Someone stopped me at church yesterday and asked me if I was still riding. They hadn’t seen any recent posts here. I assured them that I was, and that I simply had other higher priorities. Updating the blog is important, but it hasn’t risen to the “do it” level yet. Until today. The Christmas Eve sermon is “in the can” and I am now coasting into the holiday.
Saturday evening, Severna Park Peloton had it’s annual Christmas Party at Clint’s house. Bryan surprised everyone with a custom made SPP etched beer glass.
I was further surprised with the SPP Rider of the Year Award!
This morning, despite the steady light rain, three of us braved the 60°F temps (ha! ha!) and rode to the coffee shop. It hard to believe that we are having these temps and this rain on the 23rd of December! Three others drove, not wanting to get wet, I suppose. The rain ride was pleasant enough. Tomorrow will be breakfast at The Breakfast Shoppe in Severna Park. Other special rides are planned all week since many have some holiday or vacation days coming up.
This ride 17.7 miles
Malaria Campaign: 4,143 miles
Total Contributed & Pledged: $6,327
Winter riding in Maryland is not so tough … it just takes longer to get ready.
Summer Clothing preparation:
- Bib shorts
- Heart rate monitor
- Jersey
- Socks
- Shoes
- Gloves
- Helmet
Winter Clothing preparation:
- Consult clothing chart based on temperature and precipitation
- Bib shorts
- Tights (specific pair dependent upon conditions)
- Heart rate monitor
- Base layer (choice dependent upon conditions)
- Jersey
- Socks (choice dependent upon conditions)
- Shoes (choice dependent upon conditions)
- Shoe booties (choice dependent upon conditions)
- Chemical warmers (if necessary) [Note: these have to be activated before getting dressed]
- Balaclava
- Jacket (choice dependent upon conditions)
- Wool glove liners (keeps my hands dryer)
- Gloves (choice dependent upon conditions)
- Helmet
Maybe this is why it takes me longer to get ready in the winter!
Six riders out this morning. Temperatures were just above freezing. Some puddles contained “thick” water that made noise as we rode through them.
This ride 21 miles
Malaria Campaign: 4,061 miles
Total Contributed & Pledged: $6,286
No ride happened for SPP on Monday. Temperatures were 34° F and rain was falling. Everyone stayed indoors.
And then … it happened. Monday evening, the forecast showed heavy snow for Tuesday at about dawn. One rider sent out an email saying that he believed that the snow would come after our Tuesday Coffee Ride, so he was planning to ride. A couple of others chimed in that they too would ride. I was uncertain, but I set the alarm.
(Note: When one has been off the bike and out of the routine for 4 days in a row, just getting out there again is an effort!)
I awoke. The precipitation looked to be hitting 6:30 – 7:00 am. The radar showed it moving fast. I dressed for wet and cold and pushed out of the house just a little later than usual. Road surfaces showed slight dampness. My bike tires left tracks. When I arrived at the Rusty Bridge, I was the only rider in sight for about a minute. Then, lights on the trail! Lights on the road! People were coming out. We started out with 8 riders, adding one along the way. We had a great conversational ride, taking it easy and noting the very first light sprinkles/snowflakes at the end of the trail. We turned for the last leg to the coffee shop and arrived in great spirits and damp from sweat more than anything falling from the skies. One more joined us at the shop … arriving by car.
We had great conversation. It was lively.
And then … the Barista came over to us and said, “Dave called. He said you better get going. It is getting bad out there.”
The windows were steamed over because of all the moist air we were generating. We dressed, all the while making fun of Dave. When we got outside, it was raining/sleeting/snowing. It was sticking to the cars. We pushed off and soon discovered that about 14 mph was fast enough. The sleet hitting exposed skin on our faces was quite painful. But we chatted some more as we all made our way toward home. One rider, who will remain nameless here had forgotten a fender and quickly discovered cold water running down his back and below. He described it in quite some vivid detail.
Shortly after arriving home, the rain/sleet changed to all snow. A few more minutes in the coffee shop would have saved some of the icy mix.
It was a great ride. It was good to be out again. My spouse just shook her head slowly from side to side when I asked for a towel to drop all the wet clothing on in the house.
This ride 17 miles
Malaria Campaign: 3,995 miles
Funds Pledged: $2,084
Contributed in support: $4,170
Total = $6,254
As the weather turns colder it takes more of an effort to get out and ride. November saw temperatures as low as 20° F and as high as 70° on my rides.
Here are the updated numbers for the Malaria Campaign:
Miles ridden in November = 463
Miles ridden for the Malaria Campaign since June 1, 2013 = 3,785
Funds pledged for those miles = $1,978
Direct contributions received = $4,170
Total pledges and contributions = $6,148
When I last wrote on this blog, it was November 12th and I was still recovering from a crash on the 10th. The healing has happened, and the past two weeks have seen only sporadic riding, in part because of illness.
