Some Reflection and Turning a Corner
I have talked to all kinds of folks as I go through this TKR experience. It is shocking the amount of support that those who have been there or have watched someone go through it are willing to provide. Most of these people have said around week six you turn a corner. Things will get better around that week and although I am still fighting the battle, I think this time marker is right on.
I cannot really sugar coat it, the first few weeks were kind of miserable with the caveat that the pain meds kept me unbelievably sick. From day 1 in the hospital the therapy folks want you up and walking. The more you move the better off you are. I actually did not walk day 1 because my nerve block on the right leg made it impossible to control. I did get up the second day but only made it outside my hospital room door then back to the bed. I was very sick from meds by then.
In order to leave the hospital to go home, you have to walk a certain distance. On my 3rd day I did 2 sessions and managed to far exceed the requirement. I was on average doing well so there was no thought of going to a rehab facility between surgery and home. I think after seeing my father and father-in-law go through this that rehab is a great idea if you can get it.
The next step is in home therapy. It too is not what I would call fun. I pushed as hard as I could during this part of my recovery still dealing with the high dosage of pain killers. The therapist pushed hard to get the knee more and more flexible as well as make gains in walking. At this time it is inconceivable to someone in the moment that you will ever walk without a walker ever again. The swelling around the knee from the trauma of the surgery is the real culprit as well as the healing of the bone where the caps were placed. I knew how important the therapy was and that it was a intermediate step in getting me to outpatient therapy.
After about a week and a half of home therapy, if the progress is good it is time to go to outpatient therapy, the benchmark being walking with a cane. As I have said, I was unbelievably sick from the pain medications. In looking back the pain medications were worse than the knee. There were several times, to my personal shame, that I showed up to therapy sick and almost unable to function. My main therapist is a great guy who I have seen on and off for 5 years names Mark Linane in Allen, Texas. This guy and his staff see people, including me, at the absolute worse time of their lives. I can imagine seeing where I am now it is rewarding when someone is so much better based on the therapy team’s hard work and encouragement. Mark and his staff are some of the kindest, caring and most patient people you can imagine. If you are going through this type of thing and you would not describe your therapy staff/therapist like this, find a new therapy clinic.
On your first day in outpatient therapy you do some base line measurements. Around your knee in my case. Size of the calf below the knee and thigh above the knee as well as angular measurements of the joint itself both flat and bent. My initial measurements were average I am told. One of the most important things you have to achieve is straightening the leg. I did not anticipate this either. You could not imagine how hard it is to do common daily things with a leg you cannot straighten.. Simple things like standing at a toilet or standing in a shower become impossible and exhausting on the non-surgery leg.
I was absolutely shocked how fast I lost muscle mass in the TKR leg. This is devastating to see when you ride bikes as a hobby. Another thing that was a bit shocking to me in looking at my post replacement knee, besides the swelling, was the amount of liquid that drains from the knee and settles behind it. Nobody every told me about this problem. The liquid will settle behind the knee then flow to the calf making it ache. I found this to be very uncomfortable. The therapist recommended icing the back of the knee and calf which helped a ton withe discomfort.
The actual therapy follows a progression increasing at the rate that the patient is capable. I was told today that my recover was remarkably fast once I got off the painkillers. I think back to the first time they put me on the stationary bike. Imagine my reaction to hearing I get to ride a bike, even stationary, I was thrilled and scared it would be horrible. I have held a deep seeded fear since the beginning of this surgery journey that it would ruin my bicycle riding. I am a firm believer in that once you have surgery no matter how minor, take away colonoscopy which seems fun compared to TKR, you never come out the same. When I had my nose / sinus fixed I was never the same. When I had surgeries on my knees in the past, I was never the same. What could come from this being such a massive and body altering procedure. I approached the bike with great anxiety and got in the seat. The therapy tech helped to strap my foot into the pedal of the bike and the moment of truth. I started to push down on the pedal to find I was unable to do a complete revolution. The therapist explained they wanted me to rock the pedal back and forth stretching the knee in each direction. I was quite honestly a bit devastated. From 2-3 days of RAGBRAI to I cannot turn a crank on a stationary bike. I am sure they could see my sadness in the moment because one of the techs named Tyler came over and told me that I would get there, not to worry.. The encouragement helps a ton when you reach a low that low.
I was sitting on the bike on my second week in the clinic and was sick as hell when a lady who I had seen the week before walked up to me. She told me that she had seen me the week before and with unbelievable accuracy guessed where I was in weeks from my surgery. She was in week 7 post surgery and getting around pretty well. She quietly and kindly told me that it would get better soon and to look forward to week 6. It was another level of encouragement and the first time another patient offered kind words. She is a wonderful lady who I have not see of late because she is getting her other knee replaces.. eek !
Fast forward to week 6. All the predictions are right, week 6 is when life really gets better. I understand the average person is able to sort of walk and most the major healing is done. It is worlds better than the first 5 weeks. I would not say that you are saying “man-o-man this has all been worth it” but at the least you are starting to get around and feel much better.
A couple funny thing start to happen when you are in this state of feeling better. First, the nerves in your knee area begin to “reconnect” and this is not uber painful but it can be moment of sharp pain along with some aching.. it is weird. The second thing is that you realize to your amazement, the doctor has installed your own personal barometer in your leg. I kid you not, during this time of healing barometric pressure changes are awful, at the least they were for me. Relentless aching in the whole knee area.
This last Monday I was 9 weeks out from my TKR. What has changed.. Everything !
Last night a miracle happened. I awoke around 4 am to find I was sleeping on my stomach ! I cannot tell you how many times I have been brought out of sleep by turning to my stomach with a knee that cannot go all the way straight. It is not even remotely pleasant. The pain is primal in how it feels and it leads to an ache you hope will let you get back to sleep. I was so happy when I realized I was laying that way and was not in pain. Small victories.
I would say in the last 2 weeks I have really turned a corner. I am able to get around to see people. I was so happy to get out to have dinner with Jim, my best friend. He invited me out for pizza a couple weeks ago and it was my first time out without Carrie to help me. It went really well, we had some great conversation about surgeries and painkillers along with some great pizza. One of the things that was rough being cooped up in the house for 6 weeks was not seeing people. Jim and Lisa stopped by once and then the Holcks as well. It is hard for people to drop in, I understand that. Nobody wants to be a problem for a recovering person but all I wanted for a while was to see some outsiders.
So where am I now. I can almost bend my knee to the point the therapist are happy and can almost completely flatten the leg. I feel overall well to the point I have started riding my bicycles in a couple of weekend beginner rides of about 18 miles. I also am just able to get my leg over my Harley and articulate the foot brakes. I love riding the motorcycle although all the twisting and putting it down do make it ache pretty good.
I wanted to make it out to the state fair this year but the knee just would not let it happen. I can walk for short periods of time, like going shopping on Sunday but walking long distances brings the aching. There is still a good amount of swelling in the front of the knee and it is rather odd to feel but when I walks far the whole area around the front of my knee feels swollen. It is getting better very slowly but that odd feeling coupled with aching becomes overwhelming.
I am not to the point where I would say yet “man-o-man that was worth it” but honestly as awful as the first month was, things are so much better and I look forward to the continued improvement in my performance and strength. I am toying with the idea of riding in the Turkey Roll out of Denton in November. A few big hills and a challenge for sure.. maybe just 30 miles or so 🙂
I will update again in a couple of weeks in the hopes things keep getting better and better. Thanks to everyone for the ongoing support.
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
One Week Down
The first whole week since Total Knee Replacement (TKR) is now behind me. Things are getting better overall albeit very slowly.
I think the first thing anyone thinking about this kind of invasive surgery should really understand that in the grand scheme of things recovery from TKR is at a glacial place. It is kind f amazing how many different parts of you leg are affected by a surgery like this.
The trauma that us put into the tissues of the leg have started to really manifest themselves on my skin. I thought about putting pictures in this post but I don’t think anyone really wants to see any of that. I had an interesting conversation with my home therapist about the soreness I am dealing with. He said in order to keep the different part of the knee in place while performing the actual part replacements that it had to be clamped across the thigh and calf. I really did not understand the soreness in these weird places.. But it makes sense.
Pain and the flat out trama is one side I have been dealing with and the other has been the never ending stream of painkillers.
Let me tell you what a never ending flow it feels like. For this full week I have been under this painkiller haze and not really getting any reasonable sleep. Painkillers all by themselves have some very unpleasant side affects on the human digestive tract which I do not plan to spell out but it is a other side of this constant battle. For evert pain pill set I take it seems I am doomed to drink a glass a Metamucil. The stuff is not really that bad as long as you keep on stirring it… That is the key, to keep whatever that powder is made of moving as you gulp it down as fast as possible. 🙂
Today my therapy session went better. I got through to my therapist that we were moving so fast through exercises that I had no idea what he wanted from me. Once we found a pace we could both keep it went well. He is pleased with my progress from last Friday so I did not have to take any grief about that.
I also find it remarkably hard to write a blog entry while on all these pain drugs, That is why they come along slow for this project…Concentration is not easy.
Rob
On to the next adventure, Full Knee Replacement
Since I was a very young fella I have had very bad knees. My mother would tell a story about me that when I was little and outside playing with other kids I would sit on the curb and rub my knees instead of playing. As bad as they are I can believe it. Combine bad genetics, years of being morbidly obese and a couple years of Texas Football and you have a recipe for knee replacement at a young age.
It has been a very hard year for me in relation to my biking and fitness. Late in 2012 I went to Australia for a month and followed that up with most of January in Cape Town, South Africa. When I got back from those two epic adventures it was about a dozen trips around the US to visit accounts. Needless to say, life on the road killed my overall fitness and cycling.
When I finally got back to home for a good amount of time I got on the new bike and started to lay down miles. On the first or second ride of the year I noted on my riding log that I may have made a huge mistake putting off getting my knees fixed because of sharp pain in my right knee when I applied a ton of pressure riding hard.
Fast forward to RAGBRAI 2014, which in my personal log is rated as a “Complete Disaster”. The first day riding was excellent. I laid down about 70 miles and felt really good. The weather was nice, I got a Farm Boys burrito for breakfast and Beekmans Ice Cream for lunch. That is a GREAT day. No Pie though..
Day two, I hit the road for what was a very short day of riding. The overall route was about 37 miles and “flat”. The reason I highlight flat was it did not seem flat to my chunky ass. Then the last 10 miles was into a pretty brutal because of a patented Iowa south wind making every mile feel like 5. When I got to camp I set up my tent area with my sleeping gear and helped set up the shade tents. I knew from the pain in my right knee riding into that sustained wind that I was not interested in riding the next day, which was the 100 mile day. This year we had no designated driver and it was sad to see Don, the leader of our ragtag little cycling team, miss out of riding to drive the bus. Don had also been driving the bus because on our way to the start from Marquette, Iowa we had a complete failure of one of the front brakes. The but pulled right every time you touched the brakes and he was just not comfortable with handing that over to someone else. As luck would have it and this is some luck the Ford dealer in town had 5 sets of the parts to fix the brakes. They fixed it that day.. Amazing.
With the bus fixed Don was willing to let me drive so I took on the role of driver. (Although I did tell them that nobody was going to call me Sarg JR or anything of that sort). I was getting ready to go to sleep and crawled out of my tent to get the GPS off my bike. I had strained my back early in June and it was still touchy. I was getting out of my tent very awkwardly. I put a good amount of weight on my right leg with my knee at 90 degrees. When I got to the standing position, I seriously thought I was going to pass out from the pain. I broke or aggravated something.
The next morning I loaded up my stuff in the bus are drove to the next town. I actually enjoyed driving the bus. The waves and honks from the people of Iowa is entertaining, even more than when you are on a bike.
When we got to the next overnight town I helped set out tents and then did the dreaded test ride on my bike. After the near passing out incident I could no longer bend to 90 degrees. It was stiff and very painful. Climbing into the bus was a major chore so I had little hope for riding a bike.
The test ride went as well as I had feared. I could not longer pedal the bike. My RAGBRAI 2014 was over on a bike. That night I put my bike back in it’s case where it has sat until this very day.
I returned to Dallas a little early so that I could make my lovely wife’s dance show. I have never made her show because it is always on the Saturday of RAGBRAI. When Carrie saw me in the driveway she was dumbfounded. A first. It was totally worth it, the show was great and she can no longer hold that over my head 🙂
A week later I am in the office of Dr Adams, my knee surgeon. He said what I thought he would say. When riding a bike is affected by knee pain we have no more options that a full knee replacement. The doctor was ready to do the surgery on the following Monday but Carrie and I backed away from that. I had to get my life in order before I get incapacitated. There is never a good time to have knee replacement and thanks to the abysmal US health insurance industry I have to get both knees done in the same year or pay twice the deductible.
Here is the plan…. Right knee replacement on the 18th then replacement on the Left in late October or early November.
I am going to use my cycling blog to document the process and challenges the best I can. I have found little out there as far as real people experience with total knee replacement for someone my age who is active in cycling. I hope it all turns out well and I wonder why I waited so long but I cannot sugar coat the fact I am a bit freaked out.
I dread the pain, painkillers, recovery, rehab, pain, other knee replacement, pain, getting back into riding condition which I believe is going to be brutal and of course last but not least, the pain. I have been commuting to work the last two weeks because I want to get time on a bike because that is a place I love to be. It has been unbelievably painful, especially today into the wind.
I look so forward to pain free knees, I so utterly dread getting there.
I will try to record some thoughts between now and surgery Monday morning. I will try to keep it light as possible but will really be honest in the moment.
Wish me luck.. I think I need it this time.
RAGBRAI Day 1 – Council Bluffs to Harlan
The night’s sleep was not the greatest I have ever had but the adrenaline starts to flow once you get on the bike.Our camp, as it would turn out, as a little close to the road. It was a very busy road with other riders and support folks in and out all night. We were also quite close to the Kaibos. What the hell is a kaibo you might say.. Well it was a name brand of the port-o-potties that were set up in the earlier years of the event. For most of my first year I had no idea what someone was saying when they mentioned the name. Most people do not gently close the door of a kaibo, they just let it slam. I think it is because most people do not want to touch them.
Anyway…
I was up with the sun, probably about 5:30 am. I got dressed in my tent as is the usual start to the day’s events. Grabbed my flashlight and joined the chorus of door slammers. By the time I was up and around the bank of kaibo doors sounded a lot like a constant drum roll. Needless to say, the whole team was up before long and just as fast as out tent city went up, it came back down with everything neatly packed in the bus for transport to the next town. A quick brush of the teeth and air in the bike tires, we were on the road.
The day’s route would take us from Council Bluffs to Harlan Iowa.
Sunday Route
This would be Juan’s very first day of RAGBRAI so we planned to ride together for at least this day. We rode out of camp and managed to find our way on to the bike route with amazing ease. The first few miles were very flat and pretty fast for warming up.We rolled through the first point on the map which was Historic 100 Block o Downtown Council Bluffs. It was really not much to stop for, I mean it was pretty but only 4 miles in we would probably never stop that soon.
The first minor hill was a bridge that crossed one of the gazillion creeks/rivers in Iowa.
As you can see in the video, the roads were a bit rough. Just past this bridge there was the first big hill and BOY HOWDY was it a hill. It went on and on and on… It was the first day so I soldiered through it pretty well. This was the first opportunity to see the next few hours of my life. As I mentioned I was with Juan for the first day and he is about half my age and 1/4 my weight so he can fly up hills. I would later learn that the place where Juan grew up in called Toledo, Spain. It is a provincial town that is built on the side of a mountain. He tells me that he had to climb 14 grade roads to get around in his town. The thought of it makes my calves hurt. I thought I lost Juan he was so far ahead of me but he was nice enough to double back to pick me up.
Just outside Council Bluffs we hit some pretty flat roads and picked up a very nice gal (so to speak). She, Juan and I formed up a pace line and put up some serious speed (for me anyway). As we roll out out of from pulling the pace-line I was chatting with the gal because she managed to find some laminated route maps that are held together with a ring. These are the very best for putting in your jersey pocket without having to carry them in a plastic bag so I was curious where she found them. As we arrived in the first town and got off our bikes she grabbed my arm and said, “hang on a sec, these are for you.” and handed me her set of maps. Very nice of her and without a doubt the best pace line of the week.
It is hard to explain what a breakfast town is like or any town for that matter. I decided in this town of Weston to film our walk through the town…
The towns are always crowded and have booths selling food or giving something away. One of the nice ladies in the video was handing out buffalo wing flavored chicken jerky which I really liked. The video is long but you get the idea what an RAGBRAI town is like.
Because you ride RAGBRAI on your stomach, we had to stop almost immediately in the “meeting town”. This town is designated as a place for the support vehicles/teams to experience the magic of the ride. Minden was a nice little town and Juan had been hearing during the run up to the ride about the pie out for sale along the way. We tied up our bikes on the rope that was pulled tight between two tractors down the middle of the main street and headed over to a pie tent. I picked up a fantastic pecan pie and Juan went with more RAGBRAI traditional strawberry rhubarb pie. I am not such a fan of rhubarb but he said it was great. We were maintaining such a fast pace and the overall day was only 54 miles so the break and pie was excellent.
Back on the road the terrain changed to be a bit more hill than flats. The hills do not really bother me as much as they used to but when you are riding with a 20-something athlete, it is humbling. We could come to the series of hills and I would of course slow on the climb. My friend Juan would “attack” the the hill in true racer-boy form and rocket to the top. The first dozen times he would stop at the top and wait for me to get there. I guess this approach got boring so he then started to race up to the top of the hill, turn around, ride down the hill to wherever I was then ride back up AGAIN. Towards the end of a particularly hard section of hills I told Juan he could just go on without me because watching this repeat at every hill was becoming a mental beat-down for me. He wanted to stay together, so we did. (although the hill attacks never did stop, it is part of his DNA)
Just south of the next town of Shelby I shot some more video.. This time a close encounter with a tractor trailer.
I wished I had filmed the ride into Shelby because they had some of the coolest bike art I have ever seen. Across the main road into town they had bicycles pieced together as an arch. It will multicolored and beautiful. Every light post also had a neon colored bike attached to them. We didn’t actually stop in the town or the next one because we were in the riding zone. It was only 15 more miles to the finish of the day so we rolled right through.
Juan’s picture of the Bicycle Arch
The reality of overnight towns is that you have really little idea where you are going when you hit town. Our team boss Pam would text everyone with directions every day. Since Juan had his phone handy, I relied on him having the directions. I filmed our ride in, all the way to the bus. Harlan is a city built on top of nothing but small/steep hills. up and down, up and down. Turns out we had to cross the entire town to end up at the fairgrounds. Compared to night 1 this place was fantastic. It has comfortable grass as you can see if the video. This is a long video but a pretty good representation of finding camp.
Last year after a day of riding I would always hang out around the camp, eat then more or less wait to go to sleep. This year started out much differently. We were in camp for a couple hours when myself, Jenna, Mark, Jilana and Juan decided to hit the wellness center. We had to board a school bus that way the RAGBRAI shuttle to town. In the afternoon it was really hot so we were all looking for a palace to cool off. On the ride towards the wellness center, the bus stopped at the outdoor community pool where the vast majority of people were getting off the bus. The view out the bus windows was borderline frightening.
The Cyclist Tan
The community pool was packed with cyclist tan, banana hammock wearing throngs. Not pretty. To make things worse, and this is something I will never understand, the people who did not don their favorite banana hammock instead stayed in their cycling shorts for swimming. YUCK !
The wellness center had wonderful showers which were the first order of business. Then we all met up at the indoor pool where they had one of the most wonderful experiences of the day, a “cold tub” off a lazy river. It was just like a hot tub with seats and jets but cold water. Juan was the only brave member of the group to climb up and take the water slide down to the pool. We must have been in the pool for an hour and a half and decided to head back before we became completely wrinkled from the water.
We went back to camp on a round-a-bout ride in another shuttle bus. By the time we were back most everybody was talking dinner and it turned out that there was a spaghetti/lasagna dinner on the fair grounds. We walked over and grabbed some of the best lasagna I have had, or I was really really hungry. I brought a plate back to my father who was not able to make such a long walk on his newly replaces knee.
Between cycling and swimming, I was beat so I got my tent/gear all set out for the night.
It was a great first day !
Ahead, day two – the Century Day….
Great State of Iowa.. border to border
For the first time this week it is time to cross the state laterally. Could be worse, it could be Kansas ! This day would start in Marquette and then end in Council Bluffs, Iowa. In a car maybe not such a bad trip but in the team bus.. well that is another story.
East to West Iowa
I think I was first up on this first morning with the team. Like last year I slept in the basement of the Smalley’s place. It is a very nicely furnished basement and comfortable for sleeping. Being first up, I got first crack at the shower, which was nice. I washed up, grabbed a bagel and went to sit in the bus. It is easier just to stay out of the way.
Everyone got ready and packed up for a on-time departure. This in itself is pretty amazing.The first big test of every year is the first big hill out of Marquette. Just outside of town there is a fairly monstrous hill, from a Texas perspective, and there is always a sigh of relief when we reach the top. We start at the bottom wound up to around 55 mph and slow to around 12 mph at the top. (at least if feels that way)
The back of the Bus
We had to stop in Monona Iowa to pick up some more team members as well as the Van/Trailer that is part of the team caravan. One of the cool things about the busting metropolis that is Monona Iowa is that it seems like most the city residents are up and out front to wave at us.
We would pick up a new team member for this year’s ride named Andrew as well as a few of the regulars like Caleb. This kid was one of my favorites from my first year because it is impossible to predict what will come out of his mouth next. This year Caleb was sporting a Mohawk haircut … Caleb never disappoints.
Caleb Schiller.. An Iowa Original
As is standard practice the overall group splits up between the two vehicles. The Van is more comfortable and has AC so that is where most the chicks (and Andrew) ride. As you can see in the shot from in the bus, Jilana from Monona chooses to be hardcore in the bus with the guys. Juan looks like he is having a great time already !
After Monona there is a annual stop for lunch at Norm’s Mother’s house for lunch in Osage Iowa. It is a way from Marquette to Osage and the stop/food is very welcome. Norm’s moms is always very sweet to open her home to this crew. It is a lot of work to feed 12-15 people. After a great lunch we packed back into the bus and van for the long haul. I try to kill time by watching tv shows on my Ipad but after a while on a old school bus bench seat you end up with what I would classify as EPIC trucker butt. I made it through almost an entire season of Falling Skies (Thanks for that recommendation Micheal Holck).
One of the saving grace aspects of this old school bus is that even at the 55 mph max speed it drinks up the 20 gallons from the tiny gas tank, so stops are frequent. Usually we end up a some form of Casey’s gas station where at the least I can get some great coffee.
We had made it west of Des Moines Iowa and were on an actual highway when we got a call from the van telling us that the bus was smoking. It is a tense feeling to be in the middle of nowhere with the prospect of a bus breaking down. We pulled off the road to a truck stop to get gas and assess the situation. The closest thing to a real mechanic was my father and his opinion was that the main seal was leaking which is not surprising at all and it just had reached the exhaust to create the smoke. There were several teams at this truck stop mostly in their own converted school buses. Without a moment if hesitation I will testify that we were very likely the most conservative team and easily the most sober team at the gas station.
After a bit of a break we loaded back up to get back on the road. We were headed west on Highway 80 still an hour or two from Council Bluffs. For the first time I recall we actually used one of the several smartphones on board to see that within ten miles the highway would come to a painful crawl and in places stop. Don directed Sarg the driver to exit the highway so we could cut through towns on back roads. This turned out to get us around the traffic as well as to provider some much more interesting scenery. The hills were pretty huge so the bus would go like hell down and crawl up the next bleeding off speed. I was on a break from watching my TV show when I looked out the back door of the bus to see our stack of chairs (about 15 stacking plastic chairs that we sit it) about to fall off the back platform. It turns our after we stopped that pretty much everyone on the bus had a missed call on their phone. There is no chance of hearing or feeling your phone while the bus is rolling so we all missed it. The Van crew had deep concerns we were losing the chars as well. Don and Mark jumped out to tie them back down and we were back on the road.
