1. I drank more during the day. I said that I have a bad habit of not drinking enough during the day so I took that to heart and ramped it up. I still don’t think I drank enough but what I did drink helped.
2. I ate a cliff bar as I left work to get some food in my stomach and give it time to digest before getting in the saddle. This means I ate it about an hour and twenty minutes before riding.
3. I delayed my ride a half hour. I did this to try and eliminate some of the heat problem and it seemed to help. A lot. Sure, it was hot for the first 45 minutes or so but it started to get much better as the sun started dropping. I think that was a huge improvement.
4. I didn’t wear a cap under my helmet. I sweat really bad and have big problems with it getting in my eyes. I’ve been wearing a cycling cap under my helmet to solve this problem and that solution works great. With the heat though I don’t think that’s a viable option anymore. I noticed a big difference in air flow in my helmet (I need a new one with more vents) but I did deal with sweat in my eyes. I need to pick up one of those head bands that solves that issue.
5. I did an actual warm up. I road the first six miles at a sloth like 12.3 mph avg because, like Doug said, I believe I was starting out too fast. I believe this helped.

Those are the changes I made for last nights ride and I had a great 23 mile ride. Was the greatness of the ride a result of all of the above? I don’t know. I think they at least contributed to a better ride. Like I said I road the first six miles in warm up at a 12.3 mph avg speed. My overall avg speed for the 23 miles was 14.5 mph. That means I road the final 18 miles at a 16.7 mph avg speed. All in the small ring. I felt it last night and a little this morning. This is the first time in a while that I can actually feel like I had put in a hard workout on the bike and felt it after. Awesome.

Thanks to everyone who provided support and ideas from yesterday’s post. I sincerely appreciate it.

I started off OK and wanted to ride something a little bit faster than my planned century pace of 15 mph. I targeted an average of 16 mph for the ride. Once I got down off the trail and on the loop around White Rock Lake the wind was blowing pretty good with gusts to 20 mph. I was still able to maintain a good speed but was frequently below 15 mph.

About half-way through this first loop I really started to labor. I want to think it was the heat but it could be several issues.

1. I wonder if I wasn’t hydrated enough. I’m bad about not drinking enough water throughout the day and I think this, combined with the heat yesterday, caused part of the problem. I carried a bottle of water and a bottle of gatorade with me but it didn’t seem to help.
2. I may not have gotten enough food. I had a small romaine salad with a can of tuna and a few mushrooms for lunch. That was it. No dressing or anything. I also had some wheat pretzels in the afternoon but I basically didn’t have anything to eat several hours before my ride. That, combined with the heat, was probably a recipe for disaster.
3. Carrying eight 10 pound bags of potatos while riding isn’t helping. Think about that statement. The next time you’re in the grocery store find a 10 pound bag of potatos and feel how heavy it is. I’m carrying eight of those in extra body weight/fat around while I’m riding. That hasn’t got to help me at all except on the downhill sections where I can really build up some momentum. I’m very surprised that I don’t have knee problems due to me carrying all that extra weight around for years.

So, needless to say, I was totally obliterated after that first loop. There was no way I could make another trip around. I say that but I probably could have but at a much slower pace. As it was my pace was terrible at a paltry 14.1 mph avg speed. That was even slower than my 18 miles on Sunday evening where I intentionally rode slower than my century pace at a 14.5 mph avg speed.

I consider those numbers (avg speed and overweight 80 pounds) quite appalling actually. A guy my age shouldn’t be in this bad of shape. In comparison I have an acquaintance (we actually attended Sunday School together in Jacksonville…we’ve never actually met…only talked via online conversations) that I believe is one year older than me. He recently set a personal record in the 5K at 19:49 and did this after breaking an elbow only a few months ago. Amazing. He tweets about the training he’s doing quite a bit and you can follow him @metamarshall.

What am I saying? Several things actually:

• I believe I’ve taken my cycling and eating seriously but I need to learn how to fine tune it and make it compliment my training. I need a plan for my nutrition, cycling and training. It actually sounds kind of weird to say that I’m in training but I think that’s the mindset I should have.
• Yes, I’m overweight but I’m working on it. At some point I hope to not be carrying any extra potato bags around. I have a long way to go. It won’t happen overnight.
• I may delay starting my evening ride until 7 to allow the heat to dissipate a little. It seems when I finish my rides (7:30-8:00) that it’s actually quite nice out.
• You can accomplish great things if you apply yourself and have the support to do it.

