Rev Rider

I’ll be away from the blog for a couple of weeks.  I’m also going to be off my bike for those two weeks.

In the interim I’ll need to get the bike checked out.  In a very fast (24 mph+)paceline this morning, three of us hit a large stick on the trail.  After that, my bike felt wobbly at speeds over 20 mph.  When I returned home, I noticed that my non-drive side rear wheel spokes seem to be loose.  Yes, all of them.

We had a nice Tuesday coffee ride this morning, finishing at the Big Bean.

So ends the month of April for me.  It was a good month.  I had 18 days on the bike.  I banked some miles (rode more than I planned).  Pushed the fixie over 4000 miles and rode the Flèche.  I had some fastest rides for the year.  Looking ahead, May holds promise.

This Ride: 18.8 miles
Month: 636.7 miles
2013: 1945.3 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,718.2 miles

With the chaos of the season and planning for vacation in a few days, it just wasn’t in the cards to ride our SPP Ocean City Ride this spring.  That’s a 115 mile ride to Ocean City, then return the next day.  It is what we refer to as the “Gateway Ride” to randonneuring.  It includes a “no drop ride”, a stop at Dave’s Place (a biker bar in Ridgely), Irish Eyes in Milton, a stop at Dogfish Head brewery, and Ocean City … and that’s just the first day.  It is simply a good time.

The alternative is a ride to Dave’s Place, and then return.  A few years ago, Tom G rode only to Dave’s Place, then returned.  He started an option that is better than not riding at all. This time, there were 6 of us that found this to be our best option.  Ten others were riding the whole ride.  That meant that for our first leg, we had 16 riders.

It was just below 50° F when we gathered for the start in Chester, MD.  After the obligatory photos and getting the latecomers organized, we pushed off with a great tailwind.  We had one rider who was having trouble with the pace we set, but with some added pushes, encouragement, and strategic placement within the pace line, he was able to have probably his fastest 32 miles ever.  Without him, the ride would have been even faster.  I was riding a fixie, which is a good choice on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with a tailwind.  A geared bike would have been easier, but I liked the day on the fixie.

Dave’s Place is a great stop for our second breakfast of the day.  Maryanne, the owner, is gregarious and very accommodating.   It was a little odd to see some guys with buckets of beer at 10 am, but Maryanne has a long table set up for us and feeds us breakfast sandwiches to order and bakes for us.  On the table when we arrived were potato chips, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and key lime cupcakes.  Coffee and water were generously provided and within a few minutes after our early arrival, our sandwiches arrived.  Mine was egg, bacon, and cheese on whole wheat bread and it was very tasty, even after I had eaten chips, a cookie, and a cupcake.  Rookies get a hug.  There are prizes, consisting of t-shirts, koozies, lottery tickets, caps, etc.  About half of us win a prize of some sort.  At the end of our hour, we take photos with Maryanne, and push off.  Ten go left and 6 of us go right to make our way back to our cars in Chester.

For those of us going back, we now have a headwind.  I route us back using some of the roads I know from having RUSA permanents on the Eastern Shore.  Soon we are realizing that our slower guy is going to challenge us.  We aren’t riding fast enough to stay warm, and are constantly waiting for him to catch up to us.  After some time with this, Jack volunteers to ride with him since Jack knows the way back, and then there were four who are pushing into the headwind as quickly as we can and keep the speed up in a pace line.  Some of those pulls in the teeth of the wind were challenging.  I’m always amazed at how much drafting makes a difference.  On the fixie, I was able to maintain a pretty steady pace, and spent a good deal of time on the front.

We made it back in pretty good time, and the four of us agreed that our 60+ miles were sufficient on the day.    The wind added a real challenge to the day.

At the end of the day, I had over 4013 miles on the fixie!  That’s a lot of spinning.

At the end of the day, I had a 30 day distance of 796 miles.

This was a good day.  I’m tired.  But it was good.

