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 of Farmington: Second Chances

It took three years, but I finally made it!  Why did it take so long to do this ride you ask?  The short answer is, I'm a weather weenie for all but the most important rides, and even then, I tend to whine a lot.  You see, today's ride actually started in late 2012, when I signed up for the ride after feeling stoked at the completion of the Tour to Tanglewood a few days before.  Having ridden a solid century, followed by a metric century, I felt that this ride (63 miles) wouldn't be too much to ask from my legs.  The registration fee wasn't outlandish, so I went ahead and signed up.  There was about a week to go before the actual event and I was getting excited about the ride.  What I hadn't considered was the weather.

That morning, I got up and had my gear ready to roll out, but looked outside and saw that it was rather wet.  I looked at the forecast and it showed rain pretty much all day long.  Hmmmmm, A couple of weeks before, I had ridden 65 miles in a steady rain at the Tour to Tanglewood, and quite frankly had my fill of that experience.  I briefly considered going to the Tour of Farmington because, lets face it, I had paid for it.  But thinking about all the cleanup that would be needed on the bike after riding in the rain, I opted against it.  Like I said, "Weather Weenie."  And yes, I did whine through the 65 miles at Tanglewood.  Well, I wasn't riding the Farmington ride as I was expecting to, but I didn't want to let myself off that easy, so I went with plan B.

Plan B was a "B"oring ride on the "B"rand new trainer, that made me "B"itch more than riding in the rain would have.  This was my first attempt at riding on a trainer, and I wasn't a fan of it.  I always felt bad that I backed out of riding the Farmington ride, especially when I saw pictures of the "real cyclists" who had gone out and ridden in the rain.  Yeah, I was a weather weenie.

When 2013 came around, I didn't really give Farmington much thought because my emphasis had been on doing century rides, or major climbing events.  A metric century just felt like a letdown with all the other rides that I had planned.  I really didn't give it much thought after that.  Since I wasn't riding for most of 2014, I hadn't really considered it until right at the last minute when I thought I would try it.  That thought was short lived since I crashed out and found myself without a road worthy bike at the beginning of September.

When 2015 rolled around, I had big plans once again, and I was focusing on the ultra endurance events yet again.  After I rode in the Ride to Remember in July, I was pretty much done for the year.  Well, I thought that I was.  I ended up realizing that there was a lot of riding weather left in the year and decided to do the Tour to Tanglewood again for my 4th year.  As I was ramping up training for two century rides, I happened to see a advertisement for the Tour of Farmington.  There were four different route options, with the longest being 63 miles once again.  It wasn't a full century, it wasn't in the mountains, but there was that twinge of guilt for the fact that I had missed it in '12 because I wussed out.  2015 was about second chances on the bike, so I figured that with it being a week before Tanglewood, it would make for a great training ride.  I went ahead and signed up for it, for the second time.

As we got closer to the day, I was looking at the weather.  The temperature was going to be perfect for riding, in the lower to mid 70's.  The wind was looking rather docile as well.  The only catch...rain.  Yep, thunderstorm chances throughout the day, but it didn't look too bad.  I cautiously told myself that I would be riding this year.  The night before, it was looking like we would be good until about 11am when the chances were around 51%.  Other than that, they were hovering in the low 40% range.  It was going to be iffy, but I was going to try it.  When I woke up this morning, I checked the weather first, before even getting out of bed.  Now we were looking at 45-58% chance for storms starting at 6am, well before the actual start of the ride.  It was looking like I was going to get wet today.

I rolled back over in the bed and thought about how comfortable it was, and how nice the fan felt.  I think I'll just sit this one out...

Again....

What?  AGAIN?!?!?!

What was I thinking?

Was I going to let the weather make me feel less like a cyclist once again. Negative!  I got out of the bed, and decided that it was going to be what it was going to be, but I was going to be on the bike.  I got everything ready and loaded in the truck before Toni got home from work.  I got to see her briefly before she went to bed, and I headed out to Mocksville.  It was cloudy, but nothing was falling from the sky at least.

I got there plenty early because I didn't know what parking would be like, or how long registration would take.  As luck would have it, I got the perfect parking space between a fence and a mound of dirt so I didn't have to worry about anyone parking next to me.  Registration took 2 minutes, 25 seconds...I counted.  I really didn't count, but I was in and out in no time.  That left me with about an hour to sit and chill out.  There was no reason to get the bike off of the truck that early, so I just watched as cars steadily came in and spandex clad cyclists moved around getting coffee, and breakfast.

