This posting is the first of a couple of posts that attempt to capture what I experience as I prepare for and perform a bicycle ride. Most of my riding is a combination of recreation and training. I am a goal oriented person who is almost always in training for some event or to reach some desired level of performance. This leads to the postings containing a fair amount of content related to training even though the postings are not meant to be a training guide. I will add a posting in the future that will focus on that topic.
I try to ride four days a week and almost always am able to keep to this schedule. A ride usually starts at the end of a work day or in the morning on weekends. If I have daylight and the weather is dry and above 25 degrees Fahrenheit, the session will be a road ride on one of my bicycles. If it is evening or the weather is miserable, I head to the gym to ride the LifeCycles. Before I ride there is some preparation to be done, particularly if I am riding on the road. These preparations have become a ritual and are part of the experience.
Prior to a road ride on the road I will look over the bike, check tire pressures, then reset the cycling computer so that the trip distance is zeroed out. For rides that are going to last over an hour but less than two hours, I mix up some Cytomax in a 22 ounce water bottle, diluting it to half the normal strength. For longer rides I go with the Cytomax at full strength and also bring a second water bottle full of plain H2O. For all rides of over one hour I take along some Clif Shot Bloks. For rides longer than two and a half hours I may bring along some stuff to nibble on that contains complex carbs and a bit of protein. The drinks and food are essential to keeping my body fueled during the longer rides. I will write a separate blog on that subject some time soon.
The other part of preparing for a road ride is to put on the riding outfit. It starts with biking shorts for milder temperatures or full-length wind-resistant cycling pants for when it is cold. The upper body is handled with the appropriate undershirt and jersey for the temperature. The cycling specific clothing is a wonder of function. The undershirt and shorts work to keep the sweat away from the body. The shorts are specially designed to cushion the crotch and minimize chaffing. The jersey provides handy storage for the assorted things a cyclist needs to carry with them. Loading these assorted things (Clif Shot Blocks, wallet, house key, snacks) into the jersey is the next step before completing the ritual by pulling on the specialized socks and the riding shoes that will clip tightly to the pedals of the road bike. In cooler weather I may also put on a cycling vest and some shoe covers to get a little more warmth. At this point I am almost set to go, just having to put my water bottles into the holders on the bike and then put on my cycling helmet, wrap-around sunglasses, and riding gloves. At this point I am ready to hop on the bike and ride. A description of the road riding experience is contained in another posting on this blog.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Help Me Fight Leukemia
As I discussed in my initial posting for this blog, over the last few years I have really gotten into bicycling. It has made a big difference in my life and now I am looking to use it as a means of having a positive influence on the lives of others. I can see that my bicycling can be used as a lever to raise money for charities in a time when money is tight for them, but the need the charities serve continues.
My first step in this is my participation in a 100 mile charity ride where I am raising money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). This is a worthy cause. The money I raise will help in finding cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. More than 823,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers. It hits home for my wife Susan and I because her father was taken by myeloma at the young age of 43. Please help me reach my commitment to this charity by contributing using the online contribution website
If you want to track my training as I prepare for the ride, you will find a training log in another posting within this blog. For most of my road rides you will be able to click a link (example) within the log and then see a detailed route map for the ride along with all sorts of statistics: speed, heart rate, elevation gain, cadence and more. This will allow you to see that your contribution is sponsoring someone who is very serious about the ride.
On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your support. I greatly appreciate your generosity.
My first step in this is my participation in a 100 mile charity ride where I am raising money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). This is a worthy cause. The money I raise will help in finding cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. More than 823,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers. It hits home for my wife Susan and I because her father was taken by myeloma at the young age of 43. Please help me reach my commitment to this charity by contributing using the online contribution website
If you want to track my training as I prepare for the ride, you will find a training log in another posting within this blog. For most of my road rides you will be able to click a link (example) within the log and then see a detailed route map for the ride along with all sorts of statistics: speed, heart rate, elevation gain, cadence and more. This will allow you to see that your contribution is sponsoring someone who is very serious about the ride.
On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your support. I greatly appreciate your generosity.
