Mid Ohio Lakes and Rivers Tour 200k

Forecast: 42-57, overcast, with clouds clearing in the early afternoon. 0% chance of rain. Winds N\NW 5-7 MPH.

The first brevet ride for the Ohio Randonneurs of the year had over 55 registered riders. Rumor has it that the route was based off an old Dave Buzzee permanent. The brevet overall was relatively flat and very scenic. The route started and ended at Alum Dam and included: crossing the Hoover Dam, seeing the Hoover reservoir, traveling through some of Alum Creek State Park, Delaware State Park and Big Island Wilderness areas. Before we proceed any further, I should address something. Yes, I rode across Hoover Dam. No, not "THE Hoover Dam". There are multiple Hoover Dams in the U.S., just like every city probably has a Main St.

The morning started out a tad chilly at 40 degrees, very overcast with a good breeze coming from the Hoover reservoir. While waiting for the ride to begin, I sat in my car because I really don't care for the cold; as in I hate riding in weather below 50. Several riders were standing in close ranks while talking to retain heat. One couple were standing and covered up with a large blanket, while another couple stayed in a hugging formation to stay warm. Once we were about 10 minutes from the start, I ventured out to join the other randos who were lined up around our fearless leader Bob's car. I had the opportunity to meet a nice fellow from Fort Wayne and Paul with whom I got to do part of a 600k in NY last summer.

With about 2-3 minutes from the launch, Bob gave us encouraging words of wisdom like to stay warm, ride carefully, turn your lights on if returning late and to ride fast so he wouldn't have to sit in the parking lot until 9:30 PM. Bob also told us that if we returned prior to him, to have a bystander in the park initial and time stamp our control card; in which case a rider asked: "If I'm on a tandem, can my co-rider accomplish this for me, or do I need to find something else. Snicker, snicker.” Despite the cold temps, no one lost their sense of humor. With a smile and a quick reply, Bob states "smart ass! Let's go!" and we were off.

This would be my first attempt at a 200k with my new Catrike 700, so I wanted to start off a tad slow to help guarantee a finish. If for some reason a rider has a bike problem or doesn't have the ability to finish physically, it can be incredibly difficult to talk someone into driving out 50-100 miles to pick you up and return you to the start. Given I was riding a tadpole, this would probably be 10x more difficult (because who has a car large enough for a tadpole bike) and I wanted to make sure I left ample energy in reserves.

Purposely starting out last and remaining there for a long while was quite humbling. For me, I enjoy riding a traditional road bike and powering through hills and extended efforts at higher speeds; so this was a big, big, big change for me. After a few miles, I caught up to and rode with a nice group of guys including Paul and Bill with whom I was talking to in the parking lot. Soon after joining the group, we reached our first control which was an informational control. The question was "What activities are prohibited at Hoover Dam?” Any guesses on the answer? Apparently, sledding, skiing and snowboarding are not prohibited. I generally don't want to see anyone break the rules or get hurt, but if there is a 2 planker out there crazy enough to ride down that, I will gladly watch. Any volunteers?

After writing our answers, we got to ride across Hoover Dam which was pretty cool. The dam has 4 gates about waist high. My riding partners had to very slowly ride around the outside of the gate posts with what little room was left on the sides. Seeing how I was on my sporty new Catrike, I simply rode under the gates - ftw!

Around noon we reached the second control @ mile 58. To our delight, the temperate really warmed up to a toasty 42. Good thing that we all underdressed for that projected high of 57. When getting off the bike, my feet felt odd. I assumed it was from having my feat elevated for several hours riding a recumbent. I didn't think much about it really. Some riders got their card signed and moved on, others stayed to warm up and eat. As the day wore on, the riders and groups spread further and further apart. One thing that did not change was the weather. Did I mention I hate the cold and dressed relatively light for the expected high?

I spent most if not all of the afternoon riding solo. Being on the Catrike really allowed me to ride in comfort and just enjoy the scenery, albeit, at a slower pace. Now if I only had that new camera which would auto take photos for me while riding, hmmm. I did debate several times taking my phone out and attempt to take some moving photos, but my hands were feeling cold. Around 3 PM, my left knee was starting to bother me. It felt like a tendon or ligament pain. I haven't been experiencing any pain during training rides, so I think at the previous controls when my feet weren't feeling all there, I may have twisted my leg and not realized it. It did make the rest of the day quite long since I had to slow the pace down even more.

