Winter Cycling: Saved from the Trainer!

After resigning myself to the dreaded trainer, Andy Goodell inspired me to reconsider winter cycling after I read about his ambitious adventures. During the holiday break I broke out the crappy old mountain bike and surprised myself. I guess the hard work is really paying off, because in spite of only being able to use the large chainring (lots of chain slip), I was able to still climb up to Lansing and Forest Home with relative ease.

I started off the winter cycling routine somewhat modestly, but thanks to dry roads and sufficient winter cycling gear I kept upping my distances. On Dec. 26th I rode in 16 degree weather, and managed not to freeze, thanks to my dreamy new mittens and the fact that climbing was involved. On yesterday's ride, lower back pain was a clear indication that the mountain bike wasn't the way to go, so I pulled out the trusty old Miyata 1000 touring bike. I was surprised by how good it felt—it's been almost two years since I rode the Miyata. Then today I decided to test the brand new Mavic Ksyrium front wheel on the 28-year-old touring bike, and it was a truly revelatory experience.

Today was a glorious day, with temperatures in the mid 40s, and after my hillclimb, I met up with a FLCC group organized by Andrejs Ozolins for a short ride to Buttermilk Falls. How great to spend the last day of 2010 on the bike! Final mileage for the year: 5220. It was nice to see Jim, Wayne, Ron, Andrejs and Andy.

Tomorrow's weather promises some rain and continued moderating temperatures, so if the rain washes the salt off the road I'm taking the road bike out on Sunday, my first ride of the new year.

Full-fledged Withdrawal Leads To (gulp) Running!

'Tis the season for cycling withdrawal, and it's never hit me this bad before. Last season I even felt a secret bit of relief when the road salt ended my season, but this year I'm just fit to be tied. While I'm hoping that my 2011 road biking season will start in early May like last year, I shouldn't expect such good fortune. After years of rejoicing at the first sight of snow and celebrating any and every bit of wintery mix, today I confessed to a friend of my hope for drenching rains, followed by several days of sun and warmth. 

Hope alone won't get me through the off-season, so instead I have refined my off-season strategies. The first stage was to save up for a really good wheelset, which I finally picked up last weekend. The new Mavic Ksyrium Elites are sitting in a box under the tree, a marvel of industrial design. The anticipation of testing out what shaving nearly one pound of rotational weight off of my ride will really keep me excited and inspired in the next few months. Comparing the Ksyrium and Aksium wheels side by side, you can really see the differences and refinements, though the Aksiums have held up quite well after nearly 10K miles. Beefier hubs, wider spokes, 18 spokes up front (as opposed to 20 on the Aksiums), and the inter spoke milling are all obvious differences and improvements. I did the math, and the weight savings cost me approx. $45 per ounce, though since rotational weight is evidently three times as valuable as fixed weight, you can argue that it costs $15 per ounce! Either way, I look forward to comparing ride stats next season to see if I can increase my average speeds.

My other off-season survival strategy has been to dramatically increase the cross training. I've been doing a combination of EA active (Wii Fit-based workouts), riding the trainer, swimming and running. I've always hated running, but in the last few days I've noticed some changes. My roundabout walk/jog to school has been supplemented with a 2.4 mile lunchtime walk up Kline Rd to Highland and over to Hanshaw, Devon, and Renwick, a climb of almost 400 ft. After several days of gradually increasing the running, today I ran the whole course. My body is still getting used to the pounding, but as long as the roads stay clear, it's not horrible, and all that fresh air and daylight is so welcome during these short days.

Not Quite Ready to Call it a Season

It's been an embarrassingly long while since my last blog post, and though my priorities have been necessarily elsewhere in the last few months, the cycling blog will undoubtedly continue. As the season wound down, I was seizing every last opportunity to squeeze in a ride, but the writing is on the wall—I have perhaps half a dozen rides left before road salt and ice will drive me to off-season activities. 

Last season I felt a certain amount of panic toward the end of the season that I didn't want to see end. This year, however the addition of some carefully selected winter cycling wear has led to a much more relaxed tail end of the year. I know now that I can comfortably go riding in the low 30s without getting too cold, and damn, do those cold weather trips feel great!

My goal for the year was 4500 miles, which I easily exceeded, thanks to my obsessive quest for yet another ride. What a satisfying season—lots to reflect on in the coming three off-season months. Hopefully I'll be back on the roads in early March, if next spring is anything like this spring. In the meantime, I'm off to Glenn Swan's to get my second chain of the year, and then in a month or so, I'll be upgrading to a Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheelset! I can't wait to see what happens when I lose close to 500 grams (.88 pounds) of rotational weight...

A Reminder of the Joys of Group Rides

While I truly enjoy and appreciate my solo rides, it's hard to beat a good group ride, especially when the cyclists are well-matched and no one rides off of the front and disappears. Add kindness and good cheer to the mix and you have a road biking experience that can't be beat. Also, when someone else chooses the route, it helps me to get out of my routine. I'm feeling so fortunate to have finally found this great group to ride with, and look forward to more adventures in less familiar territory.

