Ohio Cycling Disorder (OCD)

  First time Angie and I get to see the Big Ditch This wee adventure has been on my mind and my adventure bucket list ever since I heard that there was this thing called Rim to Rim (aka R2) a few years ago. R2 involves traversing the Grand Canyon trails North to South or South to North. On the North side there is one main trail head called North Kaibab and on the south side are two main trail heads, named South Kaibab and Bright Angel. While following several FaceBook groups over the years I learned about Rim to Rim to Rim (R3) which is running from one side to the other and then back. I have read hints that R5 and R7 are also a "thing". Not for this guy though. R3 is daunting enough. Trail Enthusiats for Burning River (TEFBR) In September of 2021 my favorite local trail running group, the Trail Enthusiasts for Burning River (TEFBR), posted an event for R3 for April 2nd of 2022. Heck yay!!! I was so excited to see this that I did not hesitate to jump on board. This was a perf...

  In the Spring of May 2019 a good friend, Carey Lowery, and I conquered our first Everesting in Tennessee. It was not easy at all and took roughly seventeen and a half hours to complete the adventure of 21 (or was it 22) ascents of our chosen climb. What made the IRL Everesting special was taking on the challenge with a friend and the gorgeous sites we were provided by the route and the near perfect day. I told myself, one and done, but as any ultra endurance athlete knows, those thoughts quickly fade, usually.  Fast forward a year later, and Carey took on a virtual Everesting challenge on Zwift and not only that but she turned it into a charity event. If you are going to suffer, why not get some good out of it! Bravo Carey. The timing was not to be for me but I did a BaseCamp vEveresting about a month before and knew completing the full would be a serious challenge.  <quickTangent> Near the end of 2020, I broke myself. Too much running, never wanting to take take ...

The Laurel Highlands Ultra is one of the oldest ultra trail races in the nation and this year was the 41st edition. The race directors, as so many have had to do, went above and beyond the call of duty to see through all of the COVID-19 mandates and policies to allow this event to go off without a hitch. This my first time running the course and had only run the first 8-miles just a few weeks prior to getting a taste of the local trail cuisine that LHT had to offer. I have ridden many times in PA and it is well known for it's East Coast Angry Rocks. The Laurel Highlands Trail does not disappoint! Rocks, rocks, and more rocks but this time I would be hitting them as a trail runner. My goal for participating in this event was fairly simple. First, I wanted to continue to push my distance limits to be able to handle the stress of the bigger ultras. Second, I wanted to test the waters with the elevation gain.  This race is 70-miles, point to point, with a total ascent of roughly 11,500...

When I first started into the world of trail running I swore up and down that I would never be able to physically handle a 100-mile run, let alone a 50 miler or anything longer than a 1/2 marathon. In 2002, 6-months after my daughter was born I was struck by a car while out on a bike ride. Hospital visits, 120 staples in my leg for several skin grafts followed by 6-months of physical therapy to be able to walk again pretty much told me that running would never be in my future, let alone having the courage to get back onto the bike. About 4-years ago I started to get serious about trail running, beyond just using it as cross-training for my ultra-distance mountain bike racing and I started to fall in love all over again. Fast forward to 2020 and now 1/2 marathons are light training days, marathons are a dime a dozen, and 50ks are a nice run through the woods on the weekends. In the month of June/July, I had 6 weekends in a row of 50ks and a couple of 27+ mile runs. Funny how one's p...

You have to earn these the hard way. With my left ankle giving me some grief due to some Medial Ankle Post Tib pain and the possibility of attempting a full vEveresting in late July, if my beloved Burning River 100 is postponed or canceled, I wanted to take a shot at a Base Camp vEveresting (virtual Everesting). This is essentially hitting half the elevation of a full Everesting (29,029 ft) by climbing 14,514 ft of elevation. Easy, right? Oh heck no. Yes, this is legit bro. Ouch. I had been practicing the climb at 100% trainer difficulty leading up to this event (actually starts at 12 am but I took the day off cuz I want to ride outside on Saturday). I got used to the fact that my gearing is pretty hard on this climb and very hard on the AdZ climb so I stuck to this one. It ha a couple of nice breaks to spin during the climb and while you have a little bit of climbing to do on the way back down, I think for my first attempt it was the right choice. Here is the #epicfail moment...