The Freedom Ride

This morning, Mitchell, Katie, and I rode the 33.5 mile loop of the Freedom Ride, out of Independence, Mo.  We had a blast.  The outbound ride was fairly cool temps with a decent tailwind and gorgeous Missouri countryside/hills.  We stopped at Sibley Orchard at 18 miles for fresh peaches, having averaged 13.7 MPH to that point (we hit 27 miles at nearly a 13.5 MPH.  The last 11 miles were straight into the wind, but we still managed steady, albeit slower pacing.  These times are approximate, and we'll have to rely on Mitchell's trip map for the more accurate times.  But overall, we had a blast and were glad we passed on the planned 58 mile loop, which would have resulted in us riding the last 25 miles into the highest heat and big headwinds.

Sonic Bike Rides

Yesterday and this morning, Katie and I got up early and rode our bikes to Sonic Drive-ins for breakfast and back.  Yesterday, we rode 8 miles over to the town of Spring Hill.  16 miles total for those who are keeping count. We averaged 12.3 mph on the outbound and 14.1 mph on the return.  Life goes better with breakfast and a little tailwind.   This morning we got out at 6 am and rode 14.5 miles to Louisburg (29 miles total...try and keep up here).  Once there, we comparision shopped a different Sonic.  The verdict:  absolutely nothing on their menu is healthy for you.  Given that, we ate like pigs.  12.0 mph on the outbound and 13.4 mph on the return.  Same reasons as yesterday.  Very nice rides and a lot of fun.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to actually show up on time at work, by the way....

Bill

Idiot drivers

With the temperature slated to top out at 107 later today, I got out early. It was 80 when I left the house about 5:15 a.m., but there was a little breeze and at that hour no direct sunlight. For a change I took along some water, even though I was planning on running just an easy 4 miles.
Once I got going I was surprised how good I felt despite the temperature - probably due to the slow pace. I decided right away to run at least 5 miles.
This morning featured another brain-dead driver who was driving east on the road as I was running west on the trail. He slowed down and then stopped as we passed each other, leaned across his passenger and flipped me off, then put his car in reverse and shadowed me as I ran on.
Eventually, he turned around and drove ahead of me a couple blocks, then came back toward me shrieking from behind the wheel and honking his horn.
And to think this bit of drama will be the highlight of his day. Pathetic.
Generally, I "do not engage" in these cases, and I didn't today, but I refuse to be intimidated. They all seem to be very brave when they are in their cars, with a buddy, and can drive away quickly, but they are just cowardly idiots.
Back to the run, I eventually did 6.2 miles averaging 9:27 per mile. The thermometer read 77.5 when I got home, so it actually got cooler between 5 and 6:30. -- Rob

PS: For Mike DeGhelder

Thought you might enjoy this picture of the new tire pump I installed on my bicycle.  I also now carry an extra new inner tube, and a new patch repair kit.   Turns out the cement dries in the tube in patch repair kits you carry around for 19 years in a saddle bag...

This picture is just for you, Mike!

McClave Update #4 (of 4): Three Hills of Death

My final update from last week covers a Saturday bike ride that Steve, John, and I did on a 24 mile course Steve has named "the three hills of death."  This turned out to be a complete mislabel....should have been "four hills (some guys can't count) of death with constant near-death in between!".  The forementioned hills were very sharp and long, and please don't remind me that we enjoyed equally thrilling descents on every one, as I'm entitled to whine after a week of riding.  I was glad Katie opted out for this ride, as she would have had long uphill walks on the 4 big hills.  BUT, we made it up each one, and averaged 15 moving mph on the ride.  It was very scenic, and a great workout!  The picture below is the only one I took on that ride -- of John Cox with his $5,000 bicycle! The last picture is on Sunday just as we drove off back to KC -- Katie and my brother Steve on his cabin's front porch -- Bill

McClave Update #3: Kentucky Morning Ride and Afternoon Kayak

No McClave outing is complete without a day with 2 or more outside activities in it.  On Friday last week, we enjoyed a 22 morning bike ride from Steve's cabin to a nearby marina for breakfast.  Steve and John Cox rode another 17 fast miles to get a car to retreive Katie and I, as we opted for the shorter distance in this very hilly KY terrain.  It was a beautiful morning ride that Katie set the pace for.  Our moving average was 13.5 MPH, which excludes two times we stopped at the top of longer hills for Katie to catch her breath (she's good on short hills, but due to asthma, she needs breaks on longer hills  Frankly, this is no big deal -- we stop, drink, and eat an energy gel). 

