This was a sample email for me to forward to people...I've added a little yacky flair for good measure...If you read all the black then read all the red you'll get the difference
Hey Everyone, Sup Dawgs
I just ordered one of the best products ever. Yo yo you gotta check this out It's called a Road ID - perhaps you've heard of it. You know those silly things that dumb athletes wear around their wrist for when they crash and lie bloody on the side of the road? If you haven't, go to their website and check it out. Well it's called Road ID because we don't normally carry a DL in case we run a red light. Road ID is a great product that could save your life someday. But for the times we do want the authorities to know our identity like after a downhill inline staking endeavour (see last year blog "spills chills and Canadian thrills") this thing is good.
When I ordered, they gave me a coupon that I could pass along to my friends. It's kinda lame cuz they only give you enough of a discount to get 1/4 on a gallon of gas. Here's the coupon number:
Coupon Number: ThanksDavid366785
The coupon is good for $1 off any Road ID order placed by 05/25/2008. To order, simply go to RoadID.com or click the link below: Go to this link to get your buck off
http://www.RoadID.com/?CID=ThanksDavid366785
If you prefer, you can call them at 800-345-6335. And if you're hankering to get put on hold and listen to some muzak give them a call
You can thank me later, I'll stop bugging you now,
David Stiles Yacky
Oh by the way, their website is awesome, the customer service is outstanding, and the owners are very smart and good looking. Oh by the way, this company is ok but have you been to my gym lately? it's freakin cool, we are doing lots of good thing for people and as always the manager is really smart and absolutely stunning!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Friends of Tuckerman and Pain, AKA The Inferno
Our first local race of the seasons for Team LBF; the Inferno was a great kick off for us and we had a great time...
The Inferno has been going on for years now and is truly a noble event with a noble cause. Friends of Tuckerman Ravine puts on this event to help raise money for the ravine and all the logistics of keeping it available for everyone and preserve the natural beauty of slopes of Mt Washington. That plus so much more, everyone should go to their website and check out what they are all about. http://www.friendsoftuckerman.org/
So lets get to it...the Inferno is a 5 discipline multi sport race starting with a 8.3 mile run with 750 vertical feet of climbing in the first 3 Miles, then it's a quick splash into 38 degree water with a 6.5 mile white water kayak on the Saco River in Bartlett, followed by a 2,000+ vertical feet road bike time trial to Pinkham Notch, Grab your skis and pack for a trek of 2.7 miles and another 2,000 vertical feet to the base of Tuckerman bowl, another half mile straight up to the top of the head wall for the final GS run down the ravine and through the finish...
We started the race at 7:01 am from the Story Land Parking lot after pre-staging boats near Thorne pond. Most of the participants are on teams of 5 called TuckerTeams but for the few hearty soles that like a slightly slower pace and more bang for their buck there is the Tuckerman and Tuckerwoman division (24 athletes in these two divisions 20 men and 4 women). These are Solo competitors that complete all five events by themselves (yeah thats us). So, off the start Team LBF stayed together for the first half of the run until Jenny decided to make me feel like a little girl and run away from me to the Kayak TA...The run was a little warm up climb on rt 16 then went straight up and subsequently straight down in the next 4 miles to give our legs the shock they need to cramp so severely that you become delusional. We came into the boats fast and left fast. Jenny and I pre paddled the course last week which helped make good decisions and quick work of the 6.5 miles of fun to the bike TA. We pulled out at the same time in a massive confusion of paddles and gear flying every where. At this point I was sitting in 6 or 7th place of the TM division and Jenny was comfortably leading the TW division. We both scattered to the familiar voices of our support crews and donned our cycling gear. It's important to note that if you ever decide to run as hard as you can for an hour then get in a kayak and sit for 45 minutes your legs may not be entirely happy with you when you get up...Either way, after beating my right calf/brick with a closed fist a few times I was on the bike for my speedy discipline. For me I needed to put in a stellar bike ride to make up the time I lost while wheezing through the run. I pushed hard over the first climb and launched into a state of tremendous blurred vision and poor judgement leading to the combination of three interesting yet familiar situations: Nearly crashing my bike while going 30 mph, sever cramping in my legs, and a shoe full of urine...if your not a biker the third part my be hard to understand but I won't go into details. I backed off a bit to allow for the massive amounts of electrolytes and sugars I was taking it to have some effect (you make already know this but if you start cramping it's most likely due to over exertion and inadequate fluid