If you never think about gear inches, you probably don’t ride a fixed gear bike. With a geared road bike you have a range of gears, and you select whatever feels good for the moment. You might discuss with your mechanic changing the gearing if you are going to be racing flat crits, or climbing mountains in Spain, but otherwise you stick with the gearing options that came with the bike (maybe a 53/39x12/25 or a 50/32x11/23), which typically give you enough range to cover most of your riding.
But with a fixie there are no options. Whatever gear you have on the bike is what you are using on the flats, on the descents, on the climbs, sprinting for the yellow sign, etc. And if that gearing isn’t right, you will quickly be wishing you could change gears. Sometimes you forget and you start to push sideways on the brake lever, and then you remember …
The gearing that comes with a fixed gear varies. A true track bike would come with tall (high) gearing appropriate for the track but which would not get you up anything that resembled a hill. A single speed/fixie from your LBS might come with 48x17 gearing, and probably has a flip flop rear wheel with a freewheel on it as delivered. You buy the fixed cog and mount it on the other side of the wheel and remount the rear wheel to use the fixed cog. The 48x17 or 48x16 gear will work for normal riding on the road, but won’t be of much use if you try climbing hills like in Ellicott City.
And Ellicott City was the ride last Sunday. Coach Birner invited the wheelsucker to join, and the wheelsucker promptly asked "what gearing should I use, coach?" Coach Birner replied "39x16". This presented the wheelsucker with a problem. While his collection of fixed gear parts has been growing rapidly it does not yet include either a 39 tooth chain ring or a 16 tooth cog. A spare 39 tooth chain ring from a road bike would work – the wheelsucker’s road bikes and his fixed gear all use 130mm chainring bolt spacing – but both the 17 cog and the 15 cog in the wheelsucker’s collection would be too far off the 16. The nearest the wheelsucker could get to a 39x16 was a 42x17. By now you are probably wondering how to compare gears. The answer is: Gear Inches.
The formula for gear inches is number of teeth on the chain ring divided by number of teeth on the cog multiplied by wheel-and-tire diameter. The math-aware amongst you will immediately note that whoever dreamed this up forgot about Pi! Not only that, some people use actual wheel and tire diameter (say a wheel and 700x23c tire which converts to something over 27 inches), while others use the old 27 inch wheel diameter.
Here are the actual (not nominal) gear inches for some combinations (assuming a 700x23c tire):
50x14 93.9 gear inches
48x14 90.2 gear inches
47x14 88.3 gear inches
46x14 86.4 gear inches
48x16 77.3 gear inches
48x17 72.7 gear inches
38x15 66.6 gear inches
42x17 65.0 gear inches
39x16 64.1 gear inches
The 50x14 gear is appropriate for roller racing, and for pro level track monsters who push a monster gear. 47x14 is a mere mortal track gear. But it turns out that a difference of one gear inch is significant.
For example, coach Birner had suggested the 39x16 to the wheelsucker for the Ellicott City ride, but both coach Birner and Jay Murphy actually showed up with 38x15. A 39x16 is 64.1 gear inches, but fortunately for the wheelsucker he actually showed up with a 42x17, which is 65.0 gear inches. However he was still 1.6 gear inches short of what Mike and Jay were using.
Now it has been quite some time since the wheelsucker sat in a classroom studying mathematics, but by his calculations, one crank of the pedals with a 42x17 results in the bike rolling 5.178353 meters, while one crank of the pedals with a 38x15 results in the bike rolling 5.309867 meters. And this works out to the wheelsucker having to pedal at a faster cadence than Jay, just to stay with Jay. So if Jay is pedaling 160rpm down a hill, the wheelsucker has to be pedaling at about 164. And the sad truth is that the wheelsucker cannot pedal faster than Jay Murphy.
So the wheelsucker’s collection of fixie parts is being increased by the addition of a 38 tooth chain ring and a 16 tooth cog. And with any luck the wheelsucker will be riding the 38x15 combination at the Ellicott City ride next Sunday. Going with a slightly higher gear inches is tempting, but then the wheelsucker would have to push on the pedals harder than Jay, while chasing Jay up a long climb, and that does not sound like a winner, either.
If the math confuses you, simply download one of the iPhone gear inches apps and use that. But consider than any time you alter the number of total teeth (add the number of teeth on the chain ring to the number of teeth on the cog), you need to change chain length by adding or removing links.
Maybe you should stick to the geared bike after all.
Showing posts with label fun ride. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun ride. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Playing In the Snow
Does anyone know what the official snowfall was? Twelve inches? Fifteen inches? Twenty inches? Not that it matters, because whatever the number it was more than enough to shut down Washington DC and shut down Annapolis. The wheelsucker finished his Tour de Balcony ride (the wheelsucker rides the indoor trainer on his balcony because it is cooler than riding indoors) just about the time the snow started to fall on Friday. By Saturday morning everything was covered. The wheelsucker eventually checked on his car and decided digging it out was too much work, and decided to wait for the snow to melt. But sitting at home got old quickly, so eventually the wheelsucker decided to try the MTB in the snow. After taking a guess at what tire pressure would work, the wheelsucker and his hardtail hit the snow. The wheelsucker was a little concerned about being hit by a car, but only saw four between his home and downtown Annapolis. There were a couple of falls when riding too close to the piles of snow on the shoulder, trying to give cars room to pass, but falling in the snow is a lot easier than falling in a road race.
Grinning ear to ear, the wheelsucker rolled into downtown Annapolis at the traffic circle and Market House and realized most of it was closed. His favorite coffee shop, the Hard Bean was dark. But a few bars and City Dock coffee were open, so the wheelsucker enjoyed a large latte as his reward. After savoring it to the last drop (and procrastinating as long as possible), the wheelsucker hit the road for the ride home. For some reason, everyone he passed had the same comment – that’s dedication – but the wheelsucker actually thought there were less complimentary words to describe riding in the snow.
Winter riding thoughts:
Keep the weight back so the front wheel does not dig in.
When riding in a car tire rut, don’t look down, look ahead.
Brakes work remarkably well in the snow
When you are about to wipe out, wipe out towards the shoulder, not into the road.
Grinning ear to ear, the wheelsucker rolled into downtown Annapolis at the traffic circle and Market House and realized most of it was closed. His favorite coffee shop, the Hard Bean was dark. But a few bars and City Dock coffee were open, so the wheelsucker enjoyed a large latte as his reward. After savoring it to the last drop (and procrastinating as long as possible), the wheelsucker hit the road for the ride home. For some reason, everyone he passed had the same comment – that’s dedication – but the wheelsucker actually thought there were less complimentary words to describe riding in the snow.
Winter riding thoughts:
Keep the weight back so the front wheel does not dig in.
When riding in a car tire rut, don’t look down, look ahead.
Brakes work remarkably well in the snow
When you are about to wipe out, wipe out towards the shoulder, not into the road.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The End of the (Century) Season
The Seagull Century last Saturday marked, at least for me, the end of both the "Century Season" and the season as a whole. I think that is especially true given the very fall like weather we are having this week.
This year I did 4 centuries along with a number of ABRT riders: Rick's Solomon's Island ride, our Bay Country Century, the Civil War Century and the Seagull Century. In reflecting on the season during a chili ride yesterday, I realize one of the reasons I did more centuries that races this year is that I really enjoy the longer, steadier effort rides (including our Saturday Training rides) much more than I do the shorter, intense efforts of our typical summer crit schedule. Not that there is anything wrong with those type of events, it's just that they are not really my thing. For me, especially when there are stronger riders in the group (like almost always), these rides are "races" in the sense that they are physically challenging and they simulate certain aspects of road racing. While the focus of the club is on attending, participating in and winning races, I think there are a lot of riders that have this shared sense of purpose in the Club.
Solomon's Island Century: About 10 of us did the ride straight down Rt 2/4 to Solomon's Island on August 1st. It was a fairly warm day with very little wind. Perfect. The ride is quite flat with just some rolling hills and we kept the speed rolling. From a terrain standpoint it was not all that interesting (although it was my first time to Solomon's Island), but was great from an endurance/pace standpoint. Witness the fact that our own endurance pace junkie Iain Banks pulled the last 20 miles hard. A great start to the "Century Season".
Bay Country Century: The Women/Elite Teams put on another great event and the weather was perfect.
The ABRT train hit the road about 8:30 and stayed together pretty much the entire ride. Other than a little road rash thanks to a very large combine taking up most of the road and my bottom bracket sounding like it had marbles in it, the ride was a lot of fun.
Civil War Century: This was my first time doing this ride, although I did do the southern portion last fall on our training ride. Ace, Tom and I represented ABRT. It was raining for the first hour and was chili for most of the ride, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. Ace humored us until the second rest stop and then took off to chase down the DC Velo group. Tom and I picked it up for the last 20 miles back from Gettysburg, finally dropping all but one of the "non workers" that hitched on with us.
Seagull Century: I really like this ride because it is soo fast. This year the DC Velo train left a half hour earlier, which was OK with me since my family was in Ocean City and I was hip on minimizing the time away. Again, only Ace, Tom and I were at the 7:30 start although, we did see Arch and Sarah on their gold plated tandem early on. Michel was there but started later and rode with a second DC Velo group. It rained hard for most of the trip to Assateague, although it was quite warm, but as a result the pace was not as fast as past years. My only problem in the whole ride was that I got caught in a split during a nasty crosswind section, when some weaker DC Velo riders started opening gaps. I got back on at the 40 mile rest stop and was much more vigilant about staying upfront after that. As usual, we skipped the first rest stop to get in front of the crowd, but stopped briefly at the 40, 60 and 80 mile stops. You have to love the 80 mile rest stop with the band playing. The pace on the last 20 miles was fast with ACE putting the hurt on everyone. It was mildly annoying that a lot of folks didn't want to take pulls because of the wind or were really unsteady pace-wise and unfortunately, due to the slight change in course at the end and some traffic, the sprint, which ACE most certainly would have won, was spoiled, but c'est la vie. I did a fair amount of work and got in a great ride.
At this point I look forward to the off season Saturday rides, which I hope at some point will slow enough that the fixies will start making an appearance. My goal for this winter is to get all the way around on mine with the group - no Russian Roulette.
This year I did 4 centuries along with a number of ABRT riders: Rick's Solomon's Island ride, our Bay Country Century, the Civil War Century and the Seagull Century. In reflecting on the season during a chili ride yesterday, I realize one of the reasons I did more centuries that races this year is that I really enjoy the longer, steadier effort rides (including our Saturday Training rides) much more than I do the shorter, intense efforts of our typical summer crit schedule. Not that there is anything wrong with those type of events, it's just that they are not really my thing. For me, especially when there are stronger riders in the group (like almost always), these rides are "races" in the sense that they are physically challenging and they simulate certain aspects of road racing. While the focus of the club is on attending, participating in and winning races, I think there are a lot of riders that have this shared sense of purpose in the Club.
Solomon's Island Century: About 10 of us did the ride straight down Rt 2/4 to Solomon's Island on August 1st. It was a fairly warm day with very little wind. Perfect. The ride is quite flat with just some rolling hills and we kept the speed rolling. From a terrain standpoint it was not all that interesting (although it was my first time to Solomon's Island), but was great from an endurance/pace standpoint. Witness the fact that our own endurance pace junkie Iain Banks pulled the last 20 miles hard. A great start to the "Century Season".
