17 days - COLD with Cedar Park Fever

This past weekend was the "Cedar Park Fever" ride, and some of the worst weather I have yet tried to ride in. While it wasn't raining, the Cedar Park Fever ride was dominated by cold and wind with temperatures in the 40's and wind gusts 25 to 30MPH. One guy had his equipment just freeze up - he couldn't even shift gears!

Somewhere along the line I got the feeling that the map of the route I was looking at looked eerily familiar. After a while, I realized that parts of this map were the "Leanderthal" done backwards. Well, imagine the feeling in my gut when I ALSO realized we had to cross the San Gabriel river - through knee deep water - with our shoes and socks off - and it's that cold - holding your bike over your head. PLUS, coming out of the river valley is a very, very steep and long hill. Ice cold muscles + steep hills = cramps. I could see the pain coming...

For each ride there is a "starter". This person gives out the maps, gets the sign up sheet done AND warns everyone about any hazards. This starter either had never done this route, or hadn't done her homework, as I had to tell her to tell everyone about the water crossings (there were two). She was less than clued in, which hurt us all later, as you will see.

The first water crossing was only up to mid calf, shoes off. And man it was cold!!! Worse, I never even made it to the second river crossing. You see, the day before, it had rained really hard, and when I saw the group of riders ahead of me heading the wrong direction (back towards me!) I knew the river was uncrossably high. So that was that. So if the ride starter had done her homework, she would have driven the route and found out ahead of time the river was not passable. So we all ended up going that way for naught. A shame it was all a waste of time.

Well things got sillier. Somehow, on the way back, I got all turned around and got lost. That seemed par for the course, the way the day was going. So I did several extra miles, which actually led to the only really funny moment of the day.

When I got lost, I took my map out in the middle of nowhere farm country. Well, with the wind up the way it was, together with my confusion, I somehow lost my grip on the map and it whipped out of my hands and into - you guessed it - the cow pastures. Or should I say the "poop pastures". Imagine the scene of me in full bicycle gear wildly chasing down my map in 25MPH winds while trying to avoid the cow poop. Ha!

So the rest of the week has been recovery rides in the neighborhood. Nice and easy. One night I did spinning in the garage on the bike stand listening to 70's disco. Now I can't get Gloria Gaynor singing "I Will Survive" out of my head - aargh!

Getting really close to the big weekend for the MS 150. Trying to find a cot to sleep on at the campgrounds.

Cheers boys! Miss you.

24 days - Hill Hell

I live in a very hilly section of Austin. Very near my house are 7-8 degree hills. I decided to see if I could make it up one of those hills in one go. The answer was NO.

I have to get some coaching on hill technique, as I really conked out badly, not even making it a few hundred yards up the first part of a 7 degree ascent. And my goodness, my legs! Also my cardio was maxed. Can't wait to download the data and find out what happened there.

No riding tomorrow...gotta give the body a break.

26 days - Riding with the boys!

Rode a very gentle 45 minute ride with my kids today. Total joy. Spent some time teaching them the rules of the road and safety tips, I feel very good about that.

The youngest had to stop a few times, as he does not have a "gear bike" as he calls them. Sweet boys, they did very well.

...and my legs welcomed the recovery ride.

27 days - Maximum effort @ Dripping Springs

This is the first time I have ridden two days in a row and it hurt. I figured with 3 weeks to go, I needed to know what it's like to ride two long rides back to back. Moreover, this ride was a huge effort as well, with lots of hills.

So the result was postive (if painful). I can ride back to back days, but the big lesson was not to get out of aerobic riding on the first day. Too much lactic acid buildup and fatigue sets in. I did do much on the Saturday ride, and my legs felt like fire on the Sunday, no fun at all, especially on the hills.

There were definitely times when I thought I was not going to finish the ride, and thankfully, with the benefit of fellow riders, I was able to get the strength together to make it.

Going to take it easier next weekend, at least not riding back to back. I'll probably ride the long ride on Sunday instead, maybe do a 60 miler at a modest pace to see what it's like to be in the saddle for a very long time, and importantly, learn how to pace my eating and energy.

28 days - Leanderthal

North of Austin is a small town, Leander. We rode 33 miles in the country around Leander today on the ride called Leanderthal. Very nice weather, great ride.

Had my first flat tire. My how things have improved in *that* department. Easy off, easy on, and I used this CO2 cartridge thingie to inflate the tire fast. Wow! Good thing I had a companion who showed me how to use it though, I could easily have exploded the tire. I cannot believe how much pressure that thing had in it.

