A Bad Decision

Saturday I was scheduled to be at Winter Youth Conference with the kids from the ward. The site was about an hour from here, and offered two ride opportunities with unique characteristics to choose between. Ride 1-To the top of Mt. Cheaha (the highest point in Alabama) and back. Lots and lots of climbing on steep grades. Ride 2-The Chief Ladiga Trail...a Rails to Trails project that extends nearly to the state border shared with Georgia (later this spring the final 8 miles of the trail will be complete, connecting the CLT with the Silver Comet Trail which will enable a rider to go from Jacksonville, AL to Atlanta and back).

Unfortunately, late Friday night, I chose a third option, no ride. I just decided it would be too much hassle to load all my bike stuff on the car and haul it for an hour, not really knowing what the opportunity to ride might be.

Shortly after arriving at the conference site, a friend from another ward in the stake (Bishop F) arrived with his bike on top of his car. He dropped the kids off and went to ride the CLT.

Now I'm kicking myself because it's been two weeks since I've ridden and I'm going crazy. The weather is colder than normal and so if I'm to get any riding in this week, it'll be on the rollers. Meanwhile, Saturday, which was a nice day, was wasted.

Bummer.

The Windeater

Yesterday Jeff was still in town thanks to the storms in the Midwest that kept him from leaving for home. So we hooked up and did another ride. The weather wasn't as nice as Saturday, in fact, it threatened to rain all morning, but a ride under threatening skies is better than no ride at all.

Leaving Indian Springs, we swung past Doug's house and the three of us headed down Cahaba Valley Road toward Leeds. Along the way, the discussion went like this:

Jeff: So, where are we going to ride?
Me: I don't care, as long as it's flat today, I'm feeling a bit worn out.
Doug: I'd kinda like to keep it flat too.
Jeff: So, why don't we go over Hugh Daniels Drive then past Shoal Creek and then over 25, back down 119 and then home.
Me: Why don't you go up Hugh Daniels Drive, turn around, and come back to the bottom and meet us there. Then we can just do Jeff's suggestion in reverse.
Doug: That sounds good.
Jeff: I'll just skip going up HDD and stay with you guys.

Now, a note about Hugh Daniels. Hugh Daniels was a sadist. His road climbs over Double Oak Mountain (mountains such as they are in the south) in a stair step fashion, climb for 1/4 mile at 12-14%, then level off for a bit, then climb another 1/4 mile at 14-15%, then level off for a bit, then repeat and repeat until you reach the top. This doesn't sound too bad when you see that there are little sections, maybe 2/10's of a mile long that are "level". But "level" is compared to what you have been climbing, and in this case, "level" is still a 8-10% grade.

Jeff knows that I hate (in fact, while I don't like the word "Hate", it isn't a strong enough word to describe my deep utter loathing for Hugh Daniels Drive) this climb. He always suckers me into riding it, then he goes home and yuks it up with his wife about how he got me again.

So as we approach the beginning of Hugh Daniels Drive, Jeff turns onto it, and Doug follows him. Now you might be saying, "what a fool you are, TKP, for following them when the plan was to skip it and go the other way". I'd have to agree, but you see, I knew all along that there was no way we weren't going to be riding up this beast. I knew it Sunday evening when Jeff called and said he wanted to ride. There was no way he was going to drive back to Tulsa without having ridden his favorite hill. So, like the sucker that I am, I followed them. Yes it hurt. No, I didn't enjoy climbing it any more than ever before. I dislike this climb as much as I ever did. So, yes, I'm a fool. But you do what you have to do.

We then climbed back over Double Oak Mountain on 25, then turned and found that they'd repaved my favorite road in all of Birmingham, Bailey Road. This road climbs up over a little ridge seperating Cahaba Valley and Sicard Hollow, and is windy and twisty and turny and just a lot lot lot of fun. Unfortunately, I haven't ridden it in at least 2 years because the surface was just so beat up and nasty. So that was fun, riding one of my favorite roads all nice and smooth with fresh pavement.

Turning back the way we came to head home the wind picked up significantly as the forecasted storm front began moving into our area. As a side note, the Matabele tribe (Africa) used the phrase "Eat the Wind" as a war cry, and their warriors were appropriately known as "Windeaters". Luckily for us (Doug and I), Jeff is a wind-eater, having lived and ridden in the land of never ending wind (Tulsa) for the past two years. This meant that all Doug and I had to do was settle in behind Jeff, and let him knock a hole in the wind for us to move through. A theory that works exceptionally well when the pulling rider (Jeff in this case) can move through a headwind at 20+ mph. Hey, I can't do it, so I might as well let him pull. :)

All in all, it was a good ride, my legs were sore, but I remembered to eat before leaving home and I drank and fed myself consistently along the ride, so I never had any impending energy problems. I was slower climbing the hills than I wanted to be, but it's early in the season, and if I start putting in the effort, the vertical velocity will return.

