Post Race Recap

Ok, so I didn't get to bed early the other night. I think it was about 1:30 AM or so before we finally made it to bed, but it was worth it. I whipped up a batch of spaghetti with mushrooms and sausage so we could get our carbo-load on. Then, I had to change my inner-tube on my front tire and time just kind of slipped by on us.
(Not to confuse, the pic is from the Sprint Triathlon)

No worries though, Jacob and I made it down to La Harpe in plenty of time to get a warm up lap in and push our way to the front of the extremely large crowd. It seemed like it took forever for the race to start, but it finally did and off we went (sort of). The start was on a slight hill and we were packed in like cattle so it took a few minutes before we were moving well enough to clip our shoes into the pedals. Before I knew it we were over the bridge. There was a little mix up after we got to the North Shore and we were sent right when we were supposed to take a left, but we figured it out before long. Next thing I knew, in no time at all we were passing through Mayflower. I felt amazing for the first 50 miles. My muscles were fresh and were operating in autopilot cruising at around 18-22 mph. I kept having trouble keeping a group together though. We kept splitting apart. People would break off and do their own thing. It was hard to keep more than about 4 or 5 people in a nice tight group to help break the wind.

We made it 50 miles before I had to stop and refill my gatorade and water bottles. I wasn't originally trying to go the whole way without stopping, but after the great start I was. We only stopped because the others that we were with stopped. Later, I was thankful I stopped when my liquids lasted me until 8 miles from the finish line. This is when the picture was taken. I apologize for the strange face, but I am stuffing down oranges and drinking pickle juice. Oh, and I just rode 50 miles.

The next 10 miles in my opinion are the hardest 10 miles of the race. They are just east of Conway heading towards 107 and back to 89. I honestly almost had to get off and walk on the hill after crossing 107. That hill is straight up and long. Then after that, you have the longest stretch, Highway 89. It seems like it stretches forever, but once I hit Mayflower again my second wind caught on. At this point, my buddy Jacob had been riding stronger than me all day, but right at the county line he faded. I thought that he had just moved back the end of the line, but the next time that I looked back I couldn't even see him. I thought about holding back and waiting for him, but I was too close to the finish line. I could taste it and I wanted to beat my last time as bad as I could so I pushed forward. I found 2 other guys that had some gas in the tank and we roared past everyone else, each taking turn pulling the other two. We picked up about 4 people and formed a good little group. My muscles were gone, but somehow I was able to convince them to keep peddling. When we hit downtown North Little Rock, our group dispersed. It was every man for himself. I attacked early and often. I quickly passed everyone in our group. There were only 2 people between me and the finish line. As I turned the last corner I used the last of my energy to pass them just before crossing the line. It was amazing. There's no way anybody has ever finished as fast as my time. . . well except for all of the people who finished an hour or so ahead of me. . . but we're not talking about them and they're not telling the story are they? I am and in my story I didn't SEE anybody finish ahead of me, therefore I did finish 1st! haha, Take that!

Anyway, long story short my cycling time was 5 hours 15 minutes plus approximately 5-10 minutes for that 1 stop. The quickest times were somewhere around 4 hours, and my time 2 years ago was 7 hours plus 1 hour of aid station breaks so I crushed my old time by 2 hours and 45 minutes. Hey, at least I'm improving.

Guess what, I did it. I signed up for the Little Rock Marathon. This will be my first marathon ever. Maybe I'll get a few other people to do it with me. I encourage everyone to give it a try with me. Sign up now before November or else it goes up by $10. It's like 6 months away so we have plenty of time to train. Even if you are totally 100% out of shape, you have plenty of time to change that.

Bow season starts tomorrow. I'll see you out in the woods!

Big Dam Weekend

Reporting live from the RiverMarket...

So tonight I must get to bed early. There's a lot to do tomorrow, but I decided to venture out to the river to see what festivities might be taking place tonight. Under the rivermarket pavilions, they are having some kind of Power 92 Jams Skate Party. Everybody is out there with their old school skates showing off some skills. Very unexpected.

Yesterday, I officially turned my apartment into a microbrewery. I've had a Belgian Ale fermented and bottled for a few weeks now. It should be ready any day now, and I plan on cracking one open tomorrow after the race. A few weeks ago, I picked up some muscadine from my friend's dad. He has a small vineyard bigger than 4 or 5 people's gardens. Well, I finally got around to crushing them up. I had to hurry up and do it or else my roommate was going to eat all 30 pounds of them (They taste like candy). My roommate and I actually ended up crushing them by hand. We found that just getting down in there was easier than using a potato smasher or any other method we could think of. Then, for the next step. I had no idea what to do next. I added too much water, forgot about the sugar, had to take some water and a few muscadine out, then put the sugar in. The end result looks like something that would turn into wine, but we can only hope.

I decided that while I was at it, I might as well put another batch of beer in the fermenter, so I went through that whole process. I started all of this at 7 PM and it was 1 AM before I had everything cleaned up. So now I have 5 gallons of beer and wine fermenting and 4 gallons of beer bottled and ready to go When I woke up this morning, our entire apartment complex smelled like a brewery. It was delicious.

