This Ride: 19.7 mi
Kona Miles: 1645.9 mi
Month to date: 297.0 mi
2010 Total: 2112.3 mi
When I decided to do Terrible Tuesday again this week, I planned a certain place to drop the peloton and let them catch me after they challenged a hill (the hill that killed me last week). It was wimpy of me, but my cardiovascular system was going to thank me profusely, and I like to be thanked.
I left home, and within minutes was on the trail. Dangerous Dan joined me for a quick ride up to the Rusty Bridge and soon there were six ready to go. This was a feisty group. After some quick conversation, the decision was made to ride the Solley Road route. I’ve ridden it once. There are no shortcuts. If I was riding with this group, it would be as wheel sucker all the way.
We formed a good pace line and moved out. I keep 5 mile splits and reset the lap timer as we left the Rusty Bridge.
Mile 0-5: Avg 20.3 mph
Mile 5-10: Avg 23.0 mph
Mile 10-15: Avg 22.5 mph
Mile 15-18: Avg 18.6 (I peeled off the back and took a cool down pace home)
Entire Ride: 20.8 mph average
There isn’t much to describe about the ride. I sucked wheel. I dropped off the pace occasionally. Clint did the slingshot maneuver on me 3 times in the last 1/4 of the ride when I had fallen off about 30 feet behind. Sweat poured off my face. My heart rate was over 150 most of the ride (I averaged 149). My mind is a general blank because all I was focused on was keeping that wheel in sight. This was a workout.
Thanks guys!
This Ride: 16.2 mi
Kona Miles: 1626.2 mi
Month to date: 277.4 mi
2010 Total: 2092.7 mi
This morning I just couldn’t pull myself out of bed for the 5:45 ride and so I got a late start. I wanted a recovery ride of sorts, so my initial goal was to achieve a maximum heart rate of about 135, but to average around 130. A funny thing happened to this recovery ride.
While doing what I refer to as “the loop” I noticed a helmet-less cyclist peddling on the wrong side of the road. He had a white shirt tucked in and a child carrier on the back of the bike. No big deal for me. I passed him, and headed to the trail. A couple of miles later, I notice him again, going the same direction I am, and he is ahead of me! My competitive streak kicks in and I make sure I pass him … again. Now, I’m pretty sure that I was seeing things in my rear view mirror, but it seemed like he was keeping up with me and soon my heart rate maximum goal was blown. I didn’t see him again on the ride, but it sure is interesting what a little competition does to the best laid plans.
I met my new (dead) “friend” at mile 11 into the ride. 
Yes, this little “friend” stopped by and left a memento of his visit in my upper left arm near my armpit. I must say, I wasn’t very hospitable. I grabbed him hard and tossed him aside like so much garbage. Poor little guy. Buzzing along thinking about the job and suddenly gets whacked by a massive red thing flying down the trail at 18 mph. No wonder he stung me.
Despite this “friend”, it was a good ride. I settled back down, kept the pedals turning and the heart rate in range. 17.1 mph for a recovery ride is pretty good for this stage of riding. Now, do I have the guts for Terrible Tuesday?
This Ride: 102.0 mi <— Century Ride! First one ever!
Kona Miles: 1620.1 mi
Month to date: 261.2 mi
2010 Total: 2076.5 mi <— Now over 2000 miles for the year!
That’s a milestone in my cycling. One hundred miles cycling in a day. I’ve got the feeling that in time, this accomplishment will be superseded by other grand accomplishments, but for now … I’m glad to achieve this.
The possibility of using Friday to ride the Century emerged Thursday evening. But I told no one. The forecast was perfect with lower temperatures and low humidity. Friday morning when I rode to join the 5:45 ride I still wasn’t quite sure. I planned to do the breakfast ride, then stop at home for “supplies” for the longer ride. The day was full of changes.
Before launching from the Rusty Bridge I announced to the assembled group that today would be my Century ride. There it was, out there and no turning back. A miscue on a turn/no turn in Round Bay nearly put an end to the whole plan. I was the last to know about a route change and nearly caused an accident because of it. I’m still learning what it means to ride in a group. The peloton broke up in Annapolis to visit different eateries, and I chose to go with Mike as I had offered to ride with him on his commute to work. Service was terribly slow, and we saw the others climbing Main street before our breakfast was served. After about an hour at the restaurant, we were back on the bikes (Garmin hiccuped and didn’t go into automatic pause mode during breakfast) and I traveled with Mike to near his work at the “top” of the BWI loop. This ended the group part of my ride.
