SO, YOU WANT TO GET FASTER (BETTER)?

But first, a digression.  Those folks with whom I ride probably are not aware that I am a very picky bike companion.  If you have poor bike handling skills, are not respectful of traffic, or are habitually late or perennially slow, I won't ride with you.  Of course, I give new riders some slack, but it only takes a few rides to improve.  

Because I also race, much of my time is training.  Even on group rides, like the Trek week-end rides, I find some sections to get in a bit of training.  Winter time is the beginning of training and I am looking to get faster than I was last year, as the competition will be stiffer (faster guys are moving into my age category).  With that in mind, I was looking for a group that is faster than me, but at the same time willing to let me hang with them without dropping me.  I don't really like being the slowest rider in the group, but if they are willing to put up with me, I'll try to get faster.  This is my pearl of wisdom to you: ride with faster riders.  It's not necessary to continue reading, I'm just going to relate a few previous rides.

Earlier this year, I rode with Tom who leads a ride out of Pflugerville for Bike Austin (https://rides.bikeaustin.org/).  This was recommended to me by Sherry, who does the Trek rides plus others.  This was longer than what I had been doing (47 miles) and I struggled, but mostly kept up for the first 35 miles, then needed to be paced.  It wasn't like I was really far behind, they had to wait at the turns for maybe a minute.  I thanked Tom for the ride and that I'd be back later in the year.  Then I increased my long rides to 50+, at my pace, in order to increase my stamina.

This Tuesday I rejoined Tom and as it turned out, it was the same route as a few months earlier.  This time I lasted until the last few miles, which turned out to be against the wind.  For my effort Training Peaks gave me two gold medals, for 60 second heart rate (132) and 90 second heart rate (130).  Strava gave me two PR's.  I took Wednesday off.  But I was back again on Thursday, with a different route, but still over 50 miles.

The route was Pflugerville to Weir and back (different return roads), 52.7 miles.  Chilly start with a slight NW breeze, forecasted to stay that way.  There were ten of us, all experienced riders.  Tom led the way at a brisk pace.  After a longish break in Weir, we started back.  Although, we continued north for a short time until turning east.  It was a relief to get the NW wind, now more than a breeze, at our back.  I occurred to me that I was enjoying the wind at my back a bit too much.  Sure enough, once we turned south, it seemed like the wind was now WNW.  Not as much help as I'd hoped.  I dropped back a bit on the hill out of Jonah, but when we turned east on CR 101 I held my own in the 17mph range.  Sadly, the turn south had me dropping back.  The wind was a bother most of the whole way back and I was looking for a broad back to hide behind, mostly Steve who was doing sweep duties.  BTW, there were three of us he was helping.

Bottom line: if you want to get faster, go with riders who are faster and be prepared to work a whole lot harder than when you ride by yourself.  For this ride, Training Peaks once again gave me gold medals in the last 90 days,  for 60 minute HR (133) and 90 minute HR (132) plus 60 minute power (138) and 90 minute power (129).  The HR numbers are good, about the same as when I did Nationals in August.  The power numbers are weak, about 30 watts lower than August, and 60 watts lower than what they should be.  Part of that is the wind.  

 

OKLAHOMA SENIOR GAMES

 Some background: Several years ago I determined that I'd cycled in forty-three States, none of which were the ones adjacent to Texas.  To remedy that I turned to Velo View Bike Tours and took trips to New Mexico and Arkansas.  Then, on a trip to New Orleans, we took my bike and I did a thirty-three mile ride on the levee.  That left Oklahoma.  I'd been ignoring my partner, Dean, when every year for fifteen years he would ask me to join him at Fort Sill.  This year I finally made it, though without Dean who crashed a few years ago and is no longer riding.

The first thing I liked about going was the very inexpensive registration.  When I looked at the course maps, I liked the very straight out-and-back designs and minimal elevation change.  Getting on to Ft. Sill was easy once you filled out the request online.  I didn't particularly like having to race after doing the Texas Road Race Championships, which is traditionally the last race of the year.  But this would put a pin in cycling in Oklahoma.  I also didn't fancy going on I35, especially on Texas-OU weekend.  Therefore we took 183/281/44 to Lawton, seeing very few cars.

