The Best Riding Tunes

Ah the iPod. It has literally changed my training by turning those days that I dread into days that aren't so bad because I have some tunes in a tiny (iPod Nano) package, and lots of them. The larger iPods are too big for me to carry comfortably, I don't like to ride with my pockets stuffed, so my 60gb Video iPod is relegated to trips and the car, and non riding activities, like a spinning bike at the gym, where I like to watch the last 7 years of the Tour while I work out.

Anyway...this post is about my favorite riding music, not the players.

Riding music, for me, is categorized by what kind of riding I'm doing. Slow, easy tunes for slow, easy days, upbeat stuff for intervals...you get the idea. But probably the easiest category for me is climbing tunes. You know, the ones that get you in a rythm, and numb your brain so you don't notice the effort.

So, in the category of Climbing Tunes I nominate the following as all-time-greats: (note: lyrics are meaningless in this category...these are tunes that are solely for getting you up the mountain)

The Zoo, circa 1979/80 from the Scorpions Animal Magnetism album. This song simply puts down a heavy, steady, cut time beat that just makes you want to keep your cadence in time with it.

Moving In Stereo/All Mixed Up, The Cars, from the 1978 album The Cars. Another heavy steady beat. This one always feels like it's on the verge of cutting loose and running away. The tension between the actual beat and what it wants to do, keeps me driving hard on the climbs.

El Verano, Pablo Cruise's final song on side B of A Place In The Sun. No lyrics here, just an instrumental with lots of energy, and an interesting melody.

Beast Of Burden and Miss You, both classics from the Stones' Some Girls album from 1978. No more needs to be said.

The Show Must Go On. This Queen ode to perserverance is perfect for that climb that lets you pour on a little extra power.

Finally, Do You Feel Like We Do?. The live version, from 1976's Frampton Comes Alive. Sure the song is about alchohol, drugs and other "things", but I already said that lyrics don't matter. It's all about the song getting you to the top of the hill, and not many do it better than this one for me. Especially the steep climbs where the slightly slower beat helps keep the legs turning. It's also perfectly suited to alternating between seated and standing climbing.

Next up, the best Interval Songs, otherwise known as "songs to keep you alive while you're killing yourself".

A story about The Beast

I mentioned several posts ago that I would tell a story about Jeff that I love. So I decided I've got a few minutes to write it up and get it out here so that he can gripe when he sees it...

Several years ago, Jeff was into Mountain Bike Racing. He convinced several of his buddies (I was not one of them...This story comes to me via one of the victims) to enter a local race.

They lined them up at the start, 5 across. About 50 yards ahead of the start line, the course narrowed to a single track (only room for one rider at a time). Jeff's brain went into overdrive as he tried to figure out a way to make certain that he would get to the chute ahead of said buddies.

When the gun sounded, Jeff reached over, shoved gently on one buddy's shoulder, and knocked over the whole row like dominos, then took off, beating them to the hole.

I love that story. I don't know if it's because I believe it so aptly describes his ultra-competitive personality, or just that he gets so bent whenever I tell it.

Either way, it always makes me smile to think about it.

Don't Let It Get Away

Yeah, last night was the Tuesday night ride. I didn't do it.

Well, that's not entirely true. I did part of it. As I was riding, my hamstring started to feel a little sore. In an of itself, I'd probably have done the stupid thing and ridden through it, but, lightning and thunder were starting to increase in intensity around us, and I thought, "ahh, I'm just going to bag it for tonight". So I rode back to my car at the bike shop and went home.

Cherohala wore me out I guess, because on my ride into work this morning I wasn't feeling particularly frisky. I rode well, but just not feeling like I could go deep if I needed to.

I think I'll make this week a recovery week and take it easy...

I'm not sure what's up next. Kenny wants to compete in the Mountain Lakes Triathlon in August, and I've done that the past two years, so maybe I'll start back in the pool and running a little bit. On the other hand, those two activities don't sound so exciting to me. The BBC Century and the Huntville All-You-Can-Eat Century are on consecutive weekends in September. I'll probably do the Hunstville...I'm still undecided about the BBC...I'm not too wild about the course they are using now.

