Shutting it Down

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MS Ride 2006

Saturday I rode with Anthony and Phil, two friends and Mich Ultra team members. We had a good time pacing together for the first half of the ride. At lunch, I ran into my old cycling buddy Don Kueneke from ICCC and it's always a pleasure to talk with him. Later, Paul P. and Ken P. pulled in. Ken is one of my Big Shark teammates and Paul is another ICCCer. These two have a lot of fun together. We waited for them and then headed out to complete the day's riding with some good pacing and some nice strong efforts to bring it home. I had a nice dinner with the ICCC group as well at Chevys. This was good as my HR monitor showed about 4200 KCals burned.

Sunday, I slept in a bit and didn't get to the starting area until close to 7. I shoved down some food and then headed out alone as I thought I had missed everyone. Caught up with Anthony and Phil at the first stop but they took off while I got some more food. After this, I ran into my Buddie Dave Mcatee, another great cycling friend from a couple years ago when I first got started. It was great to ride and chat with him for a bit.

At the second stop, I caught the ICCC guys and Ken again and we road together for the rest of the day. Did some good hammering and I was pretty tired by the end. They dropped me after the last stop but I was still able to bring it home in good time. There is just nothing like this ride. I hope some day I can do it with my son. That would be fantastic Lord willing.

A few tidbits from the weekend:

• Most interesting church sign: Use Sonscreen to protect from sinburn.
• Interesting bike: Saw the guy on the Zinn size 69 cm again. He actually road with us a bit and I got to talk with him. The frame is about 16 years old. Had a steel fork and Dura Ace components with down tube shifters. 16 speed. He said he was thinking of ordering another Zinn Ti frame some time soon (this one was steel). He definitely got his moneys worth out of the first one!
• Best rest stop: Probably the one with the frozen custard near the end of day 1. That really hit the spot.
• Most interesting team: Team Roadkill. We made some good jokes as we passed these guys. They were all good natured though.
• Best moment: We were hammering up some hill on the first day. I see in front of us a guy wearing a red polka dot jersey (the jersey worn by the king of the mountains leader in the Tour). We all started yelling out, "Hey it's Richard Virenque, we have caught the climber's jersey!" and several other things. It was funny and the guy just laughed as we passed him.

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Ranek's Incredible Tour de Donut Performance

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Inspiration

For the past twenty five years or more Dick,
who is 65, has pushed and pulled his son across
the country and over hundreds of finish lines.
When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that
Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in
the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to
the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is
in a small but heavy, firmly stabilized boat
being pulled by Dick.

Speaking of long distances, the RAAM started last week and is finishing soon. In fact, the team category finished yesterday. There is a new enduro category this year which mandates 40 hours of sleep during the race. And it appears that the traditional solo cat is actually racing the Enduro cat. There were critics who said the Enduro category is against the spirit of the race and that they would be slower. Well, this does not appear to be the case as with mandated sleep, these guys are able to go faster when they are on the bike. This is really some interesting racing but nothing that I would be interested in trying. You are talking about being on a bike for 20 or more hours at a time. I just wonder what kind of saddle sores these guys deal with? And recently, the neck brace has become a popular aid to help combat head and neck fatigue.

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Thinking about the 2005 Season

Anyway, here's a few other things that are on my mind regarding training this year:

• It's about time. I don't have much of it that is. I have to be as efficient as possible and then more so. This means like last year, commuting will take the bulk of my training during the week. A lot will depend on how early I can get up. I want to be able to do an hour to an hour and a half riding before work. I plan on using Forest Park for this as it's on the way.
• Use the new weights and bench. I mentioned before that I got a bench with weights and squat tower with lat pull down system. I am hoping this will save a lot of time. First, since I am already started doing AA routines and will do a 4 week MS, followed by strength maintenance two times a week, I will need something other than going to a gym. The bench and tower are in my shed. So it should be easy to go and get the routine's done as soon as I get home. Just twenty to thirty minutes before dinner should do the trick (I hope).
• Use Coggen's ideas. The main thing here is to start working on muscular endurance right away. After reading some of Andy's stuff (and online discussions), lot's of time in zone 2 hr does not seem like the optimum thing to do. So more of the 2x20 type intervals should be the rule in the first part of the season.
• Focus on Tuesday night crits. More racing is needed, that's the main thing here. The crits offer an easy way to race more. By riding to work and then over to the park, I get a decent workout in.
• Lunch jogging. This is a way to maintain/enhance endurance. I'm going to try and do it throughout the season. After seeing how far ahead of me some of the cat 4 guys are in cyclocross, I see that I am at a big disadvantage in terms of ME. Jogging for 20 or 30 minutes at lunch 2 or 3 times per week could help.
• Do 4 BT's a week, not 3. I can see from my teammates that most seem to be getting in 4 hard workouts per week. This includes a fast ride on Sunday morning. Well, I can't accommodate that but what I am thinking is BT's on Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sat. Sunday becomes pretty much a rest day with just a light workout in the morning and maybe some tag-along work with Jonathan on nice days in the afternoon.