The weather turned out quite nice, but with a chilly start.  The 9:00 44k and 22k road race ran simultaneously, but different routes.  It looked like thirteen guys for the 44k and ten for the 22k.  The 44k started first.  After a decent interval, I started with the 22k guys.  This would be eleven kilometers out, with some inclines (not steep enough to be called hills), against a moderate breeze.  I planned to find a big back and hide behind him on the way out.  As it happened, one very strong guy immediately took the lead followed by another who had the type of back I looked for.  One other rider came behind me, but the other six were gapped and were soon left behind.  I hung with them for the first couple of climbs, but on the third one, at about three and a half miles, they finally dropped me.  Without my escort, speed dropped 3mph.  At the much anticipated turn-around, I could judge the third place guy to be about a minute and a half in front of me and the fifth place guy about the same behind me.

It took around twenty-six minutes going out and twenty coming back.  Unfortunately, the guy behind me came on strong and overtook me about a mile from the finish.  I came in fifth, about ten seconds out of fourth, but first in my age group.  We now had a two hour wait before the time trials.  

Another thing I liked about the setup here, they had chipped numbers to attach to the seat post and none to put on your jersey.  I unloaded the TT bike and switched the number, then loaded the Emonda back in the car.  By the way, I warmed up and raced in my tights (under 65 degrees cover the knees) and wind jacket.  The jersey had long sleeves.  The temperature hovered around 55 in the shade and 60 in the sun, which only hit a few spots this early.  I brought chairs, but since we parked within yards of the start/finish line and registration canopy, the car seats were more comfy and warm.

The time trials were a unique format, one I really liked.  The 5k racers would go out the same road we had in the 22k race.  At the end of 5k they would just continue, at a reduced, no-racing, pace to the start of the 10k, which was an additional 5k.  The 10k would take them back to the original start/finish line.  If you only wanted to do the 5k, you would just turn around and noodle on back to your car.  I think only one person did that, and no one did only the 10k.

The order of the race was youngest first, so I came last.  As it turned out, there was another gentleman who wasn't on the registered list.  He was last.  He was also in the 80-84 category and in talking to him later, his birthday in March of 1942 put him older than me.  For a relatively flat course, I found myself changing gears a lot.  Cadence and heart-rate were quite steady.  My time and speed were not particularly impressive, but the finish time was good enough for fifth overall, and, of course, first place in my age group.  We had about a half hour to hang out at the 10k start.  They had a few chairs and refreshments.  

I did well in the 10k, it being downhill with the wind mostly at my back.  I held considerably faster speed, averaged 22.4 mph, and for the third time was first in age group and fifth overall.  But an interesting stat, which I've known for years, is that I could hold my heart-rate five beats higher going with the wind than against it and cadence was up five rpm.  That is, I worked harder going downhill than up. 

The awards ceremony took a bit longer than anticipated, but we wrapped up and were on the road home by 3pm, once again utilizing 281/183 and avoiding the disappointed Texas fans who clogged I35. 

   

CHANGING OUT A TUBE

 Tubes may becoming obsolete, but we had two flats on today's ride, both of which pointed to something I had blogged about earlier.  Craig had a run-of-the-mill flat and shortly thereafter I had a spectacular one.  First, here is what I blogged on 8/29/22:

 My friend, Randy, at Natchez Trace Travel asked me to jot down a few tips on what to take when doing the Trace, or any other ride for that matter. He advises these will be on his website next week. While cycling this morning, it occurred to me that I had seen many riders, whom I considered experienced, flumoxed when it came to a simple tire change. In my tips, I assume good changing abilities, but to cover myself, I'll expand on the tire/tube changing experience. 

     The three most common causes of flats are: 1) Tube malfunction, e.g. the stem leaks; 2) Pinch flat, caused when you hit a hole or rock and the tire momentarily allows the tube to crash against the rim, resulting in two holes that look like a snake bite; 3) Puncture, as when glass, nail or staple, or sharp rock, penetrates the tire and tube. I shan't mention operator error, when you goof up when installing the tube. We will assume this was done correctly. If you are going on a long ride, like the 444 miles of the Natchez Trace, put new tubes in before you go, practically eliminating cause #1. Keep your tires properly inflated, thus minimizing cause #2. Use a product like Tire Tuffy, minimizing cause #3. 

