met up with my brother and my Team captain at the Vienna Caboose, and we rode out to Sterling and back. Eric and I took our time, since he had already booked it out to meet us, so he was pretty dead by the time my group started.
Then I and three others (and my team captain for a short while) went to the Vienna Inn to eat.
Statistics:
Distance: 19.51mi
Saddle Time: 1h18m08s
Actual Time: 1h20m
Max Speed: 31.0mph
Start Time: 6:00PM
End Time: 7:20PM
Start Outside Temp: 68°F
End OUtside Temp: ???
Avg Speed (saddle): 15.0mph
Avg Speed (actual): 14.6mph
I also adjusted the seat up by a few millimeters, and that seems to have done the trick with regards to getting my legs to feel normal while pedaling. Good deal.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
22.57 miles
Took the 1500 out for a spin on today's buddy ride...I got there late, and my group had already left by then. I got there, got my bike ready, and hopped on the trail, hoping they had gone west...luckily, they did, and luckily a guy passed me going fast, so I was able to grab his wheel and draft him to catch up faster--I picked up the tail end of my group before they crossed Ashburn Road (3 miles out), and then I picked up the lead before they entered into Leesburg (8 miles out).
Man, my 1500 feels so different from my 5200...more comfortable to ride, thanks to its more upright posture...the wind, man--I could feel the wind more with this bike (probably because my torso is more upright), but this thing was pretty nice to ride. Needs new tires, though. Maybe because it was the tires are 25c tires (as opposed to my 5200's 23c tires).
Me and Chris turned around at the same place we turned around at last week, and we picked up other members of our group who had already turned around. I gunned it out ahead (of course), got to Smith's Switch Station, and turned back to pick up the others (and turned around again after a quarter mile), which explains why I have .4 more miles than last week.
Then we all went out to Anita's, where I actually ate sensibly (and mmm, their veggie 'pizza' is pretty good; chicken, not so much).
Statistics:
Distance: 22.57mi
Saddle Time: 1h24m45s
Actual Time: 1h30m
Start Time: 6:05PM
End Time: 7:35PM
Start Outside Temp: 52°F
End Outside Temp: 51°F
Max Speed: 31.6mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.0mph
Avg Speed (actual): 15.0mph
Man, my 1500 feels so different from my 5200...more comfortable to ride, thanks to its more upright posture...the wind, man--I could feel the wind more with this bike (probably because my torso is more upright), but this thing was pretty nice to ride. Needs new tires, though. Maybe because it was the tires are 25c tires (as opposed to my 5200's 23c tires).
Me and Chris turned around at the same place we turned around at last week, and we picked up other members of our group who had already turned around. I gunned it out ahead (of course), got to Smith's Switch Station, and turned back to pick up the others (and turned around again after a quarter mile), which explains why I have .4 more miles than last week.
Then we all went out to Anita's, where I actually ate sensibly (and mmm, their veggie 'pizza' is pretty good; chicken, not so much).
Statistics:
Distance: 22.57mi
Saddle Time: 1h24m45s
Actual Time: 1h30m
Start Time: 6:05PM
End Time: 7:35PM
Start Outside Temp: 52°F
End Outside Temp: 51°F
Max Speed: 31.6mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.0mph
Avg Speed (actual): 15.0mph
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Recovery Ride
Despite--or because of--yesterday's gruelling ride, I went out for a recovery ride--7 miles out, 7 back. Still pretty cold today. What the heck happened to all of that nice March weather we were having? It should be nicer on Tuesday and Wednesday (when I have my mid-week rides), so that's good, at least...
Statistics:
Distance: 14.28 miles
Saddle Time: 51m12s
Actual Time: 1h
Start Time: 12:00PM
End Time: 1:00PM
Start Outside Temp: 42°F
End Outside Temp: 43°F
Max Speed: 24.8mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.7mph
Avg Speed (actual): 14.3mph
Please Donate!
Statistics:
Distance: 14.28 miles
Saddle Time: 51m12s
Actual Time: 1h
Start Time: 12:00PM
End Time: 1:00PM
Start Outside Temp: 42°F
End Outside Temp: 43°F
Max Speed: 24.8mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.7mph
Avg Speed (actual): 14.3mph
Please Donate!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
TNT Training Ride: Germantown, MD
Got up at the butt-crack of dawn to get ready--it would be about an hour's drive up to the ride-start. Eric was SAGging for us, which turned out to be extremely good (more on this later), and I got a ride up with him.
As soon as I stepped out of the car, I knew today's ride would be the suck: It felt like it was 35°F out, and damn was it windy. Undaunted (outwardly, anyways), we all prepped our bikes and mentally prepared for our 41-mile ride around Germantown and Poolesville. Today I'd be taking it a little slower, since my usual 'crew' of faster riders (Chuck, Chris, and Josh) weren't there (to be replaced by the maniacal and potty-mouthed Kelly), and I did 22 miles yesterday, and I had had only 4 hours of sleep after seething for a few hours yesternight before buckling down and cleaning out my bike from the week's wet rides.
We started, and I joined Sally and Coleman and we rode out, chatting it up as we (somehow) wove our way to the front of the pack (as much as I said I didn't want to go fast, we ended up going fast anyways). We had fun climbing hills and bombing it down the other side, only to have all of our speed evaporate as we climbed the next hill. Hill after annoying hill, we made our way to the SAG stop at mile-17. After stopping and munching on various complex carbohydrate-foods, we took off again with a renewed energy, helped along by the first appreciably flat stretch of road.
