Slushy Winter Cycling

Post-ride radar. The red band hit while I was in Freeville.

 I hit the road yesterday, in spite of the fact that a band of mixed precipitation was heading our way. It was in the mid-30s, so I was achin' to get out there. I've developed a full-fledged allergy to the trainer. I though I could get my ride in before snow started to accumulate on the roads, but my desire to tack on some extra miles, combined with the intensity of the slushy, icy wintry wet stuff led to a tricky situation.

I should have worn goggles, and more importantly, I really should have put the studded tire on, but no, I wanted the road wheel to take on the hills faster. I won't make that mistake again! By the time I reached Lower Creek Road, the snow was really starting to stick, and as I neared Hanshaw Rd., it really got dicey. Fortunately there was almost no traffic and drivers knew to give me lots of room.

Grit and grime, but I beat the salt trucks!

By the time I reached Bush Lane in Lansing I was officially waterlogged and started to get the chills. Boosting the RPMs really helped to warm me up, and then it was time to face the tricky descent down Sunset and Remington. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

On Hanshaw Rd., wondering what the hell I'm doing.

Better than a spa!

Yellow Barn Rd.: A Cleansing Experience

First Yellow Barn climb of the year. I like taking it on from Rt. 13, heading south, and it's by far my hardest regular climb. Today wasn't pretty, but I got the job done. I was imagining being passed by dozens of elite cyclists on the 800 ft., 2 mile climb. Today is the Paris-Roubaix race, considered one of the toughest bike races in the world, and I was imagining what it would be like to be in the mix there. I'd get flattened and publicly humiliated, so my solo cycling adventure was probably a better choice.

Since spring is exploding all over, I brought the camera to document the greening of the landscape. I never get off the bike to take pictures, which should explain the primitive framing of the shots. Garmin  needs to integrate a digital camera into their next generation of cycling GPS units—I think it would sell like hotcakes. Perhaps a helmet cam would be a better idea. I'm hoping for one for my 50th.

After the Yellow Barn climb, I decided to extend the ride a little and take on another climb, so I took the Brooktondale extension off of 79 and headed up Banks Rd. to Coddington. When will I ever learn about Coddington? There was a terrible motorcycle accident on that road the other day which resulted in a fatality, and I couldn't help but think about that awful event while riding on what must be one of the most dangerous cycling roads. The road is narrow with many blind corners, huge potholes, and fairly aggressive traffic. If you look back through my entries, you'll see previous promises to avoid this road like the plague, but hopefully I will remember to avoid this until the road is resurfaced. Given the controversy regarding widening Coddington, along with the dreadful state of budgetary affairs for NY State, this probably won't be happening any time soon.

Today I felt like I really turned a corner on my season. I'm ready for some longer rides now, and I'll probably be joining the Finger Lakes Cycling Club for some of their Tuesday evening rides. Amateur racing is still a distant thought—hopefully I can find a kind soul to mentor me through the process.

Stats:

Distance: 39.17 miles

Avg. speed: 17.6 mph

Vertical ascent: 2815 ft.

Avg. heart rate: 145 bpm

Calories burned: 2491 kcal

Max. speed: 41.7 mph

Time: 2:13:41

Commuting Season Begins in Earnest

Spring has truly sprung, after a trying few days of cold, rain and fog. Today was therefore the perfect day to begin my circuitous bike commute, followed by a longer after-school ride, which is what I did regularly last spring and in the fall.

The day started off on the chilly side, 38 degrees to be precise. You warm up quickly when you climb up Cascadilla Place and up through the Cornell campus to Warren Rd. The only bother with this ride is the campus traffic and poor road conditions in the Northeast.

After school was blissful, a jacket free day in the upper-50s with sunshine and a north wind. Today I took 34 to Lansing, then back via Gulf Rd., which has a very steep and short uphill connecting back to Conlon Rd., a nice little add-on ascent before the long downhill along East Shore (34B). Best avg. speed of the season thus far, 19.8 mph, so all of the cross-training and indoor cycling seems to be paying off.

Today on my morning route, I passed a fellow teacher and district colleague on her bike (with trailer in tow), heading in the other direction toward her school on the hill. I rarely get the chance to chat with her because she's always on the move! Then, on my way back up the hill for my afternoon ride, I passed her yet again on her way back down the hill. I loved the symmetry of our encounters. I so admire and respect this teacher for her great work in the classroom, and also for her incredible athleticism. She is both a very competitive nordic skier and super-strong cyclist and runner, and quite the inspiration.

