2012 Tour to Tanglewood

If I did nothing but ride a bike all year long, there would be no goals in place, no climax to the time in the seat, and no HOORAY moment.  Personally, I need that moment in things that I put a lot of effort into so that I know when the effort can be relaxed.  For me, the annual Bike MS, Tour to Tanglewood is that hooray moment at the end of a lot of riding and training.  I started riding in the Tour in 2011, just a few months after starting to ride a bike.  In that year, I rode two 50 mile routes for a total of 100 miles over the weekend.  I was impressed with myself and my accomplishments, but for 2012, I wanted more.

My first thought at the end of 2011 was that I wanted to try a century ride.  It was a year away, I had plenty of time.  But a century is a big deal to ride....100 miles in a day!  But I had mentioned it, and that became my goal for 2012.  Of course, to ride that much the first day really sets the tone for the second day, so while I was living in a dream world I went ahead and told myself that on the second day I would ride the 65 mile route, which would max out the riding options for both days.  Yes, I have mental issues, but this isn't the time to discuss that.....yes it is.....no it isn't.....SHUT UP!

Sorry, the voices in my head like to argue at times.

OK, so very unofficially, I had pledged to ride 165 miles over two days.  Knowing me, we all know what this means....it will get done.  I had lots of time to work on my endurance and figure out what I would need to make this happen.  In the meantime, I also wanted to set a fundraising goal which is the most important thing in the Tour to Tanglewood.  In 2011, I raised $610 in about 5 weeks, which isn't bad at all.  However, this year was all about more....so I wanted to raise more.  In January, I signed up for the Tour and I set my goal at $1000 thinking that I would have a hard time getting there.  I wanted to be a VIBE....Very Important Biking Entrepreneur for 2012 to really make it a banner year.

The year progressed with lots of training rides all working up to riding a full century.  I completed my first one in May almost accidentally. but I had a full century under my belt.  I still had a lot of work to do in order to make that happen with enough energy to spare to do a long follow up ride the next day.  My work was cut out for me for sure.  Through the month of June things were going great!  I had ridden a very hilly metric century on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and completed more training rides than in any other month.  Man, I was all set and had even completed another century ride that I survived much easier than my first.  By September, I was going to be able to blast through my planned 165 miles with relative ease.

Things were going so well as a matter of fact that I had already surpassed my fundraising goal of $1000, and chose to raise it to $2000.  I was having a lot of fun raising money to help those with MS, especially my Mom, Elizabeth.  It would seem that nothing would stop me....but I never saw July on the horizon.

To put it lightly, July was a very rough month in pretty much all respects.  I realized that I was neglecting things at home in favor of doing training rides early on in the month.  I scaled down my rides accordingly, but then started with a very simple mechanical issue that caused a domino effect which almost brought my training to a grinding halt.  It was a simple squeak in the right pedal of my bike.  I had dealt with it before, and figured it was the pedal bearings going out.  The problem was this was already my second set of pedals, and they had only been on the bike for about a thousand miles or so....about 6 weeks.  I took the bike to Paul's Cycling and Fitness so that they could have a look at it.  They recommended that I make the move to clipless pedals for the type riding that I was doing.  I reluctantly agreed and went clipless.

The new pedals took some time to get used to, and actually they slowed me down a good bit in my average speed.  But, I told myself to stick with them and give them a chance.  I rode a lot on them, but after about 400 miles I started to notice a serious problem.  My left knee was starting to hurt really badly on every ride.  I knew it was related to the saddle height, and knee angle due to my feet being locked into a specific position now.  It was time to get a fit done.  This was no simple matter, and actually took a total of three visits to Paul's to get finished.  I found out that my legs were different lengths, my saddle was too low, and too far back, my bars were to low, and too far away.  I was a mess!!!!  But Dale got me fixed up.

The fit process started in mid August, only a month away from the Tour.  I was having a hard time riding 50 miles comfortably without my knee causing problems, and even those 50 mile rides were slower than I was used to.  I just kept thinking that I only had a month to get ready for the big weekend, and it was looking like I wasn't going to be anywhere close to being ready for all the miles that I had planned on.  I even asked my wife Toni if she thought that everyone would understand if I didn't ride the long routes.  Of course, she said that they would, and she was right, but in my mind I was going to let myself down if I didn't do what I set out to do.  So.....I put on my big boy spandex and saddled up.  I was going to ramp up training and get ready for the long routes.

The only solace I had at this point was that my fundraising had really kicked into gear.  I had surpassed my new goal, and had raised a total of $2300 to benefit MS.  I had made Gold VIBE status, and was even asked to speak at the VIBE dinner at the end of August.  Talk about an honor!!!  My first year as a VIBE, and only my second year as a rider, and I was getting singled out for what I was doing.  The speech went well, and even pumped me up a little more for what was ahead of me.

From the end of August until Sept 15th, I rode as much as I could, staying between 50 and 65 miles on each ride.  I was feeling good, and occasionally my speed was coming back.  I knew that I was riding nowhere near the distance I was hoping to get in the Tour, but I wanted to peak on that weekend, so quicker paced smaller distance rides were the order of the day.  My last training ride was on Sept 12th in order to give myself time to recover before the ride that counted.  I felt good, but very apprehensive about what was to come.

The weekend was finally upon us and the weather forecast was nearly perfect.  Highs in the low 80's and lots of sun.  It just doesn't get any better than this.  But, here was where I put my legs where my mouth has been for so long.  Could I do it?  Could I pull off a century ride having not done one since the middle of June.....three months ago!!!!  Nervous....you can say that, but I was confident.  I was also very proud to have my wife joining me in her first Tour. 

At 7:30am, the century riders saddled up and started on their journey into Davidson County through places like Midway, Wallburg, and Welcome.  I started out strong with all the anticipation in my legs, but I had to tell myself to be careful about burning out too quick.  Even so, I averaged nearly 20mph in the beginning of the route until we fell into a groove after about 15 miles.  By that point, I had met up with a local banker by the name of Stu who had been riding close with me the entire time.  I figured it was time to join forces and share some company along the ride.  We took turns pulling each other for most of the route, and our speeds were still very strong in the 19mph range which is very good for a ride of this length.  I asked what his plans were for the rest stops and he said that he only planned on stopping on the extra loops which I could deal with, so a partnership was formed.  It worked out well, because I had the cheat sheet for the route taped to my top bar showing the mile markers where rest stops were, as well as when we broke from the main course.