The solo part of the ride remained pleasant. Any ride on the BWI trail from north to south has some long downhill legs, and I made pretty quick work of the return trip. By the time I arrived home, I already had 50 miles logged. I grabbed more Gatorade, Fig Newtons, and water for the rest of the trip.
I’m not one concerned about so-called cycling propriety. I don’t shave my legs and I chose to carry a Camelback pack full of ice water. Maybe road cyclers don’t carry water on their backs, but I’ve had two friends who on long rides spent time in the hospital recovering from dehydration. The first 50 miles I only had a bottle of water and one of Gatoraide (coffee at breakfast and a glass of orange juice). I believed I was already in deficit.
I headed out again, and within a mile realized I had forgotten two items I really wanted. Sunglasses and sunscreen. I looped back home, picked up these items, and set out again. I had a loose idea about where I might go, but again, with about a mile into the ride, my wife called and asked me to end my ride at the hospital where she works to pick up the car. With 46 miles to go, planning that change of endpoint really wasn’t that hard.
I don’t recall much of the ride down the trail, down College Parkway to Sandy Point State Park. It was nice and uneventful with car drivers being courteous and a nice easy pace. I stopped briefly at Sandy Point to rehydrate and refuel. I continued back toward St. Margaret’s Road, back onto Hwy 2 north from the Academy Bridge and back onto the B&A trail. I struggled some between mile 75 and 85. I knew I was headed into record-setting territory for my longest ride, and I could still end at home without a lot of effort. But once I had 85 miles on the clock, suddenly I knew this Century would be complete and with less than an hour to go, things were good.
After some quick calculations, I added East-West Highway to Veteran’s Highway out and back to consume some road, and back on the trail before jumping on surface roads to the hospital. At the hospital, I still had a few miles yet to add, so I went up to the southern end of the airport using the trail for part of the route, then back to the hospital. The Garmin doesn’t quite show the full 102 miles traveled, but I turned it off just before entering the parking garage and climbed the ramp to the 3rd floor. I was surprised at how easy the climb was after 100 miles.
This was a great ride. After climbing off the bike, my legs wanted to do circles when walking. I was very ready to be off the saddle. My wife and I were back in Annapolis for happy hour and dinner later in the evening, and I was restless. I didn’t want to be sitting. I did feel a little chilled a couple of times late in the ride, so I just consumed more water, and that seemed to address it. I didn’t have any cramping.
My schedule won’t allow me back on the bike until at least Monday. Maybe I’ll get out with the Monday 5:45 group again.
I am disappointed that the Garmin device chose to keep running while we were eating breakfast instead of slipping into autopause. I didn’t want to forget to turn it on when restarting the ride. That throws some stats off. The delay in posting this ride comes mostly because I had to really scramble the rest of the weekend to accomplish the things I put off to do this ride.
This Ride: 19.3 mi
Kona Miles: 1508.1 mi
Month to date: 159.2 mi
2010 Total: 1974.5 mi
I was prepared to ride this morning with the 5:45 group. Really, I was. I got up at 5 am. I noticed that it was dry out. I started putting on my kit at 5:15 am and as I was doing so, my spouse asked, “Is it raining?” I looked out, and sure enough, it was. I checked the radar, and moderate rain was centered over our community. I decided then and there to stay home. Minutes later, it stopped raining (and I could have still made the ride time) but since I don’t have fenders I stayed in bed. (Slap my wrist now please.)
So, this afternoon after buying some fenders so I don’t have that excuse again, I squeezed in a ride between thunderstorms. The humidity was oppressive. The route was dry except for a few puddles, but I left a trail of sweat that anyone could have followed. It was running off my nose, off my brow and into my eyes, and off my chin. I may have to hose the bike down so that metal parts don’t rust overnight. The fenders still aren’t on, but maybe I’ll get them set later tonight and learn how to quick attach and detach them. I keep whittling away those excuses.
On the return trip, near the south end of the trail, I encountered a “squad” of about 6-7 cycling police officers headed south. They were all on mountain bikes (on seats that seemed to be set a little low) and huffing and puffing down the trail at about 12 mph (well under the 15 mph speed limit mind you). None of them appeared to be under 250 lbs, and from the looks of their eyes, they were ready to quit. I think they were practicing drafting. I smiled, traveling at about 18-19 mph at that point. Probably the only time I’ll be able to speed by 6 or 7 police officers and know I’ll not be pulled over.
Can you tell those endorphins are flowing through my brain?