     But, things happen. Let's assume you are cycling along (not racing) and a flat occurs. Here is what you do: 1. Find a safe and comfortable place (as best you can) to work. 2. Remove the wheel (we all hope it is the front, but it usually is the rear). 3. Remove and arrange your tire changing tools and the spare tube (I use new tubes on the road, patched at home, as this cuts down on the frustration of a installing a defective tube and having to start over). 4. Before doing anything else, inspect the tire to determine the source of the flat. If found, mark the spot with the chalk you carry in your saddle pack. 5. Release one side of the tire, pull out the tube, again marking the tube at the site of the puncture before completely removing it. (I'm assuming knowledge of tire lever usage) 6. Run your fingers (slowly) around the inside of the tire, with special attention to the chalked area, to find the pin, glass etc. that caused the puncture. You may have to remove the tire completely and turn it inside-out in order to find and remove the offending object. I saw one person go through 3 tubes before an experienced traveler interceded and found the glass. Don't skip this step, even if you removed the nail (for instance) from the outside. It is an opportunity to inspect the whole tire. Once satisfied all is clean, move to the next step. 7. Blow a little air into the tube, enough to give it a round shape (maybe 10 pounds). This makes it easier to move out of the way when re-installing the tire. Be sure one side of the tire is already in place before putting in the tube. 8. Be very careful not to catch a piece of the tube with the tire lever when putting on the tire. This will cause a pinch-flat before you even get started. That is also why you put some air in the tire first. 9. After the tire is re-installed, with hands about 3 inches apart, pinch the tire away from the rim, visually making sure the tube didn't sneak out under the tire bead, all the way round the tire. This only takes about 30 seconds and is very important. 10. Air up the tire half-way. Inspect again for bulges or the tube not being inside the tire. 11. Air it up completely. You are finished, except for cleaning up and putting the wheel back on. 

    Forcing yourself to take the time to go through all the steps will result in much less frustration and only adds a few minutes to the whole operation. Occasionally you will receive a gaping hole in the tire, usually a nail or staple. Simply installing a new tube is inadequate, in that when inflated, it will push through the hole in the tire. I carry a 3 inch section of old tire (called a boot) in my saddle pack, and put this over the hole between the tire and tube. This works quite well, especially when the hole is in the sidewall, although each revolution of the tire produces a slight (annoying) bump. I also carry some duct tape and a small section of this over the inside of the tire also works well. In an emergency, paper currency will work, as will a mylar candy wrapper.  Park Tool sells a nice one which is less bulky than a section of old tire.

In Craig's case, while he was getting a new tube, Ray ran his fingers around the inside of the tire and found a small wire which had penetrated tire and tube.  Had he not done this and Craig inserted the tube to inflate it, he would have punched a hole in the new tube.  In my case, whatever I hit blew out the tube, leaving a sizeable whole in it and also took out some of the tire.  I have faithfully carried a boot in my saddle pack for twenty-plus years and have only needed it twice, counting today.  Once Ray got it and the new tube installed, it worked fine.  And since we were on rather rough roads, the bump caused by the boot was not as pronounced as it would have been on smooth asphalt.

2023 STATE ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS, FT HOOD (CAVAZOS)

This post starts at the awards ceremony for the USAC Nationals in Augusta.  Marilane and I were sitting with Fred (I've written about Fred for years) and his wife and a few other members of Fred's team, Geri Atrix.  Since I regularly am on the podium, Susan asked why I wasn't on their team.  I replied that I'd never been invited.  A few days later I received the invitation, which was quickly accepted.  Team leader, Whitney, opened a purchase window with Voler so I (and others) could order a team kit.  Besides individual awards, Geri Atrix won Best All-around Team.  Whitney did some minor changes to the jersey, including putting Best All-around Team 2023 on the back.  But these wouldn't be shipped until late October.  Wanting me to look part of the team, Whitney said he had a loaner jersey I could wear at Ft. Hood.  

I'd taken a few preview rides this year, both had strong south winds.  Both giving me times in the 2:25 range.  I hoped for a north wind, but alas, it was even stronger out of the south.  When I first started racing here, we raced in the afternoon.  This year our start time was 7:50am.  We were scheduled to start with the 60+ guys, but enough of us 70+ signed up that race director, Andy, gave us our own group and a five minute delay behind the young guys.

I need to give a shout out to Andy Hollinger.  His race-directed events are always well run.  This year's race is called the Bill Weidlein Memorial honoring a longtime race assistant who was killed while riding his bike.  All of the races honored deceased cyclists, most of whom were hit by cars.  We were reminded of this at the start, then Andy just said "roll on out" or words to that effect.  No count down or Go!, just roll out.  It took about a hundred yards to get into some racing semblance, and I had a fleeting hope that we could go at a reasonable pace.  Didn't happen.  I hung on while we were going downhill but once it flattened out, I was gapped and they were putting the hammer down.  

