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Yet More Training

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You can call this yet more training! I have to cross railroad tracks to get to my preferred biking path, which of course makes me very aware of trains. Not to mention that I live one block from the tracks, and hear them blasting their horns at any hour of the day or night. I can\’t not be aware of them! Widely given advice about riding a bicycle across tracks is, cross them as close to perpendicular as possible.  The narrower your bicycle\’s tires are, the more important that is. You don\’t want to have your front tire slip down into the \”slot\” along the rail. Remember what happens if anything stops your front wheel while you\’re riding. POW! You\’re down before you know what\’s happening. Be especially careful when it\’s wet, and the rails are likely to be slippery. Naturally there\’s the train factor itself to be taken into account. It\’s actually hard not to notice an approaching train. Those horns are very loud (and some of them have an obnoxious timbre as well), and the engineer starts blowing it a block or more short of the crossing. Add to that the noise of the locomotive itself. Darkness doesn\’t hide a train; it has a bright headlight. The bottom line: just take sensible precautions. Look both ways before crossing. If you don\’t feel confident riding across tracks, there\’s nothing wrong with walking your bike across them. In fact, there\’s a crossing I use frequently where the \”slots\” alongside the rails have long since become chasms! I nearly always walk my bike across that one. There\’s always yet more training. It never ends, does it?

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Hot Foot

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\”Hot Foot\” might sound like burning up the track. For cyclists, hot foot is quite another thing. Thus far I\’ve had little in the way of foot trouble when riding. Recently I did have a bit of a problem with my left foot\’s toes cramping up when I took off my cycling shoes after a long ride. And when I walked, it felt like there was something sharp under the bases of the smaller toes. It turned out I needed new orthotics. Custom-made orthotics don\’t come cheap, unfortunately. Mine cost over $340. Ouch! I\’m glad they\’re meant to last 3-5 years. Maybe I\’m lucky to have avoided hot foot. Or maybe I don\’t do enough of the kind of riding that\’s so hard that I\’m more likely to have problems with the condition. I can\’t believe that I\’m so smart as to have avoided it by way of \”doing everything right\”. Articles about dealing with hot foot suggest moving the cleats rearward. Last November, when I had a bicycle re-fit, the fitter did just that. It felt rather odd at first; and it was at least a week before I really got used to it. I think he did it more so that I could get more out of my pedal stroke, than because of problems with my feet. We do what we can to make our feet comfortable, especially on long rides. We don\’t, after all, want to end in \”the agony of de feet\”.* *  The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling, p. 174.

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Think!

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Think? Okay, okay, I\’m thinking! Improving as a cyclist means a certain amount of thought and planning. I need to include some really hard on-bike intervals in my plans; namely, those exercises meant to improve my force (strength) so that my power and my cruising speed will improve. But how often should I do them? I need to think about that, too. For somebody my age, who is basically a recreational rider, once a week is probably often enough. And then, should I do such work every week? Everything I\’ve read about cyclist training says, back off every fourth week; or every third week for riders over 40. Well that\’s me. I need to plan days when I work at a steady pace, including the weekly long ride. That, actually, means most days of the week! And I need one day per week of riding very easily, in a low gear. I try to stay in heart rate Zone 1 during these rides, which is easier said than done. Maybe I spin too rapid a cadence during these rides; because riding one-handed while trying to get a water bottle out of its cage, and then back in, has me swerving all over the place! Let\’s not forget to plan for one day a week away from bicycles. There was a time when I rarely let a day go by without at least some riding, but that was before I got into long distance rides. Want to ride in a big event? Or prepare for a self-supported 100-miler? Or just want to make the most of what time you have to ride? Let\’s put our thinking caps on, and plan it all out! And perhaps we can model for Rodin while we\’re at it?

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Over Already!

