At Last, A Long Ride

While there are certainly lots of stresses in the life of a K-12 educator, summer vacation is unquestionably one of the greatest benefits, especially if you have young children. Our summer vacation is starting off on a great note, with lots of parties, special events, camps and trips to Taughannock park to look forward to.

I just returned from Taughannock with the boys, where we enjoyed a refreshing afternoon swim, and this morning I was able to at last go on my first longer ride of the year, a 78 mile trek that took me through Lansing, Locke and Moravia, then along gorgeous Owasco Lake to Auburn and back. This was only my second time on this route, and I forgot how spectacular the lake views are. The road conditions on Rt. 38 heading north to Auburn left something to be desired, but the weekday traffic was light enough not to really matter.

I was deep into my velotrance as I passed through the town of Scipio. For a minute I forgot how to pronounce the name of this small town, so I started playing word association, thinking about the gritty movie Serpico, then when I remembered that it was pronounced "skippy-o," I started imagining a fictional goofy Skippy peanut butter TV commercial. Ah, the mental ramblings of and endorphin-fueled mind! Serpico, Skippy-o, let's work the whole thing out.

My pace ware really good today, and I was averaging around 20 mph when I hit Auburn, just after 9 am. The return trip was a little challenging, with some unexpected climbs on Rockefeller Rd. (did they name it that in hopes of getting some money from his estate for road improvement?), and then one hell of a climb up Lamphier Rd., heading east out of Locke. That sucker was around a 14% grade at the steepest section, and I knew it was coming up, though it didn't make it any easier, especially considering the fact that this came along at the 60 mile point of the ride. This detail from Ride With GPS shows the 14% grade wall, which is the equivalent of eating a big bowl of wasabi.

This was my longest ride without stopping, though I did have to get off the bike for a few minutes because the thoughtless person living at this house on Sharpsteen Rd. in Lansing didn't see the importance of having her dog on a leash or behind a fence. Let's just say that we exchanged some sharp words (no, no obscenities, but some very direct and forceful statements and gesticulations), as she failed to recognize the importance of corralling her barking, chasing dog (not to mention her goats). Get a clue, lady! After chasing me, her dog then chased a car, so I had to wait until all traffic was out of the picture. Finally a neighbor helped out, but by this point I was fully enraged and adrenalized, which did help boost my speed in the final miles!

In spite of the dreaded doggy incident, this was a strong and memorable ride. Now I know that all of my training translates to riding strong for a long stretch without stopping, which means I'm ready for longer races if I so choose. And thanks to the overcast skies and cooler temps, I came home with water left in my bottles!

Stats:
Distance: 77.76 miles
Average Speed: 19.7 mph
Vertical Ascent: 3530 ft.
Top Speed: 37.7 mph
Calories burned: 5607 kcal
Time: 3 hrs., 56 min., 42 sec.
Conditions: overcast then sunny, low humidity, upper 60s and lower 70s

Big Dairy Morning and Some Big Speed

No, I didn't overindulge on cheese and ice cream for breakfast, though that sounds like a pretty irresistible temptation right about now. This morning I revisited a favorite ride that I haven't been on since the end of March, which was a raw ride in the low 40s. 

Today's adventure stood in stark contrast, with temperatures in the low to mid 70s, and farmers' fields newly planted with corn and soybeans. With the wind coming from the right (wrong?) direction, freshly fertilized fields wafted the intense odor of liquified cow manure, and livestock were out in abundance. 

I've been really working on pacing, trying hard not to preserve fuel early on and strategically spend those reserves when it's most needed, like the 1/4 mile section of 12% grade on Ledyard Rd. that comes at the 24 mile point of the ride. Timing the gel and powerbar are critical to the pacing, and fueling up 10 or 15 minutes before a tough climb really does make a difference. I've recently been reading Serious Cycling by Edmund Burke, and I'm trying to retain some of the many training tips he offers, such as working toward a rounder stroke, something that I believe will help to reduce the heavy leg issue I've been having of late after several days of all-out cycling. (This winter I'm going to try one-legged cycling on the trainer to work more on improving rounded pedal strokes.)

