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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Regretfully not riding


After recovering a tad from the Natchez Trace 444 last October, I jumped on the bandwagon and signed up for the Sebring 24 Hour that takes place every President's Day weekend in Sebring, Florida. 

 
Damon has raced this twice with great success.  I had my eye on a respectable but realistic 420 miles -- a 17.5 mile per hour average pace.

Three things have gotten in the way.
  • First, I'm running a lot relative to 2015.  That is not inherently a negative, but it is a time and energy suck.  Unless it is the month before an Ironman, a weekend day can pretty much accommodate a long ride or a long run but not both.
  • Second, I planned to join Sam to ski in Canada the week of the race.  That would obviously have ended things right there.  Until the Canada trip fell through.  (For me.  Not for Sam.)
  • Third, work.  Three weeks out from the race and I'm unable to get a moment on the bike outside of the (short) commute.  I can finesse a lot of things.  I've even finessed the occasional marathon.  I cannot finesse a 24-hour bike race.
One hopes there will be a makeup opportunity in the not distant future!

5 comments:

sam said...

Bummer, but hard to argue with your reasoning. Next year I'm hoping to try this one out. Unless I'm in BC.

Max said...

Commitment to a project is a b**ch, when there is so much leisure to pursue in its stead.

Unknown said...

Respectfully, I think it's a mistake. There is nothing easier to finesse than a 24-hour race in balmy temperatures with a hotel 50 yards from the course. It's a great event and I think a 400-mile day is entirely possible with imperfect preparation. If nothing else, it would be an invaluable training day for the spring fleche and brevets. Anyway, it's disappointing: don't take it personally, but it doesn't help that Marko appears to have taken your place. It's a 6-way fight for second.

Max said...

You mean, Zamboni followed by Marko-Dickson-Cooper-Taaffe-others?

Unknown said...

Dickson will probably be 15' ahead of me after the first century. He can't help himself. After that, we'll see.. Cooper, Newsholme (440 last year and RAAM this year), Eisenbeis (German who took third at Natchez), Ray Brown (460 at mid-Atlantic, 31:xx at Silver State, and training for RAAM), Dickson, me. It is pick 'em. Hopkinson won't be there to live-tweet his progress, sadly. I'm feeling good at least.