Plan the Ride
The basic plan was to ride Day 1 as a series of 200k rides with a planned time of 10 hours for each. That worked out to 15 mph rolling and 1.5 hours stopped every 200k. Days 2 and 3 were planned as 14 mph rolling and 1.5 hours every 200k. Also planned was 7.5 hours off the bike for Sleep 1* and the same for Sleep 2*. This would result in a ride time of 67 hours. From there, I calculated the estimated departure times for each control and each overnight sleep. Such a plan would require laser focus at the controls and efficient use of time. It was very generous in terms of sleep time, so there was built in flexibility there. The 67 hour estimated finish was still leaving an 8 hour cushion on the end of the ride.
My riding partner, Mike, signed off on the plan, knowing that it was subject to change and flexible.
I did not factor in each leg’s conditions (climbing, walking the bridges, etc.)
The first part of this post can be found here
Ride the Plan
Leg 6B began with a promise, contained a lot of frustration, and blew our plan out of the water. It started well. Mike and I got up at 1:15 am. We were out the door before 2:30 am. We stopped at a Tim Horton’s down the street for coffee and breakfast. (I had eaten part of my leftover Subway sandwich in the room before leaving.) Evidently, Tim Horton’s doesn’t serve their full breakfast menu until 4 am. I had donut holes and Mike had cheese and bacon on a bagel. As we were leaving the restaurant, another customer said “good-night”. Little did he know our night was already over. We arrived at the hotel of other SPP riders. The plan was a 3 am departure, but they were not ready. We had clearly said clipped in and rolling at 3, but we had to go to McDonald’s for breakfast and pushed our actual start to around 3:15. Time was critical because the control 27 miles away was closing shortly after 5:30 am. We had rough roads, a slippery wooden bridge, lots of rollers that all worked to slow us down. On top of this, we started a gentle climb that would continue all day. We were treated with a spectacular full moon setting ahead of us, including setting over a still lake. We made the control at about 5:18 am (our planned departure time) and with the large group, we lingered until about 6 am until everyone was ready to go. (45 minutes behind the plan)
Leg 7 was a shorter 38 mile leg that passed quickly. As we rolled into town, Clint saw a coffee shop with dozens of bicycles out front (we recognized many of them) and suggested we pull in there for our third breakfast of the morning. I commented that service would be very slow with so many bikes already there, and pressed on. We found a small coffee shop that served breakfast sandwiches just a block or two later. We had a great time there, the owner even wanting her photo with us to put on her celebrity wall. We were there too long … but we never saw the other cyclists go by us. Our plan continued to slip away.
Leg 8 was a nightmarish leg that seemed to last all day. It was 60 miles skirting Toronto. The roads were under construction, a steady gentle climb with plenty of rollers, narrow with limited shoulders, and had a lot of traffic on them. Most of the riders really complained about this leg of the route. It was downright dangerous. We were also routed into the industrial/warehouse part of Toronto, and so we dealt with a lot of truck traffic. We had another too long stop at a Subway and our plan continued to slip. Although we could see Toronto, we were constantly frustrated by traffic lights that we consistently hit red and traffic merging from multiple lanes into one lane. We met up with a lot of the other riders at the Tim Horton control. We had a good, reasonably timed stop here, but we were well behind our plan at this part of the day.
Leg 9 promised to get us back onto rural roads and a quick sense of calm came over us. There were some challenging rolling hills, and some rural stretches, but now we were getting tired, and grumbly and the road was rough and did I say we were grumbly? People needed to stop at random times. We still tried to keep our large group together. Directions were confusing. Eventually, Bryan and I hatched a plan for a quickly rotating paceline that got people focused on working as a team rather than focused on what others were not doing. Our mood improved. As we rolled into Burlington, ON for the control, we were sociable again and we asked a local about a place to eat. We were steered to a pub in the old part of town that was not crowded and we collapsed into a 2 hour long dinner, some of it our doing, and some of it the slow service we encountered. By the time we left the control, we were nearly 3 hours later than our plan for the day.
