Riding the Queen K

Few times in life an athlete has the opportunity to compete in or train on the most famous venue their sport has to offer. Baseball had the old Yankee Stadium, Basketball Madison Square Garden, Tennis has Wimbledon, runners have Boston and triathletes have Kona. The Queen K represents the storied history of triathlon, it represents countless hours of sacrifice for those who have qualified. One stretch of highway signifies the thousands of stories that Iron distance races capture from Rudy Garcia to Dave Scott to dozens of others whose stories that only family and friends know. Yes, it was only a training ride, but the fact that I was incredibly lucky to train on such hollowed grounds was not lost on me.

I was in Kona for my girlfriend's first triathlon. Nemo crushed the race and did outstandingly well. Her main goal was to not crash on the bike; with the help of Bike Works in Kona I was able to rig together a make shift water bottle holder for her stem. Nemo still isn't comfortable reaching down while riding so not having to move her hands too much gave her a ton more confidence on the bike. With how hot it is out in Kona water was key. Without going into too much further detail she had a fantastic first race that surely won't be her last.

We arrived to Kona on Thursday night and I picked up my bike Friday. Giddy like a school-girl I walked into Bike Works to pick up my Cervelo S1 that I had rented for the weekend. I'm in the market for a new road bike and the Cervelo R3 is high on my list; so testing out an S1 on the road would give me a good idea of fit and feel.

Saturday I woke early, donned the Spandex and was ready to ride. On tap for the day was 65 miles of the 112 mile Ironman Course leaving from Waikoloa and heading north to Hawi for an out and back. The first 5 miles or so were spent adjusting the saddle height and forward position once I felt kind of dialed in it was time to just flat out ride.

My first impression of the Queen K is that it is a deceptively hard ride. There aren't any steep climbs, the roads are really smooth and one would be hard pressed to find a technical turn. What makes this course brutally difficult is the wind, heat and lack of change in landscape. Riding through the lava fields is like riding on the moon, the landscape is like nothing I have ever seen and the wind blows through it without challenge. In the distance you can see Maui, but the vision looks like a mirage, its simply a beautiful backdrop that never seems to get bigger or smaller.

Once through the town of Kawaihae the ride became brutally difficult. I was greeted by a wall of wind that had me struggling to keep a pace above 15 mph. Determined to make it to the turn around point I pushed on. About 5 miles from the town of Hawi I was greeted by a friendly face tearing down the other side of the Queen K. Matt, the husband of a TNT teammate of Nemo was doing the same ride as me. He thankfully added 5 miles to his ride and rode into Hawi with me - I was struggling at that point.

At the turn-around I grabbed a coffee, an apple banana, a smoothie and some extra water before hoping back on for the rest of the ride. On the 30ish miles out to Hawi both Matt and I had a spartan 2 water bottles, 10 miles into the return trip we had gone through that amount of water! Once the wind was at our backs the pavement heated up. I could barely get in enough water to keep my focus and to stay hydrated. In total I went through 8 water bottles on the return 30 miles - 4 times the amount of water I needed on the way out; weather makes this course difficult, and weather is something a rider has no control over.

On the way back I did my fastest mile ever - 1:22, on a flat or slightly downhill portion of the course with the wind at my back. The way out took me 2+ hours, the way back took me less than an hour and 1/2. The Queen K let me realize how truly special those pro-triathletes are. The Queen K is not friendly, the course is unpredictable and demands you be prepared for the toughest obstacles a rider can face; heat and wind. After 60 miles I have a whole new respect for those who have qualified for and competed at Kona.

Another Year, Another Apirl 2nd, More Lessons & Memories

It has now been four years since the April 2nd I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Each passing year has brought new perspective, new lessons, new moments of fright and new moments of triumph. As I reflect back on this past year I'm not sure I could have asked to accomplish anything more, with or without the big D. Graduation from a prestigious MBA program, gaining a job with a start-up in a field I was dying to break into, moving to the West Coast, accomplishing my goals at Ironman CDA, becoming more involved in Triabetes and meeting a fantastic and wonderful woman. The difference with this past year from each of the previous, in no way were any of my accomplishments "over coming" diabetes, I simply succeeded while having the disease.

