Deliverance.

Barry came through.  Tomorrow we go off-road.  Yee-haw.

Balmy!

Temps rose in the 50s today here in northwestern NC, which means by nightfall temps were only back into the 40s.  For those of us trying to get out and stretch the legs a bit, that is downright warm compared to the arctic blast of the past few weeks.  We had a little snow the week before Christmas, and the cold hasn't really stopped since.  There are still piles of snow in the corners of large parking lots all over town...

Chancey suggested a night ride, so I joined in and considered it my training ride.  The goal was 20 miles at 17mph avg.  That avg speed seems pretty doable, until one starts throwing in the West End hills.  Some of those grinders will bring you down to about 6mph.  Hit a few of them back to back and they can very well cripple your attempts to pull along Peacehaven 30 minutes later. 

We rolled counter-clockwise and headed downtown first.  Here's a shot of Chancey pulling along down Country Club Rd.  He's a blur of speed...

The West End suffering over, we climbed Buena Vista Rd. and rocketed over to WFU.  For those who've done this, I think you'll agree that rushing through the trail connecting Reynolda Village to WFU is WAY better at night than in the daytime.

Chancey and I traded pulls on Polo and back to Peacehaven.  We took a second to rest, and I caught Chancey looking like he had a hemoglobin of 8.  That's just the flash on the crackberry.

Here I realized that we were not at goal for avg speed...if you can't make out the avg on the speedo, it says 16.8.

Given this dire news, we cranked it down Peacehaven to Country Club where Sir-Chance-a-lot and I parted ways.  It was a good ride with a good buddy.   My legs were definitely burning on the way home.

Here are the stats:

Route:  City Loop Counterclockwise (climbs:  Miller, First, West End, Buena Vista)

Time:  1:37.14

Dist:  28.2mi

Avg:  17.4mph

Next up, a yet-to-be determined Saturday route, but if Northstar gets with it - we might be heading off-road on a 40 mile killer ride.

Bike maintenance and a ride.

Last Saturday, I rode the Cerv a few miles across the land of Walt Disney to watch Coach finish up her first half-marathon.  Read about it here.  The Cerv already needed a cleaning, so I figured one little sprint in the rain / sleet wouldn't hurt, since I'd clean the bike when we returned to NC.  Well, that day was today.

I first removed all the victimized moving parts (here I'm halfway done) and put them through my unusually secret process for cleaning. 

This involves a few methods I usually keep quiet, but will share with you loyal blog readers now.  Here's how the workdesk looks as I go through The Process:

           

The special ingredients are the Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies (milk chocolate, but you can sub in some mint chocolate if you wish) and Egg Nog (in a plastic cup).  Not shown is the critical spaceheater - this shop is NOT very weather-proof.

After downing the aforementioned goodies, I pretty much use a bio-degreaser, occasional alcohol (for cleaning, not drinking) and some Pro-Link chain lube.  I am fascinated by Pro-Link.  The stuff removes dirt and old grease as well as any dedicated degreaser I've used. 

After removing sand (it was Florida) and other gunk from the Cerv, we went for a spin.  30 miles with the goal of 20mph average.  You can imagine how this went, knowing my nutritional intake from above.  Truthfully, I felt more comfortable and in-rhythm than on the previous 30 mile rides.  The hills were not AS bad and my cadence is improving.  The stats tell a tale similar to previous rides, but I chose a more challenging course this time and left my tire pressure lower than usual (since I'll probably lower pressure a bit for the Battenkill).  OK, honestly I forgot to give the tires some air and came up with this excuse much later. 

Check out the new feature this week:  Route.

Stats:

Route:  5 Points straight out to Lewisville, Vineyard Loop, then back Shallowford --> Country Club to 5 points. 

Time:  1:36.31

Dist:   30.55mi

Avg:  19.1mph

Up next, a slower, shorter ride on Thursday night.  Anyone wanna come along? 

Time to ride again.

Tomorrow brings a return to the training schedule.  Although I did manage to ride about 7 miles on Saturday morning (from the hotel to Epcot Center, in the rain and 33 degree weather, I might add), I have been off the bike for seven days.  I'm a little nervous to experience the post-vacation-attempt at riding fast.  I'll surely be eating my Wheaties in the morning.

The plan is for 30 miles at 20mph average.  I can't deny that I'm dreading another 30 mile solo effort, though I know it's the way to go.  Not-so-secretly, I am looking forward to next week's adventures at Salem Lake.  Off-road, here we come.  Perhaps Barry and I will hit the gravel near his house soon, but now that he's rolling some new carbon dish wheels, he might want to keep his bike squeaky clean.

Until tomorrow...

On the road, but not really.

