Everyone predicted heavy rain for the start of the Coach Hep Challenge that started on the northside of IU's football stadium this past Saturday, May 14th, 2011. Ron and I got up bright and early and drove down for the ride anyway. As we were driving on SR 67, south of Mooresville we were first greeted by a large coyote in the median eating some venison for breakfast. Then a few mile down the road we started seeing large breaks in the clouds that eventually gave way to clear skies and temps in the 60's. Initially we had planned on doing the 100k route but changed our minds and did the 50k route because we felt that the rain gods might change their mind and provide a good soaking later in the day.
This was the first time I rode this event. I knew it was going to be hilly but I was most excited to ride on some of the old day 2 course of the Hilly Hundred going back to the 1980's. Unfortunately they made a course change and we ended up doing an out and back loop north of Bloomington thru Morgan Monroe State forest. This loop was part of the originally planned route and it included climbing Beanblossom which is still part of the day 2 HH route. Years ago, that hill used to just kill me, just like Mt. Tabor, but for the last 4 or 5 years I have "learned" how to climb it and now it's one of my all-time favorite climbs.
There was no mass start for the bike ride, so Ron and I picked up our bag of "swag" ( A new term I learned last fall at the Div III Cross Country Nationals. It stands for the goodies all the participants get at a large athletic event). It included a nice t-shirt, a couple of Cook Medical Group lanyards, and some Coach Hep red shoe strings along with a variety of coupons for local businesses. The snacks provided were great. All you can take of Clif Bars, Kashi Bars, Bananas, pastries and bagels. I love Clif Bars on my bike rides so I grabbed a few more than I really needed for the ride since they were "free".
The 30 mile ride went pretty fast considering the hills and beautiful scenary, especially around Griffey Lake. My Garmin measured about 31 miles, with approx. 1700 feet of climbing and an overall average of 13.5 mph. Ron and I stopped quite often to enjoy the scenary and/or to empty the bladder. The steepest hill was at the beginning/ending of the ride. I measure a 23% grade on a portion of that 1/2 mile climb. There were a lot of walkers on that hill but thanks to my 34/32 gear ratio, I slowly made it up without any problem.
Later in the day my hamstrings were a bit sore from all the intense climbing but honestly, after only riding in flat Hendricks County for the past 2 months, my legs needed a good wake-up call.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Riding on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées
My wife and I met up with our son in London who just finished a semester abroad in England on April 20th. Unlike last year's big vacation to Spain where we visited our other son who was studying in Madrid and where I did an all day tour along the Costa Brava from Gerona with Jaume from bikecat.com, this year's trip had no plans to ride a bike. We were visiting England and France and although it was tempting to try and fit in a real one day ride, I decided it wasn't practical with everything else on our itinerary. Without going into all the details of our 15 day trip, we did spend 4 nights at a very nice apartment in Paris, south of the Invalides. Once we got there, I remembered those wonderful bike rental stations they installed a couple years ago in Paris - Velib - http://en.velib.paris.fr/ . So I got the bug to rent one for a few hours and go for a ride.
My son and I got up early on May 1st and rented a couple of these beater bikes with a front basket, 3 speed internal gears and big gnarly tires and fenders. Our goal was to ride up to the Champs-Elysees and ride it from the Place de_la_Concorde on the east side to the Arc_de_Triomphe on the west side. As we were cresting the bridge over the Seine River, we started hearing what sounded like a bunch of turbo prop jet engines to our right adjacent to the entrance of the Louvre Museum park. We had no idea what it could be this early in the morning with very little traffic on the street. Then as we made it over the bridge, we saw to our rigt, over 100 new and vintage red and silver Ferrari's all revving their engines. It was a sight to behold. Just after we rode past them and turned left onto the Champs-Elyseees, all of these Ferrari's started to pull out. I got onto to the wide sidewalk but my son was still on the street as these high performance cars started flying by. My guess is that he ended up in 100's of photos that were being taken of these beautiful cars flying by.
What a thrill it was to ride on the finishing stretch on the final stage of the Tour_de_France. I had not ridden on a street bike like this in years. It was obvious that these rental bikes take a beating but it was still a lot of fun riding it. We ended up riding about 15 miles that morning. So now I have ridden my bike in 3 countries - USA, Spain and France.
Here is a nice view of that most historical street in Paris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Champs-Elysées,_vue_de_la_Concorde_à _l'Etoile.jpg
One other bike-related note from our vacation to England and France. While waiting for the Eurostar at St. Pancras station in London, I wandered into a bookstore and came upon a most wonderful book that any distance cyclist would enjoy reading. The title of the book is "The Man Who Cycled the World", by Mark Beaumont of Scotland. In February 2008 he took over 60 days off the world record for circumnavigating the world. It is quite a read.
My next big ride is the Coach Hep Challenge in Bloomington, IN, this Saturday, May 14th. 65 miles of Morgan/Monroe and Brown county hills. Yee Ha !!!