As I loaded my bike on the car to drive home, the first raindrop fell and it rained the remainder of the day. I'm glad I got a ride in.

Shorts and Short Sleeves in January

Yesterday Jeff Mills was in town (technically he's still in town today, but we're not riding today) and we hooked up and went riding. Jeff showed up at my house a few minutes earlier than I was expecting him and so I neglected to eat breakfast, a mistake that would haunt me later. We left the BBC and headed for the hills of Mountain Brook. There were about 15 of us at the start, but the group whittled itself down as we climbed Dell, then Smyer, then Old Brook Trail. Eventually there were 8 of us left.

Heading east on Sicard Hollow, I felt the initial bonk halfway up the first hill. I lost contact with the group, but caught back on at the foot of the second hill. The pace up this hill was more than my nutritionally challenged legs could manage and I bonked hard. By the time I crested the hill, there was nobody left in sight. I gritted my teeth and struck out to just make it to the end of the road, 6-7 miles distant, where we had agreed to regroup. Eventually I caught sight of Jeff, who noticed I was leading from the rear and dropped back to assist me. With his Tulsa-trained wind breaking skills, I was able to suck wheel, and remember to begin eating some Hammer Gel and eventually we caught back up to the group. The Hammer Gel was taking effect and I began to feel pretty good, as we continued up and over the rollers. Jeff rolled off the front on his own, and we let him go, as we were running 25 mph and didn't feel much like going harder. But from the back came the triathlete of the group (doesn't every group in Birmingham have a triahtlete?), training for Ironman Brazil, flying past us. I looked at Doug Daughetee to see if we were going to give it a go...and he was already gone. I responded as best as I could and got on Doug's wheel. We caught the Ironman but could only hold on as we began the last mile of Rex Lake Road and passed Jeff at 34 mph.

At the Chevron mini-mart where we were re-grouping, I grabbed a banana, and a powerbar to try and bolster my efforts to fight back the bonk that would surely be coming if I let up at all.

Leaving the mini-mart, we headed back west toward Birmingham, and then turned north toward Trussville on Floyd Bradford road. I love this road. It rolls and is very very fast, especially with a group to share the pulling load. I struggled at times to keep up on some of the harder rollers as my legs were starting to feel the effects of earlier bonk and I was fighting that "cramping" feeling. On Queenstown road (after a tough climb), again, it is very fast, but at the end Queenstown, it has a set of descending 90 degree turns that are just as fun as anything you can imagine...

Unfortunately, the farther we went (but at least closer to the end) the more my legs began cramping, until riding up at short climb near the end I had to stop pedaling for a minute to let the cramp seizing my upper thigh subside.

Clearly my big mistake was not eating before riding, but it's easy to lose the good habits you build on long rides (eating and drinking frequently, eating before leaving, etc) when you spend months where your primary riding experiences are only 30-40 minutes long.

On a positive note, I had a great time riding with Jeff and Doug, and the weather couldn't have been nicer. The 14th of January. We had no winter clothes on at all, no tights, no wind vests, no long fingered gloves, no warm under-layers. It was 72 degrees. It's tough to top a day like that.

On the other hand, I've obviously got a bit of work to do before June.

My date with destiny

Okay, that's probably just a little dramatic, but hey, it got you to read didn't it?

June 16, 2007. Tellico Plains, Tennessee. The Cherohala Challenge. My goal? 7 hours or better.

Now that it's in writing, I'm committed. (Heck, I've even been known to write down, as goals, stuff that I've already done, just to have accomplishments written down...so take that for what it's worth).

My rollers are calling me..."...come let us hurt you, we'll make you strong, we'll make you efficient."

That's nice, but I'm really just hoping you'll make me faster. Because if I'm going to finish CC in under 7, I'm going to have to fly on the 40 miles before the climbing starts, and still have strength left for the other 75 miles.

Training in earnest starts yesterday.

A Most Dangerous Christmas Gift

Rollers.

My mother gave me, for Christmas, a gift card to Performancebike.com and I spent it buying rollers. Since I chose what I spent it for, I can't blame the end result on her, and that's okay, because I'll happily give her (and my wife who chipped in the balance that the card didn't cover) the credit when my balance is top notch and my spin as smooth and efficient as a RR engine.

