After 3 1/2 months of cycling in sorts of less-than-ideal conditions, it's easy to forget what perfect weather riding is like. Well, today was one of those stellar days that foreshadows what will surely be a long and superb summer of riding. Temperatures in the low 70s to upper 60s, low humidity, barely a cloud in the sky, long shadows and a picture-perfect sunset...what more can you ask for? Not only that, but this was an unexpected bonus ride, the kind of lucky break that you just HAVE to embrace.
I've been thinking a lot about Ernie's comment about avoiding the number roads, and tonight I took the comment to heart, taking the low-traffic Van Ostrand to Munson, instead of taking Rt. 34 all the way to Gulf Rd. In spite of the fact that 34 has a smoother road surface, Van Ostrand is much more fun, and less traffic means that you can enjoy the scenery even more. The chip seal pavement is really in pretty good shape as well.
I'm really happy with my time tonight (20.3 mph average over 25.6 miles), as well as with the 11-tooth cog in my new cassette, which gave me a couple extra mph on the final East Shore descent.
Tomorrow is the cycling component of the Empire State Senior Game, which is happening at the Hollenbeck's course in Virgil, and I'm marshaling, and then Sunday is the Lakefest race in Whitney Point, so it's a very velo weekend!
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.
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.)
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...
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.
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.
Great training rides today in anticipation of Hollenbeck's Spring Classic Road Race on Sunday. My average speeds continue to go up, thanks to less wreckless climbing. I've had a tendency to stand a bit too much on the climbs, and the Tuesday night informal races have been quite useful in helping me to improve my technique. When you study a number of strong riders ahead of you, it's hard not to analyze individual styles and learn from others.
My after-school ride up to Lansing and returning via Gulf and Conlon gave me almost exactly the distance and the vertical ascent of Sunday's race, and in spite of some brisk winds, I managed to average 20.4, a personal best for that loop.
Two more training rides before Sunday...can't wait!
I drove out to Virgil this afternoon, feeling very businesslike about previewing the Hollenbeck's Spring Classic course. It was a stellar weather day, partly sunny with highs in the mid 60s. The ride gave me a pretty good sense of how to approach the course on race day—specifically where to push and where to conserve energy, and how many false summits there are on the biggest climb before I really hit the top. All systems go. I felt strong, and I was fairly well prepared for the course, thanks to many trips up Remington, Ringwood, Cascadilla Park, Yellow Barn and others. Once you complete the Parker St. climb at the 6.5 mile mark, there is no significant climb remaining, except for the 1/4 mile stretch at 17.5 miles on Babcock Hollow Rd. that is around a 15% grade. After that, it's a swift push to the finish. I averaged 20.7 mph over the 22 mile course.
I've been studying the elevation profile and even drove the course once, but it's so much different when you ride it. The roads that I worried about were no longer a concern, the climbs were suddenly very real and therefore less intimidating, and it turns out to be a really beautiful loop. There was even a little bit of snow left on top of Greek Peak, which is a bit hard to fathom.
After the ride I did a quick hillclimb up Van Donsel Rd., which takes you up 600 ft. in 2 miles to just above Greek Peak. Nice way to round out a scouting mission.
Day one of the revised roundabout commute, a.k.a. morning training ride. I had been taking Cascadilla Park Rd., the prettiest street in Ithaca, then up through the cemetery and through the Cornell campus to Pleasant Grove, then to Community Corners, Hanshaw to Warren, then down Dart, Oakcrest, and finally Remington to the high school, but there were two problems with this route:
The climb through campus after the climb up Cascadilla was just a bit more than I wanted to tackle first thing.
There's significant traffic on campus that slow me down.
So as you can see by the map, I altered my route and avoided campus altogether. The ride through Cayuga Heights is much more chill, the climbs are more humanely distributed, and the overall distance and vertical ascent are almost identical.
Looking forward to the Tuesday night competitive ride and the Hollenbeck's Spring Classic Road Race is only two weeks away! Hopefully I can ride the course on a training ride next weekend.
EA Active for Wii has introduced yet another workout alternative to cycling, and judging by how sore I am after three days, I'm loving the alternative. When will I have time to get back on the bike, considering my very real time limitations for working out?
After working out on Wii Fit and then Wii Fit Plus for almost every day starting in February when I dislocated my shoulder in a skiing accident, I'm absolutely convinced of the value of Wii as part of a personal fitness regimen. EA Active takes daily Wii to a new level. In Wii Fit Plus, even the most intensive combination of workouts get me burning just over 100 calories in 30 minutes, whereas EA Active allows me to burn over 200 calories in 30 minutes. It's not just the calories, however; EA Active has a much greater variety and range of exercises because of the use of the resistance band and nunchuck, and I'm convinced that I'm getting a much better all-around workout. Then there's the 30 day challenge, in which new exercises are introduced at a reasonable pace, and different muscle groups are targeted on different days, allowing those other sore muscles some down time for a day or so. Lots of jumping, running, leaping, bicep curls, kicks, cardio boxing, dancing, and my personal favorite, tennis. I love tennis so much that I created my own high-intensity tennis workout that lasts around 10 minutes and burns about 100 calories. I've done that tennis workout four times in two days! Who cares about the calories—this is the most fun I've ever had with Wii. Tennis in EA Active is surprisingly realistic and challenging, particularly the overhead smash.
