Megan Baab

One of my son's team mates from Lees-McRae College (LMC), Megan Baab, was killed yesterday in a cycling accident with a car while on a solo training ride. My son called me last night to tell me. He had had lunch with Megan the day he left to come home for the holidays. It is so sad. She had a bright future as a cyclist and was a freshman at LMC.

Here is a link to an article in the Watauga Democrat. There are several posts to this article some of which really touch the heart. The comment below says a lot. I wonder if it is from her dad.

To all of you that have posted your concerns, THANK YOU from the bottoom of my heart! Megan was a wonderful daughter. My daughter loved riding her bike and did it to the best of her ability! She loved to compete and loved being at Lees McRae! This is a very sad time for us all, but we are all blessed to have her in our life! Megan will be missed and I will miss her on our rides together so much! Remember , she died doing what she loved! WE are blessed with her memories! Chris Baab

As a dad I can totally relate. I love riding bikes with my son; it is always the highlight of my day. It is interesting that he points out she died doing what she loved, riding bikes.

And then there are these two posts:

Heaven has a special place for LMC cyclist!

The streets are gold in heaven. Ride on...

It has been a tough year for Less-McRae College when it comes to loosing cyclist.

As I tried explaining to my son last night, we all take a risk when we ride our bikes on the road. It is a risk that I am keenly aware of and accept. I love riding my bike. I didn't know Megan, but it sounds like Megan loved riding her bike too. I do know that she will be missed.

Riding Rollers

I rode the rollers last night for the first time in two months. It only took about 10 seconds to feel comfortable on the rollers again. I was worried about feeling comfortable, but there was no reason.

It was tough going though. In the past I would ride for 45 minutes, but last night I last for 30. I'm sure I could have ridden a little longer, but I didn't want to push it too much.

The whole purpose, or I should say my primary purpose behind riding rollers is to get my leg speed up for riding on the track. I do a 10 minute warm-up and then do a sprint followed by nearly 4 minutes of spinning at a high cadence, and then a 1 minute slower cadence; for 5 minute intervals in total. Repeat until the time has run out and with each repeat try to increase the cadence by 5.

Last night I was doing good to maintain 105 rpm. A few months ago I was maintaining 110 rpm and at times could maintain 115 rpm for a few minutes.

All this got me to thinking if it is too early to start this kind of workout. I still think it is important for me to ride the rollers and I think it is important to keep the leg speed up, but what exactly should I be concentrating on this time of year. Since I've not been able to ride much the last couple of months I figure I've had my break, so time to start training for next year.

Map My Ride

I've created some more routes on Map My Ride. I have posted about this before, maybe a year or so ago. The mapping tools are much easier to use now. It is truly easy to map a route now.

I mapped the Firestone & Summit Hurst Hammick route that we rode last Saturday. What I haven't been able to figure out is how to mark the route as a "Must Do".

I also mapped out some of the routes that I either ride or would like to ride. The route that I ride most often these days is what I call the Hour Loop which incorporates most of the Airport Loop. The other routes also include the Hour Loop but add more distance. You can see all the routes that I've made public on the right side of this blog.

Hurst Hammick

This past Saturday saw the Firestone & Summit Group ride the Hurst Hammick Route, one of my favorite routes. Thirteen riders, including one Hand Cyclist, started the ride. We had David Mayo, Dana, Happy, Nester, Left Lane, Bugno, the Count, Retro Dave, and others who I don't remember their names. Several of us had been at the Wheelmen party the night before and might have stayed up a bit too late and/or enjoyed ourselves a little more than we should have. We lost one rider heading out to the Hammick; I think it was voluntary.

The ride out to the Hammick was fairly calm with a tailwind. The group would split and then regroup quite a bit. It seems we lost another rider coming out of the Hammick; for some reason he never showed up at the first rest stop; we did wait quite a while. We all hoped he didn't take a left on Hwy 90 and head to Alabama.

For some reason I was the last to leave the first rest stop and got delayed at the light on 9 Mile and Beulah Road, so I ended up chasing the lead group. I finally caught up with them about 500 yards onto Muscogee Road. I then was dropped again after the Happy RR Crossing when the road went up. Happy decided he wanted to attack after the tracks; I was maxed out after all the chasing and couldn't hold on. I briefly caught back up after making the right onto 97 at the bottom of the hill and crossing RR tracks again. But, that was short lived as the road went up again. Even after the road leveled out there was no catching the group with the head wind. I ended up riding solo until the second rest stop where every one was waiting for me. Thanks guys for waiting. That head wind was brutal and I sure didn't want to ride the rest of the ride without some protection.

The third segment saw the group splitting a bit. We did regroup briefly at Palafox before heading down Johnson where we split again. I ended up in a four man group that had a fairly relaxing ride down Johnson and back to Maygarden. Nester jumped with about 500 meters to go and I think took the line followed by Bugno. I say I think because when Nester jumped I didn't even react; so I wasn't there.

