The 2013 AOTC, a recap

Assault on the Carolinas....I think they might have misnamed this one.  The "Carolinas" did the assaulting, so shouldn't that word be the predicate at the end of the sentence....and where is the word "Riders?"  I think the sentence should read, to be grammatically correct anyway, "Riders Assaulted by the Carolinas."  Enough of the English lesson for this article, I'm sure that is not why you dropped by to read this entry.

I have set a number of goals for myself for this year when it comes to riding a bike.  One of them, I can now check off the list.  That was participating, and finishing the 14th annual Assault on the Carolinas which is a 100K ride starting in Brevard, NC and going into SC before returning to Brevard.  So what?  its only 100K, or 62 miles....I've done that before.  Oh, its the climbing that is different with about 5500 feet of vertical climbing?  No, that's not it, I've climbed more on a similar distance ride before.  So what is the big deal you ask?  Well, its not the total climb, its a single climb that starts at the 42 mile mark into Caesar's Head.  This is a 2000ft climb to the top in about 8 miles.  That is the challenge here, and what drew me to this event.  You see, climbing is not my strong suit at all, and it is something that I need to get better at.  I figured that this would be a pretty good opportunity to prove that I could....to myself.

 

 

As I have alluded to in previous entries in this blog, training for this ride started on January 1st.  I needed to get lots of saddle time, and build my muscles, loose weight, and work on my internal engine's efficiency.  I accomplished a lot of this by spending time on my trainer doing interval after interval.  This helped me drop a little bit of weight, and gain a ton of endurance and power.  As the weather got warmer, I headed outside and hunted down all the climbs in the area that I could do on a regular ride.  I tended to stay away from the flat routes and gravitated towards the rollers.  I pushed myself, and also learned how to monitor my efforts so I wouldn't burn out early on a climb.  Its a difficult lesson to learn when your instincts tell you to go all out all the time.  That just can't happen with the climbs that I was looking at doing in the AOTC.

 

When I started the year, I was at about 189LBS which is very light considering I weighed in at 238 not too long ago.  However, I wanted to get down into the 160-165LBS range for this ride.  I wasn't able to do that, but my body composition changed dramatically in the first quarter of the year.  I got smaller, my body fat dropped substantially, and I felt great.  However, I bottomed out at only 181LBS before the AOTC.  However, my legs had become swollen with new muscles, and we all know that muscle weighs more that fat.  So, in a way I did reach my goal....my power to weight ratio was much more favorable than it was the last time I rode on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I was pleased with my progress, I just needed to put it to the test on the 100K route on April 13th!

 

 

After my last training ride on Tuesday before the big ride, I checked the bike over, cleaned and lubed it.  I wanted it to be perfect for the ride so that mechanical issues didn't play a part in any failures on my end.  I had just started to hear a clicking that sounded like it was coming from the chainrings up front, so they got tightened.  I checked the chain for wear, and it showed to be at 50% and still had life in it.  I debated on replacing the chain and thought I would wait until it was closer to 75% before swapping it.  Everything was ready on the bike, but I needed one final addition.  I knew that this was going to be a hard ride, and I wanted to have Toni with me....or at least waiting at the finish line for me, but she was working on Saturday.  So, I did the next best thing, I took a bracelet that she had made as a kid and wrapped it on my bar so that she could be with me on my ride.  I can't stand to let her down, so I knew if I needed to dig deep, I could just look down and think of her.  That was my secret weapon for the day!

 

 

After work on Friday, the night before, I got the truck loaded up, and the bike ready for transport.  I wanted to be able to leave early on Saturday and didn't want to take the time to do all the loading then.  After I got the bike secure in the bed, I did a final check of everything, including the chain.  It was still reading about 50%, but the clicking I had been hearing recently had me worried.  I decided at the last minute to swap out the chain for a new one.  For simplicity, I just put down my protective cardboard under the bike and started to tear into it.  In about 30 minutes I had a new chain on, and stripped of the protective coating, and oiled.  I felt better knowing that the drivetrain was fresh for this ride.

 

Saturday morning arrived much too early.  With a three hour drive time, I had to wake up about 3am.  I actually woke up before the alarm rang....can you say anxious?  I got up, got dressed, and ate some breakfast.  I chose to go with oatmeal for the long lasting fiber/carbohydrate combo.  I also took two bagels to eat for a second breakfast before we left the starting ling.  I was going to need the carbs to fuel my muscles on the climbs of the day....that I knew.  The trip up went without a hitch other than the effects of my two day long hydration activities.  My bladder was filling at a rate of once every 2 hours it seemed.  I needed to stop on the way into Brevard....never needed to do that on a three hour trip before, but it meant that I was sufficiently hydrated which was good.  Just as a conversation point, I had to make two more pit stops before we started at 9am.  I guess it was the combination of nervous and several hundred ounces of water consumed over the last 36 hours or so.

 







Brevard is a beautiful little mountain town, and full of really nice people.  On this particular day, they were invaded by 1000 cyclists who all shared a common goal, to kick off their spring training with a bang!  Registration was from 7am to just before the start at 9am.  I used this time to get registered, get the bike ready, and load up with snacks for the ride.  I also tried to calm myself down because I was getting very nervous about this ride.  I was pretty sure I could complete it, but I didn't know how much it would hurt, and if I was going to have to make unscheduled stops because I could just go no further.  Lots of these questions were rolling around in my head, but I knew that one way or another, I would finish this under my own steam.

