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Top 10 Days on a Bike -Part I

January 22, 2012 By 2 Comments

Sitting on the bike trainer over the last few weeks has given me a lot of time to look back on what Midge and I have accomplished over the last few years. We’ve done hundreds of short rides, dozens of long day rides, a few mini-tours, 1 major tour, and 3 randonneur rides, not to mention 2 RAGBRAI’s. “Why not make a list of my top 10 rides?”, I said to myself as sweat was dripping on the carpet, “God knows I’m not going outside today”. So, without further ado, I give you daveonabike’s Top 10 Days on a bike:

Honorable Mention Harold is Going to a RAGBRAI Party

July 27, 2010: ~100 miles from Cedar Rapids to Charles City, Ia


What Made it Great? Harold made it great. He was up for the challenge. Up for the long ride to get from home to the traveling party that is RAGBRAI. It was very humid. I sweat so much before breakfast that my blue headband’s blue dye bled out and stained my forehead and the back of my neck. But, like many bike rides, the unexpected happened. A few miles outside of Charles City we we’re flagged down by people setting up a stand alongside the road. They were from the local bar called Pete and Shorty’s. We yucked it up for a couple hours and had a few beers. That stop set the tone for the next few days on RAGBRAI.

10. My First 200k

April 16, 2010: 128 miles from Waterloo to Volga, Ia and back


What Made it Great? The challenge made it great! This was my first attempt at riding such a long distance in what I consider a short amount of time. It was hard. I rode with a strong head wind most of the trip. I learned to dig deep to get through it. I used most of the time allotted to me, but I made it. No pictures. I still haven’t been able to take pictures while on a randonneur ride. Stopping to take pictures would use up too much time.

9. Hannen Lake

June 12, 2011: 63 miles from Cedar Rapids to Hannen Lake, Ia and back.


What Made it Great? The weather was perfect and the destination was ideal. Matt and I were training for RAGBRAI and thought this trip had the right distance with the right number of hills. First time visiting Hannen Lake since my childhood. It was a bit more run-down than what I remembered, but it still brought me back to my childhood and camping out at Hannen Lake. It was a nice, peaceful day on a bike.

8. My First 300k

May 7, 2010: 93 miles (185 miles planned) from Waterloo to McGregor, Ia

What Made it Great? It was great because I found my physical limits. It was great because I pushed my limits enough that I couldn’t finish. It was great because I tried.  It was another randonneur trip without pictures, but an important ride none the less. I only made it half way through the ride. It was cold, wet and miserable. The wind was outrageous. The hills were huge. To this day, I still haven’t finish a 300km ride. This year for sure.

7. Lake Michigan Tour: Day 1 (June 6, 2009)

June 6, 2009: 104 miles from Cedar Rapids, Ia to Cassville, Wi

What Made it Great? It was one of the first times I rode in the rain all day long. But even in the cold rain, I got an unexpected boost from the small crowd watching me on the web. The words of encouragement on this blog, the text messages and the Tweets were all noticed and they helped me push through to get to the Cassville Ferry on time. The day was cold, wet and tiring. I discovered the power behind the “where is Dave” feature. I didn’t feel alone. I felt like everyone was watching and cheering me along. All that said, I learned a lesson too: going long distances loaded down with 100 lbs of gear looks easy on paper, but it’s very hard to pull off.

Any guesses what rides made it to the top 6? We’ll go through a few more next week, but until then I have to get back on my trainer.

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The Hills are Alive, Part Deux

June 25, 2011 By 1 Comment

It was a good ride. I love getting to the top of a large hill and looking over the valley. Matt had to walk a few hills, but all was well. I will do it again soon…LIVE: Sunday 6/25/20111! Follow us as we finally ride the hills of the Volga, Turkey and Mississippi River Valleys.This time there\’s no backing out. Matt (blog | twitter) and I will be leaving at 8:30am for the hour and a half trip to Volga. Look for LIVE updates starting around 10:30am by following this link. I\’ll be uploading pictures and tracking my slow trek across the steep hills of Northeastern Iowa from Volga to McGregor and back.MapMyRide.com says there are six category 5 climbs and one category 4 on the route. It may bout be the Swiss Alps, but it\’s enough to challenge this old guy. I\’ll be sending up pictures and comments from the road all day, so check in often (hit refresh to get the latest).These aye the hills that killed my chance of finishing both of my 300k rides. This time, it\’s personal.

