Lewis and Clark Ultra Cycling 2012

This last weekend, May 26 & 27, I participated in my second Lewis and Clark (LaC) Ultra Endurance bike race. Last year I wussed out after a mere 12 hours, this time I was determined to do the entire 24 hour ride.

I arrived at the starting line around 6am, pre-race jitters in full progress. After the race briefing I touched base with my crew, Kevin VanDyke, and we discussed strategy and tactics as I got ready.

I was the third off the start line and within three miles the Gods of Ultra Endurance blew past me. I knew I had no hope of being competitive at their level, so I focused on the performance of one individual: myself. My mantra was "keep pedaling."

The day loop was uneventful. It took Kevin and I a while to synch our gears regarding support (understandable since this was the first time we worked together in this manner) but there were no problems other than I forgot to provide a water supply for the bottles (duh). My initial thinking was that Kevin would fill a bunch of bottles at each time station, but it makes more sense to just carry a water supply in the support vehicle. Kevin stopped at a market and picked up a jug of water so this wasn't a fatal mistake. For hydration I started out using 1 scoop Melon Heed with two Nuun tablets. For nutrition I was trying to eat a variety of food alternating with Hammer Gel and Stinger Waffles.

Before the first time station (TS1) I got a flat tire. Kevin rolled up just before I got the tire off so he put the spare on and pumped it up while I ran into the bushes real quick. I was back on the road in no time. So far I've had a flat every LaC I've been in, I guess there's something to be said for consistency.

After TS1, the route continues east for a while and then heads north to TS2. This is where the big climb is. According to my Garmin, it rises steadily for about 26 miles. I managed to pick off three riders during my ascent so that was a slight psychological boost. At TS2 I grabbed my jacket, wiped off my salt-encrusted face, and then headed out again.

The scenery between TS2 and TS3 is what makes this ride worthwhile. The best part of the day loop is when it turns West after TS2 and starts going through the Mt. St. Helens area. As I was flying downhill, I saw a scenic viewpoint and noticed that Kevin was there getting pictures as I blew past. I seriously considered swooping in and checking it out real quickly, but technically I was in the middle of a bike race so I kept on going.

Shortly after TS2, I started to experience some significant discomfort in the saddle region. I asked Kevin to have some handi-wipes and a change of bibs ready at the next stop. I ran into the restroom, cleaned up and changed. The time I spent getting changed was worth the resulting comfort.

Around this time Kevin noted that I was getting cold & tired which caused him concern. The temperature was in the mid-60's yet I was asking for my rain jacket in order to keep warm. On his advice I consumed an Ensure in order to try to get some calories into me.

After I finished the long loop it was time to start doing the short night-time loop. It started out with the same route as the long loop but diverged at mile five, looping back over rolling hills.

During my first or second short loop (my memory is kind of hazy for some strange reason…) we got caught in a significant thunderstorm. Significant as in "holy shit I've never experienced this amount of rain while outside on my bicycle." At one point I'm flying down a hill and I can't see the road surface due to standing water and rain. I'm coming up to a stop sign and apply the brakes: nothing. Normally, wet rims will clear after a revolution or two and allow the brake pads to grip but there was so much water on the road, and thus the rims, that the brakes were just about useless. I was barely able to get the bike slowed before the intersection and even then I wound up basically blowing through the stop sign (sorry Glen!) before getting safely back to TS1.

When I got back to the gym I just hung out with everyone while we waited for the storm to subside. We all looked like drowned rats watching the waters rise, it got up to the curb before slowing down. After the rain subsided I changed into dry clothes (note to self: I should have changed while it was still raining, that way I would have been ready to leave immediately at the first opportunity) and then started out again. I later read in the paper that the Portland Airport received 1.03" of rain that day, tying the record.

After the second short lap I was trying to plug the battery pack into my Garmin when I accidentally reset it. I was hoping to track the entire ride but that didn't work out. At this point I just shrugged it off and kept riding.

Sometime during the evening I switched to Hammer Perpetuem. I started out with a two-scoop bottle but that seemed slightly thin so I went to a 4-scoop bottle which was probably a tad too thick since I started getting some minor cramping. This porridge is too hot, that porridge is too cold, whine whine whine.

