It's Not About The Pig (Dan Driscoll & Diane Murray, Cochise County Classic, 19 Oct 02)

We had just returned from our annual Colorado ride the "Bike Binge" and I needed a goal for the Fall.  I decided to do a crash training plan and complete my first Ironman Triathlon in Florida. Diane said she did not know how to swim and also needed a goal to motivate herself.  So with 7 weeks to go, we started training for The Cochise County Cycling Classic, a 252 mile race in Arizona.  We decided to make an attempt on the mixed tandem record, so our training was on our trusty tandem nicknamed Miss Piggy.  We enlisted Mike Berry as our personal drill sergeant. He had us riding 6 days a week and even spent every Wednesday night as our personal indoor spin doctor, making sure our heart rates went through the roof.  Mark Metcalfe decide that 252 miles sounded fun, so now we had some one besides ourselves to talk to at 10:00 pm on Tuesday and Thursday nights at Joe Pool Damn with 70 miles to do. The schedule included three 180 mile rides, well one was 200, sorry my mistake, it only made us a few minutes late for the Lone Star Awards Banquet. 5 weeks of training and 2 weeks of tapering ( my favorite part ) and it was show time. 

Mike Morris volunteered to be our required support for the race and as we started packing,  Gay decided she wasn't going to miss out on the fun and also volunteered. We departed Wednesday night at 9:00 pm and as Diane and I snored in the back of Gay's van, Mike and Gay took turns driving all night to Douglas, Arizona, about 16 hours straight through.  The next day was spent previewing the course. It really did not look all that bad from in the van.  Some more food and a few hours of sleep and it was midnight and time to rise and shine, the race started at 2:00 am. 

There were 32 riders at the start, the moon was full and the temperature was pleasantly cool. The first 20 miles were moderately paced except when Mark decided to make sure his legs were warmed up enough to drop the pack for a couple of miles. We got a nice cheer from the women's penitentiary as we rode by and then a brilliant shooting star erupted overhead, a befitting climax for the start of the event. Now came the work, Mule Pass, Miss Piggy got dropped a mile from the top. As we passed through the tunnel at the peak and started our 50 mph decent in the dark we could see the leaders, but could not catch them. We rode most of the rest of the ride alone, enjoying some highs and lows.  I won't say that Diane and I were difficult to support, but both of us are glad that Mike and Gay did not have a gun.  They would hand off bananas and we would say Powerbars.  They would give us Powerbars and we would say bananas.  Finally, Gay would drive by us and Mike would lean out the window holding up one of every different kind of food in the van till we nodded our heads.  Gay is so cool.  She made us soup in a baggie so we could just bit the end off and drink.

Just when we thought the fun would never end, we were done a mere 13:31 later - good enough to be the second best time in the record books for a mixed tandem!  After all is said and done, I have to agree with Lance, it is not about the Pig, it is about all of the great friends we have. Mike and Gay did every thing they could to help us with our goal, Mark and Jim rode miles with us when we were tired and whining, friends called to inquire about our sanity, relatives took care of Diane's dog. Life is good and Miss Piggy is back in the garage.   

Happy Trails, Dan and Diane.   

P.S. Congrats to Mark on 7th place overall.