Stationary Trainers:Yes, you are that crazy!

In this blog I've talked a lot about endurance rides, bouncing back from extended time off the bike, and my personal accomplishments.  I've touched on the importance of my stationary trainer in several different entries, but I have not really done an entry dedicated completely to the dreaded stationary trainer.  With Fall here, and cooler weather just around the corner, it is time to start thinking about your riding options.  If you happen to live in NC, we have now been a rainy mess for a solid week, with no real break in sight.  Since I am a self proclaimed weather weenie, that means that I have not been riding outside for that whole week.  However, I have been riding...just on a stationary trainer in my home office.  I have also been noticing that many folks have been starting to think about pulling theirs out as well, or going to buy one.  I've fielded questions and concerns about stationary trainers in bits and pieces, but realize that most of the basic concerns are pretty much the same.  I figure that I might as well put together a dedicated entry that addresses some of the most common questions about riding your bike indoors.

The first question that everyone is thinking, but nobody really asks is..."Why in the hell would you subject yourself to an endless barrage of pedal strokes inside, while not actually going anywhere?"  OK, that is a valid question, and one that I still ask myself to this day.  Yes, it sucks, especially when you are doing an intensive workout.  There is no scenery to watch, usually very little company to be had, and you sweat....a lot!  In general, it is not fun.  That is why so many riders decide to dress up in cold weather gear and go outside to continue riding their road bikes.  A good share also move into cyclocross and mountain bike disciplines.  This latter option may very well be the best one as it will confuse your muscles and force you to ride in different ways than you have for the warmer months.  For me though, I have little to no interest in mountain bike trails, and cyclocross holds an equal place for me.  I am a true roadie.  For me, nothing compares to the speed and grace of a road bike as it glides across the asphalt, or grinds up an incline to a distant summit.  This is where my passion is, and what I enjoy about cycling.

For those like me, you have two options....well three, I guess.  The first is to layer up and head out into the cold.  In some areas of the globe, this isn't that bad as winter temperatures don't dip below 50.  In other areas, the eight feet of snow makes winter cycling difficult at best.  Here in NC, we fall somewhere in the middle.  Our days are are typically in the 30's during the winter, and there are times we see them climb into the 50's.  I can ride in that, but freezing isn't that much fun for me.  The other option is to mount a bike up to an indoor trainer, or rollers, which will allow you to pedal in the warmth of your home, basement, shed, whatever.  There are advantages and disadvantages to this plan as we will get into shortly.  The third option, is to tuck your bike in for the winter, and do another activity, like running (not unless somebody is chasing me).  You could also catch up on all that high quality television you missed while achieving your current level of fitness. Yeah, I didn't think that sounded like a good plan either.

What Will a Stationary Trainer Do For Me?

Lets talk about that indoor cycling option.  What can it do for you?  Well, the

possibilities are endless, but simply put, you can build fitness where there was none, you can maintain your fitness, or you can actually improve it.  It all comes down to how much effort you want to put into your time indoors.  Over the years, I have used an indoor trainer for each of these functions with great success.  I don't, however, recommend doing sprints down the hall.

If you are starting from square one, using an indoor trainer is a great way to get conditioned in order to start out strong when Spring hits.  If you are new to clipless pedals, you can use the trainer to get used to the motions associated with clipping in and out without fear of falling.  Speaking of clipless pedals, you can learn a whole new method of pedaling which is specific to having your feet surgically attached to your cranks.  By pulling up on the pedal in addition to the standard pushing down, you can engage your hamstrings in order to assist, and take the load off of your quads.  You can also engage the glutes more effectively with this type of pedaling.  Essentially, you can learn to pedal in circles rather than in straight lines, or boxes.  To do this on a trainer is simple, and safe.  Start easy, by unclipping on foot and pedaling for 30 seconds at a moderate tension with the remaining foot.  Pay attention to your pedal stroke, you should be able to pedal at a smooth rate all the way around the stroke.  At the end of that 30 seconds, swap feet and repeat.  Do this for about 5 minutes or so total and then pedal easy to recover. Repeat as you deem necessary to train the muscles.  When you master the 30 second repeats, move it up to a minute on each side for a total of 6 minutes.  The more you do it, the better you will get at it.

As you are mastering the pedal stroke, you will be becoming more and more efficient with your pedaling as a whole.  This will help you be able to increase your cadence.  Some might not need to worry about increasing their cadence, but I would suspect that most cyclists start out pedaling way too slow.  By too slow, I mean below 70rpms.  I was guilty of that for a very long time, and I've seen it with many other newbie cyclists...and some seasoned ones as well.  It might feel good to push the big gears and feel the muscles in your legs swell with power.  It won't feel good for long though.  Your muscles are what burns the calories, and create heat.  This means that you aren't going to be able to ride for a long period of time before getting fatigued, and slowing down substantially.  With a higher cadence, you are actually doing the same amount of work, but taxing the muscles only a fraction as much.  Power is just work over time.  By increasing the pedal strokes, you are reducing the work per stroke while achieving the same power.  The faster you pedal, the less fatigued you get over the course of a ride.  Ideally, the average cyclist will want to maintain an average cadence between 85-95 rpms for the course of a "normal" ride.

In addition to getting some of the basics down, an indoor trainer can also be used to maintain your fitness in the "off season."  This might be the most useful function for this piece of equipment.  The time that you can ride outside in the Winter might be limited due to weather and shorter days, so you can easily supplement those rides with a few rides indoors each week.  Depending on what you are able to do outside, you might just need to get on the trainer and spin for a bit to keep the legs fresh, or to recover from an all out effort on the road the day before.  If your outdoor rides are limited to a few per month, you will need to add some higher intensity workouts to your plan indoors.

Don't let the term "high intensity" scare you.  It is just a natural replacement for volume.  Trust me, you don't want to sit on a trainer for 50-60 miles...well, you might, I have, but I can't recommend it.  For those of you who are still sane, the replacement for volume of workouts is the intensity of the workout.  A good rule of thumb for an indoor trainer is that every hour spent on a trainer is equal to approximately 1.5 hours on the road.  That makes complete sense when you think about it.  There is no coasting, no stop signs, no traffic, just no interruptions.  Once you start, you will pedal at your target until it is time to change it up.  That means right off the bat, you are getting more bang for your buck.  Now, lets add in what is known as High Intensity Interval Training.  That will step things up quite a bit.

HIIT is where the love/hate relationship with a trainer is rooted.  Again, you are trying to replace volume of your rides (workouts) with intensity.  When I go out for a road ride, I am typically out for over an hour, up to 6 hours.  I'm not going to dedicate that kind of time to riding indoors, and that is fine. Using intervals, I can hit all my target zones in a shorter amount of time, and get my metabolism racing.  I can also keep my muscles active at a level that will keep me from losing my fitness from the previous season.