And then we hit the hills again. Another thing we fought against was the rough pavement--yet another reason I hate Maryland (aside from their drivers and asinine firearms laws)--none of it was smooth or uniform. Riding to the right (as we're supposed to do) left us in the super-bumpy margins, or less-traveled and therefore less well-maintained portions, and traveling in the center of the lane was bad because it forced cars to go around us on the wrong side of the road (which they did anyways, whether we were in the center or not).
Hill after hill, we climbed and bombed and climbed again, until we got to a turn on Fisher Road: we took a left and headed through Poolesville, and continued until Sally yelled that we missed a turn, according to her computer's mileage and its discrepancy with our cue sheet's directions. We turned back, intending to double-back and retrace our steps, but then we encountered Team Captain Jane and her husband Ned and Cathy, who were headed in the same direction we were headed. Figuring that, since she's a Captain she knew where we were going, we turned around again and followed her.
Lo and behold, we got more and more lost, riding all the way out to White's Ferry (which crosses the Potomac River back into Virginia). Then we were joined by two more riders, who were also lost.
After calling other team captains and our SAG support, we turned back and climbed the biggest hill ever--getting down to White's Ferry had been all-downhill, since it crosses at (practically) sea-level. Getting back up to Poolesville...sucked. A lot.
We regrouped in Poolesville and, after calling around a bit more and meeting up with still more lost riders, we discovered that the cue-sheet had been marked incorrectly: instead of a left on Fisher, we were supposed to make a right. We had just taken a 14-mile detour.
We rode on, furious about the cue sheet (which, apparently, had been mismarked in the same manner last season, and no one actually got around to fixing it). Stringing out, it became just me and Sally riding together at a slow, exhausted pace. Either of us could have physically ridden alone, but One Is The Loneliest Number, and we used each other as motivational support; I don't think either of us would've been able to finish the ride (mentally) without the other. I don't know about her, but I had something of a protective, don't-leave-your-wingman (Iceman and Maverick) mentality--I developed a habit of checking over my shoulder for her every few seconds, to make sure she was still there. If she wasn't, I'd look further back and slow to a more manageable pace until she caught up again(usually this happened on hills, which were made much harder for me because I was riding my 5200, which has a double-crankset, with no 'granny' 30-tooth chainring to make the hills easier).
After 54 cold, gruelling miles, which included hills of all sorts and sleet/freezing rain and snow pelting our faces, we made it back to our start area, and I symbolically and ceremoniously unclipped my cue sheet and threw it to the ground in mock disgust. We followed the cue sheet to the letter! Too bad the letter was "L" when it was supposed to be "R", which meant that we finished nearly last even though we had pulled to nearly the head of the pack.
Statistics:
Distance: 54.05mi
Saddle Time: 3h45m51s
Actual Time: 4h
Start Time: 8:45AM
End Time: 12:45PM
Start Outside Temp: Cold°F
End Outside Temp: Slightly-Less-Cold°F
Max Speed: 31.6mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 14.3mph
Avg Speed (actual): 13.5mph
The moral of the story? Don't blindly trust the cue-sheet--check it on a map (i.e. Google Maps) for sanity before clipping it to the bike.
As soon as I stepped out of the car, I knew today's ride would be the suck: It felt like it was 35°F out, and damn was it windy. Undaunted (outwardly, anyways), we all prepped our bikes and mentally prepared for our 41-mile ride around Germantown and Poolesville. Today I'd be taking it a little slower, since my usual 'crew' of faster riders (Chuck, Chris, and Josh) weren't there (to be replaced by the maniacal and potty-mouthed Kelly), and I did 22 miles yesterday, and I had had only 4 hours of sleep after seething for a few hours yesternight before buckling down and cleaning out my bike from the week's wet rides.
We started, and I joined Sally and Coleman and we rode out, chatting it up as we (somehow) wove our way to the front of the pack (as much as I said I didn't want to go fast, we ended up going fast anyways). We had fun climbing hills and bombing it down the other side, only to have all of our speed evaporate as we climbed the next hill. Hill after annoying hill, we made our way to the SAG stop at mile-17. After stopping and munching on various complex carbohydrate-foods, we took off again with a renewed energy, helped along by the first appreciably flat stretch of road.
And then we hit the hills again. Another thing we fought against was the rough pavement--yet another reason I hate Maryland (aside from their drivers and asinine firearms laws)--none of it was smooth or uniform. Riding to the right (as we're supposed to do) left us in the super-bumpy margins, or less-traveled and therefore less well-maintained portions, and traveling in the center of the lane was bad because it forced cars to go around us on the wrong side of the road (which they did anyways, whether we were in the center or not).
Hill after hill, we climbed and bombed and climbed again, until we got to a turn on Fisher Road: we took a left and headed through Poolesville, and continued until Sally yelled that we missed a turn, according to her computer's mileage and its discrepancy with our cue sheet's directions. We turned back, intending to double-back and retrace our steps, but then we encountered Team Captain Jane and her husband Ned and Cathy, who were headed in the same direction we were headed. Figuring that, since she's a Captain she knew where we were going, we turned around again and followed her.
Lo and behold, we got more and more lost, riding all the way out to White's Ferry (which crosses the Potomac River back into Virginia). Then we were joined by two more riders, who were also lost.
