My Most Recent Ride 2010 (Part III of the series)

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

In Oct 2009 Don and I did a loop from to New Market, south on Piedmont Rd., east on Hinchy Hollow and back to to New Market. But we bypassed Bays Mt.

Today Sunday was a gorgeous day, completely opposite to yesterday's messy Saturday. I rode from JTEKT to Carson Newman (my 201st bike trip to Jeff City) to New Market and south on Piedmont Rd. My original intent was to go back to JTEKT via Hinchy Hollow. But once I got to the intersection to turn left, the Rocket's steering locked up tighter than a rusty gear. It absolutely refused to turn left and instead insisted that we climb Bay's Mt. from the north side. It was May 2009 since I've been across there. Not sure I wanted to do it, but the bike was focused and wouldn't go anywhere else. What with the Kojak tire and lighter wheels, the downhill on the south side saw speeds up to 40 mph without even pedaling. Several side roads on the way back. Just under 51 miles. Have ridden further in a day, but the mountain climb and mostly uphill 20 mile ride back left my legs crampy and worn out.

Approaching 1500 miles for the year. Big wow... But 600 have been since Doc released my following disk surgery. At least I'm keeping over 5.5 miles/day average. Long way to go to reach over 7 miles/day average last year.

Dave

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Ward, had you drank enough water and had your dose of potassium (bananas) before riding??? I rarely hear of you getting leg cramps. I hope things have worked out since then. Still sounds like you had an awesome ride.

Willie G & I rode on the 10th...we had some headwinds on the way up River Road...but it was a lot better on the way back. We don't have a speedometer on it so don't really know what our avg speed was.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

I think it was a combination of not being hydrated enough before the start and pushing too hard the first 50. If I had known we were going out that hard I would have modified my hydration/nutrition plan.

You're right, I don't have too many issue's with cramping now that I have learned my body a bit more. For me, cramping signifies I have totally emptied my muscle glycogen and lactic acid buildup. I have learned the pace I can ride without hitting that point. When pushing hard the body can't utilize fat but has to burn carbs. Harder still and the anaerobic metabolism takes over producing lactic acid as a by product. At a slightly slower pace the body is happy to burn a combination of both fat and carbs, allowing me to ride much farther before any problem develops.

Glad ya'll are getting out and enjoying the cooler weather

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Yeah the weather is awesome up here. We're going riding tonight.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Good ride, Ward. Do you wear a HRM so you can 'monitor' your exertion level? That might help tell when you're riding too hard.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

John, I didn't need the HRM to tell me that I was going anaerobic. I think the fact that I could only say one word at a time gave it away. I rode with one for a while but I was a runner back in the day when we used our breathing as a guide and I found that I was usually pretty close to where I thought I was. I really want a power meter but I cant justify the expense.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

On Black Bear, I used my HRM to tell me when to BACK OFF! That way I didn't blow up halfway through the ride.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Oh, I knew I needed to back-off. But the fact that I was irritating that guy by being there.....I just couldn't. I know I only have so many forays above 160 bpm before things get ugly. Thing is, I was running in that zone for the entire 35 miles or very close to it.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

That is crazy man...the hardest I've riden was when I literally saw little gold dots (stars) dancing in from of my eyes, couldn't hear the wind and every noise sounded muffled...I think I was close to passing out. Did it only the one time though, never tried that again. hahahha

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

When I push my heart rate too high, my tongue and inside of my mouth starts itching like crazy. It's almost like I took a nice big bite of something not quite as bad as nettles, but not far from it. Definitely discourages me from letting it happen.

I got another ride in! Three this month! Aside from the vacation rides in August (which I'm not sure I count as separate rides exactly), the last time I did three or more rides in a month was in May!

It wasn't a very long ride and I spent more than half of it in a state of aggravation. Still I was out for some 4 hours, 12-13 miles of cycling and lots of walking around pastures and bumping down gravel side roads to look for 3000+ year old stone carvings I knew were in the area. But Loke and I got out, got a bit of exercise and avoided the rain!