So what exactly are intervals?  This is a form of workout that includes segments of intense riding, followed by active recovery periods.  They are repeated throughout the workout.  For example, a simple interval workout would include a warm up phase at the start that is pretty much easy pedaling for 10 minutes or so.  Then you would step into three sets of max efforts that last one minute each, followed by a one minute easy pedal to catch your breath.  Then you move into three more sets of threshold output (anaerobic level) for eight minutes each followed by a four minute recovery period between each set.  The end of the workout is a cool down segment to bring your heart rate back to normal.  This workout would last an hour, and in that hour, your body has done an incredible amount of work.

A graph of my heart rate for the above interval workout

There are many different types of interval programs out there.  This is only a basic one.  There are ones that simulate hill climbs, work on sprinting, and others that can help train for the fast changes of a criterium race.  Whatever you are wanting to focus on, there are interval programs for you.  If you don't have an hour, there are even shorter ones out there. The simplest is called pyramids.  Essentially, you can do a single repeat of this, or as many as your time allows. You would start out with a warm up, of at least five minutes.  After that warm up, you would do this workout.

3 minutes zone 3 (aerobic)
3 minutes easy spin
2 minutes zone 4 (anaerobic/threshold)
2 minutes easy spin
1 minute zone 5 (max effort)
1 minute easy spin
2 minutes zone 4 (anaerobic/threshold)
2 minutes easy spin
3 minutes zone 3 (aerobic)
3 minutes easy spin
repeat or cool down for 5 minutes

This interval set could be done in a lunch hour at the office, or at home after work.  It doesn't have to take long, but you can go until you have had enough, and make it as long as you would like.  It is very effective, and simple to execute.

The last scenario I want to talk about is improving your fitness levels.  Yes, you can grow as a cyclist in the off season if you so wish to do so. Whether you are at the top of your game, or have lost a lot of your previous fitness due to a crash, or just time away from riding, you can actually increase your base fitness on a trainer.  This is exactly where I fell last winter after 10 months off of the bike.

Using those same HIIT workouts, but at a higher volume, you can improve your fitness from whatever level you started from.  Personally, I was going from a condition that took 10 months away from riding to achieve.  I was overweight and out of shape.  By sticking to a program that had me on the bike between 30 minutes and 2.5 hours at a time for six days a week, I had both the intensity and the volume needed to not only achieve my previous level of fitness, but to exceed it before the next cycling season.  I credit most of my success with following a plan I found through Bicycling Magazine called Fat Frying Intervals.  This is a five week long program that is an adaptation from a nine week program created by James Hererra.  It is too involved to list it here, but I can say it will kick your butt, and bring quick results.  In just a matter of months, I was near to my former performance, and my body was getting back to its riding weight.  I can only imagine what would have happened if I had put this much energy into the trainer sessions at a top level of fitness.  This is where riders come back after the winter stronger and faster than they were before.  Even if you can ride outside in your neck of the woods, it is a great idea to incorporate some HIIT sessions into your weeks for this very reason.

This is also a time when you can work on your riding weaknesses.  Everyone has their niche on a bike.  Some are sprinters, some love the climbs, some go that extra mile, but it is rare to find a cyclist that can do it all well.  Using a trainer, you can pick and choose your interval program (a Google search away) to address your weaknesses.  For instance, I have never been a great climber, and have always felt very uncomfortable standing out of the saddle.  I was able to locate two different hill workouts that incorporated standing intervals, as well as a lot of tempo work.  True, I wasn't actually climbing, but I was stressing my muscles as if I were.  I learned to stand more confidently, as well as put power down for longer periods of time under strain.  Doing these workouts once a week each, for a month really made a difference in my climbing times.  I was actually able to sprint up hills that I had formally had to drop into the little ring to climb up.  That is a huge difference!


What do you need?

Well, you need a bike obviously.  Ideally, you don't want to put a carbon fiber bike on a trainer because it is just a little too rigid for the fibers. But there are times you have to do what you have to do.  I've put thousands of miles on carbon bikes mounted to trainers with no ill effects.  Your experience might be different though.

OK, you have the bike.  You also need a trainer.  There are many different types of trainers available out there.  Some are even computer based and hook up to a laptop.  The basic types are wind, magnetic, and fluid.  They each have their pros and cons.  The wind and magnetic are the cheaper options, but they lack a road feel, and are very noisy.  The fluid ones are much quieter, have a progressive resistance, and feel very close to the road.  The computer based ones are the most expensive and can either be fluid or magnetic based. The program will adjust the resistance in most cases to match the workout.  Of course, for these, you will pay a premium.  They are usually used by pros.  For the average rider, magnetic or fluid will be the way to go.

I am currently using a Cycleops Fluid II stationary trainer, which is a fluid based trainer.  As you can see from the picture above, it has a nice footprint, and attaches to the bike by way of a skewer through the rear hub that mounts to clamps on either side.  This is a very secure way to attach the bike.  There is a flywheel that is then pressed up against the rear wheel which turns the impeller through the viscous fluid.  The faster you pedal, the more resistance it gives, just like pedaling on the road.  This is essentially all you need, but there are quite a few accessories that will make this trainer more functional and dare I say...fun.

Here you see some triangle shaped blocks under the front wheel.  These are riser blocks and come in some different styles. I like the Cycleops versions the best because you can stack them to simulate climbing (engages muscles differently).  Typically, you would just use one of these blocks.  It is designed to get the bike level since the rear wheel is lifted while attached to the trainer.  There are three different degrees of lift you can choose from.  I prefer the biggest lift because it tends to take some of the pressure off of the soft tissue that you are sitting on, as well as reducing the strain on your hands.

The mat under the bike is also a nice bit of equipment, especially for those working out inside the living area of your home.  This mat keeps some of the noise down, but more importantly, it helps to collect the sweat that pours off of you while doing your HIIT workouts.  You will be sweating...A LOT!  If not, you are doing it wrong.  The mat will also help to save your carpet, or hard wood floors from the constant movement of the trainer and riser blocks due to the force you are applying.

Speaking of sweat....if you are like me and find that you are actually raining on the floor after about 20 minutes, you should invest in a sweat shield like this one.  It is also a Cyclops product, but similar ones can be found by other companies and are just as effective.  They are designed to stay out of the way of you working the bike, but don't try to use it while riding outside as it does attach to the handlebars and restricts the movement.  For inside, however, it is nearly perfect.  It will protect the frame from your salty drips, and will keep a large portion of your sweat from getting into the bearings, but you should still wipe the bike down after your rides if you see that your sweat has made it near those sensitive areas.

You will also need a fan.  It is very easy to get overheated while doing intervals.  You don't have the advantage of the breeze drying your wicking clothing off, so you should manufacture your own breeze.  It isn't as effective, but it does help. Keep the fan close and don't skimp on the speed.  It will be chilly to start with, but after about 15 minutes it will feel great.  By the end, you will want to be immersed in ice.