Last year when we rolled into the starting town there was really not much there outside the food vendors and sale tents that follow RAGRAI so this is what I expected. This year could not have been more different. As we pulled into the “camping” area of Council Bluffs we were going to be camping between a giant AMC theater, a monstrous convention center and a mall. We snaked around following the brigade of volunteers that were directing traffic but seemed to have no clue about much of anything. I don’t really hold it against the volunteers, they are exactly that but the organization could have been better. We did finally find someone who had some hint of authority and were directed to a field. To get to the area they wanted us, we had to navigate a slalom of other camping crews with the old school bus. We came to a small hill and a sidewalk that could be tricky when the bus motor is hot. It likes to stall. There were a couple people standing there on the sidewalk just to the side of where we were headed and in line with a Team No-Rules tradition (that I never head of last year) a water bottle was readied to spray these bystanders as we drove by. As we began up the little hill just onto the sidewalk the hell hounds were released from the water bottle upon the volunteers. Just as the satisfaction of the kill started to settle in for the TnR pranksters, the bus stalled.. AWKWARD !
After a couple more runs at the hill we managed to make it up and over then scored a pretty great spot just far enough from the porto-lets to not have to deal with them but close enough to be very convenient.
As soon as the dust settles from the bus and van parking a flurry of ground activities commence. Within 15 minutes the area is transformed from a tent city. As a rule you have to get your tent city up and functioning to stake your claim to the camping space. it is fascinating to watch happen and just like last year setting up camp was brutally hot. This is one of the moment of RAGBRAI where it hits home that you are really on the ride and it is really going to happen. This field they put us in was newly mowed with some nature of farm equipment. The “grass” was much more like planted rows of grass stalks. Even through a sleeping pad, you were going to know without doubt what you were sleeping on.. not conformable.
Comfy !
Once the camp is set and chairs deployed it is time for the first team meeting of the journey. This an important meeting because we receive our packets, wrist bands, bike bands, luggage tag and kit (Jersey/shorts). During a good part of the day driving across the state Don was very busy scribbling on a yellow notepad with an actual pen. Can’t remember the last time I saw someone do that. He had been working on a speech for the team meeting. It was well crafted and pretty much every member of the team was mentioned. Toward the end of the meeting there was the presentation of the awards that were up for competition this year…
1. The Man of Steel: A pair of Superman Underwear that read in the band “Man of Steel”. (cannot find a picture of them)
2. Captain America: A pair of Captain America underwear.
Captain America
3. Dam Hot: A pink “wife beater” tshirt that read Dam Hot on the back.
DAM HOT !
The really important thing to understand about these awarded is that there are absolutely no criteria for winning any of the awards. These same awards were up for grabs last year but I do not recall if anyone ever won them because we never had another team meeting for them to be given out. This year we were planning at day 1 to have a team meeting the last overnight town.. should be interesting.
Once the team meeting wrapped up Juan and I wandered over to the expo area to find some food. I had to bring back something for my father to eat so I had to find something portable. This is easier said than done at food booths. I managed to rustle up a couple beef tenderloin sandwiches and a box to carry them in. Somewhere along the way I lost Juan but successfully delivered the dinner. I had planned to go see Better Than Ezra on the main stage this night. I could hear them starting up from our campsite and when the first thing the singer said was “Thanks for the welcome Ohio !!”.. I knew he had just saved me a walk back to the expo area. Wow.. just wow.
I settled into my tent to make things ready for sleeping and enjoyed what breeze there was. It was not nearly as hot as last year but hot enough to be sticky. Oh how I would wish for this warmth later in the week…
Next post will be day 1 of RAGBRAI 2013.. after 3 days of traveling, I finally get to ride a bike.
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
Back to Blogging.. and the run-up to RAGBRAI
I have been a little behind on blogging about my cycling and I apologize for that. In the early months of 2013 I was working on becoming overall healthier through a aggressive weight lifting program at a local community center. The workouts really were working overall to increase my speed on both my commuting and road bikes. The price to pay has been some ongoing pain with a tendon in my elbow. Just before RAGBRAI I had to visit my surgeon to, more or less, beg him for another shot in the right elbow to alleviate the pain in my arm. Looking back I am very glad I did because RAGBRAI would have been pretty miserable not being able to lift anything or squeeze a water bottle with my right arm. Needless to say this along with some humdrum rides threw a wet blanket on my blogging because I honestly had nothing interesting to say. (Not that I really ever do)
Anyway…
One of the most intense times of the riding year is the run up to RAGBRAI. There is an intense amount of planning, packing, repacking, repacking and travelling. 2013 would be my second year on the tour and I hoped to use what I had learned to make the journey more enjoyable.
The Team No Rules member from Texas would be long time RAGBRAI rider Norm (I think 16 or 17 years now), Juan who is a coworker who is young, European (Spanish, from Toledo Spain **Not Ohio) and a cycling fanatic. I convinced Juan at the cut off date for registration that he would like the ride and I do not think I was wrong.
Early in the year I was already working out some new approaches to things like my tent because I learned how hard it was to put the model I used year one up every day and pack every morning. Through my endeavors to gear up for RAGBRAI last year I purchased a fair amount of gear from REI. Someone somewhere at a REI store, possibly in St Louis, talked me into signing up for their members awards program. I can say with no hesitation that they really do reward with cash back. I used my 2012 rebate to purchase a brand new tent that would free stand on it’s own. My 2012 tent required guidelines to be run with stakes in order to be put up. It is just not a good design if you need to put up and take down a tent every day for a week.
New Tent being Rainproofed
Once receiving my new tent from REI, I was pretty quick to put it up in the back yard and spray it with some waterproofing aerosol. As many of you may know, I am color blind. When I was spraying the rain fly covering the test in the blazing Texas sun it just made the fabric look wet to me. A word of warning to anyone who does this to their tent’s rain fly.. When I set the tent up the first time on RAGBRAI 2013 in Council Bluffs there were neon green spots on the rain fly that made it look like I had been a victim of some nature of green only graffiti gang. At-least it is distinctive… No mistaking my tent for any other now !
We were about a month out from the trek up to Iowa and we had a couple problems. The first, the team had no driver. In 2012 my father drove the team bus and I have come to understand that this is quite a luxury. The second, I was headed to Reading UK for a week long business workshop cutting into my repacking time. The third, we did not have vehicle big enough to carry the Texas team members with bikes from Dallas to Iowa.
I reached out to my Facebook friends once evening to see if by chance there was someone who had a secret dream of driving a worn out blue painted school bus across the state of Iowas twice. I was very surprised when my mother sent me a message telling me that my father was interested in driving again. Early this year he had his other knee replaced and did not want to get involved since there was a lot of questions around his ability to get around (not to mention getting on and off the old bus). Problem number one, solved.
I managed to work around my UK travel having packed and repacked only 6 dozen times instead of the customary 10 dozen times. It is nerve wracking to pack for this kind of event because you do not want to incur the wrath of the Team No Rules gods by bringing to much gear but also do not want to be caught in the middle of nowhere Iowa needing something that they do no carry in the entire state. Problem two, worked around.
When I got back from the UK we still had no firm plan on how to get the now team of 4 members to Iowa with 3 bikes. I was mulling the fact over lunch one day with Carrie, her dad and Uncle. I checked into a rental of a SUV or minivan but it turns out all of those companies do not allow you to haul or attach anything to their vehicles so there was nowhere to put my bike rack. I regaling the group with my tale of woe when Carrie’s Dad said (among other comments), “Why you could use Craig’s expedition to drive up to Iowa”. To me it did sound like a great idea because his expedition has the receiver I needed and 4 comfortable seats. It is a very nice truck to drive and I was pretty excited at the idea. As we walked to the car after lunch Carrie started to talk to me and said,”You know, Craig never actually offered his truck for you to drive” to which I responded,”you have a point… “. We met up with Craig again the next day and I asked him directly of he was ok with it, he was. Problem three solved.
The only arrangement left to make was an overnight town for the drive up to Marquette Iowa. The team bus is housed at Don Smalley’s house in Marquette which is across the Mississippi from Wisconsin in Northeast Iowa. The direct drive from Dallas to Marquette would be about 15-16 hours and I am certain that one of us would not survive the trip being couped up in a car that long. I reached out to Carrie’s Grandma Jacobs who lives in Marshalltown Iowa. This was where dad and I stayed on the overnight when RAGBRAI came through Marshalltown in 2012. She was excited at the idea of 4 overnight visitors to feed and bring a little excitement into her home.
Packing and getting ready is something of a beating but the torturous part of RAGBRAI is the travel to the starting town. We rolled out of the DFW are at about 6:30 am headed north towards Joplin Missouri. Everyone was in pretty good spirits and as usual I got little sleep the night before. Dad and I took turns driving up to Iowa with me taking the leg Dallas to Joplin then dad taking Joplin to North of Kansas City and finally me again to bring us into Iowa and to Marshalltown. I cannot sugar coat this, it is a long ass drive in one day. By the time we rolled into Grandma J’s house I was whipped but was greeted by Gram and a pot full of Pork chops for dinner with some fresh veggies. It tasted great.
The next day we planned to get a slow start because Marquette is about 3 hours north of Marshalltown. I had to attend a early morning conference call to explain some things to a work client so I was up pretty early, but as is normal every day of the year when I ride into the office, when I get there Norm is already up and wide awake. I knoclked out my call and we ate a light lunch while watching some of the Tour de France on TV. It was pretty awesome. Three of the 4 horsemen were present and accounted for. My father was strangely missing and I eventually had to go down to the blue room to wake him up. Man I wish I could sleep that well.
We packed up the trunk again and headed out towards Marquette. The drive between Marshalltown and Marquette is kind of blah until you get close to Marquette. That area is some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever witnessed in Iowa. Very large hills with bare rock cliffs. I would not really care to ride my bike there, but beautiful all the same. We made good time to Don’s house and were greeted by the Blue Beasty in the driveway. At the moment you turn the corner near Don’s house and see the bus, it all becomes real. We had traveled two days and spent over 15 hours in a car together.. we were 2/3 of the way to getting on our bikes.
We waited for the sun to set a bit then loaded up the bikes and our gear into the the bus..
The Blue Beast – Picture by Norm
We had a great dinner at the same restaurant that we visited last year but it had changed hands. The food was great and the entire crew was assembled for the start of the next phase of the Journey…
At this point we were only a day’s ride across Iowa and an overnight in a tent away from actually riding a bike.. the time starts to drag a bit..
In my next post I will get into that journey across Iowa as well as the first overnight in the start city of Council Bluffs.
That’s all I know for now..
Bike MS – Round Up Ride – MS150 2013 Day 1
For the third year in a row I went out to ride the MS150. The Dallas version of the ride travels from Frisco to the Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) via Sanger on day one then an out and back ride from the Texas Motor Speedway to Decatur Texas.
For all three years I have also been part of the Gardere Gearheads. The leader of the Gearheads, Keith, is what I would categorize as an elite rider like my friends Dave & Becky (Very Fast Cyclists). He holds pre-ride training sessions indoors on Sundays in the run up to the ride that are an absolute beating in that, “WHAT A GREAT WORKOUT” kind of way. Should Keith ever decide to give up law he has a career as a uber-spin class instructor. He is also a very inspirational leader because he is extremely passionate about cycling & raising money for the fight against MS. Gardere is the law firm where Keith & several of the Gearheads work and the dedicated sponsor of the team.
Every year there is a theme to the team and this year you can see from above the team took on a surf theme.
I really was not all that involved with the team rides before the MS150 this year because I was riding so much on my own. I did attend the last happy hour before the ride to get my Jersey and meet some of the team though. We had a Gardere sponsored happy hour at the Katy Trail Icehouse near downtown Dallas. Since I commute to work on my Tricross bike I jumped on the DART train near my office to take it to the Mockingbird station. Driving really was not an option because this day was also the opening of the Bush library at SMU (which is at Mockingbird Lane for those not from Dallas) so traffic would be a nightmare to drive. I rode the Katy trail down to the bar because I had never been on the trail before and it was an adventure. The happy hour was pretty excellent although I learned a harsh lesson about eating jalapeno fries with Shiner Ruby Redbird beer. Ruby Redbird is a grapefruit based beer from the Shiner brewery, if you have not tried it…Do! The down side of course being that I took spicy jalapenos and threw them into the old fuel tank with an acidic beer, an explosive combination. About the time I got back on the bike to head up the Katy Trail towards home the beer foamed up as I started working on the cranks pushing the lethal combination into my throat… Not good. I got a few strange looks as I rode along choking. AWESOME !
Fast forward to ride day….
It was more or less the usual routine of getting up butt early except this day we promised to pick up Dave and Becky because they had a car staged at TMS to drive home. Carrie was less than thrilled when I got up at 4 am to start getting ready. We had dropped off my bike at the staging hotel the night before so at least we did not have to deal with packing it up on the rack. We rolled up at Casa de Angeles about 5:15 a.m. Carrie told me later they were not expecting us that early… it is like they don’t even know me. I am rarely ever late to anything and live by the words, “On time is 10 minutes early” ( Scott Brown 2011).
We loaded up the Angeles’ bikes/bags and were on our way. They were meeting with the Gardere team to put their bags in the team truck in order for them to be transported to TMS. This is a great thing about being part of a team if you are not lucky enough to have a road crew like I do to transport your crap. We got the Angeles to the team truck on time (Shocker I know) and then headed over to the event hotel / conference center to get my bike out of storage.
It was very cold for a MS150 in my experience. Last year it was so hot on the last 5 miles I had to stop and put ice on my neck to keep from overheating. The weather this year was forecast to be 40s at start (wind chill 30s) and a high in the low 60s. Carrie and I sat in the truck in the parking lot of the convention center where I put on all my layers of clothes and prepped for the ride.
Once we killed enough time I rode over to the start area for the ride. A good chunk of the team does not go to the start line but I do because it is part of the experience in my opinion. I lined up with the rest of the Gardere riders who had been staged up in the 3rd position for the start. The MS society lines up the top teams in order of fundraising so we were 3rd. The first crew was Sam’s Club (title sponsor) then Richardson Bike Mart (RBM) second. The announcements were the normal blah blah blah but the announcers did have a great amount of pep and spirit for such a early morning in the cold weather. We came to the National Anthem which was performed by a wife of some CEO. She did a good job, don’t get me wrong, but if any of you have ever seen the movie Mystery Alaska there is a part where Little Richard sings the National Anthem before the outdoor hockey game really slow to make the NY Rangers freeze. This National Anthem felt a ton like that part if the movie. The riders were so cold and she was kinda dragging it out enjoying her moment in the limelight I suppose. Good for her, but we were cold.
Waiting for the start of the ride queued up behind RBM.
The roll-out procedure for the MS150 is to let a couple teams go then pause to give SAG and Police a chance to catch up and process some of the cross traffic. I can see where the people in automobiles would get upset if they released everyone at once. Since we ride the service road to the Dallas North Tollway to it’s end at Hwy 360 north of Frisco the people in automobiles could be stuck for an hour. The officials rolled out all the riders in front of Gardere and queued us up for the next wave.
Moving up towards the start line
When we reached the front of the queue and lined up under the start banner we were lucky enough to be entertained by Deuce who is the mascot for the Frisco Rough Rider’s baseball team. At the ride as well as the games, Deuce is one funny giant prairie dog.
Deuce doing a little dance.. if only I was rolling video
When it was finally time to roll out I took of like I normally do, not trying to crush a long day of riding in the first 5 miles but was very surprised when I looked around and found myself all alone. I rode on at my normal pace and managed to catch the group in front of us at the start. This would prove very useful because I got into a huge group of riders and cranked out the first 35 miles without even considering stopping – a record pace for me.
I was able to catch this huge group of riders because of one guy on a motorcycle…..
The guy on the Motorcycle
This intersection was not as bad as some but this guy in the picture above on the motorcycle was riding traffic/ride support. The problem with this one guy was that when the road did narrow to two lanes he stopped in the intersection and blocked the lane that more than half of the riders are in. The pack of riders had been slowed enough for me to catch them but when we hit the road bottleneck as he pulled past us it was actually dangerous. The group would be 3 rows wide much of the time because there were so many of us. When we would hit the intersection where half the lane was blocked it brought anarchy to what was a very well working peloton of like-skilled riders.
Nature Calls Early ! GEARHEADS !!
I added this photo above as a stark example of what riding on some of these endurance events is like. At least in Iowa you can stand in the cornfields… These guys, including a couple Gardere riders, took a good ribbing for this display. Cat calls and yelps all around, it was pretty funny.
Big Group, Beautiful Landscapes
During the first 35 miles things went really well overall accept one terrifying 5 second section of road that felt like an hour to me. Soon after the shot above I am lined up in the back of a pack bunched up and the guys in front of me did not call out a huge road crack. For those who do not know, the tires on these road bikes are about 23 millimeters wide. A crack of any considerable width can grab your tire/wheel and throw you off the bike. This is an especially bad scenario riding in a pack of other cyclists, even worse when none are familiar with each other. My wheels entered the crack and made the most god awful grinding noise that you can imagine. I though for sure that I was going down and would be run over repeatedly adding injury to insult. The crack was about 8 feet long so it was over quick but as I ran through and past it all the guys around me gave out a “Whoa” and did a bicycle spread out on the road in fear of what was coming. We were two lines of riders taking one lane until that point when the group did a spread to the entire roadway. I did not wreck, thank god, but my heart was racing and I backed off the guy in front of me for a while.
A good part of the group stopped at the 35 mile rest stop which broke all the momentum as typically happens. I tried to join up with another group for about the following 4 miles or so managing to grab onto a group that was passing me. My pace stepped back up into the mid 20s again. This is a great feeling.
For the first time in my MS150 experience I managed to make the lunch stop in 2 hours flat. Amazingly fast !
I only stopped at the lunch stop to get more water and Gatorade. The lunch stop was not really set up yet so staying would be pointless and I was in the riding zone. The down side was that I was solo but now that I was turning with the wind, maintaining speed was really not a problem. It was so weird too. Both other years of the MS150 there was a 20-30mph south wind to fight starting in Sanger. This year the wind was getting stronger as the day went on but it was out of the north northwest most the time. It was odd for the places in the ride that were torture the other years to be very easy this year.
Craptastic Roads out of Sanger
The roads out of Sanger, Oh My God Horrible. Do everyone a favor City of Sanger, pass a bond and fix your roads.
I again stopped at the next rest stop that was on Highway 35 south of Sanger. The stop was manned by Army soldiers and some civilian volunteers. One of the volunteers in the picture below with the orange shirt really touched me with her kindness and friendly personality. Such a wonderful person who was only disabled in body, if only I or anyone else shared her attitude in life the world would be a better place. I assumed she has MS and was out in support of the ride but in looking back I never asked. I was so overwhelmed with her personality it never occurred to me.
Such a nice person
I have never had anyone ask to take a picture on a ride, she did. We stood next to that bike in the photo from my GoPro. After the picture was taken she said, “thank you and you can take your bike back now… This is your bike right ?”… I laughed and said, “Uh no, mine is right over there.” You should have seen the guy’s face who did own the bike… a group of people taking a picture around it. Priceless…
From the rest stop it was only about 8 miles to the big decision point of the ride. For the first time ever for a MS Dallas ride there was an optional route to the usual 80ish mile ride. This year there was a 100 mile option.
Decision Intersection (Left 86 straight 100)
I was feeling really good at this point in the ride at 60 or so miles so I took the 100 mile route. I was the only person of everyone on the group that came to the intersection who went straight. I knew it was going to be a tough ride because a good part of the extended route was riding north or west. The route wound around to a two lane county highway that, believe it or not, I recognized. When I moved to Texas in 1980 we lived in Sanger, Texas and I had been on this road before. The road had nothing but tall rolling hills into a 20 -30 mph headwind due west.
I finally arrived at the rest stop that was set up at the top of the route. This was about mile 75 or so. I can’t lie, I was getting tired and all I really wanted was a place to sit down. This was the one rest stop I have ever been to where there were no chairs set up for riders and where they needed them most. Needless to say there were not many riders at the rest stop since very few people were taking the optional route and what chairs there were had cold wind blown volunteers in them. They were very friendly people as well…but bored. A couple of the kids at the stop had taken to throwing rocks at each other from the white rock driveway.
I had a brief conversation with one of the ladies at the stop and she told me we had 12 more miles to ride West of the rest stop before we turn south. My heart sank. It was one of those moments when you ask yourself why the hell you are doing this… I am glad to report that once I got back on the road, it was really only about 2 more miles toward the west. Thank goodness she was mistaken. Sadly a few of the riders at the stop called in for SAG wagon to take them in, I hope that they did not do this based on the bad information. The wind was getting brutal and I am sure a large number of people were coming to the realization that they were in over their heads.
At the turn south 2 miles from the rest stop agony turned to pure thrill. The moment I turned the corner and caught that wind off my back I was off like a rocket. I kid you not that on some section of the next 9 miles I was rolling at 28 mph with no pedaling at all. It is exhilarating to say the least.
It had taken me about an hour to get to the top of the course and about 15-20 minutes to come back to where it rejoined the main route with only a brief stop at a rest stop to collect my trophy…
A proud achievement in cycling
I have to add one more photo here.. this guy in the photo below was great to talk to and he was super interested in my technology on the bike.. ie GoPro. He decided to give me a keepsake of our time talking… as with most people I meet on the road I do not know his name but have a great memory from the stop because of him. Very friendly guy.
Great Young Man
Once I rejoined the main route the going was slow for most people. I have said before that there is a bit of suffering that comes along with cycling and on this day it was not a just a bit. In a lot of the people I was passing I could see the pain and suffering in their faces and I thought back to my first year of the MS ride. That year I think I rode 76 miles and thought I was literally going to die. I felt a little bad passing people but after my 20 minute break on the south road, I was pretty well rested. I know how it feels when you are just wishing it was over then people are passing you. It can feel a bit demoralizing.
The BRIDGE !!
Speaking of suffering… this bridge is something of a monument to my suffering on a bicycle. In both my previous years, especially the first, I had to stop under this bridge to eat, drink, rest and cool off. The first year I really thought about throwing in the towel under this bridge. It always ends up being an impromptu rest stop for a large number of people each year.
I stopped at the last rest stop to text Carrie that I was almost done because she hates to miss me finishing a ride. She is the best cheerleader a guy could ask for and I appreciate it when she is there and really do miss it when she is not. I also took some time to sit on the same curb I had for the last two years to rest. The previous year there was not much choice, I had to rest or I was not going to finish. This year was different though, I was dog tired but I felt good. It was probably still the high from getting my first Century patch.
The last rest stop
As I sat there I witnessed at least 5 SAG wagon vans full of people pull through. A large number of people got caught by the building winds between the start and Sanger lunch stop. This slowed many of them to a pace I would put around 8 mph which is torture on a bike when the route is 80 miles. I cannot even remotely imagine being on my bike for 10 hours. I think the longest day I have ever put in was 7.5 when I rode the Bike the Bay ride to Galveston (the most miserable ride I have ever done because of wind). I felt for each and every one of the people in the SAG wagons and reflected on how my riding has progressed. I am still a big big guy for a cyclist and turtle slow compared to my friends but I see improvement and that makes me joyful or at least in the moment. (I am rarely joyful most people will tell you)
I rolled back out onto the road feeling as refreshed as you can after 90 miles of riding. When I got back on the main road toward Justin (the last town before TMS) it was fast due to the tail wind and felt remarkably good. There is a bit of a valley with a train trestle over it just before the TMS and in years past the hill climbing out of it seemed like a beast. It was not easy by any stretch of the imagination after riding so many miles but I think I was just out of my mind by then because it did not seem as tough as other years.
I rode into the outer circle drive of the Texas Motor Speedway and knew I had only about 2 miles to go. The roads here are in pretty good shape because they are still new’ish. Anything is better than chipseal too. For the route we ride to the complete other side of the TMS then turn west toward the track then north to the finish line. The section of road to the west towards TMS was about a quarter of a mile and in my opinion, the worst part of the entire ride. The wind in our faces for this section of road felt to be around 30 mph. It was brutally strong. It does make for a good ending to the ride though when we turn North to the finish line looking completely winded.
The Finish Line !
I finished the day at 101 miles at a average pace of 17.9 miles per hour. After the ride I was not completely trashed like I had expected. Getting over the 100 mile or Century mark is a huge accomplishment for me personally and probably more importantly to the rest of this year’s riding, I am over the mental hump of not believing I can ride a century.
