Rev Rider

This Ride: 20.1 miles
Kona Distance: 2,993.7 miles
Month to date: 654.8 miles <– (New monthly personal distance record)
2010 Total: 3,460.2 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (191.3 miles ahead of goal pace)

I’m so confused.  My legs ached this morning, so right out of the driveway I decided to take it easy and do a recovery ride today.  I’ve been pressing these legs to do more miles in a fairly steep increase in miles, and I’m feeling it.  But it was so wonderful out this morning.  Temperature was 68!  That’s nearly perfect!  Soon I found myself trying to push the legs in higher gears and at the peak of the Naval Academy Bridge I discovered that I had averaged 17 mph for that 11 mile stretch.  That was quite the motivator for continuing that effort.

Yes, 17 mph isn’t going to win me any races, but with the fatigue I feel and 3 days post blood donation, I’m quite satisfied.  On the return, I noticed that my chain was slipping a little, so there were two or three quick stops for fine-tuning the rear derailleur, and I continued to try moving the gears up rather than settling into my comfortable 90 rpm cadence.  The last 5 miles, I worked at it harder, and was able to achieve 18.2 mph average over that distance.

The bike noise is still there.  I’m not sure when I’ll be able to take the time this week to attempt an off bike diagnosis.

And yes, the morning was gorgeous.  The sunrise is now pretty late into the ride, and the heavy clouds made it much darker this morning.  There was a sometimes gusty breeze out of the north that only impacted the ride when out in the open.  High school students were out waiting for the bus.  The possible rain was nowhere to be seen.

This Ride: 54.4 miles
Kona Distance: 2,973.6 miles
Month to date: 634.7 miles
2010 Total: 3,430.1 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (190.6 miles ahead of goal pace)

Yep.  Today is my birthday.  I took the day off work and rode a mile for each of my years.  That’s 54 miles.  My blood donation on Saturday slowed me down … but I also decided to take it easy.  After all, it’s my birthday.

I woke up early enough to go out with the Mosey Monday group, but since there wasn’t anything else occupying my morning, I waited until almost 7:00 before heading out.  I was a bit apprehensive about being out later with much more traffic, and with our public schools starting today, and chose routes that I thought would be safer.  I’m glad to say there are no incidents to report, although the new state law (in effect October 1, 2010) about vehicles giving cyclists 3 feet clearance would have been violated often.

My route?  I drifted south through downtown Annapolis as she was really coming to life.  I traveled to Sandy Point State Park and spent some time watching the traffic across the bridge and just admiring the sparkling water of the Chesapeake Bay.  I traveled back to the foot of the Naval Academy Bridge, picking up my usual route back up the B&A Trail.  Since there was a pretty steady northerly wind, I traveled north then through Glen Burnie to almost the “bottom” of the Airport loop, and then returned home.  I like to finish with a tailwind rather than a headwind.

I was aggravated with an annoying “creek” on the bike.  I stopped and pulled out my multi-tool 3 or 4 times to tighten parts that I thought might be causing the noise.  Nothing I did worked.  I can’t tell where the noise is coming from.  Any attempts to isolate it just leave me even more frustrated.

All in all, it was a pretty day.  Pleasant temperatures.  Light northerly wind.  Much lower humidity.  It was a good day to ride … but then … aren’t they all?

I chose not to ride today, which is often the case on Saturdays.  It is a time for rest, and to spend time with Lori.  That doesn’t mean that there aren’t things to do with the bike, and today it worked out that I could do some long overdue maintenance.

I de-greased  and cleaned my chain, re-lubing with some teflon lubricant to see how that works.  The oil-based lubricant has been picking up a lot of dirt and grime.  The teflon is supposed to be “dryer”, and not gather as much dirt.  I’ll see how it works.

I removed the rear wheel, and removed the tire and tube so that I could clean the wheel completely.  It had quite a bit of residual oil on it, making it pretty grimy.  While I had the tire off, I checked it carefully and found several cuts to the tire, one down to the cords.  I made a quick trip to the bike shop, but they didn’t have the tire in stock.  It is now on order.  I probably have between 500 & 1000 miles remaining tire life according to the wear indicators, but with these cuts, I’m going to err on the side of caution.  The tire has about 2000 miles on it.  I’ll at least replace it ahead of the Seagull Century.

