The Wheelsucker Report on Riding Fixies in the Extreme Cold in a Park so Dark You Could Not See Where You Were Going

It was very dark as there were no lights of any kind in Quiet Waters park other than those attached to bikes and helmets; it was also very cold and windy. Despite a fully charged headlight the wheelsucker could barely see the road and only just managed to swerve to stay on the road and avoid riding into the grass and trees several times. The brightest things in the park were the deer’s eyes reflecting back bike headlights. Do the lights attract or repel the deer?

How crazy do you have to be? Very crazy. Need we mention that Quiet Waters Park is closed on Tuesdays, so riders probably should not be in there anyhow?

Four riders on fixies of various ages, sizes and gearing, with various strange and wonderful lighting "solutions", most of dubious value, rode the Quiet Waters loop last night. The wheelsucker’s light was not bright enough for him to see the road clearly, while Sue Estes had a green glow that would have worked well for a Martian Invasion B movie. Dennis’ NiteRider light was so bright that when he rode behind someone, the rider ahead cast a shadow that looked like a giant on a bicycle, dwarfing Quiet Waters Park. One hoped this apparition kept the deer off the road.

The wheelsucker was worried about overdriving his headlight and hitting a deer, a tree, or just riding off the road, but apparently the deer were also concerned about this possibility, and stayed out of the way. It is not clear who would have come off the worse in such a crash. Lars assured the other riders that the suicide squirrels were not out after dark, so that was one blessing.

Could this be any more dangerous? Sure, the deer could have been armed, there could have been black ice on the road, riders could have been in a serious pace line, or the wheelsucker could have been riding alone, so only would have been found the morning after the bad crash.

The wheelsucker is searching for more lights and hopes to be better prepared -- and faster -- next Tuesday evening.

Wheelsucker data:
35:12, 10.75 miles, 18.32 mph (including warmup and cooldown), 132/154 bpm, 83/113 rpm, 15.66/24.82 mph. 48-17, which is 74.2 gear inches.

Deer 0: Riders 0.

Saturday on Sunday: A Wheelsucker Report

As per Steve Owens' Saturday ride report, the only people to show up for the usual Saturday ride were Doug Milliken and Steve. Ryan, his friend David, Alex and Ali did the Pete Penzell ride instead, but without Pete.

Perhaps ABRTers were feeling a little contrite about missing the Saturday rides; the proposal to do the Saturday ride again on Sunday met with wide support,and a significant number of riders started from the Davidsonville Park & Ride at 10:00AM Sunday, including John K, Lance, Kyle, Aaron, Bob, Steve, Mike Wagner, Ali, and Greg Smith.

Different riders have different training objectives at this time of year, and the group quickly split into Steve Owens and Mike Wagner doing the 2TT off the front, the wheelsucker by himself behind them trying to hold steady power numbers, and the first chase not far behind him, followed by a second chase.

Mike, Steve, the wheelsucker and the first chase all recombined shortly before crossing route 2 before the rest stop, but the wheelsucker was leading into the traffic circle, got a gap in traffic, and got away. By upping his target power band for a short while the wheelsucker was able to stay away to the rest stop.

When Mike, Steve and the chase one group rolled in, the wheelsucker announced he would continue without stopping and left, assuming the rest of the group would follow, and would probably catch him as there was a strong headwind to be dealt with on the way back. But the wheelsucker had a long and tiring ride by himself.

When he finally arrived back at the Park & Ride all the ABRTer's cars were gone. Greg Smith was still there and reported that the entire group had short cut the course or turned around at the rest stop. No WONDER no one caught the wheelsucker...

The "Other" Saturday Ride, a.k.a the Pete Penzell ride

Given the wet roads and chance of rain, and looking at the workouts my coach gave me, I decided to do my Sunday MTB (or fixie) ride on Saturday on the fixie, and ride the Saturday group ride on Sunday. That is why I was not in the Davidsonville Park & Ride at 9:55AM on Saturday. Rather, I was at the small parking area just off 450, close to the naval academy bridge, with Ryan Guttride and his friend David. Alex Pline rolled in a few minutes late after flatting on the way over. Ryan, Alex and Ali were on fixies, Dave was on a nice old road/commuter bike with fenders and GEARS.

As Alex reported on e-mail:

"Ryan, Dave, Ali and I had a nice ride (45 fixie miles) on the "other
ride". Hopefully, we'll see a wheelsucker report!"

It would appear that we are NOT seeing a wheelsucker report.

I was trying to avoid high intensity and was hoping to stay in aerobic zones, so was slower on the short hills. Ryan and Dave apparently do not believe in an off season or pre season where you work on aerobic rather than anaerobic systems. Or perhaps 340 watts is still aerobic for Ryan :-)

A Lesson in Meterology?

For the third Saturday in a row the ground was wet at 10AM when the Davidsonville ride was supposed to go off. For the third Saturday in a row the temperatures were unusually warm, and while rain was threatening later in the day, it wasn't an immediate issue. How do I know this? It's called radar. Perhaps we should drop a link to the current regional radar on this site. That way riders won't have to rely on the "groundhog method" of poking their heads out of the door seeing wet ground, and going back to bed. For those of you who have missed any, or all of the last 3 Saturday rides you've missed some good ones. I don't want to hear any complaining later in the year when the wind is howling and the temperature struggles to break 40. We'll see if this is Fabrizio's true threshold.