After calling other team captains and our SAG support, we turned back and climbed the biggest hill ever--getting down to White's Ferry had been all-downhill, since it crosses at (practically) sea-level. Getting back up to Poolesville...sucked. A lot.
We regrouped in Poolesville and, after calling around a bit more and meeting up with still more lost riders, we discovered that the cue-sheet had been marked incorrectly: instead of a left on Fisher, we were supposed to make a right. We had just taken a 14-mile detour.
We rode on, furious about the cue sheet (which, apparently, had been mismarked in the same manner last season, and no one actually got around to fixing it). Stringing out, it became just me and Sally riding together at a slow, exhausted pace. Either of us could have physically ridden alone, but One Is The Loneliest Number, and we used each other as motivational support; I don't think either of us would've been able to finish the ride (mentally) without the other. I don't know about her, but I had something of a protective, don't-leave-your-wingman (Iceman and Maverick) mentality--I developed a habit of checking over my shoulder for her every few seconds, to make sure she was still there. If she wasn't, I'd look further back and slow to a more manageable pace until she caught up again(usually this happened on hills, which were made much harder for me because I was riding my 5200, which has a double-crankset, with no 'granny' 30-tooth chainring to make the hills easier).
After 54 cold, gruelling miles, which included hills of all sorts and sleet/freezing rain and snow pelting our faces, we made it back to our start area, and I symbolically and ceremoniously unclipped my cue sheet and threw it to the ground in mock disgust. We followed the cue sheet to the letter! Too bad the letter was "L" when it was supposed to be "R", which meant that we finished nearly last even though we had pulled to nearly the head of the pack.
Statistics:
Distance: 54.05mi
Saddle Time: 3h45m51s
Actual Time: 4h
Start Time: 8:45AM
End Time: 12:45PM
Start Outside Temp: Cold°F
End Outside Temp: Slightly-Less-Cold°F
Max Speed: 31.6mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 14.3mph
Avg Speed (actual): 13.5mph
The moral of the story? Don't blindly trust the cue-sheet--check it on a map (i.e. Google Maps) for sanity before clipping it to the bike.
Friday, March 21, 2008
22.13 angry miles
Angry? Oh yes. Why? My company's moving offices and, despite having made plans (i.e. a TNT training ride, for one, and my friend's bachelor party), I'm going to have to come in on a Saturday to fuckin' move boxes around and install shit. And we all know that things will NEVER go as smooth as we want--I've been assured that we'll be done in time for the bachelor party, but I seriously doubt it. I am hating very much my "unique" position in my company as the de facto I.T. guy, since my job function is underappreciated, and now I have to go in on a Saturday (and probably the Sunday afterwards). This is not whiney-bitching. I may work to live, but I don't live to work. "Sacrifice", yeah whatever. If only...if only we got comp-time. Or overtime pay. Good luck finding that in salaried employment.
I got home, blew off my mom's phone call, got dressed, and drove me and my bike out to W&OD/Rte. 28, and jumped on and rode, basically, the same ride I did on Tuesday: out to the far side of Leesburg and back.
Statistics:
Distance: 22.13 miles
Saddle Time: 1h14m16s
Actual Time: 1h15m (hardly waited for anything)
Start Time: 6:40PM
End Time: 7:55PM
Start Outside Temp: 56°F
End Outside Temp: 54°F (felt colder than this, though...)
Max Speed: 29.5mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 17.9mph
Avg Speed (actual): 17.7mph
I got home, blew off my mom's phone call, got dressed, and drove me and my bike out to W&OD/Rte. 28, and jumped on and rode, basically, the same ride I did on Tuesday: out to the far side of Leesburg and back.
Statistics:
Distance: 22.13 miles
Saddle Time: 1h14m16s
Actual Time: 1h15m (hardly waited for anything)
Start Time: 6:40PM
End Time: 7:55PM
Start Outside Temp: 56°F
End Outside Temp: 54°F (felt colder than this, though...)
Max Speed: 29.5mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 17.9mph
Avg Speed (actual): 17.7mph
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
22.11 cold, wet, rainy miles
While training for Tahoe, we must also train ourselves to deal with the weather--it may not be bright and sunny with a tail wind the whole way. It might rain. It might even snow (apparently one year they did it, the next day it snowed). We have to be ready to deal with it. So today, I joined Jane and her husband Ned on the weekly Ashburn ride. It threatened to start raining late in the day, and by the time we started, the weather made good on that threat. Throughout the whole ride, there was light rain falling and the ground slick with water.
Statistics:
Distance: 22.11mi
Saddle Time: 1h20m38s
Actual Time: 1h25m
Start Time: 6:00PM
End Time: 7:25PM
Start Outside Temp: ???
End Outside Temp: ???
Max Speed: 31.1mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.4mph
Avg Speed (actual): 15.6mph
Should've used my red bike--at least I'd have had the covered tail rack to mitigate some of the "skunk stripes". Afterwards, we went to Five Guys and replaced all of the calories we burnt with peanut oil-cooked hamburgers and fries. Good times!
Statistics:
Distance: 22.11mi
Saddle Time: 1h20m38s
Actual Time: 1h25m
Start Time: 6:00PM
End Time: 7:25PM
Start Outside Temp: ???
End Outside Temp: ???