As we got into the second half of the route, Stu started talking about his legs feeling rubbery which he wasn't liking very much.  I tried to do more than my share of pulling to help him along, but it wasn't too long after that when he paid me one of the biggest compliments that I've had as a cyclist.  He was coming out of the draft position and moving in front of me when I said I was happy to stay in front to let him rest.  His response....I can't rest back there, being in the front is the only way to slow you down.  We remained in this formation for the rest of the day which allowed him to ride at his pace, and forced me to conserve energy for the next day.  It was a win for both of us.

The funny thing about the century route is that there is a bonus loop at the end where you get your last 20 miles.  It is not covering much new territory, in fact, you visit the last rest stop twice!!!  You also start that loop at the entrance to the park.  After 80 miles we were ready to be done, and when we saw the park road, and the traffic direction pointing us in, we felt a little strange passing by knowing that we were in for another 20 miles.  But we did it, and maintained our pace at an average in the 18's which is still very strong for a ride of this length.

While at the last rest stop....for the second time....I spoke to Derrick Huff, one of the big wigs with the Central NC Chapter of the NMSS.  I jokingly expressed my unhappiness with the ride data that was provided for us.  Based on the route summary we were given, I was planning on just under 2000 feet of climbing to be done on this route which seemed very easy considering the distance.  According to my cyclometer, we had passed that amount of climbing before we hit the midway mark.  In fact, when it was all said and done we did more than 5000 feet of climbing which is more than I did riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the MOUNTAINS!  We joked about it, and just carried on with the ride.  It was an unexpected turn of events that I set a record for climbing on this ride....not just a distance record.

After a little over 5.5 hours of riding, I had ridden over 101 miles and officially joined the Bike MS Century Club!  I had done it....and even better, I still had energy for Sunday's route and knew that a metric century would be no big deal at all.  The best part of all is that Toni had not just ridden the 18 mile route as she was thinking, but rode the 40 mile route and did it with no problem at all!  I'm so proud of her!!!!!  We ate some well deserved food to refuel, and got some swag to bring home with us.  Then it was time to visit Mom and tell her how it went and then off to home to get the bikes prepped for Sunday's ride.  Toni was even saying that she was going to ride the 24 mile route!  Awesome!

Sunday morning I was still laying in the bed, and Toni was up getting ready for her shower.  I heard her ask if it was raining.  Raining?  Can't be, there was only a small chance in the forecast for the evening.  I got up and went to the front door.  CRAP!!!!!  Not only was it raining, there was water flowing down the street there was so much rain falling.  It was pouring!  Now, I hate to ride in the rain because I don't like the cleanup on the bike, and don't like all the extra wear and tear on the components due to the grit from the road being splashed up into every nook and cranny.  I was already saying to myself that I got the long ride done and that Sunday was a much lower key day.  Everyone would understand if I didn't ride in these conditions.  But then I saw something strange....Toni actually still wanted to go.  I mean genuinely wanted to go, and not just for me.  In fact, she wanted to ride!!!  What has happened to my wife?  She wants to ride in these conditions after doing her longest ride EVER just the day before.  Well, that sealed it....what Toni wants, Toni gets, and if she was willing to ride, I had no excuse not to.

By the time we got to the park, the rain had turned into a heavy drizzle, this was much better than the full on downpour from this morning.  We had a friend who lives in Alabama running forecasts for our area and told us that more than likely the rain would be slowly moving out of our area within about an hour of the start time.  My thoughts...the bikes were already soaked, might as well go for it.  Its like jumping in a pool, once you are wet, you might as well swim.  In comparison to the 2000 riders from yesterday, Sunday's participants looked like a large club ride.  There might have been about 200 or so riders...proof that the mental institutions will never have to close down.

As luck would have it I saw Stu again as Toni and I were slogging our way to the start line.  I asked him if he was riding the 64 mile route today or was taking a shorter one due to the weather.  His reply....doing the 64 if you are going with me.  Well, that sealed that....I was doing the 64 and I was doing it with Stu.  We would make it through together.  I gave Toni a kiss and wished her luck on her ride, and Stu and I took off into the rain.  By the way, there is nothing quite like riding in the rain with no fenders on your tires.  You douse yourself with water, and get a constant spray in the face from those in front of you.  Drafting was not going to be a good idea today and that was figured out early.  It was for the best because speed was not a good thing on these roads with road bikes.  Grip was greatly reduced, and brakes became spongy gobs trying to stop a greasy wheel.

The ride went well, and smoother than I thought due to the weather.  There was very little traffic out on the roads which was very nice.  We went from Tanglewood out through Lewisville, Forbush, Yadkinville, and came back through the Brandon Hills Vineyard area, Courtney, and West Bend before returning to the park.  Over the course of 64 miles we stopped only twice for quick breaks.  This was great because our speeds were much slower, and the only way to make up time was to bypass the stops.  The good news was that the rain decided to clear off about an hour before we were done with the route.  The roads were just starting to dry about the time we got back into Clemmons...but return we did.  We completed our metric century for Sunday, and in just two days, I had achieved all of my goals for the 2012 Tour to Tanglewood with $2300 raised, and 166 miles ridden.  Just to add icing to the cake, Toni came in the second day with 24 additional miles under her belt with only one mechanical malfunction.  She was hurting, but she had done it....with a two day total of  around 65 miles!!!!!

It was time to load the bikes up and take them home and give them full baths.  There was road grit everywhere on both bikes and they were just generally nasty!  In a surprising twist, Toni actually wanted to do some of the less glamorous stuff on the bike like washing it.  She is slowly becoming a cyclist, even though I don't think she realizes it just yet.

In all, it took longer to clean the two bikes than it did to ride either of our routes on Sunday.  It was a full day, but a good day.  And now the bikes are sitting back in their part of the garage waiting for the next set of goals to be dished out for next year.  In the meantime, I'm taking at least a week off from cycling as my reward for a ride well ridden.

Garmin Links to both days

Saturday, Sept 15, 2012

Sunday, Sept 16, 2012

Thank you to all that donated to both Toni and me.  All of that money is going to support people just like my Mom who has had MS since 2003!

