Rev Rider

There was only one thing lacking this morning … friends to accompany me.  Everything else was near perfect.

This ride was the one I had hoped would be the ride for the entire week.  My speed came up.  I had some good long hills, both up and down.  Temperatures were just high enough that no extra clothing was necessary and the reflective vest I’ve been wearing this week was not overly warm.

Random observations:

• Many of the early morning cyclists in this city are taking their lives into their hands; no rear blinking light, sometimes no headlight, & ignoring traffic lights (I’ll admit, I blew through nearly 20 of them today myself.)
• Penn Avenue inside 376/30 is a mess.  Potholes, patches, craters, & the like keep the challenges high.  Outside 376/30 is not bike friendly but is certainly built for cars and is the suburban riding I’m accustomed to.
• One driver (outside 376/30) found my presence a problem.  A 3-4 second horn blast was pretty ineffective in getting me to leave the roadway.  The horn was so wimpy that I could have shouted over it.  My presence delayed that person a full 2 seconds.  They had to slow down about 5 mph.
• I’ve not experienced before the ability to move faster than the general flow of traffic.  I thoroughly enjoy that, especially when going downhill at 30 mph.
• I’m looking forward to getting back to riding on trails and quiet neighborhood streets where I know every pothole.

This Ride: 20 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1,550.4 miles
Funds Pledged: $775.20
Contributed in support: $1,903.60

Total = $2,678.80

Due to an early morning commitment yesterday, a ride was not possible.

This morning, the alarm rang much too early, only between 4-5 hours after I went to bed.  Nevertheless, I rolled out of bed and pulled on long fingered gloves, knee and arm warmers as it was just over 50° F.  It was absolutely gorgeous out.  

I decided to keep my route very simple.  I took Penn Avenue east and simply planned to go about 10 miles, then turn around and come back.  This is a busy road, but my experience on Tuesday said that it would work well enough.  On the outbound leg I encountered only very courteous drivers, including bus drivers.  There were some long gentle climbs, and I took them at a steady pace.  

Then, at about 8 miles into the ride, I noticed that my rear tire was soft.  I rode it to a wide driveway with lights and since it was a slow leak, I first tried to simply add air to the tire.  That wasn’t successful.  So, I pulled out the tube and replaced it.  I didn’t find the sharpie.  That repair took enough time that I needed to turn around and head back to the hotel.  Traffic was increasing, especially headed downtown, the direction I was now heading.

Within moments of the return ride, tragedy was averted by quick application of brakes and swerving hard.  The two right lanes led to a ramp to the freeway (where bikes are not permitted).  A car driver crossed ahead of me on a quick dash to get to the freeway.  I was going about 20 mph at that point, and missed the car by about a foot.  The near collision simply increased my alertness.

The trip back into downtown was a lot of fun.  I maintained the same speed/pace as the cars, reaching 34 mph at some points.  Some of that was interrupted by traffic lights and rough pavement, but a lot of speed and keeping pace was well worth being out this morning.

This Ride: 16.5 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1,530.4 miles
Funds Pledged: $765.20
Contributed in support: $1,903.60

Total = $2,668.80

Although there was rain in the area, I pushed out of the hotel shortly after 5 am for a planned ride, using the Garmin and turn by turn directions for a route I found on Ride with GPS for the area I’m staying in Pittsburgh.

Evidently, the designer of the route rode an exploratory route and uploaded it.  Following it out of downtown to the north, I encountered many turns into residential areas.  When the route finally started to climb, it found a long hill, and then just when I was ready to quit, it pushed off the steady incline to hit a neighborhood where the road went up at a much steeper pitch.  Ok, I was in the granny gear making my way up the steep hill when suddenly I hit a section of cobblestones.  There was enough space between the stones that I was afraid I might drop a tire into the space.  I kept up the work, and a block or two later, the cobbles turned to brick.  I crested the hill on brick.