Leg 10 would take us back into the US. There was some excitement about that happening. It was now after dark as we pushed off out of the pub, leaving all our Canadian coin/currency as a tip. There were some beautiful stretches of road as we rolled through Niagara on the Lake, through the parks, along the river, all under the rising moon. By now, knee pain that I had been developing over the past several hours of riding reared its head and I would rate the pain at a level 7. Mike C was also having some knee pain. We pressed on, stopping more than we wanted (fatigue was the real reason … other reasons were given). The big climb before Niagara Falls was awful on my knee. I did get the bike dropped into the small chain ring for the climb, then had to manually put it back in the large chain ring at the top of the hill. As we got closer to the falls and to the US our excitement level continued to build. We stopped for about 15-20 minutes to look at the falls and the lights on the falls, then climbed the last hill to the control at US Customs. We waited in line only about 10 minutes. We had word from some previous riders that they had spent 40 minutes sitting in traffic breathing car exhaust before making it through customs. We quickly oriented ourselves and started toward our hotels 7 and 27 miles away. (Still 3 hours behind the plan)
Leg 11a started with more drama than a middle-school lunch room. First, we got a message that Calista was lost ahead of us. We were able to find her and she joined up with us for the ride to the hotel. Then, Clint decided we needed to all stop and plan our departure after Sleep 2. I rebelled. The day was frustrating. We were 3 hours late for our plan. The hotel was calling our name for sleep. I pressed on and rode fast and hard toward the hotel. Grumpy was along for the ride. I made a wrong turn off the 4 lane divided highway that was our route and the exit I took led nowhere I wanted to be. I turned around and climbed the steep exit ramp the wrong way, while the rest of the group passed me. I then waited a few minutes at the intersection to the hotel, and saw Dan, Bryan, and Clint go by and got a text from Mike that he was at the hotel and wondered where I was. I quickly got to the hotel, hit the room, and as I was crawling into bed it turned 1:15 am (24 hours since getting up for this day’s riding). Sleep came quickly and easily.
I fully expected that riding a bike for nearly 630 miles in 3 days would have some physical “complications”. I’ve heard the stories. Friends have described to me what to expect. Still, it is different when it happens to you or people around you.
All told, I got off pretty easy.
There will be swelling: Some riders describe themselves puffing up so that their face is nearly unrecognizable. I had some minor swelling in my feet and legs. I wore compression socks during the sleep times to reduce this effect. I did not wear them the night after the ride and noticed the next morning that my normally svelte and veiny feet were quite puffy and the skin was stretched tight over the top of them. As of this morning, 2.5 days after the ride, my feet appear to be back to normal.
There will be pain: I had different types of pain on the ride. There was the slight pain from sitting on a smallish saddle for so many hours. It was really more like the pain one might get sitting too long on any surface. That pain was the least of my issues. I had pain in my right knee, that by the time I had ridden 500 miles was quite intense. This knee pain was likely caused by the fact that I couldn’t shift into my small chain ring, giving me only half the gears I would have liked and none of the gears I really needed for the climbs. I over taxed my knees on the hills pushing too big a gear too slowly. That knee pain caused me real trouble the last day and a half of the ride. I described the pain as a 7 on the scale. Two and a half days later, that knee pain is down to a 4 or 5. The worst pain was during the two days immediately after the ride. There was no cool down, I pressed as quick as I could to the finish of the ride for the last 25 miles. There was no stretching or massage. The nutrition after the ride was wrong for mitigating the pain. The day after the ride there was an 8 hour ride back home in a van. Walking, climbing and descending stairs, getting out of bed … any movement really caused my legs to scream in agony. I’m much better now. I also had a touch of pain in my right shoulder during the ride. I’m coming to realize that is likely caused by my riding posture.
