Tour De Park City

Yesterday was Dave's biggest race (ride) yet, the Tour de Park City. It is a 170 mile race that gains 10,000 feet in elevation-which means-BIG climbs. Dave was nervous, I was nervous. Dave has trained a ton this summer and done two centuries in pretty good time so, although nervous, we thought there would be no problem. We crawled out of bed around 4:00 in the morning and Dave started the race at 6:00. He started out riding with a group from work (shown above) but over the ride they broke up and just went their own pace. Usually when Dave does these rides I meet him at a few pit stops for encouragement, because of how this one was set up I wasn't able to so I just headed home. I put the girls down for a much needed nap around 10:30 and at 11:00 I got call from Dave. The call scared me. Dave said he was at about 85 miles and had bonked, he was done, he had nothing left. The thing that scared me was that he wasn't making much sense and his speech was slurred. I could tell he was really hurting and not doing well. He was in the middle of nowhere (Wyoming) without food or water (the last pit stop he had stopped at had been out, CRAZY, I know). I loaded the girls up in the truck to go find him but decided against it. Anyone who know me knows that I get lost, very, very easily, that and I was pretty worried and shaken up so I called Adam and Mindy. They didn't even hesitate, they came and got me and the girls and we set off to find Dave (Thanks a MILLION guys). We found him at a pit stop at 105 miles. The poor boy had crawled another 20 miles-his indomitable will and strength AMAZE me! He was doing a lot better by the time we got to him, he had been able to eat and most importantly, drink, and rest in some shade. The worst part for me was seeing how discouraged he was. It broke my heart. I assured him that all bikers, even Lance Armstrong, have bonked before. Now for those of you who don't know what a bonk is I am going to link you over to Fat Cyclist's page. He describes it perfectly. Here is a synopsis from his blog

"Now, I don’t know if anyone who doesn’t do endurance sports really knows what a true bonk feels like. It’s actually kind of interesting. First of all, you have only the slightest amount of power. You can turn the cranks over, but just barely. Next, you stop caring. You know that you must look ridiculous, riding your bike at three miles per hour (yes, really), but you just don’t have the energy to care about appearances. You completely lack the ability to rally — it doesn’t matter how bracing a pep talk your friends give you, you aren’t going to be able to buck up and go faster. In a really good bonk, I’ve experienced a disconnectedness between my mind and body: this can’t be my body inching along, right? Surely, if this were my body, I’d be able to tell my legs to go faster. Sometimes — not always — I’ll feel cold.
All of these sensations, though, are pretty much secondary to the main emotion: misery. It’s a self-pitying, helpless, weak, beyond-tiredness, beyond-hunger, beyond-thirsty, miserable misery."

To sum up your body just has absolutely nothing left. I mean nothing. It isn't only a physical thing but a mental one. Oh so a quick, interesting note...remember how fatty mentioned feeling cold? It was over 100 degrees outside and Dave was FREEZING. In the car he was bundled up in sweaters and blankets and turned the air off in the back. Anyway, although Dave is upset about not finishing I couldn't be more proud of the boy! He was able to keep going when he body started shutting down. The most important thing-he is ready to get out biking again. I love ya babe! Also, for more information and Dave's side of the story check out his blog :)

Dave's little cheerleaders (it was 5:30 in the morning and COLD)

Hehe this picture cracks me up. Dave got Emma dressed that morning. Look at Emma's face its like she is saying, "What the heck?" Yeah, its Ali's jacket :)