An exciting few days! And RIDE to CONQUER report

ONce in a  while time gets away with you, that has been the case in teh past few days.  And I have a lot of time to work with right now!
I will start my ramblings with what some might consider the biggest event of the last few days.  Last Thursday, I became the latest victim to the economy.  Yep, the old dear John talk, we don't want to do this but corporate has given direction, blah, blah, blah!  I won't go into the details a bunch but to say, they got rid of the wrong guy!  I have so much business that I was sandbaggin as I was about to have my commission pay strtuctuir kick in.  Oh well, I have a lot of friends in the business that probably can write those orders. 
Although it is never a good day when you lose your job, I truly beleive that things happen for a reason.  OUt of this event will come something that will allow me to grow and prosper.  It is crazy that at my age I am going to likely make a complete industry carreer focus, but I have been at 2 companies in the same industry that have both ended in hte same result.  let's just say, once bittten twice shy!  Great things will come of this event!Now that being said, the timing could not have been better.  With an IRONMAN coming up and all, it leaves me a littel extra time to spend on training.  I won't change the plan that I am on as it is wokring right now, but I can change the time of day that I am executing and put some ficus on many other things that I have wanted to address.  Sicne my last post, training went down then back up!  Last Thursday I took as my off day as I take advantage of my off day most weeks.  Friday I did an easy 10k run.  It is the first time this summer that I have doen a run in the trails. I must say it is a refreshing area to run in and the change in scenery makes it go by really quick.  My run on Friday was also done without any electronics on me, I did it as a perceived effort kind of run so that I would stay slower rather than faster.  It was great, my paec did not change from any other day, I obviously don't know my HR as I was without the tolls but from a perceived level it was relaxed!
Saturday was my 'training' day for the season so far!  It was the first of 2 x 100 mile rides for the Ride to Conquer Cancer with my team.  As a team we have 2 levels of riders, those who were out for teh ride to support the cause and those who were supporting the cause and like to go a little quicker.  This year I was in the litle quicker category.  THe weather for teh ride was perfect, anovercast day temperature of about 20 celcius and not a lot of wind.  There were 4000 riders out on the ride with about 800 doing hte 100 mile rides rather than the 100k.  As the ride started I realized that my front wheel was a little loose, sdo I puulled off to the side to address the technical issue rather quickly.  When I did pull off I lost my riding partner and was never able to find him again.  As I got back on my bike I rode past 100's of riders searching for him in hopes that we could do the ride,  I pushed hard as I though he might have been out front.  To no success at all, I kept catching up to groups and he was no where among them.  After about 1 hour I figured I could wait not knowing where he was or I could push on.  He is a good pal and would understand so I pushed on.  MYgoal for the day was to treat this as a serious training ride in order to work on nutrition and transition.  So, I put my head down and started pedalling.  I set my GARMIN to not show me my speed as I tend to get into a groove and focus on it to much.  SO I set my HR and time and rolled along. As the morning went by I rolled up to new groups thinking that I could ride for a hwile with them.  I guess I had my mojo because I could not wait to push forward.  After a couple of hours Icaught up to 4 guys and a motorbike escort.  They were rolling along fairly well and seemed to be sticking together.  I stuck with them for a while and learned that they were the front of the ride.  As it was a charity event and I had nothing to do nut take in training miles I joined up with the lead guy and we pedalled along.  Before long the guys with us has all dropped and we were ricing solo with the lead motor bike.  It was kind of cool, I am a middle of hte pack guy, being up front is a different place to be.  As we rode by rest stops, they were brief with water, Gatorade a banana or two for the back pocket and go.  We did the same at a lunch.  They had nuts, fruit and some other small stuff whcih we took rather than the sandwich choice.  We mototored on!  At about 130km's, Patick who I was riding with suggested I needed to pull or he would not maintain the pace.  I happily obliged as that is where I need to be, out with the wind in my face like it will be on IM day.  We moved along slowing slightly along the rather hilly course.  There were very little flats all day long, no killer hills but a lot of rolling.  At exactly 5 hours and 163k on my GARMIN we rolled across the end of the ride with our motorbike escort!  HOW COOL! 
My nutrition strategy worked aweome!  I drank water at amx 15 minute intervals, POWERGEL on about 30-40 minutes and electrolytes every 15-20.  My electrolyte mix worked great.  One can of coconut water, one scoop of Amino Vital endurance, 3 salt tabs and fill with water.  At no time following the schedule was I bonking or feeling hungry.  I got off the bike and did a 15 minute run at under 5 min/k, for me that is fast.  I would slow down and then speed up again.  My HR for the ride was 155(little high) but great considering a relative comparision.  My training pal Hugh had a day plagged with technical issues.  His wheel came off the bike flatting his tire, then another falt when he got going again.  Then the nerves of a tough ride, it was not his day but he finished it for a end of day beer.
Sunday Hugh was going to do the 100k ride???  I busted him repeatedly for dropping down saying it will do him no good to be defeated by hte day before and to put on his big boy shorts and get at it.  I promised him not to take off under any circumstance.  The ride was a wet one!  From the time we rolled out hit was sprinkling as we ride along.  It kept sprinkling unitl close tothe 100k mark.  Luckily not enough to make it a bad ride enough to make it wet!  OUr pace was a little slower tha Saturday as we wanted to get a good ride in for Hugh with no interuptions.  It was a great ride for him to learn about nutrition(as he sucks at it) I would bust him every time I drank to make sure he was as well.  Interstingly, my focus was not as good as Satruday on my nutritoin.  I let my electrolytes slide and could I ever tell.   After the 100km mark I had to pee about every 20-30 minutes, I kept hydrating but it was going though me.  It was an awesome lesson to learn in a grear ide environment.  We did ride with a group for a short while and I picked up the pace with HUgh and the others.  At one point a few guys passed us and we tucked in behind for the ride, after 5 or so minutes they pulled out to let me lead.    I picked upthe lead and held it for another 10-15 until it was time for fuel.  At that point it seemd to have charged me so I kept my head down and rode at 35kmh for another 10-15k to the lunch stop.   It is a samll community, at lucnh I started tallking to the guys and one of them is TRAINING PAYNE's friend Rodney who he rides with and others were athletes doing IM Wisconsin. After lunch the rain finally quit, we were able to ride the rest of the day in decent weather and ifnally dry out.  We had an overall great ride again for day 2, our pace was 30.6kmh for the day with no bonking and no real issues. 
 The weekend was a great success with 320k of riding in 11 hours, no injuries and a cause that I will support as long as I live!  Thank you to all who supported my ride fundraising and I wil be back to ask you again next year!