Training Intensifies

Since my most recent post, I have escalated the miles in my training. In the aim of assuring myself that I can perform a century when asked, I successfully completed a 60 mile ride, followed two weeks later by an 80.

Next weekend I push for a century.

Observations along the way:

The first 5 miles are hard, sure, but the last 10 miles of the 80 were excruciating. I stood and coasted down hills to stretch my ornery glutes and quads whenever possible, and, on the return leg of the Los Gatos Creek Trail, the one section after the Los Gatos Creek Park where it starts mildly downhill and flattens out, perfect to blast on and lose a wheelsucker, well, I would've been grateful for another wheel.

Fear of immobility is an effective motivator. All I need to do in order to summon yet another unseen reservoir of energy is to imagine the impossible dreams of my mother and my fears of sharing the disease that rendered them so.

When physically spent, small acts of thoughtfulness can bring me to near tears. Came home drained after the 80-mile ride to the smells of my girlfriend cooking a steak dinner.

First Training Ride for Bike MS: Waves to Wine

This past Saturday I completed a 40-mile ride in preparation for the Waves to Wine ride. It was the most miles I'd ever spent in the saddle and gave me a good preview of the grades and conditions I'll experience during the ride.
When I first moved to the SF Bay Area, I didn't know of any good routes. A bit of searching on the Internet led me to Ken Lee's site (http://www.rahul.net/kenton/fun/bike/). I rode one of his other recommended routes later that month, but rain, tire issues, hiking and other forms of exercise and entertainment had kept me otherwise occupied.

I still was on a bike near-daily at lunch, and have been bike-commuting fairly often, but the opening of registration for the Bike MS ride made me realize that I had but 4 short months to get myself ready for 175 miles in two days.

The most I'd consecutively ridden was 31 or so miles with my friends Jay and Pete back home. My legs had felt fine afterwards, and they weren't sore the next day, so I knew I could do a longer ride.

Starting on Park Blvd in Palo Alto, across El Camino from Stanford campus, the route wound up into the hills with a good amount of steady but not too steep climbing. This continued pretty much all the way up Canada road and onto Skyline Blvd. The view of the Crystal Springs Reservoirs was pretty nice, and I wished I could hop off and go for a swim, as by that point, I was halfway done with my ride.

I missed signs for the bike detour around the closed portion of Skyline Blvd, as the Lower Crystal Springs dam (which Skyline crosses) is undergoing repairs, so I ended up a little lost in San Mateo on Bunker Hill Drive, which was a decent climb. The other side, though, was an insane -16% grade, with stop signs in the middle of it for cross streets, which was a bit hairy. I still felt lucky I didn't have to climb up that way.

The way back to Palo Alto on Alameda de las Pulgas was pretty tranquil, even with traffic and some small climbs. I did end up getting lost in Stanford's campus, but I asked a professor who happened to be cycling by for some directions.

Overall, I was pretty impressed. While I wasn't as fast as I wanted to be, I finished the ride without any leg soreness. However, my nose wouldn't stop running and sweat in the eyes may be an issue, but I'll find ways to solve those problems. I felt like I could've ridden longer, and my legs still aren't sore.

Time to find a longer ride!

Tour de Glastonbury

I don't have the route map (no GPS), but I do know that myself, Jay and Pete rode from Pete's mom's house on Hebron Ave up into the hills of Glastonbury and came zooming back down, multiple times, accruing a total of just over 31 miles.

When I first rolled up, I felt a little intimidated by what I saw. Jay and Pete were giving their bikes a final once-over, and then went inside to change. They came out in the full spandex - jerseys and padded shorts. Their bikes were sights to behold; Jay with a full carbon Jaymis that won 2009 Bike of the Year, and Pete with a full aero frame Cervelo.

Pete was razzing on Jay about his recent crash, and Pete apparently had crashed the previous time or shortly there before, so I had a few jitters, especially regarding descents.

Feeling a bit anxious, I followed Pete out onto the road to begin our ride.

We went uphill on Hebron Ave first off, and I was sucking Pete's wheel. The plan was to tuck behind him or Jay until I could gauge if I was going to last the whole ride. I was encouraged at how I was climbing - I could manage in my large chainring when the two of them were in their smaller rings for most of the first climb. Due to injuries, Pete starts his climbs slow, and he pulled off to tend to his legs while bidding me to keep going. I reach the crest and stopped, not knowing where our route would take us next.

I had stopped in the right place, our next right being a descent on the route. Pete gave me some tips on how to descend safely, which did help, but I remained timid on this first one. Pete attacked the descent like a mad man, sprinting into it. His confidence eventually rubbed off, and halfway down the hill I felt like I could handle more speed around the bends.

We continued our climbs and descents, which I handled fine up until Crystal Ridge. That's one steep hill. I think Pete said it was a 10% grade. I pushed ahead but used up a lot of energy, so when I did indeed have to drop down to the small chainring I wasn't moving very fast. I stopped to wait when I reached a false crest, and when Pete and Jay reached me they were looking better for wear than I was. Still, I hung in there and was rewarded with another fun descent. Keeping my ass back on the saddle helped, same with being in the drops and keeping my arms bent.

We soon came across the Connecticut River along the Portland border near Route 17, which we ended up taking into town. We stopped at a gas station for some quick feeding, and then wrapped up our ride with a series of short but good climbs.

