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Anticipating a good year

01.28.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

I’ve been  bad lately.  Haven’t been riding much over the past couple of weeks.  When I have ridden, my mileage has been below what my average rides were a couple of months ago.  The one longer ride I took recently showed me just how much my biking fitness has declined.  I’m in a biking slump.

But there are some signs that I’ll be on the rebound soon.  For starters, my bike club had its monthly meeting tonight.  I don’t usually go, but made it a point to be there tonight.  They were collecting our annual dues, and I wanted to make sure I paid up.  Although I haven’t been on a club ride since October, I do like these folks, and do want to continue riding with them.

Turnout was pretty high, both because of the dues thing and because we got our first look at the design for this year’s club jerseys.  And it pleased me to find myself seated at a table with several folks I’ve ridden with a lot on past rides.  David, and Pippa, and Bob, and Debra have all gotten mentions in this blog from time to time.  Anyway, I forget who started the discussion, but we reached a consensus that we’re tired of showing up for club rides and getting left behind by the strong riders (see “ABC” from way back in March).

We had all ridden on “B” rides with each other at various times during last summer, and we decided we had to make the B’s in the club a visible, viable contingent.  One of us proposed that we round up a core of B riders — say, eight or so — who we could count on to be more-or-less regulars on weekend rides.  Then each of us would take a turn as B ride leader.  The idea is, if other slower riders know there will be a group of folks out each week who won’t be keeping a 17 mph average over 45 miles, they will be more likely to show up themselves and grow the ranks.

I’m ready.  I had already decided that I would step up and offer to lead more B rides this year.  It was great to learn that others share my attitude.

A nasty cold snap seems to be easing.  This weekend could be the start of this year’s real riding.

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Categories // clubs Tags // B ride, clubs

Joining a cycling club — virtually

12.11.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

The Internet has changed the way a lot of us work, and spend our free time, and it even changes the way we have to think.

Recently, I became a “virtual” member of a cycling club.

I had no idea how to cycle “virtually,” unless it was spinning in front of a Tour de France video. But it turns out that the president of a cycling club saw one of my posts that mentioned Bike Journal, the online ride logging site. He e-mailed me, and invited me to join the club. Now, this club is actually in my area. It’s centered about 10 miles from where I live. ccrcc1But I’m not really keen on driving to a bike ride, and that’s not something I’d care to do on a weekly basis. Besides, I’m already in a club — the Circle C Ranch Cycling Club (CCRCC) — right in my neighborhood, so when we have club rides, they start about a mile from my house. It’s an easy pedal over there. So I told him that while I appreciated the invite, I didn’t think I’d take him up on it.

That’s when he came up with the notion of the “virtual” membership. Bike Journal has a section for clubs to log their members’ combined miles, and if I joined his club, my miles could be added to the club’s total. That’s an additional 2,500 miles for them. All I had to do was log onto Bike Journal and add my name to his club. I mulled it over. There wouldn’t be a conflict of interest with CCRCC, since they don’t participate in Bike Journal’s club totals. Soooo…

ltcTa da! I’m now a virtual member of Lake Travis Cycling. They’re pushing for over 60,000 miles on Bike Journal this year. They’re almost there.

The beauty of it is, I still might be able to do some real — not virtual — rides with them. Some of their routes come east, near my part of town, and the club president said he’d let me know when they’ll be in the area. Heck, despite my earlier comment, I might even put my bike on the car and drive out there for a ride or two in the coming year.

Anybody else out there a “virtual” member of a cycling club? How about more than one “real” club? Why?

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Categories // clubs, Community Tags // clubs

Two grand

09.21.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

The Sunday morning club ride was another hills excursion. Geez, these guys like to ride hills. I took one look at the proposed route, and figured it was not for me. However, to get out to their hills, they would take a route I’ve done before — so I told the ride leader I would ride part way with them, but then break off on my own.

Once we got started, a familiar rider pulled up next to me — my friend David. He had gotten a late start, and was about a block from our Starbucks starting point when he saw us pull out. He pushed hard to catch up.

But he didn’t have it today. After about five miles, we hit some moderate hills — a precursor of things to come — and he dropped off the back. I thought he would be able to catch up, but we didn’t see him again, even after waiting awhile in a church parking lot at the top of a killer hill (I walked my bike up that one!). By the way, church parking lots probably are not the best places to regroup on Sunday mornings, especially between services!

Then we headed out to Loop 360, the best-known biking road in Austin. Long uphills, followed by long downhills. Six mph going up, 38 going down. Fun. The group turned into a ritzy golf course neighborhood to head for their hill route. I kept going north on 360.

Pennybacker Bridge.  Image from www.texasescapes.com.
Pennybacker Bridge. Image from www.texasescapes.com.

I hadn’t been this far north on 360 before. You get to cross an Austin landmark, the Pennybacker bridge, over Lake Austin (which is really the Colorado River). The bridge surface is roughed-up concrete, so if it ices up in cold weather, car tires will still get a grip. So crossing the bridge is not smooth going. No problem, though, and I soon found myself at my predesignated turnaround spot, the Arboretum. It’s not a park with flowers, but an upscale shopping center. With shade! I took a break, ate a Lara Bar, drank some Heed, shook out my foot, and turned around to head back.

The trip home was uneventful. My average speed was slower than I’d like — 14.4 mph — but no big deal. A more telling stat is my new total mileage for the year: 2,031. I crossed the two-thousand mile mark for the year on this ride. Never in my wildest imagination last January did I think I would put in so many miles. It took me five-and-a-half months to get my first 1,000 miles in this year, but only three months and eight days to get in the second thousand. Summer will do that for you — more riding time, longer mileage per ride, and a big increase in monthly mileage. I’ve also noticed the length of my average ride is increasing. Rarely am I satisfied to go just 14 miles anymore. Eighteen is closer to the norm.

I still am not shooting for a mileage goal for the year. The miles will come, and I’m more focused on the century ride coming up next month (I’m concerned that my long rides aren’t getting long enough, fast enough). For now, as David Bernstein of the Fredcast says, I’m going to “Enjoy the ride.”

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Categories // clubs, Records & stats, Rides, training Tags // clubs, hills, Loop 360, mileage

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