This morning’s temperature was 6°F and there is still a lot of ice on the roadways. It just isn’t safe to be outside on the bike.
I climbed aboard the Instrument of Extreme Torture, put Sufferfest: Angels on the tv and spun for a hard 20 minutes. I just didn’t have the time or dedication to commit more time to the effort (I slept 45 minutes longer than usual).
It looks like the cold temperatures are going to stay around for a while, and little if any snow melt will happen in the next 10 days or so. I’m going to be inside more than I really want.
With 5 inches of new snow yesterday and temperatures this morning at 5°F, there wasn’t any good reason to take a bike outside.
I know, that shocks you. But I have my limits.
I rode an easier spin this morning, and then had a mechanical. I quit after about 15 minutes and had to wait until later in the day to fix the mechanical and get another ride in.
I’ve been researching some Cycle Training Videos and decided to purchase two from thesufferfest.com. Their videos have driving music, pro racing scenes, strong intervals, and are downloadable as opposed to a DVD. I’ve got Chromecast on the TV in front of my trainer so I decided I would try to “cast” the video to that tv and try out one of the videos.
After some introductory material including appropriate warnings the program declares that there will be a 6.5 minute warm up, 10 minutes of over/under intervals (1 minute cadence/perceived effort based intervals), a 3 minute rest/recovery period, then 3 8 minute high intensity “climbs” each followed by 4 minute recovery period. During each of these 8 minute climbs there are a series of increased effort periods, scattered within the climb. Sound signals alert you to a change in requested intensity as well as large text based cues. Most of these were presented as attacks, since you are racing uphill.
Those 56 minutes went by in a blur, and before I knew it, I was done. That’s huge for me. Usually I’m trying to find something to occupy my mind after 10 minutes on the trainer. If nothing else, that’s a plus for this series.
I used this ride as a way to test out the video but also to find my level of effort. The perceived effort levels of 8/10 for most of the ride doesn’t give great guidance, but then these are not videos linked to a particular power meter or heart rate monitor so they do what they can. I found myself sticking to cadence as a pretty reasonable way to ramp things up. It gave me instant feedback and allowed the heart rate to climb. I had to back off the highest gear in the big chain ring of my 10 speed trainer to maintain throughout the video, but that gives me some room to improve.
Sufferfest is the name of this website and its products, and suffer I did. The intervals were good, and the video suggests that this will help my climbing ability. We will have to watch and see.
Here is a graph of my speed to show the intervals
And here is the graph of my heart rate to show the intervals
Those appear to be pretty solid intervals!
First impressions matter. It kept me on the bike nearly an hour. I never expected that to happen.
There were 7 of us out and riding this morning before the storm forecast to arrive in a few hours. Right now, 6 inches of snow is predicted and lows tomorrow morning are forecast to be in the single digits. Every single one of our regular riders indicated that it may be an indoor trainer day tomorrow.
Today’s ride was pleasant enough. We finished with a stop at the coffee stop. There was a fast group of four and a slower group (me included) content with an easy ride. Nothing much to report.
Backfilling a few days …
Yesterday was a day that I could have ridden for a very long time. I don’t quite know what happened, but about 20 minutes into the ride everything clicked. I was riding with a relatively low heart rate and good speed. My legs felt as though they were made for spinning. I was ready to ride all day, except for the fact that I had a to do list that was much too long to put off once again. I completely enjoyed the ride.
After the icy fall 10 days ago, I’ve only ridden 4 times … one of those was a 200k on 1/13/14. Work has just been too busy to keep up with the blog. I was out of town 3 days and had 3 funerals in 2 weeks. It adds up.
Updating on the miles and the Malaria project:
Malaria Campaign: 4,490 miles
Total Contributed & Pledged: $6,500
Last evening, the forecast for our morning ride today was light freezing rain. Checking the radar this morning at 4:45, it looked like the rain might hold off until about 8 am, so several of us communicated and decided to ride. When I left the house at 5:30 the air was dry as were the streets. By the time I got to the Rusty Bridge, there was a very light sprinkle starting.
