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Another fall? You gotta be kidding

11.14.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 12 Comments

Raced home after work this afternoon to get in a ride before dark.  We have a cold front coming through tonight, and this might be the last warm weather ride I’ll have for awhile.

Did the usual run to the Veloway.  It’s an easy way to get in a quick 15, or 18, or 21 miles, depending upon how much time is available.  I’ve been bad this week — haven’t ridden since last Saturday.  I was looking forward to a few brisk laps around the course.

The Veloway is mostly flat.  But on the back side, about halfway around, there’s a short, but steep hill.  I hit the bottom of the hill at about 20 mph, and did a quick downshift to spin up the grade.

hillThe camera always flattens hills.  This one is much steeper than it looks.  I crashed near the top, on the left.

I must have shifted down more than one gear.  The pedals started spinning fast and free.  My right foot unclipped from the pedal, which caused the bike to lean left.  I lost control.  The front wheel went off the left side of the track, onto a sloping gutter.  No way to recover.

The scrape on my shin stings, but that's about it.
I'll be nursing a large scrape on my shin.

The bike went over on its left side.  I managed to stay almost upright, except that my right leg scraped across the front derailleur, and my left hand scraped the rocks along the track.  Otherwise, no endo — no major bruises.

I got the bike up and pushed it across the track, out of the way of any other riders who might be behind me.  A quick damage assessment found the handlebars knocked askew, and my nice bar tape was scuffed down to the bare metal — but not where my hand contacts it.

Once I straightened the bars and checked myself over, it seemed things weren’t too bad.  I hopped back on and finished a 15-mile trip (The crash happened just over four miles into the ride).  The bike rode fine.

I still can’t believe I lost it on this easy hill.  I’ve ridden the thing hundreds of times — and that’s just this year.  It just shows to go ya — you can never take things for granted.

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Categories // crash Tags // crash, pedal, Veloway

Post-century soreness in unmentionable places

10.21.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

I got home from work and decided not to ride this evening. Tuesdays are the only day of the week I get home at a reasonable time, and can fit in a ride of an hour or so. My usual Tuesday routine is to head for the Veloway, and do several laps around the track. Five laps will give me a nice 21-mile round trip from the house and back.

But today when I got home (after stopping to cast my ballot in early voting) I thought twice about it, and decided not to go. The reason is simple. My taint hurts like someone kicked me there! On Sunday, I did an easy nine-mile recovery ride, and was very uncomfortable the entire way. Today, when I assessed the tender spot, it felt as though there was some bruising there. Can’t see anything, but I sure can feel it.

So — no biking for a few days. I’ll be out of town Friday and Saturday, and wouldn’t be able to bike in any case, but I’ll see how I feel on Sunday, and with any luck, I’ll be back in the saddle then.

Looking back, I’m kicking myself for not taking advantage of an item in the century ride’s goody bag — a one-use packet of Chamois Butt’r. I had made liberal use of my new favorite — Body Glide — before heading out to the century. But of course that stuff will wear off. If I had half a brain, I would have put the Chamois Butt’r in one of my jersey pockets, and used it at about the halfway point in the ride.

I know that some veteran riders will tell me to HTFU — but I’ve ridden 2,300 miles this year, and I think I’ve done enough saddle time that I ought to be hardened. Wonder if I need a new saddle? I’ve always liked the one that came with the bike, but lately, I get uncomfortable on it after an hour or so. Maybe I need a thorough professional bike fitting? I got the free (and rather cursory, in my opinion) fitting when I bought the bike. I’ve made some adjustments since then that seem to have improved things, but obviously, it’s not enough.

Well, time heals all wounds. I’ll take a few more days off, then hit the roads again.

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Categories // soreness, training Tags // bike fitting, saddles, sore butt, soreness, Veloway

I feel the need — for speed

09.16.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

I’m not a fast cyclist. That’s why I ride with the B riders in my club — we just can’t maintain the 18+ mph pace the A riders typically set on our Sunday morning rides. I enjoy going fast, but the descents that let me do that don’t come along all that often. Besides, right now, I’m training for endurance, not speed.

But this evening was different. I hit the Veloway for my usual Tuesday night ride. (Unrelated aside: Road Rash, a blog on the Austin American-Statesman site, did a piece on the Veloway recently. Here’s the link.) My plan for the ride was to hammer the uphills, which are gentle, but still make you work. I would back off on the downhills and flats.

I got through the first mile, which includes one of those uphill stretches, and then hit a fast downhill. I was moving at a good clip, so I decided not to ease off to ride the descent easily. Instead, I kept up the power, and pedaled hard for the first lap (3.1 miles). I finished the lap in just about 10 minutes, 20 or 30 seconds faster than my usual time around the course.

I slowed to an easy spin to get out my water bottle and take a drink. Two cyclists flew past me, one after the other. I put the bottle back in its cage. What the hey — the chase was on!

I figured I’d try to match their pace, which seemed faster than mine on the lap I’d just completed. It looked like they were going to match each other’s pace, without racing. I became third in line. The guy in the Slipstream jersey passed the guy in the Airborne jersey, and I followed. Airborne shot me a look of disdain. We went up the one steep hill on the Veloway, then hit a fast flat section. Our speed was 24 mph. I usually ride 20-21 through here.

Then, my least favorite part of the loop — a curvy incline that scrubs off your speed quickly. I tried to match the pedal strokes of Slipstream, and kept it in the 15 mph range. Usually I slip to 12 here.

On the last section of the course, I passed Slipstream. The ess curve, then the end. I slowed to take another drink. Slipstream went by — his pace hadn’t slowed a bit. Then Airborne passed, looking straight ahead. What the hey — here we go again!

There’s no point in relating a turn-by-turn account of the next lap — or the one after. I never passed those two guys again, but I did stay close. I finished four laps around the Veloway, and figured I’d try to maintain my speed on the three-mile ride home.

Total distance: 17.76 miles. Avg. speed: 17.65 mph (Yes, it took me 22 seconds longer than an hour to complete the ride). Fastest average speed ever for a ride of an hour or longer. Pretty wimpy for the A riders out there, but by keeping up a decent pace through the entire ride — without tiring — I was breaking new ground for me. I’m looking forward to trying this kind of ride again — sometime.

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Categories // Rides, training Tags // Rides, speed, training, Veloway

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