Midway through the 12% climb, I had a most annoying loose dog encounter, which forced me off the bike at the worst possible time. I hollered "Please call your dog!" repeatedly, which finally resulted in a lame, ambivalent coaxing which accomplished nothing. I've had encounters at this same property before, and while I know that this is not a very highly trafficked stretch of road, it still seems pretty inconsiderate of the owners.

Without a doubt, the highlight of today's ride was the descent on Myers Rd. This section of road is relatively straight, with a sizable drop, as you can see by the closeup. Just check out those contour lines! When I last attacked this downhill, I clocked in at 44.1 mph, but today I broke my bike speed record, with an official 50.0 mph. I know, the pros routinely top 70 mph on those crazy alpine descents, but hey, 50 mph in the finger lakes is nothing to sneeze at. I had a bit of a tailwind and a good tuck, and since I know the road pretty well, I was very comfortable about knowing all the twists and turns. At a certain point my lower lip started flapping and my cheeks puffed out, so I knew I was getting some good speed, but that was more than I could have hoped for. Of course not everyone in my household shares this view, but as I pointed out to the family during the Cornell Physics dept. gyroscope demonstration later in the day, the gyroscopic effect really holds true and this wasn't really dangerous. In fact, I felt downright giddy! I love the fact that my trusty Garmin told me that I topped out at 50.0, not 49.9, and not 50.1. Perfect!

I spent the rest of my ride trying to get my average speed up, while battling a moderate headwind. It was a no-nonsense haul back through Lansing, and the average speed of 19.2 was far better than the 18.1 from back in March, though there's no accounting for wind speed. Still, I feel like this ride and the relatively quick recovery afterwards is showing me that all of this training is really paying off.

Stats:

Distance: 44.91 miles

Avg. speed: 19.2 mph

Vertical ascent: 2406 ft.

Calories burned: 3197 kcal

Max. speed: 50.0 mph

Time: 2:23:22

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.

My first ten speed, a crappy department store bike

It must have been 1976 when I bought my first ten speed. It was pretty crappy, but then again, I bought it with my newspaper money and was very proud. It was bright yellow and looked a bit like this machine. It was heavy and didn't shift that well, but it was my ticket to personal liberation. That bike allowed me to go on many long adventures with the Southern Tier Bicycle Club, which I will elaborate on in later posts, and I didn't buy a new bike until around '84.

I had a pretty big newspaper route with about 76 customers, and every day except for the snowiest of days, I biked to the garage where the newspapers were stored, stuffed my bags across both shoulders and pedaled off to the first house along my route. I perfected this really cool stunt where I ditched my bike on the yard and jumped off the bike. The poor bike endured all sorts of abuse, but I also taught myself rudimentary bike mechanics, thanks to a fantastic book called Anybody's Bike Book.

With this bike I started going on longer adventures, often with my friend Ted. My favorite destination was the Broome County Airport (now called Greater Binghamton Airport) and the Tri-Cities airport. Cars and airplanes were two of my biggest obsessions, and I loved to go to the airport and watch planes take off and land. I particularly liked hanging out at Tri-Cities, since there were exclusively small private propeller planes like Cessnas, and I could often get really close to the planes. The trip to Broome County Airport was longer, hillier and more challenging, and it was my introduction to hill climbing on a larger scale. The rolling hills in the Southern Tier and the Finger Lakes makes for some really challenging cycling and this is when I first started developing my cycling legs.

The most dramatic ride with Ted was a trip to the Broome County Airport happened on a day when my mother was scheduled for minor surgery. On the return trip from the airport, Ted was just ahead of me when he was suddenly chased by a dog. In his panic, he ended up kicking the dog, which resulted in the dog chasing after me instead and biting me in the ankle! I ended up in the same hospital as my mom with stitches and a tetanus shot. This was the second of my third (to date) cycling accidents, but it did little to dissuade me from biking. After that incident, I always carried a can of Halt with me and successfully used it to ward off dog challenges a number of times until I learned about the swinging bike pump technique.