In the afternoon we went kayaking on the Green River, which runs through Mamouth Cave nat'l park nearby.  All in all, we had a ball!

McClave Update #2: GOBA (Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure)

GOBA (Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure) is a fabulous ride the exceeded our every expectation!  It was a fabulous event!  I bought Katie an entry level bike off the internet, which worked out fine, and we drove to Hillsboro Saturday 6/16 to meet my brother Steve (recovered from TOMRV the weekend before) and our good friend John Cox from Charleston, SC (runs 7 minute miles, and bikes very fast on a $5,000 Cervello racing bike.  And, he is a great guy).  We rode the first 4 days of this 7-day tour, then bugged out for Steve's lake cabin in Ky.  1.900 riders participated, and this ride is very unique for the high number of families that ride it together.  Katie and I rode the parts of the last day with 2 other dads with daughters her age.  Most GOBA riders camped each night in a giant "GOBAville" site.  We stayed in hotels and shuttled to the start each morning.  Each day, our luggaged was trucked ahead for us, and each day's ride was 42-52 miles long with 3 rest stops.  So the interval distances were relatively short and fast.   My kind of tour, and a great introduction to Katie whose longest ride pre GOBA was 19 miles.  Our days were:

• Day 1:  52 miles from Hillsboro to Chillicothe, Ohio.  Dodged rainshowers and had a ball.  The last 12 miles were on a paved, shaded bike trail along the Scioto River.  Beautiful and fast.
• Day 2:  42 mile loop around Chillicothe.  Steve and John did that loop, but Katie and I had to head back after 2 miles to attend to a difficult flat tire due to glass she picked up along the way.  3 tire fixes later, we got out all the glass and got in a 17 mile total ride together.  The evening featured an outdoor drama  -- Tecumsah! -- which was excellent.
• Day 3:  48 miles to Ashville, Ohio.  Met "Big Dave" -- the hippie sitting next to me in the pictures below.  He rode Bikecentennial in 1976 like I did, only he went W to E.  I went the other direction.  Very interesting guy, and somewhat of an institution around the GOBA crowd.  The evening featured 2 live bands in this small town's central park.  Very nice.
• DAy 4:  48 miles to Washington Courthouse, Ohio.  190 total miles for Steve and John, and 165 for Katie and I.

I strongly recommend this ride to anyone and everyone.  Very well organized with lots of families, pleasant distances, great backroads, and organized entertainment every evening.  A great ride!

Big Dave Rode Bikecentennial in 1976 at age 23.  I rode it at age 20 same year.

McClave Update #1: TOMRV June 9th & 10th

I've been busy with a lot of great June bicycling events, so I'm filing 4 updates this morning.  This one covers the 2-day Tour of the Mississippi River Valley (TOMRV) which I rode with my brother Steve, friend Mike Popiel (we met first night in grad school, June 1978.  He was scheduled to ride across America on the same route I did when he got admitted late to Northwestern, at which point he choose grad school.  We became instant friends and have remained so ever since), and Mike's friend from Chicago named Nick. 

Both my brother and I got to TOMRV with minimum training -- I had around 125 bike miles going in -- and a decided lack of sleep.  We found it to be a very difficult ride.  69 miles on Saturday that included 6,000 feet of climbing and 47 on Sunday with 4,000 feet of climbing.  I have new appreciation for the Hilly Hundred challenge, since that ride features 5,200 feet of climbing on the longer day, by the way.  The big difference is that TOMRV hills are long -- most are half a mile and up vs. less than half a mile for most Hilly Hundred hills.  

