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Biking stats update

09.01.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Back at the end of April, I took a look at my riding stats for the first four months of the year. Now, the second four months has gone by, so it’s time to update those numbers:

  • May-August: 54 rides
  • Total mileage: 1167
  • Total for 2008:1814
  • Average speed: 14.87 mph
  • Highest avg. speed on a single ride: 16.8
  • Highest maximum speed on a single ride: 39.5
  • Longest single ride: 52.5
  • Monthly mileage
    • May: 298
    • June: 203
    • July: 344
    • August: 322

The biggest difference in the January-April and May-August timeframes is the amount of riding I’ve done. It almost doubled over the second four months. That’s partly to be expected because of warmer weather and more available riding time. The measures of central tendency haven’t changed much, with average speed up only .2 mph. But, I’ve talked before about my preference for just riding over training. What the stats don’t show is that my endurance and strength are better. Despite the occasional dip, I feel like I am a better rider than I was.

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Categories // Records & stats, Rides, training Tags // avg. speed, Rides, stats, training

Easy spinnin’

08.31.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

Today was the long club ride I look forward to each week. It’s a necessary part of my training for the century in October. It seems I learn something new every time I go on one of these rides, and today was no exception.

The ride went into the rural countryside southeast of Austin. It was advertised as a 44-miler, and would be a nice bump up over last week’s distance.

Once we got out of the city’s built up area, the roads started to get hilly. Mostly rollers, not too bad, but still a challenge. We didn’t have an organized B ride, so I told the ride leader that if I and my friend David dropped off the back, to consider us the B ride and not worry about waiting for us. The peloton took off, and were soon out of sight.

Many of the roads we traveled were part of my first metric century last fall, so I was familiar with them. But after about 28 miles, I could feel myself losing energy. David pulled over to the side to wait. We saw a gas station a quarter mile down the road, and decided that would serve as an impromptu rest stop. But it turned out to be the planned rest stop — everybody from the group was there, swapping stories, eating energy bars, and drinking water or Gatorade. For me, the break came just in time.

The group lost us again within a mile of leaving the gas station. It was taking awhile for the nourishment to be felt, so I shifted to the small chain ring and spun easily through the countryside. Today was not going to be a speedy ride.

After about a half hour, I started to feel some strength in my thighs again. The rest of the ride in was uneventful, but when we got to our starting point at Starbuck’s, only two riders were still there, drinking their post-ride coffees.

So what did I learn? Spinning is underrated. The speed won’t be as high, I won’t be able to keep up with the group, but I will be able to finish strong. Breakfast is important. Mine this morning wasn’t big enough. Two waffles, a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee don’t provide the calories needed for a long ride. Don’t trust the numbers. The ride was supposed to be 44 miles. My total at the end was 52.

It’s the longest unsupported ride I’ve done to date. I’ll be better prepared for the next.

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Categories // Rides Tags // Rides, spinning

Head for the hills

08.24.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

It’s time to get serious. I’ve actually set some goals for the next couple of months (more about that later in this post). But in order to meet those goals, I have to ramp things up.

I was happy, therefore, to see that this week’s B ride would be led by my pal David. He’s been biking since the early ’90s, and has been a dependable source of information about getting better. David decided the B’s would ride the Lost Creek hills (“I don’t know what’s ‘B’ about that,” said the A ride leader).

Once again, As and Bs headed out together. The As were going to do an over-the-top hills expedition, and we wanted no part of that. They went their own way about five miles into the ride. The Bs shot along the curvy downhill into the Barton Creek neighborhood.

At Lost Creek Blvd., we turned again. David advised us not to be afraid to ride the brakes on the upcoming downhills. They were twisty, and at over 30 mph, a bit unnerving. But then the climbs began.

The first one was daunting. We quickly shifted down to our lowest ring and cog combinations, and stood on the pedals, straining to overcome the steep grade. About halfway up, Chris, who was riding with us for the first time, declared that he was hopping off to walk. We waited at the top for him, and I was glad of the chance to catch my breath.

Two more similar challenges followed. Eddie, the other new B rider, led me to the top of each one, where we waited for Chris before starting out again. Finally, David gave us the good news.

“We’re done,” he said. But we weren’t — not really.

David (foreground) and Eddie wait at the top of the last of three Lost Creek hills. No shots of the hills themselves, because I was either hanging on for dear life on the downhills, or pulling hard on the bars in the uphills. Either way, I needed both hands.

David wanted us to get a taste of Loop 360. This is probably Austin’s best known biking route. It’s a four-lane divided highway with a generous shoulder. And it’s hilly, but not steeply so like Lost Creek. The hills on 360 are loooong. We traveled another five miles or so up 360, turned around and did it all over again coming back.

Chris crosses an exit ramp on 360, while David catches up.

In the post-mortem over drinks at Starbucks, David told us that riding Lost Creek and 360 would be a quick way to build our endurance and climbing prowess. No doubt about that. The good news for me was one, I actually climbed all the hills without having to get off and walk the bike up any of them — something that would not have been possible just a month ago — and two, I felt great after it was all over. I did 33.5 miles at an average of 13.6 mph — the hills really cut into the average speed — and I felt ready for more. It was a nice contrast to some bonking episodes I’ve talked about earlier this summer.

So, in light of today’s performance, I’ve decided to go public with a big goal for me: I’m going to tackle an Imperial Century. I plan to do the 100-mile ride at the Outlaw Trail 100 in Round Rock, Texas in October. I’ll warm up for it with a metric century (100 kilometers, or 62 miles) at the Tour de Florence, in Florence, Texas next month, and I’ll be increasing my weekly mileage and the length of my weekend rides between now and the ride day. Things are looking up for the Noob. Follow my progress here.

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Categories // Rides, training Tags // hills, improvement, Rides, training

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