CORRECTION...

So...ended up having to work later than anticipated yesterday. Therefore, had to go right from work to our team meeting at Waterbury Wings (which we discovered is now for sale) and didn't get to run last night. My apologies to Grambo for calling him a slacker, which however true it might be, was unjustified in this particular case.

BUT...I am picking up my bike this afternoon and taking it for a post-tune test ride. That will just have to count...

In about 28 hours we'll be checking in...

The Last Day of Training...

Grambo mentions below that yesterday was his last day of training--slacker.

Today's mine. Probably a run--mostly 'cause the Kona is in our local bike shop (Bike 29) for a final tune up. Which, come to think of it, will mean that I'll have to at least take it out for a quick loop tomorrow just to be sure everything is operational.

For those of you coming into town for the race, Bike 29 might be a good place to pick up any last minute tubes or CO2 or anything else for the bike leg that you may have forgotten. It's conveniently located next to the official TRWS hangout, Waterbury Wings, which is just up the street from the other official TRWS hangout, the Alchemist Brewery.

Speaking of Wings, I think the team is getting together tonight for a strategy and planning session--it's a bit of a tradition at this point. The Cider House--gracious sponsors of the Bitter Pill--is a cool place too. But if you just want to drink some wicked awesome beer--Wings and the Alchemist are the places to go--check'em out while you're in town!

Not to be out done by Grambo's flashback, here's a few photos of us at the '06 Bitter Pill.

Finally, I'll leave you with this nugget of wisdom: Race hard, ride fast and let the stern man do all the paddling!

One last workout, and now we wait

So the other day I wanted to get in one last workout before I start resting up for the race this Saturday. I didn't want to go big, or hurt myself, so I opted for a short but effective road ride. I set out from my house and rode out Route 2 to Little River road, and rode up the road past the Waterbury Reservoir to Little River State Park. As I said, it's not a huge workout, but it's a 10 mile round trip, with a couple of nice hills to climb on the road up. It brought back some memories from our first ever adventure race, the '05 PPBS (that's us at the finish line off the to right there), which is the first time I ever rode up this road. In that race, we paddled down the river from Middlesex, picked up our bikes at Dac Rowe Field in Waterbury, and then rode out route 2 and up to the state park. I remember toiling up those hills (which don't seem so bad right now) thinking "What have I gotten myself into?" Little did I know that 8 hours later I would still be on my bike, riding/pushing it over the notch. All on my old, no suspension GT, which had a cracked frame as well. In fact, I just ran across this pic of me and the GT finally making it to CP 5 in the PPBS, which was over in the Cotton Brook area I mentioned before:

Today it's off to EMS to stock up on a few last items (including a map case, as I just found that mine is ripped badly), and maybe a mellow walk or ride around town to keep stretched out. More tommorrow on our preparations for the big day!!!

Grambo

ANOTHER IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE MOTHER SHIP:

We received the following message from Bitter Pill race director Tim Curtin this morning. It includes some useful information.

I'm particularly intrigued by the authorization offered for duct taping things to our PFDs. Curious answer to a curious question no doubt. Made me wonder what we could duct tape to our PFDs. Maybe a Clif Bar, or a can of PBR?

For those of you who are coming from out of state--be prepared to get very wet and very muddy. It is, uh, very moist up here.

And, I've got to remember to check when my USARA membership expires...

JG

BP Racers:

Sick of hearing from me yet? A few more things:

* If you'd like to eat at Cider House on Friday night, don't forget to make a reservation, and soon. They fill up most Fridays. http://www.ciderhousevt.com//
Here's a quote from Chris after he tested the course:

"Wow, I just did the trekking and the biking and the racers are going to be TIRED. Out of all the biking maybe three miles were flat. That first climb is a killer for sure! The trekking was a lot of fun, although I did get somewhat turned around at one point on the long trek - we'll probably lose some teams in there for a while. I hope the chopper is ready to go! You might want to suggest people consider long pants/tights for the trek. They'll appreciate it!" (Consider it suggested.)

A few answers to questions I've gotten recently:
* Your maps will be pre-plotted - although you may have to transfer points from main maps to supplemental maps, they won't likely have UTM grids on them anyway.
** The main map scale is 1:24000 **
* Chance that the team will be split up.... there's always a chance. ;)
* If you were to duct tape something to your pfd, I don't see how we could object to that.
* Bike and run tow systems are not mandatory of course, but definitely allowed.
* Swimming with packs - you will need to have your packs with you, so you should be prepared.
* Looking to camp overnight? The Little River State Park is an option close to registration: http://www.vtstateparks.com/htm/littleriver.cfm
* USARA fees: either cash or checks made out to us work best. We'll be writing one big check to them for the full balance.
* Medical form: you may want to seal it up in an envelope for privacy. We'll also have some at registration. Be sure to write your full name and team name on the outside of the envelope.
* Lastly, water levels are *high* with more roving thunderstorms predicted over the course of the week. Expect the ground to be wet underfoot and high waters to make things interesting.
Until my next email,
-Tim
---
GMARA: Bringing Adventure to the Great Outdoors!
(GMARA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization)

Sweet Ride Saturday!

