Inaugural Wild Horse Double Century

I have bad@ss friends. 

This is not news.  I'm not really sure why they let me hang out with them, but, shh, don't tell them what a dork I really am.  Apparently I have them fooled.  

My buddy Greg, who we all call Ninja, ran 100 miles in February.  In a row.  On purpose.  In under 24 hours.  He's pretty much invincible.  He also came with on our cycling trip to New Mexico this summer.  So when he told us that he would be riding a double century (200 miles) we were impressed, but not shocked.  When we discovered that this double century was actually 210 miles AND included some crazy climbs, well, we all just smiled knowing he would totally kill it.  

Ninja doesn't blog, but I wanted to give him a platform to tell his incredible story.  So here it is, as it was told to me in a series of text messages.  Nothing has been changed, so keep in mind, he was texting all of this to me!  

Ready to ride at 6 am.

Look at that hill!  It's one of the baby ones. 

I haven't been able to run as much as I would have liked lately, so I've been a bit down.  I really liked the challenge of this ride.  I wanted to be tested with something where there was a good change I could fail.

So about halfway through the ride, I got exactly that. I was out of water, cramping in my quads and hamstrings and had no energy.  I had to walk 2 steep climbs because I knew I could not make it up.

source

At mile 128 (yes, 128 y'all!), I took off my jersey and lay down on a bench and was ready to DNF. As I drafted a text to the RD, a crew car supporting three riders behind me pulled up.  They refilled my bottles and I drank their warm Dr Pepper and ate and ate an @ssload of Doritos.  The RD pulled up shortly and he said I had until 2 a.m. to officially finish. So after about 45 minutes on that bench, I nutted up and was ready to get off that mountain.

I had texted Fiona (his adorable wife) earlier to bring me food, ice and Mountain Dew. She met me at the bottom of the mountain.  I ate, recharged with caffeine and I was on my way.  

Something happened when it got dark.  I felt stronger. The cramping would subside unless I was climbing. But when it was flat, I was pedaling like crazy. Fiona would follow me for 60+ miles until the finish. Something about riding late at night in an unknown place, but I felt so alive!  And I felt stronger then than at any point of the ride.  I seriously felt like a beast on wheels.  It made me smile.

And knowing that i had good friends waiting for me at the finish and waiting on news from afar, i was determined to finish strong and not just roll in.  I was killing it at the end. Can't wait to see my pace when I get home.  I obviously was ready to finish, but felt like I could have kept on going if I had to.  No happy tears for this finish, just a strong feeling of accomplishment and a big smile.

This ride was exactly what I needed!  The end.  I love you guys!  


Ninja, you ARE a beast on wheels!  And we are so, so proud of you!  Congratulations on a HUGE accomplishment - can't wait to see what you do next!  (y'all head on over to Twitter and tweet some cycling love to Ninja!)