One of AFC's newest members: Mark Johnson recently competed in the Lums Pond Duathlon. Alex Driscoll was also there!
Here is Mark's Race Report:
last Sunday I participated in the Lum's Pond Duathlon in Middletown, DE. We were greeted by Mother Nature's warm embrace of heat and blanket like humidity. The venue hosted a Triathlon as well so in total there would eventually there would be about 650 people on course cycling and running. These are cool events as it merges a diverse population of disciplines, talents, and gear. I saw several familiar faces - the ever popular "Baby Sugar" and companion Cleo, a dude I use to race with regularly on the roads 30+ years ago and folks I know from the cycling world.
The race -
We started with a 2 mile run - giddy up as the leaders rolled out and would come in around 9:37-40. I was certainly in their wake as I "rolled" through the 2 miles in 12:58 (yeah that's 2 miles guys - wait until you get old). I was happy with the 6:29 pace as I haven't even done that in training lately - muscle memory I reckon.
Next was the transition to the bike - chaos in the pits as people are gasping for air, whipping off their flats and getting into bike shoes, helmets, and running their carbon fiber, aero barred, 2 wheeled machines on the bike course. 19.5 miles of flatish roads. I have to admit there's nothing like the sound of Zipp wheels in the morning as some leg shaved, bullet headed elite blows by you...sweetness. I assumed the position of trying to be extended onto the aero bars of my Dolan carbon fiber, time trial bike. I "looked" really fast. The efforts netted me a time of 54:43 for 21.4 mph avg, Not too bad.
Transition 2 - dismount the bike, run through the maze of people and bikes and rack the bike, throw off the helmet, and slam into the flats again!
Off on the final 3 mile run - your body is screaming "I wanna go home, haven't you done enough to me today"? The runners wobble out trying to find the running legs - I immediately got a cramp in my left hammy and thought this would not be pretty. Continued on and thankfully the run course was mostly shaded to lessen the suffer a bit. Ended up running 20:24 for a 6:48 pace.
Baby Sug and Cleo allowed me to hang with them afterwards as we both thought we medaled in our age group. Seems we both need some remedial work in reading. We hung around to accept our 3rd place awards... but both ended up 4th in the age groups! We both slipped away from the awards area and I for one called myself a dumb ass.
A good day, great event, looking for more DUs.
-Mark Johnson
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Mark Pare conquers Mt Washington
At the start! You can see the top. That is a long ways up.One of the toughest climbs in the United States and Mark did it in 1 hour 32 minutes. Not only did he do the climb fast but he also raised money for Adventures For the Cure. He has raised over 450 dollars! Awesome job Mark!
Here is a write up from Mark:
The ride itself was very tough for the first three miles. I expected it to level off or the grade to lessen, but the first three miles seemed to get more and more steep with the highest grade being in mile 3. An old vet told me at the bottom that the race starts at 4.5 and he was right. Many people had front chain rings the size of a small peanut butter jars. The highest I could go was 30x27, and I left it twice the whole time. There is a 1.5 mile section that is not paved and the paved road is scarred by road clearing cats, so you have to search for clear pavement constantly. Once you get above the tree line, the dirt road kicks in, and climbing on that is challenging. There was one steep section there where my rear wheel was slipping, but it worked out. At about mile 6, a switchback nails you with a very steep section that just stopped many folks. There is no flat or downward section in the 7.6 mile course. At the end, the road kicks up to 22% for about 50 -75 yards to the finish. All-in-all a great race and a tough one. I do not have anything to compare it with, but it is billed as the "World's Toughest Hillclimb" and maybe that is true.
Mark very close to top
Monday, August 17, 2009
Thank You Nate And Sarah Mudd!
Nate and Sarah Mudd were married this past Saturday evening. They have been friends of AFC ever since we first started and they have supported us always. For their wedding favors they told us that they wanted to donated to AFC and Kupenda.
