Norman Conquest

Norman Conquest - When Bob first mentioned this ride to me, I thought I would Google it to see the details, after all, that is what I do these days, I Google things.  I fired up the trusty computer and typed in "Norman Conquest"  I kept getting article after article about the conquest of England in 1066, until finally I came upon the site for the ride.  To my surprise, it was a somewhat hilly course according to the map and after some quick research I discovered the temps were supposed to be in the mid 90s.  I was excited about the ride and it looked to be a pretty good challenge for me.  The day before the ride, Bob called me and arranged to pick me up at my house at 6:45.  He arrived and off we went in the Honda element aka. the rolling toaster.  upon arriving at the J.D. Mcarthy Children's Center for the start, I was surprised by the crowd, it was much larger than I expected there were actually several hundred people there for the ride.  Bob and I went in to the building to register, I paid my money and turned around when suddenly someone was in my face not 2 inches from me.  I was confronted by Dorthy, yes, that right, Stanley's ex stalker who I firmly believe skulked across the room to pop up in my face and quickly say "Have you talked to Stan lately, How's Stan?, Are any of the other guys here?".  I did my best to brush her off like a mud spot on a clean t-shirt and after several attempts finally succeeded.  Bob and I went outside to get our gear together and wait for the start of the race.  At about 7:15 AM they had everyone squeeze under the carport for the start.  As you can imagine it was a tight squeeze and I was having visions of the real Norman Conquest, the army tense before the first charge, the sweat and anticipation in the air.  The quiet right before the storm.  Then suddenly I was having a different thought about the charge, I was imagining the lead horse going down and taking the entire army with it.  We endured the speech by the OU kicker and finally got underway a bit later than we were supposed to, thankfully without incident. 

The first 15 miles or so of the 66 mile course were really crowded and I did nothing but mumble and curse about the mob of people much to Bob's distaste.  I think at one point he considered knocking me off my bike when I was almost run down by a passing cyclist and said "I would rather ride a hundred in the desert by myself with no water than see another person on a freakin bicycle here".  Just like the battle for England there was fighting and jostling and hills, damn there were hills.  The only thing you could say with any consistency on this course is that after you topped the hill, there was another waiting just beyond it.  About mile 20 or so while still in a tight pack and heading south toward lake Thunderbird, we came upon some traffic and an escapee from the Norman Mental Hospital.  The crazy lady was driving in a red Nissan pickup and screaming out the window "Find a Road with a F*&%ing Shoulder you Bastards".  Suddenly and without warning, she pulled sharply off the road and screeched to a stop in a cloud of dust.  Like the invading Normans on the isle of England, she came storming out of her truck in a fury, assaulting a cyclist.  Screaming at him and getting in his face.  The scene was about to turn bloody. 

Bob and I pedaled slowly by watching the battle unfold before us like grisly spectators.  Within minutes we were past the scene and moving along the road, when suddenly, the little red truck came flying by the driver letting all the cyclists know her displeasure with our presence by dangling the universal finger of friendliness from the window and screaming past at breakneck speed on the wrong side of the road.  Once again further up the road we past a scene where the truck had stopped and confronted another cyclist.  Bob decided it was time to call in reinforcements as to repel these damn insurgents and whipped out his trusty cell phone to call 911.  Just then the lady jumped in her truck, peeled out, crossed into the bar ditch on the other side of the road and rolled off down the highway in a cloud aof dried grass and dust.  So off we pedaled, I was thinking about how eerily similar that was to the way Otis crewed for us and suddenly could not wait for the mother road to be here. 

