04.28.2012 Muenster Metric Century

     

I finally got the chance to ride the Muenster Metric Century yesterday.  This had been on my to do list since I first heard about it back when I was riding in 2004.  Since I've gotten back into riding this was high on my list of rides to hit this year.  I am glad that I did it, it was a really great ride over a challenging course.

According to the pre ride announcements there were over 2000 riders for the various routes.  Lots of normal upright bikes and a good representation of recumbents.  Saw a pair of Carbent Ravens, a couple of Catbike Mushashi's, Carolynn on her P38 Lightning, John on his Bacchetta CA2.0, Texpug on her Catrike, and after the ride I saw Roy's Morciglio Apache, there were several others who I didn't catch names on so don't feel left out.

Given that many cyclists all starting together down a narrow rural farm to market road was "entertaining".  I saw one crash occur about 20 minutes into the ride, I think someone bumped wheels from the looks of it.  I was stuck in traffic and didn't have an option to stop and help, (I still feel bad about that, I hope the cyclist was OK).

With the ride starting into a stiff headwind the 2000+ herd broke apart fairly quickly into separate groups.  I had fun bridging groups and launching out into the wind by myself and putting my lower wind profile to use.  Several riders on uprights caught on pretty quick and sat on my wheel for what little draft I offered.  I was more than happy to pull as I was having fun chasing after the next group, catching them, sitting in the back to recover a bit and launch after the next group.

I hit SAG #1 for a quick bathroom break and a chance to ice down my water bottles, I tried a bottle full of Powerade as that was what they had, (lesson learned, stick to Gatoraid).  After SAG #1 the short route turned back toward their finish so the traffic dropped off quite a bit.  I continued bridging groups from one to another, sitting in and chatting with each new group I came up on.  I rolled through SAG #2 and kept on going.

I was sitting in talking to a guy on a Catrike Speed when I noticed a jersey with the Marine Corp emblem go by.  As I was also wearing my Marine Corps jersey I had to catch up to him.  Come to find out he was in the reserves based out of Fort Worth.  He was up with a couple of other Marines for the ride.  We hit SAG #3 where his buddies caught up and we had a full Marine Corp fire team ready to go!

After SAG #3 the 65 kilometer route split out for their finish and I continued up the road.  During the pre ride announcements grooved pavement had been mentioned.  It wasn't just grooved, it was cratered.  That was some of the roughest, nastiest bits of road I've been on in a while.  And of course that section, in the middle of a steep uphill, had to be when the flat fairy came for a visit.  A quick tube change, check the tire for something sharp, re-install, and then courtesy of the nasty rough road, break out the allen wrenches and start tightening down loose bits.

Once the bike was ready it was more hills, up and down into Saint Jo, Texas.  Another  Sag stop, more pickles to fight off leg cramps, more ice water and down the road I went.  I'd been hearing reports of a really nice downhill north of Saint Jo.  The reports didn't lie, I hit 49.7 mph down the hill.  Check out the video link by clicking on FREE FALL.

The last part of the ride was south back into the wind with more hills, one really brutal one where you paid for the ride down Free Fall.  Grinding my way up it with my heart rate maxing out and my forward speed barely being enough to keep me upright and on the bike I was praying for a large semi.  I figured if he hit me hard enough it would stop the pain and misery.  But once I got to the top, convinced my heart rate to climb down out of the 180's, tried to ignore more leg cramps, the speed picked back up and I started rolling down the road.  Again, being on a recumbent really paid off as the south wind was really putting the hurt on the people on the upright bikes.

I rolled back into Muenster, looked at my odometer, 60.67 miles, considered turning around and rounding it up to 62 miles, said no to that idea and headed for the van.

Several lessons learned from this ride.

