This Ride: 50.2 miles
Month: 346.1 miles
2011: 3,716 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9,835.7 miles (inching toward 10,000)
It was good to get back out on the bike after a weekend off. I thought about riding over the weekend, but that’s as far as it got … a thought.
Six of us were out at the start this morning, but we picked up Jim K along the way. It was a nice group and a really easy ride. When the regular ride was done, I stopped by the house to see Lori off for work, then added nearly 30 more miles before ending for the day. Nothing much else to say this morning. It was a good ride.
This Ride: 60.5 miles
Month: 295.9 miles
2011: 3,665.9 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9,785.6 miles (inching toward 10,000)
Some days have more interesting events than others. This was an interesting day.
We had 9-10 riders out for the 5:45 ride this morning, including Janet. The last time Janet rode with us, there was “The Great Squirrel Incident”(TM). Janet doesn’t disappoint. After sticking to the trail through most of our usual turnouts due to a leadout veteran rider back with us new after a hiatus, Janet flatted. It is amazing how a bike tire can pick up a staple and bring the mighty bicycle to an inglorious stop. A quick tube change as we start dripping sweat in the 80%+ humidity, and back we go on our way. At least 3 turned back at the end of the trail and missed the excitement in Annapolis.
As we made our final turn toward Hard Bean, we traveled through some orange cones which we thought were related to the renovations going on at Market House. As we move through, some workers try to get our attention to stop, but instead draw our attention to Main Street where police have the street blocked. Lincoln was shooting a car commercial on Main Street. We watched for a little while, and will be curious whether or not the commercial will use the shots taken going the right way or the wrong way on Main Street. One cop joked that now they were going to have to shoot the commercial over on Saturday because some bicyclists got in the shot. We commented back that no one got our permission to mess up our regular Friday morning ride into Annapolis. Store owners got $100 for the inconvenience of delayed deliveries and later openings. What about our group?
We had a nice ride back from Annapolis after breakfast outdoors. I continued on around the river, crossing the finish line for RAAM in Crownsville for the first time since the race ended nearly 2 weeks ago. It was a nice ride, although warm and I dripped sweat all the way along the route. I finished strong with 60 miles on the morning. I’m on track for my 900 mile month.
This Ride:29.8 miles
Month: 235.4 miles
2011: 3,605.3 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9,725.0 miles
I knew before I rolled out of bed this morning that this would be a tough one. I didn’t have much energy and my legs felt like logs. I got out of the house in time to get about 7 miles in before meeting up at the Rusty Bridge. We had another good turnout, especially with the new guys. It wasn’t long before I let the group go off on their own, and I took my own pace.
Alone I climbed the hill in Round Bay. Alone I rode down Old County Road. Alone I rode to the southern end of the trail, seeing at least 4 groups of riders making their way north. Alone I rode to the peak of the Naval Academy Bridge. Alone I rode back north on the trail. Alone I rode B&A Blvd, getting up to 38 mph on my favorite hill. I waved at Dangerous Dan as he found his way home. If it sounds like I’m feeling sorry for myself, I’m not. This alone time was good. I enjoy either group rides or solo rides.
I was surprised that my average speed was as high as it was. I felt as though it were a lot slower.
I though a lot about the past couple of years riding and what I’ve learned and how far I’ve come. I still have goals and plenty to learn, but this has been a good couple of years.
This Ride: 31.8 miles
Month: 205.6 miles
2011: 3,575.6 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9,695.3 miles
Wicked Wednesday saw at least 9 riders out but those 9 really didn’t ride much together.
I started with an extra few miles, not only to get my legs warmed up for the effort, but also because I need to get a minimum of 30 miles a day in to reach my monthly goal. After meeting up at the Rusty Bridge, we started off easy, gradually picking up the pace for the first couple of miles. When we got to Round Bay, at least 4 of us stayed on Old County Road. I hung with Brian (Commodore) forming a two person break away that was successful to the end of the trail. We kept the speed up over 20 mph as much as we could, sometimes seeing 24. We had to soft pedal at one place as a deer ran across the trail. Dave P. grumbled about the “cheaters”winning the sprint, but that’s not a given, since it has been over a month since I’ve been able to beat the main group to the end of the trail. I’ve gotten faster, but so have the others.
Coming back, Jim K and I hung together at a more reasonable pace, including waiting for a dropped rider at Glen Oban. As we pulled back, we discussed the possibility of including a loop option for interval training. We discussed the possibility of a 2 mile+ loop, but are still looking for options. We will float the idea to the group at some point.
Once I split from Jim, I tried one of the possible loops, then powered up the hill past my house to do one more loop using B&A Blvd behind my home, then eased off as I approached the finish. I was drenched in sweat. I may have to wash the bike because the sweat was accumulating on the top bar and dripping onto the chain. It was a good training ride.
This Ride: 30.6 miles
Month: 173.8 miles
2011: 3,543.8 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9,663.5 miles
After leaving it all out on the road for July 4th, and noting how fatigued I am, I decided to forgo the 5:45 ride this morning and instead sleep in a bit and ride later in the morning. Other than consuming a good amount of time in the morning, this was a good plan for me today.