This Ride: 21.9 mi
Kona Miles: 1488.7 mi
Month to date: 139.9 mi
2010 Total: 1955.2 mi
Late last night I decided to take the 5:45 group up on its suggestion that I ride “Terrible Tuesday” with them. I emailed them to further commit myself to the ride. Dave chimed in quickly with a little trash talk.
Day dawned with warm and humid conditions, but it was pretty. I love this time of day. I rode easy to the Rusty Bridge and then beyond, since I was about 5 minutes early. Soon, Clint and Dave showed up (Clint in an aero helmet), and we shoved off. I reset the lap counter on the Garmin as we launched as a way of discovering exactly what the group ride would show. We picked up Chip along the way, so our peloton included 4 riders (most of the time).
We weren’t but a mile or two into the ride before the conversation turned to the death of a rider in a 1200 k ride. He apparently died within 50-60 miles of the finish and was an experienced rider. A heart attack is suspected. That’s a little unnerving with what I was anticipating ahead.
We had a brisk pace, but comfortable, and I was toying with remaining on the trail while the rest did the hills in Round Bay. Suddenly, I found myself on Old Country Road, headed for the hills. I really don’t know how I made that turn. I stayed with the group until the last hill. Want to know where it is? Look for the heart rate spike to 174 on the Garmin graphs. After that effort, I was spent. I had a hard time recovering and keeping up. I couldn’t hang on the the peloton to the end of the trail, but they waited for me at the end. I think I was 150-200 yards off the pace.
After the turn around, I lost the group again pretty quickly, but stayed within about 20-25 yards, occasionally reeling them back in (or them slowing down for a bit). Where the 5:45 route turns off the trail onto B&A, I stayed on the trail while they took the small hills on the parallel road. Quick glances showed me on pace with them, or slightly behind. I maintained a minimum of 19 mph as much as I could on the trail, but a few intersections slowed me down so that when the other riders hit the trail, I was about 100 yards behind. I did what I could to catch them, but they caught a break at Robinson Road and crossed it without having to slow for traffic. I had to wait for vehicles.
In the end, they lingered long enough for me to catch up, for them to offer words of encouragement, and for me to turn off toward home. I did do the loop as a way to add a few miles on to the end of the ride. Drenched in sweat, with it running down my face like tears, I accomplished (most of) Terrible Tuesday.
I averaged 18.2 for the entire ride, with the 15 miles of the ride with the peloton averaging 18.8 mph.
This Ride: 17.9 mi
Kona Miles: 1466.8 mi
Month to date: 118.0 mi
2010 Total: 1933.3 mi
Now that I’m back home after 2 weeks of travel, it is time to get regular again with rides with the Severna Park Peloton. Each 5:45 am ride has a theme, and Mondays are Mosey Monday. We had 4 riders launch from the Rusty Bridge and picked up 2 more within the first mile for a total of 6. The temps were warm (75-78) and humidity was high, but the company was great. We averaged 16.7 mph.
The trail was unusually busy this morning. We are getting to the time of the year when the sun is rising at its earliest and the temperature forecasts are high for the afternoon, so getting a walk, run, or ride in very early makes a lot of sense.
It was a good morning. There was one “equipment malfunction” that took Chip a few minutes to fix while the rest of us waited and sweated. When we jumped back on the bikes, it was amazing how cold it felt as the sweat evaporated. I nearly shivered at one point. There was a good amount of talk about the upcoming 1000K ride Clint and Clif are planning to ride (around Lake Ontario) in coming weeks.
I’m not going to post the Garmin map today. Nothing new there.
This Ride: 23.5 mi
Kona Miles: 1448.9 mi
Month to date: 100.1 mi
2010 Total: 1915.4 mi
Up at 5 am on a Saturday morning? Absolutely. Pulling me out of bed was a tight schedule, another beautiful morning, and those battlefields.
I rode out with higher humidity and about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday. There were also more clouds, so the sunrise wasn’t as dramatic. Some noise in the meadow as I turned off the highway attracted my attention and saw a deer. I tried to get a photo, but it was still too dark.
The ride was nice. I avoided the rough roads, choosing to do another loop inside the battlefield instead. This was a slower morning … but then I was looking around a lot. The quiet was incredible.
This Ride: 23.5 mi
Kona Miles: 1425.4 mi
Month to date: 76.6 mi
2010 Total: 1891.9 mi
I’m at our Synod Assembly meeting in Gettysburg, and brought my bike, knowing that the long hours of sitting and the convention center meals would conspire to make me feel awful. Here it is, the 11th of the month, and I’ve only ridden one other day this month. Overall this is frustrating!