As usual, my neck and hands started acting up. I get numbness in my hands and worse, my neck gets very sore and stiff. This is a continuous problem that I experience and it's frustrating when I talk to other riders that can go all day without any discomfort (other than the expected fatigue). I suspect that it might be a fit issue, but the bike I have is the only bike that I'll have for quite some time, a new bike isn't in the cards for the foreseeable future.

(After considering this for a while, I'm thinking that maybe I just need to get a new fork which will allow me to change to a threadless stem. This will be much easier to adjust or swap compared to my current quill stem. Two days later and the only lingering discomfort is a muscle knot at the base of my neck. Something needs to be done when your legs feel better than your neck after a 24-hour bike ride!)

Another problem that started up at night was severe hot-foot. Since I know that this is only a nerve sensation I just kept telling myself that it was all in my head. I also started curling my toes and maybe that helped a little bit, but mostly I just ignored it. I believe it was Lon Haldeman who advised riders to "ignore anything that will heal in a couple of weeks" and that struck me as sage advise to follow.

I think it was around 1am or maybe 2am when the desire to sleep finally became overwhelming. I was sitting in the van trying to get my ass in gear and decided to take some no-doze. After about 15 minutes I felt fine and got on the bike. As I started pedaling I was surprised how good my legs felt. My headache and neck pain also dissipated. I got a little giddy (perhaps too much so) and just started hammering that lap. I came in and immediately started on another lap without delay, and could feel the fatigue coming on again. I tried another couple of no-doze but I guess the performance boost was a one-time shot. Still, it helped for those few laps.

This was my first time riding entirely through the night from dusk to dawn and, all things considered, it was an enjoyable adventure that I'm glad I finally experienced. It was peaceful watching the sun set, hearing the birds calling as they settled down for the night and the frogs starting up.

For lights, my bike was set up with two rear Planet Bike blinkies and one front Light & Motion Stella 300 mounted on the quick-release. For the last couple of hours of night I also had my Minewt 250 on my helmet. The only thing I would change in the future is to get a different helmet-mounted light, one with a separate battery so I could run it all night by swapping batteries. The Minewt isn't practical for all-night rides since the battery is integrated into the light and you can't swap it out for a charged one.

I really like having two front lights: the Stella is good for lighting up the road and showing debris and the texture of the road while the helmet-mount is really important for looking into corners as well as flashing into the eyes of car drivers that are about to turn into you. I didn't have any problems being visible to cars, I figure the few wahoos that passed too close were just dicks that wouldn't have scooted over no matter how visible I was.

On my penultimate lap, I started to feel queasy so I didn't really consume any nutrition. When I got back to the gym I discussed my problem with Kevin and he talked to some of the more experienced people there. They said that at this point it doesn't matter, just get a bottle for hydration and keep pedaling. I had Kevin prepare me a hydration bottle and took off for what would be my final lap.

I was running on fumes at this point, I actually walked the bike up the first hill. I felt queasy the entire lap and didn't consume any nutrition nor hydration; this sealed my fate.

I got back to the time station around 6:30am. I was utterly wasted and decided to bag it. I probably could have gotten at least half an additional lap in, but the psychological aspect of that huge hill near the very beginning psyched me out.

On top of my lack of training, I suspect that I wound up with a calorie deficit. After the ride I changed into warm dry clothes but even then I was unable to generate enough heat to keep myself warm, it was as if I was hypothermic. We didn't keep track exactly but I consumed approximately 6700 calories for the entire ride. This works out to 280 cal/hr, which is on the low side.

My menu for the ride (based on my recollection):

• 3 bananas(315 cal)
• 12 fig newtons (660 cal)
• 3 pkgs crackers w/cheese (540 cal)
• 8 Stinger Waffles (1280 cal)
• 10 oz Hammer Gel (900 cal)
• 12 servings Hammer Heed (1200 cal)
• 6 servings Hammer Perpetuem (810 cal)
• 3 Ensure (750 cal)
• 1 Cliff Bar (240 cal)

The above is generous, in reality I probably consumed less Heed and Hammer Gel and some of the other quantities are likely inflated.