I will post about day two soon.. It is not nearly as good a story but why not…
That is all I know for now….
Rob
Aledo Ride for Heroes
The Aledo Ride for Heroes and I have a long relationship.. It is the only ride I have ever registered for and never been able to ride in. Last year I had double knee surgery so had to skip the tour then this year I contemplated skipping the ride because a good friend’s birthday party was the night before.
The Friday night before the ride Carrie and I attended Jenny’s 40th birthday dinner in Addison. It was a good time but we did not wrap things up until well after 10 pm. My original plan was to head over to Weatherford (just north of Aledo) and stay the night Friday at the Boswell’s house. There was no way that was going to work out since we had the birthday party and would not roll into their place until well after midnight. Instead I opted to drive over to Aledo Saturday morning for the ride. I got to sleep about 12:30 am and then got up to get ready at 5:00 am. Not a ton of sleep for a 75 mile ride. Luckily I had planned ahead and only had to put the bike on the rack and hit the road so it went quickly.
The drive over to Aledo was, if nothing else, mind numbingly boring. It did not help I was so unbelievably tired. I did stop for the ritual Einstein Bros. breakfast though. They always seem glad to see me at my local EB at 6 am.
I arrived at the Aledo High School where the ride would start and finish. This facility is amazing and looks like a college campus. The pre-ride areas were some of the best organized I had ever seen and there were a huge number of riders registering the morning of the ride. This is not really all that uncommon this time of year because the weather is so unpredictable.
The great question of the morning for almost everyone was what to wear. At ride start it was 51.8 degrees with a decent southern breeze making it feel even colder. Several people I talked to were carrying on the same conversation, how much to wear because it was predicted to hit the low 70s. In the 50s is borderline winter gear and 70s is fingerless gloves, normal jersey and shorts weather. This is a predicament. You do not want to get out on mile 40 of 75 with all this extra clothing that you have nowhere to put. I opted for cold weather tights, full finger gloves, long sleeve barrier and my windproof jacket. I actually started with my winter heavy gloves but switched at the last moment to windproof shell gloves.
I found the start line area by following the sound of the PA music. It is always a tell tale sign of the start area. This was the one thing the organization of the event somewhat failed in marking, the start area. There were no signs or directions that I ever saw that said where it was. I sat on the curb next to my bike like I usually do, I figure why stand for 20 minutes before riding 75 miles. Every time I do this I get a couple people walking up saying, “You got the right idea” so I always end up with company to talk.
Before the ride start we had the pretty standard set of announcements. This ride though they really did seem to appreciate everyone who was taking the time to take part in the event. The ride is to support the local fire crews of Aledo and a couple surrounding communities, a good cause. They played a prerecorded national anthem and I guess because of the week’s events in Boston I would guess more than half the field of riders was signing along. Pretty remarkable. After the National Anthem the announcer said something to the nature of “lets get this thing started” and all the racer-boys in the front lurched forward to start the race. The announcer then barked, “wait wait wait, we didn’t start yet”. The entire episode was actually kind of funny to watch. The real start to the ride was after every fire chief from every town had a turn at the mic.
The Ride Start
The start of the ride was back up a long winding hill that was steep enough to wake up the old lungs with no warm up. I knew it was coming so tried to be smart this time and take it easy. No need to kill it in the first 3 miles with 72 to go. We turned south on to the main road into Aledo which is under construction and very narrow with concrete barriers on the sides of the road. The firemen were blocking the intersection for us and in what would be a continuing theme throughout the day, the people in the vehicles were not happy about it.
First Turn towards Aledo
In a mile or two we tuned off the main street and on to more rural roads. They were somewhat crap-tastic with the pot holes and cracks in the pavement so I tried to stay somewhat separated from the packs of people so I could see the road myself. All it takes is one pothole or road crack to ruin your day. There were a few what I would call warm up hills in the first 8 or so miles. Nothing that was too horrible overall and the roads seemed to get better, lots of chip seal, but better.
Typically I don’t ever stop at a rest stop until 30miles or more. Today would be different though. Being so tired I drank a lot of coffee on the way to Ft Worth and it was catching up with me. It was catching up to me to the point it was uncomfortable to be seated on the bike. The first rest stop was at about the 9 mile park, a really short jaunt for me typically but mother nature was calling and to be honest I just felt off overall, slow and feeling weak in the saddle so I stopped. If any of you have ever taken part in a sport with cold weather gear you will know one thing, even peeing with all that gear on is no trivial matter. I practically had to get undressed, what a pain.
After visiting a pretty nice and clean port-o-let, I grabbed a cookie and got back on the road. Out of the rest stop it was a pretty decent climb, probably the hardest so far, to a left turn at an intersection at the top of the hill. We were riding with some traffic up the hill and the police had the other roads to the intersection stopped. There were some VERY unhappy people at this intersection. They had been there so long sitting in their cars that some of them had shut off the motors and had taken to yelling at the police in the intersection. Some people started to pull out of line to go back the way they had come to be there. This made a bad situation even worse. Now you have cars across the road and cyclists streaming around them. eek !
Intersection Pandemonium
The payoff from that climb was immediate, a very long downhill that was smooth and fast. My bike has an amazingly loose freewheel. The freewheel is when you hear the wheels clicking and the rider is not peddling. My freewheel is so loose that I gain speed very quickly, well a freewheel along with gravity having a firm grasp on my chunky butt. The downhills for me are uber fast compared to most the people I am riding around. I am not as afraid of the speed as I used to be although every single downhill I hit anything over 30 mph, I think about Don Smalley (Team leader from RAGBRAI) and the picture he showed me from the aftermath of his downhill wreck. (A scared straight moment if you will)
The downhills are great but there is one fact that cannot be missed, you will pay a dear price at the end of most downhills by climbing back out. We turned into a residential area and snaked through a housing division with some very nice houses and one of the steepest hills I have ever seen. I know I seem to say this every post, but it is true, this hill was short but a monster. Both sides of the road up the hill were lined with nice folks walking their bikes up which is never a good sign. I shifted down, prepared myself mentally with a internal chorus of “I can do this” and took on this beast. There was a photographer taking shots of the suffering at the crest of the hill. He was also encouraging those left on bikes because we were almost there. I must have been a sad sight climbing up the last part. Next to me was another fellow of robust stature and we looked at each other in that moment of common suffering and I told him, “well, that was no joke”. He shook his head I think because that is all he had left with keeping the bike moving.
The Hill
It took a mile or so to recover from that hill and I was actually starting to feel a bit better. We rolled through some breathtaking country side for a few miles. Some of these sections of rides I find to be fairly unremarkable when blogging about ride because nothing much happens but it is that time that I take to relax and think on the bike (or not think). Sometimes miles just click by and you lose yourself in the process then look down at the GPS and see you are at mile 25. Every so often on this part of the route I did happen upon some longhorn steers that are always a pretty sight in the fields.
The next stop was at Rest Stop 2 for more cookies and water. I have been trying to be better about drinking fluids this year so I have put in place a system to have specific bottles for specific drinks. One blue bottle with a blue top for water and another bottle for sports drinks. So far it is working out well since the sports drinks help to make you thirsty.
Rest stop 2
Back on the road and headed northwest was at the least a break from the south wind we had been fighting. We were riding around some area with an enormous fence. I am guessing it is a ranch of some kind but the fence must have cost a fortune. It went on and on and on. We rode around the west end of this massive area along state highway 171 to rest stop 3.
Right before rest stop 3 I had a few moments of my own life flashing before my eyes as I turned the corner off the highway side to the next rural road on the route only to find myself face to face with a white Toyota minivan. I turned off left to the left into the ditch to avoid being hit… It really was not a big deal but a good reminder that when you get too comfortable, a white minivan will kill you. I stopped at rest stop 3 to grab more supplies and had the biggest betrayal of the day !! They had cookies set out so I grabbed a couple chocolate chip with my Gatorade. I went over to the street with my bike to eat my cookies only to find out they were RAISIN!!!!!!!! YOU BASTARDS !!!!First the white minivan, now raisin cookies masquerading as chocolate chip… when would my nightmare end ?
Watch Out !!!
I ate a honey waffle instead.
Back on the road I went, happy as I could be. We were headed east now toward where the ride started and the split between the 44 milers and 64/75 milers. I was actually feeling pretty good by this point (even given the raisin unpleasantness) so I turned left and headed north towards Weatherford on the longer routes.
75/64 – 40 mile split
We came to where the rural road we were on passed by a Loves truck stop and then over I20 near Weatherford. This was a remarkably busy intersection for a Saturday morning. From the 40 mile rider split to the top of the route was primarily a norther route. This was good from the perspective of the tail wind from the south and the ride seemed to get easier and easier as we went. This was also a very bad sign.
Truckstop
As we rode through the Weatherford area we went by a ominous looking building called The Pythian Home. The place is huge and resembles a castle. I did some looking around post ride and found it was home to the Pythian Knights who built the main structure in 1909 as a home for widows and orphans. It is a pretty incredible sight and not one you expect to see in Weatherford Texas.
I came upon rest stop 6 which was just before the 64/75 mile split. It was time for a break and a change of GoPro batteries (as I had done at every stop, I think I forgot to mention). They had some nice lawn chairs set out and we were around mile 45 so I took the opportunity to sit down and take a break. The people running the rest stop were wacky. They were a funny bunch of people with their rest stop decked out in gambling lucky 13 type decorations. I sat there contemplating the next big question of the day, 64 or 75. Mind you, I am contemplating this sitting in a chair being blow dried by a 20-30 mph wind.
Lucky 13 Rest Stop
Back on the road I went and made the decision at the split point to take the 75 mile ride. A decision I would regret soon.
I was nearing the top of the course and was riding with another guy remarkably near my size. We had just been down the longest downhill of the day when we started talking. He says, “you know these really long downhills worry me because I know we have to climb out” I said, “I know what you mean and it seems like this ride is extended downhill sections followed by an hour of climbing back up”. He laughed and agreed, we would not have been laughing if we knew what was ahead of us. The climb up to the very top of the course was something of an epic climb, it zigged and zagged but just kept going on and on. At the very top we turned pretty much straight south into that wind I mentioned earlier.
The long climb to the top of the route
I am not complaining or whining so don’t get me wrong but the wind was brutal. It was easily 25 mph gusting to 35. The rest stop was about 2 miles south of the turn and it was up a long steep hill (never ending climbing). When I reached the rest stop it was time for another break and a chair. I sat there eating the usual fare, cookies, talking to other riders. The conversations were all pretty much the same with everyone who stopped wondering what the hell they were thinking. Mind you we have just ridden 2 miles south of a south leg that is about 25 miles. Not a good sign.
I had a very interesting conversation with a older gentleman while he rested who told me that his daughter got a degree in I believe sports nutrition. The gist of the story was that in her expert opinion it was bad to eat oranges on any endurance type of event because at first it will give you a boost but long term the affects of the orange work against you. I have to check this theory out at some point, he made a good case but I need to check with another source.
I think everyone was procrastinating a bit at this rest stop as the volunteers, trying to make everyone feel better, said “Good news, the next rest stop is only 10 miles away”. Not comforting but I did appreciate the effort and these nice people were at the worst possible rest stop at the top of this hill being blown all over the place by the brutal wind. They were clearly enjoying it as much as the riders were, to mean not at all.
50 mile rest stop (notice no top on the canopy)
I said to my conversation partners,”Well, Aledo is not getting any closer sitting here”. They laughed and agreed but I was the only one to get on my bike and start down the road. This southern part of the top of the route was extremely hilly. There were no flats at all. Without a doubt having 50 miles behind me this was a challenging effort.
Several times on this part of the route I looked back to find I was pulling a long line of riders. In this case I cannot really blame them because the hill climbs would be tough without any wind at all.
9 of the 10 miles to the next rest stop the volunteer mentioned were all south riding. The last mile was to the east and a very welcome break from the headwind. It is amazing how being even a degree or two off a headwind can make the ride much easier. At rest stop 8 it was something of a cycling battle scene. On that last turn east we met back up with the 64 mile riders and most everybody stopped at the rest stop. The volunteers at this rest stop were paramedics ironically and they seemed very concerned about the well being of those on bikes offering to get everyone food and Gatorade. Extremely nice people on the whole.
Last Rest Stop (The guy who lost his father is lying there)
It was time for another extended break for me since we were at about mile 63 which is about the length of the longest ride I have done this season. The miles start to manifest themselves in aching pains that were being aggravated even more by the fight with the wind. I sat there on the back of a pickup truck just listening to some of the riders bellyache about how tough the ride was and remember back to when maybe I would have been the same. A couple of riders were waiting there to catch the SAG wagon back in and were thrilled when it showed up. There was a younger feller laying in the ditch who is was very clear had bit off more than he could chew with this ride, even at 64 miles. He asked if we had many more climbs ahead of us to which I answered, “I don’t know about past those hills but from the top of the last hill I could see we have a pretty good climb out just past this tree line.” I do not think that is what he wanted to hear. One of the EMTs seeing how much distress this guy under asked why he was riding such a long distance. The guy told us that his father passed away 2 months ago and in a journal they found that he had written the father wrote about participating in the Ride for Heroes. The father wrote of it with great love for riding and his son decided to come out and ride in honor of his father. I think he could have honored his father with 40 miles and not had so much pain but I get it and I feel for him with the loss of his father so fresh of a wound. I hope he finished.
You talk to people who ride these long distance events and universally you will hear how much love there is for the sport. I have had some interesting conservations about this with a couple good friends who are also riders. It seems that in a cyclists head there is a switch that gets swung that makes you forget the really hard parts of the rides. It seems like that time period is a week or two when looking back on a ride, even if it was an absolute beat-down, you remember how great it was. The day of the ride you get off the bike and swear you will never do it again then 3 months later tell stories of how great the ride was and then a year later sign up to do it again. It is an amazing aspect of the psychology of the sport.
With a little bit of a rested body and definitely a mind full of thoughts, I set back out on the course this being the 8th and final rest stop I knew there remaining 13 miles were going to be a test of my physical ability and probably more my mental toughness. The route continued east through some monstrous though not steep hills. They were very long hills some stretching 2 to 3 miles. They are a grind on body and mind without a doubt. It is tough when you can see where you have to go and it looks so far way. At those times it is best just to put you head down and pedal without looking.
The next turn came about mile 67 with a turn back south into the wind that seemed to be getting stronger and stronger as time went by. This section of the route was was 6 miles long but felt like 20. The section was more really long hills where you had to pedal down the downhill side because the wind was preventing coasting. Both the uphills and downhills were so slow that you could not take your hands off the handlebars because you would wreck. I had to stop by the side of the road at one point just to drink some water because it was impossible to do rolling. The final hill up to highway 20 was the longest hill of the series and super slow with nothing around the area to block the wind. It was probably the slowest climb I have ever made in my history of cycling. It was in a word… punishing.
Decent & Climb
The Climb to I-20
When I reached I20 my back was aching from the wind fight and I was thrilled to see we turned west along the highway just so I could have a wind break. We rode to the near the next underpass then zigged through a neighborhood to bring us right to that same underpass. The police were attentive and seemed to understand how utterly worn out the riders were. We turned back east going the other way up the service road of I20 through a coned area and came to a decision point. There were cones set out but it was very unclear if we were to turn right or continue up the service road. When I approached this area there were about 5 people standing there off their bikes talking about it. By the time I reached the turn the decision was made and they all took the right hand turn. I figured they might know what they were doing, I was wrong. We rode about a mile and a half then came to and intersection. I turned to the guy next to me and said “This ain’t right”, he agreed. The road we came to was extremely busy and only two lanes with no shoulder. He told me that the he believed the road would take us back to the high school to which I replied, “If we don’t get killed trying”. Still I did not want to climb the hill back to where we came from so on down the road I went.
Luckily the actual route met up with this road a couple of miles further. The turn off to the stadium drive was just a few yards further from that.
There was a group of girls very enthusiastically cheering riders at the finish. It is always nice to be cheered on at the finish of any ride. As I made my way around the parking log my GPS ticket around to exactly 75 miles.
The total stats:
75.05 Miles
4941 feet of climb (Most I have ever done in one day)
5 hours 22 min moving time
Ride for Heroes 75 Mile Route
If you want to get out and test your cycling metal this is the ride for you. Even without the wind it would be a tough route with all the climb built it. I am proud to have been stubborn with myself and making the 75 mile route. I feel that I am really ready for my next ride, the MS150 Dallas.
That is all I know for now…
Rob
Lancaster Country Ride 2013
This week’s adventure in organize group riding was the Lancaster Country Ride. From the very start this ride was different from most because as anyone who does a large number of organized group rides will very likely show you, they have a drawer full of ride t-shirts. The Lancaster Ride offered socks! And not cheap socks either, they are quite nice.
I gave my road crew (Carrie, my wife) the weekend off. I knew it would be another early Saturday morning to drive from home to Lancaster Texas which is about an hour away on the other side of Dallas. I still woke up extra early because of an acute pain in my right wrist. Friday Carrie and I were hanging pictures up at our office and I had to sink some hooks into the wall. Guess I over worked my wrist and was extremely sore. From the moment I woke up I was very worried that I would not be able to hold the handle bars or shift gears with that hand. Anyway, for this reason my day started at 5 am.
I packed up and was on the road by 5:45 or so. I found out that Einstein Bros. Bagels do not open until 6:00 am because I was waiting for them to open the doors. I grabbed my usual breakfast and headed towards Lancaster.
As luck would have it I made it to Lancaster in record time. Not one delay on the entire route south of Dallas. Needless to say I was at the square in Lancaster at 7:00 am for a ride that started at 9:00 am. I was not the only one though. It was pretty amazing to see how many other riders were there so early and all said the same thing, “No traffic at all”. At least it gave us something to talk about besides the ride.
I prepared my bike and put on some cold weather gear I had brought because the ambient temperature was about 50 degrees. The sun was coming up during the process and as the sun broke through the clouds it became clear that the leg warmers I put on were not going to be necessary. I took those pieces back off and made my way over to the area where the ride would start to find a nice place to sit and soak up the sun.
About the time I was making my way a group of Lancaster students started to play in their band. It was something of a drum corps type of group I believe (I could be wrong though). At any rate they were really very good. They then marched over to the start area and played a bit more.
The pre-ride announcer came on the PA to make a few brief announcements and with him was a man who was carrying a clarinet. Early in the announcements the musician played what I believe is “First Call”. It is the same flourish that is played before a horse race. It was a very funny idea before a bike ride even as the announcer was sure to reenforce that the ride is not a race. After a couple more announcements the same musician played the national anthem on his clarinet. It was another first for any ride I have been to and pretty cool.
The starting area before the ride
This ride was unique in the way they queued up riders for the distances. They had 2 queues for 60 milers and 40 milers. One for everyone 16 mph and faster then one for everyone else. On the start of the ride the two 16 mph and faster queues were first to leave. This is a pretty great idea overall to get the fastest people out in front to lower the risk of some people running over others. Given the setup in reality it did not really work out so well… There were some very slow people in the front, good on ’em for believing.
The ride out of Lancaster proper was fast once the field had thinned. We rode by a airport that I distinctly remember landing at when I was still flying. I found myself in a pretty quick peloton of like riders. We rolled pretty much together until the outskirts of Ferris Texas. I knew from driving down highway 45 towards Houston that Ferris as a city is on a huge hill. I was not disappointed.
First big climb of the ride.
I am sure from the handlebar GoPro point of view this hill looks small.. I reassure you it was not. This was the first point where the boys were separated from the men. As my friend and riding mentor Dave would likely tell you, I have a tendency to be caught up in the ride and attack the first hill. In this case it was the way of pain! Heading into the climb as you can see above, I was at the front of my pack pulling the lucky riders behind me into the wind. By the top if the hill, I was but a distant memory to them.
Now a word about volunteers for a ride…
Top of the hill SAG driver
The nice woman driving the SAG wagon at the top of this beating of a hill probably meant no harm and thought she was raising spirits. In reality, she was not. A couple things here… 1. Do not bring your dog as a SAG mascot. I was told by my friend Billy, who was also riding that day, that the dog she is holding got loose are ran out in front of riders after I had passed. 2. Do not insult the riders as they ride by. She said to several riders, “Don’t worry, I will be waiting at the top of the next hill to pick up your tired ass when you can’t make it.” Wow.. that is all I can say. Perhaps until you climb a hill like this under the power of your own legs and not the 300 horses of that SUV, then you can talk smack to people out of breath on bikes. Do not get me wrong, I totally appreciate volunteers… but think before you start barking what can easily be perceived as insults.
I put the unpleasantness of this incident behind be quickly as I recovered from the climb over the next mile or two.
As we rolled through Ferris, it was clear that we were on our own from the perspective of traffic. I was actually very surprised at this given that we were passing underneath of Highway 45, a major highway. Across Ferris and out of the little town we were straight into a 20 mph head wind. I find this year that headwinds are not as painful as last year but it is not something I hope for. Needless to say I accumulated a long line on hangers-on quickly. I do not really mind pulling some people in the wind as I have said before although it burns me up a bit when I pull a groups for 3-5 miles then they blow by me because I am exhausted. This was not the case for the Lancaster ride. There was a little gal that I had passed a ways back in Ferris and she stuck to me like glue. She was tiny and no match for the wind so I really didn’t mind. About 4-5 miles down the road she pulled up next to me and said, “How about I give you a break?” This was a first for me. Nobody has ever asked me of I needed a break. It was a very nice gesture but she could not last long in that wind because this section had little trees or buildings to block the wind so I found myself back in the front until a major pack of riders caught us. The great thing about this pack was that there were so many people I had a opportunity to get into the middle of the pack and rest for the remaining section of southeast direction riding.
We climbed another decent hill as a huge pack and found a turn near the top. This turn put us on the “Bluebonnet Trail” that the Ennis area is so proud of and promotes every year.
Just before we reached the turn I saw another first on a ride….
Look to the sides of the road…
As you can see in this photo, on the bottom left and near the riders ahead of me on the right there were two wild hogs on the roadway. These two tough looking critters (even dead) had been shot through the hog forehead Dirty Harry style. I hate to think what they would be like alive.
Bluebonnet Trail – a look back at the riders climbing to the turn
The start of the Bluebonnet Trail heralded as some of the most beautiful scenery of the ride and some of the biggest and most tightly packed hills. I remember back when I was much more overweight driving down to this area of Texas with my friend Jim to take photos of the flowers. We had parked between a couple of hills to take shots and talk to other photographers. I remember thinking that it was painful to walk up these hills and here I was 4 or 5 years later riding a bike up and down those same hills. Made me a little proud.
After a few miles of some of the most beautiful flower lined roads we came to the first rest stop (well the first anyone stopped at). It was funny because the first priority for everyone was changing clothes. I shed my arm warmers and full finger gloves because it was getting hot riding so covered. After a couple cookies and a cup of Gatorade, I was back on the road. Still a long way to go on the 62 mile route.
Rest Stop before the 40 – 60 route split
This rest stop was the split point for the 42 and 63 mile routes. The bulk of riders were taking the 42 mile route I think because it was the first big ride of the year for many and the break being right after a brutal hill section made many question their longevity. After the Beauty and the Beast ride, I was ready for the long haul.
The next few miles of the ride were overall just country roads and not really all that remarkable but soon we found ourselves back into areas of wildflower patches. I decided to take a few moments off the bike and memorialize the ride…
My Baby in the wildflowers
Most people who tour the Ennis wild flower areas take pictures of the pets and kids sitting in flowers. My dog Sol is a little allergic to the outdoors, best I can tell, and no kids at our place so this will have to do. I am happy to say, I was not the only person stopping to take a picture of their bike in the flowers.
Back in the Saddle
Beautiful fields of flowers !
A few more miles of beautiful flowered fields and we started north along the interstate north of Ennis towards the mid ride rest stop (for the 62). As usual the volunteers of the rest stop were excellent. They were enthusiastic and helpful in almost every way. Since I am still working to nurse my bad right knee through this season before I get it replaced, I am more willing to take a break and sit down. They had some nice chairs set out and a tent to sit under. There I sat eating my vanilla creme cookies and drinking my water. It was relaxing and refreshing.
