A World On A String

[Lester Beans]

Strength is in Concentration...

Smartest thing I have read all day!

We finally had our killing frost as well. My outside garden was wrapped up and done, soil turned. The soybean farmers here needed it to ripen those stubborn soys. Apparently the price for soy beans is down and the farmers are all taking losses. Sad.

You breakfast looks healthier than mine, half meatball sub and a Pepsi. Yes I felt you cringe lol.

Tonight will be better, was gifted some fruits and such. Some nice chicken from the farmer. I can't drink milk, ruins my stomach. I only drink it in my sleep, that's a whole different story lol.

Your juices sound delish, especially the peppermint. I like peppermint and blueberry mixed.

I'm working through your thread. Interesting crosses, I'm looking forward to reading more.

Have a great day Jericho!

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

I welcome the initial fall killing frost. It closes the chapter on all that's summer and opens the door to winter. It truly is as clearly defined as turning a page. No more weeds to pull. No tomato worms to pluck. Soon I can take down my screen door.

 

[unclefishstick]

yeah,i dunno...maybe i should have raced cat2 instead of racing beginners class,i figured i should get at least one race under my belt before doing that...but basically just crushing it i think made it less exciting in a way,i didnt really get grabbed by racing fever...a half mile into it i was already out in front,and 2 miles into it i was already riding alone and by the end of the climbing i was so far in front i just relaxed..so i think it would have been a different experience if there had been someone hot on my heels the whole time...

im slightly stunned that in one race you will be doing as much vert as i would do in a months time...and a little jealous too..20000 feet is a shit ton of work for me,took me all summer to get to 120000 feet...

 

[Jericho Mile]

yeah,i dunno...maybe i should have raced cat2 instead of racing beginners class,i figured i should get at least one race under my belt before doing that...but basically just crushing it i think made it less exciting in a way,i didnt really get grabbed by racing fever...a half mile into it i was already out in front,and 2 miles into it i was already riding alone and by the end of the climbing i was so far in front i just relaxed..so i think it would have been a different experience if there had been someone hot on my heels the whole time...

im slightly stunned that in one race you will be doing as much vert as i would do in a months time...and a little jealous too..20000 feet is a shit ton of work for me,took me all summer to get to 120000 feet...

Yeah, man...I think you sold yourself short. Underestimated your abilities. You live off your bike, dude. It's different than other people who just do it as sport/recreation.

If you remember...I deliberately kept myself away from other trail runners and racing for a good many years....mostly because I didn't feel ready for the influences...feeling like the lifestyle would be corrupted by competition and GQ Superhuman type runners. I didn't want to lose the freedom and pureness that I was experiencing alone on the trails. In reality...I've found amongst ultra runners..modesty and support...positive grooming.

Now that I look at it...I was being close-minded, stubborn, anti social, and conceited. It's good to get humbled sometimes. Enlightening to realize how full of myself I was...even though I denied ego for period.

Racing and joining my run club have changed my running concepts for nothing but...the better. I see distances differently...pacing differently..diet differently..and yeah...I admit that I am very competitive when it comes down to it. I like the "put up or shut up" mentality...as long as it's kept within good sportsmanship.

* The Downside to Racing:

I'm looking at the list of events I want to race for the winter-spring seasons. Registration periods are coming out...many of the races sell out very quickly (some overnight...bigger races are done by lottery and waitlists)....and my invitations have been sent to me

christ...by the end of December I have to pay out...5...6...7...hundred bucks all together...shit..maybe more. 50Ks and 50 milers are around $125-150 a race. The 100Ks a little more...and the 100 milers are all around $235-250 a race. Adds up...especially when they all register at about the same fucking time.

I'm not even looking at the AZ winter races. I'm talking about just my local races.

 

[unclefishstick]

thats the other thing,70 bucks plus a pop plus finding transport...theres a local 8 hour race coming up,and theres always stepping up to the single speed race next year...

 

[Jericho Mile]

Getting my Veg Studio organized again

Getting my Veg Studio organized again



^ Attempting to get more yield out of a space. These standard #5 pots don't cost me anymore space in the flower studio (in the veg studio they do)...so I'm experimenting with double planting the Plenty clone...since I really like her...even though...her Flower Time divided by Yield does not make her the most reasonable..or cost effective expression.

It's been a long time since I double planted a pot. Sometimes it can be effective...sometimes not.

...when I think about it though....ahhh fuck it. I'm not going to think about it. Pennies on the dollar...I can't be miser(ing) around about being cost effective...I just want to see what happens. Maybe I get lucky.

