Rev Rider

This Ride: 20.1 miles
Kona Distance: 2,633.4 miles
Month to date: 294.5 miles
2010 Total: 3,099.8 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (63.2 miles ahead of goal pace)

This morning, I got up, checked the radar on my iPhone, and headed out the door on a very warm (80 degrees) and humid (80%) morning. My plan was to ride fairly easy. I have two days of longer group rides coming up, and didn’t want to wear myself out before those rides.

It seemed darker than usual this morning and I passed that off as having to do with the humidity.  The humidity was thick enough that my headlight made a “beam”.  It wasn’t fog, it was just humid.  I was surprised that the trail had noticeably fewer people on it this morning.  I figured that was because of how warm it was.  I kept a nice pace, and soon I was at the Naval Academy Bridge.

The sun was not yet up, but with the haze and lights, it was still lovely.  I expected some color in the sky, but grey is all we had.

I headed back north, and mid-way heard a rumble.  I couldn’t believe it was thunder.  Skies were grey but I recalled an empty radar when I checked it about an hour earlier.  I figured it must be some cyclists going over one of the bridges on the trail.  Two of those bridges could really rumble and with the humidity, noise would be expected to travel pretty well.

It wasn’t 30 seconds later when I felt the first drop of rain.  It was darker to the northwest, and the darkness was moving fast … in my direction.  The few drops turned into a light sprinkle.  I picked up the pace.  I didn’t realize that a light sprinkle hurts at 30 mph!  Soon I was in a light rain, and I figured I’d end the ride in this light rain.  I’ve done that before.  But every few hundred yards, the rain got heavier and heavier.  By the time I was 4 miles from home, it was a steady rain that could be heard on the pavement.  By the time I was 3 miles from home, water was running off the road surface.  Two miles from home it was raining so hard that it was hard to see.  Cars had their windshield wipers on high.  I was getting drenched. I couldn’t have been more wet.  At least it was a warm rain.  (I have to admit that it felt really good.  I actually enjoyed being in it.)

As soon as I could, I decided to check the radar to see what happened.  This is what I saw when I ran it back to about the time the rain started for me.

No wonder I got wet!

Tires held the road well.  Brakes seemed to work fine with all the water.  Eye wear fogged a bit, but a quick swipe with a finger cleared it all.  I did cut the ride about 3 miles shorter than planned.  All in all, a good ride.

Why the empty radar this morning on the iPhone?  I think I didn’t give it enough time to fully download the radar image.  Actually, I think that was a good thing.  Had I seen what was coming, I would not have ridden.

This Ride: 24.2 miles
Kona Distance: 2,513.2 miles
Month to date: 274.3 miles
2010 Total: 3,079.7 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (62.5 miles ahead of goal pace)

Wow, what a Wednesday.  I got out early enough to ride about 3 miles before deciding whether or not I would join the Wicked Wednesday Ride.  My heart wasn’t into it but I decided to join the group this morning anyway.  The ride to the Rusty Bridge was uneventful, except for encountering the runner wearing all dark clothes.  Good thing I didn’t hit him.  There was a good group that started out, I think 7-8 riders.  No one was terribly excited to push it hard, so a brisk, not impossible pace was set and we settled in at an average of about 19 mph.

I had some trouble keeping in the pace line.  A couple of riders ahead of me were not very steady with their track, making it hard to follow.  By the time we got to Old Country Road, I knew I was going to avoid the big hill and just play “rabbit” with Alex, going straight on Old Country Road.

Alex blew me away.  He didn’t know I was going with him, and he put his head down and struck out hard up the gradual hill, and soon was a very long way ahead.  Try as I might, I couldn’t close the gap.  I kept the pace up as hard as I could once back on the trail, because I didn’t really want to get caught by the other riders.  Soon, I saw headlights in my rear view mirror, but I made the end of the trail before getting caught.

Dave wasn’t in the group.  No one knew where he was.  Since I was having trouble keeping up anyway, I volunteered to go back on the route and check to make sure he was ok.  I didn’t find him.  I emailed when I got home and he told me that he wasn’t in fast form, and had told people that if he were dropped to keep going.  I missed that news.  No wonder they were so nonchalant when I kept asking where Dave was.

This was quite a warm and humid morning.  I sweated buckets.  I’m definitely planning an easier ride tomorrow.  It is possible that I’ll have two longer rides on Friday and Saturday, depending on how things go the next couple of days at work.

