Skyline Sufferfest 2013

Do people read blogs anymore? I feel like Instagram has taken over the blog world a little bit. I'm okay with it.

Sometimes I post on my fitness blog, and when I wrote about our recenty Skyline Drive century, Beau asked why I didn't post it on this blog, too. Which begs the question of why do I have two blogs anyway? I don't really know. Well, I guess I do. Because sometimes I find something funny or interesting I want to share, but I'm not really a big facebook sharer (except that one time I was and that got really interesting really quickly) so I put it on the "other" blog, the one I don't think anyone actually reads, just to feel the release of telling someone something you find interesting. Also, I don't like people thinking that running/cycling/hiking is all I/we do. Because I think sometimes it seems like that. And when the only photos or events I have to blog about are running/cycling/hiking related, I feel like I'm feeding this weird stereotype that I made up in my head that everyone thinks that's all I do. The people in my head are harsh critics, I guess.

Anyway, I really am just trying to write a little intro to my re posting of our Skyline Century:

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Our SAG driver, aka my cousin Chapman, dropped us off just before the north entrance of the park. According to the thermometer in the car, it was around 30' at the base of the Shenandoahs. We pulled on our earwarmers and gloves, stuffed some HotHands into our shoes, checked our tires (all 6 tires were brand spanking new!), and were on our way. The first 5 miles are a long gradual climb and actually felt a little easier than I expected. It may have been something to do with the prescence of hot chocolate waiting at the top. The cold was completely bearable if not pleasant when climbing, but not quite as comfortable going downhill.

just before we started

fer cute.
  

 The first 40 or so miles passed quickly. I know this part of Skyline well, having ridden it quite a few times. We got to Skyland, the highest point of the road and where Chapman was waiting, and scarfed down a TON of food. My cocoa banana oat muffins were a hit, especially with a smear of peanut butter on them. I also took to scoops of peanut butter dipped in granola. The intense hunger of long hard bike ride is awfully reminiscent of my thru hike. Also, just for kicks, I counted how many times I noticed we crossed the AT. I got to 10. I'm sure there were some I missed.

The next wayside was at mile 50ish, and I have never felt as tired after 50 miles as I was at that moment. Like, can-barely-pedal-another-foot kind of tired. Sitting in the grass at Big Meadows was the first time it occurred to me that maybe I was in over my head. Maybe I wouldn't be able to do the whole 105 miles.

Randy the super human pointed out that the next 25 miles really weren't that bad. A trick I learned thru hiking (where I looked at a profile elevation map of the trail approximately 43,209,423,098 times) is to cover up the map with your hands, and only show the next chunk of miles you're focusing on. When you just look at task immediately on hand, the rest doesn't seem so overwhelming. Magic!

So all I thought about was mile 75. Every tenth of a mile my odometer ticked up was a little victory towards my goal of getting to mile 75. Randy was a champ and led the pace line the entire way, encouraging us every mile. Eventually we got to mile 75, and then pushed up a big climb to the next wayside at mile 80, and then I was all about counting down and praising every mile passed as another mile closer to the end.

Finally, finally, we got to mile 100 and were rewarded with a glorious speedy downhill to the finish. It was JUST starting to get dark, and we finished at about 6:00pm. Oh and then there was BBQ on the way home and pulled pork has never been so delicious.

While we were riding along, I asked Randy to rate his perceived difficulty of the day's ride, with 1 being a short ride on the very flat W&OD trail, and 10 being LOTOJA. He thought for a moment and responded, "Probably a six."

Six?? Seriously?? This is the hardest ride I've ever done and you're calling this a six?

But the next day, he emailed us and changed his statement a little. He uploads his Garmin data into a software program that takes into account the intensity, power output, and duration of the ride and spits out a Training Stress Score. For LOTOJA, the TSS was 811. The Skyline Sufferfest was 750. Here is the approximate guide for interpreting the TSS:

• Less than 150 - low (recovery generally complete by following day)
• 150-300 - medium (some residual fatigue may be present the next day, but gone by the second day
• 300-450 - high (some residual fatigue may be present even after two days)
• Greater than 450 - very high (residual fatigue lasting several days likely)

So, yeah...... higher than a six.

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Kudos for reading a long way of saying we pedaled up hills and down hills for an entire day!

Summer is also for...

... thru hikers and trail magic

 

... jump roping with goggles, a flashlight, and binoculers (why not, right?)

 

.... beautiful Virginia

 

 

.... an overabundance of peaches

 

....our summit-versary

 

 

... big girls losing teeth (and my mom's new obsession with mediterranean food! yum!)

 

 

 

.... being a little afraid of the edge 

 

 

 

... summer goals that include breakfast for dinner

 

.... the Appalachian Trail

 

.... state fairs and salty legs

 

 

.... Bull Run Battlefield

  

 

... solo hikes in new places

 

 

..... obscenely large produce

 

.... birthday pool parties 

.... Stonewall Jackson

 

... all the grandchildren with Grandmama and Pappy

 

 

.... new tents 

 

.... and the beach!

 

lots of beaching babies

 

 

 record attendence (70 something people!)