Man....this clone has vigor. Roots fast...grows fast. Fun to cultivate.

Already I'm out of Plenty buds. That's the thing.

Low yields and a heavy hand on the jar = never enough

It's going to be months before I get a chance to smoke her again. I do have a bit of her trim though. Mixed it with Moxie trim...see how that combination works out in the bubble world.

* I can't mix strains with Moxie in the hash making. So far...Moxie is the only plant I have...whose resin remains a putty/greasy consistency after drying. The others...or when Moxie is mixed with others...dry out to a crumble. Still good hash...but I really prefer the greasy putty over the crumble.

Moxie hash is like superglue...sticks to everything it touches. To me...that's highly desirable. I'm hoping that since Plenty and Moxie are very similar in finished product..and in their demeanors/relations...that..their resin will resinate and I'll have two greasy putty hash expressions.

It's weird how bubble hash works...how the different resins work.

** should be noted: Plenty is a terrible hash plant...as far as...producing ample amounts of trim. It's a joke..seriously...I look in the trim bucket....hardly anything. Frugal expression.

 

[unclefishstick]

my last batch of bubble was really pretty when it came out of the bucket,really nice pale sandy color,been getting a really nice melt from it...

waiting for it to warm up,gonna go torture myself on the single speed...recently put new gearing on it,been kicking my ass...you wouldnt think 3 teeth would make that big of a difference but its huge on a single speed...what i have is a dos enos,its actually two gears on one freewheel...theres no derailleur so you have to unbolt the rear wheel and manually move the chain,the idea being you have one gear to ride to the trails,and one for trail use...previously i had a 20/22 on the bike,that was great while i muscled up for single speed riding,but it got to be very frustrating on the road since it would spin out at like 12.6 mph...the new one is a 17/19....the sweet spot on the 17 tooth is about 16 mph,perfect for getting places,still a real bitch on the climbs,way more out of the saddle climbing time...sooner or later i will get strong enough to sit and spin that gear and then i will be flying up the climbs...

got to go back for a rematch with one of the local road climbs...i barely made it up on the 17 tooth gear...a full on struggle at the end to keep the pedals turning over,but i still crushed my previous best time by like 10 minutes...

im telling you,you would love single speed mountain biking...just the right combo of gut busting and grin inducing fun...no tech getting in the way,just you and the bike and a pair of pedals...

 

[budman678]

I welcome the initial fall killing frost. It closes the chapter on all that's summer and opens the door to winter. It truly is as clearly defined as turning a page. No more weeds to pull. No tomato worms to pluck. Soon I can take down my screen door.

where i am they are calling it an indian summer...we have temps in the 20s three weeks ago and yesterday it was 77. crazy times we live in

 

[Jericho Mile]

Be up...

Be up...

...on top of...Laguna Mnt. at noon today. Two groups will be flagging the course for tomorrow's Laguna Trail Marathon. Have to be up there at noon...then I'll see which side of the course I'll be flagging/chalking. We are having a weak Santa Ana coming through..NE winds coming out of the 4 corners region...10-15 mph with gusts over 20. It'll be chilly and blowing harder on the mountain.

Kind of feel the wife's sinus cold..in the back of my throat...but I put in 10 miles yesterday...good pace...up in Noble Canyon on trail and old mine roads. I'll be in the cold and wind all day today and tomorrow (working an aid station during the race)....but I'm committed and determined to not going down into sickness.

A week out from the Chimera. The beast and me.

* This will be my last post until after the race. Have a lot to do this week and I'm feeling like I need to narrow down my concentration. Calm the mind down and get real.

I'll talk to you, dudes in the Aftermath.

 

[unclefishstick]

have a good race...im sure you will...should be an interesting journey...

 

[Jericho Mile]

Chimera 100 Mile aftermath

Chimera 100 Mile aftermath

I ended up catching the sinus/chest virus that my wife had brought home. Started getting sick on Friday the 6th...then flagged about 12 miles of the Laguna Trail Marathon on the 7th...and worked an aid station all day on the 8th...

by Monday I was down and out. Sick as a dog (whatever that means)

Regardless...Friday the 13th we drove up to Lake Elsinore and made pre race check in at the start/finish line (a Forest Service campground). Got 4 or 5 hrs of sleep in the hotel room...some food..was up at 2:30 A.M. and drove back up to the starting line. I felt that I was operating at about 80% by the start of the race. Had a deep nasty cough and stringy white snot flying everywhere.

