The What and Why of the Audax Ride

I do this ride every year, and have been for quite some time.  Each year I invite any and all who might be interested to join up.  If you are a long time reader, you probably already know most of what I’m about to say.  If you are new, I’ll be giving you a very brief description here, and I invite you to go back and mine some of the past posts.  There are (as the name of this blog might suggest) more than a few posts devoted to this ride.

The Reason:  I happen to believe that there is great value in getting on a bicycle and going somewhere.  Too many (most) rides are too short.  Way too short.  We look for more in the way of camaraderie than speed.  We want to enjoy the process of going out on the road and working together toward a common goal.  It’s all about having fun on the bike, enjoying each other’s presence, and living our way through one good long day.

The Structure:  This is a touring type of ride.  It’s style is rather unique.  The group will stay together.  The idea is to finish.  Together.  All of us.  But that does not make this a “No Drop” ride.  The pace is manageable, but there is a significant distance involved.  A schedule must be met.  This requires good, strong, consistent effort from all present.  This is a self-supported ride.  No SAG trucks.  No catered rest stops.  As a group, we are self-sufficient.  (More on that in the near future.)

We will leave on time.  7:30 AM start.

We will take several (short) breaks,

            10 miles for “nature break”  (optional)

            30 miles

            50 miles

            65 miles (LUNCH!)

            90 miles

            105 miles

            125 miles (FINISH!)

(All distances are approximate.)

There will be reservations for the lunch stop.  (One of the reasons for the schedule.)

Costs:  There is a fee involved.  This is to pay for lunch and for water along the way.  It’s usuall quite modest.  I will be announcing the exact amount soon.

Bragging Rights:  “I rode 125 Miles in one day!”  and “There was a mountain!”

A note about the terrain:  The route has several sections with some respectable “rollers.”  There are some good long relatively flat stretches.  We will go over Pine Mountain before we stop for lunch.  It’s long.  It’s mostly through some very scenic territory.  The traffic is mostly not much of a problem.

Can I do this?:  If you’ve never ridden century distances, you might feel a little intimidated.  If you’re not sure about your ability to get this done, you can be forgiven.  But that is why we have a series of Audax Tune Up Rides.   There are two each 45 mile tune ups, and two each 65 milers.  We will ride the tune ups in the same style as the actual 200K.  We will stay together.  We will ride in mutual support.  The pace will be controlled.  And, just by the way, the terrain on the tune ups is, by design, more demanding, mile for mile, than on the actual 200K.  If you can do the tune ups, you can do the big one.

Give it some thought.  We’ll be putting up more on this as time goes by.

Your First Three Years ~ Part 17:

Training:  What Kind of cyclist are you going to be?

A Guide for Beginner (and Experienced!) Cyclists, to the Art and Practice of Cycling.  Becoming Proficient, Fit, and Happy on your bike.

Before training can really begin, it's kind of important to figure out what one is training for.

Presumably you have recently started your exploration of cycling.  Perhaps you started following this series after you “got on the bike” last Summer.  Perhaps you are a more experienced cyclist who is exploring a deeper understanding of the sport and your place in it.  The assumption is that you rode last Spring and Summer, and that you are about seven to eight months along in this journey.  All of that would make this a really  good time to consider, or revisit the question,  “What do I want to do on/with the bicycle?”

A good bicycle salesperson will start the conversation with a question something like,  “What do you want to do with your bike?”  That salesperson is asking “How do you want to ride?”  and “Where do you want to ride?” and “What do you want to get out of this?”  (Sadly, more often than not, the answer to the question, “What do you want to do with your new bike?” is “Ride it.”  Duh.)

That series of questions is often tough for the new rider.  I’ve met a lot of folks who said that they wanted to moutnainbikeroadrideracetourplayrideonpathsexerciseandloseweight.  Sure they may want to do all that, but in fact they don’t really know what attracts them and where they wish to place their energy.  After a season of riding, most folks have developed some opinions.  They have learned some things that they like, and discovered some things that they don’t like.  A rider’s personality begins to inform the riding.  Perhaps now is a good time to revisit some categories and explore the sport a bit more widely. 