I wound up with 246 miles, a personal record. While technically I saw minor improvements over my performance from last year, they were almost trivial. I decreased the time I took for the long loop, 10:53 vs. 10:20 total elapsed time. Definitely room for improvement there. I looked at the leader board and noted that I was the last 24-hour rider to come in off the long loop; most of the other solo riders came in between 3pm and 4pm, I didn't mosey in until 5:50pm.

One thing I try not to do is get too wrapped up in is worrying about my age class results, but here it goes anyway. I'm 47 so I'm in the Masters Men <50 category which means that I'm competing against a bunch of youngsters in their prime. However Del Scharffenberg, age 66, tied the mileage for the U50 winner, so I guess I can't use that excuse after all. Maybe I just need to HTFU and get my ass on the bike more often?

Lessons learned:

- Listen to your crew and elders. A couple of times I simply asked Kevin what to do and then listened to his advice. The one thing that really impressed me was when I asked him a question that he didn't know the answer to; instead of making something up, he went up to the other crew members and asked them what they'd do. I'm certain that his assistance made a significant difference in my performance.

- Unless the crew chief does the packing, a written (or electronic) inventory would be helpful. I just told Kevin "here's the bag with clothes, here's the bag with food, here's the tool bag…" but if I could have provided a written or electronic inventory, it might have been helpful to him. By an electronic inventory, I'm thinking of a simple database on a laptop or maybe even a Bento database on my iPod. Something where a crew member could do a search by item or category (e.g. 'list all solid food') and maybe even keep track of consumption. This is something to consider if I crew for Kevin at RAO and RAAM.

- Better packing. I just kind of threw all the clothes into a few bags, and all the consumables into a few other bags. In retrospect, I should have separated (and labeled) bags according to the following categories:

• clothing, base layer (e.g. bibs, jerseys, socks)
• clothing, outer/insulating (e.g. gloves, vest, sweater)
• clothing, rain gear
• hydration (e.g. Nuun tablets, Hammer Exceed and Perpetuem)
• nutrition, real (e.g. bananas, fig newtons)
• nutrition, biker kibble (e.g. Stinger Waffles and Chews, Hammer Gel)
• nutrition, caffeinated

- I consumed 800mg caffeine within two hours, that's the equivalent of 16 espressos! In retrospect, it's possible that the second serving of caffeine pills contributed to my upset stomach while not providing any performance boost. Related to that, I stopped consuming all caffeine back at the beginning of April so that any caffeine ingested during the race would have a better effect. If going without my morning espresso is going to put me through the hell of caffeine withdrawal, it had better be worth it and I don't think that the meager performance boost I experienced really qualifies.

- This was the first ride that I did with a support crew; afterwards Kevin mentioned that I rode the ride as if I was self-supported and he certainly has a point. I started out with two water bottles on the bike and pockets full of food. He said that the idea is to only carry what you're actively consuming: when you get a bottle from the crew it's only half-full, they only give you the food that you're going to immediately put in your mouth. This will reduce the riding weight and also allows better record keeping for tracking nutrition and hydration.

- Don't mindlessly adhere to dogma. The general rule of thumb during competition is to not do or consume anything that you haven't tried during training. I just happened to have a few bottles of Ensure with me, but I had never even tried it before. My thinking was that if it came down to a DNF or trying something new, what have I got to lose? I wound up drinking all the bottles I had with me, and would have consumed more if they'd been available.

- Training, training, and more training. Between the weather and personal issues I just didn't have the motivation to really hop on the bike until April. There's simply no substitute for saddle time, all of the other factors I've mentioned pale compared to getting out there and actually doing the miles.

- I should consider using aero bars. I don't necessarily need a time-trial bike, but just a set of aero bars that clip on my existing handlebars might provide an advantage. Case in point: just after the first big hill, there is a long and gradual decline followed by a short sharp rise. I always wound up having to pedal hard up this short hill. One time just as I reached the bottom and was getting ready to stand on the pedals, a rider on a time-trial bike whizzed past me. He was able to gain enough speed on the decline to carry him up and over, while I had to expend some calories to get up the hill.

- I suspect that I over-relied on real food instead of a liquid diet. During training I was mostly using water with Nuun tablets for hydration, and real food along with occasional biker kibble for nutrition. I kind of fell out of the habit of using Perpetuem during training, perhaps I don't need to use it for every training ride but it certainly should be incorporated into some training rides.