As part of my sense of humor, I chose to wear this particular jersey for this particular ride.  It says, "The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves".  I figured that would be appropriate for the beatings that my legs were getting ready to endure.  Oh yeah, and notice the arm warmers.  Even though the temperature range was forecast for 49L-71H for the day, I decided to bring them as a last minute addition to my supplies.  I'm very glad I did because when I arrived in Brevard it was a chilly 39*.  My bike even had frost on the top tube!  At least it wasn't raining though, which was a concern from some of the extended forecasts I had seen about a week before.  We were expecting nothing but sun today, and that was just perfect for me.

This, for me, is the worst part of a large group ride.  Here I am in the starting area waiting for the 9am release of the riders.  I'm not exactly the most stable getting started and clipping in.  I always worry about bumping other riders, or being bumped.  I just gave myself a little bit of room in front and hoped for the best.  I remember thinking to myself here "I can't believe I'm going to do this....I'm finally here."  I knew that about 65 miles later I would be passing back through this point, I just didn't know what condition I would be in.

At exactly 9am, with a 10 second countdown, the riders were released.  The pros went first, followed by other sponsored riders and then the masses.  My friend Doug and I were close to the front of the line (as you can see in the above picture with the green banner).  My start was a little wobbly because as we were getting moving, the folks up in front had to stop quickly.  But we all made it out of the gate without incident.  After leaving the gate, somebody lost a water bottle (since it was only seconds in the ride, I assume it was still full).  They might miss that later on.  A short time after that, one of the riders threw a chain and had to pull off to get it fixed.  My last minute chain swap came to mind and I suddenly felt better about my choice.  We were off, and making good time through town.

Doug and I stuck together, but he is a stronger rider than I am and he was pushing me to keep pace.  I was able to do so, and we were blazingly fast, passing other groups and climbing hills like crazy.  I was feeling the pressure to keep up, and knew that I was going to regret this pace later on, but stubbornly kept with it.  I wasn't too keen on the large groups that we were riding around.  They made me feel very claustrophobic considering I am used to riding solo, and not surrounded by other cyclists.  Its a skill all unto itself to ride in a peloton, and I'm just not that good at it.

We continued our charge down the road until the first big climb of the day at Walnut Hollow.  This was a short climb, but what starts out as a steep ascent, pitches up dramatically at the halfway mark.  Some say its the worse climb of the day because of that.  Doug plowed on ahead of me, and I found my rhythm and churned the pedals in my lowest gear (thank goodness I switched to an 11-28tc cassette).  I was starting to feel winded by the time I made it to the top, but I had a new found confidence after completing the first challenge of the day.  Doug and I rejoined and continued on.  We were still moving at a pretty fast pace and hit the second big hill of the day.  This one wasn't as bad as the Walnut Hollow climb, but was still listed as a Cat 4 climb.  Doug and I parted ways on this climb as well, and later rejoined afterwards.  That was two big climbs down, and I was still feeling pretty good.

Now was the fun part, the descent into South Carolina.  I can still remember the sound of all the whizzing freewheels as everyone coasted down some 1500 feet around curved roads.  It was nice to get a slight rest after all of that climbing, but in the back of my mind I knew that we were going to be climbing back to above our original altitude in a few more miles.  Doug and I were still together as we arrived in the valley for the rollers.  We kept with a strong pace, but I could tell I was pushing too hard, and I needed to slow.  I didn't want to hold Doug up, so I tried to keep pace.  At 30 miles, we arrived at a rest stop that we both wanted to stop at to refuel and recover a little.

When it was time to roll out again, we got into another large peloton which turned out to be a very strong group, and the speeds were amazing.  However, I knew I needed to save my energy for the big climb, so I allowed myself to get dropped.  It was at this point I really started to enjoy the ride.  I was all alone, and riding my ride.  This was my comfort zone.  I kept remembering some advice that Gary Daniels had given me that I needed to be in a group at the top of Caesar's Head for the rollers because there was always a strong headwind there.  I was going to have to deal with that when I got there.  I just wanted to ride solo at this point, and was happy.

At the 42 mile mark we turned off to the left, and the climbing started.  At first it wasn't too bad, the grade was tolerable, but I had to keep in mind that I had about 8 miles of this ahead, and it would pitch up in the last third.  I slowed myself, and dropped gears to keep my cadence up.  I found my groove that was not stressful on my body at all.  Surprisingly, I found myself passing a cyclist....then another, then another.  Was I going too fast?  Would I burn out?  Did they know something that I didn't?  I carried on at what I felt was an easy pace.  I looked down at my Garmin and saw that I had climbed about 500 feet before I had even started to get tired.  I was a quarter of the way there and still going strong.  I fought the excitement which tried to make me go faster.