Bay Country Century: The Women/Elite Teams put on another great event and the weather was perfect.
The ABRT train hit the road about 8:30 and stayed together pretty much the entire ride. Other than a little road rash thanks to a very large combine taking up most of the road and my bottom bracket sounding like it had marbles in it, the ride was a lot of fun.
Civil War Century: This was my first time doing this ride, although I did do the southern portion last fall on our training ride. Ace, Tom and I represented ABRT. It was raining for the first hour and was chili for most of the ride, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. Ace humored us until the second rest stop and then took off to chase down the DC Velo group. Tom and I picked it up for the last 20 miles back from Gettysburg, finally dropping all but one of the "non workers" that hitched on with us.
Seagull Century: I really like this ride because it is soo fast. This year the DC Velo train left a half hour earlier, which was OK with me since my family was in Ocean City and I was hip on minimizing the time away. Again, only Ace, Tom and I were at the 7:30 start although, we did see Arch and Sarah on their gold plated tandem early on. Michel was there but started later and rode with a second DC Velo group. It rained hard for most of the trip to Assateague, although it was quite warm, but as a result the pace was not as fast as past years. My only problem in the whole ride was that I got caught in a split during a nasty crosswind section, when some weaker DC Velo riders started opening gaps. I got back on at the 40 mile rest stop and was much more vigilant about staying upfront after that. As usual, we skipped the first rest stop to get in front of the crowd, but stopped briefly at the 40, 60 and 80 mile stops. You have to love the 80 mile rest stop with the band playing. The pace on the last 20 miles was fast with ACE putting the hurt on everyone. It was mildly annoying that a lot of folks didn't want to take pulls because of the wind or were really unsteady pace-wise and unfortunately, due to the slight change in course at the end and some traffic, the sprint, which ACE most certainly would have won, was spoiled, but c'est la vie. I did a fair amount of work and got in a great ride.
At this point I look forward to the off season Saturday rides, which I hope at some point will slow enough that the fixies will start making an appearance. My goal for this winter is to get all the way around on mine with the group - no Russian Roulette.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday June 23rd Training Ride
Images of a really nice Tuesday evening ride.
Team members arriving at the Park & Ride
Sara and her new Orbea getting ready
Bill and Jay warming up
Sara's new Orbea
Aaron and Chad are ready
Warming up
Off they go down Rossback Road
Three off the front at the 214 traffic light
Crossing 214
The pack crossing 214, "groupo compacto"
Off they go
Down Patuxent Parkway
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Wheelsucker Tries Riding the Track
Being relatively new to cycling, the wheelsucker is always interested in trying some new aspect; perhaps he is still hoping to find some cycling discipline he is really good at.
When he found the "Guys on Track!! An Introductory Track Clinic for Men!!" on bikereg, he checked with his coach (who thought it was a great idea), and signed up.
The track is in Trexlertown (known as T-town) PA, about three hours drive from Annapolis. While organizers were providing track bikes, riders could bring their own, so the wheelsucker took handlebars and brakes of his Cannondale capo fixie and mounted narrow Easton Track bars he had picked up and some American Classic track 420 wheels. It turns out the track has some older track bikes and some brand new Fujis that look really nice.
For a group of riders with little or no track experience, the equipment riders showed up with was impressive. It ranged from a nice budget www.bikesdirect.com bike to high end carbon track bikes with deep dish track tubulars. Riders themselves ranged from those who clearly had a little track experience and strong road racers, to those who had never raced a bike and had never ridden a fixed gear.
The clinic was led by track legend Marty Nothstein (executive director of the track), supported by two very experienced locals who had been riding at T-town since it opened (and who helped train Marty), and a younger Zimbabwean track Olympian. They divided the approximately 30 riders into two groups, with those with some track or some fixie experience in one, and those without any track and limited or no fixie experience in the other. A four hour clinic resulted in a little over 1:30 time on the bike, on the track.
After some basic points about track riding and them an introduction to the track drill on the track (this was essentially a warmup), we moved on to "island hopping" (jumping on the whistle and bridging up to a group half a lap ahead), a 5 lap race, a "last out" race, and a "first out" race. The wheelsucker picked up some 3rds and 4ths in his group, but the races were all short and emphasized sprinting, not the wheelsucker's long suit so far.
But apart from being fun, the wheelsucker thinks riding the track would give him more leg speed, make him a better sprinter, and better at jumping, bridging, and more comfortable in a crowded peleton; his coach agrees.
The wheelsucker was running a 48x15, which is about 86 gear inches; this was fine for the drills, but too low for racing. His fixie also has 172.5mm cranks, and the track guys were strongly encouraging him to go to 167mm if he wanted to continue.
The wheelsucker could see himself going up for some Saturday racing if there are no MABRA 50+ races that weekend. If one goes up Friday after work, one can watch the pros race Friday night, first. And perhaps the best part is that the clinic is enough to upgrade from a 5 to a 4 on the track! The wheelsucker has already requested the upgrade, and his next e-mail will be to inquire about 167mm track cranks.
Several more "introduction to the track" sessions are planned. The wheelsucker highly recommends these for those interested in trying the track.
Areas covered during the five hours were:
o Track etiquitte (how to get on the track and conduct oneself so as to not endanger oneself or others, and not be yelled at)
o The importance of communication while riding, and some key words (stick and stay, rail)
o Riding the track (don't overlap in a paceline, but overlap to the right/up if you do)
o How to get you, your bike and everything you will need to the infield. What you will need.
o How to warmup, and how to recover between efforts
o The sprinter's line and what not to do in the final 200 meters.
o And much much more ...
When he found the "Guys on Track!! An Introductory Track Clinic for Men!!" on bikereg, he checked with his coach (who thought it was a great idea), and signed up.
The track is in Trexlertown (known as T-town) PA, about three hours drive from Annapolis. While organizers were providing track bikes, riders could bring their own, so the wheelsucker took handlebars and brakes of his Cannondale capo fixie and mounted narrow Easton Track bars he had picked up and some American Classic track 420 wheels. It turns out the track has some older track bikes and some brand new Fujis that look really nice.
For a group of riders with little or no track experience, the equipment riders showed up with was impressive. It ranged from a nice budget www.bikesdirect.com bike to high end carbon track bikes with deep dish track tubulars. Riders themselves ranged from those who clearly had a little track experience and strong road racers, to those who had never raced a bike and had never ridden a fixed gear.
The clinic was led by track legend Marty Nothstein (executive director of the track), supported by two very experienced locals who had been riding at T-town since it opened (and who helped train Marty), and a younger Zimbabwean track Olympian. They divided the approximately 30 riders into two groups, with those with some track or some fixie experience in one, and those without any track and limited or no fixie experience in the other. A four hour clinic resulted in a little over 1:30 time on the bike, on the track.
After some basic points about track riding and them an introduction to the track drill on the track (this was essentially a warmup), we moved on to "island hopping" (jumping on the whistle and bridging up to a group half a lap ahead), a 5 lap race, a "last out" race, and a "first out" race. The wheelsucker picked up some 3rds and 4ths in his group, but the races were all short and emphasized sprinting, not the wheelsucker's long suit so far.
But apart from being fun, the wheelsucker thinks riding the track would give him more leg speed, make him a better sprinter, and better at jumping, bridging, and more comfortable in a crowded peleton; his coach agrees.
The wheelsucker was running a 48x15, which is about 86 gear inches; this was fine for the drills, but too low for racing. His fixie also has 172.5mm cranks, and the track guys were strongly encouraging him to go to 167mm if he wanted to continue.
The wheelsucker could see himself going up for some Saturday racing if there are no MABRA 50+ races that weekend. If one goes up Friday after work, one can watch the pros race Friday night, first. And perhaps the best part is that the clinic is enough to upgrade from a 5 to a 4 on the track! The wheelsucker has already requested the upgrade, and his next e-mail will be to inquire about 167mm track cranks.
Several more "introduction to the track" sessions are planned. The wheelsucker highly recommends these for those interested in trying the track.
Areas covered during the five hours were:
o Track etiquitte (how to get on the track and conduct oneself so as to not endanger oneself or others, and not be yelled at)
o The importance of communication while riding, and some key words (stick and stay, rail)
o Riding the track (don't overlap in a paceline, but overlap to the right/up if you do)
o How to get you, your bike and everything you will need to the infield. What you will need.
o How to warmup, and how to recover between efforts
o The sprinter's line and what not to do in the final 200 meters.
o And much much more ...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
April 21st Training Ride
The weather forecast claimed a 50% chance of rain, but checking the weatherunderground website in the Park & Ride it sure looked like a storm was heading our way.... The wheelsucker had done his assigned recovery ride in the AM, so took pictures (and did not ride) until the camera battery died. The wheelsucker left for bike-related projects while the group rolled out. A short while later it was pouring.
Here are photos of the group in happier times.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Roller Racing: The Wheelsucker Branches Out
A long time ago, before global warming, there was a season called winter. Depending on exactly where you were in the Northern hemisphere (above the tropic), winter was so cold that rain fell as snow, and open water would freeze. People would shovel snow off their driveways, ski, and complain about winter, as forms of winter exercise. Since the roads frequently had snow or ice on them, cycling outdoors was dangerous, and it was much too cold to be comfortable doing this; so cyclists developed ways of riding indoors.
What with global warming, we no longer have a winter. Sure, we still call it winter, but there is almost never snow or ice on the ground, and many cyclists ride outdoors year round, though most of those declare an "off season" that was frequently a Thursday afternoon in November. But old traditions die hard, and the tools and techniques developed by cyclists in the old "real winter" days are still here, being used by some of the traditionalists.
Hence, indoor roller racing.
Roller racing is done indoors, so is unaffected by weather. Two riders face each other on two sets of rollers. Each set of rollers drives a pointer on a shared dial. The pointers show distance. To start a roller race both riders are stopped on their rollers, with the pointers lined up at the starting point. Each rider is held upright so they can start with both hands on the handle bars. While traditionally this is done on a 98 gear inch track bike, the shortage of track bikes, and riders who can ride track bikes, has caused the roller racing aficionados to become a little flexible, and allow road bikes using a 53-14 gear (which is about 99.5 gear inches, depending on wheel/tire size. A timer calls out "riders ready!" and then "go!" There is very little load on the rollers, so riders are spinning as fast as they can, going over 40 mph. While the race could go for any distance, apparently ½ mile, 1 mile and 2 miles are frequently raced distances. With the low load, high cadence and resulting very high speed, roller races are over in a matter of a few seconds.
Feeling that he had done "OK" at being an old dog learning a new trick (group riding and masters age group racing), the wheelsucker was easily convinced by Bobby "The Baltimore Bullet" Phillips to try roller racing. The roller racing setup is in Bobby’s basement, just north of the Baltimore beltway, so one evening a week the wheelsucker shows up at Bobby’s place and meets a few more cyclists encouraged (by Bobby) to try roller racing.
The wheelsucker had been under the impression that being able to ride on rollers was a prerequisite for roller racing. This was a show stopper for the wheelsucker, who – having talked president Shapter up to $150 – bought a set of rollers from him, but has so far failed to ride a bike on them for more than 15 seconds at a time, and has scared himself silly trying. But the Baltimore Bullet was very persuasive, saying he was a great teacher.
