First off, let me tell you about this little race. It covers 100 miles and has 13,000 feet of climbing. With some of the climbs reaching a 20% incline. Some of the climbs are 5 miles long. Lets just say living in Miami isn’t the best way to prepare for the race. Since we arrived in NC a week early, Jeremy had a couple chances to practice his climbing skills. Lets just say the practice session were rough and they were only 30 miles and 1500 feet of climbing. By the time Thursday came around, Jeremy’s confidence in finishing the ride were at an all time low! In fact he was so nervous about the ride he barely slept the last couple nights before the race.

Race day rolled around and it was time to give it a go. With great support from all his family and friends, finishing was the only option!

At the Start – Full of confidence

So the first 20 miles of the ride were, at the time, what I thought was going to be the toughest part of the race. Basically had to get to 3500 feet in 2 climbs with barely any rest. Along the way I had some deer literally running next to for a few 100 feet. That was awesome!

Taken at mile 20 on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains

By this time, confidence was high and the legs felt great. The next  25 miles went pretty well. I got a lot of phone calls which was great, helped me keep my spirits high and kept my mind off the pain I was starting to feel. By mile 50 I realize the Iphone app that was sending out my updates to some of you was chewing up my battery. So I had to decide to either keep you updated or enjoy the music on my phone. The music kept me going. Sorry guys!

From mile 50 to mile 80, the torture continued. With many more climbs accomplished my legs were starting to feel tired. Speaking of climbs, at mile 58 we had one of the hardest climbs of the day up snake pass. Basically this was a 5 mile climb up the mountain with the last 1000 feet being 20% steep (basically straight up!) . It literally took everything I had to get up this peak. You don’t know what a horrible feeling it is to ride up a mountain go around the corner and see on the road continue to go up the mountain.  My heart rate was locked in at 175, my legs were burning in pain.  People were walking their bikes up. It took a ton of pride not to jump off the bike and join them. The last 1000 feet of this climb I was doing about 4 mph… you could walk up faster.

At mile 80, I was surprised by Lauren. She drove and met me on the road. This boosted my spirit!

As I approached her car @ mile 80

After a quick stop to say hi, it was time to finish this ride.

Mile 80 – 98 – Agony! More climbs, the weather was 95 degrees, and every part of my body was aching!

Mile 98 (race was just over 100 miles). By now I knew my goal of finishing was within a few miles. The pain I was feeling was being drowned out by my excitement of finishing the race and then as I turn a corner I see another huge steep climb. I couldn’t believe it!  They have the nerve to put another really steep climb at mile 98! So I had no choice. This climb ended up being the physically and mentally hardest climb of the day. The pain I was in was ridiculous. The climb felt like it took forever.  There were a bunch of people cheering along the side of the road which kept me going. When I reached the peak I knew I only had one last descent and the finish line would be in sight. As I approached the finishing area all the pain left my body for that last few minutes. I was overwhelmed with joy, I actually had some tears! It was an amazing ride!

7:27:36 Official time!

100 miles!

I learned a lot about myself along the ride, I learned you can really push the human body way beyond what you though was possible. If I didn’t have all the support from everyone I would have quit the ride by mile 50! I have great friends and family!  It is really great to set a high goal for yourself and accomplish it. It really makes you feel like you are living!

Go get living!

ps… Lauren finished her puzzle!

Click here to view larger map – More details of the ride

We hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend! We are headed to New York City for the long weekend. We will be sure to update everyone on the “Fugazzi” shops in China town. Jeremy will take full advantage of the 4 words he learned in Asia. Lauren will no doubtably find the inside scoop on all the shopping. We will be heading to a couple ballgames to watch the Phillie’s dominate the Yankee’s. (Sorry Yankee fans).  This will be Jeremy last weekend before starting the summer diet, so the eating should be fun. Have a couple reservations lined up Going to try to do a couple of the tourist  things. Jeremy has never see the Statue of Liberty in person in all the times he has been there.  We have an early flight…… post you later from NYC.

]]> http://www.jeremyschneiderman.com/2009/05/22/it-is-memorial-day-weekend-and-we-are-off-to-nyc/feed/ 2 http://www.jeremyschneiderman.com/2009/03/29/vail-2009/ http://www.jeremyschneiderman.com/2009/03/29/vail-2009/#comments Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:29:31 +0000 Lauren and Jeremy http://www.jeremyschneiderman.com/?p=350 Vail ended up being a great trip. The first day we got there we spent the day snowmobiling for 4 hours. Unfortunately the fun was a bit shorter than we all wanted because I got my snow mobile stuck in deep snow for about 45 minutes. Regardless the day was a blast!

Vail is an incredible mountain for skiing. Just enormous with plenty of great runs! The conditions were not the best as we only had 6 inches of new snow the last day.  The back bowls (which Vail is famous for) were closed a a couple days because of poor conditions. Besides that, the trip was amazing.

Video highlights from Vail – Click to watch

Video download takes a long time – Use firefox if you have it

Vail 2009 Photo’s

See the slideshow at Flickr.com

Jeffro, Robbie, Kevin, Matt and I will be heading to Vail

Highlight from our last trip

We will be heading back to AC to hopefully win some money!

See the slideshow at Flickr.com

This year’s dive trip was to Cayman Brac. After 10 dives in 3 days we had some pretty good video footage. Enjoy the video.

Cayman Brac Photo’s

See the slideshow at Flickr.com

New York Weekend /2008

See the slideshow at Flickr.com