As the grade increased a little bit, I was slowing to the point that my Garmin was auto pausing regularly, but that was OK with m as I wasn't trying to set any records on this mountain.  I was starting to consider taking a breather in the false flat portion in the top half.  The grind was starting to take its toll on my body, but my speed was staying steady and it was a comfortable pace for me, I was just tired of climbing.  When I arrived at the false flat I was able to move out of my lowest gear and actually found myself in some of the smaller cogs on the cassette.  I looked down and I was going about 18-20mph!!!  No way I was going to stop here and lose that momentum....I was still going uphill at that speed!  Then we hit the top section which has like a 12% grade and lots of twists and turns.  This was the killer of the whole climb.  I was still settled into my previous pace in low gear.  It felt like I was barely moving, and the Garmin was auto pausing like a heartbeat.....but.....I was still passing other riders.  I was listening to bikes groan and creak as their pedals were churned, yet here I was passing by, no noises except for my heavy respiration.  I started to think that I was no longer tracking distance because it seemed my distance reading wasn't changing at all.  It felt like I saw 46.4 miles for a solid hour before it clicked to 46.5.

I saw some folks over on the side of the road cheering us on, and all I could muster to say was "how much further".  I was afraid they would say 2-3 more miles, but they said less than a mile to go.  I hoped they were right.  On the second group of people I saw I again asked the question hoping for validation of the first answer.  I got a fairly definitive "seven tenths of a mile, just around the bend."  I was filling with lactic acid at this point, but all of a sudden I felt energized and started pumping and pulling on the pedals. I just wanted to get there....to the top.....my personal victory.

I had made it!!!!  and I wasn't the last one to the top of the mountain either.  I had passed probably 20 other riders on that ascent, which was just amazing to me.  I stayed at this rest stop for about 20 minutes before I could convince myself to get back on the bike.  I hydrated, ate, and asked what the address was.  My intention was to just call this home, and not leave.  But, leave I must, ride I shall, finish I will.  Fortunately, with the exception of some small hills, the majority of the last 18 miles is downhill.  I was so ready for that....but Gary's advice was rattling in my head...."don't be alone after you crest the mountain."  Its not that I didn't trust his advice, or take it to heart.  It was the fact that Doug was a good distance ahead of me, and I didn't want to latch onto another wheel.  I chose to finish this ride out the way I like to ride....alone.  I had conquered the mountain and hills, I could do this!

I did do it....all by myself.  There was a wind, but having been training in the wind for months now, I didn't really recognize it as an obstacle.  My speeds were great, and I again found myself passing other cyclists.  Not to say I wasn't getting passed as well, but I was giving as good as I was taking and for that I'm proud.  I found it slightly odd that I was enjoying this part of the ride so much.  In fact the second half was a blast.  I was riding my ride, and was able to reach my zen place in the saddle.  I missed the company of riding with Doug, but the solo thing was where my heart was.

 

I finished the 14th Annual AOTC in 4:29 with two breaks.  Total ride time was less than 3:50 and I averaged 16.9 mph.  I was beat, but so happy at this accomplishment.  I had conquered Caesar's Head and was very curious about how this climb was categorized.  I was thinking at least a cat 3, if not cat 2.  I would have to wait until I got home and plugged in the data to find out.

Here it is.....the climb data from the day.  I was wrong about the category for Caesar's Head....it was a.....CATEGORY ONE CLIMB!!!!!!  Now that is an accomplishment to say the least.  Up until the AOTC, I had only climbed a cat 4 climb.  I can only imagine what a beyond category, or HC climb would feel like.  While I am still not a climber, it is very nice to know that I can climb, and climb really big stuff.  This is exactly what I wanted to accomplish on this ride.  Speed wasn't a concern of mine, I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

Garmin data can be found here.

Intro to the 2013 Assault on the Carolinas

For most cyclists there is what is called an "off season".  This is the time of the year when the temperatures drop, and the weather conditions generally aren't favorable to riding a bike.  I have subscribed to that concept in the past, even though I am a year round rider.  Up until this year, I have only ridden recreationally until the Spring when I start training for the Tour to Tanglewood in late Summer.  This year I am seeing a major change in my training needs.  For the first time, I am actually working towards several different goals at different times during the year.  My first goal comes relatively early in the cycling season, mid April.  This means that my normal recreational riding just won't quite cut it during the winter months.

I am actually finding that instead of letting my fitness drop as I did last year, I am having to not only maintain it, but add to it.  You see, the Assault on the Carolinas ride is a 100K ride through the mountains of North and South Carolina.  There are two major climbs on this ride, one of which is heading up Cesar's Head State Park.  This climb is longer and steeper than any I have attempted before on a bike.  I will have to be in shape for this ride, or risk having to give up before cresting the major climb of the day.  Lets put this in perspective with an elevation chart from their website.

That major dip represents about 2,000 feet worth of climbing in about 7 miles.  There are also some other rather steeply pitched sections as well.  While this is nothing for a professional cyclist to ride, it is a bit daunting for me.  I am by no stretch a climber when it comes to my cycling style.  I am just not built for it as I am rather larger.  5'11" tall and averaging mid 180's for weight.  However, I have accomplished climbs up several Category 4 climbs, and numerous Cat 5's.  I have learned a lot about how to make it up these climbs with a couple of trips to the Blue Ridge Parkway over the past year, and will be using that knowledge to make it through the AOTC.

Something else that I have found I have a certain amount of control over is my power to weight ratio.  I can adjust those numbers somewhat based on training and diet.  That has been my goal through the first two months of the year.  I have been trying to drop weight while adding power to my legs.  With the weather outside not the best for cycling, my ability to go out and practice on hills has been reduced a great deal.  However, I have been able to make use of my Cycle Ops trainer which has allowed me to spend a great deal of time on my bike.