Today I had the distinct pleasure of riding with Steve, Travis, Stephanie, Liz, Garth and Ashu, and we headed out to Lansing, then took Cobb Rd. to Moravia. Moravia seems to be a pretty popular crossroads for Finger Lakes cyclists, and it makes sense, since it's a connecting point to Auburn, Owasco Lake, and some gorgeous country with challenging hill climbs. Climbing out of Moravia on the aptly named Long Hill Rd. was an exhilarating challenge, with 570 ft. of ascent spread over 1.5 miles. This hill was around an average 9% grade, which was similar to Ringwood Rd. in terms of distance and elevation gain. The rolling hills that followed took us to right past the Hazard Public Library in Poplar Ridge. I was tempted to get on a ladder and add an extra z to their very cool sign.

The return trip took us back on the familiar 34B through King Ferry and Lansing, and we had a most excellent tailwind that brought us back to our starting point in Cayuga Heights in short order. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day in mid-October, and now that I'm three miles away from making my 4500 mile goal for the year, any and all road biking this season is yummy fluff.

Finally, AIDS Ride for Life 2010 Recap

From left to right, Walt, Steve, me, John and Hank. Taken by Mary Kaminsky right after arriving at Cass Park at 12:00 noon. Precisely.

It's been almost a month since the 2010 AIDS Ride for Life, and so before I forget any more details, finally here is a brief summary of yet another inspiring event. Thanks again to all of you who sponsored me and supported the Southern Tier AIDS Program. (Just a little disclaimer: Please note that I fully recognize that the AIDS Ride for Life is not a race! It just happens that group at the front of the pack tends to treat the last third of the ride as a fun competitive challenge.)

The weather was gorgeous, albeit a wee bit chilly, so I headed out with arm warmers and the hope that the day would warm up quickly. I had the chills pretty bad as I waited around at the Stewart Park pavilion, trying desperately to find a way of warming up. There were so many familiar and friendly faces, and the opening ceremonies once again reminded us all of our family members, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who have been affected by HIV/AIDS. (By the way, The Southern Tier AIDS Program will gladly accept donations any time of the year, and if you're not familiar with this terrific agency, just follow the link to learn about their many programs for an 8-county region of Central New York and the Southern Tier.)

We left at 7 am after a somber ceremony, and I headed out in the front of the pack and was quite surprised that I had no company until just before King Ferry, about 20 miles into the century, when I was joined by three cyclists who were not participating in the AIDS ride—they coincidentally chose to ride a century around the lake that day. (I found out later that the Out Spokin' group stopped to help a teammate who had a flat.) Included in this trio was Changxi, a Cornell Cycling Club and Tuesday night races regular, and a really nice guy. These gents kept me company until Union Springs, at which point Changxi and I dropped the others and were joined by Matt, a young, relatively new and very strong rider.

The three of us led the pack until the 55 mile point, when Changzi had a minor mechanical incident and went off the road. While he was surveying his body and bike for possible damage, I noticed the formidable train of strong cyclists heading our way. We took off quickly, but it didn't take long before we were caught, which was good news for my average speed and spirits. I felt great that I was able to ride strong with this bunch of riders, some from the Out Spokin' team, as well as a few Glenn Swan/Chris Cookies teammates. This group included Walt and Steve (Out Spokin') and John and Hank who you see in the photo.

From the 65 mile point, we were pacelining at a really good clip with about a dozen riders in the mix. By this time the weather was absolutely perfect, with only a light breeze, no humidity, and temps in the mid 60s. Hank was an incredibly strong and inspiring rider who effortlessly worked his way up and down the paceline, providing valuable coaching about when to slow down and when to accelerate. Thanks to the paceline and Hank's great coaching, we were able to maintain a very strong and consistent pace right to the end.

We stopped briefly for a nature break and a quick snack at Thee Amish Village, and then headed out for the last stretch. (I was off the bike for a cumulative 12 minutes.) Our lead group kept getting whittled down until there were about eight of us heading up that last tough Glenwood Pines hill, which is much easier if it's not coming at the 95 mile point of a century ride! After the climb, I looked back and realized that Hank and I gapped the rest of the group, but I had no time to think about this, since Hank turned on the afterburners and dropped me like a stone! He graciously allowed me to catch him, but as soon as I caught his wheel he dropped me again, and the once more just before we arrived at Cass Park.

Hank and I at the Cass Park finish line.

As you can see by this photo, I was only about 50 feet from Hank as we arrived at Cass Park, and needless to say, I was totally elated! This was by far the best single day I ever spent on a bike, and it was a real high point for my season. Fortunately I'll have plenty of opportunities to ride with this fun and friendly group next summer and on occasional weekend rides in between.

Hank and I arrived at precisely 12:00 noon, and we averaged 20.8 mph for the century, 1.1 mph faster than my last year's average. After downing my new favorite miracle substance Hammer Recoverite, followed by a restorative massage, then a beer and some kalamari with my new friends, I must say that I've rarely felt more alive!