Well, last week was a washout (literally) and I didn't get a whole lot of training in. It rained more than I've seen in ages. We actually had some standing water in the back yard. But fortunately, the weight set and bench were fine in the shed.

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2005 MS Ride

Intro

Another MS 200 completed Sunday. This was my fifth MS ride and my third doing the double century. This year I rode with the Michelob Ultra team. It is a large team and we actually held the record for the most funds raised. And because I raised over $500 last year, I was a member of the bronze club. For this achievement I was given yellow numbers and my name was listed at the start finish line with all other $500 plus fund raisers. That was kind of cool. I think I just barely made it above $500 this year too so many thanks again to all of my supporters.

Thanks to Mich Ultra teammate Anthony, I was able to stay at the Budget Inn located very close to the start/finish area. This was convenient as we didn't have to drive over and get stuck in the traffic coming in to the parking area.

Day One

Since we were one of the top five fund raising teams, we received breakfast first and for free. Well, it wasn't that great actually. There was nothing warm and the only good protein source appeared to be some yogurt. The orange juice was frozen and useless.

Our team also lined up first for the official start at 7:30. My Big Shark teammate Phil was there taking some photos despite breaking his collar bone a couple weeks ago on a training ride. We would miss his company during the ride but it was nice to see him there helping out. Anthony and I rode for the early part of this ride. We soon picked up three riders at a rest stop. One of them was a good masters racer whom I had not met before. Mark who races for Dogfish and I think had a good finish at the state RR in the 50 plus. This was a good group to ride with and we took turns pulling at a moderate to moderately hard pace. Unfortunately Mark picked up a couple of flats. The first one ripped his front side wall slightly. He stuck a folded dollar inside the tire to protect the tube. Then his rear flatted a little while later. He said the tire was a brand new Hutchinson. Remind me to continue to avoid French tires!

The lunch stop came somewhat late at around 60 miles I think. Lions Choice supplied the food. I had a couple of roast beef sandwiches that really hit the spot. I also hooked up with a couple of my old ICCC buddies, Don and Paul and Christine (Don's wife). Don told me a curios story about how his 19 year old son purchased a Girard turntable and was playing some of his old LP's as well as purchasing old ones at used record stores. I wonder how many young people are doing this these days? I rode with Don, Paul and Christine the rest of the way and had a blast. It had been a while since I had rode with these guys and I missed the fellowship.

The terrain was not too bad. slightly hilly during the first quarter or so. The century route was flat but rather rough for quite some time. I told a few people that they should have placed warning signs out for denture wearers! The temperature was in the low 90's I think but there was a nice breeze for most of the way making it feel mild.

We all managed to do the century without much trouble although Don cramped up a bit at around 80 miles. I felt good at the end but I realized that I was a little sun burned. I had forgot to bring sun screen. But at the welcome tent, Mercy Hospital had provided small sun screen bottles. These were just the right size to fit in a jersey pocket so I grabbed one for tomorrow.

Day Two

Although I had some dinner at the finish line (pasta and salad), I was still pretty hungry. Paul suggested we go to Chevy's for dinner and I was all over that. So we met at the restaurant around 7. I had a sampler platter and devoured it as well as eating a fair amount of chips and salsa. Then a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. No reason to skimp on food when you're doing a double century weekend!

In the morning, I felt ok but a little tired from the sun burn I think. Legs were ok. I made sure to put the sun screen on very liberally before I went out. I had soaked my bibs and jersey in the sink and let them dry out in the car over night. That seemed to work ok. My Descente bibs which I purchased earlier this summer worked great through both days by the way. I highly recommend them.

The early part of today's route featured some steep but short rollers. Some people were already dismounting. Right after the express route turn (for the short 40 mile route), a guy came back somewhat intimidated and said, "you're not going to like it!" And shortly after was a steep little hill. I guess he got a little scared.

Lunch came early today at around 40 miles. Food was supplied by Pfoodman. It was cold cuts in a make your own sandwich kind of style. This worked out well and I had a nice meal. I also put more sun screen on my arms and nose. Got to protect my beak! The section after lunch was perhaps the most enjoyable part of the whole weekend. It was mostly flat with a tail wind. We were easily motoring along at around 23 to 24 mph. We hooked up with several riders from the Gateway club and they pulled us along. This kind of riding feels so good.

The 25 mile century loop was mixed fun. The first part was a tailwind but we could see that you had to come back on the same road and we would face a head wind. I kept asking riders going the other way how the wind was but no one would answer. When we did turn around, I took a fair amount of time at the front pulling the group behind. It wasn't too bad and I was happy to do a little work.