Something else you might be noticing in this picture is the red tire on the rear wheel.  This is not a fashion statement by any stretch.  Actually, it looks a little tacky.  That is a good thing because this tire is not meant for road use, and the color is a readily identifiable warning to that fact.  This is a trainer tire and it is specifically designed for use on a stationary trainer.  It is a much harder compound than a road tire, and there is a tread pattern on it that is designed to dissipate the heat buildup that is caused from the tire rolling on the drum of the trainer.  In many cases, they are also quieter than a road tire would be.  This one is a Vittoria tire, but most tire manufacturers make their own version of a trainer tire.  Pick the one at the price point you can afford.  Since the compound is harder on these tires, they will last a nice long time.  A road tire will be torn to shreds long before it would wear out being used on the road.  This tire will save your expensive road tires for your road rides.

Garmin Edge 500 Computer mounted in front of the bars

Garmin GSC-10 Speed/Cadence Sensor mounted to the chain stay

Cycleops Powercal heart rate monitor mounted to me

I've been doing a lot of talking about measuring cadence and heart rate while on the trainer.  These are the hard training numbers that you need when working on an interval plan. Sure, you can get on the bike and spin for a certain amount of time, and just "wing it," but that really won't cut it if you are serious enough to own a trainer.  You need a way of keeping track of what your body is doing in order to make the most of your time.  Pictured above are some examples of what you should be considering.  I am a fan of the Garmin electronics, but there are other options out there, and many are at a lower price point.  You will need a head unit, the cyclometer.  This will display and record the metrics that you produce.  When on the road, a GPS enabled unit, like the Garmin ones will track distance and speed based on the satellite signal.  When indoors on a trainer, or rollers, this obviously won't work.  You aren't moving, and the computer will see no activity unless you add some sensors in.

At the very minimum, you will need a speed and cadence sensor.  What typically comes bundled with the Garmin units is their GSC-10 all in one unit.  It works off of magnets which are mounted to both the rear wheel (the only one rotating when on a trainer), and the crank arm.  This allows the head unit to see how fast the rear wheel is moving which gives you speed and distance.  It also allows you to see exactly what your cadence (pedal stroke) is at any time.  Garmin has recently come out with a magnetless set that I think works much better overall, and is easier to switch between bikes.  The speed sensor mounts to the rear hub with a rubber strap.  The cadence sensor mounts to the crank arm with another rubber strap.  There is no receiver unit with this and that cleans up the chain stay quite nicely.  Either way, you will have the same information going to the head unit.  Any sensor will work as long as they are Ant+ compatible.  Other units use Bluetooth, or other connectivity.  Just check to make sure that all of your equipment will talk to each other before deciding to purchase.

Another piece that comes bundled with the Garmin units is a heart rate strap.  This is a great way to keep track of what your heart is doing while working out.  It also gives you a very good target to set for your intervals.  There are many straps out there that will work, again, just make sure that they are compatible with your head unit.  I have replaced the standard Garmin strap with a new Cycleops Powercal monitor that not only monitors my heart rate, but also gives an estimate of my power output.  This is reportedly fairly accurate over a long ride, but is not of much use for short, hard efforts.  However, for about $60.00, I can live with that versus $500+ for a dedicated power meter.  That would be a much better option honestly, but I haven't made the plunge just yet.

That should be pretty much everything that you need to get the bike set up for your indoor trainer workouts.  The nice thing about the Garmin units is that if you get the bundles, you have all the sensors included to make the unit effective for indoor training.  Of course, all of the sensors are still very useful for road riding too, so don't think that that extra money is just for trainer season.

Setting Up Your Training Environment

Short of actually doing the intervals, this might be the most complex part of getting things ready.  You have to set up your training zones, or the environment that you are going to be working in.  Well, you don't really have to, but in order to actually reap the benefits from doing intervals, this is the best way to make it happen.  Essentially, you are setting your personal zones based on your own level of fitness, and needs.  Most websites that are designed around the hardware (bike computers) have their own zone maps available during the initial setup.

Since I have only used Garmin equipment, what I will be talking about directly applies to them.  I would assume that other websites would be about the same.  When you purchase your Garmin device and set it up through the Garmin website www.connect.garmin.com, you are asked several biographical questions.  Based on the answers to your age, weight, height, and activity level, Garmin assigns a max heart rate which is an average for your group.  Averages are only right occasionally, and more often wrong.  I think that based on my age, my max heart rate should be 184 bpm.  Well, my own testing has put it 199 bpm, which is significantly different.  On the other hand, I've seen the Garmin data way over the max heart rate of others.  While this won't affect your riding, and you can still look at the numbers after a ride, if you are targeting a certain training zone, this will cause you to either not push enough, or push too hard.  Your best bet is to establish your own training zones.

It is easier than it sounds, but will take a bit of effort in the saddle.  You can Google "setting training zones" for different methods of getting the right numbers.  Most are based on FTP, which is your functional threshold power.  What I have done is to do my own field test on the trainer.  After a brief warm up, I will have three different max intervals of 2 minutes each.  I don't expect to stay in that max effort for all of that time, but I do want to go as hard as I can until I start to get dizzy and loose the ability to see clearly.  Obviously, this is best done on the trainer.  Out of the three intervals, I should be able to get to that point at least once, and that should be my max heart rate.  When I start to get dizzy, that means that I am no longer able to pump enough blood to keep my brain fueled.  I don't need to go any harder than that.  After a brief recovery period, I will then do a 30 minute interval as hard as I can go for that time period.  Essentially, this is a time trial pace for 30 minutes.  The idea is to have a constant output for the entire 30 minutes.  After the first 10 minutes, my body should have calmed down and settled into a steady rhythm.  That is when I press the lap button resulting in a 20 minute segment that I can record an average heart rate.  That is the number that I am interested in.  I want to see that number equal to zone 4.4 or 4.5 when I get my zone map created.  That is my threshold power, right between aerobic and anaerobic.

Once I have these numbers, I will input my max heart rate into the grid (pictured above, from Garmin's website).  It will automatically fill in the remainder of the zones based on Garmin's percentages.  Since I was setting up my heart rate map for use with the James Herrera interval sessions I had mentioned before, I decided to go with his percentages instead of Garmin's.  Essentially, I can set the percentages to what I want them to be and Garmin will fill in the actual heart rate numbers in the left column.  I've found that they work perfectly, not only for the intervals, but also on the road.  It's nice to keep an accurate idea of how hard I'm working on the bike.

Once you have your heart rate map completed, you are all set to create your interval workouts with target heart rate zones.  You will know exactly where you need to be for each workout, and if you have it programmed into your Garmin, it will alert you if you are outside of your intended zone.

For those training with power, you can also do similar things with the power map (pictured above).  It is a little more intensive to get the zones created, and you have to adjust it regularly through the season as your fitness changes.  While I have a power map completed, I use it primarily for intensity and training stress of my workouts.  For these to be as accurate as possible, I do have to keep my functional threshold power (FTP) updated.  For simplicity, not accuracy, I pay attention to my max average power over 20 minutes which is a metric available when recording power through the Garmin head unit.  This will fluctuate according to my effort on a ride.  When I know I've had a hard ride, and have pushed myself to the breaking point, I will see what that number is.  That becomes my new FTP number.