The Route

View photos at SmugMug

 

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The Hills are Alive

June 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

LIVE! Saturday, June 18th:
Edit: Early Morning Fog and likely chance of afternoon thunderstorms convinced me to call off the ride…
I’ll be uploading pictures and tracking my slow trek across the steep hills of Northeastern Iowa from Volga to McGregor and back. If you are getting this update by email or rss reader or if you don’t see the map, click here to view the latest updates.

MapMyRide.com says there are six category 5 climbs and 1 category 4 on the route. It may not be the Swiss Alps, but it’s enough to challenge this old guy. I’ll be sending up pictures and comments from the road all day, so check in often (hit refresh to get the latest).

These are the hills that killed my chance of finishing both of my 300k rides. This time, it’s personal.
[Read more...]

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Midge

June 6, 2011 By 1 Comment

CarrievilleGot to thinking the other day, most of you probably don’t know Midge. Midge has been with me on every ride for the last three and a half years. Without her, I wouldn’t enjoy riding nearly as much as I do. She has never let me down, not once. She has put up with me giving up on rides when it wasn’t her fault. She’s put up with me not always giving her the attention she deserves. The least I can do is introduce her to you.

Midge came to me from WebCyclery in Bend, Oregon. I talked to Mean Todd for weeks so Midge and I would be a perfect match. Most people would recognize her Long Haul Trucker frame and a lot of the usual stuff that comes with it, but Midge is definitely one of a kind. First of all, she is the tallest of all the Surly’s at 62cm. There isn’t a lot of those out there. Her wheels are built strong, built for heavy riding, heavy loads and a heavy rider. Over 4000 miles and no broken spokes. Her wheels have stayed true without any help. Her Brooks B12 is perfectly formed to fit my rear like a…well…a glove, I guess. Her flared Randonneur style handlebars help her drops match my wide shoulders. She’s proven she can carry over 300 lbs without a complaint. But don’t let that make you think she can’t ride fast. When she isn’t loaded down, she can be quick, as long as I’m in good enough shape to help her out. Most of the time when she’s out of the house, she’s at work with me. It’s just a 16 mile ride there and back, but I look forward to every ride. Day in/day out she doesn’t care about the rain, heat, cold or even snow. She’s a hard worker and doesn’t gripe about it. She is the perfect bike.

The Surly Long Haul Trucker

When the Utility Blue Long Haul Trucker came out in the summer of 2007, they were about impossible to find. [Read more...]

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Impending Doom

April 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I think we can all relate to the feeling of Impending Doom that comes when we face the unknown. Most of the time when we see doom in our future, it’s much easier to just avoid the situation all together. I’d almost argue that when we face these fears we have the greatest opportunity for the biggest accomplishments in our life. This, of course, is not a unique idea. One of my favorite authors, Seth Godin, talks about it every day. Yesterday, I realized I’m slowly becoming a victim of impending doom, but I plan for this to change.

The ever constant feeling of impending doom is what I’ve felt over my last 2 rides. Actually, I foresee impending doom every time I start thinking of my 300 km ride coming up this next Saturday. But yesterday’s ride was the first time I realized that my emotions were controlling how I rode and controlled my decision to ride on or give up.

Yesterday’s ride, of course, was cold, cloudy and windy. The wind was blowing strong (25-30mph) from the West. My ride was an out-and-back and the way out was all North and East. The first time I turned East, I could fly down the road at 30mph. Hills? No problem. No worries. Instead of enjoying the feeling of practically flying down the road, I started thinking about the ride back. “If I’m going this fast now, what am I going to do on the way back when I’m tired from riding 50 miles AND I have to face this wind?”, then the thoughts of giving up started creeping in almost right away, “Once I get to the turn around point I can just get a ride home.” What a ridiculous thought, I’m only 5 miles into a 100 mile ride and I’m already planning when I’m going to give up. My fears were getting the best of me.

Last Saturday I did give up early. Again, of course, it was cold, cloudy and windy. I was almost to my turn around point and, what do you know, I came across a detour. I could either ride an extra 10 miles, refill my water bottles, turn around (into the wind) and come back…or…call for a ride home. The cold and wind filled my head with impending doom the entire ride out and the detour was the excuse I was looking for. I told myself my knee was starting to hurt, but I’m not convinced it did. I was playing head games with myself.

