But the good news about today is that my free day happened to fall on the same day that Rich Roll and Jason Lester were doing their EPIC5 Ironman on Oahu. Haven't heard of these guys? They are amazing Ultra Endurance athletes and are trying to be the first to do 5 Ironmans in 5 days on 5 different Hawaiian Islands. They did the first one yesterday on Kauai, then flew over to Oahu last night do repeat the swim/bike/run here today.... then onto Molokai tomorrow, Maui on Saturday, and then finally the Big Island on Sunday.
One Ironman is a lot. Two Ironmans (in a year) is enough to make most triathletes want to throw their bike off a bridge. 5 in 5 days? I cannot even imagine. And then add in the logistics of it all... flying to different islands each day... packing up your bike every night and then putting it back together the next morning before starting off again? And how much food would you need to consume to fuel that journey?? Nuts. Or avocado sandwiches apparently.
Anyway, on their live website you can follow along and see where they're at and read their Twitter updates about all the stuff that they are facing. Like how Rich's bike didn't make the flight from Kauai to Oahu last night... and then when it finally arrived how some random part on his seat post was broken so they had to wait until The Bike Shop opened this morning to get that part fixed before they could start riding... Anyway, they also have a GPS tracking device telling us where they're at which is helpful for those of us who want to stalk them.
I was planning on riding about 40 miles today and I knew that if those guys were planning 112 miles on this island, in all likelihood they would be riding in my neck of the woods at some point. This island just isn't that big so they couldn't exactly hide. So I stalked them all morning and then got all dressed up in my Trakkers cycling kit headed out around 12:30 on the road where I figured they would be... So here comes the fun part!
It was about 2:00 and I was on my way home when I saw them coming at me the other way! I'm sorry I'm a bad blogger because I don't have pictures or video of this part (sorry!) but I totally just flipped a U-turn on my bike as soon as I saw them and then soft pedaled while I waited for them to catch me... all the while feeling like an awestruck 13 year old girl who was stunned into silence by the presence of her heroes. But then when they finally caught me I ended up with some type of diarrhea of the mouth where I just couldn't help but babble on and on about how I was hoping I would see them out there and was cheering them on and blah blah blah. They were probably rolling their eyes but at least Rich was nice enough to humor me and ride beside me and chat for a while.
I will preface this by first saying that I am a happily married woman (and plan to stay that way)... but, um, Rich Roll is smokin' HOT.
He's really nice too. He didn't seem irritated at all by my stalking. They were not riding very fast so it was easy to just pedal and chat. Like I said, I was wearing my Trakkers kit so he asked if I was on the Trakkers team, to which I replied that I was... and then started to tell him all about the GPS technology that they could be using. So there. Clearly I did my part for Trakkers this year in promoting it with someone like Rich Roll. ;) What was funny though was when he asked me if I was a pro. Me? A pro? Lol. Pro Stalker, maybe. No, I'm just a stay-at-home-mom who ditched her kid at daycare today so I could come out and hunt you down and drool for several miles before turning around and finishing my own ride heading home...
I tried to not be a complete pest, so after several miles I wished them both well and then flipped another U-turn and came home. Then I started thinking about the logistics of the rest of their day... It was after 2:00 already and they weren't even half way through their ride (because of the mechanical and late start they got on their ride)... and they weren't going very fast (guess pacing is important when you're tackling 140+ miles of swim/bike/run every day for 5 days in a row...) Anyway, they won't be off their bikes until something like 6:00 tonight and THEN they'll start their marathon... Rich laughed and said he anticipates much walking in the dark tonight. He said they're flying to Molokai tomorrow morning at 6:30- which makes sense because the last flight out tonight is probably at like 9:00 and they won't be done with their marathon yet... That is crazy stuff. Makes all my training seem like nothing.
Anyway, that was my EPIC day. Awesome. I'm still star-struck!
7 comments:
wowowowwoowowwow. I'm star struck right now! That's so awesome, Michelle! That must have been motivating and inspiring. And it's not far off at all to ask if you're a pro...you look like one!
OMG...I can't even imagine! 5 in 5 days??? That's just crazy! I hope they do it! And, how cool that you saw them and got to talk to them? It must have been awesome!
That is just awesome! And I loved that you stalked, I mean happened to ride near them! LOL!
They are very impressive, and you're right, quite easy on the eyes!!!
BTW, it made me feel a little better that he admitted some walking during the marathon might me in order. Made me feel they were still human :)
I would have been star struck too!! THat is just amazing and I cant phatom how they do it
And it is so cool you got to ride with them, yes, I was would have had little kid actions too
I am so proud of you for starting a conversation. I get v intimidated in situations like this (aka seeing Ryan Hall on the bikepath before Boston this year), which is silly! And yes, the guy is Hot!
great job on that 5k - don't know what happened to the post, but you make me very motivated to get back and work hard to get my speed back come the fall.
Oh MICHELLE!!!! NO CAMERA?????? NO PICS??? Anyway, you nailed knowing you would eventually see them out there. Very cool!
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