I think that this will be the pinnacle of my Ultra Endurance rides. At this point, due to the struggle and difficulty in completing this event, I don't see myself having the capability to do even longer rides. I don't expect a 24-hour competition to be a cakewalk, but I think that I experienced significantly more discomfort than the other riders while only managing to come in dead last.

In closing I would like to thank Kevin VanDyke for crewing for me, his assistance absolutely made the difference. He and I have had many on-bike adventures together (ask him about the tenacious tubular from hell) and they're always a blast. He's planning on competing in the 2013 RAAM so stop by his blog to follow his progress and cheer (or egg) him on.

I also want to thank the event sponsors: Hammer Nutrition, Leatherman, and Showers Pass. I've been using Hammer products since not too long after I got back into bicycling, especially the gel (Montana Huckleberry is the best!). I currently have two Leatherman products: one of the older original style, as well as a Surge. These are carried everywhere and used just about daily. Of course you know how I feel about Showers Pass, they simply make the best rain gear available.

Of course a big Thank You to Glenn Johnson for putting on a wonderful event. The Lewis and Clark Ultra is a unique event, I don't know of any other 24-hour events in the Pacific Northwest. The thing I like about it is that seems to fit into the sweet-spot of being challenging yet allowing us mere mortals to have a reasonable chance of doing well.

Another thing I really love about the LaC Ultra is the friendly atmosphere. Riders are competitive, but they're not cutthroat. I really like the friendly banter from the time-keepers and other crew members as I roll in at 2am all bleary-eyed. More than once someone else's crew member has encouraged me with a "good ride!" as I roll past. To all the crew members from other teams that offered a word of encouragement, thank you. I may not have done much more than a quick hand wave in return, but your kind words were noted and sincerely appreciated.

If you're interested in Ultra Endurance riding, but 24 hours seems like a little too much to tackle, LaC also has 12 and six-hour categories. I noticed that the 12-hour category seemed to be real popular, or maybe they're just smarter than those of us in the 24-hour category… There's also a Night-Owl category if you suffer from insomnia. Check out all the options here.

Hope to see you out on the course next year!

 

Tygh Valley century

This is the second time I did this route, both times with Kevin. Besides being out of shape, I was feeling it from yesterday and Kevin was feeling frisky. It was good to have to struggle with keeping up; I firmly believe that as painful as it may be, you always improve when riding with stronger riders.

I think this is White Creek.

Some falls taken from close to the same vantage point as the photo above.

Expansive view.

Expansive view phase II.

Wagon-wheel tracks?

Hills, Headwinds, and Wild Turkey

Not quite a century, just a very scenic ride. We saw a wild turkey cross the road! It was the first time I had ever been up to Rowena Crest, the road was great. Not a drop of rain. I didn't push it too hard since I knew I had a century ahead of me the next day.

We started off from Hood River, out through Mosier to The Dalles. We stocked up on water and then headed East, then back into The Dalles. From there we took the MUP to the Rowena curves. The curves were a real good climb, never too steep but plenty long.
There was some pretty scenery along the way too.

The Columbia River, looking East from Rowena Crest.

An iconic shot of the Rowena curves.

A fixer-upper

A spooky tree.

I shall call this island 'kenlandia!'

 

Lolo Pass on the last 80-degree day of the year

Today was probably the last day of the year that we will reach 80 degrees. It also was very sunny, so I decided to do a ride with great scenery. Larch Mtn was my other option, but I haven't done Lolo pass as often and there would be less traffic.

I initially planned on going out and back on the exact same route, but I haven't been on the bike for a few weeks so the legs weren't up to it. I did the easier route back which is partially on US26 so of course there's lots of traffic.

The scenery was beautiful of course. The weather was warm but it certainly cooled off by the time I got to the top of the pass. On the way down I ran into a few light sprinkles too; for a while there I was shivering.

Due to a fire, the road down to the east was closed, but this didn't affect me. Other than the general haze, I couldn't see any signs of the forest fire.

