The End of the Season: What I've Learned

I've been cycling for just over a year now...about 14 months seriously at this point.  I have learned a great deal about cycling in that time, its not just a matter of getting on a bike and pedaling from point A to point B.  There is a certain science to this basic act, and the more you understand of it, the more you will be able to accomplish on a bike.  This entry is designed to talk about certain things that I have learned about cycling in the past year, and how it has helped me conquer the most impressive ride of the year.

You may remember back in June, I went on a club ride to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia.  That turned out to be a very fun experience riding in a completely new environment.  However, while I was thrilled that I had ridden a metric century in the mountains, it was overshadowed by what I considered a personal failure.  You see, while I rode strong for the first part of the ride, I met my match on a hill climb to Rocky Knob.  It was a category 4 climb that lasted right around 2 miles.  I cracked on that climb and had to stop and rest before continuing.  After that, I was limping all the way back to my truck, well over 30 miles away.  I made it and required no SAG support, but in my mind the Blue Ridge Parkway had beaten me.  It was a bittersweet ride.

There were several things that I have realized in the following months that I was doing wrong which lead to my lackluster attempt at riding the Parkway.  Some of these discoveries were no brainers, which I filed away immediately after the ride.  Other things came about by accident, and had a profound effect on my riding...especially in the mountains.  Lets take a look at some of these things.

First and foremost, I learned quickly to pace myself.  I was used to riding rolling terrain, but nothing that came close to strenuous mountains.  As I was climbing that cat 4 hill to Rocky Knob I realized (too late) that I had no reserve left in order to push myself up the climb.  I just got slower and slower, and couldn't muster the energy reserves necessary to keep my forward momentum.  Had I gone at a slower pace in the beginning, I would have had that muscle power necessary to finish the climb.

I also learned the need for calorie replenishment along the way.  I knew this, but didn't know it was as important as it was in the mountains.  While I can sometimes consume as little as 160 calories in a 50 mile ride with no issues, that just won't do in the mountains.  I made the mistake of having only one break in 32 miles, and started the major climb already in need of calories.  Breaks are very important to keep your body fresh and supplied with fuel for whatever comes your way.

I thought that this was all that I needed to focus on for my next attempt at the Parkway, which I was figuring was going to be next spring.  In the meantime, I was focusing my training efforts on the Bike MS, Tour to Tanglewood, which would be a long two days with a full century on Saturday, and a metric century on Sunday.  In my training plan I ended up finding quite a few weaknesses both in the bike, and in my form.  In a period of about 2 months I addressed all of these issues, some of which caused other issues.

The first link in the chain was my pedals.  I had been using flat pedals for almost a year now and saw nothing wrong with them.  That's not to say that I wasn't being told at every chance that I was making the wrong choice by staying with the flats.  I made the move to clipless and installed Speedplay pedals and matched them to Shimano shoes.  Honestly, I did not like the change at all.  They slowed me down, and made riding much more awkward than I thought it should be.  I was not a happy camper and longed to have my flat pedals back.  Had it not been for the near 100% support of clipless from other cyclists, I would have ditched them after the first two rides.

I rode on them for about 400 miles before I started to see a problem developing with my left knee.  This was attributed to saddle height, based on the new pedals.  Something had to be done because I was having a very hard time riding what used to be a base ride of 50 miles.  I ended up signing up for a professional BG 3D Bike Fit which essentially tweaked my position on the bike allowing me to operate it more efficiently and with less pain.  It took a couple of rides, but the pain in my knee went away completely.  After two more follow up sessions with some more tweaks, I found a much more comfortable position on the bike.  This was illustrated in my first century ride since the fit with the Tour to Tanglewood.  None of the normal aches and pains showed up over the course of 100 miles.  It was great!

