From the MBRA Website is the following list of races:
Date Title Race Type Status
Mar.26.2011 FRCC Spring Fling #1 Criterium
Mar.26.2011 Barry-Roubaix Road Race
Mar.27.2011 Fisk Knob Time Trial Time Trial
Mar.27.2011 AAVC Spring Training Series #1 Criterium
Apr.02.2011 FRCC Spring Fling #2 Criterium
Apr.03.2011 AAVC Spring Training Series #2 Criterium
Apr.09.2011 FRCC Spring Fling #3 Criterium
Apr.10.2011 AAVC Spring Training Series #3 Criterium
Apr.14.2011 Ciociaro Thursday Night Series #1 Criterium
Apr.16.2011 Ragin' Raisin Dirt Classic presented by Tree Fort Road Race
Apr.17.2011 AAVC Spring Training Series #4 Criterium
Apr.30.2011 Willow Time Trial Time Trial
May.01.2011 Cone-Azalia Classic Road Race
May.04.2011 Wednesday Night Worlds Criterium
May.04.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
May.07.2011 Tour of Kensington Valley Road Race
May.11.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
May.14.2011 Tour of the Battenkill - MIDWEST EDITION Road Race
May.18.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
May.18.2011 Wednesday Night Worlds Criterium
May.21.2011 Grand Rapids Bicycle Co. TT Time Trial
May.21.2011 MBRA Talent Pool Time Trial Velodrome
May.25.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
May.28.2011 Das Tour of Frankenmuth Road Race
May.29.2011 Gran Fondo di Thumb Tour
Jun.01.2011 Wednesday Night Worlds Criterium
Jun.01.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
Jun.04.2011 West Branch Classic Road Race Road Race
Jun.05.2011 West Branch Criterium Criterium
Jun.08.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
Jun.10.2011 Le Tour de Mont Pleasant - Prologue TT Time Trial
Jun.11.2011 Michigan Mountain Mayhem Tour
Jun.11.2011 Le Tour de Mont Pleasant - Criterium Criterium
Jun.12.2011 Le Tour de Mont Pleasant - Road Race Road Race
Jun.15.2011 Wednesday Night Worlds Criterium
Jun.15.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
Jun.18.2011 Dan Cihak Memorial Duck Lake TT-State Championship Time Trial
Jun.22.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
Jun.24.2011 Superior Bike Fest - Downtown Criterium Criterium
Jun.25.2011 Superior Bike Fest - Road Race Road Race
Jun.26.2011 Superior Bike Fest - Circuit Race Other
Jun.29.2011 Wednesday Night Worlds Criterium
Jun.29.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
Jul.02.2011-
Jul.04.2011 West Michigan Stage Race Stage
Jul.06.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
Jul.09.2011 Criterium Detroit City Criterium
Jul.10.2011 Terry Reisch Memorial Charity Race Road Race
Jul.10.2011 Ciociaro Club Ontario Cup Criterium
Jul.13.2011 Wednesday Night Worlds Criterium
Jul.13.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
Jul.16.2011 BTR Bike Race Criterium
Jul.17.2011 Make-A-Wish Road Race Road Race
Jul.20.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
Jul.23.2011 Maillot Jaune Road Race Road Race
Jul.24.2011 Le Champion Pave Criterium
Jul.27.2011 Wednesday Night Worlds Criterium
Jul.27.2011 Grattan Race Series Road Race
Jul.30.2011 Kent ISD Criterium Criterium
Jul.31.2011 Milford Criterium - STATE CHAMPIONSHIP Criterium
Aug.07.2011 Hines Park Time Trial Time Trial
Aug.10.2011 Wednesday Night Worlds Criterium
Aug.12.2011 Cherry-Roubaix Downtown Sprints Other
Aug.13.2011 Cherry-Roubaix - Old Town Crit Criterium
Aug.14.2011 Cherry-Roubaix - Michigan State Road Race Champion Road Race
Aug.20.2011 Grand Cycling Classic USPRO Criterium Championship Criterium
Aug.21.2011 Tour De Gaslight Criterium
Aug.28.2011 Volta à Birmingham Criterium
Sep.05.2011 Debaets-Devos Pro-Am Memorial Bicycle Race Criterium
-WCFTW
20110131
20110130
Bicycle Roller Tricks and Tips - NO HANDS With Crash
Typically I try not to regurgitate my content too much, but I just stumbled on this one and like it quite a bit and would really like to share it with you, again. :) I say the word "Fixie" in there too, so this video is full of goodies from rolling no-handed, crashing with a camera on hand, to saying the word I refuse to use in reference to my fixed gear bike, yet find it easier to say with each passing day.
If you really liked the video, I am sure you can find the others in the related videos section, if that is too difficult, here are some links to some of my more notable moments. Enjoy!
The Water Bottle Exercise
The One Footed Exercise
SPECIAL FX PIP GREENSCREEN 1st EVER
This last video is from my knowledge, the first of it's kind in the history of film making, so take that Hollywood! ;P
-WCFTW
If you really liked the video, I am sure you can find the others in the related videos section, if that is too difficult, here are some links to some of my more notable moments. Enjoy!
The Water Bottle Exercise
The One Footed Exercise
SPECIAL FX PIP GREENSCREEN 1st EVER
This last video is from my knowledge, the first of it's kind in the history of film making, so take that Hollywood! ;P
-WCFTW
20110129
Hines Snowbender -17 and a Quarter [Ultra Slow]
HI! Today was quite the day really, and to simplify the post, I'll give it to you like this:
Went to work, left work then went to Team meeting, discussed top secret stuff - not really. After meeting I bought a brand new SRAM chain then went to my cousins house so we could go do a real late night riding session in the snow.
A very very slow pace.
I was riding with a slower rider so it was hard to go much faster without wearing him out too bad. My comfortable pace is about 12-14 mph avg in these conditions and bike type, which is the Schwinn Ranger 2.6 SS manual trans. Today after the Team meeting, I purchased a brand new chain and tweaked my "Ghetto Chain tensioner"
to a higher cog in the rear for an easier gear ratio, it is still comfy in all gear ranges. I must say that I honestly love this bike quite much now. It is awesome fun in the snow!!
Yep, that is the Garmin data. Most of the ride was a sleepy pace but what can you do, Not all bike rides are a road race to the finish and it is actually good for your body to just take it easy every once in a while. What this means now is that I must totally hammer Five-mile hill tomorrow after Cross-Country Skiing.
Or maybe not.
Our first stop was the Plymouth Coffee Bean Company with 15 minutes to spare, we landed us a banana and a cup of coffee and they were splendid.
The Second spot was the remains of the Plymouth Ice Fesival, please see the images below for maximum detail!
BEFORE:LINK - Most of the sculptures were brand spanking new.
AFTER:LINK - Most of the sculptures were left unscathed, yet a few were toppled over like domino's.
Then soon after taking a few pictures, like the one below:
We were soon off to the Grecian Cafe for some mid ride fuel, I had Spaghetti. :)
Then we were off to ride home in the fluffy new snow, which covered at least 2 inches by the time we arrived at our origin. But some very interesting things had happened along the way, firstly, I was filming and totally ran over a mysterious object and caught it on film! Second is that while we were riding, we just so happen to catch some asshat in a VW golf (or a GEO Metro) pull a 180 on Hines right near my cousin, so both of these videos need to be edited and uploaded to this blog. Where we do have the time, I have no idea.
Anyway, this was our night, a very long but fun ride in the snow.
Cheers and ride safe people!!
-WCFTW
Went to work, left work then went to Team meeting, discussed top secret stuff - not really. After meeting I bought a brand new SRAM chain then went to my cousins house so we could go do a real late night riding session in the snow.