Bob and I labored on through the hills tackling one after the next just as the Norman Invaders swept through England conquering town after town.  The sun was rising and suddenly the heat was becoming a factor, it was beating down reminding us that there was much course left to ride today.  Still we kept on pedaling around lake Thunderbird and headed back to the North.  We stopped first a little past what we thought to be the halfway mark and replenished our supplies.  Even with modern GPS navigation systems the concept of exact distance stills seems to elude us here in Oklahoma.  Let me explain, the flier stated the ride was 66 miles yet at the beginning of the race they told us it was 62 and still many participants seemed to be of the impression it was 68 miles.  I find this lack of understanding somewhat disturbing.  As we pull out of the rest stop the people manning it tell us the course flattens out a bit from there on it.  They lied!  The hills kept coming steeper and longer and the day was wearing on getting hotter and hotter as we rode conquering hill after hill until finally it seemed we were almost there.  About a mile form the last aid station and with what we thought was about 3 1/2 miles to go, a rider in front of us went down.  The heat had overtaken him and he collapsed.  Another rider and I stopped to help him and wait for a sag medic.  All is not glory in war it seems even when victory is so close at hand. 

I decided this would be an opportune time to take a break and wait for Bob as he was behind me somewhere at this point.  We would finish this as we started it and have a great afternoon knowing we had conquered this damn course.  We had made the last aid stop on the route, I had stopped to ask for a beer and was handed water to my dismay.  You do not give a conqueror about to ride a victory lap 3 miles to the finish water.  What the hell were these people thinking.  As Bob and I get back on our bikes to head to the finish, the aid station workers said almost there only 8 miles or so to go???????  I looked at Bob 8 miles?  He looked at his GPS "that can't be right.  Well, I guess it's not 62".  We kept pedaling.  Now it is important to note that after another hour or so we finally came to a residential area which we were told at the beginning of the race we would see.  "Be careful in the residential area at the end of the course there are several speed humps followed by a short area of construction."  Thank God I thought, the end of the course, we finally made it these damn insurgent hills were finally all slaughtered, soon the heat would be washed away by the air conditioner in the car and the day would be mine to drink to my victory. 

As we hit the residential section, I got a surge of adrenaline and began charging through the streets, any minute now I would round a corner and end up in the back entrance of the J.D. McCarthy Children's Center and back at the car.  But something was wrong, the streets kept coming, then suddenly I popped out onto a main road with some serious construction.  With no end in sight, I decided to pave the way for Bob who was now just hanging on behind me and surged forward, this had to be the end.  I moved through the construction like a wraith through the trees dodging cars and workers and signs.  The route turned this way and that then dumped me onto another main road with a long slow incline.  I looked behind me, Bob was no where to be seen at this point and there was no turning back, the traffic behind me was just too heavy.  All I could do was keep advancing like the Normans of old.  I drove my steed on, turn after turn of the crank, ignoring the aching in my legs and the heat burning my neck, concentrating on my cadence and my rhythm as I moved through the streets.  Finally I saw it, the finish line, as seems fitting it was at the top of a hill and into the wind, this course would not let up, if you were going to be victorious and conquer this course you were going to have to fight to the bitter end.  Up the hill I charged racing toward the light at the top of the hill, turned left, then into the center and back to the car. 

I laid my bike on the grass, walked to the shade and collapsed waiting for Bob to come in, after all he was not far behind me.  The minutes began to tick by, one, 10, 12.  Where the hell was Bob he was not that far back.  I called, voice mail.  I took in a deep breath, repeated "You never leave a Man Behind" in my head and walked over to my bike.  As I was heading back out my phone rang.  "Bob, where are you are you okay? "  the reply came quickly "Where is the F%$#ing finish line?  I am at Robinson and Powell"  "To your left I said.  When you reach Robinson Turn Left the finish is on your Left."  Click.  I waited, wanting to go back out, but knowing that would be a mistake.  He had to be right here, I would see him any minute.  I watched my watch, after 5 min I was getting ready to head out again and my phone rang again.  "Where the hell am I am,  now I am at the corner of Robinson and Carter does that sound familiar."  "No" I replied and was about to ask the one or two stragglers left, when suddenly a sag cam by and found Bob.  They gave him directions he had pedaled past the finish and got in a little something extra today.  After a few minutes more, Bob came rolling in and I rode with him from the entrance to the car.  Just like the invaders of old, we had conquered our prize and were headed home exhausted to lick our wounds, savor our victory and prepare to battle another course on another day.

