Without a doubt, this May has been my most memorable month of cycling, with my first two bike races under my belt, 700+ miles accrued and over 42,000 vertical ft. climbed. What a whirlwind of activity and apprenticeship, as I have learned so much from the likes of Cookies Ernie Bayles and Bill Erickson, to name only a few. I've also learned quite a bit about mystery noises and have received great assistance from Keith Thompson, Glenn Swan, and the good folks at Cayuga Ski & Cyclery.
Today I topped off this memorable month with a ride up Ringwood via Lansing, an old favorite. The weather was once again perfect, and I had a time deadline that was excellent pressure to ramp up my average speed on the return trip. Above are the metrics for today's ride—this is a terrific feature provided by RidewithGPS that allows you to study how much time you ride at specific speeds, and how fast on average you ride at specific grades. I guess I have to gather up this data from the same loop over a period of time to see how my performance improves.
I believe that the explosion of web tools to help you analyze your rides can really make a difference in improving your training and adds to your cycling enjoyment. Without these tools, cycloblogging would be far less interesting.
Here is my log for the month of May. My goal is to exceed 2,000 miles before the end of June, but I'll likely be around 2,200 miles before July 1.
What better way to celebrate a smooth drivetrain than with a massive ride? I had to get an early start, due to family plans, which was just as well, considering my route. Today I took on Yellow Barn Rd. from the Dryden side, a bit of a monster climb that you have to really get mentally prepared for. With over 700 vertical feet of climbing over a 2 mile stretch and a portion that exceeds 13% grade, it's best to take that one on before the heat of the day kicks in.
My preliminary plan was to do Yellow Barn, then take Midline to Rt. 79, followed by the Ellis Hollow/Ringwood climb for good measure. Climbing the bear that is Yellow Barn, I tried conserving more energy for the first part of the climb, in order to push harder on the final rises, the section that never seems to end. This strategy worked really well, and my recovery time after finishing the climb was remarkably fast.
On my way down Midline, I first entertained the notion of adding Snyder Hill to the tail end of my ride, in order to get more climbing in. After Yellow Barn, the Ringwood climb didn't seem all that strenuous, so I was raring to take on Snyder Hill when three fellow Cookies, Mark, Wayne and Matt, caught me on 79. I was disappointed that their ride didn't synchronize with mine, so I was thrilled to ride the Snyder Hill leg with those very nice gentlemen.
This ride gave me a good perspective on the year's training and how one advances through the year. Today's adventure exceeded 3500 vertical feet of climbing over a 48 miles, and I'm ready for more tomorrow. Well, just a little more...total miles for the month of May is currently 665 miles, and I have one more day to give that number a boost. My goal is to exceed 2000 miles before the end of June, which seems doable. So far I have 1450 miles logged for the year, with 84,000 vertical ft. of climbing, so this looks to be my best and biggest year of riding yet, provided I can keep up the pace. (By the way, that's the awesome Mr. Keith with his Park Chain Checker tool, the one that got me on course to a smooth drivetrain.)
If you've been reading this blog lately, you'll know that I've been yammering on about mystery noises emanating from my drivetrain. These unwelcome sounds have been making me a bit crazy, and have shaken my confidence in my trusty ride. If you're a recreational cyclists, a bit of noise might not bother you too much, but if you ride as much as I do, this kind of thing really affects you. You obsess about where the noise comes from and worry about what would happen if you broke down somewhere far from home or in the middle of an event.
The last several weeks have involved troubleshooting and disappointments. Until yesterday, I had done the following:
Replaced my first suspect, the cleats, to no avail
Had the bottom bracket bearings re-greased by the terrific folks at Swan cyclery
Degreased and re-lubed the drivetrain several times
Removed the pedals, cleaned out the threads, re-greased and tightened up the pedals
Yesterday was bike bath day, and I recruited my friend Keith, a talented bike mechanic and photographer, to use his Park chain checker to measure my chain wear. This is something I've been meaning to do for a while, ever since Keith told me about the importance of checking this yearly. Sure enough, the tool indicated significant wear on my original Ultegra chain, so I bought a SRAM 1050 chain, and Keith kindly installed it for me. What a nifty system, with the powerlock link. SRAM is the only way to go, it seems.
