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”

We already know Rucks is an emotional cat and is somewhat in tune with his feminine side - as evidenced by his love for TAB(RS#124), women’s-only triathlons(RS#121) and his penchant for tears ( RS#144). Here is a little ditty from this past winter…….

Last winter was somewhat mild, with a few extremely cold weekends thrown in for good measure. Rucks is excited about having a coach, has been consistently losing weight, and has been riding/running/swimming regularly. Its easy to say at this point he is in a good training grove and forming good training habits(riding in the cold for one). On this particular day he has a 3 hour ride on the books and is adamant about leaving early to get it done.

He is rolling from home out toward Apison hoping the sun will rise and warm things up. He is a little underdressed for the temps b/c he is waiting on the winter fleeced lined team jacket he ordered to come in. About 30 minutes into the ride his fingers and toes are going numb and hurting a little. No big deal. He thinks:

“The sun is coming up soon and will warm things up”

A few minutes later he can barely move his fingers to shift or brake.He starts to get a little concerned

“Sweet mother, I wish the dang sun would warm things up”

He is still making progress away from home and the situation is getting dire, he is now thinking out loud( well cursing out loud…):

“D@# its %@#ing cold out here … what the….@#$ am i doing!!!!”

A few minutes later his face is so numb he is now slurring his out loud epitaphs. Finally, frozen and beat down he blubbers these words:

“If it doesn’t warm up in 15 minutes snif..snif I am calling my dad to come get me”

Long story short: RS#68 = Rucks got so cold on a ride one time that he actually cried and very nearly called the old man to come and get him.

RS#82 The Ariel Story

Once again we are back on the road with Rucks and USX, just like when he swam in the pond, took an Ambien, tried to smuggle contraband onto an airplane ,swam 1 mile in a 12 yard pool, etc…..This time he is in Birmingham to work at a customer we have there. Its Spring 2006 and this is still pre IM training Rucks, which means not only was he a tad heavier, he still drank on occasion, and would go-out at night instead of to bed at 8 pm.

He is at a bar and meets this nice girl, has few drinks and gets to talking. She is on the way to Montgomery and will be back through Birmingham in a couple days, so they plan to hook up then. She swings by in a couple days and — I am guessing here because Rucks is not a kiss and tell kind of guy– fireworks went off and everyone was happy.

Fast forward a couple months and Chad has been telling me he has a story for me. He gets around to telling it to me and Ben over lunch one day at Moes. It is pretty much identicle to the one above except for this extra little tid bit

Now since marital fidelity is one of the cornerstones of my personal code of moral,ethical, and religious beliefs, you can see the dilema Rucks had put me in. (oddly enough the “Homewrecker” is my favorite dish at Moes’s….)

So, after a couple of days I decided I had to tell my wife even though there was like .0001 chance that anything would come of it. My good friend Rucks refused to come over and man up and tell her himself , so I had to take matters into my own hands.

The Storming of Manker Patten

A couple weeks before Eagleman, The Missile and I wanted to get one more open water swim in before the race. Rucks caught wind of it and asked if he could tag along. No problem.

We get there, position one of our cars at the end, get to the start and its raining. Rucks says “We are going to get wet anyway right?”
We all look a each other and say ok. Rucks starts about 5 minutes ahead, then The Missile goes, and then a couple minutes later I start. It was raining and misty and you could not see very far So I was a little concerend, but we had planned to stay closer to the shore than normal so I figured we would be ok

About 15 minutes in I catch The Missile and he says “I Think I heard thunder” we listen a minute and nothing, so we keep on going. I keep looking back every few strokes to keep an eye on The Missile. Once after doing one of these checks ,something on shore catches my eyes. Its a flash of red and arms waiving, “I think cant be Rucks?” After a double take it IS Rucks , 20 yards up the bank in front off the tennis courts. I think” What in the Hell is that joker doing up there?”

Well, he had heard the thunder as well and waved us out of the water. The Missile and I scrambled up the bank to where Rucks was. I say “great now what are we going to do?” Rucks says “come on this way, this is a regular short cut for me” I say “Through the Tennis courts, are you kidding?” He says “No”
So the 3 of us are walking through the complex with tri shotrts, no shoes, and Rucks ironically is the only one with a tri-suit on.

I am fairly cold so I suggest we jog the 3/4 of a mile back to the car. We all get going. For some reason we take the steps down to Veterans bridge (like on the Waterfront Tri run course). Needless to say there are a lot of cars going by and plenty of honking. We get back to the car and Rucks says: ” Well great!!! My two friends, my pals!!!!!!!…. Thanks A lot!!!!”…… The Missile looks at me and we shrug. Rucks continues ” You couldnt even tell me I still had my dang pink swim cap on!!!!” ” No wonder we got honked at so much!!!” I say “Hey man I thought you were leaving it on for warmth, I told you 3 times you still had it on”……..

Waterfront RR-Long story short: Major letdown

Pre race- everything goes smoothly. Get there on time, get wheels pumped up, and a good transition spot, and up to the swim start with no major problems.

Swim: Pretty good here , comes out of the water with a solid 4:30 lead over the other unknowing competitor in the smackdown

T1- needs a little work here but still putting time into him

Bike: Solid effort here again considering the hills and that we are talking about a clydesdale smackdown. This should have been more “free” time for Rucks to put into the bank to pad the run a little. The problem is that he got a little overzealous on the Accelerade intake. When I say overzealous I dont mean a little too much and his stomach got a little upset, I mean like he had 1 whole waterbottle of the stuff downed before he made the first left onto MLK! Major stomach issues ensued due the mixing of the 4:1 ratio of carbs to protien in this formula and the high heart rates of a 40k tt. (unfortunately he did not “leave the competition behind” as the marketing for accelerade promises)

Run: 3 words: Violent Projectile Vomiting. Rucks was off the bike ahead but in bad shape and things went downhill from the first step. The stomach was not processing and we all know “the Slosh” he was feeling and what it was leading too. After a couple of pit stops and having to watch the smackdown competitor waltz by him obliviouse –and with a smile on his face– just added insult to injury. The good news is that our boy manned up, finished the race, clocked in at sub 3 hours, and has one more issue to check off the list of things not to do at Ironman