Sandiway

[Needs Help]

Well, simply I only managed 6 rides before embarking on the Elite Southern Transcontinental. My father passed away early in the year and I had almost no time to ride my bike. In fact, I had an embarassingly pitiful 600 miles for the year, which I tried to keep a secret.
Mostly importantly, I didn't dare mention this to Susan or Lon beforehand, because I was afraid they'd take my slot away and give it to a more deserving rider. After all, there was a big waiting list.
As a result, I really suffered in the first week before getting it together. I was very borderline. Miracles do happen, and I rode myself into shape by the end. But this was certainly not the best nor easiest way to do it. I feel very lucky. NOT recommended.Some last words?

Well, I can say the Elite Southern Transcontinental is not recommended if:

1) you can't recover from an effective 200+ miile day in 99F heat in under 12 hours.
2) you can't get up at 5:30am 17 days in a row.
3) you have any nagging injuries, latent or on-going.
4) you could do with the extra training miles
5) you want a nice, scenic route.
6) you want to see America.

But it is for you if:

1) you thrive on the challenge.
2) you can out-stubborn an all-day headwind,
3) you can beat the desert heat.
4) you can beat the southern heat and humidity.
5) your feet and hands can handle the beating of the roughest chip seal and horribly broken tarmac.
6) you want your perspective on what a 170 miler means to be completely changed forever.
7) you're looking to accomplish what must be a true highlight for any cyclist.

It was fun reading his blog. http://sandiway.blogspot.com/

[goonster]

I've had the pleasure of riding and chatting with Sandiway a bit on past brevets.

His toughness, endurance, ingenuity and general prowess in all matters bike are exceeded only by his generosity and humility.

My favorite Sandiway anecdote involves a club official who had dropped by a brevet controle to impress us with the toughness of the annual "Hillier Than You" race. "If you guys think you like tough rides, you should really check it out!" Sandiway filled his bottles, ate his food and didn't say a word, while the rest of us were straining to contain ourselves. Finally one of us told the dude that Sandiway had won the event a couple of years before. :beer:

Forza Sandiway!

[Climb01742]

and then there's this tidbit:

"Today we crossed over into Georgia.
160 miles. 99F and 89% humidity.
If that wasn't enough to keep you from stopping just long enough to fill your bottles with ice at the water stops, there was also the incessant buzzing of flies."

i just can't fathom what it takes, physically and mentally, to do this. his point about not doing this if you have nagging injuries must be so true. imagine the stress this puts on your body. even the tiniest weakness must be amplified a million times. to endure what these riders endure is truly mind-boggling. you'd find me sobbing like a baby by the side of the road before we even got out of cali!!!

[Ray]

Sandiway used to be a fixture around the Philly area before he moved to Tucson. I've known him from another online forum for several years. We have a few mutual riding friends and I've met him a couple of time and he's ridden past me and said hello a couple of times, but I could never claim to have ridden WITH him.

Following his blog and a couple of others on this 17 day transcontinental has been fascinating to me. As someone who's never done, and never plans to do, a ride longer than about 130 miles (a double metric with a couple of extra miles tacked on), I can't even begin to fathom it. I've done a couple of week long tours that averaged about 75 miles per day. I've also done a number of them that are more like 50 miles per day. 50 miles per day can be fun. 75 miles per day starts to feel like an exercise in self-flagellation after the first few days. Pure self-discipline after a while - not really a lot of fun moments. By the end of the week, I felt totally beat down and wasted, not like I was in the process of riding myself into shape. Yeah, after some recovery I'd realize that my conditioning improved a great deal, but with no recovery I don't know that I'd have found that feeling.

The thought of doing more than twice that for two and a half weeks with no rest days through the toughest conditions this country has to throw at you is something so far outside my frame of reference that I can barely fathom it. Nah, screw barely - I CAN'T fathom it. Overwhelmingly impressive, if half-crazy. But then, most great accomplishments take a dollop of insanity to inspire them in the first place.

Way to go to all of those folks who finished that ride, and those who even dared to attempt it. Nuthin' but overwhelming respect here.

-Ray

[Too Tall]

heheh you want a Sandy-way tid bit ? :) Day two of Elite about 3/4 thru with the day we are riding with Sandy and Richard...we get a flat...doreen pukes while I fix it...Sandy (super mench) stays with us...we get rolling and Sandy mentions his tyre feels soft and has only one spare 650 tube...ouch. Support was just up the road so I asked Richard to portect / stay with Sandy while I got Doreen to some much needed ice and rest.

At the support stop we are roasting, the control is ontop a barren spot, blowing hot wind, dust and devoid of shelter save some hot concrete tables. One rider is in serious heat trouble, feet up...ice on his neck...looks bad...meanwhile Sandy is hunched over a dixie cup half filled with water trying to find the hole in his tube!!!!! Wow. Talk about having presence of mind to patiently find and fix his problem with not a moments hesitation really impressed me. We are kinda keen on the boy :)

[sbornia]

I, too, enjoyed reading Sandiway's blog. What's astounding is his "epilogue" post from yesterday, in which he reveals that before the PAC tour he had only put in **600** miles of training for the year. Unreal.

[slugbottle]

Word has is that he plays a mean game of table tennis too.

[weisan]

I have never had the privilege to meet this pal ...but I always thought the name sounded kinda unique....even for someone of Asian heritage.

Sandiway....hmmm...it reminds me of the pugilistic world aka Pai Mei-era. :D