Saturday finally dawned sunny this week, so after a trip to the Waitsfield farmer's market Saturday morning (love the fresh veggies) Biz and I headed out to ride the Cotton Brook area in Moscow. This is an area which I have ridden part of twice (during a ride from Little River State Park to Trapps, which is awesome, but only hits the lower part of Cotton Brook), and skiied/snowshoed part of once (during a shoe/ski from Bolton to Little River state park, also awesome), but I have for some reason never ridden the entire loop. I figured it would be a good training ride, as it involves a long, steady climb, and it finishes by rewarding your work with some killer single track. Overall, it's about a 10 mile ride.

For those who haven't ridden it, the trail starts at the end of the road in Moscow (see link above for directions). Starting out at about 650 feet of elevation, the trail climbs on some real nice, well drained double track for around 5 miles, topping out around 1600 feet. It's a good, steady climb, with enough flats and a couple little dips so that your legs don't completely die (although I confess, had I been 1/2 way through an adventure race I would have probably been pushing the Kona up a couple of the longer hills). Beautiful scenery, too, with some well groomed wild apple orchards and old house sites. Once we topped out at the top of the loop, we were in for about 3 or so miles of gradually descending on double track. Mostly downhill, and on the double track (which is in great shape considering all the rain) we were able to blast down. FUN! Just when you've had enough of blazing down the double track, we turned left, onto a sick, twisting descent on single track. Great trail, pretty well constructed and drained, but just rugged enough in spots to be sketchy (and therefore FUN!). After getting to the bottom, and past a spot where we spent WAY too much time looking for a CP (CP5 I think?) in the 2005 PPBS, we got back on the double track and heading back to the cars. To finish, Biz suddenly disappeared off onto a side trail to the right. I followed him on what turned out to be a great, 5 minute single track which dropped down to the parking area, much more fun than riding the road down (except for the raspberry bush which caught me full in the face).

All in all, a great ride for both training (the climb) and fun (the descent). And, since it took less than 2 hours, the good news is I can add it to my after work ride list!!! Sweet!!! Well, back to work. Lite training week for me this week, in preparation for the PILL this weekend!!!

Grambo

Tick, Tick, Tick...

There appeared this morning a strange fiery orb in the sky. It was startling--didn't know quite what to make of it.

Turned out to be the sun. Seems like weeks since it last appeared.

We definitely needed the break from the rain--our rivers, streams and lakes are all very high. In fact, I was driving by the Winooski yesterday in Mooretown and Waterbury thinking, "holy shit, I hope it's not that high next Saturday." I can love fast water, but it was right on the "that's a little scary" threshold. Who knows what we'll get for rain between now and then, but one thing is for sure: we won't have to worry about having too little water for the paddle.

Hopefully I'll be able to sneak out of work for an hour or so to take advantage of the weather to run or ride. I was a little annoyed yesterday when I decided to hit the gym for some Coach Troy Suffer-o-Rama Spinervals training and it didn't rain a single drop the entire time I was there. Oh well. It was a good 50 minute sprint workout. My calves are feeling it a little today.

SOME INTEL?
Tim at GMARA sent out more info on the race the other day and we've come to some very credible hypothesis regarding the order of the disciplines, which of course leads to wild speculation about the layout of the course.

We will not share these hypothesis here because, well, we're fat bastards and we need every advantage we can get.

I will, however, offer this: There has been some discussion about starting the race, uh, well...not entirely clothed. (Think Team GoLite in the '07 Primal Quest river swim). And, nothing in the rules precludes it.

Now, take a good look at the picture over there on the right and think about having that horrifying vision burnt into your brain for the entire race... (Yikes!)

Like I said, we need every advantage we can get.

FINALLY
Check out this wicked cool Wall Street Journal piece on Primal Quest Montana and a kickass Mother-Daughter team. Way cool.

JG

Holy Rain!!!

Here we are, 10 days out from the Bitter Pill, and what does the forecast look like? Well, for those non-Vermonters coming to the race, all I can say is, it looks like it's fixin' to rain every day from now until next Friday. Yep, no less than a 30% chance of rain EVERY FRIGGIN' DAY from now until then. And those are the good days. And, it's been raining like this for several weeks. It should make for an interesting race. Even the well drained trails out there are getting sloppy, and since this is a GMARA race, I am thinking we will be seeing very, very few trails at all, much less nice, well maintained trails. Nope, I'm sure we'll spend the trek bushwhacking through marshy swamps (and probably chest deep mud) and the bike section up to our hubs in muck, when we are not crashing off of wet roots and rocks. Fun times! Well, at least if the paddle happens to be on moving water it will be...exciting.