I cleaned the bike.  It was pretty dirty underneath.

I adjusted the rear brake.  It was getting a little worn and the cable was stretched a bit.  This is a very simple adjustment and is only the second time in nearly 3000 miles that I’ve had to adjust it.

I adjusted the rear derailleur.  I now have the low gear!  I’m usually in a hurry after riding (and so hot and dripping sweat) that I don’t want to do adjustments after a ride.  Before a ride is just too “late”.

Now, with everything back on, the bike is ready to ride again.

This Ride: 100.24 miles
Kona Distance: 2,919.2 miles
Month to date: 580.3 miles
2010 Total: 3,385.7 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (194.2 miles ahead of goal pace)

This day didn’t turn out as planned.

As I’ve been planning my rides for the rest of the month, I thought that I would take Monday off work and use it as a very long ride day.  I thought 100-125 miles might be nice.  Monday is my 54th birthday and that would have made a nice birthday present to myself.  Today’s ride was supposed to be about 50 miles.  On the way down to Annapolis with the SPP (see sidebar for translation of terms you don’t recognize), I realized that tomorrow morning I’m donating blood for the Red Cross.  A monster ride on Monday probably isn’t wise that close to a blood donation.  That left me with 3 choices.  Cancel the blood donation.  Cancel the long ride.  Ride long today.  Even though I really wasn’t prepared, I chose to ride long today.

More than a dozen of us gathered at the RB at 5:45 for “Friendly Friday” ride to Annapolis.  It was fun riding in that kind of group.  When we hit the wooden deck bridge with loose boards, the rumble is awe inspiring.  About half of us went down to Annapolis for breakfast.  It was another very pleasant morning to munch breakfast & sip coffee out on the sidewalk around tables set up for that purpose.  I then waited for Mike to finish his breakfast with friends at Chick & Ruth’s, then he and I did his commute to work at the northern end of the airport.  By then, I had 33 miles.

I finished the airport loop (counterclockwise), then turned around and did the loop clockwise.  I stopped at a 7-11 for a restroom break, a banana, and to refill my water bottles at mile 50.  When I completed the airport loop, I turned around again, and did it again counterclockwise.  Between miles 55 and 60, I pushed the pace and the tempo, bringing my average for that 5 mile stretch to 17.8 mph.  I then traveled back toward Severna Park passing the hospital.  I really don’t recall this part of the ride much.  My brain was mush (probably having to do with nutritional deficit).  When I got back to the Ranger Station in Severna Park, I took a short break, topped off water bottles, and started to decide whether or not I was going to try for a century today or settle somewhere close to the 70 miles I already had.  That was a hard decision.  The Ranger Station is less than a mile from my house.  It would have been so easy.

But I decided to press on.  A short way down the trail, I decided to go over to Sandy Point State Park on the Chesapeake Bay, so dropped off the trail, cut over to College Parkway, and down to the park.  I hit 80 miles just as I passed the guard shack at the park.  I spent a few minutes in the shade, since it was getting pretty hot and the ride to the park is in mostly full sun, then started back.

I was tired.  I was hot.  I was ready to be done.  I slowed for a line of cars at a traffic light, it turned green, cars started to move through … then stopped.  I didn’t have any speed and I couldn’t get unclipped fast enough and went down hard.  My knee has road rash, but everything else seems relatively ok.  I’ll probably have bruises on the thumb pads of my palm since they are a bit tender right now. 

Now I was tired, hot, and sore.  But I pressed on with the knowledge that College Parkway away from the bay has some very long downhill runs, and I enjoyed the breeze generated by those 25 mph stretches.

As I neared home, I realized that I was going to have to do the loop 2-3 times in order to finish with 100 miles.  After the first loop, I calculated that if I simply added about a mile somewhere in the loop, I could finish with just 2 loops, and I was tired enough to not want to do much extra.  So with Old Magothy Bridge Road and a short jaunt into Berrywood, I assured my century.

I am disappointed that I didn’t shave off  time from my first Century ridden 2 months ago.  Today’s ride was just about the same pace.  But that’s OK.  This was a second Century completed, and it will help with the mental part of the Seagull Century Ride October 9th.