Guadalupe Peak

Guadalupe Peak May 2010

As we drove out to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, I could not help but realize how stark the landscape was around us.  My girlfriend and I were following our Dad's through the west Texas Desert, driving behind them, the heat outside the car was stifling.  We stopped in Kermit, TX for some last minute supplies and four hours after leaving we arrived at the National Park.  When we got there, the place was nearly full.  We checked in at the visitors centre for a camp site and were told it is first come first serve.  The Ranger at the desk was extremely helpful and gave us maps and directions and we headed off to the camp ground.  When we arrived, all of the camp sites were full except two.  the first was in the full desert sun with no shade at all, and the second was a handicapped site with a sign that said "Please reserve this site for the handicapped, do not camp here unless all other sites are taken".   We decided to wait it out.  Not 15 minutes later a family showed up and took the last site. 



Enter Wally, the camp ground host.  Wally, was a sort of small grumpy old man who appeared to be over stressed and under paid.  He spouted out that we were not handicapped and that we needed to go to the overflow camping area in the full desert sun.  Now first I should mention that there was no sign or mention of an overflow camping area any place or else we would have already gone there, secondly when we found it 5 miles down the road, it was at the stables.  Now, when I say at the stables, I mean the horses and you were sharing a stall.  This was not an option. 

We returned to the main camp ground and my girlfriend and her dad went to the visitors centre to see about our options.  They talked to the guys in charge of the place Craig, who mentioned that Wally reported to him, perfect.  Craig told them we could stay at the group site for 3 dollars per night per person since the group that reserved it never showed up.  When they returned to the camp ground and told us we were ecstatic, finally after an hour of running about, we had a place to set up camp.  Wally did not agree, after all he is the "boss of the camp ground".  He told us, I run this place not Craig, if we want the group camp ground, it will be $30.00 per night no exceptions.  I might mention that on his way out he also told us that since we already paid $8.00 that $30.00 minus $8.00 means we only owed $46.00 for the night.  I bet Wally's Math teachers are proud, way to go Wally!  Back to the visitors centre we trudged, we needed to get passes to sleep in the back country the next day anyhow. 

Once we were there, we pulled out our map and asked about camping on the peak the next day and at McKitrick Ridge the following.  The ranger at the desk looked at us, smiled and said "Honestly, I'd recommend not doing that."  Apparently, from the bottom to the Guadalupe peak camp ground is a little over 2000 vertical feet over 3.2 miles then another 1000 foot of climb from the camp to the peak over about a mile.  All in all you climb 3300 vertical feet over 4.2 miles.  McKitrick ridge is about 2/3 the climb but over fewer miles and the back to back gruelling climbs are too much for many people in the desert heat.  He also mentioned that there was no water available in the back country and that we would need to pack in all that we would need, weighing our packs down even more as water is generally the heaviest thing you will carry.  We decided to get the passes to camp the next day at the peak and then when we got back down make a decision about McKitrick Ridge. 

As they started the paperwork for the passes, I ran back to the main camp ground to write down car license plate numbers it felt good to be running on a trail again.  the base camp is at 5400 ft above sea level and I ran at a pretty good clip without breathing heavy.  That made me feel pretty good!  When I got back, they had the paperwork filled out, and added the license place numbers.  The only thing left to do was pay for the group site for the night and we could go set up our tents, eat dinner and relax. 

It turned out Craig had just left for the day, but they were going to call him to ask about the rate if we could "just wait for a moment".  Hello Wally, what timing you have.  He barged into the visitors centre and pulled the ranger in charge into the back room.  After a lengthy, and loud I might add, conversation, were were told we would need to meet the park superintendent at the group site and we headed back out.  We were wondering at this point f we would end up sleeping in a road side park tonight. 

Once we arrived at the group site, the superintendent was fantastic.  He was amenable to us taking the group site for the night, apologized for Wally and was really a first class guy.  He agreed to give us the site for $26.00 and we took it.  Instant upgrade, it was the nicest site in the camp ground, we had privacy, shade trees and enough space for 5 tents even though we only had 2. 