As far as training goes, I am kinda feeling differently than J (see his post below). No, not that I feel like I am in great shape or ready to run a marathon, but more like, well, I'm not going to make a major improvement between now and then, so let's just keep up the momentum, not lose ground by laying around eating bacon, and try not to hurt ourselves. To that end, so far this week I have done some muscle workout Monday (hoeing the garden for an hour), and I ran about 4 miles yesterday. I am planning on another run this afternoon, maybe, depending on how heavy the rain is. Thursday and Friday will also depend on the weather, although I will get in a longer road ride one day, even if it's raining. As I said, I don't want to lose any ground.

That's all for now, I have added a picture off to the right of us at the finish of our first ever adventure race, the Pillage Plunder Booty Siege (yep, that was the name). Rained for most of that race, come to think of it...

Grambo

It's About Time!

11 Days 'Til the Pill

The 2008 Bitter Pill is just 11 days away and, I have to confess, I'm starting to get excited. It's been about a year since our last race and I sometimes forget how much I love it. There's nothing quite like it, really.

Along with my excitement, however, is that nagging feeling that perhaps I need to train a little more. Go a little faster. Run a little further. So, training continues--a little more aggressively than the last few months.

I managed to squeeze a 6.5-7 mile run in on Saturday (with the extra benefit of the baby jogger)and plan to run tonight as well. Generally, I need to get out as often as possible between now and next Wednesday, then rest Thursday and Friday (race registration day). Hopefully the next 8 days will include at least one or two bricks, a ride back and forth to work (13.5 miles each way) or other big workouts. It's all about time.

Adventure Racing - What it is like.

SOME PEOPLE ASK, "WHY?"

TEAM RUNS WITH SCISSORS ASKS: "WILL THERE BE BEER AT THE END?"

WEEKEND UPDATE

As the clock counts down to the 2008 Bitter Pill, Team Runs with Scissors thought we'd chronicle our own final countdown to race day on our otherwise dormant website. 

As Grambo noted, we've all been wicked busy.  But don't let that fool you.  We've still managed to get out and about, training for what is sure to be another kick ass race.  

My little one is presently napping and, when she wakes, we'll be heading out for a 6 mile afternoon run.  Assuming, of course, that the thunder storms hold.   But I was thinking this morning about the swim.

Now, if you've never done The Pill before, let me make this perfectly clear:  If previous races are any indication, we won't be doing laps in the shallow end of the kid's pool.  While we'll probably be able to wear our PFDs--they will likely be required--I predict a swim of some significance in/across/through the Waterbury Reservoir or the Winooski River.  Either way, it'll be tough, we'll be tired and wet, and our gear for the remainder of the race will be heavy.  Two years ago, I got crazy groin craps during the swim.  

Anyway, what made me think of that this morning was the realization that I have not swam any significant distance this summer.  Sure, we've been to the beach a bunch of times with the little one to wade and splash--but that ain't swimming.  And it sure as shit ain't swimmin' with all your gear on. 

Hopefully, our swimming will be confined to the appropriate section, rather than unexpectedly during the canoe leg.   That's been known to happen.  

This is going to be great.  Perhaps a little painful for us beer drinking, wing eating fat asses--but great. 

JG

The Pill is Upon Us!!!

Well folks, after almost 14 months of "idle" time since our last race together, Team Runs with Scissors is finally getting back in action at The Bitter Pill, put on by GMARA on Aug. 2nd in Waterbury. In the past year we have all been extremely busy with home life, work, etc. However, we couldn't pass up a race in our own backyard! Since we are not the fastest of teams (although we are in pretty good shape for this race), as usual we will be relying on accurate naviation to get us ahead, and being that the race is in and around the town we (2 of us anyway) live and ride in, heck, we'll take any advantage we can find, however small. And at least we know where to get a cold beer if things completely fall apart on us!!!

We'll be doing our best to update this page daily leading up to the race, for today I thought I would summarize my training so far, which this year has been composed mainly of biking. I did a ton of road riding in April and May, but then slacked off in June due to heavy work pressure, vacation, etc. The last couple weeks, though, have seen me getting in good rides at least 4 days per week. Generally a combination of a couple long road rides and a couple good, hilly in the woods rides. Today I rode in to work (Essex) from the Richmond Park and Ride (9 miles), and I plan to ride all the way home to Waterbury if the rain holds (about 26 miles). Should make for a good day, especially since this weekend may be a light workout weekend. Next week I plan on doing several long road rides, and I also have a Mansfield hike in the works for later in the week. More to come on that next week.

Anyway, glad to be back in the blogosphere (can't believe I just used that word), feel free to leave any comments you like, and hope to see ya'll in 2 weeks at the PILL!!!

Grambo