Here I am arriving home from my last ride in Florida before I have to leave tomorrow morning at 6:00am to return home to VA.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
My last ride in Florida
Here I am arriving home from my last ride in Florida before I have to leave tomorrow morning at 6:00am to return home to VA.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sebring 12 hour Ultra Cycling/ RAAM Qualifier 2008
The race ran from 6:30am til 6:30pm so it started in the dark and ended at dusk. Since we would be starting in the dark the race began on the Sebring International Raceway. It is a road course with a total of 17 turns on the flat 3.7 mile course.
We would be on the raceway for 3 laps and that would give us just enough time that the sun would be starting to rise and then we would head out onto the road. The Raceway was awesome to ride on. It was really fast and it was fun to ride on a closed course. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you could maintain 22-25mph on the raceway with barely any power output because of how smooth and flat it was. By the time we headed off of the raceway I was already the first double diamond bike in the 12 hour race. There was a guy competing in the 24 hour race who was off ahead of me and there were about 8 recumbent. I can understand that the recumbent bikes were more aero than I, and figured that they would be out front by themselves but the guy riding the road bike with clip-on aerobars was just a machine.
He stayed ahead of me for the entire 12 hours and was still going strong into the night. After we finished the 3 laps on the race way we had to complete a large 89 mile loop in the surrounding countryside. The course was extremely well marked and there was never a question if you were headed in the correct direction. It was rolling hills through orange groves and there wasn't much traffic to speak of.
There was very little wind in the morning, which was unfortunate because it would have been at our backs the whole way to the first checkpoint/turn-around point. I had 4 bottles of Accelerade and a whole bunch of Gel so I didn't need to stop at the turn-around, just gave them my number and kept moving. I figured I could make it to the second checkpoint (at 80 miles) in about 4 hours and that would be right about when I needed a bottle refill.
The checkpoint only ended up being at the 76 mile point and I was ahead of schedule so it only took 3.5 hours to get there so I ended up with Accelerade to spare. After a quick bottle change I was back of the bike and straight into a headwind. It started off weak and then eventually picked up a little. I ended up riding into it for about the next 10-15 miles or so. I had to keep telling myself not to try and fight it too much because I still had 8.5 hours to ride. The nice thing was that after we made the final turn of the first large loop we got to finish the loop with 5-10 miles of tailwind. After completing the large loop we returned to the entrance to the raceway which would serve as a turn-around point for the shorter 13 mile laps that we would be riding for the rest of the day.
I decided that I would head out for one lap on the 13 mile loop and then do a bike change to a road bike, just to allow myself to stretch and change the muscle groups that I had been using. I used the road bike for the following 2 laps. These 2 laps were a dark time of the race for me. I felt horrible and questioned whether I would even be able to finish. It was at this point that the guy on a recumbent, with whom I was riding earlier in the day came by and reminded me that there were always bad times in ultra cycling events and that I just needed to ride through it and eventually I would feel better. I guess that is true since eventually you will either feel better on the bike or the race will be over and then you will feel better off of the bike.