I wasn't going to set any records on this ride, so I took a few more pictures than I usually do:

Mt. Hood as seen from 'Little Switzerland'

"the Hood"

One thing I did differently on this ride from the last Lolo Pass ride is that I didn't use the handlebar bag. Everything went in the jersey pockets, and this worked out well for me. On the last Lolo Pass ride I noticed that the steering was a little sluggish; I presume that this was due to the weight of the full-loaded handlebar bag.

I started going pretty slow on the way back. I've only done two short rides in the last two weeks so I was really hurting by the end.

 

Lolo Pass

Sunny day, lots of company, challenging ride. I had done this ride only once before. At the time, my bike had a standard crank. This time I was using a compact, and it was much easier. The weather was better this time too. It was on the warm & humid side, my sweat glands sure got a workout: I wound up consuming almost six full water bottles.

The scenery was breathtaking:

The climbs were pretty tough but there was just about no traffic on most of the roads (ecept 26 of course) and the severe climbs were done mostly through the forest canopy.

Here's the route and some of my metrics. I discovered that the speed sensor on my GSC10 is dead so the metrics aren't 100% accurate.

This was a fantastic ride, I am planning on doing it again at least a few more times this year. I would rate it as a more enjoyable ride than Larch Mtn.

Back in the Saddle up Larch Mtn.

After six weeks off of the bike, today I turned myself inside out on Larch Mtn. I bonked so hard that I could barely pedal downhill, but it felt good.

This ride was a NW BOB Meetup, there was a picnic afterwards. Mark Hashizume and Paul Johnston manned restpoint at the Women's Forum Viewpoint and Larch Mtn. parking lot. Due to the heat of the day, these watering holes really made a difference and were greatly appreciated.

I checked my ride history for this exact same route and I was only off about 11 minutes from my best time. Interesting enough, most of that difference was in the downhill portion which goes to show just hard I bonked. Did I mention that I bonked?

During the ride I consumed a little over three full waterbottles, but that was not enough. I didn't realize how dehydrated I was until I finished the ride. After the ride I consumed a quart of Darigold's chocolate milk, a full waterbottle w/GU Brew, 2 beers and a bottle of plain water. After all that, I hardly urinated. I had a mild headache all afternoon and evening too.

This year I've been including chocolate milk in my post-ride routine and I feel it's really made a difference. We usually buy a flat of the Darigold mini-bottles at Costco. They're also great as a light snack, especially with a few fig newtons.

The post-ride picnic was great. I didn't socialize too much since I didn't really know many of the riders there, but the food was excellent.

 

2011 STP

I'm typing this post one-handed due to a broken collar bone. About an hour into the ride, in Renton, I was second in a paceline. As we approached an intersection, a car approached from the right and our light changed to yellow. I think the guy in front of me was trying to decide whether or not to proceed, then he suddenly decided to stop. I was looking at the same car for just an instant and when my attention returned to the paceline leader, he had come to a rapid stop and I didn't have time to react.

I slammed into his left side pretty violently. I don't recall my exact trajectory but I apparently landed straight on my left side, I think I rolled a bit too. When I stopped, I was laying on my right side and I knew immediately that my collar bone was broken. It took me a while to get up.

One of the other riders helped me up and then called 911. First the police, then the firefighters, then the ambulance arrived. I wound up at Valley Medical Center where they did the usual tests & cleanup. I called my dad and he came down to pick me up and get me on Amtrak back home.

The leader was in pretty poor shape too. When I hit him I either broke or at least separated one of his ribs. He told me that he was having difficulty taking a deep breath and he was quitting the ride to head back home.

Holy cow did my helmet take a hit. The next day I noticed bruising & tenderness in the area of my left temple and if that was the impact point then the helmet spared me some serious dain bramage. Looking at the helmet it is obviously broken, but it fulfilled its prime directive by sacrificing itself for me.

Damage to the bike was several broken spokes in the front wheel and two of my brand-new brake pads were knocked out and missing. My favorite jersey got scuffed a bit in the back where I was carrying my spare tire, my saddle was torn up too. I haven't had a chance to go over the rest of the bike yet. Unfortunately I was too wrapped up in my own problems to ask what damage the other rider had but I think he was changing a flat tire as I rolled out in the ambulance.