Found the offending bit of metal, a piece of wire about an inch long. Nasty flat.

The next interesting bit, we headed (careened?) down a steep hill and just as we came around a corner, we were confronted with a low water crossing of the South San Gabriel river. Took the opportunity to take off my shoes and cool my feet, and yup, the water was ICY. Nice rest break though. Washed up a bit and took it easy for a few minutes.

A pickup driver waiting to cross told us about the really tough hill we faced on the way out of the valley. He was right on about how hard it was. I really thought it was the end my ride that day.

Since the monitor system was now working right, I turned on the altitude and temp sensors (yes, this watch does have everything!) and the hill profile I saw when I got home really told the story. Straight down and straight up out of that river valley, with a near maximum heart rate effort on the way out. Nice.

If the weather is good (and probably even if it isn't), tomorrow I am going to attempt a hilly ride in Dripping Springs to see what it's like to do two long rides in two days, with the second day full of hills.

After all, it's only 4 weeks left until the MS 150.

29 days - bad mechanic, no biscuit!!!

Ever since the first long distance ride, the speed/distance sensor quit working reliably. Naturally, this made the whole use of the Lance Armstrong system useless, among other things.

I finally wrote the manufacturer, and they sent me a list of "don't do this", followed by another list of "do this". I found out that the mechanic who set up my bike did ALL of the DON'Ts and almost none of the DOs. Figures. Seems you can't get a good mechanic for either car OR bike.

All he had to do was say "I don't know how to do this", and I would have been a lot happier, instead of puzzling what *I* was doing wrong for 3 weeks, all while losing precious data.

Took me one email and 10 minutes to fix completely correctly. Jeeeeezzzz.

32 days - braving the cold

Today was a maintenance ride, temperature 51 degrees, winds 25 gusting to 30. I stayed in the neighborhoods and found a delightful little path around the 'hood, total about 6 miles. With the trees and houses as wind breaks, it wasn't too bad, but man it was cold.

The next two days are travel for business, so I had to ride, and this was it. Maybe next time I'll just "spin" in the garage. Oh wait, this is supposed to build the character needed to do the long charity rides, yeah, that's it...

34 days - Jake's Hill - HEAT + WIND = DEHYDRATION

Wow, today was a real milestone, a 41 mile ride, including lots of hills. It was hot and very, very windy. The concern here is to remember to drink lots of water.

We rode 41 miles in the rolling countryside around Round Rock, through Hutto and near Taylor. As this was mostly farm country, the wind had nothing to block it. We started at 9AM, so things weren't too bad, but as the day wore on and the sun heated the fields, the wind really started going. I heard 25MPH gusting to 30MPH was normal.

The rides through the countryside are set up by the Austin Cycling Association. Since they're meant for people with a variety of skills, they have several rides with a variety of distances, short to very long. I took one of the medium distances today. There were two longer rides, 55 miles and 71 miles. Those two were too long for me, not ready for that distance.

So I hooked up with a younger rider, Jason, who seemed to be going about the same pace as me. That was very helpful, as conversation helps pass the time more quickly, and of course, there is more safety in numbers. As we approached the town of Hutto down a major road, we noticed two girls ahead of us were stopped. One had a flat tire. So we helped her out, and stayed together as a group of four. One very good reason for this - as I watched her fix her tire, I realized I had forgotten my road repair kit. If I got a flat, I was out of luck without help from friends!

Well, since this is the first time I went that far, I really learned the value of bringing a lot of water with me, or stopping to get more. I filled up my bottle at a rest stop at a gas station, but went through that in no time.

So somewhere near the 32 mile mark I started really lose it. I felt shaky, like I couldn't go on. I had eaten at a short break about 1/2 an hour before, and I thought it didn't kick in fast enough. But the real reason was I didn't have any more water to drink. So the lesson there is not to eat when I feel the need, but just before that and bring more water! Guess I need to learn how to time eating, drinking and distance better.

The pacesetter was Susan, the girl who had the flat tire. She really cranked the pdeals, and I found it very hard to keep up. I kept getting very thirsty trying. Karen, her friend, was very helpful and gave me more water, as she had a "Camelback", a pouch with water you carry on your back, with a feeder tube you keep near your mouth. A lot easier (and safer) to use than reaching down for your water bottle and taking your eyes off the road. Gotta get me one of them thar thangs.

So right after the 32 mile mark rest and water, I managed to get my energy back, certainly due to the help from the other riders (thanks Jason and Karen) who donated some of their water. Terrific folks. Right near the end, my thighs just started to get some knots, so that ride was my limit for sure. But now, at least I know what barriers I need to break.

