Got to Ride When You Can

This morning the Firestone Group ride was scheduled to leave Fish and Wildlife at 7am. At 6:20 I get an email saying the ride was pushed back to start at 8am with a shorter course yet to be determined. You see, we have a tropical storm going on and it's been raining. There was to be a lull in the storm between 8 and 12; then stormy weather for several days to come.

I really wasn't feeling it. The streets were wet and the trees were dancing in the wind. None the less, after another email I was encouraged to suit up and meet other brave souls.

I had woken up with a song in my head, Girl From Ipanema that stayed in my head for the first hour of the ride much of which was with a tailwind. At the break it started to rain. So we got to practice riding in the rain. On one corner turning off of 10 Mile Rd onto Foxrun my rear wheel slipped a little, but no spill. I felt like I was suffering the whole ride and was relieved to finish with the group; they did wait up for me a couple of times; thanks guys.

The point is that we had to take advantage of the lull to get a ride in. It might be days before the group gets to ride again. It will be a week for me because I have some responsibilities to take care of that are going to keep me off the bike for a week. No, the weather was not perfect and we still got rained on, but the rain wasn't a hard rain. This afternoon it has really been raining and blowing hard. So I'm thankful I got a bike ride in today even if I did suffer a little. Lord knows I needed it.

I had something similar happen to me this past Wednesday evening. The group ride started at 5:30pm. I usually try to ride about 10 miles before the group ride to warm up. Well, I was busy working. I didn't get up from my desk until 6pm. I almost talked myself out of riding. It was a bit windy; I was tired; I wasn't feeling it. Well, I went for a solo ride anyway and I'm glad that I did. Riding helps settle my mind and it is the only form of exercise that I get. Again, I rode when I could. It wasn't the work out I had planned on, but it was nice to be on the bike.

With the Pensacola Classic coming up I'm still on the fence as to whether to race or not. I know that I should, but I'm not in the form I had hoped to be in. The last few rides have been hard for me. I have my doubts that I can be anywhere close to being competitive in the races. It's just not where I saw myself, but that is where I find myself; life ... well you know, it doesn't always cooperate the way we wish it would. More than likely I will race. Maybe I should say I will ride. To race one should be competitive.

It's kind of sad in a way. I'm already thinking about the end of the 2011 season and thinking about 2012. I'm hoping next year will be my breakout year. I'm feeling strong and confident. I just don't have the fitness right now. Sadness and disappointment aside, it has been a great year of bicycle riding for me this year and I have really enjoyed all the group rides, solo rides, riding with my son, riding on the track, and riding with my wife.

So fellow cyclist, enjoy that bike ride when you get the chance. You will most certainly be glad that you did.

All Roads Lead Up

Almost 2 weeks ago I moved my son to Banner Elk, NC to attend Lees McRae College where he will be riding for the cycling team. While there we got to ride 3 days together. The riding was awesome. The temps were great, but one day we actually wore long sleeves and still got cold at the tops of the climbs. There was very little car traffic. The dogs were friendly. The scenery was wonderful.

The problem is that all roads lead up; well not exactly. There was one road then went down, but of course you had to ride back up. We spent at least 75% of our time climbing. For this Florida boy that is a lot of climbing. I had a 39x27 for a low gear. At times this was not enough. For example, in the steeper sections I was out of the saddle doing 4 mph with a cadence of 30 and breathing very heavy. Our climbs ranged between 20 and 30 minutes. It was rough and tough. On the flip side the descents were incredible. I've never experienced descents like this before.

On our first day of riding we rode the popular Hickory Nut Gap rode that goes from Banner Elk to Newland. It starts up immediately after getting out of the town proper. After the climb the road descends to Newland. We went to Newland then turned around to go back up. Our distance for the day was around 18 miles with 1 1/4 hours on the bike. This was my first eye opener.

The 2nd day my son took me on what is a road race circuit. It started out ok heading out of Banner Elk on 184 and turning onto Dobbins Rd., but then up and steep on Horse Bottom Rd. then descending to Pdgeon Roost Rd. and then back to 194 returning to Banner Elk. I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I was glad when that climbing was over; there were 3 very steep sections. After climbing we descended back into town. That was a short 7 miles. We then road 194 out of Banner Elk to descend into Newland. Guess what? It was a wonderful descent but then we had to climb back up into Newland. Then we road Hickory Nut Gap back to Banner Elk. Yes that's right; first we had to climb then descend again. On this last descent we got behind a car which slowed down. Total riding time was just over 2 hours.