I was riding with a slower rider so it was hard to go much faster without wearing him out too bad. My comfortable pace is about 12-14 mph avg in these conditions and bike type, which is the Schwinn Ranger 2.6 SS manual trans. Today after the Team meeting, I purchased a brand new chain and tweaked my "Ghetto Chain tensioner"
to a higher cog in the rear for an easier gear ratio, it is still comfy in all gear ranges. I must say that I honestly love this bike quite much now. It is awesome fun in the snow!!
Yep, that is the Garmin data. Most of the ride was a sleepy pace but what can you do, Not all bike rides are a road race to the finish and it is actually good for your body to just take it easy every once in a while. What this means now is that I must totally hammer Five-mile hill tomorrow after Cross-Country Skiing.
Or maybe not.
Our first stop was the Plymouth Coffee Bean Company with 15 minutes to spare, we landed us a banana and a cup of coffee and they were splendid.
BEFORE:LINK - Most of the sculptures were brand spanking new.
AFTER:LINK - Most of the sculptures were left unscathed, yet a few were toppled over like domino's.
Then soon after taking a few pictures, like the one below:
We were soon off to the Grecian Cafe for some mid ride fuel, I had Spaghetti. :)
Then we were off to ride home in the fluffy new snow, which covered at least 2 inches by the time we arrived at our origin. But some very interesting things had happened along the way, firstly, I was filming and totally ran over a mysterious object and caught it on film! Second is that while we were riding, we just so happen to catch some asshat in a VW golf (or a GEO Metro) pull a 180 on Hines right near my cousin, so both of these videos need to be edited and uploaded to this blog. Where we do have the time, I have no idea.
Anyway, this was our night, a very long but fun ride in the snow.
Cheers and ride safe people!!
-WCFTW
20110123
Wannabe Cyclist does the "Worst Day of the Year Ride" A.K.A. "WannaBeCyclist's 31 mile Hill Course"
Sun, 2011 Jan 23 12:00 Eastern Time
-Please scroll past all this preamble to read the goodies-
From the site:
Say Whaaaa...............
But that is not what really happened... here are the stats:
This was an ass kicker.
From the Schwinn Cycle computer:
Total Odometer reading: 2001.2
Distance: 31.122 miles
Max Speed: 31.2 mph
Average speed: 12.3 mph
Time Elapsed: 2:31:28
-----------------------------
AND:
The GARMIN DATA as recorded.
Summary
Overall
Time: 03:13:15
Distance: 31.10 mi
Elevation Gain: 1,220 ft
Calories: 2,005 C
Timing
Time: 03:13:15
Moving Time: 02:38:24
Elapsed Time: 03:35:51
Avg Speed: 9.7 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 11.8 mph
Max Speed: 45.6 mph
Avg Pace: 06:12 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 05:05 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:18 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 1,220 ft
Elevation Loss: 1,220 ft
Min Elevation: 738 ft
Max Elevation: 982 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 157 bpm
Max HR: 184 bpm
GOLLY GEE WILIKERS! How about some pictures too!
Look at those stats! Red-lined right out of the hole, I got to stop doing that and give myself MORE warm up time and not show up at the very last minute, literally showed up at 11:59. Oversleeping felt very nice today, I might add.
Here is the story, as unplanned as per usual. I awoke to this ridiculous number staring at me, yes, it was like ten-thirty A.M. and very cold outside, great motivator.
Seriously folks, this is freggin cold,, not my favourite weather to be riding in. And for those brave souls who rode today as well, I salute you all, regardless the distance of your voyage's.
After totally rushing to get out to Ann Arbor a few things went wrong right from the get-go. I typically load my bike up with the water bottles before loading it into my truck just to make sorting things easier, we ended up doing this today, strike one. Both water bottles froze on the way out there at 85 mph thus leaving my H2O stores dry. I bet you never thought that water could be dry, well in deep space, it is. I left my blue-tooth headset on the charger at home, as well as my battery for the "Good" camera, AND forgot to bring my charger for the phone, and I never do that, ever.
With nothing to drink on the way out, I was getting nervous that I would dehydrate and mess my body up during the ride, probably did that anyway, but I am here typing this now and my urine is back to a low-hydrated colour so that is good.
The second no-no was not eating the correct foods the night before, at least what I think to be the right foods like pasta and bread, but suprising enough, the mixed nuts were sufficient for the entire journey up to the sandwich stop in Dixboro.
The third major blow was not getting my ass out of bed and getting there at least 30 minutes early, I was too rushed to meet up with my teammates and do proper introductions, I did however see a few 'HOUNDS at the very beginning of the race. Sorry boys, I wished I could keep up and ride as a group but I was unprepared. This unpreparedness had me stopping by the river to put the hand warmers in my gloves, this act cost me about 1 minute, and by then I was bottlenecked in the back of the slowest group, not even a power blast could save me, everybody was split on a narrow path and passing was not the best measure, thusly I was dropped by the fast group which had dropped the slow group that of which I eventually passed on a hill, but out of gas and completely confused on where to go, I ended up turning right instead of left, thwarting my mission to catch up with the faster group.
Now I was split from both groups and ended up following a cyclist on a commuter bike, not knowing he wasn't with any of our groups, I ended up pedaling uphill by the hospital and about a four miles out of the way, damn. I was at that point, on my own. I was really pissed off because at this point, there was no way in hell I was going to catch up with anybody. It was the most unique split I have encountered in my short life of cycling, that is, getting separated within such a short gap between groups, but in hindsight it was well worth the interesting solo voyage.
Map deviation 101:
How to Make Your Own Course
By: Maikeru "Double-back" Rorenja A.K.A. The WannaBe Cyclist
Yeah...
So here were the two main routes, starting with the Twenty Mile loop:
Followed with an even longer forty mile loop:
After looking at the map and figuring out that I had totally botched my ride and that the road needed was the other way, I just figured that I would have a good ride regardless the current situation, then smiled as the comments from Facebook started coming in through my cyclemeter's VOX. It was an encouraging lot that of which I shall share with you proper.
マイケル ロレンジャー
Scott: You are crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy crazylllolol
Jeffrey: how the hek do you ride in this cold?
Chris: YOU ARE WAY TO COMMITTED OR MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE COMMITTED TO SOMEWHERE.
マイケル: I am determined to be great at cycling. :D
Jim: Nice. Did you do the 20, or 40 mile loop? I forewent the Ride and skied instead.
マイケル: I actually went for a modified 31 miler, mostly hill work. I'm spent. I'm going to blog the details.
Jim: Yeah, it's tough cycling in this temperature. Skiing is warmer since your upper body is more active and you don't move as fast. (less windchill)
The original plan was to do the 40 mile loop, but as soon as I started heading north on North Prospect road, the wind was horrendous. It was searing through cracks in my outfit by my forehead, hence the silly bandanna placement, which in fact, wasn't the brightest idea as my glasses took longer to de-fog.
The idea was to block the wind from my forehead which worked, but didn't really help the entire situation, did I mention that this was my first ride with this set-up? Well now you know.
The icy long road of doom
Look at those giant robotic monstrosities ready for battle!
I was truly enjoying myself right about now, despite the cold and being alone, it was a zen-like experience that is always welcomed in my temple, always welcome. Rides like this, ones filled with new scenery and climate really become memorable, like my good friend Dan, he was commuting to and from work last year and during his 14 mile commute he was caught pants down in a lightning storm, he must write about it and LINK it here, it is a wonderful story. These rides really let you know who is in charge while teaching you some advanced bicycle handling under adverse conditions, which we seem to run right into right here.