Four of us pushed off from the Rusty Bridge and the rain intensity gradually increased. Another of our group joined us on Jennings Road, but decided pretty quickly to head home, not being dressed for rain.
The light rain wasn’t unpleasant, and things seemed ok until Old County Road just past Jones Station Road. Going downhill, my rear wheel started to fishtail and at first I thought I had a flat. Soon the bike was completely out of control and I laid the bike down and slid about 30 feet until I slid off the road into the ditch. The bike kept going. The others weren’t convinced I had hit a sheet of rain turned to ice on the roadway until a minute or two later, when we all noticed that our bikes were icing over on the top tube. They had been riding more center of the road than I was. There was more ice on the edges of the road. Dan immediately decided to head home. Scott, Mike, and I decided to go to Big Bean. Scott and I walked our bikes up the icy hill before we could safely mount our bikes at the top of the hill. We traveled Jones Station Road to the trail, walked across Hoyle and at Evergreen, Scott headed home. Mike and I wound up at Big Bean where I found some ice in the parking lot but stayed up. A friend came into the Big Bean and offered me a ride home in his truck. I took him up on it. Mike, with his studded tires, rode home.
The bike is ok. A steel fixie is a pretty hardy beast. I lost my rear fender either in the crash or in the truck ride home.
No injuries. Helmet was not impacted. I doubt I will even bruise. No torn clothing (there was no friction on the road). I was on my feet almost by the time the bike stopped moving.
How was your pre-dawn morning?
So this week saw 3 outdoor rides. Rain and 42°F, 8°F, & freezing rain. I do believe that is the week with the most extreme weather I’ve ridden in. I remember 4 years ago determining that dry and above 50°F was the only window I was willing to ride in.
Unless I climb onto the trainer this morning, that will do it for this week. I’m planning a 200K on Monday. The weather has to be better than what I’ve recently experienced.
And layers it was. I rode this morning with two others. My Garmin said it was 3.2 degrees out there, but it is always 5 degrees low. I’ll call it 8°F, my personal record low temperature ride. Yay for me!
I was mostly warm. I got cold where there were no layers.
Two balaclavas, a shower cap (wind barrier) and helmet kept me warm up top. There was ice in the shower cap after the ride. My cheeks were exposed a bit and were very cold until my heart rate got up there and kept the blood flowing.
Craft long sleeve layer, long sleeve insulated jersey, Showers Pass jacket kept my core warm.
Bib shorts and Gore Windstopper soft shell on my legs. I could have used another layer on my legs. My hips were like ice at the end of the ride.
Thick wool socks, Lake winter boots, toe cover, chemical hand warmer, plastic bag, insulated boot cover kept my feet warm and toasty.
Wool glove liners, Winter gloves, ski gloves and a chemical hand warmer (just in case) kept my hands from ever feeling any bit of cold.
Oh … the biggest warmer on the whole ride? A heart rate average of 134! That generates a lot of heat.
No frostbite. 1 hour 13 minutes of ride time.
It was a good morning.
Yesterday’s rain is now ice. Hard ice. Outside temperature is 4°F. We decided yesterday that none of us was going to risk a fall in those temperatures. And so the choice was made to mount the Instrument of Extreme Torture and ride some intervals. Yes, that’s the name of the beast called the trainer.
I’m riding a 70’s era Viscount Seabring steel 10 speed bike. It served me as a commuter in the 70’s and my daughter used it while in college. It has seen better days. The wheels spin and it gets me sweating.
But right now, 30 minutes on this spawn of the devil is about all I can bear to do. Yes, those are a hard 30 minutes because of the workout interval. My average heart rate is in the 140-145 range.
And for all that work … a measley 8.8 miles.
But I chose to climb aboard and punish myself. I’m looking forward to getting outside again.