 

We were all excited about the next day and had a drink to relax as we talked, ate sandwiches and soup and checked our gear for the morning.  As we sat there the ranger from the visitor centre showed up in our camp and told us they were having a geology program at the amphitheatre that night and that it would talk about how the mountains were formed here in the middle of the desert.  We said thank you and he headed off to let other campers know abut it.  We returned to our conversation, I was amazed at how many stars you could see out here and my girlfriend's father mentioned a program he saw where Stephen Hawking tried to explain the origins of the universe and how in the beginning there was only a sphere but there was nothing outside it.  The concept is hard to get your head around.  My Dad brought up that the universe is now infinite in size and he and my girlfriend's father decided that if the universe is infinite in size then where ever we are we are in the center of the universe.  My brain was starting to hurt.  The sun dropped casting shadows across the basin surrounding the camp ground and we began to see shapes outlined in the mountains.  My girlfriend's father pointed out how one mountain in particular looked just like Dr. Seuss's Grinch from his book How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  We laughed about it speculated that perhaps the good Dr had spent some time here and continued to pick out shapes in the mountains.  As we sat there talking, a red moon started to rise in the east, it was really beautiful.  We watched it for a long time then finished our drinks and turned in for the night, it is going to be a long day on the trail tomorrow.



No one got much sleep throughout the night, the moon grew steadily brighter until it illuminated everything like it was a flood lamp in the sky.  The inside of the tent was as bright as day and I could here the old men moving around a lot in their tent trying to get comfortable.  Eventually, I fell asleep and my girlfriend and I woke in the morning to find my Father milling about the camp, he had already been up and moving, and was fiddling with his new backpacking stove.  I got up and moving slowly and filled a cooking pot with water.  I needed a good strong cup of coffee.  I pulled out a package and brewed up 2 cups one for me and one for my girlfriend, made some toast and oatmeal and settled in for breakfast.  Our older, wiser companions decided on Starbucks instant coffee and breakfast bars which was not only faster to make, but less mess and no clean up.  It struck me that the way they were eating and moving my girlfriend and I looked like the older generation.  I laughed a little inside about it and quietly ate my breakfast.  After breakfast we briefly discussed not camping out, but just going up and down in the same day.  This is what most people do, we could travel lighter and make better time, but we decided that since we were getting a late start and had already gotten the passes, we might as well use them.  We finished breaking camp and loaded our packs and were about to head to the trail around 10:30 when we realized our passes for the peak camp site were missing.  Back off to the visitors centre.  Turns out, we left the passes on the counter in the confusion of the night before and they threw them away.  We were issued new passes and finally about 11 AM hit the trail.



We started out all smiles, looking to attack the peak and optimistically be there by 3 PM including a stop for lunch.  The heat was starting to crank up, but we were hoping that it would cool off as we climbed.  The trail started with a gradual up hill then rapidly turned into a series of intense switchbacks.  It went up fast and continued on this way for most of the journey to the Guadalupe Peak Camp ground.  After the first mile we had already gained some significant altitude, my girlfriend and my dad were getting pretty tired and breathing heavy.  It was pretty clear they were not used to the altitude.  I was doing okay, but the heat was starting to get to me.  I was wearing my 5 fingers for the trip up the mountain as I did in Peru and I was once again amazed at how well the gripped the trail.  Terrain I would never have dreamed about walking over before, I was going over with ease, gripping everything and not slipping at all.  We stopped and took several breaks and it took us about an hour and a half to go the first mile.  The trail was hard and steep and reminded me of several 14ers I have hiked up in Colorado. 