Oh well. I've got time to maintain fitness and decide what I'm going to do next. I just have to remember not to quit riding for 6 weeks like I did last year after Cherohala. I'm in pretty good shape right now...I don't want to let that get away from me.

Cherohala Report

What a great weekend!! On Friday, Cathy, Kenny, our friend Christopher (as opposed to our son Christopher) piled into the car and drove to Tennessee for the ride I've been anticipating for the past 6 months with alternating bouts of angst and excitement.

I watched the weather carefully and was thrilled to see that the forecast from 10 days out was holding and there was no rain expected on Friday, nor Saturday. The heat however was another story, that I'll get to in a few minutes.

Mea Culpa
First, I have to apologize to the residents of Tellico Plains, TN (all 6 of you) for insinuating that there's nothing to your town...this was the first time I spent any time at all actually in Tellico Plains aside from the ride start and finish, and I was surprised to find that over in a little hollow, behind some trees there are several blocks of an actual town.

Friday in Tennessee
We arrived and checked into our cabins Friday afternoon, then left to go to the reception area where the ride organizers had set up to hand out ride packets (water bottle, t-shirt, ride number, and prophetically, Bullfrog Sunscreen, along with some other swag such as stickers and tea). Not knowing exactly what to expect from the food part of this soiree, we were happy to find fruits and several types of bread, along with some dips. On the downside, if we had eaten enough to satisfy our appetites, there wouldn't have been enough left for any of the other 350 people showing up that evening. Luckily, we discovered an old (and I mean old) house that had been converted into a Pizzaria, where we had an absolutely delicious and enormous calzone. By this time Russ and his wife Katie had arrived and were having dinner with us, when Russ spotted a bottle of hot sauce for sale...he decided that this hot sauce was worthy of purchase because according to the label, this hot sauce was "Scorned Woman" I guess in order of sauce heat, you would go mild, medium, hot, nuclear, Scorned Woman.

The cabins were comfortable, and it was no fault of anyone but myself that I was awake at 3:30 a.m. and unable to fall back asleep. Mostly at this point it was angst, wishing I had put in more miles, more climbing and more speedwork. The usual second guessing that I'm prone to engage in, no matter how well prepared I am. Two previous rides of miserable agony had preconditioned me for what to expect.

When my iPod finally started playing Matchbox Twenty's Push at 5:30 a.m., it was still dark outside, but I was ready to go anyway. I took a few minutes to put some last minute flat repair kits together for Cathy and Kenny (who were also riding, albeit shorter distances). Russ and I loaded the bikes onto the cars and we all headed off to the Tellico Plains High School for the ride start.

The Details
Kenny and Christopher headed off 30 minutes ahead of the main pack to get as many mile in during the cool morning as possible. Russ and I
hooked up with Jeff Mills (who drove in from Tulsa, OK), Doug Daughetee, Dom Sutton, and Dan Watson from Birmingham and left with the other ~400 riders who showed up. (Cathy and Katie waited until the main group had gone, then left behind us to avoid the stress of riding in such a large group).

Now, the way this ride works is pretty similar each year. For the first two miles smaller groups form as riders settle into their pace and gel into groups of similarly minded riders, pace-wise. Then to further seperate the faster riders from those looking to just survive, the first uphill begins. It's not horribly long (1/2 mile), nor is it terribly steep (6-7%), but it does its job very well. It was on this hill that I made a grave tactical error...I went to the front of the group and hammered up this hill like it wasn't there. Cresting the top of the hill I looked back and saw Jeff Mills pounding up the hill after me and I realized my folly. I looked for Russ to apologize for the price we were about to pay for my stupidity (riding in front of Jeff), but he was dropped.

To his credit, he eventually chased back on, but by that time, I had abandoned the Jeff Mills/Dom Sutton/Doug Daughetee group and drifted back to the Dan Watson led peleton where Russ was just catching back on.

One thing I noticed is that the first 20 miles of this ride are 1) incredibly beautiful,
and 2)ridden at a very fast pace that doesn't feel like an effort at all. According to my HR monitor, the first 20 miles has nearly 1000 feet of climbing, but I rarely even noticed the uphill sections.

