Sea 2 Summit 1 and 2 day race: Mont-Ste. Marie, Quebec
Forecast calls for...
F.B. / 26.08.2005
Nudity? …. nope (well maybe, but not the sexy kind)
Beer? …. I hope so
Adventure? ... you betcha
(that ought to increase the number of hits on this article)
The folks at SleepMonsters asked me to cover the Sea 2 Summit at Mont Ste Marie on the weekend of August 27th. So I’m going to race it, provide some updates and a post race report. Who am I? Well, the name(s) will be changed to protect the fat and shamefully wheasey. I’ll be Brad Pitt. That should throw you off the scent, although I have been called an ‘Achilles’ heel by a teammate ;-D . If you have been lurking around adventure sites long enough you may recognize my writing and I suggest you play along (and get a life ;-D ) and I’ll try to entertain and enlighten you.
I have done the S2S flagship Vancouver race in the past and found it to be a ^$!@ of a lot of fun. Even when I am in shape I am no speedster and these can be fast races. Still, I still find them to be extremely enjoyable and great social events. I typically would do a S2S as a fun training weekend, in preparation for expedition racing which is where (I believe) my strength lies. The reality is that to be competitive in stage races I think you have to be a lot more dedicated to your training than for the longer races. However, if you just want to get out and push yourself and have some fun, this type of event is great and the opportunity to suffer extreme discomfort is greatly diminished vs the longer races. The downside is, if you are a dumbass like me, you can come out for a fun race and end up pushing harder than your level of fitness can support… and blow up.
This has come up on me rather suddenly so I have to do some quick planning. No time to train so straight into my taper for the race… that means no more mowing the lawn and I can only carry laundry half-way to the basement. No more wings, nachos or pre-noon beer for 1 whole week and that should shave 2-3 kgs of weight. That’s enough planning, need to rest mind as well.
Since my bike imploded five weeks ago and I can’t afford to fix it, I will be riding my wife’s bike. I tested it for a 30 minute sprint on pavement last night (my only physical activity since the demise of my bike) and nothing fell off… after the first few minutes most of the grinding noises even subsided. I will be paddling my 9 years old sons’ plastic flat bottom ‘kayak’ and I will be braking in road shoes ‘cause my trail runners disintegrated the same w/e as my bike. My rationale here is that if I handicap myself with enough built in pre-race excuses, that I will not feel the pressure to maintain some crazy heart-bursting pace that I am just not up to. I will be able to enjoy what promises to be a very fun course and some good people and with any luck sample some fine local brew between stages.
Aw, who am I kidding? When the puck drops I won’t be able to do anything but go hard until the final buzzer. Fortunately my mother and son will be there to pick up the pieces.
Forecast calls for PAIN (and BEER) ;-D
Rgds
SleepMonsters
