Friday, April 29, 2011

Friday Night Ride


I was suppose to do the Cohutta 100 tomorrow, but my son needs me to help him move out of his dorm room, so I shall be northbound, instead of southbound tomorrow.
With nothing to do on a beautiful Friday evening except ride, I decide to do just that. I don't know my route, I just start riding. Within a few miles I decide to do a big loop and work my way over to Fox Lake Road. This road has a climb that's a mile long and a little over 100 feet in elevation. You may not think that's much, but on a single speed mountain bike on an unimproved road, it's a grinder. My goal is to do this climb three times...I feel real good after my 3rd time, so I do it one more time and make my way back home.
My ride was 31 miles, 2:13 ride time, 13.0 avg speed, 26.5 max speed, avg heart rate 128 bpm, max heart rate 167 bpm, climbed 1564 feet and burned 1601 calories.

Go ride

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Wind and Rain


It's another Saturday, I have no plans/obligations so that must mean a long bike ride! Again I will hook up with my two friends/team mates Jay Atwater and Derek Hill at the top secret location in Waterford. We head out pedaling into the wind and kind of know pretty quick that the day will present it's challenges. Our route isn't decided yet, but the first part will lead us to wherever we decide, will it be Fenton and the French Laundry or Holly and the Bittersweet Cafe...we'll decide in a few more hundred pedal strokes.

As we hit the first gravel road, we can see it's going to be a muddy ride which is no problem for the two of us who have fenders, but the one who doesn't, he's going to get dirty. Along with the first part of the gravel road comes a nice long steady climb. I take the lead and set a pace which I believe my two buds will be able to follow. About a third of the way up the climb I stop hearing the noise of an extra set of mountain bike tires following me, but I like my pace so I keep it and much to my surprise, they did not stay with me. Last week in the same spot, it was the opposite way around, I was in the back hanging on to their pace. As we finish the first part of our ride and are ready to cross a paved road I suggest we use some pavement for part of our route, both Jay and Derek agree. We hit the pavement and have a few "downhill coasting" races and a lot of fun. But Derek isn't having the best day and is suffering a wee bit on the climbs, so they decide to make it a shorter ride and with me having the Cohutta 100 in two weeks, I must get some miles in while I have a chance.

With this in mind, I quickly check the weather on my handy dandy smart phone and see there is a dark green swath of rain heading my way. Instead of heading to Holly or Fenton, I turn south directly into the wind. I am feeling very good today, so I decide to go as hard as I can at a comfortable pace. I am doing well and ride some roads that were part of the Tour de Cure from two years ago. Traffic is light and the roads are cyclist friendly.

I make a turn on White Lake road and head east back towards my starting location. I take White Lake road all the way back to the Waterford area and wind my way back to the top secret starting location. I go around the block one more time to get in an even 40 miles.

My totals for the day 40.01 miles, ride time 2:28, avg speed 16.1 mph, max speed in the coasting races 39.6 mph, avg heart rate 140 bpm, max heart rate 167 bpm, climbed 1268 feet and burned 2046 calories.

It was a great ride, I didn't want to stop, but the wind and rain had other plans.

Go ride.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Riding with my Cycletherapy Peeps


With my busy schedule I do most of my training all by my little lonesome self. So when I ride with some friends it's always enjoyable. Then throw in a route I've never done before and its like a whole new adventure.
The plan was to ride the city of Holly from a top secret location in Waterford. We pounded a little pavement before hitting the dirt. I'm on my single speed cross bike and the two cats I'm riding with, Derek and Jay Atwater or on geared mountain bikes. So I'm pretty sure I'll have my work cut out for me. The warm up wasn't much of a warm up, we had a pretty good clip going...not the most ideal conditions for this old man, I need a little bit slower and longer warm up, but no worries...I have to able bodied cyclists to draft from! =:)
As we head out of the township of Waterford we find the solace of dirt and then some of the climbing starts. We head out Pontiac Lake road to Cuthbert then wind our way north to Rattelee Lake road and I-75. We turn west and hit some longer sustained climbs, after Derek doing most of the work to this point, we take turns pulling and seeing who can do the most damage on the climbs. It turns into a little contest and we have some fun.
Upon entering the little hamlet of Holly our conversation turns to food, yes, this is a food ride where our turn around destination is some place to grab some grub and then head back. When we pull up to the appointed eatery, we realize they are closed. After some quick thinking by Mr. Atwater, we point our bikes to the Bittersweet Cafe. So one block later we are relieved to find it open and the place was hopping. We are greeted with a Chamber of Commerce type person who is happy to see us and invites us to experience the downtown area. We enter the cafe with our bright orange kits on and grab a table. We are greeted by one of the owners and they too are very appreciative of our visit, and inivte us back and plants a seed for a group ride.
As we saddle up and head back after some good food we head out easy this time and get ready for some hills. My plan is to attack each hill and see what I have. Some hills I can get my rhythm with one gear, the ones with a steep pitch, not so much. Either way, I am working hard to test my limits and if I can drop my geared buddies, well, that's just icing on the proverbial cake.
We have a good hard ride on the way back, take turns pulling and we end up with a nice cool down on some pavement and one stupid driver who wanted to see how close he could get without hitting us...in the words of the great Bugs Bunnny, "What a maroon!"
Other than that, it was an awesome ride with 50.3 miles in 3:21 average speed 15.0 mph, max speed 30.1 mph, average heart rate 141 bpm, max heart rate 176 bpm, climbed a total of 1959 feet and burned 2618 calories!

Go ride!