Leaving the last control heading back to the start, I got twisted up leaving the wrong way. It happens. You're a little tired, have a sore knee and want to eat some real food. A couple minutes later, I was back on track and working on tackling the last 13 miles. I had maybe 4 miles left when I experienced my only idiot of the day. A car pulled up behind me and laying on the horn non-stop. He stayed back there for a solid minute before passing slowly (still holding the horn) while shouting sweet nothings to me. It bothers me some drivers act like this. I have found overall, since riding the tadpole vs. a road bike, drivers tend to be much more compassionate by not beeping horns, screaming and leaving ample room to pass. I don't know what to accredit this too exactly, but that has been my experience with the bike since last fall. With this particular driver, there is no way the driver couldn't have seen me (if this was the driver's issue?) because I had a red strobe light on all day and since it was getting close to 6, I had also turned on a solid red tail light as well. This particular section of road was also quite straight with long visibility, so I believe the person was just being a jerk.

I returned to the dam where some of the other guys had recently returned and were chatting. I finished in 9:43. Nothing to write home about, but with brevets, it's about adjusting to what you’re given and simply finishing within the time frame.

I offered my bike up to several people who had commented it looked fun to ride throughout the day, but didn't have any takers. I think everyone was tired of riding for the day and probably a tad cold :)

I talked to Tim for several minutes about our upcoming Fleche ride. We are on the Danville Express team and will be heading cross state from Danville, Ill back to Ohio. Part of the reason I decided to join this team is because I have done rides with Tim A (the capt.) and Tim C. Both are laid back and strong riders. I specifically remember last fall Tim C. talking about the Fleche team that he was on for 2011 and how the team was constantly arguing as the day wore on. Both of the 'T's are laid back and drama free which is how I like to ride, so I am quite confident it's going to be a fun first fleche for me.

After getting back I immediately started changing prior to getting my bike and gear packed up. After taking my shoes off, my feet (even with the socks on) felt completely frozen. After removing my socks……… "Holy bad weather forecasting Batman, those are purple feet!" A couple of my toes were bright white and the rest of my feet were purple. Here's a dandy photo with my crappy Droid phone.

Purple Foot

The purple looks more red in this photo, but believe me, it was dark purple. I knew I should have worn my Lake winter shoes! Better to have hot feet than freezing feet. I also checked the weather and the high for the day hit 44 with no sun. Yes, my index toe was shattered in the past. Pretty sexy right?

 

 

All day Sunday my left knee continued to hurt. I'll be milking it out for several days and will be transitioning back to a road bike for the 300k and Fleche rides later in the month. After that, back to the tadpole to hopefully finish off the brevet series.

Interesting Posts From Other Bloggers

Listed below are some interesting blog posts from fellow riders\randonneurs this week.

Chasing Mailboxes has a ride summary of a training ride near the Blue Ridge Highway. There are several awesome action photos of really pissed off dogs chasing the riders.

Rando Boy has a blog post series of a future apocalypse story where gasoline is no longer available. The story starts out a little slow, but give it time. Since the story is split across several blog posts, here are the links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6 and part 7.

Words of Wisdom From A Four Year Old

If you have kids, then you are more than familiar with those days where your kid(s) talk a million miles an hour and just don't stop. You know, those days where you would pay anything for some private time just to decompress in a silent chamber to make sure that you retain sanity. Monday was one of those days.

My head was completely split in two. I politely asked "Can you please, please, please be quiet for two minutes because I have a migraine?". Thirty seconds of complete silence pass at which time, she said "I have a  mouth, and it wants to talk!".

Couldn't help but bust down laughing hysterically, which of course, led to more talking.