Wow, a sheet of ice gently sloping downward, let's give it a go... [Insert cartoon sound bite of slippery legs a flailing] DAMN! Front-end was dancing side to side like on rollers, less the control, it is a wonder I didn't go down right here. It was a white knuckle maneuver to say the least. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill, I was completely tense and not comfortable riding this terrain, it was then that I had realised that I was totally in over my head. Cherry Hill was even icier than Stommel Rd., and it was an uphill stretch from there. I was like "WTF! This is a sheet of ice!" Quite literally in fact, apart from cussing a bit about this situation, I was liking the experience, sadistically enough.
Cherry Hill Ice Track Eastbound
Cherry Hill Ice Track Westbound
I had to walk my bike up the hill up to this point, and snapped the last few pictures I could before my fingertips being exposed for a minute duration was starting to leech frost-bite. Typically, during all my touring rides, I document as much as I can because photography is one of my hobbies, it calms me and gives me the pleasure that I can rehash the ride or experience and share it with you, the reader. I also do this for my own archives so that one day when my son is old enough to ride, he can see the experiences that I had, besides, who blogs about cool shit like this anymore? Seems like more people are just reading them instead of writing them these days.
Do you want to see a great photo? You do? Great, the following photo is of an old farm house on Cherry Hill Rd. that needs too much TLC, and most likely will be torn down due to mold and or infestations due to the elements. Sad, yet captured on film for you to view forever in cyberspace, or as long as Blogspot remains free.
And if that is not enough, here is a link via Google maps for your viewing pleasure, as if you don't already have enough links to click through in this long-winded post.
View Larger Map
It seems as if this little gem will be salvaged, at least I hope.
Onward HO!
It was about time for some liquids as the water bottle, or shall I say slush bottle in my jacket was out of melted water and I needed some for this journey, you can tell when you need water, it is when you are already dehydrated, or starting to get dehydrated that is. Dixboro is just north of here, I am sure there is a corner store to grab something to eat and drink, this is the plan.
This was a great idea because if you look at my HR graph, you can actually see my energy draining by the amount of effort produced per given time. In town I made another video, a brief one talking about this and that before making the next journey back to Ann Arbor, this is when things started to get crazy.
If you haven't noticed by now from my previous blogs, videos, posts, etcetera... I am not too great at hills, in fact I am terrible at them, as most of my riding consists of slow rollers and flat long winding roads. The Ann Arbor City itself is host of some of the more challenging hill climbs per given square mile, this I can attest to, as just about every leg of my journey consisted of these nasty climbs, yet fun descents. As I made it back to the city, near the train station and river, I had seen a few cyclists in a large group and did an awkward button-hook while the light was red to catch up with them, this is where I was totally indecisive, as seen by the map clippet:
This led me to the biggest hill-climb in Ann Arbor, as far as I was concerned. With an elevation change of over 148 feet within a half a mile, I was bonked by the time I got to the top! Too funny, and a good thing I wasn't wearing GREYHOUND colours as I would have been a total disgrace to the team. It was a slow go, the stats for that lap are:
23 00:06:43 00:05:47 1.00 119ft 11 8.9 10.4 22.6 162 174 82
24 00:06:15 00:04:31 1.00 52ft 76 9.6 13.3 30.3 158 173 70
Basically, it's about 150 feet.
ANYWAY, I met up with the 12.5 mile group, and the pace was a bit too slow for me so after a mile or two, I ended up splitting off and bombing a hill, this hill was a total dead end and had me climbing yet another hill, just to get back up to the road needed, thus leading me into the back of the slowest riders. The slowest riders, by no means is a disrespectful label, it is just a perceived comparison as I was getting antsy to get back for the raffle and some soup. The lady was pedaling in the lowest gear possible maintaining a cadence of like 115 whilst moving at like 5 mph. it was totally not my pace so I wished them well and sped off up yet another hill. Man, these hills were taxing all my energy stores big-time, I was finished and needed food stat.
My Cockpit
At this point was yet another challenge as my battery was running flat as the gps was sucking it dry, taking a few minutes of video didn't help either. (Those videos will be appended to this NOVEL by Monday night.) So the most important photo was not taken, it was the 2000 mile milestone as observed. This took place right when my GPS wend dead on the iPhone (see link above for that location), and the remaining ride was about a mile or so back to the brewery.
The Arbor Brewing Company was jam-packed and the Wheels in Motion team really did a great job at setting this FREE event up for us, much props to those guys, they did a remarkable job. I checked my bike in valet style went inside looking for familiar faces but didn't see anybody, not too suprising as I am relatively new to the cycling community, and seldom come to Ann Arbor anyway.
I had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat, next time I might prepare just a little bit more and less the stresses on my body and bike.
The entire day can be summed up like this: If you do not bring everything you had intended, or fail to give yourself enough time before an extreme weather event, be prepared to endure some serious riding. And there are no regrets, I wouldn't change a thing as it gave me this totally unique experience that no body could have planned, it was just that random, and random I love. From taking a crappy longish way out to A2, leaving important items behind, to not fueling up properly and having enough drinking water, and even getting totally lost, this was one awesome ride that I will put in the books as the "WannaBeCyclist's 31 mile Hill Course", bring a riding partner and beat the time of 2 hours and thirty minutes. In the snow and at 14 degrees Fahrenheit!
Ride safe, ride smart, ride hard!
LINKS:
http://wannabecyclist.blogspot.com/2011/01/wannabe-cyclist-does-worst-day-of-year.html
-For the full story.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/64863961
-For my physiological data for this ride.
http://j.mp/fl3HZK
-For the Cyclemeter data stream. Yeah, redundant much?
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097311&id=1546316600&l=c3cdd363f0
-For FaceBook photos.
-WCFTW
-Please scroll past all this preamble to read the goodies-
From the site:
The weather outside is frightful, but a bike ride is so delightful. Bundle up and join us on a festive, winter ride around the streets of Ann Arbor.The 42 mile loop
The fifth annual Worst Day of the Year Ride will take place on Sunday, January 23rd. This free event always promises to be a fun filled, snowy day of riding. We will offer a variety of routes for you to choose from including:
Polar Bear Ride- 40 miles 12:00pm
Polar Cub Ride- 20 miles 1:00pm
Abominable Snow Man Ride- Mountain Bike loop 1:00pm (dependant on trail conditions)
Reindeer Ride- 12 miles 2:00pm
Snowshoe Hare Ride- 6 miles 2:30pm
All rides will be lead by ride captains and will be at a casual pace. The Polar Bear ride will have a fast group leading the charge with moderate paced ride captains following the faster riders. You will be provided with route maps on the day of the event. All rides leave from the Kerry Town Farmer's market and end at the Arbor Brewing Company where there will be free hot soup, attended bike parking and cash bar. A full menu will also be available for those that want to purchase additional food.
But that is not what really happened... here are the stats:
This was an ass kicker.
From the Schwinn Cycle computer:
Total Odometer reading: 2001.2
Distance: 31.122 miles
Max Speed: 31.2 mph
Average speed: 12.3 mph
Time Elapsed: 2:31:28
-----------------------------
AND:
The GARMIN DATA as recorded.
Summary
Overall
Time: 03:13:15
Distance: 31.10 mi
Elevation Gain: 1,220 ft
Calories: 2,005 C
Timing
Time: 03:13:15
Moving Time: 02:38:24
Elapsed Time: 03:35:51
Avg Speed: 9.7 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 11.8 mph
Max Speed: 45.6 mph
Avg Pace: 06:12 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 05:05 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:18 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 1,220 ft
Elevation Loss: 1,220 ft
Min Elevation: 738 ft
Max Elevation: 982 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 157 bpm
Max HR: 184 bpm
GOLLY GEE WILIKERS! How about some pictures too!
