Key West Ride 2007 03/21/2008 11:34:44 AM
Creve's assessment of his long day
160+mile bike down to Key West Good Friday for 2007 C2C Trip(2006
KYE 2 day Bike)
Surprisingly Thursday night Creve did not sleep well and kept thinking of items he forgot to pack. So after few hours woke up at 1250 am Good Friday and started Eating/Packing/Loading bike. As expected, Creve over packed and brought more supplies than necessary and left 45 minutes late at 345am. His best buddy & fellow Raven Runner, Flasher, was over at 230am to provide support vehicle and carry the bulk of supplies for the Bike ride and weekend trip. With just a Rack Trunk and normal bike bags Creve had sufficient supplies for the day ride without heavy panniers, but good to have back supplies and more variety in the support vehicle.
Creve Starting Out & Feeling Strong
Took a leisurely ride through South Beach and down Lincoln Rd to warm/lube up the sore knees. The night clubs & some sidewalk cafes were still going strong with all the socialites and clubbers. Creve was in high spirits and feeling strong(90% or so) Temperature was pleasant and there were slight sprinkles/showers all morning. 2 concerns during the first hour were the slight discomfort in the knees (unusual and resulting from too heavy a load for joints strength training during front squats Tuesday) and the anticipated burning sensation on the bottom of feet (Still have this from Marathon Jan 28 2007. If these got worse over next 16 hours it could really increase difficulty and Creve didn't want to cripple knee for this last 'endurance stunt' 2 things Creve forgot were socket set/tools incase crank fell off (But bottom bracket held strong- was just wobbly and noisy with grinding/clanking) and his spare tire (Had 2 tubes but no extra tire or duct tape) Fortuitously these were not required.
Easter was 2 days away - Manatee Mailbox
South Miami on US1 is really the only place this trip he had a few rude drivers honk or swerve at him and nobody threw anything. Made great time down to Homestead and met up with Flash for quick cheerios breakfast and logistics rest stop. Was on way to Key Largo and out of Miami area by sunrise ( gloomy due to overcast skies and wet/light rain conditions- though gloominess may have really saved Creve as the heat/sun got really bad around 3pm and started wearing down a fatigued and sleepy Creve- an extra 6-8 hours of heat and sun would presented foreseeable problems)
On Break
Fueling wise Creve underrate a bit and this seemed to cause fatigue/low energy for several days after the ride. Actually nothing eventful or exciting really occurred and Creve is not too inspired to get creative. Only thing unusual was the church group dragging large crosses in Islamorada for Good Friday. Friendly Flash drove back like 10 miles to try to get video for the future Cross2Convey Video but they were tuckered out and had packed up the Crucifixion props till next year. Only ate at McD's 3 times & Subway once.
Bike path
Won't go into detail in all the little discomforts, but the knees held up and just felt 'un-lubricated' the whole ride( like 2-3outa10 discomfort- annoying but bearable. Feet have been tender since ride. Most obvious and painful was a bruised bottom & Chaffed crotch from the bike seat. Creve's got a bigger mountain bike gel type seat and seat post with shock absorber, but for a 10hour+ ass pounding, every touring biker should get a bigger/softer seat with springs! Creve doesn't really have that much fat for cushioning on the glutes and you start feeling every little bump with a jarring shock of pain on the bottom.
Creve trying his first Breakfast Burrito
Creve spent a little extra time/distance doing some scenes for a later video and pedaling became a bit challenging after 7 mile bridge. The weather had cleared up, Heat & Humidity was at its peak and Creve was starting to get sleepy. Had to put T-shirt on as Creve was getting a bit to much Sun as well. The whole ride average heart rate seemed below 110 and was not very cardiovascular exerting- pretty much an effortless pace: 13.9-14 mph pace. The toughest battle for Creve was staying awake and torment from sitting on the bike seat so long. Last 20 miles where a struggle and Creve almost talked himself out of going the final 2 miles to the 0 mile marker by rationalizing it was sunset, 745pm, when he got to the sisters place in Key West and it was late, just wanted an Asian Grilled Chicken salad and bed. Fortunately he was so irritable there was no reasoning/rationalizing with himself not to finish this 'by the book' Sister and Flash rode the final 2 miles and sisters bike had a top speed of about 6mph so this really made it dark by the time we leisurely hit the 0mm for the obligatory pics/video.
At beginning of 7 mile stretch
Creve's memory is a bit hazy during last part of ride, even though is wasn't cardiovascular and out of breath type exhaustion, he was depleted of energy and slurring words and fatigued from the constant long hours of exertion. Perhaps if ate more would not have depleted bodies stores of glycogen so dramatically. As soon as he showered, after eating, got in bed and collapsed to sound & solid 5 hours sleep. Woke up for Protein shake and pee and then slept another solid 4 hours. Best sleep in memory. Next day was worn out and just walked around Duval street and got tired. Slept good again and did traditional island loop jog Easter Sunday, but took 3-4 days to get back to normal energy levels.
Nice shoulder or bike path Key Largo down
Creve is so far behind on computer work, from being on vacation, that he apologizes for not putting any creative stories into this assessment but going to spend time/effort on the video over next couple weeks once caught up. One tip: Don't worry about the extra weight- Get the most comfortable bike seat you can afford for long distances!
End of the Rainbow - worn out Creve & Flash
Challenges
Bottom Bracket Bearing shot 1/8-1/4" play in Cranks
Knee acting up from Front Squats weight training Tuesday
Right Bicep Strained
Forecasting Rain
Not acclimated yet to 80 degree/sunny Humid days - dehydrated during jog Thur
Leaving 3 am and Drunk Drivers/careless in Miami on US1
