Music To Spin To

Morning Edition no more! There is so much written about what to engage your ears and eyes while spinning on the trainer, and this no shortage of product to fill this supposed need. Spinervals gets lots of hype, and while I suppose it would be kind of cool to fantasize about competing in a race and watch the road while analyzing your PowerTap data, I disagree with the assertion that Spinerval DVDs are "a must for indoor training." All I care about is developing tasty music mixes to make the minutes fly by.

No techno for me, thank you. NPR's Morning Edition was a real drag to work out to, so this is my first attempt at a workout mix. Real standouts on this mix are Bowie, Gang of Four, Labh Janjua & Panjabi MC, and Old 97's. It's not all about tempo, but it seems to be important to alternate driving up-tempo tunes like Doreen with slower, quieter songs like Clem Snide's The Sound of German Hip-Hop. All in all, this is a pretty good workout mix, though I need to really experiment and change things up. Today was the first time that I trained for more than 35 minutes...I made it to almost 1 hour and 1,000 calories, and the music really made a difference.

I don't want to entirely abandon the notion of watching video while working out, and I even shot video of my favorite climbs, thinking that I'd make videos to watch while working out, but it seems to me that the audio element is far more important than the visual.

Suggestions for workout distractions are welcome!

Yellow Barn Burner

Another lucky day in late November. Temps in the high 40s and dry roads meant another "last ride of the year" experience, 38 miles and up Yellow Barn Rd. in Dryden. It was odd to have frozen feet and a sweaty upper torso simultaneously, but I happily coped. No sunshine today and a moderate wind from the northwest.

On Buck Rd. I was scolded by a very old and stout beagle. Felt sorry for the old chap. I slowed down so he could bark at me some more, but he just didn't know what to do with me.

Today my raspberry Clif Gel tasted particularly nasty, like factory donut goo. I guess I'm a sucker for goo (or is it gu?), and it seems to work for me. I wish I had the Clif Mocha Gel instead, but I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel in the goo/gu/gel department. Perhaps I should try a Hostess Twinkie or a Snowball next time.

In Dryden I decided to take on Yellow Barn Rd., the steepest road that I know of in Dryden. This was only my second time up Yellow Barn, and this time I had a sense of where to work and where to restrain myself.

Here's the detail view of the Yellow Barn climb. The climb starts at 1028 ft, and it crests at just under 1800 ft. (1799 to be precise) 2 miles later, which means 390 ft. of ascent per mile for two miles. That's a pretty good burn, and the old ticker hit over 170 bpm twice on the climb.

My idle thoughts today were about how much it would cost to heat a house on the top of this hill, with the winds and colder temps. It was 43 degrees on top of the hill, while it was 47 degrees in Ithaca, and I'm guessing that the differential is far greater in the dead of winter.

Here are some screen shots of a video I shot of the Yellow Barn climb. I'll try to post the video of the climb in the next few weeks.

Trip Data:
Distance: 37.35 mi.
Time: 2 hours, 7 min.
Avg. speed: 17.6 mph
Max. speed: 40.6 mph
Calories burned: 2146 cal.
Vertical ascent: 2402 ft.
Avg. heartrate: 144 bpm
Road miles this year: 2840 mi.

Big Dairies & King Ferry

As the king of hyperbole, I won't shy away from describing this ride as absolutely euphoric. It's November 15th here in Ithaca, and the high temperature on my ride was 67 degrees! Riding without a jacket in mid-November is most bizarre, but I'm most grateful to the cycling goddess for arranging such ideal conditions and facilitating the further extension of an already long season.

Today I passed the 2800 mile mark for the season—I carefully chose a route that would get me there, and since I haven't been up along the lake to the King Ferry area in a while, I chose that route. This was my first time on Ledyard Rd., and it is the perfect choice for heading east and turning back to Ithaca.

I'm so glad that I decided to bring the camera today. Usually I am reluctant to bring the camera along, since I am trying to get maximum miles in during my allotted cycling time, but today I had the luxury of some extra time.

As you can see, I saw some very noisy wild turkeys on Remington Rd., just a couple hundred feet from Boynton Middle School. The sun was only with me for the first half hour, then the skies darkened and I thought perhaps I'd encounter rain, but it just stayed overcast for the rest of the trip. With all of the trees bare, it was a great day to get shots of the lake in the distance, as well as old barns and some beautiful homes.

This route takes you through some very big dairy operations around King Ferry, Genoa, Venice and East Lansing, and I tried to imagine what the old farming days were like in this area. There are a few remnants from those days, but now, the only shiny and new-looking farms are huge, sprawling dairies. It's so sad that family farming is the exception, not the rule.