Getting Balanced and Blueprinted

Automotive gear heads know what I'm talking about here.  Its when you really go in and fine tune the actual build of an engine.  Every tolerance is checked, and made perfect, rotational parts are milled so that there is no vibration, and everything it put together just so.  The hope here is that the engine will run smoother, put out more power, and operate as though it was hand built by a master.  But this is a cycling blog....not a muscle car page.  So why are we going into engine building you ask?  The answer is simple, since I am the motor of my bike, this entry is all about me getting balanced and blueprinted.

I've been cycling for a bit over a full year now.  In that time, I have pedaled about 5000 miles between two bikes.  Other than one knee problem, I have had no issues to speak of in that time.  My speeds have been constantly improving, and I have joined the century rider club with a couple of century rides under my belt.  It would seem that everything was going smoothly between me and my bike.  I mean, I was fitted to it when I bought it, so everything was good....right?  That's what I thought, until I made the choice to go to clipless pedals that is.  When I was originally fitted, it was a basic fit, based on the platform pedals.  Since my feet can be in any number of positions on those pedals, the fit was more of a best guess than science.  Don't get me wrong, Jay did a great job with the original fit at Paul's Cycling and Fitness, but I didn't give him much to work with admittedly.

When I went to clipless the problems started, but I didn't realize it at first.  I rode about a half dozen times with no problems.  I didn't even fall (I'm amazed)!  But what was happening was my feet were locked into a position on the pedals that was significantly different from what I was used to with the platform pedals.  I could no longer adjust for comfort, but I wasn't seeing any problems so I just rode on happily.  It didn't last long though.  I set out on a light recovery ride after two days of 50+ mile fast rides.  This was going to be a slow and easy 50 mile ride, but at mile 13 things started to go south.  My left knee started to hurt along the top of my kneecap every time I pushed the pedal down.  I figured that this was just due to the extensive riding that I had done over the weekend.  I pressed on.  By the 30 mile mark I was in pretty bad pain.  I was starting to have trouble putting the pressure on the cleat needed to clip in.  I was in trouble.  I was thinking of alternatives on how I could get home because frankly, I was doubting I could make it.

Stubbornness runs deep within me though.....I pressed on, making use of the clipless pedals and pedaling with primarily my right foot.  There are advantages to being trapped on your bike I suppose.  I picked a direct route home that did not include many hills because those were quite painful to climb.  I made it home and started to nurse the knee.  It hurt for a couple of days, but not too terrible.  However, it hurt way more than it should have from a recovery ride.  I wrote it off as being tired.

Fast forward a week.  I was off work again and feeling good.  My intention was to try for another century, or at least do 70-80 miles.  I set off on a good pace and had no issues until I hit mile number 23...and then the knee started to hurt again.  By the time I got to my favorite spot to take a break at 35 miles, I was having enough pain that I knew it was time to turn around.  I did a quick search on my phone to confirm that pain on the anterior side of my knee was due to the saddle being too low.  It was, so I broke out my tool set and raised the saddle about a half inch or so.  I climbed back on and started to limp home once again.  Boy, this is just not fun!  I noticed that the pain didn't get any worse, and seemed that it was easier to pedal.  I paid attention to the angle of my legs as they were on the down stroke.  It seemed that there was still a bit too much angle in them, so I decided to raise the saddle a bit more when I got home.

I had now completed two 50 mile rides that ended with knee pain.  This was just not good at all.  It was compounded by standing from a seated position, and climbing out of a car.  Something had to be done.  I knew that it was a product of the setup of the bike, but I could not believe that things were this bad out of whack on a bike that had been fitted to me, and the only change was pedals.  I was starting to get desperate, knowing that the 2012 Tour to Tanglewood was coming up soon and I was wanting to ride a total of 165 miles for two days.  At this rate, I would be hard pressed to ride 30 each day.

I put a call in to Dale at Paul's and explained my issues.  We decided that I would benefit from a full Body Geometry 3D bike fit.  I couldn't argue with him, so I set up the appointment.  I was expecting something similar to what I had before, but boy was I wrong!!!  The first nearly half of the session was spent off of the bike.  I was pulled, pushed, and split open....not to mention accidentally rolled off of a table onto the floor (that was quite funny).

Dale checked everything from my hips to the soles of my feet.  What we determined was I appeared to be symmetrical.  Well duh...aren't humans supposed to be symmetrical creatures?  My feet even rested at the same angle.  Things were going great so far!  But then Dale had me lay down on the table and he pulled my feet towards him.  He found that I was no longer symmetrical.  My right foot was closer to him than my left.  How could that be???  Well, there was another test to determine where the difference was.  Come to find out, my left tibia is a centimeter shorter than my right.  As Dale put it, that is easy to correct for.  If it was my fibula then I was just screwed.  I guess things were still going well at that point.

Some of the measurements were more funny than others.  Here you see Dale measuring me for my saddle.  What I'm doing is sitting on a patch of memory foam that records where my sit bones reside, and gives an accurate measurement of how far apart they are.  Come to find out, I have narrow, non-child bearing hips.  Thank goodness for that!!!  It turns out that my saddle is the correct size for my butt, but Dale mentioned that he thought I would benefit from a slightly different design and we talked about that briefly.

The fit was not all about measurements, there was a good bit of testing of my flexibility and range of motion.  In some areas I was very flexible, and performed better than expected.  In others, I was about as flexible as a concrete slab.  Here you see the test for my quads.  My lower leg should hang perpendicular to the ground in this test.  Needless to say, I missed that by a long shot....on both sides.  What this shows is that my quads are very tight, and need to be stretched and loosened.  Tests also showed that my hip flexers, and IT bands were also much tighter than they should be.  All of this was putting undue stress on various joints in my body....namely my knee!  That same knee that is on the shorter leg.  I was starting to understand the problems I was having.  My left leg was having to reach further than my right one to do the same thing on the bike.  With the tight muscles, things were pulling much harder than on my right side.  Hmmm, I felt like I had my answer already, and I hadn't even got on the bike yet.  Speaking of the bike.....when does the fit come in?