Yeah, that's a bit over the top, but you know what I mean.

In the interim however, there's this problem of learning to ride them properly. Once I got the rollers assembled, I threw my bike on and gave them a try. Ooops! I knew what to expect, and yet, I was still surprised to find myself sideways within one half second. Using the beam support post in the garage, I was able to spend 5 minutes (dressed in jeans and a t-shirt) trying to get the feel of them. It didn't happen, and I was no closer to riding without holding onto support than I was before I got on.

The next day I decided to give it another try, this time following a Saturday club ride. I got home put the bike up on the rollers and immediately was hugging that support post with both arms as I began to shoot straight off the side. So maybe trying to learn rollers after being fatigued isn't such a good idea either.

Monday morning seemed cold and wet-ish outside...the perfect day to learn to ride my new rollers! I set them up, this time in a doorway, put a water bottle on my bike (prematurely feeling a bit cocky that I was going to need that fluid after mastering this new skill), and mounted up.

Boom! Left shoulder straight into the door jamb. But I'm still up and turning the cranks. Slam! Right shoulder bumps the other side of the door opening, and richocets me straight back over to that left side again, which is still smarting from the bump it received 1.5 seconds ago.

So I swallowed my pride and decided to start over, this time holding on with one hand until I could ride relatively straight. This was mildly successful at first...but I was still moving around too much, so I concentrated on smoothing out my pedal stroke. This brought a much quicker improvement and emboldened, I let go of the door jamb to put both hands on the bars. This also was accomplished with the bike only moving to the edge of the rollers, and not off of them completely.

Now I was feeling really smug and decided to try for that water bottle.

I should have been wearing a helmet, because it wasn't my shoulder that struck the door jamb this time. But...I kept upright and got things back under control. At this point, I'd been riding about 5 minutes. Leaving the water alone, I decided that I'd do 30 minutes and just concentrate on spinning smoothly and looking ahead instead of down. I made it through the rest of the ride with only one further incident and came away feeling pretty good, and looking forward to the next opportunity to spend some time with my new toy. A busy schedule kept Tuesday out of the mix, yesterday I opted to ride to work and back, taking advantage of the good weather. But today is drizzly and cold. The perfect weather to spend the evening with a Tour DVD and my bike.

I can't wait to get home.

Half the speed...Twice the pain

Today was my first ride in 3 weeks. Every year I swear to myself that I won't throw December away and start all over again after Christmas, and every year I do it anyway. I'm already resolving to be more disciplined next December. On the other hand, I once again had the opportunity to test the P-32 Fitness theory. I can call this experiment in deterioration of form a success.

I left the house this morning under cloudy and breezy skies, bundled up to stay warm and hurrying to make it to the shop across town where the boys were meeting for the ride start. I got there in plenty of time, fighting a head-wind the entire way.

We left and headed out to run the Tuesday Night Worlds route. The pace seemed easy enough through the neighborhoods, but every couple of blocks it would notch up just a touch. By the time we hit Ruffner Road, we were running just a touch under Summertime pace and flying along, up and down and over the rollers. At some point, (exactly where that point was is still somewhat hazy to me, as I was cross-eyed keeping up) everyone remembered that this was December, not July, and that it wouldn't look uncool to ride slowly. Or at least, more slowly than we were.

The only problem with this theory is that I (and presumably, others in the group) discovered that, particularly on the hills, going half the normal speed, hurts just as badly as going fast, and lasts twice as long.

Needless to say, for the remainder of my renewed efforts at training will be either on flat roads, or I will put in real effort on the hills.

Cold Feet

Saturday I went out with the boys from the club. It was to be a ride with lots of climbing, so I wasn't worried about getting warm once things got going. When I pedaled out of the driveway at 8:00 am, it was 34 degrees. I had arm warmers, light tights, and a wind vest.

Big mistake.

After climbing out of the hole in the mountain where we live, I started descening the north side of Shades Mountain, where I quickly became reaquainted with my loathing for frozen fingers and toes. By the time I arrived in Crestline for the ride start at 9:00, I could barely squeeze my brake levers, shifting was out of the question, and my feet felt like blocks of ice attached to the end of my legs.

At this point I was thinking, "thank heavens for shoe covers. Too bad I didn't put mine on today. Do I even know where they are?"

We left to ride, and yes, there was plenty of climbing. My legs were plenty warm, and I even took off my arm warmers and my fingers thawed out. But my feet remained frozen.