Drivers seemed to be less attentive toward cyclists now that it's mid-November, and on a couple of occasions, drivers almost turned into me while I was in an intersection. Good practice for the lungs (I don't shy away from shouting at drivers) and for the evil-eye-darting-glance, but moments like those are most unwelcome. Us cyclists aren't asking for much, just a little attention. Put those damn cell phones away, people, and watch the road!

You can also see that I was all about the data today. Regular odometer, heartrate cyclocomputer and GPS, not to mention the camera. I know that it seems like overkill, but I won't be using the heartrate unit as an odometer. I've read that it can easily get reset by accident, and I want a reliable odometer to keep track of my road miles. Furthermore, my basic meter has a thermometer, which is pretty handy. Still, I can't wait to get a new Garmin Edge with cadence, like a Garmin Edge 405 or 605. That way I can ditch the Polar unit and have my heartrate data integrated into my speed and elevation data. This will allow me to see how my heartrate changes during specific climbs. This would be very valuable information for training purposes. Too bad I'd have to shell out around $400...I'd much rather spend it on a new wheelset or something.

Speaking of heartrate information, I hit a max of 170 at the top of Ridge Rd. in Lansing. That was pretty cool. I averaged 144 BPM for 2 1/2 hours, which feels pretty damn good. I don't think that downhill skiing will come anywhere close. Sure, cross-country skiing would be similar, but I probably won't have many opportunities this winter. Who knows...snowshoeing might be a good middle ground.

My favorite part of today's ride was Gulf Rd. in Lansing. There's a short, steep climb where Gulf meets Conlon Rd., and it's a real pedal stomping heart pounding affair. That turn onto Conlon Rd. is so gratifying.

See the ride on Everytrail

Here's the data:

Distance: 46.13 miles

Elapsed time: 2 hours, 30 min.

Avg. speed: 18.5 mph

Max. speed: 46 mph (heading east on Ledyard toward 34)

Vertical ascent: 2566 ft.

Calories burned: 2431

Avg. BPM: 144

Nov. 15th, and planning a long ride

Check back later...this is truly incredible, high in the mid 60s on Nov. 15th in Ithaca. I'm going for a long ride today up to King Ferry. Should be some great views of the lake. Bringing the camera too. Never again will I write something like "last ride of the year." Or maybe I should, since it seems to guarantee that I'll be wrong. While I don't subscribe to paranoid views that this is a clear sign of global warming, this would clearly be the up-side!

Last Ride Redux (happy to be wrong)

Today, November 9th, the high temperature in Ithaca was 70 degrees! Lucky, lucky me...as the geese were flying south in impressive numbers and the squirrels were busily gathering their last nuts, I left work for another 20 mile ride up to Lansing. I can't quite fathom my luck, and I'm so happy to be wrong about the last ride of the year.

Bicycling Magazine Acknowledged Ithaca

Somehow I missed this Bicycling Magazine piece on cycling in the Finger Lakes. Not a lengthy article, but it sure is nice to have our area acknowledged as a great place to ride. Cycling nirvana, indeed!

I took this photo while on a ride near King Ferry, around 20 miles north of Ithaca on the east side of the lake. The view is looking west, and the hills in the background are on the west side of Cayuga Lake, looking at the Trumansburg area.

Last Ride 09?

Well, no complaints today. November 7 and the weather was perfect for an afternoon outing. It was a real challenge to get out the door today, but I knew that I would regret it for many months to come if I didn't force myself.

I've come to realize that just as I am addicted to the rush of completing a challenging climb, I'm also addicted to the weary post-ride feeling. I really don't know why that's the case, but I guess the whole cycle has merit, and you can't have the ups without the downs.

Once again, massive tailwinds heading up Triphammer toward Lansing, and brutal headwinds on the return trip. It was a very hard slog as I headed up the rude 4% grade by Ridge Road Imports used car dealership, a hill that looks like nothing from afar, but when the tank is low-to-empty and the headwinds are around 15 mph, it's more than a bit discouraging.

The ride on EveryTrail.com

Data:

Distance: 23.55 mi.

Time: 1 hr. 20 min.

Speed: 17.7 mph

Max speed: 32.6 mph

Vertical ascent 1218 ft.

Calories burned 1276

Anatomy of an Ithaca Ride

Now that I'm transitioning (reluctantly) to the off-season, I thought it would be fun to study the anatomy of one of my favorite rides, Ithaca - Lansing - Dryden - Yellow Barn Rd. - Ellis Hollow - Brooktondale - Ithaca.