to electrolyte intake...generally speaking if you get your HR down a bit and take in a gel and some sports drink you can manage the cramping and keep it to a minimum). So, up the next climb I went. I came into the Hike TA at the same time my DAD/Support person was arriving with my pack and skis...now in 2nd place I grabbed my pack (that felt like it was 500 lbs) and asked for my running shoes. The response that followed was a blank stare and "what shoes? They're in the pack right?" The support trailer was a mile away at Wildcat and comfortable sitting in the back were my soft well broken in, perfectly molded to my feet through miles and miles of trekking in South America running shoes....Crap...Pilots have these really cool flow charts for emergencies so they know exactly what to do in the case of a catastrophe...my catastrophe flow chart read like this: No shoes---ask someone for extras----still no shoes?----ask again louder (note: first attempt was loud but nevertheless increase volume and tone by 93.7%)---proceed to Sam Brown (Jenny's Hubby) for his shoes that are 3.5 sizes too big----remove Sam Brown's shoes when hit in the head by racers girlfriend throwing her boyfriends back up shoes at you---continue race---scold support crew after finish---return borrowed shoes post race...Don't forget earlier urine in the shoe issue and remember that socks don't get changed in these quick races but what they don't know can't hurt them. Back to the race...The hike to the ravine was a train of weekend hikers heading up to get in some great runs on a beautiful Saturday. Now these people were so amazing while hiking up. I rarely had to say anything to anyone about clearing a lane for me to get through...there was a constant lookout for racers and people would yell up ahead of us to help clear the way...all I had to do was wheeze. It was one of the greatest things you can experience. People just staring at you while you pass cheering and clapping, words of encouragement and just the best energy emitting from these folk who 90% of them are wheezing just as hard with their cases of beer on their backs...it was great. I was passed about 30 minutes in to the hike by a Calvin Klein model on steroids and another aerobic giant who was actually running (it was more of a trot but dam impressive)...I really didn't know where I was in the standings at this point...somewhere closer to the top some one said I was in fourth which got my spirits up a bit. I could still see the CK guy and he was losing a bit of the pinash he had when he passed me. I took the opportunity to pass him and push the pace when he stopped to get some water from his pack. As we started getting into the steeper climbing my stumpy tree trunks for legs were doing a great job at staying strong and pushing a quick and relentless speed rarely seen on this planet...this is the stuff that I think about racing...kind of stupid but it works...So, I managed to hold of CK One step behind me. We came out into the bowl where 2,000 people were standing around gawking at half a dozen sledders seeing how close they can come to killing them selves. I look up the slope and see that we were heading for the skiers right slope and all the way to the top of the head wall. I made it my mission to get my ass up that mountain in one piece and not fall and slide past CK on my back and lose my podium spot...With this in mind I was dumb founded that the Sherpa that ran past me an hour before had just gotten to the top and was not even in to his snowboard boots yet. I asked the officials if the time stopped up top his reply was surprising "no, when you're ready just go and your time is your time" I had a chance to pull up another spot into 2nd! So, I put on my tele boots in record time... not even laced, just buckled down and thrown on...I asked for a few people to slide aside and let me "catch that guy" who was at the 3rd gate down the mountain. I never thought I would be is a GS race for a spot at the end of a 4.5 hour event. Not to mention that after blowing my legs into ultra fatigue (near failure) I was now racing down a 60 degree ski slope that many a people have died on...this all entered my mind after the fact...by gate five I was on his ass and as I shot by him he caught his toe edge and slide down past me back into second place...I made up the distance and pulled off a successful pass while he was flipping over to get back on his feet. We were neck and neck until the bottom 1/3 of the course when I took the lead to come across the finish line 16 seconds ahead...I never saw that coming!
Jenny was on the head wall as I was in the dual on the way down and cheering me on the whole way...she came down about 12 minutes later as the first Tuckerwoman ahead of Kat Fiske (Another Littleton area local) in second. Jenny was the first TW to break the five our mark at 4 Hours and 43 Minutes...She was the 5th Tucker Person to finish. Time and time again Jenny proves to be an amazing athlete that gives most elite male athletes a run for their money.
We finished up the day with a ski out of the bowl down the Sherburn Ski Trail and attended the fantastic awards banquet at Wildcat. They serve a full meal with amazing prizes and a great program. This is a race that everyone should come to at least once even if you're just there to watch...