Since I am using a heart rate based power meter and not a dedicated power meter, I don't put a lot of weight on these numbers, but they are good for comparison.  With a dedicated power meter, you could be doing intervals based on power instead of heart rate.  That is the most accurate way of doing intervals because it takes the variable of how you are feeling out of the equation.  300 watts is 300 watts no matter what you feel like.  Heart rate can fluctuate with stress and illness, and is not always the best indicator of the work you are actually doing.


Conclusion

As the saying goes, "I'm not Willy Wonka, I don't sugar coat shit!"  What I have outlined here is going to hurt.  You are going to say all sorts of words that will make your loved ones think you need an exorcism.  You will hate your bike, you will want to quit.  You will feel beat down, no matter how far you can ride on the road.  You will be bored, your butt will hurt, and you will question why you have decided to embark on this self imposed torture.  If done right though, you will have your answer in the Spring when all of your friend's bikes are being dusted off and put back on the road.  You will already be in much better shape than you finished the season in.  You will be ready to accomplish bigger and better goals than ever before.  You will be more confident on the bike, and you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that limitations are in your mind, not in your body.  You will have learned how to push your body well past its comfort zone, and know that your body thrives on that feeling.  It is only your mind that balks at the concept.

You can opt to spin on your trainer, and you will still burn calories, but you will be missing out on all the benefits from intervals.  Plus, by doing intervals, you will be burning those calories much faster than by just spinning, so even if that is your only goal, you have the option of spending less time on the trainer with the same benefits.  If you are not fond of just listening to music and letting a workout program guide you in your intervals, you do have other options.  There are spin classes out there where you can do a veritable group ride indoors.  You can also buy videos, much like any workout video, but directed at cyclists on their bikes.  There are Internet subscriptions to web based workouts you can do.  There is also an interactive "game" that can be played with virtual or real opponents called Zwift.  All of these are designed to make the time pass quicker, and guide you through a workout in a pleasant way.  Personally, I tend to lose my focus and can't hit my zones when I am watching a video.  I like to embrace the suck and wait for the Garmin to beep at me and tell me what to do next for the workout.  But then again, I am a glutton for punishment.  However you make it work, if you can stick with an interval plan, you will be much stronger, or at the very least won't have lost any fitness from the previous year.

One last thought....if you are crazy enough to have read all of this, then you are crazy enough to create your own pain cave and suffer.  ENJOY!!!

2015 Tour to Tanglewood: 30th Aniversary

Part 1: Intro to the 2015 Tour to Tanglewood

Part 2: The Rides

It is hard to believe that the Tour to Tanglewood is 30 years old this year.  Of course, I have not ridden in it that many years; this will only be my fourth year participating.  However, in those four years, the Tour has become a staple of sorts here in the Kiser household.  Within months of starting to ride a bicycle seriously in 2011, I was riding back to back 50 mile rides for this event which benefits the National MS Society.  In the following years, I upped the mileage to a full 100 mile century on Saturday, and a metric century of 65 miles on Sunday.  These were the maximum distances that you could go on the planned routes...that was until 2014.  Ironically, that was the year that I missed due to lack of fitness, and having just been involved in a bike crash earlier in the month.  This year would mark my return to the Tour to Tanglewood, to tackle the "new to me" double century weekend.  The route for Sunday has been revamped completely, allowing for another fun filled day of 100 miles in the saddle.  They are playing my song!

I won't bore you with my typical day before prep for this ride.  Just know that it is the same as all my other rides that take place away from home.  Everything is packed and prepped the night before, numbers are affixed to my jersey, and food selected.  Since this will be a supported ride, I will be relying on my Hammer Perpetuem once again for "on the bike" nutrition.  It has served me very well in the past, and I've come to trust it for all day long energy.  I just have to have access to fresh water along the way to keep the concoction from souring in the bottle.  Nobody wants that!!

So, what were my expectations for the weekend.  Well, I knew that I had reached my peak fitness in the middle of July which was supposed to be my biggest ride event planned.  The Tour to Tanglewood, while not an afterthought, was not at the forefront of my mind when it came to training.  Plus, I wasn't even sure that I would be participating in it with a heavy load of long distance rides already on my plate.  However, since you are reading this, you know that I did choose to attend, and since distance is my thing, it was for the 100 mile routes each day.  My training average for centuries has been around 19 mph give or take, with faster ones happening on flatter terrain out toward the coast.  Since my fastest century in 2013 was at Tanglewood (18.1), I did expect to see a slight increase in my speed over my average training speed.  Honestly, I was expecting to see about 19.5 for the weekend, with maybe a 20 average on Saturday, and a slower, recovery average of 19 on Sunday.  The goal was going to be to do Saturday solo, and Sunday, was going to be played by ear.

Saturday, Sept 19th

The morning started out early enough, just like a work day.  Toni and I woke up shortly after 4 and got things ready to roll since I had to be there at 7 for team pictures.  Needless to say, we were at Tanglewood well before daylight appeared.  As has become my tradition on a bike ride, I finished getting dressed at the back of the truck before getting the bike out and put together.

I was feeling pretty good after some rest days with a light spin on the trainer a couple of nights before.  I wasn't sure what the day would bring, but I knew the route, and knew that I could knock out a pretty good pace on it.  I loaded up my jersey pockets with a Cliff Bar, a Gel, and two Ziploc bags of Hammer Perpetuem.  I've fine tuned my nutrition for centuries and I know pretty much what I will need, and always pack just a tad bit more, just in case.  I also stuck the route sheet in my pocket, on the off chance I got off course at some point.  With my air pump added in, I was all loaded up and ready to roll.

Now it was time to get the bike put together.  By that, I mean, putting the front wheel on after removing the bike from the cleat in the truck.  I also make sure that I have both my front and rear lights attached, as well as my Garmin.  Remember, if the ride doesn't record, it didn't happen.  This was going to be my 13th century for the year, and I wanted to make sure that it recorded.  Not only that, but I was really looking for my strongest solo century to date...at least based on my history with this course.

After getting everything ready, it was time to get to the infield for team pictures.  The Kernersville Cycling Club was scheduled for 7:10, which was cutting it kind of close for the 7:30 roll out time for the century riders.  I wanted

to make sure that I was up front for the start.  Not because I wanted to make any statement, but because I have found that getting out first makes for a less stressful start for me since I have a better chance of not knocking anyone over with my unsteady starts.

The team pictures were a little behind schedule, but we got in and out pretty quickly.  There were only five of us with the team, so there wasn't much to getting us organized.  There are always three pictures done, one with a banner, one serious one, and then a final fun one.  Since Toni was there (and technically a member of the KCC), she decided to photobomb the last shot.  That will always be a fun memory for me from this year's tour.  With that, we were done with the pictures and Toni and I hot footed it back to the start line.  It was time to ditch the sneakers and put on the riding shoes, which just aren't designed for walking at all.  Thanks to Toni, I knew that my shoes would be secured and ready upon my return.

