Hitting the (mid west) Hills

Yesterday, I did some hill work on my bike.

Last May, I did a similar workout.

First - follow those links, and be amazed at my animation skills.

Today I was browsing some of my workouts and noticed that the workout from yesterday ranks as the #3 largest amount of climbing I've done in a single ride. #1 - the ride from May. #2 - Trinona Olympic distance. The Trinona elevation map doesn't animate as well, there is basically just one hill.

I know - for sure - that here in the upper mid west, we don't really have hills. I mean there are some, but it's not like it's hilly around here. Hillier, than Florida, but not really compared to a lot of places. My #1 highest amount of climbing in a single ride - 1,700 feet - over 40 miles. If that were a constant climb, 0.8% grade (or 1 inch up for every 10.5 feet forward.)

Still I'm proud of my hill work - the ride from yesterday was only 16 miles - for 2% average grade (or 1 inch up for every 4 feet forward.) It's no mountain climb, and I got rest every two minutes, but still, I went out and found the hard work and that helps.

Hitting the hills

I hit some hills last night on my bike - actually I just hit the same hill 15 times in a row.

munch munch munch

Two minutes up, two minutes down... repeat. When your legs start complaining, tell them to shut up!

Epic Battle : Mind vs. Legs

A week or so ago I sent out this tweet

Handed out a beating this afternoon. My legs will learn to be seen by not heard!
— Jeremy Solt (@couchtowhatever) August 11, 2013

That was Sunday, I showed them! Mind over wimpy neglected legs! The following day I took it easy, a couple of hours of not-super-intense riding. The following day I dished out another helping of "make yourself better" at a time-trial where I had a decent showing.

Two days off, I like these guys, they like to party.

Friday (Bring the Party!)

I do a new set for me
8x
  20 seconds 100% effort
  10 seconds coast.

Me: How do you like me now!
Legs: ...looking into unionizing...

20 minutes later
Same set.

I'll admit, this was a taxing ride. It wasn't just my legs who didn't want to be a part of that workout anymore. This was really the first time they had put up any sort of fuss beyond getting tired. They were sore.

Saturday

Head out for a swim workout.

Coach: Hey you should do the hard workout today
Me: Uhh, looks ok on paper

I also hear the coach convince another guy to level up for the day, he gives a much more enthusiastic response.

20 minutes later

Coach: Don't pay attention to the other guy, he went to do the easier set
Me: Wha? Huff -- puff
Legs: How are you enjoying the cramping in you calves...and quads
Me: I can deal, SUCK IT!

25 minutes later

Coach: Last set of sprints. OFF THE BLOCKS!!
Me: Where's the ladder? My legs don't work

First Sprint

Me: Goooooo!

Legs: SUCK ON THIS!
Me: GHAAAAA!!!!

Worst cramps ever

As soon as I hit the water on the very first sprint both calves cramped up like I had never experienced. I waited till the people were past and then lumbered out of the water like a sick walrus. Here's where I also mention there is an audience of about 50 high school aged girls watching on, waiting for their own swim practice to start. Lots of stares, and not the kind all the high school boys are hoping for. The coach came over and applied enough pressure to the bottom of my feet get my calves to stop flexing, and I missed the second two sprints. Unbelievable pain.

Next day

Legs: How do you like me now??

The next day was pretty painful to walk around. It was my daughters' combined birthday party though, so I made an effort to get into the bounce house. Much to my surprise it wasn't that bad. Walking was a chore, and my muscles were sore to touch.

So here I am two days later. We're back on talking terms. I've done a mid-level run, some mid-level swimming and some biking. Much to my surprise my legs only really bother me when I'm sitting or walking. They feel fine when I'm swim/bike/running. I'm hoping to be feeling good on Saturday for the last race of the year for me.

TNT Year in Review

This year I wanted to do some time trials, it's in the goal list. I did it every time it was offered but once, and I chickened out that time due to the weather. Here's the year-end recap. All of these races are through a local spoke of the IC3 group. Overall I think it was fun, check them out: http://www.twincitiesspoke.com/tnt
 

May 7 (First Time Trial)

34:14.62 (19.27 mph)

Category	Place
Age Group	21/22
Aero Bikes	51/52
Overall	62/78

May 21

Cold and rainy, and I didn't know that ahead of time, so I was one of like three people who didn't have appropriate clothing

31:27.51 (20.98 mph)

Category	Place
Age Group	16/17
Aero Bikes	32/35
Overall	40/51

This picture looks downright pleasant - that's not the best description for it

Jun 18

30:06.57 (21.92 mph)

Category	Place
Age Group	20/20
Aero Bikes	49/52
Overall	67/87

July 2

This is the first time I had a handicap, they handicap racers to give them more of a good feeling compared the speed demons that come and place near the top consistently.