Update on 06/16/2011:
Here is a picture of the Ferrari Meeting in Paris. It is dated from 2009, but it is almost exactly the way it looked when Kenny and I rode by back on May 1st. And they are parked in the exact same spot!!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arka002/4008750437
I found a YouTube Video that has Kenny in it at the end. You really can appreciate the noise these cars create when so many drive by you. Right at the end, you will see Kenny ride by on his bike. You can faintly here him responding to me telling him to jump a curb!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRC8qMcsc8M
My son and I got up early on May 1st and rented a couple of these beater bikes with a front basket, 3 speed internal gears and big gnarly tires and fenders. Our goal was to ride up to the Champs-Elysees and ride it from the Place de_la_Concorde on the east side to the Arc_de_Triomphe on the west side. As we were cresting the bridge over the Seine River, we started hearing what sounded like a bunch of turbo prop jet engines to our right adjacent to the entrance of the Louvre Museum park. We had no idea what it could be this early in the morning with very little traffic on the street. Then as we made it over the bridge, we saw to our rigt, over 100 new and vintage red and silver Ferrari's all revving their engines. It was a sight to behold. Just after we rode past them and turned left onto the Champs-Elyseees, all of these Ferrari's started to pull out. I got onto to the wide sidewalk but my son was still on the street as these high performance cars started flying by. My guess is that he ended up in 100's of photos that were being taken of these beautiful cars flying by.
What a thrill it was to ride on the finishing stretch on the final stage of the Tour_de_France. I had not ridden on a street bike like this in years. It was obvious that these rental bikes take a beating but it was still a lot of fun riding it. We ended up riding about 15 miles that morning. So now I have ridden my bike in 3 countries - USA, Spain and France.
Here is a nice view of that most historical street in Paris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Champs-Elysées,_vue_de_la_Concorde_à _l'Etoile.jpg
One other bike-related note from our vacation to England and France. While waiting for the Eurostar at St. Pancras station in London, I wandered into a bookstore and came upon a most wonderful book that any distance cyclist would enjoy reading. The title of the book is "The Man Who Cycled the World", by Mark Beaumont of Scotland. In February 2008 he took over 60 days off the world record for circumnavigating the world. It is quite a read.
My next big ride is the Coach Hep Challenge in Bloomington, IN, this Saturday, May 14th. 65 miles of Morgan/Monroe and Brown county hills. Yee Ha !!!
Update on 06/16/2011:
Here is a picture of the Ferrari Meeting in Paris. It is dated from 2009, but it is almost exactly the way it looked when Kenny and I rode by back on May 1st. And they are parked in the exact same spot!!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arka002/4008750437
I found a YouTube Video that has Kenny in it at the end. You really can appreciate the noise these cars create when so many drive by you. Right at the end, you will see Kenny ride by on his bike. You can faintly here him responding to me telling him to jump a curb!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRC8qMcsc8M
Monday, March 28, 2011
200K Brevet Springfield, Ohio 03/26/2011 Ride Report
This past Saturday, I attempted my 3rd 200k Brevet. My 1st attempt was 3 years ago in Kentucky. I DNF'd after 100k. Two reasons I didn't finish: a) I significantly underestimated the amount of hill climbing and was not in good enough shape. I'm a pretty big guy who loves to climb hills. But gravity worked against me when I came upon the Enchanted Forest and started climbing Oregon Road. b) Due to some bad luck, I ended up leaving the start without my good riding friend Ron Erdely and ended up riding alone all the way to the turnaround at the 2nd control. It was the hardest and lonliest ride of my life. My 2nd 200k was in Edwardsville, IL 2 years ago and I did finish that one. A very flat ride but a bit windy. Enough rambling about the past, so here is my ride report:
Lige Hensley joined me on this early season ride. This was our first one with the Ohio Randon's. Bob, you did a great job and designed a very good route. At the 7:30 am start we had clear, sunny skies and it was a "balmy" 22 degrees according to my Garmin ! Lige said it best. It was very COLD and Windy. I've ridden in harsher wind but not for that long at this temperature. Brrrrrrrrr.
To be honest, at the beginning of the ride, I really didn't think I would even finish this Brevet. I had maybe 250 road miles in so far in 2011 with the longest one being 54 miles. I had not ridden any real hills. For those who have ridden with me over the years, I sweat a lot on bike rides regardless of the temperature. My biggest concern was not the strength of my legs but rather would I be able to effectively control my body temperature on this cold and windy day?
I adjusted my Garmin Edge data screens so I couldn't see my current speed. I felt that focusing just on average speed, total distance, my heart rate and cadence would keep me focused on the long term goal of finishing before dark.
Just before the start at the Days Inn:
By the first control in Urbana, I was feeling really good and felt pretty confidant about making it the whole way as long as we didn't push the average speed.
There were some tricky parts on the route and it was critical to pay close attention to the cue sheet and most importantly ride with some of the more experienced Ohio randonneurs. On a couple of occasions, we missed a turn but corrected ourselves fairly quickly.
We rode on some really nice roads, especially the paved trails. Indiana is so far behind in trail development. I hate to say it but we need to ride more in Ohio. Compared to central Indiana, the terrain here has much more variety and overall safer roads to ride on, especially those well maintained trails.
At every checkpoint, riders huddled inside trying to warm up. Hot chocolate at some Speedway gas stations, really warmed me up at the control stops.