Look at those stats! Red-lined right out of the hole, I got to stop doing that and give myself MORE warm up time and not show up at the very last minute, literally showed up at 11:59. Oversleeping felt very nice today, I might add.
Here is the story, as unplanned as per usual. I awoke to this ridiculous number staring at me, yes, it was like ten-thirty A.M. and very cold outside, great motivator.
After totally rushing to get out to Ann Arbor a few things went wrong right from the get-go. I typically load my bike up with the water bottles before loading it into my truck just to make sorting things easier, we ended up doing this today, strike one. Both water bottles froze on the way out there at 85 mph thus leaving my H2O stores dry. I bet you never thought that water could be dry, well in deep space, it is. I left my blue-tooth headset on the charger at home, as well as my battery for the "Good" camera, AND forgot to bring my charger for the phone, and I never do that, ever.
The second no-no was not eating the correct foods the night before, at least what I think to be the right foods like pasta and bread, but suprising enough, the mixed nuts were sufficient for the entire journey up to the sandwich stop in Dixboro.
The third major blow was not getting my ass out of bed and getting there at least 30 minutes early, I was too rushed to meet up with my teammates and do proper introductions, I did however see a few 'HOUNDS at the very beginning of the race. Sorry boys, I wished I could keep up and ride as a group but I was unprepared. This unpreparedness had me stopping by the river to put the hand warmers in my gloves, this act cost me about 1 minute, and by then I was bottlenecked in the back of the slowest group, not even a power blast could save me, everybody was split on a narrow path and passing was not the best measure, thusly I was dropped by the fast group which had dropped the slow group that of which I eventually passed on a hill, but out of gas and completely confused on where to go, I ended up turning right instead of left, thwarting my mission to catch up with the faster group.
Map deviation 101:
How to Make Your Own Course
By: Maikeru "Double-back" Rorenja A.K.A. The WannaBe Cyclist
Yeah...
So here were the two main routes, starting with the Twenty Mile loop:
Followed with an even longer forty mile loop:
マイケル ロレンジャー
Scott: You are crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy crazylllolol
Jeffrey: how the hek do you ride in this cold?
Chris: YOU ARE WAY TO COMMITTED OR MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE COMMITTED TO SOMEWHERE.
マイケル: I am determined to be great at cycling. :D
Jim: Nice. Did you do the 20, or 40 mile loop? I forewent the Ride and skied instead.
マイケル: I actually went for a modified 31 miler, mostly hill work. I'm spent. I'm going to blog the details.
Jim: Yeah, it's tough cycling in this temperature. Skiing is warmer since your upper body is more active and you don't move as fast. (less windchill)
The original plan was to do the 40 mile loop, but as soon as I started heading north on North Prospect road, the wind was horrendous. It was searing through cracks in my outfit by my forehead, hence the silly bandanna placement, which in fact, wasn't the brightest idea as my glasses took longer to de-fog.
I had to walk my bike up the hill up to this point, and snapped the last few pictures I could before my fingertips being exposed for a minute duration was starting to leech frost-bite. Typically, during all my touring rides, I document as much as I can because photography is one of my hobbies, it calms me and gives me the pleasure that I can rehash the ride or experience and share it with you, the reader. I also do this for my own archives so that one day when my son is old enough to ride, he can see the experiences that I had, besides, who blogs about cool shit like this anymore? Seems like more people are just reading them instead of writing them these days.
Do you want to see a great photo? You do? Great, the following photo is of an old farm house on Cherry Hill Rd. that needs too much TLC, and most likely will be torn down due to mold and or infestations due to the elements. Sad, yet captured on film for you to view forever in cyberspace, or as long as Blogspot remains free.
View Larger Map
It seems as if this little gem will be salvaged, at least I hope.
Onward HO!
It was about time for some liquids as the water bottle, or shall I say slush bottle in my jacket was out of melted water and I needed some for this journey, you can tell when you need water, it is when you are already dehydrated, or starting to get dehydrated that is. Dixboro is just north of here, I am sure there is a corner store to grab something to eat and drink, this is the plan.
If you haven't noticed by now from my previous blogs, videos, posts, etcetera... I am not too great at hills, in fact I am terrible at them, as most of my riding consists of slow rollers and flat long winding roads. The Ann Arbor City itself is host of some of the more challenging hill climbs per given square mile, this I can attest to, as just about every leg of my journey consisted of these nasty climbs, yet fun descents. As I made it back to the city, near the train station and river, I had seen a few cyclists in a large group and did an awkward button-hook while the light was red to catch up with them, this is where I was totally indecisive, as seen by the map clippet:
23 00:06:43 00:05:47 1.00 119ft 11 8.9 10.4 22.6 162 174 82
24 00:06:15 00:04:31 1.00 52ft 76 9.6 13.3 30.3 158 173 70
Basically, it's about 150 feet.
ANYWAY, I met up with the 12.5 mile group, and the pace was a bit too slow for me so after a mile or two, I ended up splitting off and bombing a hill, this hill was a total dead end and had me climbing yet another hill, just to get back up to the road needed, thus leading me into the back of the slowest riders. The slowest riders, by no means is a disrespectful label, it is just a perceived comparison as I was getting antsy to get back for the raffle and some soup. The lady was pedaling in the lowest gear possible maintaining a cadence of like 115 whilst moving at like 5 mph. it was totally not my pace so I wished them well and sped off up yet another hill. Man, these hills were taxing all my energy stores big-time, I was finished and needed food stat.
At this point was yet another challenge as my battery was running flat as the gps was sucking it dry, taking a few minutes of video didn't help either. (Those videos will be appended to this NOVEL by Monday night.) So the most important photo was not taken, it was the 2000 mile milestone as observed. This took place right when my GPS wend dead on the iPhone (see link above for that location), and the remaining ride was about a mile or so back to the brewery.
The Arbor Brewing Company was jam-packed and the Wheels in Motion team really did a great job at setting this FREE event up for us, much props to those guys, they did a remarkable job. I checked my bike in valet style went inside looking for familiar faces but didn't see anybody, not too suprising as I am relatively new to the cycling community, and seldom come to Ann Arbor anyway.
I had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat, next time I might prepare just a little bit more and less the stresses on my body and bike.
Ride safe, ride smart, ride hard!
LINKS:
http://wannabecyclist.blogspot.com/2011/01/wannabe-cyclist-does-worst-day-of-year.html
-For the full story.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/64863961
-For my physiological data for this ride.
http://j.mp/fl3HZK
-For the Cyclemeter data stream. Yeah, redundant much?
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097311&id=1546316600&l=c3cdd363f0
-For FaceBook photos.
-WCFTW
20110121
WannaBe's Training Lactate Threshold Results
Training Lactate Threshold
Garmin Pre-Test Result
Garmin Test result
So, I got real good sleep for starters, and my average RHR was 55 so that made me damn happy, but the added snooze made the rush to work a bit unnerving which negated all that progress anyway, so my sitting RHR is about 70 when normal. I was nervous on many different fronts today, one reason was the fact that I have never done this test before and didn't know what was going to happen. Second, was all the work at work I was multitasking to get finished proper before the weekend, this was adding a bit of stress because one of my projects is behind now from all the added tasks from the previous week, and you all know how I like the numbers. Thirdly, and lastly, and most certainly the least important of the bunch were the snide remarks I had received from a co-worker about my testing today.