Last night we received a large donation from them! Thank you so much Nate and Sarah! We will be sure to put that donation to good use at the Extreme Weekend For Children With Diabetes.
-Pat
LoveLife!
Last night we received a large donation from them! Thank you so much Nate and Sarah! We will be sure to put that donation to good use at the Extreme Weekend For Children With Diabetes.-Pat
LoveLife!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Nightmare Tour 2009
The newest member of the AFC Junior's Team is Maria Denunzio. She is a 14yr old Ultra Distance Cyclist... I didn't know that existed!! Check out her ride report from her recent 170mi bike ride!!
The Nightmare Tour is a one-day 175 mile bike ride around the perimeter of Lancaster County, PA. It takes place in the heat of August, and encompasses 13,281 feet of climbing. That is approxmently climbing Pikes Peak 1.8 times. This ride has been called by many the "toughest bike ride in the state of Pennsylvania." Each year, only about 100 riders attempt to take on the challenge of the Nightmare.
Watching the 2008 Olympics in August really inspired me. I had more or less been away from the sport for four years, after "burning out" from my first century ride. I started thinking about seriously riding again, but that kind of fizzeled out when the Olympics ended. Then in September, when Lance Armstrong announced his return, that pushed me over the edge. I got into my head that I was going to ride the Nightmare. I wasn't going to try to finish it, I WAS going to finish it.
In February, I told my grandmother "Nanny" that I was going to do this. And now, I really knew that I had too. Once I told Nan, I was locked in for good. "Ok, I told myself, lets do this." In March, I joined the track team, figuring it would give me a head start on my bike training. I ran distance with track, which was about 30 miles a week, and even though I was far from a star at meets, I kept running. Finally, (FINALLY!) school ended in June. Now it was really time to start training. I participated in Bike Virginia at the end of June, and ended up with 582 miles going into July.
In July, I really stepped up my training. Almost every single day, I went over to a ridge by our house and rode up and down it, over and over and over again. I don't even want to think how many times I rode "my hills," all six of them. After every ride, I told myself "I am never going on those boring hills again." Somehow, though, I always found myself on them the next day. I finished July with 814 miles, almost all of them on my hills. The ones that weren't on my hills were on the course during the weekends with my parents. The hard part was over! Now I had a week of rest and then the Nightmare on August 8th. This was going to be cake. :)
The morning of the Nightmare I got up at 4:00 AM. By this point, I was very excited. My dad and me left the house at 4:30 and got to the start point in Marietta around 5. Everyone else was starting at 6:00, but since I ride a lot slower than them, I was going to start an hour early. The first 45 miles of the ride are hill after hill after hill. I knew that once I got across 222, I was (basically) home free. For the first 60 miles, I rode by myself. By mile 40, though, guys (I was the only woman riding this year) were starting to pass me, so I had brief company. Lunch was at mile 108, and I was 45th coming in, out of 62. I was shocked. I thought everyone would have passed me by now. Seven miles out of lunch, the hardest hill on the entire ride presents itself. It looks like a wall. I knew that if I could get myself over Swamp Church, I had this in the bag. I started going up. There was a party going on in one of the houses, and my mom went over to ask them to cheer for me. They did, it was really cool. My sisters were walking beside me for the first 200 yards, egging me on. Then, the hill kicked up and they got tired and I was on my own.
One of the support cars for a rider ahead of me had written on the road messages of encouragement. Near the end, when you can't see the top because of a right hand bend, and it is incredibly steep, were the words LIVESTRONG. A picture flashed through my head of Lance on Alpe d'Huez and then I was over the hill.
At 9:20 that night I pulled into the finish of the Nightmare after riding in the rain and dark for an hour. I had done it. I was so happy and very tired. It took me 14 hours of ride time, but I had 175 miles in my legs that day. What I had been thinking about for a year had finally happened. As an added bonus, I was the youngest female to ever finish and the second youngest person. (The youngest was a guy named Matt who rode it the day after his 14th birthday two years ago, and also ended up riding the double century this year. My fourteenth birthday was in January.) The question now is where do I go from here?