I really didn’t want to give up this week. If I can’t go over 50 miles a week before a 200 mile ride, I might as well not go next week. Believe me, not going on the ride next week crossed my mind many times. One side effect of these long rides is they give me a lot of time to think. I decided I needed to name my fear. I named it “Impending Doom”. Once you name something, you can get to know what it is, and what it isn’t. Every time I turned into the wind yesterday, I told myself: slow down, don’t push it, I will turn sooner or later, don’t worry about not making time, slow down, RELAX. For some reason, not pushing myself to get through those stretches faster did the trick. I’m not a fast rider to begin with, but I still seem to come well within the time limits. I need to relax.

So, what did I learn? I learned that last year’s DNF on the 300 km had more to do with Impending Doom than my physical ability. Looking back at my control card, I see that I was over 2 hours ahead of the time limit when I quit. I could have rested for an hour or so and kept on pushing before I threw in the towel. I could have gone until time actually did run out on me before calling it quits. I could have rode very slow up those big hills, keeping in mind I need to RELAX.

See you all from the road on Saturday. I’ll leave Impending Doom at home.

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Food for the Road

April 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When I’m on a multi-day camping bike tour, food usually consists of coffee and oatmeal in the morning, peanut butter and trail mix during the day, and couscous for dinner…along with any other local food I can grab. Since I’m going at a slow pace averaging about 60 miles a day, protein is important. I also have plenty of time to digest my food off the bike, not while I’m riding down the road.

I tried to use the same diet during the longer, faster paced randonneur rides (and training rides) and it just doesn’t work. The need to be on the bike as much as possible doesn’t afford me the luxury to sit back and digest a bunch of trail mix or peanut butter. Last year when I tried to ride and eat peanut butter, trail mix, cliff bars or even candy bars I would get an awful stomach ache. I believe it was because my body was trying to decide whether to put its energy to digesting food or moving the pedals. I don’t think my food was being digested very well. Besides a stomach ache, I also had a lot of issues with fatigue. No matter what, after about 60 miles I would loose most all of my energy and feel a sleepy tired.

I knew something different had to be done this year, so I did some research and found a well reviewed nutritional supplement designed specifically for long distance athletes. This supplement is designed for people who exercise more than 4 hours continuously. It has a good mixture of carbohydrates and protein, is all natural and has great reviews on the internet. Drum roll please….this product is Hammer Nutrition’s Perpetuem (believe me when I say that I’m not important enough to be paid to promote this product. This link is there just in case you want to look it up.)

So on the last 2 longer rides that I have done, I’ve mixed up a couple water bottles of the stuff and I have to say it has worked good so far. I don’t need any other food during the ride (ok, maybe a slice of pizza or Gatorade during a short stop, but that’s just because my head is telling me I should get solid food. I think I’ve been conditioned to think that way). My energy level seems to stay a lot more constant. After the rides I feel less fatigued. I have no issues with an upset stomach. The strawberry flavor tastes a bit “yuck” but there is no after taste. I would much rather have a short lived bad taste in my mouth than have my stomach tell me I shouldn’t have eaten something. On both rides I felt like I could go for many, many hours just using Perpetuem.

Now, I’ll have to warn you, I’ve only had Perpetuem on two rides, and the longest of those was 7 hours, but, so far, I’ve had great results from this product. I’ll let everyone know if it doesn’t work, but thought I’d share my new discovery now in case anyone else is having problems with eating when on brevets.

Filed Under: 2011 Brevets, 2011 Day Rides Tagged With: , ,

Viva Las Vegas

April 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Q: What happens when a guy training for his first randonneur ride of the year goes to Las Vegas only 2 weeks before his first brevet?

A: He ends up postponing the first ride 3 weeks.

If you’ve been following my ever changing training plan, the first thing you’ll notice is I’m not big on “sticking with the plan”. I fit my rides around everything else. I don’t make my life fit around the rides. This approach won’t allow me to ride brevets in record time, in fact, it’ll probably only allow me to barely finish them on-time. And forget about qualifying for a 24 hour race. But what it does give me is a chance to live-it-up (within reason) without constantly worrying how it will affect my training.