So here's the kicker: I got on the bike and noticed that the noise was gone! All this time I thought that the problem was emanating from the pedals or cleats or the bottom bracket, when it really was coming from the chain. A 40 minute maintenance ride confirmed the new noiseless status. This was a great lesson in checking your assumptions and being persistent.
What a goofy Tuesday race night, filled with confusion, an unwelcome puncture and an unexpected climb. Chaos is good for the spirit and makes you grow, so I'm certainly not complaining.
First of all, if you're a semi-serious road biker, you take really good care of your equipment and keep your drivetrain as clean and as perfectly lubed as can be. You also check for wear and tear and make sure that critical contact points (cleats, pedals, crank, etc.) are properly tightened. I've been doing what I think is a pretty good job in this department, so I've become increasingly alarmed about noises that I'm hearing while pedaling. At first I thought the issue was worn out cleats, so I replaced them, but the noise didn't go away. Next up, I checked pedal, bottom bracket and crank tightness, and yet the noise persists. Now I'm thinking that it's either the pedal bearings or the bottom bracket bearings, but in any case, it's as distressing as hearing some kind of persistent noise in your car, and a certain amount of unease has pervaded my cycling in the last week or so.
So starting out tonight's informal race, I was already thinking excessively about this problem, trying to calculate when it would be best to live without my bike for a day. (Yes, the addiction is so far advanced.) The race started off very, very slow, up Ellis Hollow Creek Road to Ringwood. I didn't understand the leisurely pace and I should have asked, but instead, I pulled ahead of the group and started making my way up Ringwood. I kept slowing down, but nobody was passing me, which was most confusing. Then, as luck would have it, I got a front puncture. I think I set a personal best for roadside tube replacement, and quickly got back on the bike. I was a tad too hasty, because after a bit of climbing I realized that I left my helmet behind! After recovering from my stupidity, I made my way up to Midline, and was delighted to see that the B group had yet to start the Midline descent.
Catching the B group was very good fortune, since I wanted to learn better race strategy, and the A group is just too challenging for me to really figure out how and when to attack. I moved my way up through the B group and was right up front with the leaders as we turned onto Rt. 79. I foolishly assumed that we would be doing the same route as the last time the Tuesday group did this route, but I was taken aback when I found that we would be looping around and doing the Ringwood climb again! Turns out that the first Ringwood climb was treated as neutral—if I had only asked, I would have managed my race strategy differently and saved more fuel for the climbs.
I got dropped by about 10 riders on the second Ringwood climb, but those of us left behind formed a very effective paceline and clawed our way back to the lead group. Finally, on the Snyder Hill return climb I somehow found an energy reserve and was able to pull past most of the B group and finish strong. What a terrific feeling to pull out a good finish after a challenging middle section.
My bike is now in the infinitely capable hands of Glenn Swan, who will surely get to the bottom of my crank noise issue. It'll be hard to live a day without my trusty bike, but I think I'll manage!
I'm positively euphoric about my experience in the Tour de Syracuse Road Race, a 2-lap, 55 mile, pedal-stompin' good time. I stayed with the lead group right until the bitter end, finishing the 55 mile race in the lead group, just 45 seconds behind the winner, in spite of some annoying cramping in the final miles. This road racing thing is seriously addictive! I finished in 20th place, just 20 seconds behind the awesome Ernie Bayles, a fellow Ithacan and Finger Lakes Cycle Club/Chris Cookies/Glenn Swan teammate. Ernie is just astonishing in his ability to hang back, assess the field, and rapidly accelerate to get right into the action at just the right time. So long as I kept Ernie in my sights, I knew I was doing OK.
