Rev Rider

(In honor of the Tour de France this month’s distances are in kilometers)

This Ride: 45.59 km
Kona Distance: 2,994.7 km
Month to date: 117.48 km
2010 Total: 3,745.43 km
Pace to 8,456.78 km mile goal in 2010: +3.2 km

This was a very nice very early morning ride.  I simply did the airport loop from home.  Total distance was 28.3 miles (for the metric challenged folk).  This is a busy day so that’s all for the report.  Off to shower and take care of a few other tasks.

This Ride: 24.6 mi
Kona Miles: 1832.5 mi
Month to date: 44.6 mi
2010 Total: 2299.0 mi
Pace to 5254.8 mile goal in 2010: +9.1 miles

The Severna Park Peloton Friendly (Fixie) Friday ride to Annapolis had a good group of guys. I couldn’t stay for breakfast, so Dan, Jeff, & I simply rode into Annapolis and back. My legs had nothing this morning so it was hard to keep up on the return. A very pleasant morning.

This Ride: 20.0 mi
Kona Miles: 1807.9 mi
Month to date: 20.0 mi
2010 Total: 2274.3 mi
Pace to 5254.8 mile goal in 2010: +2.3 miles

Wow!  I woke up to cool temps and 50% humidity this morning, so with a little later start to the ride decided to push the speed up and see if I could set a personal record pace for the typical 20 mile ride.  Not knowing what that was on the ride made it more difficult.  I averaged 18.1 mph, missing my previous solo best by 0.2 mph average, but beating my Ocean City flat ride average by the same amount.  All things considering, this was a good fast ride on a trail populated by people.  There was more of a headwind on the return trip than I expected.

It is also Day 1 of 183 of the “Nickel & Dime ’em to Life” fund-raising project.  I’ve got a spreadsheet that will keep track of my miles and let me know how I’m doing keeping pace with what is necessary for achieving 3000 miles in the last half of 2010.  That’s what the last stat above tracks, how I’m tracking with my mileage goal for the year.  This should be fun.

Inspired by my friends who created the “Tour de Revs” last year (see photo below), we’ve launched a 6 month project in the congregation I serve to raise money for ELCA World Hunger and to encourage fitness.

Tour de Revs guys on their custom bamboo bicycle built for three

Nickel & Dime ’em to Life

It’s a simple project.  Cyclists sign up and solicit pledges for each mile they ride between July 1 and December 31, 2010.  All funds gathered go to support ELCA World Hunger.  Donors may choose to support any individual cyclist or the entire group as a whole.  A chart will hang in the church with each rider’s goal and each rider’s weekly mileage.  This is designed for cyclists of all ages.

For my individual goal: 3000 miles.  Those kind of miles might be a stretch, but that’s the target.  That should put me over 5200 miles for 2010.  I’ve never ridden over 700 miles in a year before.

These Rides: 36.8 mi
Kona Miles: 1787.9 mi
Month to date: 439.0 mi
2010 Total: 2254.3 mi

What a difference a day makes! It was nearly 10 degrees cooler and half the humidity of yesterday. That made for a much more enjoyable ride. I had little energy and not much desire to ride this morning, but I climbed out of bed anyway.  Over the past 2 days I’ve been back on my calorie restricted diet, and I’m sure that has something to do with this.  I did make sure to gobble a few calories before kicking it off this morning.

I again went out ahead of the Peloton.  I saw Dangerous Dan speeding toward the Rusty Bridge and at the end of the ride saw Evan, but no other identifiable members.

Kamakazie Bunnies were out in force this morning.  One daring hare played “chicken” with me.  I was determined to hold my course and soon enough, he veered off onto his trail.  I don’t want to even imagine what will happen if I hit one of these going 18-20 mph!

