Bike Ride 30 - Neighborhood Criterium
I didn’t get up this morning at 5:00 due to not getting to bed early enough last night. I did manage to squeeze in a ride before taking my wife out of town for a pre-surgery doctor’s visit. Because of the time of day, and increased traffic, I opted to ride around my neighborhood instead. So, I got the bike ready and headed out.
After my first loop I discovered that one lap was equal to .65 miles. Almost exactly 1 K. Cool. The route reminded me of a little criterium course hence the title. I took it pretty easy for the first five or six laps. There was almost no traffic so I was able to really hammer it in the turns and work on my cornering skills. With the route I was riding, see below, there are only two significant 90 degree turns and the rest is either straightaway or sweeping turns. A couple of the laps I opened it up a little bit by shifting to the big chain ring and pushing a little harder. When recovering, instead of shifting back to the small chain ring, I just shifted to a bigger cog. I felt that I should start riding in the big chain ring more so I left it there.
I did have one moment of excitement. One one of the laps I pushed it, I shifted in front of my house, dropped into the drops and cranked it. By the end of the street I was going 21+ (I know…ludicrous speed) and setup for the right-hand turn. I carried the turn wide and noticed a minivan coming down the street. I had plenty of room and moved back over onto my side. That’s when I saw it. Crossing the street in front of me was a 3 foot long black snake. He was crossing from the lake on the right side of the road to a wooded area on the left. I moved further right to clear the snake. As I approach the snake the minivan spooks it and it performs a u-turn right at me. It then notices me and starts to freak out. I went by it pretty fast but I swear it raised up and tried to strike at me. I could be mistaken. Anyway, I made it by with no problems. Wheew!
Here’s the map of the Neighborhood Criterium.
I did notice a problem that I’m starting to have that I experienced today and last Saturday. I sweat a lot and am starting to experience some problems with sweat dripping into my eyes and causing some burning. Do any of you guys/gals have any solutions to this?
Today’s ride was just over 11 miles.
Weiland on Thu, 4th Sep 2008 8:31 pm
I use a Halo Protex, for the most part it keeps the sweat out of my eyes. A low cost method is vasaline over your eyebrows to act like a gutter.
Bryan on Thu, 4th Sep 2008 9:03 pm
@Weiland: I had thought about some kind of headband or bandana.
jodycb on Thu, 4th Sep 2008 9:26 pm
I haven’t had much of a sweat problem since I got my new helmet. This is gross… but my old helmet had these little foam pads that would soak up all my sweat like a sponge and then when my head shifted in my helmet a little bit it would gush straight down into my eyes. The new helmet doesn’t have the little foam pads so the sweat doesn’t seem to collect for a deluge like it used to.
Bryan on Thu, 4th Sep 2008 9:29 pm
@jodycb: I have a really old helmet that also has those foam pads. I bought the helmet when I bought my bike….15 years ago. The technology has improved significantly since them…lol! I tried some new helmets on a few weeks ago because I know I need a new, more comfortable, one.
Arlyn on Fri, 5th Sep 2008 1:51 am
Cool that you got onto a crit course. It’s nice going around the same course, improving your performance at each turn.
I just replaced my old helmet, the foam shell was looking deteriorated maybe from the sun or maybe from sunblock. I heard that the foam loses it’s effectiveness over time. Either way, I sweat a bit and the only problem I have is it getting on my sunglasses which I guess I just live with. I’ve looked those headbad-thingys, not sure if they work.
Nice ride.
Bryan on Fri, 5th Sep 2008 7:16 am
@Arlyn: Thanks. I didn’t really get onto a crit course. I just called the route around my neighborhood a crit course for my own self-pleasure and motivation.
I’ve often wondered what it would take to actually get a crit course setup here in Jax. From what I can tell, there are no weekly training crit series here which really blows me away. With the number of cyclists here I would have figured there would have been one.
I’m going to have to do something about the sweat. I may give a bandanna a try and see how that goes.
Paul on Fri, 5th Sep 2008 7:29 pm
I wear a bandana and it seems to transfer the sweat to the rear where the flappy bits at the back stick out of the helmet. This is subsequently dried by the moving air and works pretty well. Although it does need to sit just right under the front of the helemet. If it is too far back or slanted, the sweat comes down.
Bryan on Fri, 5th Sep 2008 7:41 pm
@Paul: Thanks for stopping by. I’m considering giving the bandana a shot. Anything to solve the problem.
jaxgtr on Fri, 5th Sep 2008 11:42 pm
Ha, I never really thought about calling the hood rides a crit, but I have the same thing, except mine is .8 miles. When I first started riding, I would do 4 or 5 laps and call it a day. Later after I built some endurance, I would ride 2 hrs doing the .8 mile loops. Talk about boring, but people are amazed that I would ride 25 miles doing .8 mile laps.
Bryan on Sat, 6th Sep 2008 9:33 am
@jaxgtr: I started the same way. I guess it would get boring if you don’t either entertain yourself, or do the loops with some specific objectives like intermediate sprints and stuff like that.
Al on Tue, 9th Sep 2008 8:07 pm
I have to say I swear by the Headsweats skullcaps. I used to wear cotton bandanas, but as soon as they got saturated the sweat would go to my eyes again.
Since I moved to the Headsweats, I NEVER get sweat in my eyes. These things really do wick away the sweat when you move through the air.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WOULD SWEAT IN AGAIN A+++
Al on Tue, 9th Sep 2008 8:14 pm
Follow up comment test. Hope it woiks!
Bryan on Tue, 9th Sep 2008 9:54 pm
@Al: Thanks for the info. I’ll look at the headsweats.