There will be numbness: People often talk about hand or finger or toe numbness during a ride, especially a long ride. I thought I had escaped that. My hands/fingers started to go numb two days post ride. I haven’t developed full hand/finger numbness at this point. It is just “pins and needles” on all fingers except my thumbs. Strength does not seem to be diminished. Some people get numbness in other body parts. I’ve been spared that because of a good bike fit and a very good saddle.
There will be fatigue: I couldn’t believe the level of fatigue I’ve been feeling since the ride. I rode easy on Monday and came home and promptly took a nap for an hour and a half (at 9 am). Today I made it through most of the day before fatigue caught me hard. I have a drooping eyelid on my right side that Sunday and Monday reflected that fatigue by only opening halfway.
There will be hunger: I’ve experienced the hunger before on long rides. During this ride I was eating something every 30 minutes. Friends are wondering when the 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, and 4 snacks end after the ride. I’ve been able to stick to the 3 meals a day routine that I am normally on. I’ve not been overly hungry … maybe because I didn’t let myself get too far behind.
There will be weight gain: Yes, although I burned at least 13,000 calories on this ride, I gained weight. It is likely mostly fluid weight (see above), but I gained about 6 lbs during the ride. I fully expect most of that to be gone within the week.
There will be lethargic mental processing: I’ve been a little slow on the uptake the past few days. I know I’m not as sharp or quick as I’d like to be.
There may be emotional fatigue: Not only is there the let down that sometimes comes after a major accomplishment, but I’ve noted that my emotional state isn’t quite as solid or stable as I would like. I’m frankly a little “down”. I’m not as sensitive as I was in the few hours after the ride. I also note that I’m back and forth about whether or not I will ride my bike in the morning. I’ve ridden the past couple of days, but both of those rides were pretty much “solo”.
I did experience that I felt stronger as the ride progressed. I think my legs were stronger at the end of the ride than at the beginning. That seemed odd to me.
I don’t know what else may come of all of this. I’ll be curious about my heart rate. I’ve noted before that after long rides, my exercise heart rate is lower than usual. How long will that effect last? Only time will tell.
Coming into the 1,000k, my previous longest distance was a 600k. That ride went well, but with this ride being one riding day and 66% longer with no drop bags, there was a lot of extra planning that went into the ride. The thing that I did that worked best to alleviate my anxiety the most was to break the ride into segments and establish a plan for each day.
Plan the Ride
The basic plan was to ride Day 1 as a series of 200k rides with a planned time of 10 hours for each. That worked out to 15 mph rolling and 1.5 hours stopped every 200k. Days 2 and 3 were planned as 14 mph rolling and 1.5 hours every 200k. Also planned was 7.5 hours off the bike for Sleep 1* and the same for Sleep 2*. This would result in a ride time of 67 hours. From there, I calculated the estimated departure times for each control and each overnight sleep. Such a plan would require laser focus at the controls and efficient use of time. It was very generous in terms of sleep time, so there was built in flexibility there. The 67 hour estimated finish was still leaving an 8 hour cushion on the end of the ride.
My riding partner, Mike, signed off on the plan, knowing that it was subject to change and flexible.
I did not factor in each leg’s conditions (climbing, walking the bridges, etc.)