This Ride: 63.6 miles
Month: 597.9 miles
2013: 1906.4 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,679.3 miles

The forecast for this morning was cloudy, pleasant temps, some gusty winds, and ZERO percent chance of rain.  The radar was clear.  I dusted off the fixie, pulled off the unneeded fender, moved a headlight over, and pushed out the door for at least 25 miles and breakfast.  We had a large turnout for the ride, including 9 who rode to Annapolis for breakfast.  As we closed in on Annapolis, it started to sprinkle.  While we ate, a steady light rain fell.  Although it cleared up, that meant that the pavement was wet and I got the unpleasant sensation of cold water running down from my lower back.  Actually, my reaction was more of a shrug.  Oh, well, it is wet again.

Mike B flatted coming off the Naval Academy Bridge.  Three of us stayed with him to help (harrass) him while the tube was changed out.  Mike invited me to accompany him to work, so I completed the Airport Loop and simply enjoyed the morning on the fixie.  At the end of the day, 52 additional miles are added to the month and a rare 5th day in a row riding is logged.

Tomorrow is a 65-70 mile day with SPP on the Eastern Short.  It looks like the fixie will once again be the mode of transportation.  That ride will put her over the 4,000 mile mark!  Maybe I’ll give her a bath this morning and make her all sparkly and clean for the big day.  (She can really use it, having been ridden in the rain and wet conditions the last several rides.)

This Ride: 52 miles
Month: 534.3 miles
2013: 1842.8 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,615.7 miles

Posts have been slim after the Flèche nearly two weeks ago.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t been riding.  Riding/Work/Family all come well before posting, and there have been plenty of demands in all three areas.  Simply put, I’ve logged 166 miles since the Flèche and am on track for my first 6 day in a row stretch of riding this week.  Meanwhile, on the riding front:

• I’ve set two personal records (for this calendar year) on a couple of Strava segments.  It is fun to kick up the speed a notch or two every once in a while.  I started a page in my riding log for the speed records over certain segments.  That includes for each year independently and personal all time records.  It is amazing how just a second or two reduction in time over a route is a tough challenge.
• I had a couple of very easy spins.  It might be wrong to call them exercise, because I didn’t hit aerobic activity consistently on them.  But they keep the fun in riding.
• I had to make the decision to not ride one full leg of our club’s OC-16 ride.  Twice each year the Severna Park Peloton rides to Ocean City and back over a weekend.  Between logistics and other demands on my time, I’ll be riding only about 70 miles on Saturday with SPP, rather than the 115 miles each way.  I’ll miss the longer ride.
• I started talking about the possibility of completing a 600k (375 mile) ride in October.  That’s about 150 miles longer than any single ride I’ve accomplished to date.  It would be a great warm-up for a possible 1000k (625 miles) next summer.

Tomorrow is the breakfast ride.  Will there be more after the ride?  We’ll see.

I will not be posting here between April 24 & May 6, but more adventures and ramping up the riding after that will be in the cards.

Month: 482.3 miles
2013: 1790.8 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,563.7 miles

Monday morning the temperature was in the low 50’s and with that kind of weather I just had to ride.  I set out for an easy spin with the 5:45 gang on “Mosey Monday” and enjoyed their company until the hills on Old County Road.  Scott C (who also rode the Flèche) and I suddenly noticed there was no strength in the legs, and we were dropped … quickly.  We rode the rest of the ride together telling stories.  I stayed in the small chain ring and tried to spin easy.  It wasn’t until I got home that I realized that we had ridden the trail all the way back from the southern end.

I had every intention of going out this morning for another easy spin, but even with temperatures in the upper 60’s, I couldn’t drag myself out of bed.  My legs ached all night and I didn’t sleep well.  I’ll take today as a day of rest and get back out there tomorrow.

This Ride: 18.8 miles
Month: 335 miles
2013: 1643.6 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,416.5 miles

Each day this week, the weather has been getting colder.  I expect the opposite in April.  It was below freezing this morning and the frost was thick on the roofs of houses and cars.  Still, we came out for the morning ride, my last significant ride before the Flèche on Saturday.