Lige and I getting ready to go back in the cold:
Our bikes laying in wait while we warmed up in the Speedway:
Lige's Slushy:
We rode the last 25 or so miles with George from Michigan. He was going for PBP and must have been 10 times stronger than both of us. But being the first long ride of the year for most of us he was pretty beat too. But, chatting helps the miles go faster which we were all thankful for.
At mile 116 we hit a hill VERY similar to Oregon Road in Kentucky. Pretty steep, same sort of surroundings and kinda long. I measured 14% but it felt a lot steeper than that after 10 hours in the cold. Overall the hills on this route were not too difficult. I didn't have any problem with any climb until that last one as we climbed out of the "Enchanted Forest". I actually started cramping pretty bad about 1/3 way up and I stopped to get off the bike for a short bit. After walking less than 100 feet I jumped back on the bike and finished the climb. George and Lige soft pedaled until I got caught up with them and from there we just grinded it out into that cold headwind.
The route was like a huge figure-8. The last checkpoint was a familiar Speedway station in a town called Wilberforce and we were about 18 miles from the finish. The clock showed about 5pm and it wasn’t getting any warmer.
As we rolled out of the area, we heard the all too familiar sound of dogs giving chase. I saw the mommy dog and about 6 puppies, all in full sprint. After 110 miles in the cold and wind, the last thing I needed was a dog induced sprint. But, these dogs had nothing on us. There was no way they could ever catch me as I was already in the big ring and hammering at 12 mph. Had I not been, it probably wouldn’t have mattered as we were being pursued by a family of wiener dogs. It was a sight and sound to behold.
It was a long slog back to Springfield. At mile 127 we made a left hander toward town and had a tail wind for the first time in probably 6 hours. It’s quite amazing how fast 15 mph feels after struggling to do 11 mph for such a long time.
Right after we got into the Days Inn to turn in our cards, I texted Rick, Ron and Mark. All three responded essentially with the same words - "Awesome", "Great Job" and "Butler just won in overtime!" I would say they had their priorities in place.
Considering the lack of road miles, I was very pleased with the result: Ave speed 11.2 miles - 129 miles.
I am also very thankful that my wife came with me to Springfield. She was ready if needed to pick me up off the side of the road. Fortunately that wasn't necessary.
On Sunday, we drove down to Cincinnati and we had a wonderful visit with my brother Bill. I just fixed up a hybrid bike for him last fall and hopefully this spring and summer we will get together to ride some of the wonderful hills around Cincinnati. We visited Montgomery Bike Shop. A very cool store and it was open on Sunday!
Lige Hensley joined me on this early season ride. This was our first one with the Ohio Randon's. Bob, you did a great job and designed a very good route. At the 7:30 am start we had clear, sunny skies and it was a "balmy" 22 degrees according to my Garmin ! Lige said it best. It was very COLD and Windy. I've ridden in harsher wind but not for that long at this temperature. Brrrrrrrrr.
To be honest, at the beginning of the ride, I really didn't think I would even finish this Brevet. I had maybe 250 road miles in so far in 2011 with the longest one being 54 miles. I had not ridden any real hills. For those who have ridden with me over the years, I sweat a lot on bike rides regardless of the temperature. My biggest concern was not the strength of my legs but rather would I be able to effectively control my body temperature on this cold and windy day?
I adjusted my Garmin Edge data screens so I couldn't see my current speed. I felt that focusing just on average speed, total distance, my heart rate and cadence would keep me focused on the long term goal of finishing before dark.
Just before the start at the Days Inn:
By the first control in Urbana, I was feeling really good and felt pretty confidant about making it the whole way as long as we didn't push the average speed.
There were some tricky parts on the route and it was critical to pay close attention to the cue sheet and most importantly ride with some of the more experienced Ohio randonneurs. On a couple of occasions, we missed a turn but corrected ourselves fairly quickly.
We rode on some really nice roads, especially the paved trails. Indiana is so far behind in trail development. I hate to say it but we need to ride more in Ohio. Compared to central Indiana, the terrain here has much more variety and overall safer roads to ride on, especially those well maintained trails.
At every checkpoint, riders huddled inside trying to warm up. Hot chocolate at some Speedway gas stations, really warmed me up at the control stops.
Lige and I getting ready to go back in the cold:
Our bikes laying in wait while we warmed up in the Speedway:
Lige's Slushy:
We rode the last 25 or so miles with George from Michigan. He was going for PBP and must have been 10 times stronger than both of us. But being the first long ride of the year for most of us he was pretty beat too. But, chatting helps the miles go faster which we were all thankful for.
At mile 116 we hit a hill VERY similar to Oregon Road in Kentucky. Pretty steep, same sort of surroundings and kinda long. I measured 14% but it felt a lot steeper than that after 10 hours in the cold. Overall the hills on this route were not too difficult. I didn't have any problem with any climb until that last one as we climbed out of the "Enchanted Forest". I actually started cramping pretty bad about 1/3 way up and I stopped to get off the bike for a short bit. After walking less than 100 feet I jumped back on the bike and finished the climb. George and Lige soft pedaled until I got caught up with them and from there we just grinded it out into that cold headwind.
The route was like a huge figure-8. The last checkpoint was a familiar Speedway station in a town called Wilberforce and we were about 18 miles from the finish. The clock showed about 5pm and it wasn’t getting any warmer.
