Tuesday, September 16, 2008

converting friends to the ultra and epic




the 3rd wheel on a saturday night date

Ultra lifestyle calls for good planning and a desire for adventure, such as on vacation with friends and family at bear lake. Sure a run in the mountains is nice with a couple buddies and then coming back and doing a another run in the mountains with my smokin hot wife and then of course the daily ab workout. Thats fine and good but to live the ultramarathon cycling life its about doing epic workouts and 2 back to back runs is just not epic enough.

How does one define epic? sometimes its VERY loOOOOOOOng distances or many workouts in day orjust cool places weird times of day or night or a combination of all the above.
For me its mostly a solo thing.....i love the solitude and being disconnected from our humming, spinning, buzzing, fast paced world. But this time it was about converting (or trying to) friends to the epic ultra lifestyle.

Case in point Justin and courtney bankhead 58 miles around bear lake on a cool fall saturday night. head north out of garden city into the headwind, miss the turn do an extra 8 miles, watch the gorgeous sunset from the west side of the lake. enjoying the fine cuisine of Hammer bars (way tastier than power bars) cliff shot blocks and rice krispy treats. washed down with water and gatorade (not my 1st choice in sports drink, but better than water).

It was great to see them pushing their bodies. Justin road more miles this week than he ever has in his life. and nightriding, well there is something so enchanting about the stillness and silence and the turning of the cranks with just your eyes focused on the light in the road.

good job bankheads 58 miles 2 hours of dark riding for a total of 3 hours 20 mins. next thing you know it will be 500 miles on the hoodoo 500