Tuesday - May 7, 2013
Before today, I ran a half marathon Saturday with some friends and was ready to get back out there. I met the BAM Racing guys at the Blue Ash YMCA at 4:55am for a ~25 mile group bike ride. It had stopped raining, and the roads were still wet, which might explain by only 3 of us showed up. But we headed out at 5am and go on our way. About 3 or 4 miles into the ride, I started to fall behind the lead two when my chain popped off. My bike is 10 years old, and the gears need adjusted pretty badly. I yelled for them to stop and got the chain back on. I recently bought a head lamp to wear, and it was great for seeing the chain today. I have a 1,000 lumen head light on my bike, but it's attached to the handlebars.
Anyway, by the time I was ready to go, I was all alone. At 5:10am it is pitch black, especially in the Madeira/Indian Hill area (nice part of town) where houses are huge and far apart. Well, I kind of knew the route and thought I might be able to catch them. I went ahead to the next big intersection and waited for a minute, nothing. "Maybe they'll be up at Shell", I thought. I sped down Loveland Madeira to Shell and waited, ate an energy bar, sipped some Gatorade. A group of about 5 or 6 bikers passed me going the opposite way, but no BAM guys. After about 5 minutes, I went on.
Up until this ride, I was concerned my bike fitness was very poor. I had nothing but problems on group rides, no matter the group (BAM or Cincy Express). But today's ride showed me that my issue is with the group ride. In a group ride, you ride inches off the rear tire of the rider in front of you. At 5am, in pitch black night, at 18-20 mph, this is very nerve racking. I didn't think anything of it until today's ride, but I just don't feel comfortable yet in a tight pack. I was cruising today in some spots over 20mph without much issue. Once I had this revelation, about 7 or 8 miles in, the entire mood changed. I was riding alone and loving it.
The route goes on the Loveland Bike Trail, which is very flat and fast with no cars. I didn't even see another person on the trail today. I was loving it. I took the trail from Camp Dennison to Milford and hopped on Indian Hill road to start the worst part of the ride, the "hill". There are a few roads that climb back into Indian Hill from the river valley, and the last time I went up Indian Hill I had to walk some at the top. But that was with my time trial/triathlon handlebars and shifters. About a week before today, I got my bike back from the shop wtih normal road bike brake lever/shifters. I also added my new ISM seat. These made a HUGE difference, especially climbing the hill. I could quickly shift gears on hills, up and down, to maintain my pedal RPM (cadence). I remembered hearing a co-worker say he went about 5 mph up Indian Hill recently, and that "fast" guys are going up the hill about 12-14 mph. I was able to maintain about a 9.1 mph speed going up the hill. I was very proud of myself. No walking, and 9 mph isn't too bad. It's not "good" or "fast", but it's much better than walking the last 1/4 of it.
After the hill, I cruised through Madeira and made my way back to my house. In total, I went 23.4 miles in 1:29:54, according to Strava. Strava pauses if you stop, so my overall average speed was 15.6 mph, not the 14.1 my Garmin told me (it doesn't ignore pauses). I burned about 1,000 calories and had a great ride. I have a sinus infection, so I feel awful, but the ride was so good I forgot about all that. Awesome ride. I now have Tuesday and Thursday mornings to myself to ride, with swimming on Wednesday (my wife has Mon & Fri). If I can ride 23 miles twice a week and get a long ride in on the weekends, I might do okay this season. I'm hoping for 60 miles Saturday early, before my daughter's birthday party!
Here is the Strava data:
No comments:
Post a Comment