Max Speed: 31.1mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.4mph
Avg Speed (actual): 15.6mph
Should've used my red bike--at least I'd have had the covered tail rack to mitigate some of the "skunk stripes". Afterwards, we went to Five Guys and replaced all of the calories we burnt with peanut oil-cooked hamburgers and fries. Good times!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
TNT Training Ride: Nokesville
Last night, after getting home from the range and cleaning my equipment, I ran around the house and prepped everything--directions, water bottles, the bike, etc. When I woke up four hours later, I had little else to do but shower, dress, bolt down some food, hop in the car, and go. Good thing, too, since I was running late (I'm always running late).
I got to the starting place on-time, unpacked the bike, and did some final prep (air in the tires, reset the computer, ditch unneccessary clothes). Then we started off, with me leading. I consider today's ride to be the first actual TNT training ride, because it's the first one that we had a set course to complete, not just "ride up and down this stretch of pavement until you're done". It's also the first time I've ever actually used a cue sheet (the Seagull Century had a cue sheet, but the route was marked with little seagulls spraypainted on the road with arrows indicating the direction to go, so I didn't use the cue sheet). Not so hard.
Me and three other guys--Chris (tall guy, w/ yellow/orange Trek, sky-blue jersey with the number "6" on it), Josh (average-height guy, shaven bald, w/ prismatique green-purple Cannondale, blue jersey), and Chuck (super-tall guy, blue(?) Trek, wearing a big blue parachute of a windbreaker and with The Incredible Hulk-green-liquid-filled bottles)--rocked it all the way out to the SAG (Support And Gear) stop at 17.5 miles, stopped and ate for a few minutes, and then jumped back on the road.
On the second half, we missed a turn and wound up doing an extra half-mile on a stretch of Aden Rd. that had more traffic...oh well! We made it back first, with me in front and the rest a minute back.
Good times with the wind today, as well as the gentle rolling hills. Good thing the four of us are fairly strong riders--we got a paceline going (or at least, it was a good system of rotating who was in front, so that no one works too hard), and I actually pulled for a good chunk of that time. Unfortunately, I still have this habit of dropping the people I'm trying to pull, even though when I get to the front I try to maintain a certain speed--one that I think should be manageable by the rest of my group. Perhaps I should tell them, though: if I get to the front, I'll maintain at 16.5mph or something. Maybe. I dunno--we've got a lot of training rides left to get this sorted out, and I know communication is key.
Statistics:
Distance: 36.64mi
Saddle Time: 2h06m22s
Actual Time: 2h20m
Start Time: 8:45AM
End Time: 11:05AM
Start Outside Temp: ??? (felt like mid-40's)
End Oustide Temp: ??? (felt like high-40's/low 50's)
Max Speed: 34.5mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 17.3mph
Avg Speed (actaul): 15.7mph
Afterwards, about 20 of us went to Joe's Pizza in Nokesville and stuffed ourselves with some excellent pizza. Good times!
It's definitely weird, though, being one of the youngest members on the team and dining with people who are 20, 30, even 40 years older than I am. I'm definitely not the youngest member, as I think there are a few people in college on the team, but I think I'm the youngest to attend the after-ride lunch gatherings...
---
Addendum: One thing I forgot to report is that I had my first encounter with a loose dog today. A pitbull was loose and chased our group, darting into the road at Josh and me. Josh swerved and broke away, and the dog fixed on me, and he didn't look like he was bored of chasing cyclists as he came withing a foot of my left leg. So I yelled "HEY!!!" at it at the top of my lungs and it broke off. That was my first real fight-or-flight situation--I didn't have any sort of weapon on me, so harsh language and speed is all I had.
When I yelled and the dog broke off, I thought to myself how interesting it was that I wasn't feeling hyper adrenaline or anything...it was just something I reacted to, something very natural. I didn't tense up or panic, but when it came down to it I was calmly and deliberately reacting to it. I've played this scenario over and over in my head, ever since I started riding. I didn't think it would actually happen, but reports of it were common enough that I figured it'd be good to mentally prepare myself for it. And it paid off.
I don't think that dog actually managed to get a piece of any other rider, though I did hear during lunch that it chased down other cyclists on our team.
And there were a few other dogs that ran along with us on the home-stretch, but they seemed friendly and didn't actually come out onto the road.
---
Nokesville, in the warm spring sunlight, is quite beautiful...reminded me of the Seagull Century ride, with the rural roads and small farms along the ride. Just beautiful country to ride in, and the roads themselves were in excellent shape with no rough spots or gravel patches or anything.
I got to the starting place on-time, unpacked the bike, and did some final prep (air in the tires, reset the computer, ditch unneccessary clothes). Then we started off, with me leading. I consider today's ride to be the first actual TNT training ride, because it's the first one that we had a set course to complete, not just "ride up and down this stretch of pavement until you're done". It's also the first time I've ever actually used a cue sheet (the Seagull Century had a cue sheet, but the route was marked with little seagulls spraypainted on the road with arrows indicating the direction to go, so I didn't use the cue sheet). Not so hard.
Me and three other guys--Chris (tall guy, w/ yellow/orange Trek, sky-blue jersey with the number "6" on it), Josh (average-height guy, shaven bald, w/ prismatique green-purple Cannondale, blue jersey), and Chuck (super-tall guy, blue(?) Trek, wearing a big blue parachute of a windbreaker and with The Incredible Hulk-green-liquid-filled bottles)--rocked it all the way out to the SAG (Support And Gear) stop at 17.5 miles, stopped and ate for a few minutes, and then jumped back on the road.