Neglected rant from yesterday – Wear your helmets!  I saw three nutcases yesterday riding without helmets.  One of them, older than me (and therefore should know better) nearly collided with a car at an intersection.  He locked his rear brake and slid to a stop.  Shaking his head he said, “You never know what they are going to do.”  Let’s see.  Biker with no lights on the bike, dull clothes, no reflectors, no helmet, blowing through a stop sign and he has the gall to say, “You never know what they are going to do.”  Assume that until you lock eyes with a driver of a car that they don’t see you!  Even then, assume that they looked right through you.  Fully loaded my bike and I are under 200 lbs.  That car is at least 1500 lbs.  I know who is going to win that battle of physics and it ain’t going to be the guy on two wheels.  <end rant>

I got my Halo sweatband in the mail yesterday and wore it this morning.  It really wasn’t a good test … not hot enough.  It does fit extremely well under the helmet.

Then, in the afternoon, I went out again for a shorter ride.  I was really struggling.  I’ve got to have more calories if I’m going to ride, so I need to rethink how I’m going to ride and lose weight.  I did the hills in Round Bay, and was speedier coming home than going out.

Good news!  I got my Seagull Century Packet in the mail today.  Now I just have to figure out where to put it so I don’t lose it before October 9th.

This Ride: 18.3 mi
Kona Miles: 1751.1 mi
Month to date: 402.2 mi
2010 Total: 2217.6 mi

I’m not proud of the cheat, but it had to be done.  It’s a “Ghost Rider” strategy.

I needed to ride this morning, but there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with the 5:45 Peloton riders, so I headed out at about the usual time and instead of the meet up at the Rusty Bridge, I just started south on the trail.  I had at least 10 minutes on them, and didn’t figure they would catch me at all.

It was a humid morning.  It rained overnight.  I set a good pace for myself and kept the heart rate up but in a reasonable range.  By the end of the trail I was feeling pretty good and continued south to the peak of the Naval Academy Bridge.  The sun was a few degrees above the horizon, there was a breeze blowing a chop on the Severn, and it was simply a gorgeous morning with a great view.

Returning to the trail, I wondered about the Peloton.  I figured I wouldn’t see them at all, figuring that they were now ahead of me on the trail.  But even before I could blink, there they were.  They were still not to the end of the trail.  My heart leaped in my chest (literally jumping 10 bpm) and I had a goal.  They were not going to catch me before I reached Glen Oban where they turn off.  (I’m glad I didn’t tell them this plan or I would have been caught!)  They nearly did catch me, and if I were them, I would have claimed it.  Even though I had a good pace on the trail, they soon were ahead of me on the parallel road.  By the time they rejoined the trail, they were a good 300-400 yards ahead.

I am noticing some increased fitness on the hills.  Maybe some additional hill work will be good in July.

Lance Armstrong announced yesterday that the 2010 Tour De France will be his last.

This Ride: 14.3 mi
Kona Miles: 1732.8 mi
Month to date: 383.9 mi
2010 Total: 2199.3 mi

Just getting out to ride today was a miracle, of sorts.  I had an early meeting so “Mosey Monday” was out.  I wouldn’t be able to ride and shower and get to work on time.  The day quickly heated up to 98-99 at mid-day, a real scorcher.  We had a thunderstorm roll through around 3, and temps cooled down to the upper 70s.  Once things dried off a bit, and I ate supper, I decided to go out for a few miles … nothing spectacular.  It was about 81-83 during the ride with humidity levels at least that high from all the evaporating rain.  In no time, I was pouring sweat off my face, into my eyes, and off my chin.  I’m anxiously awaiting the sweatband in the mail.

I really didn’t push it much.  Average heart rate for the short ride was 136 which is a good workout.  I drank one small bottle of Gatorade.  I’ve got some pain in my right leg that I’ll have to watch.  My handlebars still aren’t right. I’m getting plenty of numbness in my hands yet.

And in the “pay attention to your tires” category: While stopped at a light I glanced down and noticed a large piece of glass embedded in my front tire.  That is the first one I’ve found since getting these new tires nearly 900 miles ago.  This piece of glass was so large and sharp that it would have worked its way through the tire and into the tube within a few days.  I’m really glad I caught it now.  I’ve gotten lazy with my post ride examination of the tires.  Time to start paying attention again.

This much glass can ruin your day

So, I was glad I got out.  Nothing much interesting on the Garmin today, so I’ll save bandwidth.