There were some other things that I learned about my form during the fit that I started to take into account in my training.  First of all, it was pointed out (again) that my cadence was too low.  I was operating about 20-30 rpm's below where I should be.  In essence I was putting too much pressure on my muscles instead of letting momentum take the pedals around.  The range of efficient pedaling falls in the 70-90 rpm range.  I was usually in the low 60's on my rides.  I made a strong effort at raising my cadence despite the fact that it felt like my legs would just fly off my body.  In a short amount of time, I was pedaling at an average of 80-83 rpm's which I thought was pretty good.  I eventually got my rhythm and strength back, and my speeds started to get close to what they had been.

I had never done much thought about post ride before my fit, but found that in addition to consuming muscle repairing protein (which I knew), it was also very beneficial to stretch.  I started doing three different stretches based on suggestions from Paul's Cycling.  I worked on my quads, IT bands, and hip flexors.  I started to see improvement in my range of motion in these areas almost immediately.  While it didn't have any affect on how I felt, I really feel that it quickened my recovery time so I was ready for harder rides sooner.

One of the other things that was mentioned during the fit was pedal drills.  It seems that I was still pedaling as if I had flat pedals.  The cure for that was to unclip one side and pedal exclusively with the other side.  I gave it a try on the trainer at Paul's and found that I was very sloppy on the upward transition over the top of the stroke.  I was not smooth at all, and in the words of Specialized, "Smoother is Faster".  I wanted to do more of the drills, but didn't feel comfortable doing one legged pedaling on the road.  I just saw too many things going wrong with that plan.  I needed a trainer it appeared.  My wife Toni came through on that end and surprised me with a very nice fluid trainer.  It was a little intimidating to start with as I had never really considered doing much cycling indoors, but I had it....might as well make use of it, right?

Pedal drills are difficult, but not intensive enough to justify a trainer on their own.  So, I broke out a book on training and did some research on different training methods that could be used with a trainer.  Interval training seemed to be the way to go.  Essentially, the intervals would be low effort followed by intense effort, and then back to a low effort and repeated.  I have heard that these could be insanely hard, but I figured that I would give them a try since they increased your stamina both in an extended effort, and a short effort like a sprint.

I will say this....interval training is rough.  In the past year of cycling I have never wanted to throw up before until I was riding my bike in the office.  Now that comes with a couple of problems.  If I throw up outside, its no big deal.  If I toss cookies inside, there is a lot of cleaning that I will have to do.  I also really wondered how I could be exerting myself to that extent inside not going anywhere when I had climbed hills, gone much faster, and had ridden longer.  The answer was, intervals are very intense workouts, that retrain your body how to work under varied workloads.  I was not used to going from an easy pedal, to an all out effort in such short amounts of time.  My heart rate was all over the place, and it was not uncommon to reach 106% on my one minute sprints (This was before I knew to actually set my max heart rate instead of going with the suggested max based on age).

While working on my intervals, I also threw in the one legged pedal drills while I was recovering from the onslaught to my cardiovascular system.  I found that pedaling with one foot for a minute in a high gear was pretty difficult.  But after only a couple of times doing these drills, I could feel that my movement across the whole stroke was much smoother than before.  I was not getting that flat spot at the top of the circle as I did before, at least not until the end of the minute.  I could also feel more shifting in my shoes while doing the intervals indicating that my muscle memory was learning how to apply power at all points along the pedal stroke.

I reported back to Paul's about all the improvements I had made since the initial fit.  I then started to ask questions about my heart rate.  I was concerned that I was operating too high on my rides when I was averaging 93% overall and peaking slightly over 100% for a max.  I was told that this was a bit high, and I needed to get that percentage down a little bit.  My aim was to average in mid 80's on a ride, but I was going to have to work on that after the Tour was over since there was no more time to really adjust my training.

However, as luck would have it the nature of group riding slowed me down a little bit as I drafted from time to time.  I'm not talking about speed as much as I'm referring to my heart rate.  I could tell that by holding back just a little bit, and choosing a slightly easier gear I was seeing my heart rate drop below where it had been not that long before.  The key was not hammering at every moment to get all the speed out of the bike I could.  My average speed dropped a little, but my endurance went through the roof.  I actually finished the 100 mile ride with energy to spare...enough that I did a sprint to the finish line.  I was learning how to control my pace to conserve energy, and keep the strain off my heart.