Loke ran very, VERY well I want to add. Since I'd forgotten my GPS, I can't give exact speeds over what distances, but he loped/ran over most of 5 miles, I know for sure. I can count the times he's done that on one hand with fingers to spare. I'll take a guess that except for hills and our puttering around Enköping where I got lost for a bit, his cruising speed was up close to 9 mph.

So, in spite of whatever aggravation I felt at leaving my GPS, vanishing sunshine and impossible to see stone carvings as I wandered through pasture land on foot, it didn't turn out to be a bad day.

Terii

P.S. That breaks 300 miles for the year.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Tuesday night club ride.

The D.F. acquaintance who invited me to ride along with him on his weekly club ride failed to make the ride last night.
He had a great reason, as his rear deraileur hanger was broken, the replacement hanger was in the mail and his spare bicycle was a whole state away.

I showed up anyway.

On the ride, the peleton caught up with me rather handily and left me in their wake.
Those guys are fast.
Especially up hills.
(I'm not so fast.
Especially up hills.)

Everyone else was slower than I was yesterday.

My brakes were in good enough shape, as I had to brake hard enough to pull a few stoppies (rear wheel airborne) to avoid slow people in corners.

My mirror was handy.
None of the fast peleton riders gave me any warning while overtaking
and passing me.
Some passed me with inches to spare.
Rude.

Conclusions?

I got a great workout, as chasing riders and being chased turned the entire ride
into one long sprint.

The majority of the people in the club are no different from any other tribe.
I'd rather not ride with them on a regular basis.

I still look forward to riding with my D.F. acquaintance!

And, of course, I wanna get a whole lot faster....

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Remember that the guys in the group are getting a 30% break in power output. That allows them to save that energy for the climbs. You, pushing and trying to keep up and catch other riders, are already close to max before you hit the hills. So they have the matches to burn on those climbs.

If you see the group coming up behind you swerving around on the path, simply pedal steering a bit, will buy you both room on the road from cars and on the path from the peleton.

Sounds like a great ride

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Yeah, True.
I'm in awe of the power output that the lead riders generate, in turn!

I caught and passed a few dropped riders.
They were all used up.

Of course!
But this time, the group was so fast that the leaders were already passing me
when I finally noticed that my rear view mirror was filled with bicycles.
Which also means, of course, that I was pretty slow at that point on the course;
so was my scan-interval time!
...and all too late to go to my default, "front-wheel-drive shimmy".

Yes, a great ride.
That route is my favourite daily ride.

I just ride in the morning, when it's relatively cool.

The club riders ride in the evening when it's hot enough to
require both carrying and drinking both bottles of water!

 

My 2010 to-date stats

Making up a little ground on 2010 cycling mileage.

The early cold & wet 1st quarter ended, then vacation & off-bike for 8 weeks. Then hot and hotter 2nd & 3rd quarter. Enough excuses.

Have 216 miles for September; more than 160 in the past 8 days. Over 1500 miles for the year; trying to get at least 2400 before year end. Not the 2600 in '09 or the 2800 in '08, but we do what we can do. Creeping up on the 6 miles/day average.

Did an out-n-back to Bean Station from Morristown this past weekend & one-way averaged 15 mph for 17 miles. Not a big deal for some, but small speed improvements are big for me. Some of you have put me to shame this year both speed and distance.

Sure do like the flat miles on Tybee Island and the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Wish we had some flats around here that are longer than a few hundred meters. But it isn't about the miles... oh, heck; yeah it is.

Dave

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Dave, nothing to sneeze at. 80 miles for me last Saturday on the Venom. It took me 7 hours total after stopping at BK for lunch. Rjde average was 13.3 with 3300 feet of climbing. I really like having the same seat on the trike that I have on the Dragon, no adjustment necessary. Nice shot of the river smooth as glass early in the morning.