On the 3rd day we road for a little over an hour. We were both a bit sore and tired from the previous 2 days. We road out of Banner Elk towards the Banner Elk Winery first going up 194 and then up Gualtney Road. There were 3 places where I had to get out of the saddle on this climb. The pavement ends turning to gravel a short distance after reaching the top; so we turned around. After returning to 194 we did the road race course in reverse and headed back to Banner Elk.

This is an amazing place to ride, but takes some getting use to. I'm really looking forward to returning and exploring more. While I was there they were resurfacing many of the roads; so the roads should be even better when I return. I can only imagine how strong my son is going to get while there. But it is his dream and I really hope he gets very good on the bike, even if it means he will drop me even faster than he does now.

From what I've experienced so far riding around Banner Elk there is no such thing as an easy ride. I'm sure there have got to be some easier routes, but then that is quite relative to Banner Elk. There just is no way out of doing some climbing.

Next time I go up I hope to take some pictures. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures this trip.

Three Days of Suffering

Not exactly three days. I rode last Friday with a few riders from the Firestone group. It was an easy 20. I hadn't been on the bike for almost two weeks and one of those weeks was spent in WA state where one day the high reached 78 degrees. My rides on Saturday and Sunday were not so good. I'm afraid my body had gotten use to the WA weather and now I was back in 95 degree FL weather. It was a sufferfest for me.

Saturday I rode with the Firestone group doing a new route called the Northwest Passage Loop. I would say there were close to 20 riders. The group stuck together pretty good, but I kept getting dropped on every incline. For some reason I just didn't have much energy and felt tired. The route was suppose to be 45 miles, but I got 35 with and average speed of 17.6 mph. I hadn't slept much the night before either; so I think that was also a factor.

On Sunday I rode the Scenic 25 with my son in the afternoon. It was still pretty hot out. Again I had very little energy. Once we turned onto Scenic Highway I dropped bad, but I warned my son that I would probably go pretty slow on Scenic. Before we turned onto Scenic I had an average of 17.5, but once I got home my average had dropped to 15.8. The good news is that I found $12.86 on the side of the road on Scenic just south of Creighton Road. I was riding along and I saw this change on the shoulder which looked to be about $5 to me. I wasn't going anywhere fast so I decided to stop and pick up the change. My son got a good laugh out of it once I got home and emptied my pockets. He had seen the change too but he didn't stop.

Yesterday I rode the rollers for 45 minutes. Lately (when I'm in town) that is what I do on Mondays.

All this going out of town has really hurt my riding time. For the month of July I only got in 263 miles. My fitness is not where I had hoped it would be. I was really hoping to be in top shape for the Pensacola Cycling Classic, but at this rate that is not really going to happen. I don't even know if I will be in town then. If I am in town I will do the race, but not at the level I had hoped.

Two Book Reviews

For Father's Day my son gave me two cycling books: Bike Snob by Bike Snob and Come & Gone by Joe Parkin.

In my opinion Bike Snob is for neo-cyclists. It was a bit interesting here and there, but if the reader has any cycling experience there isn't much to be learned here. The one thing I found interesting is that Bike Snob doesn't mind if drivers honk their horns at him; it lets him know that the driver sees him. A honking horn can mean a few things. Most of the time it's just annoying, but it could actually mean something for the safety of all.

On the other hand, Come & Gone was a much better read. That being said, I was a bit disappointed in a few places and this book was not as good as Parkin's first book, Dog In A Hat which was actually very interesting; so much so I think I will read it again. Come & Gone covers Parkin's professional career after returning to the U.S. having spent the previous six years in Europe racing. He really has a tough time of it only experiencing success in mountain bike racing. I would have liked to have seen more about his time with the Coor's Light Team. There were two things I was able to take away from the the book. First, rider support makes all the difference between a podium and simply finishing a race. Second, the support people rarely lie to the racer. When the rider is having a bad day, the support people feel his pain and it shows on their faces too. My heart really went out to Joe as he struggles to make a living in the U.S. bicycle racing. He seems to have more than his share of bad luck. But then again, Joe seems to be the type of rider that is either "on" or "off"; there is very little middle ground. It's like the stars have to line up just so in order for him to give a good performance. His bad days outnumber his days. While I don't think this book is as good as Dog In A Hat it is still worth the time to read.