Continuing to follow the route let me to a road that was closed with a gate into a park.  I wandered around some, noted some rain sprinkles, and decided to simply find my way back to the hotel.  After getting lost, I ran across Penn Avenue and knew that road went right by my hotel.  I turned SW and started a fun descent.  I loved the nearly 30 mph for quite some time on roads with a speed limit of 25.  I was still being passed by cars!

I made it back to the hotel before any rain hit.  It was a short distance day, but still about the same amount of time.  Wandering around in the dark on residential streets and turning every few blocks really ate into the average speed!

This Ride: 15.7 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1,513.9 miles
Funds Pledged: $756.95
Contributed in support: $1,903.60

Total = $2,660.55

This week I’m a Voting Member at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh.

I brought my bike.

Before dawn this morning I decided to explore the trails near downtown Pittsburgh.  Like most urban trails, they were pretty sketchy before the sun rose.  On the downtown side to the north it changed rather soon to crushed stone.  On the downtown side to the south and east the trail just ended abruptly.  Crushed stone across the river to the north again forced me into the roadway.  There was a decent trail past the Carnegie Science Center to the west, but it ended way too soon.  Of the trails I’ve ridden, Pittsburgh’s are the worst.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll have found a route on the streets … and found some hills.  I had less than 400 feet of climbing this morning.  It was a slow ride, but unfamiliar trails in the dark are like that.

This Ride: 21.5 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1,498.2 miles
Funds Pledged: $749.1
Contributed in support: $1,903.60

Total = $2,652.70

Ouch!

My legs ache.

I slept poorly.

My legs are restless.

There is some soreness from the cramping yesterday.

But, I crawled out of bed, got dressed, and pushed off with the threat of rain by ride’s end.  It was our coffee ride.  How could I miss that?

True to form:

• I felt better at the end of the ride.
• The coffee and company were good.
• This was good training for day 2 of a very long multi-day ride.
• More money raised for the Malaria Campaign

This Ride: 17.9 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1,450.1 miles
Funds Pledged: $725.05
Contributed in support: $1,903.60

Total = $2,628.65

With Monday’s forecast of temperatures of 65° – 80° F, low humidity, and a relatively gentle breeze it was easy to decide to take the day off work and ride a 200k.  I opted for a 6 am start and chose to do one of my routes on the Eastern Shore, since the decision was made late.  I prepped Sunday night and was ready Monday morning for the solo ride.

Sunrise was spectacular.  There were clouds in the east, and well before the sun rose, I was treated to brilliant red sky, gradually turning to pink.  Those clouds blocked the actual sunrise, which helped since the first part of my route travels in a mostly easterly direction.  I made the dangerous crossing of Highway 50 and 301 at the Queenstown Outlets without incident or trouble.  Then from the town of Queenstown to Centreville my mind was occupied by three things.

First, was my goal for the ride.  I was catching just a little bit of a headwind at times as I moved north.  That would mean that I might be able to put in a very good time on this ride.  I established a goal of setting a personal record on this route and also committed to changing the most despised part of the route into a fun ride.

Second,  since the sun was in my face and low in the sky I spent a lot of time looking in my rear view mirror.  I was having trouble seeing what was ahead of me and I knew that would also be true of any cars coming from behind me.  I didn’t want to get hit from behind because I couldn’t be seen.  My plan was to ride as far right as possible when a car approached from behind, ready to take to the ditch if it looked like I wasn’t visible.  The only cars that approached from behind during this dangerous stretch of road did so while I was in shade and my dual rear flashing lights could easily be seen.

Finally, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I might do if I got hit.  I created elaborate scenarios where I lay in the ditch with a broken leg and collar bone, mangled bike and tried to figure out how to tell emergency responders where I was.  Meanwhile, I’m keeping my speed up and watching my rear view mirrors.  I grew tired of this negative mental game and proceeded to focus on the speed.

