Road Warrior

Today’s group ride was supposed to be (in my opinion) an easy, fun ride with a few sprints and extended efforts put in for good measure. That’s what I remember from a couple weeks ago, anyway. Today’s ride was anything but easy and something short of fun…for me, anyway.

It didn’t help matters that I did my best impression of Nu Fred during the early portion of the ride. When I decided to eat my PB&J sandwich, I struggled getting the baggie open and did a very poor job holding my line. The riders on my left and behind me took, I’m sure, a very dim view of my antics. I’m sure that colored their opinion of me for the rest of the ride. After that episode they moved around to find alternate positions in the group. Rightly so. I spent the rest of the ride in a bit of a self-conscious funk.

What I didn’t know, and what most of the others apparently did, is that when the two guys wearing matching white team uniforms leaped to the front about 8 miles in, it meant that we were in for some pain (should we choose to go with the leaders…which I always do). I was told later that they were, respectively, Cat1 and Cat2 racers for their team (translation: monsters, of a sort). At first, these two kept the pace just at bearable and most of us hung on just fine. This is fun, I remember thinking. What I didn’t appreciate at the time is that we were all going with the wind, which had been building little by little over the first hour.

At the western-most extremity of our course we made our turn back toward home. And into the wind. I was at the front and decided to do a pull as everyone formed up into a neat echelon behind. After a couple minutes I drifted back and though we’d be doing turns, but when I got to the rear of the echelon (now just 7 riders) it just pulled away from me. The racers were on the front and they had dropped the hammer. I labored for about 2 minutes about 5 yards off the back, trying to catch the rear rider, but 5 yards became 10. Became 50. I gave it my best to gut up and bridge, but I never got any closer.

For those of you scoring at home, this is the same place I (and a few others) got dropped a few weeks ago, as detailed in an earlier post. One day I’ll remember to save some energy for this spot. Humph.

I had left the rest behind, meaning I was in no-man’s land. I could have slowed to allow the rest to catch up, but I didn’t. I thought the front group might get caught at a traffic light, allowing me to catch. Never happened. I eventually caught up with 1 guy who was dropped and we waited for 3 more to catch up and did the next 20 miles or so together. Eventually I was left as folks turned off toward home and did the last 10 miles or so alone, into the wind…and yes, uphill. Got home nackered and completely demoralized. Serves me right.

There’s nothing remarkable about all of this, I know. This is just how it goes on group rides. But it’s far more enjoyable to write about it here in melodramatic fashion than it was to live through. I definitely gotta get over my Nu Fred tendencies and look forward to when I can hang with the racers. Got work to do.

Well, it should have been entitled “sporadic” winter training 2010. I’ve been riding at least a couple times a week this winter, but for the past couple weeks it has been quite sporadic.

I’ve missed the Texas Flyers Sunday group ride for the past 2 weeks (weather been sucking! Snow and hail; no foolin’!), but 3 weeks ago was a nice one. There were only about 8 of us and we stayed together for the most part for the whole ride. I particularly enjoyed the steep hills that time. Dunno why. In particular, Hilltop Rd.—the steepest and scariest of all of them—was pretty darned fun. I sprinted out and charged up at top speed. You know, just to shame the “real” cyclists in the pack. Anyway, it was a fun ride and I look forward to better weather and a more regular attendance.

Still putting in 2 to 4 hours on Saturday and I get a couple odd 1 or 2 hour workouts on the indoor trainer during the week. I will be SOOOOO glad when there’s enough daylight in the evenings for me to head out on rides after work. C’mon daylight savings time!

Maybe after this weekend I’ll post a pic of Hilltop Rd. hill. It’s so fun.

I’ve been told that bad things happen in threes. Based on today’s ride, I tend to agree. The “ride” finished with a bit of good luck, but I’ll get to that.

Today is the last day of 2009. The weather lately has been rainy, snowy, rainy, cold, rainy, and gray. Oh, and cold. But as I’ve had the past couple of weeks off from work I’ve braved the conditions and have put in my share of hours on the bike despite the crummy weather. The masochist in me actually enjoys the cold discomfort of gray, lonely rides in the wind and drizzle. My toes often go numb in the cold and they ache after the first hour as I turn over the pedals, but that seems to be the kind of pain you forget.

Anyway, today’s weather was on par with the recent trend, though a bit warmer…in the low- to mid-40s, so I didn’t put on my bike pants. I did put on 4 layers up top, but my legs were al fresco. It was just fine. I was a couple hours into my ride when I got to a particularly rough railroad crossing, where I jumped the tracks as I always do there. This time, however, I jumped right into a small pothole on the far side, landing hard on my back wheel. I could tell immediately that the bike was off-kilter.