29:28.82 (22.39 mph)

Category	Place	Handicapped Place
Age Group	16/19	4
Aero Bikes	43/50	4
Overall	56/84	7

July 16

30:16.48 (21.8 mph)

Category	Place	Handicapped Place
Age Group	15/20	9
Aero Bikes	38/46	17
Overall	50/76	22

Sitting at the start line

July 30

29:42.25 (22.22 mph)

Category	Place	Handicapped Place
Age Group	19/22	9
Aero Bikes	46/50	16
Overall	65/85	20

Another start line shot - hopefully I've already started, cause otherwise I look way too intense

Aug 13

29:31.27 (22.36 mph)

Category	Place	Handicapped Place
Age Group	18/21	4
Aero Bikes	51/57	6
Overall	67/93	10

You can tell it's late into the season. The sun is very low on the horizon

Overall

I'm glad I did it. I causes me to have a few thoughts

• Cyclists are fast. I mean I know triathletes are fast on the bike, and many of these people are triathletes, but many are cyclists and are quite fast. I am, often, at the bottom of this group. I am not at the bottom of a local triathlon on the bike (run - different story.)
• 30 minutes is a short race. I'm only six minutes back from the front, and end up in the last 25% of the group. When I go to a tri where I race for just over an hour, 6 minutes back can still be top 10 overall.
• There's tons of room to grow here, six minutes back in an 11 mile race is 5 miles per hour. If I could get a two mile per hour gain I'd only be mid-pack here, but a much bigger contender at triathlons.

Doing the same course over gives me two thoughts

• First, you can do a sort of apples to apples comparison. I know on the first day I went a certain speed, and then on the last day I did the exact same race and finished 5 minutes faster. That's a fun thing to see.
• Second, it's possible that some of that is just knowing the course better.

At least I got faster

Today's bike commute adventure

Yesterday my son got his tonsils out and had to stay the night at the hospital.

Pulling around his hydration system. The hospital people could learn a lot from runners :)

Trying on his clown nose

A dog came and visited. I'm pretty sure he would have worn a bare patch in her fur from petting had she stayed much longer.

I stayed the night with him and he was a champ, and we had a good time. He's doing fine and left for home just after I got to work.

The Trip

So the plan was that my wife would bring my bike the hospital in the morning, and I'd bike to work from there. It's not far, 10 or 12 miles and mostly on roads or trails I already knew. I woke up around 6 which was just a few minutes before my wife showed up. We chatted for a bit, I went and pumped up my bike tires and then changed and left.

So, I had looked at a route, I was going to hook up with a trail I had biked a lot a bunch of years ago, take that to Hopkins, hop on another trail, take that to a road I think is fine to ride on and then take that all to work. Something like four turns. No big deal.

Step 1: Find the trail

Map of me looking for the big green line

Since I had been on this trail many times I (naively) thought I would recognize it. I also had my phone with me, so I could stop and check for directions if I was lost. I pop out of the hospital parking garage, look at my phone and decide that it wants me to go west, it's morning, so I head toward the sun. I get to a major road and decide that perhaps I've gone the wrong direction. Check the phone, yep. Head back - pass the hospital, it was 1/2 a block away from where I started. This whole number happened before the map above as my watch searched for satellites and then waited for me to press the start recording button.

So I make the turn onto the road (thankfully I had only one choice on which way to turn) and then head toward where I believe the trail should be. I realize at this point that I don't recognize this area, and honestly when I think back that's because the trail is well hidden from the outside world and unless I had ever gotten off of it here, probably many people don't know it's there.

In the end, based on that map, I rode under the trail for three times before I realized that I was riding under it. The last time I rode under it I even saw the tiny trail leading up to the larger trail. This trail I have ridden 100 times easy, so I knew where I was going to get off of it. What I didn't know was how to find the entrance to the other trail.

Step 2: Find the trail.

This looks easy

So the map looks like - just cross the road and you're there. And that's true. And if you're like me and don't spend a lot of time finding new trails you may not be able to find a trail entry. If you're on bike level and don't know what to look for, what you see is a coffee shop, what looks like a bus stop and a factory parking lot. What you don't see is a  bike trail.