Arriving at the first rest stop, we saw Kenny and Christopher leaving, and the Mills/Daughetee/Sutton group pulled out about 2 mintues behind them. I looked around and didn't see Russ anywhere, and thought he had been finally well and truly dropped. When he rolled in a minute later, he explained that his chain had been dropped shifting on the last climb up to the stop.

We left 5 minutes later and after a few miles through the lakeside hills, we dropped down to the road that follows Lake Chilhowee up to Tabcat Creek, where the Tail of The Dragon begins. As we crossed the bridge over Tabcat Creek, I decided to push myself a bit (as it had been a pretty easy ride to that point), and cleared the 11 miles and 318 curves in 50 minutes (all but 2.5 of those 11 miles are climbing, the picture at the top of this article is of Kenny climbing in the T.o.t.D., showing both road curvature and slope).

After Rest Stop #2, which is at the top of the T.o.t.D., and straddles the Tennesee/North Carolina border, Cathy and Katie and Kenny and Christopher (Russ and I had ridden with them along the lake, but they fell behind on the first of the climbs) caught up to me as I was reloading water bottles. From here the road drops at a 12% grade for 3 miles and delivers you at the foot of the dam where Harrison Ford jumped in The Fugitive. Here the headwinds began and I was pretty much on my own at this point, with Russ feeling the full wrath of the Dragon through the 7 miles up Tapoco Canyon to the 3rd rest stop.

Leaving the stop, I crossed the road and entered the Joyce Kilmer Forest, winding my way along the shores of Lake Santeetlah, past Rattlesnake Ford campground (yeah, I'll be camping anywhere with the name "rattlesnake" in it..uh huh) and began the real climbing at mile 69. For the next 5.5 miles, I learned new lessons in pain and agony, with the temperature reaching 98 degrees, no shade at all, and several long sections of 9% grade. I ran out of water a mile from the rest stop at the 75 mile point, and when I finally dragged my carcass up there, I was dissappointed to find that they were out of ice, and had been long enough for the water to be warm. Cathy and Katie were waiting at this stop for me, and Kenny and Christopher were in the car as well. Russ was nowhere in sight, but I figured he'd do the smart thing and climb into a SAG truck for a ride to the top of the hill.

I struck out to finish the next 8 miles of climbing that would take me to the top of the Cherohala Skyway.



This part of the climb isn't as severe as the first 5 miles, but still reaches 8% for the final mile of the section. Luckily for me, some clouds moved in and the temperature dropped considerably. About 3 miles from the top I saw a SAG truck drive past with Russ' bike on the rack. A minute later, Cathy drove up behind me and Russ was in the van, having managed somehow to make it to the rest stop at 75 miles. That was impressive to me because I know how badly he was hurting before, and I know how badly the climb hurt me in the heat. I don't know how he did it, but he did.

At the top, I stopped quickly for a water bottle reload, Cathy wanted a picture or two, and then started the real fun...the last 32 miles, most of it downhill. The exctptions to that being about a dozen .5-1.2 mile long climbs strewn about down the mountain. The steepest of these is 8.1% and 3/4 mile long. The longest is 1.2 miles and is 5%. Naturally, each of these dozen climbs comes after a significant downhill section, so my legs where good and cold and those climbs felt like a kick in the teeth. Ouch!!

At the last rest stop, Kenny, Christopher and Russ decided they wanted in on the fun, so they joined me for the last 18 miles of the ride back into Tellico Plains.

Summing up
I finished the 115 miles in 7:34:00. That's nearly an hour faster than last year (I did it with a seperated shoulder and had to walk the steepest pitches) and 2003 (nasty cramping at mile 65 slowed me down badly on the climb). I felt really good on the climbing sections, rarely using my bail out 27 cog, and relying primarily on my 23 and 21 to keep my cadence comfortable (I like to pedal a little slower than Lance).

I was frustrated with my inattention to detail as I had filled several ziploc bags with Orange Heed, and several others with Blue Raspberry Accelerade. both powders are white and when I selected my bags for my pockets before the ride, I thought I had grabbed 3 of each. In reality I had taken 5 Accelerade and 1 Heed. I like variety with my hydration and at this point, if I never drink Raspberry Accelerade again, I'll be just fine.