View from the Rest Stop
Once well rested I was back out on the road. This section of the ride was promising to be faster because we finally turned north and had a favoring tail wind. Once we reentered the more rural areas we were witness to more and more wildlife, some of which you would not expect to see in North Texas.
Camels.. Because you know, it is Texas
I was quite surprised to see so may of the ranch areas in this ride that had Camels. This guy was not the only one. I must have counted upwards of 15 camels along the road in this area. Long haired, short haired, white, brown, patchwork… Camels! This guy in the picture was quite popular because he was standing up against the fence and loved to have people pet him. I never saw him act up in any way. I am guessing he is a domesticated camel like a household dog. He was quite pretty in his fur color.
From this area we made our way back north west towards Lancaster. There was one section which had considerable hills. On the first downhill I was freewheeling and gaining a ton of speed. I probably maxed out around 40 mph. With someone my size you would think that those in front of you would keep in mind that I am there but this other rider had not a care for me. I start up the next hill with this head of steam, still moving 30+ mph and this guy pulls over in front of me. I have him by at least 5 mph so the closing speed was a bit scary. I yelled at him just because it was a wreck in the making and I hate to think how bad a 30 mph wreck would hurt.
As we came closer to Lancaster proper we passed a sign that said “Lancaster” with the population of the town. I do not recall the exact number on the sign but I was glad to see we were in the home stretch because I was around 55 miles on the road so far. I rode on for a while and came up on another road sign…”Lancaster”.. WHAT THE !?!.. And the population had significantly increased between the signs ! I rode into the twilight zone !
I came upon the last rest stop which it turns out was about 5 miles from the end. I figured.. why stop ? All I would do now is get stiff and I had mostly full water bottles so I rolled on.
The entry street to downtown Lancaster was through a huge cemetery. It was a little creepy but overall the road was in decent shape. We entered the town square from the south and were greeted by a huge group of people cheering. It is always nice to ride into a finish with people cheering. It shows that the people putting on the ride really do appreciate you supporting their event. When you are tired and worn down it really does raise your spirits.
Overall I give the Lancaster Country Ride VERY high marks. The route was marked very well, The volunteers and support was right on the mark. The country side was absolutely beautiful with the bluebonnet filled fields. I will definitely be doing this ride again.
Sorry for the delay in getting this blog post out.. I promise you will see the next entry for Ride For Heroes by this weekend ! (Dave)
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
Tour Dallas 2013
It was time again for the event called Tour Dallas. it is typically one of the first rides of the year for the Dallas / Ft. Worth area and one of the best. Tour Dallas is a very family friendly event since the longest route is 30 miles and the shorted only 8. Typically the other riders in this event are pretty nice people because there are very few racing type people that participate and therefore less pressure to get out there and kill it.
Carrie and I rolled through the usual Einstein Bros f0r our Bagel sandwich breakfast. This week were were at the counter ordering by 6:15, so you can guess how early we got up. As usual Carrie was a trooper in getting up and out of the house. She seemed to be dreading this one a bit more because the start time was early compared to most rides (8 am) so she knew we had to get up extra early.
Once breakfast was behind us we drove down to Dallas City Hall where the start/finish line is situated. It was forecast to be a 70 something day but at 7 am when we arrived it was still in the 40s. We debated at the car how much clothing I should wear and Carrie insisted I wear my windbreaker at the minimum with my shorts. She wisely knew we would be standing at the start line for a good half hour and from last year remember that the wind between the buildings is strong and cold.
I managed to remember water bottles this week but did not fill them at home. It was remarkably hard to find water outside the Dallas City Hall. I was honestly surprised by that but found water at the repair station so I was all set.
I rolled out to the middle of the street to figure out what is what for starting this year and I ran smack into Bikin’ Mike. I wished him a happy birthday just as he instructed the cycling hoard to ride up to the end of the street and double back toward the starting lines. At Tour Dallas, as in most well organized rides, the different route lengths are separated at start to the the people doing the longer distances who are typically faster get out in front of the slower folks. It is just a common sense thing that not every ride seems to embrace.
After making the block I lines up in the front of the 30 mile area. It is in no way that I am super fast so don’t get the wrong idea. At most truly family friendly rides you have a lot of people who have little experience with group riding. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, you have to start somewhere and this is a great ride to do it. If you have been riding a while in these type of events you know that the start is probably the most dangerous time in a ride to both your bike frame and your body. It really does not take much force from someone swerving into you in order to get into a wreck that cracks a frame or sends you into a curb.
One of my very first experiences in a bike shop was standing in the maintenance area of Plano Cycle. There had been a ride that morning and there was a young guy that carried his bike into the store. This is never a good sign. The guys in service started looking over his bike which was a somewhat expensive carbon frame. The two service guys did not look very optimistic. About this time a gal walks in rolling her bike to service. She starts chatting up the kid that owned the bike and said “Oh my god, I was out there running around White Rock, that was you she hit ?”. The kid looking dejected answered “yea”. The gal trying to make him feel better said, “I saw what happened and she had no business being in that ride. She pulled right into you.”. About this time the service guys waved the kid back to his frame on the maintenance rack and pointed out a significant crack on the bottom of the frame. This is a terminal diagnosis for a carbon frame. Everyone standing in the area knew what this meant, the frame was to dangerous to ever ride again. The last I heard in the matter was the kid saying, “But I am a college kid and I can’t afford a new frame. This is my only mode of transportation.”. You have to feel bad for him and it has always made me very weary of ride starts.
The front of the longest route are usually not the nicest people on the ride because those who line up in the front are usually really fast. As is typical, about 1 minute before the start of the race a group of Richardson Bike Mart (RBM) guys rode up to the front of the group, the wrong way up the road, and bullied their way into the front row. They clearly thought this was a crit. You might ask how do I know these guys were RBM, it is pretty easy to tell them apart from everyone else because they wear the store kits. Now don’t any of my Matrix friends get upset with me. They were not in Matrix gear just RBM. As my friend Dave says, “It is just roadies being roadies”. I get it and really hold no ill will towards them but I have a follow on to this later….
Waiting at the start line before the ride. I promise I was cold not mad.
We were told by Bikin’ Mike that the speakers were not working down at the 30 mile start line so when the police start going, we do to and do not pass them. As the police started out I managed to get clipped in and right behind the police cruiser, the safest place to be. Next thing you know I am in the middle of a RBM peleton. The route this year started differently because of construction on the bridge we usually cross. This year it circled the old Reunion Tower and came back to the same street we started on just going North instead of South. I managed to stay in the RBM peleton for about 3 miles. A small victory for me and my never ending conditioning. I used to stay with them for about 500 feet.
As I climbed the hill back by the start line and City Hall I saw Carrie cheering me on with her pom poms. Always make me feel good to be cheered on although she will stand and cheer for everyone. Later in the day she told me that she stood there waving pom poms and cheering everyone on for more than a half hour. That is about how long it takes to get everyone on all 3 route distances started riding. Everyone rides the same route for about the first 5 miles. Since I typically leave in the front, I have never thought about how long it takes for the whole ride to start. It is an excellent insight into the point of view of the people watching the ride for friends and family.
Shot of me passing by that Carrie took while cheering !
As I passed Carrie and City Hall I started to realize that I was not riding my pace or even close to it. I had to slow down a little bit if I was going to see the end of the ride. I intended to push a little harder since this was only 30 miles but I was pushing way hard. I settled into my normal pace and really started to enjoy myself. Leaving downtown Dallas is stressful because the roads are not particularly good. There are all kinds of cracks and potholes that could spell the end of your fun riding day. For this reason the first few miles I keep my head down and concentrate on the road.
Leaving downtown we turn onto Swiss Avenue which is very old Dallas with gazillion dollar houses. Near the north end of Swiss I noticed one of the RBM guys riding backwards towards the last intersection that I had just passed. At this intersection the people managing the cross traffic were not police like most intersections but an ambulance with EMTs. I knew this was a bad bad sign. As I started to reach the next turn off Swiss there was a police car with his lights on and 4 of the other RBM riders standing around what looked like a junior rider. I hope he was not hurt too badly, but it did not look good. It is a reminder how dangerous riding can be.
The rest of the ride to White Rock lake was both fast and hot. I was riding with a 15-20 mph south with so my yellow windbreaker was extremely hot. When I reached the lake the road twists and turns around the south side of the lake so there was an opportunity to cool off a little. I had the windbreaker almost completely unzipped by this point trying to cool the machine.
I managed to make all the turns this year (last year missed one and took a detour) and made the rest stop at the far end of the course. The volunteers looked miserable so I stopped in to eat a banana and chat with them. They were some of the nicest people around as usual. I took about 5 minutes to eat and talk then back on the road. This part of the lake is mostly south route and the wind off the lake was unbelievable strong and cold (I re-zipped my jacket, Thanks Carrie). If you catch a 25-30 mph gust it can take you from 16 mph down to 6 in no time. It can be exhausting.
White Rock lake is a very busy place when it comes to different sports. On this day there was Tour Dallas going clockwise around the lake, some kind of hugely popular running event going on counter clockwise along with the usual other runner/riding people. Out of the very choppy lake there were people in long boats rowing with coaches barking orders from motor boats. They are out there often and actually kind of fun to watch. The runners in this event were built up into huge packs. It never occurred to me that when running you would draft behind other people but I assume that is what they were doing.
Upon finishing the lake loop you climb a pretty decent grade hill and cross the same road on which you arrived at the lake. Every year this hill has become easier to deal with and this year I did not have nearly as much trouble as in the past two years. Another small victory for me.
Near the top of the hill as I mentioned you cross the flow of people still riding out from the start. This is probably the second most dangerous time in the entire ride. The people who are not really prepared for a mass ride start are even less prepared for someone crossing in front of them or join in the traffic. Luckily I hit a gap in traffic this year unlike last year when I had to get off the bike to keep from being hit. I joined into the 20 milers and tried to work my way through the traffic. The pack of riders back with the 20 mile route was much busier. I managed to fall in behind a couple other 30 milers who were faster than the pack. It saves me from seeming like a jerk to the people we are passing constantly barking “on your left”. I don’t think anybody likes being passed so it is awkward but you cannot explain to every person you pass that you have been there and they will keep improving.. like they would really care. Maybe I am overly empathetic.
The last part of the ride zigs and zags through the Turtle Creek area of Dallas. This area is under pretty heavy construction so it was an exercise in extremely paranoid riding. The people driving around the area are already inconvenienced by the construction.. the cyclists do not improve the mood. It got to a point where cars and bikes alike shared one lane. This was a bad situation for everyone. Mike warned us all it was going to happen at the start so no blame to anyone, just a potentially explosive situation.
The road out of this are is called Cedar Springs road. It is a long climb out of the valley we were riding. It is also in the last 5 miles of the ride. It always puts the people who are not so well prepared in the hurt locker if you know what I mean. You can ride it or walk your bike up the long hill but you are going to climb it.
From this point it was mostly downhill or level all the way to city hall. The last hill of the day is to the finish in front of the Dallas City Hall. I managed to finish the ride this year at a record time for me of 1:37. I was done so fast that Carrie was still in the car reading because she never expected me to be done so soon! Not her fault at all though, for me I killed it !
Overall it was a great ride and a great day to be on a bike. Cheers out to my friend Billy who came out and rode in Tour Dallas for the first time !! Way to go Billy !!
Bikin’ Mike really does put on the best rides in DFW area. I will post again soon with some thoughts on rides because not all rides are created equally.
This is a gif I put together of the entire Tour Dallas ride from my GoPro taking a shot every 10 seconds.
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
Beauty and the Beast
The riding season kicked off last weekend for 2013. It has been a long time coming but off-season always seems long.
I had read several blog posts in the past about this ride near Tyler Texas called “Beauty and the Beast”. Most of the ride is supposed to be very beautiful country side then in every route you climb :”The Beast”.
The day before the ride I was getting my gear ready for the outing and it seemed nothing was going right. I tried to get my GoPro ready only to find the memory card has some kind of problem in the GoPro when it is 64 GB. The net end of it is that the camera kills the memory card. It is disappointing to spend so much money on a piece of gear and it fails so quickly. It would not be a huge obstacle, just no chance at pictures or video from the ride.
Carrie and I took off for Tyler mid afternoon headed east in her car. We stopped along the way in Terrell at the busiest Starbucks on the planet for a coffee and as we sat in line I realized I brought no water bottles for the ride. This has been a repeated scenario as Carrie was quick to remind me. Our next stop would be a bike shop or sport store so I could buy a pair. I managed to find a bicycle shop near our hotel via Google on my phone. Google Maps was nice enough to route us the most out of the way backwards route you can imagine. When we walked up to the door of the store it was 6:05 pm, they closed at 6:00… UGH !
We decided to get checked into our hotel and see if we could find somewhere else to get some bottles. We stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn and I have to say with all the Hilton properties I have stayed in my years of travel, the Garden Inn hotel are some of the nicest. I really enjoy staying at that particular Hilton chain when I go to out of town rides.
From the hotel we drove up the main drag back towards Tyler to try to find a sporting goods store. Google was being less than helpful. We found a jogging/racquetball store (Weird huh) and they did not carry the type of water bottles I needed but were nice enough to point us at the local Academy Sports the other way on the main drag. We finally find the Academy on the outskirts of town and it has to be the single busiest Academy I have ever seen. The parking lot was packed. We picked up 2 bottles and headed out to grab some dinner then some much needed sleep.
I think if you asked Carrie what her favorite part of ride days is, she will not say getting up at 6:00 am. I was up about 5:30 but laid there a while to not bother her. At about 6 I got up to shower and get ready. I never sleep well the night before a ride I have never done. Nerves I guess.
On our previous evening’s drive around Tyler Carrie found a Einstein Bros Bagels, our favorite. We packed up our room, put the bags and bike in the car then off to Einsteins we went. It was excellent as usual. The ride started at 9 am so we had plenty of time.
After breakfast it was about a 10 minute drive to the Winery that served as the start for the ride. We had to get in and get parked then pick up my packet. The event folks were really nice and helpful.
The weather was not as warm as it had been because a cold front was on it’s way in. I planned to take the 62 mile route but watching the radar knew I would not be back before the rain. The rain is not actually the biggest problem, the lightning is. I talked it over with Carrie and decided I would make the decision on the bike out on the road near the top of the route. At once town all the routes split.
I put on all my gear and prepped the bike then we walked over to the staging area. The staging area of any ride it always great people watching. You get all types at these rallies and it is fun to see people from so many walks of life. In a first for any ride I have done we had a fella dresses up as a pink ape. It turns out that he worked for the sponsoring bike shop and had a great sense of humor.
With a few minutes until the start, the officials had the people participating in the road race line up. These were some very in shape people. It is intimidating to line up next to racers when you are a 40 something like me. the officials has the racers line up out on the road and asked the 62 mile tour riders to follow. It was the usual gaggle of pandemonium getting out to the road. At some point I managed to roll through some nature of cream filled pastry… yea.. that looks nice on Carbon wheels !
We rode out from a side road to the shoulder of a 4 lane county highway. The roadway was in great shape like it is fairly new. I was feeling actually pretty great from the start. Fresh legs always feel great though. We rode north towards Tyler for about a mile then headed east.
The countryside was as advertised. The entire route was rolling hills with spectacular views. The front of the tour riders pretty much stayed together as we rolled on but I could tell after about 15 miles that I was not used to this anymore. the off-season had taken it’s toll. I gave up on trying to stay with the group and started to focus on a pace to finish.
The town of Troup was the decision point and it seemed like I was there quickly. My GPS stopped reading properly about 5 miles into the ride and I did not want to stop to try to fix it so I rolled on guessing at my speed/distance. It would turn out that the magnet on my rear wheel was turning away from the reader and messing up the readings. yet another piece of tech failing me that weekend…
In Troup I stopped at a rest stop and checked the radar to tell where the front was. It was closing in on Tyler with a line of thunderstorms so I decided the best course of action was a 50 mile ride. It seemed like I was the only person to make this decision because on the road for this distance, I was the only person on a bike all the way south to where it met the main route again. This portion of the ride south was absolutely beautiful. Tall pine trees and lake areas with smooth blacktop. To this point in the ride I had only had to endure about 2 miles of chip seal, shocking really.
Right before I was on the road where all routes re-joined I was flagged to slow by one of the volunteers. As it turned out I was glad he was there because he was warning me of one of the worst train crossings I have ever seen. It was so bad I actually walked my bike across it. if I had hit that crossing while riding, I am pretty sure it would have been a wreck.
When I got back on the bike and out on the road I was passed by a freight train that came along those same tracks. I was really surprised that once the engine had passed the train was very quiet. You would not know it was there through if you could not see it through the trees.
I rode on for about 5 miles when I was finally passed by a much younger rider. As he pulled past me he said, “I have been trying to catch you for 11 miles”. Made me laugh.
I got to the last rest stop before “The Beast” and ate a couple cookies. This was the last stop to check the weather and get ready for what was coming. The weather looked bad, worse than I thought and no sooner did I get back on my bike it started to rain. The temperature all day was in the mid 40s so rain was not exactly welcome. From this point there was about 12 miles to go.
I was about 2 miles up the road from the rest stop when a sheriff’s truck pulled behind me with lights on and intermittent siren. It was the lead for the racers. I was at about 40 miles and was tiring. The racer packs passed me like I was standing still watching them. Mind you they were on about mile 50. Another opportunity to feel old and humble.
Once that excitement was over I found myself in a group of about 6 riders. We all started to climb a pretty steep hill and to our disappointment got to the top of the hill only to read a sign that said, “This Ain’t It”.. a cruel joke !
In about another mile we could see the side of a much bigger hill. Having worn out legs from the rolling hills it was not a comforting thing to see even from a distance.
When we reached the base of “The Beast” it was clear that this was not only going to be tough but painful.
I have never climbed a hill so long that you could not see the top and there were people along the roadway cheering you on, even a giant pink gorilla. When I passed the gorilla it was about one third the way up and the cheering seemed to help. By this point on the hill 3 of the 6 riders who started it were now walking their bikes up the hill. I had read this hill was no joke, that is an honest assessment. I was in my lowest gears and just grinding away. I could not stand up on the peddles because the road was wet from the rain so I just put my head down and tried to think happy thoughts.
About another third of the way of the hill there was a sign that said, “Only 200 yards to go” and it was little comfort. The pain from the prolonged climb was intense and upon passing that 200 yard marker noticed there were not 2 of us still on bikes.
I was very proud to have crested the hill still on my bike but have to admit in the moment that I did stop and have to take a few moments to catch my breath and drink some water. The other rider rolled on without stopping but he was younger and admittedly in better shape.
The last 7 miles or so was back on the side of the 4 lane highway. The roadway was nice and the rain now seemed much better for cooling me down from the climb of the beast. There were still a few rolling hills but they seemed almost flat now. Ironic !
Rolled back into the parking lot of the winery and the race timer read 03:02:00. That is actually a pretty great time for me. The off season strength training may be paying off. I rolled towards the car and saw Carrie dart our from between a couple of cars with a sign that read “Go Rob!”.. She is the best cheerleader ever. (especially when I am worn out)
As we packed up the bike and the rest of my riding stuff Carrie told me she had been sitting in the car because the weather was bad & managed to sleep for 2 hours. Right about then there was a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder further reinforcing my decision to cut the route short.
All in all the “Beauty and the Beast” was a great ride and a heck of a way to start the 2013 riding season. Maybe on the next ride I can get some video and photos with my GoPro.
Thats all I know for now..
Rob
Merry Fitness Happy New Year Ride 2013
It is the best way to start out a year by hitting the road for 40 Texas cold miles on my noble steed (Specialized Roubaix).
For the second year I signed up for Bikin’ Mike’s Merry Fitness Happy New Year Ride. The ride starts a little later than most but that is not all bad because as you would expect it is colder than a well digger’s ass out there.
As memory serves the weather was not as bad as last year. I am not quite sure if it is just because I am in better shape and used to commuting or the weather really was better. The wind was out of the north about 10 miles per hour and the temperature at start was about 35 degrees according to my trusty GPS. Driving up to Blue Ridge (by god) Texas I drove through some pretty good rain and I think it scared off some of the participants. Not a heart breaker for me, smaller crowds are not all that bad.
We rolled out of Blue Ridge 5 or 10 minutes early. Definitely a first for any ride. I cannot remember a ride that started on time.. forget about early. Mike gave a pretty good pre-ride speech and we were off. I was at the top of the parking lot so the first out of the parking lot. I was a little amped by then to I took off (Or as my friend Dave might say “Attacked the course” (or something like that)). I got to mile 2 in what seemed like no time and looked back… I was all by myself. Make no mistake, I am not fast.. what the heck was going on.
By the time I reached mile 3-4 a guy on a nice Pinarello bike passed me. I gave out a “Happy New Year!”.. He never even looked at me… Happy New Year indeed…
Before the ride started there was a large amount of grumbling about not taking the long route and it showed out on the road. By the first rest stop at Princeton Texas, there were about 3 people in front of me and two next to me. To all of them I gave the same greeting of “Happy New Year” and was ignored by all but one. The one that did talk to me was a young guy, maybe in his early 20s. He asked me where we turn next because he did not know the course. Kinda funny when you think about it. The one guy who says anything back wants directions. The most striking thing about this guy was he was the only person I saw all day in shorts. I cannot imagine how cold that was. I gave him the rundown of turns although I doubt he got much of it.
Leaving Princeton we were into the wind. Being a big guy I am a favorite for everyone to get behind. Typically I do not mind but once I am exhausted they could be nice enough to pull me a bit. I am cranking away into the wind and some random guy pulls up next to me. Right about this time we (all the riders in earshot) hear rapid fire gunshots. Not what you want to hear in the country or anywhere else for that matter. It was a bit UN-nerving. You never know in Texas if the rednecks are shooting at or away from the road. Luckily when they came into sight there were a row of lifted pickup trucks with a gaggle of hillbillys shooting off guns like a war started in that pasture. It was a relief at any rate. About this time the random guy had pulled ahead of me a bit, not that I remotely care. If someone want to pass me, do it, I ride my page not a race. So he slows up next to me and starts talking again saying, “Staying in the draft of the big guy?”. To myself I think, “you have no idea what a big guy is compared to what I used to look like” and it offends the shit out of me when someone says that. I figured this tactless wonder was not talking to me and I hear a respond from off my back wheel, “Damned right I am” some gal says. For the rest of the day she would be on my wheel with every turn into the wind and pass me when we turned cross or tail wind. I don’t mind pulling most folks but you could at least try.
We hit the second rest stop in New Hope Texas. (not that I stopped at the first one in Princeton) I rolled on. I hate stopping at rest stops on really cold days because the water pools up as you sweat under all that thermofleece and wind barrier. When you start moving again, it is insanely cold. I knew there was a section of hills coming up so I slowed and ate some food from my jersey pockets. It worked out well. Let the guy and gal get out in front of me by about a quarter mile.
Even in this 2nd worst hill section of the ride, I really enjoyed it. Hills are not as hard as they were last year. I think that could be in part from riding RAGBRAI. I was by myself, listening to some tunes in the zone. The ride from here on out would mostly have a quartering tailwind and that is always welcome. There was also some pretty great scenery and back roads in this section of the ride. The worst section of hills was to come as well. These hills were daunting a couple years ago and still give the feeling of dread.
By the time I hit the hills I had caught the guy and gal again. I will give him credit, he is on phenomenal shape. She was not so much like him. He would rocket up the hills and she would fall behind me. This is where it got weird. After this section of hills we turn back east towards Blue Ridge for the final 5 miles or so. This guy takes off like a rocket. I don’t know if the gal was his wife, girlfriend or someone he met on the ride but wow, left her in the dust. We had two sections of road ahead into the North wind and by the time we passed the first one even I dropped her. I bet the last 3 miles was pretty miserable for her.
The best I could tell about 8 people rode the 40 mile route. When we hit that last hill section we caught a whole bunch of riders. They must have done the 15 or 28 mile rides. I was surprised to see so many people and I gave the ones who were suffering some encouragement. When I was new to riding I must have looked that miserable because random people would tell me it was almost over and we were almost there. Most the time I could tell how they meant it. I try to encourage those who look like they would rather be anywhere else in the world than right there.