Cascadilla Hill Climb

The annual Cascadilla Hill Climb was my last race of the year. Much like a tennis tournament, Glenn Swan paired up riders with similar abilities, and they faced off on the .35 mile, 204 vertical ft. climb up Cascadilla Park Place, the prettiest street in Ithaca, with plenty of switchbacks and steep bits. 


I won the first round, lost the second (against Peter Ozolins with an electric assist bike), won the third and fourth rounds, and finally lost my 5th round. By then I was just thankful that it was over. I love hills, but riding full bore on this ascent over and over was fairly brutal. I can't wait 'til next year, however!

8,000 Miles

It's official: I've logged 8,000 miles on my road bike since I bought it in April, '09. My bike has cost me 31 cents per mile, including accessories, upgrades, tires, tubes and repairs. Also, it comes to $48 for each pound I lost in the last 1 1/2 years. Pretty good economics, eh?

Where I've Been This Year

Comparing Data With Garmin Training Center

Yesterday was the 2010 AIDS Ride for Life century, and it was probably the best day I ever spent in the saddle. I'm savoring my memories and am waiting a few days for more photos before I post a complete report. In the meantime, I'm posting one photo of me at the finish at Cass Park with no explanations, other than to say that I'm not the guy in front. That's Hank and...wait, I told you I'm not sharing my report right now, so instead, I'll just string you along with some data analysis.

Not too long ago, Garmin came out with version 3 of its Garmin Training Center software, which I use to import data from my Garmin Edge, retrieve data, and export to the TCX format for subsequent import into RideWithGPS. Anyway, without getting too technical, I've been really appreciating a new feature of the Garmin Training Center software. Since I habitually take the same training routes frequently, now the software allows me to compare data from one ride to another to see where my speed increased or decreased along the route. This is very helpful when you're trying to improve your performance, since you can really pinpoint parts of the ride where you want to improve.

Here's what a comparison looks like. This is my latest workout/commute up Remington, Sunset, Oakcrest and Triphammer, then down Asbury to East Shore Drive. Notice that the elevation profile is virtually identical (discrepancies are caused by GPS margin of error), while the speeds in different sectors are clearly different. The blue line represents today's ride, while the red line represents my ride on September 8th. First of all, today I was .3 mph faster than on 9/8. I'm guessing that after a fantastic century followed by a relaxing rest day, I'm riding stronger. Also, you'll notice that my speeds on the East Shore Drive flats today were somewhat slower than on 9/8, and this is partly due to a generous tailwind last week that wasn't there today.

So there you have it—data analysis got even more fun. If I had a Garmin with heartrate, that would be even cooler. I still can't justify the the price, however.

Rolling With It

Today's route, created thanks to G-Maps Pedometer and the
Gmaps to GPX hack tool.

You know what they say about things happening in threes. Yesterday I had to replace my shifter, a pricey repair, and then today my trusty Garmin Edge 205 suffered from some strange form of digital arrhythmia. Finally, when I arrived at Myers Rd., where I have clocked 50 mph twice this season, I was most annoyed to discover that the perfectly smooth surface had been covered with a generous covering of gravel, making it impassible until the chip seal process is completed. Not that these are real issues or anything, it's just that I  love rituals and routines, so contending with surprises kind of messes with my cycling game plan. Nonetheless, I had a really strong ride today on my familiar King Ferry/Ledyard/Genoa/Lansing loop with delightful cooler temperatures and gusty winds and rain, foreshadowing the changing seasons. Too bad I didn't get the exact ride data, but I had enough info to suggest that it was a personal best on this route. Lately I've been racking up the miles in hopes of hitting the 4,000 mile mark during the AIDS Ride for Life next weekend, and it's looking like it will come to pass. 

The Garmin Edge 205. Could it really be discontinued?

The Garmin problem was odd and completely unexpected. I've been using the Edge 205 on every ride since getting my road bike with no technical problems, and then this morning I couldn't get it to power up. Fortunately I found the instructions online on resetting it, and it was working perfectly fine until King Ferry, when the speedo stopped responding and was stuck at a set speed. None of the buttons worked, and after repeatedly attempting to reboot, I finally got it working again. The device worked perfectly fine from Ledyard to Ithaca, but when I tried to stop it, once again no button responded and all data was lost after a forced reboot. It seems to be working fine right now, but it will take a few uneventful uses before I trust this pricey but very valued device. I'm so data-obsessed that I can't imagine riding without a GPS unit!

I'm wincing as I read through this post. Whatever happened to just riding without fancy gear or accessories? I remember when I stopped using a cyclocomputer on my touring bike and how liberating it was, but now it's very hard to imagine riding without the GPS data, which keeps me focused on improving performance on every ride, not to mention the cool mapping and metrics analysis aspects. I guess I'm just a data obsessed and fairly entrenched, but I guess that there are worse addictions.

