Monday, July 27, 2009

24 Hour Virginity- LOST



Can you think of anything better to do than ride a bike for 24 hours? Only about about a million, right! Well I know two Sisu boys who lost their 24 hour endurance virginity this past weekend, for one, Tom Carpenter, it was a great experience, I think ? and Tyler had a memorable experience as well, but one he soon would like to forget! Tom Carp kicked butt having the fastest night lap and one of the fastest averages overall and Tyler having severe gastric distress and still turning in one of the fastest laps of the day, including one lap to the Wausau Hospital E.R. for a 2 liter intravenous pit stop. Mechanicals were in store for Glen, broken chain in B.F.E., with no tools, time for heel-toe express! A good Samaritan at Red Bud Road donated Glen a bike, wrong pedals, a single speed, no light (its pitch F'n dark) and five miles through a rock garden to go to transition! As you can see Team Sisu had some serious obstacles to overcome! We went from First to Worst in a hurry!
A definition of SISU is "intestinal fortitude" (a.k.a. GUTS) and that is exactly what I saw from this team. Tom turning in stellar night laps and Glen riding a borrowed bike, we slowly clawed our way back up the leader board. With 2 hours and 23 minutes to go and Team Sisu in third place, being 12 minutes out of 1st and 11:45 out of second , our strategy was set, Glen had to ride his fastest lap of the day and Tom (riding with only one lap's rest) had to ride the fastest lap of THE race. "Sisu" should be emblazoned on Tom's chest because he pulled us 7 minutes closer in one lap after racing all out for 24 HOURS! We only obtained a third place podium spot but it was definitely not a lack of SISU!
Team Sisu had a HUGE amount of support from the "WSG Girls"(who by the way took first in the 12 Hour race) and all of our SIGNIFICANT" others! Its nice to hear a cheer from Patty P.(a girl who never sleeps) for Team Sisu at 5:30 a.m. when your tongue is hanging out and you've got severe tunnel vision from sleep deprivation. Kudos to the "Houghton Boys" for placing 4th!


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