So I'm off the bike for 4 to 6 weeks. I'll be getting on the trainer shortly, hopefully I can keep some of my fitness.

Lessons learned:

1. Trust no one unless you've ridden with them before. I got caught up in the excitement of my first STP when I should have instead contacted my regular riding buddies and left with them.

2. Don't get caught up in the excitement. I don't know if I'll even bother trying to do the STP in the future, I feel that I spent a lot of money for a pretty bad experience

McKenzie Pass

What a gorgeous ride. I had never done this before and am glad I got the chance. Three of us went up Saturday morning. The sky was crystal clear so we slathered on the sunscreen before leaving the Blue River Ranger Station.

The climb up was never steep, it was just relentless. Looking at the profile in Ascent, I think there's a stretch of at least 12 miles with literally not a single level spot on it. It certainly felt that way.

The view from the top was stunning. We climbed up to the very top of the observatory and hammed it up a bit:

 

"I'm on top of the world Ma!"

We then headed down the other side to Sisters. I got ahead of the group and was blasting down the road. I glanced down to check my GPS and when I looked up the (closed) gate was practically right in front of me.

Oh snap.

Well, I obviously managed to stop in time but if I hadn't, the two riders just on the other side of the gate would have quite the story to tell of 'the time this guy flew 50 feet after hitting the gate!'

We made it in to Sisters and stopped to sit a bit, eat, and refill our water bottles. Then it was back on the road and upwards.

Kevin got a flat so Dave and I waited for him at the gate and then went up to the summit again. I still had a little pep in the legs so I tried to pick off all the rabbits and managed to get all but one.

We started back down with a group and I took the opportunity to ride with descenders that were much more skilled than I. I don't think I've ever had that much fun on a bike before, descending through the technical switchbacks in a fairly large group.

On the way back we stopped for pizza & beer, the perfect end to a perfect day.

 

Lewis and Clark Ultra 2011

My first ultra-endurance event ended with a big fat DNF. The main issue is that I caught a cold before the race and was not able to ride the bike for about two weeks. Then during the race, I didn't consume enough calories and ran out of gas. Oh, and I guess I kind of gave up too. <whine>But I had excuses!</whine>

What went right: I showed up at the start line despite being woefully unprepared.

One thing I was happy about was that my inactive time was only 33 minutes total. I feel that I made pretty efficient use of my time considering I was riding unsupported.

About 20 miles from the end I got caught in the worst weather I have ever been in on my bike. It was an intense hail storm, the road was covered in hail AND I was also climbing up a pretty good hill. It was actually kind of fun, I just smiled and kept pedalling. I wonder what all the people in the cars that passed me thought?

What went wrong: Nothing went horribly wrong during the event, it was more an unfunny comedy of errors. One problem I had that threw me off was that I had a bag of perpetuem in my front jacket pocket. The constant motion broke it open and with the rain, the perpetuem literally glued the pocket zipper shut. This was the pocket that had all my snacks (fig newtons) and enduralytes so I was unable to access them. It wasn't a fatal problem but it was very distracting.

It never fails: putting brand-new tires on the bike is the surest way of guaranteeing a flat, especially if they're expensive tubulars. I noticed a flat tire about 5 miles from the end but fortunately it didn't take a lot of time to fix: stopped the bike, checked the tire, pulled the sliver of glass out, put in some Stan's, inflated w/CO2, back on my way in less than four minutes.

Lessons learned:

1. I am now tracking the amount of calories consumed during a ride. Previously, I had just noted what was consumed without bothering to actually count the calories. For the LaC I only consumed a total of 2310 calories and thus averaged a mere 224 calories/hour. I need to see if getting this up to at least 300 cal/hr will provide a benefit.

2. If the event organizers are providing consumables at time stops, no need to stuff the jersey pockets.

3. Don't quit pedaling. I threw in the towel at 6pm; if I'd gotten onto the day loop and puttered along for one lap at 10 MPH, I would have at least received full credit for a 12-hour ride.

4. For training I did a lot of short intense rides, I need to get more endurance rides too.

5. Pre-ride maintenance should include cleats. Lost a screw off of one cleat, the entire assembly was loose enough to move by hand when I checked it afterwards.