This Ride: 55.1 mi
Kona Miles: 1718.4 mi
Month to date: 369.6 mi
2010 Total: 2184.9 mi

A good day riding.  I think it was 13 who formed up at the Rusty Bridge for the Friendly Friday ride.  It was good to be riding with that many people.  We split up for breakfast.  I stuck with Chick & Ruth’s but I don’t know how long I’ll continue that.  It takes about an hour for us to eat there.  Hard Bean makes more sense on these mornings.

Following breakfast, back up the trail we went.  After the Rusty Bridge, I continued on to do the airport loop and my goal of 50 miles for the day.  Was it just a week ago that I rode the Century?

Along the way, I stopped a total of 3-4 times to adjust the angle of my handle bars.  It felt to me like they had slipped over the past 6 months.  I think I’ve got them where I want them now.  Since the end of my ride was at the hospital to pick up my wife’s car, I decided to take a detour to get the miles in.  I headed out to Patapsco Park from the BWI trail, but soon lost the trail and the route.  I did encounter some nice tough hills and pretty winding roads.  I simply did an out and back as the map shows.

I finished up at the hospital.  Two trips up the parking garage didn’t result in me finding my wife’s car.  So I called, and it turns out she parked elsewhere.  Back home by car with the bike doesn’t look all that great, but it makes our trip back to Annapolis for happy hour this evening so much quicker.

Fifty five miles is what I get credit for today.  Garmin shows a little less, but by the time I found the car I’d put on some extra miles according to my wired CatEye.

This Ride: 1.4 mi
Kona Miles: 1663.3 mi
Month to date: 314.5 mi
2010 Total: 2129.8 mi

Or, “Comedy of Errors”.

I’m such a “newbie”.  There, I said it.

I climbed on the Kona this morning for an easy ride.  It was already 80 degrees at 7 am and only going to get hotter.  Just 1.4 miles into my ride I hit a rock hard with my rear tire (missed it with the front), heard air escaping, and sure enough, a flat.  I pulled off to change it.  That’s when things went from bad to worse.

I pulled the tube, put a new one in, but the new one wasn’t holding air.  I thought maybe the hand pump wasn’t seating properly on the valve (and it turns out that was part of the problem) so I pulled out the CO2 cartridge and noticed a mistake I made a month ago when buying the cartridges.  I had 3 CO2 cartridges without threads.  My valve requires threads.  Re-working the hand pump I got the valve to pump sealed, but still the tube wouldn’t hold air.  I had another tube, but by now I was frustrated.  I called home, got the ride of shame, and started investigating immediately.

The first flat indeed was of the “snakebite” type.  Two parallel cuts in the tube.  The rock was the culprit for a “pinch flat”.  The other tube had a hole in it on the inside of the tube.  A careful examination of the spoke tape didn’t find any burrs, or sharp edges.  I never had the tube inflated hard enough to even cause a puncture.

While the wheel and tire are both off, I’ll keep it off to perform some maintenance on them later today and take a second, harder look for anything in the tire rim that could cause another problem.  I will also buy some threaded CO2 cartridges!

I need to have the Kona ready for tomorrow’s breakfast ride.

This Ride: 16.1 mi
Kona Miles: 1661.9 mi
Month to date: 313.1 mi
2010 Total: 2128.4 mi

I really didn’t want to ride this morning, and I had all sorts of excuses:

• The storm last night was bad and that will mean debris all over the trail.
• It is already hot and humid.
• I worked hard yesterday.
• I’m tired.
• I’ve got so much to do at work.
• My chain needs to be cleaned and lubed.
• My handlebars need to be adjusted.
• I still haven’t fixed my front derailleur.
• My bee sting itches.

But with no good excuses, and because cyclists ride and I’m a cyclist, I rode.

There was debris on the northern part of the trail from the storm.  There were trees and bamboo hanging low over the trail.  It was hot and humid and I dripped sweat once again.  I kept my pace down, doing better with keeping my heart rate within planned limits.  A reasonable pace of 16.9 for the ride was accomplished (not bad for an average heart rate of 127.)

So I rode.  Better this morning that mid afternoon with the temps forecast to be in the mid 90s.

In case you were wondering, those storms last night were something else!  We had wind gusts of 65 mph.  I’ll try to link video of it later.  Here is a screen capture of radar after the storm passed.