In any event I rolled into the park and ride around 9:50 to see Doug Milliken already riding around. After getting ready it became apparent that no one else was showing up so we set off. I hit some glass just past the trailer park (no comment) and flatted about half an hour in, but the rest of the ride was uneventful. Every so often Doug, or I would remark how nice it was outside. In fact after fighting a persistent headwind for the first hour the sun came out. Once we rolled out of the rest stop it was mostly tailwind all the way back. Somehow those rollers just don't seen all that significant when you've got a 25mph wind at your back.

Doug and I managed to get a good 3 hour endurance/tempo ride in, and wondered what happened to everyone else.

Night Out With The Homies

Friday night as I was riding home in the car with my wife, Dana, I get a call from one Lance Lacy at around 4:30pm. He tells me some of us who live with 10 miles of each other were gonna be getting together with spouses and girlfriends for dinner at the Sakura Japanese Steakhouse on Housley Road (near Westfields Mall) in West Annapolis and follow it up with some drinking and fun at Stevie D's house in Millersville. My wife had a long day and didn't want to go, but I was up for it, so long as I got a ride in before. Dana gave me a pass and told me to have lot fun. So after doing a 45 min stint on the rollers, I got dressed, put on the sharp, new Team Latitude polo and headed on over to the restaurant. I got there and everyone except Sue Estes had already arrived. Ali, aka The Wheelsucker, was there sans date too. That's good, so now I wont feel like a total loser being by myself.

L to R: Amanda Wu, Amy Jones, Lance Lacy (partially hidden), Kyle Jones, Sherry Collison (Lance's girlfriend), Ty Wu (mostly hidden) and Ali Meller. Not shown, is me who took the picture.

They seated us pretty quick and took drink orders. I was kind of disappointed at the beer choices so I ordered the old standby, Sam Adams. Mind you they had every Japanese beer and Sake, but I'm not a fan of either.

They seated us a a really large grill horseshoe style. I took and end seat directly facing the Teppanyaki chef so as to get the best opportunity to get my eyebrows singed off. He did warn me...



Amamda, Ty, Sherry and Lance



Kyle, Amy and Ali



Me, and Amanda. Only Sue is missing.



That's Sue on the right.

I ordered the Filet Mignon and Chicken combo with Teppanyaki Shrimp and fried rice appetizers. The chef did all the usual stuff, the egg on the spatula trick and the onion volcano. It was pretty cool to see a Teppanyaki chef work the grill in person versus watching it on The Food Network. The food was excellent. I left nothing on my plate.

After we were done, we all packed into our vehicles and headed to the beer store and then Steve's place. While at the Waterbury there was much discussion about the proper 40 to pick up. I was looking for a 40 of Bass, but ended up with a 24 oz Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Kyle Jones on the other hand went right for the good stuff. We all thought he was getting these for Amy, but he said they were for him. You draw your own conclusions...LOL.



When we all got to Steve's he was out on his back deck blowing off fire crackers and bottle rockets at his neighbors. Seems the party was already going. After tiring of lighting off noisemakers a hasty retreat was made back into Steve's kitchen for some shots of Bourbon. Doetch went all out and picked up a bottle each of Makers Mark and 1792 Ridgemont Reserve. First up was the Ridgemont. I took my shot and slugged it down expecting the burn and gag, but not this time. It was like drinking a shot of ice tea. 1792 is probably the smoothest Bourbon I've ever had. I'm normally a vodka guy, but I will buy this. The Makers Mark was next and it was quite good also, but not nearly as smooth as the Ridgemont. Just to be sure we had another shot of Ridgemont. Did I mention this stuff is really smooth? After this I was ready for a beer so Steve handed me Grolsch to go along with the Sierra Neveda. Needless to say I drank them both and I think there was more Ridgemont too. After awhile things were getting really warm and fuzzy. I also think there was some guitar playing going on too, but I don't think I could call what I was doing guitar playing. It's been 13+ years since I played out with a band, and when I stopped gigging, I pretty much stopped playing for myself too. I've picked it up for longish stints on occasion over the years, but I'm very rusty to say the least and being drunk doesn't help.

All in all we had a great time and around 11 pm we all took off. I live 5 mins away from Steve, so my ride home, while not kosher, was not a big deal.

So now I've learned a few things about my teammates. Outside of racing, they're all great people and lots of fun to hang with. I need to start practicing my guitar on a more regular basis. And lastly I still get hangovers. I didn't do my 3 1/2 hour training ride until 1pm. By then I was able and the weather had cleared up. I did a pretty decent solo ride from the Park & Ride to North Beach and back. Using my TT bike I stayed mostly in zone 1-3 and came in with a nice 18 1/2 mph avg with 2500 feet of elev. gain for 60 miles. Maybe I should drink more often.

One last thing before I forget. There is no such thing as a free lunch when your married. Dana had off work on Sunday and her birthday is tonight. Happy 39 hon!