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My vacation is over already! I\’d better enjoy what few hours I have left of it. Tomorrow it\’s back to the old grind. I hope I get to do a real ride tomorrow morning. Today I was about to start a ride when my headlight winked out. Yesterday the indicator light on top of the headlight looked like the light had finished charging; but obviously it hadn\’t. Luckily I have a spare light, but it won\’t go on top of my helmet; and its fastener can\’t fit around the road bike\’s handlebars. I had to settle for a ride on the hybrid. So — what did I get done during vacation? Tour de Cure was the biggest thing. I worked on my web site, and finished the revising. I even did a little bit of work on the blouse that I began making months ago. Sure, I ought to have done some serious cleaning (I\’m absolutely terrible about that). And more cooking, to make things to freeze for later. I did entirely too much sitting around doing nothing. On the other hand, isn\’t that what a vacation is for? To kick back and relax? If only vacations didn\’t speed by so fast! It\’s over already.  

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Base Miles

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Do base miles mean first base? Home base? For different cyclists, base mileage can mean different things, I suppose. For the cyclist who has an annual period of frequent races, it means the time of building  endurance again following the post-race season period of rest and recovery. This sets the foundation needed for more intense training as the current race season advances. To me, base mileage means my total mileage from day one, as I don\’t often take several weeks away from the bicycle. After almost nine years, that\’s considerable distance. In fact, 42,000+ and counting! There comes a point, though, when miles per se don\’t matter as much as what you do with those miles. If you want to get faster, for example, riding X miles per day at Y miles per hour results in stagnation; or even regression. Yes, if you\’re a rank beginner, speed takes care of itself up to a certain point; or so it was with me. When I started riding the tricycle, for several months I did gradually get faster. After a few more months,  I noticed that there had been no further increase in my pace. That\’s when I realized that I would have to make deliberate efforts at riding faster if I wanted to get faster. That was several years before Get Fast! came my way. This book is quite useful; and discusses things more than speed itself, such as core-strengthening exercises. Getting back to base miles, I\’ll keep working away at making my base bigger.

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Quite the Spendthrift

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I feel like quite the spendthrift. Today I went to the bike shop to get a new helmet. A helmet, they say, should be replaced every two years even if it seems undamaged; and mine was nearly two years old. For one thing, there\’s that little dial mechanism at the back of a helmet, which you adjust to secure the helmet to the head. It seemed to be wearing out; I\’d tighten it, and it would slip loose. A helmet needs to be securely in place. A helmet\’s straps shouldn\’t be too loose, and those straps seem to stretch over time. Don\’t choke yourself, of course! You should be able to slip two fingers under the strap when it\’s fastened. I always forget my helmet size, so I took along the old one today. It still has all the manufacturer\’s stickers on the inside, and I figured one of them gave the helmet\’s size. Color? I\’ve drifted away from looking for a blue helmet. I love blue; but have decided that visibility is more important than color per se. Instead I look for white or a bright color. I did not, however, anticipate getting a chartreuse helmet! It\’s a bit gaudy; but as long as people see it, that\’s what matters. So there goes $50. It might seem expensive; but it\’s far, far cheaper than brain surgery, and possibly being on life support if I\’m in a crash. Call it insurance, if you like. While I was at the bike shop anyhow, I got a rechargeable tail light for the hybrid. The battery-powered one I\’ve been using seems to need the batteries changed too often. Up front, about$20; but I anticipate long-term savings by having to buy fewer batteries! Maybe I\’m not quite the spendthrift, after all.        

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In the Market?

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I\’m glad I\’m not in the market for a bicycle. But are you looking to buy a bicycle; and don\’t know where to begin? So many choices are out there; and it\’s easy to become overwhelmed. Cycling books and web sites are chock-full of useful information, such as this. Consider the amount and type of riding you plan to do: just commuting? Do you aim to do long rides on paved roads; or a lot of off-road riding? Is bicycle racing your ambition? Incidentally, I wouldn\’t say that price is unimportant. It is important, unless you\’re among the lucky few for whom money is no object. But with that said, I say to buy the best bicycle that your budget can afford. It\’s over five years since I bought my road bike. It now has more than 20,000 miles on it; and I suppose it\’s inevitable that it will wear out eventually — long may that evil day be delayed! I trust that I\’ll have a better idea of what to look for when I\’m in the market for a new road bike. Not that I\’m unhappy with my Scott® — quite the contrary — but for a fact I was grabbing blind, as the saying goes. I\’d never ridden a road bike before and trying them out was scary!  

