The 2 day, 48 Hour training ride was completed without incident from 8am Thursday, July 22 to about 1000am on Saturday, July 24, 2010 and was dedicated to Logan and Kenna, two very special kids that I connected with on this ride via their fantastic mom, Joey, a trainer colleague and friend of mine. The marathon ride lasted 50 hours and included 7 breaks totalling about 120 minutes, which per GWR rules, are included in the overall time shown on the clock. Finished the ride with a break bank balance of 120 minutes still remaining! This ride mirrored the success I enjoyed on the 40 hour that I did in prep for the April event; finishing with so much energy and passion that this ride could’ve easily been the 60, which by the way is coming up Aug 4-7! More on that later….
The ride was held at Fuel Sports Performance Training Center in Crest Hill, IL, a small, covert location where I’ve been training discreetly and without distraction since June. My training is in prep for an event in October that will once again find me raising money for yet another worthwhile charity organization whose vision is vested in kids. The stats for the ride are as follows: AHR 87, Avg RPM’s 81, Total DST 618.3 miles, Total CAL’s burned 13,052 and about 85% were fat calories! A detailed hour by hour breakdown of the ride is included in the atch’d spreadsheet. 48hourstraingstats Additionally, I drank nearly 5 gallons of water, 5 1/2 gallons of SUCCEED liquid fuel and my output was about 7 1/2 gallons. Operating temps inside the venue were anywhere from 77 to 87 degrees. Total awake time during this training ride was about 60 hours.
I was once again supported by a very unselfish crew anchored by Crew Chief Emerson and which further consisted of Connie , Tinamarie, Jillian, Marcia and Kathy L. Their time on my behalf was seamless and their work in and around the bike reflected a genuine concern for my fluid and food intake as well as my success on the 48 hour ride. I’m grateful for the support shown by them and to have such success as I did on this ride can only be attributed to those that surrounded me at all hours…..no real walls were encountered that lasted for any duration…a few waves now and then but nothing I couldn’t shake and get re-engaged with the help of the crew….something about my eyes seems to be the cue that I’m coming up on a wall and they know exactly what to do…..
Bobby was at the Scout Jambo in Ft AP Hill and called a couple times. Bobby turned 18 on Thursday! I had a surprise visit from Larissa last eve which was nice and when she plugged in her IPOD several songs were an instant cue for me to get back on I Tunes and download. I really gotta re-arrange my playlists and I’m finding songs on my pod that I didn’tknow I had which helps during the ride, but then I dont know where to find them afterwards to save to a playlist cuz most are all “unknown artist” types and I cant tell you how many thousands of those I have in my library! Also want to thank Ricky Allamillo for being my host at Fuel and being there throughout my ride training clients and keeping the lights on for us….my youngest son, Andy who is in Boulder, CO at a running clinic called me last eve which was a nice surprise. He shared that he climbed a 9000 foot mountain after supper with his buddies, and while I could sort of relate, I really enjoyed hearing from him. Andy turns 17 tomm (Sunday) Both he and Brandon were able to pull up the stream on their phones so they could at least see and hear me. The stream continues to be a success and we had about 154 total viewers this time around with many putting blog comments right on the stream which were ultimately given to me by Tinamarie so I do see alot of what is posted…..we hope to do more with the stream on future rides, perhaps recording excerpts so others can see what it’s like to ride thru the night.
Responded to a request from a reporter back home about just why I’m doing what I do and what inspires me and while the full context of my reply to her isn’t visible here, her story ran today in my hometown paper and the link to the story is here but I’ve alson include the full text below as well: http://www.facebook.com/l/35b30;indianagazette.com/articles/2010/07/24/a_news/10048531.txt
Ride of a Lifetime Part II
After his fourth attempt to break the Guinness World record for riding a stationary bicycle fell short, Indiana native George E. Hood Jr. is at it again.
Hood, of Aurora, Ill., recently started training for a fifth attempt, “Operation V2F: Hood’s Ride for Five to Finish.”
His longest attempt has been 177 hours, 45 minutes in 2008, which was published in the “Guinness Book of World Records.”
His most recent attempt – from April 11 to 19 – was about 175 hours. The record to beat was 192 hours, set by Shirvani Merhzad in Belgium.
The goal for his last attempt was 300 hours. For this attempt, Hood said his goal is 220 hours.
Hood’s rides have all been fundraisers, and this one will be no different. It will benefit the Victory Baseball League in Crest Hill, Ill., and other charities yet to be identified.
Hood finished a two-day training ride early this morning, and while riding, he said he pondered what motivates him to continue trying for the record.
“The why is simply this,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I’m an ordinary guy with extraordinary talent to do this stuff, and I do so without any extraordinary money or benefits, unlike some others. … I enjoy being that example to others that `ordinary’ folks like me are capable of doing such great things and for so many right reasons.”
His record attempt will be from Oct. 22 to 30 at Fuel Sports Performance Training Center in Crest Hill.
Hood is the son of Indiana Mayor George E. Hood Sr. and his wife, Arlene.
– Margaret Harper
Well, I’ve got to bathe chippy now and prep for a nights rest with Sunday being my recovery day…..once again , thank you to so many who chimed in during the ride with a variety of messages of support….it means alot and even my buddy Lance, who is in Pittsburgh suggested I ride an extra hour for my alma mater the IUP Crimson Hawks! So so many of you are with me on this, some actually and some virtually, even a guy from Boston who simply just texts me….it all means alot and I’ll continue to press on with the task at hand, just doing as I often call it. Not getting bogged down in questioning it all to death, simply just doing what simply needs to get done and we’ll even help a few folks along the way! Have a great week, comment at will on the blog and I’ll be in touch regarding the 60 hour ride to be held Aug 4-7 at Fuel…..this is gonna be good! Bye for now….G
