Rev Rider

This Ride: 23 miles
Month: 303.9 miles
2011: 1,235.1 miles
Total since 1/1/10: 7,354.8 miles

(Late in the day entry)

Half a dozen of us were out again this morning in a nearly identical day to yesterday.  This time I had hand warmers in my booties and my feet were fine.  We also had a quicker pace than yesterday, and it felt good.  We had some stretches at about 25 mph on the flats (I can’t hold that long) and Clif was sorry he brought his fixie out.  We also saw Mike on his commute north.  I hope he stays dry for his trip back home.

I started working on my hill attitudes, and I can tell you that it makes a difference.  That will be important for the next 200k in early April … “Horsing Around Sugarloaf”.

I quickly showered and made my way to Annapolis to attempt to score an iPad2.  No such luck this morning.  I was about 5-10 people too deep in line to get the chance to spend my money.  I’ll either have to go early on Thursday … or try again next week.  At least I made my morning meeting on time.

This Ride: 21.8 miles
Month: 280.9 miles
2011: 1,212.1 miles
Total since 1/1/10: 7,331.8 miles

This morning was more of an effort.  It didn’t help that the once used toe warmers I had in a ziplock in the refrigerator were apparently dead.  My toes didn’t freeze, but they were a bit chilly and if my feet are cold, I’m not very happy.  It was 34° F this morning.  Good thing the Gore booties do a nice job by themselves.

Bryan and I pushed off from the Rusty Bridge at 5:45 and were quickly joined by three other riders.  We met Mike as he was doing an early commute to work.  This was Mosey Monday, and most of us took it easy.  Most of us meaning not me.  Since I was struggling, it seemed to be more work for me.  I did spin up the hills.  Hills are my new obstacle that I need to develop a different attitude about and find better ways to engage.  That’s going to be critical in completing my R-12 with enthusiasm.  I’m embarrassed that I worked so hard for less than 15 mph rolling speed.

But that’s the way it is with cycling, I’ve learned.  Some days one is fast and it is easy.  Some days it is tough and slow.  Some of that has to do with nutrition and hydration.  Some of it has to do with fatigue and other parts of life entering in.  Predicting it is beyond me at this point.  So I simply get out and ride as often as I can and try not to let the mood determine whether or not I ride.

This Ride: 30.7 miles
Month: 259.0 miles
2011: 1,190.3 miles
Total since 1/1/10: 7,310.0 miles

Having not ridden much this week, and with Lori out this morning with blood donation and a few errands, it seemed like a good time to get out and get a few miles in. I couldn’t swing the 7:30 ride to Annapolis, so instead I rode a solo ride to Sandy Point.

The trail was pretty busy with runners, walkers, and cyclists, as well it should be on a Saturday morning between 45 & 50° F.  I saw one “peloton” of about a dozen riders on the last part of my route.  They were not part of SPP.

The ride was uneventful.  No close calls with vehicles.  All drivers were courteous.  I went from partly sunny skies to thick overcast.  The biggest excitement was hitting a pothole at the threshold of a bridge on St. Margaret’s road.  It shook my bike hard.  I expected a flat, warped rim, or broken spoke, but the bike (and I) survived intact.

After yesterday’s ride, I had the bike in to Pedal Pushers for new cables and a “tune up”.  Some of the cables were corroding in the housing and I had some corrosion in my rear brake assembly.  All of that is the result of many salty, wet winter rides.  I should be good now for a time.

This Ride: 29.1 miles
Month: 228.3 miles
2011: 1,159.5 miles
Total since 1/1/10: 7,279.2 miles

Three days on the bike in the past 7 days. That’s not enough. I may see if I can get out tomorrow some.

We’ve had rain, up to about 2.5 – 3 inches of the wet stuff over the past 30 hours.  The forecast for this morning was no rain (even though there were a few sprinkles at 5:15) and the forecast held. You can tell that the riding itch is starting for those who did not get out much this winter. We had 10-11 riders out this morning (I have a hard time counting that many) for the 5:45 breakfast ride, with 9 riding into Annapolis. It was a pretty morning. We rode at a comfortable pace, had a lot of conversation going, and with that many people we often would talk to someone a few minutes, the positions would change, and soon you were talking with someone else. It was kind of like speed dating on bikes.