Well, I better go. My friend just arrived back at my apartment. We've got to get up early tomorrow for the Big Dam Bridge 100 miler. I'm mostly prepared for it. If you live anywhere around Little Rock, North Little Rock, Maumelle, Mayflower, Conway, or Hwy 89 lookout tomorrow because a lot of cyclist are coming your way.

Alright, I've gotta go fix a flat. I just found it as I was heading out the door to the River. I hit a bad pothole Wednesday on the River Trail. I'm pretty sure it's the one on the North Little Rock trail down close to Dickey Stevens Ballpark. When I hit it, I figured it was going to cause a flat. At least I found it tonight and not tomorrow on my ride.

BeaverFork Tri

It was a perfect weekend, well except Saturday which was a little crazy, but Sunday was gorgeous and that's all that mattered. It was the day of the Conway Sprint Tri.

Every time I do this event, it's a completely new experience. I focus hard on what I lacked the time before. It all starts with the swim. Arms and legs everywhere all tangled up. You can feel the current in the water from all of the bodies swimming in the same direction and you begin to understand why fish swim this way. My swim was the strongest swim I have put together of all of my 3 sprint Tri's, however it wasn't flawless. On the first leg I caught 2 big mouthfulls of water. We were churning the water enough to make white caps which makes it harder to breathe when you come up for air only to get splashed by a wave. This must have kicked up my adrenaline a notch because I ended up swimming faster than my breathing rhythm, but the reason I liked my swim was when I finally reached shore I wasn't wore out at all. I had plenty of gas left in the tank.

The bike was a piece of cake. I was feeling really good at this point, actually too good, almost let down. I was cruising at about 19 mph. My heart rate was staying low and my breathing was normal. I know what you're thinking then, why not go faster if it was so easy? Well, I couldn't. My muscles were set to go at 19 mph. Any faster would have exponentially increased the amount of work that I would be doing and I wouldn't finish.

As I coasted back in to the transition area, I felt good about the energy that I had left, until I hopped off of my bike. Immediately, all my thoughts went from ease to panic. I was seriously doubting whether I would even finish. I had been racing right alongside a friend of mine. We had been going back and forth the whole race, and I just knew that I was going to blow up end finish 10 minutes behind him. My left shin felt like I had kicked a post at full swing. I couldn't build up any momentum at all. That feeling of being let down by the course. . . gone. So was my breath and I could not find it. This is the moment where it stops being about the physical activity and becomes 100% mental. You have to will your legs to keep kicking. Halfway through the run (1.6 miles), my friend, Jacob, had put about 50 yards between him and me, but I started to build some steam. It's something about running back that is so much easier than running away. My shin loosened up. I closed my eyes and found my Happy Place then opened them real quick when I realized I was running off of the road. I slowly picked up my pace the whole way back, but I never caught Jacob. He must have done the same. I finished in 1 hr 25.5 minutes. Jacob beat me by 1 minute. I can't complain though. My goal was to just beat 1.5 hours, but I was really aiming for 1hr 25 minutes so at least I hit my mark.

One thing that I promise, I will be more prepared for the next one. I know I always say that, but this time I am publicly declaring it so it will happen. Hopefully I will be able to do more events as well next year. As for what's left for this year, the Big Dam Bridge 100 mile Bike Tour is coming up in 2 weeks. I hope you'll be there. It's a lot of fun.

Tomorrow: Rest is over, resume training

Movin' to the Rock

Long time no see. Things have been busy as always. First off, I should explain that I have been without the internet for a few weeks. I just made the big move from Conway to Little Rock. Guess that makes me city folk now. Obviously, I'm still having trouble blending in and looking civilized. I probably should start out by putting on a shirt and some shoes. We'll see.

Shortly after my last post was the St. Joe Bazaar. For those who are unfamiliar, it is a school carnival. We put up all kinds of booths to win ham, bacon, cheese, goldfish, hats, and my personal specialty: dishes, glassware, and rabbits. Our booth, the dimetoss, always dresses up with some sort of theme. This year was "Cowboys and Indians." Dressing up as a cowboy would have been too easy, so I scoured Hobby Lobby for anything I could call Indian. I found some cheap leather and beads and whipped together an outfit. My elm tree had to sacrifice a low limb for the bow, but it didn't seem to mind.

In the meantime, I've been training hardcore for the CATS Sprint Triathlon. It's coming up this weekend. 500 meter swim, 15 mile bike, 5k run. Winning time is usually under 1 hour. I'm hoping to just break 1.5 hours. Wish me luck.

P.S.

I've been told that the ghost was actually urinating on me. I was in the bathroom when I took that picture. I thought I was standing in front of the sink, but actually I was standing in front of the urinal. Also, there is a strange bit of lightness where his ghostly extract would be coming from. . .

The Haunted Hotel

If you are from Arkansas, you probably are somewhat familiar with the Haunted Hotel in Eureka Springs. It is the Crescent Hotel. It was my fate to end up there two weeks ago for my cousin's wedding.