Once I got home and got my feet warmed sufficiently, I went out to the garage and started looking through boxes until I found my nice warm winter booties (shoe covers). Fleece lined, neoprene outside. I resolve to wear them on every ride until February at least.

The only thing I hate worse than cold feet, is wet feet.

Hard Day

It was my first ride of the week today. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to burn off yesterday's extra calories, (though I managed to keep it under control). It was a group ride, an honorarium ride for a former member of the club who was diagnosed with Lukemia a few years back. He isn't doing well right now and is in hospice care. So we went out and did a ride for him today.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the legs I had even a month ago. There was a lot of climbing on this ride, and my legs are very sore tonight.

On the plus side, the weather was wonderful...high sixties to low seventies. More of the same tomorrow. And each day until mid week.

Looks like it's time to put some miles in.

Dull these days

It's too cold to ride. Well, ordinarily not, but since I'm fighting (pretty well I might add) the nasty head cold that made it's way through our home last week, I'm avoiding being sweaty outside when it's in the low 30's.

And I can't seem to motivate myself to hook up my trainer to ride indoors when it isn't raining outside.

Other things have been happening though...

I finished building up the old Trek frameset. Using some of my old parts, and some parts donated by the Beast, Kenny now has a bike most 16 year olds would kill for...OCLV Frameset, Shimano 9spd Dura Ace Shifters with Ultegra derailleurs, FSA compact crankset, an ITM Millineum stem, and a Specialized Carbon seatpost (the one that came on my Tarmac, since I'm using a lighter FSA carbon post). I put my old Spinergy Spox wheels on, since he's light enough that they'll still be stiff wheels for him. With the Speedplay X2 pedals, the bike weighs 17.5 lbs.

Now Twister has Kenny's old Trek 1000, and Brayden has Twister's old (43cm) Trek 1000.

Since we were all set, and Saturday was a nice day, I took the three boys out for a ride late Saturday afternoon. We did the greenway along Lakeshore, up the bottom half of Smyer to where the road is closed for repairs, and back again. A short 8 miles for Kenny, Twister, and me...a bit longer 8 for Brayden, who was on his first road bike ride ever. He did well, and I'm looking forward to spending more time riding with my boys. And Cathy too.

Russ and I are hoping to get out and do a short 25 or 30 on Friday, before we have to work at the Christmas Tree lot for the scouts. Kenny and Twister will ride with us, so it should be a good ride. I'm looking forward to Friday.

Up, Down, Up...

I'm speaking of the temperature.

Last Monday, it was okay, not warm, but not bitingly cold either. Tuesday it was a little colder, Wednesday, the wind appeared along with even lower temps, and by the time I left the house on Friday morning, bundled to the point I felt like the michelin man, it was just downright unpleasant.

Today, it'll be back up to near 70. Then raining and cold tomorrow. Then warm and sunny again on Wednesday.

But I'm determined to keep riding to work at least when it isn't raining. I worked too hard this last spring and summer to throw all that away by getting lazy now. If I keep pushing through, I know I'll come out in the spring faster for my efforts.

It's just more work than fun right now.

I just can't let it go...

Last night, on my commute home, I was noodling along, feeling pretty good. I had climbed up over Highland and down through English Village, through Mountain Brook Village and along the Shades Creek Greenway to Columbiana. Columbiana is the tough climb on this version of my route (Smyer is closed for repairs for the next 2.5 months), about 3/4 mile at ~8%. I had just started the climb, and thought I would just take it easy, spin up nice and slow and keep things under control.

BUT!

I was passed.

For about 2 seconds I didn't care. Then it registered...I was just passed. The thoughts spinning through my head...can I just let that go without a response? How can I call myself a rider if I don't at least try to take back what was mine?

So I shifted to a harder gear, stood up and started climbing. The gap started to shrink. Then it stabilized as the beam of my light became visible on the ground around him, and he, realizing I was coming, increased his effort as well.

Slowly I pulled up even with him and for the last 1/4 mile we traded tire-width leads until with 50 yards left I went hard and finally left him behind as I crossed the summit 15 yards in front.

Not a word was spoken between us. There was an inate understanding that this was a race to which we were the only witnesses. On the line? Nothing but the personal satisfaction of having beaten someone on a climb, and the establishment of the Alpha cyclist betwixt just the two of us.

I know that the next time we meet on that climb, he'll remember the time I beat him to the top, and he'll work harder.

So will I.

It's Finally Back

My Trek. I originally had the frameset sent to the factory in Wisconsin for inspection and repainting (after I crashed it into the garage while pulling in and forgetting it was atop the car).

