Rev Rider

No ride today.  My daughter and son-in-law were visiting.

I did discover that my cassette was due for a change, and my chain was worn enough to replace.  Why the bike shop didn’t alert me last week, I’ll never know.

A visit to the bike shop got a new 11-28 cassette, new chain, and food/hydration supplements for the ride.  I installed the chain, letting the bike shop install the cassette.  A break-in test ride will be required with these new components.  So, except for jockey wheels, it is a whole new drive train.

We are now inside a week.  I’ll need to have everything ready by Thursday evening because of commitments on Friday.  Monday will be a big prep day.

It was a good Friday breakfast ride.

Behind the scenes:

I purchased a pair of Rainlegs (rainlegs.com) in the event that the Flèche becomes wet.  These rain chaps roll up to form a “belt” and can be transitioned into protection for legs and knees in the event of cold or rain.  This would have been nice to have last year.  I’m pretty impressed with these and will write a review after I use them on a ride.

We’ve been grumbling just a little at the colder than average temperatures we’ve been having.  Lows have been 10-15° F below normal for the past several weeks.  A wide temperature range complicates the clothing choices for the Flèche, especially if lows are below 40-45°.

For extra motivation, I recently added an annual “Personal Record” page on my ride log spreadsheet that notes date, time, and speed for selected Strava segments.  Not all of my previous years’ rides are logged on Strava, but this year they are all there.  I set a Personal Record on one segment today and will routinely be working to set annual PRs and eventually challenge my bests from other years too.

This Ride: 29.6 miles
Month: 504.4 miles
2013: 1308.6 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,081.5 miles

I wouldn’t have predicted it.

I would never have guessed.

I’m still shaking my head.

I didn’t ride yesterday.  I stayed in bed without much regret.  I’m tired.  My legs ache.  I might be getting a cold.  I slept.

I found myself making excuses last night before going to bed.  I was probably 50/50 in terms of riding this morning.  I got up once in the night, convinced I’d sleep in again, but I didn’t turn off the alarm.  When it rang at 4:45 it woke me from a dream, and I debated for a few moments whether or not to ride.  But I got up … slowly … and proceeded to get ready.  There wasn’t much enthusiasm.

I rode easy to the Rusty Bridge.  The full moon was getting ready to set, and it was big, round, and bright.  The light sparkled off the pavement.  It was pretty.

When I saw who was out to ride this morning, I knew I was in trouble.  It was mostly those young fast bucks.  I announced to Dan and Dave that I wasn’t planning to ride fast this morning.  Fast wasn’t what I needed for preparations for the Flèche.

The speed didn’t pick up until Jennings Road, and I stayed with a few of the guys in front, knowing that when I got dropped I would have ridden with people as long as I could.  Back onto the trail, I was behind the lead out guy.  Crossing Robinson Road, I was still with the leaders.  I dropped back just a little while on Old County Road, then when I hit the uphills, I drifted back and watched the tail lights recede.  Dan and I rode together, an easy but still quick pace, and continued down the trail.  As we approached the end, I noted a light coming up fast from behind and poured on a sprint to the end.  I got caught, but was pleased to see that all the other riders had waited for the stragglers.  (Of course, they were spent because they had sprinted the whole distance.)

As we continued north on the trail, I hung with them until we got to Glen Oban.  They picked up the pace again and I fell off the back.  Ravi was a distant spot far behind me.  The gap widened and I rode solo until the return to the trail when I waited for Ravi and we finished the ride together.

It turned out to be a fast day.  Strava tells me it was the fastest ride all year (by about 30 seconds).  I really didn’t think I had it in me this morning!

By the time I returned home, my mood was better.  I was not fatigued.  My legs did not ache.  I was ready for the day.  A ride does so much more than a cup of coffee ever will.

Tomorrow: Breakfast ride.