As we rolled out of the area, we heard the all too familiar sound of dogs giving chase. I saw the mommy dog and about 6 puppies, all in full sprint. After 110 miles in the cold and wind, the last thing I needed was a dog induced sprint. But, these dogs had nothing on us. There was no way they could ever catch me as I was already in the big ring and hammering at 12 mph. Had I not been, it probably wouldn’t have mattered as we were being pursued by a family of wiener dogs. It was a sight and sound to behold.
It was a long slog back to Springfield. At mile 127 we made a left hander toward town and had a tail wind for the first time in probably 6 hours. It’s quite amazing how fast 15 mph feels after struggling to do 11 mph for such a long time.
Right after we got into the Days Inn to turn in our cards, I texted Rick, Ron and Mark. All three responded essentially with the same words - "Awesome", "Great Job" and "Butler just won in overtime!" I would say they had their priorities in place.
Considering the lack of road miles, I was very pleased with the result: Ave speed 11.2 miles - 129 miles.
I am also very thankful that my wife came with me to Springfield. She was ready if needed to pick me up off the side of the road. Fortunately that wasn't necessary.
On Sunday, we drove down to Cincinnati and we had a wonderful visit with my brother Bill. I just fixed up a hybrid bike for him last fall and hopefully this spring and summer we will get together to ride some of the wonderful hills around Cincinnati. We visited Montgomery Bike Shop. A very cool store and it was open on Sunday!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Bringing back old Memories from the 70's
On Saturday, I rode about 30 miles with two of my old racing buddies - Bruce G. and Tom(Turkey) C. and and Jeff, another strong rider that is a friend of Turkey, in South Bend. Bruce, Turkey and I used to work together at Rickeys Bike Shop in Mishawaka back in the mid to late 70's. We were part of a small group of local riders, including my brother John who formed the Team MBA bike racing team. I was never a very good racer but that experience was very memorable, fun and very formative for me. Bruce continues to race very competively in the Masters class and was on the US Para-olympic team for a couple of years, competing in the Netherlands. Turkey has "retired" from racing but is still a strong rider.
This ride was a lot of fun, and pretty darn fast. For the warm up portion, I think they found the steepest hills in the area to remind me of my cycling roots. I like hills but a little longer warm up on the flats would have made these a bit more enjoyable. The ride started at Clay High School, north of the ND campus and proceed northeast into Michigan, west around Barren Lake, thru Niles then back to the high school.
I was warned that there would be a sprint to the Niles, MI city limits sign but they didn't tell me which one and it had been 30 plus years since I had ridden the roads we were on. I figured it out though when Bruce did a loud "grunt" and started the lead out about 1/2 mile away from one I sort of remembered on the east side of Niles. With about 300-400 meters to the sign we were at 30 mph and my heart rate was in the mid 170's. The other 3 kept getting faster and faster and I had to back off before I popped a gasket. I ended up about 50-75 meters behind them. Hard sprints like this were kind of my specialty back in the 70's but three knee surgeries on my right knee over the years has left that joint with no cartilage between the bones.
As we were getting near the finish of the ride where my car was parked, Bruce started speeding up again, so I figured it was time for another sprint to the Clay High School sign. At about 100 meters out I went wide to the left and took off but they never reacted and in fact pulled up and soft pedaled the rest of the way. They got a good laugh out of it.
Overall average was about 18 mph, due to the early hills and riding thru the middle of Niles. I am sure this training ride for the 3 of them was only at medium to easy pace but it was on the upper end of my physical abilities.
Bruce and Turkey brought up some really funny stories from back in the day. We talked about our current lives as well. It was nice catching up with them again after all these years and hopefully there will be more rides together in the future.
This ride was a lot of fun, and pretty darn fast. For the warm up portion, I think they found the steepest hills in the area to remind me of my cycling roots. I like hills but a little longer warm up on the flats would have made these a bit more enjoyable. The ride started at Clay High School, north of the ND campus and proceed northeast into Michigan, west around Barren Lake, thru Niles then back to the high school.
I was warned that there would be a sprint to the Niles, MI city limits sign but they didn't tell me which one and it had been 30 plus years since I had ridden the roads we were on. I figured it out though when Bruce did a loud "grunt" and started the lead out about 1/2 mile away from one I sort of remembered on the east side of Niles. With about 300-400 meters to the sign we were at 30 mph and my heart rate was in the mid 170's. The other 3 kept getting faster and faster and I had to back off before I popped a gasket. I ended up about 50-75 meters behind them. Hard sprints like this were kind of my specialty back in the 70's but three knee surgeries on my right knee over the years has left that joint with no cartilage between the bones.
As we were getting near the finish of the ride where my car was parked, Bruce started speeding up again, so I figured it was time for another sprint to the Clay High School sign. At about 100 meters out I went wide to the left and took off but they never reacted and in fact pulled up and soft pedaled the rest of the way. They got a good laugh out of it.
Overall average was about 18 mph, due to the early hills and riding thru the middle of Niles. I am sure this training ride for the 3 of them was only at medium to easy pace but it was on the upper end of my physical abilities.