What's not to love about this ride? There are plenty of challenges, exceptionally scenery, very light traffic on most roads, and the roads with traffic have wide and well-paved shoulders. I think that the best aspect is the climbs and where they occur along the way. I'll isolate out the biggest and most memorable individual climbs and focus on the specific challenges, as well as my state of mind as I'm climbing.

Remington is the best way to escape the flats of Ithaca. As you can see, it's the second-steepest climb of the trip, second only to Ringwood. The climb up to Sunset, then up to Cayuga Heights, is almost exactly 400 ft. in just over 1 mile. The road is nothing short of perfect, with smooth pavement, little-to-no traffic, and lots of twists and turns. It's best to stand on the pedals right away for the first 100 yards at least, until the first slight leveling off. When you're standing on the pedals, it's nice to have the entire lane to yourself, and drivers will always give you plenty of clearance. This is a popular road for cycling and walking, and pedestrians always seem to outnumber drivers. The challenge of this initial climb is counterbalanced by the fact that I typically have fresh legs at this point. I tend to stand two or three more times on the way up to Sunset, and alway on the last turn leading up to Sunset. After a very brief respite, there's another steep, short climb up to Cayuga Heights Rd. which involves standing and gets my BPM up into the 160s. Then, after crossing Rt. 13, there's a short, moderate descent before the easier Oakcrest climb up to Triphammer.

After this intense beginning, Triphammer up to Lansing is a much less intensive endeavor. The grade is in the 3-5% realm, as opposed to 8-10% for the first part. Triphammer may be a bit boring, but there are great views of Cayuga Lake as you climb. At this point, I'm starting to feel in the groove, and there are some stretches where I'm standing on and off and getting upwards of 25 mph heading toward Terpening Corners. The total ascent for this stretch is a little over 200 ft., so there are lots of sprinting opportunities here. I usually reach Terpening Corners at around the 28 minute point in my ride, and I can gauge my energy level or the effect of the wind when the numbers are different.

Triphammer flattens out for a stretch, and then as you head west toward Dryden the road gets gradually steeper, but is almost completely devoid of traffic. This is beautiful farm country, and while the roads aren't great (chip seal), it doesn't much matter. This part of the ride is quietly contemplative, and my worries and daily concerns are slowly diminishing, replaced by inane musings. I often fixate on little details, like decorations on houses, what it would cost to heat a house up on these hills, country vs. city living, etc. This is the most comforting part of the ride.

After the descent into Dryden, there's a nice plateau that takes you into Freeville, which serves as the rest before the insane ascent of the day, Yellow Barn Rd. This is a great place to fuel up with a gel or a power bar, and you really need it. With 800 ft. of climbing over less than 4 miles, this is a ridiculously tough challenge. The other alternative is to take Ringwood Rd., which is 600 ft. spread over a similar distance. This is a deceiving climb, since the road twists and turns, and you can't get a good read on how long and how steep it truly is. And it just keeps going and going until you think you can't climb anymore.

After the ascent, my legs are rubber for a while, but then there's this incredible downhill that takes you all the way through Ellis Hollow and down into Brooktondale. The ride is essentially over, save for the obligatory last push into Ithaca. At this point I'm elated, exhausted and feeling triumphant.

This loop has so much variety and character, with discrete sections, well-timed climbs, great scenery and just the right distance for this much elevation climb. I think that taking the loop counter-clockwise would be a bit easier, so that's something to explore for next season.

Praising the Cycling Goddess

Today I'm praising the cycling goddess once again. Here we are in November, and I was lucky enough to go on a 40 mile ride WITH SHORTS ON! No freezing fingers or toes, no more leaves on the trees, and gorgeous sunshine. It was a transcendent and somewhat unreal experience. A few weeks ago I thought I was done with the long road rides and for sure I wouldn't be riding on Ringwood Rd. again until the springtime.

Memorable moment in today's ride was when a tiny puppy (Jack Russell Terrier?) decided to chase me. The foot-long dog managed to chase me for only about 30 ft., and the dog's owner freaked and called out its name. For many miles afterwards I kept speculating about what the name was. I heard either Owen, Rodent, of Flovent. I wanted to head back and ask to resolve the confusion. Rodent would be an awesome name for a pet, no? And if you were an asthma sufferer, Flovent would be a constant reminder of your condition. Owen is OK, but not that interesting, so I vote for Rodent.

Data: 40 miles, 17.3 mph, approx. 2250 vertical ft. ascent, avg. 144 BPM.