The last twenty miles of the day, I got ahead of the group and just delighted in going a little hard. I was able to maintain a 20 mph pace on the flat sections. There were a few hills in the last 10 miles or so where everyone was dismounting. I just smiled as I pushed my 23 gear up them around a 65 cadence. My legs were handling anything the course could throw at me without much trouble.

I stopped at the last rest stop hoping to catch my group again. But I ran into Steve, an old work colleague from EDS. He recognized me and came up to say hi. He was with a team called Quilogy, a Micro$oft shop. He said he had been doing the MS ride for the past five years. It was great to hear that he was riding the bike and challenging himself on the ride as well as raising funds to fight MS.

I continued on at the same pace to the end. I was passing a lot of people here which is fairly normal. It was a hot day and people were taking it pretty easy the last few miles. As I passed one lady on a road bike I said, "Are we having fun?" She answered, "hell yea!" Cycling on the open road can be so liberating I think. She really expressed it well.

It is always so much fun to get to the finish of the MS ride. There are people clapping and cheering everyone who crosses and a couple of people are there to give you a medal for doing the ride. I still feel a lot of exhilaration at the end. There's nothing quite like it really. And everyone is a winner in this ride so it's fun for all.

Tidbits

• I really tried to keep myself hydrated. Both days were very sunny and dehydration can sneak up on you. I tried to make it a goal of drinking almost a whole bottle of water in between rest stops. I typically carry a bottle of water and a bottle of energy drink. The energy drink I only use sparingly as the sweetness can get old or worse, give you an upset stomach. I also drank a lot in the car on the way over Friday and then I drank a lot after finishing Saturday as well as keeping my water bottle by the bed during the night.
• Best church sign seen during the ride: Pray Harder when it's hard to pray.
• Bikes noticed: The newer Litespeed's have nice paint jobs but I think the coolest bike was a Serotta with an Illini paint job. The rider was wearing an Illini jersey to go with it. Don was riding his restored Pinarello which also received it's fair share of gawks.
• Best jersey: The Nerinx/SLUH team had a sunburst jersey with blue and green colors. Provided by Dogfish I believe. The Chaingang team had chain graphics ornamenting their jersey which was also semi-cool looking.
• Best rest stops: On day one, rest stop 8 featured frozen custard (not Ted Drew's but it was close). That tasted so good as the afternoon was heating up! On the second day in one of the century route stops, someone had made what they called power cookies. These were an oatmeal base but with raisins, chocolate chips, cranberries, and chopped cashews added. Those were so delicious!

Conclusion

This was a great weekend. My only complaint was that there were a few busy intersections that we had to travel on and a road or two that had a bit of traffic. Other than this, the routes on both days were great. The weather was near perfect. Breakfast and dinner could benefit with some variety but you can't beat free by any means. The location of starting and stopping in Columbia continues to be a good idea. Can't wait till next year. I hope to see some of my readers there too!

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New Trek Project One Site

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Wehbes Comes Through!

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Preparing for Battle

Jonathan: Dad, what are you doing?
Me: I'm changing my wheels.
Jonathan: Why?
Me: Because I must use lighter wheels to fight the beast on Saturday (the Adams road hill at Greentree).
Jonathan: Why?
Me: Because I must be fast if I am going to be able to beat the beast. This is kind of like a warrior preparing for battle Jonathan. The night before battle, the warrior must sharpen his sword, sharpen his arrow heads and check the string on his bow. He must make sure that everything is prepared for the coming battle.
Jonathan: I'm going to sharpen my sword too!

Later, as I was reading Jonathan's favorite story from his children's bible (David and Goliath), we prayed for safety, both for dad and all the racers. Hope to see some of you this weekend.

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Cycling Vs. Motorists

But it's going to take a lot of work to improve the awareness of motorists in this city and accept that cycling on roads where cars travel is legit. In fact, according to Missouri law, bikes are treated pretty much the same as cars. But most people are completely unaware of this. A couple of years ago, a women pulled out in front of me on a street. I caught up with her at a stop sign and she immediately yelled to me that cars have the right of way.

Last week I commuted to work for the first time. It was a good experience. It's much less stressful to ride on roads where there is not much traffic. I hope St. Louis will improve it's friendliness to cycling. Currently, it is probably one of the less desirable places to ride a bike on the street.

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Lafayette Crit

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Cyclist Struck Here (Phase 2)

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The Sunflower Fool

This has got to be an April Fool's joke. But with the French, you never can tell can you?

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Pinch Flat

I did a good set of 4 laps at moderately hard pace, took a little break and headed out again. Just after the downhill, my front tire went flat rather quickly. As I went back to the start and took the tire off, I found the characteristic snake bit pattern of a pinch flat. I think this is the first time I have had one of these. Tubular tires are pretty much standard equipment for serious cross racers for this very reason. I was unable to get anymore laps in due to the time it took me to change the tube. Let's hope that was the last time I have one of these.

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