Forced Upgrade...Dura Ace At Last

The timing is never good for a mechanical failure, and the end of the summer is perhaps the worst time for a teacher. Nonetheless, I had to get my latest problem resolved immediately, and fortunately the good people at Chenango Point Cycles came to my rescue and I'm back and working, with my first Dura Ace hardware to boot!

This morning I drove to Endwell, my old hometown, to take care of important familial duties at the old homestead. My plan to precede the lawn mowing with a ritualistic ride on the cycling roads of my childhood was immediately thwarted by an inability to control my front derailleur. I've been warned that contemporary Shimano shifters are near impossible to repair, so I prepared myself for the worst, which ultimately came to pass.

Finding a bike shop with the proper hardware on hand and the flexibility to do the repair while I waited was a tall order, but with the AIDS Ride for Life coming in a week, this was a necessity. While Swans likely could have taken care of my needs in time, the weekday schedule was very complicated and the risk was too great, so I headed out to Chenango Point Cycles' new location on Park Ave. in Binghamton (the web site is not yet updated). After learning that my shifter was not repairable by them, with likely damage to some of the small internal parts, I was greatly relieved to discover that they had a shifter on hand. This is one of the most expensive parts on a bike to replace and the fact that it was a Dura Ace shifter rather than an Ultegra boosted the price a bit, but it was such a relief to have this repair completed. The good folks at CPC went above and beyond, making some adjustments to my rear brakes and recommending some upgrades as well. So now I have my first Dura Ace component, and who knows, maybe I'll gradually upgrade my entire bike to Dura Ace as parts break. Reminds me a bit of that Johnny Cash song...one part at a time, though it will cost me more than a dime!

The bike mechanic was so efficient that I was able to squeeze in my ride anyway, which was a nostalgic adventure on my favorite route during my teenage years. From Endwell I cut through Highland Park to Farm to Market Road, which I took up to the airport. Then I took Knapp Rd. to Dunham Hill Rd., then returned by climbing East Maine Rd. until it met up with Farm to Market. I'll never forget the time my friend Ted and I returned from a trip to the Airport on Farm to Market and we had an unfortunate encounter with an angry dog. Ted was ahead of me, and after he yelled at the chasing dog, the old hound took a chunk out of my leg! My mom was in the hospital that day getting minor surgery, so we ended up reuniting sooner than either of us thought.

No canine incidents today, just some great climbing. Though I had no stats to compare with, I'm pretty happy with my ride today, and can't wait to return for more riding in these beautiful rolling hills, which are similarly challenging to my favorite terrain in the greater Ithaca area. I ended up averaging 19.4 mph on this 25 mile ride with 2100 ft. of climbing.

2010 Stats At Six Months

Back to the blog after a break, though I haven't taken a break from cycling. Now that August is past us, here is a month-by-month column chart of distance and vertical ascent data for the first six months of the year:

Due to our family vacation in August, I had a number of days off of the bike, so I tried hard to make up the miles and vertical feet. I'm pretty pleased with how August turned out, and now that I'm returning to work, the September stats will most likely look like April. I believe I'm still on target for my 4500 mile goal for the year.

Overall, I'm at 3787 miles and 221,686 vertical feet of climbing for the year.

Steering Blues; Hills and More Hills

Headset cartridge bearings

A few months ago I was having steering issues, and Keith was very helpful in showing me how easy it was to take apart a contemporary threadless headset. The problem was that my steering was notched, so that the steering had a tendency to mildly lock into the default straight-ahead position. This problem could be caused by a number of factors, but in retrospect, it seems to be the result of ovalized bearings, caused by repeated poundings on my fork over the 7,000 + road miles on my bike.

Keith disassembled the headset and cleaned the inside of the head tube and the outside of the sealed bearing systems, which had accumulated a bit of rust. After the reassembly was complete, the notched steering was barely in evidence, but in the last few weeks the notched steering problem has come back in earnest. My paranoia is that one of these days I'll have to quickly steer to avoid debris or a pothole and won't be able to due to the tendency for my wheel to stay straight.

Yesterday I disassembled my headset and took one of the cartridge bearings to a local bike shop in hopes that they carried them as a stock replacement item. No such luck, what pissed me off is that rather than offer to order the bearings, they suggested I order a replacement headset! I've done enough research to be fairly convinced that the only problem with the headset is the bearings, and the set of two bearings can be found online for $25 including shipping, while I'm fairly certain that the local bike shop would sell me a replacement headset for at least $75. I feel like so many local bike shops count on clueless riders. Yeah, I know that they need to make money to stay afloat, but this business approach alienates experienced cyclists. If I felt it could have waited, I would have waited until Monday to go to Glenn Swan's. Surely Glenn would sell the bearings. This is precisely why Swan's has such a loyal customer base—they meet the rider at their level and don't talk down to you. I won't mention the local bike shop, since I have no desire to trash talk local businesses, but come on guys! Expand your tire collection, while you're at it.