Breakfast at the Hard Bean was good.  The Fleche team has named themselves.  If I heard right, their team name is “Four guys and one other guy” (or something like that).  The Fleche is a 24 hour team ride of 360k (I think) with riders developing their own route to end up at the same finish point as others.  The last 25k has to be ridden in the last 2 hours. (It is possible I have some of these details wrong.)  That ride will happen in April.

We didn’t hang together very well on the way back.  The three on fixies stuck together, and the rest were out ahead.  I added a few extra miles at the end.  I though about adding at least 10-15 more, but simply decided to loop around back home to get some other tasks done today.

Fridays are always the highlight of my week.

My 200k ride in February earned me a medal.  I ordered it tonight.  This is nice.

This Ride: 19.2 miles
Month: 199.2 miles
2011: 1,130.4 miles
Total since 1/1/10: 7,250.1 miles

Recently some of the SPP riders have been lamenting that work is getting in the way of riding. I’m afraid I’m experiencing that this week. Today’s ride was cut short because I had an out of town meeting to attend. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and I have a 6:30 am worship service to lead. Thursday I’ll be in Gettysburg for a lecture series that may preclude the early ride. I’m glad my schedule isn’t always this challenging early in the morning.

I woke up early for the ride, which was a good thing.  I still had not done anything to my bike from the 200k on Saturday, so I used some of the extra time to lube the derailleur, remove the cue sheet, deflate and re-inflate the rear tire to purge it of the CO2, remove the trunk, and reinstall the tool bag under the seat.  I still pushed off a little early from home, added a little distance, and got to the RB a little early.  Dan soon arrived, and for a time, we thought we were going to be the only riders.  Bryan’s headlight appeared on the horizon, and as he joined us we were soon joined by Jeff Scho. & Clif.

We had a lively conversation going, some about the weekend rides, some about members we haven’t seen for a while but are expecting to join us soon as the weather improves.  Round Bay hill was still there, and still was just as challenging (although it seemed shorter this morning).  I cut the ride short as mentioned above, pulling off at White’s Road and headed directly home.

It was good to get my legs spinning again.  My saddle feels like it is nearly fully broken in now.  There were bunnies and birds galore, some who decided to race us along the path.  Too bad we always won the race.

It was a good morning.

This Ride: 126.4 miles
Month: 180 miles
2011: 1111.2 miles
Total since 1/1/10: 7,230.9 miles

“Over to Dover” is a permanent route managed by Crista B of the DC Randonneurs that is a nearly out and back course from Frederick, MD to Dover, PA (near York, PA).  Gardner D. of the SPP announced he was planning to ride the route and 7 other riders decided to join him.  That made it an all SPP ride, with a scheduled 7:00 am start (Saturday, March 5th).  Riders included Gardner, Theresa, Fran, Janet, Ben (on his first 200k), Davie (with a heart over the “i”), Bryan, and I.

The forecast really didn’t give us any worries.  Temps were to start in the low 40°F range and rise into the upper 50s.  There was a 30% chance of rain for later in the day.  We could expect some winds out of the south in the afternoon.  The forecast was for a good time and a good trip.

By 6:40 am we all had gathered at Jolly Roger in Frederick and were in pretty good spirits.  We had 43° F and fog.  The forecast had not mentioned fog.  This was wet and thick.  This distressed Bryan.  He was riding his new bike and really didn’t want to get it dirty or wet.  We reconsidered our clothing choices because of the damp and cold, and most of us added some type of rain gear.  For me, that was a good choice.  As we pushed off just a few minutes after 7:00 am, we quickly collected moisture and I know I was constantly wiping water from my eye wear.  We had energy.  We enjoyed one another’s company.  We enjoyed the scenery.  We even enjoyed the rolling hills.

Some of the riders had ridden the North by Northwest permanent 3 weeks earlier.  Over to Dover shares some of the first part of that route.  We crossed a covered bridge and numerous fast flowing creeks.  We held a reasonable pace, riding as a group.  We expected the fog to burn off sometime quite early.  It didn’t.  When we arrived at our first control at mile 44, we still had light fog, and the temperatures had not moved for 44 miles we had been riding.  Bryan and I were pleased we had foot warmers in.  At this first control, there were clothing adjustments made, we ate and drank a little.  As we pushed off, I noticed my rear tire was soft (not completely flat).  I called everyone back.  Fran stayed outside with me as I changed the tire (more than 4 minutes and less than 10), checking very carefully for what was causing the softness.  We could find no hole in the tube.  We could find nothing in the tire.  I inflated the tube and am grateful to say that the tube held the entire ride.