I stopped here, because I know coming up is the part of the trail that goes the wrong way.

From here I don't see anything that looks like a trail going anywhere but the one way I know is wrong. The woman is, like everyone else, on the part of the trail I already know. I check, my phone basically says I need to get on the other trail now, just cross the road. I elect to go a little further down the trail I do know and see what I see when I get to what I believe is the point of no return

Point of no return - turn right and I'll be going the wrong way

This is literally just a few hundred yards from the last shot. I know for sure I do not want to head right.

This is what is across the street

The phone is encouraging me to cross the street, so I do. Because honestly there is no oth
er right answer. (Insert Sherlockian comment here.)

The view from across the street

Another cyclist saves me at this point, as it basically looks like I'm riding into a parking lot. He goes trucking through and hops on, to me, an invisible trail. I get on that trail.

Step 3: Find the ... work

Actually this part is just sort of filled with doubt. I'm on a sort of schedule, but I have no idea where I am. All I know is that eventually I should come to a road I recognize and then get on that and take it to work. Once again I realize that from the bike path all roads look basically the same, and almost none of them are labeled. So I ride on, unsure of what is to come and then, thankfully, the road I want is labeled.

The rest, as they say, is history. I got to work a little bit slower than I wanted, but I did get there. I'm sort of hoping for good weather over the next few weeks as my commute to work has turned into a nightmare, and I'd like to be biking it which will take just a little longer, but not be nearly as painfully boring.

First Time Trial

Last night I did my first bike time trial. It seemed like something fun to do, and hopefully would give me a few nights a month where the atmosphere would push me out of my comfort zone.

If you're western Twin Cities local, check it out. Every other Tuesday put on by Twin Cities Spoke.

Honestly I was prepared to whip out my camera and take a bunch of pictures, but then I chickened out, because my first expereince there was parking next to a lady who was already on her bike trainer warming up... And hour before the first rider would start. So, I felt a little out of my element, no pics.

The Setup

I drove up there after work, I picked up a sandwhich and a drink on the way there for dinner. Registration starts at 6, the first racer goes off at 7, and you go off in registration order (approximately) every 30 seconds after that.

I say approximately because the guy three in front of me got number 38, and I got 59, mostly though everyone else was numbered as they were standing in line from what I can tell.

I got to the right area just before 6, then drove the course. A 5.5 mile out and back (11 miles total) along a rural road with pretty wide shoulders. The hills would be described as rollers, nothing killer. The race is based at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, which is pretty much a compound, and suprising to me, you can't see the registration area from the street. No matter, by 6:05 there are cyclists pretty rolling off the side street where the parking lot is pretty much constantly, so it was easy to find.

I pulled in expecting to see a few people there, but there were tons of people there, and a line at the registration tent. So I parked, got in line, filled out the registration / waiver form and got my number. Then straight to the bathroom, the sandwich didn't agree with me I guess.

The Psych Out

Now, I already know I am not a fast cyclist. I mean at my local bike group I can hold my own against most of them. At a triathlon I just hope to not loose too much time, and compared to people who spend all their time riding bike, I would expect to be trounced. What I didn't expect here was that it appeared that MOST people were going to be faster than me, just by looking at them.

While standing in line everything seems fairly innocuous. People are friendly, chatty with each other. Most people seem to know each other. Looking around there are a fair number of time trial bikes, with the deep wheels and discs. And then there are the people who are already warming up. On trainers, having ridden the entire course already, etc.

So I'm thinking to myself, well I didn't bring my trainer. It's 6:30, and I am still in my street clothes, and to bike 11 miles at a warm up pace would take at least 40 minutes. My start number is 59, so I'll be starting at 7:29:30... oh and I forgot my water bottle at home... numbers crunching ... eh, I'll do a quick spin down the street and then settle in near the start and see how that looks.

I should mention that I'm confident now that I'll be pulling up the rear of the field here (both in finishing time and start position) and that makes me nervous, because I like to be more competitive than that. I elect to not wear my new aero helmet that my sister got me for my birthday. Not for the first time trial where I am sure I will be getting last.

The Start

So after my few minutes of warm up I setup near the start. They are going off every 30 seconds as promised. People sort of coast in and find their positions by number, chat it up a bit. I glanced up at the starting area... "Hey look at that, that guy has both feet clipped in, and someone is holding him in place, I've never done that." ... heart beating faster ... The lady in front of me is talking to the guy in front of her. He got 2nd overall in the standings last year. He's wearing regular eye glasses, and a T-Shirt and riding a fixed gear track bike. He rides for free because he did well last year. She eventually looks back at me and says "you'll probably catch me in 45 seconds" I think to myself, likely not.