On the second half, we missed a turn and wound up doing an extra half-mile on a stretch of Aden Rd. that had more traffic...oh well! We made it back first, with me in front and the rest a minute back.
Good times with the wind today, as well as the gentle rolling hills. Good thing the four of us are fairly strong riders--we got a paceline going (or at least, it was a good system of rotating who was in front, so that no one works too hard), and I actually pulled for a good chunk of that time. Unfortunately, I still have this habit of dropping the people I'm trying to pull, even though when I get to the front I try to maintain a certain speed--one that I think should be manageable by the rest of my group. Perhaps I should tell them, though: if I get to the front, I'll maintain at 16.5mph or something. Maybe. I dunno--we've got a lot of training rides left to get this sorted out, and I know communication is key.
Statistics:
Distance: 36.64mi
Saddle Time: 2h06m22s
Actual Time: 2h20m
Start Time: 8:45AM
End Time: 11:05AM
Start Outside Temp: ??? (felt like mid-40's)
End Oustide Temp: ??? (felt like high-40's/low 50's)
Max Speed: 34.5mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 17.3mph
Avg Speed (actaul): 15.7mph
Afterwards, about 20 of us went to Joe's Pizza in Nokesville and stuffed ourselves with some excellent pizza. Good times!
It's definitely weird, though, being one of the youngest members on the team and dining with people who are 20, 30, even 40 years older than I am. I'm definitely not the youngest member, as I think there are a few people in college on the team, but I think I'm the youngest to attend the after-ride lunch gatherings...
---
Addendum: One thing I forgot to report is that I had my first encounter with a loose dog today. A pitbull was loose and chased our group, darting into the road at Josh and me. Josh swerved and broke away, and the dog fixed on me, and he didn't look like he was bored of chasing cyclists as he came withing a foot of my left leg. So I yelled "HEY!!!" at it at the top of my lungs and it broke off. That was my first real fight-or-flight situation--I didn't have any sort of weapon on me, so harsh language and speed is all I had.
When I yelled and the dog broke off, I thought to myself how interesting it was that I wasn't feeling hyper adrenaline or anything...it was just something I reacted to, something very natural. I didn't tense up or panic, but when it came down to it I was calmly and deliberately reacting to it. I've played this scenario over and over in my head, ever since I started riding. I didn't think it would actually happen, but reports of it were common enough that I figured it'd be good to mentally prepare myself for it. And it paid off.
I don't think that dog actually managed to get a piece of any other rider, though I did hear during lunch that it chased down other cyclists on our team.
And there were a few other dogs that ran along with us on the home-stretch, but they seemed friendly and didn't actually come out onto the road.
---
Nokesville, in the warm spring sunlight, is quite beautiful...reminded me of the Seagull Century ride, with the rural roads and small farms along the ride. Just beautiful country to ride in, and the roads themselves were in excellent shape with no rough spots or gravel patches or anything.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Wednesday Buddy Ride
Ducked out of a meeting (alright, alright; we're moving offices, and we need to pack our stuff, I get it. Oh, and happy birthday, everyone. Okay, pep-talk over, back to work), threw on all of my clothes, and was only slightly late to today's buddy ride. There were about 12 of us, all obviously at different levels--I was at or near the front (of course) and we booked it out of Vienna all the way through Reston and Herndon to Sterling Blvd. in...Sterling. There, we made an about-face and booked it back. A good ride, and good training for riding in close proximity to other riders at high speeds (there was a core of about four of us who rode pretty close to each other--close enough that if any of us had wiped out for any reason, even the ones trailing, none of the others would've been able to dodge or even blink fast enough to avoid also crashing).
Good times! Although, since I'm such a strong rider, I should probably hold back for the team, or at least help to pull the others along, either aerodynamically by beating away the air ahead so they're traveling in my wake, or emotionally by sticking by their wheel and giving encouragement. That'd be better for a team mentality...
Not good for my own personal training, though. For that, maybe, I should use my heavier Trek 1500 and load down the tail-rack. Or maybe I can find an old steel 19" Trek 420 and use that on the training rides.
Statistics:
Distance: 21.62mi
Saddle Time: 1h17m15s
Actual Time: 1h20m
Start Time: 6:05PM
End Time: 7:25PM
Start Outside Temp: ???
End Outside Temp: ???
Max Speed: 30.0mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.8mph
Avg Speed (actual): 16.2mph
Good times! Although, since I'm such a strong rider, I should probably hold back for the team, or at least help to pull the others along, either aerodynamically by beating away the air ahead so they're traveling in my wake, or emotionally by sticking by their wheel and giving encouragement. That'd be better for a team mentality...
Not good for my own personal training, though. For that, maybe, I should use my heavier Trek 1500 and load down the tail-rack. Or maybe I can find an old steel 19" Trek 420 and use that on the training rides.
Statistics:
Distance: 21.62mi
Saddle Time: 1h17m15s
Actual Time: 1h20m
Start Time: 6:05PM
End Time: 7:25PM
Start Outside Temp: ???
End Outside Temp: ???
Max Speed: 30.0mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.8mph
Avg Speed (actual): 16.2mph
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
18.00 mile buddy ride
"Buddy Ride" -- informal mid-week ride with fellow TNTers that simultaneously build camaraderie and serve as recovery and additional training rides.