On a final note:
I think I've said this before on this blog but races are really about who is willing to hurt the most. Chris Jensen of NHPR asked me during an interview this spring "why do you race?" I couldn't give him an answer at the time but I think I just found it...Everyone can push themselves to their limit but it's the perception of that limit where most stop. To push beyond your limit, beyond what you think you can do, beyond what you know about yourself and into an unknown world of physicality that is no longer about the philological limits of your genetic make up, it is about your will and the desire you have to compete and go the distance mentally; that is to race and that is why I do it.
YACKY OUT-
The Inferno has been going on for years now and is truly a noble event with a noble cause. Friends of Tuckerman Ravine puts on this event to help raise money for the ravine and all the logistics of keeping it available for everyone and preserve the natural beauty of slopes of Mt Washington. That plus so much more, everyone should go to their website and check out what they are all about. http://www.friendsoftuckerman.org/
So lets get to it...the Inferno is a 5 discipline multi sport race starting with a 8.3 mile run with 750 vertical feet of climbing in the first 3 Miles, then it's a quick splash into 38 degree water with a 6.5 mile white water kayak on the Saco River in Bartlett, followed by a 2,000+ vertical feet road bike time trial to Pinkham Notch, Grab your skis and pack for a trek of 2.7 miles and another 2,000 vertical feet to the base of Tuckerman bowl, another half mile straight up to the top of the head wall for the final GS run down the ravine and through the finish...
We started the race at 7:01 am from the Story Land Parking lot after pre-staging boats near Thorne pond. Most of the participants are on teams of 5 called TuckerTeams but for the few hearty soles that like a slightly slower pace and more bang for their buck there is the Tuckerman and Tuckerwoman division (24 athletes in these two divisions 20 men and 4 women). These are Solo competitors that complete all five events by themselves (yeah thats us). So, off the start Team LBF stayed together for the first half of the run until Jenny decided to make me feel like a little girl and run away from me to the Kayak TA...The run was a little warm up climb on rt 16 then went straight up and subsequently straight down in the next 4 miles to give our legs the shock they need to cramp so severely that you become delusional. We came into the boats fast and left fast. Jenny and I pre paddled the course last week which helped make good decisions and quick work of the 6.5 miles of fun to the bike TA. We pulled out at the same time in a massive confusion of paddles and gear flying every where. At this point I was sitting in 6 or 7th place of the TM division and Jenny was comfortably leading the TW division. We both scattered to the familiar voices of our support crews and donned our cycling gear. It's important to note that if you ever decide to run as hard as you can for an hour then get in a kayak and sit for 45 minutes your legs may not be entirely happy with you when you get up...Either way, after beating my right calf/brick with a closed fist a few times I was on the bike for my speedy discipline. For me I needed to put in a stellar bike ride to make up the time I lost while wheezing through the run. I pushed hard over the first climb and launched into a state of tremendous blurred vision and poor judgement leading to the combination of three interesting yet familiar situations: Nearly crashing my bike while going 30 mph, sever cramping in my legs, and a shoe full of urine...if your not a biker the third part my be hard to understand but I won't go into details. I backed off a bit to allow for the massive amounts of electrolytes and sugars I was taking it to have some effect (you make already know this but if you start cramping it's most likely due to over exertion and inadequate fluid to electrolyte intake...generally speaking if you get your HR down a bit and take in a gel and some sports drink you can manage the cramping and keep it to a minimum). So, up the next climb I went. I came into the Hike TA at the same time my DAD/Support person was arriving with my pack and skis...now in 2nd place I grabbed my pack (that felt like it was 500 lbs) and asked for my running shoes. The response that followed was a blank stare and "what shoes? They're in the pack right?" The support trailer was a mile away at Wildcat and comfortable sitting in the back were my soft well broken in, perfectly molded to my feet through miles and miles of trekking in South America running shoes....Crap...Pilots have these really cool flow charts for emergencies so they know exactly what to do in the case of a catastrophe...my catastrophe flow chart read like this: No shoes---ask someone for extras----still no shoes?