I get up there, clip in, the guy holding me feels stable. And off I go.

The Race

My heart-rate immediately jumps to unsustainable levels. Not because I'm pushing super fast, but the previously mentioned psych out is in full effect.

45 seconds go by, just kidding, for the first 5 minutes I'm sure I was mostly focusing on breathing and settling down, I was not paying attention to time. 30 seconds is a long time to make up. So really, unless I'm really flying I don't expect to pass many people, though I do notice that I am catching the woman in front of me.

Just under a mile I get passed, and just after that I pass the lady in front of me. For the next three or so miles I am just watching people bike away from me, then get passed again. At the turn around I see someone right behind me. Much to my surprise it takes quite a while for him to pass me, a couple of miles at least. Though what is most interesting about that is, when he finally does pass me, he BLOWS by. Quite fast. I pass one more guy about 2 miles from the end.

The Finish

The lady I had talked to at the start had mentioned she likes to put in her final big push near the white fence at the end. She then went on to tell me there is another white fence that she sometimes gets confused about and that really messes her up. I think I saw the 2nd "not yet" fence, but I don't remember seeing the "go hard now" fence. I had decided I would start in on my final effort with about 3/4 of a mile to go, at 20 mph that's just over two minutes of hard pushing.

Heh, this is funny, there's a small hill right there. I start my push on the way down it, and then push through it and then the last little bit is sort of downhill. So I felt slight trashed and then recovered and honestly the finish is a blur. I tried to push all the way to the end, and then I soft pedeled for a few blocks trying to catch my breath.

The After Party

After my short cool down I went back to my car and packed my bike up. Some people had left, some people where still racing, some people were milling around. I'm not a super social guy, plus it was 8 and I wanted to get home and hang out with my wife for a bit before heading to sleep, so I sort of changed clothes and left.

The results which were advertised to be posted in real time didn't come up till after I went to bed. Real time results would be a neat feature, but I didn't really care that they had a flub with it. They posted to Facebook about it around midnight I guess, and seemed a little deflated. Four hours turn around, and working into the night seems like a nice thing to do too.

Results

Time	30:44.62
Calculated Speed	21.47 mph
Overall	62/78
Age Group	20/21
Division	51/53

Overall I'm not super excited by those numbers. It's hard to say, I probably could have benefited from a longer warm up, and it would have been nice if my heart rate had stayed below 200. What really digs in is that at three triathlons last year I could hold that pace (or close to it) for longer. So I guess I've got some work to do. Hopefully with the first one under by belt the next one will go a little smoother. And I'll break out the aero helmet, at least now I know where I stand :) Oh right, and I guess this is the very start of the season, maybe I should cut myself some slack, but what fun is that? :)

TNT Thoughts

I had fun, it's fun to do races. I didn't quite think of this as a race going into it, but others were clearly there to race. Everything went off without a hitch, and I'll be doing more. It will be fun to, hopefully, see a progression. If you're in the neighborhood and want to do a quick run down the course to see how you stand, give it a shot. Hey, if you're faster than me, are you as fast the the rest? The guy who got first finished in 23:21.9 for a sustained speed of 28.25 mph. And the guy who got last finished in 37:48 for a sustained speed of 17.46 mph

Chewy Hills

I missed my long ride on Sunday so I did it last night. It probably worked out ok because I was supposed to be hitting as many hills as I could and I knew where I could find some sort of close to my house.

Here's the elevation profile from the hilly section

That represents about 15 miles, the distance between peaks is about two miles

I couldn't help but notice (and the stiff legs this morning might have helped my imagination) looks sort of like half a mouth

om nom nom

This marketing worked - on me - sort of

Yesterday I ran across this video for SRAM RED. Now I'm no bike pro, and while I do know what components one of my bikes has on it, I am not totally sure what this is advertising.

However, I do like this ad. And it does make me want what they are selling - and not in that "Late night infomercial way"

Jeremy vs. CylceOps

I recently started getting on my bike trainer to make up for days when the weather isn't so great, or I was at work during all of the lit hours of the day. It has been an eye opening experience for sure. Prior to this, I had never really done any stationary biking. Don't get me wrong, I have ridden a stationary bike, just not in the context of my current training - so I pretty much expected it to be the same, except no wind.

That is not the case.

Observations
First thing I noticed - I sweat cups full of sweat. This requires plenty of water, and a tarp.