2009 Riding Log (starting Feb 6)
Highlights:
February 15: Larrys first ascent of Sugarloaf
| 30-May | Road | 41.75 Miles | Rode up from the start of Skyline drive at Front Royal, Virginia to Skyland. This was the most vertical I have ever done in a ride and the amount of vertical per mile was about double what I have ever done before. This explains why it seemed like I was doing nothing but climbing. It was a very good tune-up for the Tahoe century I am doing on June 7th and my performance made me feel better about doing the entire length of Skyline drive later this year. It also made for a great weekend for my wife and I as we did some sight-seeing and hiking in Shenandoah National Park the next day after having a relaxing evening at Skyland. Stats and Map: 20090530 Ride |
| 27-May | Road | 24.31 Miles | Happy to have averaged 17 mph for this distance and amount of climb. This is my last training ride in Maryland on the Scattante road bike before the Tahoe century as it is being taken in to the shop to be shipped in the morning. My last couple of local training rides will be on my trusty old Giant road bike and my Diamondback hybrid. Stats and Map: 20090527 Ride |
| 26-May | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes level 20 random profile followed by 30 minutes hill profile at level 16. I was using the LifeCycle that I had discovered to be more difficult than the ones I had been using and it lived up to my memory |
| 23-May | Road | 71.35 Miles | Long country route preparing me for the century at Lake Tahoe in two weeks. I took my first spill on the bike as I was distracted by a very large piece of farm equipment coming down the road and got my front wheel just off the road enough to take a hard fall. I came out okay, but the bike got a few deep scratches on the wheel releases and pedals. Stats and Map: 20090523 Ride |
| 21-May | Road | 32.97 Miles | Rode through Kent County on Maryland's Eastern Shore from our B&B near Chestertown to Betterton and back. The ride to Betterton was quick, but it was work coming back. I hope it was just the breeze in my face as I was expecting a faster average time on this fairly flat route. Stats and Map: 20090521 Ride |
| 18-May | Road | 20.05 Miles | Morning ride before departing on a mini-vacation. My legs just didn't have it. It seems I needed some time to recover after the fast ride late on the previous day. Stats and Map: 20090519 Ride |
| 18-May | Road | 19.04 Miles | Fast ride to Boyds and back. Over the last month my speed seems to have gone up by over one mile an hour on rides of this length. I can aggressively climb hills like Black Rock Road which used to be survival tests. Stats and Map: 20090518 Ride |
| 16-May | Road | 63.28 Miles | First metric century ride from my house! Stats and Map: 20090516 Ride |
| 14-May | Road | 13.04 Miles | It looked like we had thunderstorms moving into the area so I did my old short neighborhood ride. This is just over 13 miles with a little more than 700 feet of climbing. My best time last summer for this route was a little over 51 minutes. Today I did the route in 44 minutes even. Stats and Map: 20090514 Ride |
| 12-May | Road | 20.7 Miles | What a beautiful afternoon it was for a ride. Stats and Map: 20090512 Ride |
| 10-May | Road | 38 Miles | I got up early and rode as I had things to do from mid-morning on. I still got in a decent ride on what was a beautiful morning. Stats and Map: 20090510 Ride |
| 09-May | Road | 54.8 Miles | Good way to start the weekend ride. Larry rode with me and unfortunately cramped up at the end. Stats and Map: 20090509 Ride |
| 07-May | Road | 17.11 Miles | Short after work ride. Lucky the days are getting long since I didn't get home until almost 7 pm and I still had enough time to do a one hour ride. The ride was good as I set my fastest speed ever for a neighborhood ride. Stats and Map: 20090507 Ride |
| 05-May | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes hill profile at level 18 followed by 30 minutes random profile at level 16. I used the tougher LifeCycle that I discovered the day before and it turned what should have been a mainly aerobic workout into something a little tougher |
| 04-May | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes random profile at level 20 followed by 30 minutes hill profile at level 18. Reality returned. I used a different LifeCycle than the one I have been using and found out they are not all the same. This one had me in Zone 3 for the last 1/3 or the first 30 minutes and a majority of the second 30 minutes. |
| 02-May | Road | 50.41 Miles | Rode to Poolesville and then on to the top of Sugarloaf and then back home. Set a new personal record for climbing Sugarloaf, doing the near 500 foot vertical climb in 11 minutes. It was a good long training ride. In Poolesville I stopped at Bob's Bikes and Bob appears to have cured my shifting problems. Stats and Map: 20090502 Ride |
| 01-May | Road | 22.38 Miles | Rode to Boyds and back via 28, Black Rock Road, Schaeffer Rd, 117, Richter Farm Rd. and then back down Black Rock to 28 with a little side trip through Spring Valley. I was pleased with my hill climbing on Black Rock. The hills are not near the ordeal they used to be. Stats and Map: 20090501 Ride |
| 29-Apr | LifeCycle | 1 hours | 30 minutes random profile at level 20 followed by 30 minutes random profile at level 18. I was pleased that my heart rate peaked at only 144 during the first 30 minutes at level 20. This is indicative of my being in the best riding shape ever! |