Tapering off on my training this last week really paid off, and I had plenty of energy for the climbs and occasional rapid accelerations of the peleton. In spite of this more careful approach to race day prep including going to bed early, I had race day butterflies and lost 2 hours of sleep in the night. None of that seemed to matter much after the neutral zone climb past Song Mountain resort and onto the real race start, Otisco Valley Rd.
Once again, I was supremely focused and quite a bit nervous about riding in such a tightly packed bunch for the first 15 miles until the Amber Rd. climb, which separated the riders out for the first time. I was involved with a little bit of inadvertent jostling, when a fellow racer's handlebars hit my sides on a few occasions. That certainly did nothing to ease my anxiety, but halfway up the first Amber Rd. climb, the pack was a bit more separated and I could concentrate more on positioning myself best to respond to short climbs and accelerations.
The first Amber climb had me struggling to catch the back wheel of fellow riders on a few occasions, but I remembered some really helpful advice from a fellow Cookie about how if you are suffering, you can be pretty much guaranteed that others are suffering equally, so as long as you can push ahead and grab that wheel, things would surely settle down before too long. This suggestion proved to be true time after time, and I was elated to be still in the lead group leading up to the short but insanely steep Hunt Rd. climb, a.k.a. THE WALL.
There's a temporary reprieve after the wall, followed by a second short steep climb, and I attacked the wall too aggressively, which meant that I spent the next mile or two chasing to get back in the group. Sure enough, after catching the group, it was fairly easy going up to the second Song Mountain climb. At this point in my ride I ramped up my consumption of weird bike nutrition. All in all, I had three gels and a power bar, along with my two bottle of 60% water and 40% gatorade. This was just the right amount of fuel for this race.
My average speed for the first lap was 21.5 mph, and the second lap was quite a bit faster, at least until just after the wall. On the second lap, I felt about 10% stronger, and it really helped that the pack spread out substantially. I was able to match each and every acceleration and climb, including the wall.
With about 12 miles to go, I started cramping up in my calves, something that almost never happens to me. Also, my lower back was starting to hurt, so standing gave me a temporary reprieve, and I had enough fuel left to do quite a bit of standing as we approached the third Song Mountain hillclimb. With about 7 miles to go, I joined the leading 5 riders for a paceline that lasted about 3 miles until once again, the group reassembled.
I had to dig really deep for the final ascent, and this is where I dropped back a little bit. I just didn't have what it took to keep up with the leaders, though it wasn't devastating. When I think about the fact that I finished somewhere between 45 and 46 seconds behind the race winner (20th place out of about 60 in my 45+ Masters category, and most likely in the top third of the 35+ Masters category), I have no complaints about my performance, especially considering that this is my second race ever. Now I'm waiting not so patiently for the final results, so I can compare my stats with all other riders who did 55 miles. Should be interesting.
Finally, one more shout out to Ernie Bayles, who really helped me out with pacing and some priceless advise afterwards about waiting until the last mile to make your move, not to mention his encouragement throughout.
Finally another father & son cycling day. After a few failed attempts to convince the lad that another ride in the country would in fact be a fun activity for us both, Toby finally relinquished, and we had a blast. He's getting stronger and more sure of himself all the time, and he's really learning how to handle a climb. Today we averaged almost 10 mph, not bad at all, considering his age and the weight of the mountain bike he's riding.
Today I was teaching Toby all about climbing—when to shift and when to stand. He's really getting it, and the constant stream of consciousness chatter is a hoot! We also had a blast watching the planes take off and land, one of my all-time favorite activities as a child.
I can't think of a better way to stretch the legs before tomorrow's race.
Today I managed to squeeze in a total of 36 miles of hilly riding before and after work, as I sought out a more balanced race week training strategy than my first attempt. Finding the time to train in the midst of work and family obligations isn't easy, but it's a fun challenge. My morning extended airport commute was an example of using every available moment. Gail had a workshop, so she got the boys to school and I got an extra 15 minutes of early morning cycling bliss. I love figuring out continuous improvements in the morning route, and today I took the shortcut through the west end of the Cornell campus over to Warren Rd., then down Warren all the way to Hillcrest, a road I've never cycled on before. Then it was over to Triphammer, Asbury, and back on East Shore Dr. to work.
