I mentioned too long ago that I would write about Larry and I finally have gotten around to it … sorry for the delay! For a little prelude and lead in to my article you should shoot over to Rob Chance’s blog that included Larry a couple months ago. http://robchancesworld.blogspot.com/2007/09/hay-is-in-barn.html (Best place to start is four paragraphs down.)
The reason this guy brings back memories has a lot to do with what we had (have) in common and the stories that evolved from Larry just trying. Trying to go hard, trying to go long, trying to go long and hard, and trying to break the will of those not willing to go long or hard enough. The other bond I have to Larry is through a few of the clients I still work with In Tulsa, Oklahoma. From Rob’s story you he mentions a 160 mile ride that they ventured out on last year, well I have my own story about Larry and our 160 mile ride.
Rob used the word tenacious and tough to describe Larry, but forgot to use the word relentless. Back about 8 years ago Larry was getting ready for Ironman Hawaii and he was looking for a podium spot at the World Championships. As he set out to do one of his last big training weekends he was seeking out someone to join him on a 162 mile ride from Grand Lake Oklahoma to Parsons Kansas … and back! Rolling terrain, hot, sometimes windswept with very few stop signs / lights would describe the perfect training ground to prepare for an Ironman in Kona. For some reason Larry was seeking out me for this ride. Why me? Hmmm, I live almost 2 hours away and there have to be a lot of people that live closer than him who might want to go out and play. “What the heck, I’ll go train with the legend”.
I made the journey from home early in the morning wondering what it would be like to go on, by far, my longest bike ride EVER. As I rolled up about sunrise, Larry and Donna were ready to roll. All I needed to do was to fill my bottles and take a leak. Larry’s brief ride description sounded something like this … “We’ll stop briefly at 30 miles, 60 miles and then grab some food in Parsons before we head back stopping in the same places”. This sounded great to me because I dislike long stops on bike rides. He also mentioned that Donna was going to do a century and would ride the first 50 miles out with us. In my mind I was thinking a 50 mile warm up or at least 50 miles of him being gentle to his lovely wife. As we rolled out Larry looked at me and said, “Dave, in a few miles we’ll alternate 3minute pulls for the ride”. I assumed Donna would be “pulling” as well and thought that would be cool. Larry immediately goes to the front and he is pulling at 22 miles an hour … uuuuh we still have 150 miles to go dumb ass. So I take my 3 minute pull, keeping the pace up, pull off and expect Donna to come through and slow things to at least 20mph … NOT … Larry comes through at 22mph and Donna lets me in behind Larry. Thansk Donna! We rolled into and out of our first bottle filling station in about 5 minutes and we are immediately back up to 22 mph … by now I have figured out the way this was going to play out. Basically 162 miles ride done as 3 min intervals at faster than Ironman effort then 3min at to slightly under Ironman effort. To break the tempo slightly we did sit up, for about 30 seconds, at 50 miles to say good bye to Donna.
From that point on nothing changed … 3/3, drink, 3/3 and so it rolled! We finally got to Parsons in what seemed like rather quick fashion. I simply didn’t know quite how fast as I wasn’t paying attention to anything other than 3 minute intervals, the road in front of me or Larry’s rear wheel. We did take about a 20+ minute break to load up on some extra calories in Parsons and then off we went in our 3 minute rotating buzz-saw. Things were OK until we got to about the 125 mile mark when my blood sugars cratered, BAD … the dreaded bonk. I had to gather up the courage to tell Larry what was happening. I said I would take his wheel into the next stop at the 130 mile mark. That I did, seeing nothing but the tread on his rear tire, and some stars. OH, Larry was still going 22 miles per hour! He was doing this with or without me. We rolled into the little country “everything store” and I buried the HUGO size Mountain Dew, filled one bottle with more Mountain Dew and the other bottle with water. Off we went and I was back good enough to start rotating in 3’s again. The funny thing was the MT Dew was raging through my veins and at about 155 miles I started really rolling it … just then Larry decides it’s time to cruise in. Dang it ;) We rolled back into the lake house, grabbed a quick shower and Donna had piled up enough food for an entire cycling team. Eggs, loads of fruit and drinks, you know how it goes … thanks Donna!
As we sat and discussed the ride I believe Larry revealed to me that it was the fastest he had ever done that ride. “Cool” I say … “how long did it take us”? I get that data, 7:20 … right at about 22 miles per hour! Because of the fog in my head it took me a few minutes to process that. We chatted some more and he offered to let me stay the night instead of driving back home. In reality it was a great idea to sat, but I knew Larry was going to run 20 miles in the morning. If I was there in the morning I somehow would have ended up running 20 miles … I WAS SO OUT OF THERE!
A couple days later I found out Larry ran for 3 hours the next day and covered about 22-23 miles … I managed to get 10 in before settling into a long nap! If my memory serves me right Larry went on finish second in his age group in Kona that year and fulfilled his goal of the podium spot!
At the time the one thing I never able to piece together, “why was it me that got reeled into that epic ride”? Come to find out it was a bit of a compliment. Larry wanted to find someone who could push him to be his best, BUT he wasn’t afraid to try and break that person in the process. (Unfortunately, sometimes Larry would break himself because his mind can be stronger than his body) Bent on that day, but not broken, it took me years to see the compliment in that invitation of Larry Krutka. It wasn’t long ago, while speaking with one of my Oklahoma clients, I found out Larry still tells stories of that day and how fast we rode together … together! Thanks for letting me be a part of “The Legend” Larry. Maybe one day we can all get together and do that ride again … an hour slower ;)
DL
The reason this guy brings back memories has a lot to do with what we had (have) in common and the stories that evolved from Larry just trying. Trying to go hard, trying to go long, trying to go long and hard, and trying to break the will of those not willing to go long or hard enough. The other bond I have to Larry is through a few of the clients I still work with In Tulsa, Oklahoma. From Rob’s story you he mentions a 160 mile ride that they ventured out on last year, well I have my own story about Larry and our 160 mile ride.