 

 

Now, before you assume that a trainer is just so you can get on and turn the pedals, let me clarify just what this contraption does for me.  First of all, there is a resistance wheel hooked up to a fluid drive on the rear.  This provides a progressive resistance which mimics the behavior of wind and rolling resistance....simply put, the faster you go, the harder it gets.  The goal of a trainer is not just to get on and find a comfortable gear and spin for hours.  Not only would that be brutally boring, it would net you very little in the way of results other than some calorie consumption.  When you add intense sections to your workout though, you will start to see several benefits.  First of all, your calorie consumption goes up, your heart rate goes up, and you start building endurance at your upper levels of performance.  This is interval training, and this is what I do on the trainer.

 

Riding on a trainer is unlike any road riding you have done.  It is harder....a lot harder!  In a regular road ride, it is rare that you will ride for long periods of time at or near your aerobic threshold.  Our bodies just aren't designed to do that under normal circumstances.  You find that you soft pedal down grades, and slow cadence going up grades, and just maintain on level ground.  Working on intervals changes that.  You pick an intensity, and then you stick with it at a steady state for 30 seconds, up to 30 minutes or more.  It is not uncommon for me to work at 87-93% of my maximum heart rate for periods of 15-30 minutes at a time, while pedaling around 18mph.  That just isn't found on the road.

 

I tend to focus on longer intervals as opposed to the shorter intervals.  They accomplish two different things.  The short intervals are great for practicing sprinting.  You will spin up in a big gear, and high cadence for a very short amount of time.  Your heart rate will max out, and you will be forced to stop because your body just can't continue at the same rate.  Then you rest for a short time, and repeat.  While the speeds achieved on these sprint intervals are impressive and great for bragging rights, I don't think that they will benefit me nearly as much as the endurance intervals I spend the most time doing.

 

In these longer intervals, the intensity is less, but you are still working at the top range of what your body can maintain for a specified time frame.  It is important for you to understand the workload and be able to pick the right gear/cadence early on that you can maintain for the duration of the planned interval.  The higher the gear, the shorter time you can maintain the effort.  Over time, with experience, I have found that the amount of power (or workload) I am able to deliver has increased.  My heart rate has remained comparable, but my speeds are increasing, as is my cadence in many cases.

 



Unfortunately, I don't have the use of a power meter, so I'm not positive about how that whole power to weight thing is working out for me.  However, I have been keeping track of my weight and my performance in a controlled environment (trainer) and have noticed some things that support what I'm wanting to see happen.  First of all, my weight started to drop and I went from 186 to 182 early on in January.  It has since been creeping back up and is now sitting at 185.  However, my performance on the trainer is getting much better and more consistent.  I'm able to push bigger gears now than I was, and go for longer without feeling like I'm going to pass out.  My heart rate is staying about the same, if not a tad lower.  Ironically, I have bumped my max heart rate to a respectable 196 bpm which is very high for a 39 year old.  All of this supports the theory that my training is working as suspected.

The real test to the theory can only be made on the road in real world conditions though.  I did have the chance to give that a try.  As I said, I'm not able to do much riding outside right now, and the last ride in January was on the 20th when I rode a metric century of 62.11 miles in 3 hours and 43 minutes.  I had an average speed of 16.7 mph and climbed 2,831ft.  The weather was chilly and there was a strong wind to contend with which I fought on the return leg.  Still, I thought this was a pretty good ride considering the time of year.

After 13 sessions on the trainer, I again had the opportunity to return to the open road on Feb 12 for another metric century.  While I had no intentions of comparing this ride with my last ride, the numbers did give some very interesting insight into my training plan.  The distance for this ride was 62.36 miles which was completed in 3 hours and 31 minutes.  The mileage was nearly the same, but I shaved off 12 minutes while going a quarter mile further.  It might not seem like much, but I maintained an average speed of 17.7 mph (a full mph faster!) and climbed 3,061ft which is over 200 more feet than the previous ride.  Now....the weather might have played a factor in this, but it was windy on this second ride as well.  Since I will rarely ride with the winds over 10mph, I would say that the winds were comparable on both days, as was the temperature.

So, what does this go to show?  Unscientifically it shows me that with about a month between road rides, the trainer has gotten me to a much higher level of fitness.  Will it help when it comes time for the Assault on the Carolinas ride?  Only time will tell, but as the weather starts to improve, I will be searching out hills to climb for the remaining few weeks before I saddle up in Brevard, NC.  The idea is to have my first training peak happen when most cyclists are just really getting used to being back in the saddle after several months away.

An Intro to the 2013 Tour to Tanglewood

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Riding in the Bike MS, Tour to Tanglewood started as more or less an accident.  I had just started riding a bike in the summer of 2011, and thought it would be something fun to do to honor my Mother, Elizabeth Kiser who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2003.  On that accidental year, I ended up riding 100 miles over two days.  I also raised a bit over $600 in about a month.  The next year, I went about things much more serious.  I signed up on January 1st, and started training on my bike in the winter months so that I could ride a full century the first day, followed by a metric century the following day.  I also made a pledge to raise more money than I had the previous year.  After the riding was done, I had raised $2300, and ridden 166 miles!!!

