Epiphany

[Lise]

Lise - just one of the fun "extra-intestinal" complications of crohn's. It's a fantastic disease. I had joint pains for a few years before my guts got goofy. I chalked it up to being tall The power of denial is kinda scary sometimes.

Yeah, well, it takes time to make sense of things sometimes. I had joint pains when I was 14--it's cuz I was growing to my 5'8". If someone said, "Joint pain" to me, I wouldn't think, "auto-immune intestinal disorder". I salute you for all you've been through with the diagnosis (no doubt some time of mis-diagnoses, too), and treatment. I've had a couple of friends with crohn's, and my cousin was dx'd with it a few years ago. Sucks. You have all my admiration for the riding you do.

Are you doing the EBC Century on 9/17?

[betagirl]

Are you doing the EBC Century on 9/17?

I'm planning on it. I seem to recall you saying you were interested earlier in the season?

[nuthatch]

Nuthatch - I'd never done the Naperville Rotary ride before. I saw it on bike journal. It was pretty nice, except for the rain. I was soaked by the time I finished. Some of us took shelter at a rest stop with a small tent, then decided once the lightning stopped to just go. By the time I got back to the start point, the sun came out. Isn't that always the case? Did you get to do any riding?

We heard the thunder at the Newark city park rest stop and the rain started shortly after we left the stop. It rained steadily through the Cross Church rest stop (this was on the way back to the start point), where everyone looked like drowned rats! The rain stopped about 10 miles from the finish.

So, yes, we rode about 90 miles (because we got lost about a mile from the finish!) It was a good ride with very nice people staffing the stops and for a wonderful cause. My only complaint was the distance between stops for the 85 and 102 mile riders. Twenty-five miles between water/potty stops is just too far for me. I really enjoyed the route they picked - I plan to do it again.

Hope you'll be able to make the ride next year with all the appropriate pain medication on board!

[betagirl]

We heard the thunder at the Newark city park rest stop and the rain started shortly after we left the stop. It rained steadily through the Cross Church rest stop (this was on the way back to the start point), where everyone looked like drowned rats! The rain stopped about 10 miles from the finish.

It sounds like we were near each other on the route. I stopped at the church to huddle under that little white canopy tent with about 8 other riders. I was wearing my New Belgian Fat Tire jersey. I wonder if you saw me? I saw lightning on the road twice, once was out of nowhere before the rain started. I was on my way back though I don't know which part of the route I was on really. Probably about 25 miles out. I said to the guy next to me "I don't like the looks of that at all." And he was like yeah we're about to get wet. I stopped to ask a woman who was stopped if she was ok about a mile from the church stop and this weird bolt of lightning or spark or whatever came out of the cellular tower in the field next to us. I was like ok, time to roll. I stood at the church for about 15-20 minutes and we decided to roll in the rain after that. I'd say I was at the church around 12:30 or so.

So, yes, we rode about 90 miles (because we got lost about a mile from the finish!)

Funny, a guy and I got lost coming down that big hill after one of the rest stops on the way out. There was a left turn you had to take and we both blew right by it. Hence my 91 miles

[spokewench]

Hi I'm a sufferer of a bad back - crushed vertebra from falling off a horse in my late 20's. I'm not 46. Take heart that you can ride with some pain. I'm never really pain free but I will not let it stop me from riding. At 30 you probably don't want to hear this, but as I get older, I'm happy to do less mileage. 100 miles has always been hard on me and I have never liked doing it. But everyone seems to get it in their mind as riders that you have to do 100 all the time cause that's the magic number! Well, my magic number is 80. I can ride 80 and do okay after that I'm miserable so I don't usually ride over 80. 80's plenty and I don't have to prove anything - i've ridden 100 so I don't have to do it again.

What I'm trying to say is as we get older we have to adapt our activities to what is good for us and healthy for us and that is OKAY!

Just keep riding and having fun doing it. Oh, by the way, I eat Advil like candy but so far my stomach is fine I think I'm one of the lucky ones.