Drip

Drip

What was that?

Drip drip

Oh no, I haven't even unloaded yet and its starting to rain.  Not much, but just a slight drizzle.  Edmond, the cyclist getting ready nearby, looked up and said something to effect of, "uh oh, I think I felt something."  Yep, it was raining.  I had an immediate flashback to the Carolina Century ride from 2013 which I should have ridden in a canoe for.  By the way, this is a funny read, and I was already reliving the experience in my head.  But I was here, the bike was going to get wet if the rain came at this point, so I went ahead and started getting things ready.

To show you how early I had gotten there, they were handing out numbers on a first come, first served basis.  By my early morning estimations, there had been (counts on fingers) just five riders in before me.  It was kind of cool having a single digit bib number.  At least it made it easy to remember.  It didn't take long to get dressed, and I was happy to find that I had remembered everything that I needed.  I always stress that part for some reason, and see myself pedaling without shoes.  I moved up to the start line, and utilized the little trick that I had learned at Ride to Remember...get up front, its easier to start.  There was going to be a staggered start with each mile group being separated to keep the start from getting too bunched up.  It wasn't until recently that I learned just how nice that procedure makes the first few miles.  Many thanks to the organizers for doing it this way.

I wasn't sure what kind of riders would be doing this route, and didn't know if I was going to have my doors blown off, or if everyone would treat it like a casual ride.  I had done a little research on Strava, looking at the course layout and getting an idea of the climbing involved.  In that research, I had seen speeds in the 18's and 19's, so I knew I would be in good company with similar riders to myself.  The question came as to whether or not I would ride this one solo, or if I would attach to a group and share the workload.  This seems to be the major question that I deal with on these event rides.  This one was pretty easy to determine though since it was just a metric century.  I felt confident enough in my abilities to handle this one solo which would ensure I would have a more enjoyable ride, and a safer one as well.

Is it just me, or is my head the biggest thing in this picture?

There were the typical morning announcements.  Safety was emphasized, which is always a good thing.  There was also the mention that there was some "broken pavement" on one of the roads.  I wasn't quite sure what this meant, but figured that it just meant that the pavement had buckled a little bit and was a significant bump.  I filed it in my head for reference when we got to that portion of the ride.  And just like that, it was time to clip in and ride.

I pulled out with the lead group that quickly got into position in front of me, and more passed me.  Remember, I like warming up in the little ring for the first 10 miles or so, and that kept me a bit slower than the rest.  At first, I wanted to give chase and secure my position in the front, but decided that I would be much better off just letting them drop me and let me ride my ride wherever I ended up in the line.  I was instantly calm, not caring where anyone was around me.  This was going to be a great ride, and the rain had stopped before even making the roads wet.

I'm in the yellow jersey centered between the two lead riders

Within the first five miles or so, I was passed by a group on a slight downhill (I had topped out gearing and was coasting).  As we came to the inevitable uphill portion, I saw that I was gaining on them.  The closer I got, the more I realized that I wasn't going to be able to pass them and stay in front for long, so I just hung back well behind the line (don't want to be labeled as a wheel sucker).  My heart rate was getting into sleeping territory, and to make matters worse, the lead rider was coming off line and going back to the rear.  My presence was confusing to him as he appeared to want to fall in behind me, but was concerned with the gap.  I told him to slide in, I was riding "my own ride" today.  With that, he moved in to the last spot of the line, and I made my decision that it was time to make my move.  I checked to the rear, and moved to the left of the lane.  I went ahead and spun up the pedals and moved around them, and continued with the "sprint" in order to not disrupt their flow by them trying to grab onto my wheel.

When I had created a large enough gap, I backed down a little bit and went back to my warm up.  There were a couple of riders which had been dropped that I came up to and passed which caused me to get a bit of adrenaline pumping in my veins.  At 10 miles, I moved into the big ring, and settled into my cruising cadence.  At about 15 miles in, I had moved past all but a handful of riders and was still increasing my average speed.  

At some point in this section, I found out what Garry was talking about when he said to watch out for the "broken pavement."  I saw the warning sign on the side of the road and began to slow down, which was not all that easy since it was on a slight descent.  I was expecting a rough patch in the road, but what I saw was not that.  There was a full section width of road missing, and about three feet wide.  There was no way to go around, no point where there would be less of a "bump", it was just missing pavement.  I grabbed the brakes, and slowed to about 15 mph, stood in the saddle and hoped for the best.  It was a rough crossing, but wasn't as bad as it looked like it was going to be.  Note to self...broken pavement is a bad thing, and should be avoided.