This year, I am going about things just as seriously, but my goals are higher.  While I can't ride any further, I am planning on doing the full routes both days once again.  However, my fundraising goals have doubled.  I would like to join the "Mission Possible" team and collect $5000 this year.  The only way I can do that is with the help of people just like you.  Every dollar counts, and small donations are appreciated just as much as the large ones.  I have until September 28th to get the money in, but I always like to do things earlier rather than later.  I am very interested in company sponsorship this year, and plan on talking to several businesses to see if they are interested in helping to sponsor me.

So...why is the Tour to Tanglewood so important to me?  Simple, riding in the event and raising money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is my only way of fighting the disease that has so profoundly affected my Mom.  MS strikes in many different ways, and every one of the 400,000 stories out there is different.  I don't know even half of what MS is capable of doing, but knowing that it affects the brain and the nervous system, I know that there is no limit to what damage it can do to a person.  In minor cases, the sense of touch can be affected, maybe balance, maybe sight.  In extreme cases, the ability to walk, chew food, and even form thoughts can be affected.

Mom was diagnosed in 2003 with MS.  She had probably had it many more years before, but when she was involved in a motor vehicle accident and the pain in her legs wouldn't go away, more tests were done, and eventually lesions were found on her brain.  That was the start of the diagnosis.  Since then, the lesions have grown and spread.  As most know, damage to the brain is seldom reversible.  This is one of those times.  every lesion leaves scar tissue which destroys a part of the brain.  Now the brain is smart, and it will reroute around the lesions, but those new routes are affected by new lesions.  The progression of MS for Mom has been one of pain and depression since her diagnosis.

At first she just had a hard time feeling things with her hands and feet.  Her short term memory was affected bit by bit.  Eventually, closing in on the last few years of her career as a special needs teacher, she was told that she had to take early retirement and go out on disability.  The reason.....she could no longer hold her preschool handicapped children and change their diapers safely.  She had neither the strength nor the feeling in her arms to be able to accomplish this simple task.  After much internal struggling and denial she decided to let it go, and left the career that she still loved.

The next hit to her life came shortly after that.  Her mental state was still being affected, as was the sensations in her extremities.  After having three motor vehicle accidents in a very short amount of time, I had to step in and take her car away pending a review by DMV for her ability to drive.  DMV allowed her to drive with many restrictions after that, and she continued to drive....and unfortunately have crashes.  After I found out that she was still unable to control a car, it was decided that she was to stop driving.  her car was repaired and sold....Quick score check: Career=lost, Car=lost, independence=impaired.

Mom's MS continued to spread until she was in bed for most of the days, and unable to maintain her home.  This home, by the way, was custom built to her specifications just a couple of years earlier.  It was her dream home, and she planned on spending the rest of her days in this home.  As the days went by, she realized that she was going to be unable to live there by herself without help.  She grudgingly made the decision to sell her home and move into what she thought was an assisted living facility.  Lets look at that score once again....Independence=holding on by a thread, Dream house=lost.

To put this in perspective, she was diagnosed in late 2003, and we are now in early 2005.  This is how quickly MS can strike.  In a very short amount of time, she has come close to losing everything.

The facility that she opted for turned out to have provided her with an independent living apartment.  This was undoubtedly due to her mental state as she thought she was signing up for assisted living.  To further illustrate her mental state, she was starting to miss paying bills, and paying some of them multiple times.  Her checkbook register was a mess, and she was overdrawn on her account.  This had never been a problem before, and I started really talking to her about what was going on.  Being proud, and wanting to be independent she had not told me much of what was going on.  After we talked, the decision was made to enact the POA for her business affairs so that I could take care of her finances, and made decisions for her when she couldn't.  Final score....Independence=lost.

In 2007 she once again moved to a nicer facility that offered assisted living and terms that we could agree on.  She started to improve with the medications being monitored, and the assistance that was provided to her.  She was still progressing with MS and it was getting worse.  The flares would at times put her in the hospital, other times would keep her in bed for weeks on end.  She was wheelchair bound for long stretches.  For the most part she would walk with a walker if she was out of the power chair.  In 2011, she started an experimental drug called Tysabry which has made more of a difference in her life than anything.  Not only are the flares not as bad, she is more mobile than before.  In fact, she is going to try and do a local Walk MS event this year and walk 3 miles unassisted.  While not a cure, her current treatment regimen seems to be doing great things to help her get some part of her life back.

It is the NMSS and they nationwide fundraising that has allowed treatments like this to be possible.  I hope that one day we can find a cure for MS, but I think that something even more important to think about is that the money raised through events like the Tour to Tanglewood is helping those who suffer right now.  Mom might not find a cure in her lifetime, but through the efforts of the NMSS her suffering is lessened.  Isn't that what we want for our loved ones in these types of circumstances?  Not only are medications and treatments provided through fundraising, but also counsellors and local resources are provided.  When mom was diagnosed, she knew nothing about the disease.  Through some Internet searching she found the NC Chapter of the NMSS and started researching and asking questions.  They answered her questions, got her involved with a regular phone conference call with doctors, and even helped her find her first power wheel chair on the cheap so that she could be mobile in her home.