I did have a bright spot this morning after that terrible ride last night. It looks like I may have lost another belt hole. I’d been flirting with it for a week or so but it still felt a little tight when I put my belt on. This morning the belt went on to the next hole with no problems. That means I’ve only got one more hole on this belt and it’s time to pull a smaller one out of the closet.

You may not have noticed but I finally was able to secure REI as an advertiser. There’s a small 125×125 banner over on the sidebar and a 468×60 banner in between each post and the comments. Check’em out if you feel compelled. If you’d like to know when they have sales just let me know. Disclaimer: I earn a small commission if you purchase something from REI after clicking on the banner here on the site. Those commissions will be used to cover the expenses for this site and my cycling.

After a four mile warm up we all gathered together in one of the large parking lots adjacent to the loop. For our first five laps the leader had us leave the parking lot and take the next half-lap easy (recovery) and for the half-lap back to the parking lot we were to sprint. Once at the parking lot we were to do six figure-eight drills for handling and then a quick-stop drill. After that we head back out onto the loop and repeat for four more laps.

We do have one stop sign on the loop that we do stop at. At the stop sign the group leader has got us practicing track stands in order to keep us from having to unclip at a stop sign. It was hard at first but I’m starting to get the hang of it. I can’t maintain it for long but I’m sure that’ll come with practice.

Once everyone was done with those five laps we re-grouped again in the parking lot to discuss the next five laps where he would have us work on pedaling out of the saddle.

For each of the next five laps he would have us do the following – one the uphill section leading up to the stop sign shift into the big chain ring and smallest cog for max resistance. Once shifted stand up out of the saddle and practice ‘walking’ up the hill. This is a deliberately slow pace to practice form out of the saddle including balance and spin. It actually takes an effort to not go fast despite the resistance from the gearing. Once at the stop sign we shift into a comfortable gear and for the next 3/4 lap sit 10 seconds in the saddle followed by 10 seconds out of the saddle. This helps get those riders not comfortable with this technique to practice being out of the saddle for a short period of time since this is the technique used to cross railroad tracks and cattle guards. The key was to mantain your weight back over the pedals so the front wheel remains responsive.

I’m very comfortable being out of the saddle for the 10 second obstacle crossing but am very glad we worked on going up hill out of the saddle since that’s a technique I really need to practice.

You’ve heard me talk a lot about how the terrain is different here in Texas than it was in Florida and that the hills have been giving trouble. I’m not talking big hills either. Most are, max, several hundred feet long and the grades aren’t severe except on a couple. I’m not used to them but I think my fitness has started to improve as of late and I’m wanting to ‘attack’ them now and I’ve seen better results. I think the ‘walking’ drill is going to help me take it up a notch in this area.

The last drill of the evening was five laps of two-person pacelines. Everyone was allowed to choose their own partner and it should be a slower rider paired with a faster rider. Since I still don’t really know anybody I just kind of waited for someone to come to me. I ended up paired with a guy named R.J. and we headed out.

Me being the slow rider led the first lap probably averaging about 15 mph. I could have gone faster but it was supposed to be a slow lap. R.J. took over for the second lap and took us around. I’m getting better at holding a wheel but felt we could have gone faster. I’m pretty sure he’s in much better shape than I am and he may have been taking it slow for me. On our fourth lap I was following again and he picked it up a little more. I looked once at the computer and we were going over 20 mph but I felt I had more to give. I’m sure that’s because I was drafting off him though. I felt we took the last turn perfectly with him leading in and me maintaining about 12 inches off his wheel at a fast pace. We came out of the turn and I was still nicely tucked in and on his wheel. That felt great.

We didn’t get the fifth lap in since the group had gathered up near the stop sign to call it a night. I felt it was a very good night of training and am glad I’m doing this. I think it’s helping a lot. I road two more laps by myself to push myself over the 20 mile mark for the night.

Next Monday, due to the holiday, we’re meeting early and planning a 3 hour training session. Can’t wait.

