This past weekend I took on a 24 hour ride on my stationary “spin” bike for charity at the request of Miss Illinois, Jillian Dirks who was raising money for her upcoming international competition and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy County. The ride started promptly at 6pm on Friday, June 25th and ended at approximately 6:15pm on Saturday, June 26th. The ride and event were held at Fuel Sports in Crest Hill, IL, a sports performance training facility just east of the intersection at Weber and Caton Farm Road. I want to thank owner John Bylina and trainer Ricky Alamillo for being great hosts and seeing that I was taken care of.
The results of the ride are as follows: AHR: 92 bpm; ARPM 81; DST: 308 miles; CAL: 8101. I took only 1 break of 16 minutes after 12 hours. Total awake time for this ride was approximately 40 hours. Next long ride will be a 36 hour effort in about 2 weeks, dates and times will be announced.
The warm temps outside made the indoor temp at the venue something I had to deal with and resulted in greater than usual consumption of liquids in the form of both SUCCEED Fuel and water. I consumed a total of 3 gallons of SUCCEED fuel and about 2 gallons of water during the ride which prompted more frequent urination resulting in about 3.5 gallons being expelled over the course of 24 hours. Multiple fans kept a breeze on me as I turned the wheel with a bit more confidence and power this time around. This was the first time ever that I’ve done a ride of this duration so soon after a major event like the one we did in April. The power of my effort was most noticeable during the last 5 or so hours where good coaching by Emerson Grove kept me on pace and well fueled. Emerson anchored the crew effort for this ride and was with me on Sat for nearly 14 hours! Emerson is a fellow scouter and good friend of mine who believes in the rides and what they represent and has committed to me his time for any future rides we undertake. I also want to thank Larissa who anchored the night crew for several hours with Tinamarie (Jillian’s mom) and newcomer Connie M who came in Sat morning and partnered with Emerson and sync’d right up with crew duties which helped me tremendously. Jillian was present throughout the ride and posted our stats at the venue….Special thanks to Chris Arnes, my mental conditioning expert, who was with me for several hours after i started up to about midnight or so. His words and advise are inspiring and for the sake of simplicity, Chris helped me to appreciate and seek power when I sense lonliness at night when no one is around and also I found new meaning in the power of the yawn, yes the sleepy kind of yawn…..Chris and I will be speinding more time together in prep for……….We also streamed the event on U-Stream and had well over 100+ viewers. I couldn’t get my email out in time so many could get the link but I’ll be certain to get the link out sooner next time……Also want to thank Marcia and Kathy L for helping me assemble my stuff at the end of the ride and getting me on the road home….yes, I could still drive. Kathy was in and out in conjunction with her attendance at a local Juice Plus conference/training event….i mention that only because part of my supplement intake is the Juice Plus regimen of fruits, berry’s and veggies as well as the Complete protein shake. Had a good dinner at the Amore Resturant on 87th street behind Walgreens off of 59 and upon entering the place, i was greeted by the band members from Phoenixx, who you will recall was one of the bands that played at the April event.
Made the decison today to leave my bike at Fuel sports in anticipation of additional training rides to take place there. The folks that came into the place for the open house on Saturday and who took the time to speak with me and take interest in what I was doing as well why convinced me that the support I’ll need on all fronts wont be hard to find.
On the training front, today was a rest day for the exception of a 2 mile walk/jog at sprinbrook this afternoon. Daily rides will continue in prep for yet another long ride in a couple weeks….I was also saddened by news this past week of the death of a young soldier who was killed in Afghanistan….the TV said the soldier was from Naperville and had a wife, 2 sons and a step daughter who live in Montgomery….the unique thing about his passing was that he was also the best friend and fellow classmate and swim team mate of Preston Bokos, who is a very good friend and trainer of mine who has participated with me in all my events. I remember Preston mentioning at the April ride of his friend in Afghanistan and now I know who it was. My thoughts go out to Preston at the loss of his good friend under such conditions….and to the family left behind now with only memories of whom I certain was a great husband, dad and to the rest of us, a true hero.
Its late now and I’ve got clients at the club starting at 5am….have a great week and thanks again to so many who supported Jillians fundraiser and my 24 hours on the bike! bye for now….