I chose to ride a “recovery ride”. My goal was to make 120 bpm my target heart rate, allowing myself to go up to 125 on the flats and under 140 on any hills. I stuck to the plan pretty well, except for some of the stretches near the end of the ride. Overall, my average heart rate was about 20 – 25 bpm lower than usual and my speed was an easy 15.4 mph. It was a good ride. No incidents to report. No near misses. My mind simply drifted.
This Ride: 89.5 miles
Month: 143.3 miles
2011: 3,513.2 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9,632.9 miles
Severna Park Peloton has 3 summer holiday rides to Sweet Sue’s in North Beach, Memorial Day, July 4th, & Labor Day. A few of us rode today, using one of 3 starts. A conversational pace ride started near Severna Park at 6:30 am. Two of us rode that start (accompanied by two others for part of the ride). We arrived at the Davidsonville Park and Ride for the 7:30 start there, with 4 additional riders. Three riders started near Severna Park at 7:00 am for a quicker pace. What’s that … 9 riders including one new guy, Carl.
Doug and I rode to the Park & Ride. The air was cool and humid in some of the low-lying areas, and I had trouble with my glasses fogging up. We had a few minutes time at the Park & Ride, where we got to meet Carl and fill him in a little on what to expect. Bill and his daughter rode a Tandem from the Park & Ride, and set a nice quick and steady pace (except for the short climbs).
Sweet Sue’s was, as usual, wonderful. The faster group was there waiting for us. I had an egg, cheese, sausage on a bagel and a strawberry smoothie.
Soon, it was time to push off. The nine of us started out together, but quickly separated on the first climb out of North Beach. There were 5 “faster riders”. I hung with the faster riders, and noted two things. 1) We were flying. 2) My heart rate was running pretty high. I hung in there as long as I could (about 20 miles), but eventually the pace got the better of me and I started lagging behind. I wanted the ride to end about 15 miles sooner than it did. I did a much better job at climbing the hills. I came close to a head on collision with a truck around a blind curve when I was flying at about 35 mph (truck was on the yellow line and I was close to the line with gravel all over the road at that spot). Thanks to good bike handling skills for that survival moment.
When I got home, I had a bite to eat, something to drink, and promptly took a nap.
What a wild ride since I posted last (June 2, 2011).
- I performed the wedding ceremony for my youngest daughter and new son-in-law
- I rode a 200k permanent with Clint P.
- Hard drive failure on my primary computer.
- I worked as Crew for an over 50 solo RAAM (Race Across America) rider. (2 weeks off the bike!) He finished in 11 days, 1 hour, 13 minutes!
- Now I’m back on the bike.
To catch up:
June: 426.7 miles
2011: 3,369.9 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9,489.6 miles
Now for today’s ride:
This Ride: 53.8 miles
Month: 53.8 miles
2011: 3,423.8 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9,543.5 miles
Today was the first time in over a month that I was able to go to breakfast with the Severna Park Peloton. It was good to be back in the rhythm of life with this group. I returned from RAAM on Sunday, and have been out daily with the group since Tuesday. I’m aware of some loss of fitness with those two weeks off the bike, but it should come back quickly. After breakfast, I rode with Mike up to and around the airport. He was commuting in to work. I didn’t set any speed records today, and I had to take a nap when I got home, but other than some minor soreness in my legs, I’m feeling pretty good.
No photo of the map for this one. I still have to load the photo editing software onto my computer after the replacement of the failed hard drive. Here is the link for the curious.
This evening, we are having a “happy hour”party at Clint’s house to talk about RAAM. Randy (the rider) and his wife Suzie (also a crew member) will also be there. It will be good to tell the stories together. I hope to post some RAAM-related material here later. I’m still pulling together my notes and photos. Watch for it.
Major goals for July:
- Pass the 10,000 mile mark (since January 2010). There is a license plate frame award once I achieve this.
- Achieve a personal distance record for one month. I’d like to get at least 900 miles this month, maybe more. RAAM put me behind my goal pace by 305 miles as of today’s ride.
- Ride my 8th consecutive monthly 200k.
- Continue regular posting to this blog.
Next bigger ride: SPP Sweet Sue’s July 4th ride. It is about 90-100 miles round trip from my house.
This Ride: 116.5 miles
Month: 138.8 miles
2011: 3,082.1 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9,201.8 miles
Jeff S. & I rode from Stevensville to Ocean City for a church assembly today. This serves as just a brief note about the ride.
A bee hit my mouth at about mile 50. Neither the bee or I were happy at the collision. The bee jabbed me with a stinger, and I grabbed the bee, pulled it off, and tossed it over my shoulder. I was reminded of that bee for at least 50 more miles with a swollen lip and some other residual effects.
I was very strong from mile 25-75, taking the lead most of this way. I struggled from mile 85-116 and sucked wheel.
Rolling time for 100 miles = 5:11. Nice!
More later.
