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Archives for April 2012

A Metric A Month

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The club ride was a hills sufferfest today. Not something I really wanted to do, even in a shortened “B” version. In any case, I wouldn’t be able to go along with them, because I didn’t leave my driveway until 8:25 a.m. — 10 minutes after the club ride was scheduled to leave.  So I struck out on my own. I figured I’d head south, to Kyle. That would make about a 45-mile round trip, and I wanted to get more miles than I’ve been getting lately.

Conditions were perfect. Partly cloudy skies giving way to sun, temp about 65 (18C), little wind to speak of. Because it was Easter Sunday, traffic was way down from its usual numbers. About 12 miles into the ride, another rider pulled even and we exchanged pleasantries. He was the first one I’d seen all morning. He easily left me in his wake, but that was fine. I was just out to enjoy the ride.

The route was the same as the one I’d done on my birthday, although the turnaround in Kyle would mean a shorter overall distance. I sailed through Buda well before the churches along Main Street would be packed for Easter services. I was glad to see that traffic was just as light on Farm-to-Market 1626, which I would be on for several miles.

The last few miles into Kyle are nice, since the road was resurfaced last summer. At the convenience store that is our traditional turnaround, only two other cyclists stocked up on Gatorade and energy bars. I got a Gatorade G2 and a bar myself, and poured the G2 into one of my water bottles. Then, I decided I wouldn’t be turning around. I could continue down the road toward San Marcos. It’s a nice road, one I enjoy riding, and what the heck — it was a really nice day. I figured I’d head to a convenience store I know in San Marcos.

By now, the sun was turning up the heat. I rode another seven miles to Five-Mile Dam Park, and instead of turning around there as we did on my birthday ride, I kept going. A hairpin turn, under a railroad trestle, and across the pretty Blanco River. Now, I was seeing a lot more cyclists. Two pelotons — one from Team Roadkill, an Austin club, and one from a team of serious-looking racer types that I didn’t recognize — passed by heading in the opposite direction. The road was slightly uphill for me, and I realized that I was pedaling very slowly. I pulled over under some shade trees, and took a break.

Resting only about nine miles after the last (long) rest is a bad sign. I figured I’d gone as far as I needed to today. I headed back up the road and reached the redone section in Kyle that is now smooth as glass. That didn’t prevent two time trialist types from passing me like I was on a cruiser bike — the woman in the lead was easily pulling a guy much bigger than she was. After a nice fast stretch into Buda, I reached another convenience store that has been a regular stop on our rides. It was good to get into the shade — the temperature was quite warm by now — and refill my bottles with cold water. Only about an hour to get home.

I was pleased to see a road that I’d been bypassing because of construction is now all finished. Riding in the smooth asphalt shoulder was nice, as was the new center turning lane that let me make a left turn without worrying that traffic coming up from behind would hit me. I got home without any problems, and unlike me, I did not flop on the bed for a two-hour nap. I was fully energized and wide awake. Final numbers for the ride: 60.5 miles at an average speed of 15.3 mph. Overall, a good day.

And it occurred to me that if I can do this kind of ride again, it will go a long way to helping me build my mileage and my endurance — both things that suffered last year. So I’ve concocted a new plan called “A Metric A Month.” If I can ride a metric century each month, not only will it be good preparation for some rides I’m keying on later this year, but it will make me a stronger rider all around.

So now I’ve got two of them. Last month’s birthday ride, and today’s. And yes, I know that 60.5 miles does not a metric century make. So what? It’s close enough, and this is MY plan, so I’ll work it the way I want. Let’s just see if I can stick with it.

Kitted Out

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Okay, some of you have sent in pictures of your club kit — the matching jerseys and ancillary gear you wear on your club rides. Today, I’ll start featuring some of these from time to time.

The first examples come from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

This is from Team McAllen, the home club of our friend Ramon H. (That’s not Ramon in the shot — either on the left or the right). A nice orange-yellow gradient into the white, so the club’s name can be easily read. What you can’t see on the guy’s shorts is that the pale green stripe on the left leg is spotted with darker green palm trees in silhouette. Like many clubbers, Ramon says he only has the jersey–no bibs. However, he says he does try to wear the jersey whenever he’s out on club rides.

Ramon, you’ll recall, is one of the ringleaders of the 5 a.m. bike rides in the Valley. “We usually organize a weekend ride just with the folks in that group,” he says, “as opposed to riding with the local cycling clubs.  Yes, there are talks of coming up with a jersey design just for this.” 😀

Ramon also sent along a picture of another Valley club’s kit:

It’s the Sports Federation of the Valley. Between them and Team McAllen, it appears the Valley has some spiffy looking cyclists!

What? You think your club has a better-looking outfit? Well, put your picture where your mouth is. Send shots of you, or your fellow riders, all decked out, to rainycamp AT yahoo DOT com. I’d love to feature y0u, too.

Rest Stop Food

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Now that spring is here, lots of us are contemplating organized rides. Which ones should we do? What do we look for on a ride?

One Bike Noob reader recently contacted me with a report about a 120-mile organized ride that left him underwhelmed. I’ll let him tell the story:

“The thing that really struck me was the low quality of the food at these stops. This was a pricy ride, with no obvious charity beneficiary, so you’d think they would have provided decent food on the road. I mean, I’ve been on some centuries, t-shirt rides and so forth where they ran out of stuff, even water. Those things happen. But, this one seemed like the food had been obtained by sending someone who’d never ridden before into Sam’s Club. There were bananas cut up and orange slices, so it wasn’t all crap. But, aside from the fruit, at most rest stops, there was only oreos and potato chips. Some of them had these uncrustable PB&J sandwich things and one had the real cheap, sugary granola bars – you know, the ones about the size of your index finger. One rest stop had these GU shots, in the original packages so a small percentage of riders got more than they needed and the rest, none. I say that as an early rider who got the package with a half dozen of the things, but they were too sticky to share on the road, except with really close friends.”

This rest stop manned by volunteers (not on the ride at issue here) appears to be well-stocked with lots of choices.

Hm. I’ve been on rides where they’ve run out of food, too — but I only experienced that because I was riding so slowly that I was among the last to get to a rest stop. This fella has a legitimate gripe, I think. To continue:

“Each item that they had was something that some rider could be craving at that particular moment, but they didn’t really add up to the sort of fuel that you need to ride long distances. Cookies are good, but you get a lot more mileage out of oatmeal or fig newtons or something like that, even chocolate chip, than oreos. I carried a Clif bar and a Snickers Marathon, but they were more for emergency purposes. I didn’t expect them to provide the bulk of my fuel. I realize that the various energy bars are more expensive than vending machine snacks, but if you are charging $70 for a tee shirt, a meal and sag service, it seems like you could come up with better food options, or at least some variety from stop to stop.”

Our reader wonders if he had just been lucky on other organized rides he’d been on. Are situations like this par for the course? Or, was this ride as  “sub-par” as he imagined?

In my experience, the volunteers who man the rest stops put a lot of effort into providing the kinds of foods cyclists need. However, I’ve noted that in many cases, the food is very predictable and lacks variety. Chunks of banana, orange slices, peanut butter & jelly quarters, and the bad Gatorade that’s mixed up in bulk are pretty standard these days. If you come across a rest stop with cookies, especially home made ones, that’s a bonus. Rest stops with fig bars are a pleasant discovery. And as our reader says, if you’re paying a hefty price to take part in the ride, you really shouldn’t have to rely on a Clif Bar or some other energy food you carry yourself.

What’s been your experience? Have you been on organized rides where the rest stops are substandard? Where the food doesn’t take care of your energy needs? I’d like to hear your tales.

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