OK, so I had learned a lot of things, and had incorporated them into my training schedule.  My form was brand new, and a new cyclist was being created.  I thought that the Tour would be the best illustration of what I had learned, but I was wrong.  It was just another century ride that I had completed.  The ultimate test came about purely by accident.  I got information that the Chair City Cyclists were going to be doing a small ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the leaves as they were changing colors.  Just four months had passed since my last ride in the mountains, and I had not been training for the ride at all.  In fact, my training was starting to wind down when it came to endurance rides.  I was focusing more on trainer sessions and rides with my wife.  Something possessed me to throw my hat in for the ride though.  It was going to be over some of the same terrain that I had ridden back in June, and I wanted to give Rocky Knob another try to see if I could beat it.

As the date got closer, the weather got colder, and many of the riders backed out of the trip.  It was in danger of being cancelled, and I did not want to see that happen, but wasn't going to fight to keep it going since I was not really prepared for the ride anyway.  Plans were changed, and the location was moved to Doughton Park, which is in North Carolina, near Sparta.  The route was to the South, and was speculated to be about 50 miles total out and back.  There were two others that were committed to going, with a third possible.  I committed, and decided that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to tackle the Parkway again.  I just had no idea what the terrain would be like.  I figured that it would be about the same as the Virginia section, hoped it was no worse, and would be a little disappointed if it were easier.  The only way to find out was to go and ride.

I arrived at about 8am for the 9am ride.  I wanted time to acclimate to the temperature which was a tepid 37*.  Did I mention that I owned no long cycling pants or knee warmers?  I was cold but knew that I would warm up eventually, plus I had arm warmers and a jacket to keep my upper half warm.  It wasn't long before Phil and Doug showed up and let me know that this was going to be it....just the three of us.  I'm not a fan of large groups anyway, so this was fine by me.  We all got geared up and ready.  Incidentally, I was the only one with bare legs, but Phil accidentally put both of his shoe covers on the same foot, so in hindsight I wasn't the most strangely dressed of the day.

We mounted our steeds and set forth toward Alligator Back to the South right at 9am.  I'm such a fan of punctuality!  One thing that I remembered from my past experience with the Parkway is that there is no warm up time at all.  You are either climbing or descending.  Unfortunately, our first 10 miles had very little climbing involved, and the decent was rather steep.  We mostly coasted, which put miles behind us quickly, but did nothing for warming up our muscles....or our bodies.  All while coasting down, I had plenty of time to think about what this was going to mean for the return trip to the truck.  A huge climb was going to come at the end of whatever ride this turned out to be.  There would be no limping the last little bit as I did in June.  To get to the truck, I was going to have to work, and work hard!

The decent started to even out, and we were doing some climbing now.  Nothing too bad at all, but more than I was used to.  I started to notice something on these climbs though...I could feel my feet pedaling differently.  I was pulling up on the pedals instead of just pushing down.  I felt very smooth as I was putting power to the ground.  I also noticed that I was pacing myself and keeping my heart rate relatively low considering the effort I was expending.  Another difference this time was I was not afraid to use the little ring as I was last time.  I realized I had burned myself out staying in the big ring much more than I should have.  I was happy going into the little ring, and spinning up the hills.  Very few times I got out of breath, and I was quite comfortable with my pace.  That was helped by staying with Doug who kept me from burning out prematurely.

The hills started to remind me of a roller coaster.  As with the June trip, there was no flat road to speak of.  However, unlike the Virginia section, this one had much steeper grades, and the road was pitchier than I recalled from last time.  There were no easy hills, they were all climbs to some extent, and I found myself in 2nd gear quite often.  I decided to play a little mind trick with myself and tried not to come out of 2nd gear in favor of 1st so I could always say to myself that I had another gear if I needed it.  I figured that I would have to use it on the return trip to get up that last 10 miles, and I wanted to save that moment of desperation for then.  The climbs got steeper, and longer the further we went.  I maintained my 2nd gear promise, and concentrated on pace instead.  The steeper the hill the slower I would go.  It worked, I was feeling pretty good.