• Hunt down the flat fairy and shoot the bugger in the head
• Check, recheck, and loctite appropriate bits on your bike as needed
• Bragging about how fast you can go on a downhill and then cramping up while sprinting down the hill is no fun.
• Dill pickles are your friend when you are cramping
• Going 49.7 mph on a recumbent is an adrenaline rush
• One application of sunscreen was not enough, give me a war bonnet, a bow, a pony and I could open my own casino!

What a difference a year makes!

It's not been an a whole year for the diet and exercise plan but I was able to dredge up a picture of me from a year ago...

Then:

Now:

Yep, I really was that bad.

03.31.12 The first brevet is done!

Ok, so for y'all out there who don't speak French and are wondering what a brevet is, it's just a different type of bike ride.  Generally it's characterized by longer distances usually 200 kilometers, (or 125 miles) or more, and sometimes a lot more!  You have a time limit to complete the ride and you have to check in at control points along the way to verify you completed the course.

When Vicky first started talking of joining the Lone Star Randonneurs and riding brevets and such, it sounded like a really fun group of people and a fun new type of ride.  I'd no idea at the time just what I was getting myself into.

Imagine a group of people whose idea of a really good time is 20+ hours on a bicycle saddle for 250 or more miles, and I thought I was crazy, I'd not seen crazy till Saturday.  I'd also not met a much nicer group of people either.  Here I was, well out of my pay grade getting together to start a ride with folks who were riding 350-400 miles or more a week.  There was a huge amount of experience and information regarding long distance riding contained in that group.  And what was great for me, they were more than willing to share that information and help me out.

The group at the start...

The ride was the Fleas and Trees brevet out of Canton Texas.  The ride is named for the Third Monday Trade Days flea market held in Canton and the huge number of trees along the route.  About 6-7 of us chose to do the 200 kilometer route with the rest opting for the 400 kilometer ride and a trip to Louisiana.  

One the road to Gilmer.

 

A really nice shade tree to pump up a tire under!

 

The route itself was fantastic, it was classic east Texas with wonderful springtime weather.  Myself and another rider did hear a rumble or two of thunder but no rain developed for us fortunately.  I discovered that east Texas is not at all like around were my family and I live.  East Texas has hills!  Some of them even are pretty nice sized hills at that.  I remember looking up at an upcoming climb at one point and thinking how much that was going to hurt going up.  As I was starting down  a rather large hill I decided if I was going to hurt climbing up the next hill, I may as well enjoy the trip down.  Time to jam onto my big ring and see just how fast I can make my bike go, (I managed to break 41 mph, I guess next time I need a bigger hill as I want to break my best on a bike of 55 mph).

As this ride was a couple of firsts for me it was a huge learning experience.  This was not only my first brevet I'd ever tried, but it proved to be the longest ride I'd ever done.  It was also the second century ride I'd done since getting back on the bike and into shape.

The lessons and take aways from this ride:

·         Meeting and making new friends on the road.  This was a huge plus for me and a huge thank you to Michele for talking me through the ride,  and to the guys from Trinity Bicycles for finding what was causing my flat tire issues.  You all were great!

·         When there is a flat tire, take the time to hunt down the root cause of the problem and fix it right the first time.  Having flat tire issues from mile 25 to mile 109 was a bit of a problem. 

The I hate my tire face..

 

·         Don't let issues take you off your nutrition / hydration plan.  I let my flat tire issue get me off the nutrition  and hydration plan and paid for it on the return trip to Mineola.  I ate at the turn around in Gilmer, (mile 62) and didn't eat again till Mineola, (mile 99).  As a diabetic, that is a recipe for failure.  Although after looking at it and doing the math I now realize I averaged about 300 calories per hour, it just wasn't spaced out like I had intended it to be.  Hydration was the other big issue.  I'd refilled my bottles and Camelbak at the turn around in Gilmer.  About five miles out from Mineola I ran dry.  As it gets warmer, I'm going to need to carry more water in areas where towns are widely spaced apart.

