For the past three years Tom Wick (Garage Racing) and Martin Criminale (FareStart Cycling Team) have joined Elden Nelson’s (aka “Fatty,” aka the “FatCyclist”) 100 Miles of Nowhere project, which is “to ride an infuriatingly small course for 100 miles to raise money for the fight against cancer.” Picture hundreds of riders all over North America (or beyond?) riding rollers or around “infuriatingly small courses” for 100 miles. This is year five of the 100 Miles of Nowhere, and it has become so popular that it now sells out in about 12 hours.
The first two years Tom and Martin rode their rollers on Tom’s roof deck, but last year year they turned it into a slightly more high-profile event by riding at Marymoor Velodrome, which included a considerable amount of motor pacing by Phil “Bilko” Stephens. Marymoor was the venue again this year, and this time they were joined by Jerry Shafer who was fresh (?) off of winning the 12 Hr Men’s 50+ Lewis and Clark Ultra last weekend.
Sidebar: On June 16 Jerry will be cycling for 12 hours on the velodrome in an attempt to break the 60-69 year age group records for the fastest 100 miles (currently 4 hours 57 minutes), fastest 200 miles (currently 10 hours 56 minutes), and most miles in 12 hours (currently 218 miles). His fundraiser, “Share with Jerr,” is dedicated to raising funds in the fight against retinoblastoma. To entice throngs of supporters, the event will include food, music, and a raffle.
I briefly witnessed their suffering while I waited for a separate group to gather in the parking lot for the 4th Annual Davis Phinney Foundation Benefit Ride with Glenn Erickson–which is how I spent my Sunday morning. At that point they were about half-way done, which happily coincided with the training plans of a number of other folks who formed a paceline that helped them through miles ~50-60. The timing of the paceline was a big relief to Tom and Martin who where both feeling the physical and mental strain at that point.
They pushed on until mile 60 before taking a break, which gave them a mental uplift because at that point they had crested the half-way point. The ride was difficult for everyone: Martin’s back was bothering him (the positioning on track bikes isn’t exactly the best for a 100-mile effort), and Jerry had a serious headache and he eventually withdrew from the ride.
They averaged more than 25mph for the first hour, then slowed down a bit for the remainder of the ride. But they didn’t slow down that much: Martin’s speedometer clocked 100.29 miles in 4:03:51 of ride time, an average speed of 24.7mph, and a total time of 4:20.
Tom obsessed about the distance while Martin felt like it was too painful to monitor the 100 mile ride in .25 mile increments. After four hours of elapsed time they had covered 93 miles and after Tom gave Martin a status update, the light bulb went off for Martin as he realized they were almost done. After momentarily relishing this “pleasant surprise” they both stayed on the track and kept up the effort for the final laps.
Tom and Martin’s version of the Nowhere ride certainly qualifies as about as “nowhere” as possible, just a notch above riding rollers or a trainer for 100 miles. I asked Tom whether he knew of anyone else riding to Nowhere in a velodrome, and apparently not. So, perhaps that fact will set Tom and Martin apart in the Nowhere mythology.
Meanwhile, at Volunteer Park John McHale (20/20 Fuel Cycling), who was part of last year’s motor paced velodrome crew, rode his own version of Nowhere. John circled Volunteer Park 147 times to raise funds for Camp Kesem; donations mostly came from a group he rides with and Fuel/2020 riders.
As the day started it was only squirrels and John, but as the day progressed he got to observe a day in the life of Volunteer Park: Early morning runners, walkers and dog walkers; a weird modeling agency photo shoot at 7:30AM; then later in the morning large crowds gathered for an ultimate frisbee match, some medieval gamesmanship and visitors to the art museum and conservatory. Several of his fellow 2020/Fuel riders stopped by and rode laps with him, and his wife and 13-year old son also joined him for a bit.
Tom thinks of John as an amazingly fast rider, so he was impressed to hear John’s post-ride report: “Whewwwww. I am spent. That hill. I had fun…”
Congrats to Tom, Martin, John, and Jerry–quite an inspiring bit of work for a good cause!