 

morning devotionals

 

more babes

 OBX is heaven

 

Summer is for Cycling

The summer of 2013 was a good one. Almost every Saturday we were on our bikes and enjoyed the mild temperatures and (relatively) low humidity this summer offered us. We made excellent usage of our pass to Shenandoah National Park, access to the beautiful scenery in Fauquier and Loudoun Counties, and rode in a century outside of Richmond in August.

Kind of like in hiking, (and life?) we don't take enough pictures. Typical scene: We'll pass something mildly interesting and one of us will say, "Oh look at that cool ____!" "We should take a picture." "Do you want to stop?" "...No."

And then we don't.

But here's what I've got!

(Clearly Beau is more likely than me to actually take a photo, as most of these are of me...)

probably checking google maps to see find a new route after hitting a gravel road

Beautiful day on Skyline Drive

sweat in my eyes! aaah!

another good Skyline day

I love mah bike.

 

 

I think this was another time we were checking google maps to find a not gravel road



never gets old



I don't remember the occaison for this picture.

waiting for the train in Manassas

This was after our century in Ashland, VA. I found a buddy, and we were best friends 100 miles later.

after 100 miles and 120 miles, respectively

Summer was awesome, but for some reason I have been really excited for the fall.  I can't wait for sweaters and squash season. On a larger scale, we're moving to a new apartment (My parents basement! Dreams do come true!) and we've been gradually moving our stuff to Ashburn and scouring Craiglist for furniture.

 

let's pretend it's May for one second

You want to know what's ridiculous? This blog post has been sitting in my drafts since May or June.  So here's a late late update!

Back in May, Beau and I headed down to Damascus, Virginia for the annual Appalachian Trail festival "Trail Days". Current and former thru hikers come to this event to shop at vendor tents, see hiker friends, hike around the area, attend lectures, and hang out in Damascus because it's awesome. Oh, and partying. Lots of partying.




welcome to Damascus! and vendor tents in the background

Most people stay in "tent city", which is known for rampant alcohol and drug use, so Beau and I opted to tent in a grassy vacant area with some other hikers we knew from last year.  We got there Friday evening and quickly met up with Lady Forward, one of my favorite hiker friends. LF and I caught up over dinner at an awesome vegetarian deli, while Beau disappeared to get tacos. We ran into more 2012 thru hikers and it was SO FUN to be back in hiker town mode. A couple of us went to a presentation by "famous" AT hiker/record holder Jennifer Pharr Davis, then hung out and chatted.

Keeper (and Duke), me, Beau, 5 Pair, and Lady Forward

Saturday morning, Golden and L. Forward and I went on a nice run on the Creeper Trail. I just love these girls. You know you're running with former thru hikers when we discovered in casual conversation that none of us had put on deoderant that morning.

after our morning run

 Lunch with more friends:

LF, Beau, Me, Pepperboy, Golden, and a SOBO guy I don't know

Every year, there is a hiker parade. Thru hikers line up by "class" (completion year) and walk done the main street in Damascus. It's so cool to see all these 70+ year olds guys who did it when there were like.... 50 thru hikers each year. The trail is such an integral part of the culture in Damascus, so the locals make a big deal out of the festival and parade. And are loaded with water guns to spray hikers. :)

Team Forward Progress!

Joiner and Progress

So here we are lining up for the parade, and we were towards the way back because you line up by class. We were just walking along, L.F. to my left and another friend, Shenanigans, next to her. We heard all sorts of yelling and screaming and looked back and there was a CAR driving through the people. Like, plowing through the parade. It wasn't going very fast, just kind of coasting, but a coasting car can still take out unsuspecting pedestrians! By the time we turned to look, the car was just a few feet away and people were scrambling to get out of the way. A few people were getting caught underneath ("sucked under" I think is the best description) and trying to get pulled out. A girl I didn't know who was walking next to Shenanigans was underneath, stuck, because by now enough people were pushing against the front of the car to stop it. The driver was an elderly guy, who looked like he had had a stroke or something and was completely unaware of what was happening. Someone dove in and took the keys out of the ignition (and then I thought "why didn't I think of that??") and say in the passenger's seat to try to help the driver. A bunch of guys at the front of the car (including Beau) lifted up the car to get the girl underneath. She seemed okay, actually, just in shock. And then the paramedics came and we all just kind of stood there, until they told us all to keep walking and go away. So for the rest of the afternoon we were just like, "Did that just happen?"

All the people who were hit (I think maybe 6-8 were taken to the hospital) were okay. No one was seriously injured, and the girl who was trapped underneath only had a broken toe.

Moving on....

the parade, pre accident

ladies by the pond
 

The rest of the day we went around to all the vendors, found more people to catch up with, and wished we were thru hiking again.


Sexy hiker calendar.. see his halfway video here (it's hilarious. And further proof that SOBOs are weird)

watching the hiker "talent" show

Driving back home, we stopped for a quick day hike up McAfee Knob. This place has some of the best views on the trail. We even found some thru hikers (who didn't attend trail days, obviously) to share some trail magic with.  The day was super overcast, so we had no views but enjoyed the cool weather.  It's funny, the misty overcast days are no fun as a thru hiker because you stuff is wet, your tent is wet, and the trail is slippery. But as a day hiker who is heading home to a shower and a clean bed? Fantastic!

driving home

couldn't see a thing, but McAfee Knob is always awesome

So, that was our weekend! Back in May. It was awesome.