triple d recap

thought i'd throw out a few, short race recaps from the year so far.

triple d...wow. scotty and i had signed up for this as sort of a guage to see where i was at getting ready for transiowa. mind you, before i started training for trans i had never ridden more than 25 miles in my life. this was to be a 60 mile race on snowmobile trails. scotty was down cause he's always the first one to say yes to "hey, do you want to ride to...". he and i have ridden in some crazy conditions including a blizzard that was piling light snow so high on the gravels we were dragging our feet through it at the bottom of every pedal stroke. i digress. triple d...one thing sums it all up...-30 f. it sucked. it was the most miserable conditions i've ever ridden in. 34 started, 6 made it halfway, 4 finished. in the end i won by almost an hour, which put me in 30 below temps for over 8 hours. i had less than a 5 minute lead going into the gas station in dyersville (halfway), stayed for 14 minutes then headed back in. truly feared for frostbite a few times on the way in, almost threw in the towel once when i took my gloves off for 3 minutes to find food in my pack and almost couldn't stand the insanely excruciating pain that followed for the next half hour til some handwarmers BARELY started to help. one support lady kept showing up every few miles and really was my last touch with reality. when i got back into downtown dubuque i was so disoriented i had to call lance andre (race director) for directions to the hotel/finish line. he told me later that i sounded so delirious they were truly concerned about hypothermia. i found my way back, didn't lose much skin except a small patch on the side of my foot, and 4 months later the race still blows my mind. 30 minutes in no water was drinkable unless i stopped and drank straight from my camelbak bladder. i was eating sandwiches out of my pack that had formed ice crusts all around them. my balaclava was freezing and almost choking me as it scrunched around my neck from my breath. my goggles froze over and if i took them off for 5 minutes my eyelashes/eyelids began to freeze together so i couldn't open my eyes. it was insanity. yes, i'd do it again. what are the odds it'll end up on the coldest weekend of the year two years in a row??? thanks to lance for putting it on and congrats on finishing the arrowhead. congrats to scotty for making it as far as you did...most people wouldn't walk to their cars let alone ride their bikes for hours on end in that wind and cold. next year i plan to make sure i remember where the handlebar lounge is and warm up with some doctor on my way to the finish.