This Ride: 22.3 miles
Month: 22.3 miles
2011: 2,965.6 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9085.3 miles
We had 14 riders out for our 5:45 ride this morning! We broke into two groups, a faster and a slower group. I stuck with the slower group for an easy spin before my big ride tomorrow. It was nice having some new people out, some who had never tried the 5:45 ride, and some we haven’t seen for a while.
June will be an odd month for riding. Originally I had hoped for a 900 mile month. It won’t happen. Here is the tentative plan right now.
- June 2: 115 mile ride from Stevensville, MD to Ocean City, MD
- June 3-4: Easy 20 mile spins
- June 5-6: Off the bike
- June 7-9: Easy 20-30 mile rides (with maybe the Pizza Ride?)
- June 10: 207k Sailing Down to Solomons
- June 11: Rest Day
- June 12 – 26: RAAM Crew (no rides)
- June 27 – 30: Easy 20-30 mile rides
It looks like the best I can hope for is about 450 miles in June. That will put me about 300 miles behind my goal pace for 8000 miles on the year by the end of the month.
Since beginning to ride regularly in December 2009, the time crewing for Randy will be my longest stretch off the bike. Not bad, if I say so myself!
Memorial Day Ride with Severna Park Peloton
This Ride: 62 miles
Month: 712.9 miles
2011: 2,920.4 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9040.1 miles
I look forward to the Severna Park Peloton Summer Holiday Rides. Last year was the first year I rode the Memorial Day Ride. This was much easier than that ride was.
Knowing what kind of miles I was riding this week, I opted for the shorter version of the Memorial Day Ride, starting at the Davidsonville Park & Ride rather than starting with 19 others in Millersville (which made their route about 90-100 miles). That was a good choice, and I’m glad I made that decision.
I wore my Team Mouri (RAAM) jersey, and it was quite a hit. I talked about the upcoming RAAM event quite a bit.
When the 19 arrived, we posed for photos, had our ride briefing, then took off on a quick pace down to North Beach & Sweet Sue’s Bake Shop. I had forgotten my Garmin, so I turned on the imapmyride application on my iPhone. The track down to Sweet Sue’s worked, but it stopped working on the way back, so I’m not posting the map. I stayed with the faster group all the way down, only having to bridge one gap to stay with them, and averaged 19+ mph on that leg of the trip. It was pretty uneventful. We had 25 riders and it is always good to ride in a group that size. We had some people who struggled because this was a very long ride for them and/or they were really out of shape for this ride, but we always had some riders with them.
Sweet Sue’s was ready for us when we arrived. Clint calls ahead with our numbers. We poured into the place like we owned it, completely overwhelming the patrons sitting down for breakfast. As it turned out, another cycling group arrived from Annapolis shortly after our first group got there, so there was a steady line of cyclists for a good 45 minutes. I had a strawberry smoothie and a pina colada muffin that really hit the spot. I even went in before we started back and ordered another strawberry smoothie to go, put it and some ice in my insulated water bottle, and enjoyed it for the next 10 miles.
We were not very disciplined coming back. The temperatures climbed into the lower 90’s with relatively high humidity. The heat index was over 100 and a heat advisory was issued. The 25 riders broke up into many smaller groups. I was riding comfortably with one group, but knew that some riders were a ways back, struggling, and so I turned around and rode back with Clint to support those riders on the way back. The people I was looking for specifically were not there, but I hung with this group to the end. We all drained our fluids pretty quickly, and had to ride about 4-5 miles with no fluids until we made it to Harwood and the one gas station on the return route. There we filled up with water, Gatorade, and ice, and prepared for the final few miles (for me) to the Park and Ride. Others continued on to Millersville to the planned rendezvous at a local pub for some food and beer.
On my way back, I looked for a rider that had insisted going off on his own back to Annapolis. I couldn’t find him, and later discovered that he had stopped into a Whole Foods (where his wife worked) about the time and place where I anticipated him. He later reported that he had gotten home.
We finally settled upon Hellas (the only place we could find open on this holiday) where I had a burger and a beer. That and the air conditioning and the company really hit the spot. Since I don’t have a Garmin track, you will have to settle for a few photos, complements of Bryan.
May 31 Ride
This Ride: 22.9 miles
Month: 735.8 miles
2011: 2,943.3 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 9063 miles
Not much to say about an easy recovery ride this morning. There were 5 of us out. Dave and Ben wanted to go fast. Clif, Dan, and I were content to go slower. Dan will be outside working in the heat all day and there was no need to push it on this very warm and humid morning. I’m moving into my preparation mode for a 100+ mile ride on Thursday, so an easy spin for the legs was the order of the day. No creatures were killed in the making of this ride, except maybe the bug that smacked me in the face at 30 mph. Base miles and blood moving through the body is a good thing.
And the miles are in for May. I missed my 800 mile goal by 65 miles, but I had that in the bank. I’ll miss June’s goal of 900 by much more because of RAAM. I’ll have to revisit the monthly goals to see if 8000 miles for the year will be possible.
Rev Rider 