The last northbound section was only about a mile and it in an area where there was nothing to block the wind. After cranking out the first 38 miles it seemed tough but not terrible. The last turn to the east into Blue Ridge climbs a long hill that seemed much easier than last year as well. I finished in a respectable 2 hours 30 minutes given the slow pace because of wet pavement and the wind. We were offered free black eye peas and cornbread but I was more interested in a nice warm cup of coffee from my thermos as I drove home.
This year I invested in a GoPro Hero3 black that I set up to take a picture every 10 seconds. You can see the compilation of the photos it took until the battery died. I can see an investment in GoPro batteries in my future !
Happy New Year to you all & Thanks to Bikin’ Mike for putting on another great ride. His rides never disappoint.
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
Mineola Metric Century 2012
A few weeks ago I was looking for a ride to split the month between the Bike the Bay tour and the upcoming Turkey Roll. The only ride even remotely in my area was the Mineola Metric Century. By in my area I mean it is only two and a half hours away from my house. Mineola is somewhat near Tyler Texas and I have a friend who happens to have a lake house just outside Tyler. I dropped him an email to see if he would be interested in participating in this ride so we could use his lake house for lodging the night before and he was in.
I sent a follow up email a few days before the ride to shore up the details and found out he was sick ! Disaster ! Luckily I had not preregister for this ride because the cheaper registration had ended so there was no point. You never know what you will get for weather in Texas in November so that was a factor as well. To my surprise, even though my friend Mike could not make the ride, he gave me use of his lake house to spend the night Friday. To him again I say THANKS Mike !!
I drove down to Hideaway (by god) Texas on Friday night. I picked up some super nutritious Whataburger on the way there in Canton Texas. It has been so long since I had a beef hamburger from a fast food restaurant.. it was glorious. I made the lake house in Hideaway by about 9:00 pm so it was pretty much time to get some sleep.
Sleeping is never easy the night before a ride I have never done before. I am not sure why but I still get very anxious about riding in events. I realized as I rolled up to the house that I left my sleeping meds in Allen. OOPS ! Needless to say, I got little sleep and was up at 6 am ready to head toward Mineola.
The drive from Hideaway to Mineola was beautiful. Out in the Texas version of god’s country there was fog in the trees that made the scenery very peaceful.
When I arrived at the ride start there were maybe 15 cars in the driveway. I immediately went to register and get a bib number. I was there early because on-time is 10 minutes late in my book. (that drives my wife batty) I was glad to be there early because by the time I was getting my bike ready for the event there was a line of about 30 people that was not getting smaller. The start was at the civic center and by ride start time the parking lot was almost full. The nice folks putting on the ride actually postponed the start for 15 minutes so that they could get everyone registered and the gentleman to announced the delay to us was very nice to admit they were overwhelmed. It is good to see such nice people overwhelmed in a way that helps their cause. It turns out the weather was predicted to be so nice that at the last minute a couple hundred people decided to make the drive to Mineola.
The ride started with the entire horde of riders following the sheriff through town. We weaved around the town center where they were having a festival. There was a remarkable number of folks cheering us on so early in the morning. The sheriff then led the pack out of town and things began to spread out a bit. The announcer had told us that the sheriff would lead us to a certain intersection and then we were “on our own”. Not a statement that gives a rider a warm fuzzy feeling. It was not as bad as it sounded though.
The ride out of town was an reminder of the pain we all feel riding over chip-seal. As I have commented before riding on chip-seal will shake loose your fillings from your teeth.
The scenery was beautiful. Green trees, green grass and a fog in the trees. The sun would break through the cloud layer every so often and shine through the trees hitting the fog in the air. It make a rainbow like refraction in the mist. It was in a word, breathtaking. There have been very few rides where I would look around and say out loud “Wow”.
Ride out of Mineola
The first 5 miles had a few moderate climbs. I knew when I decided to do this ride that it was projected to have 3400 feet in climb in the 63 miles. More than I have ever done in a single day, so this was going to be a challenge.
Long Climb – First of many
As we would climb up hills then descend back into valleys we would enter areas of fog then climb back out. The air was cold and the moisture in the air thick so it was very easy to breath and that was a good thing with real hills that were coming.
Fog across a bridge
Much of the roadway in the first 20 miles was lines with very tall trees. This is something we do not see in the Dallas area.
Tree Lined Country Road
The warm up roads were well behind us by mike 12 or so. The hills that were to come had to be a quarter mile in length with about 300 feet of climb. That does not sound like much, and to many people it probably isn’t, but to a rider of bigger size like I me that is used to riding in DFW, they are huge. Some of the hills were so far off where they would peak that we could not see them in the fog.
Climb out in the distance
I rode by the first rest stop as I normally do. When I arrived at the second rest stop it was pretty clear the over whelming of the volunteers was not over. They were some great old guys though. I stood there with my feet set firmly in an ant pile eating my banana, drinking my a Gatorade and taking to them. The ants sucked but everything else was pretty awesome. I was about 20 miles into the overall ride at this point and was feeling pretty good. My climbing ability has improved and I was proud when at the biggest climb of the first section I passed a group of 8 riders or so at the crest of the hill that had to stop and get off their bikes in order to catch their breath. When I first started riding a couple year ago I often had to do the same after climbing even small hills because my cardio fitness was so poor. It is a small victory for a big guy !
Another Beautiful Climb
The good side of a climb
The second rest stop was at the start of a loop around Hawkins Lake. The view was so beautiful the name of the lake is burned into my memory. When I got to the stop I was the only rider there. The volunteers were awesome. Very friendly folks. I had an amusing conversation with one of the ladies manning the food area. She was giving me a rundown of the food they had available. With every option she gave me there would be a follow up comment of “That’s not healthy” or “That’s healthy”. I was so tickled by her caring about the nutrition. I explained to her that what I needed was dense calories and her home made chocolate chip cookies were going to be just what I needed. When I asked her if I could take two bags (4 cookies) I thought she was going to burst with joy. She was thrilled someone wanted her cookies over all the healthy fruit.
I took a few minutes to eat a cookie and drink a Gatorade when another rider rolled up. This guy was going on and on (not the most pleasant chap) with the man who was nice enough to hold my bike about where the turn off was for the 35 mile route. Mind you, this rest stop was at the 30 mile mark and there was no 35 mile route. I suggested that he go back to the main road, turn left and cross the bridge over the lake. The course took a route around the perimeter of the lake and brought us right back to the other side of that bridge… within sight of where we entered the lake area. After the other cyclist rolled back toward the road I joked with the cookie lady that if that guy wanted to make a 35 mile loop he made a mistake about an hour back. She laughed with me and shook her head.
Before we rolled out of the start area the man making the announcements said, “When you get to the lake we have not marked the route but if you come to a turn, just go towards the lake”. Words that sent a shutter through my whole body. This type of arrangement never ends well in my experience. I was kind of lucky that when I rolled out of the rest stop a group of riders who happen to be locals passed me. I got up on the pedals and caught them so I would not get lost. Good fortune shines on me again !
Behind the locals
One of several turns at the lakefront
A very nice lake house on the water… Unique
This portion of the ride was about as close as you can get to a fall foliage tour. The trees around the lake were changing colors and were quite dense. The roads were lines with fallen leaves. Beautiful. It was the highlight of the entire ride… Glad I didn’t take the 35 mile route. This 10 miles around the lake were the by far the most beautiful.
Nice roads and beautiful trees
More nice scenery
The third rest stop was within the perimeter of the lake road. This stop had one solo lady trying to keep all the cyclist supplied. She was so nice and willing to do just about anything to keep everyone who rolled in happy. She was filling water bottles about the time I stopped. I did not need anything accept a rest for a minute and part of a chocolate chip cookie. Life and the view was beautiful.
View from the rest stop
The conversation at this stop was starting to turn towards what kind of terrain was ahead of us. One of the locals was telling everyone how many huge hills were ahead of us. It was hard to not hear him because he was pretty much yelling because he never took his earphones out. It was odd. At any rate, he painted a painful picture of what was to come.
The last turn before the lake area exit
The hill out of the lake area was painted by the yeller and a monster. I have to say, it was not that bad compared to some of the hills I climbed in the first 20 miles. I passed a rider coming down the other side of that hill and turned at the tour marker. As I came to a Y in the road the same guy passed me. The road I took per the route was pothole-o-mania. It was horrible. The other guys was a local and knew the road we passed met this one and was nice and smooth. We started talking when I was about to pass him again. He said “You get to pass me for a second time” to which I said, “Nah, how are you today?”. We had a great cyclist conversation that took my mind of the worn legs and sore back for about 4 miles. We talked about general cycling stuff, rides we had done and how after a punishing ride we all say “never again” but within a week forget the pain then sign up for the next one. It is a great moment in life when you have a conversation with a complete stranger and understand each other completely. It was another highlight of the ride.
When we came to the next really big hill I started to pull away from my conversation partner and he wished me well and I told him to have a great rest of the ride. He had told me how he is not good on big hills so I did not want to apply passive pressure for him to stay with me talking.
There were a series of pretty aggressive climbs that lead is to highway 80 east of Mineola. Being on the side of a busy roadway like highway 80, picture taking stopped.
This was the first time that I really felt a headwind all day. The aching started back and luck would have it the event organizers put a strategically placed rest stop out on the highway. It was manned by a boy scout troop. The great thing at this stop was that they were actually cooking some kind of cobbler right there at the rest stop. It was cool to watch but I did not have any because it was not ready. I sat in a chair and had a couple orange Gatorades while a boyscout held my bike. As I was sitting there I noticed the scouts handing my bike around because they were shocked it was so light. When I walked over to get back on the bike one of the younger scouts said, “That is a really nice bike”. I told him thanks and keep up the good work.
Back into the wind I went heading west. We only had about 4 more miles before we turned back south towards the nature preserve. This area was rolling hills that seemed to go on and on. There were peaks that you could see across the rolling hills that still had some mist. It was breathtaking.. Once again I said “Wow” out-loud for no one to hear. I took a photo that does no justice to the beauty of the vista…
Breathtaking View
This area was followed by a turn north back towards Mineola and believe you me, I was ready. My dogs were barking. At the last rest stop I talked to a older gentleman who told me, “at about mile 40 I get the hot foot.” I asked him what it felt like and was amazed, I had the same pain. I need to Google it to see what can be done although it is probably like that pain we all get at our shoulder blades that we are all sure could be eased by some nice person sinking a knife into our backs too cure. Cyclists know exactly what I am talking about…
The turn north was with the wind but was one of the longest turning climbs I have ever seen. At the top there was a bridge and about 200 yards from that point the climb negated the wind, it became hot and punishing. I remembered from the route map that we would ride all the way around the town and then back in from the North. I passed some people that were part of the ride that were on mountain bikes. I assume they did the 40ish mile route. That would be tough on a heavy bike and one of the women was walking her bike up one of the hills. Having been there, I feel for her. There were about 3 more good climbs then I turned south. Luckily the start are snuck up on me and I was pleased to find myself back in the parking lot at the back of my truck.
The lady at the food table would say to everyone who rolled in, “Congratulations, what took you so long”. It was funny every time because the reactions of riders were priceless.
I packed up my bike and changed clothes quickly. As riders we were entitled to a free beer and bowl of chili at the festival downtown. I decided against it thought since I had a 2.5 hour drive home and had only a few hours before my nephew’s eagle-scout ceremony. Not a chance I could miss that.
The Mineola Metric Century was one of the most beautiful and challenging rides I have done. I found it to be rewarding in several ways and I will do my best to make their future events and recommend it highly.
Next ride… Turkey Roll our of Denton on the 17th. My friend Dave and I will go back to where it all started 3 short years ago.
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
Galveston Bike Around The Bay Tour Day 2
Day 2 of the Bike the Bay event started early. I got up about 5 am to get ready and without a doubt the 94 miles the day before took a toll physically. I was very sore in both the knees and shoulders. A nice warm shower helped loosen things up a bit.
For some reason I still don’t understand, the Hilton in Galveston was unable to arrange a taxi to get me back to Moody Gardens in the morning. I had to call down 15 minutes before I was ready and get them to call the cab company then. Bizarre I tell you. At any rate I went downstairs and the timing worked out perfectly. As I walked out the door, there was my taxi. The driver was a very nice guy and talkative for 5:45 in the morning. He was concerned we could not get close to Moody Gardens because the police block off the streets for the event. In a freakish stroke of luck we were able to drive all the way to the lobby. Might be a good day after all. (we would at least have a tail wind for more miles this day)
I knew my number 1 concern was food. I had to get something substantial to eat because the rest stops had such low calorie snacks. The only place open was Starbucks and as I approached the counter I noticed that they had two egg, sausage and cheese english muffin sandwiches. I bought both of them. This made me wildly unpopular with the 4 cyclists behind me in line. I took as seat and tried to enjoy my sandwiches & Cafe Americano. To be honest the sandwiches were not very good. the muffins were basically right out of the package un-toasted. The gal did heat them up in a microwave but I am convinced that just made them worse. At any rate, it was about 600 calories and that is all that matters. Now that I was fed, it was time to go get the bike out of storage.
I walked the half mile around Moody Gardens toting my rolling dufflebag. I got to the bike lockup and there had to be 10 volunteers standing here checking out bikes. The system was basically to compare the rider’s bib number to the number on the bike you try to exit with. As I approached the entryway a woman who had best intentions I am sure approached me and said, “Bag check-in is over there sir” to which I said,”I still need it for now”. This was not good enough for this nice lady and she insisted, “Sir, Bag check-in is right over there”. For those who know me they will not be surprised when I tell you that when I am tired, I have little to no sense of humor and even less patience. I know this nice lady is there as a volunteer but after trying to tell her I needed it and to have her block my path I snapped a bit at her. Yea, I am ashamed to admit, there was a F-bomb. I apologize with all my heart if you happen to read this nice lady. I was just sore and tired, it was not your fault.
My bike looked like I left it on the afternoon before and I was honestly relieved. I am very nervous about leaving my bike anywhere that it is at the mercy of others. Some people have little respect for their own bike, save nothing about any other persons ride. I grabbed my bike out of the rack and walked it out through the checkpoint. I unloaded the front pocket of my bag of all my gadgets and water bottles. I turned in my bag for transport back to Mont Belvieu and walked my bike over to fill the tires.
The organizers put several air pumps out in the middle of the driveway which we all appreciated. The only problem, since they are out in the middle of the roadway there is nowhere to lean you bike while you fill the tubes. It is pretty hard to hold the bike with one hand and work a pump with the other. I struggled a bit and a very nice older gentleman walked up with his bike and offered to hold my bike if I returned the favor while he filled his tires.
I figure I am home free at this point and started towards a comfortable looking bench near the start line. The announcer was making a bunch of general info announcements and talking about Shell as the title sponsor. I was about 10 feet from the bench with my bike in hand when he said “Be sure to fill those water bottles and stay hydrated today”.. DOH ! Back I go the main area to fill my water bottles. Now I was ready and took my place on the bench waiting for the start if the ride.
Start Line Day 2
I was still there way early but there were some rules around the second day start that made it paramount that riders not be late. The most important was that everyone had to start on time because all riders were to go from Moody Gardens to a Home Depot parking lot near the cos-way out of Galveston. It is against the law to ride a bike across the cos-way out of Galveston on a bicycle. A special arrangement was made with the sheriff’s department to escort the ride across so this means everyone had to group up. In the Home Depot parking lot the SAG vehicles were marked with speeds. the instruction was to choose the van that shows your average pace on a bike. It was not clear if they meant speed in general or speed on a cos-way so I chose very conservatively. I went with 17-20 mpg group which was the middle. The idea is for all the class of riders and their van to stay together across the bridge. In theory a good plan…
Cos-Way Staging
Cyclist as far as the eye can see.. A beautiful thing
The problem with this cunning plan was that the overall pace even of the 21-25 SAG was well below 15 mph. All the riders stacked up behind the vans at a slow spin and tried not to hit each other. It was nerve wracking. We stayed on the service road until right at the bridge start. The two right lanes were coned off for the most part over the whole bridge and about 200 yards into the climb all the sag vans crossed over to the traffic lanes and the bikes were on their own. I thought this was odd but it worked out for the best because it made a bunch more room. I imagined this ride across the bridge would be awesome from the perspective of the view. As it turns out, the bikes were so packed in the whole way up coupled with the fact stopping for any reason (like to take a picture) was strictly prohibited so the experience was mostly nerves and focus on other cyclists. I don’t know that I ever looks out from the roadway the whole time. Funny how things turn out in reality compared to expectations. Needless to say, I have no pictures from this section of the ride.
After climbing the cos-way and speeding on down I was warmed up and feeling remarkably good. There were a couple smaller bridges before we exited highway 35 and took a road towards Texas City. If you have never been to Texas City it is almost entirely filled with refiner and oils/gas facilities. I can say with no doubt at all that this was the very best piece of road on the entire ride. The blacktop between 35 and the turn in Texas City was smooth and new. After hours and hours of chip-seal rattling fillings out of your teeth the day before, I cannot put into words how wonderful smooth blacktop feels. It inspires speed.
I got into a micro pace-line with two other riders. We were maintaining 25-27 mph. It was awesome. The entire blacktop road we stayed together with only inches between out tires. It is an incredible feeling. We were passing gobs of people, zoom zoom zoom. It seemed in only a few minutes we were past the 5 miles of road and we made the turn off the new road. Just like that… Back to reality. These guys were crazy fast. Once we were on the cracked up, chip seal road I got dropped but that was OK because a pace like that would wear me out in 20 miles.
Now that I was back into my normal speeds zone and not using only the smallest gear on my cassette, I noticed that my bike was not really shifting all that well. It was skipping gears, then pulling back into lower gears. I was taken back a bit by this because on day 1 it was flawless. At the first rest stop I had a mechanic look at the problem. It was still early in the day and it was pretty clear that these guys did not want to be out there. A lot of folks on the charity rides treat the mechanics like they are a service that they are entitled too. I do not share this sentiment so once the guy not only adjusted my shifting but took time to also oil my chain, I took what cash I had in my jersey pocket, said thanks and gave it to him. He looked shocked but in my opinion earned it. We are not talking $500.00, I had maybe 8-10 bucks. He took care of me so the least I could do it buy him a beer or two post ride.
The bike did respond better after his adjustments but it is clear that someone else in storage was nice enough to rough up my rear derailleur. Bastards ! (Jump forward to present day my bike it at the shop getting the rear derailleur hanger replaces because it was so bent.)
Monument at the beginning of the Dam
Dam Trail Road
From the rest stop we climbed onto a dam crest and rode a trail for about 3 miles north. The nasty surprise at this point was that we exited the trail and almost immediately went to a parallel road half the distance back south and had to fight a headwind that had building. It was punishing.
From this section of ride there was a lot of grinding out miles. As the day wore on I started to feel the fatigue that the previous day’s grind put on my body. We had a couple really big bridge climbs north of Texas City and they really took what was left out of my legs. To make this situation more difficult the heat began to build up at we crept towards noon.
Bridge top view
The lunch break was again somewhat late in the ride like the day before at mile 56. It would not be a stretch to day I was out of gas by the time I hit the lunch stop. The volunteers were working as hard as they could cooking hamburgers and hot dogs but they were clearly overwhelmed. The worst thing that could have happened at this point was to be left without a lunch plate because the cooks just could not keep up. I waited around for about 30 minutes to get my hands on a hamburger. The mid day sun was really beating down on the park where lunch was set up and there was little shade since 200 cyclists all showed up at once. It was not terribly pleasant experience overall. I decided after sitting in the heat for the duration of getting lunch that I was just out of gas and planned to SAG.
Getting a SAG wagon to actually take you and your bike was no small feat at this event. I finally convinced one of the drivers to load me up. It was so nice to be in air conditioning. I rode with them for quite a while because we went to the next rest stop then back to the lunch stop, then back to the next stop. On the second trip to the next stop the van filled with other riders in the same situation and the driver was assigned to proceed on to the last rest stop before he finish. When we arrived at this stop it was clear that the only option was to ride in the last 7 miles because I had enough of the riding rest stop to rest stop. It was not a terrible ride in but it took a good two miles for my knees to loosen up enough to pedal with much force without pain.
Over the last Overpass… Finish in sight (irony is that SAG wagon is the one I rode in)
I ended up SAG’ing about 20 miles of the ride by skipping two segments. I do not really regret the decision because the 94 miler the day before was a great achievement. I had hoped to put my first (and maybe last) Century in the books on this ride but it was not meant to be. I will have to save that for next year’s RAGBRAI.
The Bike the Bay tour was a good experience on the whole but I doubt I will go to the trouble to do it again next year. The scenery overall is just not worth it unless you are really into hurricane flattened scrub brush.
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
Galveston Bike Around The Bay Tour Day 1
This last weekend I undertook the ride in Galveston that would take me completely around the bay of Galveston Texas. I drove down from Dallas on Friday afternoon to pick up my packet and check into a hotel in Baytown Texas. My wife Carrie was supposed to accompany me like on most my rides but could not because she fell ill. It is always a lot for fun for me when she is waiting at the end and especially on a ride of this length, to help me. The drive down was quite nice because the weather was beautiful. I arrived in Houston about 4 pm and headed straight to the bike shop where I was to pick up my packet and jersey. The bike show is one we do not have in Dallas called Bike Barn. Nice enough place and a huge variety of bikes. I did not really shop though.
I checked into my hotel, a really nice Hampton Inn there is Baytown. If you ever find yourself in need of a hotel in that area I recommend it highly. I took in a quick spaghetti dinner to load up with carbs and hit the bed to get some sleep pretty early. I mapped out day 1 of this ride the best I could and calculated the distance to be 107 miles.
I got up pretty early because the ride started at 7:30 and I was staying about 10 miles from the start area. The drive over was easy because I was so early. I got parked in one of the school parking lots and started to ready my bike and gear for the ride. It was still dark out so prepping was a bit difficult. I had to put my bag in a queue for transport to Galveston for the overnight since I did not have Carrie to drive my stuff down. The volunteers were great and check-in was simple. That early in the morning I was glad too experience it. On some rides I think they try to make things purposely difficult to discourage use of the services.
Once the luggage was in place and I was all geared up it was time to head over to the start area. Still being dark there was almost nobody in the area yet. I sat on a curb leaning my back on a pole and watched the sun rise. It was peaceful and beautiful. After sunup the crowd started to gather so I made my way into the middle of the pack to lien up for the start of the ride.
Start Line Day 1 Bike around the Bay
I do not know why the side of the start finish line blowup was saying finish, probably some simple mistake.
There were the usual blah blah statements that are not ever really memorable. People thanking people for being people who do stuff for people. We had a recorded version of the National Anthem and were told to ready for the start. Most of the people at the start were not overly friendly but it always seems to be that way because everyone is tense about the ride. The starts are always nerve-wracking because it is probably the most dangerous part of every ride. You never know what the person next to you will do. A warning was given that just past the start there was a sharp turn south and we were lined up wider than the turn already. Oiy !
The command to start was given and the front of the pack was off, slowly. These were all Shell riders because they were the title sponsor. Overall a nice bunch of folks too I would learn through the day. I stayed pretty still for about a minute and finally was able to at least role. I am never in a hurry because it does not take much for a front sprocket to go through a carbon frame if you get into someone. As soon as I made the corner I knew we were all in for a heck of a day as I took a face full of about a 20 mile per hour wind.
We only traveled south for about a half mile then got on the service road to I10 headed east. There was a bridge coming up that was the first time restricted area. If you did not make the bridge by 10 am you could not pass it. I think you could walk there that fast.
Road way on I-10 East
The bridge was only about 5 miles from the start and the pace for the group I hooked up with was brisk. We maintained about 24 mile per hour going east to the bridge. The first few miles are always fast because everyone is all pumped up from the ride starting. sorry for the blurriness of my photos, I was riding and taking pictures.
Top of the bridge
The scenery in this area really was breathtaking. There was a lot of green and a few swamp looking areas with moss in the trees and those wide bottom swamp trees. Really beautiful stuff. I could not take a photo of the swamp area because I was riding downhill off the bridge and trying not to die. Once off the bridge we exited to back-roads where we would be for most of the next 3 hours. As soon as we took to these back roads I slowed my pace because the roads were not nearly as nice to ride on and why push so hard. It was going to be a very long and tough day.
