Five more days. Just Five. That's how many days I have until the 24 Hours of Kincaid ride, also referred to as the 24 Hours of KinPain by a group of fellow bloggers who have formed an adequately-named team, Megasoreass.I haven't talked about it much on my blog because, in all honesty, I haven't done much to prepare for it. I had big plans to carve out time for all-night mountain biking and 200-mile road rides. But that's how life sneaks up on you. The story's always the same. You grow up well-raised in the suburbs, graduate high school, get a college education. Then one day, you wake up and you live in Alaska, where you occasionally show up to work covered in mud and consider 24 straight hours with a bike seat wedged between your butt cheeks to be a rollicking good time. But the real irony is that you still have to hold down an office job for a living.
I may not be at the physical peak I had hoped for, but that won't prevent me from giving it my best shot. More than anything, riding in the 24 Hours of Kincaid will be an interesting experiment in personal psychology. People endure years of therapy to whittle their lives down to the stark truths that become second nature to trail-worn racers : That life is about understanding the essentials, sloughing off the excess and moving forward regardless. No matter what, you'll reach a finish. But the truly enlightened enjoy the ride.
Good luck with your 24 hour ride. I did one once with much less mileage than you have done this year. The best part was riding as the sun came over the horizen at sunrise.
ReplyDeletePeople endure years of therapy to whittle their lives down to the stark truths that become second nature to trail-worn racers....
ReplyDeleteLove the post!
You'll be great. You've conquered the Sustina, you know the game.
Time to play it again!
Git'er done.
You'll kick it's a.....make that tail!
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel any better, I haven't been on the bike in a week. I had all intentions of getting on the bike after work today, but I decided to chill out and drink a Redhook Summer Ale instead.
ReplyDeleteI went down to Homer over the weekend...drank a lot of Boogie Bitter and watched some whales and eagles. We've had friends visiting for the last week or so and they headed up to Denali for a few days so I'm just enjoying time off from them!
Stop by Megasorass land and we'll have a beer ready for you!
Exactly. Just enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteHaving never done anything longer than 196 miles in a day, I can only salute you for the 24 hr ride. I did do tech and chef duty once for a team in a 24 hr race, but I like to think I had it easy.
ReplyDelete"People endure years of therapy to whittle their lives down to the stark truths that become second nature to trail-worn racers : That life is about understanding the essentials, sloughing off the excess and moving forward regardless. No matter what, you'll reach a finish. But the truly enlightened enjoy the ride."
ReplyDeleteI have a new goal -- To aspire to write such Jillisms.