6. Carefully examine the map and cue sheet before the ride. Despite having the route in GPS I still took a few wrong turns. Fortunately the Garmin let me know fairly soon, but the bonus feet were unnecessary.

7. I experienced some mild nausea towards the end. I think it may be due to mixing up a two-hour bottle of Perpetuem (3+ scoops) but then not taking in enough plain water to dilute it to the proper strength. I will stick with one-hour bottles for the next few rides to see if this makes a difference.

 

Tygh Valley century

Kevin cooked up this ride. It starts in Tygh Valley, down to the Deschutes River, up to Grass Valley and Shaniko and then on to Maupin, back to Tygh Valley.

The scenery was just stunning. The Deschutes River was running pretty strong:

 

Lots of gorgeous scenery (note lack of trees...):

At the first rest stop there were a bunch of old classics for sale. We noticed this odd fellow:

It looks like it was modified to carry people in a parade(?)

I like the little island in this pond:

I dub this continent 'Kenlandia'

On the way back we were treated to a good view of Mt. Hood, all frosty white with a good coat of new snow:

Even though I was just about freezing all day long, I still wound up with a sunburn on my thighs...

Larch Mtn. Road/Bull Run hill climb

Great sunny day, went for a ride. You know when the route description begins with 'take Larch Mtn. road as far up as you can' that you're in for some climbing.

It was a warm day and I got a chance to rid some roads that I never had before. The scenery was gorgeous:

Mt. Hood in the distance

 

My First OBRA Race

This evening I went down to Portland International Raceway, joined OBRA, and raced. Even though my main goal is ultraendurance events, speed work will be a vital component of training. I also get to work on my pack riding skills.

To quote the great Heidi Swift, I pedaled until I tasted blood. Immediately after the race I almost puked, so I guess I didn't leave too much on the track.

Final results: 22nd out of 30. I'm disappointed that I didn't do better, proud that I was at least able to hang on and not finish as a straggler.

For some reason, I could barely hang on in one specific turn (I think it was turn 5). I'm trying to analyze what happened and the only thing I can think of is that the prior turn is very sharp so perhaps I was slowing too much or I need to jump on the pedals out of the turn a bit earlier. I have Speedplay Frog pedals so clearance isn't an issue.

I probably need to work on my 'hold the line' skills too. I didn't get yelled at, most likely because there weren't a lot of people behind me, but I'm pretty sure I wandered around a bit too much at certain points in the race.

The bike performed perfectly, any problems were strictly engine-related. While I was cleaning & lubing the bike the other day in preparation for the race, I found a glass shard in the rear tire. I got out the Leatherman and pried it out. Air hissed out for a few seconds before I realized that I should probably rotate the tire so the hole is on the bottom and the sealant can do it's thing. I spun the tire around and stopped it. The air hissed out for a few seconds more, spraying latex sealant on the garage floor, but soon enough it stopped. There was sufficient pressure still in the tires so I just left it until the next day (day of race).

That morning I pumped the tire up to operating pressure. A few drops seeped out but soon stopped and the tire was good to go.

As a side note, it was interesting seeing the mix of frame materials in the cat 5 race compared to the strictly-carbon cat 1/2/3s. I saw the complete mix from carbon to steel. There were even a few riders with fenders, so I guess I took mine off unnecessarily. I didn't want to be too fredly, even though I left my helmet mirror on...

Edit 11 Apr 2011: I was just reviewing my race stats in Ascent and noticed that my average HR for the entire race was 168. My LT is somewhere between 161 and 164, so yeah, I did get my legs torn off. Looking forward to the next race!

Astoria Blizzard

Well, just about the only weather we didn't experience was a blizzard. But we did get rain, almost-snow, hail (lots), rain, sunshine, wind, and, uh, rain. Not necessarily in that order.

This ride was Kevin's idea. Ride about 120 miles from Vernonia to the Astoria Column and back. Joining us was John Henry, an accomplished ultra-endurance athlete.

We left Vernonia about 8am in the rain, which trailed off shortly. Other than grabbing some snacks in Birkenfeld, we pretty much went straight through to Astoria, only stopping briefly to regroup and catch our breath.