I ended up rotating the top and bottom bearings, since I read that the bottom bearings are likely the ones that were ovalized, and sure enough it steers much better now. With the new bearings on order and much smoother steering, I feel much more secure as we head out to Vermont and the North Country of New York State for a family vaca and some great bike riding up Killington Mountain a century ride starting in Plattsburgh called the Way North Century. I did the ride last year, and here's a video I made about the event:



On Friday, after a rest day, the weather was perfect and I was seeking out the hills. I have a tendency to ride the same routes over and over, and I felt like changing things up in order to break the monotony. This is one terrific route! As I headed east on Rt. 79, I took Snyder Hill Rd. in a direction that I usually don't go. After merging back onto Rt. 79, I continued east, then took Level Green Rd. to Speedsville, then back along Old 76 Rd. The Buffalo Hill descent was stellar, and I was able to get up to 48 mph before having to break as it intersected with 79 again. Then back up Snyder Hill Rd., down Genung, west on Ellis Hollow Creek Rd., north on Turkey Hill Rd. to the NYSEG building, then up to the airport, north to Asbury, and back home down East Shore Dr. This ride was a fun way of connecting lots of shorter rides together, and now that I'm familiar with so many roads in our area, it's really fun to explore and experiment. This ride was just over 4,000 ft. of vertical ascent spread over 53 miles, and in comparison, the Cayuga Lake loop is the same amount of climbing spread over 100 miles.

Group Ride Debate

I've been following a fascinating discussion on the listserv for the Finger Lakes Cycling Club regarding the tendency for the bulk of the group to drop slower cyclists. There are many valid viewpoints, but I side with the all-inclusive approach to group riding. Yes, I ride as fast as possible during the AIDS Ride for Life as a personal challenge, but if I join a weekend group ride, I fully expect to sacrifice speed for camaraderie and coaching. For what it's worth, here's what I wrote:

At the risk of further extending a lengthy discussion, I just wanted to add a little personal perspective to this fascinating debate. When I was 15 and growing up in the Endicott area (mid '70s), I bought a crappy department store 10-speed, which was still way better than my tired, rusty 5-speed. My best friend's dad was a serious cyclist, and I wanted to ride long distances just like him. Sadly no one in my family really supported or encouraged my cycling obsession, but then I heard about the Southern Tier Bicycle Club, and started joining them for weekend rides. These were some of the best memories of my teenage years—there was always a small group of faster riders, but without exception there were patient adults who rode at my pace and encouraged me. I learned so much from these strong riders who sacrificed riding with a faster group to coach and guide me. If it weren't for these experiences, I would have never pursued my many subsequent cycle touring adventures and beyond. I obsessively studied their technique and their gear and asked a million questions, and they were unfailingly kind and patient.

While I haven't participated in any FLCC Sunday rides in a long time, it seems to me that a primary objective of these rides is to nurture and encourage those new to cycling. I happily sacrifice my need for speed to coach my 9-year-old son at a sub-10 mph pace, and have supported several friends as they have prepared for the AIDS Ride for Life. I believe that this kind of guidance is critical in encouraging young or new cyclists, and it will also cause our ranks to swell. I sincerely hope that there will always be special consideration given to the up-and-comers!

July Recap: Piling on the Hot and Humid Miles

Some of my July rides in the Finger Lakes region.

This July has been recognized, at least in North America, for being one of the hottest on record, and given my anecdotal evidence from many hours on the saddle, it certainly seems to have been the case. Now that I'm down to one bib and one pair of bike shorts and really only three jerseys that I regularly wear, it's been very hard to keep the bike wear clean and odor-free!

Many loads of laundry, several dozen Clif  Gels and several complete drivetrain cleanings later, I must say that I'm quite pleased with this past month of cycling. The Le Tour Challenge really kicked my ass, and that event really got my numbers up. There were certainly times that I struggled to get on the bike—it's always hard to get motivated to ride hard the day after suffering on the hills and in the heat and humidity, but inevitably my spirits would be soaring after the first climb of the day. Still, it's a relief to head out for a long ride now and not obsess about my average speed and vertical ascent statistics, in an all-out effort to rack up more stage points in the Le Tour Challenge.

Cook Rd. is at mile 28. Beware of the dogs!

Today's ride was a case in point. With a massive tailwind as I headed north through Lansing and on up to Genoa and points north, the first 27 miles of my ride were almost effortless, but I knew that I'd be fighting that same wind on the return trip. But since it was August and I didn't really care about pushing harder for a higher average speed, the ride was even more enjoyable. Also, on days like these, I find myself randomly exploring different roads in an ongoing quest for new sights and route possibilities, something I avoided when going for maximum speed. Today I ended up on Cook Rd. in Venice, getting chased by two unfriendly dogs (no owner in sight) on a chip seal road with an overwhelming amount of loose gravel. While I doubt that this road will be part of any future routes, I have no regrets, and it caused me to study the map some more to look for further alternatives.