After four long years of struggling with this disease, analyzing every blood sugar reading, every carbohydrate I've taken in I've reached a place where I embrace the disease. It is an incredible juxtaposition to say I've "embraced a disease," but I know how food will affect me, know what my body can accomplish at a given blood sugar and know what symptoms predict what my blood sugar will be. As I gaze out my window in Kona I think perhaps I've reached diabetic enlightenment.

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence." ~ Buddha

I've soaked in every lesson I could about the management of diabetes, asked as many questions as possible and put myself through nutrition experiment after nutrition experiment. Each opportunity to learn something new about blood sugar management has made me more comfortable with the disease. It has since turned from a fight to a relationship. I've become comfortable with the ebb and flow and know that at no time will my management of this disease be perfect.

After four long years I thank this disease for the world it opened my eyes to, I thank this disease for every opportunity it has presented. In no small way this disease changed me; and while my life has been fundamentally altered I would like to think I took the negatives this disease presented, embraced them and found a way to help them make me a better person. Now on my 4th anniversary of my diagnosis I'm hoping on a bike and riding into the blazing sun on the Queen K in Kona not worried about nutrition, not worried about the heat; simply thrilled that I have the opportunity to ride a stretch of pavement that all triathletes sacrifice so much for, even if its just a training ride for the day.

How to break into road racing?

For the past few months I've been trying to find out how to break into road racing in Norther California.  The scene is super active out here but unlike alot of triathlon clubs there aren't meet and greets, happy hours or kick off meetings.  Pretty much people show up at a local bike shop, begin ridding together and then eventually land on a team, or so I think.  Problem is my work schedule is so crazy that it is next to impossible for me to commit to a Saturday shop ride and further I only have the Cannondale I built to ride on.  So a day on the Cannondale means a day where I can't go aero on El Bastardo.  A new road bike would greatly help this problem but for now I'm kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

A few weeks back I was fortunate enough to meet up with a guy on Team Roaring Mouse as I was trying to find the entrance to the GG Bridge.  Brian and I had a great ride together, I e-mailed the President of the team and thought I was all set to meet some great people.  The following week was the team's once quarterly meeting but sadly I was stuck at work until 10pm.  I've since joined the team's message boards but honestly have no clue how to hook up with some riders to go to a race with.

I'm utterly baffled by what happens at a road race and have no clue what the strategy is like so I'd really like to go to my first one with someone with some experience.  Knowing me as soon as the gun goes off I'm going to hammer away but I know that isn't what I should do at all.  So some experiential wisdom would greatly help me in this pursuit.  Alot of the teams out here say come meet us at a race to network with us - problem is I have no idea how to even register for these races.  Plus I'm not sure what category I should race, with only 3 crits under my belt I'm assuming I start as a Cat 5 but haven't a clue.

So if there is anyone out there who wants to throw a triathlete a bone I promise to show you that I have handling skills, won't bring an aero bottle and know to leave the aero helmet at home.  I'll even wear shoes that ratchet closed, bib shorts and if it's cold even have a pair of knickers to toss on.  Really I just need someone in NorCal to show me the ropes so I can start racing.  My goal was to race in the Regaldo/ Warnerville road race this Sunday if anyone who reads this is headed out that way.  I might be on an old Cannondale with a bunch of mis-matched parts but everyone's got to start somewhere.

Small Changes - Big Results

At the beginning of my most recent training cycle I decided to conduct a little experiment on my blood sugars.  The goal of the experiment was to identify what happens to my blood sugars if I cut out processed or refined foods (with the exception of clif bars) from my diet while ramping up cardio exercise.  The results after a week have been astounding!