Ride the Plan
Leg 1 was a fast ride from Ontario, NY to Oswego, NY. After our 7:00 pm start, we were grouped together in the peloton, the lead group of normal bikes, with only the solo velomobile ahead of us. (We actually briefly caught the velomobile at about mile 55. We never saw him again.) Mike was having trouble maintaining the peloton pace up the final hills into Oswego so I dropped back and we stopped at a convenience to re-supply. There were no open services the next 90 miles. We also donned extra clothing here as the temperatures were falling. In fact, they fell into the upper 40’s. (Ahead of Plan)
Leg 2 was a fast ride from Oswego, NY to Cape Vincent, NY. We were now behind the lead group of riders, and the majority of this leg had just Mike and I together. We were making better time than our planned pace, and there were some stops for stretching and working some kinks out. The roads were quiet and smooth. Downhills were long and straight. At one point along this section of the route, I hit my top speed for the ride (and for the year) of 39.5 mph. A simple reminder to the reader, that speed was achieved at night. There is a limit to how far ahead the headlight will allow one to see at night, even with the full moon. Shortly after one stretch break, we encountered a “secret control” where the ride organizer set up a water and “fueling” stop. That certainly was appreciated on this long overnight stretch. We had been passed (while stopped) and passed (while he was stopped) another rider along this stretch. Other than that, we knew that the rest of the main group was 30-60 minutes ahead of us by the time we got to the secret control. We rolled into Cape Vincent still ahead of schedule with 135 miles completed. It was a sleepy little town all rolled up for bed. We stopped briefly, and were joined there by Bob, who accompanied us for the next several hours. (Ahead of Plan)
Leg 3 was a slower leg. We traveled 14 miles to the town of Clayton, NY where we hoped to be able to eat something. We went off route 4-5 blocks to a diner. When we arrived, we noted it was not scheduled to open for another 15 minutes … but there was a table of Randonneurs eating inside. The owner had opened 30 minutes early, and so we were the second group to be seated and fed. The owner kept the lights out until the planned 6 am opening. There were several tired and hungry Randonneurs that entered after we did. Some were much more efficient at their meals than we were, and when we left we had a small group of 4-5 riders headed to the next stop, the Canadian border. With full bellies we made our way to the first bridge (Thousand Island Bridges) where we dutifully dismounted and walked our bikes across the narrow pedestrian lane. That bridge flexed and shook with each passing truck. We made it across, re-mounted our bikes and proceeded to customs. We were now 163 miles into the ride and despite having walked our bikes across this bridge and stopping for a long bathroom break, we were still … (Ahead of Plan)
Leg 4 involved another bridge crossing on foot (I just walked in my socks) through a narrower pedestrian walkway, a ride on a bike trail, and some urban riding in the first 12 miles, all of which served to slow us down. We caught up with other Severna Park Peloton riders that we had not seen since the first control. They had stopped to eat in Gananoque and had a long breakfast. This was mile 175. It is about here that my recollection of events and timing gets to be spotty. I don’t remember the terrain. I don’t remember all of the towns, except that we flew through Kingston following Bob who was familiar with the town. We got stopped by a freight train just as we left town. Eventually we arrived at the information control at a little grocery store “in” Millhaven. We arrived just before noon (209 miles) and grabbed a little food just before construction workers descended like locusts on the store. Five minutes later would have cost us 15 more minutes in line for food. We rolled out of that stop pretty close to the planned departure time. Our time cushion was rapidly diminishing. In fact, I think here we were (On the Plan)
Leg 5 started to get us into challenging territory. Not only was the day getting to be long, but we also had a brisk headwind of about 10 mph that lasted for hours. Remember that by now we had been awake for 30 hours with maybe one hour for a nap. The miles just crawled under our wheels. Our small group of riders caught the ferry just as they were closing the gates. They relented and let us on after telling us that the next ferry was only 15 minutes away. We ground out the miles and the day was becoming a lot of work. More of this time was a blur. I can’t tell you who I was riding with … or who I wasn’t riding with. I can’t tell you much about the terrain or the scenery. We just kept pedaling on. My personal record distance on a bike in 24 hours was exceeded during the last part of this leg. I can’t even tell you where we were on the plan at this point.