As soon as we pushed off from the first control, the temperatures started a slow climb.  We continued to ride rollers and enjoyed good scenery as the fog lifted to overcast skies.  We had a small herd of cattle run with us the way horses and dogs will sometimes do.  We saw a pair of goats that had a shelter on a bluff overlooking the river below.  We were feeling better as the temperatures climbed.  Then we reached the longest, steepest hill I’ve ever attempted on a bike.  My Garmin track shows it climbs about 300 feet over a distance of a mile.  It felt bigger than that.  We did a little clothing shedding at the bottom of the hill, and 6 of group decided to race to the control.  My goal was simply to climb the hill.  Davie hung back with me, encouraging me along the way.  I was in my lowest gear, sat the whole way up attempting to manage both my cadence and my heart rate.  It was a nice accomplishment.  Soon we were at the second control and lunch.

Lunch at the “Route 74 Restaurant” was good and inexpensive.  We dried out our clothing (and decided that a control at a laundromat would be simply amazing … having the ability to put on dry, warm clothing after a lunch stop), used the impossibly small bathroom and enjoyed a quick lunch break.  I was looking forward to taking the mile long descent pretty fast, hoping to set a new personal record for speed on my bike.  It had warmed up enough that another round of clothing decisions was necessary for our short distance to the next control.

Our spirits remained pretty good following lunch.  We were a little slower than I had hoped, but we were doing fine.  It was on the long downhill where I first noticed the wind.  I had to work against the stiff headwind to reach my top speed of 41.1 mph down the hill.  It was blowing pretty hard.  For most of the rest of ride, we pushed on against a relentless wind.  It wasn’t as strong as it was at the Ashland ride two weeks ago, but it was steady at about 20 mph until roughly 4:30-5:00 pm.  We always had it in our face.  I notice now after the fact that our average speed dropped pretty significantly also in this last half of the ride.  It wasn’t just because of fatigue.

The wind dispirited us each a little differently.  I figured the wind was a given, but it increased the effort to move ahead just enough that I groaned over every rise when I saw the next hill ahead.  We were not as able to keep a tight group going, so sometimes riders would be riding alone, separated by a frustrating quarter to half a mile, or roll up to the leaders waiting at a turn, just to continue moving while the quicker riders had experienced a bit of a break.  We had periods of lightness and laughter, but we also had long stretches of silence as we simply continued to cycle on.  The sun broke through the overcast in the afternoon, and the temperatures continued to climb.  The Garmin says it reached 68°F, but I can’t imagine it got that warm.  Frederick’s high was officially 60°.

The control at mile 77 was a quick in and out.  The control at mile 105 had us eating and changing clothing again.  You could tell at this control that we were getting tired.  We acted like we had been up all night and were a bit punchy.  We were ready for the final push.  The wind  started to diminish, the sun was going down, and the temperature was falling.

During the last 20 miles or so I started having trouble getting my bike to shift into the front small ring.  At the covered bridge, as we stopped for the inevitable photos, I was able to force the chain onto the small ring, and left it there the rest of the ride.  I needed the power it gave up the hills more than I needed the speed on the flats.

I had ridden all day with my headlight flashing.  It gave out with about 10 miles to go, so I switched on the helmet mounted flashing light.  As we rolled into Frederick, Ben jumped off the front to finish first.  The rest of us stayed as a group, hitting most traffic lights red, but all letting out a cheer as we saw the Jolly Rodger … the finish, as we climbed the last rise of the day.  It was good to be done.

We changed clothes, sampled one of the beers Ben brought as the “newbie”, noted a couple of sprinkles of rain, then all went to an Italian restaurant for supper together.  Despite the very slow service, we had a good time with one another.  This is where Davie got his name.  Dave P was chatting up/flirting with the waitress, who referred to him as Davie.  It became a running gag all night.  We even drew a heart in his food since he was in the bathroom when it was delivered.  (Not nearly) soon enough, we made our way back home.  I jumped in the hot tub for a soak, then to bed.

Thanks to all the riders.  Each contributed to an enjoyable ride for me.  I’m looking forward to the next ride.  This completes R-4 for me.  Only 8 more to go!

