My Most Recent Ride 2011 (Part IV of the series)

Didn't ride today but DROVE my bent 450 miles to Navarre Beach Florida. Tomorrow I ride next to the ocean all day!!!!!! Can't wait!!!! Weather is perfect!!!!

 

Nice day in E Tennessee, and the tourists are once again here for the weekend. Snow on the windshield yesterday morning and 16" in the nearby mountains went thru a melting today with 65 deg temps but the steady wind and 25+ gusting mixed in the cool mountain air.

I met up with Paul at Patriot Park in Pigeon Forge and we lapped town with our trikes a number of times, fed ducks at the Old Mill while on a break and cranked out an after-dark lap of town to complete a 24 mile, 4 hr afternoon. No pics this ride but we'll be shooting shooting night shots soon.

 

Now that's the way to have fun. That will beat a solo metric any day.

 

I was going to take the Dragon out again today but had a few snafu's so rode the trike instead. Decided on a metric plus, with Brian putting the miles in I want to keep him motivated :trike:

Anyway, nice long ride on post for a total of 70 miles with just over 3000 feet of climbing and a 14.6 moving average 5:37 total time. Stopped after 55 miles at a Subway, and REALLY needed it. After the 55 miles yesterday and the ride today I was toast by the time we finished.

 

Nice Ward!! Keep those miles coming!

 

Not bad! 3 rides this week!

Have I mentioned I love my heavy duty wool thermals!? 35 F and only my head and hands felt the cold. Rain cut it a bit short though. I didn't want to test them to freezing AND wet just yet. Even so, it was my longest ride of the year. 15 miles.

I did blog it, but there aren't any pictures.

http://terii.wordpress.com/

Terii

 

I am in Heaven!!! At Navarre Beach Florida. Temp is 65 and sunny. Light wind. Rode 31 miles from Navarre Beach to Pensacola and back through the Gulf Shores State Park. Just B E A U T I F U L !!!!

Here are some pictures to make the rest of you envious!!!

 

We cant compete with beach rides! How was it coming back to the hampster bars?

I did a 25 mile group ride today- It was a blast 6 DF, 1 tandem, and 1 Recumbent-me! I did well keeping up with the group and they were surprised that the V-Rex was pretty fast. We averaged 14.00 for the ride and of course we seemed to have a 20 mph head wind the entire way.

Buck (in the Yellow on last 20 secs of video) is a local hero. He rides a single speed Trek and can climb anything- Hes 60+ and can put a lot of younger riders to shame. HE averages 4000 miles on Skyline drive year- Now that's just skyline drive- not counting all the other rides he does. I' am trying to talk him into getting recumbent, he said maybe one day when he gets old..lol

Here is a short Video I didn't take to much because of the wind and the Jumpy Mount, (I broke my other mount)- It's of us leaving and coming back.





http://ridewithgps.com/trips/189888/edit

 

well went about 15 to 16 miles today it was a nice day again

 

I like the tweener bars better, but it wasn't bad. I have a better wheel sets on this bike and skinny tires.

This ride is a dream and I should be able to do it 5 times this week!!! I will ride 4 times from Navarre to Pensacola and back and once the the Black Water Trail. I will take pictures of the Black Water Trail so you can see.

I bought a video camera. I am planning to take videos to really make the rest of you jealous!!!! This is GREAT bent riding!!!!

 

Last Saturday, March 12, I participated in the Solvang Century, my first attempt at doing a century. The temperature was good for riding; cool enough to keep you refreshed and once warmed up a shirt and shorts were all that were needed. I started my ride at a little after 7 AM, leaving Solvang and heading west towards Lompoc, running along the southern hills which mark the southern edge of Lompoc Valley. During this time there was little to no breeze.

At about mile 22, another rider mentioned to his partner that “We’re in for it, look at that flag!” and the only flag around was the flag on my bike. From my shadow I saw my flag flying 90* to the direction I was riding. Not a good sign. About ¼ mile later, we turned into the wind. Thankfully it was a downhill portion and I arrived at SAG1 at the edge of Lompoc.

Leaving SAG 1, we headed through Lompoc and ended up on Highway 1, which was a little disturbing since the section they had us on was a freeway portion so we had cars with a speed limit of 65 whizzing by on our left. Everything was fine until somewhere around mile 30 when we started up a 2 mile climb. Oh, and directly into the wind, oh, and the climb is about a 5% grade. This climb would later have proved to be my downfall. I did what I could to keep pump up the hill, but between the grade and the wind I finally was off and pushing to the top. It was sometime while I was pushing that I saw the only other bent which I saw on the course, a Lightning P38, as he quite nicely cranked on by.
I crested the hill, met up with my friend, and then we headed towards SAG 2, another long climb, this time with a quartering wind, then a downhill stretch into SAG 2. At this point I’ve covered about 44 miles and am starting to pick up some leg cramps.

At SAG 2, I munch on a banana, several oranges, some cookies, and a sandwich and down some Powerade. We’re off again. At this point it’s mostly rolling hills and not too bad until we get through the town of Orcott, after leaving Orcott, we travel west, then make a turn and head north, again directly into the wind. Several miles of this and we turn right and head east, so nice to not be fighting the wind, and then another right turn and head south into SAG 3 having completed 55 miles.