The first 24 miles was an out and back...mostly downhill for the opening 12 miles. Then...of course...the next 12 miles was back up the mountain. The Saddleback mountains are steeper than the Cuyamaca/Laguna mountains I train in. Same kind of terrain...just a lot steeper.

I ran well most of that 24 miles...but by the time I got back to the start/finish to begin the next 22 mile out and back...I wasn't feeling very good physically....and my mind was in full fear of the pain and the long miles ahead. Not a good thing. Being fearful of the miles and the course ahead in a 100 mile race...when you are just getting really started...is terrifying. I actually began to cry a bit heading out a few miles into the 2nd part of the course. I mean....crying.

At the mile 35 aid station (called Candy Store) which was at another Forest Service trailhead...my wife and some other wives of my racing friends showed up to cheer. The aid station was headed by someone I knew (a legend in the sport) and my time was still pretty good...but

I was feeling really defeated...wanted to quit. In fact...I told myself that when I got to the Candy Store that I was going to turn in my bib and quit the race. My mind was fucking me hard...and my body was feeling weak. I became afraid of "The Beast"......the Chimera was fucking me up with endless steep hills (there are no level sections on the entire course. Remember 22,000' of elevation gain) and the rocks/boulders that I had to maneuver over were insane and everywhere. Killers

I attempted to eat some food...as I still had to run another 11 miles or so back to the start/finish line and there was just a "water only" aid station between...bottom line: I needed fuel. But...

I became sick in my stomach...walked away from everyone at the aid station and vomited loudly..repeatedly...over and over. Everyone left me alone as I tried to calm down and get my shit together...being concerned that the aid station captain would pull me off the course (his word is final..no ands-ifs-buts about it)....

people tried to get me to sit in a chair..but I refused and ended up going down to the ground on my own...on the parking lot pavement. Here...with my wife before me and watching other racers coming in and leaving I broke down and started to sob. I decided to make myself eat some more and after the aid station captain had words with me to the effect "Don't be stupid and get hurt"....I made the decision that if I could hold down enough fuel to get me back to the start/finish I would continue..but if I couldn't...I'd quit the race. There were no roads on the way back...just massive hills and deep drainages. If I went down out there...I'd be seriously fucked.

Took me about 45 minutes to recover and get food to stay down. I was on the ground the entire time with my wife and friends around me...everyone getting me anything I needed to eat. About that time another dude I know came in off the trail and asked me if I wanted to run back with him. This guy I'm usually ahead of by a good distance..although he is a way more experienced/accomplished ultra runner. So my time down had allowed him to catch up....and now he was at the right place..at the right time to help me out.

I came off the ground then..and started getting my shit together enough to actually run/power hike back up and down the hills to the start/finish. After this 2nd out and back was complete...around mile 46...I was done with that end of the course and had forgotten about my goal time...changed my reality....got myself into "slug fest mode"

Did I say this course was created by a sadist? I'm not exaggerating that there are no flats or smooth surfaces. It's one mountain after another...either by single track trail or terrible fire roads. It is a huge mind fucking course...deliberately made that way. It sends you way down into deep drainages...only to turn you around and make you go back up...for no apparent good reason. The course is relentless in conveying that it has no reason for doing what it does...except to challenge your will and abilities to endure chaotic mis adventure. It has no point...it's pointless....it's stupid...it's brutal for the sake of brutality.

The 2nd 1/2 of the course (into the night hrs) is where "The Beast" becomes what she is...becomes real.

I embraced her fully. I lost my mind out there. I had stomach and bowel problems all night...but had stopped wanting to quit. That happened after mile 46. After 46...I found my heart again. I found acceptance for what I was up against.

I could go on and on...into some crazy details...but what I found out was that the course became haunted....and became magical. I had vivid hallucinations just before dawn..on a steep 7 mile downhill...saw a white kitty cat turn back into something else....a scary clown with an umbrella turn his head and look at me just before my headlamp beam hit him...turning him into a bush against a boulder. I saw rocks moving all night...tree people..

I ran well. My body held up. Somehow..physically..besides being sore everywhere and the balls of my feet being bruised purple..I'm in good condition. I only fell one time...and unbelievably it must have been the only place where The Beast didn't put a rock. I talked to her all night long...thanked her...fought her....went really high...went really low...but I felt like we did it together. There was a sense of respect and a sense of indifference.