 

We walked on, several people we met told us that the back side of the mountain would offer us more shade.  The trail kept moving steadily and steeply upward, at one point I used the GPS on my phone along with the map to get a fix of our progress, we were moving really slow, but the good news was that soon the switchbacks would end and we would be on a rolling trail that, although not slouch in terms of altitude gain per foot of horizontal travel, was milder than the switchbacks we were now on and we would be on that terrain on the back side (Shady side of the mountain remember) for the next mile and a half or so before the switchbacks started up again.  We finally gained the backside of the mountain about 2 PM and many more switchback than I wanted later.  The good news is we timed it right, we go to the back side just in time for the sun to move across the nose and into the valley we were now walking in.  No rest for the wicked, the sun was going to beat on us all day it looked like.  Our only reprieve would be the few shady spots where the pine trees grew along the trail at the higher elevations.  We kept walking, taking frequent breaks and finally stopped to each lunch about 2:30.  We found a nice shady spot that was relatively level and settled in with cans of tuna salad and more breakfast bars and trail mix.

After Lunch we walked on fresh and rested.  By the time the trail got steep again, we were beginning to wonder i the map was right about the distance.  Our Dad's were getting leg cramps and my girlfriend was feeling bad, even I was feeling the effects of the trail, the pace and the sun.  We had been walking at this point about 4 hours and even though the mountains were spectacular, we were more than ready to be at the camp.  Suddenly the trail levelled some and we rounded a corner into a little valley, 20 minutes after that we saw the sign for the camp ground.  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

 

We arrived in the camp ground about 5 PM and off in the distance the weather was turning nasty.  You could see the supposedly only 10% chance of rain moving in along with the thunder and lightning.  We quickly scouted the area and decided who would camp where.  My girlfriend and I decided to pitch our tent in a spot sheltered a bit in the trees since I failed to bring guy lines for my old tent.  The theory being that at least the trees would offer us some protection if the wind kicked up.  Also since my old tent was, well, old, I was worried about how water proof it might still be.  Our fathers would take the exposed camp and guy out their tent in case the wind came.  We got the camp set up none too soon, just as we finished pitching the tents, the rain came.  I crawled in next to my girlfriend and we layed there talking and eventually dosed off a bit.  I woke to a park ranger yelling through the tent flap.  As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and tried to make sense of what he was telling me I could hear the thunder getting louder in the distance. 

He said that we were not in an officially designated camping area and that we would have to move our stuff to one of the exposed camps.  As I talked with him he agreed that we could wait for the rain to stop and moved off.  About 15 minutes later the rain slowed and I threw on my rain shell and went to the other camp to let them know what happened.  As I was standing there, talking to them the storm broke and we got a reprieve from the rain for a bit.  The park ranger came into the camp and asked to see our permit, he had a female ranger with him and I tried to reason with them to allow us to stay where we were already established for one night.  The male park rangers only response was that it was not raining right now and with four of us moving would be a piece of cake.  He turned and walked away.  my girlfriend's father decided that this was Wally getting his revenge and we trudged off to move our camp.  Just as we got established in our new spot a beautiful rainbow appeared on the horizon and we stared at it for a long time, while talking about making dinner.  Dinner was going to be interesting, this was the first time anyone, except myself, in this little party ate a dehydrated backpacker meal.  Just as we got done cooking them, the rain came again and we scattered to eat in our tents.  Thankfully, everyone ate and liked their dinner.  Once the rain stopped, we spent the rest of the evening on our own.  My girlfriend and I walked and talked, the dads talked and sat around their tent.  It turned out to be a beautiful, crisp cool evening and the views were astounding. 


My girlfriend and I slept better than our Dads did and the next morning we ate breakfast, broke camp and decided that my girlfriend's father and I would leave our packs and head to the peak while my dad and my girlfriend stayed at the camp.  Off we went, it is amazing the difference having no pack makes, we moved along just fine, the trail here did not feel nearly as steep as it was coming up to the camp the day before even though we had over 1000 vertical feet of climb still left to go before we reached the top.  As we walked along the trail I felt good, my legs felt strong and we made pretty good time, it only took us about an hour to make the peak.  When we did it felt awesome, we were finally there standing on the roof of Texas looking down on everything including El Capitan. Perhaps it is prophetic that we chose this trail since we are going to see El Cap's big brother later this summer.  On top of the peak is a metal triangle placed there in the 1950's by american airlines.  We walked around some and signed the log book, as I went to write in it, there was already an entry for the day.  Apparently an 80 year old man ran to the top of the peak and back earlier this morning to celebrate his birth day.  Humbling, it only took him 2.5 hours to make the summit.  We stayed at the top for about 45 minutes then made our way back to the the campsite.  As we walked we chatted and 45 minutes later realized we missed our turn off for the camp.  we turned around and headed back up hill. hurrying this time since the others were waiting on us. 