I eat pretty healthily as is; normally my breakfast is a cup of store bought greek yogurt with fruit or ezikuel cinnamon raisin toast with almond butter, a clif mojo bar as a mid-morning snack, a salad or something similar for lunch, fruit in the afternoon then dinner which ranges from quinoa with chicken sausage to black beans to an evening out.  I was growing frustrated with some higher than I would like blood sugars in the morning and after lunch while my evening blood sugars remained pretty stable.  I knew the main difference between dinner and my other meals was that I was controlling everything that went into the meal so could cut any extraneous blood sugar demons.

So I made some slight changes in the morning instead of store bought greek fruit yogurt I'm mixing in fresh berries to plain greek yogurt with some chia seeds and almond slices.  For snacks I'm having almost exclusively organic fruit (awesomely provided by Keas) and for lunch I'm baking a sweet potato each evening and heating it up the following day and for dinner I'm sticking with quinoa and a lean protein like chicken sausage, turkey meatballs or ground buffalo with peas and avocado.  Thus far the results have been awesome.

The highest blood sugar I've had has been 235 and that's after a meal, most of the time my blood sugar has ranged between 75 and 135, and I'm running into far more lows than highs.  Any residual effects of high blood sugars are just about gone, no stomach aches, no head aches and my vision is greatly improved.  Plus I feel more myself with a ton more energy.  And my basal rate has dropped 1.5 units of insulin per day over the past 10 days!

It has taken me about 3 years of refining my diet to get to the point of actually really enjoying a totally clean way of eating.  Although I still crave (and sometimes eat) french fries after a long ride the days of eating fast food have been long behind me.  Small incremental changes over a period of three years has let me get to this point and if eating like this 90% of the time keeps the ill effects of crappy blood sugars away I'm all for it.  Will keep you all updated on how this progresses but if my blood sugars continue to stabilize I might have to write a diet book!

If you ride your bike enough....

If you ride someone rides a bike almost everyday they are going to encounter all sorts of things during their travels.  Some of the things encountered will be awesome and some of them terrifying or death defying.  The wide range of scenery one can see during a bike ride and the different terrain faced are aspects of cycling that make it so awesome.  But over the past few weeks I have had way too many of those death defying experiences; today was perhaps the worst of them.

My string of crazy things happening on a bike without crashing started a few weeks ago during the second early bird crit.  They continued when I did the Geyser ride up in Healdsburg, CA.  During the fast and wet descent I came across a cattle grate that was hidden by the fog.  Crossing the grate at 40+ mph had my front end slide out and I was lucky enough to be relaxed to coax my bike back to control.  Sadly, that was the easiest and least scary of my string of weird luck.

Two weeks ago I was descending from Mt. Tam/ Muir woods with great control and comfort on my bike when all of a sudden.... my rear wheel popped out of the drops!!!!!  My rear wheel did nothing to balance my bike at that point as it was flopping like a fish out of water while still stuck in the chain.  I shifted my weight forward, didn't panic and gently feathered the front brake.  While my bike was skidding down the steep hill I was able to unclip and safely skid to a stop.  3 bikers behind me stopped and said "holly f*ck what just happened, are you ok?" and then said "I cannot believe you stayed up."  Apparently my uni-cycle skills are top notch.

Then this morning after weeks of staying up in situations where I almost certainly should have gone down it happened.... I finally went down.  No this wasn't during a morning training ride or even an all out hammer fest with a cycling club, it was on my freaking commute.  Nothing makes crashing worse than doing it on a crowded street looking like a turtle on its back as you try and stay up.  I'm fighting off a bit of a cold so my mental focus isn't as sharp as usual.  Normally I try and avoid Market Street at all costs as I think it is one of the most dangerous streets to bike on in the world (although the hundreds of bikers who take it daily may disagree). 