Then decided that the wind was getting to be too much and that my TT bike was much better suited to the task of the gently rolling course. When I mention that there were hills on the course I feel that I should explain that these are only hills by Florida standards. With a little effort you could ride up them 23-25mpg and were never slowed below 15mph even if you soft pedaled the hill. The wind became a much bigger problem than the hills ever were. The switch back to my TT bike was the last bke switch of the day for me. first, because it was better suited for the job at hand; second, because I didn't want to have to keep changing timing chips between bikes; and third, because I was so tired that my arms felt like Jello and resting them in the aerobars felt nice. After this point I was figuring in my head how many laps I would be able to complete before the end of the race and I was just counting down to the finish. At some point I switched from Accelerade to Gatorade just for some variety and I made the change from all gel to some oranges, bananas and grapes. After 5 short laps I made the decision only to stop every other lap because this saved me some time and it gave me something to look forward to. At one pit stop my mother was dumping water on me to cool me down and I kept yelling at her that it was freezing and she kept answering that it was lukewarm water so I guess my perception of reality was gone by that point. On lap nine I knew that I could easily complete 2 more laps but there was no way I would have enough time for 3 so I rode with a guy on a hand cycle who was out to break the world record for distance in 24 hours. I let him draft off of me for the whole lap but it took longer than expected so I had to hammer the last lap and that would prove to be my downfall. After riding for 11hours and 35 minutes it was in my last 15 minutes of riding that my stomach shut down and it would remain that way for the next day and a half. At the pit after I finished my last lap, I had to have one person hold the bike and another person hold me because I couldn't lift my leg over the bike by myself and I almost did a face plant into the dirt or the palm tree we were standing beside. Waiting just over an hour for the award ceremony was torture because I was nauseated and freezing (in 60* weather, it had cooled down from 85* during the day). I ended up finishing first in my age group and first double diamond frame with a total of 232.5 miles on the day. I don't care if Florida is flat, that is still a long way. It was fun (sort-of) and now it is check off of my to do list. I don't think I'll be attempting anything like this again anytime soon.
(Ahhhhh, finally finished)
Here I am with my great pit crew
Look mom, I won!
****24 hour results
We would be on the raceway for 3 laps and that would give us just enough time that the sun would be starting to rise and then we would head out onto the road. The Raceway was awesome to ride on. It was really fast and it was fun to ride on a closed course. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you could maintain 22-25mph on the raceway with barely any power output because of how smooth and flat it was. By the time we headed off of the raceway I was already the first double diamond bike in the 12 hour race. There was a guy competing in the 24 hour race who was off ahead of me and there were about 8 recumbent. I can understand that the recumbent bikes were more aero than I, and figured that they would be out front by themselves but the guy riding the road bike with clip-on aerobars was just a machine.
He stayed ahead of me for the entire 12 hours and was still going strong into the night. After we finished the 3 laps on the race way we had to complete a large 89 mile loop in the surrounding countryside. The course was extremely well marked and there was never a question if you were headed in the correct direction. It was rolling hills through orange groves and there wasn't much traffic to speak of.
There was very little wind in the morning, which was unfortunate because it would have been at our backs the whole way to the first checkpoint/turn-around point. I had 4 bottles of Accelerade and a whole bunch of Gel so I didn't need to stop at the turn-around, just gave them my number and kept moving. I figured I could make it to the second checkpoint (at 80 miles) in about 4 hours and that would be right about when I needed a bottle refill.
The checkpoint only ended up being at the 76 mile point and I was ahead of schedule so it only took 3.5 hours to get there so I ended up with Accelerade to spare. After a quick bottle change I was back of the bike and straight into a headwind. It started off weak and then eventually picked up a little. I ended up riding into it for about the next 10-15 miles or so. I had to keep telling myself not to try and fight it too much because I still had 8.5 hours to ride. The nice thing was that after we made the final turn of the first large loop we got to finish the loop with 5-10 miles of tailwind. After completing the large loop we returned to the entrance to the raceway which would serve as a turn-around point for the shorter 13 mile laps that we would be riding for the rest of the day.
I decided that I would head out for one lap on the 13 mile loop and then do a bike change to a road bike, just to allow myself to stretch and change the muscle groups that I had been using. I used the road bike for the following 2 laps. These 2 laps were a dark time of the race for me. I felt horrible and questioned whether I would even be able to finish. It was at this point that the guy on a recumbent, with whom I was riding earlier in the day came by and reminded me that there were always bad times in ultra cycling events and that I just needed to ride through it and eventually I would feel better. I guess that is true since eventually you will either feel better on the bike or the race will be over and then you will feel better off of the bike.