Leg 6A was our final push into Cobourg where we and many others were staying for the night. I think it was in this stretch that Mike and I passed the SPP guys where they were snacking on baked potatoes. After all these miles, we were once again ahead of them. We pressed on into the wind. We caught up with 4 other riders and shared the pulls. We stopped at a place for ice cream where our 4 other riders left before we did, just as SPP riders caught up with us again. After a time, and more headwinds, Mike and I arrived in Cobourg and made our way to the hotel. In the best decision of the day, we stopped at a Subway, grabbed a sandwich and drink, and checked into the hotel just about 20 minutes behind the plan for the day. We ate in the room and were in bed asleep within minutes of hitting the pillow. I think it was about 8:15-8:30 pm when we fell asleep. This first “day” of riding resulted in 298 miles on the Garmin. Before going to sleep, we set our alarms for 1:15 am so that we could eat and be rolling by 3 am to make the next control before the 5:30 am closing time. (On the Plan)
* I have a lot of trouble keeping track of days on this ride. We rode parts of 4 days, but it was within 3 24 hour days. We slept twice. I’ve broken this up into Start to sleep 1, Sleep 1 to sleep 2, after sleep 2. It makes sense to me.
Success!
I completed the 1000k in a total time of 69:50.
Some things went perfectly according to plan. Other plans had to be modified on the fly. It was a fantastically wonderful event.
I will be writing a series of blog posts about the ride, all of them starting with the 1,000k title and then tagged to make them easier to find. This will allow me to focus on a variety of subjects in depth rather than a long chronological description of the ride. Watch for these posts to trickle out over the next few days.
I will edit this post to include links to all of the individual parts.
Titles include:
1,000k: Introduction (This post)
1,000k: Plan the Ride – Ride the Plan: Start to Sleep 1
1,000k: Plan the Ride – Ride the Plan: Sleep 1 to Sleep 2
Other than riding 5 days this week there was finally some good bike prep for the upcoming ride. My component wear was close enough that a number of things were replaced. So now the bike has:
- New tires front and back (Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons is my go-to tire) What a difference new tires make!
- New 50T Chain Ring (Other one was looking a little sharky)
- New chain (Shimano Ultegra 10 speed)
- Bike washed and lubricated
- Checked on conditions of pedals, bottom bracket, and brakes
That’s in addition to new headset bearings a couple of weeks ago and refurbished hubs in mid-May.
I keep a spreadsheet on all my bike maintenance so that I know exactly how many miles a component has had and what my previous experience has been. That allows me to anticipate and really watch for the typical replacement times. This time, I accelerated the replacement of a few items because typical wear out miles would have occurred during the ride.
I won’t be riding this weekend. There are too many other obligations.
I’ll spin easy on Monday and Tuesday mornings. We load up the bikes and take off Tuesday morning for our Wednesday evening start.
I hope to post photos of the packing process. That will take place on Monday.
Physically preparing for the 1,000k (622 miles) ride next week is probably easier than preparing all the other parts of the ride. It is contained in this one simple formula: Ride a lot of miles.
Something I read the other day made the most sense in the world. Physical conditioning is necessary, cardiovascular conditioning isn’t as important. I’ve said it a different way. “You got to have a lot of miles in your legs.” I’ve got that one covered. I’m physically ready (except for the painful left knee and a visit to the Chiropractor this week).
This ride is unsupported. What that means is that no one is going to deliver a backpack of previously prepared items to our hotel as can happen on many other rides of this distance. Those bags would normally include battery chargers, clean clothing, food supplies, and room to discard the dirty stuff. Logistically, since this ride crosses international boundaries, it is not possible to get so many bags through the border checkpoints. So, we are left to carry and purchase what we need along the way. If I get searched at the border, I pity the border agent as we re-enter the United States. There are going to be bags of very smelly clothing.
There are two major guiding principles to determining what we bring along.
Is it worth carrying the weight and volume for 622 miles?
Is it something I can’t easily purchase if/when I need it?
I’m pretty efficient in my packing, but compared to some riders, I still pack like a teenage girl or a boy scout who has recently learned to “be prepared”.
My list includes things I definitely need, like:
Passport
Spare tube
Bike tools
Lights
Sunscreen
The more interesting list includes things one might not expect to need, but come in really handy under the right circumstances:
Pin (to dig out debris from a tire)
Shower cap (over the helmet in a rainstorm)
Duct Tape (if it moves and it shouldn’t)
Toilet paper (who wants to get caught without some in an emergency?)