This Ride: 21.3 miles
Month: 474.8 miles
2013: 1279 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,051.9 miles

Yesterday’s snow melted enough in the afternoon that roadways were wet this morning.  Temperatures hovered around freezing and places on the B&A Trail were reported to be either icy or quite dangerous (especially the wooden bridges) so we opted for the Winter/Snow Route this morning.  I believe this is the first time in the last two winters that we’ve used that route!  Four of us were out including two scofflaws who were ticketed over the weekend for crossing at a red light on their bikes.  They had stopped, waited for some time to see if the light would trigger, then crossed when it was safe to do so once they were convinced they would have to wait for a car to trigger the sensor.  The police officer was insistent on ticketing them.

All talk now is on the Flèche.  Tomorrow the 10 day forecast reaches the start of the ride, and it will begin the planning for clothing choices.  I wouldn’t mind a heat wave.

The ride was uneventful.  We negotiated excess salt, some piles of snow, and only one or two slippery spots.  More of the snow should disappear today, and hopefully the pavement will dry out also.

This Ride: 18 miles
Month: 453.6 miles
2013: 1257.7 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,030.6 miles

With about 5 inches of new snow on the ground, I didn’t ride this morning.  We don’t want this kind of snow on the Flèche!

It has been a busy weekend, and my ride report for Friday’s 200k is long overdue.

The short version: It was hard, but I finished.

The long version:

After the usual terrible night sleep before a solo 200k, I woke readied myself, and was out the door close to 5:30 am for a 6:00 am start.  My plan was to meet up with the 5:45 riders at the Rusty Bridge and ride with them a short distance before heading to the start of the 200k.  That worked well, and soon I was turning left while they went right and I had the full day alone with my thoughts.  I grabbed a banana and a partial cup of coffee while waiting for the clock to reach the official start time, and pushed off into the cold dark.

I had loaded two different versions of the GPS track into my Garmin, and rapidly discovered that the one I had chosen wasn’t going to give me the kind of cues I wanted.  I made a couple of minor wrong turns in residential areas, and stopped to switch out the guiding file.  That was a good choice, because the other file worked flawlessly all day. [GPX Track, for future reference.]

Watching the colors change with the sunrise was the most enjoyable part of the ride.  I was in familiar territory and traffic was still light.  I was riding as the rest of the world was waking up and the quietness of that was only really disturbed by a strong NW wind.  That wind would be in my face for the next 60 miles, and sometimes it whistled through the overhead wires.  I’m guessing the wind speed to be about 20-25 mph most of the day.  I enjoyed the trip through Patapsco Valley Park.

The first of many steep climbs of the day came in Ellicott City.  I navigated that one comfortably and felt good about the prospects of the upcoming hills.  My bike was shifting properly, which was not true the last time I rode this route.  Once I finally crossed Highway 40, I stopped and got a quick bite to eat and had a bathroom break.  Unfortunately, I had to stand in line for quite a while for the bathroom and it was not as quick an in and out as I had anticipated.

The next leg of the Patapsco Valley 203k moves through suburbs into farmland, generally climbing but nothing very steep.  It was on this stretch that the wind was at its worst.  I found that I had to pedal downhill in order to maintain speed.  Coasting meant that I slowed down on those downhills.  That’s simply not fair!  There was a little excitement on the morning.  I pulled over 3 times to let emergency vehicles pass.  I pulled over to let farm machinery pass only to learn that it was a manure spreader.  There were a lot of farmers spreading manure on their fields.   I saw a church sign that read “He is resen”.  (Yes, the spelling was that bad!)  I kept the pedals turning, although I was going a lot slower than I really wanted to.  I considered taking some photos, but my calculations were not optimistic for having time to the first control if I flatted or ran into some mechanical problems, so I kept pushing on.  Since I had ridden this route before, I kept looking for landmarks I remembered.  Most of them came much later in the ride than I remembered.

As I entered Union Bridge, I started to get some cramping in my left leg.  I had popped some ecaps earlier, but had only consumed 2 bottles of fluids those first 60 miles.

Soon enough … well, around 11:15 I rolled into Union Bridge, the first control, and found the 7-11 where I planned to stop for lunch.  Yes, it is not very interesting, but I knew that I could control my time there.  A restaurant was dependent upon the service.  I ate a chicken salad sandwich on whole wheat bread, ate a bag of chips, drank a coke, and refilled water bottles.   My lunch spot was inside seated on a milk crate that had been kindly offered by one of the cashiers.  Since my next leg was going to be downwind and the sun was shining, I switched out gloves to a lighter pair, but still kept the balaclava on.  Temperatures had climbed to 38° F!