It came back sometime at the end of July, first part of August (I don't recall exactly) and it was not acceptable...the paint was bubbled on the top tube. So it went back again.

3 weeks later, it was returned again. Not only did they not fix the bubbled paint on the top tube, it now had other blemishes as well. So we sent it a third time.

Friday the shop called to tell me it was back. "Third times gotta be the charm" they said. Apparently that isn't necessarily the truth. Yes, they had fixed the bubbled paint, and the other blemishes as well, but a spot of clearcoat had rubbed off, (or they missed a spot during finishing) behind the seat-tube.

Yesterday the shop called to tell me that they had talked to Trek and rather than send it back for a 4th repaint, Trek was giving up and letting me keep it without charge.

So I'm finally done with my Trek saga, and K&C will both have bikes that fit, as I'm giving K the newly repainted OCLV frameset.

We'll spend the next couple of nights building it up together. That'll be a good father/son thing to do. Right?

I thought so too.

Where did fall go?

It seems as though we've gone from hot hot hot, dropped straight through pleasant fall temps and bottomed out at colder than crud. All in just a few days. I didn't think I'd need to get out my winter tights and arm warmers until December, but no, the past two mornings have been downright too cold to ride without them.

I miss fall. I wish it would come back. Soon.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Rest Week

More like a week of sitting around doing nothing. It's raining today, and drizzled for two days before today. This is the time of the year when I get sick easily, so I'm staying out of the cold and wet. So far it's working.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day though, so I'm planning to get a ride in. It'll be nice to spin the legs a bit and expend some energy.

The Trek is due to be back today...from it's third trip to the factory for repainting. I'm hoping they get it right this time. Kenny wants to ride it, and so I'll have to get it built up for him.

It's Not Always About Going Fast

Contrary to Burl Ives assertion that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, in my book, that distinction belongs to fall. The temperatures begin dropping from the nineties into a more comfortable range in the sixties, seventies and low eighties, and the humidity falls from oppressive at best to merely noticable at worst.

Fall is my favorite time of the year to ride my bike. All of the season's objectives are behind me and it's time to just noodle around and enjoy the season without the pressures of upcoming events forcing me to train a certain way. It's "wind-down" season, and it's time to relax. Time to spend my Saturday rides with Cathy. There's very little I enjoy more than watching her ride to the top of Shades Crest via Smyer for the first time last Saturday. She enjoyed it so much, we're going to try it again this week!

Sure, I've got some goals already set up for next season; I want to finish Cherohala in less than 7 hours, and I'm planning to start swimming and running again this winter in an effort to claim the top spot at a triathlon next Memorial Day weekend. I'm also giving some thought to clipping in for a couple of low key races in early March just to test my fitness and have a little fun (I could use a little humility, and there's nothing like lining up at a race to give it to you).

But those are still months away, and I'm one of the best around when it comes to procrastinating. Sure, I could be busy out on my bike every day, sweating like a soaker hose, and wheezing like a leaky tire...

But then I wouldn't get to enjoy my favorite time of the year, would I?

The Return of TNPT

Ah, another Tuesday. My first Pain Train in nearly 6 weeks. The big question was would I survive or be spat from the rear before the first stop light?

During the first mile or two, I felt the ache from Saturday's century in Huntsville, but my legs loosened up and despite my best efforts to drop into the middle of the pack, I found myself up front...(there are certain points in this ride where the corners are tricky, and it's best to be up front just for my own comfort and to feel safe)...when I didn't want to be up front.

Never fear though, I know that when the hammer really drops, I'll be suffering somewhere near the back, if not off the back.

We cruised up past the ball fields on Ruffner road and as the pace kept creeping up, I found it just a touch surprising that I wasn't having any difficulty keeping up. I know I've put in a lot of miles recently, but they've been slow, and speed training is something I've lacked considerably of late. I rotated off the front, and though there were about 30 riders, a split of 8 riders had developed, which meant that I was on the front more frequently than normal. I found myself second from last at the foot of the final steep roller on Ruffner, and felt good enough to sprint up to take the top of the hill ahead of the rest. I settled back down and fell in with the group where we worked to the end of Ruffner.

At this point, things settled down for 1/4 mile to allow the dropped riders to rejoin and then we were off to the races again up John Rogers Drive (aka "Dog Track"). Again feeling pretty good, I made one critical mistake and allowed myself to rotate all the way to the back just before the hill began. The reason this is not a good thing is that invariably, somewhere up ahead, a split will occur and if you want to make it over the top with the leaders, you have to work extra hard to bridge to them. Yes, that's what happened. It was the only part of the ride where I thought I might be finished, but I managed to pick my way up through the shelled riders to just regain the leaders as they crested the hill.