One guy with a neck brace on passed me so only Fred was behind.  In past races I was always ahead of Fred up to the first big climb, would be first off the climb, and then he would either catch me soon after or maybe after the turn, but would always catch me.  Well, we got to the climb and I caught neck brace and put maybe a minute into him.  At the turn, 15 miles, I didn't see him so figured maybe two minutes.

Now I had 15 miles into a headwind, not to mention some long climbs and a couple of steep climbs.  On one of the long straights, I thought I saw a rider.  I was twenty watts (or more) low and only doing eighty rpm's, and when I inventoried my energy, I concluded there was no way to up anything.  With about eight miles left, neck brace passed.  I tagged on for awhile, but couldn't hold his wheel.  With a mile and a half before the turn out of the wind, I could see him just topping the last steep climb as I started up.  Finally the turn came and I relaxed a bit.  I'd been passed by the really young guys who had to do two laps, and now a few of those stragglers starting passing me.  I kept checking the mirrors for Fred, but he never materialized.  He's finally slowing down more than me.

I'm not happy with my time or performance.  I wasn't able to access my leg strength, for whatever reason.  I'll ponder that for the next few months.  What I am happy about is being on the Geri Atrix team.  For this race there were 12 registered riders, but only 11 raced.  7 of them were Geri Atrix.  Andy really likes us old guys.  Even though the official registration was for 70+ he expanded the awards to do 75-79 and 80+.  The results were 70-74, Tom and George 1st and 2nd; 75-79 Whitney and Tom 1st and 2nd; 80+ Jerry and Fred 1st and 2nd. 

My history of racing Ft Hood:

2010  1:59:13

2012  1:41:51

2013  1:43:16

2014  1:49:03    

2015  1:54:43

2019  2:15:55

2023  2:17:02

CLIMBING ACHIEVEMENTS

 Awhile back someone asked me if I had cycled up "can't remember the name" mountain.  The answer was "yes" but it got me to thinking of all the mountains I've been on.  And as I listed them out, some of the other significant climbs that weren't mountains came to mind.  I'm sure I've blogged about all of them, but this post is a list of those adventures.  

The first group was on the Cycle Washington ride.  Then we took our first cycling vacation to Vermont.  Next came Cycle Montana and our #1 tourist destination, Glacier National Park.  Bicycling Magazine listed their top Ten roads in North America and I planned to do five of them in one trip.  The Koocanusa Highway is pretty, and it does go up, but not like a mountain, so it didn't make the list.  The Kananaskis Highway in Canada was a possibility that didn't pan out.  On the way home from Montana I cycled the West Summit in the Beartooth Mountains and Rim Rock Drive, Utah.    The West Summit was an up-back ride.  I planned to ride clockwise on Rim Rock, giving me a relatively short climb and long descent, but ended up counter-clockwise resulting in a long climb but thrilling descent.  In 2001 I cycled coast-to-coast.  Later, after retiring, I went with Marty Jemison on two Tour de France trips and rode in the Pyrenees and Alpes.  

I've ridden the Blue Ridge Parkway three times, once with Black Bear Adventures, once with friends, once by myself.  Each time, I climbed Mount Mitchell.  On a New England vacation I cycled up Cadillac Mountain (but didn't make it to Mount Washington).  I put some books on consignment in the bookstore in Leadville.  The ride down Independence Pass was cool.  I've cycled up to the McDonald Observatory once, and stopped a bit short on another occasion.  Velo View Tours allowed me the opportunity to ascend Bobcat Pass.  I made it up three-quarters of the Flagstaff climb in Colorado before needing to stop.  Which is why it isn't on my list of places climbed.

Brasstown Bald is the highest point in Georgia at 4,784, although the parking lot, which is as high as a bike can go, is 4,593.  This is two and a half miles, with a couple of 16% ramps and a 24% ramp.  I guess because it goes by "Bald" instead of mountain, I didn't list it, or the six gaps that I do in Georgia.  So I'll list them now: Wolfpen Gap (3,260, three mile climb); Woody Gap (3,160, five mile climb); Neel's Gap (3,091 eight mile climb); Unicoi Gap (2,949 3 mile climb); Jack's Gap (2,940 five mile climb); Hogpen Gap (3,525, ten mile climb).  My highest speed was 49.x going down a long straight on Hogpen.  It is almost as strenuous as Brasstown Bald.