But I’m back!
In fact, 20°F this morning made for a chilly ride for 5 of us, but we were out there enjoying the early morning ride. The sudden drop in temperatures have led to challenging clothing choices, but we were out there. No ice on the road surfaces. That may change later in the week as the forecast is for wet weather. Snow, rain, sleet? Who knows?
I just checked my ride log. This ride was the coldest ride in all of 2013 so far!
Here are the updated numbers:
Malaria Campaign: 3,721 miles
Funds Pledged: $1,946
Contributed in support: $4,170
Total = $6,116
I hate it that the pain builds so that 2 days after the injury it is the worst.
Sunday my brain wasn’t working very well. I was easily distracted and had trouble with complicated tasks. My shoulder and knee also hurt.
Monday I had to put my right arm in a sling. Any movement of the arm sent a great deal of pain through my shoulder.
Today things are better. I can raise my arm … with bearable pain. My knee still is very sore and stiff.
And no, I haven’t seen a doctor about all this. I’m giving it a few days.
I’m hopeful that by Thursday I’ll be riding again.
Flatbread 200k.
How we love you.
How we hate you.
Sixty-eight riders started and despite the challenges posed by the conditions, 68 riders finished. It was just below freezing at the 7:00 am start. Frost was abundant on the fields, on cars, and it seemed our fingers. Most of us decided to dress lightly and suffer through the cold first hour just so we didn’t have to carry all the extra gear later in the day as it warmed up. That strategy worked pretty well although it meant that my fingers were mostly just this side of numb for the first hour or so. My little fingers were the last to warm up and stung for quite some time. To my knowledge 5-6 of the 68 riders were on fixies. We maintained a quick pace for the better part of the first half of the ride, sometimes cruising at 22+ mph. The resulting high cadence was just a bit much for me and got me into a higher heart rate than I wanted for the ride. I paid for that later.
Who can complain about a paceline of 20 bikes? Who can complain about watching geese flying overhead in the early morning, where it is quiet enough to hear their cries? Who can complain about the workhorses in the paceline who don’t want to share the lead and are more than happy to pull the group along? Not me. These were some of the best parts of the day.
The large starting group started to splinter just after Greensboro. You see, some stop for a bathroom break. I stopped with Mike and a few others, and with a very quick stop we joined another group that was just rolling up as we left. This group had a lot of SPP riders in it and we flew down the highway toward Harrington, DE. It was there where I slowed down, stopped to adjust my saddle, and then it was Mike and I to Slaughter Beach. We kept a good pace up the entire way, averaging over 19 mph to the beach.
History tells us that it is the last half of this ride that is the toughest. Typically the wind is out of the west, and our direction of travel out of the Slaughter Beach area is WNW. Two years ago, headwinds were fierce. This year, the flag at the fire station across the street from the Slaughter Beach control was hanging limp. Oh what a lie! We immediately picked up a headwind. It was not a killer wind, but it was enough to notice and to degrade our speed somewhat. Gardner and Theresa were on a tandem and were willing to take the brunt of the headwind, giving us a respite all the way to Milton.
We stopped for lunch at the Subway in Milton. I was feeling pretty well spent by the time we got there. I was hoping that some food would perk me up. Rather than getting a boost, the food lay in my stomach and created nausea for the next couple of hours. I was miserable and Mike was willing to hang with me and spare me the headwinds most of those next couple of hours. I had little energy and just couldn’t keep the speed where I wanted to. I know it was dehydration, poor nutrition, and too much energy expended early in the ride, but once behind the curve, it is tough to catch up. I wasn’t much better after Bridgeville. I started feeling better around Denton, even though my right foot started to cramp a few miles outside of Denton. I commented to Mike that my right foot and the letter “c” shared the same shape.
The Royal Farms had no pickles other than packets of sweet pickle relish. I slammed 5 of those down and had relief for about 20 minutes. I kept popping ecaps about every 45 minutes also.
We were passed by George W while we were at the Royal Farms. We caught him again before Ridgely and decided since he was riding alone to drop our speed and ride with him to the finish. It was a good choice. He appreciated the company and within a very short time I fully recovered my energy level. We reminisced about other rides on these roads, describing where we had encountered deer, bad road surfaces, winds, etc. The shadows were lengthening and the light was getting really nice in the late afternoon.
Soon enough, the finish was in sight. I didn’t realize then that the finish would come 30 feet short of the “line” for me.