Bruce and Turkey brought up some really funny stories from back in the day. We talked about our current lives as well. It was nice catching up with them again after all these years and hopefully there will be more rides together in the future.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
3 State 3 Mountain, May 1, 2010
This was my 2nd attempt at completing this ride. In 2009, Ron and I turned around after the first mountain pass called Suck Creek,due to severe weather. It was raining hard, lightening and thundering and watching the number of riders going down the 1st mountain while climbing up it along with the stories of riders sliding off their bikes due to the volume of water going over the road on the other side convinced us to turn around and go back to the hotel.
Sand Mountain was a tough climb. I never walked any of it but I did stop twice to catch my breath. Mark S. caught up with me about half way up and he proceeded to pass me. There were several steep switchbacks but I finally made it to the top and continued riding towards the sag stop. The views at the top were breath-taking and I eventually caught up with Ron and we stopped to take a few pictures. At the rest stop, I was feeling very fatigued and took a longer break than Ron so I was on my own at this point. Unfortunately, I did not review my route map and proceeded to go the wrong direction from the stop. I ended up riding about 3 miles over several smaller hills before realizing I needed to turn around. As a result I ended up adding 6 miles to my ride before turning on the correct road.A lady on a trike rode up next to me and told me I was in last place. I proceeded to tell her why and decided that I was not going to stay in that spot by the finish. I ended up riding over 30 miles non-stop and passsed a bunch of riders along the way before I got to the sag stop below Burkhalter Rd. Mark had warned me about a steep little climb before the sag stop and when I got to it, I just hunkered down and slowly got to the top of it. There was a very strong and fit looking rider about 50 yards ahead of me at the bottom of this climb and somehow, I actually passed him on this climb. It had to be pretty demoralizing for him to see this big goliath of a rider cruising by up that hill.
Unfortunately, because of the pace and length of riding before stopping, I started to develop some severe hamstring and calf cramps by the time I got to the sag stop. I tried to stretch them out and rested a bit but they wouldn't stop so I asked if a sag driver could take me to the finish. There was another lady biker who was feeling pretty sick who also hitched a ride. We drove up Burkhalter Gap Rd and saw Ron and Mark climbing the mountain. At the top I changed my mind and decided to ride the rest of the route. You can imagine the surprise in their eyes to see me already at the top. I took a lot of grief by hitching a truck ride to the top but my legs would never have survived that climb.
Ron and I rode together for most of the way into Chattanooga. I ended up with like 103 total miles due to my error at the sag stop after Sand Mountain. The ride down Lookout Mountain was exciting but unfortunately I had to take it slower than I wanted to because it started drizzling along the way.
All in all, this was a great ride with scenic views, lots of climbing and many friendly riders along the way. And most importantly, I was not last !!!
The forecast this year was looking bad all week and didn't really change when we got to Chattanooga. 40-60% chance of thunderstorms, heavy rain and temps in the 80's. Nashville, a scant 120 miles to the West, ended up with something like 14" of rain during the ride (yes, that's a fourteen). But, while the skies looked threatening a few times, we didn't get a drop of rain. I suppose the hillbilly God's were making up for the past 2 years when there was copious amounts of rain for everyone. We guessed that it would rain by 3pm so we'd need to finish before then to stay dry. While this turned out to be a non-factor, it was a good motivator. Descending Lookout Mountain in the rain is just plain crazy and not something I wanted to do.
I was in much better shape this year for this very hilly ride. I made it up Suck Creek right behind Lige with no problems. The descent was a lot of fun and reminded me of the twisting downhills along the Costa Brava back in March. We hit a bit of wind along the large reservoir but the clouds helped keep the temps down along the the ride before we got to Sand Mountain. The road leading up to Sand Mountain is appropriately called the "Goat Road". It was very bumpy and with lots of road kill on the roads.
Sand Mountain was a tough climb. I never walked any of it but I did stop twice to catch my breath. Mark S. caught up with me about half way up and he proceeded to pass me. There were several steep switchbacks but I finally made it to the top and continued riding towards the sag stop. The views at the top were breath-taking and I eventually caught up with Ron and we stopped to take a few pictures. At the rest stop, I was feeling very fatigued and took a longer break than Ron so I was on my own at this point. Unfortunately, I did not review my route map and proceeded to go the wrong direction from the stop. I ended up riding about 3 miles over several smaller hills before realizing I needed to turn around. As a result I ended up adding 6 miles to my ride before turning on the correct road.Unfortunately, because of the pace and length of riding before stopping, I started to develop some severe hamstring and calf cramps by the time I got to the sag stop. I tried to stretch them out and rested a bit but they wouldn't stop so I asked if a sag driver could take me to the finish. There was another lady biker who was feeling pretty sick who also hitched a ride. We drove up Burkhalter Gap Rd and saw Ron and Mark climbing the mountain. At the top I changed my mind and decided to ride the rest of the route. You can imagine the surprise in their eyes to see me already at the top. I took a lot of grief by hitching a truck ride to the top but my legs would never have survived that climb.
Ron and I rode together for most of the way into Chattanooga. I ended up with like 103 total miles due to my error at the sag stop after Sand Mountain. The ride down Lookout Mountain was exciting but unfortunately I had to take it slower than I wanted to because it started drizzling along the way.