This Ride: 23.0 miles
Kona Distance: 2,589.1 miles
Month to date: 250.2 miles
2010 Total: 3,055.5 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (57.6 miles ahead of goal pace)

The new headlight arrived yesterday.  I picked it up, charged it, then tried to find a place for it on my bike.  That wasn’t easy.  I have a small, compact bike to fit my small compact body and I like information.  On the front of my bike before the new headlight was a headlight, a Garmin, a Cateye manual bike computer, and on the frame itself a bag in which my iPhone will fit, as well as some other items (food, ecaps, wallet, etc.).  I know, too much stuff.  The Nite Rider headlight required some reconfiguration of the “dashboard” since I need some place to put my hands.  The old headlight was a given, but there was no way to attach the battery pack without other compromises.  Goodbye Cateye.  I really liked having a back up to the Garmin.  It was great for following Cue sheets and it easily displayed the time and distance at a glance.  I have a simpler “cockpit” now, with just the headlight, Garmin, and bag.  The way my riding is progressing, the bag may not last much longer either.

I woke up early this morning, anxious to see how well the Nite Rider worked.  It has three settings, 350, 180, & 100 Lumen output with 2:15, 4:00, 9:00 run times, respectively.  Naturally, I  ran it on high for the first part of the ride, attempting to blind any motorists, and once it was light, brought it back down to low, just to assist in being seen.  The light was bright enough to even out the streetlight shadows and to see the trail comfortably at 20 mph.  It isn’t the bright monsters that Dave (600-700 Lumens) or Mike (1200 Lumens) have, but I think I will ride comfortably with this light, and it cost less than half what those lights do.  If I upgrade, I can always mount this one on the helmet.

I was out about 15 minutes earlier on the trail and was amazed at the activity, and even more amazed at some of the riders.  One guy was flying north on the trail with no reflectors, no rear blinky light, and no headlight.  This was 45 minutes before sunrise.  He looked irritated to me, and no doubt his night vision was ruined by headlights.  Never-the-less, he was very hard to see.

In all the excitement over testing out the headlight, I forgot to turn on the Garmin until at least 7 miles into the ride.  That’s too bad.  I had a pretty fast morning.  The last 15 miles averaged 17.7 mph.  My middle 5 mile “lap” (mostly B&A Blvd) averaged 19.3.  All the miles were solo.  On the trail I saw Alex grinding out his way north to meet up with the SPP group.  It looked like there were only 3 riders in that group this morning.  I met them near the south end of the trail as I was coming north.  I took the same route they take back, but they never caught me.

It was a very warm and humid morning.  By the end of the ride my sweatband had become saturated and no longer could handle the moisture coming off my head.

I must do some bike maintenance today.  The chain has been neglected for too long.  I need to tighten everything up.  This bike is getting noisy.

This Ride: 23.5 miles
Kona Distance: 2,566.1 miles
Month to date: 227.2 miles
2010 Total: 3,032.5 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (54 miles ahead of goal pace)

Two days off the bike feels like a long time. There were a couple of opportunities to ride over the weekend, but it would have had to be short rides squeezed in.

I was running a bit late this morning, or so I thought.  I needed new batteries in my headlight and so popped a new set in checked it quick, and out the door.  Evidently those batteries were not new.  Within a minute, there was no useful light but I pressed on.  I can hardly wait for the new Night Rider to come in.  I really want to see in the morning.  As it turns out, I got to the Rusty Bridge by 5:41 and decided to wait.  Eventually Dave, Bryan, Jeff, and Brian (a relatively new rider to the group) showed up and off we went.

It was an easy pace.  Plenty of good conversation.  We pushed up the hill in Round Bay.  I thought my fitness level was better.  I need to plan some rides with hills to increase my fitness level.  We had a nice fast pace down B&A.  At the end we all split off for home, and I added a few miles just to get close to my goal of 25 miles.  But time was slipping away, and I needed to get back home for the rest of the days activities.

The first half of this ride felt like I was riding through a thin coat of mud.  I just wasn’t rolling smooth.  I think it was just me.  Later, Dave correctly diagnosed the noise I’ve been getting as I stand and pedal.  It turns out that by tightening my rear wheel quick release skewer, I stopped the noise.  It was only an eighth of a turn, but it silenced it immediately.

Nice ride.  Pretty morning.  Ready for the rest of the day.