My preparation turned out to be just fine. I actually lost time and left the group I was riding with when we came upon Kenny and Christopher riding along Lake Chilhowee. We dropped out of the group and rode with them, tacking 10 minutes onto my time for that leg compared to previous years. I also lost some time (7 minutes comparatively) in Tapoco Canyon, as the headwinds battered me about and I didn't have the shelter of a group this year to keep me fresh and the speed up. Again, my climbing felt great, though it hurt badly. As Greg Lemond once said, "it never hurts any less, you just go faster."

Cathy rode 10 miles (I am really careful not to overload her and make her hate riding, and that 10 miles was really hilly). It turns out she could have done more, but I played it safe.

Katie made the full 27 miles to the first rest stop. WOW! I'm impressed. She wasn't to thrilled with the 2 final climbs along the way, but hey, you take what the road gives you.

Kenny and Christopher had a goal of riding 50 miles to earn their Cycling merit badges. They rode 75. Kenny hasn't touched his bike in 4 months, so I thought his accomplishment was something of which he should be proud (though I wish he'd prepare better next time, he could be really really fast if he just put in the miles). Christopher did his mileage and was a horse at the end, pounding his fist on the table and dictating the pace through the final canyon, into another headwind that we never felt.

Russ made the first 75 miles, then did 18 more for a 93 total. Not bad at all, especially when he has a total of 700 miles on his bike this year, and hadn't ridden a single mile since our 80 miler two weeks ago.

As for me, I did better than just survive. I felt strong the whole way and only when the excessive heat on the early slopes of the Skyway did its best to demoralize me, did I wonder if I might not make it all the way.

The Cherohala Travelogue

On June 16, my wife, son, son's friend, and Russ and his wife will be traveling to the thriving rural hole in the road that is Tellico Plains, Tennessee. In reality, there is little more in this town than a high school, and a welcome center for the Cherohala Skyway and the campgrounds in the area. There is a gas station that sells pizza, but other than that, I have yet to see a restaurant of any kind within 15 miles of Tellico Plains.

Think "middle of nowhere" and you're still thinking too big.

On the other hand, one of the best bicycle events you can find in the eastern US begins at the Tellico Plains High School on Saturday morning, the Cherohala Challenge. I've done this ride twice previously, 2003, when I was prepared (somewhat), and 2005, when I was anything but ready.

This is a very scenic ride, and I've had a request to post some pictures that I had from the years I've done it, so...

From 2003, I'm third row, middle, red/white/green helmet...



2005, for 10 miles, the road leading to the foot of the Tail of the Dragon follows Lake Chillhowee. It's the flattest road anywhere, and the only flat road on this ride. This day the lake had a layer of "smoke" covering it, that on occasion you could see something tall sticking up through the clouds. It was really a cool thing to see.



From 2003, an overlook on the Dragon's Tail, looking back down the road.



From the same overlook, looking west at Calderwood Dam.



Again, the same overlook, Lake Calderwood to the east...




On the Skyway, my friend DirtDog (Dan) arrives at the rest stop halfway up the climb. Gradient is impossible to tell from a photograph, but the mile leading up to this rest stop never drops below 9%.



In 2003, leaving the rest stop mentioned above, and continuing to the RS at the top of the climb, a thunderstorm moved in when I was about 2 miles short of the summit. Rain, cold, lightning and wind all made those two miles very adventurous. When it cleared out, I continued down the hill and finished the ride.

So, having said all of this, the question is, why do we do these things? Is it because the more miserable the conditions and terrain, the better the stories are at the Cracker Barrel on the way home? Is it because as a cyclist, you have sworn an oath to punish yourself at every opportunity? My wife would be the first to tell you that none of this appeals to her in any way...not only that, how anyone could even begin to think it sounds fun is beyond her ability to understand. Yet thousands of cyclists beat themselves for hours at a time, in all kinds of conditions, all summer long, in events all over the world.

An old friend, from years ago, who was the first to get me interested in "cycling" as an organized activity summed it up best for me...When asked "why do you ride?", his answer was simple...

"...because it feels so good when you stop."

Amen.

One Step Forward...well, you know the rest

Once again, it's Wednesday, and that means it's time for a TNPT report. It started off pretty well, I felt strong. Ruffner was a 23 mph festival of 170+ heartrate (for 11 minutes), but I was at the front and was never in danger of being dropped.