Malaria Campaign: 4,266 miles
Total Contributed & Pledged: $6,389
Finally! I got back outside to ride this morning. Between the sinus & lung congestion and the recent weather, it has been tough to get out there. I was determined to ride. Conditions were not great. There are still piles of un-melted snow on the ground and on the roadways. The very chilly rain was only unpleasant after it infiltrated my shoes and my hands eventually became chilled too. But it was a ride!
It looks like tomorrow morning’s ride is called off. We are expecting temperatures to fall into the single digits later today/tonight. With all this rain on the roads, we expect a lot of ice and outdoor riding just won’t be safe.
Malaria Campaign: 4,257 miles
Total Contributed & Pledged: $6,384
Publishing goals is a great start in terms of accountability. So here goes nothing!
- Use the indoor trainer wisely to accompany regular outdoor riding. Intervals is the main plan for the trainer. (I hate trainers, but it looks like it is necessary at this point.)
- Complete a 1000k ride. A group of us are going to ride Lap Around the Lake (Ontario) in July!
- Complete my third Flèche (24 hour ride).
- Complete my third R-12 and with any luck at all, 29 consecutive months of riding a 200k or greater.
- Finish the Malaria Campaign with at least $9,000 raised by June 1, 2004.
- Finish the RUSA Route to Ocean City and back, get it submitted and approved.
- Have fun!
Bonus Goal: Dare I say it? Ride either an SR Series or a 1,200k. Everything has to work out perfectly for this to happen.
As so many of us do, I’m taking the opportunity to look back over 2013 and examine my accomplishments.
The goals I established for 2013 included:
- Flèche 2013. The route is nearly done. We are looking for one replacement team member. April 6-7 is the date.
A grand, epic time was had by all! Our Flèche Team included 2 new members and it was an epic ride. You can read about it here.
- 200k on the fixie.
I accomplished two of these! The first was in May and the second was in November. It was a grand time, a great learning experience, and good preparation for longer rides.
- Develop a 200k from Stevensville to Ocean City so that when we do some of our long rides, we can get “credit” for them.
This goal is still pending. When I floated the idea to SPP and tried to combine our twice a year Ocean City Rides with this plan it blew up. Hopefully I can get this done in 2014. It is laid out, it just needs a little work and to be submitted.
- Complete second R-12.
Hurray! Completed.
- Blog changes
Not so much.
- Mileage Goal: Can I make 8,000 this year? I’ll definitely complete my trip around the world this year. Only 5,106 miles to go!
Nope, I can’t make 8,000 miles this year. I ended up with 6767, and while memorable it is only second longest year out of the last 4 years. I made the “around the world miles” easily.
- See sunrises and sunsets from the bike … and have more fun than I deserve.
And there was at least one ride when I saw both the sunrise and sunset.
Other accomplishments not on the goal list included:
- Completion of a 600k ride in October.
- 195 days of riding.
- 435 hours, 50 minutes, and 53 seconds of time on the bike. (Just over 18 full days.)
- Only 1 significant crash. I’m still suffering from the lingering effects of that crash 6 weeks later.
- Raising $6371 for the ELCA Malaria Campaign
- Learned a lot from long rides that went amazingly well and long rides that I could barely complete.
- Received the Severna Park Peloton Rider of the Year award.
Goals for 2014?
That’s in a new post.
Struck down by a nasty cold/flu, that is.
The end of 2013 went out like the year 2014 came in … whimpering. Sunday, December 29th I started feeling pretty rough. By Monday morning I knew riding wasn’t in the cards. Tuesday I was out, Wednesday I was off the bike, & Thursday I begged off the ride. Tomorrow is iffy because of the forecast of new snowfall overnight.
This means that the Malaria Campaign was impacted by illness. That’s true for the lives of those affected by Malaria. Productivity is diminished and it often makes it hard for families to make ends meet.
So, for the month of December 2013, only 446 miles ridden for the Malaria Campaign.
Thanks to all who are contributing.
Here are the numbers as of the end of 2013. Five more months to go.
Malaria Campaign: 4,231 miles
Total Contributed & Pledged: $6,371
Rev Rider 