THE MELTDOWN

A Few weeks ago during the August heat wave Rucks and I went out for a Tues ride. I had no particular workout on the books for the day, Rucks had 3X20 minutes increasingly harder on each leg. The plan was for me to just stay on his wheel and keep the HR in check. We meet up and its off to the workout. Chad gets into his rhythm and the first set goes ok. We were moving fairly well considering the conditions and I think to myself ” Its pretty hot, he may have done that one too hard.” Rucks does his recovery and gets into the second 20 min set , the first 10 minutes go well. Half way through the second set things start going south. Its really hot and Rucks is going through his water bottles fast. His speed is going down and my HR is now in the low 120s. The meltdown has begun.

He is getting pissed at himself and starts transforming into “angry Chad” I have learned NOT to mess with this manifestation of his personality. He bellows “Go on!!” so I do. I ride out ahead and then stop after a few miles and wait to make sure he is ok. When he rides up its like nothing I have ever seen, the meltdown is now in full effect. He is glazed over and he has his helmet hanging to one side . Its off his head and hooked on to his body somehow, giving him the appearance of Siamese twins or a two headed monster. I suggest he put his helmet back on for the last 4 miles , or better yet sit on the side of the road and let me go get the car and come back for him. He looks at me like if I say another word he will kill me so I “escort” him back as best I can, praying for no incidents and that we make it home ok. We get home at his pace 30 minutes later(4 miles -30 minutes you do the math) and I almost feel like I need to drive him home as well. He says: “No way dude” and leaves.

Two weeks later when I feel like I can ask him about it without getting smashed, I ask:

Me: Hey, how did you have your helmet hooked on a couple weeks ago when you melted down that day”
Rucks: “What are you talking about?”
Me: Your helmet was hanging off your shoulder somehow…..”
Rucks: I have clipped it onto my bibstrap before , but I dont remember doing it that day, are you sure?”
Me: “Oh trust me you had it that way, I was really freaked out, I have never seen anyone that zonked on a ride before”
Rucks: Well its better than your dang swim stroke!!! Jerk!!!!”
Bridget: (overhearing the conversation and a little put-off by Chad ragging me in front of her): “Hey!! how would you like it if he made fun of you like that!!!!!”

Moving out and on

Fortunately for Rucks (not for us), he is off the road for USX now and planted comfortably behind a desk. What this means is there will no longer be any training related misadventures from exotic locales. I guess you could say it is the end of an era in a sense. In classic Rucks fashion however he has not disappointed in his new arrangement……

Since he is off the road he has leased a place. He took a day off to move and spends the afternoon moving heavy pieces of furniture and TV’s into the new digs. He is excited about the upcoming college football season and has a gig planned for Saturday afternoon: cookout, 3 TV’s showing the 3 big games, lots of friends coming over for a good time. He is finally settled in, resting on the couch and ready for the next days festivities; things are looking up for our boy, until:

Phone rings

Rucks: Hello?
Female Voice:” High is this Chad Rucks?”
Rucks: “Yes , who is calling”
Female Voice: “This is Shannon from Crye Leike, and I was wandering if I could show your home on Saturday at 2 pm”
Rucks: “Show my home!!! Are you kidding me? I just moved in yesterday!!”

Evidently there was a misunderstanding

“Well speak of the devil!!!!” Garth at East Ridge bikes a few weeks ago as Rucks and McCombs walk into the shop.

Sean and Rucks were at the shop to get the Phantom Lucero tuned up. They both assumed Garth was talking to Sean since he used to be a wrench there and knew everyone who worked there. However, they quickly realized that the group of shop employees were in fact referring to Rucks, since they were all looking at our boy. Rucks had that deer-in-headlights look he glazes over with and was thinking to himself “What now???”

As they are leaving and Brimer is mouthing off to Rucks about being a dumba#$$, Sean quips:

Training with Rucks and the thanks you get

Since Rucks and I are both training for a late season IM, we have been doing some long rides lately. His coach is big on swims before long rides. Lately I have gravitated toward this line of thinking in my preparation as well, with transitoon runs off the bike thrown in too. This past weekend was no different. The plan for the day was a long swim,followed by long ride, followed by a short transition run. We were doing the infamous Chris Frank Ft Pain (Ft Payne Al) out and back 102 mile ride with some extra mileage thrown in at the end for good measure. Chris was going with us.

The DTY was closed and I had no access to swim on Sat am (Chris was nice enough to call me on Thrs and tell me the pool was closed Sat). So now the plan is to pay to swim at the Rush and then drive downtown and meet Chris at 0715. We get to the Rush and in the water at 5:20 do the 4k swim, Chad does his workout and we head down for the ride. We meet Chris and are off. Ride goes well, the last 51 are in a steady headwind and Chad is hanging in there like a champ, which is impressive ’cause Chris was laying down a good pace on the way out and I was steady on the way back. Rucks hangs on all the way back and then we add a few extra miles in by going out to Red Bank and then over to the Bend. Transition run is complete we have one more long day on the books:

Rucks: ” So about swim stroke?” (since his swim workout was shorter he had some time to look at my swim stroke)
Gibson: ” Yeah?”(getting ready to dispense some wisdom)
Rucks: “You realize that your left arm just swings up and out aimlessly, it doesnt look right at all. It sort of flails up in the air, with no particular form or direction, its like you are just throwing it up there and hoping it will land in the water the right way, I am not sure you are doing it right…. but the other one looks perfect”