Evening one: Encouraged by Bobby, Track-Sean and Carol, the wheelsucker tried to get going on the roller racing rollers. With Bobby holding the head tube and seatpost, the wheelsucker was able to "ride the rollers" and was even able to stay on the rollers for short periods of time, while Bobby would let go. Fortunately Bobby is rather good at this, and would grab the wheelsucker’s head tube and seatpost just before the wheelsucker "lost it", so despite coming very close every 15 or 20 seconds, the wheelsucker did not actually crash off the rollers. When it came time to "race" for time, Bobby did not dare let go of the wheelsucker's bicycle, as the flailing wheelsucker was all over the rollers, would have been off them in short order, and the nearby contents of Bobby’s basement were at risk, to say nothing of the aging wheelsucker himself.
It turns out the wheelsucker is not bad at flailing, and with Bobby’s firm grip on the bike, the wheelsucker turned in some respectable times.
Evening two: Acutely aware that he had not in fact mastered a new trick (but was only doing it with Bobby literally holding his bike on the rollers), the wheelsucker was determined to have another go. A somewhat different group were already there when the wheelsucker arrived, Janet, not one but two track riders named Sean, John K. and another rider whose name escaped the wheelsucker’s aging memory. The other riders had already started their races. The wheelsucker decided to warm up on another set of rollers. These were carefully positioned next to a steel post, but were – in retrospect – perhaps a little to close to a free standing shelf containing pictures of Bobby and his parents cycling, some trophies, and some extra water bottles. The wheelsucker managed to get the bike on the rollers, himself on the bike clipped into the pedals, and holding firmly to the steel post, started pedaling. This was working fine until it was time to let go the post and move that hand to the handlebars. The wheelsucker was having trouble with this transition and had several aborted attempts – frantically grabbing the steel post each time to save himself – before trying the free standing shelf, as it was closer to the handlebars. The wheelsucker regrets that his flailing knocked several items off the shelf, and caused multiple pictures to fall over flat on the shelf as the wheelsucker fell off the rollers to the left, being saved from a complete crash by John K. who grabbed him on the way down. By mutual consent, John and the wheelsucker agreed that the wheelsucker should avoid warming up by himself.
The wheelsucker turned in respectable times (but keep in mind Bobby was holding him on the rollers) of 1:14 for the mile, 2:32 for the two mile and 29 seconds for the half mile.
As John Krawczyk wrote:
The wheelsucker is looking forward to trying again next week. It is a unique experience – at least for the wheelsucker – to warm up by riding the rollers for less than a mile and then going as hard as an aging wheelsucker can go, for all of 29 seconds. It is amazing how tired and out of breath one can become in only 29 seconds. The notion of working very hard and not actually going anywhere also seems strangely familiar.
Wheelsucker data:
Total duration: 13:16 (that is thirteen MINUTES)
Distance 5.20 miles
125 calories
Max HR 168
Max power 547 watts
Max cadence 178rpm
Max speed 51.2mph
What with global warming, we no longer have a winter. Sure, we still call it winter, but there is almost never snow or ice on the ground, and many cyclists ride outdoors year round, though most of those declare an "off season" that was frequently a Thursday afternoon in November. But old traditions die hard, and the tools and techniques developed by cyclists in the old "real winter" days are still here, being used by some of the traditionalists.
Hence, indoor roller racing.
Roller racing is done indoors, so is unaffected by weather. Two riders face each other on two sets of rollers. Each set of rollers drives a pointer on a shared dial. The pointers show distance. To start a roller race both riders are stopped on their rollers, with the pointers lined up at the starting point. Each rider is held upright so they can start with both hands on the handle bars. While traditionally this is done on a 98 gear inch track bike, the shortage of track bikes, and riders who can ride track bikes, has caused the roller racing aficionados to become a little flexible, and allow road bikes using a 53-14 gear (which is about 99.5 gear inches, depending on wheel/tire size. A timer calls out "riders ready!" and then "go!" There is very little load on the rollers, so riders are spinning as fast as they can, going over 40 mph. While the race could go for any distance, apparently ½ mile, 1 mile and 2 miles are frequently raced distances. With the low load, high cadence and resulting very high speed, roller races are over in a matter of a few seconds.
Feeling that he had done "OK" at being an old dog learning a new trick (group riding and masters age group racing), the wheelsucker was easily convinced by Bobby "The Baltimore Bullet" Phillips to try roller racing. The roller racing setup is in Bobby’s basement, just north of the Baltimore beltway, so one evening a week the wheelsucker shows up at Bobby’s place and meets a few more cyclists encouraged (by Bobby) to try roller racing.
The wheelsucker had been under the impression that being able to ride on rollers was a prerequisite for roller racing. This was a show stopper for the wheelsucker, who – having talked president Shapter up to $150 – bought a set of rollers from him, but has so far failed to ride a bike on them for more than 15 seconds at a time, and has scared himself silly trying. But the Baltimore Bullet was very persuasive, saying he was a great teacher.
Evening one: Encouraged by Bobby, Track-Sean and Carol, the wheelsucker tried to get going on the roller racing rollers. With Bobby holding the head tube and seatpost, the wheelsucker was able to "ride the rollers" and was even able to stay on the rollers for short periods of time, while Bobby would let go. Fortunately Bobby is rather good at this, and would grab the wheelsucker’s head tube and seatpost just before the wheelsucker "lost it", so despite coming very close every 15 or 20 seconds, the wheelsucker did not actually crash off the rollers. When it came time to "race" for time, Bobby did not dare let go of the wheelsucker's bicycle, as the flailing wheelsucker was all over the rollers, would have been off them in short order, and the nearby contents of Bobby’s basement were at risk, to say nothing of the aging wheelsucker himself.
It turns out the wheelsucker is not bad at flailing, and with Bobby’s firm grip on the bike, the wheelsucker turned in some respectable times.
Evening two: Acutely aware that he had not in fact mastered a new trick (but was only doing it with Bobby literally holding his bike on the rollers), the wheelsucker was determined to have another go. A somewhat different group were already there when the wheelsucker arrived, Janet, not one but two track riders named Sean, John K. and another rider whose name escaped the wheelsucker’s aging memory. The other riders had already started their races. The wheelsucker decided to warm up on another set of rollers. These were carefully positioned next to a steel post, but were – in retrospect – perhaps a little to close to a free standing shelf containing pictures of Bobby and his parents cycling, some trophies, and some extra water bottles. The wheelsucker managed to get the bike on the rollers, himself on the bike clipped into the pedals, and holding firmly to the steel post, started pedaling. This was working fine until it was time to let go the post and move that hand to the handlebars. The wheelsucker was having trouble with this transition and had several aborted attempts – frantically grabbing the steel post each time to save himself – before trying the free standing shelf, as it was closer to the handlebars. The wheelsucker regrets that his flailing knocked several items off the shelf, and caused multiple pictures to fall over flat on the shelf as the wheelsucker fell off the rollers to the left, being saved from a complete crash by John K. who grabbed him on the way down. By mutual consent, John and the wheelsucker agreed that the wheelsucker should avoid warming up by himself.
The wheelsucker turned in respectable times (but keep in mind Bobby was holding him on the rollers) of 1:14 for the mile, 2:32 for the two mile and 29 seconds for the half mile.
As John Krawczyk wrote:
I’m still hurting. I didn’t think it would be possible to ride 2 miles in 2 ½ minutes, or beat Ali at something this year (if only by a second and a half), even on rollers.
Thanks for hosting this Bob.
In case you’re all wondering, Bob kicked all our asses at ½ mile (27 sec) and 1 mile (59 sec). Ali did great at the ½ (29 sec), the 1 (1:14) and 2 mile (2:32) distances for someone who’s not a roller rider. A little more practice on them, and he’ll cut those times down even more. FWIW I covered the ½ in 31 sec, the 1 mile in 1:22 (bad pacing) and the 2 miles at 2:31. Ali and I went head to head on the 2 mile. He was tough, but I edged him on lap 10 with a killer sprint finish that knocked a cleat screw right out my shoe.
The wheelsucker is looking forward to trying again next week. It is a unique experience – at least for the wheelsucker – to warm up by riding the rollers for less than a mile and then going as hard as an aging wheelsucker can go, for all of 29 seconds. It is amazing how tired and out of breath one can become in only 29 seconds. The notion of working very hard and not actually going anywhere also seems strangely familiar.
Wheelsucker data:
Total duration: 13:16 (that is thirteen MINUTES)
Distance 5.20 miles
125 calories
Max HR 168
Max power 547 watts
Max cadence 178rpm
Max speed 51.2mph
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Is Spring on the Way?
What a weekend! Both Saturday and Sunday had highs of over 55 degrees, so the Saturday rides and the Sunday ride had large turnouts. While it was still slightly below freezing when the wheelsucker left home at 9:15AM Saturday, it warmed up nicely; Sunday morning started above freezing and hit a similar – or better – high.
For Saturday, the wheelsucker’s workout instructions were to get "as much time in zones tempo/threshold power zones as you can accumulate", for four hours.
After lots of e-mail chatter on the ABRT listserver about doing the Goon Ride, everyone but Mike Wagner showed up at Davidsonville, including Ace and Nat and new members Christine and Amy. With ten miles on the wheelsucker’s legs before the Davidsonville ride even started, it was easy for him to roll off the front early, just after crossing Governor Bridge Road, simply by holding Z3 watts. Bill "don’t drop me" Neumann followed the wheelsucker. A couple of minutes later, the tandem rolled up and pointed out that the three bikes/four riders were well off the front. The wheelsucker sat up so as to not split up the ride so early, but the tandem and Bill continued, and after crossing 214 Steve Owens bridged up; that group stayed away to the rest stop (nice going, guys and gals!) Holding wheelsucker Z3 power was an excellent way to go OTB on short climbs, but the wheelsucker would slowly drag himself back, on the flats and descents. Then someone caught site of another group up the road, the peleton surged, and the wheelsucker went OTB big time! Fortunately the peleton slowed at the start of the climb after the left turn on Ed Prout. The wheelsucker caught back on and then just holding Z3 power on the climb, rolled off the front (with the jeers of team mates saying the group was slowing for a pee break ringing in his ears) also staying away until the rest stop.
After the rest stop, a small group split left at Boyd’s Turn Road for the short cut, but the main group did the full course. Ace looked strong on the wall, with Michel hammering off the top and looking good. The wheelsucker, noticing that he was not riding one of his weight weenie bikes, sat up and waited for the tandem to roll by, grabbed a wheel and took the tow back to the front. Shortly after the short cutters were caught on Sudley Road, Ace was pinned against the shoulder by the tandem and several other riders, behind the wheelsucker. Ace asked the wheelsucker to move left – which he did, not realizing that Ace was being pinned deliberately – and Ace jumped hard. A chase led by Nat went after him, but only caught him after the turn onto route 2. The wheelsucker found the tandem’s back wheel and hung on. Later, a tiring wheelsucker was gapped again on the climb out of the flood area on Patuxent Parkway before crossing 214, but the light saved him, and he caught up as the leaders rolled through a fresh green. The setup for the sprint was looking interesting. The wheelsucker took a short wheelsucker pull, rotated off and got to the back of the rotating part of the paceline, just before the start of the last dip. Several of the leaders went over a new pothole, with Rick Paukstitus losing a water bottle, and Ace flatting. With Ace out, Nat went with two guys on his wheel. A chase of Steve Owens, Tom Aga and the wheelsucker were a short distance behind. Nat pulled away for the easy win, with Michel looking strong in second. The wheelsucker put in no effort at all letting first Steve and then Tom tire, and rolled across third.