The NMSS does so many great things for those who have MS right now, and the research that they are funding is going to help those who have yet to be diagnosed.  MS does not care who you are, or where you come from.  It can affect anyone.  I ride in the Tour to Tanglewood primarily for my Mom, but I also ride for the other 400,000 who also share her diagnosis.  I'm also riding for you, and for me....as we have equal chances of having a doctor say "You have Multiple Sclerosis."

 

 

Please support me this year as I ride another 166 miles across four different counties.  It is very simple to do, all you need to do is click on this link, and press the "Donate to Greg" button.  Whether you are donating $1, or $100, or more...you are fueling my ride, and helping so many people who have MS.  Chances are, you know somebody with MS.  Please feel free to add a comment with your donation and I will happily write their name on my jersey number....because I am riding for them as well.  Let's make this an epic year...a mission possible year!

 

 

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The Evolution of the Bike

I've talked a lot on here about my own evolution as a cyclist, but I haven't really put into a single post the changes that have been made to the Tarmac in a little over a year....15 months to be exact.  Lets take a look at the original version as purchased from Paul's Cycling in August 2011.  It is a 2010 Tarmac Expert test bike.  I purchased it brand new, and it was equipped with Mavic Ksyerium Equipe wheels and Specialized Mondo Pro II tires.  It had a full Shimano Ultegra group, and a BG Toupe' saddle.  A nice bike with lots of higher end equipment, but not top of the line.  It was more bike than I figured I would ever need.

When I bought the bike, I was not wild at all about the white bar tape, or the white saddle, but for an $800 savings, I was happy to take what they had.  Truthfully though, the white grew on me over time, and I actually didn't mind it at all.  The bars did show dirt fairly quick though, but were easy enough to clean.  I knew I had to add some things to the bike after I brought it home, and I did that very day.  All the additions were designed for functionality, and self sufficiency on longer rides.

You will see that a saddle bag was added to store a spare tube, tools, and other necessities.  Bottle cages were added so that I could take water with me.  Under the front cage I added a frame mounted tire pump because without it, the extra tube would do me very little good.  My Cateye cyclometer was also installed on the stem to keep track of the miles that will pass under the tires.  The odometer was set to 0 so that my mileage would be accurate for the bike itself.  Another Cateye product is a strobe light that consists of five LED elements.  It is mounted to the seat tube, and is on any time I am on the road to warn motorists of my presence on the road.  You will, of course, notice the platform pedals...these remained for a very long time until I swapped over to clipless pedals.

This is the way the bike remained for quite a few months until it was time to replace the chain.  This is standard maintenance, but I figured this was a good time to upgrade to a little more stout piece of equipment.  I went with a SRAM PC1070 chain because it had a bit harder metal, and was lighter than the Ultegra chain it replaced.  Of course, the new chain introduced a slipping cog on my rear cassette which was worn too much.  Again, I saw this as an upgrade opportunity and swapped in a SRAM PG1070 cassette which was supposed to be a bit more durable.  I also changed the gearing from 11-28 to 11-26 to take advantage of my higher gear riding style.

Realizing that rides much over 60 miles required more than two bottles of water, I had to add some additional bottle cages.  These seat mounted ones brought my total fluid stores to 104oz which proved to be enough to handle 100 miles in the heat....but barely.  While this is probably a strange addition to a racing bike, I really like having it, and they have proved useful when the bike falls over (twice now) for protecting the saddle from scuffs.

Next on my list of replacement parts that turned into upgrades are my original tires.  After a bit over 2300 miles, they were shot.  The rear tire developed a bulge in the center where the casing was coming apart.  Based on the suggestion from a friend, I chose to upgrade to Continental 4000S tires.  I never knew how much difference a set of tires could make.  My average speed went up immediately 1mph on average with no other changes.  I was sold!  Not to mention these tires have lasted over 3500 miles with tread to spare.

Next on the upgrade list was my cyclometer.  While the Cateye was doing just fine, It was not mapping the ride for me, and I was not getting the data that I really needed.  Based on suggestions from friends, I went with a Garmin 500 GPS unit.  This thing does it all....gives me real time information as I ride, and it records it all to be uploaded to Garmin's website for review and archiving.  The best part, I can now view my route on a map, as well as seeing the elevation data.  Its a very neat gadget, and one that I highly recommend.  To keep things organized, I set the odometer to the exact value that my retired Cateye cyclometer showed.  This way, my overall mileage remained correct.

What really turned out to be a great part of this GPS unit was the cadence/speed sensor that mounted to the rear chainstay.  The speed was not that impressive since I have been monitoring that for some time now, but the cadence monitoring turned out to be very useful.  I found out that I was pedaling at about 60-65rpm's which is way too low as I learned later on.  This accessory helped me get my cadence under control, and up into the mid 80's which is where it needs to be.  There is also a heart rate monitor which the Garmin reads as I ride.  For the first time, I got an insight into how much my body was actually working.  It was going harder than I gave it credit for!

The next upgrade came when my original flat pedals conked out and began squeaking really badly at about 2900 miles.  While I was offered to go with clipless pedals, I opted to stick with platform pedals for simplicity.  These stouter Eleven 81 pedals looked great, were lighter, and stronger than the original ones.  However, they proved not to hold up as well.