Climbing a mountain is not like climbing a hill.  I have one day of hills that stands out, and is mentioned here: On the coast-to-coast trip, from Chillicothe, Missouri to Kirksville it is only 82 miles, but we pushed up 214 hills.

Nowadays going up takes a lot more effort, but I haven't lost the thrill of descending.

USA CYCLING NATIONALS, AUGUSTA 2023

 To be clear, I race in the 80-84 age category.  Racing in August in Augusta may have prompted some competitors to stay home and avoid the oppressive heat and humidity.  But we begin this adventure seven weeks prior, after a short setup.

Plan A, formulated in January,  was to race Senior Games in Pittsburg, visit family in Maryland, vacation and ride the great gaps in North Georgia (based in Suches), come home and prep for Augusta, then drive to Augusta.  Because the Pittsburg folks couldn't decide on a racing venue until after regular registration closed, I decided this would be a poorly run race, so we cancelled reservations and we didn't go.  We also skipped Maryland.  The dates for the Augusta races were finally announced, and rather than drive from Suches home then turn around and drive back we would just extend our stay and make the short jump from Suches to Augusta.  Therefore we left home six weeks before racing.

I was doing my last time trial training on Great Northern and was twenty minutes into a one hour workout and pushing 20 mph.  Great Northern is a mecca for cyclists and runners.  I was coming up on a runner who decided to cross the street.  She turned left and I turned right to miss her.  She then did a "squirrel maneuver" and reversed course right in front of me.  It was a frightful collision.  I'll spare you the details, we both came out battered and bruised but with no broken bones.   The bike was ok, except the left shifter looked a little wonky, so I took it to the bike shop for evaluation and tune up before going to get myself cleaned up.

Later that afternoon the bike shop called.  It seems my fifteen year old bike's Zipp wheel (front) has a hub that had been recalled.  In good conscience, they could not give it back to me and had to send it off to replace the hub.  I brought them my road bike wheel so they could complete their tune-up, which they did the next day, Saturday.  Tuesday we left for Suches.

I had a fine time riding the gaps and enjoying the mild temperature.  But I learned quickly enough that the five years since our last vacation here had taken a toll on my muscles and cardio.  I had to forego even attempting Brasstown Bald (I've written extensively about this in the past) and restricted my riding to the lesser, but still challenging, gaps.  The problem with being in the mountains is there aren't any flat sections of any length.  While I was riding a lot, none of it was fine-tuning my racing chops.  I finally hit on a relatively flat place to practice time trialing, the parking lot at Brasstown Bald.  The three practice sessions I did there were mainly to stay in the tuck and acceleration drills.

Nationals consist of three races: 20k time trial, 40k road race, 45 minute criterium.  It occurred to me that I might need some out-of-saddle accelerations in the criterium, so I used a short flatish section not far from our cabin to practice.  What that practice told me was that I had one 15-second acceleration in my legs and no more.  It was too late to build them up.  I would have to stay seated and hope that would be sufficient.

My races were on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.  The para racers were scheduled mostly on Wednesday, thus I wanted to preview the course on Tuesday.  As it turned out, Tuesday at 1pm had temperatures in the triple digits according to my Garmin.  In any case, there are numerous hills and it took 66 minutes to complete the 14.7 mile course and I was completely worn out.  I had planned to also preview the TT course but put that off until after the races on Wednesday.  

There were only four guys in my age group for the time trial.  One, Don, I'd raced against in Florida and was faster and one, George, was new to me and had no history with USA Cycling.  The third guy, Durwood, is so much faster than everyone that his first place was assured.  As it turned out, Don was a no-show and George started 30 seconds in front of me.  The course starts flat then has a steep downhill (7-9%).  The entire course is rolling, some steeper than others and is out and back.  Because of the downhill, Durwood didn't catch me until mile two or so which is about the time I caught George.  So he passed both of us at about the same time.  I averaged 19.1 mph with 35.5 on the steep downhill and about 8 going back up.  My heart rate of 144 was right where it should have been at 92% of maximum.  Durwood beat me by four and a half minutes and I was ahead of George by about five minutes.