At the beginning of 2010, as my riding became more serious, I decided to map my weekly distances on Google Earth and travel across the country.  I started in Ocean City, Maryland (at the water’s edge) and snapped a path each week on the highways that would eventually lead me to Interstate 80 in Ohio and from there, to San Francisco where Interstate 80 begins/ends.  Why Interstate 80?  I grew up in Iowa and I-80 runs right through the middle of the state.

This morning, as I mapped this week’s miles, I entered San Francisco and even went off the coast for quite some distance.  Next stop … Hawaii?

This Ride: 70.4 miles
Kona Distance: 2,542.6 miles
Month to date: 203.7 miles  <– Most miles in a week! (for weeks ending on Saturdays)
2010 Total: 3,009.0 miles  <– Now over 3000 miles for the year!
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (88.5 miles ahead of goal pace)

And at the end it felt like I was carrying around a stone.  But it felt good too!  Two goals in one day!  Most miles in a week.  Over 3000 miles for the year.  This is the ride that did both.

The morning started with a dozen riders meeting at the Rusty Bridge for the Friendly Friday Ride.  We had a much quicker than usual pace, but that was fine.  It got everyone sweating hard because the humidity was at or above 90%.  As is usual, we stretched out some as we encountered other traffic on the trail, but it certainly must have been impressive to have a dozen riders flying by in single file.  We also got stretched out a bit as seven went into Annapolis for breakfast.  Ed was there for the first time.  He is a girl’s cross country coach at Severna Park High School.

I waited around after breakfast for Mike B to finish at Chick & Ruth’s.  I joined him in his commute to work north of the airport.  I could tell my fitness level has increased as I climbed the hill, but he still has much better cardiovascular fitness than I do.  Once I finished the airport loop, I turned around and went clockwise around the airport, stopping off at a 7-11 for a nutrition boost and some Gatorade, since my water bottles were now empty (at 50 miles).

I decided to come back passing the hospital, and then calculating poorly in my head, realized that if I rode 68 miles today, I would have a 200 mile week.  I carefully calculated my turn around point, and you can see that I missed it by over a mile.  Math calculations don’t work very well when one is fatigued.

Seventy miles was enough today.  It was heating up near the end of the ride, and the wind also started to kick up a great deal.  Now for a shower and afternoon errands.

This Ride: 23.7 miles
Kona Distance: 2,472.2 miles
Month to date: 133.3 miles
2010 Total: 2,938.7 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (37.5 miles ahead of goal pace)

As anticipated Tuesday evening, I chose to sleep in on Wednesday morning, and as a result missed the tail end of a rain shower.  I haven’t ridden in a summer warm rain yet, but fully expect that to happen before the summer is out.  A day off the bike after 109 miles on Monday and Tuesday was nice.

This morning dawned and I found myself looking for an excuse to sleep in again.  But, I climbed onto the bike and started out.  I planned an easy ride, and in fact, coasted downhill where I usually pedal for speed.  I expected to encounter Jeff as he made his way to the morning peloton ride, but I didn’t expect him to be coming around a blind corner on the wrong side of the road.  We missed each other by a couple of feet, but you couldn’t tell my heart rate that.  It immediately spiked.  Following that excitement, I continued to the trail and south toward the Naval Academy Bridge.

The colors in the sky were a bit muted, but pretty none-the-less.  I guess I would call it a dark peach.  I stopped at the peak of the bridge for 2-3 minutes to watch the sun rise.  The Naval Academy football team was out running drills.  The water under the bridge was calm.  It would have been perfect if there were no vehicles rumbling over the bridge.  I wondered how many noticed the sunrise and the pretty start to the day.

Heading back north on the trail, I encountered Mike C.  I stopped and waited for him, and we rode the trail back together.  It looks like I picked up the pace with him.  I know that the miles went by quickly as we rode and talked.  I think he is in better shape than I am.  At least his conversation was less breathy.  He has rapidly taken to road cycling this past month being part of the “Nickel & Dime ’em to Life” project at the church. He is putting in some good miles.

The morning ride ended with another loop at home.  It was a good morning.

Tomorrow is the breakfast ride.  If I get 100 k in tomorrow, I’ll have 3000 miles on the year.  Not a bad goal for the day.