Just as I had planned, I placed myself at the head of the line.  Ever since "A Ride to Remember", I have had the best luck with this placement, and it makes me so much more relaxed for the first few pedal strokes.  The other century cyclists started to arrive as I was getting the Garmin turned on, sensors paired, and the live track started.  The live track is a wonderful little feature with my Garmin which allows my GPS signal to travel through my phone to Garmin's website.  With this, I can provide a link so that whomever I choose can track my progress.  Toni, of course, got a direct link so that she could see where I was on course at any time.  I also sent a link to Facebook so that pretty much anyone could follow my progress.

I spent a few minutes chatting with some of the other riders nearby.  I knew of a good many of them through Facebook, but was just finally getting a chance to meet them in person.  That is part of the fun of rides like this.  There are always a lot of like minded folks that get together for a common reason.  My plan, of course, was to let everyone ride their rides as they chose to do while I rode my own ride.  It was ambitious, but I was wanting to do today's ride solo, while leaving enough energy to repeat the mileage again on Sunday.

I'm in the center with the headlight

At 7:30, the morning announcements and safety statements were done and we were on our way.  There wasn't much fanfare for this group, as that was reserved for the bulk of the riders leaving 30 minutes later.  It was still kind of dark considering I was looking through my sunglasses.  I did my normal little ring warm up start and just easy pedaled out of the park.  I was expecting to get passed, by a good chunk of the riders to the rear, but they never did.  The first direction sign that I came to was a left turn.  I signaled my left turn, but became confused because the sign was a short distance beyond the road to the left.  Add to that, I heard a voice yell behind me that we should be going straight here (which was what I had thought from previous years).  I corrected myself, and continued on straight.  Here I was, still in the park, and already getting confusing directions.  This did not bode well at all, but I didn't let it bother me.  I just continued on with my warm up routine which would last for a total of 10 miles.

In just a couple of miles outside of the park, I got passed by several groups, which I expected.  I wasn't putting out much wattage, and even on the descents, I was running out of gears and had to coast.  I wasn't worried at all, because I was going to ride my own ride.  I also looked down and saw that I was already averaging between 19-20 mph which was faster than my typical warm up.  I just needed to be careful not to overcook the first half of the century causing a major slowdown for the second half (not to mention the follow up century tomorrow).

At some point, after my warm up, I found myself passing other cyclists as well as other groups.  This has become my standard beginning for these rides, and something that I have come to expect.  I don't recall exactly when, but still very early in the ride, I happened to catch a shadow of a rider behind me.  I tried to push a little to see if I could pull away, but everything that I was doing, he was able to match, so I backed down to my cruising speed to maintain my energy reserves.  I could see that there was a line of cyclists behind me at this point.  They were making no effort to get around me, and I wasn't feeling crowded at all, so I just decided to go with it.

I happened upon a realization at this point.  As long as I was in front, I was still achieving my solo ride, so I decided not to fight it.  If they chose to go around me, I would let them, and then drop myself behind.  I had my game plan, and just settled into my cruising rhythm.  I've learned throughout the year how to actively recover from intense efforts, and I have figured out how to incorporate that into my longer rides.  There were times that I would ease up, and allow my legs to rest, and then would start putting the pressure back on again.  Through all of this, I never once disrupted the flow behind me.  In fact, I found out that there was a train of about 30 behind me...THIRTY!!!!!  Holy cow, I was leading a full on train and responsible for their pace.  If they did decide to move around me, it would take a long time to fall back in all of that.  That fueled me a little more and I stepped things up to make sure that I maintained a good pace to keep me where I was.

Then it happened, I was passed by the rider behind me.  I was starting to get tired, so I went along with it.  it was just one rider, and I was still up front.  After I rested for a bit, I would move back into my place at the front.  I settled into watching the wheel in front of me, since I'm not the most proficient in a draft position.  I don't think a mile had passed, and I heard a voice far in the rear talking about a missed turn.  I could hear bikes slowing behind, and several were bunching up around me.  I confirmed that a turn had been missed, and we were turning around.  As it turned out, a sign had been removed, but apparently somebody was more familiar with the route than I was, and caught it as we were passing the turn.  The missed turn wasn't too much of a concern, but now I had gone from being in the number two slot to being dead last.  This was not acceptable, I had invested a lot of time at the front, and didn't want to give it up just yet.  Once we got on the right road, I went ahead and committed to passing everyone and getting back up front.  It was a lot of effort that wasn't necessary, but I wanted to make it happen.  I'm young and dumb sometimes, but I have fun.

I was back in the lead again, and decided that I was going to stay here and set the pace as long as they would allow it.  I could hear several riders behind me volunteering me to lead the whole day.  Little did they know, that was the plan in my head.  I tell you what though, it was working out very well.  I was looking at an average speed of 20.3 already.  I knew that there were a good amount of rollers at the end that would subtract from that speed,but I was well in the range where I wanted to be at this point, and I was having a blast.

As we came to Lake Thom-a-Lex, at approximately 50 miles, I was told that the group was going to be stopping.  My initial plan was to stop here as well since I was planning on being out of Perpetuem, and possibly needing more water.  Due to the pace and intensity that I had been going, I had not consumed much liquid at all.  In fact, I still had about 2/3 of my Perpetuem, and a full bottle of water in reserve.  Here was my chance to break away from the group, and get some recovery time for my legs.  I let them know that I was going to continue on for about another hour or so before I needed to refill my supplies.

I was now on my own, the way I train.  My pace relaxed a little bit and I started to revamp my rest stop plans.  My initial plan was to stop at 50 and again at 80 miles, but now, I was going to try for one around 70 or so.  I was having a great time, and I was doing the course substantially quicker than I had done before.  When my bonus loop rejoined the main route, I started to find other riders ahead of me.  Now it was time to play my little game when I see a rider off in the distance.  I work harder in order to overtake them.  It's kind of like an interval program in a way.  On longer rides, it helps take my mind off my own pain, and motivates me to keep the pressure on the pedals.

At 68 miles, I found a rest stop, and it happened to be one of the smaller ones.  This would be nearly perfect for me!  I pulled in and went straight for the water coolers.  I emptied out the last sip of Perpetuem and filled the bottle with a fresh batch of powder and water.  My water bottle with electrolytes was actually in good shape so I didn't refill that.  I figured that worse case scenario, I could stop at the last rest stop if I needed more water.  Before I set off again, I downed a gel for a quick boost in calories and a little caffeine.

It wasn't until I got home and looked at the Strava data for the multiple riders, that I found this bit of information.  It was while I was at this rest stop, that the group that I had been leading for nearly 30 some miles earlier in the day passed me by.  I didn't even see them when they went by.  The couldn't have been far behind me since I was at the stop for only a few minutes.  I didn't take any time to rest before getting back on the road after replenishing my bottle.