It was a nice ride, but really wore this rider out. I haven't ridden much lately and it showed. Several of the other riders seem to be in good shape and raring to push the pace on the front. After the ride I went home, ate lunch, and then took a nap. Later in the evening I was hurting. That ride had taken a lot out of me. On the plus side I feel that I was about in the middle of the group which isn't too bad considering how little I've been able to ride the last several months. I hope after the first of the year that I can start riding more and get back into shape.

My training partner will be returning home next week from college. That should help with the motivation and hopefully the two of us will be able to ride with the group over the Christmas holidays. I have added the route to MapMyRide.

No Motivation

I rode yesterday for the first time in two weeks.  On the ride two weeks ago my son was in town and we went for a 40 mile ride.  It was a great ride and I was feeling strong.  Then I went to Arizona for a week to a software conference.  Since returning home I've been very busy working.  I've been so caught up in my work that I haven't made time to ride.  In fact, I am so focused on work that I'm not even motivated to ride.  For the month of October I only logged  177 miles, not good.

Yesterday I made myself go for a ride.  I knew I needed the exercise.  In fact, my wife was telling me I needed to ride.  So late afternoon I went for a ride on my hour loop.  The bike felt strange.  I just wanted to take it easy and resisted the urge to push.  After about 10 minutes the bike felt natural again, but I sure could feel it in my legs and my butt.  It didn't take long before I knew I was sitting on a bicycle saddle.

The ride itself was nice.  The temperature was almost 70 degrees and not much wind, and the traffic was lite; in other words.. nearly perfect conditions to be on a bike ride.  It felt good to be on the bike again even though I sure could feel it.  This morning my body is a bit sore and stiff.  I believe I turned in the slowest time for this route, but then I was not trying to push, just enjoy the ride.

I still got a lot of work to do, but I've got to take time out to ride  I have a feeling it's going to be a long winter and it's going to be difficult to keep my motivation up.  I'm hoping that by the end of the year I'll have my work caught up and I can focus more on cycling, but in the mean time I must take the time to do a little riding or it's going to be a very ugly spring..  Just a few weeks ago I had all these high hopes of 2012 being a great year on the bike.  If I don't do the training 2012 won't be any better than the past two years.

Bauer Loop

Yesterday I rode with the Firestone & Summit group starting at the trestle. We did what was called the Bauer Loop. We road out towards Lillian via Jackson and Lillian Hwy then west on 98 to Bauer stopping at the Tom Thumb for a brief break and regrouping. Then on to Old Gulf Beach Hwy to Blue Angel, through the back gate to NAS and then back to town. It was a very nice ride and I made it home by 10am in time for birthday cake. Yep, that was my birthday ride. I felt strong, took several pulls and was almost always near the front. I really enjoyed myself. I was glad that I didn't cramp again, but the calves are still pretty tight.

Wednesday night was the last full moon ride. I missed it do to several reasons. As it turns out there was a crash during the ride which took out two riders who are now recuperating. It's a sad thing and I have many mixed feelings about it.

I didn't ride today, but instead played tennis with my loving wife. It's the first time in a long time that we have played tennis and tonight we are definitely feeling it. I would say it is probably pretty good cross training. Hopefully we will play again soon.

Tomorrow night I hope to ride the rollers doing the spin workout.  I really want to work on my spin in hopes of doing good next year on the track.  Speaking of track, I still need to edit and post some pictures I took at the track and make a post on the track which I had promised some time ago.  Sorry... been really busy working and getting a ride in when I can.

Oh, and before I forget to mention it, on Saturday's ride I took some homemade Ride Bars with me that my wife had made for me.  I had gotten the recipe from the USA Cycling website and given it to her.  The recipe was part of an article that talked about eating more solid food on rides and this was an alternative to using gels.  The Ride Bars were really good and I should have taken more with me.  I definitely will next time.  I shared some with a few of the guys and they liked them too.  They seemed to be amazed that my wife would do such a thing for me in support of my cycling.  I guess I am really blessed.  My wife has put up with my cycling for over 25 years now and she seems to truly understand.  I am thankful...

Cramping Calves

Today was the Lillian loop with the Firestone & Summit group. We had around 20 riders, cooler temps, and windy. We had a pretty nice pace going to Lillian. Not too long after reaching Lillian, when the group started heading south, my calves decided to start cramping. I got dropped. I ended up riding with Nate to the 2nd stop on 98 and Bauer Rd. Later I got dropped again on Old Gulf Beach Hwy. This time it took me a long time to a catch a rider I saw in the distance. I finally caught Left Lane about 3/4 mile from Navy Blvd. We rode into town together. Going up the Barrancus bridge was quite painful. Left Lane and I parted ways after reaching downtown. I ended up limping home at 13 mph. A little over 3 hrs riding time. Except for my calves cramping, I would say it was a great ride.