Now that all my excuse making is done, I should explain how this happened. My original plan was to train up to the weekend of April 2nd, then go to Las Vegas on a short 5 day trip, then keep on training with a 100 mile ride on Saturday April 9th. That would set me up perfectly for the trip up to Rochester, MN on April 16th. Then reality hit me. After my first day in Vegas, I figured out that for each day in Vegas it was going to take about a week’s worth of training out of me. There’s a lot to do in Sin City and none of them helped with training. Sure, there’s plenty of carb-loading, but walking The Strip with a drink in my hand doesn’t count as a cardio workout.

To add to the Vegas losses, the plane ride home gave me bad sinus and throat issues that knocked me out for this whole weekend. I was going to at least try a 100 mile trip on Saturday, but I couldn’t manage to do much more than a little yard work. Today (Sunday) is about the same, but I’m determined to at least get in a short ride so I won’t forget what it feels like to be on a bike.

The New Plan

Taking all that into account, I know it won’t be worth making a trip to Rochester, MN next Saturday. I could try to go on the Apple Valley 200km the week after, on April 23rd, but that’s the day before Easter and I’m not really able to make a 4.5 hour drive back after the ride, so I would have to drive home on Easter. Not worth going through all that for a 200km brevet. The week after that, April 30th, was my scheduled 300km. Since the April 30 Waterloo brevet is scheduled to be a 200km or 300km, I now have to choose to either move everything back or stay with the original plan and try and make up the 200km ride some time later in the season. My gut is telling me to stay with the 300km brevet on April 30th and find a 200km ride some time down the road. Taking the rides out of order will still qualify me for the Super Randonneur award and I won’t feel like I’m way off schedule.

I hate changing plans all the time, but I think this will be best for me. It’ll give me time to shake off this wicked hangover and get back on track. I know I won’t be ready for a long ride 6 days from now, so I’ll do my best over the next 3 weeks of building back the conditioning I lost in Las Vegas and get back on track for my longest ride ever, the 300 km brevet in Waterloo on April 30.

See you there.

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All Roads Lead to Quasqueton

March 31, 2011 By 8 Comments

Maybe not all roads, but at least Iowa County Road D47 does. Matt Wehr (Blog | Twitter) and I will be making a round trip ride from Cedar Rapids to Quasqueton and back this Saturday. Matt is new to the world of the road bike and will be twittering live updates along the way too. This 70 mile trip will be his longest yet.

So come back HERE on Saturday April 2nd starting at 8:30 am CDT to watch us on the map and read our updates from the road. Remember to hit refresh to get the latest updates.

We’re home now, so no more updates from the road.

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It Looked Good on Paper

March 20, 2011 By 3 Comments

When I get a hold of a new training plan, I tend to get a little too excited. I get caught up in the dream of having “the plan” save me from guessing what I need to do. Just follow it and things will fall right into place. Follow the plan and I’ll be guaranteed no DNF’s and a Super Randonneur title by the end of June. Just like every other great do-it-yourself book, the author is a well known expert that has the latest information to scientifically guide you in the right direction.  It’s like having your own personal trainer without the cost. What could be better than having a RAAM winner lay out a training plan for you to get your first Super Randonneur title. Nothing can get in the way. Well, that’s what I thought. Over the last two weeks I’ve tried John Hughes‘ plan and I’ve discovered I’m going to have to change things up a bit from the original plan. Much like other things in life, it looks good on paper, but when you try to put it into practice, it just doesn’t work out the way you want.

Don’t Tell Anyone, But I’m Not Young Anymore

These 43 year old bones and joints don’t recover as fast as they used to. When I tried to lift weights and go for a fast ride in the same night last Tuesday, my knees start hurting. If I try to climb too many hills, my throat hurts from all the heavy breathing. When I go for a long ride in the sun, my skin gets dried out. Cold air gives me a headache and night riding keeps me awake past my bedtime. Not to mention, springtime is full of bumpy roads and muddy trails. That’s hard on the back!

And speaking of my old body, trying to balance my diet is getting complicated. Long gone are the nights of drinking beer, eating pizza and chicken wings then getting up the next day and going for a long ride. I thought I had a breakthrough moment yesterday when I didn’t boink on my 60 mile “long” round trip to Amana. After a bunch of research, I found that Fig Newtons have the perfect nutrition to keep my carbs up for the entire ride. I ate a whole box of them during the ride. I felt great when I got home. So what could possibly go wrong with eating a whole bunch of high fiber figs during the day? Two words: Montezuma’s revenge. That’s all I have to say about that, except that I’m now looking for another good, high carbohydrate, low fiber food to use on my rides.