I was very thankful to be with a group that believed in taking breaks.  This was one area where I failed myself in June.  I wasn't going to deprive my body of rest and calories this time.  It was rare to travel more than 10 miles without stopping for a few minutes.  In addition to overlooks, we also made a breakfast stop at the Northwest Trading Post.  I stuck with my policy that while on a bike, I don't eat anything unfamiliar to my system.  I had a granola bar which was just perfect.  We stayed here for a little while and then set back off again.

In addition to overlooks, we also stopped periodically along the Parkway to snap some pictures.  This reminded me so much of the days when I was a photographer.  I have driven this section so many times before with my camera, but I don't think I ever truly appreciated the beauty until I rode those same miles on a bike.  You have the time to see all the nuances that the area has to offer.  You smell the smells, hear the sounds, and see all sorts of things.  We actually saw quite a few deer off to the side of the road, and I had to pause behind a car that was stopped for one in the road once.  As with my previous ride, this was a very religious experience for me....even more this time.  The pace was slower and I was determined to really take in the scenery this time.

When we made it to 25 miles it was time to think about turning around.  We had seen a sign for EB Jeffress Park which was (at the time 11 miles away) which would put it at about 31 miles or so.  If we made it there, we be assured of completing a full metric century ride (my second such on the Parkway).  Doug and I were all for it, and Phil reluctantly agreed.  We were going the distance and we all were still feeling pretty good despite the fact that we had just climbed a series of very steep grades that taxed all of us.  The bitter irony was our new destination was atop yet another pretty arduous climb.  I think Doug was doing just fine, but I was starting to feel the climbing in my legs.  Surprisingly though, Phil was getting better at the hills.  He had found his groove and was chugging up them at a nice and steady pace.  He would close the gap between him and us faster with every climb.  Maybe we were getting slower, but Phil was holding his own and doing a great job!

After a much needed break we were all set to start the return journey.  Doug would not go all the way with us.  His plan was to break off at Hwy 16 to go to his home in the mountains which was about 15 miles off the Parkway.  I'm pretty sure that he got close to a metric century even with this detour.  For the time though, we were all still together, and spirits were still high.

The return trip went a lot like the outbound leg.  Lots of climbs that used to be descents, and lots of descents that used to be climbs.  It was no easier or harder regardless of the direction.  However, I remembered that long climb at the end of the route.  I wasn't sure how intense it would be to climb, but I knew I needed to conserve energy for it.  The problem was with all the climbing that we were doing, that energy was starting to get depleted.  I swore to myself that I was going to make it the whole way without giving up, so I needed to back off just a little and pace myself accordingly.  That seemed to do the trick and I could feel my reserves remaining untouched for the most part.  I was still holding to my 2nd gear promise, and was climbing just fine with having that one last desperation gear in reserve.

Doug split off from the group as planned which left Phil and I to make the final leg on our own.  My plan was to stay with Phil as he would slow me down even more on the climbs.  His pace had steadily improved, and he was proving to be a locomotive on the climbs.  I figured I could learn a thing or two from him.  We stuck together for a little while, but I was having a hard time cranking the pedals at his pace....my cadence was just too low, and I was straining.  I had to pull ahead and get my tempo.  As Phil said several times, "ride your ride", and he was right.  I had found my sweet spot for climbs and clicked into 2nd gear and did my thing.  We finally arrived at that last 10 miles that we had been dreading since the first decent of the day.  I was getting tired, but still felt very good, so I hunkered down in my 2nd ring and found my pace.  I kept right at 8mph climbing that first part of the hill, but could feel my legs getting worn out.  My knees were throbbing from the constant strain, but forward I maintained unlike Rocky Knob.  My memory of that failure haunted me, and kept me going.  The climb eased for a brief time at an overlook where I stopped and waited for Phil.  In no time, he came chugging up the hill and we rejoined, ready to tackle the second part of the climb.