There were five guys doing the road race, which turned out to be 47k.  As we were called to the start line, I saw George but couldn't see the other two.  I don't even worry about Durwood.  This course goes in the opposite direction of the time trial, but the start is similar in that it is flatish then a steep downhill.  Then comes a really long, steep uphill.  I need to back up a little.  Even though there were only five in my age group, for the road race and criterium, we are grouped with the 70-74, 75-79, and 80+ riders.  This makes for a pretty big group, all but two of which are stronger and faster than me.  In any case, it is incumbent to go all out on that first climb in order to stay with the peleton.  My high speed of 41.3 came on the downhill.  About three-quarters of the way up, I got gapped and by the time we topped the hill and made the turn, they were gone.  There were a half dozen riders behind me, and I hoped they included my competitors.  The support vehicles came around, including the ambulance.  Another rider and I hopped on behind and we almost caught the peleton, which had slowed.  Another incline had us dropping back.  I also lost my companion on this climb.

My guardian angel was looking after me.  Up ahead I could see a couple of riders dropped from the peleton and it was obvious from their posture that they had given up racing and were in cruise mode.  Cruise or not, it was about my speed.  One of the riders had on the pink and black Geri Atrix team jersey.  This team is based in Waco and I know most of the riders.  After a mile and a half of exertion, I finally caught up to them and announced my presence.  It turned out that the Geri Atrix rider was Tom Hall and Tom and I have raced each other for years.  When I said I needed to draft awhile and wanted to put a little distance between myself and the guy following me (about a quarter of a mile back), Tom said he'd give me a pull.  So I hopped on his wheel and he sped up a bit.  He pulled me over three miles up to the finishing hill where he eased off and I continued up.  That was lap 1 of 2.  I had to do it all over again.  About half way up the big hill Tom caught up with me again and once we had eased our way to the top he said to hop on and he'd pull some more.  We didn't push the hills this time but when it came to the rollers he upped the pace and we enjoyed the ride, at our speed.  At the finish hill he powered up and I finished about twenty yards behind.  As it turned out, my three competitors had all been pulled after the first lap, so I wasn't in any danger of losing my silver.

Us old guys had the first criterium of the day on Sunday, 7am.  Sunrise was at 6:58.  I had worked out some signals with Marilane to let me know where my competitor was, not counting Durwood who would be ahead.  I couldn't find Don, and as it turned out, he once again didn't do the race.  No pressure for the silver today.  Five years ago I stayed with the peleton for seven or so laps.  This year only about a half lap.  As explained, I had no power when I jumped.  As it turned out, I didn't need to.  But Tom Hall was having a bad day, relatively, and had also been dropped.  It took a bit of effort to bridge up to him, and I latched onto his wheel and let him know I was there.  Once again, he dragged me around the course lap after lap.  I'd occasionally take the lead and give him a break.  About half way through, the peloton caught us on a straightaway and it was a bit dicey as they came on either side of us.  Shortly after, we caught up with Fred Schmidt, 90 years old and also a member of Geri Atrix.  We slowed a bit so he could catch on.  With about four laps to go the peloton caught us again, but this time it was on one of the turns.  We knew they were coming and stayed 'way wide, next to the barriers.  I heard some yelling as some of the riders had to adjust their line but no crashes.  Once clear we resumed our pace.  Tom took the lead on the second to last lap and I lead the last one.  

So, I was lucky.  I get to brag about being a Nationals Silver Medalist even though I didn't have my best stuff.  There were a dozen guys at the Senior Games Nationals in Pittsburg, why only one came to Georgia is not for me to ponder.  Now I need to start work on my jumps.

BEE CAVE ADVENTURE

The Sunday ride out of the Bee Cave Trek store is usually a challenge.  Yesterday I made it even more so.  I blame it on old age.  Here is how it unfolded.  Due to the heat, the 8:00am wheels down time was moved to 7:30.  I was reminding folks of this on the Saturday ride.  When I got home from that ride, I prepared for the next day, including setting Waze to take the fastest route.  Why, I don't know, I set the arrival time to be 7:45 thinking I'd arrive fifteen minutes before departure.  That meant leaving home at 7:11.  Never gave it another thought.

The next morning I loaded up the car, taking two 24 ounce water bottles (one with electrolyte) for the bike and a 32 ounce bottle of protein drink for before and after the ride.  All I needed to do was walk out the door and leave.  At 6:25, still oblivious, I sat down for a few minutes, thinking I'd leave at 7:00 and be early.  Thirty-five minutes later I woke up.  It took a few minutes to get myself together, but when I got in the car Waze advised I'd arrive at 7:48.  Ok, no problem.  Duh!

