Training for the Iron Horse Bicycle Race!

For the last couple of months, I've been training for the Iron Horse Classic. These aren't really a new blog, rather, these are the updates I've sent to people supporting me in the ride to raise money for the Livestrong Foundation, Lance Armstrong's organization to help people survive cancer. Enjoy!

Friends,

This year, I attended a film at Fort Lewis College about the 100 mile mountain bike race in Leadville, Colorado. Lance Armstrong was there and he talked and met with cancer survivors and people who were undergoing treatment. It was an amazing evening. At the end of the night, he asked for people to join the Livestrong team and ride the Iron Horse Race from Durango to Silverton. It is a famous road race of nearly 60 miles over two mountain passes that have humbled thousands of bike riders. 

Anyone can pay an entrance fee (until they run out of spots) and ride the race. He was asking people do this, not for themselves, but to use it as an opportunity to raise money to end the scourge of cancer.
 
Well, no problem there as those of you who know me pretty well understand that I probably wouldn't do this for myself. As a bike rider, I'm not even in the recreational category! I ride a mountain bike sometimes, but as anyone who has gone with me will attest, I spend a lot of time upside down and end up with lots of scars after every ride. The last time I road a road bike was 1975 for about twenty miles and I couldn't walk for a week. 

I looked around the auditorium that night and thought of all of the people I know, family and friends, acquaintances and people I barely knew except in passing, that had been through a fight with cancer. Some won, some didn't. But either way, it left a dramatic change in their lives, their families and their communities. In this age, with so much scientific knowledge, we should not be victims to this disease.

My sister, Antonia, has ridden the Iron Hose as have lots of her friends. This year, she and many of those friends are riding for Team Livestrong.

I called my friend Kris in California and told her about the night and the Livestrong Challenge. She said she was in and started calling friends to come to the race. She's bringing people from as far as California to Wyoming.

Nick, my son who is a Monavie distributor in Sacramento had ridden the race once before when he was on the soccer team at Fort Lewis College. I called him and and he got on the horn with a group of his fellow Monavie distributors and now he is bringing a motor home full of riders, all to raise money for this team.

Team Livestrong had set a goal of recruiting 100 riders to raise $100,000.00 in the Iron Horse. There are now over 150 of us and we are going to raise a lot more than that.

I'll be sixty by the time this race comes and I am under no illusions about how much work it is going to take to do this ride. I am doing this to be part of this team of people. When it is over, I may never ride a bicycle again. Heck, it may kill me!

But, I promise you this. If you will support me with whatever dollars you can, or if you can't right now, just good thoughts, I will promise that I will make to Silverton if I have to strap the bike on my back and crawl over Molas pass. If they cancel the race due to snow and ice, I’ll put my snowshoes on and walk to Silverton carrying the bike! One way or another, you support me in this and I will get to Silverton. 

I plan to send updates on my training, which ought to be real entertaining! I'm drinking my Monavie, started working on some weight training, quit drinking (well almost)  and am planning to start spin classes at the rec center before I take a chance and get on a real bicycle.  Besides, there's four feet of snow out the front door at my place right now.

So please, click on the website and send your donation. If you can't do that, send a note and get a check-up.  We can all do this together!  I have made the first donation in remembrance of my father who missed his grandson Edward’s marriage, meeting Ed’s wife Teresa, getting to know his great grand children and seeing his other grandson Nick win a National Championship, because he put off getting his prostate checked for a few years. Didn’t have to be. Go to this website: http://www.livestrong.org/teamls2010/jacksonihbc

Thank you,
Jackson 
Subject: It's an update. Iron Horse 48 days!

Thank you! for all the nice emails, phone calls, and pledges. I've been totally overwhelmed by the support. The Iron Horse is about 6 weeks away and our team is about half way to $100,000.00!

As promised, here is an update on the training and preparation for the race: 

Actually, there was no real hard core training until today. Up until now, I've done three spin classes at the recreation center with the help and encouragement of Kelly Lee, who is my hairstylist and if you need a haircut, it's Allycuts in Durango.(non-paid ad). Anyway, for those of you who are not familiar with spin classes, this is where you get on a stationary bicycle (no wheels) along with thirty or forty other people and these women who you would think, after meeting them in another venue, were really nice and friendly souls, get on a bike in front of everyone with a microphone attached to their sweat bands and yell at you like drill sergeant for an hour while you increase the tension on your bike and try to keep up. They play rap music and everyone is yelling like they are having a good time. I don't get it, but it does put a hurt on your muscles! Anyway, Kelly has been a big encouragement. 

Then my sister, Antonia, gave me an old mountain bike with a trainer to work out on. A trainer is a device that you hook your back wheel to and it provides tension. You can sit in the comfort of your living room and pedal away. The theory is that it is good for your conditioning. It didn't actually work out for me. The bike is a little small and when I raised up the seat to the right level (legs slightly bent on the downstroke) the handlebars were a lot lower than the seat, so I was bent over with a lot of blood flowing to my head. Makes you kind of dizzy. Then, I didn't realize that you have to lock the rear hubs of the bike in place or it will come off of the stand. So, picture this: I'm bent over at the waist like a pretzel, riding as hard as I can and the bike comes off of the stand and hits the floor with the tires spinning at around mach nine and I go flying towards the kitchen. Luckily, I hit the brakes before I hit the chopping block, but I don't think this training method is going to work.


On Tuesday this week I picked up my new bicycle (It's a Jake cross cycle but I am not sure what that means) and a great guy named Rob fitted it to me. (I didn't know you fitted bikes, but it is something of a science). Then, this morning, as the temperature where I live hit 38 degrees, I hit the dirt road that leads to the highway and headed north to the Purgatory Ski Area. It's about 5 miles and a pretty good climb. I made it up and back in about two hours so that's about 10 miles. So at the present, I figure I can complete the Iron Horse (56 miles) in about 10 hours. That mean's I'll have to start at 2 in the morning to avoid being cut off on the top of Coalbank Pass (if you aren't there by noon, they pull you over). Now that means getting up really early, but then I thought, "Heck, why not just stay up all night?" 

The other thing I found out, is that you have to get some carbohydrates while you're riding or you will, as they call it in biking circles, "Bonk."  I don't know where they came up with that name, but  John and Lezlie Mayer gave me Lance Armstrong's  book outlining a Seven Week Training Course and the eating and drinking part is real important. Now simple carbs like orange juice won't do it. It has to be something complex with anti-oxidants to keep the system clean and running. I just ordered three cases of Emv--Energy to the Power of Monavie. This new energy drink has all the good stuff, none of the bad stuff and it kept me going this morning. I drink it with vodka every evening. I call it a Monatini!

A few challenges ahead as I will be out of town doing a trade show in Albuquerque next week, so I'm taking my bike and trying to convince my lady, Kris, that we should take our bikes from Santa Fe, where she lives, on the Roadrunner to Albuquerque (its a commuter train) and then ride back to Santa Fe after the show. I haven't found a route that doesn't require us to ride on the freeway yet, so that might not work, but I'll keep you posted.

Again, thanks for everyone's support. With people like you leading the way, Cancer doesn't stand a chance. Visit my personal web site and the team website to see how we're doing!   

 http://www.livestrong.org/teamls2010/jacksonihbc

The week's update!

After the OASIS Show in Albuquerque on Saturday, and Rudy's barbeque with Bill Lovette, Kris and I went to her home in Santa Fe. We'd both taken a few days off from riding (bad mistake) and decided to make up for it. (Second mistake.) Kris bought a book on bike rides around Santa Fe and we decided on the 54 mile one that goes from the capitol, out to the northeast of the city, then follows back roads south of the city, over the freeway, then through New Mexico ranch country to a place called Lone Cone where you hook up with highway 14 coming from Madrid and head back to Santa Fe. You enter the city and then circle the east side until you eventually hit the downtown and end up back at the capitol. 

54 miles seemed like a long way, but, I thought, "It's pretty flat so it won't be like riding in the mountains."  Well, New Mexico has a unique geological feature that makes these rides uphill both ways and the wind always blows in your face. On Highway 14, it was hitting about 30-40 miles an hours when it wasn't raining. But we've figured out that if you get as far as you can from the starting point while the weather is good, you have no choice but to peddle back, no matter what's happening.  It all worked well and after three cans of Monavie EMV we made it back!

Then, because of the Lance Armstrong training book that John and Lezlie gave me, we decided that the best way to feel better was to do another ride the next day. Maybe this works for Lance. We picked a shorter route from the guidebook which took us to the Santa Fe subdivision of Eldorado. This was a much flatter ride, about 14 miles and it was hard for a different reason. My father had once lived in Eldorado when he was fighting prostate cancer. Funny how seeing a place can bring back a lot of memories. My legs were burning from the day before, but I really didn't notice. It is that mind over matter deal, where your head takes over and you forget about your body. But that night was a three Advil evening!

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent working, but Thursday morning we beat the rain out for another 12 mile ride through Los Campanas, a development on the northeast side of Santa Fe. It was on this ride that we decided how come we are able to do these rides together so well. It is because Kris is better going uphill. That's because women have this unique feature that allows them to withstand pain for long periods. I am faster on curves and going downhill. That is because men have short memories and don't really understand what hitting the asphalt at 30 miles an hour will do to you. So she is faster sometimes, and I'm faster sometimes and we are both willing to wait on the other, although, she has to wait longer because it takes longer to go uphill!

Friday we headed to Durango to attend my much younger sister's birthday party!  Antonia has a wonderful group of friends and every month, they get together to celebrate all of the people who have birthdays that month. Everyone invites all of their friends and all the attendees make new friends. The musicians in the group bring their instruments and it's a great time. The theme of the party was a "hillbilly gathering" so there were lots of pig tails and Daisy Mae outfits. Why am I including this? Well, Antonia, who is also riding the Iron Horse for the Livestrong team asked everyone who came to give a donation to the group. Over a hundred people were there, and I think everyone threw in some cash.

So Saturday morning, it was up and at the mountain roads. We road from Electra Lake to Purgatory and back.  It's not a real long ride, about 6 miles each way, but the elevation gain is about 1800 feet. Then Sunday morning, we went the other way, leaving Electra and heading south to the bottom of the Shalona Hill. This is a real climb. It was easier the day before going to Purgatory because you got to ride downhill for the second half. This one was uphill a full ten miles. We did learn that you should eat a more substantial breakfast than pancakes and take some energy bars with you when you do this. Not a pretty sight, but we made it and consider the week a success!  About a hundred miles total

So next week, I'll not bore you with all the riding details. Instead, I'll share some of the really cool things I've learned about bike riding, the sport, the people and the gadgets these folks use! The strangest part is that almost all of the people you run into talk about this like it's fun. Well, it's not. (Well, downhill is fun). But, when you really are hurting and you're doing everything you can to make those wheels spin one more time without having to quit, it is important to give thanks because you are healthy enough to put yourself on that road and it makes you feel stronger to know that in some small way, you are doing what you can to help those that aren't able to push the wheels around one more time. 

Thank you all.

To make a donation, go to:  http://www.livestrong.org/teamls2010/jacksonihbc
Or, send your checks made out the the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Our team goal is $100,000 and we are right at $60,000 with one month left!

Jackson CLark


Less than a month to go until the Iron Horse and the weather hasn't been helping! Monday was about a 10 mile ride from Electra Lake to Purgatory and back, then it snowed on Tuesday so I went to the Rec Center and rode a spinning bike (no class, just me.)  I listened to a great CD by Zac Brown that my son gave to me for my birthday. The lyrics that stuck in my head were " I've got my toes in the water, my *** in the sand, not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand, life is good today." 

And the good thing is, life is good today! Had a shocker last week when two of my good competitors and friends were hit with cancer. One, a great guy my age had one lung removed and is doing well. The other, a young woman of 43 didn't find her cancer until it was throughout her body. She's not doing any treatment and is looking a three months to go. So, I'm not griping about how hard it is to pedal a bicycle. Just thankful I can. 

Thursday it was still crummy outside so I headed to spinning class that night with a new instructor, Danielle. Here is her claim to fame, she gets you pedaling as fast as you can without much resistance on the bike. I mean you are moving your legs so fast that they become a blur, then she says, "Take it up." I had no idea what that meant and was shocked when every one stood up and kept pedaling as fast as they could. Balance became the immediate issue, then my legs were burning and I didn't want to sit down because no one else was and besides, since your feet are snapped onto the pedals, I'm just trying not to lose my balance and get thrown to the ground. She pulled this deal about every three minutes. Wow!

You know how you can sometimes hear a song and the lyrics stick in your mind.  That will never happen to me in a spin class. They play music at ear drum shattering levels, but it's all the hip hop, electric dance, high energy stuff that is designed to prevent you from hearing your heart pounding. No singing along.

Saturday morning the snow broke and I decided it was the day to tackle Coalbank Pass. From where I live it's about a 2200 foot climb and it was really cold, but when you're pedaling up, it warms up right away. This hill seems like it is never going to end. I thought about turning around about half way up, but decided that I had to do it sometime, so I started saying to myself, "If I can do this, I can do anything" as the pedals went around. I was passed by a lot of bikers (my sister hollered at me on her way down) but when the top came into sight, it was a great feeling. I pulled in the parking lot and a real nice guy named John said, "That's a fun ride!" I said, "No. It's not. It's satisfying. Skiing is fun, motorcycles are fun, dancing at a country bar is fun. This is not fun!" But it was satisfying. And I know I'm on track to make it all the way to Silverton.

One of the things a lot of riders use is a kind of speedometer that hooks onto their handlebars. It tells them not only how fast they are going, but it tells them how many times a minute they are spinning their feet around. Good thing that teacher in the spin class didn't have one of these or she'd have blown a circuit! I asked my sister why that was important and she explained that if your legs are going around faster, you get less tired, build up less lactic acid in your muscles and end up being able to go longer and ultimately, faster than people who wear themselves out pumping slower in higher gears. "When you see that you are under 80 revolutions per minute, you just shift down so you can go faster." She offered to get me one of those things, but I pointed out that I'm always in the lowest possible gear anyway!  Next week I'll explain how you shift those gears. For an attention deficit person, that's a real challenge!

Again, thanks for all your encouragement. This Saturday in Los Angeles, several thousand people will be walking in a the Entertainment Industry Foundation Revlon Run/Walk for Women. Their web site is: http://www.revlonrunwalk.com/la/   One of our good friends has recently completed a difficult chemotherapy treatment and has been building her strength to make it 5 kilometers!  After what she's been through, that is a major effort. I'm sure, if it's about determination, she'll make it. So send some good thoughts toward the West Coast this Saturday for all of those people out raising money and awareness!

Thanks everyone,

Jackson
 http://www.livestrong.org/teamls2010/jacksonihbc http://www.livestrong.org/teamls2010/jacksonihbc



Two Weeks to go!

The Iron Horse is bearing down and what seemed like plenty of time to get in shape is fading. Can I make it to Silverton? Absolutely. But it may take a long, long time. Someone suggested I should get lights for the bike.

Speaking of which, I want to share a little about what I’ve learned about new bikes. You don’t buy a bike like you used to. Today, the shop will measure all of your joints, angles, torso bending spots and everything else and then, they will decide what size you need.

You are then put on a trainer. This is the devise that the rear wheel rests on and allows you to sit on the bike and pretend you are riding down the road. I hear you can buy DVD’s of roads all over the world so that you can ride in front of your TV and pretend you are riding a new road every day. Trust me, it’s not the same. You’re better off watching Oprah.

When you are on the trainer, the specialist will check how your body sits, where your knees are during the peddling cycle, where your hands are....They move the bike seats up and down, back and forward, adjust the handlebars, replace the stems on the handlebars and check your pedals (these are not your parent’s pedals!). They have little devices like ski bindings that a plate on the bottom of your shoes (yes you have to have special shoes) clips onto so you can pull up as well as push down while pedaling.

“Just start pedaling and try shifting the gears,” says my fitter.
I look at the handlebars and can see the brake levers, but no shifters.
“How do I do that?” I replied.

Once he has figured out that I really haven’t ridden a bike in a long time (I still remember the levers on the front support of the bike that you carefully moved up and down and felt for a gear), he shows me that the brake handles under the bars are really cleverly designed to allow you to shift with them as well.
They look like one piece of metal, but actually, they are two, the front part and the back part.

You use your fingers and press the handles towards the center of the bike. If you push the whole handle on the left one, the chain goes up the front cog which makes it harder to pedal, if you push the back part of the handle in, it makes the chain go down the cog which makes it easier.

That’s easy to remember until you move to the right hand where if you push the whole handle in, it again pushes the chain up the cog making it easier and the back part of the handle makes it go down the cog which is harder.

So this is all well and good when you are on a trainer, but when you are riding, at least for me, it is a little confusing remembering which cog is doing what. So the obvious solution to so look down (or back) at the cog in question and see which way the chain is going. The problem with that is that these bikes are really unstable and when you go off of the pavement, it can really be a rattling experience. Then, a break through came when someone pointed out that the little red needles that sit in clear plexiglass windows on top of each side of the handlebar actually tell you what gear you are in and where you are shifting to! What a deal!

So, after you get all set up on the bike, they start to tell you all of the additional stuff you “gotta have.” First, you are supposed to wash the bike after every ride, using a different detergent for the cogs and chains than for the rest of the bike. They you have to have a lubricant that allows you to grease up your chain after every ride. You also need water bottle holders, water bottles, little canvas bags to put food, a complete tool kit, extra tubes, patches and CO2 cartridges in. CO2 cartridges?

Sure, you didn’t think that modern bicyclists would carry anything an antique as an air pump! Nope, and you have to have the attachment that hooks your cartridge to the tire.

Not that you don’t need a pump. Yes you do. But it is only to pump up your tires before every ride. (Maybe the tires aren’t as good today as I never remember pumping up a bike tire in college.) This is one of those big ones that has a handle that looks like you are setting off a dynamite charge. And your pump is equipped with an air gauge (the CO2 cartridges don’t have that, but they probably will someday) to make sure you have the right number of pounds. At my one hundred and too many pounds, I need 80 pounds of pressure.

Then, you have to have padded shorts. Obviously, because the seats on these bikes are designed to cripple normal people. My son Nick also suggested having a large jar of Vasoline. He said the need would become obvious after the first 30 mile ride.
You need a special jersey that doesn’t absorb moisture, then a pair of long pants for cold rides, a wind breaker with special pockets in the back to put the dozens of energy bars you also need. Then you need a little pack that sits under your handlebars that will hold these things called hot shots or something like that. What they really are are just gummy bears with lots of carbs. So every fifteen minutes of so you are supposed to eat one of these gummy bears.

Lots of people fill their water bottles with Gatorade, but I had a bad experience with that and vodka once, so I mix half a bottle of water with one of the Monavie energy drinks (EMV, Energy to the Power of Monavie) and that seems to do the trick.

Oh, I forgot you need a helmet, ear bands to keep you warm in the mountains, gloves, full fingered or half fingered (if you don’t mind them turning blue), little half socks, sunglasses that fit under the helmet and a little mirror to attach to the helmet so you can see in back of you.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, but next time I hear a biker complain about how much equipment it takes to go skiing, I can do a sport comparison.

Oh, and you have to take your bike in for regular tune-ups. The first one is free.

So, there is a picture of the mechanicals and add-on’s necessary to be a bicycle rider in the Iron Horse.


Thanks for following my progress! These last two weeks should be interesting! A few prayers for warmer weather would be appreciated!

Our team has raised over $80,000.00 and we’re going to hit $100,000.00. Thanks for your help! To follow our progress: fundraising.livestrong.org/teamls2010/jacksonihbc

Jackson

Monavie Convention

The Monavie International Convention is in Salt Lake City the last weekend in June! It's going to be a great time and I hope to see lots of friends there.