The Sun Has Not Been Good To Me

A week ago from today I had surgery on my lip to remove skin cancer. I have spots all over my body that is some form of skin cancer. I regularly have to get some of these spots tended to by a doctor. Well, what started off as chapped lips turned out to be more serious and actually required surgery which also meant general anaesthesia. I was being told that this was pretty serious and needed attention right away. A week later the swelling has gone down, but my lip still hurts and it is a chore to eat. I've lost almost 5 lbs. which I'm sure I will gain back once I can get my body back on a routine. Right now my body is out of sync.

Having surgery also meant time off the bike. It was recommended I stay off the bike 2-3 weeks. I asked why and the reason is to avoid a crash and avoid breaking my lip open; otherwise I could ride my bike.

On weekend rides I try to be home by 11am to get out of the sun. Now that summer is here I try to get home even earlier. I have to avoid the sun. Sure, I put on sun screen, but I quickly sweat that off. I'm afraid that at some point I will have to wear long sleeves even during the summer to minimize the damage to my skin.

I rode this past Wednesday with the Firestone group. I got dropped. I couldn't keep up. I was very tired and I should have warmed up first. I was hoping for an easy ride, but it was not to be with the 22mph pace. I couldn't believe how much I was suffering.

I tried riding again last night with better results. I rode for an hour with two friends and my son. The pace was more relaxed and I felt good. I still suffered a bit towards the end of the ride going up Scenic Hwy. but I felt good. Thanks for a nice ride guys.

Today my son and I head to the Dick Lane Velodrome in Atlanta for a weekend of racing. I hope to get some good pictures this time and write about it next week some time with pictures.

To my cycling friends, I hope you have good rides this weekend and keep safe.

Midyear Review of 2011 Goals

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. I figure it might be a good time to review the 2011 goals since it is almost the end of June. Let's see... not so good.

• Join RUSA - didn't happen.
• Get a route registered with RUSA - didn't happen.
• Ride Yellow - didn't make it. My son felt sick so we didn't go. I wish I had gone because other people I know who did ride had a great ride.
• Pensacola Classic - still a possibility if they put the race on.
• Racing license - I did get a racing license but I've only ridden 3 events. I had other events on the calender but due to finances and work I have only made 3 events this year. The only other event I might be able to do is Pensacola Classic.
• 5k miles - doesn't look to likely at this point. I currently have 1,699. At this time last year I had 1,507. I guess I could say I'm doing better but I need to be at 2,500 if I were to make the 5,000 for the year.

So what's been going on, why am I so behind?

1. I've been out of town a lot and haven't been able to ride.
2. A change in interest. I was very interested in RUSA; in fact, I still am. But now I'm also interested in the track. My son and I have been going to the Dick Lane Velodrome (DLV) in Atlanta. More on this later in the post.

Yes, you will find me riding the group rides on Wednesdays and Saturdays when I can. Other days I'm pretty much doing my own thing. To be honest, I'm just not putting in the miles I thought I would.

Now for the track. It all started when we got a good deal on a Dean track frame. My son really wanted it, so we bought it. It didn't get very much use there for a while. This is a true track bike and isn't been to be riden around town as a fixie. Later my son bought a set of track tubulars from a friend.

Fast forward about a year. Turns out that Lees McRae College (LMC) in Banner Elk, NC wants my son to be a part of their cycling team. LMC has a great cycling team with many national titles in several disciplines. One of the disciplines LMC pursues is the track and the coach is an experienced track rider. So, we have been encouraged to ride on the track at DLV. The team makes a couple of trips a year to DLV for training. BTW, my son is due to attend LMC in the fall. It is a small school in a small town; the cycling team currently has over 50 riders.

We have made several trips to DLV. We both participated in a weekend beginner's class which they offer on occasion. You have to take a class before you are allowed to ride on the track. After completing the class we both went up to Atlanta for the beginner's races which are held on Tuesday nights twice a month. It didn't take long and my son was invited to ride in the categorized races on Wednesday nights. My son also participated in the first of the Pro Race series which was in May; the next Pro Race will be in July and another in September.



Currently my son is a 'C' rider but hopes to move up to a 'B' by the end of the summer. It will take a lot of work. In an effort to reach that goal my son has a personalized training program which he has been following quite well. Part of this program is the Saturday group rides which are suppose to be 3 hours and then an easy 2 hours on Sundays.