Back-road with moss in the trees
We were basically headed south east for the first 40 miles or so with a 20 mph crosswind gusting to about 30. When we were further north it was not much of a problem because we were sheltered by trees. As we moved south though, the trees dissipated and the landscape became both ugly and baron. The closer we got the the coast I was expecting the scenery to get better and I was quite shocked to see that it only got uglier as we rode on. I reached the 3rd rest stop in about two and a half hours. This is a painfully slow pace for me on any normal ride being the rest stop was at about mile 30. What would be the most challenging part of the ride was coming up and we all knew it. We had a leg of the ride that was due south into the killer wind. Nobody was looking forward to it.
At the turn south my pace immediately dropped from 12-14 mph to about 6-8. Every pedal stroke was hard work and to add insult to injury there was a massive bridge we had to climb over between us and the next rest stop. It is hard to give a real idea how tough this bridge was but we were climbing a stout angle in a 20 mph wind that seemed to come over the bridge. It was tough.
Upcoming bridge from Google Earth
Almost every person who rides endurance events will tell you that the best part of a massive bridge is the other side because you get to coast down. This area outside Galveston Texas actually defies the law of gravity. For the first time ever I had to pedal DOWN a bridge. The 30mph wind in our faces made a coast all but impossible. What a let down…
The rest area was about 2 more miles of the road and was a welcomed site. We had been on bikes now for 3 hours and 35 minutes. Fatigue was starting to set in from the fight against the constant wind and it was starting to get really hot. As you can see from my shots, there was not a cloud in the sky and even after applying sun screen I was starting too burn. It was odd though because the burn was a combination of sun and wind. I sat at this rest stop just resting for a good while. I wanted to make sure I was really re-hydrated (as I can get) and feeling as good as I can. I witnessed a couple people who really should have thrown in the towel at that stop and SAG in. They were already dehydrated and showing the signs.
There was a trend developing with the rest stops on this ride by this stop around mile 45. The food was pretty terrible for cycling. The food consisted of Cheezits, Nilla Wafers, Bananas and Mini pretzels. The problem here is that none of those things has a particularly high density of sugar (carbs) to refuel our muscles. I knew by this stop, this day was going too get really painful on the nutrition front. I had some sports beans and chomps with me (thank god) so it was not as terrible as is could have been.
I left out of this far east rest stop with the false hope given to my by other cyclists who had done this ride before that the section southwest towards Galveston would be easier. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
I had a mile to go south then turned west on the road that parallels the coastline. That wind off the water was unabated in how it punished me now. Even thought it was a cross wind mostly we were headed southwest and it still grabbed my body and wheels. The problem with deep dish carbon wheels in wind is that it catches them on a crosswind so it is constant work.
Gulf of Mexico Coastline
The coastline was pretty but that got old after about 2 miles. The terrain was incredibly flat which is a nice change of pace to from places like Iowa and Colorado. The down side of this is you can see how damned far you have to go.
Long way to go !
The gap between the rest stop and Lunch (next stop) was 16 miles. 16 long painful miles. The pace was slow and the heat was beating down on me. I was now emptying my water bottles at an alarming rate. As you can see from the shots above there was nothing out there. Not a store or bar, nothing. I ran out of water before lunch about 4 miles before the turn off to the marina where it was held. There is nothing worse than heat like this in a wind where you have to work for every mile and running our of water.
Lunch was pretty good. They had several kinds of sandwiches available. The problem was that lunch was at mile 56 and that was way too late. As you ride along in these events you get fatigued and drink gallons of water. This has a very upsetting affect on your stomach. By the time I reached the lunch stop I was barely able to consider eating. I was working on a headache from dehydration and had a very upset stomach. I had to sit in a breeze for 20 minutes to consider eating. Once able I had a turkey sandwich and some potato chips. I could have had more but I physically couldn’t. I asked medical for some Tylenol (or like) and was told they had none. That was another first for any ride.
I was dreading leaving lunch because we had to go straight south for about 2 miles to reach the main road. I filled my bottles with ice-water and started the trek. It was not nearly as bad as I imagined. Often the dread is far worse than than actual act. The one hiccup was a big redneck truck cut me off and separated me from a group of people I had worked too catch on the side road. I could use their bodies as some degree of shelter and not expend so much energy moving up the road. It was not too be and I was not happy but what are you gonna do. I was too tired too pick a fight with the redneck.
Once on the main road I continued southwest at a painfully slow pace. I actually stopped a few times on the side of the road where I cold find shade under a bulletin board and next to buildings. I stopped outside some kind of bar at once point. I sat in the shade as patrons came and went. I was at about mile 70 at this point and was really tired. All I wanted to do was cool off. It was hot and I could feel my breath as I exhaled was even hotter. Not a good sign. Many of the patrons asked me what we (the people on bikes) were doing and I told them about the tour. Most of them though I and the rest of the cyclists were insane. I agreed at that time. I decided that it would be good to rest my back so I took the Ziploc bag with my phone, ID and credit card out my jersey pocked and laid back. After a few minutes of resting I decided it was time to get back on the road so I saddled up and got back on the road. I got about a mile up the road when I realized that I never picked up my phone and it was sitting out in the open on the concrete porch. I turned around and rode straight back up the westbound side of the road in a sprint. I got some looks out of other people on the ride but I did not want to lose my stuff.. These are teh kinds of mistakes you make when you get that tired.
I pressed on and ran out of water once again. I cannot even start to express what it is like to be out of liquid and trying too pedal in the heat when all you can think about is how thirsty you are. After about 5 – 6 miles without water I came upon a beer store across the road. We were not supposed too cross the road but between perceived death and a infraction of a rule, I am a rule breaker. The guys in the beer store were both foreign, middle-eastern. They had no idea what I was doing and looked at me like an alien. I bought two big bottles of Gatorade and the one checking me out at the register asked what I was going to do with all of it. I told him I was going to stand there and drink it. He really didn’t believe me until I had the first one empty in less than a minute. They warmed up to me a bit as I sipped the second bottle and I told them what we were doing. They were shocked and amazed.
The route from lunch took us to a ferry in Bolivar that would take us across the water to Galveston. I asked my two new friends how far that was and they said, only about a mile or two. Damn…. I stopped and paid for Gatorade when the rest stop was two more miles. Of-course that is easy to say once you are cooled off and full of orange Gatorade.
I thanked them both and was much more optimistic about survival then headed out on my bike again. I crossed back over and almost immediately ran into a massive line oof cars. These would turn out ot all be waiting ont he ferry as well. Sure enough about two more miles ahead, police vectored me into the ferry rest stop. Everyone was happy to see the ferrys. It meant we got a break and only had about 10 miles too go.
Ferry Dock
Waiting on the Ferry
The Ferry
Galveston Ahead
The ferry ride was about 30 minutes and a well deserved break. Everyone had fresher legs coming off the boat ride and we headed out on the last 9 miles. The route took us through the strand area then across to the seawall right by the new pleasure pier attraction. the ride across Galveston to that point was mostly stop and start, stop and start at lights and red lights. Very tiring. Once we hit the pleasure pier at the seawall it all changed. The city had the lane closest to the water blocked off with cones. We had the lane to ourselves and were headed to Moody Gardens.
Myself and one other rider were pacing each other at the front of the group. The wind was once again painful to pedal against. At some point when I was getting very fatigued I asked him “when the heck to we turn”. He told me at 81st street. I looked up at the next light, we were at 61st… 20 blocks to go. I wished I was dead.
Eventually we got there and turned North towards Moody. I was so tired and hot that I really did not care that we were now being pushed by the wind because I was so exhausted it did not register. the catch 22 off being pushed by the wind in a case like this is that you now have no breeze too cool you and it is unbelievably hot. Those last 6 miles up the sea wall and north to Moody were absolutely some of the hardest miles I have ever ridden. We turned into Moody Gardens and had a very warm welcome from the finish line people.
Moody Gardens Entrance
I took my bike straight to lock up and ditched it then went into the first air conditioned hallway I could find and sat on a bench. I set my bottles on the floor and just sat there trying to get cool. After starting to feel better I headed out to pick up my bag. I could not get a room at Moody Gardens so I had to get ride over to the Hilton. This was the time I really missed having my road support team with me (Carrie). When I walked into the lobby I asked a bellman if there was a taxi stand or anything like that. He actually laughed. I was expecting too much of Galveston I am guessing. He then told me that Moody has signed up to run people to the other hotels but Hilton is not on the list. He had to go talk to the manager. He returned to me with the manager in tow and I knew this might not be good. The manager told me that Hilton is not on the list and I could get a room at Moody for the night. I was a little miffed at this because given a choice, I would have stayed there for ease sake. I told him that I already burned the points and they would be lost so I need to get to the Hilton. The manager was not happy but walked away. The bellman told me, “I can see you are exhausted and I feel for you. Come on out to the van and I will just take you.” He was a really nice guy. I am ashamed to admit that I was so tired I cannot remember his name.
He and I headed out to the Moody van and he put my bag in the back when I got that nagging feeling like I am forgetting something. Right then it hit me… My water bottles are way over at the convention center next to that bench.. DAMMIT ! I told the bellman, “I will pay someone to go get those bottles for me. I just cannot walk all the way over there again”. He volunteered to go get them so I explained where the bench was and he was off. I sat in the nice and cool lobby while he was gone. I must have looked pretty pathetic because at-least 5 people walked up to me and asked if I was ok.
He returned with my bottles and we were off. We talked the whole way to the Hilton about the ride and the State Fair in Dallas. I could not have been luckier than to meet such a genuinely nice person. He dropped me off and I checked into the hotel without any real issue. That Hilton in Galveston is not the nicest place in the world. I have seem some really nice Hilton properties, even the Hampton in Baytown was an upgrade from this place, but it was a place to cool off and take a shower. The post ride shower is, for me, a little agony with the comforts of getting clean. I am always stiff and sore post ride and bending this way and that to wash is never comfortable. Ofcourse with my cool new sunburn, as soon as I get out of the shower I am shivering because I am so cold. From one extreme to another in a half hour.
I ate dinner out front of the hotel at Landry’s Seafood and it was fantastic. Once again, just what I needed.
I cannot lie, I was already starting to dread getting back on the bike in the morning. My saddle was sore as heck. I have a very bad habit as I get tired I sit very poorly on my saddle. This lead to all kinds of problems like extra sore areas where the saddle puts pressure on my sit bones and even worse, numbness. It is always a concern when there is any numbness anywhere because it can always mean nerve damage. I thought my Romin saddle finally had all this worked out but I think I have some more work to do (at least for super long rides).
I returned to my room and took three Tylenol and a Lunesta because I had to sleep. Tylenol for all the pains and Lunesta for the anxiousness of Sunday’s Ride…. I slept well.
The story of day two will follow this post soon…
That’s all I know for now.
Rob
Cotton Patch Challenge – Greenville Texas 2012
Today was I was back on the bike in a tour ride in Greenville Texas. Greenville is about 40 miles east of Allen, so we were able to drive over this morning. It made things even better than the tour did not start until 9 am.
The weather was almost perfect for a ride. I had to wear full finger gloves because the wind riding was a bit cool. Typically if the ambient temperature drops below 68 degrees I have problems with my fingers and toes being extremely cold and aching.
Carrie and I arrived in Greenville about 7:45 am. A little early but it proved to be a good decision. We parked a few blocks away from the start/finish area so we could get out when I was done.
Carrie walked toward the square and I decided to ride over to I could at least exercise the ZIPP wheels since I have not had them on the bike since the rear was rebuilt by ZIPP from all the spoke trouble. I rode around the square and just made my way around the corner where the announcer was stationed when BLAM !!! Oh yea, blew the tube so good on the back that the tire was unseated and rubbing the frame as it tried to go around. For those of you who have never heard a road bike tube blow out, it sounds like a gunshot. All the people in the area gave our a mass “whew” when it happened. the announcer, a salty old gentleman I assume from Greenville added my to his commentary. “That there folks is why we have bike shops on site to take care of your mechanical issues. Young man, head on over to the mechanic to get that tube replaced and don’t forget to give him a tip.” I went to the Plano Cycle tent/truck which was conveniently right there next to me. The mechanic that came out to the ride from Plan Cycle was the guy who I always want to work on my bike in their shop. He is a great guy and had the tube replaced in no time.
New tube in place, Carrie made her way over and we took a seat on a wall on the side of the town square courthouse to wait for the start to the tour. As is typical of pre-ride areas, I had a conversation with a guy who rode the Hotter than hell 100 this year. He had a lot of stories and it helped kill the time. He had been on this tour before and he had some pretty great insights to the ride and really big hills on the route.
The announcers carried our a very brief set of announcements and said they were going to do an early start to the tour. This was the first ride I have ever been to that you did not do the national anthem. It was kind of nice to not have to struggle to get my helmet off. Everyone scrambled to get the best starting spot.
Me at the start of the Cotton Patch Tour ~ taken my Carrie.
The announcers had only a couple more words and pretty much said “Have a good ride, now go” and we were off.
There was a bit of a northeast wind we were riding into going out. Just outside Greenville a pretty huge pack of uniformly skilled riders formed and we made a pretty great pace-line. A pace-line is very common in a riding into the wind because every rider behind the lead bike uses about 40% of the effort to ride into the wind. This was a great development.
Example of a cycling pace line
Our pace-line was not nearly as neat as the photo above and it was ever changing. As the line works out most riders who are similar in speed ability end up grouped together. Until this point though, it can be extremely hectic and sometimes dangerous. There was once cyclist that was having some problems keeping the pace and in trying to keep pace would jump out of the line & stand to pedal hard then dive back into line. The problem is that when she would dive back in she would not really even look around and she almost hit a couple others in the line several times. This is not a man/woman thing, it is a speed of rider thing. She was a very short woman and it was clear keeping up with a pace-line of tall male riders was tough. I feel for her but the diving in got old so I applied some gas to my legs and got well ahead of her.
Most of the time we were in the pace-line a few of us took turns leading. Pretty much as soon as the person in front of me is slowing to where I can pass them easy, I will take a turn because they earned it. One of my pet peeves in riding is when I pull someone from 10 miles they they rocket by me with fresh legs with not so much as a “thanks”. It is just rude and happens quite often because I am a big guy. Everyone wants in my air pocket because it is fairly huge in comparison to most people riding.
We made it as a line passing a few rest stops to mile 28 or so. At this rest stop almost everyone stopped. It was kind of funny because the volunteers at the rest stop were clearly overwhelmed but had the best attitude so nobody cared. They were 4 or 5 old gentlemen who were some of the friendliest and talkative I have met. Once most the people had a cookie or piece of watermelon some conversation sparked up. Several people had the same thing to say which was our pace-line was one of the very best and fastest they have ever been in. We made it from Greenville to the rest stop in 1 hour and 12 minutes. For most of us that is a blistering pace.
After the rest stop there were no more real pace-lines. As is typical the groups break up because nobody stays at the break for the same amount of time. I got back on the road in Leonard (by god) Texas and headed towards what I had been warned were some pretty challenging hills. I prepared myself mentally but really was no concerned. It has been a big hill year for me and I have grown as a cyclist in that manner I feel.
I got to the hill section and the first 3 were a piece of cake. The 4th one though was no joke. It was particularity steep and as I came to teh steepest section of the hill I realized that I could not shift down even though I had lower gears on my rear wheel. I hit a pivotal moment where you have a choice, You can fall over because you cannot maintain momentum to stay upright or you can clip out and get off the bike. I chose to get off because I have had my fill of falls this year. I tried to work out what was going on but on the steep hill is no place to do derailleur maintenance. I could not get the gear to drop and tried to get back up on the bike. It was a disaster. My left foot in trying to lock my cleat to the pedal slipped and I crashed down on my saddle (seat) so hard it went from the normal horizontal position to the nose pointing down. Good times ! Needless to say I stopped again and managed to get my rear derailleur to shift down one more gear. I got back up and locked into the pedals then crested the hill. The volunteer was very nice and wanted to try to help me but I told him that I just needed to stop and get my saddle back in a place I can sit on it. I pulled out my multi-tool to loosen my seat bolt so I could get things back to normal. This almost never works out well because I never seem to get the seat back where it was and I can look forward to an afternoon of adjustments to try to get it right.
I set the saddle the best I could and started down the next hill after thanking the volunteer. I was pleasantly surprised to find my saddle was in a better position than I had to start the day. It was so much more comfortable.
The major hills were behind me so I took the opportunity to adjust my rear derailleur in a place less difficult. The adjustments are made through the normal shifting switches in a special mode while riding on the electric shifting bikes. This is the risk of an electric shift system. On a cable system you can more or less force a shift with over pull on the cable. On an electric system, if the motor for some reason does not want to shift, it won’t.
Most of the rest of the ride was uneventful. Since I was now with the wind, it was a fast ride south. Thge last town I stopped to have a snack and water is called Wolfe City, Texas. The rest stop was in the city fire station and was manned by a group of older woman. They were so sweet and offered all they had to make our ride easier. I ate watermelon as usual and a couple cookies. What I need is fast carbs and luckily for me I like cookies.
I rolled back into the square of downtown Greenville at 12:39 pm. I expected to finish in over 4 hours because I have been neglecting long distance training. This was by far my fastest ride to date. I covered 63.19 miles in 3:23:10 at a average moving speed of 18.7. The elevation gain for the day was 1693 feet which is not a bad day of climbing in Texas. A great day and a good feeling for me personally that I am growing as a cyclist.
Cotton Patch Tour 2012 GPS Track
I met Carrie and our friends at the Landon Winery where she had managed to get us a fantastic table.This was a perfect ride for Carrie because it was sponsored and hosted by Landon Winery. She enjoyed her day of reading in a park then hosting friends with wine and lunch at her table. She tells me that every ride can be like this one and she would be good with that.
Our friend Dave managed to pull out a 5th in his race at the Cotton Patch Challenge and his wife Becky, who drove out to Greenville to hang out with us after she ran a marathon in Dallas called “Tour des Fleurs” and WON ! GO BECKY ! I also met the young man at our table who had won the Category 1 race earlier. His name is Kyle and he is a very talented & nice young rider. A lot of the cyclists who are at his level of riding come across as being a bit full of themselves, not Kyle. The Category 1 riders are pretty much Pros. There is a whole points system that moves the riders from category to category that I barely understand. I don’t think I will ever be that fast although I think Dave still has other thoughts on me racing.
This ride was unique from all the others I have participated in because there was the “Tour” side of the ride and also a whole series of races for those who like to race. This led to a very interesting side affect. Since the racers were all in competition it left a group of very similarly skilled tour riders. This fact is what I believe was the catalyst for our epic pace-line to Leonard.
A great day and a great ride.
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
My Take on Ride Tracking and GPS Units
There is an entire industry popping up around tracking of fitness activities thanks to the proliferation of smartphones. I am not really going to throw my endorsement behind any one way but I wanted to give my observations of the options out there.
When I first started riding I had an android phone and the only choice for a ride tracking package was a little start up called Runkeeper. Of course now Runkeeper is a Juggernaut that seems to lose sight of what their core user want but that seems to be the way of these small app builders. But I digress. Runkeeper had a unique function built into the app that allowed you to be tracked on a web page in real time with use of your data connection if you paid for the upgrade to an elite account. This was extremely useful for peace of mind for my wife who worries because I ride alone a bunch. I am sure some other apps have this feature by now.
One downside of a phone app, when I started riding, is that you could not collect heart rate information. This was the cornerstone of my weight loss system as I would record my activities with a heart rate monitor to calculate my real calorie burn then adjust intake accordingly. Before I started riding I was doing a class where I ran in a “lazy river”. It was a perfect exercise for someone who was really overweight because it was high heart but low impact on the knees. During this phase of my weight loss I went through about 3 polar heart rate monitors just from pure use. When I graduated to walking outdoors, which I loved because I was tired of looking at gunite, I upgraded to a Garmin Forerunner305 GPS.
Garmin Forerunner 305
The Garmin Forerunner 305 is a workhorse. This GPS was perfect for walking or any other outdoor activity. If you wish to track anything outdoors this watch gps is accurate and reliable as long as you keep the battery charged. I found that the watch would discharge if you left it sitting with no use. The down side of this unit, which I believe is true of most GPS units, it that if you plan to mix your outdoor activities with indoor activities, the GPS is useless. I found this model watch on clearance at WalMart online and was perfectly happy with it. Some people I have read on forums do not care for the unit because the device is rather large. For me this was never a problem because my arms are large. For someone with small arms it could be a problem. The heart-rate monitor never glitched and seemed on par with my entry level heart-rate monitors.
I had been using my Garmin Forerunner and Runkeeper at the same time to gather all the data I needed or walking with the live tacking for much of my active time. To this day I actually still do log all my workouts to my GPS and Runkeeper as a backup in case one fails and they do fail.
The only downside I ever found to the 305 model GPS was that you could not use it for navigation. I do not know of a watch style unit that can give this functionality. I am sure that any other cyclist can share the pain of being lost on a group ride. I was out on a ride in Ft. Worth Texas a year or two ago where the ride course was not very well marked. By lunch time I had been lost 10 times and added hours/miles to a already 75 mile day. Through pure frustration of being lost I did not finish that ride because I was in a town I did not know very well and the heat was getting intense. For the record, I was not the only one. at one point after lunch I was riding behind a team of doctors. After about 5 miles of riding behind them one dropped back to talk to me. He asked me if I was going to finish the ride because they were not and I should stop following them because I was actually following them home. Luckily their way home to that point was on the ride course. I decided right there and then to invest in a GPS unit that had a navigation/map function.
The downside of a phone app or Garmin Forerunner for cycling specifically is that there is no way to gather any telemetry that the phone/GPS itself could not generate, for example cadence. For those who may not know, cadence is a very important measurement of how many times the pedal passes one point in a minute. When you ride any amount of distance cadence becomes important. Cadence should stay around 85 rpm for 90% of the ride is the rule of thumb I have been told. In order to gather cadence data you need anther type of sensor that picks up a magnet placed on the back of the crank that passes a frame mounted receiver. I had used a bike computer to tell me my cadence and speed but that is local information you cannot use anywhere else. To me it is kind of useless because I am a “Analyze it after the ride” kind of guy. With all the challenges facing me I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a Garmin Edge 800.
Garmin Edge 800 GPS
The Garmin Edge 800 was, at the time, was the new GPS on the block with a full touch screen in color. The 800 has a multi-sensor that is mounted to the back part of the bike frame and reads a magnet both on the wheel & crank. The sensor is also wireless which brings a set of challenges of it’s own. The great thing about this setup is that when it works, it work really really well. The down side, when it doesn’t you are resident in a little town I call Screwbopolis.
The good. The GPS gathers every kind of telemetry you could possibly need for a bicycle. the display is very easy to read. When I bought the 800 GPS I was very excited to get out there and use it. I hit the road and discovered to my chagrin that because I wear bifocal glasses I can not read the thing. It is no reflection on the unit, just a funny side affect I never thought of in my planning. I got my hands on some riding sunglasses with bifocal correction soon after purchasing the 800. There are web pages out of the Interwebs that are devoted to teaching the average user to really use the powerful features of the Edge 800. If you were to buy one spend some time on these web pages. It is well worth the time to get all the investment out of the unit. I find the virtual training partner to be annoying but I am not a racer so it means little to me. The turn by turn directions and map features are fantastic. There is very little change of getting lost especially if you pre-load a ride course because the GPS will squawk if you get off course. The battery life on the unit is fantastic as well. I have never had a problem on exceptionally long rides with any chance of the battery going dead. The heart-rate monitor built into the Edge 800 is as accurate as the data I collected with my old Polar heart-rate monitors. Polar is industry accepted as the most accurate HRM in the world.
