Comments on: Long Ride, Fat Rider: 2005 Leadville 100 Race Report

By: LadyMel

LadyMel — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 20:26:26 +0000

If you ever have a CBC done for a doctor (and at your age you should!) one of the values he checks is the hematocrit. Ask him and he’ll tell you. (No offense to any female doctors or the people who love them.)

By: Fat Cyclist

Fat Cyclist — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:56:21 +0000

cris — wouldn’t it be cool to know your hematocrit level? i’d love to know what my numbers are — VO2, Watts, hematocrit — just so i’d have an idea of where i stand compared to pros. right now i know i’m nowhere close, but it’d be interesting to know how distant i really am. a factor of 2? 3? 6?maarten — this year i opted away from caffeine altogether during the race, part of my "remove the variables" approach.barry — that sounds like a great ride. too bad it’s on the same day as my main event, it’d have been fun to try. i’m afraid i may have to cut gluttony week short; my pants are already getting tight.

By: Unknown

Unknown — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:47:27 +0000

You said:>>i was raised at very high altitude (8000+ feet) and have lived at high altitude (4000+ feet) almost all my life<

By: Unknown

Unknown — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:06:22 +0000

They used to sell Gu in bigger packaging; Performance in Redmond carried it. I think I even remember a special little cradle-pouch that attached to the stem and top tube to keep it handy.Do you carefully pick one of the non-caffeinated Gu flavors? I don’t know how much caffeine there is in a regular Gu packet, but after 24 of them, I’d expect I’d be *motoring*! And quite unable to sleep after the race. :) (In fact, after my first one-day STP, I couldn’t sleep for hours and hours. Way too wired.)

By: Unknown

Unknown — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 15:05:44 +0000

fatty

By: Fat Cyclist

Fat Cyclist — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 06:40:57 +0000

cris, i’ve wondered myself why the altitude doesn’t bother me, now that i’ve lived at sea level for a couple years. i was talking with interesting people almost the entire way up; maybe i was too entertained to suffer. or maybe it’s that i was raised at very high altitude (8000+ feet) and have lived at high altitude (4000+ feet) almost all my life. maybe a lifetime of high altitude has granted me big lungs. or maybe i’m just lucky.i’ve also wondered why i suffered in the ramrod climbs as much as i did. i don’t think it was the altitude. i’m convinced now that it was a combination of the remnants of a cold and having pushed it way too hard at the beginning of the ride. i finally managed to keep myself under control in the beginning climbs at leadville, and it seemed to pay off later, when the climbs mattered. it turns out you can, with persistence, teach a fat dog old tricks.

By: Unknown

Unknown — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 06:17:37 +0000

I don’t remember reading in earlier posts about your technique for contending with the altitude (Leadville > 10,000 ft and climbing to Paradise during RAMROD, for example, seems puny by comparison). As a life-long resident at or near sea level, going to Leadville (as a skier) puts a hurt on me — at least for a couple of days. Bicycle racing would certainly not figure at all… Congrats on your race.

By: Unknown

Unknown — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 00:01:36 +0000

Nice work! I thought about your ride as I struggled though Portland’s grueling 40-mile Bridge Pedal this weekend. Indeed, I’ve even adopted a similarly calorie-rich recovery diet. I’m pretty sure if I cut myself right now, I’d bleed gravy.

By: John

John — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 19:20:01 +0000

You make this ride sound like a "must do" for next year. I will plan on giving it a go. I can’t wait to hit the trails. Good job. jjk

By: kris

kris — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 18:21:13 +0000

No worries, Elden. I was wondering who the heck the guy was asking us what we were eating, and if we’d bonked yet while we were trudging up the North Face. It didn’t occur to me until you introduced yourself to Mick from Evergreen. On a side note, the following words came out of my wife’s mouth at the prerace meeting immediately after it was explained that you were doing your story:"Is that the fat guy that does the blog? He’s not as fat as you are."BAH!!