Flip flops (we have to walk across some bridges)
Compression socks (evidently I can expect my feet to swell)
Of course, the trick is to carry only what I need, and what I can anticipate that might end the ride if I don’t have it. There will be spare spokes. I’ll carry enough food to cover me during times when stores are closed or far apart. I’ll carry something to help keep me cool in the heat of the day and warm if it gets cold. There will be safety gear, including plenty of reflective material. The longest distance between resources where I might be able to purchase something as a solution to a problem is 100 miles.
And it is my hope that I won’t use all that I bring (especially the repair kit items), but also that I brought nothing that is unnecessary.
Now, I hope it all fits on the bike.
End of the month rides are interesting. I rode some extra miles with Scott C this morning because he had two goals in mind. First, ten extra miles would get him over 800 miles for June. Second, twenty extra miles would get him 5,000 miles for the first half of 2014. These extra miles were all about arbitrary number goals.
I’m not immune. Last Friday I rode some extra miles just to achieve one of those numbers. The problem was that I didn’t remember exactly how many miles I needed to ride to achieve it and fell 1.2 miles short.
I got those in … and more this morning. I’m pleased to announce that I’ve surpassed
30,000 miles on the bicycle since January 1, 2010.
That’s 4.5 years of riding.
Some have certainly ridden more, but I want to remind my readers that when I started riding, 8 miles per day (or about 30 minutes) was my limit. I stepped it up and rode about 17-18 miles slowly for a while. I recall that my first year’s goal was to ride 100 miles in a day. Getting out there and riding regularly meant that I was able to achieve that goal 4-5 months earlier than expected. Still, there is no way that I imagined that I would log over 30,000 miles in my lifetime, let alone 4.5 years.
Now I’m just over a week away from another stretch goal … 295 miles in one day, and 622 miles (1000k) in 75 hours.
This is a big deal for me. I’ve done a lot of mental planning and considerable bike preparations. This will be a completely unsupported ride, with no drop bags, so we will be carrying everything we need for those 3 days on the bike. More about all that later.
In just two days time, the reality of how dangerous this sport can be has been reinforced multiple times.
On Friday, Mike and I rode with SPP to breakfast then extended our ride as I accompanied him to work. At the northern end of BWI, we dutifully waited for the traffic light to permit our crossing. Just as the walk light for the pedestrian crossing turned green, our attention was immediately drawn left as a propane truck driver locked the rear wheels, skidding to a stop with smoke billowing from the overheated tires. The vehicle came to a stop in the crosswalk just a few feet in front of us. The driver put the truck in reverse, and backed up out of the crosswalk.
Later, on the south end of the airport, I dutifully waited for the traffic light to permit my solo crossing. Just as the walk light for the pedestrian crossing turned green, my attention turned to the rapidly approaching car from the right. There was no skid this time, but he stopped with his rear wheels in the crosswalk. I used as much of the crosswalk as I could before going around the vehicle.
Later, just before getting back on the trail at Jumper’s Hole Road, I was dutifully waiting for the traffic light to turn green so I could cross the road. As it turned green, my attention turned to the rapidly approaching car from the right. There was no attempt to stop this time. The vehicle ran the red light.
And then, Saturday, in a short span of time during the afternoon in Anne Arundel County, 4 cyclists were struck by vehicles.
This account of one incident is from Eye on Annapolis:
On June 28, 2014, at approximately 1410 hours, the Anne Arundel County Police Traffic Safety Section responded to a motor vehicle crash involving 2 bicyclists on MD Route 450 near Brice Lane, Annapolis.
The investigation determined that a 2011 Nissan operated by, Robin Vera Colbert, 54, of Annapolis, was traveling south on MD Route 450 south of Brice Way. The driver failed to drive in a single lane, crossed over the right edge line and entered onto the right shoulder. The shoulder is designated and marked as the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail. The Nissan traveled an unknown distance on the Trail before striking the bicyclists. The bicyclists were properly utilizing the Trail portion of the road.
