Training Weekend

So after it was all said and done, I had rode approximately 201 miles (including my prologue) and climbed around 12,418 ft. However, these figures are under protest by Tim and his legs saying they did more. But, no my friend we all know that Training Peaks and Map My Ride are 100% accurate in all their calculations (.)

The training weekend really started at Ashton’s birthday party, where we started planning which rides we wanted to do. Not to mention also plotted out a wicked fun cyclocross course around his horse farm, just not sure how the electric fence is going to play into all of it. But I imagine it would be a good way to get back at someone that really pisses you off.

Bruce, I believe discussed how he wanted to be reasonable with our riding and not hammer away for the entire weekend. One because he was just getting back on the bike and two our courses were no joke. Better to do all the riding then, blow up and not be able to ride the next day. Unfortunately, Mr. Tim Akers did not receive this memo!!

Our first ride started from the Candyman candy shop in Wilmington, NY and was going to follow some of the Lake Placid Iron Man Course. There were tons of cyclists out training and we left with a simple motto of “let’s get us some triathletes” and we did. We past numerous riders and for those being past it must have been a site to see four guys with matching uniforms fly by. A van actually slowed down to take our picture and then gave us a thumbs up. But the fun would soon end as Tim attacked picking up the pace. Tim would continue to attack throughout the rest of the ride and be checked by at least one of his fellow teammates. I held myself back until we reached our final climb of the day. Bruce pulled me back, but what he didn’t know is that I waited for him to catch up. We still had Whiteface to tackle.

Probably the most memorable quote from the ride came back at the parking lot from Ashton. “ Then out of the heavens....Angels appeared wearing white and green. Descending through the light and yelling..."let's go eat"...taking away all the pain and anguish of 52 hard miles.” We cut the climb of white face a little short seeing it was getting late and we still had a brutal ride the next day.

Saturday started off with us going on a short mountain bike ride, but really I think it was the team trying to kill me. How you might say? Let’s just say the brakes on my bike were not 100% functional. So add that into the mix of me not being comfortable on a mountain bike to begin with…equals one scary ride. At least I wasn’t the one to fall on their backside trying to pop a wheelie…….Bruce.

Afterwards we went back to Ashton’s house to spend the afternoon by the lake and just relax before the Tour de Peru. Tim found this time useful for crushing a huge nap and was lucky we didn’t pull any pranks on him…..or did we.


So at 4pm the Tour de Peru was under way. We set an easy pace at the beginning to get the legs warmed up and then with about a quarter mile to Arnold Hill….it was on. I literally turned to Bruce, smiled, and attacked. Showing Arnold Hill no respect and making sure Tim went into it at a pretty good pace. It was Tim’s first time up Arnold. The rest of the ride was pretty straight forward….attacks, Bruce up every hill first, and just plan old hard riding. But what soon came into play was the new yellow sign sprint. For at every yellow sign someone would gun for it. Ashton probably had the biggest victory tallying up about 6 points in one sprint…..there were like four caution sharp turn signs. And then there was my glorious victory of winning the double arrow T intersection road sign. Meaning if you went straight at the intersection you would be driving into the woods and off the road…yeah figure that one out. Everyone rode well and put in a good effort, I still think Ashton had an aero advantage of only wearing an under armor (he forgot his jersey).

Our final ride was a 70 mile loop. I soon found out that this was not going to be the endurance ride I was planning for. Up on the Rand Hill Road, a fellow rider took off and set the pace around 30 mph, quickly splitting the group. We came back together and continuing the slow climb to the Chazy Lake area. On Chazy Lake road, the attacks came again, and again the group was split. Some of us just didn’t have the legs to check an attack. I know I didn’t. Then came the confusion. I carried my momentum down a fast decent, past the attackers, and completely went by our turn. Meanwhile, Charlie had flatted and things got a little confusing. In the end I stayed behind to wait for Ashton and Charlie and did Dannemora Hill twice looking to see if I could find them. I never did and ended up riding home alone, only to find out that Ashton had made his way back to Beekmantown, via another route, and caught up to Bruce and Tim. So that was my big Opps of the day.

Finally I would like to extend our appreciation to the Momot family for allowing us to use their home as a home base between rides and Kelly for making us breakfast and putting up with us to early in the morning. Thanks again!!