It was finally time to get on the bike.  That turned out to be more difficult than I imaged.  The bike was elevated while on the trainer, I could not lean it to me, and trying to balance on the Speedplay cleats was a challenge in itself....but I got on.  With no changes at all to the bike, it was time to get baseline measurements and to see how I moved on the bike.  One of the first measurements that was taken was the angle of my leg when the pedal was at the 6 o'clock position.  Remember, I had raised my saddle by feel when my knee started to give me problems.  The height that I left it at gave me a 29* angle, which Dale said was close to perfect!  Well isn't that just wonderful.  I succeeded in setting the bike up for my body by feel...so why was I here?  Well, there are plenty of other measurements that got made, and showed how badly the bike was out of whack.

It turned out that my saddle was close to the right height, but was too far to the rear, by about 3.5 centimeters.  That put my foot too far forward of my knee on the down pedal.  Another reason for the increased stress on that left knee.  Now I'm really starting to wonder why my knee didn't just explode climbing hills.  Other measurements were made to determine the angle of my body while riding on the hoods and in the drops.  These measurements were close to being ok, but Dale was not happy with close.  He made notes on his papers and started to formulate changes that needed to be made.

It was time for a break so that he could make some changes to the shoes, and get some static measurements to the bike as it sat, and start to adjust things the way that thought it should be.  After about an hour, it was back at it again.  The new Romin Evo saddle had been moved forward and Dale thought that he had things pretty close to right, so I mounted my bike again, and started to pedal to work myself into a riding position.  My leg angle was now at an even 30* and the knee over pedal angle was pretty close.  If you will notice the plum line just below my foot in the following picture, that is how that measurement was determined.

Things were coming together now, but he still needed to move the handlebars back, closer to me, to relieve some of the stress on my arms and shoulders.  This would be accomplished with a new stem.  Dale even noticed that my bar tape was wearing out.  I had started to notice the hole developing on the right side just behind the hood.  We selected some Bar Phat Tape which has a nice gel insert to help the pressure on my hands.  Black was selected to match the new saddle.  As it turned out, the new stem which was going to be added was also black.  Nice!  Nothing like a total makeover of a bike without planning for it!  The fit was pretty much finished and he sent it back to the shop to get the changes made to it and ready for pickup.

So what about that leg length difference you ask?  Well, I have now been fitted with platform shoes.  The left shoe now has a red spacer to make up for the difference in length.  I walk funny (funnier than with just the cleats on) now, but it does make pedaling feel better.  I also got BG footbeds as insoles in both shoes which provides more support to all the bones in my feet.  It feels strange, but I can tell the load is now more evenly distributed across the whole foot.  Now when I pedal, my joints don't notice that one leg is longer than the other, and everything is symmetrical again.

After a couple of hours, the Tarmac was ready to be picked up from the shop, and I have to say, it looks quite nice with the new saddle, stem, and bar tape.  Here are some close up pictures of the new stuff.

So, how did all of this work when it came time to put in into practice?  Well, I can say that it seems to have made a difference.  I finally made it out to test the changes and to see how my knee liked it.  Starting out, I still had a little pain under the kneecap, but I had been stretching since the fit trying to work the muscles loose.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I set out for what was planned for a 50 mile route (since that seems to be the furthest I can go these days).  It took me some getting used to since a lot of the bike's geometry had changed.  I had a hard time getting started as I tried to find the pedal...which was quite a bit further back than I was used to.  The bars were also closer which made steering different than I was used to, but all in all, things seemed to be more comfortable than before.  That is with the exception of the saddle.  I remember breaking in my Toupe saddle and how uncomfortable it was initially so the discomfort was not a concern...it would pass.  However, I think that it could stand to be angled down a bit more to relieve pressure on certain delicate parts.  Dale said that there would be adjustments to be made, and I have a follow up appointment with him in about a week.

The ride went well, not spectacular, but well.  There was no pain, but I was working on increasing my cadence which was also recommended from the fit.  I moved it up to the mid 70's which for me is really moving my feet!  But I was getting used to it, didn't like it, but was getting used to it.  When I got to my planned turn around spot, I made the decision to keep going for a bit more to see how I felt.  I kept putting off turning around until it was just as easy to keep going and make a loop out of it.  When it was all said and done, I had ridden just shy of 70 miles with very little pain.  In fact, there was no more pain than when I started the ride.  This was actually a pretty long ride since I have not been riding much over the last month.  The distance was needed to get prepared for the Tour routes in less than a month.  Training needs to step up, and thanks to Dale I have more to train on than just adding distance.

One of the things that Dale stressed to me was my after ride recovery time.  For the first time, I left the bike dirty outside and went in to start the process.  First there was stretching.  This is the best time to stretch because the muscles are nice and warm and supple from being worked.  This took about 15 minutes.  After that was an ice pack on my left knee to relieve any swelling and inflammation.  This took about an hour, but was better than the alternative which was an ice bath.  While I may still sit in a tub of ice one day, today just wasn't going to be the day.  A simple ice pack on my knee provided enough chill to turn the knee red after the hour.  With all that done, I headed out to get the bike cleaned, lubed, and put away.  Nothing like a full day based around riding!

I have to say, the 3D fit is a very involved process and it is very time intensive.  However, Dale made it a lot of fun.  Toni and I had a great time laughing along with him....usually at my expense.  It made the day go by quickly.  What I got out of the day was much more than a bike fit.  I got valuable training information, insight into why my body was giving me problems, and maybe more importantly, what I can do to reduce my pain, as well as enjoy longer, faster, and more efficient riding.  I have a lot of work to do, and a lot of training that needs to be done before I see the full benefit from the fit, but I think that it was a resounding success.  I'm looking forward to getting a few more things dialed in on the bike which will complete the balance and blueprinting process....mating rider to bike. 

Going Clipless, so the cool kids don't laugh any more.

Ahh, my flat pedals, how wonderful they are.  Simple, effective, no special skills required to operate.  But.....when you think about a nice road bike these pedals NEVER come to mind.  When I bought my Tarmac almost a year ago, it came with basic resin flat pedals (seen on the floor).  This was for test rides only, but that was fine as it was all I knew about how to pedal a bike anyway.  I was told that I would want to get pedals for the bike after the purchase.  What????  I just rode it around the parking lot and I was pretty sure that it had pedals!  Actually, I knew that they were talking about clipless pedals.  I had heard about them, and understood the basics of them...enough to know that I should probably fear them.