The male bicyclist, identified as Todd Green, 27, of Severna Park, sustained serious injuries. The female bicyclist, Katie Pohler, 23, of Glen Burnie, sustained life threatening injuries. Both bicyclists were transported by Medevac to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma. The driver of the Nissan was not injured.
The cause of the collision appears to be the driver error. Alcohol is also a contributing factor in this crash. The States Attorney’s Office was consulted on the scene and charges are pending at this time.
Let’s be careful out there!
What an interesting morning! There was a week’s worth of activity within one single ride.
It started with me getting out of the house just a little earlier than usual, allowing me to put in nearly 7 miles before meeting up at the Rusty Bridge.
My new riding glasses came in yesterday and it was good to take them out on a test run. The previous version had the focus all wrong, so I sent them back to be redone. This time everything is good. I can see on the bike better than I’ve ever seen before. They are also transition lenses, so it was nice to have them darken a bit as the sun came up. I’m liking them. The only issue I’m having is that the mirror I wear on the glasses is nearly as heavy as the glasses are and so I feel the weight of them. I may just transition to a helmet mounted mirror system, carrying the glasses mounted mirror as a backup.
Tuesday is usually a fast day on the bike. Dan announced yesterday that he wasn’t going to ride fast for the next two weeks. He doesn’t want something bad to happen that would cause him to drop out of the LOL ride. That’s not a bad plan. Even so, Scott W didn’t get the memo and pulled out fast. When Dan got about 150-200 yards ahead, I started a sprint that included Clint to catch him and hold him back. Just as we caught Dan, he flatted. We all stopped and helped him fix the flat. We had a couple of beginner riders with us who marveled at the flat fixing dance that the three of us performed, each taking tasks that needed to be done and that kept the time to change the tube out at a minimum. It is indeed poetry in motion … all without a single comment about what needs to be done.
The flat repaired, we pressed on at a comfortable pace. Jeff (NoScho) arrived for a brief stretch and he challenged us with another sprint, this time to the end of the trail and we saw speeds of 27+ mph. At the turn around, Dan stopped again, this time to tighten the cleat on his shoes. We made our way back into Severna Park. As we made it toward what I refer to as “Little Sprint Hill”, my Garmin noted the segment and challenged me to beat the previous best time. It was not to be, but this was the first time I tried the Garmin segment on the new Edge 1000.
We lingered a long time at the coffee shop, talking LOL details and final planning. We leave in 2 weeks. Everyone is dialing in their bikes, lists, supplies, etc. Today I go to tweek my bike fit. The new Kona frame’s geometry is just different enough that I might need a longer stem. We will see with the fitting. Besides, this will give me a chance to talk to Steve about his recently finished RAAM race (8 person team).
Chatting about the nice feature of the Edge 1000 where it uploads my ride details to Garmin over wifi as soon as I get home, Mike B reminded me about CopyMySports.com. I logged on and was amazed at how easy it was. Now my Strava page will also get uploaded automatically! The downside of all of this is now I’m going to have to remember to plug in my Garmin to recharge it, since I no longer need to plug it in to upload the ride details. (Well, that’s how it is supposed to work. Two hours later, there is no update to Strava.)
See … busy morning!
Bible Verses for the Day:
You shall have one law for the alien and for the citizen: for I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 24:22 NRSV)
What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you! (1 Corinthians 11:22 NRSV)
What a beautiful morning! Low humidity and lower temperatures. We had a nice social ride. There is only one problem.
The 23 miles this morning was a nice warm up … it felt like I could have ridden a whole lot longer. My legs are complaining now, not because I went too far, but because I didn’t go far enough.
I anticipated this. My alarm was set earlier than usual, but I wasn’t feeling it at 4 am. So I cheated myself out of a little longer ride. Even so, this morning was absolutely delightful.
Bible Verses of the Day:
… so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 23:43 NRSV)
Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, (1 Corinthians 10:32 NRSV)
Rev Rider 