| 27-Apr | Road | 18.8 Miles | Short late afternoon ride. I was pleased that I was able to attack the neighborhood hills standing on the pedals and going at the fastest speeds I have ever done them. My legs really bounced back well from the metric century I rode two days earlier. Stats and Map: 20090427 Ride |
| 25-Apr | Event | 64.9 miles | Tour De Carroll This was a an organized metric century. The ride is described in a another posting on this blog. The Garmin stats for the are a little off since once again I screwed up with the buttons at the end of the ride and left it on. At the time I finished I was at an average speed of 15.6 mph which is a little less than what I really did since I also had the Garmin on during a part of one of the rest stops. I was pleased considering it turned into a very warm day and some of the hills were tough, up to 15% grades. My next tune-up may be the Bloomin Metric in mid-May. Stats and Map: 20090425 Ride |
| 22-Apr | Road | 21 Miles | Given that I am doing the Carrol County metric century this Saturday, I probably should have taken this week off, but rode because last week I missed some riding due to my birthday. I was pleased with the pace and the legs felt good. I should have a great ride in metric century. Stats and Map: 20090422 Ride |
| 20-Apr | LifeCycle | 1.5 hours | 30 minutes random profile at level 18 followed by 30 minutes hill profile at level 17 followed by 30 minutes of random profile at level 16. Toned the levels back a little as I want to keep something in the bag for the Carrol County metric century I am riding on Saturday |
| 18-Apr | MTB | 21 Miles | Easy trail riding in the area around Black Water Falls, West Virginia. New tires with the right tread gave me a new appreciation for this type of recreational riding. The scenery was gorgeous as we rode along the top of a narrow valley and the weather was perfect. A climb to the top of a fire tower gave a tremendous vista across that part of West Virginia. Stats and Map: 20090418 Ride |
| 17-Apr | Road | 21 Miles | Not much riding this week due to being on a mini-vacation to celebrate my 50th birthday. I rode the hybrid around Canaan Valley, WV. Part of this ride was up to the top of the resort at Timberline, an 826 foot ascent on gravel roads. It was very steep near the top and the smooth tread on the hybrid was not as grippy as I would like. The distance on the Garmin site and what I state in this posting differ as I accidently switched off the Garmin when showing it to my friend about three miles from returning to base. Stats and Map: 20090417 Ride |
| 13-Apr | Road | 27.02 Miles | Partial makeup ride since I missed riding on Sunday. I was pleased with the average speed for this route as it looks like a good jump up in performance. Stats and Map: 20090413 Ride |
| 11-Apr | Road | 41.31 Miles | Rainy Saturday morning and early afternoon led to a late start. I still got in a decent ride and had time to stop and take a few photos of the early spring scenery. Stats and Map: 20090411 Ride |
| 9-Apr | Road | 25.52 Miles | Started the long weekend with a beautiful late afternoon ride in perfect conditions. I felt strong and my average speed reflects that. Stats and Map: 20090409 Ride |
| 08-Apr | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes hill profile at level 20 followed by 30 minutes hill profile at level 16. Used a different Lifecycle than the one I normally used and it seemed much tougher |
| 06-Apr | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes random profile at level 20 followed by 30 minutes random profile at level 18. |
| 4-Apr | Road | 41.38 Miles | Another long windy ride. This one was a country route. It was my first ride on the Scattante after its spring tune-up. I was very disappointed in the tune-up as shifting is much worse than before the tune-up. Most annoying is that the chain comes off the cogs when downshifting from the big ring to the middle ring. Looks like it will be back in the shop shortly. Stats and Map: 20090404 Ride |
| 3-Apr | Road | 22.73 Miles | Had to deal with a lot of wind on this late afternoon ride. I also think my Garmins distance measurement was off since it was not mounted, instead riding in the back pouch of my jersey. Due to my not turning off the Garmin correctly on my previous ride, the link below has both this ride and the ride I did on Tuesday, March 31st. Stats and Map: 20090403 Ride |
| 31-Mar | Road | 20.85 Miles | First ride after rest week. Had a strong ride even though I was riding the 26 year old steel frame Giant with the big tires. Due to my not turning off the Garmin correctly, the link below has both this ride and the ride I did on Friday, April 3rd. Stats and Map: 20090331 Ride |
| 23-Mar to 30-Mar | Rest | 0 miles | Recovery week. I take one every five to eight weeks |
| 22-Mar | Road | 19.9 Miles | Rode with my old friend Steve Murphy. He used to be a CAT 2 racer back in the day. Lack of training meant that we did a shorter route, but I did get some good coaching from him and a quick fix to some problems with my backup bicycle. My primary bike is at Bob's Bikes in Poolesville getting a tune-up. I am missing it as equipment does make a difference. Stats and Map: 20090322 Ride |