In Astoria it was up up up to the column, pose for some photos, and descend to the D.Q. in order to inhale some calories. I made the mistake of ordering a bacon-gutbomb combo and paid for it by soft-pedaling the next two hours to keep it down (I was successful).

For some strange reason we seemed to take more breaks on the way back. However, the tailwind made a huge difference: I often found my self going up gentle inclines over 20mph. I started fading about 10 miles from the end, John caught up and we traded pulls to the end (but he was definitely doing the majority of the work).

I felt that I rode pretty strongly today, so I'm glad that my fitness seems to be returning.

 

various loops near The Dalles, OR

Sunday I met up with some biker friends in Hood River. We were going to do a century, but it was just a little too cold and rainy (as in I was getting some slush on the windshield as we were driving into Hood River; I wouldn't have been surprised if we wound up climbing up into the snow...).

Dave took us around some various loops that are used by the Cherry Blossom race. Lots of great climbs, gorgeous scenery. Wasn't too rainy.

The group I was with were all more advanced than me. Fortunately they didn't tear my legs off or leave me on the side of the road 200m after we started. But I certainly didn't have much left in the tank by the time we got back.

Hardest ride of my life (so far)

Well, today I did a century. It was a pretty flat century. Nonetheless, I could barely average 15 MPH riding time. I have been sick a lot this winter. I hadn't been on the bike since Feb 2nd and yesterday I went and did a pretty intense (for me) hill climb ride. As a result, when I started the century I literally was already on empty.

Fortunately, Kevin wouldn't let me quit. Thank goodness he wasn't out to make any set time/speed, he just wanted to do his 100 miles.

One mistake I made was when we stopped for lunch, I had a sandwich and some fries but didn't get anything to drink. I wound up being really thirsty on the ride back. I should have chugged down a big soda, the sugar & caffeine would have helped too.

I guess it's good that I didn't quit and finished the century. But I certainly tried to quit.

 

 

My first double-century

Well, I was just going through my rides and was fondly thinking of the great weather this last summer and some of my favorite rides.

My first double-century was on Sep 14th, 2010. I started at 5:55am and got back to my car shortly before 9:30pm. Total bike time was 12:28, average speed was 16.3 MPH.

I utilized the alarm function of the Edge 500 to beep every 15 minutes (every 10 minutes for the last few hours of the ride) to remind me to consume fluids and nutrition.

I stopped for supper on the way back in Jefferson. This is a little town that I never heard of before but I sure seem to ride through a lot.

During the ride I consumed the following: 2 bottles cytomax, 4 x 2-hour bottles perpetuem, 4+ bottles plain water, 1 qt Gatorade, 3 Cliff mojo bars, 1 pkg Cliff Shot Bloks, 1 BLT with potato salad, Sanpellegrino Limonata soda (my favorite) and half a mocha. The Shot Bloks didn't sit too well in the tummy, but I think that's because I consumed the entire package while resting at the half-way point. Normally I only consume one or two at a time and they don't cause me any problems.

I took the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway south to just past Albany and turned around near OSU.

Here are some photos:

A rail bridge over a pretty creek

It's hard to see in the photo but the sign on the telephone pole says "no fishing". You think?

Marge Simpson in Jefferson (right next to the cafe where I had supper)

A pretty farm pond

Laws yes! M-O-O-N spells moon!

This ride was a lot of work. When I got back home I went to bed, probably too quickly. I don't remember if I ate well before bed, but I definitely remember getting massive cramps. Odd thing is that I didn't have any cramping problems while I was on the bike.

 

Mountain Home/Haugens Road

 

One of my favorite training rides. Haugens Rd. is a great way to work on hill climbs. Plenty long, and it's a constant rise, absolutely no rest.

This was my first ride on a compact crank, I went from a 52/39. This made a huge difference in perceived exertion going up hill. I was able to spin while sitting for most of the climbs, whereas the previous chainrings had me standing for the majority of the time. Somehow I trimmed 11 minutes off the previous time I rode this route, just less than two weeks ago. My current cassette is 12-25, I'll probably get a 11-tooth cog but don't foresee any other necessary changes.

A sunny spring meadow, smoke from someone's wood stove.

That's Mt. Hood in the distance.

It was a gorgeous sunny spring day, but it got real cold real quick as the sun went down.