I meet up with my friend, make quick use of the facilities and we head out to SAG 4. Start by heading south then turn left and head east for a while and we’re riding on relatively flat ground for a while. I’m noticing my speed is down below 10, so I’m started to be concerned, but keep moving. About mile 60 I find that my legs have no strength left in them to crank and have to push the bike to crest the hill I’m on. At this point I know things aren’t good as I’m aware of at least 2 major climbs left. It was about this time I decided to call my wife and have her meet me at SAG 4. I continue to head to SAG 4, I’m now down to pushing up hills and coasting the bike down hill. I roll completely shot into SAG 4 at about 4 PM. I had covered a total of 69.7 miles of lots of rolling hills and lots of wind.

The wind during the ride from the time when we turned to head into Lompoc had been blowing between 10 – 20 mph, which made for a tough ride. Later that evening when we were having dinner with friends, who are very strong riders, I found out they had finished at 6 PM, that the ride was very difficult and that they too had been pretty wiped out by the climb on Highway 1.

Things I learned are: make certain I get a lot more training rides in than I did (I got sick at the end of December and wasn’t really on the bike until February), also, I carried too much stuff, from now on when riding on a supported route I will carry 2 1 liter bottles of liquid, my 3 liter bladder will not travel with me. I also had a raincoat with me, on the day of the ride, if rain isn’t imminent, then it will stay with the car, and lastly, maintain my normal eating habits. I tried to follow the direction of a couple other people and “carb up” the night before and have a good breakfast the morning of the ride. What I found out is that in “carbing up” the night before, I ended up causing my system to come awake about 2 ½ hours earlier than I wanted to get up, so I lay in bed until the alarm went off, so no more “carbing up”. As for the breakfast, I normally don’t eat anything until I’ve been up for 4 – 5 hours, so for me, I will not eat breakfast other than perhaps a small bowl of oatmeal, perhaps about an hour before the ride.

Would I do this ride again? At this point, never, never!!! However, give me some time to forget about the legs not wanting to work and I’ll probably give it a try. But as for next year, I think I’ll go spend some time with my friend Gary in Colorado and find some nice spots to ride there! After all, I need to convert him from a DF to a bent!

Oh, and Jon, because I didn’t get the full 100 miles in, you have an excellent chance to breeze right on by me!

Curtis

 

Nice ride report Curtis, sounds like you really picked a tough one for your first. I hope I'm not the one that gave you advice that didn't work well for you, but it sounds like you learned a lot.

I could really relate to how you were feeling. My first century at about mile 75 I was halfway up a short climb, stopped with both thighs cramped up. For better or worse, I didn't see a SAG wagon and there was only one way in. My wife would probably have laughed at me if I had called her for a ride in.

I swore that evening I would never ride another century. That was six years ago this month and i can't count how many century's and longer I have done since then.

So, have you picked the next one yet?

 

Hi Ward,

No, I haven’t picked another ride yet, in fact tomorrow evening will be the first time back on my bike since Saturday. So, I’ll be riding in the Fullerton hills, nothing near as steep or as long as in the Solvang area.

There is a group at work that normally does a charity run in I believe October, I may do that, but I’m not certain yet. I believe it’s a total of 100 miles, but over a 2 day period, and it’s quite flat as it follows the coast from Irvine down to San Diego. I know when I go camping in Sequoia National Forest, I will be taking my bike, I’m not certain how much riding I’ll do, but I’ll do some there, but it will most likely be on my own.

Next spring or perhaps early next summer, if I can find something in Colorado, I’ll try to convince my friend Gary to ride with me again. As for centuries, I’m not certain yet, I would like to get back to the Solvang area and ride that final 31 miles I didn’t ride. I know there are two steep hills, but a lot of downhill also. I just need some time for my body to stop protesting about being abused. When I went to the gym this morning, it didn’t matter what the exercise was, it hurt. And I thought it was only my legs I abused on Saturday.

Curtis

 

Great Ride Curtis!
I think the wind doubles your efforts so there is no shame. I think 50 miles in a heavy head wind almost equals 100 total. I hate the wind almost as much as cold weather. Both can be show stoppers.

 

All these centuries and half centuries flying around me. Makes me embarrassed to mention the measly 5 miles I did today. I wasn't really up for a ride. 15 miles hard slog over inches deep gravel and sloshly ice day before yesterday followed by my first trip to the gym in three weeks yesterday. I really needed a rest day and Loke too. The skin on his paws is a bit thin. It was so pretty out with tomorrow forecasted as gloomy and colder, my husband bullied me out the door.

The 20-ish miles I had planned quickly dissolved into my 5 mile river loop as I just felt weak and tired with muscle aches flaring up everywhere. Creeping around the longer route I had planned even slower than my usual pokey average just didn't sound fun. Not to mention it was just 'same old ground' with nothing new to see or blog about. I just couldn't find the will to push on.

Still good for a recovery ride maybe. Tomorrow, I'm resting. No gym and no cycling. Hubby is just going to have to deal with it.

Terii