I again left Phil pretty quick as the pitch of the road increased yet again, and we were in full climb mode.  I settled down into my 2nd gear and found my speed at 8.2mph.  I was going to do this, and knew that I could because I didn't need to save any energy after this last climb because when it was over, the truck would be just to my left in a parking lot.  As I neared the top, I looked down to confirm.....I WAS STILL IN 2ND GEAR!!!!  According to my cyclometer, we had traveled right at 64 miles, and climbed 6770 feet in those miles.  To my surprise, I never had to go into 1st gear which meant that I still had one trick up my sleeves to get me over the climbs if needed, but I never needed it.  It was at that point that I realized that all the lessons that I had learned since my last ride on the Parkway had paid off....in a big way.  Without looking at the detailed climb analysis, I already knew that in about the same distance, I had almost 1900 more feet, and could tell that there was much more intensity to the climbs this time.  To say I was pleased was an understatement!  Phil came in under his own steam as well and was just as excited to have completed one of his bucket list rides in such stellar fashion!

We got the bikes loaded up very slowly as we revelled in our accomplishments.  It was a brutal day, and the hardest ride that either of us had done.  We had done it though, and we were proud!  My failure from June all of a sudden didn't matter.  It was now just a learning experience, a stepping stone to a much bigger accomplishment.  This was the Parkway ride that mattered, and for a time Phil and I were Kings of the mountain!!!

When I got home I was anxious to see what data the GPS had recorded.  I downloaded it on the computer, and input it into both the Garmin software as well as Map my Ride.  Of most interest was the climb data that Map my Ride provided.  While the total distance climbed is figured differently than the Garmin, it does categorize the climbs.  What I saw amazed me....I knew that it seemed like we climbed more, but I had no idea how much more.  There were a total of 11 category 5 climbs as opposed to the five from June, and we had climbed two different category 4 climbs instead of the single one that I had done previously.  Essentially, I doubled the climbs, and did it without cracking.  In fact when we were all done, I still felt like I could ride further, but didn't think I could do any more hills.  That is to say, I still had reserve energy, but my muscles were spent.  No complaints though because I had timed it just perfect and had plenty of both for the entire ride.

The more I thought about the experience I saw where each of the things I had learned since June played a part in my success.  As much as I hate to admit it, the clipless pedals really made a difference in my power output.  I could tell on the climbs that I was putting as much force on both the down stroke as I was on the upstroke.  This took a lot of the pressure off of my quads and distributed the work over more muscle groups.  This would not have worked as seamlessly had it not been for the time on the trainer doing pedal drills teaching each leg how to work independently.  Of course all of this would not have been beneficial if I didn't pace myself and slow my hear rate over the course of the ride.  When I needed the power and effort, it was nice to know that I had trained for high workloads with the interval training.  I was getting better at working at different thresholds, and I could tell the difference.  Another thing that really stuck out in my mind was my position on the bike.  There was not nearly as much strain as I had the last ride.  This was attributed to the fit, and putting my body in a better relative position over my pedals.  My knees were no longer at a dangerous angle, and every motion that my body went through was putting power to the ground, which kept me moving forward.

I have learned a lot in the past few months, maybe more than I learned in the year prior about cycling.  The science of the ride makes for a longer and more enjoyable ride.  I can now say that I have completed a full metric century on a quite hilly section of the Blue Ridge Parkway, gained a personal record for the amount climbed in one day, and did it without giving up at any point.  Its not my longest ride, but I can safely say that for right now in my life, this is the ride that has defined me as a cyclist.  The Blue Ridge Parkway now holds a whole new meaning for me.  I am now connected to it by pain and sweat.