A few of the riders met for lunch at Chipotle in the Annapolis Mall, after the ride. The wheelsucker was long past being able to hold Z3, and slowly rode to the mall, finding Christine, Amy and Ace in Chipotle, and had a fajito burrito. The tired wheelsucker needed those calories badly!
Wheelsucker data:
Ride time 4:40:26
2899 calories burned (and more than that added between Chipotle and Pussers)
Zone 1 (Recovery) time: 112 minutes
Zone 2 (Endurance) time: 48 minutes
Zone 3 (Tempo) time: 51 minutes
Zone 4 (Threshold) time: 42 minutes
Zone 5 (VO2Max) time: 13 minutes
Zone 6 (Anaerobic) time: 13 minutes
Saturday night was the Latitude/ABRT kickoff party, and a great time was had at Pussers, with the new women’s team and the elite team introduced, a number of team members congratulated on their 2008 season, some key volunteers thanked, 2009 kit handed out and much more. Many stayed for dinner after the party, and some of those ended up at the Doetsch’s place later for more partying and fireworks. Being Doetsch’s neighbor must be rather exciting.
President Doug encouraged everyone to do a 10:00AM Sunday ride. This merged with the Peter Penzell Sunday ride, which turned out to be to Sandy Point and back with some extra loops for high gear/low cadence muscle tension intervals. A large group were in the Annapolis Park & Ride at the designated time, though some number of them appeared to be hung over and short of sleep. The wheelsucker was again trying to do a specific workout – this time it was stay in zone 2 for two hours – and again found himself going OTB on short climbs and then catching back on the flats and descents. As the group started their big gear low cadence intervals, the wheelsucker cut short the ride and headed home for a break and then a recovery/coffee ride with his girlfriend, Leslie. But the sun was out, the temperature was up, and he needed to switch his long sleeve jersey and vest for a short sleeve jersey – it must have been 60 degrees – before heading out with Leslie. They did the Lake Ogleton loop, and then went downtown for coffee. Everywhere they want, they saw cyclists enjoying the day. But the drivers were out in force too, with traffic through downtown Annapolis stopped. Why couldn’t everyone ride their bike?
Wheelsucker data:
Combined ride time: 3:32:39
1685 calories burned
Zone 1 (Recovery) time: 102 minutes
Zone 2 (Endurance) time: 88 minutes
Zone 3 (Tempo) time: 18 minutes
Zone 4 (Threshold) time: 2 minutes
Zone 5 (VO2Max) time: 0 minutes
Zone 6 (Anaerobic) time: 0 minutes
Total calories burned over the weekend: 4584. Weight gain 2 pounds.
For Saturday, the wheelsucker’s workout instructions were to get "as much time in zones tempo/threshold power zones as you can accumulate", for four hours.
After lots of e-mail chatter on the ABRT listserver about doing the Goon Ride, everyone but Mike Wagner showed up at Davidsonville, including Ace and Nat and new members Christine and Amy. With ten miles on the wheelsucker’s legs before the Davidsonville ride even started, it was easy for him to roll off the front early, just after crossing Governor Bridge Road, simply by holding Z3 watts. Bill "don’t drop me" Neumann followed the wheelsucker. A couple of minutes later, the tandem rolled up and pointed out that the three bikes/four riders were well off the front. The wheelsucker sat up so as to not split up the ride so early, but the tandem and Bill continued, and after crossing 214 Steve Owens bridged up; that group stayed away to the rest stop (nice going, guys and gals!) Holding wheelsucker Z3 power was an excellent way to go OTB on short climbs, but the wheelsucker would slowly drag himself back, on the flats and descents. Then someone caught site of another group up the road, the peleton surged, and the wheelsucker went OTB big time! Fortunately the peleton slowed at the start of the climb after the left turn on Ed Prout. The wheelsucker caught back on and then just holding Z3 power on the climb, rolled off the front (with the jeers of team mates saying the group was slowing for a pee break ringing in his ears) also staying away until the rest stop.
After the rest stop, a small group split left at Boyd’s Turn Road for the short cut, but the main group did the full course. Ace looked strong on the wall, with Michel hammering off the top and looking good. The wheelsucker, noticing that he was not riding one of his weight weenie bikes, sat up and waited for the tandem to roll by, grabbed a wheel and took the tow back to the front. Shortly after the short cutters were caught on Sudley Road, Ace was pinned against the shoulder by the tandem and several other riders, behind the wheelsucker. Ace asked the wheelsucker to move left – which he did, not realizing that Ace was being pinned deliberately – and Ace jumped hard. A chase led by Nat went after him, but only caught him after the turn onto route 2. The wheelsucker found the tandem’s back wheel and hung on. Later, a tiring wheelsucker was gapped again on the climb out of the flood area on Patuxent Parkway before crossing 214, but the light saved him, and he caught up as the leaders rolled through a fresh green. The setup for the sprint was looking interesting. The wheelsucker took a short wheelsucker pull, rotated off and got to the back of the rotating part of the paceline, just before the start of the last dip. Several of the leaders went over a new pothole, with Rick Paukstitus losing a water bottle, and Ace flatting. With Ace out, Nat went with two guys on his wheel. A chase of Steve Owens, Tom Aga and the wheelsucker were a short distance behind. Nat pulled away for the easy win, with Michel looking strong in second. The wheelsucker put in no effort at all letting first Steve and then Tom tire, and rolled across third.
A few of the riders met for lunch at Chipotle in the Annapolis Mall, after the ride. The wheelsucker was long past being able to hold Z3, and slowly rode to the mall, finding Christine, Amy and Ace in Chipotle, and had a fajito burrito. The tired wheelsucker needed those calories badly!
Wheelsucker data:
Ride time 4:40:26
2899 calories burned (and more than that added between Chipotle and Pussers)
Zone 1 (Recovery) time: 112 minutes
Zone 2 (Endurance) time: 48 minutes
Zone 3 (Tempo) time: 51 minutes
Zone 4 (Threshold) time: 42 minutes
Zone 5 (VO2Max) time: 13 minutes
Zone 6 (Anaerobic) time: 13 minutes
Saturday night was the Latitude/ABRT kickoff party, and a great time was had at Pussers, with the new women’s team and the elite team introduced, a number of team members congratulated on their 2008 season, some key volunteers thanked, 2009 kit handed out and much more. Many stayed for dinner after the party, and some of those ended up at the Doetsch’s place later for more partying and fireworks. Being Doetsch’s neighbor must be rather exciting.
President Doug encouraged everyone to do a 10:00AM Sunday ride. This merged with the Peter Penzell Sunday ride, which turned out to be to Sandy Point and back with some extra loops for high gear/low cadence muscle tension intervals. A large group were in the Annapolis Park & Ride at the designated time, though some number of them appeared to be hung over and short of sleep. The wheelsucker was again trying to do a specific workout – this time it was stay in zone 2 for two hours – and again found himself going OTB on short climbs and then catching back on the flats and descents. As the group started their big gear low cadence intervals, the wheelsucker cut short the ride and headed home for a break and then a recovery/coffee ride with his girlfriend, Leslie. But the sun was out, the temperature was up, and he needed to switch his long sleeve jersey and vest for a short sleeve jersey – it must have been 60 degrees – before heading out with Leslie. They did the Lake Ogleton loop, and then went downtown for coffee. Everywhere they want, they saw cyclists enjoying the day. But the drivers were out in force too, with traffic through downtown Annapolis stopped. Why couldn’t everyone ride their bike?
Wheelsucker data:
Combined ride time: 3:32:39
1685 calories burned
Zone 1 (Recovery) time: 102 minutes
Zone 2 (Endurance) time: 88 minutes
Zone 3 (Tempo) time: 18 minutes
Zone 4 (Threshold) time: 2 minutes
Zone 5 (VO2Max) time: 0 minutes
Zone 6 (Anaerobic) time: 0 minutes
Total calories burned over the weekend: 4584. Weight gain 2 pounds.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Another Vino Velo Ride
Nearly all group rides in the Philadelphia area start from the Art Museum, actually the fountain behind the Art Museum. Of those that do not, most start from the dog statue across the street in a small triangular one block park. There are a few other locations listed on various websites, but on the two occasions the wheelsucker tried those, no one else showed up. While there are multiple rides a day -- nearly hourly -- going from the fountain behind the Art Museum, the 9:00AM Saturday Vino Velo ride is well known and popular. And the tough Philadelphia cyclists are renowned for doing the ride almost regardless of conditions. So it was quite a surprise for the wheelsucker to be parked near the fountain at 8:55AM, getting ready to ride, and not seeing another rider. Surely the Philadelphians could not have been scared off by the somewhat-below-freezing temperatures, the ice in the gutter, or the forecast of "wintry mix"? Finally another rider rolled by and stopped to chat. It was a rider the wheelsucker had ridden with before, on a previous Vino Velo a few weeks ago.
"Super Brit"1 is staying in a hotel in Philadelphia on weekends and doing consulting work during the week in various other cities. Since he is flying all the time, he rides a neat folding bicycle. While this may not sound like the greatest road bike, the bicycle has an SRM and drop handlerbars, and comes close to duplicating the position he has on his various road bikes (which are still in England).
"Super Brit"1 is staying in a hotel in Philadelphia on weekends and doing consulting work during the week in various other cities. Since he is flying all the time, he rides a neat folding bicycle. While this may not sound like the greatest road bike, the bicycle has an SRM and drop handlerbars, and comes close to duplicating the position he has on his various road bikes (which are still in England).
One of the "rules" of the Vino velo ride is that one circles the fountain counter clockwise while waiting for other riders to arrive.
Super Brit and the wheelsucker accordingly circled the fountain and eventually Alex2 turned up. While three riders -- two of them visitors -- was hardly representative of a Vino Velo ride, this did give the group one rider who actually knew the route, a key requirement. Alex, "Myrig" and the wheelsucker set off. Given the forecast the wheelsucker had brought his rain bike, his old Trek 1220 upgraded to 105 ten speed and a Powertap wired wheel, not one of his weight weenie race bikes. It took a while to warmup, as though Super Brit's SRM was reporting 1 degree C above freezing this was while riding past puddles that were clearly frozen solid. Once warmed up, and one the riders realized the crunching sound was from riding over salt, not crunching through ice, the pace increased, with Super Brit driving the pace most of the time, Alex taking over from time to time, and the wheelsucker working harder than he cared to and increasingly concerned about being dropped in some middle-of-nowhere spot somewhere northwest of Philadelphia. The wheelsucker is very good at wheelsucking, but it is probably worth pointing out that the salt on the roads was melting the snow and ice, so there was a lot of dirty water on the roads, and this dirty water was being flung up by the rear tires of Super Brit and Alex. The wheelsucker was turning brown/grey from all of this, and his sunglasses were slowly being covered. But the risks of being dropped in some middle-of-nowhere spot somewhere northwest of Philadelphia outweighed the risks of being completely covered in salt and grit spray, so the wheelsucker hung on, wheelsucking, breathing hard, and taking one or two very short pulls in case anyone was counting.
