I spent part of yesterday running errands getting ready for Texas Hell Week. I went by USA Cycling to pick up bike vouchers so I don’t have to pay to take my bike on United. I use the
Tricosports Travel Iron-casewhen I fly. I also picked up some tubes, CO2 cartridges, and most importantly some Assos Chamois Creme.
Assos Chamois Creme is by far the best chamois cream I’ve used. The others chamois creams are good for short rides but not the longer rides. The Fat Cyclist at the end of his blog entry where he makes fun of an Assos ad, tells about his experience with Assos Chamois Creme. All I have to say is you don’t need chamois cream that far forward on your chamois. I also like to add a little A&D; ointment right on the sit bones.
I use Dermoplast when things get a little too sore. Last year at the ADK 540 I had forgot to get more before and couldn’t find when I got there. Julie’s uncle found some Solarcaine spray that sounded like it would work. On my 4th lap, I needed some and my wife sprayed a little to test it. It felt Ok so she started spraying generous amounts on. That’s when it hit. I have never felt such a terrible stinging and burning sensation before. I was jumping up and down screaming at the top of my lungs.
Fortunately it does numb the area after a minute or two. We were at the edge of a small town where there was some brush for privacy. Some guy walked by and he asked if I was Ok and kept asking what was wrong. I kept trying to not go there but he insisted. I finally told him and he took off walking down the street.
I thought I had my lodging taken care of for Hell Week. A guy had posted to the ultracyling e-mail list wanting to share a room. I contacted him and said I wanted to. He said he had a reservation but was going to see if he could get something better. I told him whatever place he decided on was fine with me. That was a month ago. This weekend I e-mailed him to find out where we were staying and what time he’d be in.
Oh, he had gotten busy and hadn’t gotten the reservations taken care of until he couldn’t find anything with 2 beds close to where the rides start each day. So he had made reservations just for himself. I guess it never occurred to him he should let me know. He’s offered to buy me dinner some night but I’d rather have dinner with more considerate people.
I was able to find a room with 2 beds 1.7 miles away which didn’t seem too far. It was more than the rooms that were available a month ago but it would still be cheaper to share a room than what a room for one would have cost a month ago. Anyway I need to save my money for RAAM and am not going to spend a little over a $1,000 for lodging. I’ll be staying in my tent at the city park. It’ll save a lot of money plus staying in a tent isn’t so bad. There was one summer in high school I spent me time in a tent than at home. When I’d get home, I couldn’t sleep in my bed because it felt so weird.
I’m assuming I’ll be able to find some coffee shop or something with internet access so I’ll try posting some while I’m at Hell Week.
Update: Texas Hell Week photos and posts for each day.
After my bonking episode yesterday, I decided I needed to make sure I ate more at night. I ate two plates of food at the banquet last night but afterward I got hungry again. I went to McDonald’s and had a nice greasy burger and fries. It must have worked because today I felt the best I have at Hell Week. The Leakey Death Ride is considered the toughest A ride and the only route that has been used all 16 years. Because it’s a popular ride, the A ride was small yesterday as people do the shorter routes to be rested today. At mile 25 and about 12 miles later there are a couple really steep hills.
The scenery was great and all day I was in good groups. Since we had to drive about 50 miles to the start, there wasn’t a set start time although Nick suggested we leave Fredericksburg around 7:00. The slower riders left earlier so it was interesting to see so many people as we caught up to them. Since I’ve riding near the front I haven’t seen that many riders.
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