The best part of today's ride was that workers closed down the downhill lane of East Shore Dr. to fix the shoulder and add new barriers, which meant that traffic slowed down, and I was able to own the entire lane on the long, moderate descent! What a great way to start the day.
Now my plan is to taper off the training in advance of Sunday's race. I'll just do the morning commute tomorrow and Friday, followed by another moderate 10 mile ride on Saturday, and see how that works for boosting my energy level and performance for race day. My bike racing books are pretty vague about this whole tapering business...
Today I was lucky enough to get to ride the course of Next Sunday's Tour de Syracuse. I'll be participating in the Masters race, a total of 55 miles and two laps between Song Mountain and Amber, NY, just south of Rt. 20. Maps and elevation profiles alone cannot tell the whole story of a course, and a recon ride fills in so many details and gives you the opportunity to take in the scenery without worrying about tangling with other riders.
As you can see by the elevation profile, the race starts off with a quick climb up past Song Mountain ski resort, then heads north toward Otisco lake, a long, gradual descent until you get to the lake level. You can see by my messy map that I missed a few turns. Road names provided by Google maps weren't accurate in a few locations, and in other locations roads weren't properly marked, but none of this really mattered—with a route so beautiful, a few wrong turns were actually welcome.
The most memorable part of the ride was the climb up Amber Rd. The climb itself was only moderately challenging, but the views were stunning, and some of the older houses and what looked to be a former schoolhouse have been lovingly restored. The other notable part of the course was the steep descent down Fox Rd., followed by an insanely steep short climb on Hunt. GPS data doesn't seem accurate, because the grade had to have exceeded 15%. This was much more manageable than the wall on the Hollenbeck's course, since it levels off quickly.
Lots of other cyclists were on the road, most going in the opposite direction. This seems to be a very popular road biking destination for Syracuse residents, with good reason. Looking forward to next Sunday...
What a strange cycling day filled with unexpected minor mishaps! First, on my morning workout/commute which takes me up through the Cornell campus, past the airport and back down the hill again, I experienced a most bizarre complete loss of traction. Roads were wet, with a noticeable oil slick on the shoulder for a two mile stretch along Pleasant Grove Rd. When I took a right on Hanshaw Rd. and stood on the pedals, my rear wheel started fishtailing violently back and forth. I stopped to see if I had a flat, since I had one yesterday, but the tire was fully inflated. So I stood once again, started fishtailing once more, and looked down to see my rear tire spinning in place and getting almost zero traction. It sort of reminded me of a scene from a Roadrunner cartoon. So I sat down, road through some gravel, and gingerly finished my ride, being extremely cautious about banking turns and descending. For the rest of the ride I thought about the horrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and about what happens to all of that oil released onto our roads. So sad to think that all of that nasty mess eventually makes its way down to Cayuga Lake. All the cars in the world spewing and consuming petroleum products can't be good living things. Sadly I fear that it will be a long time before our public transit infrastructure is as robust as it needs to be, and electric cars constitute the majority of vehicles on the roads.
The other incident involved an evening ride in the South Hill/Danby area. After dropping off my son at his Karate class on East King Rd., I headed East on East King, south on Ridgecrest, southeast on Nelson, then east on Danby Rd. until my time ran out and I had to turn around to do the pickup. I must have had some sort of premonition, because I prepared him for what to do if I didn't return in time, and that he should just assume that I had a flat. Sure enough, one mile before my destination I rolled over some shiny metallic object, resulting in a rare double puncture. I can't remember this ever happening to me before, and when I realized that I had less than ten minutes to pickup time, I just started running alongside my bike for the remaining mile! Luckily a new tire just arrived in the mail, since one tire was totally trashed with a blown out sidewall.
In addition, I had a puncture yesterday, so I'm hoping that this series of mishaps will leave me free and clear until at least after the Tour de Syracuse, especially considering the fact that I can't afford a spare wheelset for the race!