When we got there my girlfriend was standing there alone, she said my dad got a head start and had headed out about 45 min ahead of our arrival back into camp.  I was immediately taken by something Dad taught me when I was younger and was reinforced over and over again through experience as I got older.  You are always safer with a partner.  We hurriedly threw our packs together, put them on and set off, after him.  About 5 min down the trail it was apparent we would not catch up and we decided rather than me sprinting ahead, we would be better off sticking together, the trail was only 3 miles long and was heavily travelled, he would be okay. 




The climb down made our quads burn, but we made good time. The three of us reached the trail head in half the time it took us to go up and dad was already there with the truck and a powerade.  Boy was it good to see him, we weighed our packs just for fun and they were all lighter than when we started up the mountain.  Then we threw the packs into the back of the truck and my girlfriend and I drove to the overflow lot to get the four runner.  When we got back to our dads several minutes later, there was once again rain coming in.  We decided to head out to White's city and camp there, at least we could get a shower and a hot meal if nothing else.  When we got there, the camp ground was really bad, the heat was boiling and the rain was coming down again.  We decided to eat something and talk over our next move.  We ate at the only place in White's City that was open and it was a mom and pop hamburger joint.  The food tasted good and really hit the spot, we were all tired, no one had really slept in two days and we all agreed to head back home.  The trip was a success, despite the hard effort of the day before we all had fun and learned a little something about ourselves.  I really enjoyed the trip and the remainder of the weekend.

What Gets You Out of Bed in the Morning

What gets you out of bed in the morning?  It seems like such an innocuous question.  That's what I was asked one day by a good friend who saw me as something I didn't even realize I was, someone just going through the motions.  I remember staring at him without saying anything, thinking it over for a long time and finally having to admit to myself that I didn't know.  The more I thought about it the angrier I became with myself because I did not have the answer readily available.

Soon after that incident, I began to see and hear common themes popping up all around me.  I saw a commencement speech made by Steve Jobs in which he said, "You have got to find what you love... If you haven't found it yet, keep looking.  Don't Settle."  He also said, "Every morning I get up and look in the mirror and ask myself, if today were my last day of my life would I do what I'm about to do today?"  I thought long about this and the reality was the answer more often than not was no. 

A few weeks after that I was sent to a conference, which was intended to be a future leaders conference for our company.  For me it ended up being one of the most introspective weeks I've ever had.  The first day I was there, I was that same question once again.  "What gets you excited when you get up in the morning?"  I was also asked several other questions which I spent many hours thinking through and trying to answer. 

In the end it was simple there were really two questions I needed to come to grips with: 

1. What gets you excited when you get up in the morning?
2. What do I dream about doing if you remove all the external factors such as money, time, family pressures, etc.?

I decided I would not leave the conference without knowing, what it is that really excites me.  Every minute I was not participating in conference activities or doing the gratuitous glad handing and socializing that is almost a necessary evil at these things, I was locked in my room with a pad and paper scribbling down all the things I love the most and thinking hard about what a perfect day would look like.  By the end of the week, I had my answers.

So I spent the next few days restless, after 6 months of soul searching culminating in a week trapped inside a hotel and not seeing daylight, I finally had my answer.  But, I also had another question, so what?  The problem now was not so much what I wanted to do, but rather, how to do it.  And while I still do not have those answers, I decided to create this website.

Here I plan to post ideas, progress and trips. I will talk about what I have tried, what has worked and what has not. I will solicit ideas and talk about what I know and love such as trail running and distance cycling tours, etc. 

Perhaps you can use some of what you read here to achieve your own dreams!

You have to live life on the edge because it is not worth living any other way

If you have ideas feel free to send them here