From there, the route works over to Old Leeds after what can be an easy climb up 78, but isn't easy because everyone (apparently I'm the lone exception) wants to ride an 18 mph pace up the hill. I managed to hang on. I say "managed", though I never thought I'd get dropped. It just hurt. A lot.

From 78 we cross over I-459 and turn onto Old Leeds Road for the run back through Irondale and Mountain Brook to Homewood. Naturally, the pace is high on this section as well, as various riders (it seems they're always the same ones) feel that they need to attack on one of the busier roads we ride. Anyway, we managed to get through OLR without incident, though I thought a time or two that I might be going down, particularly when one rider decided to sprint from behind me and nearly knocked my handlebars sideways with his leg.

All in all, I was very happy with last night's ride. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could still keep up with the boys and even take my turns working. I clearly didn't expect to be where I was.

Unfortunately, this may be the last TNPT for me...scheduling conflicts abound over the next couple of weeks, and it's getting to be too dark too early for the ride to continue past the middle of October.

I'll have to spend the winter making sure I don't lose too much. I'll be doing a lot of riding with family now that fall is here and the weather is so nice.

I'm looking forward to that.

Down and out

It's a strange title for what was perhaps my strongest ride in years...but as the story unfolds, you'll understand.

Saturday was the Huntsville Century (yes, that should be the "Huntsville All-you-can-eat Century, but I didn't eat all I could, so I've shortened it for this year). I took Molly up with me on Friday afternoon to play with her cousins while Cathy's brother did an eye exam for me. We stayed with the brother and his family that night.

Early Saturday morning, I left Molly behind to spend more time with kin, and I drove to the other side of Madison County to the High School which served as the start and finish for this ride. Pulling into the parking lot, I saw about 3 cars there, and recongized DirtDog's Scott CR-1 attached to the back of his truck. Already the day was starting out great...I didn't think he was doing the Huntsville with Six Gap just a week away. We chatted for a while and I told him I was looking to do less than 6 hours because 1) I wanted to, and 2) I had to be back in Birmingham (100 miles away) by 3:30 for a meeting. I also mentioned that I'd be leaving a bit early to ride with some friends who were on their way, and to holler when he passed me so I could hook on with this group for the rest of the ride.

Russ and Katie, and their friends Brad and his wife Sue (who flew in from Park City, UT just for this event) arrived, all attired in matching University of Utah jerseys. At least my blue and black kit was somewhat BYU'ish. Now you realize, don't you, that I'm going to have to get a BYU jersey to offset this horde of Utes.

At 7:30 we rolled out of the parking lot and joined a smattering of other riders in the extraodinarily comfortable morning air. And since I mentioned it, I'm just going to say that when the only thing you can find to complain about regarding the weather was that there wasn't enough breeze to give you a tailwind anywhere, then you'd probably just better stop complaining.

Riding past the cotton fields waiting to be harvested, the area was blanketed with white and green. It was almost like snow in some spots (if you ignored the red clay dirt underneath it all). The terrain was much gentler than I remembered from several years ago, the rollers seemed considerably smaller and fewer in number.

Just past the first feed zone, DirtDog and a small group caught up with us. Russ and Brad and I hooked on with them, but after a mile or two, Russ began feeling guilty and convinced Brad to drop back to ride with their wives. DirtDog and his group had left about 10 minutes before the 8am start, and so it was about 15 minutes later when the first large group caught us. Without any difficulty, we raised our pace and joined with the nearly 100 other riders. It was fast and it was fun. We rolled over the rollers at a nice 22-23 mph pace for miles and miles. Nearing the 40 mile rest stop, there is a large downhill, followed immediately by an equally large uphill. I was at the front of the group on the descent, and upon hitting the uphill portion, I shifted to my small ring...but I messed up the shift and dropped the chain. I came to a complete stop as I tried to get things working again, and when I finally got the bike moving forward, I was 75 yard behind the last riders in the group. So I began to chase. And chase. And chased some more.

Descending from Lexie Crossroads into what Jeff Mills and I call, The Valley That Time Forgot, I continued to chase. I could see the group up ahead, about 1/4 mile, but I just couldn't get any closer. And I was on my own in "no man's land" with riders behind and the group I wanted up ahead. Turning onto Marble Hill road, to climb back to the top of the ridge, I decided I was done chasing. Hopefully I would catch some of them at the next rest stop (back at Lexie Crossroads again). This climb, contrary to the rest of the course seeming easier, was more difficult than I remembered. I knew that when Katie saw the hill, she would be cursing me under her breath, and possibly even aloud, and if Russ was nearby, he would probably join her.