By 20 miles, I had found another group up ahead and found myself struggling to catch them.  In fact, I lost sight of them within minutes of spotting them in the distance.  We were on one of the few flat roads on the route, and it was into the wind.  That was where pacelines shine, and I was feeling the effects of pulling 100% of the workload for my solo ride.  I knew that there was no way I was going to catch them, but that wasn't my biggest concern at this point...

Nice road markings, my route was the white arrow

There was still no rain, but I was facing a slight dilemma.  I was starting to think that I was lost.  I had just crossed Hwy 601 on Lone Hickory Rd which was familiar territory for me since that was part of two different century routes I train on, but I was going in the opposite direction.  Anyway, I had not seen any of the road markings in a quite a while.  I had programmed my eyes to spot the white arrows for the metric century.  I also had a cue sheet in my jersey pocket with the turn by turn directions.  Having not seen the road markings in miles, and having lost sight of the group up ahead, I was getting concerned that I had missed a turn.  I could keep going and trust that I hadn't missed anything and this was just a long stretch, or I could stop, and look at the mile count on the cue sheet to see if I had messed something up.  If I were on the right course, stopping would affect any my placement in the route.  That wasn't significant since this wasn't a race, but I had really wanted to hammer this route, and that was a personal goal of mine (aiming for 3 hours flat).  It would be a blow to my self confidence to get passed at this point, knowing that there was a group pulling away from me as it was.  I decided to trust myself and keep going, knowing that at some point we would be on Hwy 21, which I knew from experience was at the end of this road.  Worst case, I add a few miles.

After what seemed like an eternity, I found Hwy 21 and a most welcomed sight of a white arrow telling me to turn left.  I was still on course, I was right to trust me!  I was now out of the wind, and going downhill.  My speeds were creeping back up again and I was feeling much better about the ride.  Here is where my obligatory funny story comes in...

After passing a couple of stragglers from the group up ahead (nice to see I'm still on course, and not that far behind now), I saw a slightly odd sight ahead.  There was a lady riding a hybrid bike wearing what looked like a regular white summer top and not a cycling jersey.  There was no bib number attached, and she didn't seem all that "serious" for lack of a better term.  I assumed that she was just out for a Saturday ride which was awesome.  I came up behind and wished her a good morning and have a nice ride as I passed by.  She smiled and we parted ways.

Not even a mile later there was a nice descent which I was going to utilize to make up some time.  As I finished clicking through the gears, I saw the other group ahead of me.  I had found them, and was in position to catch them!  I poured on the coals, and saw my pace creeping up, but I also saw a blue pickup truck backing out of a driveway.  The other group was able to get past it without missing a beat, but I was going to have to slow down to let him out.  I feathered the brakes anticipating him to back out, and get into the oncoming lane as any other driver would do.  Well, not this guy, he just slowly backed out and blocked both lanes with his truck before stopping right there.  He wasn't even looking at me, so I knew it had nothing to do with a motorist vs cyclist grudge, but I was going to have to come to a stop.  I grabbed the brakes, and managed to downshift a couple of gears as I came to a stop.  Before I stopped, I could hear a female voice yelling from the porch of the house he was leaving from.  Oh joy!  I had found myself in the middle of a 10-16 (domestic dispute for you non cop folks).  I knew better than to try and persuade the driver to move along, because experience tells me, he's probably just looking for someone to lash out at, and I wasn't going to volunteer for that role.  He did hear my brakes and realized that he was in the road.  To his credit, he flipped off the lady at the house and put his truck in drive to clear the road.  Well, that was nice!

As I was starting to push off and get rolling again, what happened?  The young lady I had passed a few minutes ago came rolling by, apparently not even breaking stride due to the truck.  I had to smile at that.  Here we had a a casual cyclist blowing past the guy on the race bike, in full kit.  I really enjoyed that experience, and I hope that she did as well, because it was just that kind of funny.  It wasn't long before I was back in full song though, and climbing the hill after the descent.  It was a long hill, which marked the halfway point to the ride.  It was on the hills I was excelling it seemed, and I found the group which had been eluding me for so long as we came to the end of the hill.  There was a rest stop on the next road which reduced that group by a couple, and just a handful continued on without stopping.