Once I “cleared” Centreville, I focused on keeping the pedals turning, pressing into the light headwind and making time.  Originally I thought that I might keep my heart rate in the 130’s but pretty consistently I was in the upper 140’s and feeling fine.  I decided to let my body rather than the heart rate monitor determine my pace.  Gradually my average speed came up.

When I arrived at Chestertown, I stopped briefly at the control and texted a few people about my progress.  I then set off immediately with any wind at my back for the next 2 segments.  I made short work of the stretch to Millington.  I stopped to top off fluids and food, knowing that the next 35 miles or so had no opportunities for refills.  While in the convenience store, another customer inquired about my cycling plans and was astonished that I had already covered 45 miles.  The shop owner got in on the conversation and I had to linger about 5 minutes longer than I wanted just to listen to his life story.  It was interesting, but I wanted to keep moving.  A vendor arrived, and let me off the hook.  I prepared a new bottle of Roctane, topped off my Camelback and ate a Snicker’s bar.

The stretch from Millington to Herrington was the segment I was looking forward to the most.  Winds were from the NW, so this would be a mostly downwind leg, and I was ready.  When I finally settled in on the SE direction, I could tell that the wind was about 8-10 mph and soon I was consistently over 20 mph.  In one 10 mile stretch, I averaged about 22 mph.  I knew I would pay later as the last part of the course travels NW, but for now, this was simply great.  I stopped a couple of times before reaching Herrington to catch my breath and stretch my legs.  My legs were feeling fatigued from the high gear I was pushing.  I also maintained an awareness of my hydration.

I rolled into the control at Herrington (81 miles) just under 5 hours from the start.  My Garmin showed a rolling average speed of 18.4 mph.  I was feeling great and I was confident that the headwinds for the next 50 miles would not be insurmountable.  I decided to keep this stop short.  I topped off water.  I mixed a bottle of Roktane.  I ate an ice cream sandwich.  Next stop was not that far away in Denton where I could already taste the bowl of ice cream at Bullock’s.

The further I moved away from Herrington, the more I was pushing into a headwind.  I felt my speed drop and my legs were working harder to keep up the attempt at a personal record.  There was a possibility that I could blow the old one out by close to an hour, so I pushed on.  By this time, I also worked out in my head that this faster speed was a good test and training run for my upcoming 600 k.  By making the mere 200 k more of an effort, I was simulating the effort needed for a longer ride.  It is amazing what my brain does when I am left to my thoughts for hours on end.

Just before reaching Denton, I noted some twinges and pre-cramping in my legs.  I had started taking e-caps (electrolyte capsules) in the first hour of the ride, taking about 1 an hour.  I started doubling up on them.  The pre-cramps turned into a mild cramp with about a mile to go to Bullock’s, so I simply pushed on, knowing I would be able to stop soon.

At Bullock’s, I had a bowl of hand dipped ice cream and debated whether or not I should get a bag of potato chips for the sodium in them.  I had chosen not to eat lunch because with my heart rate averaging 147 to that point, I figured that I would have trouble with my stomach if I ate much more than ice cream.  I opted against the potato chips.  I did a shot of tequila without the tequila or lime (licked salt off my hand).  That was completely unsatisfying.  I topped off the Camelback and my Roctane  bottle and popped 2 e-caps and was ready to ride.  At mile 99.7 (less than 3 miles down the road) I had a cramp in my left quad that stopped my leg moving and I painfully climbed off the bike.  I had 32 miles to go, mostly into a headwind, and I needed to get the cramps under control.  Two more e-caps went down.  (I continued 2 e-caps every 30 minutes the rest of the ride.)  I stretched.

I then climbed back on the bike and discovered through trial and error (lots of error) the sweet spot for cadence and speed that kept the cramps mostly at bay.  Unfortunately, that was at about 14-15 mph.  I spent a lot of time in that range, cramping whenever I moved much faster than that or failed to keep the cadence up.  I watched my ETA slide considerably, but I had no doubts that a personal record would be set, if I didn’t have to stop to nurse the cramps every few miles.  My leg did seize up a couple more times.  The cramps also extended into my right arch.  But I was moving.