You see, this test was "grandfathered in" for two weeks now, AND beneficial for the RACING GREYHOUNDS, our TEAM, and I will not let us down by not doing my part, and this is a big part, especially for a puppy such as myself. Needless to say, this trumps driving an hour across the state to go watch people drink beer and make fun of each other, don't get me wrong, I love beer and love ripping apart my friends in camaraderie, but this just seems to weigh a lot less in it's end value than finding out how much my body can take in a given test, which results shall determine just how I will train for the season. Really, and try justifying a healthy lifestyle to a
"party-time-grouchy", it just isn't going to happen. So it peeved me enough to write about it publicly, and I feel much better for it actually, and help carry you, the reader into my mind, body , and soul so you can experience what I had in the course of the last few days.
Now you are ready to pedal your brains out!!!
It is difficult to do this test and sustain such numbers, even though the numbers are not the greatest compared to elite athletes, they are amasing awesome for me, and that is all that really matters here anyway. The Wannabe Cyclist is a Team Player and a limit pusher, hopefully this lends him a hand at some ranking this coming season.
Our test works like this:
00:00 Warm up for 15 minutes
00:15 Work up to peak SUSTAINED intensity for 10 minutes
00:25 Sustained effort for 20 minutes
00:45 Cool down for 10 minutes
00:55 Done!
During the "Sustained effort for 20 minutes" section, the heart rate was recorded at minute intervals. These values are then averaged into a final LT number, which should be accurate within 10%, which is a baseline number to go off of for our training activities. This gives us the TLT or Training Lactate Threshold, or basically all balls out "I think I'm gunna puke" maximum sustained output.
-Bastardised from the original document.
And my numbers as recorded 20110121 is as followed:
1. 172
2. 178
3. 175
4. 177
5. 177
6. 178
7. 181
8. 179
9. 177
10. 180
11. 181
12. 181
13. 181
14. 177
15. 177
16. 181
17. 181
18. 182
19. 181
20. 183
=3579/20=178.95
My TLT is 178.95+/-10% or(17.895)
Range: TLTl161.055--TLTh196.845
The trick here is I thought it was 167-169 where my legs started to burn, but maybe off by a few points here.
My Gunnar was low in tyre pressure in the rear, so much so that I was moving pretty slow on the rollers, and wasn't "clipped in" thus loosing much efficiency.
Sweet though nonetheless!
_______________________________
And a few hours later, I am back to a "normal" After race HR
13.469-59:08-13.7-510.4-58.8-
-WCFTWawesome
Garmin Pre-Test Result
Garmin Test result
You see, this test was "grandfathered in" for two weeks now, AND beneficial for the RACING GREYHOUNDS, our TEAM, and I will not let us down by not doing my part, and this is a big part, especially for a puppy such as myself. Needless to say, this trumps driving an hour across the state to go watch people drink beer and make fun of each other, don't get me wrong, I love beer and love ripping apart my friends in camaraderie, but this just seems to weigh a lot less in it's end value than finding out how much my body can take in a given test, which results shall determine just how I will train for the season. Really, and try justifying a healthy lifestyle to a
"party-time-grouchy", it just isn't going to happen. So it peeved me enough to write about it publicly, and I feel much better for it actually, and help carry you, the reader into my mind, body , and soul so you can experience what I had in the course of the last few days.
Now you are ready to pedal your brains out!!!
It is difficult to do this test and sustain such numbers, even though the numbers are not the greatest compared to elite athletes, they are amasing awesome for me, and that is all that really matters here anyway. The Wannabe Cyclist is a Team Player and a limit pusher, hopefully this lends him a hand at some ranking this coming season.
Our test works like this:
00:00 Warm up for 15 minutes
00:15 Work up to peak SUSTAINED intensity for 10 minutes
00:25 Sustained effort for 20 minutes
00:45 Cool down for 10 minutes
00:55 Done!
During the "Sustained effort for 20 minutes" section, the heart rate was recorded at minute intervals. These values are then averaged into a final LT number, which should be accurate within 10%, which is a baseline number to go off of for our training activities. This gives us the TLT or Training Lactate Threshold, or basically all balls out "I think I'm gunna puke" maximum sustained output.
-Bastardised from the original document.
And my numbers as recorded 20110121 is as followed:
1. 172
2. 178
3. 175
4. 177
5. 177
6. 178
7. 181
8. 179
9. 177
10. 180
11. 181
12. 181
13. 181
14. 177
15. 177
16. 181
17. 181
18. 182
19. 181
20. 183
=3579/20=178.95
My TLT is 178.95+/-10% or(17.895)
Range: TLTl161.055--TLTh196.845
The trick here is I thought it was 167-169 where my legs started to burn, but maybe off by a few points here.
My Gunnar was low in tyre pressure in the rear, so much so that I was moving pretty slow on the rollers, and wasn't "clipped in" thus loosing much efficiency.
Sweet though nonetheless!
_______________________________
And a few hours later, I am back to a "normal" After race HR
13.469-59:08-13.7-510.4-58.8-
-WCFTW
20110114
Sub Zero Cycling Part II [ Denny's Run 12 ]
Fri, Jan 14, 2011 9:03 PM Eastern Time
Another not so typical blog post, not really. The next day was a tad colder, by maybe a degree or two, not like I had previously hyped it to be. This day was special as it was the last day of the IK Trecena and also a very pinnacle point in one of our lives so there was a lot of emotion in this ride. Enter the Denny's Run.
Our main objective was to ride seven miles out to Denny's for coffee and a late dinner. The roads were not the greatest, as in very icy and slippery in the subdivisions and shoulders of the main roads. It seems as if the fresh falling snow makes things appear safer for travel.
Not too eventful, other than my damn chain starting to slip, as in a wholly stretched chain and my jury-rigged chain tensioner failing. Basically, I am not able to apply much pressure to the chain-line without it slipping thus rendering my uphill efforts completely useless.
I will blog proper about this chain when I get the time.
The Ride was fun nonetheless as we were on Hines Drive the whole time and made our first stop at the Newburgh Lake Comfort station for some photos and reflection. Here is one of Randy poised on a stair-set, looking for some trouble!
The snow was caking on our bikes quite nice giving us some added friction, not to mention all the salt spray was corroding our bikes bearings and axles, good thing they are beater bikes and not extremely expensive, that would be foolish, or a complete pain to tear apart and individually clean everything by hand in the shower.
The weather was cold too:
For more data and photos on this particular ride, please follow the following links:
Facebook Photos
Heart-rate and maps from Garmin
Summary
Overall
Time: 02:07:35
Distance: 12.28 mi
Elevation Gain: 177 ft
Calories: 1,087 C
Timing
Time: 02:07:35
Moving Time: 01:45:49
Elapsed Time: 04:06:19
Avg Speed: 5.8 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 7.0 mph
Max Speed: 16.1 mph
Avg Pace: 10:23 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 08:36 min/mi
Best Pace: 03:43 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 177 ft
Elevation Loss: 177 ft
Min Elevation: 616 ft
Max Elevation: 715 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 124 bpm
Max HR: 155 bpm
The ride back was quicker as we took city roads instead of the bike paths in Hines park, I could have rode all night at that pace, my training has conditioned me quite well these days, as remarked by my riding partner this night by saying:
Keep riding people!!!
-WCFTW
Another not so typical blog post, not really. The next day was a tad colder, by maybe a degree or two, not like I had previously hyped it to be. This day was special as it was the last day of the IK Trecena and also a very pinnacle point in one of our lives so there was a lot of emotion in this ride. Enter the Denny's Run.
Not too eventful, other than my damn chain starting to slip, as in a wholly stretched chain and my jury-rigged chain tensioner failing. Basically, I am not able to apply much pressure to the chain-line without it slipping thus rendering my uphill efforts completely useless.