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Yakking It Up

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Do you ever feel lost at sea when listening to cyclists yakking it up? Or do you scratch your head as you wonder what it all means? Help is here! I need this list, myself. I had never thought of a route as being \”lumpy\”, unless it referred to the condition of the pavement under my wheels. I\’d never heard of \”chopping wheels\”, either. \”Echelon\” I\’ve read about before now; and it\’s a type of drafting used in a crosswind. Instead of the riders being in a straight line, they form a diagonal line. They say that the echelon formation is best reserved for long, straight stretches of road; because an echelon can take up a considerable portion of the road. The riders need to be able to see approaching vehicles, so that they can \”single up\” until the cars have passed. \”Filling gaps\”? You know what they say: Nature abhors a vacuum; and apparently cyclists do, too. \”Noodle arms\” are what I had before I began doing off-bike exercises to develop some arm and upper body strength. I got tired of my arms\’ feel like overcooked spaghetti after 15-20 minutes of riding. The effort is worth it. I would not enjoy \”motor pacing\”. The exhaust fumes would kill me; and the engine noise would be murder on my ears. And as I\’m not great at \”hammering\”, I think I\’ll hang at the back of the \”peloton\” for a leisurely ride. I\’ll listen to the other riders yakking it up; and maybe I\’ll catch on to their vocabulary.  

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Aftermath

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Today I notice the aftermath of a long ride. I felt somewhat tired this morning after yesterday\’s exertions; but not as knocked out as this kitty.  I think Tour de Cure was harder on my lungs than on my legs. Despite that, I decided to make a trip to the salvage store. My legs felt all right until I started over there on the hybrid, with the trailer in tow. Then they said, Hey, we\’re tired! So I tried to take it easy. That was nearly impossible on the way back home. Of course I had a headwind; and it was drizzling besides. I had brought along the poncho in case I needed it; and a flapping poncho only increases wind resistance. For much of the way I was spinning on the smallest chain ring, and the next-to-biggest cog. So now my legs are tired. They\’ll recover, I\’m sure. Most weekends I do a long ride on the road bike one day; and a grocery run with the hybrid on the other. This weekend hasn\’t been much different. The long ride was on Saturday and the trip to buy groceries on Sunday; usually it\’s the other way around.  Now that TdC is over, I\’ll go back to my usual schedule. If I do Tour de Cure next year, I think I\’d be wise to choose a shorter distance. I enjoy the challenge of doing longer distances in the sense of just putting in the miles. When there\’s a cut-off time, it\’s another story. But it\’s early to be thinking of that. I want to \”just ride\” for a while; but soon I must get back to \”force\” work and other training. But not before the aftermath of TdC wears off. I don\’t need to burn myself out!

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Afterthoughts

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Now is the time for some afterthoughts. The big ride is over; and I can think about what went right; what didn\’t go so well; and what I can do to improve for future long rides. I\’m sure the work I did to improve my force helped. On the other hand, it\’s obvious that I need to practice riding harder against the wind; and for longer stretches at a time. There was the usual problem that fighting the wind killed my desire to eat. I got pretty bonkish about 4-5 miles before the end; and had to stop and eat something. Between that and the headwind, the final miles seemed endless. Speaking of eating, I knew there would be lunch at the finish; so I thought I didn\’t need to prep my usual recovery drink. Maybe that was a mistake. I have a peculiar \”buzzy\” feeling, like overworked muscles quivering. It might have helped if I had gotten my Sunday long rides up to 50 miles a month or two earlier than I did; and then pushed them to 55 miles. Maybe I\’ll keep doing 50-milers on Sundays; partly because I enjoy putting in the miles, and partly to keep in form for the next big event. But not tomorrow! I need to make a grocery run. My arms got really tired towards the end. For the last week or so before today, I did less of the off-bike work. Next time, keep up the exercises for arms and upper body! Working on the web site has also taken its toll on off-bike work. And do my afterthoughts include Tour de Cure 2019? Not yet; but we\’ll see.

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