After riding back through Manayunk onto Kelly Drive, the three crossed the river and rode back to the Art Museum on a particuarly flat -- actually slightly downhill section. By this time Super Brit and Alex had been chatting awhile, and the wheelsucker overheard snippets to the effect that Super Brit was the equivalent of a cat 1 in England, and had a 52 minute 49k TT time. This was enough for the wheelsucker to accelerate enough to pull along side and ask how many watts Super Brit had averaged for those 52 minutes, "340 watts", was the answer! And Super Brit weighs about 130-135 pounds! Super Brit was driving the pace back to the Art Museum and the wheelsucker finally cracked and decided he HAD to take a pull or would not be able to live with himself, so after waiting sufficient time to hope that Super Brit might be tiring, the wheelsucker accelerated, pulled out, passed Super Brit and took a pull. The trouble was that to accelerate and get in front of Super Brit required northwards of 500 watts, and the wheelsucker felt obliged to hold at least 400 while at the front, and as you all know, the wheelsucker's time at 400+ watts is limited, severely limited actually!
A very short pull later, the wheelsucker pulled over, and Super Brit happily pulled through and continued. After waiting a considerable time for Super Brit to tire for real, the wheelsucker had another go; after all, they were close to the Art Museum, how bad could it be? The wheelsucker quickly found out when he slowed on a false flat and suddenly saw Super Brit go by easily, with Alex sprinting to stay on his wheel. The wheelsucker called down to the engine room for flank speed, but nothing noticeable happened, the gap opened and the wheelsucker watched Super Brit and Alex easily ride away. The only good news was that the end of the ride was another three hundred feet further, so the wheelsucker could claim to himself that he was merely cooling down after the ride.
1. Super Brit is actually a mid thirties Welshman named something that sounds like "Myrig" but is probably 27 letters long like many Welsh names. Super Brit started racing as a nine year old, stopped racing while at University, then took it up again. He is the UK equivalent of a cat 1. His TT time is apparently good enough that he has a shot of getting on the podium at the UK TT Nationals if he can ever make the race. Super Brit lives in a downtown Philadelphia hotel on weekends, and in hotels wherever his clients are, the rest of the week.
2. Alex is a mid thirties cat 3 who did not race last year. He rides for Chesapeake Wheelmen. He has won Memorial Hall in a lone breakaway. He is moving to Washington DC soon.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Saturday in Frederick County
Great ride with some AVC members!
Lots of climbing (some long ones) including Harp Hill and High Rock, lots of time on the bike, great scenery, some FAAST descents, and if that wasn't enough lots of yellow sign sprints for those who were so inclined. Stephen wrote 5700 feet of climbing and 67 miles in his e-mail; I have not pulled the data from my Powertap yet. Over five hours, but riding time was actually closer to four. The faster climbers had more rest as they waited at the top of the climbs, and we also had a couple of other rest stops, including a stop to assist an older lady who was having car trouble and was stranded in rural Maryland.
Lance's workout had him trying to stay under 300 watts, which made the long climbs a challenge. For extra "difficulty" points Lance was riding an 11-23 (I use an 11-26 and was wishing I had brought a 10-28 (does that even exist?)). Seems like a good way for Lance to get a big gear workout! How about a fixed gear, Lance! I thought Kyle was doing a similar workout to Lance, but given the climbs and yellow line sprints I don't think he stayed below 300 watts much :-)
Nat was having an easy day except for a few climbs and sprints where something tempted Nat to actually turn it on. New Latitude member Brian makes long climbs look incredibly easy (well, he was making it look easy for the relatively short times I could stay in sight of him), despite riding an old heavy aluminum bike. He's going to be even faster on a light CAAD9. New Latitude member Stephen also climbs really well, rolls really well, and apparently LOVES to sprint too. Kyle just loves to sprint, and then sprint some more. There are WAY TOO MANY yellow signs in Frederick County! And Kyle and the AVC guys seem to know where each of them is, especially the ones just around a corner!
AVC'er John Olinski goes downhill like a missile, he uses an interesting aero position, sitting on the top tube underneath the seat. I have no idea where his knees and hands go, or how he steers.
Wheelsucker data:
Ride time: 3:57:16 (slightly shorter than Kyle, 'cause I was waiting at the top of the climbs while he was still riding up)
67.1 miles
2736 calories burned
climbing ~ 5700 feet
watts average = 195 watts, max = 977 watts
speed average = 15.7 mph, max = 49.8 mph
number of yellow sign sprints > 10
Lots of climbing (some long ones) including Harp Hill and High Rock, lots of time on the bike, great scenery, some FAAST descents, and if that wasn't enough lots of yellow sign sprints for those who were so inclined. Stephen wrote 5700 feet of climbing and 67 miles in his e-mail; I have not pulled the data from my Powertap yet. Over five hours, but riding time was actually closer to four. The faster climbers had more rest as they waited at the top of the climbs, and we also had a couple of other rest stops, including a stop to assist an older lady who was having car trouble and was stranded in rural Maryland.
Lance's workout had him trying to stay under 300 watts, which made the long climbs a challenge. For extra "difficulty" points Lance was riding an 11-23 (I use an 11-26 and was wishing I had brought a 10-28 (does that even exist?)). Seems like a good way for Lance to get a big gear workout! How about a fixed gear, Lance! I thought Kyle was doing a similar workout to Lance, but given the climbs and yellow line sprints I don't think he stayed below 300 watts much :-)
Nat was having an easy day except for a few climbs and sprints where something tempted Nat to actually turn it on. New Latitude member Brian makes long climbs look incredibly easy (well, he was making it look easy for the relatively short times I could stay in sight of him), despite riding an old heavy aluminum bike. He's going to be even faster on a light CAAD9. New Latitude member Stephen also climbs really well, rolls really well, and apparently LOVES to sprint too. Kyle just loves to sprint, and then sprint some more. There are WAY TOO MANY yellow signs in Frederick County! And Kyle and the AVC guys seem to know where each of them is, especially the ones just around a corner!
AVC'er John Olinski goes downhill like a missile, he uses an interesting aero position, sitting on the top tube underneath the seat. I have no idea where his knees and hands go, or how he steers.
Wheelsucker data:
Ride time: 3:57:16 (slightly shorter than Kyle, 'cause I was waiting at the top of the climbs while he was still riding up)
67.1 miles
2736 calories burned
climbing ~ 5700 feet
watts average = 195 watts, max = 977 watts
speed average = 15.7 mph, max = 49.8 mph
number of yellow sign sprints > 10
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The Original Snow [Patapsco] Valley Ride
Greetings all, Today the MTB team banded together once more and made a terrible, windy, cold and brutal day into a very very solid ride opportunity.
After arriving at the CCBC tennis courts on my cross bike, the Raleigh RX1.0, I tried hard to tell myself the pain was just weakness leaving the body. After standing in the cold, we rolled and thankfully, gracious Mike did not take us on the technical loop right off. The technical stuff isn't a problem for me on my normal bike, but on a road bike, a little much.
After a few hard, hard diggers, I finally got into a rhythm. This is basically how the ride would go:
First the fat tire boys would fly down the hills like they were supposed to. The snow that was on the ground didn't seem to slow Kidd or anyone else down. I would find myself off the back, yes off the back of a mountain bike group.
Typacially I made great time on the climbs, even the technical ones and was actually clearing stuff on the 700x32's (in the snow) that I have trouble occasionally with on a nice day with my 29x2.2's. At one point on the ridge trail I was just tearing it up the side of the hill till my admittedly worn-out rear tire finally just refused to grab the earth any longer. I'm almost certin that I climbed better because this bike weighs 21 lbs, and my monocog flight 29er (SS I might add) weighs 27 on a good day.
Logs were of little problem for the RX1, the reasons I hate this bike on the road, were the very reasons it took so well to the dirt. Namely its very high bottom bracket gave mondo clearence over stupid stuff and the forward position made bunny hopping easy.
Biggest tip for riding a cyclocross bike at Patapsco-Avalon, THORN RESISTANT TUBES. Yes my cross bike has clinchers, cause I tend to break nice stuff. These tubes are 10x the thickness of what most recognize as a road tube, making it **Impossible** to pinchflat. I was actually bottoming out on my rims a few times (at 45psi) and still no problems. The one drawback is weight, they are very heavy but I noticed this less in the woods then I did in a cross race or on road.
Last point, cross bikes are slow as a turtle going down. Its their nature unless you're Jeremiah Bishop. Because of the carbon fork, high pressure tires and narrow contact with the ground (on a muddy snowy day) you have to just deal with it. The benefit, center pull brakes were the original anti-lock devices and I never skidded out, at all.
My wrists, forearms and neck all hurt from going over the bars about twice, crashing into a tree once. However I would certainly try riding out in the woods on my X bike again, let me just true my wheels up again first.
You Decide.
After arriving at the CCBC tennis courts on my cross bike, the Raleigh RX1.0, I tried hard to tell myself the pain was just weakness leaving the body. After standing in the cold, we rolled and thankfully, gracious Mike did not take us on the technical loop right off. The technical stuff isn't a problem for me on my normal bike, but on a road bike, a little much.
After a few hard, hard diggers, I finally got into a rhythm. This is basically how the ride would go:
First the fat tire boys would fly down the hills like they were supposed to. The snow that was on the ground didn't seem to slow Kidd or anyone else down. I would find myself off the back, yes off the back of a mountain bike group.
Typacially I made great time on the climbs, even the technical ones and was actually clearing stuff on the 700x32's (in the snow) that I have trouble occasionally with on a nice day with my 29x2.2's. At one point on the ridge trail I was just tearing it up the side of the hill till my admittedly worn-out rear tire finally just refused to grab the earth any longer. I'm almost certin that I climbed better because this bike weighs 21 lbs, and my monocog flight 29er (SS I might add) weighs 27 on a good day.
Logs were of little problem for the RX1, the reasons I hate this bike on the road, were the very reasons it took so well to the dirt. Namely its very high bottom bracket gave mondo clearence over stupid stuff and the forward position made bunny hopping easy.
Biggest tip for riding a cyclocross bike at Patapsco-Avalon, THORN RESISTANT TUBES. Yes my cross bike has clinchers, cause I tend to break nice stuff. These tubes are 10x the thickness of what most recognize as a road tube, making it **Impossible** to pinchflat. I was actually bottoming out on my rims a few times (at 45psi) and still no problems. The one drawback is weight, they are very heavy but I noticed this less in the woods then I did in a cross race or on road.
Last point, cross bikes are slow as a turtle going down. Its their nature unless you're Jeremiah Bishop. Because of the carbon fork, high pressure tires and narrow contact with the ground (on a muddy snowy day) you have to just deal with it. The benefit, center pull brakes were the original anti-lock devices and I never skidded out, at all.
My wrists, forearms and neck all hurt from going over the bars about twice, crashing into a tree once. However I would certainly try riding out in the woods on my X bike again, let me just true my wheels up again first.
or
You Decide.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Bill Neumann’s Howard/Carroll County Ride On a Fixie
The wheelsucker was on his way back from Collingswood NJ early Sunday morning and decided that since Bill Neumann’s ride was North of Annapolis, it would be better to go straight there, rather than go home first and do some other Sunday ride. But the wheelsucker’s coach was calling for a fixie ride, so the wheelsucker rode his fixie. He had checked this with Bill earlier:
"Is your Sunday ride still on? 9:00AM? Can I show up on a fixed gear?"