At first, I wanted name this Title "The Not So Haunted Hotel" because, at first, I was extremely unimpressed with the "Hauntedness" of the hotel. The hotel was amazing by itself, but seemed to lack something very important to be "haunted" namely ghosts. I paced the halls all night long. Every floor I searched high and low. Every mirror, every window, every room was inspected for anything extraordinary. It seemed to be too well lit. No dark eerie hallways to make your hair stand straighter than a New Mexican Interstate. There were no creeky floors or banging pipes to make you hear things that aren't really there. The only thing that seemed to be possessed was the shower. The hot and cold water interchanged at will never meddling in the middle creating one of the worst experiences in my life.

The only sort of ghost that I caught was an orb, but orbs are just camera flash return so it doesn't really count. I did not sleep all night, afraid that I would miss a ghost. It didn't help that we were going to wake up at 3:45 to go fishing on Beaver Lake either so I figured it would be just as easy to stay awake all night. Like I said, I looked everywhere and took probably 200 pictures. I found a few strange things, but upon further inspection found that most were light "glowing" spots on the wall that were actual impurities left from where a painting use to hang, or light streeks caused from the reflection from other paintings or piano tops.

Upon further review, I did find one series of pictures that stood out. I actually noticed it when I took the picture, but I thought it was just my shadow. When I showed my aunt the picture, she freaked. She couldn't even look at it. I admit it is not rock solid evidence of a ghost. You may call it a "stretch," but isn't that what a picture of a ghost be anyway. I mean, if we could always touch and feel and see ghosts, then they would not be so mysterious would they? We would have all kinds of proof that they existed. So believe if you will or. . . don't. It's your choice.

PIC 1

PIC 2

PIC3 close up

Altered (what I see)

The higher the resolution of your monitor and the smaller the picture size, the clearer you can see it. You can clearly see what appears to be a well dressed man (or maybe a straight jacket) looking right at me. He has long enough hair that it hangs over his ears and he has a nice full beard and sideburns. You can see his arms folded in front of him touching me and even the worn out spot on his elbow.

I have included the three unaltered pictures along with one that is obviously altered that I sketched what I see. I hope you see it too!

Go Cubs Go

Time to catch up. It appears that I actually do have 1 reader out there, but that's still unconfirmed. They might have come in from Tim From Little Rock's Blog. If you don't know who that is you should check it out.

Last weekend we went to Chicago. I've been to Chicago probably 3 times now so this was not my first time. It was also my 4th Cubs game. I think this makes 3 in Wrigley and one at Cynergy Stadium however you spell it in Cincinnati, but I had never seen the Cubs win. It was 9 guys who made the pilgrimage for my buddy's bachelor party. We met a local at the Green Door who was a Cubs fan. He asked if we all had tickets so we said that 4 of us still hadn't. He went out to his car and came back with 4 tickets that he gave us for free. (face value $100 apiece) Then he tried to pay for our $100 tab at the bar! Q.E.D.: Cubs fans are the greatest fans there are.



I thought I would have pictures by now that I could post, but they have yet to surface. We had a crazy time in Chicago. The Cubs spanked the Phillies. We saw 5 home runs (3 by the Cubs) and they guy behind us made Cubs hats out of animal balloon balloons for us so we were in heaven.

One thing that was odd was the Cubby Bear was out of Leinenkugels. They didn't even have PBR or Old Style! How does a Cubs bar not have Old Style? It just doesn't seem right.

I wish I had more time, but I'm tired and have to go. I'll try and post some more pictures tomorrow.

Goat Roast

This weekend I roasted a goat. Apparently people look at you funny when you tell them that. I don't fully understand what the difference goat meat is from any other meat, but apparently not a lot of people eat goat. It was surprisingly good as we had no real idea what we were doing. I wanted to roast it with a spit all day. This is not something that I have ever done with any type of animal so it was a totally new experience.

Materials: 1 Goat, lemons, rosemary, onions, garlic, potatoes, and mushrooms.

After we cleaned the goat, we rubbed him down with lemon juice and rosemary and garlic and fixed him to the spit. Then we stuffed him with the vegetables and sewed him back up with wire and placed him over the coals. Drink beer and rotate every 20 minutes (or 40 on accident) and take off when the inside temperature of the meat reaches 150 degrees which worked out to be about 5 hours. We started cleaning the goat at 10 AM, put him over the coals at noon and pulled him off around 5:15 PM.

The potatoes didn't seem to cook though, so we pulled all of the vegetables out when we were cutting the meat off the bone and we threw them into a pot with some chunks of meat and made goat stew. In my opinion that was the best part.

The Cubs actually won the day of the roast. This is obviously proof that we reversed the Curse of the Billy Goat so everybody get ready the Cubs will win the World Series this year. Speaking of baseball, Jose Conseco boxed Gary Hogan this weekend at the Arkansas Travelers game. It was awesome. Hogan fought like a champ. It was great to see Jose Conseco. He is still huge. I did my part and boo-birded him. I'm pretty sure that if he wanted to he could snap somebody's back in half. That guy is solid.

Well next weekend I'm headed to Chicago. We're going to a Cub's game as a bachelor party for my friend. It's gonna be great hopefully, I'll fill you in with the details. This will be bachelor party #2 for this summer, and like the 4th wedding and I still have more to go...