1st Dirty Hundie

So today is the 100th post of this young blog.  It is strange to think I have had that much to say - then again, many might opine that despite posting frequently, I don't really have much to say...the whole quantity vs quality argument.

100....a look back in time takes me to the first dirty century I did which was the Cohutta...
It was early season and it meant putting in a lot of miles during the winter around Denver.  It was really memorable for being the first hundie for me, but more so because I shamed Dan and Abe into also doing it.  The experience was special because we got to share this experience of training & suffering together - there were frequent calls wondering aloud if we had trained enough, brought the right gear, had our nutrition plans together, etc....  We talked about how it would be the first of an annual suffer-fest...subject to change each year based on who was picking the event...it could be riding, climbing, tri-athloning, etc...  Unfortunately we did not follow up on this threat and 3 yrs have gone by without Team Caliente re-grouping for some masochistic ritual:

The race was in the south where mullets are still the haircut of choice, so what else was there to do than to let the boys shame me into getting my hair cut to rock the mullet?

now that is a sight to behold......

We rode in rain and wet conditions for the first part of the race.  Floyd Landis was in the race too, so we can all say we raced against a Tour De France winner...OK, well a stripped Tour winner...I am pretty sure Floyd was not doping that day though because he got crushed by some other hard men who put the hurt on him.

I learned a lot that day...I learned not to dump your bike in a river (to get all the mud off) because it would also wash off a lot of the lube on the chain...fast forward 10 miles and my chain started to seize...it would eventually snap and I would have to remove a link and beg a fellow rider for some lube.  I also learned that 100 miles on a mountain bike is a long way - well DUH!  I learned that suffering with good friends somehow makes it better.  I learned how to dig deep....and I learned that I can ROCK THE MULLET!