Even so I spent the whole day with her on Sunday and we went to Stitches 2008. A yarn and knitting expo at the Baltimore Convention Center. I think we actually spent more time at the light rail stops waiting for the damn train then we did at the expo. Still any day I get to spend with my wife is a good day.

Cheers,

FGR

ABRT Mt Bike Ride 11/9

On Sunday, 9 members of ABRT showed for a great mt bike ride on a beautiful day at Patapsco. It was a spirited but not-too-hard pace for me and easy pace for the experts. It was pretty cool to be sportin' the team kits in mass as we came across a fair amount of on-coming bikers and hikers! The woods sure afforded some nice protection from what seemed like a windy day everywhere else. I may be missing someone, but those in attendance included Mike Cunningham, Kidd Manville, Sean Sullivan, Dennis Scanlon, Dee (Mike’s wife), Dave Bradshaw, Tom Mackay, Rick P, myself, Jonathon Seibold (from Family Bike shop), and Jim McNeely from Coppi. Kidd, Sean, Jonathan, and Jim had already been out with some others for an hour or so before we joined forces along the way.

The woods were beautiful with bright fallen leaves everywhere; they added to the challenge because they were hiding some sneaky ruts and obstacles here and there. We crossed several small streams that were *COLD* but refreshing enough on my toes (that is, if you splashed too much as you were attempting to get across). It was a great workout for me, especially since my mt bike muscles have atrophied over the past few months...that and my brake was rubbing, among a few other mechanical excuses (not to mention that I am slower than everyone else, of course). I was busy bitching about my gears not shifting down when I needed them to, yet there were several others on freakin' single speeds sans a single complaint. There were a few logs that I didn’t bother to ride over- but I did ok on some of the smaller uphill logs that I would typically have avoided. It's always fun to watch Young Tom and all the others who are more technically savvy out there! I felt pretty good w/ the occasional rock garden and seemed fine with my rear shock locked out.

Mishaps along the way included Rick w/ a flat pretty early on the ride. He was straddling his brand new Cannondale 29'er with tubeless tires- so probably just squeezed some air out on one of the more significant rock edges (but I am not sure)- he managed to get air back into it without a long wait or incident. Later however, Dave broke his derailleur! This was followed by his having to convert his machine to a single-speed, using my trusty chain tool. I think I have loaned out that tool to at least 4 or 5 folks in the past... never actually having to learn how to use it myself. I had one spectacular endo- but of course it is not spectacular unless there are witnesses. Thank goodness I was in the back, so no one else saw me (blush)! I still have no idea what reached out and grabbed my front wheel. It was fast and silent. I slammed my diaphragm on my bars hard enough to painfully knock all the wind out of me. I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs to squeeze out even a feeble attempt at “help”! All that I accomplished was a comical whimper and faint whisper- I might have done just as well to have thought the words instead. So I laid there and thought real hard as I watched the rest of the group ride off up the trail ahead without me. Eventually I was breathing again and back on my bike wondering when they would figure out that they had one less rider. But it wasn't but a few minutes later that I encountered Mike coming back to look for me. This as Dennis went off on an adjacent trail thinking I had simply made a wrong turn (very likely since I have no clue where I am out there). But I was fine and ready for another hour or so and off we went. Shortly before the finish, Rick went down somewhere and lost his pump. So he doubled back to find it. Rick is apparently getting used to the way his shiny new 29'er handles out there...(whereas I'm getting used to the way a bike actually handles out there...). I noticed Rick had some slightly skinned knees peeking through some newly "vented" tights. But it was all in a day's fun on the trail and I think everyone had a good time or workout. Let's do it again and again! And remind me to bring my helmet cam along next time...

Not sure how long or far we went exactly, but it was just enough for me.

SuePer

This Week's "The Other Saturday Ride"

Not sure who was at the Davidsonville Park n Ride yesterday, but Peter P, Doug Shapter and Alex Pline did the "other Saturday Ride" from the B&A Trail Park n Ride. I had been watching the radar map which showed a brief shower at 9:30 being the last of the rain. Regardless, I was going to ride my new Surley fixed gear bike. I had been doing a few shorter rides just to get acquainted with the fixie and was really looking forward to a group ride, so I was riding, rain or shine. At least it was pretty warm! I got there at 9:55 and after doing a few laps around the parking lot figured I'd be riding alone, but in rolled Doug and a bit after 10, Peter. The three of us rolled out and did the same loop as last week (see the full course on bikely.com), cutting it short a hair (to ~37 mi) by turning on Chesterfield Rd and then going south on Crownsville back to Md 450.

Towards the end of the ride, I was feeling the effect of the fixie. Going downhill was increasingly becoming difficult so I was feathering the brake more. On Sunday morning, I was definitely feeling a little beat up, way more tired than almost double the mileage for the regular Saturday ride. Better workout for less time?? I think I still have a ways to go before I attempt the regular Saturday ride on the fixie...

The other Saturday ride has worked well for me when I (like Peter and others) am a little constrained by family obligations, especially now that the rides are all starting at 10. I encourage others to attend if this works for you! Very fixie friendly.