We started at the W&OD/Rte.28 and headed West. There were eight of us--Jane, Russ, Cathy, ???, Ned, me, my brother, and...Mr. Garlic?!? My Elementary School P.E. teacher? WTF! Apparently, he's known Jane for quite a while, now, and he joined us informally. Weird to see your former teachers outside of a classroom (or in this case, Gym) setting. Weirder to talk with them as equals--we both have professional and personal lives, now. I still think of him as my teacher, so much that I forgot he had a first name! It's "George"; he's always been "Mr. Garlic" to me.
My brother, Russ, and I booked it out to the general store in Ashburn, where Russ turned back and my brother and I continued on, blasting it all the way to Lawson Rd. in Leesburg before finally turning back. We picked up Russ and Ned on the way back, and then [I] picked up Jane and Cathy, and finally we picked up ??? and Mr. Garlic for the final leg back to the parking lot.
Statistics:
Distance: 18.00mi
Saddle Time: 1h9m40s
Actual Time: 1h15m
Start Time: 6:00PM
End Time: 7:15PM
Start Outside Temp: ???
End Outside Temp: ???
Max Speed: 28.6mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 15.5mph
Avg Speed (actual): 14.4mph
Fundraising's picking up, thanks to contributions from my brother and my co-workers. Just $575 more and I'll be at the half-way point to my goal of $4300. Sadly, Frank Segundo Rodriguez lost his battle with Leukemia today, and so today's ride was dedicated solely to him.
I want to attach the names of my Personal Honored Teammates to my jersey, but I need to figure out a good way to do that. Maybe some lengths of ribbon, embroidered somehow with their names, sewn onto my jersey? Maybe a patch of some sort? Anyone have any ideas? I don't wanna print them on a piece of copy paper and pin it to my jersey--that'd be lame and unfitting of their honor...
We started at the W&OD/Rte.28 and headed West. There were eight of us--Jane, Russ, Cathy, ???, Ned, me, my brother, and...Mr. Garlic?!? My Elementary School P.E. teacher? WTF! Apparently, he's known Jane for quite a while, now, and he joined us informally. Weird to see your former teachers outside of a classroom (or in this case, Gym) setting. Weirder to talk with them as equals--we both have professional and personal lives, now. I still think of him as my teacher, so much that I forgot he had a first name! It's "George"; he's always been "Mr. Garlic" to me.
My brother, Russ, and I booked it out to the general store in Ashburn, where Russ turned back and my brother and I continued on, blasting it all the way to Lawson Rd. in Leesburg before finally turning back. We picked up Russ and Ned on the way back, and then [I] picked up Jane and Cathy, and finally we picked up ??? and Mr. Garlic for the final leg back to the parking lot.
Statistics:
Distance: 18.00mi
Saddle Time: 1h9m40s
Actual Time: 1h15m
Start Time: 6:00PM
End Time: 7:15PM
Start Outside Temp: ???
End Outside Temp: ???
Max Speed: 28.6mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 15.5mph
Avg Speed (actual): 14.4mph
Fundraising's picking up, thanks to contributions from my brother and my co-workers. Just $575 more and I'll be at the half-way point to my goal of $4300. Sadly, Frank Segundo Rodriguez lost his battle with Leukemia today, and so today's ride was dedicated solely to him.
I want to attach the names of my Personal Honored Teammates to my jersey, but I need to figure out a good way to do that. Maybe some lengths of ribbon, embroidered somehow with their names, sewn onto my jersey? Maybe a patch of some sort? Anyone have any ideas? I don't wanna print them on a piece of copy paper and pin it to my jersey--that'd be lame and unfitting of their honor...
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Sunday TNT Buddy Ride, Fundraising Update, Frank Segundo Rodriguez
I was late today to meet up with Jane from TNT, and Murphy was out in full-force: I was late, forgot my water bottles, and I forgot my flat-pack in the car...and I also forgot to strap on my 'lid, so it was just sitting on my head. And when I was riding, I dropped the chain...
Oh well--no blood, no foul, right? And I didn't have any flats, thankfully. I don't like operating without safety margins, though (i.e. my water bottles and my flat-pack).
Statistics:
Distance: 22.18mi
Saddle Time: 1h35m42s
Actual Time: 1h40m
Start Time: 2:00PM
End Time: 3:40PM
Start Outside Temp: 35°F
End Outside Temp: 41°F
Max Speed: 22.8mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 13.9mph
Avg Speed (actual): 13.3mph
---
On the Fundraising Front: I want to thank my friends and family for their contributions to my fundraising. In just a month, we've raised over $900 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! That's totally awesome, and mind-boggling that people actually care! Thank you everyone!
If you'd like to contribute, please donate here: http://www.active.com/donate/tntnca04/kentridestahoe
---
I would also like to add another person to my personal Honored Teammates. Frank Segundo Rodriguez, my coworker's wife's uncle--whom I've never met--was diagnosed a few weeks ago with a form of Lymphoma. For months he'd been feeling tired and found himself sleeping a lot. He resisted going to the doctors until he'd been urged to go by one of his family, someone who normally never spoke up about those things. So he gets to the doctors and they diagnose him with Lymphoma, and start him on a very agressive chemotherapy treatment schedule, receiving the treatment once every three days. Fast forward a few weeks--he's about to have his last treatment, about to be discharged. Everything's looking good, he looks like he's going to make it. Until...
