Friday, September 23, 2016

Roll Out to Marji.

While dropping the kids off at school yesterday it was still raining.  I worked till noon and toyed with the idea of getting one more spin in.  Ideally I would have not ridden yesterday and spun today, but an 8 hour drive kind of gets in the way.  Because of the rain I went back and forth if I would ride.  I left work around 1:00 to dry streets.  I decided to take the Evergreen out and do a mix of gravel and pavement.  It sounded and looked windy but out riding it didn't feel too bad.  Maybe because I was just riding.  I rode for a bit over 2 hours.  The legs and body feel good!

This morning we roll out to Marquette, MI and the Marji Gesick.  The past couple of days I've become pretty nervous/anxious about this race...more so than other races.  I'm guessing it has to do with the dozen or so emails from the race director reminding us how hard this is and getting lost is a real possibility and not their fault or the countless Facebook posts along the same lines.  For some reason I am also having trouble wrapping my head around the fact it may take upwards (or more) of 12 hours to complete.  I keep telling myself it's like a fat bike race but I keep thinking I can go faster.  Time will tell.  I think the biggest test for me will be the metal one.  If it truly is that slow and difficult the dark demons are sure to show up!
It's also a point to point race with no shuttle service back to the start.  Jen and the girls are coming so I will have a ride but not sure what to tell them on time.  This would be a perfect race for the directors to charge a bit more and use Spot Trackers and Trackleaders so friends, families, or interested parties can follow along.  I may use my Spot Tracker but it doesn't really give Jen too much information besides my general location.  Find my iPhone works if our cell phones do.  Best thing to do is pedal hard!

I'm not sure if it's because I am afraid to commit to one goal, but I have a few.  The first is to finish under 12 hours and get the belt buckle.  But really, I'd like to do it in 10-11 hours.  Having not ridden the course I have no idea to know if that's realistic or not.  I'll know much more tomorrow morning!

Happy Weekend.

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