After my five lap warm up on the 0.8 mile loop the group leader has us do a single lap riding with both feet clipped in. About halfway through that lap there’s a parking lot where he had us pull off and do five figure eights for cornering drills. Then we finish that first lap with both feet clipped in. For the second lap we unclip one foot and ride one-legged for a full lap. The third lap we repeat the first lap. On the fourth lap we ride one-legged for the other foot unclipped and for lap five we repeat the first lap again.

I’ve never done anything like that and it was pretty though on my quads and hams. After those five laps we had a discussion about our spins during the one-leg portions and what we experienced. A few of us (me included) were experiencing surging and slack at the top of the upstroke. He attributed that to us not properly using our leg on the upstroke and told us to be more conscious of using the entire pedal revolution. Makes sense to me.

Next he had us do 3 laps individually – the first slow, the second hard and the third recovery – while maintaining as good a line as possible. The loop we ride has two very good seams in the concrete that lets us basically ride the line to help us. I seem to be able to do this very well because in our paceline sessions I always get complimented on how well I can ride a steady line. Maybe they’re just being nice…lol!

For the last five laps he had us get in groups of five and start a paceline with each rider taking a one lap pull and then falling to the back of the line. Our group worked pretty well together although I admittedly need more work on cornering in a paceline.

Overall I thought it was great training and got in 15 miles in the process. My legs were feeling it this morning due to those one-leg drills.

Because of the trip to the bike store, and traffic getting home, I didn’t have much time for a ride. In fact, I only got one loop in around White Rock Lake for a total of 9.2 miles. I intentionally tried to take it at an easy pace because its been a week since I’ve ridden. There was a little wind out of the South as well which made a couple spots difficult. I managed the loop in 39 minutes which is an average of 14.1 mph.

For me that’s pretty good. Especially since my legs felt like cement blocks all the way around. On Monday I spent about 10 hours in my yard in Jacksonville taking care of spring lawn care that had gone neglected since I’m not there. Stuff like trimming the hedges, banana trees, and palm trees, pulling weeds (seven trash bags full), mowing and edging. It was a long day. The next day I could hardly move my legs because my hamstrings were so tight. I think I was still feeling some of those effects on my ride last night.

Having the new cleats felt weird. It’s been so long since I had changed them that I think I became accustomed to them being worn down. I use the Look Arc Delta cleats (red) and picked up the ones with the teflon coated surfaces for easy in and out. They feel a lot different than what I was used to but did the job. I just need to put in the miles and I’ll get accustomed to them.

After work today I’m driving up to my Mom’s in OK and it looks like the weather is going to be nice this weekend so I can take my bike. There’s some good roads accessible right from her house that I can ride on and I’d like to get 30-40 miles in on Saturday morning. Monday evening I’m meeting the Team Bikin’ group at their Monday evening circuit training session where they work on conditioning and individual/group handling skills on a .8 mile circuit. Reminds me of a criterium circuit. I’m really looking forward to the group training session so I can ride with a group. I know I won’t have the skills or fitness to hang with them for the entire session but it’ll be good for me.

Finally, to all those who sent the nice emails/tweets during my wife’s surgery I appreciate it. She’s at home recovering now. She’s still in a lot of pain from the surgery but we hope that will start to subside soon. Total recovery time is about 6 months.

We parked at the tennis center that sits on the trail section before the lake. Once ready we rolled out. Cliff did a great job showing me the layout of the lake trail and route. There were tons of people out there this morning. I can honestly say that I haven’t seen that many cyclists in one place unless it’s on TV. There were all kinds. Lazy Sunday morning riders to groups/teams hammering it. There were also huge numbers of walkers and runners.

The route was pretty good but one thing it wasn’t was flat. There weren’t big hills on the route but for a guy who came from Florida where was biggest hill was a speed bump they were the Alps. I had to re-learn shifting because I had gotten used to being able to ride an entire route in one gear down in Florida. I think these hills, though, will be great for me in the long run. Cliff took the time to point out the Loving Hills section down near the South end of the lake where the real hills are. I caught a brief glimpse and they didn’t look pretty. Maybe in a couple of months I can give them a try. He also showed me where Flagpole hill is.

Overall the ride wasn’t bad but I have to admit I couldn’t wait for the last four miles to get over. It was into a strong headwind that at times made it very tough. I’m sure me being way out of shape had something to do with it.

Overall it was a great ride and I appreciate Cliff dragging me out.