I bought the bike and decided with the staff's help that I would get used to riding the bike, and then in a month or two come in for some "real" pedals.  I could live with that because I am a procrastinator by default.  The months went by, and I thought about getting pedals....but winter was upon us.  The last thing I wanted to do was put on new pedals that I would have to learn how to use at a time when I might not be riding too much.  I felt that the best decision was to hold off till spring (procrastination is a wonderful thing).

Well, I rode the bike regularly through the winter and when Spring came, I was able to ride even more.  The thought of clipless pedals occurred to me yet again.  But my speeds were getting faster, and my distances longer....I'm not really seeing the need to get clipless pedals right now.  I could put it off a little longer...maybe in the summer.

In May, I hit 2900 miles on my flat pedals with no complaints at all, other than the right one was squeaking like a trapped mouse.  It was time for new pedals....why not go with clipless?  I've got to get new pedals anyway.  Well, I decided that it was much cheaper to get some platform pedals (I'm kind of cheap too), and I wouldn't have to learn how to clip in and clip out of pedals.  Done!!  New flat pedals it was.  The picture up above shows the new Eleven 81 pedals which I really liked.  They were beefier than the previous ones and promised much longer service life.  I was happy, and went with the motto, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  And so, I was happy for about 1300 miles when the right pedal started to develop a click.  It was toast!

A quick trip to Paul's confirmed that, and I was treated to a barrage of comments like: "I don't think I've ever seen any other Tarmacs in here with flat pedals", "You have to have put more miles on those flat pedals than anyone else has", and "you will be more powerful with clipless pedals."  This is not to say that anyone was putting me down.  It is a running joke that I'm all for, and enjoy the banter.  I like being a little different than everyone else...but the fact of the matter remained.  I was in a very small minority in my choice for flat pedals.  That minority might actually only include me.  There has to be something to that statistic, so I figured that I would have to make the jump to clipless pedals....or what my wife refers to as "clippy shoe things".

I had done the research....you know, since I was going to go clipless shortly after buying the bike a year ago. I'm a procrastinator, but I do plan for the eventualities where I can.  My choice was going to be Speedplay...it seemed like the best choice as they are very strong pedals, and allow a large range of motion which is very important for my poor knees.  That was the easy part, I also had to decide on shoes.  Honestly, that was a very difficult part since I wear anything from a 14 to a 16 depending on shoe maker.  I have really big feet, and you know what they say about guys with really big feet?

They wear really big shoes!  Get your mind out of the gutter!!



I did lots of asking around and found a few different types of shoes that would work well for me.  The only problem was I had never paid that much for a pair of shoes....ever!  The bad part was I couldn't even walk in the shoes...they were specific in purpose....transfer power from your leg to the pedal, to the drive train of the bike.  Their beauty was not in comfort (although they actually are), it was in efficiency...something that I was losing with every stroke wearing my running shoes on flat pedals.  Thanks to one of Toni's coworkers, I was able to find a pair of Shimano shoes along with the Speedplay Cro-Moly Zero pedals that would surgically attach me to my bike for a reasonable price.  Its kind of like paying the jailer to lock the door on you.  The logic escapes me, but this is what the cool kids are all doing.

I should have been feeling like an official cyclist now, but I was really worried about what this was going to mean to my rides.  Everyone is pretty much in agreeance on this.  "You will fall, and you will do it at least once, but probably more."  I had read articles in magazines that detailed how cyclists will come up to a stop sign, and be unable to unclip.  When the bike comes to stop, they simply fall over like cane that's been let go.  It is a low speed fall, so chances are you will live...unless there is a car passing you and they run over your head, but I digress.  After getting up, that same article states that when you start out, you might miss clipping in, and the bike loses momentum.  Again, you fall over because you won't fall in the direction of the loose leg....oh no, you will fall on the trapped side.  This is a rather daunting thought since you will be in an intersection when this happens.

You know, come to think of it, clipless pedals is kind of like going to lunch with your best buddy who orders something strange on the menu.  He takes the first bite and you can see the disgust on his face as he spits it out exclaiming...."That is horrible!!  How can they expect anyone to eat that!"  You are all prepared to take his word for it and join in on the hatred of said dish...but oh no.....he promptly adds "Here, taste it!!! Its terrible!"  Uh.....I think I have all the information needed to make my decision without the practical experience.  Yeah, that is just like clipless pedals.  So why on earth did I decide to take a bite and taste it for myself?  Honestly, I don't know, other than the fact that in this situation, I'm going to jump off the bridge cause everyone else is (don't tell mom, she warned me about that as a kid).

OK, I have all that I need, except for the cast and bandages, but I'm sure the hospital has those ready for me.  Now comes the fun part....shoes, some assembly required.  I'm used to lacing up shoes, but I've never had to put a total of 14 screws in a pair of shoes before.  There was measuring, and lining up, and figuring out a lot of instructions before I had my shoes built.  These same shoes that I couldn't walk in before....well, they became near impossible to walk in with the addition of a half inch of cleat attached under the ball of the foot.  But again, they were not for walking, they were for pedaling.

The pedal installation went smoothly on the bike.  Off with the flats, and on with the Speedplays.  I have to admit, this is what a road bike should look like.  It was instantly sleeker, and more stylish....and instantly more intimidating to me.

The time had come to put the shoes on and clip in.  Just getting my leg across the bike was an experience.  I just knew I was going to fall over since the shoes were like ice skates on the concrete floor.  After I got my leg hoisted over the seat I went to clip in.  Ahhhh, it all made sense to me now.  I know why they are called "clipless" pedals now.  There was no click, and no clipping in.  No matter how much I tried, I could not get the cleat to attach to the pedal.  I even over powered the brakes and started to spin the rear wheel with the force I was exerting.  This can't be right...not at all.  I politely let the pedals know how I felt about them.  I spoke in a very calm voice, and said warm reassuring things....so it was an R Rated dialog, big deal!