“What kind of cyclist are you?” Do you really know the answer to that yet?  How many different kinds of riding have you explored?  Perhaps it’s time to branch out and try something different.

On the other hand, there’s no real hurry.  You are young in the sport.  Take the time to become more deeply involved in the type of riding you  have been doing.  Drink it to the dregs, but be aware that there is more and different.

“What kind of cyclist are you?”  The answer to that question carries with it some implications and possibly some amazing revelations.  Bear in mind, very few cyclists are just one thing, and there are as many different styles of doing things as there air things to do.  In aid of your reflections, here are some categories and some qualifiers.

A (partial) List of Cycling Fields

• Beginner
• Recreational
• Event Rider
• Fast Recreational Rider
• Competitive Cyclist
• Endurance Rider
• Tourist
• Utility Cyclist
• Gadget Obsessed
• Mountain Biker
• Fixed Gear
• BMX
• Stunts and tricks
• Downhill

Some personality attributes which inform one’s riding:

• Gregarious
• Loner
• Individualist
• Minimalist
• Adventurer
• Tinker
• Non-technical
• Outdoors!
• Inside!
• Competitive
• Laid back
• Aggressive
• Active
• Easy going
• Social
• Budget minded
• Technically fascinated
• Mechanically inclined
• Hate to mess with machinery

Think about that first list for a moment.  Let your imagination roam freely.  What intrigues you?  What repels you?  How would you blend the attributes that you have from the second list with some of those Cycling Fields?

Don’t be too quick to answer.  You just could be exploring this one for the rest of your life.

Next Week: Indoor Training

Stationary Trainers, HR Monitors, Core and Abs, Strength training, pliometrics

~//~

This series began with the post on Tuesday, 19 June 2012.  It is intended to continue for three years.  Each week, we will discuss exercises, skills, practices, and activities designed to bring the new (or “experienced”) rider a high level of cycling competence.  We’ll address common problems, and (always) stress safe practice.

~//~

A Note on Timing:  This series uses Mid-June as the starting point of the “Cyclists Year.”  We do this because this is the time that most folks decide to start riding.  If you are following this guide, you can “adjust” the timing to fit your personal “first three years.”  Do note that some of the posts will concern weather and seasonal changes.  When that starts to happen, just swap the “months” around to fit your personal timeline.

SPOKE

I spoke to him yesterday.

I am choosing a new spoke to repair that wheel.

What kind of spoke do you like best?

How does a spoke work?

We’ve had the wheel for a long long time.  It’s been with us so long that we have no idea who invented it.  But we do have some idea about where and when some refinements were added.

Earliest wheels were used on carts or wagons.  They were simply boards, bolted or pegged to other boards at a 90 degree angle, and then the whole works cut at the ends until it was round.  This makes something that will roll, but it can be improved upon greatly.

Some early improvements were made by the Andronovo Culture, of western Siberia.  In about 2000 BC, these folks figured out that most of that big solid wheel wasn’t needed.  They invented the Spoke.  Turns out that a spoked wheel is lighter and stronger.  We are here talking about a wooden spoke.

In the case of wood spokes, the spokes are loaded in compression.  That is, the weight presses down on each spoke, in turn, at the bottom of the wheel.

Incidentally, the word “spoke” comes from the method of manufacturing the product.  A tree, after cutting was split lengthwise into four to eight sections.  These sections were called spokes.  Because they ran lengthwise, in the same direction that the wood of the tree supported the weight of the tree, they were ideal to be formed into things that supported weight…  Like the spokes of a wheel.  The tool that was used to form the tree-spokes was called a “spokeshaver.”  Eventually, the product came to be named for the material it was made from.