And a BIG BIG thank you to my parents who rode with me on the weekends and all during Bike Virginia and even part of the Nightmare :)
-Maria Denunzio
The Nightmare Tour is a one-day 175 mile bike ride around the perimeter of Lancaster County, PA. It takes place in the heat of August, and encompasses 13,281 feet of climbing. That is approxmently climbing Pikes Peak 1.8 times. This ride has been called by many the "toughest bike ride in the state of Pennsylvania." Each year, only about 100 riders attempt to take on the challenge of the Nightmare.
Watching the 2008 Olympics in August really inspired me. I had more or less been away from the sport for four years, after "burning out" from my first century ride. I started thinking about seriously riding again, but that kind of fizzeled out when the Olympics ended. Then in September, when Lance Armstrong announced his return, that pushed me over the edge. I got into my head that I was going to ride the Nightmare. I wasn't going to try to finish it, I WAS going to finish it.
In February, I told my grandmother "Nanny" that I was going to do this. And now, I really knew that I had too. Once I told Nan, I was locked in for good. "Ok, I told myself, lets do this." In March, I joined the track team, figuring it would give me a head start on my bike training. I ran distance with track, which was about 30 miles a week, and even though I was far from a star at meets, I kept running. Finally, (FINALLY!) school ended in June. Now it was really time to start training. I participated in Bike Virginia at the end of June, and ended up with 582 miles going into July.
In July, I really stepped up my training. Almost every single day, I went over to a ridge by our house and rode up and down it, over and over and over again. I don't even want to think how many times I rode "my hills," all six of them. After every ride, I told myself "I am never going on those boring hills again." Somehow, though, I always found myself on them the next day. I finished July with 814 miles, almost all of them on my hills. The ones that weren't on my hills were on the course during the weekends with my parents. The hard part was over! Now I had a week of rest and then the Nightmare on August 8th. This was going to be cake. :)
The morning of the Nightmare I got up at 4:00 AM. By this point, I was very excited. My dad and me left the house at 4:30 and got to the start point in Marietta around 5. Everyone else was starting at 6:00, but since I ride a lot slower than them, I was going to start an hour early. The first 45 miles of the ride are hill after hill after hill. I knew that once I got across 222, I was (basically) home free. For the first 60 miles, I rode by myself. By mile 40, though, guys (I was the only woman riding this year) were starting to pass me, so I had brief company. Lunch was at mile 108, and I was 45th coming in, out of 62. I was shocked. I thought everyone would have passed me by now. Seven miles out of lunch, the hardest hill on the entire ride presents itself. It looks like a wall. I knew that if I could get myself over Swamp Church, I had this in the bag. I started going up. There was a party going on in one of the houses, and my mom went over to ask them to cheer for me. They did, it was really cool. My sisters were walking beside me for the first 200 yards, egging me on. Then, the hill kicked up and they got tired and I was on my own.
One of the support cars for a rider ahead of me had written on the road messages of encouragement. Near the end, when you can't see the top because of a right hand bend, and it is incredibly steep, were the words LIVESTRONG. A picture flashed through my head of Lance on Alpe d'Huez and then I was over the hill.
At 9:20 that night I pulled into the finish of the Nightmare after riding in the rain and dark for an hour. I had done it. I was so happy and very tired. It took me 14 hours of ride time, but I had 175 miles in my legs that day. What I had been thinking about for a year had finally happened. As an added bonus, I was the youngest female to ever finish and the second youngest person. (The youngest was a guy named Matt who rode it the day after his 14th birthday two years ago, and also ended up riding the double century this year. My fourteenth birthday was in January.) The question now is where do I go from here?
And a BIG BIG thank you to my parents who rode with me on the weekends and all during Bike Virginia and even part of the Nightmare :)
-Maria Denunzio
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