This Ride: 20.2 miles
Kona Distance: 2,819 miles
Month to date: 480.1 miles
2010 Total: 3,285.5 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (113.4 miles ahead of goal pace)

There are those mornings when it would feel so good to stay in bed. This was one of them. Early in the ride I thought I had made a mistake getting on the bike, but I get ahead of myself.

When I rolled out of bed this morning (4:55) it was only through force of habit that I was even navigating through the routine.  I pulled out the bike, filled a water bottle, got everything set up and ready to go.  But it was the little things that got me.  It is always the little things.  Simple, really.  No big deal.  I forgot to put the sweatband on before the helmet.  Off comes the helmet.  I started out and immediately noted that I had left the filled water bottle on the counter.  Ok, I’ll just use the smaller spare bottle on the bike and take it a bit easier.  I didn’t want to ride hard this morning.  At my third traffic light, where I usually grab a drink (the light has only been green for me once), I noticed that my NiteRider was glowing red.  I remember reading that the red light comes on when there is less than 10%  power remaining in the battery.  I immediately switched to the lowest power setting and noted the time.

There was sufficient light coming out of the NiteRider to ride, but I rode a little slower because of reduced visibility (really … it had nothing to do with my desire to ride more slowly this morning).  In about 10 minutes, the light just went out.  The NiteRider keeps full illumination until it dies.  I wondered if it would slowly dim into darkness.  No, it goes out as if the switch was turned off.

Now it is not quite “civil twilight” and I’m riding a tree-lined trail with no headlight.  I slow down a little more (really … it had to do with reduced visibility) and kept an eagle-eye out for runners and other dangerous persons who had the gall to negotiate the trail without a light.  When I did encounter someone head-on, I powered on the NiteRider which would illuminate just long enough to give warning that some idiot was riding without lights.  At least that worked a couple of times.  I didn’t hit anyone I that I know of, and soon twilight was upon the world and visibility came up nicely.

An uneventful trip back home, but I cut it short.  I really am feeling fatigued.  The NiteRider is recharging right now.

This Ride: 24.9 miles
Kona Distance: 2,798.8 miles
Month to date: 459.9 miles
2010 Total: 3,265.3 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (131.9 miles ahead of goal pace)

Several things prompted a second ride today:

• The forecast for tomorrow is for up to 3 inches of rain.  The likelihood that I will get out and ride in that rain is slim.
• Tomorrow marks the end of the 7th week of Nickel & Dime ’em to Life.  I was within a few miles of being able to have over 1000 miles logged in those 7 weeks.  I wanted that milestone.
• THE WALL was calling my name.  It psyched me out this morning.  I found an excuse not to challenge it.  That couldn’t last.

And so, in 90 degree temps, and with a few hours to spare before evening meetings, I set out to conquer THE WALL.  The ride to the end of the trail was uneventful.  I tried to keep my heart rate in a reasonable zone.  At the end of the trail I checked my gears (granny gear still isn’t working right) and set off down to the water’s edge to pick up the base of THE WALL.  I did a loop like Mike did last weekend to prepare myself and to take in the gorgeous views.  There were plenty of challenging hills on that loop too.  Finally I was ready, and I eased down the road, shifted down into the small ring in front, reset my lap counter, and started up.

THE WALL is a combination of two short climbs separated by a “false flat” as Phil Ligitt might say.  The first climb to the “false flat” and the curve wasn’t too bad, I remember thinking.  I saw 12 and 14% grades on my Garmin, but couldn’t focus on that much.  Rounding the curve, I encountered the steepest part of the ride.  I was in the smallest gear available to me, and I was having trouble keeping the bike moving.  At one point, I thought that I might have to unclip fast and put my foot down to walk the bike up, but just then, a car, a bike and a scooter started coming down the hill and I wasn’t going to climb out of the pedals in front of anyone.  I grabbed the lower part of the handles for more leverage, and that helped immensely.  I continued the climb, picking up speed as it started to flatten out a little.  When I got to the top, I hit the lap button again on the Garmin to record some stats.

I was gasping for breath.  But I had done it!  THE WALL is in my rear view mirror.  It is a 0.26 mile climb of approximately 100 feet (according to what I can see on the Garmin.  I averaged 8.1 mph up the hill (most of that probably was at the bottom before the real climb).  My heart rate in those less than 2 minutes went from 111 to 175.