The combination of a miserable work day and the unseasonable weather (once again a grim, gray, rainy mid 40s day) had me wanting to crawl under a rock after work. A year ago I probably would have laid low, but the more I ride, the more I need to ride and push myself in spite of all obstacles, perceived and real. Part of the reason probably is that every time I push myself out the door, the end results are so positive that I just know it will be worth it.
Today's ride was yet another case in point, a slog up to Lansing and toward Dryden, followed by an upbeat, blistering pace through Freeville and back on Rt. 13 past the airport, then back down Oakcrest, Cayuga Heights Rd., Sunset and Remington. Halfway through the ride, the heavy gray clouds started to slowly separate, finally revealing some hopeful patches of blue. This was such a restorative training ride, and a mighty fine loop worth revisiting.
I've reached the point of feeling obliged to ride every day, rain or shine, howling winds and blinding snow...IN MAY! This weather is getting ridiculous, and it's really hard to get amped up for rides in these conditions. A short weekend ride started off with sunny conditions, but rapidly deteriorated. Halfway through the ride it started raining, then sleeting, and limbs were falling all around me as I had to avoid all manner of small branches and organic matter on the roads. The downhill that normally gets me up to around 40 mph had me braking and swerving all the way down.
Please, jet stream, find a different deviation. This cold weather gear is getting annoying.
Every now and then I encounter a previously unexplored road that just floors me, and on this ride I had the good fortune to turn onto Level Green Road, where I found one of the most gorgeous climbs and super-fun descents in the region. Level Green is most definitely a misnomer, as the road climbs from around 1300 ft. up to just under 1800 ft. in three miles, a 500 ft. ascent. That's kinder than Ringwood and Yellow Barn, but certainly no slouch. What distinguishes this climb from the other two is that unlike Ringwood and Yellow Barn, you don't feel as closed in. The views are spectacular, with open pasture on one side and forest on the other. Road conditions are terrific, and somehow the climbing feels easier with the open spaces. Halfway up, I turned left onto Blackman Hill Rd., where the climb continued, and then the descent began in dramatic fashion.
Some local descents are challenging due to either road condition or blind turns, but Blackman Hill Rd. is a glorious exception, nearly 500 ft. of drop with great road conditions and only a few mild turns, allowing me to get up to 45 mph, even with a headwind. This is one memorable descent that I'll be revisiting again and again.
If you look at the above image, you'll see that this ride includes three big climbs, all of which climb to more than 1500 ft. There's a nice symmetry to this elevation profile, which offers up over 3100 ft. of vertical climb over a 43 mile stretch.
After being subscribed to the "Cookies" racing team listserv for just two days, I must admit that I'm fairly overwhelmed by the friendly and supportive welcome I've received. It's definitely an intensive immersion into a world that I previously knew so little about.
Today I decided to race the Tour de Syracuse Road Race on May 23rd, a 55 mile, 2-lap event. This gives me a few weeks to get prepared, and it should be load of fun.
Tonight was another fun Tuesday night race, and once again I joined the A group. I'm beginning to think that I need to try the B group, since I tend to get dropped just at the end of each lap, and I'm thinking that the B group would help me to better learn tactics. I can't say that I'm disappointed with how I did—I was feeling so much stronger than the last Tuesday race, and I'm learning better about when to push and when to hold back. Still, I think I'll learn more from a few turns with the B group. I averaged 23.4 mph on lap 1 and 22.3 on the second, so I'm definitely getting faster.
Just about a month ago, after riding with the Tuesday night competitive group in Ithaca, I decided to go for broke and try out bike racing for real. The intervening time has been filled with a certain amount of anxiety, along with a stepped-up training regimen. The last two weeks have been particularly intense, as I struggled to squeeze as many rides into a tightly-packed family schedule. Many thanks to my lovely family and dear friends who put up with me as the race day got closer.