The bad. The speed that the Edge 800 reports is NOT collected via satellite data. I was actually somewhat shocked to learn this fact. The speed is calculated by the unit based on a initial calculation the device makes when you initialize the GPS. The Edge takes the GPS reading and does some nature of math to calculate the wheel side your bike has on it. Once it has that wheel size calculation it is static. If you are a person like me that has several sets of wheels for different types of riding there can be deviation from the real speed/distance when you change out wheels unless you are willing to re-initialize the device every time you change wheels. The other problem with this limitation is if you have a wheel that stops reading through the sensor, you no longer get a speed reading at all. This is part of the reason I track rides with Runkeeper to this day. When you do have problems the support FAQs are useful but the troubleshooting is very difficult to perform and requires several resets of the devices. The problems, in my experience, have been random. I can be riding on mile 50 of a 70 mile ride and the speed sensor just stops working.
I will say also that the Garmin Support team is phenomenal. I recently had the speed sensor stop working and I had done every reset/troubleshooting top possible. I contacted Garmin support and told them what I had done then without hesitation received a RMA for my GPS. The down side is that I was without my GPS for a few weeks because of shipping. At Garmin’s request I sent only the GPS without the memory card that holds the maps. About a week and a half later I had a new GPS with all the accessories that came with my bike package. I mounted up the GPS and still had an intermittent speed sensor so had to cut off the multi-sensor and replace with the new one. I am happy to report the unit is back to rock solid. If you choose to invest in a device of this quality you can sleep easy at night knowing that Garmin stands behind their products.
When you start riding you search for an app for a smartphone, these days, that can track your rides. Having a web page to go to and see your achievements is huge in keeping you motivated to ride. As I said earlier, now there are quite a few apps for tracking cycling/running.
Several friends use Strava which is much more of a competition app because on segments of any road/trail you can compete against everyone else who has taken the ride. Strava has been taking heat from some corners of the cycling community as of late because there is a notion that Strava is ruining the “brotherhood of riding”. Some people take these competitions very seriously and will blow past you because they are on a “Strava Run”. The other perceived downside is that some people are really taking chances with dangerous riding in order to try to beat times and putting their own health in jeopardy. This is really more prevalent in the mountain bike community, but still, it is a concern. I don’t really judge because I am not competitive enough to use Strava in that manner and since I have 3 years of riding history banked up in Runkeeper, it is very hard to move.
There are several other apps including a new kid on the block that has been getting press lately called “Map My Tracks”. The only real thing I have read about Map My Tracks that is compelling is that it has a live tracking feature like Runkeeper elite. I might give it a look if it performs better than Runkeeper but the chances f switching are kind of slim. I hate to give up my history. Runkeeper servers seem to crash every so often and it is very annoying. Usually about the time they add features nobody wants. This could be the thing that gives me the push to a new application.
There are now even hardware parts you can plug into your smartphone to make it have all the features/telemetry of the Garmin Edge 800. The most popular package from my research is called Wahoo. This package has all the bells and whistles of a Garmin with a wireless cadence sensor and everything but is only available on IPhone. I for one am a Android user so there is no love here for me and I will probably never own an IPhone again. The double edge sword of using a smartphone in my opinion is that it is not a dedicated recording device for your data. If your phone rings or gets busy with another function it could interrupt your telemetry recording. I have seen it over and over with Runkeeper as they tweaked their application through the last few years.
That is pretty much my take on recording of ride data. I really encourage everyone to track their ride data in some way. If it be to improve performance or just motivation to ride more, the data is priceless in helping you. I very much encourage you to get or use some nature of real heart-rate monitor. Applications like Strava or Runkeeper wildly overestimate your calorie output. You see something that reads your heartbeat and calculates the actual burn.
I hope some of this information if useful to anyone looking to get a GPS or use a smartphone app. When I initially looked to buy my Edge GPS I could find very little about the device in real people feedback.
That’s all I know for now..
Rob
The Kohala Downhill on the Big Island of Hawaii
As I meantioned in the previous post, I planned to take a formal cycling tour out of Kona. This tour is called The Kohala Downhill. Kohala mountain is the northernmost mountain on the big island.
The tour website had a pretty good map of the downhill ride so I was able to take a look at Google maps and work out the same path. We (Craig, Carrie and I) decided that I could still do the tour by myself with a little support from my friends. On Labor Day Monday we decided to give it a go.
We drove from the Hilton Waikaloa up along the ride path backwards. In the picture above the plan was to drive from B to A.
We took off along the coastline of northern Hawaii and it was beautiful. The mountains in the area prevent rainfall from making it to the Kona (West) side of the island. In Kona the rainfall so far this year is at 2 inches. On the Hilo side (East) the rainfall for this year is over 100 inches. When looking up at Kohala mountain you can see where the rain stops. There is a defined line between the black/brown of lava and lush green grass. We planned to turn right as the map shows in Hawi (Pronounced Ha-Vee) but missed the turn. This was a kind of lucky accident because we ran across a great statue of King Kamehameha. This king was the person who united the tribes that inhabited Hawaii’s islands into one centrally governed group. The clothing the kind wore was made with a certain bird feather that was yellow in color. The people of Hawaii valued these rare feathers as preciously as diamonds or gold.
King Kamehameha
We took a few minutes to get back on track towards the mountain top and up we went. At Hawi the elevation is 522 feet above sea level. We were headed for 3000 feet above sea level. The climb up the mountain was not tortuous. The views were breathtaking. On one side of the car the blue of the sea and the other side, the lush green grass and trees. Once we reached what we agreed was a safe place to stop and get the bike ready we pulled off. Down at Hawi the ambient temperature was about 80 degrees. When I got out of the car to pull out the bike at 3000 feet the ambient temperature was about 65 and my Lycra clad body knew it. The plan was for Craig and Carrie to drive back down to Hawi and hang out in town until I roll down just to be sure I was ok. I did not want them to get too far away had something gone wrong. Carrie was looking forward to checking out a coffee shop we saw on the way through.
Here is the view of the coast from my starting point on the ride:
Northwestern Hawaii Coast
3000 Ft. Elevation Sign
The road at the top of the mountain was remarkably well maintained. I did not really have to worry about potholes or road cracks. This was a good thing because the ride was going to be a fast one.
Mountain Road on Kohala
The cool air and damp atmosphere on the mountain was amazing. It will sure keep you awake. From the shot 2 up you can see how the landscape browns toward the sea. Here are a couple of shots looking up the mountain.
View up the Mountain
Another view with the peak
There was an amazing amount of wind off the mountain top. I am not sure if it blows from the other side or it is just a natural phenomenon but wow, what a wind. You can see in the following shot how the tree is permanently bent towards the see because of the relentless wind.
Windblown Tree
Between the wind and elevation change I was pushed down the mountain at speeds exceeding 40 MPH. The most difficult thing to do was stop the bike. I have never been in a situation where you could smell the bike brakes because they were getting hot. All of the pictures above were taken in roughly 500 feet of decent from the top.
2500 Ft. Elevation Sign
Downhill Road
The views of the sea as you travel further north and down the mountain seemed to get even more blue. The next photo, as in all of these, in not retouched or color corrected at tall.
Northwest Hawaii Coast
Every once in a while I would run into automobile traffic on the ride down. The people in the cars seem to be very forgiving of the inconvenience I put in their way.
Traffic down the Mountain
In the above picture the silver ford pulled off the road very abruptly almost being hit by the car that is past it in this picture. As I started back down the road the two people from the silver ford were standing in the ditch in front of the hill beyond the car taking pictures of each other with an IPhone. I stopped by them and offered to take a picture of them together. They seemed shocked as the offer. I am fairly certain that they were both higher than the mountain top. There were a large number of “Dude” and “Man” thrown out in our brief conversation. Maybe they thought I was a cop or something. Hippies, always good for a laugh. I wish I had taken a picture of them with my camera but didn’t think of in the moment.
I tried to take a few shots looking back up the mountain as I descended. The following shot if from the same spot as the shot above just looking back up.
Look back up the Mountain
The trees that lined the road near the top of the mountain suddenly disappear as you travel to lower altitudes. The road starts to take on the illusion of falling off into the ocean.
Road to the Ocean
As you make the corner at the bottom of the picture above the a mountain a Maui become visible, although shrouded in clouds.
Road with Maui in the background
The road back up the mountain
From this point down the mountain the road became more hilly although the speed really did not drop off because the overall grade was downhill.
Hills down the mountain
Nearing the bottom of the run you can see in the following photo that the water takes on much more of the horizon.
Nearing Hawi
I rolled to the main intersection of Hawi and took a photo of the road sign. As I pulled out in the road to the left, toward the coffee shop, Carrie stepped out and took a picture of me riding up Hawi Main street. It turns out that I made such good time down the mountain, less than 30 minutes, Craig and Carrie had only ordered their coffee and done nothing else.
Hawi Intersection Sign
I took the opportunity to take a pause from the breakneck speed to have a coffee with them. As usual you get a Kona coffee and I picked up a vegetarian coconut cookie that was amazing. We enjoyed sitting there for a little while. It was much warmer than up on the mountain. After finishing my snack and coffee I got back on the bike to head to a state park where the tour would normally end. The road along the coast seemed to be baking compared to the ride so far. There were a bunch of windmills set up along the coast near Hawi to generate electricity.
Road out of Hawi
Coastal Windmills
In the following photo you can see the top of the mountain way in the background. This is of course where I just came from way up there.
Look back up the Mountain
The landscape became much more arid looking down near the coast. The green grass replaced by scrub brush and the occasional sickly looking tree. To be honest it looks a lot like west Texas.
Desert Coastline
Deep Blue Water against Brushy Coastline
More Coastline
The ride down the mountain was without a doubt one of the coolest things I have ever done on a bike. Maybe next time I will climb the mountain then ride down. For this trip there just was not time.
When I got to the bottom I was having feelings of pure exhilaration and asked Carrie if I could go do it again. She respectfully declined.
If any of you ever find yourself on the big island of Hawaii, take the time to do this downhill. At first I was a bit terrified never having done something like this but it was replaced with joy and amazement at how fast I came down the mountain. Once I started down the mountain, the fear melted away.
That’s all I know for now….
Rob
Rental Spin at the Waikaloa Resort Area
I had been going back and forth with a guy in Kona Hawaii about a cycling tour for the last month or so. They would try to put a tour together but it was somewhat random because in order to make a tour they needed 4 riders and there was no schedule of rides. The store would just put together a ride of 4 or more people happened to call at once. Not the best business plan but who am I to judge, I have never run a bike shop. Oliver, the owner, told me that he plans to put a set two day ride schedule in place so every Tuesday and Saturday there is a ride. This will allow for guests to plan and put together ride minimums easier.
Ride around Waikoloa Resort Area
Since it was pretty clear the tour was not going to make I reached out to Oliver about just renting a bike. I was shocked to learn I could rent a carbon Trek bike for only $35.00 a day through Cycling Station. I recommend the bike shop highly if anyone finds them self in Kona. The rates are good and the bikes are pretty nice. In looking online I found Cycling Station to be the cheapest rate in town.
Resort Road
We had tried to go snorkeling and that did not last to long due to pounding surf so I had an opportunity to get out in the resort area on the bike I rented. The ride around the resort area was really nice. The roads were brand new and had built in bike lanes. The brand new blacktop is smooth and a pleasure to ride.
Beachfront on the Resort Road
The scenery is so wildly different from Texas that it becomes hard to focus on riding and not on taking pictures. There are more pictures than stories for this blog post.
The Lavarock landscape that looks like the moon
Most people, as like Carrie and I, expected the lava rock in Hawaii to be the oozing smooth looking rock called “Pillow Lava” that you find out of a volcano. It turns out the Kona area and North have a type of lava called “A’a” (Pronounced Ah Ah) This A’s lava looks like a road grater has churned up the rock. It can even look dirt like but make no mistake, this is lava and feels like it.
Golf course Waterfall
Within the resort area there is a golf course, not shocking I know. The landscaping of the golf area is a stark contrast to the natural lava/small tree landscape. The waterfalls as you see in these few pictures are beautiful.
Another Golf course Waterfall
The water in the pools was clear and blue. I am not sure how they get it so beautiful but I suppose there is a lack of mud to muck up the water with all the lava rock instead of dirt.
Landscaping in front of Lavarock
At the edges of the report the landscaping meets the A’a lava. It is amazing to see the difference.
Restaurant on the Water
The shot above is a place to have lunch on the water. There are worse places to eat I can assure you.
Me returning from the ride with the Trek rental
It was great to get out and have a ride after a few days of vacation laziness. Carrie took this shot of me at the end with the rental bike as I returned to the room. The overall ride was only 12.3 miles but they felt great. I love sea level !
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
Tour de Cure – In Memory of Barry
A few days before the ride I had to head down to the Diabetes Association offices in Denver to get our packets for the ride. For anyone who has never attended an event like this, a packet is usually a envelope or bag with your assigned bib number and usually a bunch of goodies/coupons with a t-shirt. The process of signing up for rides is all over the place depending who you ride with. Some rides you sign the “waiver” online and some you don’t. This ride you had to fill out a waiver in the office. Since Bert had meetings for work I went to pick up both our packets, bad move. I sat there for about an hour while we tried to work out getting the form faxed from Bert to their office. It was a comedy of errors and after an hour of them looking at me awkwardly, they decided I could fill out his form for him. Their hands were kinda tied because their biggest donor came in while I was sitting there and they of course made an exception for him to pick up a friend’s packet. I can tell you without a doubt this one guy raised at least 17,000. Wow, good for him.
The night before the ride I did some work on Bert’s bike because it has hung, more or less, in a bike coma since it got to Denver. He rode it a couple times but with twin boys and a third older son has little time. We talked over what we planned to do for the ride because Bert wanted to do the shortest Family distance. I suggested we start the 30 mile and turn back when we decide he has had enough. The biggest difference was the family ride was on trails. I cannot imagine how hard/dangerous it would be to ride on a 6 ft wide trail with kids/families so the 30 mile course was a better option being on roads. We agreed on this approach also because it would get our ride done earlier and Bert had to pick up the kids from Val’s marketing event as early as possible. All around it worked better.
Bert told me we needed to leave for Longmont about 8 am at the latest. I did not realize how far away Longmont was from Parker. I knew it would not be a problem because I was waking up at 5-5:30 am every day. We took off out of Bert’s house about 7:30 and got a few exits up the toll road when Bert asks, “We need those numbers, don’t we ?”. UGH ! We swung through a Starbucks at that exit and headed back to Bert’s place to get the numbers.
The drive was pretty long taking about 50 minutes to get up to Longmont. The drive was really uneventful and the toll road was really nice. Rolling into the event we entered the Boulder County Fairgrounds and were flagged around to a pretty nice and empty parking lot. As has been the situation in Colorado, the people prepping their gear for the ride were nice and talkative. I felt a little bad for the folks next to us when the gal realize she left some component of her shoes at home making riding very difficult. There is nothing worse than showing up for a ride far from home only to find you forgot something like your shoes.
Bert and I geared up and got on our bikes to head over to the main area. The 30 miler started at 10 am and we were there quite early. Einstein Bros Bagels supports the ride and they had a full buffet of food set up for free. I was very impressed at the amount of food/coffee they had. Bert and I put our bikes on the racks and took advantage of the food.
Our bikes on the TdC racks
Once we had some food we went over to the registration area to get our ride shirts. I have to say that the Tour de Cure gift shirts are super nice. They are a “wicking” type shirt, not just a standard cotton version.
Registration
We walked around the expo area a little bit and I had a spirited conversation with a Bianchi salesman about Shimano vs. Campy electric shifting. About 20 seconds into the conversation Bert wandered away because what I was saying was of no interest to him. Proof I am officially a bike nerd.
Once we killed all the time we could we headed back over to the bike racks to take a seat and wait. We talked to some nice people all getting ready for the ride and encouraged some “Red Riders”.
Bert enjoying the waiting game
It was finally time to line up on the road for the start. As is normal for these community fundraising rides, you get out there with your bike for a “On-Time” start and then stand there for 20 minutes while everyone who is important in the most miniscule way has a turn at the microphone to tell you something you probably don’t care about. It was funny that the announcer said ” We are gonna line up for the 30 mile Tour de Cure for an on-time start”… Yea.. right..
Lined up and waiting
Bert – road ready
After a handful of people said something I turned to Bert and said “This is about the time everyone has to scramble to take off their helmet for the national anthem”. No sooner had the words left my mouth the announcer asks everyone to remove their hats. The national anthem was performed well by a little gal who is also a Red Rider. We put our helmets back on and really prepared to start. It was funny, the announcer then does a countdown to start 5…4…3… and when they reached 1 the motorcycles for the support people started. There was about a 30 second delay for the bikes to actually start moving. We were near the back of the pack because it was Bert’s first ride and I really did not want him to get into a wreck because someone in the pack up front got excited and decided to take off or fall over. It worked out pretty well, a relief for me. I know what a bad start can be like and it ruins your day.
We took off out of the parking lot and snaked around a bit before being put on a two lane county road. There had to be about 300 riders on the road for this ride. There was a policeman riding back and forth yelling for everyone to get in a single file line. My opinion, he was out of his freaking mind. There is no way on a start like this you can get everyone into a single file line within 3 miles. You have people who are really slow and really fast. It takes lanes of bikes just to get that sorted out.
I think my favorite part of the roll out was some woman who was full of sunshine when she barked at me, “You don’t just pull out in the road whenever you want, you have to yell pulling out” or some craziness like that. She was clearly one of the elitist roadies I have mentioned before and someone who ruins fun rides for anyone who crosses her path. For me, no big deal, I gave her a insincere “Whatever” and rolled on. She did not take the time to follow up because she was gonna lose the race. Bitch.
I led us through the traffic trying to get in a good spot without hitting and of the slower riders. A few times I started concentrating on the task at hand and increased to more of my speed. Bert was a trooper, only when we got about 5 miles in did he start to fall back from he on these sprints. We pulled into the first rest area and I could tell Bert was already getting tired. I took a few shots and asked a volunteer to take our picture together.
View of the Mountains from the Rest Stop
Riders passing the Rest Area
The Rest Area
Bert and I (Rob left, Bert right)
Leaving the rest stop I let Bert take the lead. I did not want to wear him out before we had a chance to get back, not that I am some kind of uber athlete it is just that I am used to this, he isn’t. To my surprise Bert took off out the route and not back to the start. I told him, “We can head back from here so you don’t get worn out.” to which he replied, “I’m not even tired yet”. I had to warn him that you don’t want to start back when you get tired because every mile you traveled getting there you have to travel again to get back. We came up on a traffic light and I told him from that point it was 6 miles back give or take. He decided that this was an opportune time to head back.
I had not paid much attention but we had been riding with the wind so the ride back could be more difficult. I was really surprised when I looked down at my GPS to see we were fairly consistently keeping 18 mph. We made our way all the way back to the start in pretty good time but the last half mile looked tough on Bert. The finish line was really good. Tour de Cure really did a great job making the finish line a great experience. I stopped near the entrance to the expo and Bert rolled up a little further. He joined me back in front of Einstein Bros and I could see he was really emotional. In all the stresses if the day like keeping Bert safe on his bike etc, I had forgotten why we were there. I think it hit Bert like a ton of bricks. It is a hard thing losing a friend no matter what the cause and having the ride behind us it hit home. He apologized for being upset and I told him not to worry about it, that is why we were there.
We raised money to find a cure for diabetes, we honored a friend taken by the diabetes and we created some great memories. I don’t care if we rode 1 mile or 100 miles, or at all for that matter, it was all worth it.
I have to mention that the third member of Team La Mountain rode the 100 mile course. Scott got up at 4:30 to make the start of the 100 miler at 6:00 am. Having experienced the foothill rides that almost killed me because of the altitude, Scott has my respect. He is one heck of a cyclist even if he does prefer mountain biking. I will not hold that against him.
Scott’s Tour de Cure
It was a great trip and a great experience. I would not have changed anything (accept not riding steep hills on my first day in Denver..I would change that)
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
Colorado Training Day 3
Is it just me or does life really seem to get in the way of cycling. In my great mental plan for the week in Denver I planned to ride every day. Yea, not so much. Here is is Friday and I am finally getting to my third training ride. Such is life…
I started out like every other day getting online to build a course map so I don’t get lost. I use MapMyRide.com for this feature only. Since I use both Garmin and runkeeper to track my rides, I really don’t need another tool for tracking rides. I find the mapping tool and download of a .gpx file that can be imported into my GPS to be adequate. I will do another post soon on my Garmin and ride tracking tools. As I think about ride tracking/navigation it is a huge topic of conversation that could be it’s own post.
Today I decided to try a different route going North. The trail system in Denver is extensive and can get confusing because it has fork after fork. It would be very easy for a first time rider to get on a trail only to take a fork and be very lost (forked.. if you get my drift). If you get lost on any given ride a 25 mile ride can quickly become a 50 mile grinder. Getting lost is the bane of a cyclist existence. Below is a screen capture of a Google map of the Colorado area I was in with all the dark lines being bike trails, you can see that they are all over the place and have forks-a-plenty. You can also see how some trails are only within neighborhoods. It is a truth that almost everywhere in the US the trail systems are almost never contiguous. You can be riding a long and the trail you are on just ends. There is also a truth that just because Google or mapmyride says a road/trail is there does not mean it is paved. Word of warning there…
Parker Colorado are trails/roadways
Today’s route would take me down to 470 once again but this time go East. The first segment was a nice downhill. I did not take any pictures because it was filled with runners running at me and they probably would not be to keen about a cyclist taking pictures as I rode by. At the bottom was the first intersection though and I did get a shot here. These intersections are pretty nice. They all seem to have the push button to request the crosswalk activation.
Jordan Road Crosswalk
These paths were the older kind with expansion joints which make them a bit bumpy. The path in the picture above led to the first underpass.The underpasses are usually dark and very dirty. In Colorado this is especially true because the ground is a sandy mixture that makes sticks to everything. I think I got a few ounces every time I took a drink of water out of my bottles.
Underpass beneath 470 Tollroad
The scenery was quite nice on this ride like the others. I found that for the a large amount of the ride that the path fallowed a river/creek. I assume it was Cherry Creek because it led straight to Cherry Creek reservoir.
Natural Area at the 470 Underpass
The only significance of the picture below is that Carrie and I live on Cottonwood Drive in Texas and I thought she would think it funny.
Cottonwood Drive – Colorado
The creek that the path ran along was remarkably full. It had not rained hardly at all in Denver since Monday so I was surprised the water was moving so fast. It is really unique for someone from Texas, the state of dry riverbeds, to see a creek with actual water in it.
Trail side Creek
Trail Side Creek Further Downstream
Creek Footbridge
Newer Trail Surface
As you can see in the picture above another unique thing about this trail, Cherry Creek Trail, is that there is a mountain bike / natural trail along side the concrete trail. This part of the trail was clearly new because the bridges and pavement were still white from freshly being poured. This area was the nicest part of the ride from a saddle comfort standpoint.
This part of the trail dead-ended into Arapaho rd in Aurora. This is one of the real pitfalls of trail riding. The mapmyride course had me jump onto Arapahoe for about a half mile to the west. The problem is that road surface barely had a shoulder. I had someone in a sweet 1980s vintage minivan nearly hit me with their mirror. Good Times ! I may have mentioned before that there is a phenomenon with riding on roads. If a cyclist it far over in the right lane near the white line, I would say 1 in 5 motorists will try to squeeze into that same lane to pass. That is why when you see, and complain, that cyclists are in the middle of the right lane it is to prevent this type of attempt. Most motorists don’t think about their mirror sticking out there and that mirror is enough to hurt or kill a cyclist. I will step off the soap-box now…
Once I made my way up Arapahoe there was another street that had to be taken to meet back to the actual trail. This road was much less traveled and very new so it was a dream to ride on. About another mile or so and the trail resumed. I was back to the older paved trails but this area was clearly new the reservoir because the landscape became more marsh-like in nature.
Top of the hill re-entering the trails
The trails from here were very busy with pedestrians, mountain bikers and roadies like me. There were roads that crossed the area in this state park but they were really in no better shape than the trails, so I stayed on the trail. If I knew the area better I might divert but I really had no interest in getting lost.
I turned back from my out-and-back ride when I got to the water of the reservoir. I stood in the parking area of the park for a few moment to watch the boaters and birds. Cherry Creek Reservoir is a beautiful place.
My view of Cherry Creek Reservoir
The ride to this point was quite enjoyable if you ignore Arapahoe road. The overall elevation change was downhill. Having been in Colorado now for 6 days the altitude did not seem to be as big of a problem once I was warmed up. I took some pictures during the ride back to Parker because the perspective is a little different.