Before
After

That's a puddle of sweat, there is probably 1/4 of a cup of sweat there, there are five of those puddles after 45 minutes of riding

Second thing I noticed - riding on the trainer is like a million times harder than riding on the street. I have yet to find a reason to get out of the small chain ring. I am huffing and puffing with sweat streaming off my body just holding a normal cadence in the small chain ring. I've decided there are two main factors.

1. There's almost no momentum - when riding off of a trainer you have all of the momentum of your weight, plus the weight of the bike. And you're likely on a machine that is designed to reduce friction - so if you stop pedaling you keep moving. If you stop pedaling on the trainer, the only momentum you have is from your wheel, or maybe your trainer's resistance mechanism. In the case of my trainer that translates to about 3 seconds of rolling.
2. The resistance is different. When riding off of a trainer, nature provides the resistance in the form of wind and gravity. The trainer provides resistance based on how fast your wheel is moving and applies it to your wheel. Now I'm sure that different trainers offer different resistance in different ways. Mine is a CycleOps Pro Fluid, and I'm not saying it's unrealistic, but it is different. And without the normal context cues of seeing the hill or feeling the wind it feels funny.

Practical Example - these are some cadence logs from two rides

Outside - The line represents how fast I'm pedaling
The dips are times when my legs are moving slower or not at all

Inside - notice the complete lack of rest

It's all new
I'm learning as I go. The first time on the trainer I stopped after 3 miles, or 11 minutes. I couldn't believe how much I was sweating. That was "pre-tarp," I had concerns about the carpet.

The second time is also when I decided to implement the interval training. I had scoped out about 1:10 of workout which included 30 minutes of warm-up/cool-down time. I was out of water and about tossed my dinner after 45 minutes and 9.5 miles.

The third time I had a better game plan, similar interval session. This time I covered that same 9.5 miles in 38 minutes, and actually had some steam for more riding and didn't feel like death at the end.

Pinch me once - pinch me twice

Meaningful Back story
I bought my first bike in 2002 - a Schwinn hybrid. I just wanted a way to get some exercise in and really - really - disliked running. I was living Chaska, near lots of trails, and I was thinking I'd probably never ride on a road. No helmet. Fast forward two years, I had upgraded to a Giant TCR-2, moved to downtown Minneapolis. I was still doing mostly paved trail riding, but the trails were pretty busy, and I had to cross several streets in the course of a 15 mile loop. Still no helmet. Enter my soon-to-be wife - she convinced me to buy a helmet, and like two weeks later I was in an accident, and happy to have had a helmet. It's funny to life works out like that sometimes.

Relevant Current Events
So, my TCR-2 is 7 years old, it has had one tune up, and I'm on my second set of tires. It looks and runs like new, it's a great bike. Last year when we moved to Florida the bike was still on it's first set of tires and had never had a tune up. So we went took it in an got a tune-up and they said the tires were shot (they probably had 3000+ miles on them) and so we replaced them. Around this time my wife picked up a tire changing set, you know in case I get a flat. I had never had a flat, didn't know how to change a flat, but it's probably a good idea to have a tire changing kit. We moved back to Minnesota, and sure enough about two weeks later I got a flat out on a ride. I changed the flat restocked on tire changing supplies and once again life had worked out.

The Interesting Story
On Thursday I headed out with the group for our usual 25-30 mile ride, and about six miles in...pftfff... flat. I don't know much about flats, but the guys assured me this was a pinch flat. In any case, as luck would have it there I am, all the supplies I need I have, and it's not the first time I've changed a tire. So a little while later the tire is changed, the guys who waited for me are confident we're ready to roll and off we go. A short while down the road - we'll say 400 meters - POP, this one was quite a bit louder. I'm sure if my wife had been there should would have said someone shot my tire out. We take a look - uh oh, this time the tire has also failed. We discuss the dollar bill trick and decide that won't work. I'm stuck.

I made a few calls, my wife made a few calls, and some good friends came and picked me up.

So there we go, sometimes your wife steps in and saves your butt without you even knowing and you feel great about that, and sometimes its out of your control and you can still feel good about how it turned out. I'm thankful my wife could help contact friends, I'm thankful for the bike club who waited for me, and even volunteered to ride back and get a car. I'm thankful for our friends who came and got me, and the friends who called me back after I didn't leave a message. I'm thankful for the five or so passers by who stopped to see if I needed anything. All of those things are better than walking back in bike shoes, or riding on a flat rim all the way home.