'Til next time boys...

35 days

Ran another Carmichael practice ride today - improving pedaling efficiency. Rode for about an hour, took about 10 minutes of "fast pedaling", trying to pedal at about 100 RPM for a total of 10 minutes, while keeping hips still and trying to make perfect circles with my feet. Tricky.

Big ride tomorrow - 41 miles around Round Rock, Hutto and Taylor, including Jake's Hill.

36 days - pain

This week was difficult and challenging. In sticking to the Carmichael (Lance's coach) program, I noticed that my left knee started to hurt a little bit. After the Tour de Lance, it really hurt, just on the inside. "Something must be wrong" was definitely the thought, but what?

I checked out the internet and found that position of the toes pointed in or out could make the difference. In a decent long distance ride, a cyclist can pedal over 5,000 times. So even tiny misalignments of the cycle can add up to over stressing certain body parts. In my case, I simply moved my left foot in a little bit on the pedal cleat, and that seemed to immediately help.

This weekend are two long rides. Tomorrow I'll ride an hour and a half, then on Sunday will be a 40 mile ride in Round Rick, sponsored by the Austin Cycling Association. We'll see if the pain goes down or away.

I also had been experiencing seat pain. I noticed that I had been cheating forward on the seat a little bit, on to the beak of the seat, because I "reach" for the handlebars to try to stay more upright. I fixed that posture problem, and the pain down there seems to be better.

This past week also saw the kick off for the Tour de Cure San Antonion to Austin ride, which I attended. I learned the tour had about 600 riders rode last year. Compare this with the MS 150, which has 13,000 registered riders. Given the number of people suffering from diabetes vs. MS, you'd think the numbers would be reversed, no offense meant to anyone of course. But wow.

So I have raised my pledge goal to $3,000 and I am really going to try to make it. I asked to be made into a team captain, so now I have to recruit team members. Going to be tricky that, as I don't really know many cyclists at all. We'll see how that goes.

Oh, and because of my experience in the rain in the Tour de Lance, I've called the team "The Rain Gods" until I figure out a better name. Anyone who has a good idea for a team name, let me know!

Cheers boys, good luck on your tests!

41 days - the Tour de Lance

OK, so it rained, and today I learned more about how dedicated I am to riding and beating my diabetes. The Tour de Lance is a ride east of Austin in a town called Elgin. The ride has varying lengths, from 32 to 70+ miles. I chose the 32 miler because I did 15 miles yesterday and because it was raining. I decided to ride in the rain, so I guess I must be serious!

So there were only six riders, and I rode in a group of four to do the 32 mile course. The other two riders did the long course. One rider in our group fell over "clipped in" before we started out and damaged her gear shifter, so after a short try to do the course, she and a companion went home.

That left just two of us, myself and Sherry. Not too long after we went on, we came to a set of railroad tracks and one of the scariest crashes I have ever seen in person. To cross railroad tracks, especially when wet, one must angle the bike 90 degrees to the tracks, or the tires may catch and you will fall over.

When Sherry crossed, she caught a tire and went down on her left side really hard. Well, I keep talking about being "clipped in". When your feet are clipped to the pedals, you can't put out a foot to stop yourself from falling. Sherry is tall, and without the ability to put out a foot, her head whipped really hard into the ground with a crack. For an instant I thought she would be out cold and I'd be calling for an ambulance, but amazingly she bounced back. Wow! I checked on her a little bit later to make sure she didn't suffer any delayed concussion effects, but she seemed ok. Still, she is definitely going to need a new helmet. Another great reason to ALWAYS wear a your helmet when riding.

So the ride went on - Sherry is definitely the trooper after a crash like that. The rain slowed a bit, and we were able to enjoy the ride through the country. Lots of farm scenery and animals, lots of country roads, homes and the occasional church.

But there were also lots of hills. At about the halfway mark, I made the mistake of thinking (and even saying out loud) it would be downhill back to Elgin, but alas, that was not to be. The hills were not steep hills mind you, but just enough to put the burn into your legs. And for some strange reason, there seemed to be more up hills than down hills :)

But really the story of the ride was the rain, and still more rain. We were soaked through and still rode on, so good for us.

As I have never ridden 30 miles before, it was an educational ride for me, learning more about how much my body could do. Since this ride follows a 15 miler from yesterday, I feel very good that I can do the two days of the MS 150 and the two days of the Tour de Cure, but it still won't be easy. I can tell that I really have to train every day if I can to finish these events in good time and in good health.

Cheers boys!