All in all, this was a great ride with scenic views, lots of climbing and many friendly riders along the way. And most importantly, I was not last !!!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Brown County State Park Ride - April 9th, 2010
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Ron, Lige and I made a trip to BCSP on Saturday looking to have some self-inflicted pain in preparation for 3 State 3 Mountain. The weather was ideal, started off cool and warmed up nicely with clear and sunny skies. It was a tight fit getting us into Ron's Honda Element, but it all worked. It was a punishment-fest climbing and we did 2 laps, but we all did well. I was feeling particularly strong that day and was able to make it up a steep climb and go around the turn without stopping for the first time ever. Lige was his typical conisistent, competent self and looks ready to go. Ron got ahead of us at the end of the 1st lap and a different direction. At the top of the hill, Lige and I turned and added some extra milage. Lige and I ended up with 38 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing. One of the downhills, I hit just over 40 mph.Overall, a great day: near perfect weather, we all felt good about our performance.
PS. Here is a video I took on the last downhill. I had my camera dangling from my wrist, so be careful it might get a little dizzy on the way down.
Riding in Girona, Spain - April 2nd, 2010
Fastforward to the present. Kim and I took a trip to Spain to see our son who is studying in Madrid the Spring semester of 2010. We did a lot of neat stuff but here is the long-awaited ride report from Spain.
I won’t go into detail of our whole 2 week vacation in Europe other than to say if you haven’t yet taken a trip “across the pond” for at least a week, please do so some time during your life. Observing, respecting and enjoying how other parts of the world live is worth every penny spent on this trip. There are so many things that are different over there – such as the varied architectural styles, their traditions and varied cultures, the food, including when they eat (e.g. dinner is typically at 9-10 pm), and the people.
We flew out of Cincinnati on March 25th, and began our Mediterranean cruise on the 26th. The cruise started and ended in Barcelona, Spain.
We met up with our son Alex in Barcelona on Good Friday, April 2nd. It was so nice to see him finally. He has been studying in Madrid since January 11th and he doesn’t come home until July 3rd. We did our hugs and kisses thing, then walked to the subway with all our luggage to get to the main train station to catch a train to Gerona, a small town about 60 miles northeast of Barcelona, in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. We rented an apartment in the old town section just two blocks from the Santa Maria Cathedral, a beautiful piece of gothic architecture. Many of the pro cyclists who reside in Gerona, including all of the Garmin-Transition team live within just a few blocks of this church. George Hincapie owns an apartment in the plaza at the foot of the 86 steps up to the entrance of this cathedral.
After dinner Friday night with Jaume Cabruja, the owner of Bikecat and my Saturday ride partner, along with his “significant other”, Debbie Stein, Alex and I went over to the cathedral to watch a most amazing Good Friday procession. More on that later….. Kim was very tired from the hectic travel day we had stayed home and went to bed early. Besides, this procession had the potential of a lot of hilly walking.
Jaume and I decided on a 65 mile route called the Costa Brava tour. It’s hilly but nothing like some of his tour routes that actually go into the Pyrenees Mountains. According to Jaume, many of the pro cyclists will ride this route as an “easy” cool down ride. On Saturday morning around 9 am, with the temps in the low 50’s, Jaume met me at our apartment. We made a couple final adjustments to the bike I rented – an Orbea Team Replica 2 with Shimano 105 components. My gearing was a compact crank 50-34 with a 10 speed 12-25 cassette.
Alex and Kim spent the day with Debbie touring Salvador Dali’s homestead, museum and his summer home in Cadaques and Port Lligat. Debbie keeps a blog of her tours if you’re interested in seeing details of this trip. http://www.vadevitours.blogspot.com/
The ride began by meandering thru the skinny and crowded streets of Gerona. Since it was a Saturday morning we encountered a number of open markets in Gerona and several other towns we traveled thru on our way to the Mediterranean Sea coastline. These markets would go on for blocks at a time riding over cobblestone streets and dodging lots of people.
After we made it thru the center of Gerona and the city market, the next road took us south out of town and gradually started going uphill. Jaume described the 3 km climb out of town as just a “ramp”. Well that “ramp” sure got my legs stretched out and warmed up. The next 20 km’s were pretty flat and easy but the hills along the coast line were getting bigger and bigger as we got closer to the coastal area. The skies were also getting darker and it appeared we would get rained on by the time we got to the real climbing.
We stopped for a short rest and take some pictures at the foot of our first real climb – a 6 km hill with a grade that probably averaged 6%. The climb was fairly gradual and it kind of reminded me of the 1st mountain at the 3 State in TN. I did stop once on the climb for a short rest but made it up to the top better than I expected. During this climb, the skies got darker and the headwind started to gust over 20 mph. Jaume said the weather for this time of year was very unusual. It was much colder and windier than normal. After cresting this hill, the fun really started. Somehow I led it out and took off and didn’t stop till we got to the bottom. The descents were very twisty and technical to maneuver but the road surfaces were great. No chuck holes gravel or sand whatsoever. And the best part was the cars were very patient when climbing. There were no horns blaring at you, or cars passing by just an inch or two to your left. The scariest part of these descents was not the winding roads or speed but rather the high performance motorcycles that were everywhere. But even those were not a real issue, once you got used to suddenly encountering one of these “flying” up the hills around the corners.