To which Bill had replied:
"Yes, yes, and yes!"
09:00 start time? You’re kidding, right? It was rather cold (26 degrees) and windy, but not as cold or as windy as Saturday morning in Philadelphia. The ride had a convenient starting point from a school parking lot, on route 97, a couple of miles south of interstate 70. After driving into the parking lot, the wheelsucker immediately noticed that no one else was riding a fixie. The wheelsucker became mildly concerned when some of the other riders expressed surprise that anyone would try it on a fixie.
Bill described the ride as "rolling". How long does a climb have to be before it stops being "rolling" and starts being "a lot of climbing"? The ride seems to cross the Patapsco River an inordinate number of times, mostly so one could enjoy the climb out of the valley. In theory one should enjoy the descent INTO the valley, but in practice, on a fixie, fast descents are not that relaxing. The ride pace is less than a hammerfest, which is consistent with what the wheelsucker’s coach was telling him to do, get good sub-threshold hours in, with a bit of pushing on short climbs. These are not "junk miles", but the ride generally avoids the frequent crossovers into anaerobic territory that the Saturday Davidsonville ride has. The course is much more rolling/climbing and turning than the Davidsonville Saturday ride, but at a slightly easier pace. This makes it a great winter training ride. This is NOT at a recovery ride. It is more like an Ellicott City ride at less than race pace.
The route is available on bikely.com at: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Western-Howard-County-Carroll-County. Bikely.org reports elevation gain as 2793 feet.
There is somewhat of a cumulative damage concept riding the fixie on a "rolling" ride; each time one forces one’s way up a hill at a slow cadence, the legs complain a bit more, and the next hill is a little harder. The wheelsucker was finding it hard not to think about this, as the other riders would urge him on with encouragements like "there are only two more walls to go." But a determined wheelsucker found that going slowly up a hill on a fixie was worse than going medium-hard, so the wheelsucker attacked most hills and was pleasantly surprised to find himself in good shape at the top on most of the climbs. Being a civilized ride, those to the top first would wait for the others. As per the wheelsucker’s coach, most climbing on the fixie is done seated, at least until that stops working and one HAS to stand.
Wheelsucker data: (no Power data on the fixie) 49.33 miles, time 2:57:38:
Whe wheelsucker reports that doing 36.2 mpg with a cadence of 163 on the fixie is VERY exciting; but not relaxing.
"Is your Sunday ride still on? 9:00AM? Can I show up on a fixed gear?"
To which Bill had replied:
"Yes, yes, and yes!"
09:00 start time? You’re kidding, right? It was rather cold (26 degrees) and windy, but not as cold or as windy as Saturday morning in Philadelphia. The ride had a convenient starting point from a school parking lot, on route 97, a couple of miles south of interstate 70. After driving into the parking lot, the wheelsucker immediately noticed that no one else was riding a fixie. The wheelsucker became mildly concerned when some of the other riders expressed surprise that anyone would try it on a fixie.
Bill described the ride as "rolling". How long does a climb have to be before it stops being "rolling" and starts being "a lot of climbing"? The ride seems to cross the Patapsco River an inordinate number of times, mostly so one could enjoy the climb out of the valley. In theory one should enjoy the descent INTO the valley, but in practice, on a fixie, fast descents are not that relaxing. The ride pace is less than a hammerfest, which is consistent with what the wheelsucker’s coach was telling him to do, get good sub-threshold hours in, with a bit of pushing on short climbs. These are not "junk miles", but the ride generally avoids the frequent crossovers into anaerobic territory that the Saturday Davidsonville ride has. The course is much more rolling/climbing and turning than the Davidsonville Saturday ride, but at a slightly easier pace. This makes it a great winter training ride. This is NOT at a recovery ride. It is more like an Ellicott City ride at less than race pace.
The route is available on bikely.com at: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Western-Howard-County-Carroll-County. Bikely.org reports elevation gain as 2793 feet.
There is somewhat of a cumulative damage concept riding the fixie on a "rolling" ride; each time one forces one’s way up a hill at a slow cadence, the legs complain a bit more, and the next hill is a little harder. The wheelsucker was finding it hard not to think about this, as the other riders would urge him on with encouragements like "there are only two more walls to go." But a determined wheelsucker found that going slowly up a hill on a fixie was worse than going medium-hard, so the wheelsucker attacked most hills and was pleasantly surprised to find himself in good shape at the top on most of the climbs. Being a civilized ride, those to the top first would wait for the others. As per the wheelsucker’s coach, most climbing on the fixie is done seated, at least until that stops working and one HAS to stand.
Wheelsucker data: (no Power data on the fixie) 49.33 miles, time 2:57:38:
| Average | Maximum | |
| HR | 126 | 170 |
| Cadence | 74 | 163 |
| Speed | 16.66 | 36.2 |
Whe wheelsucker reports that doing 36.2 mpg with a cadence of 163 on the fixie is VERY exciting; but not relaxing.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Tuesday October 14th Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report
The wheelsucker LOVES the Tuesday/Thursday training rides, and with the days shortening, and the imminent arrival of daylight savings time, the wheelsucker believes these training rides are something to be treasured while one can. On the other hand, two days of bouncing around on a fixed gear were not kind to the wheelsucker; so it was a conflicted wheelsucker riding out of the Davidsonville Parker & Ride, wondering if the soreness in his legs would go away as he warmed up.
The Doetsch was a no show, but with Ace and Invincible Nat to drive the pace, there was certainly enough horsepower to make it interesting. The ride started with a medium sized group including a couple of non Latitude riders, one wearing team kit. There was a minimal warmup and the pace was “solid” not long after crossing Governor Bridge Road. The peleton started to take casualties shortly after turning off Patuxent Parkway, on the first climb. The wheelsucker was trying to ride at the back early, but people kept letting him in before he rotated all the way back, and he was also concerned about early attacks from strong riders, so was not entirely comfortable riding all the way at the back. Ace rolled by and off the front at the top of Harwood hill, but the wheelsucker found Nat’s wheel and took the pull up. The pace stayed solid-but-not-too extreme to route 2, faltered a little on route 2 as the paceline had to stop rotating and slow down to go by some cars parked in the shoulder, but then started to ramp up on Bayard. There was not enough daylight for the full course, so Ace charged past the right turn for South Polling House, trying to put the hurt on riders. The peleton had been weeded down to the stronger riders, and everyone left was determined to hang.
The wheelsucker’s legs were thoroughly warmed up, and the tightness was gone, but he was still not far from the limit, and was being careful to take short pulls and have enough in reserve to get back on. Ace rolled off the front on one of the rollers on Bayard, everyone looked at each other wondering who was going to close it and then Nat went hard. The wheelsucker had been waiting for just such an opportunity and just as any wheelsucker would do, was on Nat in a flash. The trouble is that Nat is young, strong, fit, and has been riding a LOT with a pro team. The wheelsucker took the tow up to Ace, but then decided enough was enough, as Nat kept accelerating and went right on by Ace. This created a predicament for the wheelsucker, as there were no more wheels to suck, and Ace was having none of it, and was on the wheelsucker’s wheel. With exhortations from Ace in his ear, the wheelsucker put in a nominal pull and rotated off to let someone else (the peleton had caught up) take a turn. Nat was soon reeled in (no thanks to the wheelsucker) and the peleton continued down Bayard. The wheelsucker was leading at the turn onto Sands, but sat up immediately to let the paceline go by, so he could wheelsuck at the back. The group continued up Sands, with the wheelsucker taking short pulls when he had to, and conserving his limited strength to cover attacks.
The boys gather round to tell stories after the ride
But then a possible opportunity presented itself. As you know the wheelsucker’s sprint is less than impressive, so the wheelsucker hopes to “thin the herd” and make the break smaller, so he can finish something like 6th instead of something like 9th. So when the rider leading the paceline pulled off just before one of the Sands road rollers (Rule #7, NEVER pull off just before, or on a climb, as you will struggle to get back on and are vulnerable to the next guy pushing the pace!), the wheelsucker pulled through, stood and just HAMMERED (well, hammered for the wheelsucker) up the short hill. A quick glance under his arm revealed that people were on his wheel, so the give-it-everything-you-have burst from the wheelsucker had not shaken much loose, EXCEPT for the poor guy who had just pulled off. The wheelsucker’s victim was Aaron Canale, who had been riding hard despite not feeling 100%. So once again age and treachery do in youth and strength.
Hammering up the hill took it out of the wheelsucker, so he promptly pulled off and caught on the back of the paceline and caught his breath.
The wheelsucker AGAIN found himself leading going down the dip before the "T" where Sands ends at Patuxent, but carefully coasted and then pedaled easily encouraging the next rider to pull through as soon as possible. The wheelsucker was able to grab on the back (though it was a near thing) and was still attached at the top of the climb.
And then a random car turning left from Patuxent onto Sands forced the group to slow right down, giving the wheelsucker the break he needed. Ace was the first onto Patuxent, with two riders on his wheel. The wheelsucker briefly thought about closing the gap himself, but then saw Nat to his left, and decided to let Nat do it (with the wheelsucker on his wheel). Up the wheelsucker’s favorite climb things were looking good, except that the wheelsucker’s burning legs refused to accelerate as fast as the riders in front, and the wheelsucker was very nearly gapped, but somehow struggled back on. The light at 214 turned red just as the break arrived, so it sat up, looked both ways, waited for the green light (No WAY!!! It looked both ways and crossed). But then a funny thing happened; everyone sat up while Ace was having a conversation with another rider. This suited an aging and tired wheelsucker very well, so he did nothing to disturb the relaxed pace. One of the non Latitude riders asked if that was it for the ride, and the wheelsucker reassured him we still has about 12 minutes to go, and it would probably get fast again. Then Steve Owens ramped it up a little, and the wheelsucker reluctantly grabbed his wheel rather than let him go. The respite was over, and soon the group was hammering again. The group was reasonably large, so there was lots of recovery time, but the pace was fairly high when Ace or Nat were pulling, and there was still a risk of being gapped on the hills. The wheelsucker actually lit it up HARD (hard for the wheelsucker) on one of the climbs, opened a gap, and then realized that no one in the group was worried about it, knowing the wheelsucker would come back quickly. The wheelsucker sheepishly sat up and caught on the back again.
more 'revisionist history' about the ride
As the group approached the finish line, Ace asked the wheelsucker if he wanted to sprint. The wheelsucker was tired, winded, sore and not feeling super strong (even for the wheelsucker), but having Ace as a leadout man was tempting, so the wheelsucker said "YES!" and sucked Ace’s wheel in the paceline. Going down the hill, Nat went early with Steve Owens trying to hold his wheel. The gap behind Nat opened. But without appearing to be working hard, Ace’s speed was increasing, with the wheelsucker desperately trying to stay on his wheel. As Ace passed Steve, the wheelsucker found himself without quite enough room to stay on Ace’s wheel -- he was forced over to the left -- and found himself working MUCH harder than he wanted to, to stay on Ace’s wheel, and then, as Ace’s speed continued to increase, the gap started to open, and the wheelsucker lost the draft, and howled in misery to Ace that he was off. Unencumbered by having to wait for the wheelsucker, Ace turned on the afterburners and reeled in Nat, going by him so fast that Nat sat up. The wheelsucker in turn passed Nat, just as Stu rolled by him easily at a higher speed. So Ace won easily wth Stu second and the wheelsucker 3rd.