The last 22 miles went about like I was used to.  My fatigue levels were building up.  When you add in the final loop takes you past the same rest stop twice, and follows the same route to the entrance to Tanglewood, it tends to wear on you.  There were also some sizable rollers in the bonus loop that have always slowed

me down.  It is a total grind to get through this last section.  To make matters worse, I saw a rider off in the distance.  He was going substantially slower than me, which was good.  The bad part was, a car had just passed me and was approaching him.  As they got to a hill, the car tucked in behind the rider and refused to pass.  I caught up to the pair of them, and had to downshift and soft pedal to match the speed.  As we crested, the speeds rose slightly, but the car still didn't pass.  The next hill was the same, and there was plenty of room for the car to pass.  I wasn't sure what was going on, but it was driving me absolutely nuts.  By the third hill, I had been in that situation long enough.  I could see that I was clear to pass, the car was making no effort to move over, so I shifted up, and moved wide into the opposite lane, watching the car very closely.  I sprinted up the hill to get ahead of the car and the other rider.  Dangerous, I know.  Stupid, maybe, but I have to say, it was a little fun in a way too.  I was in the open again, but that delay cost me a couple of tenths in my average speed.  Oh well, there was nothing that I could do about that now, and I was about 13 miles from the finish.  At least my water and Perpetuem were holding out well.  I wasn't going to have to stop again before I finished.

The rest of the ride felt like it took forever, mainly because I had just been down these roads.  That is the one part of the Saturday route that I really don't like.  Deja vu is not something that anyone riding a 100 miles wants to experience in the last 10th of the ride.  Your mind is already being played with enough at this point.

It was right around 1:00 or so when I arrived back at the park.  There was Toni waiting on me at the finish line.  I always like seeing her face when I am done with event rides.  It makes it a much better experience overall sharing it with her.  Today was worth celebrating too, I had finished the ride with a moving average of 19.6 mph.  While not my fastest century, it was my fastest solo century to date, and I bested my time from 2013, by 1.5 mph.

I was hurting though.  The tempo that I had carried for the first segment had taken its toll on my legs.  Much like my first appearance in 2011, I was having knee issues.  My right knee was a little tender and I was having a hard time walking without a limp.  I had done my record breaking century, but now I was worried at what cost.  I still had another century to ride tomorrow, and it was in uncharted territory.  I was committed to riding the century for Sunday, but I was starting to worry about how much it was going to hurt me to make that happen.

In order to make sure I had the best chance for a follow up success story, I went straight to the truck and started stretching out my muscles.  I had prepared for this recovery routine with a protein bar with 30g of protein since making a shake or having my yogurt wasn't much of an option with the heat.  I tell you what, protein bars are hard to eat when you are tired, and your mouth is dry.  They are very dense, and don't always taste the best.  This was not for enjoyment though, I was eating it to speed up my recovery.  I needed to be in good form for tomorrow.

An interesting thing happened while I was doing my after ride routine that is worth mentioning.  I had realized that the group that I had lead for a while this morning had gotten back a little before I had.  A few of them saw me crossing the finish line and complemented me on my pace setting earlier.  One of the riders had followed me to my truck and wanted to thank me personally for what I had done.  I wasn't really sure what to say except for thank you.  I had not really set out to do anything special in a group setting, and felt that I was only with them for a little bit of time anyway.  They had finished at an average speed of 20.2 mph which was great.  The biggest compliment that I was paid though, was when I was told that I had been one of the smoothest leaders he had been with in a paceline.  Considering I can count my group ride experiences on two hands, that was a pretty tall compliment.

After Toni and I spent a few minutes in the infield, it was time to head home and get things ready for Sunday.  I did a quick clean on the bike and inspected it.  Everything was in top shape and it was loaded back in the truck.  I spread out my gloves, and headband in order to get them to dry before Sunday, and got a new jersey ready before getting a shower and relaxing for a bit.

Knowing that I had burned a lot of calories through the day, and had depleted my glycogen stores, I needed to boost my carbs, and get some calories back in me.  Looking back on "A Ride to Remember," I knew the secret recipe to accomplish this.  It was time for the carb platter special at Cracker Barrel.  For those who don't know, that consists of chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, with a side of broccoli and and a house salad....with biscuits.  Yeah, it sounds horrible, but at these times, it tastes so good, and will fuel my body right back up again.

Garmin Data for Day 1


Sunday, Sept 20th

When I woke up, only slightly later than the morning before, I found myself full of questions about the day.  My leg still hurt, and felt very week to walk on.  It wasn't nearly as bad as my first year at Tanglewood, but it was worse than I would normally tolerate for a century ride.  Would I be able to ride 100 miles on the knee?  One way or the other, the answer was going to be a yes.  This was going to be century number 14 for me, and that was impressive for a yearly count.  In order to do this century, I knew I would have to take it easy on my knee, and that meant either slowing way down, or riding with a group.  Shortly after getting home the day before, I had gotten a message from Travis Mann inviting me to roll out with them at about 7am on Sunday for the century.  I was a little concerned that they were intending on keeping the same pace as they had on Saturday, so I was sure to respond that I was going to be at a much reduced pace to see what the reaction was.  That didn't seem to put him off, but I didn't get a clear idea of their pace expectations.  I decided to leave it up to chance.  If I got there in time, and it all worked out, I would ride with them.  If not, I would either ride solo, or ride with Stu who I had ridden with the last couple of Sunday's at Tanglewood.  Whatever the solution, I was going to take it easy on my knee, knowing if I didn't, I might not be able to finish the course.

I had other questions dealing with the route because I could see that much of it had been changed from the last year I rode.  Not only was the mileage now 100 miles instead of 64, the area we were riding in seemed to have shifted South a good bit.  I was familiar with many of the roads, but there were a lot of them I was not.  According to the Map My Ride route description, this route had more climbing than Saturday's.  That caught my attention a little bit, because there was already a great deal of climbing for a century route yesterday, and today was looking to be harder.  I was just going to have to slow down and ride my ride.

It didn't take long to get ready and get the last items loaded into the truck again.  Toni and I had it down to a science after yesterday.  We left just a few minutes later than we had the day before, and got to the park well before 7am.  It looked like I was early enough to keep my options open about how I was going to ride this route.  I was moving slower than yesterday, and didn't quite have the pep in my step.  I was worried about my knee, and I didn't like that.  It has been a very long time since I've had to nurse an injury while riding.

The morning went pretty much like it had the day before.  I mixed my Perpetuem concoction fresh so that it would have a longer functional shelf life in the bottle while riding.  With the cooler temperatures, I was expecting about three hours before it would sour and be unfit to drink.

My food options were similar overall, but I packed a little bit more since I was expecting a slower pace, with quite possibly more rest stops.  In addition to my three servings of Perpetuem, I brought along two Cliff Bars, and an emergency gel.  I also carried a tube of electrolytes as I did the day before so I could make new water at any time.  I was pretty sure I was over prepared for my nutritional needs.  I knew that my glycogen stores were in good shape thanks to the previous night's dinner of carbs on a platter.

I went ahead and got dressed for the ride, and got the bike prepped before removing it from the truck.  Once freed from the cleat, I knew that I would be moving to the start line and there would be no turning back.  I still wasn't sure how I would be riding the day, and I was pretty sure that I wouldn't have my answer until I talked with Travis and found out just what his plans were.  I'm just not a fan of reacting to others, but I didn't see much way around it unfortunately.