[KSH]

Today I did 91 miles of a century, and forgot to take the usual celebrex I take before any long rides. I was half way to the start point when I realized it, and all I could think was "this is going to hurt." I had no idea.

I have crohn's arthritis in my hips and knees, which is what the celebrex is for. I only take it when I ride. I've done a dang good job masking any pain by taking it pre-emptively over the past 2 years or so. Today was a wake up call that I simply cannot ride longer distances (over 30 miles) without it. I'm not sure how that makes me feel, considering I'm only 30 years old. Well ok I *can* ride them, but it's pretty miserable. I tried to do the whole mind over matter, positive attitude bit which helped. But by mile 55 my hips were screaming at me.

At mile 75 it started to rain. Hence the 91 miles of the century. I skipped the 11 mile loop and headed back in. I'll use the rain as an excuse, but I'd made up my mind well before then that there was no way I'd make the full 102 miles with my jacked up joints.

At mile 82 I was chased by a sharpei. Thankfully I was on a slight downhill, so I was able to motor a bit. But he kept up with me for a while as I yelled NO! at him. I don't think he was doing anything more than chasing me, but that certainly didn't help my situation

Anyway I'm not sure what the point of this post is other than to b*tch about my dependence on celebrex. I could think of more fun drugs to have a dependence on, for one Thanks for "listening."

Sorry to hear you had such a rough ride! You made a wise decision to skip the last 11 miles.

I am also sorry to hear about your arthritis... but at least you can take medicine so you can keep riding.

I almost see it the same as everything else you do to prepare for a good ride.

For me, if I don't get a solid sleep the night before, if I don't eat enough calories before/during the ride... I will have a ROUGH RIDE. So, sleep and food are my "medicine" that I have to take a regulate before a ride, to ensure that I am able to make it the entire way without "bonking".

Keep up the riding and taking your medication!

[Lise]

I'm planning on it. I seem to recall you saying you were interested earlier in the season?

I am doing it. It will be the longest I've ever ridden, and I haven't been century training, I've been triathlon training. So I'm nervous about it. Not about finishing; I'm pretty sure I can do that. About keeping up with you! So, I figure, if I can keep up with you, cool! If not, cool! There will be a lot of people riding. My friend Paul is thinking of doing it, too.

My tri is 8/20. I'm doing a 1/2 marathon Oct 1, so I figure I'll work on adding longer rides to my training. This is when it's good to not be dating!

This will be the first year in many that my mom's not going to be involved as SAG. My soon-to-be-sister-in-law's parents are having an engagement party for my bro and their daughter, in Lansing, the night before.

[nuthatch]

It sounds like we were near each other on the route. I stopped at the church to huddle under that little white canopy tent with about 8 other riders. I was wearing my New Belgian Fat Tire jersey. I wonder if you saw me? I saw lightning on the road twice, once was out of nowhere before the rain started. I was on my way back though I don't know which part of the route I was on really. Probably about 25 miles out. I said to the guy next to me "I don't like the looks of that at all." And he was like yeah we're about to get wet. I stopped to ask a woman who was stopped if she was ok about a mile from the church stop and this weird bolt of lightning or spark or whatever came out of the cellular tower in the field next to us. I was like ok, time to roll. I stood at the church for about 15-20 minutes and we decided to roll in the rain after that. I'd say I was at the church around 12:30 or so.



Funny, a guy and I got lost coming down that big hill after one of the rest stops on the way out. There was a left turn you had to take and we both blew right by it. Hence my 91 miles

There were so many housing developer signs it was easy to miss those modest little route markers!

I think we must have just missed you at the church rest stop - you were probably ahead of us. There were only guys there when we stopped and as we left, there was a big group of men and women coming in. Too bad I didn't know to look for your jersey - I was in my BikeJournal jersey, hoping to meet another BJ person but no luck.

That lightning was the one thing that gave me pause - too many empty fields with power pylons or cell towers to draw it down!!

Well, maybe I'll spot you on the next ride. There's always the Harmon Hundred in September and the Pumpkin Pie Ride in October! August is always devoted to watching the pros ride in the Downers Grove and Winfield Crit races.