This July I've biked more miles in a month since my last big cycle touring adventure in the early '90s, and more vertical feet since...ever. All this hillclimbing has me feeling stronger than ever on the ascents, and ready to take on bigger and better challenges.

Total July Distance: 880 miles
Total Vertical Ascent for July: 52,250 ft.

Today's ride to Venice and Genoa.

Le Tour Challenge Recap

This year's MapMyRide/Le Tour Challenge competition was a memorable experience and certainly a high point of my summer. Thousands of people around the world took part and were encouraged to ride every stage day of this year's Tour de France and submit their gps data to compete for stage points. Only verifiable (gps) data was considered for stage points, but I suppose someone could mount their Garmin unit on a moped and fake it!

Obviously not everyone took this very seriously, but there were a bunch of us submitting rides almost every day of the Tour. I did this event last year and was the lucky winner of a Polar unit with heartrate and cadence. While I was dreaming of winning something fabulous like a new bike, a carbon wheelset, or a trip to France, my primary goal this year was to get as high up the leaderboard as possible, and while I didn't win anything, I'm pretty pleased with my results.

This year I rode in 19 of the 21 stage days (all solo rides, squeezing my expeditions between family obligations and work), and finished in 10th place overall and 2nd place in the 46-50 age category, accumulating 103 stage points. My highest stage ranking was 4th, a lap around Cayuga Lake in ridiculously high humidity and temperature in the mid 90s. (Stage winners get 25 points.) MapMyRide kept tidy track of my stats, comparing them to the pros in the Tour. I averaged around 19.8 mph over the 678 miles, which obviously pales in comparison to the ridiculous 24.7 mph pace of Contador over 2260 miles and an unfathomable 428,000 ft. of ascent!

My Stats:
Stages Completed 19 (between 7/3 and 7/25)
Total Distance: 677.87 mi
Total Time: 34 hours, 18 minutes
Total Ascent: 29,518 ft

Alberto Contador's Stats:
Stages Completed 21
Total Distance: 2260.34 mi
Total Time: 91 hours 30 minutes
Total Ascent: 428,182 ft

I tried hard to mix it up, taking on the hills during the mountain stages and looking for flatter, faster routes for the sprint stages, since it seems to matter—I don't know if they're relying exclusively on software or if there's a human element used to determine stage rankings, but hills mattered a lot more on the mountain stages and much less on the flat stages. Distance always mattered, so if you took a long ride at a brisk pace, you stood a good chance of winning points. I visited Ringwood and Snyder Hill a bunch of times, suffered through a Yellow Barn climb, rode around Cayuga Lake, and even climbed Bear Mountain on a family trip to Putnam County.

Here are three of my favorite rides over the last three weeks:

Cold Spring/Bear Mountain

Cayuga Lake

Lansing/Yellow Barn/Willseyville

Ringwood twice/Snyder Hill

Now that the exhausting Le Tour Challenge adventure is over, I no longer feel the need to push as hard. After a rest day, I've been back on the bike, looking for hills that I haven't climbed yet and enough miles to make my goal of 3,000 miles before the end of July. With 3 days and 25 miles to go, it'll be an easy goal. Then hopefully, coming in later August, I'll be doing some riding in the Adirondacks and Vermont. Perhaps the 5 finger lakes goal will slip by the wayside for this year...too much time away from the boys.

Finally More Le Tour Stage Points

Ringwood climb, 2 X

While the Tour de France cylists endured their last day in the Pyrenées, ending their final mountain stage by climbing up the brutal Col du Tourmalet, I sought out my own toughest stage, desperately seeking more stage points in an all-out effort to solidify my 17th position in the Le Tour Challenge. After a rest day, I was feeling strong, and the conditions were ideal, with low humidity, temps in the upper 70s and a nice breeze. In fact, I hadn't felt so strong in weeks—the cumulative effects of weeks of hard riding in high heat and humidity has started to pay dividends.

Yesterday I started with the familiar quick exit out of Ithaca, heading up Remington to Triphammer, then Triphammer Extension, Asbury and Benson to Lansing. I was looking for extra miles as well as extra climbing, so I decided to do the Ringwood climb twice, once from each direction. After climbing Ringwood from Rt. 13, I headed down Midline to Rt. 79, then back up Ellis Hollow to attack Ringwood from the south. After the second Ringwood climb I was still feeling good, and I was joined by a friendly competitive cyclist who joined me for most of the return trip up Snyder Hill Rd.

Without a doubt, this was my favorite ride in a long while, and I came home feeling very hopeful about gaining Le Tour stage points and solidifying my position. Sure enough, when I refreshed the leader board this morning, I was thrilled to learn that my ride earned me 14 place and 12 stage points. While I may end up dropping a few overall positions in the next few days, it looks like I'm safely going to remain in 2nd place overall in my age category. While my hopes of winning merchandise are fading, this has been a great experience. The Le Tour Challenge is a terrific motivational game, at least for me.

