This morning I woke up really early and went down to catch a train into Manayunk, a section of Philadelphia. I was meeting my brother there to watch the 27th Annual Philadelphia International Cycling Championship. I got off the train before my brother was done getting ready, so I walked up "The Wall."
"The Wall" is a hill in Manayunk with a 17% incline and lasts for about half a mile. Basically, it feels like you're going straight up. I've never braved it on my bike. Until today, I had never even seen it. I'll tell you what, though, having seen it, I don't know if I care to ever make the attempt. Not until my weight gets down, anyway.
The bike race itself goes up "The Wall" 10 times. It's a circuit race that goes for 156 miles. It also co-occurs with a woman's race called the "Liberty Classic." The men started ten minutes before the women and we watched as they all went up "The Wall." All 10 times. For the first 6-7 laps, we stood at the top and watched the riders come up. After the second or third lap, we clocked a break away for the men at over eight and a half minutes! INSANE! The break away group would have caught the woman's group had they not only gone 5 laps. By the time the pelaton passed us for the last time, we had traveled down to the bottom of the hill to watch them fly down Main Street and turn up towards "The Wall."
I really enjoyed watching this race. The best part was learning something about myself. I'm much more able to control myself than I used to be. The Manayunk Bike Race is a haven for young men and women to start drinking at 7:00am and be drunk for the rest of the day. I had zero adult beverages. Zero. I also controlled my eating really well. We didn't have much of an option for lunch. My brother and I each ate half a cheese steak and a bottle of water. I also had a Clif bar for a mid-morning snack. I had my breakfast at around 7:00am and my snack at around 10:30 or so. Lunch was at maybe 1:00, I didn't notice the time. But until about 4:00, I didn't have any other food. By the time we got lunch, I knew I was hungry, but that small amount of food (albeit high in calories) was satiating enough to hold out until 4:00 when I had a Lara Bar.
Because of my early wake up call and being out all day, I haven't worked out yet and I'm a little low on water. I'm going to grab a quick workout on Exercise TV and then start cooking dinner so my beautiful wife has something to eat when she gets home!
Tomorrow night is our Ultimate Frisbee League game. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm sure my calf will be put to the test. Hopefully it holds up!
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