The New Plan

So, now that we’ve established that I got a bit carried away with my training plan and that I’m old, what’s next? I think if I keep 2 items in mind during my training, things will work out:

  • I absolutely, positively, must always (unless something else comes up) do at least 1 long ride every week. It’s a good indicator if I’m on track or not. This week, my long ride was to Amana and back, amounting to about 60 miles, approximately half the distance of my first brevet. I felt good after I got home and was able to carry on just like I got back from a shorter ride. My time was just short of 6 hours door to door. If I take that same pace for a 200 km ride, I should get done in the time limit of 13.5 hours. I certainly didn’t rush the ride at all. As I mentioned earlier, I’m beginning to figure out my nutritional requirements on these rides. Obviously I don’t have it totally figured out yet, but by the time of my first brevet, it should be all worked out.
  • I have to try to balance on the fine line between doing too much and doing too little. I need to learn to listen to my body more. Even my small knee issue last week took me off the bike for quite a few days. Pushing it without going over the edge. What a great concept. We’ll see how that works.

What shouldn’t change is me attempting to try and get in a short, moderate and long ride in each week. I’m also perfectly willing to drop a ride or a workout if it looks like it’s getting to be too much. I have to take it easy on these old muscles so they don’t shut down on me. Hopefully, that will allow me to keep riding for a lot of years to come.

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Flashback to My Youth & A Training Plan

March 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I dug up this video of me from my teen years. I’m still afraid of going into tunnels:


Why the Video?

That video reminds of the pain I feel every year at this time when my training starts. I rode my first work commute of the year last week and the bike is working great, the problem is the bike’s engine. Like most of us (yeah, I’m talking to you), we gain some weight and loose lots of endurance over the winter. Especially in Iowa. The elliptical, treadmill and weights are kicking my butt right now. As a teenager I had no training, no machines, no regiment, no diet. I would just get on my bike and ride. Guess those days are gone.

March in Iowa is usually cold with small glimpses of warm. Because the brevets start in April, I have to get out on the road now. Hopefully March will warm up a bit faster than it has in the past, but I won’t count on it. Today there’s even some snow blowing around. I hate riding in the snow. It’s cold!

The Training Schedule

That’s enough of the negative, I’m now ready to get riding. Just received the new edition of American Randonneur Magazine (not online yet. I suggest everyone become a member of RUSA so you can get the magazine yourself. It has a great article by John Hughes about training called “Ride More, Ride Hard, Ride Specifically”. John’s training program includes a 5-6 month build up to the first brevet then riding brevets every month after. Of course, I’ll have to modify that a bit. The run up to the first brevet is only 6 weeks, so that part of the program will have to be about 1/4 of the time, then I only have 2 weeks between the 200 km and the 300 km. The 300 km and 400 km are 3 weeks apart, then I get a whole month between the 400 km and 600 km. The basis of the program is to break up your training into 4 levels of intensity. To quote the article:

“I describe intensity in terms of perceived exertion:

  1. Digestion pace: Active recovery outings at the pace at which you ride or walk after a large meal.
  2. Conversation and scenery pace: Riding along enjoying the scenery and talking about it with friends. These rides build endurance.
  3. Headwind pace: Riding a bit faster. If you can whistle you aren’t going hard enough; if you can’t talk at all you’re going too hard. These rides increase cruising speed.
  4. Sub-barf pace: Riding just below the level where you lose it. These rides build power”

With that in mind, John lays out very specific weekly routines involving a mixture of intensities. My modified version, will have 4 training rides a week: A conversation ride of 1/3 to 1/2 the distance of the next brevet, a headwind pace ride that lasts 2 or more hours and a 1 hour ride in the sub-barf zone. The forth ride of the week will be a grab bag from one of the paces, depending on how I feel. I’m going to keep going to the gym to lift weights and fill in any cardio I think might be missing. Over-training is usually a concern with this type of program, but we all know I will never have that problem.

How’s it Going So Far?

Good, thanks for asking! I made my first ride into work last week. That was definitely at digestion pace. Today, I rode 33 miles at conversation pace. It was for the most part on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. It was definitely below 40*, but I have cold weather clothes. I’d rather stay inside, but what ya gonna do? Here’s a couple pics from the ride. I’ll send another update next week.

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