Stu assures the wheelsucker that "it's only money!", and that he should buy Bill's SRM Pro
The wheelsucker is enjoying freedom from the tyranny of the Powertap (and the additional weight in the rear hub), so had no data for the ride.
Despite not feeling 100%, Aaron rode hard
But others did: 23.6 mph average from the Park & Ride to the finish line, and a ride of about 28 miles.
Tom rode strong, and was first back to 424
Ace cannot BELIEVE that the wheelsucker could not stay on his wheel at the sprint
The Doetsch was a no show, but with Ace and Invincible Nat to drive the pace, there was certainly enough horsepower to make it interesting. The ride started with a medium sized group including a couple of non Latitude riders, one wearing team kit. There was a minimal warmup and the pace was “solid” not long after crossing Governor Bridge Road. The peleton started to take casualties shortly after turning off Patuxent Parkway, on the first climb. The wheelsucker was trying to ride at the back early, but people kept letting him in before he rotated all the way back, and he was also concerned about early attacks from strong riders, so was not entirely comfortable riding all the way at the back. Ace rolled by and off the front at the top of Harwood hill, but the wheelsucker found Nat’s wheel and took the pull up. The pace stayed solid-but-not-too extreme to route 2, faltered a little on route 2 as the paceline had to stop rotating and slow down to go by some cars parked in the shoulder, but then started to ramp up on Bayard. There was not enough daylight for the full course, so Ace charged past the right turn for South Polling House, trying to put the hurt on riders. The peleton had been weeded down to the stronger riders, and everyone left was determined to hang.
The wheelsucker’s legs were thoroughly warmed up, and the tightness was gone, but he was still not far from the limit, and was being careful to take short pulls and have enough in reserve to get back on. Ace rolled off the front on one of the rollers on Bayard, everyone looked at each other wondering who was going to close it and then Nat went hard. The wheelsucker had been waiting for just such an opportunity and just as any wheelsucker would do, was on Nat in a flash. The trouble is that Nat is young, strong, fit, and has been riding a LOT with a pro team. The wheelsucker took the tow up to Ace, but then decided enough was enough, as Nat kept accelerating and went right on by Ace. This created a predicament for the wheelsucker, as there were no more wheels to suck, and Ace was having none of it, and was on the wheelsucker’s wheel. With exhortations from Ace in his ear, the wheelsucker put in a nominal pull and rotated off to let someone else (the peleton had caught up) take a turn. Nat was soon reeled in (no thanks to the wheelsucker) and the peleton continued down Bayard. The wheelsucker was leading at the turn onto Sands, but sat up immediately to let the paceline go by, so he could wheelsuck at the back. The group continued up Sands, with the wheelsucker taking short pulls when he had to, and conserving his limited strength to cover attacks.
The boys gather round to tell stories after the rideBut then a possible opportunity presented itself. As you know the wheelsucker’s sprint is less than impressive, so the wheelsucker hopes to “thin the herd” and make the break smaller, so he can finish something like 6th instead of something like 9th. So when the rider leading the paceline pulled off just before one of the Sands road rollers (Rule #7, NEVER pull off just before, or on a climb, as you will struggle to get back on and are vulnerable to the next guy pushing the pace!), the wheelsucker pulled through, stood and just HAMMERED (well, hammered for the wheelsucker) up the short hill. A quick glance under his arm revealed that people were on his wheel, so the give-it-everything-you-have burst from the wheelsucker had not shaken much loose, EXCEPT for the poor guy who had just pulled off. The wheelsucker’s victim was Aaron Canale, who had been riding hard despite not feeling 100%. So once again age and treachery do in youth and strength.
Hammering up the hill took it out of the wheelsucker, so he promptly pulled off and caught on the back of the paceline and caught his breath.
The wheelsucker AGAIN found himself leading going down the dip before the "T" where Sands ends at Patuxent, but carefully coasted and then pedaled easily encouraging the next rider to pull through as soon as possible. The wheelsucker was able to grab on the back (though it was a near thing) and was still attached at the top of the climb.
And then a random car turning left from Patuxent onto Sands forced the group to slow right down, giving the wheelsucker the break he needed. Ace was the first onto Patuxent, with two riders on his wheel. The wheelsucker briefly thought about closing the gap himself, but then saw Nat to his left, and decided to let Nat do it (with the wheelsucker on his wheel). Up the wheelsucker’s favorite climb things were looking good, except that the wheelsucker’s burning legs refused to accelerate as fast as the riders in front, and the wheelsucker was very nearly gapped, but somehow struggled back on. The light at 214 turned red just as the break arrived, so it sat up, looked both ways, waited for the green light (No WAY!!! It looked both ways and crossed). But then a funny thing happened; everyone sat up while Ace was having a conversation with another rider. This suited an aging and tired wheelsucker very well, so he did nothing to disturb the relaxed pace. One of the non Latitude riders asked if that was it for the ride, and the wheelsucker reassured him we still has about 12 minutes to go, and it would probably get fast again. Then Steve Owens ramped it up a little, and the wheelsucker reluctantly grabbed his wheel rather than let him go. The respite was over, and soon the group was hammering again. The group was reasonably large, so there was lots of recovery time, but the pace was fairly high when Ace or Nat were pulling, and there was still a risk of being gapped on the hills. The wheelsucker actually lit it up HARD (hard for the wheelsucker) on one of the climbs, opened a gap, and then realized that no one in the group was worried about it, knowing the wheelsucker would come back quickly. The wheelsucker sheepishly sat up and caught on the back again.
more 'revisionist history' about the rideAs the group approached the finish line, Ace asked the wheelsucker if he wanted to sprint. The wheelsucker was tired, winded, sore and not feeling super strong (even for the wheelsucker), but having Ace as a leadout man was tempting, so the wheelsucker said "YES!" and sucked Ace’s wheel in the paceline. Going down the hill, Nat went early with Steve Owens trying to hold his wheel. The gap behind Nat opened. But without appearing to be working hard, Ace’s speed was increasing, with the wheelsucker desperately trying to stay on his wheel. As Ace passed Steve, the wheelsucker found himself without quite enough room to stay on Ace’s wheel -- he was forced over to the left -- and found himself working MUCH harder than he wanted to, to stay on Ace’s wheel, and then, as Ace’s speed continued to increase, the gap started to open, and the wheelsucker lost the draft, and howled in misery to Ace that he was off. Unencumbered by having to wait for the wheelsucker, Ace turned on the afterburners and reeled in Nat, going by him so fast that Nat sat up. The wheelsucker in turn passed Nat, just as Stu rolled by him easily at a higher speed. So Ace won easily wth Stu second and the wheelsucker 3rd.
Stu assures the wheelsucker that "it's only money!", and that he should buy Bill's SRM ProThe wheelsucker is enjoying freedom from the tyranny of the Powertap (and the additional weight in the rear hub), so had no data for the ride.
Despite not feeling 100%, Aaron rode hardBut others did: 23.6 mph average from the Park & Ride to the finish line, and a ride of about 28 miles.
Tom rode strong, and was first back to 424
Ace cannot BELIEVE that the wheelsucker could not stay on his wheel at the sprint
Monday Post Party Ride: The Wheelsucker Report
Being new to the sport, the wheelsucker does not fully understand how to train, the seasons, when the off season starts, and what one does during the off season. Hiring a coach has helped, as the wheelsucker simply checks a website to check what today's (or tomorrow's) workout is, and does it.
But the wheelsucker's coach has not assigned any workouts since the Deep Blue TT, just over a week ago, and has simply told the wheelsucker to do what he wants, "ride your bike if you feel like it." Well, the wheelsucker has a somewhat addictive personality, and after two or three days off the bike, the wheelsucker NEEDED to get back on the bike! GIVE ME THE BIKE AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT!!!!
Another point that confuses the wheelsucker is when to ride a fixed gear and how. There seem to be different schools of thought on this. So the wheelsucker was a little lost as to what to do for a bike ride, and chose to ride the fixie because ... well maybe it was just that he had not ridden the fixie in awhile. So the wheelsucker rode the fixie on the Sunday ride, and when he heard about a MONDAY ride, he decided to use the fixie again, but changed the gearing from 44-18 to 44-17 so he would not be spinning QUITE as fast going down hills.
Stu Waring suggested the Monday ride. The wheelsucker had trouble getting out of work, but Stu, the amazing Amanda Wu, Ty, Jeff "Ace" McDermott and Alex Pline were all still waiting for him when he turned up at the Bike Doctor Annapolis parking lot. How could you NOT want to ride on such a nice afternoon!
Alex was NOT wearing his team kit, and it turned out that a sore back was keeping him off the bike. So Alex jumped on the team photographer role.
The wheelsucker is happy wearing Latitude/ABRT kit with blue socks (the wheelsucker prefers higher wool socks for fall training rides) and riding his matching Cannondale Capo with blue bar tape and blue Michelin tires. But the wheelsucker is NOT happy with his tummy bulge!
The Latitude squad rode out of the parking lot and turned right onto Bestgate Road, and there was the official Latitude photographer blocking the left lane (we already had the right lane blocked) taking photographs. NO WONDER Annapolis drivers are so aggressive towards us!
Less traffic on Ridgley
Rather than ride down Rowe Blvd, we made the left and then right onto Ridgley, quickly "zagged" onto Annapolis, went over the Naval Academy bridge and out the St. Margaret’s Road route.
It was just KILLING photographer Alex Pline to NOT be riding!
Despite being advertised as "we're going to the beach!", we did NOT turn into Sandy Point State park, but simply turned left onto East College Parkway, after crossing over route 50.
East College Parkway is easy; almost no traffic. College Parkway has more traffic, but a wider shoulder until it gets closer to route 2. It then gets interesting with lots of traffic and no shoulder, so we turned off it as soon as we could, used back roads to get to route 2, crossed it, and came back on the B&A trail, stopping at Asquith (our local version of Ilchester) to do the climb seated.
It was twentyeight miles round trip @ 19.5 mph. The wheelsucker was grateful for his 44/17, particularly going down the hills! He was bouncing too hard downhill to read the cadence on the bike computer, but was taking pulls at a cadence of 100+, and distinctly recalls holding 115-120 for some time while riding at the back while Ace took a faster pull.
But the wheelsucker's coach has not assigned any workouts since the Deep Blue TT, just over a week ago, and has simply told the wheelsucker to do what he wants, "ride your bike if you feel like it." Well, the wheelsucker has a somewhat addictive personality, and after two or three days off the bike, the wheelsucker NEEDED to get back on the bike! GIVE ME THE BIKE AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT!!!!
Another point that confuses the wheelsucker is when to ride a fixed gear and how. There seem to be different schools of thought on this. So the wheelsucker was a little lost as to what to do for a bike ride, and chose to ride the fixie because ... well maybe it was just that he had not ridden the fixie in awhile. So the wheelsucker rode the fixie on the Sunday ride, and when he heard about a MONDAY ride, he decided to use the fixie again, but changed the gearing from 44-18 to 44-17 so he would not be spinning QUITE as fast going down hills.