·         Speaking as a type II diabetic, yes you can do endurance type events on a diet of mini Clif bars, Clif Shot Roks, Lance wheat and cheese crackers, Fig Netwons, natural peanut butter, Oreo Cakesters, (I know, but they looked tasty!) and Gatoraid.  Oh and the big bag of M&M's at the finish was a bonus!

·         I have to pack my seat bag better and come up with a system that when I need item "X", I can reach in and put my hand on item "X".

·         You don't have to be a hammerhead on every ride!  Sit back, enjoy the company, scenery, and the ride.  And don't forget to take more pictures!

·         The last big take away from this ride...  Make sure you don't accidently hit the stop button on your Garmin bike computer when changing flats.  As much as you wished it would have, it didn't record any data from mile 25 to mile 63.

Of course the next question is what's next?  Proving to myself I can go 125 miles now has me looking once more toward hitting that goal I set all the way back in October of 1988 of a double century, 200 miles all in a day.  That goal had better watch out, this fat old diabetic is sneaking up on it!

03.25.12 Too nice of a day to not ride!

Well last week I promised myself a special treat if I managed to do 100 miles on the bike.

This was taken as I was getting ready to leave to meet up with a fellow diabetic rider.  Can you spot the special treat?

The first part of today's ride was meeting up with Jeff K, who is the manager for Team Red, (the diabetic team for Tour D' Cure).  Jeff and I have been trying to get together for a ride for two months or so.  It was finally nice to meet and get the chance to ride.

The first part of today's ride was a 25 mile ride through the local hilly loop north of the town.  I felt bad for Jeff as he is a transplant from Michigan and his allergies are not yet used to a wet Texas spring and all the pollen.  I can well remember the time my allergies had adjusting down here.

Once Jeff and I finished up, it was just too nice of a day to not enjoy so I headed back out into the county and looped up around Weston.    80 some odd degrees and very light wind with hardly any clouds, days don't get much nicer around here.

What worked and didn't work.  I'd added a new bike bag from Bent Up Cycles and it worked great!  My homebrew mounting system for it though needs work.  Fig Newtons, Clif Shot Roks and Gatoraid continued to do well for nutrition.  I know I should have drank more, but as it was, I was watering trees about every ten miles.  What didn't work was somewhere on my bike I have something loose, time to go rattle hunting.

The total distance for today was 67.22 miles.  A quick check of my blood sugar after the ride showed I was at 93, right in the normal range!  An added benefit of today's ride was getting home and seeing this...

Too bad it's mostly all water weight.  Darn!

My first century in 20 years.

Well I managed to pull it off. 

Every since I did my first century back in 1988 I've loved the challenge of riding long miles.  It just seemed to be something that fit for me, it settled into my soul, this was my event.  The challenge of nothing more than myself, my bike, and a number on my bike computer.   To see if I can go longer than I've done before, to continually set that bar higher and higher.

Unfortunately years ago I'd let my love of cycling slide by the wayside due to career, an auto accident, poor lifestyle choices, (eating the wrong foods), and life.  It just seemed that although I loved to ride my bike, life was just going to get into the way.  Add a wife, kids, dogs and a house into the mix and things got busy.  Who had the time to ride?

The first wakeup call was getting diagnosed with Type II diabetes, the second was becoming insulin dependent, the third and final was realizing if I didn't do something I was going to lose my eyesight.  That third wakeup call I heard.

My wife and I made a change to a better diet, more exercise and a return to cycling via a recumbent.  Once I started riding again, that old love of the long distance ride came to the front in a big way.  While a 20 mile ride was nice, a 50 miler was better, I knew the true challenge was going to be 100+ miles.  That if I could make it 100 miles, especially as a Type II diabetic, I would be back.

All last week I had the nagging question running through my mind, could I do it?  Could I go the distance without blowing up and dying out there on the road?  I needed to figure out if I could do the distance as the local Randonneurs have a Brevet, (200 kilometers, 124 miles) ride coming up the end of the month that I'd like to do.  Saturday morning came around and the weather was right, breakfast was right, the time was right, this was MY day.