Just a few miles outside of Queenstown, I was able to catch something other than the wind in my face and it felt good knowing that I was just a dozen miles away from the finish.  My speed improved.  My mood brightened.  I began to increase my speed and although I wasn’t completely out of the woods yet, the e-caps were finally in my system helping my muscles to fire properly.  The crossings of Highways 301 and 50 were uneventful and I was headed to the barn.

I kept the speed up to just under the cramp threshold, and rolled into the finish 8 hours 44 minutes after pushing off.  That’s 29 minutes faster than my previous best solo ride on this route and just 13 minutes off the fastest solo ride on this route.  I know … RUSA events are not races, but despite the cramps, this was a really good and fast ride!

Randonneuring is all about managing the unexpected events that will occur on rides, and enjoying the long distance riding.  It has been a long time since I had cramps like this and had thought I had it solved with the Roctane.  I guess it is not that easy.  As much for my own curiosity and the ability to look back at this post later, my nutritional intake for this ride consisted of a bowl of Honey Nut Cherrios for breakfast, a small cinnamon roll, coffee, orange juice at the start, two Roctane gel packs, a Snicker’s bar, an ice cream sandwich, a small bowl of ice cream, & 3 or 4 bottles of Roctane.  That really wasn’t enough as I look back on it.  I consumed about 1 1/2 Camelbacks of water.  Clearly, dehydration was a factor.  Outflow is consistent with dehydration.

But it was a good ride!  It came 2 weeks after riding with Gardner and Janet on the same route.

This Ride: 131.9 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1,432.3 miles
Funds Pledged: $716.15
Contributed in support: $1,903.60

Total = $2,619.75

It is long past time for me to drop some weight.  On Monday of this week, I started logging food calories with a 1500 calorie per day goal (plus whatever calories I burn while riding).  For the first 4 days of this week, my net calorie intake has been about 1100-1200 calories.  I’m starting to notice this on the bike.

First, it doesn’t take as much effort to increase my heart rate.  Burning fat is less efficient than burning carbohydrates and I can feel how my body is working on this.  Today, for instance, I struggled uphill on the way to breakfast.  I had to chase down the 10 other riders after climbing the steepest hill.  With all my miles in the bank and a lot of group riding, I know the best places to close that distance without a tremendous amount of additional effort.

(One clue is to continue to power through downhill while the rest are coasting.  At the very least, begin the power stroke just before the bottom of the hill so that you have extra momentum and speed through the transition from downhill to uphill and some of the gap will be closed.  Another is to continue the power stroke as the rest are slowing for an intersection.  They will clear the intersection for you and you will gain some on the group.)

I also noticed that I was sweating more than I expected.  It wasn’t really all that warm, only about 70° F, but there was a steady flow of sweat down my face.  That may have had to do with higher humidity, but some of it is this calorie restriction I’m operating under.

The thing that I notice most when I’m on a calorie restricted diet is that my thinking is a little muddled.  I have to work harder at focusing on the task at hand.  I have a tendency to mentally drift.

There were 12 on the ride and seven of us continued through to breakfast.  It was good to have Jack with us for part of the ride.

Following the regular breakfast ride, I continued on despite really wanting to quit.  I went to the airport observation park and back, logging 43.5 miles on the fixie.  I wanted to log many of these miles because I have a wedding rehearsal dinner this evening, and there will be many easy to consume calories at that event.  Now I have a daily limit of 2,700 calories.  Will it be enough?

With how I felt today, I’ll have to remember to increase the calories a few days before my next 200k.  I won’t want to go into such a ride in the kind of deficit I’m feeling now.

This Ride: 43.5 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1,300.3 miles
Funds Pledged: $650.15
Contributed in support: $1,587.60

Total = $2,237.75

There are some mornings when a bike ride is all about overcoming the obstacles.  This was one of those mornings.