Stu Waring suggested the Monday ride. The wheelsucker had trouble getting out of work, but Stu, the amazing Amanda Wu, Ty, Jeff "Ace" McDermott and Alex Pline were all still waiting for him when he turned up at the Bike Doctor Annapolis parking lot. How could you NOT want to ride on such a nice afternoon!
Alex was NOT wearing his team kit, and it turned out that a sore back was keeping him off the bike. So Alex jumped on the team photographer role.
The wheelsucker is happy wearing Latitude/ABRT kit with blue socks (the wheelsucker prefers higher wool socks for fall training rides) and riding his matching Cannondale Capo with blue bar tape and blue Michelin tires. But the wheelsucker is NOT happy with his tummy bulge!The Latitude squad rode out of the parking lot and turned right onto Bestgate Road, and there was the official Latitude photographer blocking the left lane (we already had the right lane blocked) taking photographs. NO WONDER Annapolis drivers are so aggressive towards us!
Less traffic on RidgleyRather than ride down Rowe Blvd, we made the left and then right onto Ridgley, quickly "zagged" onto Annapolis, went over the Naval Academy bridge and out the St. Margaret’s Road route.
It was just KILLING photographer Alex Pline to NOT be riding!Despite being advertised as "we're going to the beach!", we did NOT turn into Sandy Point State park, but simply turned left onto East College Parkway, after crossing over route 50.
East College Parkway is easy; almost no traffic. College Parkway has more traffic, but a wider shoulder until it gets closer to route 2. It then gets interesting with lots of traffic and no shoulder, so we turned off it as soon as we could, used back roads to get to route 2, crossed it, and came back on the B&A trail, stopping at Asquith (our local version of Ilchester) to do the climb seated.
It was twentyeight miles round trip @ 19.5 mph. The wheelsucker was grateful for his 44/17, particularly going down the hills! He was bouncing too hard downhill to read the cadence on the bike computer, but was taking pulls at a cadence of 100+, and distinctly recalls holding 115-120 for some time while riding at the back while Ace took a faster pull.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
October 12th Team Ride and Party/BBQ
A large number of Latitude/ABRT riders descended on Lynn and Steve Doetschman's home near Millersville at noon today, first for a relaxed team ride, and then a party/BBQ.
Despite concerns that Latitude/ABRT could not have an easy civilized no-drop ride, no matter how hard it tried, we ended up with a good ride with no one dropped. The long lost John Ver Byrke was there, as was new member Larry Dieran. Doetsch had a nice rolling route chosen which took us just over two hours to cover at a good, but not killer pace. Not only was no one dropped, but it was even a "fixie friendly" ride, as Ryan, Tom and Ali all rode their fixies.
Beer is a recovery drink. Who knew?
We were back at Lynn and Doestch's by 2:15, but the party did not really get rolling until about 3:30, as riders returned with spouses and family, and others rolled in.
The correct recovery behaviour after a ride. Sit down and drink your beer! Tom did not ride, so is drinking cola
The people playing volleyball had not done the ride!
Between multiple courses of Red, Hot and Blue, and several beers, President Shapter gave the volunteer of the year award to Dana Mellerio (club secretary), who helped keep ABRT going through some shaky times in late 2007 and early 2008, and recognized Sue Estes for rebuilding Latitude/ABRT's junior program from a standing start of zero riders, to a BAR winning program. Members present did concede that some of the credit might also go to the riders ;-)
While some considered this to be an afternoon party, others hung on for the evening.
I left before things got out of hand, but Monday rumours of late night drunken hair cutting, Jack Daniels shots, more shots, etc. are circulating.
Great company, great food, multiple kegs of beer, wine, and shots of Jack Daniels; a good time was had by all. We should do this more often!
Despite concerns that Latitude/ABRT could not have an easy civilized no-drop ride, no matter how hard it tried, we ended up with a good ride with no one dropped. The long lost John Ver Byrke was there, as was new member Larry Dieran. Doetsch had a nice rolling route chosen which took us just over two hours to cover at a good, but not killer pace. Not only was no one dropped, but it was even a "fixie friendly" ride, as Ryan, Tom and Ali all rode their fixies.
Beer is a recovery drink. Who knew? We were back at Lynn and Doestch's by 2:15, but the party did not really get rolling until about 3:30, as riders returned with spouses and family, and others rolled in.
The correct recovery behaviour after a ride. Sit down and drink your beer! Tom did not ride, so is drinking cola
The people playing volleyball had not done the ride!
Between multiple courses of Red, Hot and Blue, and several beers, President Shapter gave the volunteer of the year award to Dana Mellerio (club secretary), who helped keep ABRT going through some shaky times in late 2007 and early 2008, and recognized Sue Estes for rebuilding Latitude/ABRT's junior program from a standing start of zero riders, to a BAR winning program. Members present did concede that some of the credit might also go to the riders ;-)
While some considered this to be an afternoon party, others hung on for the evening.I left before things got out of hand, but Monday rumours of late night drunken hair cutting, Jack Daniels shots, more shots, etc. are circulating.
Great company, great food, multiple kegs of beer, wine, and shots of Jack Daniels; a good time was had by all. We should do this more often!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Seagull Century
I don't think it could have been a better day for the Seagull. Bright sunshine, very little wind and cool, dry air. It rolled, 4 hr and 10 minutes by my watch.
Being a Seagull Century virgin, I was a little apprehensive the night before because of all the stories I heard about the DC Velo pain train. This sparked my pathological fear of being dropped with 50 miles to go. On top of that, nothing gets the adrenaline pumping like leaving yourself enough time to get to Salisbury, but realizing AFTER going over the Bay Bridge that you forgot your helmet; Doh! I did manage to get back to Annapolis, get the helmet and in 1.5 hrs get to Salisbury, park, change and ride to the Hardees. I was actually the first Latitude rider there!
Crisis averted, Michel was next followed by Sue, Dennis, Tom, Ace, Amanda and Ty. On top of that, we had a definite John Ver Bryke sighting! We rolled out a few minutes after 8 to a nice tempo, weaving around the crowd. I was not fully prepared for how this was going to go; there are a LOT of riders of all walks of life on this ride. Some try to hop in, some wander all over the road, some wave... Anyway, we stayed left, and it was interesting balancing the riders on the right and the oncoming cars on the left. For the first 20 miles past the first rest stop (that we skipped), it was dodge and weave. After that point, it steadied out considerably and the train built steam until the second stop.
After a nature break and some food, a few DC Velo guys started rolling, so Tom, Michel and I rolled out slowly. We were anticipating the train coming by, but in the end our pace ramped up a bit and we formed a nice rotating paceline. This was the hardest point of the day because there was a little easterly headwind, and no train to hide behind! Nonetheless, we ended up getting to Assateague ahead of the rest of the group by a couple minutes. Funny, just before the bridge to Assateague, a pony wandered on the path, and left a nice large present for the rest of the riders. Assateague was spectacular, especially today. I've been to Chincoteage, and the lower part of Assateague, but never this part.
More steady tempo riding until the last rest stop. Unfortunately SuePerFlat got delayed fixing a puncture, but she and Dennis just rolled in as we were leaving, so they hopped on the train. Things definitely stepped up a notch in the last 20 miles. I was surprised that I still felt pretty good, less tired than a typical Saturday ride. Given this, I started spending some more time up front, taking some pulls with Ace and John Ver Bryke, who rode very strong given that his longest ride recently was about 35 miles! In the last 10 miles, there was a camera van with a guy sitting in the back of the mini van with the hatch up video taping the group rocking along. I hope that video will be available some place because he had an awesome vantage point. With a couple miles to go, there were attacks that pretty much broke up the group. John, Tom and I were up towards the front with Ace off the front with the leaders. Not sure how he faired in the final sprint, but I think he sealed the deal.
We stopped in Easton at this little hole in the wall BBQ place which was just what we needed! For anyone who has never done this, I highly recommend it next year. Take my word for it: it feels good to loose your virginity at 47!
Being a Seagull Century virgin, I was a little apprehensive the night before because of all the stories I heard about the DC Velo pain train. This sparked my pathological fear of being dropped with 50 miles to go. On top of that, nothing gets the adrenaline pumping like leaving yourself enough time to get to Salisbury, but realizing AFTER going over the Bay Bridge that you forgot your helmet; Doh! I did manage to get back to Annapolis, get the helmet and in 1.5 hrs get to Salisbury, park, change and ride to the Hardees. I was actually the first Latitude rider there!
Crisis averted, Michel was next followed by Sue, Dennis, Tom, Ace, Amanda and Ty. On top of that, we had a definite John Ver Bryke sighting! We rolled out a few minutes after 8 to a nice tempo, weaving around the crowd. I was not fully prepared for how this was going to go; there are a LOT of riders of all walks of life on this ride. Some try to hop in, some wander all over the road, some wave... Anyway, we stayed left, and it was interesting balancing the riders on the right and the oncoming cars on the left. For the first 20 miles past the first rest stop (that we skipped), it was dodge and weave. After that point, it steadied out considerably and the train built steam until the second stop.
After a nature break and some food, a few DC Velo guys started rolling, so Tom, Michel and I rolled out slowly. We were anticipating the train coming by, but in the end our pace ramped up a bit and we formed a nice rotating paceline. This was the hardest point of the day because there was a little easterly headwind, and no train to hide behind! Nonetheless, we ended up getting to Assateague ahead of the rest of the group by a couple minutes. Funny, just before the bridge to Assateague, a pony wandered on the path, and left a nice large present for the rest of the riders. Assateague was spectacular, especially today. I've been to Chincoteage, and the lower part of Assateague, but never this part.
More steady tempo riding until the last rest stop. Unfortunately SuePerFlat got delayed fixing a puncture, but she and Dennis just rolled in as we were leaving, so they hopped on the train. Things definitely stepped up a notch in the last 20 miles. I was surprised that I still felt pretty good, less tired than a typical Saturday ride. Given this, I started spending some more time up front, taking some pulls with Ace and John Ver Bryke, who rode very strong given that his longest ride recently was about 35 miles! In the last 10 miles, there was a camera van with a guy sitting in the back of the mini van with the hatch up video taping the group rocking along. I hope that video will be available some place because he had an awesome vantage point. With a couple miles to go, there were attacks that pretty much broke up the group. John, Tom and I were up towards the front with Ace off the front with the leaders. Not sure how he faired in the final sprint, but I think he sealed the deal.We stopped in Easton at this little hole in the wall BBQ place which was just what we needed! For anyone who has never done this, I highly recommend it next year. Take my word for it: it feels good to loose your virginity at 47!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Another Great Bay Country Century
It was a beautiful day for riding, a bit humid, but cool and not a breath of wind. I rode down from Annapolis to North Beach to help get things set up for the last rest stop. It was a sweet ride down, cool, quiet and no traffic. Thanks to John K, all the supplies and tunes were ready to roll.Thanks to the many club members busting their butts, the North Beach station hummed along with drinks, snacks and my personal favorite turkey and cheese roll-ups. NB is without a doubt the hoppin' spot of the BCC.
I rode the course backwards from NB after my shift to look for some friends riding and there were lots of friendly waving riders coming into the stop. From what I saw it looked like all the riders were having a great time.
Ride Director James Prickett put together another outstanding BCC. Make sure to come back next year... Would you want to be on this guy's bad side?
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