Before I bore you, dear reader, with the details, I must say that my first bike racing experience was awesome and inspiring. Having never competed in anything athletic before, I was so nervous and unsure of how it would turn out. While I'm a fiercely competitive person when riding against my own stats, I have been trying to convince myself for many years now that I had no interest in competing against others. To be fair, that feeling hasn't changed much, but now that I know that I can do pretty well, especially as a novice, I'm totally hooked.
I competed in the Masters category on the recommendation of one of the race organizers, and I'm very glad that I did, rather than with in the Cat 4/5 group. The Masters are quite an experienced bunch, and I felt relatively at ease in their midst, with the exception of the first 5 miles, when we were all packed together like sardines. One wrong move and it would have been ugly, and there was a moment when a car stopped just ahead to help a rider in trouble, and the pack had to make a quick maneuver to avoid the vehicle. There were times when I wanted to make a move to chase down other riders, but was stuck in the middle with no chance to advance.
Fortunately the climb up Parker St. spread the riders out substantially, and I was very pleased to discover that many thousands of vertical feet and over 800 miles of training this year really paid off. I was able to stay with the lead bunch of roughly 14 riders from that point forward. It's lucky that the big climb came early when I was still fairly fresh, and after that, it was pretty much just about constantly pushing forward and not letting up. There wasn't a lot of pacelining on the back stretch, but I was able to comfortably keep with the lead group, and we eventually passed a number of Cat 4/5 riders who started five minutes earlier than us. It was at this point that I realized that I would be able to finish strong and feel pretty good about the results.
At the 17 mile point, after a long, very manageable 3-4% grade, there's a 1/4 mile stretch with a 15% grade. That's a killer climb, even though it's short, especially on such a hot and humid day. That climb really had me suffering, but I was buoyed by seeing my friends Natasha and Keith at the top of the hill, cheering me on. Keith had his camera with him, and took the great photos of my suffering! I'm so appreciative that he did this.
After the killer climb, I started to lose a little steam, and the lead Masters pack started to drift out of my grasp. A kind rider passed me and encouraged me to catch the group, and even though I made some headway, it just wasn't meant to be. The race ended on a last brutal climb, and though I was a bit wobbly toward the line, seeing my wife and boys gave me that extra encouragement to finish strong.
I finished in 14th place out of 45 in the Masters category, and my time would have placed me 13th in Cat 4/5 out of 65 riders, which really has me feeling good and motivated for future racing opportunities. I was only 1.5 minutes off of the winning Masters and Cat 4/5 pace, so I have no complaints about my showing.
Next step: Join the "Cookies," the Finger Lakes Cycling Club's team and get my racing license from USA Cycling. The adventure continues!
Last training ride before the Hollenbeck's Spring Classic. Good thing I got an early start, since the temperature has reached the mid-80s this afternoon. Even though I tried not to push it, I ended up with an average speed of 19.6 with 2300 ft of climbing over 37 miles. Now I'm wondering if I rode too hard the day before the race. Oh well, too late to worry about that.
Trying not to feel to nervous before my first race. I think some Eno is in order! Now it's time to get my kit all packed for the morning. Trainer, towels, gatorade, gels, power bar, lucky jersey, best shorts, iPod...the boring list-making mode helps to keep me relaxed. Also, great news that my friends Natasha and Keith are going to show up and maybe even take some pictures. Thanks, guys! Who knows, maybe the family will even show up.
I guess I'm always this nervous about something new. I'm discovering that while I am fiercely competitive when competing against myself and the clock, I am afraid of failure. Not humiliation, just failure. So now I have to just adjust my expectations, and hope to finish somewhere in the middle of the Cat 4/5 and Masters pack. Anything better than that would be awesome, and worse than that will be a reality check.
Another think I'm trying to unlearn is my desire to attack when I see someone ahead of me who appears to be within reach. I tried a new approach today, and it worked well. I saw someone ahead of me on Ellis Hollow Creek Rd. who was clearly a little slower, but rather than attack, I slowed down, took a quick snack break, and passed at a moderate pace. Now I've got to internalize this approach.
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