Stats:

Distance: 49.45 miles

Avg. speed: 19.1 mph

Vertical ascent: 3391 ft.

Calories burned: 3499 kcal

Max. speed: 39.5 mph

Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes

Moving Up Again in Le Tour Challenge

With only five stages remaining in The Tour, things are heating up both in the Pyrenées and among participants in the Le Tour Challenge. While I'm still pulling for Andy Schleck, things aren't looking too good after yesterday's chaingate. Contador's decision to attack certainly caused a great debate among the riders as well as the viewing public and punditry. I don't have a strong opinion on this one, but it's clear that this will cheapen a presumed Contador victory.

Meanwhile in the Le Tour Challenge, it has been sad to see Jeff K slip in the overall standings, down to third. I was really hoping that someone in my age bracket would win it all, but still, he really represented us 40-something riders well and can still move up in the ranks.

In my last blog entry on 7/15, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in 15th place overall after a long, hard Yellow Barn Road climb. At that point I assumed that I'd be slowly moving down the leader board through the rest of the last week. I took a break day on Sunday while a bunch of weekend warriors fought hard for stage points. I was quite surprised to learn that I only lost one position as a result of my rest day, and I was emboldened to fight to move up a few spots during the week. I looked at typical winning weekday stats and realized that there is a lot to be gained by riding hard during the week and riding easier on weekends. Sure enough, I'm back up to 15th overall, and looking for more points through the week.

Yesterday I did my typical Lansing Ringwood Midline Snyder Hill loop with an added couple of twists in order to get good vertical stats and keep my speeds up high. I added an extra loop of Thomas Rd and around to Ellis Hollow Rd., and also added some extra flats at the end, down Aurora to Cayuga. I believe that these add-ons resulted in getting me further up in the standings, and today I'll be scrambling for a few more points. Also, hopefully I'll be doing another 80 mile ride before the weekend in my desperate last efforts to move further up the standings. While this is a blast, I'm really looking forward to a break in the action after the weekend!

Moving Up the Leaderboard...By Accident

At this stage in the Le Tour Challenge, I fully expected to continue my slow slide down the leaderboard, but I was buoyed by the news that as of this morning I'm now ranked 15th overall out of over 1600 participants, and 2nd in my age category. Woo hoo! I'm delighted to be the Alberto Contador to Jeff K's Andy Schleck. This all came about as a result of an error in calculating yesterday's route, combined with a last-minute decision to climb the nasty Yellow Barn Road.

Yellow Barn never seems to get any easier, no matter how many times I take it on. It's a very deceiving climb, since it takes you on a number of turns in which the road ahead is shielded from view by the Yellow Barn Forest. My trusty Garmin tells me the real truth, as I watch the altitude and curse my way up to 1800 ft. Then I think about the climbs that those poor souls in France are experiencing, and it's all put back into perspective. The truth is that like most crazed cyclists, I really do love the struggle, and the there are few purer, more simpler pleasures than cresting the last part of the hill and switching back into the big chainring for the rewarding descent.

As you can see by this screenshot, Yellow Barn is over 700 ft. of climbing stretched over two miles, with sections of 12-16% grade. I sometimes wish there were more rural climbs in our area that were much longer at a consistent 6-8% grade but not quite as steep, but you have to take what you get. I'm hardly complaining though, since I believe that we have some of the greatest cycling roads in the northeast.

I'm working at Ithaca College all week, so I've been looking for fun roundabout ways of getting there. For yesterdays mini-epic ride, I totally miscalculated how many miles it would take to add on the Brooktondale-Willseyville-Danby-IC portion of the ride, and my total was just under 50 miles. The good news was that the mysterious MapMyRide/Le Tour Challenge software liked my combination of distance, average speed, vertical ascent and climb categories.  Interestingly, the software automatically assesses and categorizes the biggest climbs, calling the initial Remington/Oakcrest climb Cat 4 and Yellow Barn a Cat 3. I'm guessing that Connecticut Hill might be a Cat 2, but I'm not trying that one anytime soon.

Today I took Ringwood Rd. from the Ellis Hollow side, and I just can't get enough of that buttery smooth new asphalt. There was a light mist for the bulk of the ride, which was just a perfect treat and antidote to the humidity.

Le Tour Challenge, Stage 9 (7/13)

Le Tour Challenge, Stage 10 (7/14)

Rest Day Relief

It's a rest day in the Tour de France, which mercifully also means a rest day for me in the Le Tour Challenge. Yesterday was the worst day for Lance in any tour since '99, with three crashes, one of them at the worst possible time. This happened just before the hardest climb of the day, just before heading up the Col de la Ramaz, and he was moving at around 40 mph when he clipped a pedal and went down hard. It wasn't surprising that he bonked after that, initially reaching the tail end of the peleton with the help of Brajkovic and Horner and others, but before long the group split apart, and there were some awfully grim looking teammates slogging it out for the rest of the stage. Those sure are the breaks, though now Lance gets to do something uncharacteristic and ride hard in support of Levi Leipheimer, and move him up in the GC standings. While I'd love to see Levi win a Tour, I don't see it happening. I'm rooting for Andy Schleck all the way, who has been riding a sensational tour, and seems to have Contador's number.