The wood spoke lasted a long time.  The “wire spoke” It wasn’t until the middle of the 19^th century.  It is significant in that it is no longer compression loaded.  “Wires” or “spokes” of drawn steel were attached to the hub and the rim and tightened.  This formed a “wire wheel.”  In the wire wheel, the spokes are loaded in tension.  The load literally hangs from each spoke in turn, with the load distributed around the tensioned rim.  It is this technique that makes the modern bicycle wheel.

Since steel has a terrific tensile strength (you can pull on it real hard before it breaks) it is possible to make a wheel of this type that is both enormously stronger and many factors lighter than one that has to rely on compression of a wooden spoke.  If we had to rely on wooden compression loaded spokes, each of our bicycle wheels would weigh in at about 25 pounds.  (I can’t imagine that riding such a beast would be a lot of fun.)

Our spokes support us.  They carry our weight by hanging it from the rims of our wheels.  They hold the wheel in shape, and they take the loads from our cornering, accelerating, and braking.  Each one of these marvels weighs only a few grams.

When was the last time you thought of your spokes, or gave them a “thank you”?

Your First Three Years ~ Part 16:

Coming back from Illness or Injury

A Guide for Beginner (and Experienced!) Cyclists, to the Art and Practice of Cycling.  Becoming Proficient, Fit, and Happy on your bike.

Sooner or later we all suffer an injury of some kind, or succumb to some illness.  It can’t be helped or avoided, no matter how conscientious and careful we are.  Sooner or later our well established rhythms are disrupted.  If we are athletes, this causes us a lot of anxiety.  After all we’ve worked, and worked hard, to attain some level of fitness.  In many cases we are aiming at some goal, and this problem occurs at exactly the worst possible time.  What are we to do?

Before we go farther there are some hard facts about training and physical conditioning that must be faced.  Among these, one of the hardest is just this:  It is not possible to “make up for” lost training time.  Once a day is past, it is forever gone.  Keep that thought in the back of your mind as we go through the next part.

Illness, whether it be a common cold or something more serious, simply must be dealt with.  Once one is suffering from some sickness, the first and only job is to regain health, and then recover from the sickness or infection.  Only then can training resume.

Injuries must be treated in exactly the same fashion.  First we heal, then recover, and only then may we resume training loads.

Attempting to “rush” the process is folly.  It leads to poor training, or worse, to relapse and even more lost time, possibly even a greater loss of fitness than would have been the case with a reasonable approach.

One last fact.  The time spent healing and recovering will result in a loss of fitness.  It cannot be “made up for,” and one can not simply resume at the same level as before the injury or illness.  That said, unless the convalescence is unusually long or involved, the level of fitness loss will not be as sever as it is perceived to be.  In fact, the enforced rest just may be beneficial.  (One of the most common mistakes amateur athletes make is neglecting proper training rest.)

So just how do we handle this recovery process?  The process is fairly simple.

1. Begin training activity, but at an easy and reduced level.
2. Assess the state current state of fitness.
3. Plan a “ramp up” back to pre-illness levels.
4. It may be necessary to reassess goals.

Let’s take those one at a time.

Begin training activity, but at an easy and reduced level.

The idea here is to start moving again, but to do so in an easy and enjoyable fashion.  Get on the bike and go for an easy ride with no particular “training goals.”  Just get out and feel the bike and your body’s responses.  Have some fun with it!  Return to the gym and work on stretching and light muscular activity.  Make a game of it.  In short, your only goal in these first two or three sessions is to resume regular patterns of movement, while emphasizing only very easy loads.

Assess the state current state of fitness.

Now that you have begun to move again, and to re-establish the training routine, you will need t determine just where you are.  Test yourself against your pre-injury fitness.  You will, almost certainly, find that you need to “set the clock back a bit and re-do previous training.

Plan a “ramp up” back to pre-illness levels.

How far?  Here’s a pretty good rule of thumb.  You  will need about two days of re-training for every day missed.  So if you lost two weeks to your injury or illness, you will, most likely, need to drop back about four weeks in your training plan.  Do NOT worry about it!  You WILL recover!!!