Then decided that the wind was getting to be too much and that my TT bike was much better suited to the task of the gently rolling course. When I mention that there were hills on the course I feel that I should explain that these are only hills by Florida standards. With a little effort you could ride up them 23-25mpg and were never slowed below 15mph even if you soft pedaled the hill. The wind became a much bigger problem than the hills ever were. The switch back to my TT bike was the last bke switch of the day for me. first, because it was better suited for the job at hand; second, because I didn't want to have to keep changing timing chips between bikes; and third, because I was so tired that my arms felt like Jello and resting them in the aerobars felt nice. After this point I was figuring in my head how many laps I would be able to complete before the end of the race and I was just counting down to the finish. At some point I switched from Accelerade to Gatorade just for some variety and I made the change from all gel to some oranges, bananas and grapes. After 5 short laps I made the decision only to stop every other lap because this saved me some time and it gave me something to look forward to. At one pit stop my mother was dumping water on me to cool me down and I kept yelling at her that it was freezing and she kept answering that it was lukewarm water so I guess my perception of reality was gone by that point. On lap nine I knew that I could easily complete 2 more laps but there was no way I would have enough time for 3 so I rode with a guy on a hand cycle who was out to break the world record for distance in 24 hours. I let him draft off of me for the whole lap but it took longer than expected so I had to hammer the last lap and that would prove to be my downfall. After riding for 11hours and 35 minutes it was in my last 15 minutes of riding that my stomach shut down and it would remain that way for the next day and a half. At the pit after I finished my last lap, I had to have one person hold the bike and another person hold me because I couldn't lift my leg over the bike by myself and I almost did a face plant into the dirt or the palm tree we were standing beside. Waiting just over an hour for the award ceremony was torture because I was nauseated and freezing (in 60* weather, it had cooled down from 85* during the day). I ended up finishing first in my age group and first double diamond frame with a total of 232.5 miles on the day. I don't care if Florida is flat, that is still a long way. It was fun (sort-of) and now it is check off of my to do list. I don't think I'll be attempting anything like this again anytime soon.
(Ahhhhh, finally finished)
Here I am with my great pit crew
Look mom, I won!
Me with professional triathlete Sven Folmer from Australia (he got second place)
****12 hour results****24 hour results
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Friday, February 08, 2008
Digital Rebel XTi
Today I got my Cannon Digital Rebel XTi in the mail. This is an upgrade from my other camera, the Cannon Digital Rebel. This really has nothing to do with bikes except most of my race pics will probably be taken with it (that makes this post on topic with bikes).
Anyway, less than a week until I race at Sebring, FL. I'm doing the 12 hour race. Since my longest ride this year was only 112 miles and 5.5 hours long, 12 hours may be a bit of a stretch but it should be fun. I'm sure it will make for good stories in nothing else.
Anyway, less than a week until I race at Sebring, FL. I'm doing the 12 hour race. Since my longest ride this year was only 112 miles and 5.5 hours long, 12 hours may be a bit of a stretch but it should be fun. I'm sure it will make for good stories in nothing else.
Friday, January 25, 2008
19* and sunny
Who says 19 degrees is too cold to ride? I do! I spent 3 1/2 hours riding in it today. I actually started riding away from the sun and at the 4 mile mark of my ride I turned around and headed home. After turning into the sun I warmed up a little, just enough to make me reconsider and turn back around to finish the ride. It was weird because from then on I was never all that cold. It did start to warm up a bit, it was a balmy 30* by the end of the ride. Just because it doesn't snow much in VA and it is possible to ride most of the winter doesn't necessarily mean that you should.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
More trainer miles:-(
I was on the trainer for another 2 hours today doing intervals at right below LT power. Start with a 10 minute warm up. Then 8 minutes on/ 2 minutes off and repeat x9. Finally finish it off with one final 10 minute interval and then a 10 minute cool down. I was suffering by the end but hopefully it will help out later on this summer (or even next month with a killer 12 hour effort).