I was tooling along Bee Caves Road noticing all of the cyclists out and about when I saw a group of five coming toward me.  I recognized Sherry and finally it dawned on me that I screwed up.  I did a quick analysis, ruling out riding to the shop to start.  So I did a U-turn (no traffic) and caught up and passed, giving a honk of the horn.  That was a mistake.  I should have slowed down, rolled down the window, and identified myself.  I had assumed that the honk would get their attention and they would recognize my car.  They didn't.  I then drove another three or so miles and pulled into a Circle K and hurriedly started getting ready to ride.  In retrospect, maybe I should have gone all the way to Loop 360.  In any case, they went cruising by and couldn't hear me hollering and jumping up and down.  As it turned out, it was a four, maybe only three minute head start before I could be mounted and riding.

Rather than a leisurely warm up, I was pedaling hard from the start.  At one point I could see them cresting the hill after Weston, so I knew I was gaining.  It took six miles and four pr's (given by Strava) before I caught up.  Regular readers know I hate rolling through Rollingwood.  Mikey took pity on me as we approached Zilker Park and pulled in for a potty stop.  That gave me relief on two counts.  But my legs were toast and just in case there was any life left in them, we turned on Azie Morton Rd, a really tough climb.  

The next seven miles were easy on the body so I cruised along.  Then we hit Southwest Parkway, Republic of Texas, and the Travis County Circle, Southwest Parkway,  Hwy 71.  The wind was supposed to be out of the SW, but I swear it was always in my face.  I was doing ok on liquid and handled Travis County Circle okay, but had nothing left for SW Pkwy.  Thankfully, it had some good downhills where I could recover.  Same for Hwy 71.

We took the back way to the Trek store and I pulled in to rest and ask Sherry what her mileage was.  That's when I calculated I had another four plus miles to Circle K.  My rule of thumb is to not rest more than five minutes when riding by myself.  I find that the muscles start tightening up after that.  However, I have another rule of thumb that says wait for your heart rate to return to normal before getting back on the bike.  In this case it was nine minutes.  Interestingly enough, my average heart rate for the whole ride was what I usually do.  So, in terms of bodily functions, breathing, heart rate and hydration were as they should have been.  Only the legs had no life.

When I left the shop for the final four miles, I thankfully had the wind behind me.  I kept the cadence and power low and took it super easy on the hills.  Once at the car I rested some more and drank most of the protein drink.  I'm taking today off but will give the legs another test tomorrow.

WALKING YAUPON

 On today's regular Wednesday 10:00am ride, I experienced something that hasn't happened in twenty years or so.  I walked up a hill, Yaupon (in Austin) to be precise.  I have never had to put a foot down going up this climb, ever.  Until today.  But it wasn't my fault!  It is an involved story and we need to go back several months.

I have two road bikes, the Roark (custom titanium) and the Emonda (super climbing, full Dura-Ace carbon).  The Roark had a triple chain ring, the Emonda a compact.  After racing thirteen years on the Roark, I got the Emonda and, truthfully, became faster.  In order to keep up with the times, I decided to upgrade the Emonda with Di2 shifting.  This included moving to a 12-speed cassette and 52-34 front chain rings.  That was accomplished last month and I'm extremely pleased with how they work.  But the Roark had ten-year old ten speed components.  Therefore, I asked Trek Research to put the old Emonda drive train on the Roark.  They were happy to oblige.  There were a few new parts but not germane to the story.  

For the last six weeks I've been riding the Emonda and the Roark (which is for sale at $2,000) has been hanging in the garage untouched since I picked it up at the shop.  Until today.  Starting a few weeks ago, the Di2 had trouble charging and a few times stopped working.  Last week I voiced my concerns at the shop and they were going to look into it.  Meanwhile, I kept the bike and rode it four more days, the last being Monday.  This morning I was going to clean the chain, and for whatever reason, turned on the computer and rode up and down the street not getting any response from the shifters.  I hooked up my E-Tube app and learned the battery was DEAD.  I hooked up the charging cable and got no response.  Tried several times with different plugs.  Time to take it to the shop.

Not a problem, I also took the Roark so that I could ride with the Wednesday morning group.  I moved over a bottle holder, aired up the tires, and practiced in the street.  All was in working order.  At the shop, I dropped off the Emonda, told my tale of woe and was assured they would take care of it.  While waiting for Craig's arrival, I turned on my computer and rode around the parking lot.  Strange, the power meter wasn't connecting.  I hit a few buttons on the Garmin and from about twenty yards away, it picked up somebody else's power meter.  Dang!  It wouldn't pick up mine.  Turned the whole thing off and tried again.  Success!  The ride started.  To finish the power meter story, if you look at my Strava analysis you will see that there were gaps in my cadence.  I will change that battery.