The final road surface was under construction. New curbs and sidewalks had been poured, and I imagine that within the next few weeks a new road surface would be laid. Just 30 feet from the parking lot to the final control I saw a sidewalk cutout from the road that would allow me to finish on the smooth sidewalk. The transition from the curb to the sidewalk was very small, so I turned to take it. What I had not seen was the 4 inch distance from the road surface to the curb. My tire hit that concrete and I went down, “like a ton of bricks” as Mike C described it. I remember thinking on the way down, “That little lip should not have taken me out”. Knee, hip, elbow, shoulder, head was the order that my body contacted the hard concrete of the sidewalk. I know I slid a couple of feet too. I saw stars. My vision was impacted (although it might have been that my glasses were askew). I lay there a moment, then grabbed a hand that was offered to pull me back to my feet. I walked to the finish line, pushing the bike.
My knee has road rash. My tights have a hole the size of a silver dollar. My shoulder feels like it took the brunt of the force and isn’t working very well. My helmet was destroyed. There were three breaks in the styrofoam. Those were breaks, not cracks. The only thing holding it together is the plastic shell glued onto the helmet. I’ve already replaced it. Where my helmet meets my head is tender to the touch. But I am alive and not in the hospital. Dead or hospitalized would have been the outcome had I not been wearing that helmet.
But a great ride. 128 miles on the fixie. It was a pretty day. I enjoyed all but the last 30 feet of this ride!
Milestones:
- My fixie now has over 5,000 miles on it.
- The fund raising for the Malaria Campaign is now over $6,000.
This ride 128 miles
Malaria Campaign: 3,593 miles
Funds Pledged: $1,882
Contributed in support: $4,170
Total = $6,052
There are two types of riders.
The first wakes up and consults the weather to determine the proper clothing choices for the ride.
The second wakes up and consults the weather to determine if a ride will take place.
I like being the first rider.
This ride 21.1 miles
Malaria Campaign: 3,439 miles
Funds Pledged: $1,805
Contributed in support: $4,170
Total = $5,975
After some minor maintenance to correct a wobbly rear wheel, I’ve been riding the fixie this week. She is my intended ride for the infamous “Flatbread” 200k coming up on Saturday. Dan has encouraged SPP riders to ride the fixie on this flat but often windy route. I’m in.
Returning to the fixie after about a month, I notice that the saddle is a bit higher than what I’m presently riding on my Kona (I’ve changed saddles on that ride and still trying to dial it in). The fixie saddle is also much less forgiving than the new saddle on the Kona (review to come after some more hours in the new saddle). My biggest challenge on the fixie will be the need to carry a number of items with the temperature forecast and the need for food and hydration. Do I install the handlebar bag on the fixie? Do I ride with a butt pack? These and other questions must be answered before Saturday morning’s ride.
Flatbread is a fun ride. We anticipate at least 50 riders, which for us is a large group. Speeds can be fast in that large a group or the route can throw us a real curve and put the wind in our face … hard. Forecasts do little good. Winds on Flatbread follow their own rules (or not).
Three solid rides are in the bank so far this week. Chance of rain in the morning. Friday breakfast ride upcoming.
Malaria Campaign: 3,418 miles
Funds Pledged: $1,795
Contributed in support: $4,170
Total = $5,965
The past week or so has demonstrated the value of having a “clothing log” for cycling. Morning temperatures ranged from 30° – 70°F in just this week. There were days when some riders were too cold and some when riders were wearing too much.
The clothing log I keep uses a simple Excel spreadsheet with temperatures across the top and articles of clothing down the left side. An “X” marks the intersection where that item of clothing is appropriate for that temperature. A “C” indicates that a choice can be made, because there is variability in types of rides and the choices that are made.
Bicycling Magazine has a “What to Wear” feature where one inputs 4 key items (temperature, wind, conditions, & desired comfort level) and it generates suggestions for cycling clothing. I find that it is a good starting place. But nothing beats your own personal chart.
Making one is simple. When a temperature and clothing combination works well for you, mark the grid. Within a short period of time, you will have some good guidance about what to wear.
Practical Suggestions:
- I find that as the temperatures drop, every 5 degrees makes a difference. Be sure to mark temperatures 5 degrees apart.
- Finding the top and bottom temperature range for each item of clothing makes a huge difference. I have gloves that work between 40-50° only. It is good to know that on a longer ride where there may be temperature swings.
- You may need to adjust from fall to spring. 50° in the spring feels a lot warmer than 50° in the fall.
- Sunshine makes a difference, as does wind. I don’t account for those on my chart, I simply mentally adjust. Most of my fall/winter/spring riding is in the dark anyway.
- Proper cycling clothing for conditions will feel chilly to start. If you are not chilled for the first few miles, you’ve over dressed.
- Layers are always your friend.
Now, get started on that cycling clothing log! You will be a happier rider.
Rev Rider 