Oh yeah, the free advice. There was a guy just off the trail who had a couple of chairs setup and a big sign that said “Free Advice”. He didn’t have any customers when Cliff and I rode by. I said that I guess in this economy he has to give it away since nobody is going to pay for it. Cliff said you get what you pay for. That’s so true.

When I first moved here in January I was living in a small ex-burb of Dallas that was a nice place to stay except for one thing…the commute. I was literally spending almost four hours a day driving to the train station and riding the train back-and-forth to work. I basically had no time to myself and absolutely no time to ride. I could have possibly ridden on the weekends but the weather isn’t as nice here as it was in Jacksonville. Go figure.

It took me exactly three weeks to get tired of the four hours I was wasting each day commuting back-and-forth and decided to move. The move occurred last weekend and life is so much better. My total commute each day is about an hour. I’m an 8 minute drive to the train station and about 20 minutes to work by train. The planets have aligned and all is well in the universe. For those familiar with Dallas I moved from Northern Frisco/Little Elm to Garland near the LBJ/Skillman station.

White Rock Lake Trail

To the left you can see a map of White Rock Lake and the trail that goes around it. In the upper left corner you can see the DART rail station. The white line the north/south pointing red arrows are parallel to are actually a continuation of the bike trail. It actually extends to the North about 7 miles making the total round trip about 25 miles. Sunday I drove around looking for the trail and there were quite a few (a lot!) cyclists out riding. I saw two taking a rest break and decided to ask them some questions about the trail. They were very helpful and I’m looking forward to riding it.

I’m on the lookout for a group to ride with as well. I found the website for the Greater Dallas Bicyclists and they seem like decent bunch. If any of you out there are members of this club I’d like to talk to you.

Cliff, if you read this, I sent you an email a few days ago.

I rolled out of the driveway around 8:30 and the weather was fantastic. It was clear and about 67 degrees. I didn’t feel any wind but that would change before the ride was over. I made it about 150 feet and noticed the clicking sound again. I pulled over to give the wheel a once-over again. I couldn’t find anything but did meet a new neighbor whose house I had stopped in front of. I talked to him a few minutes and then headed on with no resolution to the ticking. Rats.

I was about five minutes into the ride when another cyclist pulled up next to me. We exchanged pleasantries as he went by on his Cannondale that was setup for triathlons. He was quickly gone though because he passed me like I was standing still. I was going about 16 mph. I saw him again about 15 miles later going the opposite direction. I saw a couple of other riders and walkers this morning too. The nice weather was bringing them out.

For most of the first-half of the ride I was kind of in a funk where I was really sure how well I felt. I would feel ok for a little bit and then feel exhausted five minutes later. The wind was picking up and at times gave me a pretty good headwind. I kept pounding the liquids and tried to replenish some with a power bar gel. I felt like this for about 3/4 of the ride.

At mile 20 I get to my rest stop for a much anticipated break. While sitting on the bench at the church I decided to give my rear wheel a look again since the noise seemed to get louder in the last five miles. It took me about ten seconds to find a spoke that was really, really loose. I tightened it, looked for others, and found a couple more that were loose. In order to make sure I kept the wheel true I used my brake pads as a makeshift truing stand. It worked pretty good and I didn’t have any other problems.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful but much better than the first 20 miles. On the way home I was actually able generate some good speeds above 20 mph. That felt great.

Now, why do stoplights stink? Because when they change to red I have to stop. I must have hit almost every single stoplight throughout my entire ride. It was unbelievable and ridiculous. There’s one stretch where there’s a lot of lights and I’d get stopped by a red light. It would turn green. I’d build my speed back up and get caught by the next one. I’m telling you, it was bad. I don’t think I’ve ever hit that many on this route.

All told I got 30.2 miles ridden in 2 hours and 2 minutes with an average of 14.8. Not bad for me.

Riding down the street I noticed a clicking sound coming from my rear wheel area. I stopped a couple of times to try and find what it was but couldn’t. It seemed to go away as I rode. I hope it isn’t anything serious.

Remember the roadside radar gun I told you about back on Ride 33? As I approached it this morning I wanted to to try and post a better speed than last time (16 mph). I shifted up a gear and began pushing a little harder. I went by it at 22 mph which is respectable for me. I’m pretty sure I can do better but I was technically still in my warm up phase and didn’t want to push it too much.