Rob used the word tenacious and tough to describe Larry, but forgot to use the word relentless. Back about 8 years ago Larry was getting ready for Ironman Hawaii and he was looking for a podium spot at the World Championships. As he set out to do one of his last big training weekends he was seeking out someone to join him on a 162 mile ride from Grand Lake Oklahoma to Parsons Kansas … and back! Rolling terrain, hot, sometimes windswept with very few stop signs / lights would describe the perfect training ground to prepare for an Ironman in Kona. For some reason Larry was seeking out me for this ride. Why me? Hmmm, I live almost 2 hours away and there have to be a lot of people that live closer than him who might want to go out and play. “What the heck, I’ll go train with the legend”.
I made the journey from home early in the morning wondering what it would be like to go on, by far, my longest bike ride EVER. As I rolled up about sunrise, Larry and Donna were ready to roll. All I needed to do was to fill my bottles and take a leak. Larry’s brief ride description sounded something like this … “We’ll stop briefly at 30 miles, 60 miles and then grab some food in Parsons before we head back stopping in the same places”. This sounded great to me because I dislike long stops on bike rides. He also mentioned that Donna was going to do a century and would ride the first 50 miles out with us. In my mind I was thinking a 50 mile warm up or at least 50 miles of him being gentle to his lovely wife. As we rolled out Larry looked at me and said, “Dave, in a few miles we’ll alternate 3minute pulls for the ride”. I assumed Donna would be “pulling” as well and thought that would be cool. Larry immediately goes to the front and he is pulling at 22 miles an hour … uuuuh we still have 150 miles to go dumb ass. So I take my 3 minute pull, keeping the pace up, pull off and expect Donna to come through and slow things to at least 20mph … NOT … Larry comes through at 22mph and Donna lets me in behind Larry. Thansk Donna! We rolled into and out of our first bottle filling station in about 5 minutes and we are immediately back up to 22 mph … by now I have figured out the way this was going to play out. Basically 162 miles ride done as 3 min intervals at faster than Ironman effort then 3min at to slightly under Ironman effort. To break the tempo slightly we did sit up, for about 30 seconds, at 50 miles to say good bye to Donna.
From that point on nothing changed … 3/3, drink, 3/3 and so it rolled! We finally got to Parsons in what seemed like rather quick fashion. I simply didn’t know quite how fast as I wasn’t paying attention to anything other than 3 minute intervals, the road in front of me or Larry’s rear wheel. We did take about a 20+ minute break to load up on some extra calories in Parsons and then off we went in our 3 minute rotating buzz-saw. Things were OK until we got to about the 125 mile mark when my blood sugars cratered, BAD … the dreaded bonk. I had to gather up the courage to tell Larry what was happening. I said I would take his wheel into the next stop at the 130 mile mark. That I did, seeing nothing but the tread on his rear tire, and some stars. OH, Larry was still going 22 miles per hour! He was doing this with or without me. We rolled into the little country “everything store” and I buried the HUGO size Mountain Dew, filled one bottle with more Mountain Dew and the other bottle with water. Off we went and I was back good enough to start rotating in 3’s again. The funny thing was the MT Dew was raging through my veins and at about 155 miles I started really rolling it … just then Larry decides it’s time to cruise in. Dang it ;) We rolled back into the lake house, grabbed a quick shower and Donna had piled up enough food for an entire cycling team. Eggs, loads of fruit and drinks, you know how it goes … thanks Donna!
As we sat and discussed the ride I believe Larry revealed to me that it was the fastest he had ever done that ride. “Cool” I say … “how long did it take us”? I get that data, 7:20 … right at about 22 miles per hour! Because of the fog in my head it took me a few minutes to process that. We chatted some more and he offered to let me stay the night instead of driving back home. In reality it was a great idea to sat, but I knew Larry was going to run 20 miles in the morning. If I was there in the morning I somehow would have ended up running 20 miles … I WAS SO OUT OF THERE!
A couple days later I found out Larry ran for 3 hours the next day and covered about 22-23 miles … I managed to get 10 in before settling into a long nap! If my memory serves me right Larry went on finish second in his age group in Kona that year and fulfilled his goal of the podium spot!
At the time the one thing I never able to piece together, “why was it me that got reeled into that epic ride”? Come to find out it was a bit of a compliment. Larry wanted to find someone who could push him to be his best, BUT he wasn’t afraid to try and break that person in the process. (Unfortunately, sometimes Larry would break himself because his mind can be stronger than his body) Bent on that day, but not broken, it took me years to see the compliment in that invitation of Larry Krutka. It wasn’t long ago, while speaking with one of my Oklahoma clients, I found out Larry still tells stories of that day and how fast we rode together … together! Thanks for letting me be a part of “The Legend” Larry. Maybe one day we can all get together and do that ride again … an hour slower ;)
DL
1 comment:
Great write up Dave! If your readers want to know what it takes to podium at Hawaii. This is it. Having experienced this type of abuse personally,I heard Larry's voice as you wrote it.
Yesterday I went out on my first outdoor powercrank ride with Larry. I faded 30 min into the ride and was dropped big time by the legend who also was on powercranks in the TT position. The man knows no pain.
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