Excited, I went back to the end of the trail, and climbed the hill from Ritchie Hwy to the end of the trail twice.  I came back home by way of the trail and climbed the hill on Ritchie Hwy to my home twice.  I rode about a mile and a half with Neil from SPP who was headed to the meet up for the Tuesday night ride.

This was a great accomplishment!

This Ride: 20.1 miles
Kona Distance: 2,773.9 miles
Month to date: 435 miles
2010 Total: 3,240.4 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (107 miles ahead of goal pace)

Last evening, Lori and I went to Ruth’s Chris in Annapolis for dinner (Baltimore Restaurant Week) and on the way home, I drove to see “THE WALL“.  “THE WALL” is apparently the steepest hill in Anne Arundel County and it is so close to the usual route we ride that it would be easy to include it.  Mike B did it for the first time over the weekend.  Now, this hill is not as steep and long as the 16% grade we saw cyclists doing time trials on in Ellicott City last weekend, but it is impressive none-the-less.  I’ve heard of “THE WALL” but it wasn’t until Mike posted the Garmin map of his ride that I could figure out where it was.

I awoke before 5 am with “THE WALL” on my mind.  I was a little slow getting out the door this morning and was still thinking about “THE WALL” when I saw Jeff on B&A Blvd.  He saw me first and did a nice job avoiding a collision.  I think I was about 5 miles into the ride when I decided that I would keep my ride a bit shorter this morning so I could get home before Lori had to leave at 7:00.  That meant “THE WALL” would have to wait until another day.  In great relief, I picked up the pace, and made sure that I pressed into the hills that I do ride.  At the same time, I really didn’t want to get my heart rate into the red zone.

The trail was relatively quiet this morning.  I saw only 5 people by the time I got to the end of the trail.  I saw more bunnies than that.  Bunnies are funny little creatures.  They sit quietly on one side of the trail waiting for you to get close, then hop across the trail with either panicked breakneck erratic fits and starts or, as nearly everyone of them did this morning, a leisurely, patient, and purposeful hop.  I didn’t come close to any of them, but they kept me alert.

I made it home in time to see Lori before she left.  She refused the offered hug from a sweating, dripping, stinky me.  Now for a long day of things other than riding.  (Last night Lori accused me of being addicted to riding.)

Garmin Connect isn’t working right this morning, so I’ll not post a map of this very familiar route, just the link.

This Ride: 24.7 miles
Kona Distance: 2,753.8 miles
Month to date: 414.9 miles
2010 Total: 3,220.3 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (106.3 miles ahead of goal pace)

With tight legs, and a little siffness, the morning started with yet another 75 degree and very humid morning. I rode easy to the Rusty Bridge. Alex was there waiting, and soon we were 8. Along the way we picked up 2 more for a total of 10 most of the ride. Clint was back. It was good to have him on board again. We had a faster pace this morning, but with the size of the group, it was a relatively easy ride. The miles went by quickly as we talked about the opening of the new Performance Bicycle Shop in Columbia, cycling equipment, and caught up on the rides over the weekend. In fact, I was surprised when we arrived at the end of the trail and again once we were back in Severna Park. That makes a very enjoyable ride.

I finished up with a couple of “laps” (3 mile loop near home) just to boost the distance closer to my daily ride goal of about 25 miles.

This Ride: 56.7 miles (2,618 feet of climbing)
Kona Distance: 2,729.2 miles
Month to date: 390.3 miles
2010 Total: 3,195.6 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (120.3 miles ahead of goal pace)

I’ve heard about the Ellicott City rides for quite some time.  There are hills, I’m told, and when the names of those hills are spoken, certain awe and reverence fills the air.  Some who lead these rides make sure that it’s not just Lawyer hill, but Hilltop and others that are ridden.  I wondered how tough it really could be.  I got spanked.  At least I never had to get off the bike and walk, but that’s because some of the big hills were skipped.