I gave up and went inside.  I was not a happy camper, but I refused to let the pedals win.  I pulled everything apart and lined things up differently, to reduce some of the angles.  I had some great telephone assistance from Zac Gavin (The Wrenchman) who walked me through some possible solutions.  He also told me that they were going to need a great deal of pressure to clip in.  So, after getting everything back together it was time to see if I could get it to work.  Since I had had a shower, I didn't want to get hot and sweaty in the garage, so Toni let me bring the bike in the house.  She said it was cleaner than I was so no big deal about it being on the carpet.

Somehow, I managed to get it right, and got both sides to clip in.  It took some doing, but that was what I was told to expect.  The shoes, cleats, and pedals now worked together.  It was time to go for a ride, aka go for a fall.  I kept thinking to myself that I have cycled for over 4000 miles without falling down.  I've been pushed off the road a couple of times, but still managed to stay upright.  The thought of falling over all alone at a stop sign was a little hard for me to accept, but I was told it was part of it.  If I'm to be a cyclist, its part of dues.  The plan was to leave out early the next morning to go for a ride.  The amount of falls would determine when the ride was over, not the distance.

Morning rolled around, and as luck would have it....RAIN!  It was a mixed blessing because I was happy not to ride.  However, I knew that the next ride would eventually happen.  The procrastinator in me was in full swing, but I decided to just go for it and get it over with.  When the rain stopped and the roads began to show signs of drying I suited up and got the bike ready.

To really understand the humor here, you have to picture our driveway.  It is quite steep...so steep in fact, I will walk the bike down to the road to keep from burning up the brakes.  I saw no need to stray from this custom.  I had the cleat protectors to keep them from getting damaged while walking so I put the shoes on and started to walk the bike down.  It was awkward, but I was not having any problems with it.  My speed started to increase, and I could feel my heels losing contact with the concrete, and there was very little grip on the balls of my feet.  The bike was getting faster, and I was about to do a face plant right there in the driveway...not even half way to the street.  By some miracle, I managed to slow the bike, and myself, regain my composure, and walk ever so cautiously down to the road.  Now, I was able to take off the protectors and start to get on the bike.  No easy task for me as of yet, but I got on.  Granted, I looked like a wobbly toddler doing it.  All the while one of my neighbors was watching the spectacle while on his morning walk.  He made the comment "you look a little stiff this morning."  Being the quick witted individual I am, I replied "I'm not stiff at all, its these new shoes, the heel is on the wrong end."  Humor aside, it was time to put up or shut up, the pavement awaited.

Awkward only barely describes me getting out of the neighborhood.  I was able to clip in and out of the pedals, but what had once been a graceful experience was replaced by a want for training wheels again.  I quickly decided that I would never again give grief to a cyclist who did not stop for a stop sign.  It is a lot safer to run them which does not require unclipping and then finding the pedal again.  Of course, I was still yielding, and slowing down to the point of stopping just in case.  The fact was, I didn't want to unclip at all.  I was actually quite happy with the concept of just riding for the rest of my life without stopping...but that wasn't possible.  I had to make several stops, and get rolling again just as many times.

What I learned was coming to stop was not that big of a deal at all.  I could anticipate the stop, and could get unclipped with relative ease.  The worst part was hearing the hard parts of the shoe grinding on the pavement.  I kind of like my things to always look new, but that wasn't going to be a possibility.  The hardest part for me was getting going again.  With one foot clipped in, and the other on the ground the routine went like this. Push down on the active pedal, and look to the opposite side for the other pedal to come up.  Then try and plant the shoe in the right position on the pedal and push down which continued my acceleration and usually resulted in a very pleasing "click" to let me know that I was now a prisoner once again of my bike.

This routine played out many times, sometimes smoothly, sometimes not so much.  There were a couple of times I missed the pedal and my foot slid right off.  This was easy enough to recover from unless I was climbing a hill.  That was when things got dicey.  When I missed the pedal, I lost momentum.  When that happened, I could feel myself going over....on the clipped in side every time.  Fortunately, I remember some great advice I had heard....if you miss the pedal, you can pull up with the other foot.  I was able to do this and get the bike going again, staying upright, and giving myself another chance to play Whack-a-Mole with the empty pedal.

My route went as normal, and I ended up doing a base ride of 50 miles for my first time using clipless pedals.  I don't know how...but I didn't fall a single time.  I'm sure I got laughed at by motorists when I was fighting to capture the pedal with my cleat.  It did look funny, even from my end.  I had a few close calls, but I think I managed to avoid anything bad because I do have a lot of miles under my belt and I have learned a lot of bike handling tricks along the way.  Every time I should have gone over, I was able to think quickly, evaluate the situation, and react in a proper manner.  Does this mean that I will never fall?  I hope so, but I seriously doubt that will be the case.  I can say that I have 50 miles on clipless pedals and no falls so far, and for that I am proud.

I have learned some new things on this ride though.  The first is that these pedals do allow you to use different muscles than flat pedals do.  It has been a very long time since my legs have ached on a ride...even when I ride centuries.  I found that my hamstrings were screaming at around the 30 mile mark.  This makes sense because up until now, I used that muscle group very little on the bike.  But with being a prisoner of my bike, I am now able to pull up on my pedals instead of just pushing down.  The benefit is clear here....more power output once I get used to using everything in unison.  I did notice higher speeds on some of my climbs which was very nice.

I learned that with clipless pedals it is more important than ever to anticipate what is going to happen.  Being a cyclist will make you a defensive rider by nature, but being locked into your steed will change the importance of that like nothing else will.  It goes without saying that if you see a stop sign, you plan the slowdown, and the unclipping.  You think about which side you are going to lean over to so your foot can catch you.  But, you also have to keep in mind that the bike might flop the other way and you need to be ready for that eventuality.  You also have to judge the speed of vehicles more accurately than with flat pedals.  You need to be prepared for the eventuality that you miss a pedal, and you are in the lane of travel.  Give yourself more room before you jump out in traffic.  The biggest thing I can say about anticipation is anticipate that other drivers will change your plans for you in mid stream.