This is a note from the road, but not regarding a road ride, training, or anything Euro at all.  In fact, to mention EuroDisney might cause me to be evicted from the grounds here at the real Disney World.  Coach is running a half-marathon tomorrow morning, so we're chilling out this evening and trying to get to bed at a decent time.  By decent I mean 3 hours ago as the alarm clocks will be going off around 3am...

The crowds will be so crushing tomorrow that I don't plan to head to the start with Coach.  She'll meet up with friends and then take off sometime after 0600.  Wow, that's an early start to a run.  I think that when Greg Lee and I ran the Rock 'n Roll half marathon in Virginia Beach several years ago, we started at 7am.  Then again, I have tried to erase most memories of that painful experience from my brain...

For those wondering if I'm doing any training while I'm here, the answer is a resounding 'no.'  I've driven TONS, and although the bike is here, he's been 'wheels up' since arrival. 

I did catch a bit of a nice sunrise this morning as I jetted down to Ft. Myers to see my dad.

We will head back to NC Sunday or Monday, but I might get a ride in before departure.  Unfortunately, it's nearly as cold here as it was when we left NC two days ago.  Some have said it's the coldest weather in Florida since the late 1950's.

           

Bittersweet surrender.

A nice song by Big Head Todd and the Monsters, yes.  Also apropos for our CLM get-together tonight as we wished Curtis well in his big move to Asheville.  Truly, we're all just nervous thinking of how fast he'll be when he comes back to visit.  A virtual toast to Curtis as he and his wife head off on a new adventure in a great town!  Best wishes.  Here's a lousy shot of the crowd.  Even Alex Ryan dropped by.  It was something special.

And of course, the two main men who made my experience at Paceline Bicycles what it was...

Prior to our killer time at Noma, I hit a 20mi ride around the city.  Tonight's goal was just 17mph, so I felt fairly comfortable.  It was still very cold with a stiff 15-25mph north wind, but I motivated myself with thoughts of the upcoming frosty beverages and good friends at dinner.

Here are the stats, on the ride dedicated to Curt McGirt:

Time:  1:08.15
Dist:    20.75mi
Avg:    18.2mph
RPE varied between 13 and 16 for most of the ride.

No more planned rides 'till next week as we're heading to Florida for coach's half-marathon.  I think I'll take the Cerv with me and see if some time opens up to ride.

The prospect of warm (40 degree) weather is appealing...

Frostcicle.

Tonight, it was back to training rides.  Jill has me doing back-to-back night rides in the 15-20 mile range.  The speeds are not as high as would be on a daytime ride, and that's mainly for safety.  The only hitch in this plan is the weather.  It is just plain cold.  See below:

Monday, January 4                                          

Time            7:49 pm      
Conditions   Clear  25°F       
Feels Like    14°F            
Wind            11mph from WNW

Or so says The Weather Channel.  Not too cold if you live in the Battenkill Valley, I am sure; and not too terribly nippy if you live in NC - as long as you are indoors.  I even contemplated the trainer, but I just hate that thing so I bundled up and went for it.  Tonight's ride was aimed at an 18mph average, which is not an absolute given the multiple stoplights on a modified City Loop.

Going clockwise, I was met with a stiff headwind on Country Club and Peacehaven Rds.  This lessened a bit on Polo Rd as I passed Wake Forest.  I have come to respsect the headwind - it is only helping me become stronger.  The real payoff was Indiana Ave, where I had a killer tailwind.  I was essentially moving with traffic and cranking the big gear.  Power development is one of my early goals, and as I'm prone to spinning, I have to force myself into Jan Ullrich mode once in a while.  That man was diesel on a bike.

Coming around to the end I cruised by the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds, where Ken's Bike Shop has put on a spring/summer crit series for years.  I cut my teeth (and broke a shoulder) racing  here in 2005-2007, but hung up my crit wheels after a scary crash in 2008 racing in Brevard, NC.  Still fresh on the brain is my first Cat 5/Citizen crit in 2005.  I showed up wearing my mtn bike shoes and SPD pedals, promptly got dropped on the 3rd or 4th lap and completed the 30 min race in 'personal time trial mode.'  I was hooked.

These days, I prefer road racing.  That said, there is nothing quite like the adrenaline shot of a crit finish.  Although the idea of dicey corners at break-neck speeds through covered bridges gets me a little nervous, the chance to hammer out a metric century in those conditions far outweighs any fear.

Ok, the cold, frozen stats:

Time:  47:19
Dist:    15.3mi
Avg:    19.3mph
RPE:    max = 17 on Peacehaven Rd., min = 10-12 on Indiana Ave.

Here are a few shots of the coach and me having a post-ride dinner.  Coach is having water since her big half-marathon is coming up on Saturday.  I am not.  Woo-hah!

Next stop:  20 mile ride at 17mph tomorrow night, then a bittersweet CLM get-together at NOMA to see Curtis off.