NHRA News: Agonizing day brings Dunn & Baze back down to earth (1/2/2004)

Agonizing day brings Dunn & Baze back down to earth

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
1/2/2004

The fun and exuberance felt just one day ago has suddenly left the drag racing duo of Whit Bazemore and Mike Dunn, who are trying to complete a nearly 800-mile cycling journey across Florida.

Heading into the final two days of the ride this weekend, Dunn, who serves as lead drag racing analyst on ESPN, is laboring the most with inflammation in his right ankle that has caused him to fall back from the pack on a few occasions. Bazemore, meanwhile, says the overall agony of six straight days in the saddle is catching up with him.

The Gator Hell Week gang spent most of Friday riding through orange groves as they wound their way from Winter Garden to Avon Park. Early on, from Winter Garden to Haines City, they enjoyed mostly flat land with some small hills that skirted the edge of the gargantuan Disney complex. Then, after a stop for lunch on the banks of Lake Wales, it was back into citrus country for a back-road passage to Avon Park where they'll spend the night.

The end of Gator Hell Week is still two days away but with Friday's 100-mile leg added onto their previous total of 514 miles, Bazemore and Dunn are now just 161 miles from the end of their journey.

Friday's journal entry for NHRA.com readers has observations from both riders.

Baze and Dunn's Hell Week: Day 6
Dunn: I was really hurting today. My right ankle around the Achilles is really giving me trouble. To compensate I'm pedaling harder with my left leg, which is kind of a dangerous move because I could blow out both sides and then I'd be done. To put it in drag racing terms I feel like I've got two cylinders out on the right side and it's causing a major push.

Dunn labors up a hill alone.

I don't see this getting better on this ride. I'll just try and nurse it in so I can finish. Certainly, this lowers the odds of me finishing the ride. If it's only inflamed I should be okay with aspirin and ice. If it tears, I'm done.

I think I did this on Day 3 when we were climbing Sugarloaf Mountain. I got up on the pedals then and just really pushed it to the top of the mountain. I was really sore that night. Then this morning a felt a little pop down there, which probably isn't good.

The problem now is that I can't stand up on the pedals to push up any hills we come across so it's become harder to stay up with the group. They dropped me today a couple of times and I probably rode 30 or 40 miles by myself. Not being able to draft people and rest just wears you down that much quicker. We'll just have to take this day by day and see what happens.

Bazemore: It's the sixth day so the end is in sight, which is good because today was hard. We rode hard from the start, almost like a race at times, so we're tired. It was good and fun, but hard.

Bazemore leads Dunn down a small hill.

The great thing about this ride is that it's something that is extremely hard and very challenging and it'll be an accomplishment we can be proud of for a long time. I know that a year ago I never would have thought I could do something like this at all. It will be very, very satisfying for us to finish. I'll be happy when it's over but I'll also be excited to go home and ride 100 miles, which I'll probably do a couple of times before we go out west and start the season, and be able to do it with a lot less effort then I have at any time in the past.

Cycling is about pushing yourself. It's about setting goals and then going out there and achieving them, despite some major suffering. It's really no different then racing where you have to pay your dues and go through hard times when you never win until finally, one day, you learn how to be successful.

Knowing we're getting closer to finishing this ride is very cool. We're not just cruising; we're riding hard every day. Mentally and physically we've tested ourselves. Before you start, you look at this thing and it's like a mountain that you can't see the top of. Then you just start working at it and you make stuff happen. Before you know it you've got 161 miles to go.

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