Today I received the bad news that a friend and colleague was injured in a car accident yesterday in Lansing. He was driving at 55 when someone not very far ahead of him pulled out of an intersection or a driveway, giving him next to no time to react. He ended up in the ditch, beaten and battered, with a totalled car. My thoughts are with him and his family, and I'm so thankful that he wasn't hurt worse. While I have no information about what led the other driver to make their unsafe turn, I can't think about the shocking statistics about distracted driving and texting while driving. A study released by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that truck drivers who were texting were 23 times more at risk of a crash or near-crash event than non-distracted driving. Also, the average teen sends close to 3,000 text messages a month, and many of those messages have been sent or received while driving. These are particularly scary things to think about for us cyclists. No matter how safe we ride, we are at the mercy of drivers. I just hope that chronic cellphone users realize that no text is worth a human life.

Random photo time...it was bath night for the boys and for the bike!

First Ringwood Climb of the Year

After a fun father and son ride in Varna today, I was lucky enough to get my first 2-hour ride in for the year. This is a ride that I dream about, and sometimes lull myself to sleep thinking about. It's familiar territory if you've been reading this blog since last fall when I started this blogging adventure, and it will likely remain my favorite ride for years to come. There's plenty of climbing challenges, stunning scenery, and opportunity for reverie and reflection without having to think about traffic, particularly in Lansing and nearing Groton.

Random Observations:

• The street cleaners have already made a pass or two on Triphammer and Rt. 34 in Lansing.
• There are lots of deer carcasses of various vintages littering the culverts in particular.
• People who drink Arizona brand beverages disproportionately litter the highways.
• A car filled with Cornell undergrads think that there's nothing funnier than screaming really loud at cyclists as they pass within inches. (I know where you live, boys. Funny, I saw them all load into the car and just had this intuition that they would do such a thing, and I kept waiting for them to pass.)
• I didn't see a single road biker today on my ride. Puzzling...

I'm feeling pretty strong today, even though Ringwood really presented a challenge, especially the final 250 ft. Fairly brisk North winds also presented a challenge on the homestretch on Rt. 79.

Stats:

Distance: 38.97 miles

Avg. speed: 18.4 mph

Vertical ascent: 2500 ft.

Avg. heart rate: 142 bpm

Calories burned: 2041 kcal

Max. speed: 41.2 mph

Time: 2:07:10

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Forever Young

As an adult cyclist, every now and then I feel a bit self-conscious, riding with my tight-fitting fancypants gear on roads with drivers tucked in nicely in their cars. What are they thinking about these encounters? Are they mildly annoyed that they have to slow down for a little while and cautiously pass at the first opportunity, or are they simply amused at our peculiar costumes and mucus clearing methodology (don't ask)? I wonder, if they aren't adult cyclists, do these encounters stir some deep-rooted childhood memories of terrorizing the neighborhood on their chopper and performing dangerous stunts like standing on the banana seat as if it were a skateboard?

I can usually tell who's a cyclist (or cyclist sympathizer) and who isn't by how they pass me. Sympathizers usually go the extreme giving lots of room while passing, often crossing the meridian, and waiting very patiently. The alternative can be pretty damn scary. I've had too many close calls over the years with the oblivious, the angry, the distracted, and the purposefully indifferent, those who don't want to give more leeway than the law allows as a matter of principal.

As a young cyclist, I was pretty oblivious to my surroundings, but now I ride with a finely tuned sense of all potential hazards, including deer. (I've had an increasing number of encounters with deer of late, particularly on one section of Oakcrest and on Remington and Sunset.) As a child, I felt impervious to danger; as an adult, I feel on guard at all times, which is why I really like my Remington escape route [Remington must be the subject of a future entry].

Today I've been musing about why cycling is so appealing to me, and I think it's all about savoring and holding on to my childhood. So much of life gets complicated and conflicted, as we start swimming upstream, having kids, see our parents turn elderly, and started contemplating our own mortality. Maybe I'm just in denial, looking for ways to keep my young in body and in spirit, but I really don't think it's that self-conscious a decision. I just bike because it's more fun than just about anything. But maybe what makes cycling that much more joyful is the flood of positive childhood memories that it prompts. With all of the endorphins flowing, I tend to concentrate on the happier memories, and I often puzzle through what I did wrong in past encounters and life situations. I wonder if it's a coincidence that my best bicycle year in the late '80s is also the year that I've reconnected with so many childhood (and young adult) friends and acquaintances?