How To Miss Training Days Tutorial

Just in-case you are wanting to miss some training days and need some ideas how, here's a couple for you:

• Check your sump pump before doing a night ride and hopefully find it broken which requires a several hour repair job before the basement floods.
• Take some form of martial arts and attempt to break your ankle while sparring against your fellow students.
• Get the most severe form of a stomach bug that causes to you to expel bodily fluids out of multiple orifices at the same time.

All combined, that's good for a solid five days!

New CycleOps Products

I'm a fan of Saris CycleOps and own several of their products. CycleOps product quality is superb and their customer service is second to none in my opinion. I have a couple Fluid2 trainers that have lasted a long time. The Fluid2 is also the only trainer that I can use on the Catrikes that will not cause the bike to rock forward and backwards while doing hard efforts. I also have a couple PowerTap wheels. Both hubs are on Mavic open rims and work very reliably.  When racing, the CPU+ computer is light, functional and stores a large amount of data.

Last year, I decided to get and try out the Joule 2. Overall, the Joule is a decent bike computer. It stores all the typical type of data watts, speed, distance, cadence, temp, etc but also allows the user to view up to 8 customizable stats at one time (the CPU+ only allows 3). The Joule also has built in reporting to view data from 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 6 months and a year. There are numerous reports that display an awesome amount of data. For me, I found this to be great because I have a hard time downloading my workout files in a consistent manner so this would give me a great idea of how I was doing without needing to check WKO+ or trainingpeaks.com daily.

The Joule  was also flawed in a couple ways. First, I mistakenly tried to use a 16 GB micro SD card on it's first use. The card completely geeked the Joule out to the point it wouldn't even boot. CycleOps immediately sent me another unit and let me know that it could only support a 2 gig or smaller card - did I mention their customer service kicks ass! It's actually kind of hard to find cards that are 2 gig and smaller. In theory, it wasn't supposed to be possible to fill the card in under 1 calendar year, but I found that not to be the case. Second, the battery life is horrific. At most, the battery would last 10-12 hours while riding. Again, for normal riders this is probably fine but for ultra distance or randonneurs, it's easy to ride longer than the battery life. I also found that charging the Joule and letting it sit for a couple days (using a Garmin instead), the Joule would be drained and require being recharged again prior to use. Another design flaw is that the USB mini-B connection is underneath the Joule. For comparison, the Garmin Edge 800 has it's mini-B port located on the side of the case. This allows the Garmin to be charged with a AA USB charger while riding - this basically allows the ride time to be indefinite (simply replace AA batteries as needed). The Edge's battery life is easily 3-4x greater than the Joule. The other thing that the Joule lacked was GPS, so I find myself using the Garmin Edge 90+% of the time anymore.  Turn by turn routing is awesome for randonneurs who are riding in an area that they are not familiar with; this assumes the route has been provided ahead of time and hasn't changed the day of the start.

I recently noticed that CycleOps made some improvements to the PowerTap hub. I've been considering replacing one of my older units for a while. Perhaps if the stars align correctly this year, AKA wifey approves such a purchase, I might be able to snag one this year. Lighter weight, a 1 piece hub (no more water leaks),  better signal strength and the internal 'guts' are now field replaceable so it will no longer be necessary to send the entire wheel back to CycleOps for service. I checked Performance Bike's website to check their pricing and I noticed that they have a new version of the Joule listed with GPS functionality. I couldn't find anything stating that the battery has been improved nor any photos of the USB mini-B port location. Unless the battery problem has been fixed, the mini-B port is on the edge of the case somewhere and the GPS has turn by turn functionality, I think the Garmin Edge has a lock for best cycling computer (for long\ultra distance riders at least).

Resolutions

1. #1 for the 3rd year in a row and it seems like such a simple resolution - to not break any bones biking. 2010 brought me a broken collarbone and made me a full bird colonel. Last year, I was blessed with a shattered nose, a deviated septum and a pretty nice scar. Here's for believing a resolution might actually happen in 2012.
   