We stopped in a coastal town named Tossa for are really good cup of coffee. Fortunately the dark clouds only “spit” on us for a little while and eventually they cleared and we had sun the rest of the day. The hill out of Tossa was the steepest one of the day. It was about 2 km’s long with an average grade of like 10% with some spots hitting 15%. But that coffee I had seemed to give me a huge energy boost and I didn’t have any problem getting up that hill. From there we had 20 km’s of ups and downs all along the coastline. It was some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. Picture 006 above is a view from the top of the hill going out of Tossa.
Our next stop was lunch in San Feliux. We had the most awesome pizza ever. It was so good I had to get a picture of it. By now the sun had broke thru and it was finally starting to warm up into the 60’s. From here, we did another 10 km’s of climbing up and down and then started our way back north to Gerona. After leaving the coastal hills which ended with a really fun downhill, he took us on some country roads that went thru farmland and terrain that was very similar to riding in Hendricks County, including the wonderful aroma of a large cattle farm. The last 15 or so km was on a state highway with a large paved shoulder. The end of the ride was made even more exciting because we were riding with a strong tail wind. He picked up the pace as fast as he could but I stayed on his wheel. He later told me that we hit 55 km/h for a long stretch of this road. That works out to like 33 mph! We finally made it back to Gerona and stopped for some more pictures on the famous Stone Bridge. Unfortunately, these and others that I took are at home. I’ll send some of them on a subsequent email.
According to Jaume’s Garmin 705 we rode 65 miles and climbed 3500 feet. It was a ride I’ll never forget. I never got really tired for long periods of time that I typically do and when we finished I felt really good. I even felt good the next morning. I guess all that spinning this winter did help out.
Jaume’s company specializes in week long tours and fills in his schedule with these one day custom tours for couples or individuals. I think it would be really cool some day to go over there as a group and go on one of these week long tours. His web site address is below and includes all the details. He caters to Americans which is why he is so good to ride with. He is very fluent in English, Catalan and Spanish. And Debbie, who handles tours for the non-riders that come on the trip, is American. She grew up in Anderson, SC just outside of Greenville. Jaume knows many of the pro cyclists who live in Gerona. He used to race professionally in the USA based out of Philly. He is very close friends with George Hincapie and Freddie Rodriquez. Jaume rides one of Freddie’s old bikes that he bought from him a couple years ago. It’s a Ridley frame with full top of the line Campy. It is a really nice bike. His physical therapist is the Garmin-Transitions PT. What’s interesting about cycling in Europe is that getting a massage is standard fare after a long ride. He said his PT would have come to my apartment after our ride and done a full deep body massage for $45 Euro. I’ve never had one and I probably should have taken him up on the offer.
That’s it. Sorry it took so long to get it sent out.
I won’t go into detail of our whole 2 week vacation in Europe other than to say if you haven’t yet taken a trip “across the pond” for at least a week, please do so some time during your life. Observing, respecting and enjoying how other parts of the world live is worth every penny spent on this trip. There are so many things that are different over there – such as the varied architectural styles, their traditions and varied cultures, the food, including when they eat (e.g. dinner is typically at 9-10 pm), and the people.
We flew out of Cincinnati on March 25th, and began our Mediterranean cruise on the 26th. The cruise started and ended in Barcelona, Spain.
We met up with our son Alex in Barcelona on Good Friday, April 2nd. It was so nice to see him finally. He has been studying in Madrid since January 11th and he doesn’t come home until July 3rd. We did our hugs and kisses thing, then walked to the subway with all our luggage to get to the main train station to catch a train to Gerona, a small town about 60 miles northeast of Barcelona, in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. We rented an apartment in the old town section just two blocks from the Santa Maria Cathedral, a beautiful piece of gothic architecture. Many of the pro cyclists who reside in Gerona, including all of the Garmin-Transition team live within just a few blocks of this church. George Hincapie owns an apartment in the plaza at the foot of the 86 steps up to the entrance of this cathedral.
After dinner Friday night with Jaume Cabruja, the owner of Bikecat and my Saturday ride partner, along with his “significant other”, Debbie Stein, Alex and I went over to the cathedral to watch a most amazing Good Friday procession. More on that later….. Kim was very tired from the hectic travel day we had stayed home and went to bed early. Besides, this procession had the potential of a lot of hilly walking.
Jaume and I decided on a 65 mile route called the Costa Brava tour. It’s hilly but nothing like some of his tour routes that actually go into the Pyrenees Mountains. According to Jaume, many of the pro cyclists will ride this route as an “easy” cool down ride. On Saturday morning around 9 am, with the temps in the low 50’s, Jaume met me at our apartment. We made a couple final adjustments to the bike I rented – an Orbea Team Replica 2 with Shimano 105 components. My gearing was a compact crank 50-34 with a 10 speed 12-25 cassette.
Alex and Kim spent the day with Debbie touring Salvador Dali’s homestead, museum and his summer home in Cadaques and Port Lligat. Debbie keeps a blog of her tours if you’re interested in seeing details of this trip. http://www.vadevitours.blogspot.com/
The ride began by meandering thru the skinny and crowded streets of Gerona. Since it was a Saturday morning we encountered a number of open markets in Gerona and several other towns we traveled thru on our way to the Mediterranean Sea coastline. These markets would go on for blocks at a time riding over cobblestone streets and dodging lots of people.
