100 - 162

The Almanzo 100 hurt enough. This year, I'll attempt the Royal 162.

After getting tangled up in the crash last year that put me out of commission (as if I make money riding my bike...), I was intimidated by 500+ riders coming to this year's Almanzo 100. With hopes to reduce my chances of crashing, I haphazardly requested to ride the 162 with fewer riders, most of whom would be more experienced than many of the riders in the 100. When I read the response from Chris that upgrading wouldn't be a problem, a strange "oh yes!", "no way...", "oh shit" type of adrenaline flushed through my body, nearly causing me to jump out of my seat from the immediate restlessness in my legs. Remembering the course from last year, noting to myself that I'm tacking on another 62 miles of leg-braking, hill pounding suffering...a deep, calm feeling of reverence and respect for the course began to sink in, the exact opposite sensation. I skimmed the email a few more times in disbelief, and started realizing that I would once again be attempting another longest distance ride/race yet. Being an active cyclist for only a few years now, it's still a strange and humbling feeling each time I raise the bar on these types of events. I sank further in to the chair, body freezing up...I started writing this post, and began honing in on preparations for the upcoming epic.

....Holy crap this will be wicked. What the hell am I going to do? Why did I ask to upgrade again? That was pretty stupid. What if I crash anyway? What if I don't even finish? Which bike should I ride? Which tires will be best for the conditions? Hmm...I wonder what the weather will be like? How long is this actually going to take? 10 hours? 12 hours? 15 hours? That depends on the weather I guess. Well how much food will I need for the day then? Water? I guess that depends on how long it's going to take. Are there any refill stops? I can't plan on it. Self-supported race. Do I need another big training ride before then? Have I trained hard enough? Am I better off just resting? Have I rested enough? Why am I even doing this? It's not a monetary reward. There aren't any prizes. What's the reward then? What the hell am I doing?...

Some of these questions will need to be answered by Saturday morning. I can guarantee the rest of the answers will be delivered in a very painful package by Saturday evening.