Immediately after cresting the climb, I descended down into the valley on the east side of the ridge and turned back south toward Lexie Xroads. Somewhere along this valley I was caught by DirtDog and another small group of riders, some who had been in the large group. We climbed back onto the top of the ridge and arrived at the RS. I asked the folks working that stop if they'd seen a group wearing U of U jerseys. The girl I talked to said they had just left 10-15 minutes before we got there. I left a message apologizing for the hill and we took off for the last 50 miles. As we rode, we picked up more and more stragglers who had experienced ejection from the front runners. By the time we were at 85 miles covered, we had a fairly sizable group formed, but few of them would take pulls, so it was up to just 4 of us to drive the bus. If I might just brag for a moment, I felt good. I took strong hard pulls, and stayed within myself, and didn't blow up.

The last 50 miles of this course are considerably hillier than the first 50, but certainly not unmanagable. And they weren't hurting me the way I expected. I finished the ride, 105 miles, in 5:18. Yeah. I was happy about that. I quickly ran into the showers to get changed and hurry to Bham, but found the line at the showers was going to take a while.

Now, I don't know what kind of High School has but 2 shower stalls (not 2 gang showers mind you, 2 stalls with one head in each), but this one did. And someone forgot to have them turn on the hot water. Which was a blessing, because each of the 40 people ahead of me in line lasted about 90 seconds in the icewater and then it was the next rider's turn.

I'll compress this next bit somewhat...I got dressed in my suit, ate a plate of spaghetti, (not all-I-could-eat, but all I had time for)and pointed the car south. I eventually made it to my meeting, a bit late, but I got most of it.

After the meeting, which lasted a bit over 2 hours, I called Russ' cell phone to jokingly ask if they were done riding yet.

He said they'd finished many hours earlier, when his wife Katie, had crashed descending the same hill where I'd had trouble with my chain. He was a bit ahead of her and waited and waited for 5 mintues or so before another rider asked if he was waiting for a rider wearing a jersey like his. "Yes" he said. "Well, she crashed pretty badly back up the hill". When he got there, I guess it was a mess. She lost control of her bike at 35 mph and hit the metal guardrail. Luckily for her, Russ is a doctor. Anyway, they got her into an ambulance and took her to Winchester, Tennessee, to the hospital where they ran tests for the remainder of the afternoon. Cat scans, MRI's, x-rays. She's pretty beaten up. I've seen dozens of riders who've crashed, and she's the first I've seen with her face all cut up. Skin missing from most of her right arm and right leg, shoulders, backside, etc. And 35 stiches in a gash on the left side of her abdomen. We aren't really sure what caused that gash, but we speculate that it was the end of her handlebar, which had lost its plug during the crash.

I'm guessing that today, she's going to be more sore than she was yesterday. It sure isn't any good when something that's supposed to be fun turns out that way.

So, we'll see how long it takes to get Katie back on a bike. I'm hoping she's okay and it doesn't take much.

Four Fifths of the Birmingham Century

Yeah, it seems strange to get all set up to do a century, then only plan to do 80 miles of it...but that's exactly what I did. Here's the story:

I've got a couple of friends, Russ, who was at Cherohala with me, and Russ' wife, Katie, who has taken up the fun and frivolity that is cycling, (which if you do it right is roughly akin to breathing as hard as you can while someone beats you with a strand of barbed wire).

Anyway, Russ and Katie have determined (on my recommendation) that the Huntsville "All You Can Eat Century is the perfect event to complete their first century. To that end, once they returned from consecutive trips to the exotic locals of Finland and Sylacauga 3 weeks ago, I've been training with them for the Huntsville event.

Huntsville is not a marathon long event, nor is it especially hilly. What it does have is some of the prettiest countryside I've ever ridden through, and really really sweet smooth roads that were just paved brand new 5 years ago. And rollers. Hundreds of them. Very little of this ride is flat, almost none to my recollection. You're either rolling up, or rolling down. (Sure, there are some flat sections I'm certain, but who remembers those?).

So Russ and Katie (whose longest ride to date had been 65 miles) decided that doing 80 of the BBC Century was just the ticket as a final long ride to the build up to Huntsville. It was a beautiful morning, cloudy and cool, with relatively low humidity for Alabama. We left Montevallo High School about 30 minutes ahead of the start so that we didn't spend all day riding just because they like to start their century late. Leaving town towards the wilds of Chilton County, Katie had her first experience with passing slower riders. A red letter day for her.