After we made it thru the center of Gerona and the city market, the next road took us south out of town and gradually started going uphill. Jaume described the 3 km climb out of town as just a “ramp”. Well that “ramp” sure got my legs stretched out and warmed up. The next 20 km’s were pretty flat and easy but the hills along the coast line were getting bigger and bigger as we got closer to the coastal area. The skies were also getting darker and it appeared we would get rained on by the time we got to the real climbing.
We stopped for a short rest and take some pictures at the foot of our first real climb – a 6 km hill with a grade that probably averaged 6%. The climb was fairly gradual and it kind of reminded me of the 1st mountain at the 3 State in TN. I did stop once on the climb for a short rest but made it up to the top better than I expected. During this climb, the skies got darker and the headwind started to gust over 20 mph. Jaume said the weather for this time of year was very unusual. It was much colder and windier than normal. After cresting this hill, the fun really started. Somehow I led it out and took off and didn’t stop till we got to the bottom. The descents were very twisty and technical to maneuver but the road surfaces were great. No chuck holes gravel or sand whatsoever. And the best part was the cars were very patient when climbing. There were no horns blaring at you, or cars passing by just an inch or two to your left. The scariest part of these descents was not the winding roads or speed but rather the high performance motorcycles that were everywhere. But even those were not a real issue, once you got used to suddenly encountering one of these “flying” up the hills around the corners.
We stopped in a coastal town named Tossa for are really good cup of coffee. Fortunately the dark clouds only “spit” on us for a little while and eventually they cleared and we had sun the rest of the day. The hill out of Tossa was the steepest one of the day. It was about 2 km’s long with an average grade of like 10% with some spots hitting 15%. But that coffee I had seemed to give me a huge energy boost and I didn’t have any problem getting up that hill. From there we had 20 km’s of ups and downs all along the coastline. It was some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. Picture 006 above is a view from the top of the hill going out of Tossa.
Our next stop was lunch in San Feliux. We had the most awesome pizza ever. It was so good I had to get a picture of it. By now the sun had broke thru and it was finally starting to warm up into the 60’s. From here, we did another 10 km’s of climbing up and down and then started our way back north to Gerona. After leaving the coastal hills which ended with a really fun downhill, he took us on some country roads that went thru farmland and terrain that was very similar to riding in Hendricks County, including the wonderful aroma of a large cattle farm. The last 15 or so km was on a state highway with a large paved shoulder. The end of the ride was made even more exciting because we were riding with a strong tail wind. He picked up the pace as fast as he could but I stayed on his wheel. He later told me that we hit 55 km/h for a long stretch of this road. That works out to like 33 mph! We finally made it back to Gerona and stopped for some more pictures on the famous Stone Bridge. Unfortunately, these and others that I took are at home. I’ll send some of them on a subsequent email.
According to Jaume’s Garmin 705 we rode 65 miles and climbed 3500 feet. It was a ride I’ll never forget. I never got really tired for long periods of time that I typically do and when we finished I felt really good. I even felt good the next morning. I guess all that spinning this winter did help out.
Jaume’s company specializes in week long tours and fills in his schedule with these one day custom tours for couples or individuals. I think it would be really cool some day to go over there as a group and go on one of these week long tours. His web site address is below and includes all the details. He caters to Americans which is why he is so good to ride with. He is very fluent in English, Catalan and Spanish. And Debbie, who handles tours for the non-riders that come on the trip, is American. She grew up in Anderson, SC just outside of Greenville. Jaume knows many of the pro cyclists who live in Gerona. He used to race professionally in the USA based out of Philly. He is very close friends with George Hincapie and Freddie Rodriquez. Jaume rides one of Freddie’s old bikes that he bought from him a couple years ago. It’s a Ridley frame with full top of the line Campy. It is a really nice bike. His physical therapist is the Garmin-Transitions PT. What’s interesting about cycling in Europe is that getting a massage is standard fare after a long ride. He said his PT would have come to my apartment after our ride and done a full deep body massage for $45 Euro. I’ve never had one and I probably should have taken him up on the offer.
That’s it. Sorry it took so long to get it sent out.
More postings from the past and present will be forthcoming.
Tom
PS. Regarding the “more on that later” in paragraph 5 about the Good Friday procession Alex and I attended. Here is a link to Alex’s photos of the event. I would estimate that over 50,000 attended this ceremony including those lining the streets that the procession followed. We didn’t get back to the apartment until past midnight.
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=ca&tl=en&u=http://www.facebook.com/album.php%3Fid%3D681205691%26aid%3D216560%26l%3De7253b661b%26s%3D0%26hash%3Da0e2d5e3bf5584857499273c10ed5df2&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhhq45AatA33wr2mooz-HW15y4ZYZA
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=ca&tl=en&u=http://www.facebook.com/album.php%3Fid%3D681205691%26aid%3D216560%26l%3De7253b661b%26s%3D0%26hash%3Da0e2d5e3bf5584857499273c10ed5df2&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhhq45AatA33wr2mooz-HW15y4ZYZA
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