The only frustration so far is when Wii doesn't seem to understand what my movements. Both Gail and I have experienced this problem. The other annoying thing is trying to simultaneously hold the resistance band handles and the Wiimote and nunchuck. Oh, and then there's learning the exercises properly and having the patience to sit through the introductory videos. Finally, there's the lame motivational component. "You OWN this exercise!" "You are poetry in motion!" The male workout companion sounds like a Canadian surfer dude transplant to SoCal. Just shut up already, dude. This isn't inspiration, it's intrusive and annoying. One more thing: the music sucks.
These small complaints aside, EA Active makes Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus seem like child's play. Don't get me wrong, I'll always love Wii Fit, but I don't anticipate using it for much more than the bicycling and a few other fun activities like downhill skiing and skateboarding, after the results derived from Wii Fit.
Snow is in the air! Now that I'm hunkered down and all set up for spinning in the basement with my trusty trainer, let the snow fly, I say. The big challenge now is to keep up the schedule of indoor biking workouts three times weekly through the winter. This is unchartered territory for me, as I've never maintained an indoor training schedule of any kind before. It's so much harder to get motivated to ride with a trainer than to ride on on the road. How do professional athletes do it?
One of the obvious reasons that I slowly gained weight through my 30s and 40s and had such a hard time losing weight is my strong aversion to exercise. For my whole life I've held stubbornly to my position that exercise for exercise sake is just plain boring and that I'll never do that. If it's not fun, I'm not doing it. I've been able to hold true to this mindset all through this year of substantial weight loss and improved fitness by doing a Wii Fit workout almost daily since February in addition to road biking all summer. For those of you who haven't experienced the magic of Wii Fit, you have so much fun working out that you don't resent it. I've never been into gaming, but I can do Wii Fit for an hour or more without getting bored, and the cumulative effect is incredibly beneficial. The Wii Fit experience is data driven, and I've written in prior posts about my obsession with gathering and analyzing data from my rides. Wii Fit Plus improves tremendously on an already fantastic product, with lots of new fun activities like Island Cycling, Obstacle Course, Birds-Eye Bullseye, Skateboarding, Boxing, and Snowball Fight. In addition, it tracks an estimate of calories burned, and analyzing the graph of your weight loss is very motivating.
So why am I rethinking my anti-exercise stance? Wii Fit alone will not keep me in shape over the winter months, given the limited amount of time I have set aside to work out. That leaves the bike trainer, not the most fun thing in the world, so it means...gulp...exercise for exercise sake. Yikes! Can I succeed? I'm definitely motivated, so hopefully that will make all the difference.
Ask any cyclist who has tried riding on even the best trainer—it's a pale substitute to the euphoria of road biking. It's a good workout but you have to work hard on making the environment comfortable and find distractions that work for you. I get bored quickly with my music mixes, so I have to keep on top of this issue and make a few new playlists in anticipation of my next workouts. It's all about mind games, but there's no doubt that my positive state of mind, thanks to many months of intense aerobic workouts, will contribute greatly to the success of this workout strategy.
Morning Edition no more! There is so much written about what to engage your ears and eyes while spinning on the trainer, and this no shortage of product to fill this supposed need. Spinervals gets lots of hype, and while I suppose it would be kind of cool to fantasize about competing in a race and watch the road while analyzing your PowerTap data, I disagree with the assertion that Spinerval DVDs are "a must for indoor training." All I care about is developing tasty music mixes to make the minutes fly by.
No techno for me, thank you. NPR's Morning Edition was a real drag to work out to, so this is my first attempt at a workout mix. Real standouts on this mix are Bowie, Gang of Four, Labh Janjua & Panjabi MC, and Old 97's. It's not all about tempo, but it seems to be important to alternate driving up-tempo tunes like Doreen with slower, quieter songs like Clem Snide's The Sound of German Hip-Hop. All in all, this is a pretty good workout mix, though I need to really experiment and change things up. Today was the first time that I trained for more than 35 minutes...I made it to almost 1 hour and 1,000 calories, and the music really made a difference.
I don't want to entirely abandon the notion of watching video while working out, and I even shot video of my favorite climbs, thinking that I'd make videos to watch while working out, but it seems to me that the audio element is far more important than the visual.
Armin Heurich is an educator and sustainability advocate based in Ithaca, New York. He has served as a Teacher-Librarian at Ithaca High School within the Ithaca City School District since 1997. He promotes youth engagement in climate justice, in partnership with educators, school Board of Ed. members and administrators, and integrates information-literacy-based climate education into the curriculum. Before his 30 year career in education, Heurich studied at the Center for Media Study at SUNY Buffalo, graduating with a BFA in 1985. He actively engaged in the early Western New York independent media scene, exhibiting his single channel experimental video work and participating in media collectives such as the Media Coalition for Reproductive Rights and the 8mm News Collective. In the ‘80s and into the 1990s he served as Technical Director for the media arts center Squeaky Wheel in Buffalo. In recent years, Heurich has shifted significant focus toward systemic climate optimism, municipal accessibility, and youth environmental outreach. He partnered with fellow educators, school board leaders, and students to co-draft a comprehensive Climate Action Plan for the Ithaca City School Di
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