I knew I was in trouble early in the ride.  Not only did I barely get out the door in time, but the pace that was set early was at the top end of my range.  My heart rate hit 166 within the first 5 miles of the ride.  That kind of heart rate severely depletes my reserves later.  But that wouldn’t be the last time on the ride I spiked those kinds of heart rates.  Our speeds on the flats sometimes were around 27 mph in the paceline (when Jeff was pulling).  At those speeds, if you don’t hang on to the wheel ahead of you, the same effort might generate 22 mph, meaning they are leaving you behind quite rapidly.  I experienced that several times.  Catching up, if the group doesn’t slow down, is nearly impossible.  Not knowing the route makes it even more of a challenge.  I did miss one turn for a few seconds until I saw one blink of a taillight nearly half a mile down a different route.

Lawyer hill was a killer.  “It is only .6 miles in length”, I was told.  They didn’t tell me that it ranges between 8-10% grade for that more than 1/2 mile.  I don’t have the “granny gear” working properly, so that made it even more interesting.  I wasn’t the last one up the hill, but of the 8 riders I think I was 6th … a long way back.  We stopped for a while to watch both the start and finish of a time trial that was all up hill.  Remind me to never race someone who lives in Ellicott City.  They climb hills for fun.

We had a nice stop in Ellicott City for a civilized cup of coffee and banana.  The group split leaving Ellicott City 2 groups of 4 riders each, mostly because my group was slower getting off the benches.  We traveled through Patapsco park which was quite lovely.  We crossed two bridges that were about 4 feet wide and 60-80 feet above the water.  I’m not afraid of heights, but this was a little unnerving being clipped in on a bicycle over those bridges.

We met up with the other half of the group shortly after the trip through the park.  I don’t know how they got behind us, because we even stopped at a restroom in the park.  We were together again for a few miles.  Somewhere after the long fast pace south of the airport (that’s a place I noticed Jeff pulling us at 27 mph) it was harder and harder to keep the group together.  Three of us were constantly off the back.  The leaders waited for us a couple of times, but I’m sure grew quite frustrated with that.  As we came to Burns Crossing Road, Dave and I waited a bit for a rider we knew was behind us somewhere.  When he didn’t show, we rode back down the hill from where we had come for over a mile, but couldn’t locate him.  We abandoned the search, climbed the hill again, and the two of us kept each other company for the last stretch back home.  At least Dave knew the route, because I was completely unfamiliar with the area.

This ride has me doubting my ability to stay with the Ocean City ride at the end of October.  That is 2 1/2 months away, but still, this ride was a killer without the hills.  Unless I can seriously increase my fitness level and my speed, I’m afraid that ride won’t be fun at all.

Jeff told me this would be a fun ride.  I’ll let you know next week whether it was fun or not.  Right now, it doesn’t register fun on the meter.

This Ride: 39.1 miles
Kona Distance: 2,672.4 miles
Month to date: 333.5 miles
2010 Total: 3,138.9 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (82.9 miles ahead of goal pace)

I carefully checked the radar this morning, then checked it again.  Some lingering light rain showers were in the area, but the route of the Friendly Friday ride was clear, so I pulled out the fenders, put back on all the parts that had been drying since yesterday’s rain, and was out the door by 5:30 for the ride into Annapolis for breakfast.

Five riders started out at the Rusty Bridge, and we picked up two more along the way.  It was a pretty typical ride.  This morning, unlike some Friendly Friday rides, we rode the hill in Round Bay.  I still haven’t developed a plan to work the hills and need to do that soon.  That will help bring my fitness level and overall speed up.

Breakfast in Annapolis was nice.  Five of us ate outside of Hard Bean.  It was breezy but comfortable.  I really love going up the brick Main Street from City Dock.  It is a nice comfortable incline and the bricks rattle and clatter under the wheels.  Even though the street is brick, it is very smooth.

On the way back, I had to drop off the back of the group because my phone kept ringing.  My family knows that if they need to speak to me to keep ringing and sure enough, even though I only heard it twice, my wife had called 4 times.  I did what I could over the phone, then soloed the rest of the way, adding a few miles to the day’s ride.

Typically I will ride a long ride on Fridays, but today with the weather being a bit questionable, and a planned 50 mile group ride tomorrow to Ellicott City (the 6th day of riding in a row … a first for me), I let 39 miles today be enough.  If I can keep riding the rest of this month like I have thus far, I will log more miles in August than any other month, and just might log as many miles in August as I did all last year.  Could an 800 mile month actually be possible?  That’s what my present pace could accomplish.  I’ll be happy with 700 and my goal is 600.

Watch for a report on a brand new route for me tomorrow.