| 21-Mar | Road | 44.1 Miles | Finally things worked out so that I could do a Sugarloaf ride from my house. Larry joined me, riding from his house to mine, so I had to add on four miles at the end by doing the round-trip to/from his house. I couldn't let him do more miles than me could I? I did this ride on my hybrid since I had a broken spoke on my Scattante road bike. The hybrid sure makes it a lot more work. Stats and Map: 20090321 Ride |
| 19-Mar | Road | 25.1 Miles | Left work early enough to get in a nice ride considering it was a weekday. Stats and Map: 20090319 Ride |
| 17-Mar | Road | 17.1 Miles | Rushed home a little after leaving work a little later than I wanted to. I still got in a 1 hour ride at a very brisk pace. Stats and Map: 20090317 Ride |
| 15-Mar | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes random profile at level 18 followed by 30 minutes random profile at level 16. Rainy Sunday had me training indoors. Rode at a lower load level to give my legs a bit of a break. |
| 14-Mar | LifeCycle | 30 Minutes | 30 minutes random profile at level 20. Rode indoors because of rain and the ride was short due to too much going on. I don't want to fall into the habit of short rides. |
| 12-Mar | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes random profile at level 20 followed by 30 minutes random profile at level 18. This was my first time doing the random profile at level 20. The total one hour calorie burn of 823 smashed my previous LifeCycle record. |
| 10-Mar | Road | 18.6 Miles | First after work road ride of 2009. I am really glad to see daylight savings time come early. I did a suburban route and was pleased to see a noticeable improvement in hill climbing versus in the fall. Stats and Map: 20090310 Ride |
| 08-Mar | Road | 39.6 Miles | Rode with Larry out River Road and eventually looping back through Poolesville where we stopped at Bob's Bikes. I always like to stop there as Bob has a great little shop and is fun to talk to. We then finished up by cutting over to Peach Tree then the usual route home from there. Stats and Map: 20090308 Ride |
| 07-Mar | Road | 39.25 Miles | First time out with Hitch. We planned on doing a loop to the top of Sugarloaf and back. Unfortunately John's derailleur broke about 3 miles in, so I did the Poolesville loop due to time constraints after ferrying John back to his car. This may actually work out well for John as I can see a new bike in his future. Stats and Map: 20090307 Ride |
| 05-Mar | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes hill profile at level 20 followed by 30 minutes hill profile at level 18. This was my first time riding at level 20, the highest level available on the LifeCycles at my gym. |
| 03-Mar | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes random profile at level 19 followed by 30 minutes random profile at level 18. Bumped my highest total calorie burn for a one hour LifeCycle ride up to 780 calories |
| 01-Mar | LifeCycle | 1.5 hours | 30 minutes random profile at level 17 followed by 30 minutes hill profile at level 17 followed by 30 minutes random profile at level 15. Weather was supposed to be snow and ice so I did the LifeCycle. It turned out I could have done a road ride. Next weekend! |
| 28-Feb | Road | 41.86 Miles | Extended version of the ride from previous Saturday. Legs felt strong as is reflected in the average speed. The autostart/stop on the Garmin worked well now that I have it set up correctly. Stats and Map: 20090228 Ride |
| 27-Feb | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes hill profile at level 17 followed by 30 minutes hill profile at level 15. Kept this ride at aerobic burn level so that my legs would not be fried before the longer weekend rides. |
| 26-Feb | LifeCycle | 1 hour | 30 minutes random profile at level 19 followed by 30 minutes random profile at level 17. I had my highest total calorie burn to date for a one hour LifeCycle ride, 763 calories |
| 22-Feb | Road | 32.6 Miles | Rode with group from work from Germantown Soccerplex up Sugarloaf Mountain and back. Distance here is more than in stats to account for my having the Garmin off during the descent of Sugarloaf. That didn't help the average speed either. I wish Garmin would make a firmware fix to allow the unit to automatically stop and start recording as the bike stops and starts. My $20 bike basic bike computer can do that, so why can't the $550 Garmin 705 do it? Update: I found the setting that should have the Garmin auto-stop recording! Stats and Map: 20090222 Ride |
| 21-Feb | Road | 36.33 Miles | Individual ride. Explored the far paved part of River Road and found it has some rollers with grades as high as 15%. Cut the ride a little short due to afternoon commitments. Stats and Map: 20090221 Ride |
| 20-Feb | LifeCycle | 50 minutes | One 30 minute sessions of hill profile, level 17 followed by a 20 minutes random profile session, level 15. This was a recovery ride where I did not go anaerobic. I wanted to keep my legs fresh for the longer rides I am hoping to do on Saturday and Sunday. |
| 19-Feb | LifeCycle | 1 Hour | One 30 minute sessions of Random profile, level 19 followed by a 30 minute hill profile session, level 15. On the first session I rode a lifecycle that was not as smooth as the one I normally ride. I hope this accounted for my heart rate being higher than expected during the first session. |
| 15-Feb | Road | 31.19 Miles | Rode with Larry from Germantown Soccerplex up Sugarloaf Mountain and back. Larry rode up for the first time. Stats and Map: 20090215 Ride |
