Zero Tolerance

I started thinking about this post more than a week ago.  Even wrote a draft that will linger here at Blogger.com.  I've thought the topic through.  I've rethought it.  I swear I even sideways thought it and I still came to the same conclusion.  A conclusion that probably won't make me popular with many of my friends.  I guess I've thought about it enough to not care.
Around about this time of year, Ironman WI draws near.

And the crowd goes wild!  Well, some of them do.  Others not so much.
As peak training for Ironman comes upon us, the Ironman WI bike course is clogged with would-be-Ironman riders.  These are rural roads with few options for go arounds.  Narrow with almost no options to pass.  Occupied by locals and now invaded by cyclists.
And "Share the Road" has just come home to roost.  Or should I say fester.
We all know what happens.  Words are exchanged, fists and fingers raised, rules defied, single lines ignored, gravel spewed and smoke rolled.
And the endless lament of "How do we get past this"?
What I am going to say no one is going to like.  And I don't care.  Because someone (probably a cyclist) is going to die.  And someone (probably a driver) will have to live with being a killer for the rest of their lives, along with a jail term and the destruction of everything they are and could be.    Unless a few things change.
Let's start from the top becuase there is room for everyone to grow here:

1. Get off the Ironman course.  If you are a cyclist find someplace else to ride.  Don't ride this course more than once or twice a season.  It's a road.  It has hills.  It's black with gravel shoulders.  There are 1000's of miles like this in WI.  Find one or twenty and get off this route.  Seriously?  Go piss off or inconvenience someone else.  
2. Residents, you know it's this whole Ironman thing.  I know you didn't sign up for this when you moved out here 20 years ago.  But things change.  You know people will be out here on this route.  Allow a little more time to get where you are going.  Find another route if you can.  Be respectful.  
3. Cyclists AND residents.  Zero tolerance.  I'll say it again.  Z-E-R-O tolerance.  That goes both ways and internally as well.  Residents, I'll start with you.  If you see a group of cyclists ignoring traffic rules or just being a-holes in general don't call them out.  Call the police.  Report them.  At the very least note the id on their jersey's and call out their team or training group leader.  Make them an example.  Post it on Facebook, send it out on Twitter.  In the tri community in Madison everyone knows everyone and everyone who is visiting.  Put an ad in the paper, write a letter to the editor but do not let people who break the rules get away with it. But it has to be a specific complaint against a specific group or it does nothing other than fuel the cyclists versus the world battle.  Same goes for your own.  You see someone run a cyclist off the road, you stop and you report it.  You know the kid who drove too close because he lives 6 farms down, then go talk to him or his parents.  Cyclists the same goes for you.  You get run off the road or have an unpleasant encounter, get a picture.  Report it.  Even if all you have is a half plate number based on the geography the cops can find them.  Don't let it go. Vent on Facebook with a partial.  Public shaming works.  The same is true of your own group or other groups you might see.  Are they riding correctly?  Are they following the rules?  Do not let people be in your group if they won't follow the rules.  I have friends who bike that I won't ride with because I don't like that they don't follow the rules.  Zero tolerance is zero tolerance.  Zero.  Don't promote it, don't encourage it, Don't accept it and lastly...
4. Don't forget to live by it.  Ask yourself every single time you get on the road to drive or to bike or run or just take a walk.  Am I doing the right thing?  Did I just cross the street without looking?  Did I just blow through a stop sign?  Am I paying attention to where I am at all times and who is around me.  Don't be complacent.  It isn't just one time.  Every single time is an example to others and to yourself.  (Iron) Man up and do the right thing...everytime.  

And most of all, good luck with your race.  Make sure you remember the residents on the bike route. They might deserve that award as much as you do.  

Double the Trouble and Twice the Fun??

The Double Grizzly (which has now faded in my memory...oops very late on this post) was everything it's name implied.  Grizzly.  And Double.  And I am not even referring to the running part of it!

Let's get real....put 4 women in an SUV (a pretty good sized SUV) for nearly two weeks driving some 4,000 miles and sometimes it is gonna get a little ugly. And silly and downright squirrely (golf ball sized hail anyone?). 