Last Sunday, he needed to go to the bathroom for a Number Two, but nothing would come out. Instead, he pushed hard and somehow, something started hurting in his bowels. Within a day, he has trouble breathing, his limbs are swollen, and he's got pneumonia. The doctors give his family a choice: they can leave him as he is, and he'll definitely die soon, or they can attempt to operate to find and fix the problem. The second option was extremely risky because he'd already been weakened so much by the chemo that he was given a 90% chance of dying on the table.
They went ahead with the operation on Monday and discovered that his large intestine had ruptured and waste matter was leaking into his abdominal cavity, spreading the cancer and causing massive infections. They managed to repair his colon and they pumped him full of antibiotics. He survived the operation, but just barely. And then his kidneys started having trouble, and his body was not taking to the dialysis machine. Things looked grim...
After a week in the I.C.U., his infections have cleared up and he's in stable condition, and even somewhat responsive to questions, able to blink a little and flex his hands.
Now the doctors want to slowly move him off of life support (i.e. removing the breathing tube to let his lungs breathe on their own), and things are looking promising. But that's the way things go with this disease, this cancer--ups and downs. Fine one day, on the brink of death the next.
And I wish to include Frank Segundo Rodriguez in my dedication for this event. A man I've never met, whose life only meets mine through my coworker and his wife.
Oh well--no blood, no foul, right? And I didn't have any flats, thankfully. I don't like operating without safety margins, though (i.e. my water bottles and my flat-pack).
Statistics:
Distance: 22.18mi
Saddle Time: 1h35m42s
Actual Time: 1h40m
Start Time: 2:00PM
End Time: 3:40PM
Start Outside Temp: 35°F
End Outside Temp: 41°F
Max Speed: 22.8mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 13.9mph
Avg Speed (actual): 13.3mph
---
On the Fundraising Front: I want to thank my friends and family for their contributions to my fundraising. In just a month, we've raised over $900 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! That's totally awesome, and mind-boggling that people actually care! Thank you everyone!
If you'd like to contribute, please donate here: http://www.active.com/donate/tntnca04/kentridestahoe
---
I would also like to add another person to my personal Honored Teammates. Frank Segundo Rodriguez, my coworker's wife's uncle--whom I've never met--was diagnosed a few weeks ago with a form of Lymphoma. For months he'd been feeling tired and found himself sleeping a lot. He resisted going to the doctors until he'd been urged to go by one of his family, someone who normally never spoke up about those things. So he gets to the doctors and they diagnose him with Lymphoma, and start him on a very agressive chemotherapy treatment schedule, receiving the treatment once every three days. Fast forward a few weeks--he's about to have his last treatment, about to be discharged. Everything's looking good, he looks like he's going to make it. Until...
Last Sunday, he needed to go to the bathroom for a Number Two, but nothing would come out. Instead, he pushed hard and somehow, something started hurting in his bowels. Within a day, he has trouble breathing, his limbs are swollen, and he's got pneumonia. The doctors give his family a choice: they can leave him as he is, and he'll definitely die soon, or they can attempt to operate to find and fix the problem. The second option was extremely risky because he'd already been weakened so much by the chemo that he was given a 90% chance of dying on the table.
They went ahead with the operation on Monday and discovered that his large intestine had ruptured and waste matter was leaking into his abdominal cavity, spreading the cancer and causing massive infections. They managed to repair his colon and they pumped him full of antibiotics. He survived the operation, but just barely. And then his kidneys started having trouble, and his body was not taking to the dialysis machine. Things looked grim...
After a week in the I.C.U., his infections have cleared up and he's in stable condition, and even somewhat responsive to questions, able to blink a little and flex his hands.
Now the doctors want to slowly move him off of life support (i.e. removing the breathing tube to let his lungs breathe on their own), and things are looking promising. But that's the way things go with this disease, this cancer--ups and downs. Fine one day, on the brink of death the next.
And I wish to include Frank Segundo Rodriguez in my dedication for this event. A man I've never met, whose life only meets mine through my coworker and his wife.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
16.15 miles
Recovery ride--Dad's first ride in forever, and Eric's first ride on his newly-built Campy Cannondale (man that thing is hot!). Rode to Eric's place, got his helmet, rode back, stopping to show Dad "the climb" that Eric used to train for Tucson (man, it was definitely killer, again!). And when we got to that dip in the trail near Franklin Farm Rd., I gunned it down the slope and hammered it up the other side--so hard that when I sat back down in the saddle and looked down, I was still going 23mph, uphill! Too bad the weather wasn't as nice as I'd have liked (it was sunny, but windy so I still had to wear my thermals and leg-warmers) but I warmed up well-enough by the end of the ride.
Statistics:
Distance: 16.15mi
Saddle Time: 1h06m42s
Actual Time: 1h15m
Start Time: 1:30PM
End Time: 2:45PM
Start Outside Temp: ???°F
End Outside Temp: ???°F
Max Speed: 34.5mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 14.5mph
Avg Speed (actual): 12.9mph
Statistics:
Distance: 16.15mi
Saddle Time: 1h06m42s
Actual Time: 1h15m
Start Time: 1:30PM
End Time: 2:45PM
Start Outside Temp: ???°F
End Outside Temp: ???°F
Max Speed: 34.5mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 14.5mph
Avg Speed (actual): 12.9mph
Saturday, March 1, 2008
TNT Training Ride #3
On the W&OD! My neck of the woods! Started at Rte. 28, rode West for an hour, then turned around and rode back. Riding out sucked because of the winds and the slight uphill grade--I wasn't able to hold any speed much above 12mph. Then we (Mike, Matt, and Me) met up with a few people at Clark's Gap (5 miles from Purcellville, right at the switchback) and we turned around and rode home. The way home was awesome! The winds were cooperating, and the downhill grade was so nice, it was almost impossible to dip below 20mph, and there were times when I'd gotten it up to 25-28 mph, easy.