It may be necessary to reassess goals.

In the worst possible case you may find that you are not going to be able to accomplish a major goal in your previously scheduled time frame.  For example, let us say you are training for a particularly long and arduous event, with a “Personal Best” in mind.  Now let’s assume you lost a month to an injury, and it is less than a month until the event.  In this case, you may have to accept that you are not going to make that particular goal this time.  Go ahead and do the event, but with reduced expectations, and plan to “Live to Fight another day.”

In summation, each year is short.  The race is called LIFE and it is a long one.  There will be time, and you will be better for taking a measured approach.  Sometimes an injury or illness teaches you far more than it takes from you.  Consider it a “character builder” and a lesson in life.

Now go have some FUN!

Next Week:       Training:  What Kind of cyclist are you going to be?

~//~

This series began with the post on Tuesday, 19 June 2012.  It is intended to continue for three years.  Each week, we will discuss exercises, skills, practices, and activities designed to bring the new (or “experienced”) rider a high level of cycling competence.  We’ll address common problems, and (always) stress safe practice.

~//~

A Note on Timing:  This series uses Mid-June as the starting point of the “Cyclists Year.”  We do this because this is the time that most folks decide to start riding.  If you are following this guide, you can “adjust” the timing to fit your personal “first three years.”  Do note that some of the posts will concern weather and seasonal changes.  When that starts to happen, just swap the “months” around to fit your personal timeline.

The ride that wasn’t and the one that was

For the first time in quite a few years I felt the need to cancel the annual Penance 100.  Turns out that was a good decision.  The forecast was extremely unfavorable.  All of my weather sources were in agreement about the day.  It would be raining all day long.  The temps would be in the 40s to low 50s.  That’s an evil combination.

I have long maintained that the most miserable conditions possible for a cyclist are 40 degrees and rain.  It’s a perfect combination for the hypothermia.  Add a really long ride, and one that takes the rider a good 50 miles away from home, and the recipe is complete.  There are just too many ways that a day like that can go horribly wrong.  And that is just the day we got.  So it was a good call.  But I wasn’t happy with it.

I was determined to start the year off with a riding day.  Just not the day I had originally planned.  Two of us set out at noon.  I was well attired for the conditions.  The bike had fenders.  I was wearing rain pants, good winter riding boots, a helmet cover, and a rain cape.  I was comfortable, even during the parts of the afternoon when the rain moved from “light” to ”downpour.”

My riding companion was similarly attired.  We didn’t talk much.  It wasn’t necessary, and rain riding requires a lot of concentration.  We rode in a companionable silence for most of the afternoon.  Our timing was excellent.  We finished just at the point where our rain gear was saturating and overloading.  The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches tasted like manna from above.  All in all it was a good way to start off a new year.

Newy Hapear! and Welcome Back

It’s been a long time.  My last post was on Monday 19 November 2012.  I’m back now.  By way of explanation I will offer only this.  Events sort of overtook me.  Between a lot of “stuff,” and an intense workload, this blog sort of dropped down the priority list…    waay down!

I don’t like the whole “New Years Resolutions” thing.  I’m not writing a post on doing resolutions.  What I am doing is making a return to something that is important to me, and (I hope) useful to you.

In the coming weeks you will see some differences in this blog.  Starting next week, one week from today, we will again bring you the series Your First Three Years on each Tuesday.  From that point on, the series will continue on a weekly basis.  I’m giving some thought to including some supplemental posts to sort of “catch up” on time lost.

In addition to the “YFTY” posts, you can look forward to a lot more on touring.  This is an area of cycling that fascinates me, and of late I’ve not been too faithful to it.  You are invited to share in a comeback.  Along the way, we’ll stray into other areas.  You can look for some mountainbike stuff, a bit of silliness, the occasional advocacy bit, and a touch of occasional remembered whimsy.

Now let’s all go out and start working on this brand shiny new year.  It will be what we, together, make of it.  I for one intend to make it a work of art and a labor of love.

Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all!