I woke up to rain.  It was a steady rain.  The radar showed that it was going to rain for a little while, then stop, then start up again.  It was 70° F.  Do I really want to ride in the rain?  I considered not riding, and then remembered the things that keep me in it.

1) Do I really want Dan to ride alone?

2) Since I’m on a weight loss plan, that will be 500-700 calories I can’t eat today.

3) It will put me behind another 20 miles if I don’t ride.  That’s $10 for the Malaria Project and 20 miles I don’t log in preparation for other rides.

4) It’s only rain.

So, I do my preparations and then go out to set up the bike for the ride.  I encountered more challenges.  I decided to ride the fixie.  It is the “rain bike” after all.  I move the battery for the light.  I remember that the front wheel is not working right, so I swap out my spare wheel and inflate the tire.  I wonder if it will hold.  That wheel, tube, and tire has not been used for a year to a year and a half.  I look for the “beaver tail” fender and I can’t find it.  Fine, I’ll try the race lite fender.  It looks like it will fit, but the rear flashing light is in the way of the attachment point.  I move the flashing light down closer to the rear hub.  That takes a while because the screw head is on the spoke side and I have to dig in the saddle bag to find the tool.  I install the race lite fender and it rubs.  There is no way it will work.  I remove it and look again for the “beaver tail” fender and find it.  I install it.  Now, I’m ready to go.  It is still raining, and there is still time to get to the Rusty Bridge, but it will be close.

As I roll down the driveway, the rain intensity picks up.  Traffic on Highway 2 is heavy and I have to sit and wait for the traffic to break before moving down the road.  It is no fun sitting in the steady rain, not moving.  Finally, I make my way to the Rusty Bridge, and start the short wait for others.

No one shows up.

Now the debate is strong in my head.  “Just go home.”  “Do you really want to ride alone in the rain?”  “Those other guys are wimps.”  “Thanks, Dan.”  I push off when it is clear that no one else is on their way to the bridge and I’m muttering all the way.  The rain is still steady.  I think about upcoming long rides where it might rain and set my mind on simply grinding out the miles and enduring the discomfort.  I compose a mental email to the rest of the group about what they missed.

Then, as I get to where White’s Road intersects with the trail, I spy a flashing red tail light!  I approach and it is Chip on his fixie!  He was waiting to see who else would show up.  The rest of the ride was an enjoyable conversation as we discussed and shared stories about Alaska.  I never noticed when the rain stopped, but it did.  The ride was shorter than usual, but the only thing that interrupted the conversation was the smell of bacon near The Big Bean.  We circled back to find the source, but couldn’t locate it.

What an enjoyable morning ride!

This Ride: 17.4 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1256.8 miles
Funds Pledged: $628.40
Contributed in support: $1,587.60

Total = $2,216.00

Today held two disappointments for me, despite a good friendly ride.

First, the number of miles logged this month is not what I had desired to ride.  I’m far short of my goal.  That impacts my fitness, my readiness for upcoming long rides, and my efforts to benefit the ELCA Malaria Campaign.  It will take much more than my daily rides to reach these objectives.

Second, I thought that I was set up well to achieve a personal record on my favorite section of Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard.  It had been an easy ride to that point.  I was late to bed last night and just didn’t have the energy to expend on a fast ride.  Dan was of similar mood, so we rode together at a very comfortable pace.  As I approached the start to this little uphill sprint, my heart rate was in the right “zone” so I kicked into sprint mode and pushed hard through the rise.  At the end of the segment, I was breathing hard but had my doubts that I set the personal record.  When I arrived at home, the Garmin was plugged into the computer and the data was uploaded to Strava and it told the story.  I matched the personal record, but did not set a new one.  So close!

July now draws to a close for me.  (A ride later today is not possible due to my work schedule.)

July by the numbers:

This Ride: 21.7 miles
Total for July: 587 miles
2013 Miles: 3775.4
Total since 1/1/2010: 23,548.3 miles (Around the World Countdown: 1353.3 miles to go!)