This Ride: 29.7 miles
Month: 53.6 miles
2011: 984.8 miles
Total since 1/1/10: 7,104.5 miles

Two days off the bike seems like forever, especially when it is mid-week.  It was good to get back out today, but it was more of a struggle than I anticipated.

There were 6 of us at the Rusty Bridge for the start.  Some regulars were missing.  It was an uneventful ride, which was good, considering the story about yesterday’s flat, and a first one for one of the riders.  The story about the changing of that flat is one that will bring tears to our eyes for some time to come.  Everything that could go wrong did for this novice.  He also made the mistake to indicate that his wife took care of the flats on the kid’s bikes, so he had never done one.  Cliff turned back at the end of the trail, and it was 5 of us for breakfast at the Hard Bean.

Clint’s wife and a friend of hers joined us for breakfast and added a lot of humor to the morning.  She also started pushing Clint toward doing PBP this summer in France.  That then consumed the conversation the whole way back.  Bill C had planned to join us this morning, but he had a flat he changed at home, and also got into some trouble.  He met us at the end of Boulter’s Way and rode back with us.  He is considering riding at least leg one of OC12 with us.

So yes, I rode my bike nearly 30 miles this morning, but there was so much laughter and camaraderie going on that the miles seemed incidental.  It has been almost a year that I’ve been riding with the SPP.  I looked in my records, and April 2nd was my first breakfast ride with them.  It has been a good year.

I’ll do some bike maintenance today.  I’ll pack and be ready for my 4th consecutive monthly 200k tomorrow.  We are riding the “Over to Dover” permanent.  Weather looks great.  We’ve got a good group going.  It should be a lot of fun.

This Ride: 23.9 miles
Month: 23.9 miles
2011: 955.1 miles
Total since 1/1/10: 7,074.8 miles

At 5:45 this morning, there was a glow in the sky. The crescent moon and Venus hung together low in the sky. It was simply gorgeous. Bryan, Chris L, and I started out from the Rusty Bridge, soon picking up Chip & Clif. The five of us had an easy pace going and soon Jeff Sch joined us. The ride through Round Bay was quieter than yesterday morning. Everything was back to normal … except for the family whose house was gutted in yesterday morning’s fire. I’m fully expecting some increase in the number of 5:45 riders this month. It will be fun to see who joins us.

We talked about upcoming rides. Chip and Clif are headed to France for the PBP ride (1200 k) this summer, and there are plenty of qualifying rides to ride before then. Bryan is shooting for the Super Randonneur Award this year, that is a 200, 300, 400, & 600 k ride in one calendar year. Lining these rides up and planning for them takes some effort.

We missed three very regular riders this morning. Here’s hoping that all are well.

Now, time to get ready for work.

This Ride: 17.2 miles
Month: 471.1 miles
2011: 931.2 miles
Total since 1/1/10: 7,050.9 miles

The rain moved through overnight, and five of us met at the Rusty Bridge for Mosey Monday. We later picked up Chip just as we descended into Round Bay. Conversation was lively, mostly about weekend rides and upcoming rides.

We got down to the bottom of the hill, made a couple of turns, and suddenly we were confronted with fire trucks. As we continued to slowly make our way up the hill, we encountered no fewer than 7 large fire trucks (on narrow streets). We had to dismount to cross fire hoses twice. We had to walk and carry our bikes through a gauntlet of emergency vehicles and personnel. One home looked to be nearly gutted by fire. The fire was out by the time we moved through and the firefighters were starting to discuss clearing out and getting their vehicles out of the neighborhood. Now that would be something to stay and watch. When asked, a firefighter indicated that no one had been hurt … yet.  We remounted our bikes mid way up the steepest hill. Chip was regretting riding the fixie this morning as he labored up the hill from a dead stop.

Other than a minute or two of light rain, the rest of the ride was pretty uneventful.  The streets were very wet, and even with fenders, it was a challenge to avoid the spray from the rider in front.  It is nice to have some daylight during part of the ride.  We will lose some of that in a couple of weeks.

And so closes out the rides for the month of February.  I slightly exceeded my goal for the month.  I accomplished my R-3.  I’m riding a new seat and still dialing that in.  I’m ready for March, with its rapidly changing conditions and another 550 miles as the goal.