1st Fully Loaded Test Ride

I sent an email out last night to my friends and family making it officially the real deal!

The Message reads:

Some already know about my Epic plans for this year but now it is becoming very real!!! Starting June 13th I will ride my mountain bike from Banff Canada to Antelope Wells. My goal is to complete the race in under 25days! I have to carry all of my own gear and naviagte 2700 miles and 200000 feet of climbing.

I wanted to send out an email providing you with a link to my blog, a link to my tracker, a link for my check in recordings, and a link for information about what I am doing!

You can read about my prep and my gear choices on my blog:
http://jessicagreenrides.blogspot.com/

About the Ride and the rules:
http://tourdivide.org/the_race

Watch the movie Ride the Divide on Netflix and get the fever!
http://www.ridethedividemovie.com/

I will check in on the ride and you can hear my recordings after June 13th at
http://mtbcast.com/site2/

My Spot Tracker Link"
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0ZxylCvuSOl1S6LNJsXsNOsV4bkB4EG49
If the link doesn't work, try copying and pasting it to your browser's address bar.
While you are reading this email I will most likely be setting up my bike or riding my bike Feb 18th to the 19th for it's 1st fully loaded test run!! I will ride about 50 - 80 miles out. Set up Camp and ride back home on the 19th.. Hope it is a success! This 1st trial ride makes it very real to me and prompted my desire to send this message out to my family and friends!

Thank you and Please Send up your Prayers!

19 weeks and counting!

I spent the last three days knocking down some miles and getting my head into the reality of  this is really going to happen. I have to get ready in 19 weeks!

While reading and researching today I found an excellent article written by Kent Petterson on his blog (Of which he is way better at blog managment than I am) Frequently asked Questions about the divide.  His words touched a belief that I have held and helped me put words to it. In the question? How does one train to ride the divide? I top my helmet to the answer Kent gave, "I practice!"

So, I spent the last three days practicing for Ride the Divide! I put in about 110 miles and did some rain riding with my rain jacket. Which does keep my dry but is very warm and toasty... I used my Helly Hansen Women's Voss Jacket. I like the fact that it keeps me dry and the hood fits over my head under my helmet and provides a bit of a visor. I still need better rain pants too. The stuff I have stays dry for a while but if it comes down hard it sneaks in. I plan to purchase a pair of North Face Venture Rain Pants

I found the camera I plan to purchase too!! Olympus Stylus TG-830 iHS Digital Camera

As the days tick by I realize I need to get all of my gear on the bike and go for a test ride/camp. My new frame will be here Wednesday so I plan to build up the Stumpy and load here up for a ride next Weds and Tuesday. I will post a blog after my adventure!

Dirty Dozen 12 hour Race / Mental preperation for Ride the Divide

After the Excruciation Exam race two weeks ago my bike started making a constant creak when pedaling. So, we basically overhauled the bike and even installed some new ceramic bearings to the bottom bracket. Sadly the noise continued. After a deep clean and more investigating we discovered the bottom bracket was ovalizing and the material is beginning to fail. I have successfully broken everything on the bike during my training for the ride the divide. The guys at the shop renamed Beast Maker to Jessica the Destroyer #1. After realizing the bike could not be raced on for the 12 hours proceeded to find an alternative ride option. I contacted our stores Specialized Rep who generously allowed me to use his bike for the race.

A specialized Epic 2013 World Cup! I have never really ridden a full suspension bike so I was very worried I could really break this one. In fact I only got to ride the bike 5 miles before the race. I had to swap my pixie bars over, recharge the tubeless setup, and get the shocks sort of set up for my style of riding. Which after 5 laps / 35 miles I realized I need to adjust it more. The other challenge of the new ride was its equipped with Shimano and I am used to Sram for mountain. You should see the blisters on the inside of my palms. I will pass posting a photo of those for you!

 

I decided that I need to enlist some moral support for the race so I invited Cesar and Kevin to come suffer with me! The created Team Blueberry and signed up for the 12 hour two person team and took 4th place and landed in the money too!

The weather was perfect. You could not have asked for a better day. Overcast with a few sprinkles here and there but never a full out rain shower. The temperature was  between 60 - 75 for the whole day. It was great day for 12 hours of saddle time. I was able to get off to a great start and maintained a 39 min to 49 min lap time for 11:15 mins. I took 2nd place!

My goal was 10 laps but the day and everything just came together and I was able to put in 15 laps. Kim Jennings and I were neck and neck and made a great race of it! The 1st lap was a log jam, the 2nd lap started to open up a bit, the 3rd and 4th laps were still bunches of people you would have to ride around, my 5th lap was blissful with me and the trees and no one in my way. I Loved the flow and started to really get to know the bike. Laps 6 to 13 blended into a flow and me thinking about the ride the divide and the hours I have to be in the saddle. I set myself an 11.5 mph pace and held it. Just watched my average speed and kept going.

 When I hit lap 13/101.4 miles I wanted to stop and be done. My left forearm muscles were really giving me a sting and my left foot was feeling a blaze! My husband and Sonya (Cesar's wife) told me I had to keep going. Kim was only 11 min in front of me. I took the challenge, hit the Porty pod, and then jumped on the bike feeling somewhat better. I had reached a point where I couldn't really eat anymore. After completing lap 13 they told me I was still on her and she was starting to slow. Reluctantly, I set my music on my phone to some hard heavy death metal and launched into my 14th lap. As from whom the bell tolls blared in my right ear I cranked my pedals as hard as I could and pushed to catch her. About half way into the lap my stomach started to cramp and when I breathed deep or had to put out a hard effort I would feel that I was about to barf. After completing Gas Pass which is a technical high speed down hill I did leave it all on the course. The effort made me barf. Which I did while riding off the side of the bike to the right and kept going. It was dark and no one saw me thankfully :) Adds a whole new meaning to leaving it all on the course. After suffering the climb back to the check point and completing my 14th lap there was an 1:37 min left on the clock. I had to do another lap. I had to force her to complete a 16th lap. After all I felt better after my barf break. It was fun doing the last lap cause you could see the people really suffering and you could see those determined to race the clock riding hard next to you! Finally after 11:15 mins I got to get off the bike and walk. I immediately took a shower and drank some muscle milk. I was proud to ride that long and happy knowing that when the divide comes i can ride 12 hours and know what it will feel like. Today I feel sore but I know if I had to I could go ride!

Cesar, Kevin and I looking Refreshed after our 12 hours. I think we could have kept going!

Congratulation to Kim Topp, Ali Wilkerson 5th place 2 person 12 hour, Jessica Green 2nd place solo, and Kim Jennings 1st place solo.