One of the things that makes Market so dangerous are the trolly tracks in the middle of the street - which oh by the way are the exact width of a 700c road bike wheel (smart city planning).  I've succesfully avoided said tracks for my 5 months living in San Francisco but today was a different story.  As I looped around a bus pulling to the curb my mind forgot about the tracks for a moment, next thing I know my rear wheel is being grabbed by the iron from hell and I'm gyrating my body to try and set it free.  Next thing I know I shoulder check the bus I was trying to get around, bang my knee and do a  side roll that would have gotten negative points from the Russian judge to avoid flipping my bike over.  As I go to pick my bike up and wheel it to the curb it won't move.  Once safely on the sidewalk I realized I had totally bent my wheel's rim!

So not only do I have a bruised knee and just crashed into a bus I had to load my bike onto my shoulder and carry it for a 1/4 mile to my office!  Not the best way to start off a Wednesday; thankfully was able to find a replacement rear wheel for $40 online for my single speed.  As I sit here with a bruised knee and elbow which could have been far worse I ponder how I crash on a commute but can stay up when my rear wheel pops out going down a steep descent.  The mysterious of biking continue.

Representing InsulinDependence at TCOYD

Saturday morning I had the privilege of representing InsulinDependence and Triabetes at the Taking Charge of Your Diabetes (TCOYD) event in Santa Rosa.  Given my recent schedule I haven't been as active with Triabetes as I would like.  I had to bail on the Carlsbad Half-Marathon weekend because of work and haven't been able to advice the 2011 captains to the degree I would have hoped for.  When Nate contacted me to man the table at the conference I was 100% game.  Plus it was a way for me to work on my BD skills without a suit on!

I introduced ID to each person who walked by the booth with a smile and the simple statement, "we're a national non-profit that promotes active lifestyles for people with diabetes."  What was really special about the event was the number of people who had a light bulb go off with that simple sentence.  Whether they were diabetics themselves or parents of diabetics the knowledge that there is a social network of people who face the same challenges made their daily struggles seem somehow less ardent.  Through my role at Keas I'm learning how important social networks can be in behavior change.  Diabetics know how important it is to live a healthy lifestyle but sometimes there isn't a ton of guidance on what a healthy lifestyle is when you're working with artificial insulin.  The things that work for Joe Smith down the street may be entirely different for Debbie Diabetes.  The collective wisdom in ID and on Phrendo makes it a bit easier to figure out what will work and what might not.

One particular story made the hour drive more than worth it.  I met a woman whose 11-year-old son was diagnosed with type 1 sometime in December.  Her son as she described him was a "super tough kid," with an untamable adventurous spirit who would be the "first to jump out of a plane," on a skydiving trip.  Her eyes totally lit up when I told her about the triabuddies program and the support network that is so important to ID.  In speaking with her I was reminded 1,000 times over how incredible the non-profit I'm a part of is and how influential Peter's vision is in the diabetic community.  As always I'm just psyched to be a small part of the mission and the growth of the organization.

These legs were made for climbing

One of the things I did not fully appreciate before moving to California was how incredible the cycling would be.  Sure I had heard that Marin County was a cyclist playground but I assumed that just meant a quick spin over the Golden Gate Bridge would let one ride any number of routes.  I failed to understand that any one of those routes could be the best ride a given cyclist had ever been on.

It is almost becoming a cliché that after each long ride I do from my new home I finish and say, “that was the best ride I’ve ever been on.”  Saturday, may truly take the cake; I can’t say my Saturday ride was the most fun I have ever had on a ride but was by far the most challenging, zone 5 inducing, suffer fest I have ever had the privilege of testing myself on.

Poised for a day of cycling and wine tasting my new partner in triathlon crime, Little Nemo, and I left SF for Healdsburg around 7:45 am.  After a quick stop at Philz coffee we were on the road and excited for the days pavement.  Once at the parking lot of the Healdsberg City Hall we headed our separate ways; she was off to tackle the flats and I was off, like my normal idiotic self, finding the hardest ride I could in the general area.

Prior to heading up for the weekend I had come across the Sanata Rossa Cycling Clubs website which boasted the 10 greatest rides on their websites.  I was up for that Pepsi Challenge and of course had to go with one of the 3 rides that was listed as extremely challenging.  It just happened that the ride they described as the “quintessential Sonoma ride,” also left from the Healdsberg Court House, so I was sold.