   
2. Athletic maturity. I know what you're thinking, WTF is that Jonny Rando talking about! Athletic maturity is basically gaining higher level skills and mental strength in the athlete's given sport. For rando riders, its knowledge gained through training, brevets, permanents  and riding with others. If you decide to do a 25 mile race, given you have any decent conditioning, chances are that you will finish and probably with a respective time. Let's say your goal is to ride a full brevet series - so that's a minimum distance of 124 miles up to 372 miles as one event (with varying distances in between). There are so many things that can go wrong. The rider's on the bike nutrition can be off, upset stomach, bike problems, the elements (this happens often), riding solo for very long periods of time, etc, etc, etc. I learned so much last year from other riders like Chris, Ted, Fred and Tim. Training tips, learning about different types of equipment, words of motivation and jokes to keep the group's morale up. It's nice to know there are other people like you (as Jabba the Hutt would say "You are my type of scum!") and it pays dividends when it's 45 degrees and raining. You are miserable and want nothing more to quit and find a warm place of refugee to rest, but instead look to your left or right and see your riding partners suffering equally; but more importantly, not a singe person is complaining and just sports a smile.
   
   
3. I am going to try and transition from a standard diamond frame road bike to a 3 wheel recumbent. I know what you're thinking, how is that hard? Basically, it's a relearning process. With a standard road bike, if you get tired on climbs or get leg cramps, you stand up and power through it utilizing different muscles. On a recumbent, all you can do is push through it. On a road bike, I was used to pedaling at a cadence 90-100 all day. On a tadpole, pedaling that high causes torque steer making the bike swerve all over the road. Riding a standard road bike includes it's share of pains, namely the sit bones and arms, and neck after a long day. The tadpole tends to cause more pain in the neck,  quads and my tail bone (because it was fractured many moons ago).  My goal is to aim doing a full rando series on the recumbent.
   
4. Spend more time with the family. I'm going to attempt to get by with 4-5 days of training vs. 6-7 every week. As an ultra distance athlete, it requires lots (understatement of the year) of training. Last year, I did many a ride starting at 8 and riding till after 11 PM so that the girls were already in bed to minimize lost family time. With the girls getting older now, they are wanting to stay up later and later. This would mean riding past midnight on weeknights, starting before day break to be done in time for work, or attempt to scale back training quantity. As an OCD type person, this change is quite hard for me, but I'm going to give it a try.
   
   
5. Help my support crew accomplish one of their personal goals. I have a very loyal and supportive group of people who year after year, race after race make sure that I achieve my goals. These are the unsung heroes of any long distance athlete. They are the ones standing in the rain and handing off water bottles and food so you don't have to stop. The ones who scream "don't you dare stop" over and over when your mental strength wanes in the rain and cold after many hours on the bike, often solo. The ones who are there to pick you up and you rebuild you when it seems everything has failed. They also have a great sense of humor and get those photos of the athlete at their best: puking, falling on the ground after the race grabbing their legs trying to stop cramping, etc. The people who say "SURE!" when you call and say, "hey I hate to bother you, but my bike is broke beyond repair and I'm 1.5 hours out". That's true love right there.
   
   This year is their year. We have goals set for each member. All of them are aiming for above century distance and attempting to place in their age group. I'll be pulling lead to break the wind to ensure they have as much energy as possible for the end and carrying the extra clothing and repair gear incase something goes wrong (aka rolling SAG). Each person has been verifying their weekly training and mileage.  Each of them have come so close in year's pass, so we're making it happen in 2012. One member of our group is a 15 year old looking to place first!
   
6. Increase my number of blog posts and perhaps include some photos. 'Nuff said.  The photo part will require a new and hopefully waterproof camera. The Cannon Elph camera failed me. Just after one month, the automatic lens cover fails to open.

Lions, Tigers and Monkeys

Something really awful happened shortly after Saturday’s brevet.

A man who owned a wildlife preservation in Zanesville with a variety of exotic animals including tigers, lions, monkeys, cheetahs and a bear let the animals loose on Tuesday. Sadly the owner killed himself afterwards. Even more depressing is that the police officers were forced to kill a large majority of the exotic animals to prevent any accidental attacks or deaths of the local residents. Many of the 911 calls of where the animals were located happened to be on the roads we were riding on.

Kind of freaky, really. Considering we got our ass kicked being chased by a wild dog, I can’t imagine being chased by a wild tiger.