The Ride was fun nonetheless as we were on Hines Drive the whole time and made our first stop at the Newburgh Lake Comfort station for some photos and reflection. Here is one of Randy poised on a stair-set, looking for some trouble!
The weather was cold too:
For more data and photos on this particular ride, please follow the following links:
Facebook Photos
Heart-rate and maps from Garmin
Summary
Overall
Time: 02:07:35
Distance: 12.28 mi
Elevation Gain: 177 ft
Calories: 1,087 C
Timing
Time: 02:07:35
Moving Time: 01:45:49
Elapsed Time: 04:06:19
Avg Speed: 5.8 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 7.0 mph
Max Speed: 16.1 mph
Avg Pace: 10:23 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 08:36 min/mi
Best Pace: 03:43 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 177 ft
Elevation Loss: 177 ft
Min Elevation: 616 ft
Max Elevation: 715 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 124 bpm
Max HR: 155 bpm
The ride back was quicker as we took city roads instead of the bike paths in Hines park, I could have rode all night at that pace, my training has conditioned me quite well these days, as remarked by my riding partner this night by saying:
"You are a strong rider Mike, I'm struggling to keep up with your pace here and you are just constantly pedaling without stopping to coast."I thanked him for the props and begun to explain how there are people out there better and worse, it's is like any sport, I just so happen to ride all the time.
Keep riding people!!!
-WCFTW
20110113
Sub Zero Cycling Part I [ Hines Hellbender 7 ]
Thu, Jan 13, 2011 9:26 PM Eastern Time
Not your typical blog post about how to or not how to ride in the winter snappy cold, rather, a few pictures and a brief story about this fun fun ride.
View the Hines Hellbender Album on Facebook!
Oh where to start... Well, as you all know by now, I absolutely love riding in the fresh snow. That is right folks, I LOVE RIDING IN FRESH FALLING SNOW! It is peaceful, soothing, calming, serene, mystical, fun, healthy, enjoyable to the fullest extent of happiness yeah! I love fresh snow and will ride in it when ever we get it, which seems to only be at night lately. Besides that, I am seldom available in the day during working hours to enjoy this splendid weather when it arrives, therefore nighttime it is.
Riding in the snow has it's unique pleasures, and also it's dangers when a fellow cyclist swerves to avoid a hazard and inadvertently burrows into a snow pile directly in front of you whilst you traverse the slippery terrain. Oh Hi Randy, it seems you have run aground yet again, be sure to watch for rocks RRRRRRRRRRR! Okay, that was lame. In any case, the snow has a fine line of friction that you must mind at all times. This line is a fine one, depending on tyre selection of course, so fine that in identical conditions one can both wipe out and stay stable, it then becomes factors of resultant vector physics and not so much how much traction your bad ass Nokian studded tyres are, in fact, you can crash on ice on anything, period. The key here is to keep that fine line of traction and stability at all time, which add to the excitement of winter cycling.
Our route shall be discussed proper now. We entered Hines Park at the Merriman road entrance pathway and proceeded north towards Livonia. Our mission wasn't clear either, as usual, when we ride, it is just to ride and the destination is really not that important as long as we get our miles in. As we were riding it had became apparent that the weather was cold enough to chill my fingertips and toes just so, that we needed an actual goal to the ride, we needed a stop for coffee to warm up. So we decided to take Stark road to Senate Coney island to grab a cup of coffee and rice.
Ahhh, that was the ticket! and onward back towards our origin, Garden City. The immediate smack with the cold air was cold as expected but nothing to worry about as we generate enough heat cycling to offset the chill, even to our extremities such as toes and fingers. The snow was falling in magnificent quantum patterns all about, illuminated by the street lamps all around. Since we both were getting tired, we made haste on our return trip, averaging about 8.5 mph whoo hoo! This is when my chain was just starting to slip, more on this on our next post. By the time we got back to our origin, we were pretty cold when stopped for photos and such, (right mouse click and open in new window) that I decided to take a snapshot of our current weather, and it was like 22-23 degrees F out which was borderline too cold for my current clothing setup. Have a look:
There is much discussion on clothing and the cold, and as I already had mentioned, we do not discuss this in this blog post, but rather in part II where it was even colder! The amount of riding effort must be considered though for this ride, if you are interested in the metrics for my heart-rate, have a look at the Garmin stats and note this was all on a single speed MTB with under inflated tyres for stability.
Ride safe People, and stay warm!
Summary
Overall
Time: 01:29:10
Distance: 7.18 mi
Elevation Gain: 79 ft
Calories: 728 C
Timing
Time: 01:29:10
Moving Time: 00:56:40
Elapsed Time: 02:31:14
Avg Speed: 4.8 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 7.6 mph
Max Speed: 16.8 mph
Avg Pace: 12:25 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 07:53 min/mi
Best Pace: 03:34 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 79 ft
Elevation Loss: 80 ft
Min Elevation: 616 ft
Max Elevation: 749 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 123 bpm
Max HR: 158 bpm
Stay tuned for the next ride, we double our distance and it was colder, AND my bike was breaking!!!
-WCFTW
Not your typical blog post about how to or not how to ride in the winter snappy cold, rather, a few pictures and a brief story about this fun fun ride.
View the Hines Hellbender Album on Facebook!
Our route shall be discussed proper now. We entered Hines Park at the Merriman road entrance pathway and proceeded north towards Livonia. Our mission wasn't clear either, as usual, when we ride, it is just to ride and the destination is really not that important as long as we get our miles in. As we were riding it had became apparent that the weather was cold enough to chill my fingertips and toes just so, that we needed an actual goal to the ride, we needed a stop for coffee to warm up. So we decided to take Stark road to Senate Coney island to grab a cup of coffee and rice.
Ride safe People, and stay warm!
Summary
Overall
Time: 01:29:10
Distance: 7.18 mi
Elevation Gain: 79 ft
Calories: 728 C
Timing
Time: 01:29:10
Moving Time: 00:56:40
Elapsed Time: 02:31:14
Avg Speed: 4.8 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 7.6 mph
Max Speed: 16.8 mph
Avg Pace: 12:25 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 07:53 min/mi
Best Pace: 03:34 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 79 ft
Elevation Loss: 80 ft
Min Elevation: 616 ft
Max Elevation: 749 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 123 bpm
Max HR: 158 bpm
Stay tuned for the next ride, we double our distance and it was colder, AND my bike was breaking!!!
-WCFTW
20110111
SS Schwinn SNO-BIKE!
Wheeee!!!! That's all I can say about the fluffy white snow!!! Bring it Michigan, let it snow some more!
So after shoveling the walkway and driveway for about an hour and about one mile of walking, it was time to do another fat burning exercise (more on fat burning exercises later) it was then time to pull out the good ol' Schwinn Ranger 2.6 MTB converted to a shiftless SS. There is a story about this bike, actually a brief one as it were.