----ask again louder (note: first attempt was loud but nevertheless increase volume and tone by 93.7%)---proceed to Sam Brown (Jenny's Hubby) for his shoes that are 3.5 sizes too big----remove Sam Brown's shoes when hit in the head by racers girlfriend throwing her boyfriends back up shoes at you---continue race---scold support crew after finish---return borrowed shoes post race...Don't forget earlier urine in the shoe issue and remember that socks don't get changed in these quick races but what they don't know can't hurt them. Back to the race...The hike to the ravine was a train of weekend hikers heading up to get in some great runs on a beautiful Saturday. Now these people were so amazing while hiking up. I rarely had to say anything to anyone about clearing a lane for me to get through...there was a constant lookout for racers and people would yell up ahead of us to help clear the way...all I had to do was wheeze. It was one of the greatest things you can experience. People just staring at you while you pass cheering and clapping, words of encouragement and just the best energy emitting from these folk who 90% of them are wheezing just as hard with their cases of beer on their backs...it was great. I was passed about 30 minutes in to the hike by a Calvin Klein model on steroids and another aerobic giant who was actually running (it was more of a trot but dam impressive)...I really didn't know where I was in the standings at this point...somewhere closer to the top some one said I was in fourth which got my spirits up a bit. I could still see the CK guy and he was losing a bit of the pinash he had when he passed me. I took the opportunity to pass him and push the pace when he stopped to get some water from his pack. As we started getting into the steeper climbing my stumpy tree trunks for legs were doing a great job at staying strong and pushing a quick and relentless speed rarely seen on this planet...this is the stuff that I think about racing...kind of stupid but it works...So, I managed to hold of CK One step behind me. We came out into the bowl where 2,000 people were standing around gawking at half a dozen sledders seeing how close they can come to killing them selves. I look up the slope and see that we were heading for the skiers right slope and all the way to the top of the head wall. I made it my mission to get my ass up that mountain in one piece and not fall and slide past CK on my back and lose my podium spot...With this in mind I was dumb founded that the Sherpa that ran past me an hour before had just gotten to the top and was not even in to his snowboard boots yet. I asked the officials if the time stopped up top his reply was surprising "no, when you're ready just go and your time is your time" I had a chance to pull up another spot into 2nd! So, I put on my tele boots in record time... not even laced, just buckled down and thrown on...I asked for a few people to slide aside and let me "catch that guy" who was at the 3rd gate down the mountain. I never thought I would be is a GS race for a spot at the end of a 4.5 hour event. Not to mention that after blowing my legs into ultra fatigue (near failure) I was now racing down a 60 degree ski slope that many a people have died on...this all entered my mind after the fact...by gate five I was on his ass and as I shot by him he caught his toe edge and slide down past me back into second place...I made up the distance and pulled off a successful pass while he was flipping over to get back on his feet. We were neck and neck until the bottom 1/3 of the course when I took the lead to come across the finish line 16 seconds ahead...I never saw that coming!
Jenny was on the head wall as I was in the dual on the way down and cheering me on the whole way...she came down about 12 minutes later as the first Tuckerwoman ahead of Kat Fiske (Another Littleton area local) in second. Jenny was the first TW to break the five our mark at 4 Hours and 43 Minutes...She was the 5th Tucker Person to finish. Time and time again Jenny proves to be an amazing athlete that gives most elite male athletes a run for their money.
We finished up the day with a ski out of the bowl down the Sherburn Ski Trail and attended the fantastic awards banquet at Wildcat. They serve a full meal with amazing prizes and a great program. This is a race that everyone should come to at least once even if you're just there to watch...
On a final note:
I think I've said this before on this blog but races are really about who is willing to hurt the most. Chris Jensen of NHPR asked me during an interview this spring "why do you race?" I couldn't give him an answer at the time but I think I just found it...Everyone can push themselves to their limit but it's the perception of that limit where most stop. To push beyond your limit, beyond what you think you can do, beyond what you know about yourself and into an unknown world of physicality that is no longer about the philological limits of your genetic make up, it is about your will and the desire you have to compete and go the distance mentally; that is to race and that is why I do it.
YACKY OUT-
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Summer Season
Ok...so all you think running an AR team is a little ball of joy...well i'll tell you this it's a lot of work...we are finishing up our summer sponsorship...riding 10-15 hours a week and living the life of a pro athlete and full time worker at the same time. Wow this spring has put us into our place but man it is all worth it...get out and ride...run...paddle. Live this life to the fullest...
More soon from Team LBF
Yacky
More soon from Team LBF
Yacky
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