Apart from my helmet's plastic retaining clips seemingly failing in their retaining job, the ride was much more enjoyable than I had anticipated. My legs weren't sore after the ride, nor the day after, and I feel like I could've ridden 10 more miles perhaps. Hopefully we make this a regular thing.

Uneven Seating

Ended up just being me heading out to Cromwell for Blow Hole State Park instead of a group ride at Penwood. Blow Hole State Park is pretty cool, but a real short ride. There aren't a lot of trail obstacles, and the downhill sections are fast but not steep, except for a few places at the edge of the ridge. The trail is pretty hairy near the edge of the ridge, as some trees on the border of the trail threaten to knock you off down the hill if you aren't careful.

On the downside though, the trails aren't marked at all, making it difficult to translate the map at the parking lot to a mental image. I ended up on some alternative trail entrances from residential areas that I rather would've avoided - though one of them provided some fast downhill thrills on the way back to the main trail. Also, the Park is buggy. Extremely buggy. I ignored the warnings from MTBR / NEMBA and I'm wishing I'd brought spray.

My ride was cut short when the saddle came loose, much like the time at the Reservoir. This time, however, I forgot to bring my multi-tool. I assumed I would not need it and so left it in the bag of my road bike. Learned a lesson there.

Two other bikers told me about two other State Parks on Route 99 in Rocky Hill, near the ferry, which I'll check out when I have a chance. With the saddle issue and the heat, I wasn't in the mood to keep riding.

Heading to Blow Hole State Park (River Highlands (Cromwell Creek)) after work today. Supposedly an easy, dry, flat ride, but I'm scouting it for later opportunities to introduce trail riding to beginners. That and it's still pretty hot out.

Hot Times in the Old Town

Wanting to fit in some exercise even on the scorcher that was Sunday the 4th, but not having the desire to get drenched up at the Reservoir or Penwood, I took the Haro downtown with the goal of riding on the Riverfront trail.

Traffic was sparse, it being the holiday and all, with the exception of Market Street as Cirque du Soleil's tent was right in the parking lot of the pedestrian overpass to the park. After a joke with a parking attendant about a bike discount, I crossed over I-91.

The park trail was surprisingly dry, although I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, given that the last rain was a week ago and the soil there is very fine and silty. Ten minutes into the trail, I took a tumble when I failed to identify a thick pit of sand. Too much weight on the front wheel plus a turn while pedaling caused the front wheel to slip and over-rotate, dumping me into the sand in the process. Since it was sand, I didn't suffer any damage, but gained a healthy respect for the conditions. The rest of the ride was pretty tame, with the only obstacle being a friendly pit bull.

I wasn't quite ready to head home after the trail, so I tooled around the park a bit and then headed up to Adriaen's Landing. After a short detour to the East Hartford side, I decided to take advantage of the low traffic and did some exploring downtown, checking out the new (but incomplete) walkway around the Science Center that will eventually lead up to the Convention Center as well. I usually dip over to the Hartford Club pedestrian ramp to access the streets, but that was closed off for construction. I rode over to the Front Street retail development across from the Convention Center, and then through Bushnell Park. I heard the tinny echoes of a bullhorn up by the Capitol Building and, sure enough, a bike cop confirmed my suspicions - a Tea Party Rally. I was pleased to see he was as annoyed as I was, and thankfully their turnout wasn't anything to write home about.

The ride around downtown also afforded me the opportunity to run some errands. I could really get used to the whole bike lifestyle, I tells ya.

Fortune Favors the Bald... I Mean Bold

After being a friggin' pansy for a whole month, I took to the outer ridge trail at the Reservoir on the Haro. The previous outings, I had passed up that difficult (to me, at least) route in favor of some tame fire roads; still a good workout, but lacking in the technicality and satisfaction areas. What kept me from the outer ridge? It wasn't abject fear, though some steep, rocky descents and ledge drops perturbed me, and it wasn't time constraints, as the Reservoir is not far from my apartment and the summer months mean long, lit evenings... rather, my lack of familiarity with the route and the fatigue of a cold conspired to sap my will.

Yesterday, though, my determination was rewarded. After making it up to the ridge, I met a rider named Jim, who offered to show me more of the route. Since I had only done it once, I graciously accepted his offer. Jim was an older rider, pushing 50, and had been riding the Reservoir for near 25 years. He didn't take the same exact route my other "guide" had, the differences being that all we didn't hit all the swooping downhill stuff, and we entered the meadow from a different location. Still a very enjoyable ride, and although he had 20 years on me, I was pressed to keep up.

There was a bit of excitement during the last leg of the ride when Jim spotted a large male black bear in the trail up ahead. We lost sight of it and contemplated going back along the trail to pick an alternate route until two other riders showed up who shockingly displayed no reservations about running into a 200lb clawed powerhouse. Our confidence bolstered by numbers and their brashness, we pedaled through noisily with no troubles.

Prior to the ride, I discovered that I had left my beat up old helmet at home. Seizing the opportunity, I stopped by Central Wheel and picked up a new one with a sun visor. I was pleased with how easily the straps adjusted, and with how firmly the thing fit. My old one, well, even with patient strap adjustment and fiddling with the foam inserts, the fit left something to be desired; too often it would jostle during bumpy sections or drift backwards off my forehead.

After this ride, I feel more confident that I can ride the ridge trail alone and find my way through. Most of the tough drops and obstacles have an alternate route around them. I figure I'll give my legs a day to recover and then see about hitting it up tomorrow depending on what else I've got going on.