As we continued south I noticed that property was being cleared for another soon to be run down, ramshackle self storage facility. Which was nice to see, because you can never have too many of these eyesores in rural Alabama, and south Shelby County doesn't seem to be keeping up with the less affluent counties on its borders. A little farther on, having crossed into Chilton county we encountered a novel way of storing your "stuff". Instead of renting a self storage closet at one of these aforementioned establishments, these ingenious folks had purchased (I assume it wasn't stolen) a school bus, replaced the wheels with cinder blocks, and were storing their "stuff" in the converted school bus. Brilliant!

So back to the ride. This ride is a good approximation of the terrain in Huntsville, lots of rolling hills and mild climbing as well. We saw little traffic because it doesn't seem to be peach season yet, so the roads were all pretty empty. I was a bit ahead of Russ and Katie, so I pulled into the first rest stop and was delighted to find that they had a big box of plums. I love plums, and these plums were absolutely wonderfully sweet black plums. After two plums (plus one in my pocket for later), and a slice of watermelon, we took off again.

5 miles farther down the road, the were finally overtaken by a small group of riders who, having started with the rest of the group, had to have averaged 22 mph to that point. They blew past us and 15 minutes later the first large group (30-40 riders) caught us. I determined that I wouldn't ride with this group, and that I'd wait for Russ and Katie, but as I drifted back, I kept seeing friends and chatting. Besides, the effort staying in with them was noticably less than that of riding on my own. So as the miles flew past, I suddenly remembered that Russ and Katie were back there somewhere, no doubt cursing my abandonment of them. So I dropped off. To my pleasant surprise, R&K were only a couple of hundred yards back, having caught the back of the group and hanging until a longer hill came along. I was impressed.

We stopped at the next rest stop where I returned a pair of new sunglasses to the owner who had dropped them and refilled water bottles before leaving again.

Now, at this point the weather was still very pleasant and we began seeing riders from the previously mentioned group coming back the other way, as they were hitting the metric turn around and going back (most were preparing for the 6 Gap Century in two weeks). Past the metric turnaround, we were on our own again until we stopped and 40 miles out and turned around ourselves. I stayed with R&K for a while but as it got later, I felt like I needed to get back, so I went on ahead. After 30 mintues or so, it started to get hot...the clouds broke up and the sun came out and I actually ended up with a slight sunburn. *shrug*

I finished strongly, averaging 19.3 mph for the last 24 miles, but starting to feel pre-cramping in my calves as I hadn't done anything to prevent cramps because the day seemed so cool at the start. Lesson learned.

My favorite part of the day was a day later (yesterday) when Katie saw me at church and said "that last hill, you know the one I mean...)

Yeah, I knew exactly which one she meant...a longish steep climb with 5 miles to go. It'll kill you at the end of a long ride.

So, 80 miles covered. Lots of energy left to help Cathy clean for a party she was hosting. All in all, a great day.

It might not look like it, but I'm still riding.

Yeah, it's been a while since I've had anything to say. I apologize to all 4 of my avid readers.

I've been riding, but nothing epic, nor anything especially profound has happened on any of these rides, so there just hasn't been much to write about.

On Saturday I rode from home down to my old neighborhood and farther south up into Pea Ridge and down to Montevallo. It's a good ride, but I haven't done it for over 18 months. I was surprised by how much has changed along previously isolated areas that are now being cleared for the newest thousand-home-subdivisions. It's kind of sad. Certainly a loss of good riding as these previously deserted roads become the main route to and from home for everyone living in these subdivisions with a car. I'm sure I won't ride down there many more times.

It's kind of sad.

A Change of Plans

I had made plans to ride into work today, but to go the long way around, which would have given me about 30 miles. It's a nice ride and not difficult. Lots of rollers that let you work hard for 30 seconds, then ease off, then hard again.

Baby girl had other plans for me though when she awoke with a fever and chest cough. Since Cathy was scheduled to sub for an English teacher at Hoover HS today, it became my job to stay home with the sick one.

My wife surprised me though when she said "go ride for an hour and then I'll leave when you get back."

Heck yeah!

I hooked up with Russ and we did a shorter version of the route, it was still about 18 miles, but it was a good 18. Good weather, good roads, good legs.

We'll be trying for the longer route to work again on Wednesday. In the meantime, today's ride was perfect.