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Fueling a ride

04.08.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

I’ve now had a couple of days to think about what went wrong in the ride Sunday. How could I have finished 50 and 62 mile rides last fall, and not make it past 37 now?

The answer was obvious. Those long rides were organized, with adequate rest stops. And I took full advantage of the rest stops. I ate bananas, energy bars, pretzels and goldfish, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches — and I always refilled my bottle with a sports drink. Sometimes, I drank half the bottle before getting back on the bike, and refilled it again before leaving the rest stop.

The ride Sunday was put together well by a group of volunteers, but it wasn’t big enough to warrant rest stops. The riders were on their own. I just didn’t come well enough prepared.

So the next time I decide to rack up some big miles, I’ll know what to do. Find an effective sports drink (not one loaded with sugar), bring along two — or three — energy bars (I’ll have to find one that I like), and maybe even experiment with gels.

I’d never even heard of gels until I’d been biking for two months last summer. Seems convenient, but I wonder. What the heck, I’ll buy some for my next long training ride.

I’ll even remember that five dollar bill to spend at a convenient convenience store. And breakfast will be more than a pair of frozen waffles.

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Categories // Rides, training

I bonked

04.06.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

Pat’s training ride for the upcoming Hill Country Ride for AIDS had a great route today, so I decided to tag along.  It was to run from Dripping Springs to Johnson City and back, a total of 52.2 miles.  The first nine miles are along my favorite ride in the area, Creek Road.

Quite a few riders — I would guess about 50 — turned up for the ride.  It was well organized, with several ride leaders and SAG support.  Pat’s goal was to ride somewhere around 27-30 miles.  I figured I’d try to complete the whole ride.

We were sent off in groups, to avoid a traffic bottleneck at the beginning of the ride, where we had to cross a busy four-lane highway.  Creek Road runs past small ranches, including several with longhorn cattle.  It parallels Onion Creek for much of its length, and is only 8.8 miles to its end, so it makes an easy out-and-back.  But today, we were continuing on, and hit the first set of big hills just a couple of miles after leaving Creek Road.

I hit a top speed of 36.6 mph on one of the downhills, and the others were just as exhilarating, if not quite that fast.  Going uphill, I was in the largest cog and the small chainring more often than not.  But I felt great, and determined to keep an easy pace.

A turn to the west, and we passed a sign that said, “Johnson City 8 miles.”  The rollers got steeper — and longer — and slower.  I pulled over to suck down some water (flavored with Emergen-C).  When I got going again, a passing rider shouted, “Just one more bigass hill and we’re there.”  I took heart.

But there were more like three bigass hills. I was glad to see the other riders pulled up at a convenience store at the town’s (pop. 1200) main intersection.  I rested, wrung out my bandana, ate a Kashi bar, drank more water.  I had forgotten to stick a five-dollar bill in my pocket, and had nothing to buy more food and drink with.

Pat called.  She had turned around at the 14-mile mark, and was now only five miles from the starting point.  I had the car key.  She was bummed.  I told her I’d hurry back, but knew it would take two hours to get there.

Eastbound, we were into the wind.  The hills that had been tough on the way out were a lot tougher.  I could tell things were not going well.  I coasted all the downhills, and spun easily — and very slowly — on the uphills.  I pulled off for an impromtu rest stop only about six miles out of town.

The hills got harder.  When I reached the road that turned south, I pulled off for a long rest.  I knew there was no way I would get back to Dripping Springs under my own power.  As luck would have it, one of the sag trucks came by.  I called it quits, tossed my bike into the pickup’s bed, and squeezed in with two other worn out riders.

I completed 37.2 miles, at an average speed of 14.3.  Clearly, I need more time in the saddle, and I need to raise my caloric intake on these rides.  Losing 20-30 pounds would help, too.  On the plus side, it was my longest ride in three months, over terrain I don’t ride often enough.  Going to ride more hills, and investigate just what would be the best way to fuel up for longer rides in the future.

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Categories // Rides, training

Another step toward improvement

03.28.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

I just got back from almost four hours in a classroom. What a way to start the weekend! But it was a good thing, because it dealt with bikes. I went to Road I, a class offered by the League of American Bicyclists.

The League offers several classes in different aspects of bicycle riding. Road I is their most basic. It concentrates on training new riders to ride safely in traffic, but also includes such skills as basic maintenance, on-bike skills and crash avoidance techniques.

The class met in a meeting room tucked behind the storeroom of a local REI, the outdoors co-op. Six students showed up – about the number I’d guessed would be there. They had a variety of biking backgrounds: a couple of mountain bikers, a new commuter, some club riders. One thing they all had in common – including the two instructors – was that they were all women. I was the only guy in the room.

Some of the instruction was really basic: These are the recommended clothes to wear while biking, this is a helmet, these are two different kinds of shoes, etc. To the instructor’s credit, she quickly surveyed the room, and passed over these items in short order. Much better was a PowerPoint presentation explaining such things as proper lane position when riding on city streets. The presentation featured videos of bikes moving through traffic, “taking the lane,” and instruction on how to deal with different situations encountered on the road, such as approaching freeway on and off ramps, railroad crossings, and emergency moves.

Class was capped off with a 30-question multiple choice test over what we’d just learned (I missed two. In school, that’d still be good for an A.).

Road I is a two-part class. The classroom session is followed on Saturday morning by a five-hour on-bike session, actually practicing the techniques we heard about tonight. But, bad news: tomorrow’s session has been cancelled! The instructor is out of town on business, and our classroom teacher won’t be available. I’ll have to wait until the end of April to get the on-bike part. Disappointing, yes, but I did come away with new information, and I’ll be putting it to use in my next several rides.

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Categories // Safety, training

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