I rode it solo, just me to keep myself company.  I enjoy rides by myself, it gives me time to turn the brain loose and let it wander around on its own.  I find that this works great for problem solving, it allows me to look at things from different ways and come up with good solutions.   I tend to call this high speed meditation, (although on some portions of yesterday's ride, low speed meditation would be a better description).  One of the decisions reached was better glucose monitoring.  I'm even exploring the options for a 24/7 monitor for while I am on the bike, I'd really like to see what my glucose is doing during hard efforts.

And of course, there are pictures!

My GARMIN data for those interested is HERE.

Of course no effort like this comes without setting some type of carrot out in front as a treat for accomplishing the goal.  As to what the carrot was, you'll just have to look for the pictures later, I think you'll be surprised.

And once you hit one goal, you have to set the next one to chase.  And yes, I'm going back to that first century my buddy, Glen Handke and I did in 1988.  I looked at him and said, "Well 100 miles was fun, is 200 miles twice as much fun?"

Playing in traffic!

I've decided that it was time to drag out my mountain bike and turn it into a commuter to get back and forth to work.  With gas doing nothing but going up by $0.05 to $0.10 a leap it's time to cut back where I can.

Feed the kids, put gas in my car...  Decisions decisions.  Fortunately feeding the kids won out, if you don't feed them on a regular basis they get noisy and misbehave.

Doing some major digging in my garage unearthed a bunch of forgotten bike bits, I was able to locate my mountain bike fenders, several bits of dead lights and batteries, my old seat bag, (complete with a dead tube) and other somewhat useful bits.

My current plan is to drive to work only on Monday and Friday, and ride my bike the rest of the week.  I can bring three days worth of clothes and necessaries in on Monday and take the dirty stuff home Friday.  My Camelbak HAWG allows me to take my pocket items and lunch daily.

The commute so far is working out pretty good.  A 7.5 mile ride first thing in the morning does wonders for my metabolism, (kick starts it into high gear for the day).  This is good due to fact that with my diet and normal exercise load my metabolism runs for the hills screaming FAMINE and slows way down.  An added 15 miles a day, three times a week really helps the fitness base.

The commute also has another side benefit, as I'm on a bike I see a lot more of what is around and under me.  The other day was free tool day!  It looked like a tool truck has blew up on the road.  Unfortunately for me, it wasn't the Snap On truck but the cheap tool truck, but hey, free is free!

The only negative issue I've had on the commutes has been traffic.  Now it's just commuting through suburban McKinney, through mainly four lane roads, at non peak traffic hours.  One would think this wouldn't be an issue, however it's become an almost daily occurrence that someone gets a bit to close or doesn't want to move over into the open lane next to them and has to try and pass me in my lane.  Mind you, I'm one of those cyclist who believe in wearing high visibility colors, I have enough lights either blinking or shining that I can signal space aliens, I obey the rules of the road, and I ride in a steady and predictable manner, some drivers though just seem to have an issue with a regular bike on THEIR road.  As an aside note though, when I'm riding my recumbent, stupid behavior from drivers is a relative rarity.  My primary defensive weapon when on the bike for idiot drivers is my mirrors.  Since any argument between a bike and a vehicle is going to be a losing situation for me on my bike, I keep a close eye on what traffic is doing behind me and always leave a bailout path to safety.

I'd think of mounting a belt fed machine gun on my bike to solve the inattentive/aggressive driver issue, but aside from the paperwork though, the local drivers would have to get their noses up out of their phones to notice it.  It would only be effective once I went LOUD with it and that brings out so many more problems.

02.25.12 A return to the longer rides.

I know, it's been awhile since I updated this.  It's been a less than fun February and I'm glad to see the majority of it in my rear view mirror.  It's been tendonitis, bronchitis, a sore quadriceps muscle.  It's been friends in intensive care and a funeral for one of them.  Like I said, I'm glad to see February gone.