An example happened at a difficult intersection in Walnut Cove.  There was a stop sign where I made a right turn, to go over railroad tracks, and then come to a stop on a steep decline.  Yeah, I forgot about this or I would have avoided it today.  I negotiated the first turn with no problem.  I didn't even clip in with the left foot since I had enough momentum to carry me over the tracks and get ready for a quick stop at the white line.  However, a driver turning left, made a very shallow turn, and essentially turned into my lane, right where I had planned to stop.  Just coming off of the tracks, I was not very stable, and had to grab my brakes.  I was planning on leaning to the left, but the bike was already going to the right.  I had to stop, so I was going over in that direction.  I had considered that possibility prior to the turn, so I was able to unclip the right side and plant the foot where I needed it to stop the fall, and the collision.  I considered myself lucky, and clipped in again....by the way, clipping in while stopped, pointing downhill, when shaken up is not very easy to do.

While I made it home unscathed, the shoes weren't quite a fortunate.  You can see some of the carnage from what happens when you miss the pedal.  I found that sometimes you have to just push with what you have in contact to get into traffic and fix the positioning later.  I hate that I have scarred the shoe up like this, but I'm sure with time, there will be no new marks added.  They did well, and I had no mechanical issues on the ride.  All of my issues were operator error, and that is easy enough to work on.  Am I happy that I've switched to clipless over flats?  Not really.  Did it improve my ride experience?  Not really.  Will I ride clipless on my next ride?  Yes, I will.  Can I see the possibility for benefits to my ride?  Yes, I can.

There is a learning curve to everything in cycling.  Even getting on a kids bike with training wheels, there are issues that have to be worked out.  Every stage requires a new set of skills to be added.  It was daunting learning to shift my integrated shifters when I first rode the Tarmac.  Now its second nature.  In time, I have very little doubt that I will see the reason that so many others have gone over to clipless pedals.  And even if I don't realize the full potential of them, I am now one of the cool kids!

Pedaling the Parkway

OK, so with any hobby/passion in life there are certain things that you feel like you would want to accomplish in that realm.....a bucket list of sorts.  For me, cycling has its very own bucket list.  Surprisingly, after only 10 months of riding seriously, I have been able to achieve several of the experiences.  From riding 50 miles, and later on 100 miles I have developed the endurance that I have wanted.  As far as locations, I have ridden in many different counties and cities in North Carolina.  I have participated in the Bike MS, Tour to Tanglewood.  All of these things were on my bucket list for cycling.  There is also another experience that I have wanted to try for some time now, but didn't really think that I was ready for it.....to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway.

You see, when I was a photographer, I spent many days on the Parkway taking pictures, and driving up and down looking for scenic vantage points.  Never once did I look at it through the eyes of a cyclist.  Well, I do remember seeing cyclists riding up the hills and thinking that I had better stop the car and get out to help them look for their mind...because they had obviously lost it somewhere.  Now that I understand cycling a bit better, and know what the human body is capable of I find myself reconsidering my initial reactions to cycling on the Parkway.

I figured that this would be a "fun" challenge for me to embark on.  Being rather familiar with the Blue Ridge Parkway, I knew that there were more hills than any sane person would need on a bike ride, but for some reason I found myself wanting to give it a try if for no other reason than to prove that I could do it.  The opportunity presented itself in a rather auspicious way.  I have been following the activities of the Kernersville Cycling Club which is newly formed in my neck of the woods.  I've been considering joining them for a while now, They have done many group rides in the local area which I haven't been able to join for one reason or another.  However, I saw them posting about a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, scheduled for a day when I was not working, and my wife, Toni was at work.  Hmmmm, this was very tempting to say the least.

The timing was working out wonderfully, all that was left was convincing myself that I could actually turn the crank on my bike well enough to go up the long grades without embarrassing myself.  Fortunately, I had a vacation scheduled for the week leading up to the ride, so I was able to put a lot of miles on the bike to condition my legs for what I was sure was going to be a rough ride.  Up until Friday night I wasn't sure if I would be going on this group ride.  It was that little voice in my head that got the better of me.  "This is a great opportunity to ride somewhere you have always wanted to ride, and with a large group of cyclists for company."  The more I thought about it, the more I decided that letting this chance slip away would be more of a regret than actually failing at the ride.  The decision was made....go for it!

When Saturday morning came, I woke up early and had a good breakfast.  I racked my bike for transport (which doesn't happen often) and loaded up the truck with snacks and other important things that I would need on the ride.  With everything all loaded up, I left out early in order to go and meet Barbara Fulp with the Kernersville Cycling Club.  As it turned out, I was the only other person there ready to caravan up to the Parkway.....not looking promising, but I was going anyway.  Barbara told me that she didn't know how many would be meeting us up there, but knew that there was already a good group up there representing the Cape Fear Cyclists which came from Wilmington, NC.  They were camping up there for the weekend.  From this point on, whatever happened, I was going to be a part of it, and that was exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

The trip up to Fancy Gap, VA didn't take long at all and we arrived at the KOA campgrounds where the other cyclists were already there camping.  It took a little while for everyone to assemble, and there were a few announcements that had to be made prior to heading out.  There were two main routes from which to choose from.  The nice thing about these routes is that they both share the same road, just one goes longer than the other.  That is a real benefit to out and back routes.  As long as you can estimate when half of your energy is expended you can decide when to turn around.  The "short" route was 24 miles to the Mabry Mill and back, and the "long" route was 31 miles to Rocky Knob and back...for a metric century (62 miles).  For those who know me, it will come as no surprise that I chose to take the longer route telling myself that I would turn around if I needed to before reaching my goal....yeah right!

Not that I was in a rush to start the onslaught on my legs, but we got off to a late start by about 30 minutes or so.  In that time, all sorts of things were running through my head.  Will this be harder than I thought, or will it be easier?  Only time would answer those questions, and I was ready to find the answer.  We finally all rolled out headed to the Parkway, but first we had to have a group picture by the sign.  The good news.... a quarter mile was behind me and I was still feeling great!  The bad news...we hadn't really gotten started yet.

When we finally did get moving we were all pretty well grouped up together.  Because of Parkway laws, we were in single file rolling down the road.  The speed was moderate and very comfortable, but my legs were not used to operating at that pace, and I found myself itching to go faster.  After about a mile or so, I pulled out and put the hammer down finding myself on the first decent....and going about 42 mph.  Now this was fun!!!  However, in cycling what goes down, must come up, and I found another hill waiting at the bottom of the decent.  Speeds slowed, but I could handle it with no problem.  As the saying goes, I had lots of gears left.  I was feeling confident, and I liked that.  I also realized about this time that one of the other cyclists had followed me when I left the group and we stayed together for a very long time.

Normally, the first 10 miles of my rides is a warm up and its where I am getting my rhythm down.  That just wasn't happening on this ride.  With all the ups and downs, my speeds went between 8 and 40mph in a matter of minutes.  There were no flats to speak of, just ascents and descents.  The first 10 miles started to take its toll on my legs.  They weren't hurting, and there was lots of energy left in them, but they were confused.  This was so much different than what they were used to.  The first rest stop was at 11 miles, and was quite welcome.  My partner and I were the first ones to arrive at Groundhog Hill (elevation 3030 feet).  We had about a half mile lead on the next rider, who was about 2 miles ahead of the pack.

I'll be honest, at this point, I was feeling very confident about the ride.  I was in the lead group, and was keeping about an 18mph average speed.  This was easier than I had thought, and I could do this all day....or so I thought.  We stayed here for a little while, and I ate a snack to keep my energy up.  Then it was off again.  This time it was a group of three that set out, and it shortly became the same two again.  Not bad....I'm really doing well out here.  The rolling terrain continued, and the hills started to get a bit steeper, but nothing that I couldn't handle, albeit at a slow pace.  We still hadn't been passed and that made me feel great (overly competitive at times, I know).  The next stop was at approximately 24 miles into the ride, and that was Mabry Mill.  I was starting to get hungry and thirsty, but the decision was made to keep the momentum going as we went on to Rocky Knob (elevation 3572 feet).  Looking back, this was a terrible mistake on my part.

We continued on, and found the big hills had yet to be climbed.  About 5 miles from the destination we started what would turn out to be a bit over 2 miles worth of climbing.  Keep in mind that I have never climbed a categorized hill before, and on this ride, there were seven cat 5 climbs....this was not one of them.  This was a cat 4!!!  It kept going and going.......and going.  I had become rather familiar with the small chainring already, and had even dipped into the low gear on my rear cassette, but I was living in the low/low combination now, and wishing I could go lower.  I was out of gears, and regretting my decision to swap the 11-28 cassette for the 11-26 a few months ago.  Oh well, we live with our choices.  The climb kept on going, and my riding partner left me to continue on at a faster pace (I had no more coal to put on the fire).  As I neared the top, about .3 mile away from the crest it happened.....I cracked.....popped.  My legs just gave out, they were screaming at me, and I couldn't continue.

The worst part about that feeling is knowing it is a form of giving up when you put the brakes on (redundant on a bike that is traveling about 4mph) and stop.  It was a huge effort to dismount from the bike, and once I got my feet on the ground I quickly realized that I could barely stand on the ground.  Now the questions started...."Why did I want to do the metric century on such new terrain?"  "Should I just turn around and go back falling less than 5 miles from my goal?"  "Could I make it back under my own steam?"  It was that last question that really bothered me.  I had not come this far to fail now.  I was not going to turn around, and I was not going to give up.  But......I also knew that I was no longer firing on all cylinders.  I was done, but I had to continue on because failure was just not an option.

While mustering up the huge amount of energy that was needed to complete the climb, I was passed by the third cyclist from earlier.  I decided that I needed to saddle up and get on with it.  It was a slow climb, but I made it and continued on down the road, only to find another climb which taxed my aching legs...but I made it to Rocky Knob.  Again, it was the three of us all alone at a rest stop.  The rest was short lived as they had been there several minutes longer than I had and they were ready to start the return trip.  Knowing that I needed to be able to draft to conserve some of my energy, I decided to leave with them after gobbling up some food to boost my energy reserves.

Once we left, it was not long before I was dropped and they went on down the road.  Oh well, I could do this on my own, I just had to buckle down and make it happen.  I just looked forward to that two miles of downhill awaiting me in the very near future.  When I got to it, I really enjoyed the decent, and just coasted to rest my legs.  What had taken me seemingly forever to climb took a matter of a couple of minutes to descend.  What a let down!  It wasn't much further after that when I came to the Mabry Mill and decided that I would stop and rest here before completing the last 24 miles of the day.

It was here that I found the majority of the group partaking in a nice lunch at the Mill.  This was the trade off for doing the extra mileage, I didn't have time to eat lunch.  That worked out just fine for me though since I have a policy of not eating anything that is unfamiliar to my tummy while on a bike.  It was here that I met up with Sarah and Allen whom I had coincidentally parked behind at the campsite.  Long story, but I was blocking them in, so I felt like it was a good choice to ride back with them.  As it turned out, it was a great way to wrap up the day.  They were pleasant company and kept me motivated to continue riding even though my body was done.  On a side note, Allen can climb like a scalded cat!  I wish I had his stamina.

The hills that had been no problem before were really putting strains on my legs, and I was wearing out quickly.  Again, I saw no way to allow myself to fail on this ride, and I insisted to myself that I continue on.  There were bursts of energy that came and went, but nothing very long lived at all.  Fortunately, Allen and Sarah were not above taking the occasional break, and far be it from me to argue the point.  We even took a moment to stop at a barn that I had photographed years ago in the fall.  I've always liked its character.

It was the last 5 miles that really took forever to go by.  I think even the bike was getting tired.  The drivetrain had been functioning smoothly all day long with lots and lots of shifting.  But on one of the last climbs of the day, it locked up dropping down to the small chainring.  It was a simple problem, and one that was fixed quickly, but I have to hand it to Allen.  When he realized that I was in trouble, he circled around and came to provide assistance, and then rode up the hill with me to make sure all was well.  A nice change from getting dropped earlier in the day I must say.

After a total of 62.5 miles and 4852 feet worth of climbing I was back at my truck.  I have never been so thankful to done with a ride before.  Sure, it wasn't my longest (that would be my century ride last month), but by far this has been my most impressive ride.  I'm so glad that I did it, and I had a great time with both the Kernersville Cycling Club, and the Cape Fear Cyclists.  This isn't a ride I want to do often, but I can see doing it again.....next year.  I'm just happy that one more bucket list achievement can be marked off of my cycling list.

I have ridden on the Blue Ridge Parkway!!!

No....check that....

I have ridden a metric century on the Blue Ridge Parkway!!!!