| 14-Feb | Road | 32.67 miles | Training ride through local neighborhood. Almost got clobbered by someone backing out of a driveway. Pay attention. They don't. Stats and Map: 20090214 Ride |
| 12-Feb | LifeCycle | 1 Hour | Zone two ride to let my legs recover from the abuse I put them through on the last three preceding rides. Two 30 minute sessions of Random profile, level 15. |
| 10-Feb | Road | 14.6 miles | Lunch ride with co-workers. I had lead for most of the ride since it was my route. I set a near max pace for myself. The group kept up with Forrest appearing to not break a sweat |
| 9-Feb | LifeCycle | 1 Hour | 30 minutes level 19 (out of 20) hill profile followed by 30 minutes level 17 random profile. |
| 6-Feb | Road | 42.89 miles | Home to top of Sugarloaf Mountain and back. Rode wth Larry and Forrest. Stats and Map: 20090206 Ride |
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Why a Bicycle Blog Now
Almost two years ago I started bicycling again at age 48 after about a 15 year layoff. I was not a serious bicyclist back in the old days, intermittently ramping up to periods when I would ride for 30 minutes to an hour several days a week. These periods would last for a few months and then a busy life would pull me away for six months to a year. Somehow as I turned 48 it clicked that the "some day I will really get back into staying fit" would never happen unless I just did it and somehow just handled all the things that would pull me away from it. I started back into bicycling by replicating the type of riding I had done earlier in my life, with rides of 50 to 55 minutes being the norm. Last summer it became time to get moving on another "some day", the desire to do some long distance rides and eventually do multiple day rides across substantial portions of the country. After hearing advice from a few friends, I started doing some research on what it would take to become an endurance bicyclist. I learned a fair amount from books, the internet and other bicyclist and put this knowledge to work leading up to my first century ride, the 2008 Seagull Century that took place on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in early October.
After riding in the Seagull Century I wrote a description of the ride and emailed it out to a number of old friends. I wanted them to hear about what I was up to. I also had the hidden agenda of wanting to see them get into bicycling and reap the benefits I was experiencing due to bicycling. I was amazed at the response from my old friends. I had tapped into a pent-up desire that many of them had, a desire to do something about their health and fitness. What was amazing was that not only did they express interest in what I did, but several of them sprang into action and began bicycling too.
Now we finally get to the point of why I am writing this blog. I found that my emails about my experiences inspired at least a few people to change their lives and start getting in shape by bicycling. It would be great to see more people getting in shape and experiencing other benefits I have experienced: a lower level of stress; renewed interactions with old friends; and new friendships with others who share a passion for bicycling. I also have some knowledge to share related to what it takes to go from knowing nearly nothing about bicycling to knowing enough to feel comfortable in selecting equipment and establishing a training program. I will also use this blog as a means of drumming up support for various bicycling related things I care about, such as charity rides I am participating in. Last but not least, I am hoping for a lively interaction with those who read the blog. I also look forward to posts from guest bloggers whom I will invite to contribute.
After riding in the Seagull Century I wrote a description of the ride and emailed it out to a number of old friends. I wanted them to hear about what I was up to. I also had the hidden agenda of wanting to see them get into bicycling and reap the benefits I was experiencing due to bicycling. I was amazed at the response from my old friends. I had tapped into a pent-up desire that many of them had, a desire to do something about their health and fitness. What was amazing was that not only did they express interest in what I did, but several of them sprang into action and began bicycling too.
Now we finally get to the point of why I am writing this blog. I found that my emails about my experiences inspired at least a few people to change their lives and start getting in shape by bicycling. It would be great to see more people getting in shape and experiencing other benefits I have experienced: a lower level of stress; renewed interactions with old friends; and new friendships with others who share a passion for bicycling. I also have some knowledge to share related to what it takes to go from knowing nearly nothing about bicycling to knowing enough to feel comfortable in selecting equipment and establishing a training program. I will also use this blog as a means of drumming up support for various bicycling related things I care about, such as charity rides I am participating in. Last but not least, I am hoping for a lively interaction with those who read the blog. I also look forward to posts from guest bloggers whom I will invite to contribute.
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