Elevation profile showing lots of rolling hills

They were back in my sights though, and I wasn't going to let them get away again.  They had slowed and were situating some "on the road snacks" it appeared.  They were riding two abreast, so I decided to hang back a little bit and let them get organized.  There was no sense in sprinting ahead by going into opposing traffic, plus it was kind of nice to soft pedal after the long climb.  They got back in single file and had seen that I was waiting in the rear. They did not get back up to speed immediately, so I took that as my invitation to make my move.  I got around them, and continued hammering the pedals until I figured that I had enough room between us so as not to disrupt their paceline.  By all estimations at the time, I was now in the lead for the metric century group, and that was a first. I have to say, that just turned into a bucket list item for me, and I had checked it off.

I continued out in front for pretty much the rest of the ride, but the strangest thing happened.  I swear the group of four behind me must have possessed either a cloaking device, or access to warp speed because I would keep a periodic check behind me since I could feel my pace dropping a little bit.  I could never see them, so I figured I was well ahead by this point.  The route came to a stop sign, and decided to use this opportunity to switch water bottles in the cages.  In just a matter of seconds, the four of them just appeared. Huh?  How did that do that?  Where did they come from?  Hey, they are making the turn before me!  I would then sprint out and get back in front again and wait until I couldn't see them again before backing off.

We played that game at least three more times at stop signs where they would come out of nowhere, just seconds behind me.  In the last 10 miles, I was feeling pretty beat down, and was actually getting hungry.  I had brought food, but hadn't felt the need to eat anything as of yet.  Based on my training rides, I rarely need food on metric centuries now, and I figured that this would be no different.  The difference was, I was putting out significantly more watts over this ride than I was used to in an attempt to stay out front.  If I stopped to eat, I would get passed, and didn't know how many were in range to do that.  With just a few miles left, I drank some water and kept it moving.

At 59 miles, I was on a flat portion of the road, and was feeling pretty well beat down.  It was at that time, that the four riders came out of thin air again and blew past me.  My feelings weren't hurt though, I know that a paceline is a very efficient machine, and I was probably the most inefficient rider on the whole course riding solo.  The fact that I had made a paceline catch me, was just as impressive as leading the route.  I held on to them from about 30 feet back as the last 3.5 miles ticked by.  We had made it to the finish line, and I was about 30 feet behind the other four riders.  I could live with that!

I did my stretching in the bed of the truck, and got my gear all loaded up before going to have a bite of lunch in an attempt to consume some protein.  I had a brief chat with a couple of other riders who had done the 40 mile route.  We compared notes on the road conditions.  We all agreed that the roads were very rough out there.  It actually reminded me of South Carolina for the second half.  The vibrations that continually went through my body came close to shaking the molars out of my mouth.  I'm sure that this factored into my fatigue levels by the end of the ride.  it is just harder to ride on rough roads than smooth ones.

After I ate, I made my way back to the truck and headed home.  I really missed Toni on this ride.  She wasn't there to send me off, she wasn't there to celebrate when I finished, and I was still hungry because she had not been there to force me to get more lunch.  The ride back was lonely without her, and it really killed the high I should have been experiencing for what I would consider an awesome ride.

Starting another row of bib numbers on the wall

After three years, I had finally done the Tour of Farmington.  Yeah, it was only a metric century, but I had underestimated it.  There was enough climbing on this route to make it interesting, and the road conditions added to the difficulty.  I've come back from centuries feeling better than I felt after this ride.  Of course, that is primarily because I pushed myself for the whole ride.  At a more conservative pace, I would have had plenty of energy left at the end.  However, for the event rides that I do, I like to push the envelope when I can.  There are three things that I look for in rides, climbing, total distance, and if there isn't significance to either of those, I look for a high average speed.  This ride was done at a speed of 20.1 mph which for the climbing (3,474 feet of vertical) was outstanding for me.  I missed my goal time of 3 hours flat, but only by six minutes and 22 seconds.  I'm ok with that though, and feel very good about my effort on this ride.  I was even complimented by one of the magical four as I was going to the truck when he told me that I had ridden very strong today.  It had been a great ride, and a dry ride.

View the Garmin data here

After I had gotten home, I was still very much under the assumption that the magical four that I had played cat and mouse with for so long was the lead group to the ride, and I had come in right behind them.  It wasn't until I started to look deeper into the information provided by Strava about the other riders on the course.  It would appear that there was a rider that finished about 20 minutes before we had with an average speed of 23 mph!  There were a couple others behind him, so I'm not sure where exactly I placed, but that really doesn't matter at all to me.  I had a very strong ride, and like I said, I outpaced many a group of riders, and forced a paceline to catch me.  I had made a great showing for myself, and am very proud of that effort.  As a side note, to do this course at 23 mph is almost superhuman, and my hat is off to him!