Chains wear out, and my second one wore out in the summer of 2012.  Having had such good luck with the SRAM chain before, I opted to keep with the line, and installed a PC1091R chain this time, which was a bit lighter, and was chrome plated on all links.  The weight savings came from the cutouts on the side plates, as the hollow pins were a carryover from the basic PC1070.  Fortunately, I replaced the chain early enough that the cassette was in good shape, and did not need to be replaced.  Hey, I was learning, and finding out when was best to replace things.

My replacement flat pedals didn't last as long as I would have hoped.  With 1400 miles on them, the bearings started to give out.  I went ahead and listened to popular opinion and replaced them with Speedplay clipless pedals.  They were matched to Shimano SPD shoes which proved to be a good combination.  It took some getting used to, but I think I have finally gotten to the point that I really like these pedals, and doubt I could effectively pedal on flats anymore.  I don't recommend them for a casual rider though, as they will reap only a few benefits, and will be plagued with the negatives.

The new pedals necessitated a visit to Paul's Cycling in order to get a proper fit done.  After many hours, over three different visits, I ended up with some more changes to the bike.  To help with the numbness in my nether regions, I got a new saddle to replace the well broken in Toupe.  The new Romin saddle was a nice black saddle with white and red accents....perfect!!!!  Also, the stem had to be replaced to adjust the reach of the handle bars.  As it turned out, it was black as well.  You know, that bar tape was looking pretty rough, so it was rewrapped with BG Bar Phat tape....in black!  It seemed that in a very short amount of time, the look of the bike changed drastically with the swapping of colors from white to black.

This was looking quite good, and I chose to make a slight cosmetic change to help set the new colors off.  I located some red hood covers from Hudz and ordered them.  They gave just the right amount of pop to the front of the bike.  It looked racier already, and all of this was cosmetic/comfort changes.  A pair of Specialized Carbon fiber bottle cages were also installed to replace the original alloy ones.  I have to thank Toni for these since there was no way I was going to spend that kind of money on two cages.  Thanks darlin'!!!!

I thought I was pretty much done with the bike at this point but saw something in a magazine that caught my eye.  It was a mount for the Garmin GPS unit.  I had never been really happy with the location on the stem as it was too far to the rear.  When I moved it to the handlebar, it got on the way, and there was more of a glare on it.  The K-Edge mount was just the trick I was looking for.  It moved the Garmin out to the front of the bar, more in my line of sight, and it was centered again.  Just like I wanted it!

Now, I was in business!  Everything was like I wanted it.  The bike looked great, was performing great, and felt great to my body.  I was pretty sure I had reached the end of the road on major modifications....that is until I started hearing lots of clicks in the rear of the bike.  It took some time to determine where the noise was coming from, but on a particularly bumpy ride, I narrowed it down to the rear wheel.  When I got home, I looked real close and found two cracks in the hoop by one of the spoke nipples.  Not good...not good at all.  This could mean catastrophic failure of the wheel in the near future.  I took the bike off the road, and set out to find new wheels.  No time like the present to look for an upgrade.

While looking for wheels, I spent lots of time on my trainer.  With all the sweating I was doing, the cloth BG tape started to come unraveled, and was slipping all over the bar.  Guess it was time to replace that with something a bit more resistant to sweat.  I chose to go with Lizardskins for the material they were made of.  I also decided to install this myself.  Here is the finished product.  Its not as nice as I would have liked it, but considering it was my first time wrapping bars, I am rather pleased with it.  I'll be interested to see how it holds up over time.  My initial reaction is I really like it.  Its cushioned and slip resistant.

Since I was going to be putting new wheels on, and my chain was at about the end of its useful life, I chose to upgrade yet again, to a higher level cassette.  I replaced my SRAM PG1070 with a new one from SRAM's Red group, the OG1090.  This cassette is forged from one piece of metal with the 9th and 10th gear rings separate.  Its lighter, stronger, and more efficient than the previous cassette.  Also, since my cadence is getting much faster, and I'm doing more climbing, I opted to go back to the original 11-28t gearing.  I matched it with a replacement PC1091R chain.  The running gear is now good for another 2500 miles!

The wheels that I chose were an entry level Zipp aluminum aero wheel.  These are the 101's and they are awesome!  Lighter than the Mavics, better hubs, and stronger.  They are also aero so that my speeds should increase on the flats.  The light weight should make climbing easier as well.  It would have been a shame to wrap these new rims with old tires, so even though the Conti's had about another 1000 miles in them, I decided to put brand new 4000S tires on the Zipps.  I would say that the rolling stock is now good for another 5000 miles.

So, there you have it....the evolution of a bike in just a bit over a year. I'm sure that there will be more to come in the future, but I have to say....I'm proud of my bike.  For about 6000 miles it still looks new, and its built up with some really nice parts which make it much better than when it was stock.  I'm a big fan of the current Shimano/SRAM hybrid drivetrain.  It works flawlessly, and has doubled the durability of the original Ultegra group.

Now, lets ride!

Goals for 2013

I like goals....they keep me focused, and give me the motivation to continue to improve.  Each year I have set goals, and I have accomplished them.  These goals range from simple to rather large and involved, but regardless, I have met each of my goals and exceeded them every time.  Lets take a look back at some of goals that I have accomplished shall we...

