FanPost

PdC and the Diabolical Double.

What a weekend..! What a blast..! What a crap load of cramps..!

The weekend started with the family and me leaving New Jersey (NJ) Friday around 1:30 PM for a nice car ride of almost 7 hours to meet Mr muk and his family...

Here is some pics of the land view as we were driving....

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Not sure where we were in Pennsylvania (PA) but I loved the view from this point..

Every time we drive this direction I am impress with this tunnel through the mountains... Here is a couple of them..Some others I missed..

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And here is another one....

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Then we finally got to Pittsburgh... Checked in at the hotel and then we went out or dinner with Muk's family...

We went to a place that I could pay anyone that guesses the name right... OK ready? Mr Pablo's Mexican restaurant... Really muk? Mr Pablo's? We were laughing a lot in the car... Thanks for dinner and next time is my turn to pay and I don't care what you say..

After dinner I rushed to bed because I knew it was going to be a very early morning... 2:30 am the alarm was set to go off... Damn if I knew how much would I regret waking up this early...

2:30 am already? Crap... Time to get up.. Breakfast get ready and wait for muk... we have 2 hours of car ride till we get to the start of this ride..

We spent the whole car ride exchanging histories... I was listening and trying to learn something from the living legend (muk)

We are finally here...!! Ok to get the things from the registration tables...

Nice..! Pair of socks..! A water bottle..! And a lot of color papers to look at...

Now we are ready...!! Lets go look for Sui Juris (Mark)

Look who we found..!!!

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From left to right I give you guys Mark and Michael..!!!

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And Mark and Pablo (me)

We also run into Ken and one of his friends.. They were out in a mission to kill this ride.. They were trying to get it done in a really quick time.. (look at his ride in Strava and give him kudos)

The ride? Man were to begin? Lets start at the "start" Quick downhill of about 2 miles to start this... Did you enjoy it? Good next time you ride downhill you will have to earn this..

Here is the Strava resume of my ride... http://app.strava.com/activities/62225108 suffering started right away.. The climbs were real filters.. after each climb you could see the bunch thinning more and more..

Here is Mike having a snack at one of the aid stations

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It was a great ride..! I suffer like a dog but was good... Rode with muk till mile 60 or so and then I left him with another Aussie to keep him company in a dirt section..

I felt bad for leaving him but in a ride like this I learned that you have to ride your own pace... I think I was getting hurt by riding his pace and he was getting hurt for riding mine...

Then I forgot all this when I saw Mark at one of the aid stations.... Chased him down to cramp like I never experience before in my life (F.U Mike... I know you are laughing here) from this point on it was a total sufferfest to the end for me...30 miles left to the end of the ride... I am not pulling out!! I will take my time but i will get it done..

Before every climb I dismounted stretched and rest a bit... Did it help? No idea but I had to other then that I would walk all the way up those gentle long climbs... I would not call them steep but an steady 8 % to 10 % for miles and miles ahead of you... (I am not used to this)

I made it to the end with just enough time in the clock before the organization called it a day..

Looking forward to do it again next year..!!!

P.S: Michael, Ken and Mark feel free to add anything from your experience over the weekend..