There were many things we could have done better.  I suspect that you learn a little with each trip (I'll share those thoughts with you below).  And in the end, if you can account for everyone you left with and no one had to go to the emergency room, I am gonna call that a success.  I like to think that I am practical about human nature, not just that I have low standards.  And in the end if you can ask yourself "Would I do this trip again?" and you resoundingly yell out "HELL YES".  Then it is all good.  And it was all good.  I'd go again...maybe not specifically to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, but I'd double again and I'd road trip to do it.  Er...Grand Canyon/Zion/RMNP/?? here we come??

The thing is to have your expectations screwed on right.  You are embarking on a two week road trip to unfamiliar terrain with more people in tight spaces than you have probably ever had to deal with (or at least not since the freshman dorms).  When we weren't in a hotel or house we were Suburbanites out camping (okay, we had good/great equipment but you are still in a tent and nearly on the ground).  So add in some pretty serious sleep deprivation.  And weird food.  Weird animal encounters.  And probably more adult beverages in two weeks than you've consumed since college (back to that dorm thing).  Everything is different and nothing is the same as home sweet (or sour) home.  Trust me, this is not how the elites do races away from home. 

As for the races themselves...I learned there is no oxygen in the air around the Grand Tetons or in Yellowstone.  If anyone says there is, they are lying to your face.  You will not acclimate to the lack of oxygen in 5 days no matter how optimistic you are or how much you (legally) encourage your blood cells.  So your second race at even higher altitude will hurt just as much and maybe even more than the first.  If you are a mid-pack runner at sea level, you will be a mid pack runner at elevation.  If you don't do a lot of trail running and you then run a trail race, you won't be good at it.  It is a different skill set to bomb downhill on a trail of loose rock and rubble than it is to do repeats on the biggest hill in your paved neighborhood.  Oddly enough, this is one thing I was good at in the Yellowstone race.  Go figure?  Must have been that 50k relay I did in the mud!!  Although this was a bit dicier footing.  I swear I saw (and heard) someone step in a hole that was camouflaged by grass and break their ankle.  I do know I heard "a lot more than a few" 4 letter words.  Honestly tho, I didn't say any of them.  I was too busy trying to find some oxygen for my sad little red blood cells.  Correction, mad little red blood cells.

In the end tho...oxygen or no...it was a great time...as the swag clearly shows...

If you are thinking about doing this type of trip (extended, in the car, multiple people) let me suggest the following:

1. Don't forget to actually sign up for the races.  No one in our group did this, but I know others where this has happened!  
2. This is only for if the trip is long enough and you have cooking facilities such that you won't be always dining out (see #9).  While you make the meal planning and food list together, only one person purchases and packs the food.  No one else is allowed to bring food.  This includes coffee/tea.  Anyone who needs anything special submits a request to the food person. The food bill is then split by the number of people period.  No nit picking for special request/flavors and brands.  Hash it out before it's bought and then let it go. 
3. Said food person packs the cooler(s).  Nothing else goes in the coolers.  
4. Each person is allotted a number and size of bags.  Nothing else goes.  Period.  
5. Everyone should have at least a valet key to the vehicle.  Should meet ups after the race go awry or someone be seriously injured, everyone needs to have access to their phones and personal belongings.  This is a challenge in light of today's expensive hi tech car keys.  Alternately a key needs to be stashed with the vehicle.  This is a race, not a Walmart parking lot in a shady area of town.  No one is going to steal your gluten free crackers.  And if they do, meh...maybe they will choke on them. 
6. Discuss, understand and agree upon the rules of the use of electronics prior to the trip.  Some people can't live without their cell phones.  Some people barely live with their cell phones.  Some people need to be connected to home and some people want to disconnect from home.  You need to know and understand these things ahead of time.  
7. Have everyone in the group's contact info in case of an emergency.  Again, we didn't need it, but had we needed it I am not sure we could have found it, or at least not found it easily.
8. Understand each other's medical conditions whether that is everyday medications or serious allergies and reactions.  Again, we didn't have any serious problems, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.  
9. When you go out to eat (and you will) have everyone pay their own check.  No buying appetizers for the table or splitting.  99% of restaurants will do this for you and save you a a lot of  grief.  
10. Once you get it all together, just go and let it go.  Will the world end because you didn't have the exact coffee you wanted?  Hey, you had coffee.  This is supposed to be fun, so just put it all behind you, enjoy the time that you have and let all the rest go.