Sunday, January 20, 2008
2 hour trainer ride
It was a fairly nice day outside. Very sunny but also very cold so I was inside on the trainer today. It's been a while since I was on the the trainer for 2 consecutive hours (with my trip to Fl helping me get some longer time on the bike). The first hour were intervals and the second hour was just a prolonged steady effort. Isn't it great that a bad day of riding inside on the trainer is still better than a good day doing other stuff. Think happy thoughts, Spring is right around the corner!
Friday, January 18, 2008
2 weeks in Ft. Myers, FL
I just got back Tuesday from being in Florida for 2 weeks. It wasn't really a training camp but it may as well have been. I really had no plans so basically all I did was ride and rest. On Sunday I got to ride the Tour de Cape (tour of Cape Coral). It wasn't a race, it was a 100 mile bicycle tour of the city. Someone should have told everyone else that it wasn't a race. I started in a really fast group and we covered the first 44 miles in 1hr 40min. We had a really nice pace line going until some guys on recumbents got in. The fact that they were was really no problem except that I got stuck behind them in the pace line for about two trips through so I basically had no break from the wind, and POP there I go off the back. Then I was on my own and that was a bad thing because the course wasn't marked correctly. So, I got lost and ended up making a big circle and would have done it again but I ran into another group being led by a police man in a Dodge Charger. I rode with them for a while but they were moving a little too slow for my tastes so I powered on ahead. The Charger stayed with me and the rest of the group was left with another cop on a motorcycle. Then at some point I was joined by another police SUV. So for the last 30 miles I had my very own 2 police car escort. I was really cool, they were stopping traffic at all of the intersections and I got to blow right through. I ended up riding 112 miles in a little over 5 hours. Riding in Florida is alot different. You get to ride faster because of no hills but I sure did miss resting on the downhills. Anyway, It was a great time and I'm ready for my next trip to Florida in February.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
62* and sunny in Ft. Meyers
It's 62 degrees and sunny here this morning. Today is supposed to be around 78-80* this afternoon. I've been getting in 50 miles each day I've been here so far. I've done one loop on my TT bike where I just kill myself for the entire thing and then when I get home I get on the road bike and head back for another 25 easy miles with my Dad. The second 25 miles feels really good after the first 25 that are completely miserable.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy New Year!
Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I'm off to Florida on Wednesday for 2 weeks of riding and basic goofing off. Race season starts soon so I hope all of you have been riding. Unless of course you are in any of my races, in which case I hope you haven't been training and have taken up competitive dough nut eating for the off season.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Nice day for a ride;-)
I was in PA over the weekend to visit my parents and here is their Christmas tree.
Today was 73* and sunny in beautiful Waynesboro, VA. I got up early because there is a chance of rain this afternoon. I left at about 9:15a.m. for a ride up to Bridgewater and back. About 58 miles of rolling country side, a little less than 3 hours, 4 bottles of Accelerade, and 1 gel packet later I was home. It was a really nice day for a ride. Not exactly the December I'm used to.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Who says getting hit by a car doesn't pay?
Well here it is, my new TT bike. Still getting things adjusted to fit so there will still be many changes coming. Yesterday I was planning on a 60 mile ride to help the fitting process and 10 mile into it my chain snapped. I really wasn't looking forward to the walk home and luckily I didn't have to. I got some great help from Keven Sweeney, a local cyclist. First he offered to go home and get me a chain tool, which was great of him. Unfortunately he had one of those folding chain tools that never seem to work quite right so I couldn't get the chain fixed. Then he offered to drive me home. I got the chain fixed easily once I was at home and had access to my work stand and tools.
Now to a larger issue. It may be difficult to believe but I've had more broken chains this year than flat tires so it's time to add a new tool to my saddle bag.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Trainer ride today
I spent 2 hours on the trainer today on my new TT bike. After words I went outside and realized it was actually about 60* and even with the rain I could have ridden outside quite comfortably. Oh well, the trainer ride was probably a better use of my training time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