2011

This year started out in June with a simple goal of getting on a bike and seeing if I remembered how to ride.  Much to my surprise, you actually never forget how to ride a bike.  I rode for the first time in 20 some years in the month of June.  This was followed by my first real goal related to cycling.  That was the 2011 Tour to Tanglewood.  My initial goal was to ride 30 miles on both days, but after a short month of training on my first "real" road bike, I exceeded that goal, and rode 50 miles each day!  Beyond that, I continued training, and extending the distances that I was able to cover in a day.

2012

This was my first full year as a cyclist, and I came into it with a goal already in mind.  My first goal for the year was to ride a full century followed by a metric century in the Tour to Tanglewood.  I also wanted to raise $1000 for the NMSS.  After completing two training centuries, I met my distance goal for the Tour, and actually more than doubled my fund raising goal!

Another goal that developed in late spring was to be able to ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I got my chance in early June, and managed to ride a full metric century in the mountains.  While I could check this off the list as an accomplishment, I was not happy with the outcome.  Unfortunately, I blew up climbing the big hill of the day and quite literally had to limp the majority of the return ride.  It was a disappointment, but I got the chance to redeem myself in mid October when I was given another chance to ride the Parkway.  This time, the distance was a hair longer, but the climbs were double what I did on the previous ride.  With lots of technique and equipment changes, I was able to conquer the Blue Ridge Parkway, and officially check that off of my list of goals for the year.

A minor goal for the year was to learn how to work on my own bike, and get comfortable doing various maintenance and improvement tasks on it.  Throughout the year, I learned how to replace tires and tubes (good to know for flats on the road), replace chains, rear cassettes, rewrap bar tape, fix a sticky rear derailleur, and do a complete wash after a long ride in the rain.  Its not much, but I am becoming more familiar with the bike, and with that comes the confidence needed to ride the distances that I do without any support.

2013

Now for the upcoming year, which will be the biggest year yet!  I have a great foundation to build on at this point.  I have ridden three centuries, countless metric centuries, and have improved on my hill climbing ability.  Now its time to get serious about my goals.  This year its not just about the Tour to Tanglewood.  Sure, its still a focal point for the year, and a very important ride for me, but there is not much growing room for me in that event any more.  I want more....faster speeds, more climbing, and further distances.  My goals for 2013 encompass all of that.

1.)  First of all, and likely the easiest goal for the year is for me to enter into the 20's for average speeds over the course of a 50+ mile ride.  To put this in context, when I was riding my mountain bike, my average speeds were about 13-14mph which I was excited about!  When I moved up to a road bike, those averages went into the 16's very quickly.  2012 started with upper 16's and has seen mid 19's toward the end of the season.  I'm not far from getting to my goal of 20mph, and might actually see it before the start of the year.  I have been spending time on my trainer working on intervals, as well as pedal drills which should make me a more efficient engine for the bike.  I have also worked on lowering the rotational weight of the wheels, as well as adding an aero quality to them.  The training and equipment should help me break that 20mph barrier, and that will be a huge day for me as it will put me into an "A group" status that I am just not quite able to join yet.

2.)  My second goal for the year is an extension of my Blue Ridge Parkway goal from 2012.  I want to participate in the Assault on the Carolinas which covers 100K distance in the mountains of North and South Carolina.  The highlight of this ride is a 6 mile, 2000 foot climb to Caesar's Head State Park.  The hardest part of this goal is that it comes so early in the riding season.  The scheduled date for it is April 13th, which means cold temperatures and a good chance of rain for the mountain areas.  It will be nice to ride a mountain metric that is fully supported though.

Edit:  Check this one off my list.  It's done!

3.)   The third goal for the year is probably the crown of achievements I will attempt this year.  It is called Double Down to the Beach, and the name just doesn't do it justice.  This is something that I will not be able to attempt prior to actually participating in it.  It is a one day....200 mile ride from Greensboro, NC, to Myrtle Beach, SC.  This is the second year for the ride, and I plan on being one of the riders....hopefully in the "A group".  The first 80 miles will be like most of my rides that I do around home with rolling terrain that will work on my legs over time.  However, after that 80 mile mark, the course profile turns into a shallow decline for the remainder of the ride which should boost speeds, and extend the endurance.  It starts at 5:30am, and ends quite possibly after the sun sets for the day.  There will be full SAG support, but I'm going to be leaning on Toni to be there with me with food, fluids, and a camera.  I'm hoping that she won't need to give me a ride to the destination.  When I'm done....if I finish....I will have ridden about 212 miles in a single day, over two states.  This will be the Hoorah moment of the year!

4.)  My final goal for 2013, is to once again participate in the Tour to Tanglewood.  I will ride the long routes both days which should total around 170 miles or so.  I will try to raise at least $3000, and ride much faster than I did in 2012.  I figure with the Assault on the Carolinas, and Double Down to the Beach under my belt, the Tour will be a piece of cake.


Well, there you have it....my 2013 goals as they sit right now.  I'm sure there will be other goals added along the way as things present themselves, but I think this will be a well rounded set of goals to get started with.  I do know that in order to achieve these goals, I will need to continue my training throughout the winter months.  Look for me on the road, and on the trainer at home.  Miles will be logged in the saddle, tempos increased, power and endurance brought into a whole new level.  I will evolve into a more serious cyclist in 2013.  The days of just pedaling are behind me.  Its all about form and function now which will lead to a more enjoyable experience on two wheels!

The End of the Season: What I've Learned

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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