In 2005 I competed in 2 Ultra events. The first was last June, the National 24 hour Challenge in Michigan. Unfortunately, 65 miles in my rear derailleur slipped on an uphill and went it caught again, I felt my right knee go. At first I thought I just strained the muscle so I kept going. The next uphill, I couldn't put any weight on it and end up walking up the hill. At 71.5 miles and checkpoint 2 I had to drop out, very disappointed.
After driving 1100 miles to race, I ended up with a training ride and an injury. It turned out that I had torn a ligament.
Race 2 last year was the Texas Time Trials in Cleburne Texas. It was a beautiful route and lots of fun, but I ended up with only 140 miles.

I hope to do much better in 2006 but it didn't start that way. I was on the road for work all but 2 weeks from January 1st to April 8th, so I didn't get much training time in. I was able to get some riding on some weekends and in hotel gyms, but that is not the same. I got more done in March than other months, but not enough.

In February I entered the 24 Hours of Sebring which was fun but I was totally unprepared. I got heat exhaustion after 100 miles so I got out of the sun for awhile. I went out again later but only got 20 more miles in. To make matters worse, the only 12 mile loop I did, didn't register when I passed the checkpoint so I got credit for 108 miles.

Jumping ahead to April, I am finally getting in the riding that I need to do. I have been riding 5 and 6 days per week and am feeling pretty good. In 2 weeks I am doing the Calvins Challenge, a 12 hour race in Ohio. My goal is 150 miles

In June, it is back to Michigan to try and redeem myself after last year. My goal is 271.5 miles or better- 200 more than last year. I think if I can make it off of the first loop with no problems I can do it.

Three weeks after Michigan is the Saratoga 12/24 in New York that I am considering. Since it is the weekend after the 4th and so close to the last race, I am not sure yet.

The August race is a definite- the New England 24 hour Challenge in Massachusetts. This will be the 3rd or 4th 24 hour race this year so hopefully I can break 340 miles by then. If my mileage is good at this point, I will enter the North American 24-Hour Championship in Iowa in September, on Chases Birthday. This race is necessary to be in the running for top 24 hour position in the John Marino Competition.

In October I am definitely going back to the Texas Time Trials. I am probably only doing the 24 hour race, but if I have broken 350 in a 24 hour race by then, I will do the Tejas 500.

Well, time to go ride, thanks for reading!

Welcome to my Blog! Let me tell you about why I created it and how I got here.

My name is Alan "Randy" Matchett. I am a Security Consultant and Author by trade, but my true passion is Ultramarathon Cycling. I started cycling about 20 years ago when I lived in Edgewood MD. In 1987 I moved to White Oak MD and was on a local team out of Olney MD.
Then I had a bad accident while training that changed my life. On a long downhill, a car pulled out from a driveway without looking. I tried to avoid a collision and went into a berm, throwing myself and my bike into a wall. After calling me a few choice words, the driver just left. Nice guy, huh? I was 12 miles from home, bleeding and my bike was scrap, yet no one stopped.

After my head cleared some, I began walking home, laying across the remains of my bike. Finally, about 2 miles from home a friend saw me and took me to the Hospital. I had 6 compressed vertebrea in my upper back and neck and a concussion. It took me quite awhile to recover, during which time I went from 148 pounds at 5'11" to over 200 pounds.

I quit cycling and any kind of exercise for a number of years, concentrating mostly on my work. I gained more weight and felt generally bad a lot of the time. I started smoking and wasn't taking care of myself very well. My back hurt just about all of the time and that was my excuse to do nothing.

In 2001, I got sick and tired of looking and feeling like crap. I decided it was time for a change no matter how much it hurt. I had peaked out at 240 pounds and hadn't exercised much in years, but I still had one of my old racing bikes, a Fiorelli. I decided that it was time to get in better shape and cycling would be my way back.

I changed my eating habits and began riding on an indoor trainer. At first it was all I could do to ride 20 minutes. Eventually though, I began riding longer and losing some weight. Amazingly, I was also starting to feel better so I wanted to do more. In what seemed like no time but was actually just under a year, I was down to 185 pounds. My back hasn't hurt since I dropped below 200.

So that is how I got back into Cycling. I will post about starting the Ultramarathon cycling in my next post and tell you about my run for RAAM.