs of the 50 meter length.  The starts were every 10 seconds, so as soon the person in front of you goes, you hop in the water and you're off before your goggles are adjusted.  At least in my case.

Part VI: T1

Coming out of the water disoriented from a 400m swim, I stumbled to into the transition area right behind Chrissy, who had started at the same time as me on the other side of the pool.  She's right on my left:

After I had my shoes and helmet on, I grabbed my bike off the rack.  Since this is what I have been doing every single day for a year now before class, my natural instinct was to hop on and ride away.  And that's what I tried to do! It wasn't until I reached the chip timing pad at the end of the area that I remember you aren't allowed to ride in transistion, so I hopped off over the mat.

After the mat, I hopped back on and started to sprint away again.  But, again I was before the mount line, which is the red line spraypainted directly in front of me in the picture below.  Also, take a chance to notice the size of the bike:

Part VII: Cycling

More specifically, time trialing on a tiny bike.  It took me a long time, 2 miles or so, to catch my breath from the swim.  It also had taken me a really long time to pass Chrissy, but I got her.  I was able to pass quite a few people ( including Cortney ), but without any indication of my speed, I felt like I was going pretty slow the whole time.

Part VIII: T2

Only slightly less eventful than my first transition, it begins with a steep downhill into a sharp corner between the cones leading into transition.  As I performed a cyclocross dismount while front braking, the rear wheel hopped off the ground naturally, but as it came back down, there was a nasty metal clank.  After the race, I realized that clank was from the wheel going back into the dropouts, because it was loose!!

Part IX: Running

Coming out of transition into the run involved a large set of stairs, and with No Speak Americano blasting I had no choice but to bound by those smarter races jogging up the stairs.  Announcer Cole Harden from East Coasters said it right: "and it's Andy Reagan flying up the stairs with those long legs, let's see if he can hold that pace." It wasn't until I crossed the hill out of sight that it was apparent I could not hold that pace.

I cramped up worse than I ever had.  I tried running with my hands behind my head to stretch it out and take deep breaths, but it was really really painful.  It got so bad, that I actually had to walk a little.

Cortney passed me, then Chrissy.  They were both encouraging, and I was actually shocked to hear that I'd made it a mile when Chrissy went by.  I started to feel better and picked it up, and after she was 200m in front of me, I was running again.  I spent the rest of the race chasing her, and with the last hill approaching, I had her in my sights.  She knew I was coming, and sprinted up the hill.  It was a long-ish little hill, and I didn't see her again until the top, clasping her knees.  As soon as I saw her I was shouting GOOO CHRISSY GOOOOO and she took off again.  Apparently she had run up so fast, she had to throw up.  Nothing like pushing your body that hard.

After the downhill and through the finish, I was close behind her and was glad I was done running, I needed water.  Here I am trying to get Chrissy before the last hill on the way back:

Part X: Post-race

Mary Kate and her husband Chris came out to support me at a 7AM race which was great, although I was in no condition for hugs.  Being such a local race, it was also cool to be able to watch the finish as people that I know came across.

Even wikipedia made note of my radical facial hair, definitely read this: