He’s Nuckin’ Futs!

Safe to say I absolute hate riding on a trainer/rollers/stationary bike.

Putting mettle to pedal

Determined Aurora man rides again for stationary-bike record

By Joel Hood |Tribune reporter

11:32 PM CDT, May 8, 2008

After 64 consecutive hours on a stationary bicycle, this is what desire looks like: face grimacing and flushed red with sweat, fatigued arms slumped over handlebars, legs rhythmically pumping mile after imaginary mile.

Only 68 more hours to go. 

For the last year and a half, a retired drug-enforcement officer from Aurora has been on a quest to get his name inked in the Guinness Book of World Records. Twice in 2007, George Hood set a world mark for consecutive hours riding a stationary bike, only to have a clerical error and a rival from Tasmania take the titles from him.

It takes a certain kind of superhuman strength and, yes, obsession to pursue an endurance record that only a handful of people around the world probably care anything about. But Hood doesn’t do anything halfway. And when he jokes about taking back the record, he doesn’t joke too long.

This week, the 50-year-old climbed into the saddle at a YMCA in Naperville for his third and what he said is his final attempt for the obscure record. By Thursday night, he had ridden for close to 90 straight hours, 42 shy of the record. That is the equivalent of about 1,000 road miles or nearly a third of the way across the U.S.

If all goes well, Hood will break the record sometime Saturday night. But this time he wants the record to stick, so he is planning on pedal- ing another 20 hours, taking his painful and exhaustive personal journey into Sunday.

“This is a genuine human effort being done for all the right reasons,” Hood said. “This is the final chapter of this trilogy.”

Guinness rules allow riders to rest for five minutes for every hour in the saddle, time riders typically use to stretch, go to the bathroom and sleep. But riders don’t have to stop each hour and are able to stockpile five-minute breaks for longer periods of rest. When Hood began riding at 9 p.m. Sunday, he rode 15 hours in a row without a break, maintaining a minimum speed of around 12 m.p.h.

His bike is perched on a small stage at the top of a converted aerobics studio. The YMCA has put a second stationary bike beside him and scattered others around the studio so people can help keep him motivated by taking a spin for an hour or two. Rock music blares from the room’s speakers, and a limp towel hangs over the sweat-soaked handlebars.

Team of helpers

Hood rides alone, but this is far from a solitary effort. A team of volunteers monitors his time and makes sure he stays alert. Every four hours or so, paramedics stop by the gym to check on his condition. And when it is time for a break, volunteers gingerly lift Hood off the bike and carry him down a wooden ramp built near the stage.

Bathroom stops are brief because Hood is on a mostly liquid diet. Volunteers then help him to a fold-out table near the bike where he stretches his strained muscles. Sleep comes the instant Hood closes his eyes but never lasts more than 10 or 12 minutes at a time.

The record may be the ultimate test of physical and psychological endurance. But the divorced father of three hopes it also inspires others to take on challenges that seem out of their reach. In that way, the record is as much about others as it is about him, Hood said. Previous attempts raised more than $60,000 for various charities, and this week he has brought in about $16,000 for underprivileged families to participate in YMCA programs.

“There’s so much negativity in the world today, so much stuff on the news that you want to shy away from,” Hood said from atop the bike. “I’m awed by the number of people who’ve stopped by, just to peek in the doorway, to see how I’m doing it. I think that really speaks to people wanting to see something good in the world.”

‘High and extreme goals’

Hood grew up in eastern Pennsylvania and joined the Marine Corps after college. The eldest of four children, Hood said he always was obsessive about discipline and high achievement, traits that served him well in law enforcement and, he acknowledges, partly explains his pursuit of this record.

“There’s a lot of psychological things here that could be looked at,” said longtime friend Kathy Lewandowski. “He’s a goal-setter and he sets really, really high and extreme goals.”

In 1986, at age 28, Hood set a Guinness record by skipping rope for 13 consecutive hours, a mark that stood less than a month. Motivated once more to stamp his name in the record book, Hood rode 91 straight hours on a stationary bike in January 2007, breaking the mark held by a Danish man. But a bookkeeping error kept the time from being certified.

Six months later, Hood officially set the record at 111 hours, 11 minutes and 11 seconds, only to have a Tasmanian rider named Eddy Kontelj best him with a mark of 132 hours a couple of weeks later.

By Thursday morning, exhaustion and a strained left knee threatened to derail Hood. That is when he grabbed a microphone and implored onlookers to jump on bikes and help him power through it. He cranked the rock music on the stereo and began to bop his head up and down. He chanted, then stood up off the seat and pumped his legs harder. He had slept a combined three hours and 57 minutes since Sunday night and burned an estimated 23,000 calories.

“If you don’t witness something like this, you couldn’t imagine it could be done,” said Marvin Paysen, Hood’s friend and training partner.

As he sailed past the 80-hour mark, Hood grabbed the microphone again.

“This is more than just an event,” he yelled, “it’s an experience you’ll remember the rest of your lives. And I’m loving it!”

Here’s the original article.  Click on the pic above to go to his web page.

He’s expected to finish at 9am on Sunday, 11 May.  Good on him!

Rockin’ & Rollin’

Apparently they blew the tornado sirens last night.  We didn’t hear them, but the very close lightning strikes kept waking us up.  Plus, we’re dog-sitting another greyhound, so the two of them were skittish last night, which made it hard to sleep.

The alarm went off (way too early) and we were on the road to another race bright and early.  Luckily it was a local race, so we didn’t have to drive too much.

Which turned out to be a good thing.

We got to packet pickup and they wanted picture ID.  At that point I realized that I had left my wallet at home.  So Goddess drove like the devil and got us back to the house.  We made it back to the race site with 15 minutes to spare.

Wouldn’t you know it - they didn’t ask for ID this time.

Anyway, we were there for the inaugural Clarksville Duathlon - 2 mi run/13 mi bike/2 mi run.

A last minute addition to the race schedule.  After the Country Music Marathon expo, we stopped by our local running store so I could pick up a few more pair of Injinji (did I mention that I love those socks?).  They handed us the flier to the duathlon, which I posted on the fridge, mostly as a gee-whiz.

On Tuesday, three days after the marathon, I hopped on my Softride for a spin to work out the legs.  It was the first time I threw my leg over it since my IM-distance race last September.  That turned out to be a good ride.  I was surprised how good it felt.  So I punted and entered the race.

Then talked Goddess into doing it too.

I’m a bastard.

Fast forward to today.  You already know about the storms and ID snafu.  We hoped that would be the last (but it wasn’t).

The race started about 20 minutes late, but that’s fine.  It turned out the RD had to be pulled away for some reason.  Besides, the race was held at one of our favorite locations in town, the Beachaven Winery.  The stand-in RD mentioned that we were lucky to have been able to start due to the weather.  She stated that a tornado had gone through the south side of town (unverified, since it’s not on the National Weather Service storm report page).

Anyway, a few words and then the start horn went off.  My intent was to go as hard as I could, pushing it through the whole course.  I told Goddess that I hoped to be choking back bile when I finished.  But I also knew that I had to pace myself.

The two mile run went well, averaging 7:08 miles.  Not too hard, but hard enough, setting me up for the bike.

A quick transition and we were out on the road.  Again, knowing I needed to pace myself, I pushed, but not too hard.  Lots of folks went flying by, but I knew I’d see them again.  Two miles in and I started reeling them back, averaging 21mph.  Those that started too hard were already starting to fall back.

At just past three miles, the clusterf*ck began.  Apparently the RD decided to throw in a hard right turn, but didn’t station anyone there.  There might have been a mark on the road, but there are so many rides through that area year round that you couldn’t tell.  So at least half of the field flew right past it.  The realization came a couple of miles later when we approached the transition area.

One of the course workers was quite apologetic and redirected us.  No big deal, it was just going to add a couple of miles to the ride.  But the lead female was in the group and understandably upset.  So we followed the directions that the worker gave us.  Wouldn’t you know it, they were wrong.   A few miles later we ended up back at the transition area, having made another loop.

At that point, the group decided that they were just going to go out and make it a training ride.  I decided to run.  So I got 9.1 miles out of the scheduled 13 miles on the bike.

The last run leg was a bit slower.  I pushed it hard, but ended up averaging 7:44 miles.

As I finished my run, the rest of the group that was lost ended up rolling back in.  Some ran, some didn’t.  I watched as a couple of other riders came from the opposite direction, apparently having missed another turn somewhere and ended up riding towards downtown.  Some just bagged the run after their fiasco of a ride.

I was worried about Goddess, but it turns out she managed to find her way around the entire course.  Turns out that they had phoned the guy at the turn before the right-hander that we missed and he told her to make sure she turned at the next intersection.  Information that would have been good to know for the rest of us!

I joined Goddess on the run, pacing her from light post to light post.  She’s a good egg.  She came in dead last overall, smiling the whole way and still grabbed a third place AG medal.  My Goddess had a podium finish!

So although the bike course was poorly marked and poorly controlled, we still had a good time.  The best part was that the race fees went to the local YMCA.

I did manage to achieve my goal, which was to push as hard as I could (although I didn’t have to choke back the bile).  Of the 1:02:22 I raced, I was deep into Zone 5 for 51 minutes.  Minus the three minutes total that I spent in T1 and T2, that meant that I wasn’t in Zone 5 for only 8 minutes.

It was good to get back on the bike.  I was impressed that I was able to put as much power as I did to the pedals considering I hadn’t ridden in seven months.  Too bad it’ll be another seven months before I have a chance to ride it again.

That was my first du ever.  And it was a lot of fun.  I’ll look to do more in the future.

Moments of Zen

Both Frazz and Caulfield hit this nail on the head.  I defrag using both methods.

Travel this week threw any semblance of a training regiment out the window.  Managed to miss our flight out by 5 minutes, thanks to an extremely full parking area that forced us to park somewhere in Minnesota in order to catch our flight in Nashville.  By the time we got into the hotel in SC, it was 1230am.  Typically I’d get up at 430am to run, but that wasn’t going to happen since I had to be in a meeting at 7am.

Worked all day, had dinner with friends that I hadn’t seen in many years, then it was off to bed before getting up early to head to the airport.  And the whole time I was glad I wasn’t flying American.

Sipping coffee this morning, looking out the window and wondering why there were barricades up along the road behind our house.  Then the bikes started flying by.  It was a youth triathlon, based out of the indoor pool down the block.  So Goddess and I got out there to cheer the little ones on.  Age groups were broken up into 6-7, 8-9, 10-11 and 12-13.

The 6-7 AG, especially the women, was the best.  Flying on a schweet pink Schwinn, complete with matching pink corduroys, pink down jacket (it was cool and windy) and pink helmet, the lanterne rouge of the event did it in style.  She’ll be rockin’ the course for years to come.  Watch out Amanda!

School work and a long run is all that’s in store for this weekend.  Well, that and washing and repacking, since I’ll be traveling again this week.  Meh.

Why not just put a target on your back?

Wouldn’t that be like wearing an OU jersey while biking through Texas?   You’d just be begging to get smashed.

Betcha if the moonwalking bear was wearing it, y’all would’ve spied it the first time around. 

————————————————————–

Found in the latest Performance Bike catalog to grace my mailbox.

Why, oh why, do they tempt me so?

Not with those jerseys, but with all of the other goodies inside.

Kinda pointless, since I’m not getting many bike miles in this year.

Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)

“I’d tell you the name of this next song, but if you don’t figure it out by the end of the song, you’re too stupid to talk to“.

That’s how Jeff Tweedy introduced the song that just happens to be the title of this blog. But that’s for later in this blog. First things first.

But before that, here’s another music entry. If it doesn’t interest you, then there’s nothing to see here. I’ll be back to regular training/racing entries soon enough, since this was the last concert for a little while.

Sunday night saw us driving to Nashville for our third concert in six days. In case you missed the others, it was Linkin Park on Tuesday and Kid Rock on Friday. Sunday’s concert was decidedly mellower since it was Wilco playing at the gorgeous Ryman Auditorium.

Sunday was another warm day, so after doing homework and turning in my exams, I was able to get a quick 12-mile MTB ride through the nearby park, checking out some trails and looking at the seams in the creek, anticipating them stocking it with trout in a couple of weeks. Time to get some new tippets and flies ready. Whoo hoo! A quick shower and a bite on the go and we were on our way to Nashville. We’ve been down there so much lately that Goddess and I discussed living there, if only gas wasn’t getting so expensive.

Anyway, after getting our tickets and poking around the Ryman, we made our way to the t-shirt tables. Looking to see what they had, I almost let out a yelp. I knew that Wilco was having a warm-up act, but I had no idea who. But up there on the wall were John Doe t-shirts. For those of you not aware of John Doe, follow the link and read how he was the guitarist and vocalist for THE seminal LA punk band X. For me, that makes connections to two great acts from my youth in one week. John played a mix of his solo stuff as well as a few songs from X, appropriately slowed down for the crowd. He was amazed that he was playing in the Ryman, an old church, mentioning that he would have to call Exene and gloat that he got to play “White Girl” at the Ryman.

After a short break, Wilco took the stage, fresh from their SNL appearance the night before. As soon as they took the stage, everyone stood up, which is understandable. But everyone remained standing the entire time. The Ryman’s way too small for that and Goddess and the Son had a difficult time seeing the show. Especially since the dude in the front of us was at least 8 feet tall (give or take a foot). It didn’t help that the folks way up front were standing, which didn’t make sense, since they couldn’t leave their seats and they had to crane their necks to see up on the stage anyway. I suspect it would’ve been more comfortable sitting. Anyway, since they stood, everyone behind had too as well, making it not nearly as enjoyable as it should have been.

Kluso, here’s the setlist:

1. Via Chicago
2. Blood Of The Lamb
3. Pieholden Suite
4. California Stars
5. Company In My Back
6. You Are My Face
7. Side With The Seeds
8. Pot Kettle Black
9. A Shot In The Arm
10. She’s A Jar
11. Handshake Drugs
12. Impossible Germany
13. It’s Just That Simple
14. Pick Up The Change
15. Too Far Apart
16. Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)
17. Jesus, Etc.
18. Hate It Here
19. Walken
20. I’m The Man Who Loves You

Encore 1:
21. Someone Else’s Song (Jeff Solo w/o PA)
22. Misunderstood
23. The Thanks I Get
24. Red-Eyed And Blue
25. I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
26. Monday

Encore 2:
27. The Late Greats

While you’re at it, take a browse over at Kluso’s site. He’s an excellent musician, living in Okinawa and playing the local club circuit. You can buy some of his music on his site. And if you poke around the photo page, you might find one or two shots from yours truly. Kluso is the one who introduced Goddess and I to Wilco as he covered several of his songs while playing bars and other venues in and around Tokyo. We were his groupies for quite a while, tagging along and following him to some very interesting bars. Thank you so much, Kluso!

Also, if you look through his site, you’ll notice other artists. Kluso was very instrumental in introducing local Tokyo bands to the western expatriate community. Hands down, one of the best was Megababe, a trio of hot Japanese babes that would rock your (bleep) off while playing the hardest metal and punk they could find. Truly a hot show! BTW, one of my photos of them is in there as well.

Anyway, time for Bill to swing way back from his tangent. But in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a bright shiny object kind of guy. But I refuse Ritalin since I enjoy every second of the ADD.

The Wilco set was excellent. As you can surmise from the setlist, they played quite a while. Over two hours and it was quite a good show (other than the standing). If they swing by your area, I definitely recommend giving them a couple hours of your time.

From now on, less entertainment-themed posts…

News You Can Use

Marathons Cut Risk Of Fatal Vehicle Crashes

So register, run and save a couple of lives.

Oh, but don’t sprint at the end.

Not much news on the training front. I’ve mainly been running for the past month since my marathon. The work schedule has really kept me from the pool during lap swim times. And since the sun sets before I leave work, I haven’t been doing much on the bike. I abhor trainers, even rollers, but I need to get back on them. And with zero triathlons on the horizon, it’s a bit tougher to jump on the trainer, even though I keep telling myself that it’s good for the soul.

Just over nine days until the Mississippi Blues Marathon. I’m running the half, which I’ll treat as a training run for my next full, the 26.2 with Donna, in February. The half is just a good excuse to get out of town for a day and see another part of the country that we haven’t yet, plus get out and shoot some photos. I can certainly run the 13.1 from my front porch, but what’s the fun in that?

Here’s hoping the Holidays are everything you want them to be. We’re nice and relaxed here.

Ktrak

For those of you who live in the snow belt: Ktrack

Plus, any company that uses American Idiot in their commercial is alright in my book.

Around here, it just doesn’t snow enough. Heck, an inch shuts down this place. But if I move to the mountains (oh, I will Goddess, I will…).

Brent, don’t worry about it.

Beautiful

A moment of zen

No road or tri bikes. But definitely captures the beauty and joy of riding.

Rushing

…headlong into all of my projects.

I’m slowly transitioning back to my normal schedule. After working two weeks of 13-hour night shifts, it’s been slow getting back to a normal schedule. Usually it takes me a day and then I’m right back at it. Two days later and I’m still wide awake at 2:30 am.

I sat back with my feet up on the desk, watching Ironman Live last night. I drifted off hearing about Macca’s run. Goddess finally shooed me off to bed and he still hadn’t finished. That should give you an idea of how early I fell asleep. I had hoped to see Sam McGlone’s finish, mainly to see how well she did in her very first Ironman (2nd!), but instead waited until this morning to read the recap.

The beauty of being wide awake this morning was being able to really flesh out my new photography site. A bit of patience to find old shots, realizing that my photo archiving over the past few years, while complete, was scattered all over the house and computer. A few of the shots were real fun to revisit and rework, especially the early ones. It’s amazing how a couple of years of learning the intricacies of Photoshop can turn something that I spent days working on years ago into a 5-minute project now.

Another advantage of being up this morning was being able to run my Massage Stick over my sore legs. After a couple of weeks of non-focused activity, I’ve ramped up my running to get ready for the Flying Monkeys next month. First off I was amazed at how tight my hamstrings got during those two weeks. I’ve been stretching and thinking I’ve worked them out, but at mile 9 into my 11-mile run yesterday, they really tightened up. So yesterday and today I’ve been hobbling like an old man if I sit for too long.

Late yesterday, Goddess and I went out for an easy spin on the bike. Part of the beauty of non-focused training has been the chance to explore the surrounding area, which is still new to us after moving into this house just two months ago. I found a wilderness area not 1/2 mile from the house, with plenty of paved and unpaved trails weaving everywhere. Matter of fact, I was able to run the majority of my 11 miles yesterday within the confines of the area and not have to backtrack much at all. There’s definitely more to explore.

So Goddess and I spun easily through the woods, enjoying the turkeys and other wildlife. We even took a “shortcut”, which meant that we had to carry our bikes up a steep ravine to get to where we needed to be. Goddess came out of that with a few cuts and a bit of blood. And she was smiling the whole way!

Looking forward to the next few weeks. Training continues to ramp up, a trip out to see the fall colors at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and then a half marathon. We’ll see how it all works out.

Hope all is well with you.

New Directions

Well, recovery is done.  It’s time to start focusing on dodging the flying monkeys on November 18th.

And that race gets me to wondering about my sanity.  Why can’t I pick a relatively flat course for my first time at any distance?  Especially since I’m not light, bordering on Clydesdale at times.  I’m not what you would consider a climber.

But that’s part of the challenge, right? 

The last couple of weeks since my DNF have been interesting.

- Juggling three college courses.  For some reason I decided that I could handle three at once, since IM training was done.  All three are keeping me quite busy.

- Last weekend saw by brother-in-law and his family visit.  We had a wonderful time with them, although the time was short.  The photos I posted last week were from a trip we took with them.

- Working on my new photography web page.  I had sold a fair bit of my photos online over the past couple of years, but I’m no longer comfortable with the company that I was using.  So I’ve switched companies and am starting the web page development.  It’s a work in progress, but if you’d like to browse over and have a look, please do.  It’s billanders.smugmug.com.  I’ve got quite a few more photos to upload as well as working the layout.  And if you see any that strike your fancy, there’s a purchase option, if you’d like.

- Last week and this have my schedule flip-flopped, covering 12-14 hour night shifts, so I’ve been sleeping the day away and missing the beautiful weather.  At least I’ll be done Friday morning, right before my two long runs this weekend.  Then my work schedule is back to normal.

So what does this mean?  Six weeks of focused running, with a swim and bike thrown in each week to keep the muscle memory alive.  Lots of stretching, lots of miles, but quite a decrease in weekly hours compared to IM training.  So it is a break.  Of sorts.

Hope all is well with each of you!