Apparently, while I was deep in thought Toni thought that it would be a funny to catch a picture of me.  I'm not quite sure about that look on my face, but I can tell that there is either a lot going on inside of that head, or absolutely nothing at all.

With the bike pulled out of the truck, we made the wet and grassy stroll to the starting line where I appeared to be the first one there.  It was just a little before 7, and I wondered if I had missed everyone, or they were just very punctual.  As I was thinking that, they started to flow in.  Before I could even say anything, they were asking me what pace we were going to be riding at.  Well, I was going to leave that up to them, but since they asked, I figured I would be honest with them.  I let them know that my knee wasn't doing all that great and I was expecting a slower pace of around 18 or so for today.  I don't think that they viewed that as slow, and didn't seem put off at all by the estimate.  That was a good sign, and I figured that if they were good with that pace, then I could ride with them.  Just to be sure though, I let them know right up front that I planned on attaching myself by bungee to a seatpost and being pulled around all day.  That didn't seem to be a agreeable condition, so I knew that I was going to have to do my share of the pulling...I just hoped it wasn't that much.

Since Sunday was a very low key day, there were no photographers at the start line just yet.  Fortunately though, Toni was right there and was more than willing to snap a few pictures.  After waiting for Keith to show up we were all ready.  There would be seven of us rolling out about 15 minutes before the official start time.  I didn't mind because I didn't want to be out in the heat of the day any longer than necessary, and I was already ready to go home.  We formed up for a quick group picture, and Mark kept moving directly behind me.  I would move out of the way so I didn't block him in the picture.  He then told me that he wanted the picture done exactly the way he intended to ride for the day...behind me.  Didn't he get the memo that I wasn't quite 100% today?  There were more jokes passed around that I was going to lead for the day. I laughed, but in my head there was a constant chorus of "No no boo boo."

With the pictures done, we made our own start announcement....well Travis did.  He said that it was still dark and he didn't have a headlight on his bike.  I looked around and took stock, only to realize that I was the only one with a headlight.  I recognize this situation from work, that means I just got volunteered to do something that nobody else wanted to do.  Damn me for being prepared!  Oh well, I looked at it as a positive thing.  I was assured of setting a pace that I could live with if I was in front, and I would be able to get my little ring warm up done much easier if I was out front.  Regardless of the reason, I was out front going through the park.

I kept the early spins nice and easy to get my legs used to doing work again while not tapping into my energy reserves.  Our speeds were conservative, but were on the rise.  There were no negative comments from the other six so I took that as we were all happy with the pace.  I decided that I would keep this up for the first 10 miles, or until I felt warmed up, and then we would start the paceline rotation.

In that 10 miles, my leg started to feel better, but I knew that it was just from the familiar movement and not a miracle healing.  I also noticed that my butt was not feeling all that comfortable in the saddle.  I had expected this.  My race saddle was not really designed for long miles, although I use it for just that.  After a century, I am used to tenderness in my sitting area, and I was feeling that today.  It was not unfamiliar ground, but I was not looking forward to a long day of sitting in the saddle.  This was the start of a day long argument that I would have with myself.

My butt hurts, I should pedal faster to get done quicker.

My leg hurts, I need to slow down and rest it.

My butt hurts, pedal faster!

My leg hurts, slow down and stand up.

That feels better, but this is too slow.

Now I'm sitting wrong, and now my leg AND butt hurt.

How many more miles?

CRAP!

Yeah, this was the conversation going on for pretty much 5 hours straight.  I'm pretty sure that it was all internal conversation, but I can't be sure.  Anyway, 10 miles passed under our 14 tires and I shifted smoothly into the big ring.  Now it was time to see what kind of stress my knee would withstand.  Surprisingly, it felt pretty good overall.  However, I wasn't going to be a hero today, and I gave a pat to my rear and moved out to the left, signalling a change in the front man.  I was going to retire to the rear.

"What!?!?! only 10 miles?  Get back up there!" was the voice I heard as I was pulling to the rear.  Nope, I was sharing the fun today, so I responded that 10 mile pulls would be the standard.  There were no more comments.  I smiled, we were working together and having fun doing it.  If I recall correctly, we were in the mid 18 mph range at this point, and I thought that was outstanding for a "recovery" century.  We kept the progress moving forward, and the average maintained in the strong 18 range as we went.  Some pulled and had nothing but climbs, while others seemed to only have descents.  It became a point of comedy at times, and that helped to pass the time.

At about mile 36 or so, it was my turn to get back in front.  I was still feeling pretty good, and since I was being told that the plan was to stop at the rest stop around mile 46, I decided to myself that I would just stay out front till then.  It was around 10 miles, and I had joked that would be the standard.  After about 26 miles of "resting" in the pack, my heart rate had been between zone 1 and zone 2 for most of the time.  Now that I was back in front, I was up in zone 3 and 4 maintaining a comparable pace.  That is what working in a paceline can do for a rider.  It was fine with me though...at least after I got used to the added workload.  Strange thing about coming back up to the front, it takes the body a minute or two to rise to the physical demands of just maintaining the same pace out front.  This is the zone where I am used to working though, and it is very familiar to me, and almost comforting.

The miles kicked by without any major hiccups.  There were a few dogs, but none that directly threatened the group.  There were some hills, but none that really broke us up.  It was just a nice Sunday cruise.  Speaking of Sunday, I did hear from one of the guys that it was, in fact, a Sunday ride.  I took that to mean the pace was a little steep.  I gladly backed it down a smidge, while at the same time patting myself on the back for being able to achieve that pace with a bum leg.  At mile 46, I had been out front for my 10 miles, but there was no rest stop.  Figuring that it wasn't too far away, I stayed out front so we didn't have to change any dynamics of the line with only a short distance left to go.

At 48 miles, we found the rest stop...well, to be honest, we blew past the rest stop.  It seemed that about half of the stops on the different routes had hidden driveways which you would pass before you would see the actual rest stop.  This was one of those, and I blew right past it.  Well, everybody makes mistakes occasionally, and this one wasn't too bad.  We got turned around, and went in to replenish our supplies.

While I was refreshing my Perpetuem bottle, I happened to look over at the bike shop tent.  To my surprise, we had happened on the rest stop supported by Paul's Cycling.  That was a nice stroke of luck as normally they have the first rest stop in Lewisville, just 10 miles after the start and one that I bypass each year.  I was so happy to see them as it has been a long time since I've needed to be at the shop.  We caught up quickly, and Dennis asked if I would mind posing for a picture with them since they hadn't had much "business" as of yet.  I let him know about my appearance fee, and he let me know about the charge for taking the picture with them.  We decided to call it even and we went ahead and posed.  These guys have been very instrumental in my time as a cyclist, and I'm always happy to help them out wherever I can.

With the picture out of the way, it was time to get back on the bikes and settle in on the last half of today's century.  As we were pulling out, I heard this statement...."What has Greg done for us in the last 5 minutes?"  Oh yeah, that reminded me, I was scheduled to take up position at the back of the pack after my last pull.  So with a definitive "nothing" I tucked in at the tail.  The break had done my legs well, and I was still feeling pretty good.  Our average was in the upper 18 mph range and I thought that was really great.  I had visions of seeing a 19 mph average for the day, but I knew that was going to be a long shot.

