c4ers are made of ironman & ironwoman!

what an brutal experience day for us to ride at the ironman last sunday about 41f to 43f with rain, cold & wind in the awful weather!

xavier & alex g made it to ride the mountain bikes for 30 mile route. congratulation! guess what, their shine knight become rust by cold & rain. i bet one of these guys has been lubed & polished at night with wife's help for post-ride to keep their things in good maintenance. right? you two lucky dogs! ;)

alex z was first person to arrive and wait for all c4ers to be gathered at the lakeville north high school. he stood by his modified bike with new zipp aero wheels, light carbon fork & black stem different than last time he rode it with us at afton last week. oh holy smoke, he hammered his bike to accelerate over 23 mph on flat when i tried to keep speeding at 21 mph in order to conserve my energy.

about half of 25 miles, mark caught up with me. i jumped in the draft of his rear wheel and one guy just joined in our paceline. later, shanada surprised me when she passed me to climb the hills and to catch up with mark when i was dropped to 15 mph on hills. they began to fade away from my sight. the rain began to sting my face like bees. shoes cover could not protect against the rain without waterproof then my feet become soaked in wet like a day. so i only did ride 23 miles to quit after i already am damn cold. i made a big mistake to dress up for only semi-light rain shower because i predicted wrong that it would be light rain until 1 pm to have full rain.

i've been waited for bus ride about 4 hours. i have no lucky to find michele at the rest stop in jordan. i become bored to stand alone without anyone to keep me a company in asl. bus gave me a ride back to lakeville.

i've informed shanada in e-mail that i didn't see michele yet. they women somehow tried to keep in touch. guess what, michele ended up at the rest stop in 45 miles. shanada and mark ended up at middle of route about 30 miles with mark's flat tire between first rest stop (23 miles) and second rest stop (45 miles).

long story to short story, i drove to lonsdale for picking them up. i entered the legion hall build with no heat and my body began to shake. little boy asked me if i am alright? he offered me a hot coffee. oh poor michele for her suffering in lonsdale is worse than mine in jordon cuz my first rest stop place was warmer than her second rest stop place.

we finally found each other. they rushed to jump in my mini cooper s. mark and shanada sat in back seat and ran up the motor to heating up. michele was lucky to sit on front seat that come with heating like the electric heating blanket. thank god that michele prevented shanada and mark from making love in back seat while i struggled to unlock the quick released for wheel outside. we all had great time to exchange our words in asl and share our experience about riding, etc... in little car. i dropped them off to their van in lakeville so they can go back for picking up their bikes on the way to home.

alex z made it to ride at 65 miles. his special tacx trainer with high technology computer (yeah he has real one trainer) paid off his training well. but i suspect that he perhaps rent the cold storage for meat like rocky movie who trained to hit at the meat in cold room to be able to challenge his strength against cold weather.

did any c4er became monster to go for 100 mile route? yeahhhhh, drum up to introduce CHRIS SMITH! did he make it? well, hold your pants. he looked like a rambo who wear the plastic bags for rain than being homeless. he simply put the free plastic bags to cover his socks in the shoes, to cover his helmet and to wear cheap $20 yellow rainjacket but didn't wear leg warmers or carry big knife.

he MADE it. wooooot! i want his baby, wait a minute, slap my face. i can't be pregnant because i am man. he replied the simple words about his experience is positive attitude to survive his own pace without stopping during raining & winding weather. he departed to roll out at 8:15 am and to arrive at 4:30 pm in 100 miles. he is true ironman champion in our c4 book!

two guys recently asked me similar good questions. was it worth?? :) will i go at the ironman again next year with this same weather? i answered yes as long as i need to prepare myself for dressing up better with right gear against the cold rain. yes, it was worth for me to ride with them and to share our real rich experience there.

ironman for 100 miles: chris
aeroman for 65 miles: alex z
ironwoman for 45 miles: michele
knightmen for 30 miles: alex g & xavier
half-tandem-couple for 30 miles: mark & shanada
wussman for 23 miles: cuong
mia for unknown mile: kelvin

cuong aka buzz

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updated information about kelvin:

i was informed that kelvin is no long missing in action. he did check in at 6:41 am then departed to roll out alone. he did make it to ride at 30 miles like alex g & xavier did. he arrived at 9:32 am.

kelvin did enjoy to ride and met one man who know sign language. they used to ride for the ms tram bike 3rd time.

ironman for 100 miles: chris
aeroman for 65 miles: alex z
ironwoman for 45 miles: michele
knightmen for 30 miles: alex g & xavier
half-tandem-couple for 30 miles: mark & shanada
soloman for 30 miles: kelvin
wussman for 23 miles: cuong thought loud, "$@$#@&^%&... why me with lowest miles" (cried on table)

cuong aka buzz