We finished fine on Saturday, but on Sunday, I awoke with an settled stomache and couldn't stand the thought of drinking Gatorade.  So I didn't.  I got through hills of 1.5 and 1.4 miles in the morning ride, but ended up dropping out at mile 35 late morning.  This is the first time I've ever dropped out of an endurance event, but had I gone any further, I would have been throwing up.  I've since been using Noonz pills in my water bottle with great success, by the way.  The others finished, but we all had great respect for the hills.  I can't say I recommend this ride -- way too hilly and difficult unless one has serious mileage under his belt going in (the veterns recommend 750 miles cycling as the base going into the ride)! -- Bill

Cramming it in

Great to see some new posts here. Interesting to see what everyone is doing.

Since I probably won't have a chance to run this Friday through Monday, I tried to get as much of my weekly mileage in between Sunday and Thursday as possible. After running the Kevin Gray 5k on Saturday, that meant I ran 5 out of 6 days. I took Monday off, but under normal circumstances I would have had another day off in there somewhere.

So, since Sunday I've done 24 miles, none of it very fast. I'll be on the road most of Friday and house-painting on Saturday and Sunday, but I'm still going to try to squeeze in 6 on Saturday if at all possible.

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I really enjoyed my Hospital Hill half this year. Several runners I know have strong negative feelings about the race, but I love the challenge. It gets hard in a couple of places, but if you haven't burned yourself out early those spots aren't killers.

Of course, we got real lucky with the weather this year. Partly because of that, I came close to my half marathon PR, running 1:49:44 (my PR was at HH a few years ago).

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Hope everyone has a good weekend. Stay out of the heat. -- Rob

City of Fountains 46 mile bike ride

I rode the City of Fountains Bicycle tour today.  It was a great 46 miles. I enjoyed the many fountains KC is famous for. But I can't say I saw all of them. There were over 30 that we passed. Some were small and not all were working.

The biking was pretty good. This was my first ride after my professional fitting.  I was a bit sore, but nothing like my 1st 50 mile ride last year. Or after the 1st day of the Hilly Hundred.  It was also on my new road bike. I bought a Specialized Sequoia about 2 months ago.  I've also ridden it on two 30 mile rides, Tour de Brew and Joel's ride.

The ride was well supported, with 3 SAG stops. The second was actually at the start because the last 24 miles started there again. This was the same 24 miles as the 24 mile ride that many riders did.

It was great weather, a 7 am start. My GPS moving time was 3:55

Here's the route, etc.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/190058925

Bike Fit at Bike Source

I treated my self to a professional bike fitting at the 135th St store of Bike Source.  This was on Thur. 6/14. It was recommended by my chiropractor for comfort and to avoid injury (e.g., numb right hand).  J.P. Shores was the technician that did it.

It was pretty comprehensive. It took over 2 hours.  First there was an interview of the type of biking I do, past injuries, etc.  Then JP took a bunch of measurements and evaluations, such as range of motion, flexibility, leg length, hip rotation.

Then I got on the bike and he did a few adjustments based on the measurements and just good form:

1. adjust cleat position
2. raise saddle height
3. move saddle back on its tracks
4. change reach.  This needed a $60 new stem.

It cost $175 plus the new stem.  The stem was discounted. I also bought new shorts, also discounted because I bought them as part of the fitting.  

I rode 46 miles today at the City of Fountains tour.  I can't say it was a dramatic difference, but it did feel better.  I think it was worth it. After a few weeks, I can go back for some minor adjustments at no charge.

Here's some data from the fitting.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7kvegllat151rn/Bike%20fit01.pdf

Hospital Hill after 6 weeks with injury

I was able to complete the Hospital Hill half on 6/2/12.  This was an accomplishment.

I hurt myself badly on 4/21 at the Free State Trail run, at about 10 miles of 13.1. I mostly walked the last 3.  I tripped, didn't fall, but my fall avoidance caused a bad muscle pull in my right leg where the hamstring connects to the glute.  I totaled my mileage from 4/22 to 6/2:  14.5 miles.  Not exactly proper training.  But I biked 140 miles.  So I was in OK shape.  I took it slow, finishing in 2:35 on my GPS (which stops when I stop) or 2:39 chip time.  Chip pace was 12:08. this is actually faster than some of my 5 runs while I was injured.

It was a great cool day. I'm happy I took it slow and finished.  I walked when I needed to. I hope to run more, but it looks like 2 bike rides this weekend, Clocktower and Fountains.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/186956685