I pulled off to the side and check the rear wheel. Yep, there was a distinct warp and I was now rubbing my left brake pad at a certain point. I turned the bike over and adjusted it so that the warped sidewall didn’t rub, but without a spoke tool I would have to ride home with a slight wobble. C’est la vie, I thought. Serves me right for not being careful. Bad thing #1.

About 15 minutes later I noticed that the smooth road just got rougher. Yep, back tire was going flat. Bad thing #2. Okay, no worries. I had a replacement tube in my jersey pocket for just this scenario. Desolate country roads left behind, I was in a populated area by now, so I got off onto the sidewalk and went to work replacing the rear tube. Tube switched, wheel back on the bike, time to air it up. I was getting cold by now. Would be glad when this was done and I was back on the bike, pedaling home. I put my mini-pump to work and just when I was getting a decent air pressure, “DINK!” …I broke the stem off of the new tube. yeah. bad thing #3.

I took stock of my situation and decided to use the old tube with temp-patches for repair (I had a snakebite/pinchflat puncture). Tubes changed, pump, pump, pump, but to no avail. the patches wouldn’t hold. Awesome. I put everything back in my pockets and began to hoof it. I was about 11 miles from home. I was sweaty and, by now, beginning to get quite cold.

As luck would have it, about a mile into my walk of shame a passing motorist slowed and asked if I needed a lift. My angel was a fellow cyclist with a hatchback. I told her what city I lived in to ensure she was serious about the lift offer and she didn’t hesitate. She was on her way back from a workout and not in any hurry to be anywhere specific. Yay. We loaded my bike and had a very cool conversation about beach volleyball (her main sports passion), beer, and cycling as she drove me home. I hope I can repay her for that kindness one day. If nothing else, I have a karma debt to pay forward.

So, farewell 2009. You were good to me and my company and I hope that today’s activities were just a last-gasp fit of mischief, not a portent of things to come.

Son of bitch. Shit.

Early morning training in near freezing temps just sucks. At least that’s what I think. After 2.5 hrs on the hills in 35F temps and 10 to 20mph winds I’ve decided that I do not like cold weather training. No, not at all. After the first hour all I could think about was how much my feet hurt from the cold. The hurt was replaced by a numbing hurt (yes, somehow it’s possible for my feet to both be numb and hurt at the same time) and soon after by a deep ache. Awesome.

The wind and the cold and the numb/painful feet wore me down and pretty soon I was no longer a man, no longer human. I was just a thing in constant motion. I was it.

It turns the pedals over. It ignores it’s cold-numbed feet. It doesn’t complain …it rubs the lotion on its body.

Aside from the numb feet (did I mention that my feet were numb and that they hurt?), the cold wasn’t too bad. Of course I had on 4 layers, including a long sleeved jersey plus arm warmers. Perhaps I shall work to devise a battery powered heating system for my shoes. Hmmmm.

With the onset of winter and the end of daylight savings time, my weekday riding time is gone. Sad Andy. No longer can I come home from work and get out on the road for a couple of hours in the evening. I’m therefore relegated to weekends on the road and weekdays on the indoor trainer.

Riding the trainer is pretty much drudgery for me. Doesn’t matter if I put on a movie, watch the news, or even a Robbie Ventura training vid, I’m never happy to be on the trainer for more than an hour. I’ve done 2.5 hours on occasion, but that’s just not something I can stomach very often. Plus, I can’t get too distracted because I’m not just mindlessly spinning either. I’ve got power to maintain, intervals to do, and time to monitor for all of it. On the road that’s easy, on the trainer it’s just boring work. So these days I cherish the weekend rides where I can get out and feel the sun (and cold wind) on my face.

Mileage goes down with more trainer-focused riding. Maybe I’ll up my weekend rides a bit. Mostly, I’ll just look forward to the lengthening, warmer days of spring.

The rain has paused here for a couple days and there’s lovely riding weather for the next 48 hours. So I took advantage of it today and put in my longest ride yet. I pretty consistently go 2 to 3.5 hours on my rides, but never any more than that. Today I did 4 hours for the first time. Yay.

• 4 hours
• Ave. Sp: 19mph (30kph)
• Distance: 75 mi. (120km)
• Consumed: 700 calories
• Burned: 5055 calories

I took it very easy for most of the ride. Having never gone 4 hours I didn’t know what to expect. I’m glad I went as easy as I did, as the last 30 minutes was pretty taxing. In fact the last 15 minutes involved some pretty hard riding in heavy/fast traffic. Got my heart rate up there pretty good—160s to 170s—toward the end. Otherwise, I tried to keep it in the 100 – 150 range for most of the ride.

I know 4 hours is nothing staggering for most cyclist, but it’s fun to see gains of any kind and I’m aiming for a century next.