We rotated through the paceline and as we came to Lone Hickory Rd, Keith found his way to the front and I was in the number two slot.  He set a very brisk pace, and we really started making progress.  Through this year, I have become very familiar with this road as it is part of two of my century routes, and I was on it for the Tour of Farmington, just a couple of weeks before.  I knew that with the right wind conditions, this was a fast road, and a nice long stretch with very little climbing.  We were making great time, but I could tell that Keith was in the red for most of it.  The miles ticked by, and he didn't break stride for anything.  Honestly, I was very impressed with him, not only for the time he was sitting out front, but for the pace that he set.  Several times, I offered to take the pole, but he declined each time.  I just sat back and watched him work while staying right on his wheel.  We turned up Watkins Rd which was a long steady climb.  Keith was still mashing the pedals and wasn't easing up at all.  I remember hearing him say that it was in poor form to pull off the front on a climb, which let me know that he was ready to relinquish his lead.  I had lost track of the miles, but it had been at least 10 miles, if not more.  Once we got off of the climb and onto the next road, Keith pulled off and took a well deserved rest at the rear leaving me up front again.

We were in familiar territory for me, and were on part of the metric century course from Tours of past years.  There was only about another 5 miles or so before the next rest stop, and I had no problem staying out front until that time.  When we got there, I asked if anyone wanted to stop, since we were about at mile 80.  I got confirmation that we were going to stop, which worked out for me.  I was needing a little bit of a break at this point.  I finished my electrolyte water and got that bottle refilled with a fresh tablet in it.  My Perpetuem was still in decent shape so I left that bottle half full.  To boost my caloric intake a bit, I went ahead and ate a Cliff Bar which would reduce my dependence on the Perpetuem.  We got ready to head back out again, and there was a little bit of question about who was going to lead us out.  I decided that since I hadn't been out front for very long on this stretch, I would go ahead and get us rolling again.  I stayed out front for a few more miles and then retired to the rear.

This was the section where the hills really started in earnest.  There were some zippy descents, followed by some long grinds back up.  We started to break up a little bit on these, and eventually, we lost Keith who had said that he was just not recovering from his lengthy pull from earlier.  He was reaching the end of his rope, and needed to back down.  that left us with only six in the line.  We continued up and down, and up and down.  I found myself thanking my rides on Brinkley Rd around the house which taught me to stand and pedal efficiently in a climb.  I was standing more than I ever had in the past.  I just didn't have the energy to climb seated any more, but standing gave me a second wind.

At some point, it was asked why nobody was talking anymore.  The answer came right to me...."because we are freaking tired!"....but the thought stayed in my head.  Long after the fact, I realized that what I should have responded with was...."99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer..."  Yeah, that would have gone over well.  We were all getting a little punchy as we were nearing 200 miles for the weekend.

In typical Tour to Tanglewood fashion, the creative juices dried up at the end of the century rout planning.  Much like yesterday, the last portion of the route loops past the finish, and rejoins the route from earlier.  To make matters worse, two of the harder climbs had to be repeated.  Yeah, that was a popular choice among us cyclists.  We even passed by the same last rest stop, just like yesterday.  Out of all the road choices, it escapes us as to why they do that, but that was the route, and follow the route we would.

The paceline was rotating pretty quickly now between being short one person, and the cumulative fatigue setting in.  Everyone was still pulling their share, but the shares were getting shorter and shorter.  Based on my estimations, I wasn't going to have to be out front again after my last pull, however, my estimations were apparently far off.  With about 8-10 miles to go, I found myself back in front again.  Just think, I started the day off thinking that I would just sit in, and not do much pulling.  Here I was, with a bum knee, starting us out, doing a couple pulls along the way, and now I was set up to pull us into the finish.  Oh well, I decided that I was fine with that.  It would be nice for Toni to see me come in the same way I left nearly 6 hours ago...out front.

We had been steadily building our pace in the last 20 miles, and I actually thought that a 19 mph average was going to be possible.  We were at 18.9 when I moved out front and I wanted to try and push us to an even 19 if possible.  I kept the pace that had been set before me, and pushed as hard as the line would allow trying to get everyone in at the higher pace.  There had been no discussion about it, but I suspected that everyone was hoping for that.

With just a few miles left to go, Mark came around me and said that I was working too hard as he pulled in the front.  I appreciated the gesture, as he was the one who had insisted on positioning himself directly on my wheel for the morning picture stating that he planned on staying behind me all day.  Yeah, I really appreciated what he was trying for with the move.  However, I had already decided that based on the luck of the draw I wanted to lead us into the park, and since Toni would be there with the camera, I should be able to.  Yeah, it was a cheesy reason, but I felt that I had earned that in a way.

We were sprinting down the road, in the inside travel lane just in sight of the park entrance.  We were done...all finished.  The only problem was there were two road skaters in the road that would reach the entrance at the same time we would.  If we maintained our pace, we would be on top of each other turning in.  I slowed and announced our presence, my plan being to wait until the turn was executed before we made the pass for the final approach.  As I slowed, the paceline went past me and went for the turn.  I was expecting something really bad to happen as bodies and bikes collided, but fortunately the skaters recognized what was going on and turned in quickly, leaving the lane open for the cyclists.  They muttered some less than polite things (although completely warranted) as I overtook them on the straightaway.  I really felt bad about how that had gone down, and had been happy to slow down to let them turn in first.

Good or bad, it was over, and I was now playing catch up with the group.  As they were on the final approach they had slowed and were waiting on me.  They made sure that I was up front, and I suggested that we all cross at the same time which we did.  Well, all but two of us which had been lost along the way.

It had been another year of the Tour to Tanglewood, and each year holds different stories.  This one had a much different feeling than ones in the past.  Maybe it was because I hadn't been preparing for it all year as in the past.  Maybe it was because I was looking at it more as a riding event than a fundraising event.  Maybe it was the seriousness of doing back to back centuries.  I just don't know, but this one was different in just about all respects.  I was happy with how things turned out, and I had completed two very strong rides.  My solo 19.6 from yesterday was followed up with an even 19.0 mph for the recovery century.  Those were, by far, my best times ever, on any route at Tanglewood.  I was proud of myself, and at the same time, a little ashamed for how the last few yards of the day had gone.  Since I was in the lead, I felt responsible for what had happened to the skaters.  I'm just glad that nobody had gotten hurt.  Overall though, I think that the weekend went great, and I accomplished everything that I had set out to do.  My overall average speed for the weekend wasn't quite 19.5 mph like I had wanted, but, it was a strong 19.xx average which was pretty darn good!

Garmin Data For Day 2

Still in formation after passing through the finish.

Ahh, the sweet taste of the last of my water

Toni was so nice, she even had my shoes ready for me

I was using my bike as a walker to get to the truck

My mandatory after ride stretches helped my knee a little bit

Protein bars suck!  That is all.