^ Race schwag comes with the race package..but the buckle I had to earn by finishing the course. 92 people started the race. 33 people dropped out or were pulled off the course. Others didn't make cut off times. I was attempting to go sub 24 hrs. The cut off was 35 hrs. I finished sub 30 hrs...which is the longest time I've ever run. I ran over 100 miles...because at the end of the race I followed the turn by turn directions (had a printed copy in my hydration pack. This course was not well marked. the race director is notorious for not marking his courses. He verbally tells you things and if you missed it...you missed it)....and ignored where a race aid was telling me to go (I didn't know he was a race aid...I was far gone in my world)...anyways I added an extra mile. Funny thing was that I didn't need to look at the turn by turn directions until right then. Lots of other people got lost on the course. It was pretty fucked up like that. Kind of had to embrace the race director's style of doing things....even if...it's hell and senseless.



^ Pretty cool. The bottom teeth on the graphic of The Beast are actually the elevation graph...and the red dots on the teeth are the aid stations. Subliminal, man. Trippy stuff.

* I loved this race. My wife had a great time too. It was nuts...a surreal experience. I've done a bunch of psychedelic substances in my life...but I've never had such visions...feelings...craziness..as I did on this trip over the Saddleback mountains.

** I was not the only person having these experiences. Other people were coming across the finish line..or in aid tents along the way...saying they were seeing all kinds of things. Hours and hours of heavy concentration over this terrain..especially seen under headlamps...and through bloodshot exhausted eyes..depleted and damaged bodies...the world becomes different. The mind is a powerful thing.

*** Do I want to meet The Beast again? Yes. It's almost a sick thing....but she is awesome at the same time. Great course. Great experience. The people you meet who do these things...well...it's a strange crowd to the uninitiated...but once you are in...you are in full on.

**** I'm so exhausted and sore that I can only sleep a few hours at a time. I'm still really messed up. Kind of like being in a form of shock. Worded gibberish..flashbacks..shadows moving on their own...

the crash is coming.

 

[waveguide]

good foot.

 

[unclefishstick]

nice work finishing,very impressive...i cant even imagine the pain,riding a bike half that distance is enough work for me,and not even 50 miles of singletrack!

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

wow

 

[budman678]

youre mind is so strong

 

[Madjag]

P3....it is shock.

 

[Madjag]

I've done a bunch of psychedelic substances in my life...but I've never had such visions...feelings...craziness..as I did on this trip over the Saddleback mountains.

I've experienced the same psychedelic craziness, with a detached feeling from my body, standing in front of a Federal judge who was telling me that I had to go to prison for 2 years for importing Jamaican Ganja.

Mind-Body
Body-Mind

Who wants a piece of this?
Who would come here to Earth for all of this?

 

[Madjag]

!

 

[Jericho Mile]

I've not come down yet. My sleep is still erratic....soaking my feet in epsom salts...nose is raw and bloody from all the snot blowing...cough has faded some..but it continues to come from down deep. I haven't smoked any herb since Friday the 6th..wish I could..

I've seen some pictures posted on social media (my wife shows me)..plus all these races have professional photographers at them. Man..there's some good ones of me hammering strong...and some of me on the ground at the Candy Store aid station dying.

thoughts...images keep recirculating through my head. Reliving and digesting the events. Even now I'm going through highs and lows when I consider my performance. I got badly tore up and taken down..my confidence got destroyed then restored...

didn't have my best day...but was cheered for my perseverance...coming off the ground and finishing. The results haven't been posted up yet...but I'm guessing that I finished middle of the pack. Part of me is upset with my results...part of me is just satisfied to have pulled it off. I should have finished in the 25-26 hr range..with a pipe dream of doing it in 24 hrs....but then...why can't I just have fun and not concern myself with time?

This race changed me. I'll race a 50M or 50K here and there...but I'm mostly interested in running 100M races. The 100 milers are what blow my mind....but they take their toll. I still say it's not healthy...not good for my body's health.

* I don't think I'll ever race while I'm sick again. My body is feeling all that stress now..and as I digest what I did to make it through the race..I have to consider that I'm not sound in the head. I would never push another person into doing what I did. I probably took a yr off my life span.

It came back to me (and this is an example my race madness):

At the Candy Store aid station...right before I started vomiting...my wife was telling the station captain (who..like I said before...is a legend and a member of my club) that I had the flu all week. I got mad and told her and him that it wasn't an excuse and that I was fine and to stop talking about it...getting more pissed...more negative...getting more sick

I said all kinds of shit through the day and night to various people. Looking back at it...I have to believe I was out of my mind at times or so deep in concentration that if you weren't on the same plain as I was...it must have sounded outlandish. My thoughts verbalized during these times..probably would have been better kept in silent folds.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

Sounds like quite the learning experience.