The riders were sparse this morning.  Four of the Flèche riders were out, and we kept the pace reasonable.  Mike B and I talked some logistics.

Later today I’ll make my final bike preparations.  I’m out of town all day tomorrow, so this will be my last chance to get all  the details together.  The list is long and detailed so it will take some time.  The trick is to pack only what I need in terms of clothing, even with a few unknowns.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll drive to breakfast to give my legs a rest.  The next post will likely be my ride report from the Flèche.

I decided to look at last year’s ramp up to the Flèche just to compare preparation numbers.  The week before the ride, I had 4 rides (including Friday) with 95 miles on the 7 days prior and 584 miles in the 30 days prior.  Temps were pretty consistently in the 40’s for those morning rides.  I had 1140 miles on the year just before the big ride.  This year, those same numbers, in the same order are 4 rides, 81 miles, 492 miles and 1389 miles on the year.  Temps have been in the 30’s, averaging about 10 degrees cooler.

This Ride: 18.8 miles
Month: 81.1 miles
2013: 1389.6 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,162.5 miles

This morning, the International Space Station flew overhead at 5:45 am.  Having been alerted to it, I told the guys and we watched until it got almost directly overhead.  Marcus then said, “I’m getting cold.” We pushed off.

Four of us set a leisurely Flèche pace watching some of the others move off ahead.  They waited for us at the end of the trail.

Nothing spectacular, nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing much to report.  We are all tired of the cold temperatures.  It was again just above freezing, or 15 degrees below average lows for this date.  Maybe next week it will warm up.  I’m ready!

This Ride: 22.4 miles
Month: 62.3 miles
2013: 1370.8 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,143.7 miles

The weather got warm yesterday, so I pulled out the maintenance stand, and cleaned the Kona for her big trip on Saturday.  Not wanting to get her dirty again before the trip, I put her away until the ride.  The fixie got cleaned up too, and I switched back to the 17 tooth cog.  That is the long way of saying I rode the fixie this morning.

Mike B came out, and we rode together while most others sped away into the darkness.  It wasn’t a fast morning, we took it relatively easy.  I discovered something again.  Relatively easy on the fixie isn’t easy!  I worked harder than I expected on the ride.  I worked so much more that I’m reconsidering the plan for the rest of the week.

We are excited about how the weather forecast is shaping up for the weekend

This Ride: 18.8 miles
Month: 39.8 miles
2013: 1348.4 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,121.3 miles

The more people learn what we are doing (riding the Flèche) the more I hear words like “crazy” & “deranged” as well as “awesome” & “impressive”.  The thing is, the Flèche (360k) is just a gateway to even longer rides, like 400k, 600k, 1000k, and 1200k (standard Randonneuring distances).  I’ve not done those distances.  One factor for me is that those distances on a brevet consume a Sunday morning.  Pastors typically have obligations on Sunday mornings.  It will happen though.  I’ll figure out how to extend myself for a longer ride.

This morning’s Mosey Monday ride was really a final checkout ride for the Kona.  The new chain and cassette work flawlessly, with shifting smooth and predictable.  I’ll clean the drive train today and start adding the bags and other accessories needed for the big ride Saturday.  That means that the fixie will come out to play the next few days.

The ride was easy enough this morning (7 riders … including Bryan and Jeff!) that I kicked it up our last hill on B&A Blvd.  I’ve got a private Strava segment there, and I came in with my fastest time this year and my 3rd fastest ever on that segment … only 2 seconds shy of the personal record!  It is a short uphill of around 45 seconds in duration and makes for a great interval.  I pegged my heart rate at 172, so I don’t know how much more I had in the tank, but it is a good section to test myself.  With that accomplishment, I’ve decided that personal record will be broken this year.

We are enjoying the brighter skies the last half of the ride this time of year.  Temperatures are starting to moderate just a bit.  I’m anxious for brighter skies and temperatures for the morning ride to hit the 50’s.

This Ride: 21 miles
Month: 21 miles
2013: 1329.6 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,102.5 miles