The Geyser ride was unlike any I had ever done before.  My trials and tribulations on Afton Mountain and the Blue Ridge parkway came early in the ride.  After the first 20 to 30 miles training in Virginia I’d reach easier terrain so I was freshest when the going was hardest.  Tackling the 7 sisters provided outlets of relief throughout the climbs and was met with some of the most majestic views I had ever seen.  The Geyser Ride was a different story entirely.

Geysers starts off through a beautiful path in wine country.  I passed by vineyard after vineyard, pig farms, wild turkeys and gorgeous rolling  terrain.  I averaged just about 20 mph for the first 20 miles and was feeling strong.  After mile 20ish I entered River Rd and the terrain took a dramatic turn.  While still beautiful I felt like I was scaling Caradhras trying to save Middle Earth.

I climbed deeper starring down into a beautiful valley pushing my quads as hard as they could go.  About 3 miles into the 12 mile climb I felt a bit woozy, checked the blood sugar and grabbed a snickers bar.  After a 5 minute pause my blood sugar started to climb and I was off again.  The next few miles rolled along gradually enough as I averaged about 14 mph (between 11 and 18 mph) for 6ish miles.  

As I climbed and climbed I could see what I thought was a smoke stack in the distance.  I later found out that there is an actual Geyser on Geyser road in Geyserville and that the Geyser provides geo-thermal energy to the region, pretty cool.  Once I finally got even with the geo-thermal smoke I thought I had reached the apex of my climb, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Taking a right hand turn at the end of River Rd. onto Geyser Rd, I was hit smack in the face with the steepest, hardest, most grueling climb I have ever encountered.  Over the next 3 miles I climbed a net of 890 feet, declining just 52 feet over that same stretch.  I averaged 3.6, 8.6 and 13.1 mph in those 3 miles and had never felt as deep a burn in my quads as I did during that stretch.  I had to stop twice for fear my heart was going to explode out of my chest and could do nothing but collapse on my aero bars as I tried to muster the leg strength to continue.

To make matters worse I picked up a new pair of training wheels for El Bastardo.  I put my old Mavics on the bike I’m using for crits and found a great deal on a Mavic Kysirium Elite on Craig’s List with a cassette.  Problem is the cassette’s largest rear sprockete was a 25, on my old wheels I had a 28.  With a 43 small ring up front my old gear ratio meant my bike was advancing 1.12 times for every pedal stroke in 43 x 28, with the new 43 x 25 gearing my bike advanced 1.72 times.  The best comparison is taking steps up a hill, it’s a lot easier to take little steps up a huge hill than lunge forward; essentially the new gearing made the climb 35% harder than what I was used to!

Regardless, I pushed forward and finally reached the top and was rewarded with a screaming descent through heavy fog and a light drizzle.  The road would break apart at times into loose gravel and I’d frequently be met with cattle grates.  Over one particular cattle grate that I didn’t see until I was on top of it I nearly lost total control of my bike as the front tire skidded to the side as I glided over it.  Thankfully the handseling skills learned at the early birds paid off as I was able to regain control and safely continue on.  Crashing at about 35 mph would not have been fun!

Finally I was done with the most hilariously satisfying ride of my life.  Each time I ride out here I’m reminded of how badly El Bastardo needs a step-brother.  Sadly those sponsors still haven’t knocked down my door so I’m going to continue to be the crazy guy doing climbs no sane person would do on a tri bike.  The rest of the weekend was spent tasting some fantastic cabs, points and petite sirahs; but for 50 miles I was reminded of why few things in the world bring me as much joy as mile after mile on my bike.  I had some diabetic issues on the ride, felt pain like I had never felt before and pushed over the hardest climb I’ve ever encountered – not a bad way to remind yourself that no matter where you live the simplest things can bring the greatest joy.