Chuckanut 50K Weekend

Saturday is the 16th running of the Chuckanut 50K and the last time on the course we have all come to know and love/hate. Next year, plans are for the route to be much hillier. Above and below, Chuckanut studs Scott Young and John Clark had their final one-on-one coaching sessions with Chris Carmichael. "Run like the wind, my son," he told Scott. Whereas to John he said, "Just don't run like Mike McQuaide and you'll be fine."

These guys have trained hard, been running like two times a day, John had 108 miles one week, Scott's been burning up the treadmill at the Y sending the watts meter into the red and man, I'm glad I'm not doing the race this year. I'm not worthy.

I've written down my predictions for what I think John and Scott will run; I'll let you know Sunday how close I am.

Speaking of Carmichael, a couple more tidbits from last Saturday's talk. He said the Leadville Trail 100 in August is the mountain bike race that Lance is going to do. (Along with this year's Boston and New York marathons.) Also, he thought that if Lance decided next year to come back and do the Tour de France that Carmichael believed he could win it. (Please Lance, don't do it. Think Michael Jordan in a Wizards uniform; that should be enough to scare you.)

BIKE SATURDAY

We hit the Seattle Bike Expo on Saturday. That is, John Clark, Scott Young, Jen (me wife) and Baker (me son). Above, please enjoy a photo of Chris Carmichael and myself. Chris, who coached Lance Armstrong to seven Tour de France victories, was a featured speaker. Real nice guy, who spent a few minutes before his presentation talking to Scott, John and I, who were all kinda schoolboy giddy with tongue-tied goofiness. His presentation included footage of Lance in the TdF including a behind-the-scenes story about how fortunate Lance's foray into cyclocross turned out to be during the '03 stage when Joseba Beloki crashed right in front of him and Lance had to cut across the cornfield and over a ditch.

We coveted a lot of bikes we did. Here John and Scott drool over a Cervelo P3 time trial bike not unlike that used by Fabian Cancellara. World Champion rainbow stripes and all. Probably $7,000 with the Zipp wheels.

Below, John does something I would never do a week before an important race. Have his body fat tested on one of those notoriously innaccurate body composition bathroom scales. John's got less body fat on him than an Olsen twin yet this thing tells him he's like 16 percent body fat. This right after some guy, who looked no trimmer than John, butted in front of him and registered something like 5 percent body fat.

Below, Scott tries on a pink shirt. Behind him, an alarmed onlooker phones a loved one and asks for help.
John and Scott are running the Chuckanut 50K (www.gbrc.net/chuckanut50k.php) next Saturday and I wish them all the luck in the world. It's sure to be an epic battle with neither one of them coming right out and actually saying it, but you know each wants to pound the other. As it should be.

Good luck to both of them!

After that, we ride.

SEATTLE BIKE EXPO

Chris Carmichael is coming to the Seattle Bike Expo (March 8 and 9; http://cascade.org/EandR/expo) to do a couple presentations on working with Lance Armstrong. (Carmichael's the dude above who's not Lance.) I wrote a piece about the expo for this Thursday's (March 6) Seattle Times Northwest Weekend section and was fortunate to spend about 20 minutes with Chris on the phone. (You don't mind if I call you Chris, do you?)

He seemed like a real nice guy who, at the time, was in the throes of dadhood. ("Connor, put that down. No, Connor come over here, please. Connor ..." And so on.) Here are excerpts from my interview with Chris. All words are his.

"I’ll be doing a couple presentations, basically presenting what it took for Lance to win the Tour de France seven times. ... What made him so special was just his approach. He was a 365-day 24-seven athlete. ... He was just meticulous about everything he did, from training to his equipment to nutrition to selecting his team to everything. As an example of how meticulous he was, in his seven Tour de France victories, he had only one flat tire—and that wasn’t by luck. It’s just an example of his approach. ... I hooked up with Lance in 1990 when I was the national team coach. You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize he was special."

On how he's working with Lance these days:

"I help him with his running. Next month in Boston (Boston Marathon), he’d like to be low 2:40s, and next fall, mid 2:30s at New York (New York City Marathon). He also wants to do an ultraendurance mountain bike event--those are his three goals this year. He likes to have goals, they keep him motivated and fit."

I asked Chris if this is leading up to Lance eventually doing an Ironman triathlon.

"I doubt it. You don’t just go out and do an Ironman. He just wants to enjoy himself. The last thing he wants to do right now is follow any kind of structured program."

Then I got selfish. I asked him if he had any advice for a 46-year-old endurance athlete who's just now getting into bike racing.

"First, join a cycling club. You'll gain loads of experience on group rides and build your skills like learning how to draft--remember, where there’s a wheel there’s a way. Also, you need to get comfortable riding at higher pedal cadence--at least 90, 100, 110--that way you can adjust to the abrupt changes in speed. With experience, you'll get a feel for the ebb and flow of a race and you'll gain an understanding of tactics. You go into each race with a strategy; the strategy is your plan, the tactics are how you implement that plan. ... Also, I'll be selfish and say hire a coach—it’s going to help you with your training as well as the physical and nutritional aspects."

Nice guy; I look forward to his presentation.

Switching gears completely ... we finally got around to having Baker's 9th birthday party today--only two weeks late! But we has excuses. He was sick. Jen was sick. Etc. On video below, note that we couldn't find matches or a lighter and so couldn't light the candles.


The party was at Leading Edge North, the gymnastic place. Lots tumblin' and fun!

DONUT RIDE - CHRIS CARMICHAEL CALL

Rode the Donut Ride on Saturday, the venerable early Saturday a.m. rain-or-shine ride that's been going on since the mid-80s. No phone calls or e-mails, just show up at 7:00 at Kulshan Cycles or a little after 7 pretty much anywhere along Eldridge Avenue/Marine Drive and hook on. Head up to Fernburg, across to Birch Bay, down along Red River Road and back to Bellingham. I don't ride it as much as I'd like (Bake's soccer games, chess tournaments, etc.) but most Saturdays I've ridden it, I hook up with some great people and am pleasantly surprised to have ridden 45 miles by about 9:30.
Above is Steve VanderStay, English professor at WWU, and Columbia neighborhood homey. Below is what was left of the group by the time we hit the Paris-Roubaix section, that kind of rough road behind the Cherry Point Refinery. There're only seven riders left at this point (riders peel off at various points); odd that it was such a small group. A dry, not-freezing-cold Saturday a.m. in February is rare and I thought there'd be many more taking advantage of it. Looking back is Marty Reimer, terrific triathlete and winner of the Baker's Breakfast Cookie triathlon a few years ago. Kinda cool--I just got off the phone with Chris Carmichael, Lance's long-time coach. He's presentih' and representih' at the Seattle Bike Expo in a couple weeks and I'm writing a little thing about it for the Seattle Times. He says Lance will run the Boston and New York marathons with year, with goal times of low 2:40s and mid 2:30s respectively. Also, Lance plans to ride some ultra endurance mountain bike race this year but he doesn't know which one. I asked him if this is all leading up to an Ironman triathlon but he said no, he didn't think so. (I bet he does.)