Me and Mike were jibbing on each other on the way out: I had stopped to help a guy get his chain back on his chainrings, and then stopped again to help another guy get his chain on his chainrings, and Mike went on ahead...when I caught up to him, 5 miles later, I jokingly said to him "C'mon Mike, go faster!". Well, he didn't, and I found my way to the front of our little group. After a few minutes of this, he yelled "C'mon Kent, go faster!" So I did...and left them in the dust! (Really all that happened is that I did a quick sprint, bumping my speed up to 19mph for a minute and then dropping it back to 12mph, which is what they were riding at, so I just made a gap between me and them). Then we met up with the people at Clark's Gap and turned around and booked it back to Rte. 28. After a few stoppages, I found myself clipped in with only one foot (the other used to plant during a stop) and was doing one-legged-drills on a whim, which Mike thought I was showing off (well, I was a little).
Then I found my way to the front of the group after a few rolling stops, and announced that I'd pull, and turned on the speed. When I started pulling, it was six of us. After five miles, it was two of us. At the end, it was just me. I pulled into the parkinglot, signed in, and waited for a few minutes for everyone else to show up.
After my party showed up, I waited around for 10 minutes for the rest of the TNT riders to show up. When they didn't, I went back out, getting about 7 unofficial miles (I had taken off my bike computer) and picking up another small group of TNTers and riding back for the last time with them.
Afterwards, I stood around in the freezing parking lot (cursed winds!) for about 30 or 40 minutes, waiting for more people to come in. Then 12 of us went to IHOP and tanked up on coffee and hot chocolate.
Good times!
Statistics:
Distance: 28.39mi
Saddle Time: 1h45m
Actual Time: 1h45m (NO STOPPING!)
Start Time: 9:00AM
End Time: 10:45AM
Start Outside Temp: 40°F
End Outside Temp: 40°F
Max Speed: 28.8mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.2mph
Avg Speed (actual): 16.2mph
Now if I can keep the names and faces straight, going around the table: Jeff (older guy, late 30s/early 40s), Marianne, Kim, ??? (Fred's wife), Fred (old guy w/ beard), Aisha (black grad student), Ned (older guy), Jane (very fit, older lady), Chris (Jane's husband, older guy), (me), Coleman (young, early/mid 20's), Kelly (young, early/mid 20's). Matt is riding that golden Trek that doesn't have a seat-tube, Josh is riding that cool prismatic purple-green Cannondale, Riad (sp?) was riding a black Klein (but usually rides on a tandem), Chuck was riding a blue bike (Cannondale?). I'll learn everyone's names yet!
Me and Mike were jibbing on each other on the way out: I had stopped to help a guy get his chain back on his chainrings, and then stopped again to help another guy get his chain on his chainrings, and Mike went on ahead...when I caught up to him, 5 miles later, I jokingly said to him "C'mon Mike, go faster!". Well, he didn't, and I found my way to the front of our little group. After a few minutes of this, he yelled "C'mon Kent, go faster!" So I did...and left them in the dust! (Really all that happened is that I did a quick sprint, bumping my speed up to 19mph for a minute and then dropping it back to 12mph, which is what they were riding at, so I just made a gap between me and them). Then we met up with the people at Clark's Gap and turned around and booked it back to Rte. 28. After a few stoppages, I found myself clipped in with only one foot (the other used to plant during a stop) and was doing one-legged-drills on a whim, which Mike thought I was showing off (well, I was a little).
Then I found my way to the front of the group after a few rolling stops, and announced that I'd pull, and turned on the speed. When I started pulling, it was six of us. After five miles, it was two of us. At the end, it was just me. I pulled into the parkinglot, signed in, and waited for a few minutes for everyone else to show up.
After my party showed up, I waited around for 10 minutes for the rest of the TNT riders to show up. When they didn't, I went back out, getting about 7 unofficial miles (I had taken off my bike computer) and picking up another small group of TNTers and riding back for the last time with them.
Afterwards, I stood around in the freezing parking lot (cursed winds!) for about 30 or 40 minutes, waiting for more people to come in. Then 12 of us went to IHOP and tanked up on coffee and hot chocolate.
Good times!
Statistics:
Distance: 28.39mi
Saddle Time: 1h45m
Actual Time: 1h45m (NO STOPPING!)
Start Time: 9:00AM
End Time: 10:45AM
Start Outside Temp: 40°F
End Outside Temp: 40°F
Max Speed: 28.8mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 16.2mph
Avg Speed (actual): 16.2mph
Now if I can keep the names and faces straight, going around the table: Jeff (older guy, late 30s/early 40s), Marianne, Kim, ??? (Fred's wife), Fred (old guy w/ beard), Aisha (black grad student), Ned (older guy), Jane (very fit, older lady), Chris (Jane's husband, older guy), (me), Coleman (young, early/mid 20's), Kelly (young, early/mid 20's). Matt is riding that golden Trek that doesn't have a seat-tube, Josh is riding that cool prismatic purple-green Cannondale, Riad (sp?) was riding a black Klein (but usually rides on a tandem), Chuck was riding a blue bike (Cannondale?). I'll learn everyone's names yet!
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