The best part of the Patapsco Valley Ride is from Union Bridge to New Market.  It is a highway with wide shoulders, no real hills, and today, a 25 mph tailwind.  I rode easy, enjoying the time before  the hills started.  I also took about 3 doses of ecaps along the way.

The hills start at New Market.  Whatever benefit the tailwind gives is not really noticed on the hills.  I was pleased with the first hill and how I was riding.  It was slow, but it was not unbearable.  The last time I rode this ride I watched the elevation profile on my Garmin.  This time, I avoided that screen entirely.  I didn’t want to know what was coming up because on the screen it all looks nearly straight up.

I rode up and down, often at 5-6 mph on the uphill and 30-40 mph on the downhill where it was safe to do so.  I kept as hydrated as I could.  I found myself stopping at places I had stopped last September.  At one point the balaclava was switched out for a cap with ear flaps.  My jacket was unzipped on the uphills and closed on the descents.

I enjoyed the roll through the Springfield State Hospital complex.  I actually enjoyed a long gradual uphill toward Route 40.  The long gradual downhill into Ellicott City was another pleasant part of the ride.  I was feeling good about what was coming up after Ellicott City, where I had really struggled last year.  There had been no cramping on the hills, and instead of walking my bike up the steep hill out of downtown Ellicott City, I comfortably rode up, albeit in granny gear.

Soon enough I was at BWI airport, and out of water.  I decided to simply press on in my now dehydrated state for the last 8 – 10 miles.  I was picking up the benefit of the wind again, and true to form, those last 10 miles seemed to take forever.

I arrived at the finish in just over 11 hours.  It was a long day on the bike.  That’s ride number 8 on this second R-12 attempt.

This Ride: 129.5 miles
Month: 435.6 miles
2013: 1239.8 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 21,012.7 miles

Oh that I wasn’t so backed up at work!  Eleven days without a day off, and a high percentage of those days have been at least 12 hours of work.  The weariness I’m feeling is approaching that which I feel at the end of the Flèche!

But I’m out there riding.

Yesterday, three of us rode.  We kept what I would call a Flèche pace.  It was a pace one could ride all day.  It felt good.  I did set a personal best time (for this year) on one little hill.  Now that felt good.  Thanks Strava, for keeping track.

This morning, three of us showed up at the Rusty Bridge and by the time the ride was a quarter of the way done, we had 9 out.  A couple of young bucks challenged the old pros, and there was soon a group off the front.  I on the other hand, stayed back, rode quickly, but tried not to burn myself out.  The legs just weren’t there.  I knew that going into the ride.

You see, I woke up, got ready, and all the while debated whether or not I would ride this morning.  I sat on the step fully dressed, ready to put my helmet on, and the conversation went something like this:

“Why don’t you just go back to bed?”

“Yeah … and lay awake kicking myself?”

“Look, you are tired.  You’ve been working too many hours.  You need the rest.”

“But the other day I wrote on the blog that riding with fatigue was part of the training.”

“You need to filter what you write.”

“I’m riding.”

“You are riding a 200k solo on Friday.  Do you think it is wise to do that fatigued?”

“I’m making a decision to ride this morning.  Friday is its own day.”

“Stay home.”

“I’m riding.”

Usually, it’s not that hard.

Tomorrow I may rest.  Friday will be a solo 200k over a route that kicked me in the seat of the pants last September.  I think I’m better prepared.  My bike works better than it did in September, and I know where the food will be at the turn around point.  Last September I had potato chips for lunch because I couldn’t locate a place that served food that was open.  I suffered as a result.

This Ride: 19.7 miles
Month: 306.1 miles
2013: 1110.3 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 20,883.2 miles

Each day ticks a day closer to the Flèche (April 6-7).  Each ride is another “link in the chain of events” leading to successful completion with Team Chain Reaction.  Base miles and one more 200k (minimum) are still on the calendar.  Soon it will be time to accumulate the gear.