The first climb on Wednesday is Floral Park and I noticed when I got past the 5th (from the top) cog, the chain would hop back and forth between cogs.  Double Dang!  The next hill was Fire Oak and I could get up that without using the top cogs.  Same for the others, until Yaupon.  

I briefly considered not going down to the bottom, but we had a stout south wind which would be at our backs going up.  Well, for the first of the climbs I needed the top two cogs but when I shifted to them they went nuts.  Hopping up and down like crazy.  I had to unclip and get off and walk maybe thirty yards to the cul-du-sac.  I mounted up and shifted down to the fourth cog and hoped that would hold.  As it turned out, I could shift up one more cog going up the second climb and after that I was down in the lower cogs and moving on rather quickly.  As a matter of fact, Strava gave me silver medals for two climb segments on Yaupon that I cycled.  And a PR for the decent (35 mph avg).  When I got to the shop and explained my situation, it was an easy adjustment to the cable.

And, my Di2 fix was apparently just as easy.  The cables to the battery were too tight and not making a good connection.  The wires were given a little more slack and the battery is charging (at the shop) as this is being written.  Hopefully, I'll get the text to come pick it up shortly.

BACK AT PACE BEND SENIOR GAMES, 2023

 I whine a lot about racing at Pace Bend.  This year is no different.  But if you want to read about them you'll have to look up my other posts.  Just do a search for Pace Bend.  Without the whining, this will be a short post.

Because the organizers format the races with the 40k road race first, I skip it and save my legs for the 20k road race.  I only did the 5k time trial this year for the same reason.  The course is just a tad short of 10k per lap.  Last year it was cold with a bit of a wind, this year a very nice 70+ but an ever-freshening wind.  I didn't recognize anyone in my age group so assumed I was racing myself.  Not that it matters, I use it as a training ride.  

Last year I was dropped on the first climb, this year I was staying up, close to the leaders, easily until the first turn, about 1.8 miles into it.  I made the turn with the bunch but a couple hundred yards later, when the road turned up, I slowed more than they did, and folks started to pass.  I latched onto a couple of guys and was able to draft until the last big hill on the back side.  I could keep them in sight but couldn't close the gap as we started down, around, and back to the start line and the beginning of the second loop.

This time I was on my own into the wind and speed dropped precipitously.   In my mirrors I caught sight of two guys and knew they were faster than me.  Eventually they caught up on the back side hills.  Like the first pair, they were about ten seconds ahead but holding steady.  On the last big hill, I detected a slump in one guy as the other left him.  I started closing.  But once we made the last turn and headed into the wind, he was able to hold his gap.  Thus I finished third in my age group.  

The first place winner was several minutes ahead, and the second was 28 seconds ahead of me.  The second place guy (Richard) I had forgotten about because he had serious health problems a few years ago and hadn't been riding.  The winner (George), I looked up and apparently he, too, took a bunch of years off.  His last races according to USA Cycling were crits in 2015.  He has no record in Senior Games.  I suspect they are both aiming at Nationals in Pittsburg.  Richard has always been faster than me.

 But both Richard and George used a lot of muscle in the road races.  Richard skipped the time trials and I was faster than George in the 5k.  That in itself is a story.  As I switched bikes and did a little warm up on the tt bike, my shoulders and neck started to cramp.  I couldn't get down on the bars.  As I slowly pedaled back to the car I contemplated not doing the time trial at all.  I remembered that my neck starts to cramp when I get dehydrated.  So I downed a bottle of water and hoped that would do the trick.  

The race itself was routine.  Once started I gingerly got down on the bars and was pleased that I could stay there.  My legs, on the other hand, wondered what I was doing.  It took a few minutes of complaining before they would get to working.  I felt pretty good on the way back (out and back course) and as we neared the finished actually had some oomph left to ramp up the cadence and finish strong.  As it turned out, George was 27 seconds slower.  So I managed to come home with one gold medal.

     As I write this, my whole body still aches.  It was a hard workout.  One more thing.  My upgrade to Di2 was completed on Friday.  I familiarized myself with the shifting and paired it to the Garmin on Saturday.  I really had fun with it on the 20k, shifting effortlessly in order to keep up with the peleton for the first 1.8 miles, shifting up and down the cassette and in and out of the chain rings.  Going between chain rings was especially handy with the multiple hills.