Previous | Next | 2000 Index | Newsletter Index
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 1:30 PM Subject: Incline Club V4 OS#3 ooppss! Hi Matt, If you could please forward ASAP I would sure appreciate it. Thanks and my apologies for the postponement! ICer’s Mission aborted. My bad in not getting the BBQ email to Matt and out sooner. Plus I forgot about the Academy home game and the Marine Corps Marathon this weekend. Given that and not quite finishing the backyard and some contractor work still needing to be done, yada, yada, I decided to push the BBQ back a week. If you replied to attend, please let me know you received this so I don’t feel bad about you showing up to a cold grill. And hopefully you can still make it out NEXT Saturday. So the BBQ is now on 28 Oct. Craig #### Also since I am putting out a mail:-) Marilyn T writes: Along the lines of the Friends of the Peak show, I thought you might enjoy seeing some of these shots. There are several of Manitou along with a very good one of the Incline. The site has a great zoom feature as well. http://library.ppld.org/community/communityhistory/photodig/ See you in November or soon after.... #### Connilee W writes: I too am guilty of skipping a race or two so that I could get my star. I like the criteria you’ve set up. I’m happy that it encourages trail races/longer distances/bigger elevation gain. Two thoughts: (1) Can we put an “R” or some other symbol instead of a star (they would still mean the same thing — ie count for attendance)? I, for one, like to follow up with folks to see how their running or racing is going and seeing an ‘R’ vs a ‘*’ helps keep track of what’s up — especially if someone is out for a week or two. (2) Does this count if the race is run on a Saturday? I’ve heard some folks say they might race on a Saturday but aren’t up for the run on Sunday physically/mentally. See ya in November! #### Ladd M writes: Hey folks. Just completed the 24 hours of Moab. I thought the masochist in you might want to hear the tale. Please — nobody forward this to my mom. A week ago I was asked at the last second to race on the Rockshox team at the 24 Hours of Moab. I had no idea this was such a big deal. There were TV cameras, teams from all over the world, 350 teams total. It was highly competitive. When I got asked by the guy at Rockshox I told him I was just starting to start hard training again. He said that was ok. When I got there I was a little overwhelmed by the hype and the quality of riders. Basically here’s how it goes. You have a team of 4 riders. The course was in the same area as Bobby’s wedding. It went right around the big rock. 15 miles long . Lots of stretches of sand and 2 sections that were terrifying to ride down. Major grades with death on both sides, rock, covered with loose sand. Our lead-off was a stud from California. He put us into 7th right off the gun. You do your lap, and try to fix yourself up and your bike, rehydrate, eat, dry your clothes while the others do their laps. You get about 3 hours before you go again. Lots of these guys ride at night on trails all the time. It was my first time. It was pretty scary. If it had just been for fun maybe it would have been safe but we were running a serious battle with several teams. You had to really push on some dangerous sections and there was a good deal of carnage. You’d see an ambulance leave about every 2 hours. On my first night leg, my light started to fail. It was a nightmare. You lose all sense of depth. Several times I went careening into yucca and juniper bushes. By the end I was having to use other riders as sources of light. It cost me pretty big (in terms of lost skin and lost time). Despite multiple problems I was able to keep a good average lap time. Some guys would turn in a 1:02 and then a 1:35. After my first lap of 1:12 I was just pluggin away at 1:20-1:25 almost every time. I’m not real race sharp so I had to fall back on good base, and climbing ability. My technical skills weren’t real sharp compared to lots of riders but twice what they were 6 months ago which is encouraging. Despite the positives I was straight up humbled by superior riders on several occasions. They say that no matter how good you are there’s somebody better. Well I know of at least 15 somebodys now! The last few legs were grim. Whereas I started out with enthusiasm I was now dreading the next time out. You can try to sleep but it’s tough. After dealing with your mechanicals, wounds, and clothes you have to show up a little early unless your guy pops a fast one. Plus you’re so wired on caffeine near the end to keep yourself awake, you can’t sleep when you get back. Sore legs, sore neck, sore butt. Then came the extreme fatigue, some