2008 Cycle to the Sun...Haleakala

A...Long Time No See...

It's been several weeks since the 2008 Cycle to the Sun and even today I still feel like I've got some semi-permanent brain damage from the thin and COLDISH air at 10,000 feet.

It was a really hard ride, and I rode as hard as I could until I couldn't beat my best time of 3:39...no sense in inducing a brain aneurysm if I'm not going to be setting a record. So for the next 10 minutes or so I brought it down several notches and got passed by probably about 5 or 8 people (senior citizens included!)...but at that point...I couldn't give a cr@p...

At the top, I asked myself, "Was I ever going to do this race again???" It was the WORST I've ever felt in the last 3 years and I just wanted to get the h#ll off that mountain ASAP! I didn't even get to enjoy any of the finishing drinks and snacks cause I felt so bad...and my legs were just killing me, I could hardly even sit to take off my shoes. Luckily I didn't need to wait for a bus cause I got to catch a ride down with one of my teammates. By the time we got back to sea level, I felt a whole lot better...

Results: http://www.cycletothesun.com/reports2008/ResultsCombined.PDF


Cycle to the Sun 2003 VS 2008 by Heart Rate. Notice I was on the road suffering for 40 minutes more in 2003.

Cycle to the Sun 2003 VS 2008 by Distance.

In 2003, I had ANOTHER terrible terrible ride and did it in 4:28. This year, I still felt bad, but probably not as bad as in 2003 because my fueling plan went exactly as planned, but, I still took 3:50. Must have been in better shape though, cause I could still keep the heart rate up during the last 2ok of the race vs. 2003.

Would I do this race again....????? My brain still ain't functioning right...