So back in May I was paying a speeding ticket at a local police department and noticed a boat-ton of bicycles lying around on the grounds and figures it was the police officers' bikes and they all rode in to work which is cool. So I had thought, it turns out that these bikes were all impounds from the spring, a whole lot of them, mostly beater bikes or crappy department store bikes, but they were bikes nonetheless. Being very curious that I am, I saw a maintenance man walking between the buildings and approached him about the bikes, asking if they were for sale, in turn he pointed me towards an officer who was just walking by and he said to contact the city’s website and look for the auction page. I did and was amased at the golden finds there, in fact, I had immediately called my father and told him the jist, as he was also interested in some cheap starter bikes for himself and my mother, cool. After some bidding we grabbed two Schwinn Ranger 2.6 MTB’s and a Woman’s urban assault cruiser for 1/3 the cost, and they were all pretty much brand new, with the exception of an out of true wheel and a bunk set of tubes. So a week later my father and I went for a quick spin to check out the bikes, I rode my Gunnar Fastlane and he rode his Schwinn Ranger. All was good but the shifting on the Schwinn was kinda jenky, akin to a n00b panic shifting (When you are in mid-shift and the chain slips under load, this usually occurs on a hill or when you need it during an intersection.) which made me chuckle a bit before helping him out with it. Then all of a sudden, I hear him trying to shift to a lower gear, and the clickety clattity was quite noticable now. Things went south from there, the rear derailleur swung past the granny cog too far, this compounded with an out of true rear wheel caused the spokes to hang up the derailleur and rip the damn thing to shreds, quite literally actually. It was a trip, as it were, so back to the home stead we went, I did make a video and shall post it here if I can find it, it is kinda coo seeing how we jury rigged the chain just to hobble it along a short distance.
So I converted the donor Schwinn Ranger 2.6 into a SS.
After salvaging parts from the other Schwinn (mine) we got his bike all tuned up and solid, I even trued his wheels for him and re-fitted the bike so it was near perfect for him. That is all fine and dandy but now we have a donor bike in shambles, what to do. The first thing I did was strip off all shifters, derailleurs and popped the chain and made it a manual shift two speed, pretty ghetto as the rear drop outs were just that, drop outs and had zero travel for the axle to slide thus making a SS a very difficult fit, to say the least. I rode it that way every time I visited my parents and went for a ride with them, it wasn’t that bad and I actually started to like it. Time went on and it really was just doing nothing over there, so this winter I just so happened to pick it up and take it home, that’s when the magic really started to happen. The first thing I did was swap out the bar with my mother’s stock bars (I had them lying around because I had replaced hers with these awesome cruiser chrome bars, real easy to steer and a blast to ride!) and throw on a rear derailleur from my ’81 Schwinn Traveler. This was only to take up the slack in the chain line so I could seat the axle proper, then it was GTG.
Onward, to the prowl!
Our prowling was quite fun actually, we ended up riding for 4.2 miles and really making some great progress in the snow, thanks to the larger tyres at a lower PSI. If I was on my gunnar, even with the 34mm Hutchinson Bulldogs, it still would have been to much, this was the way to go, and such a relief as I never went over 161 BPM, here are the stats:
Overall
Time: 01:06:57
Distance: 4.20 mi
Elevation Gain: 20 ft
Calories: 583 C
Timing
Time: 01:06:57
Moving Time: 00:37:52
Elapsed Time: 01:07:01
Avg Speed: 3.8 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 6.6 mph
Max Speed: 31.6 mph
Avg Pace: 15:57 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 09:01 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:54 min/mi
SpeedPaceElevation
Elevation Gain: 20 ft
Elevation Loss: 29 ft
Min Elevation: 611 ft
Max Elevation: 642 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 129 bpm
Max HR: 161 bpm
Riding the road less traveled, this was the motto for the ride, as every roadway was filled with at least 6 inches of snow. Spikes on the front tyre would have helped much.
Exploring the fine urban landscapes...
Part of riding like this, as in any form of cycling really, is the ability to explore off the beaten path and stumble upon magnificent sights, such as abandoned rail-cars.
Okay, maybe not so magnificent but still fun to photograph. All in all, this was a great workout -(segway)- that really was supposed to be a few laps around the subdivision. The only major problem were my big Reima snowmobiling gloves, they left my fingers freezing, so we had to turn back and fetch the Craft claw gloves, which might I add, were awesome. I was warm only wearing a sports shirt and a long-sleeve shirt under my Craft wind / water breaker. The one thing, I am sure you already caught me doing already, was the not wearing a helmet bit.
Whoops.
It just slipped my mind, this wasn’t supposed to be a longish voyage.
Oh yeah, that segway into the fat burning exercises, yeaaahhh… So I have a confession, I have been eating a bunch of cookies lately and have started to put on the weight, it sucks. Last Saturday I weighed 172 lbs and the afternoon of January 11th I weighed 179 pounds which is some major crap man!!!! I have been noticing the belly fat coming back, and it seems to grow like, overnight. So I am starting a new plan to burn the fat off in the shortest amount of time possible. This morning I weighed in at 176 and hope to drop a few more pounds this evening when I ride 20-30 miles on the rollers, plus my daily routine of waking up at 0500 and doing 3 sets of 30 sit-ups and other various leg and arm exercises, this will work out.
[RADIO EDIT: AS OF 20110113 I weigh 171 again!]
So I am a weight weenie and obsessed with my blood pressure, it is part of life as the Wannabe Cyclist I guess. Note: Too much peanut butter sandwiches could also be a factor here.
-WCFTW
So after shoveling the walkway and driveway for about an hour and about one mile of walking, it was time to do another fat burning exercise (more on fat burning exercises later) it was then time to pull out the good ol' Schwinn Ranger 2.6 MTB converted to a shiftless SS. There is a story about this bike, actually a brief one as it were.
So back in May I was paying a speeding ticket at a local police department and noticed a boat-ton of bicycles lying around on the grounds and figures it was the police officers' bikes and they all rode in to work which is cool. So I had thought, it turns out that these bikes were all impounds from the spring, a whole lot of them, mostly beater bikes or crappy department store bikes, but they were bikes nonetheless. Being very curious that I am, I saw a maintenance man walking between the buildings and approached him about the bikes, asking if they were for sale, in turn he pointed me towards an officer who was just walking by and he said to contact the city’s website and look for the auction page. I did and was amased at the golden finds there, in fact, I had immediately called my father and told him the jist, as he was also interested in some cheap starter bikes for himself and my mother, cool. After some bidding we grabbed two Schwinn Ranger 2.6 MTB’s and a Woman’s urban assault cruiser for 1/3 the cost, and they were all pretty much brand new, with the exception of an out of true wheel and a bunk set of tubes. So a week later my father and I went for a quick spin to check out the bikes, I rode my Gunnar Fastlane and he rode his Schwinn Ranger. All was good but the shifting on the Schwinn was kinda jenky, akin to a n00b panic shifting (When you are in mid-shift and the chain slips under load, this usually occurs on a hill or when you need it during an intersection.) which made me chuckle a bit before helping him out with it. Then all of a sudden, I hear him trying to shift to a lower gear, and the clickety clattity was quite noticable now. Things went south from there, the rear derailleur swung past the granny cog too far, this compounded with an out of true rear wheel caused the spokes to hang up the derailleur and rip the damn thing to shreds, quite literally actually. It was a trip, as it were, so back to the home stead we went, I did make a video and shall post it here if I can find it, it is kinda coo seeing how we jury rigged the chain just to hobble it along a short distance.
So I converted the donor Schwinn Ranger 2.6 into a SS.
After salvaging parts from the other Schwinn (mine) we got his bike all tuned up and solid, I even trued his wheels for him and re-fitted the bike so it was near perfect for him. That is all fine and dandy but now we have a donor bike in shambles, what to do. The first thing I did was strip off all shifters, derailleurs and popped the chain and made it a manual shift two speed, pretty ghetto as the rear drop outs were just that, drop outs and had zero travel for the axle to slide thus making a SS a very difficult fit, to say the least. I rode it that way every time I visited my parents and went for a ride with them, it wasn’t that bad and I actually started to like it. Time went on and it really was just doing nothing over there, so this winter I just so happened to pick it up and take it home, that’s when the magic really started to happen. The first thing I did was swap out the bar with my mother’s stock bars (I had them lying around because I had replaced hers with these awesome cruiser chrome bars, real easy to steer and a blast to ride!) and throw on a rear derailleur from my ’81 Schwinn Traveler. This was only to take up the slack in the chain line so I could seat the axle proper, then it was GTG.