This first picture was of a smaller bridge that crossed a creek. On both sides of the bridge plants had grown up crowding the sides. The bridge itself was quite old and the wood planks not in the best shape for riding.
Crowded Bridge
Some of the ponds in this wildlife area were a bit ominous coming from the West Nile Fever capital of the US of Dallas.
Trailside Pond
The wildlife area also had a large amount of wildflowers. I stopped to take a shot of the sunflowers because it is one of Carrie’s favorite flowers.
Sunflowers
As is normal in the Denver area, you never really ride alone. The paths on both sides are normally littered with prairie dog burrows. As you ride along they will pass in front of you on the path to jump into the holes in the ground.
Prairie Dogs Checking Me Out
This ride was much faster than my others here in Denver. The pace was much more inline with that I ride at home. In looking back it should have been the first ride in this area. It was foolish to take off Monday on a ride with so much altitude change. The total altitude gain on this ride was 400 feet compared to the 1500-2000 on the other days. The idea to come to Denver early turned out to be a very good decision. I feel I am as ready as I can be for the Diabetes ride.
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
Colorado Training Day 2
I rode once again on Tuesday afternoon after the personally disappointing Monday attempt. I hoped that the cold of Monday’s ride had more of an affect on my riding than the altitude. Tuesday would be a great day to tell because it was considerably warmer.
For this day’s training I mapped out a ride on paved trails along a highway/toll-road called 470. My plan was a straight out and back along the trail. Looking at a map of the Denver bike trail system is a bit daunting. The trails fork all over the place and if there is one thing I do not want to do, it is get lost.
Access to the trail is a simple 1.5 mile ride up the street from Bert’s house in Parker. They have some pretty great bike lanes here in Colorado so the risk was minimal even though it is a pretty busy road. When I got down to 470 I was a little disappointed that the path was not very clearly marked and the trail itself is in rather bad condition. I was not going to be dissuaded so I pressed on. It was a good thing because the trail itself would get much better as far as pavement quality.
The entrance to the trail was at the top of a hill. Near the bottom it turned left and then in a hairpin, very steep turn heads back along the highway. I found quickly that you are never really alone on the Colorado trails. In the below picture it may be a bit difficult to see but the trail is lined on both sides by prairie dog burrows.
If you look on the far right you will see a Prairie dog checking me out.
As you can also see in this picture the hills are not all that forgiving even on a bike trail.
As I rode along the trail just over the first major uphill I came upon city workers putting up some fencing along the non-highway side of the trail. I am not sure if the fence it to keep humans out or keep something else in. The workers looked surprised to see someone on the trail as I passed by.
The scenic views from this area were quite nice. In this suburb of Denver there is a large amount of wide open space. The picture below is a marsh area by the side of the trail. I found those trees in the middle to be visually stunning. I am not sure the picture conveys it, but I think it was worth stopping for a picture.
A marsh looking area with some pretty dead trees.
The general up and down of hills continued for a couple more miles when I came the first major intersection of the ride. This is the intersection of Hwy35 and 470. The picture below is from top of the hill before the interchange. When I got to the bottom of the hill where you can barely make out a street light again I was disappointed that here was no real indication of where to go. The best I could do was to look for bike tracks in the dirt.
Traversing that major intersection is kind of interesting. You pass under the overpass then the trail skirts the north side of the highway. There are sections where you pass through tunnels under the flyover to go south. There were quite a few twists and turns along the way. When you emerge on the other side of 35 you find yourself on a fairly easy climb with the train system between you and hwy 35.
Uphill on Northwest side of 35
Just at the crest of this hill was another flyover tunnel to get riders completely out of the interchange. This is where trail quality really improved and the intersections that I had to get through in order to follow the trail became much more difficult. It is clear when you get to this point on the trail you are in a much more densely populated area. The streets are packed with vehicles and there is no way to get through he intersection without using the crosswalk lights.
Carefully I preceded through these major intersections but did not take any pictures because I did not want to get killed.
The trail from this point on was clearly brand new. The concrete was nice and smooth and did not have the expansion joints like the older trails further east. The parts of my body in touch with the saddle of my bike appreciated that. The picture below is on the newer train running along the north side of 470.
North side 470 trail
The trail from here to the I decided to turn around had some pretty major hills to climb but the overall elevation change was down. For every major downhill I rode I knew in the next hour I had to climb it and my head was filling with dread. As I rode the trails out at this end I was riding very conservatively because not knowing how the trails traverse the area, I did not want to come up on a major turn and end up in a ravine. There were some local riders I met along the way at stoplights that were very nice. They would always say hi and say “hot out today”. A couple of them I did tell that I thought it was very nice for the temperature but the altitude was a killer. At that point I became an alien to them and they all ask “Where are you from?” in that ‘are you stupid’ kind of way. I would tell them Texas and they all had the same reaction, “Ah, you like the heat but I bet the altitude is making you miserable”. And they were right.
At one point near the turn around spot I had designated about 15 mile from start there were signs saying “multi-use park, please slow down. Enforcement in park”. I slowed even more than I had but mostly because I was feeling the overall climb of the day so far. So here I am trucking along and at one corner I glance back over my right shoulder. Really only looking at scenery but WHAM there is a guy right behind me in a bright red jersey and he scared the living daylights out of me. I even yanked on my handle bars I was so startled. I pull over to the far right of the trail so he can pass me to be polite. He pulled next to me and very matter of fact says “kinda hot, but not to bad” then took off like a rocket. I read his jersey as he pulled away. He was a sheriff with the front range division. Fast and quiet too.
This photo is a lake just off the trail near Columbine Colorado. The picture really does not do it justice. When I came around the corner and could see it I actually said “Wow” out-loud.
Lake near Columbine Colorado
I had to pass through another couple tunnels which from the below photo you can see in order to get to the place I decided would be a turn around. The next two shots show the hill just down from the tunnel and where I actually turned around.
A Highway Tunnel
Just past the Tunnel
- Turn around spot
The view of the front range from here was beautiful. As you can see it was quite steep down this hill. To be honest I planned to stop about another mile down this hill but when I stopped to take this photo I was actually shaking from all the work I had been doing so far in the day. I had ridden about 14 miles and it felt like 30, no exaggeration. From this exact spot in the picture above I turned around because I jut could not bring myself to commit to climbing back up that hill.
The view back up the hill from my turn around stop
Yea, the view even back up from there was enough to make me think to myself “what the hell am I doing here”.
Without much delay I headed back up this hill. I had passed a nice shaded area with a bench where I could sit down to rest and eat some chomps. I could feel from the shaking I was really going to BONK soon. For those who do not know what a “BONK” means I will explain. Your muscles burn glycogen as fuel. Glycogen is a fast burning fuel that is for the most part made of carbohydrates. Any athlete can get into a situation where they run out of glycogen to be used. A typical person’s body stores enough glycogen to perform moderate exercise for 90 minutes. Should the glycogen in your blood fall to low, you are basically in a state of hypoglycemia. It is not pleasant, I can assure you. If you want to feel real suffering sometime perform exercise to this point, especially if you are in a situation where you have no other option but to keep going and I promise you, you will know suffering. I had been riding for only and hour but for me in the attitude I would not categorize my work this day as moderate. It was for me very strenuous. It is better to take a break and get some energy in the body.
After the break I knew I was better but I was really tired already. The fact of the matter is that I was at the low altitude end of my ride. Here is the elevation estimated map from the tool I use to plan a ride at this point in the ride I am near the blue arrow. Not a good feeling as tired as I was.
Projected Elevation
There was really no choice but to bite down and crank out the miles. I did not take many pictures on the ride back because I was just too tired. I would not call it miserable but I could tell again that the altitude was going to make it tough.
At one point on the way back I stopped under a highway overpass to eat some more chomps. I only had about 4 miles to go but again, you gotta eat before you bonk. So I am sitting there on the concrete shelf holding my bike with one hand and eating with the other. This was a great experience because as I sat there at least 10 other cyclists happened by. Every single person stopped to ask me if I was ok. I was astonished. In Dallas I would say it has been my experience that 1 out of 3 riders will ask you if you are ok. The cycling community here in Denver is impressive.
After my under bridge affirmation of mankind I was back on the bike. On the way out I noticed that I rode right by the end of the Centennial Airport. The view was much better from the path returning and I knew I could use the break so here are a few shots from that area.
Airplane on Approach
Airplane on Approach 2
Airplane Landing
The there was a pretty good stretch of downhill from here but I knew in the back of my mind that hairpin and climb was still ahead of me. A couple of guys passed me as I was coasting on the downhill as I made little attempt to pedal.
Guys that passed me on the home stretch
At the very bottom of this hill in the picture above is where the hairpin and uphill starts. There is a mostly dry creek bed under the bridge that I had to stop and take a photo of because it was quite beautiful.
Creek bed Under 470
As I was standing there taking this photo of the creek bed the two guys in white came down around the hairpin turn. They stopped and asked me where a fork in the trail that goes under that bridge in the photo above went. I told them “Sorry, I am not from around here, I have no idea where it goes.” One of the two riders looks at my jersey and says “Plano, Texas…. really?” I said “Yea, I am in town to do a ride Saturday and am just out here trying to get acclimate.” to which he responded, “Right on!” as he clipped in and rode off. I think that was the most Colorado thing to happen to me so far. I don’t know that anyone has ever said “Right on” to me in any context. It was a good moment.
The procrastination time was over. It was time to navigate the steep hairpin and climb this hill back to Chambers road. My thighs were like jello so I knew it wold be rough. Again I just bit down and got after it. I used all the gear my bike had to offer and when I got to the road at the top, I took a few moment to stop and catch my breath because I was winded. Bert’s house was only about a mile and a half away now. Like the stories my father told me about his walks to school when he was a child, I am pretty sure the road to Bert’s house is uphill both ways, leaving and going back.
It was good to be on regular old blacktop thought. There is something almost magical about a nice smooth road. It seems like everything is easier. The ride on to Bert’s house was not as tough as I expected given my exhausted state. It was only about a 30 mile round trip ride but honestly it felt like double that. There are several factors that play into this. Like I have mentioned there is the altitude but there is also a haze in the air here from forest fires out west. I noticed at my ride went on that I developed a very sore throat. It was almost like when you swallow something wrong and scratch your throat. It was borderline miserable. I coughed for hours. The final element is that the air here is extremely dry. As I breath, especially when exerting myself and breathing through my mouth, it dries out almost instantly and it get harder to breath.
The ride overall was tough and it has been a great learning experience riding in such a hostile environment. One thing that made me feel a little better was my welcoming party when I rode up to Bert’s house…
My Welcoming Party in the Driveway
He may not look it in the picture but Griffin was very happy to see me. The total climb for my 30 miles… 1457 feet at a cost of 2024 calories.
That’s all I know for now…
Rob
The Beginning of the Next Cycling Adventure – Colorado
Please try to bear with me as I lay out the back story. There is a bit of tragedy in the story but I think it is important to the overall reason for coming to Denver.
Late least year there was a tragic event for my brother Bert. He had a long time friend that even I remember from high school. He stood out from the crew of friends Bert had because he was a type 1 diabetic and the constant attention he gave to it was unique. The blood taking and insulin shots he had to take were an ever-present issue although he took it quite in stride. There was a time, I was told, that he did not take good care of himself anymore. I am sure he hit the time in life, like most of us, when your transition from teenager to adult puts your “give a shit” in neutral because not much makes sense anymore.
His name was Barry LaMountain and he was, when I knew him, a good guy. Barry managed to pull it all together and make a pretty great life for himself in Memphis, TN. He married and finally had a baby of his own. Sadly she was born just months before his passing.
It was the diabetes that ultimately took Barry’s life. He had a diabetic seizure at the age of 38 and went into a coma never to come out of it. He did not linger there to long either which from my perspective is good.
I tell you all this because we are here this weekend to celebrate Barry’s life. We will not dwell on his early passing because that would be a disservice to his memory. I heard the news of Barry’s passing from Bert who was distraught. Being one of Bert’s oldest and best friends it is a hard thing to deal with. You throw on top of that a tinge of guilt because as we get older we all grow apart and don’t stay in touch as well as we believe we should. I suggested in his honor we do something together. Something to not only honor Barry but raise money for the cause of diabetes. The original idea was to ride in two “Tour de Cure” rides, One in Dallas the other on Denver. This did not work out quite as well as planned because the Dallas date I was on my bike somewhere in Iowa. We settled on the Longmont Colorado ride.
The Tour De Cure is a nationwide series of bicycle rides that brings focus to people with diabetes. No matter if it is type 1 or 2, there are riders who ride with the disease. I have ultimate respect for each and every “Red Rider”. I have seen them on different rides because they typically wear a jersey that says Red Rider in some nature. I am reasonably healthy and appreciate how tough some of these distance rides can be. To do it with your body working more against you than I feel on any given ride commands respect.
As with my main charity ride of every year, the MS150, there is a fundraising component to the Tour de Cure. Every rider is obligated to pay the entrance fee then raise a minimum of $200.00. I suppose as some of you read this you have to ask yourself, “I don’t remember Rob saying anything about this ride”. I made the decision last year that I would fund-raise with my friends, family and anyone else I can convince only one ride a year and that is the MS150. (Mark your Calendars). In these economic times it is not fair to any of the people who I know, who are like me, not rolling in cash (Like anyone ever really is) to donate to more than one ride.
As the idea of riding the tour in honor of Barry took hold we managed to pick up a third rider. His name is Scott Burkhardt. He is a serious cyclist although mostly on mountain bike I hear. When I say serious, he has done the triple bypass and Leadville 100 in Colorado several times. He is what I would call a mountain goat. He can climb like nobody’s business.
The plan was set, Team La Mountain was in place and not fast forward to yesterday. I drove up to Denver through New Mexico because I knew the drive was not quite as boring as Kansas. I just, as some of you may recall, drove through Kansas with my father returning from RAGBRAI. As I rolled out of the house with all my cycling gear packed away in my truck I could not stomach the idea of Kansas again so soon. It was off towards Amarillo for me. The drive was just as long but it seemed to go by a little better because there is at least some scenery from time to time. Especially when you go through Raton Pass into Colorado. What a beautiful place. I made good time and settled into Bert’s place just before supper time.
The pass is around the mountain to the left of the picture
Today I worked all day from Denver. I am very lucky to have a job where I have the flexibility to do this type of remote work. On the other side of that double edged sword though is that I can work from anywhere with Internet. I Noticed when I was sitting in Bert’s home office working that it was cool. Not a Texas cool, this was cold and it got progressively worse. By the time my work day was over and I was free to get on my bike it was raining lightly.
I sat here looking out the window cursing the gods for my bad luck. It seemed to let up after a while and I decided if it was going to happen, now was the time. I threw on my cycling clothes and readied the bike. I laid out a course because it would be very easy to get lost. Once again I am happy to have purchased a GPS for my bike. Once I was all set up, out the door I went full of piss and vinegar ready to show Colorado what I had for it…
I rode out of the neighborhood and to the first major intersection. Per my route I took a right and took a nice downhill. You know what comes after a nice downhill.. Oh yea a not so nice uphill. Here is where I first was taught a lesson in underestimation of the affects of altitude. I started up the more steep part of the hill, stood up and cranked away much like I did in Iowa. It felt great until about 3/4 of the way up I realize that I am so out of breath that it will require a stop to catch my breath or hope that someone driving on the road next to me will be kind enough to stop their car and pause my Garmin because I am passed out. I took a few moments right there on the side of road. I was breathing as deeply as I could but thing were anything but normal. It took easily twice the time usual to catch my breath and this did nothing to help my irrational panic. I talked myself down, calmed myself down and caught my breath finally. I could have turned around right then but I wanted to see if it would get better although I had some amount of dread.
At the top of the hill I had to take a left and the climb pretty much stayed consistent. I was dealing with the air issue and probably warming up a bit more so it was not terrible. At the top of the hill I did pause to take a picture so I could show you all what I see…
Sorry for the glamor shots feel of the pictures today. I had my phone in a zipock baggie because of the rain and if had much more of an affect than I hoped.
From the top of this hill there was a short but nice downhill which led to my next intersection. This was just a short job then on south.
As I drove in yesterday I could see this [art of the road and a bike rider on it. From the highway it looked like a dream to ride. From the saddle of the bike, as my sister would say “O M G”. The first part was not too bad moderate hills just like the few behind me. Then I came to this:
You can see in the distance the steep part and about this time it started to rain. No more the spitting that I had along the way. Now it was tires throwing water up at me wet roads. The climb was tough, I cannot lie about that. About half way up the steep part I slowed and used all the gear my bike had. the top was such a welcome sight. It curved to the left at the top and went into a snaking downhill. It would have been awesome had it not been wet. It seemed I went down as slow as I went up. I did not take a picture of the what came next because of the rain but it made this look fun. I took a break in a underpass at the bottom the snaking downhill so I felt better about the idea of another climb.
Once on the hill, although painfully long, it was not really that bad. I think I was finally warm and I was taking precautions in maintaining my speed/effort to not hyperventilate. I cranked forever it seemed and crested hill into a windy watery mess. The other side I took the downhill at a coast because I needed the break and it was not to bad even with the rain.
This bring me to the next intersection to take a left. This part of the journey was on brand new roads. There was some police action down off the road. It looked like a squad on the road was direction a tow truck to pull another squad out of some mud. I did not ask what happened and don’t think it would have been a welcomed question had I asked. I rolled on.
This picture is from the top of the hill where the police were at the bottom. In the distance you can see a grey line at an angle. That was the next hill to climb. When I reached the bottom before that hill I looked up, having been distracted by the police, and thought to myself “this is where they find me dead clipped to this stupid bike”
To my complete and utter astonishment the hill was not that hard really. I cranked away feeling like superman, feeling all around good about the ride and myself. I stopped at the top of the hill to take the next picture and realized the 30 mph wind I have been fighting has pushed me up the hill. Ego.. deflated…
There was a top of the ridge roadway section that way awesome and fast. Flat new concrete that was begging for more speed. I actually thought to myself that I should stop and take a picture but I was having fun for once on the ride and was selfish. It was awesome, a long straightaway followed by some snaking left and right. Best part of the ride.. coming up next the most terrifying.
I had climbed and climbed.. what goes up, must come down and holy mother of god was it steep and damp. It was really terrifying. I rode my brakes the whole way down which was about 2 miles and still probably maintained 25-30 mph. This part of the road was built to go around a new dam for the lake they just built. It bottomed out and went to another moderate climb which was welcome because it was slow. I knew from my GPS I was about to turn back North on the last leg back to Bert’s house soon.
This is where it became faster on flatter land but I started to feel the cold. I was flying even 25 mph up a hill. For one I knew what it was like to be Dave and it was awesome. This last leg could not have taken over 10 minutes. On the level areas I was pushed and pedaling at 30-35 mph. It was a stout wind.
I was incredibly happy to be back at the house because I was thoroughly chilled and the warmth was awesome.
I clearly underestimated the affect that the altitude would have on my body. It does not help that my lungs hurt from breathing in the cold air. I will do a few more training rides to get ready for Saturday to see if I can acclimate a little better. I have learned yet another harsh lesson.. and some humility
That is what I know for now…
Rob
Different takes on Cycling Brotherhood
I am still really somewhat new to cycling. I bought my first real bike, a specialized hybrid called a Globe 3, about three years ago. It was a great way to start because it was not so uncomfortable that I would not ride it. I transitioned to a roubaix road bike within about 7 months and have not looked back. I do not pretend to know everything when it comes to the sport but I have noticed there are folks who take dramatically different approaches to the sport and community.
I think you could say that endurance style cycling is a solo sport since many of us, that I see, ride alone for long distances. There is a notion that seems to resonate throughout this specific niche of cycling that “Endurance athletes are running away from something inside of themselves, and that’s one of the reasons they do what they do.” -Lance Armstrong. To a degree I can buy into that theory. Whether it be life, weight, anger or any other strong feeling, I believe that getting on the bike and riding melts all that away and can lead to a clear head (or at-least clearer). It would not be a huge leap to say that some of the longer events are a bit about the suffering. I believe in order to really appreciate any accomplishment and what we have in our daily life we have to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and really do a little suffering. We are not talking water-boarding here, we are talking about riding the last 15 miles into the wind when your legs are shot. In these situations I have personally learned about being mentally tough enough to not give in. I wish I had understood this principle when I was younger but this is a bit off topic and maybe a subject for another post…
I have tried to get involved with other riders in a couple different ways like group rides with different bike shops. In order to become a better rider you have to get out and ride with other people who will push you to be faster or smarter. There are some unique personalities out there that I have encountered. You have people like me who are quite new up to the elite racers who have been on a bicycle since birth (I believe).
The most striking difference I see in the community are only two major classes. There are those who are quick to criticize you and those who are willing to really help you understand what you are doing wrong to make you a better rider. I was very lucky when I started riding in group events for longer distances that I had someone from the later group.
My very first group ride was the Turkey Roll out of Denton Texas two years ago. It was cold and windy. My friend Dave Angeles was riding with me for the 45 mile distance. Not really understanding what this meant at the time because I was new to these events I did not really understand that Dave was riding the event to help me more than to ride for himself. At that time I thought 45 miles was almost an impossible distance for me. I vividly remember the very first big hill we came to out of the start. I was pretty pumped up from the excitement and charged right up the hill. By the time I reached the top, I was way out of breath and coasting. Dave rode up next to me at the same pace he had on the flat roads. He told me “you shouldn’t be working so hard to climb hills like that. You only have so much fuel in your tank and every time you do that, you are going deeper in to that tank so you will run out.”. This is a statement that I still think about when I am on my bike today.
There were several more times when Dave gave me encouragement. We were on our way back into Denton around mile 40. We had just endured about 8 miles of chips into the wind. This is a road where it once was nice smooth blacktop but the black part has worn/washed away and not it is nothing but super bumpy bits of rock. These roads take easily 1/3 more effort to maintain any speed. We reached a break spot about 5 miles out from the finish and I pulled over to rest. At this point I told Dave, “Maybe I just can’t ride more than 40 miles.” (I look back on this and laugh now because 40 miles is a warm up these days.) Dave encouraged me to keep going and not to give up. The suffering had just begun.
I rode inside the belt of Denton only stopping once to feel sorry for myself. Once inside Denton’s loop I climbed up a rather minor but long hill that again I stopped at the top of. Dave doubled back to encourage me again, “Only 2 more miles to go, keep with it”. I peddled on and made it to a red light about a mile down the road where Dave encouraged me, “Only 2 more miles to go, keep with it” to which I thought, “What the…”. Towards the end we finally reached a park that I knew the church was just on the other side but I turned to Dave who was riding next to me now providing almost a IV drip of encouragement and said “I think they moved the church” to which he agreed.
We rode into the parking lot of the church where the ride started and Carrie was there playing book. When I used to play video games we would joke that while I play games, Carrie plays book (reads). I was exhausted & I took my bike and stuck it up on my car rack and said, “there it is, a bike for free for whoever wants it”. Dave and Carrie just laughed.
The point of this story is that if Dave had not taken the time to hand hold me through a long ride my first time there is a good chance that I would not have finished or ever tried a long group ride again.
The other side of the spectrum are the people who are, in my opinion, elitists about cycling. These are the people who probably got a lot of “tough love” growing up. This group seems to think that it will grow the sport if you berate and insult new riders. This is not only a cycling problem, it is a society problem. People these days are so quick to tear someone down rather than try to help build them up. I think this boils down to the feeling that some have that they are the center of the known universe and will not be inconvenienced by anyone they consider inferior to themselves.
There are a large number of forces that are working against the cycling community in general. The pedestrians don’t like cyclist, the motorist don’t like cyclist and some cyclists don’t like cyclists. If there were more people out there like my friend Dave, the community would benefit. I try to carry his forward to anyone who is new or wants help to buy a bike. The more people that own/ride bikes the better it is for the sport. It falls on each of us in the cycling community to grow the sport. In the end it is good for all of us the more there are out there on the road.
Dave encourages me not to start racing crits. Even today I look at him as I did on that cold November day like he is crazy. Maybe he is right again…
That is all I know for now….
Rob
enduranceride 