While Lance is diving down the leaderboard, I'm slowly slipping down the Le Tour Challenge leaderboard, though it's not at all surprising. If I could find the time to ride 80+ miles every day, things would be a little different, but I'm pretty pleased to be in third overall in my age category and 22nd overall. My last two rides have been utilitarian, and I've been trying to squeeze as much climbing out of the limited time available.

Yesterday I headed up Remington and Oakcrest, then headed straight toward the airport, slicing off a bunch of miles to get to Ringwood fast. The weather was spectacular, cool with low humidity when I left before 6:30. I saw something like 20 rabbits, as well as around a dozen deer. Those critters are fairly unpredictable, and with the recent bike/deer accident in mind, I'm very cautious in those circumstances.

On Saturday, I did something a bit unusual for me, changing my route at random and taking a road I've never climbed before. After climbing up Renwick and Wycoff to quickly get up to the Cornell campus, I took the familiar Game Farm/Ellis Hollow Creek route to get to the newly resurfaced Ringwood Rd. Wow, what a difference smooth asphalt makes on a climb. The roads were still wet after the welcome Friday night rainfall, and the water was beading off of the smooth surface. After turning south on Midline, I turned left on Irish Settlement road, a road that I've been on in the car before, but for some reason never tackled on the bike. Irish Settlement takes you right to the heart of Hammond Hill, a fantastic locale for nordic skiing. I took Irish Settlement all the way to Yellow Barn Rd., then meandered back via Triphammer and East Shore Dr. for that welcome long shallow descent.

The team covering the Tour on Versus have been talking a lot about the impact heat and humidity on riders during the climbs, and it's so true—taking on a big hill with cooler temps and low humidity puts you in a completely different mindset, and you feel so much stronger and more optimistic as you reach the final climb.

Stage 7 of Le Tour Challenge

Stage 8 of Le Tour Challenge

Early Morning Le Tour Challenge Ride

So today, owing to various scheduling conflicts, I had to squeeze my Le Tour Challenge ride into the early morning. It wasn't easy to leave the house at 5:45, but it sure was worth it. After a week of intense heat and humidity, today we should finally get a break, with some thunderstorms, followed by cooler temps. Starting a ride this early meant that I avoided the worst heat of the day, as well as minor traffic woes, and it sure was a terrific way to jump start the old kicker. It made me think about all those hockey players who get out there at insane o'clock to get some rink time.

With limited time, I took on a familiar Lansing Route, and noticed to my dismay that my average speed when I reached the corner of Oakcrest and Triphammer was below 16 mph. It's usually just over 16, so I knew I had to make up some speed on the rolling hills heading to Terpening Corners. After pushing hard for the next 5 miles, I was feeling stronger than ever, and even a substantial headwind on the return trip didn't dampen my spirit.


I'm currently ranked 17th overall in the Le Tour Challenge, though who knows how that ranking will change as the Tour goes into the mountains. I vaguely recall that all these crazy Colorado cyclists start to really move up the rankings, as vertical ascent stats are taken more into consideration. It's really a fun game, and a great way to stay continuously motivated.












My love letter to the Saab driver that I encountered yesterday:


To the long-hair Saab-driving 20-something dude on Snyder Hill Rd.: I am very sorry to have cost you upwards of 15 seconds on your difficult commute to Cornell this morning. Also, I deeply regret causing you the stress of forcing you to extend your hand so forcefully on wheel in order to honk. Also, hopefully you didn't hyper-extend your right arm as you positioned it to flip me off. For a moment there, I totally forgot about the third-class status assigned to cyclists riding on Ithaca's lightly travelled rural roads.

In the Throes of the Le Tour Challenge

I don't really know why I'm so obsessed with the Le Tour Challenge, but it probably has something to do with my love of analyzing cycling data and my desire to move up the leaderboard. For the uninitiated, participants ride during as many stage days of the Tour de France, then upload their ride data from their GPS devices. Your data only counts if it comes from a GPS device, which is only fair, and then your data is compared with data from all other participants, as well as the Tour cyclists.

Looking good so far—my Monday Cayuga Lake loop had me in 4th place overall for the stage and 9th overall, but now that my distances are more modest, I'm moving down in the standings a bit. Battling the high heat and humidity has been a bit of a challenge, but for some reason, the last two days have been really strong, and I've been able to stay hydrated throughout.  Yesterday was a typical Lansing loop, while today I took on Ringwood Rd. and Snyder Hill Rd. Surprisingly, both of those hill climbs were perfectly manageable, thanks largely to the shade from the forested land on the bulk of the steepest portions. I hope to ride almost every stage this year and take rest days during the Tour rest days, but we'll see.

Wednesday, Stage 4 Data

Thursday, Stage 5 Data