A couple of his workouts each week are on the rollers all done in an easy gear. The workout consist of a warmup for about 5 minutes then spinning at 100 for 5 minutes, followed by a sprint. After the sprint he is to spin at 110 for 4 minutes, then 1 minute easy, then sprint again; it is a 5 minute cycle. After each sprint the cadence is suppose to go up another 5 or 10 rpm depending. The total workout is 35 minutes. The purpose is to develop the spin.

I also have been doing the rollers and spinning. It is really the first time I have ever ridden rollers for any length of time. After the first workout I felt fairly comfortable on the rollers. I'm actually enjoying the workout and I've made my workout to be 40 minutes instead of my son's 35. I like it whole lot more than riding the turbo trainer. Now you might notice on the group rides we are spinning quite fast. In fact, I rarely get out of the small chain ring anymore.

So, the track has been taking a lot of our time. DLV has an excellent program in my opinion with a lot of great riders that are also friendly. It is definitely a community that gets to know each other.

At first I was skeptical about the track. I had never ridden a fixed gear before. After my first day on the track I didn't like it. I went back for the 2nd day of the beginners class and we had races. I started to enjoy it then. I've heard some people say that track racing is little races. Yes, they are short, but they are very hard. It is amazing how much tactics come into play. There are several types of races and each type race has it's own set of tactics.

I can't say I'm very good at the track. I am still considered a beginner or a 'D' rider. I do not do very good with the short races, but I do better at the longer races. The race I've done best at is the unknown distance which is a race where the racers have no idea how many laps it is. I like this race because it starts off slower and builds up so by the time the bell rings I'm warmed up. BTW, my son hates the unknown distance.

One of the things about the track is it requires another bike. All of my track riding so far has been on 'school' bikes. DLV rents bikes for $5 per night/day if a rider doesn't have one. The problem is I have had a hard time getting fitted properly so I believe my performance suffered. Sounds like a good excuse to me. I just finished building up a track bike for myself so now I won't be able to use that excuse much longer. Here is a photo of my track bike; it is a Bianchi Super Pista.



Speaking of posting pictures I hope to post pictures of the velodrome soon with a little bit of information about the track.

Track riding is very different from road racing and, just like road racing, isn't for everyone. It's another discipline of cycling and I believe participating in track will make my son and I both better cyclist. It is a long haul to drive to Atlanta twice a month, but I really want to help my son reach his goals. After he goes away to school I can't say how often I will continue to go. I do enjoy it; I just wish it were closer. I know, instead of a ball park downtown let's build a velodrome instead.

2011 Goals

I've been sick the last week so I haven't been on the bike. I did manage to get 3,280 miles in for 2010. It's time to look back and look forward.

Looking back on 2010, it has been a good year for me on the bike. I had put 1,672 miles on the bike for 2009. I had set a goal of 2,400 miles for the year 2010, so I exceeded the goal. Once I saw I was going to exceed the goal I reset it to 3,000, so I exceeded that one too. My first event of the year was Ride Yellow. I had cut 30 minutes off my time from 2009. I felt good about that. My only other goal was to ride the Pensacola Classic which I did. I would have liked to have placed better, but it had been a long time since I raced, so I'm not going to beat myself up too bad about my performance. I did ride a sanctioned race in Dothan.

Towards the end of the year I've been feeling pretty good on the bike. I actually feel like I'm about where I should be, feeling strong and able to hang in there most of the time. I've had several rides this year over a 100k, but my longest has been 68 miles. So, I'll say 2010 has been a good year for the bike.

Now for 2011: I'm having a hard time setting goals. Maybe it's because I've been sick or maybe it is the uncertainty of the economy. Probably it's all that plus I hate making commitments.

• I had wanted to pursue a R-12 with RUSA, but I don't see that happening. I will join RUSA and lets see where it goes from there.


• I will try to get one of my 200k rides to become a RUSA ride. Also, will see about getting more RUSA riders here locally.


• I will ride Ride Yellow again. I hope to do even better this year.


• I will ride the Pensacola Classic again. I hope to put in a better performance this year.


• I will get a racing license and do at least 6 sanctioned races.


• I will set my total mileage goal to 5k miles for the year. I really want to do that, but it all depends. It might be pushing it.

That's it. Let's see how it goes. Happy New Year everyone!