I'd planned yesterday's route out as an experiment to see if the tendonitis was healed and if my body was back up to riding a reasonable distance.  I wanted familiar terrain so I could judge my effort off past rides.  I also figured that my McKinney, Weston, Gunter & Celina loop would give me a decent 62 miles for my experiment.  Since I've ridden this loop quite a bit, I'm more than familiar with it.

The ride was also a trial run for some new bits of stuff that I've added and or changed on my bike.  I redid all of my cable runs to get rid of the excess cable that was cluttering up my bars, I lowered my bars down by about an inch or so, added some new KoolStop Salmon brake pads for better stopping power when inattentive drivers pull out in front of me.  And I also changed out my shifter system from Grip Shift twisters to SRAM X-7 triggers, (I did that mainly cause I caught a pair of them on E-bay for stupid cheap).  Fortunately all the new bits of stuff I added played well with the bike and everything ran like it was supposed to.

This ride was also going to be another experiment in nutrition and hydration.  Nutrition wise the Clif Shot Roks had been working well for me.  The NUNN electrolyte tablets have been working well also.  The combination of the two together however was causing a gastric reaction such that you could have hung a basket off me and used me for a hot air balloon!  I decided to leave out the NUNN tablets to see if that made a difference.  It did, in both good ways and bad ways.

Breakfast was a banana, two slices of toast with peanut butter, and an IHOP stuffed pastry, (I know, tasty but not nutritious). 

Saturday morning saw Vicky and the kids off to the local trout derby early.  When they left it was pretty chilly out so I hung around the house waiting for it to warm up a bit.  Finally I was motivated to get dressed to ride and as it was chilly earlier, I started breaking out arm warmers, leg warmers, wool socks, an insulated vest, and a jacket.  I'm really glad I stepped outside before grabbing the bike because the weather had warmed up.  I ditched the jacket and headed out the door.  Hindsight being 20-20 I should have ditched the leg warmers and the vest also as I was a little warm.

I did run across something interesting during the ride, I'd just cleared a series of hills I've nicknamed the triple bypass when I spotted something moving out in a scrub covered pasture.  Seems breakfast on the cloven hoof was out wandering around with seven little piglets in tow.  I was almost wishing I'd brought the 30'06 along.  Would have been kind of hard though getting them dressed out with nothing but the little knife in my tool kit, not to mention hauling them home.

McKinney to Weston and up FM3356 was helped by a light tailwind out of the SW at about 7-10.  The tailwind became a quartering headwind into Gunter which slowed me down somewhat.  I was in the process of crawling up a long hill into the headwind when I saw one of Gunter's police officers out watching for speeders.  I figured if he wanted to talk to me it was sure wasn't going to be about going too fast!  Pulling into Gunter it was time to run south on Preston.  Running south on Preston wasn't as bad as I had worried about, the headwind was pretty light and I managed to still make some ok time.   Celina came and went and it was onto CR88 through a gap in Preston road traffic.  I got back into McKinney and was still a little shy of my goal of 62 miles.  A quick trip out on the local MUP fixed that though. 

 

What worked and what didn't work.  All the new parts I added worked great.  The Clif Shot Roks worked great to replace the calories I burned.  Plain water worked well to keep me hydrated during the ride.  What didn't work was my clothing choices, I was a little too warm.  Also, without the NUNN tablets in my water I had nothing to replace the electrolytes my body was consuming during my ride.  My big point of failure was after my ride, I failed to push the water and the electrolytes and consequently ended up extremely dehydrated in the middle of my son's Cub Scout Blue & Gold banquet, think several hundred screaming children and a dehydration headache, it was "fun".

Lessons learned.  Drink more water, make sure to replace the electrolytes, & plan the clothing choices better.