This Ride: 33.05 miles
Kona Distance: 2,448.5 miles
Month to date: 109.6 miles
2010 Total: 2,914.9 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (52.5 miles ahead of goal pace)

Jeff texted me today to see if I was up for a ride this evening.  Lori was working, so I figured, why not?  I also had been considering the 5:30 Severna Park Peloton ride but decided to meet Jeff at 4:45 and head out for an easy ride.  At least that is what I was promised.  The stats don’t show how hard this was.  We maintained an average of 17.1 mph over 33 miles, and at the end of 20 miles or so, we had an average of 17.6 mph.  It was at mile 21 where it got really hard for me.  I was drenched in sweat, even wringing out my headband.  I had no power up the hills.  I had been drinking water and taking e-caps, and even downed two breakfast bars attempting to stay ahead of the nutrition/hydration curve.  Jeff continued to press on, attacking the hills and urging me on. I did what I could, but I know I left him wanting more.

I’m beat.  I’m ready for a hot shower (amazing how good that feels even after 2 hours of exercise in the heat).  I’m ready to eat something.  I may skip tomorrow morning.  I have an early appointment that I could just barely make if I rode, but sleeping in sounds good to me right now.  We’ll see if it still sounds good at 5 am.  (After all, I’ve now ridden 109 miles in the last 2 days, at a very quick pace.)

This Ride: 23.8 miles
Kona Distance: 2,415.4 miles
Month to date: 76.5 miles
2010 Total: 2,881.9 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (19.5 miles ahead of goal pace)

Were people really trying to be foolish this morning?  Clowns are” fools” in the classic meaning of the word “fools”.  But this morning there seemed to be more foolish people out than I’ve seen in a long time.

I left the house at 5:30 this morning, and traveled roadways for my first 3 miles.  Before I had gone a mile and a half, I glanced up and noticed a dark shadow ahead.  A helmetless cyclist wearing dark clothes with no lights or reflectors on a cruiser was traveling toward me on the “wrong side” of the roadway, grinning ear to ear.  I recognized him.  His girlfriend lives down the street from us.  I used this “incident” to sharpen my awareness for the morning ride, and in some ways I’m sorry I did.

I saw more helmetless riders than usual on the trail this morning.  There were more people with music earbuds in both ears with the music cranked up loud enough that I could hear it as I passed, but they couldn’t hear me call out that I was passing.  (Yesterday I read about a collision between a jogger and a biker in DC.  The jogger made an abrupt U-turn on the trail without realizing that a cyclist was passing on the left.  It was a nasty collision requiring treatment at a hospital.)  There were cyclists on the trail with no headlights and some with no taillights.  Even cars were traveling this morning without headlights or only parking lights.  Ok, enough grumbling.

Maybe the grumbling  is because I’ve decided on a lighting system for my headlights and I’m really focused on seeing and being seen.  The small headlight I have is fine to keep me visible, but it is not strong enough to illumine the path in the darkness.  Civil twilight is 5:38 am right now, and I’m riding at 5:30.  It is only going to get darker as we move toward fall.  I think I’ll get Bike Doctor to order me one today.  Yesterday they didn’t have the model I want in stock.

My intent was to get 25 miles in this morning, but I underestimated the route.  I rode into Annapolis, using our Friday morning path, but forgot to add the distance to the Rusty Bridge.  That put me just over a mile short.  I had a nice pace, and I’m doing well enough with this that I may decide to ride with the peloton on these fast days, at least part of the way.  (The past two weeks, my solo rides have averaged at least 17 mph or better.)  I still need to be focused on the miles, but there is no better way to increase my speed than to ride with others who are pushing me to go faster.

I had hoped for a nice colorful sunrise this morning to lift my spirits.  The clouds were too thick.  I settled for clear evidence of my improving ability to climb hills and a fast finish to the ride.

This Ride: 29.7 miles
Kona Distance: 2,391.6 miles
Month to date: 52.7 miles
2010 Total: 2858.1 miles
Pace to 5254.8 mile goal in 2010: (15 miles ahead of goal pace)

Plenty of clouds. Temps in the upper 70s to around 80. Light breeze. Plenty of energy and just a little behind in miles … sounds like the perfect conditions for me to get another ride in for the day. And that’s what I did. I re-arranged my schedule a bit, and climbed on to the bike for a ride to Sandy Point State Park, almost a 30 mile ride. It was warmer than I expected it to feel, but all was good, and it was an enjoyable ride. Now I’m ahead of my miles and I think I can pretty much keep it there.