Sadly, I can't say the same for John Rogers Drive (also known as "Dog Track"). I made the mistake of sprinting up to the stoplight just before the incline drops, and suddenly, I was right back where I was a few weeks ago, calling to the engine room for more power and coming up empty.

On a positive note, I rejoined the group at Karl Daly and Old Leeds Road, then finished strongly, even finishing 3rd in the sprint to the top of Old Leeds. But oh how the legs hurt!!

This week is a recovery week, and so I'm going to take it easy, do some light spinning and a couple of easy 30 milers to finish out the week.

I'm starting to like the Tarmac, but aside from the stiffness of the frame, (which at my age is debatable as to its "advantage"), the thing I really like is that I've yet to finish a ride of any length with a sore back. On my old Trek, any ride longer than 20 miles guaranteed that I'd have lower back soreness during the ride. It's all about position, and I'm just about sold on the concept of the compact geometry.

Now if I could just find a seat wide enough for my backside...

Once again...but slower this time

You know how it is. You come back from a ride that has kicked you all over the asphalt and left you for dead, and immediately begin planning a strategy for fairing better the next time. Well, maybe not "immediately", but as soon as the pain begins to fade.

Such was the case this past week, as I contemplated the fun I could have dishing out the pain to my riding partner, Russ, by dragging him around the Winnetaska loop that The Beast and I rode on Memorial Day. In fact, such was my desire to dish out a spanking that I didn't even climb on the bike after Tuesday, because I wanted my legs to be fresh.

Okay, I know, I really wasn't motivated by dishing out a lot of hurt, but I was motivated by wanting to feel stronger throughout the ride the second time around.

Friday night, the storms rolled in, and Russ and I spoke on the phone. Knowing that we would use bad weather as an excuse to skip riding in the morning, I checked weather.com to be certain that we would in fact, be riding in the dry.

I beat back my early morning self, hoping that his battle at Russ' would be just as fruitless, and managed to climb from bed and onto the bike.

Sure enough, only a few minutes past the appointed time, Russ appeared out of the early morning mist (or was that humidity?) for his first ride in 2 weeks.

The morning was beautiful, and cool. As we rode, we talked about all kinds of things, and I did my best to scare him about the upcoming Cherohala Challenge, two weeks from then. Another rider rolled along with us for about 10 miles then went a shorter way. I thought it was kind of sad to waste such a beautiful morning by only doing a short ride.

We rode out through Irondale, then down Cemetery Hill, up and over Jerry Springer Hill, then through beautiful downtown Leeds, Alabama, boyhood home to Charles Barkley. Note to Chuck...take a little of your cash home and spend it. Past Leeds and out around the northeast end of Karr, and Double Oak Mountains. Southwest to Sterret, then north to Vandiver where my empty stomach was making certain that I wasn't going to pass Watson's Grocery (nothing but a BP station with a drink cooler, but you've got to love how imaginative country folk can be when naming things) without stopping for a quick shot of chocolate milk and a refill for the water bottles.

After climbing back over Double Oak Mountain, then Coosa Mountain, I introduced Russ to Belmont. Easily the toughest hill he's climbed to date. It's just over a mile long, but has extended sections at 8% and more. Part way up Belmont, Russ announced that he'd had a spiritual epiphone, and now knew for a fact what Hell is.

Wow, this is rambling...anyway, back down Old Leeds Road, through Mountain Brook, up Smyer and across Shades Crest back to home. 83 miles in 5:15 of riding time. 6 hours when you count all the times we stopped because Russ (a pediatrician) was on call this weekend and his pager kept going off.

But the whole point of this story is that we went slower than I did with Jeff on Monday, but not a lot. Just 1 mph average. But the difference in how my legs felt, and the energy I had at the end of the ride was remarkable. I felt like I could easily have done the whole ride again. Was it the slower pace? Or was it that I had done the distance once already that week? I'm guessing pace, because if anything, having done it already would have had a tiring effect.

Having just finished my biggest week (mileage wise) in several years, at 197 miles, I feel great! My big ride is coming up in less than two weeks, and I think I'm finally ready. I'll taper some this week, keep the rides shorter, but at higher intensity, and then do the same to a greater degree next week.

It's gonna be fun.