The bike is ready with new tires/tubes, cables, chain rings, bottom bracket, handlebar tape, and a tune up.  The fixie has been put to bed for now since the Kona will be my ride for those 24 hours, and all hours leading up to the ride.  Weather or fatigue are no longer acceptable excuses/reasons to stay in bed these early mornings.  Fatigue is part of the plan.

This morning’s ride was cool and dark with occasional very light snow flurries.  The wind was brisk.  I overdressed.

This Ride: 22.5 miles
Month: 262.4 miles
2013: 1066.6 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 20,839.5 miles

I’m always amazed at how different rides can be.  Friday was the breakfast ride to Annapolis.  I had my new chain installed properly and was in the 16 tooth cog on the fixie instead of the 17.  We had an enjoyable morning and then I added some miles as I bade farewell to friends.  Those last dozen solo miles were mostly torture with 25-35 mph headwinds at times.  Pushing that big gear on the fixie against the wind resulted in some very sore legs over the weekend.  Friday the car drivers were rude.  I had two near misses because of “right hooks” two blocks apart.  I had someone lay on the horn as they blew by me as I was in the far left of the left turning lane with my arm out signaling the turn.

Never zone out when on a bike on the roadways!

This morning, 10 of us were out in the wall to wall darkness once again.  We enjoyed one another’s company.  Had no rude drivers.  No wind to battle.  It was just an enjoyable ride.  Of course, we finished our ride before most people were in their cars … but then, that’s a benefit of an early morning start.

This Ride: 22.2 miles
Month: 167.7 miles
2013: 971.8 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 20,744.7 miles

I had to abort a ride this morning.

Backstory: I took the Kona into the shop for a tuneup before the Flèche.  I put new tires, tubes, and chain on the fixie.  I was not confident about the connecting link on the fixie, but ran out of time to figure out another solution on the inexpensive chain.

My fixie chain came apart at the connector.  Pressed for time again, I simply grabbed the chain off the ground, told the others that I didn’t have time for a ride and a repair this morning, and pushed the bike halfway home.  Chris L happened by on his way to work and with a bike rack on the back of his car, took me and the bike home.

I’ll get a new connecting master link today when I pick up my Kona from the shop.  It will be a quick repair and I’ll be ready for Friendly Friday.

This Ride: 5.5 miles
Month: 99.1 miles
2013: 903.3 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 20,676.2 miles

With a possible snowstorm looming late tonight, more daylight and ten riders or more out this morning, conditions were ripe for a preview of “Terrible Tuesday”.  It was a cold, 23°F and I was dressed for it.  Pushing off from the Rusty Bridge, we brought our speed up to a reasonable pace as we settled in to that period of time when you reconnect with others and somehow the group begins to decide the pace.  I don’t know how it happens, it just does.

I really don’t think that the idea of fast came until about the time we hit Old County Road.  It was on the climb out of Round Bay that the pack started to push it.  By the time we all hit the top of the hill we were strung out and some kept the power needed to climb the hill constant.  Others, like me, were gasping for breath.  I kept the speed up as much as I could, but by the time I hit the trail again, I had let some distance get between my front wheel and the bikes around me.  I held a heart rate of 160 as long as I could, then slowed some to cool down and keep the heart rate in the lower 150s.  I was unzipping vents in my clothing like crazy.  The blinking lights continued to get further and further away.

This is a familiar feeling … getting dropped.  My cardiovascular system is strong, but not strong enough for this.  Thankfully, the gang waited at the end of the trail for me, and on the return, as quick as it was, I was able to stay connected to the group, usually in about the 4 or 5 position.  I know that in the next month, the speeds will increase dramatically.

As we rolled into Severn Park at McKinsey Road, I noted that this was likely my fastest morning ride this year.  The details pulled off the Garmin and uploaded to Strava confirm that.  I’ve got two private Strava segments that I use to gauge the ride, and both show that I’ve got some work to do to beat my best times, but for the year, this ride was the fastest of the year.  Look out … it is coming!

This Ride: 21.1 miles
Month: 93.6 miles
2013: 897.8 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 20,670.7 miles