cramping, nausea, creeping apathy. Finally the hallucinations caused by the fatigue, and draining effect of pushing hard each time, the extra strain of night riding. I saw phantom people in the bushes, rocks jumping in front of me, opposing teams right on my butt ( that weren’t really there). There were however real people laying on the side of trail. Sleeping, moaning, but usually they refused help. It was kind of surreal. We fell from 4th to 6th over the last few rotations when one of our guys started to fall apart. However it wasn’t a bad finish. Amazingly there were psychos doing the whole thing solo! Jon Stamstead who finished 2nd rode a single speed!! As draining as it was I gained a whole new respect of what humans are capable of. People really pushing their bodies to the limit and over. Muscle-brain coordination that rivals anything in the animal world. On the way back we had some more excitement. One of our team members fell asleep at the wheel but was able to recover. Note to self: After 24 hour race, bring along fresh driver! During the race I of course swore I would never do something like this again. In retrospect it was fun ( in a masochistic kind of way). Ladd #### I wanted to post this yesterday but the link was broken — it seems up now: Check this out: http://www.thecavedog.com/ #### Several (4) have wrote: New performance enhancing “drug!” http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_974000/974871.stm #### Bonnie Mor writes: Here’s my latest excitement! I was out for my lunch time walk Wednesday up here on Corporate Drive. I had on headphones and was listening to a tape. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something. I said “oh, a little snake” then he struck at me! I jumped out of the way, into the road! Little sucker tried to bite me! I wasn’t even bothering him. He was laying next to the sidewalk and I was just walking along ON THE sidewalk !! I was so scared, so I went in the motel and got a kid and the manager to come out. There were wandering around looking for him, we couldn’t find him so I started to walk away. Then they started screaming. I ran back over there and the snake was rattling and striking out at them! No one got bit. Then he crawled over the curb to the street. They said they were going to call animal control and ask what they should do with him. I had always heard, “if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you” well, that’s NOT TRUE! I was minding my own business and he attacked ME! #### Lou C writes: Wow. My name is Lou Coppens. I ran in the Pikes Peak race in 1965. It is amazing how you got my E-mail address. I enjoyed the various stories. Although 1965 is a long time ago I am still a competitive runner. That year I finished 5th. I returned in 1969 but opted instead to run a 25K national championship up near Denver(Littleton). What follows is my account of what happened in the 1965 Pikes Peak race. When I got to Barr Camp two days prior to the race I ran up most of the peak. The climb was so hard-I felt like leaving. To make matters worse, I encountered a huge black bear. BUT I DECIDED TO STAY AFTER TALKING TO OTHERS. When the race started I took the lead and ran the first five miles with no one else near but I tired and was passed above the timberline. I became real weary and reached the top in tenth place. I sat there for ten minutes, falling further back. I decided to go down. The speed I picked up became scary. At one point, I almost ran off the edge of the mountain. I passed many going down and drew within 10 seconds of fourth place at the finish. I knew I had run the fastest downhill ever but that’s off the record because I sat there at the top for so long. At the finish they weighed us and I was 118 pounds. The next day I was 130. The following week in LA I ran a PR for 10K (29:40). In a career of over 900 races, including the Boston and New York marathons, Pikes Peaks still brings me my neatest memories. Please share this with your other members. Maybe I will get out there again. I have lost all that speed but I could still probably handle the mountain. (Matt C adds Lou is mentioned in the book “Foster Sons of Pikes Peak” written by John Rose who won the race and set the record in ‘65. John was very impressed with Lou and considered him a big threat because he was “fresh from his victory in the National Junior A.A.U. marathon.” Welcome to the club Lou! As far as the e-mail mystery goes his wife signed him up. NO one gets on the Incline Club mailing list without asking to be on it. That way it is not Spam — junk perhaps, but not Spam;-) #### Go out hard, when it hurts speed up... Matt Carpenter http://www.skyrunner.com
Top | Previous | Next | 2000 Index | Newsletter Index