I road about another half-mile when a cement truck passed me. If you recall, I’ve been seeing these trucks every morning as they head out to the new high school that’s under construction. This truck was cruising pretty good but got caught at a stoplight just ahead of me. As I rolled up next to him I couldn’t resist the temptation to have a little drag race. Assuming he had a full load of concrete I had about a 66000 pound weight advantage and should be able to smoke this guy right? Yes and no. The light turned green and I rolled away from the stop line quickly. I immediately began forming a gap as he was fighting to get out of first gear. I still had a good 10 yard gap when I heard him shift. I pushed it a little harder because I knew he would start catching me as he worked his way through the low gears. I was at about 20 mph when I started to ease up (my legs were heavy and I was still warming up). He eventually got his momentum going and passed me pretty quickly after that. The result was as expected. It takes the cement truck a while to get going so I have the advantage off the line. Once he gets through the low gears and builds up the momentum I’m toast. Oh well.

That’s about the extent of the excitement for today’s ride. I saw a couple of runners (must have been some lazy folks sleeping in this morning) and got my 13 miles done in about 52 minutes. The weather made it a great ride.

BTL

Because I basically had to trash my cycling plans last week I’m performing week three of my fitness program this week. That means I’ll be riding 3 workdays at 13 miles each and a 30 mile ride on Saturday. I Shouldn’t have any problems with that at all. Especially after having a week off the bike.

As usual for my weekday bike rides, the alarm was going off at 5 AM, and I was rolling out of the garage by about 5:10. The weather outside was near perfect. There was a little humidity in the air but there were no clouds, no wind, and the Harvest Moon was shedding quite a bit of natural light. I hoped the pristine conditions were foreshadowing a pristine ride.

Leaving my neighborhood it was quiet out. There was much less traffic than there was back on Ride 32 but I did see a couple more cement trucks heading out to the new high school. Overall though the roads were virtually empty for me and it was nice. I always feel a little anxious when cars approach me from behind and today there was very little of that.

After a couple of miles I really began to fall into a rhythm and I noticed my speed was a little higher than normal. I was pushing the 52T like I said I would but I think the week off may have had something to do with it. Since my last ride, I had also moved my saddle forward a little bit to try and take some weight off my hands. It seemed to help my hands but I wonder if it also helped with my pedal stroke. I guess I’ll see how tomorrow’s ride goes. I really need to take my bike down to the local bike shop and have the fit checked.

Nearing the half-way point I started to notice several runners I hadn’t seen before. I do see a few over near my house but I’m usually the only person out-and-about near my turnaround point. All told I saw about six runners today and one other cyclist. I saw the bike rider on my home stretch and I’m not sure if he saw me wave. If you’re reading my blog, “Hey!”

Today’s ride was great. I felt refreshed the entire time and had no after-effects from taking a week off. I road my 13 miles in 51 minutes today.

So, why were there dreams of the movie ‘The Rookie’? If you don’t remember the movie, it’s the one where Dennis Quaid plays a high school baseball coach who makes a bet with his team. The bet was that if the team wins the district championship he would try out for a major league team. Well, the team wins and he has to try out. Before he does, though, he’s driving down the road at night and comes upon one of those portable speed display systems that let you know how fast you’re driving. Police usually put these in places as a deterrent to get people to slow down. Anyway, he decided to throw his fastball by it to see how fast it is and if he’s fixing to make a fool out of himself at the tryout. He throws a ball and it registers 68 mph on the digital readout. He’s obviously disappointed and goes to pick up the ball. What he doesn’t see is the display tick up to 98 mph after he walks by.

Well, they had one of these gadgets placed on the long straightaway leading away from my neighborhood. I see it and wonder if it’ll pick me up on the bike. I hunker down (that means getting about as aerodynamic as a brick) and press on. I get within a couple hundred feet and it registers 16 mph. As I get close it flickers to 17..15..16..15..17..16. I go by the radar wondering if it was having a hard time tracking me and it was actually trying to read out 26 mph. I look down at my computer and it says 16.2 mph. I guess I’m not as fortunate as The Rookie and won’t go home and find a message from Garmin-Chipotle on my voice mail. Oh well. You gotta have dreams right?