Before sunrise, I pulled on my kit, set my flashy lights and opened Google maps on my iPhone (so I knew where I was). It was a pleasant morning, and soon I was cruising through some of the battlefields around Gettysburg. Those roads were completely mine … no traffic at all. You can see from the photos that it was simply gorgeous. These photos were from “Big Round Top”.
I did get “lost” at one point as I descended into a valley and found myself on very rough paved roads. (Highland Township and Freedom Township)One route I had planned was “Road Closed” and I chose not to challenge the signs. When I though the rough road couldn’t get worse, it did. Finally, on Bullfrog Road, the pavement was smooth and it felt really good. My hands were numb from all the battering on those rough roads.
It was a good thing I wasn’t riding “lost” much longer. My iPhone battery was down to about 20% at the end of the ride.
This was a perfect day for a ride. I regret only that I missed the Friday breakfast ride with SPP. I hope you all had a great ride.
This Ride: 53.1 mi
Kona Miles: 1401.9 mi
Month to date: 53.1 mi
2010 Total: 1868.4 mi
After being away for a week, it felt pretty good to get back into the saddle today. I got on the bike as early as I could this morning with a goal of riding until about noon. My original goal was just time in the saddle without regard to speed. There are just too many other things to accomplish in the next two days, not least of which is mowing the lawn.
Temperatures were pleasant this morning and I rode solo this entire ride. After hearing tales of dehydration by other riders on other rides, I strapped on a Camelback and took two bottles of Gatorade. I actually stopped for a bathroom break at about mile 26, so I’m sure I was hydrating enough.
This was a rather uneventful ride, except for a near collision with a kamikaze squirrel at 17 mph and two older ladies on cell phones two intersections in a row. I’m glad I anticipated their inattention. The wind was brisk, but manageable.
There is rain in the forecast for tomorrow so riding is iffy. If I get caught up with my other tasks, I’ll do some bike maintenance and maybe take the bike on my Thursday – Saturday trip to Gettysburg. I sure hope this isn’t the only ride this week.
These Rides: 41.4 mi
Kona Miles: 1348.8 mi
Month to date: 626.2 mi <– Personal Monthly Distance Record
2010 Total: 1815.3 mi
I spent the Memorial Day weekend in Ocean City, Maryland (missing the epic Severna Park Peloton rides) and took my bike. It was a real mixed bag for riding for me.
Saturday morning … I had some muscle soreness and decided to take the day off. The pain was mostly in my quads and in my triceps.
Sunday morning, early, I jumped on the bike and took off north, trying to get a ride in before church. This was a first for such a flat route. That first 5 miles I averaged 20.2 mph, and it really felt good. I was pushing a little headwind, but the flat route and very limited traffic made for speed. I was overly optimistic about maintaining that pace. Still, for the first 15 miles, I averaged 19.5 mph. That’s a personal best. Along the way a bug made it to the back of my throat as I was inhaling. I slowed to help a rider who flatted, but he said he was fine. I also discovered what a friend said was true. He claims that on the Eastern Shore, you are always riding into a headwind. I turned around at mile 15.5 and suddenly discovered that I had not been bucking a slight headwind, because now it was full in my face, and slowed me considerably. I really struggled coming back into that wind and maintaining speed. My desire for a record-setting pace faded with more red traffic lights and that incessant wind. Another friend had commented on how Cliff bars tasted great but were nearly impossible to open on a bike. Absolutely true on both counts! I crossed a state line for the first time, riding in two different states. I’ll return to the area for the Seagull Century in October.
My Monday morning ride was miserable. I had sunburn in parts of my body (from time on the beach on Sunday afternoon) which was aggravated by riding, including the tops of my feet, my ankles, my thighs where my riding shorts had previously protected me from sun (and were now causing pain) and my neck. To top it all off, I really didn’t have good nutrition to ride that early and was probably dehydrated from the sunburn. I gave up after 5 miles and returned to the condo. I didn’t think that I was that burned. Later in the day, I noticed that my left foot was swollen some. I wouldn’t call the burn bad or severe, just enough that riding was really not in the cards for the day. I finished with nearly 10.5 miles on the day, my shortest day since early April where all I did was commute to and from work.
I really did miss the rides Severna Park Peloton planned for the weekend. They would have been much more fun than riding solo, and I would have gotten more miles in. Maybe next year.
That brings May’s rides to a close. May’s total = 626 miles, more than 200 miles over April. June will be a tough month for me. Nearly the entire first half of the month will not be available to ride (unless I can squeeze a couple of rides in between June 8-10).
Rev Rider 