42 days - 1st open road trip

Today I rode from Elgin, TX to Taylor, TX, a distance of about 15 miles, my first time on the "open road". This was an interesting ride for many reasons.

One, as we drove from Taylor to Elgin, checking to make sure there were safe enough side-shoulders to ride on, I couldn't help but notice we were going downhill, pretty much all the way. It did not occur to me until I got on the bike, that I would therefore be going uphill the whole way back. Painful error.

Two, no matter how hard the hills got, I seemed to be able to reach down and get new energy to power up the hills and keep going, so I was very happy about that. I certainly learned a lot about how my machine (my body) works, and learned the benefits of better pedaling, "clipped in".

Three, the use of a heart meter is invaulable in this exercise. I could tell when I hit the 170's (very near my max) that I was pushing the limits, and that it would take about 3-5 minutes to get back to a regular rhythm again. I generally stayed around heart rate 140-160 and about 15 MPH. The cadence meter went in and out and finally failed. When it worked, I was turning over mid to high 80's. Might have been a bit much. Really have to figure that meter out.

Four, the wind was in my face the whole way. Figures. But again, I survived it, so confidence is higher.

Five, I fell "clipped in" at the end. How embarrassing. The worst part, I had unclipped both feet, but somehow, unbelievably, when I put down my left foot towards the ground, my shoe caught the pedal and clipped back in! Honest! So I got a goodly bunch of gravel embedded in the skin of my left leg, which leads me to:

Six, I have finally shaved my legs for riding. I asked another rider why cyclers did this, and he told me "it's for when you crash - you can't treat any kind of road scrape until you shave the hair off, so you may as well do it before it happens - oh and by the way, it's gonna happen." Naturally, I thought it wouldn't happen to me. WRONG!

And Seven, the neatest thing about this ride, since it was my first on the open road, was my friend Kim driving behind me providing cover from the traffic. That helped incredibly, as it put my mind much more at ease. I was able to concentrate on learning about the bike, my meters, and myself. Very cool, thanks Kim!

So I can conclude from today, I have a much better idea of what it will take to do 150 miles in two days. It will not be easy, as it is all uphill from Houston to Austin. However, it's just 10 of the rides I just did, over two days. If I keep up a good training pace between now and then, I feel I can do it with no trouble. Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, I will be doing a 32 mile ride in the same area with the Austin Cycling Association. I will learn how well I recover from day to day. Gotta work out "the machine" to find out more about how it works!

Oh yeah, and the other interesting thing about the ride? Smelling the farm animals and road-kill-skunks for an hour straight. Pheeeeeeewwwwww.

Cheers boys. Chin up and take care, you have done well to support your mom.

43 days

Ok, maybe starting to get concerned. Got to get more time on the bike in.

Today I had a short ride in cold weather, so I really pushed hard to stay warm. Got heart rate up in the 150-165 range a few times pushing hard up the hills of Austin, and kept my speed up around 15MPH. Otherwise, discovered something important. I noticed the bike easily cruises at 15MPH turning over at a very easy cadence (speaking of which, the cadence meter is not working - hmmm...what did the bike shop do to it?).

What this means, is that if the terrain of the MS 150 ride is reasonable, it will be relatively easy to make each 10-15 mile segment last an hour or less. So now the 150 miles is really just a series of short rides with well taken rest stops in between.

This "series of short rides" was an idea my friend Craig suggested, and maybe I even mentioned this earlier in the blog. But now that I have ridden the bike enough, I feel the strategy will work quite well. So this helps guide the rest of the training strategy for the rides...build up strength and endurance to do many consecutive short rides. Big difference in training for short rides rather than an 80 mile straight through.

Although one worrying thing is the Tour de Cure in the following month. That's through Texas Hill Country. Ouch!

Also, had my first panic attack trying to get my feet out of the clips. Tried to "pull up" instead of "twist out" when stopping, and at the last minute bumped not too gently into a piece of wood in my garage to stop. No harm done, and probably a good lesson to learn now. TWIST OUT to bail!!!

Miss you boys! Can't wait to see you at Spring Break!

45 days

More treadmill and activities here at altitude, about 9,000 feet. Snowboarded and played volleyball. I am hoping some good oxygen VO2 and aerobic stuff will come of this. We'll see. As soon as I get back to Austin, on the road with the bike.

Getting lots of stuff from the different charities, time is closing in for the MS 150, and it's only another 30 days after that for the Tour de Cure. Gotta get training harder than I've been so far.

Big disappointment with the kids, couldn't get to go see them because they had some unfortunate family things happen. Bummer all around.