Onward, to the prowl!
Our prowling was quite fun actually, we ended up riding for 4.2 miles and really making some great progress in the snow, thanks to the larger tyres at a lower PSI. If I was on my gunnar, even with the 34mm Hutchinson Bulldogs, it still would have been to much, this was the way to go, and such a relief as I never went over 161 BPM, here are the stats:
Overall
Time: 01:06:57
Distance: 4.20 mi
Elevation Gain: 20 ft
Calories: 583 C
Timing
Time: 01:06:57
Moving Time: 00:37:52
Elapsed Time: 01:07:01
Avg Speed: 3.8 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 6.6 mph
Max Speed: 31.6 mph
Avg Pace: 15:57 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 09:01 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:54 min/mi
SpeedPaceElevation
Elevation Gain: 20 ft
Elevation Loss: 29 ft
Min Elevation: 611 ft
Max Elevation: 642 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 129 bpm
Max HR: 161 bpm
Riding the road less traveled, this was the motto for the ride, as every roadway was filled with at least 6 inches of snow. Spikes on the front tyre would have helped much.
Part of riding like this, as in any form of cycling really, is the ability to explore off the beaten path and stumble upon magnificent sights, such as abandoned rail-cars.
Whoops.
It just slipped my mind, this wasn’t supposed to be a longish voyage.
Oh yeah, that segway into the fat burning exercises, yeaaahhh… So I have a confession, I have been eating a bunch of cookies lately and have started to put on the weight, it sucks. Last Saturday I weighed 172 lbs and the afternoon of January 11th I weighed 179 pounds which is some major crap man!!!! I have been noticing the belly fat coming back, and it seems to grow like, overnight. So I am starting a new plan to burn the fat off in the shortest amount of time possible. This morning I weighed in at 176 and hope to drop a few more pounds this evening when I ride 20-30 miles on the rollers, plus my daily routine of waking up at 0500 and doing 3 sets of 30 sit-ups and other various leg and arm exercises, this will work out.
[RADIO EDIT: AS OF 20110113 I weigh 171 again!]
So I am a weight weenie and obsessed with my blood pressure, it is part of life as the Wannabe Cyclist I guess. Note: Too much peanut butter sandwiches could also be a factor here.
-WCFTW
20110110
Extreme Training and Overload! [What NOT to do before a maximum heart rate exercise]
DON'T DRINK 60 CUPS OF COFFEE!!!
Before an intense training day at least. Kinda a no brainer, really dumb actually so lets delve into this wonderful day a little deeper shall we?
Right on.
Apart from so many online personas and content to shuffle about, my everyday life can get very busy, like the lot of you, it can get just down right hectic and nearly impossible to get anything finished proper, thus the loss in sleep and the addition of caffeine to "help" the day move better? Or does it really? Don't get me wrong here, I am not going into a tirade about not drinking coffee, in fact, EMBRACE it, love it, sip it, but just don’t overdo it.
So after waking up at 0430 and doing some basic Calisthenics to help stay fit, I had worked up quite the appetite and felt like going to Plymouth for breakfast for some reason, maybe it was because what I really wanted to go to The Bean and write in one of my other blogs for a film project that is underway agai., The fact that I love that place and sitting around computing while having coffee was just so... It was so appealing to me, to say the least.
Needless to explain in detail, I had breakfast at
Bode's then made haste over to the Coffee Bean for some coffee and work on the computer, this had lasted quite a few hours as I finally left Plymouth about 1130. I was then quite a few coffees deep and still coming down from a sugar high from an enormous cookie I had earlier that morning. I was knackered.
The day wasn't just over yet! It was time to train on the rollers at the shop now.
Crap, My bike has ‘cross tyres on it and I need it for training as we are doing simulated hill climbs, sprints, and other fun stuff that need gears. No biggie, I’ll just take my extra tyres to the shop and change them there, in like ten minutes yeah.. no biggie, I’ll take a nap real quick now. So nap time really messed me up, or maybe it was the coffee, or maybe it was the tyres not being done, either case it really sucked for me when I was ready to roil out to the shop, I was not prepared. Gunnar in hand and a few sets of tyres we were rarin’ to go. I arrived thirty minutes early just so I could get set up right, man, I was flustered and under duress. I was literally running around the shop like a chicken with his head clipped off.
It was rather comical in hindsight, really. So swapping the ‘cross tyres with the Ruffy Tuffy’s was really easy. All things considered, just one hitch on the rear wheel though. After inflating in haste mind you, I didn’t make good sure the tyre was fully seated on the wheel and a mini bubble was forcing it’s way out the gap between the tyre and rim, this as you are well aware of, is a ticking time bomb. The sucker blew out but was relatively quiet as I was trying to let some air out just before she blew. Damnit, time delay again, so out to the truck for my spare tube. I quickly swapped out the tube on this one and made well sure it was seated correctly, but something was amiss… what was that hissing sound? It was not the radio playing, nope, this was my Foxed up wheel again! For the love!!!! So now (thank God we were in a bicycle shop) grabbed a tube from the shelf and swapped for a third time. Three times a charm eh? As it turned out, the hissing was a valve tear, I have had quite a few actually and it really pisses me off.
Ready to train on the button, like literally, it was 13:57 when I hopped on my bike on the rollers and a minute thereafter we started the training, but guess what my heart rate was at this point? 143BPM baby!!! Bring it on!! Whoo hooo!!! So that was my warm up, the tyre change and I wish I had recorded it on my heart rate monitor proper, that would have been interesting. Mind you, I was moving swiftly to and fro during the tyre swap like mini sprints but you really don’t care that I failed twice on mounting a tyre so I guess this excuse is lame as any.
Training time!
Saturday Afternoon Ass Kicker!
Time: 01:54:56
Distance: 24.80 mi
Elevation Gain: 600 ft
Calories: 1,365 C
Timing
Time: 01:54:56
Moving Time: 00:00:00
Elapsed Time: 01:54:56
Avg Speed: 14.2 mph
Max Speed: 32.5 mph
Avg Pace: 04:13 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:50 min/mi
SpeedPaceElevation
Elevation Gain: 600 ft
Elevation Loss: 600 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 165 bpm
Max HR: 183 bpm
Wow, what a workout and what a draggy setup I had, this goes to show folks that you must make sure your bicycle is running smoothly before you begin riding no matter where you are riding or what the terrain.
So after cooling down and bringing my hear rate to a much lower level like say 100 It was time to go home and rest up for a party later that evening. And below is the Heart rate for the allotted time, whether it be the coffee, the extreme workout, or just anxiety from looking at the damn thing, my heart rate was still too high, for usually it is about 72-85bpm doing the same activity with some 110-120 spikes under exertion, but that was it. Right now it is 80 BPM on the nose. Take a look at the chart in the posted link there, it was averaging 100 BPM the whole night!! EGADS!!!
Average HR 100 not so good, need to chill.
So this totally worried me as it should and the following day I spent resting and finally it came back to normal.
Okay, Back to normal I guess...
So now we settle for a nice cup of cute kitty kat in the morning.
Moral of the story: Don’t over do it because you “can” you will overstress the ticker and possibly cause it to stop working. Training your heart takes time, you cannot just jump in and be a marathon runner in a few weeks, you need proper conditioning and training. So I am taking this little event seriously, I was very foolish for drinking that much coffee, that much coffee period is just down right foolish but we all make mistakes, and the coffee just tastes so damn good!!! As we type this, I am drinking nothing but decaf and hopefully this makes a difference as I was drinking quite a bit of coffee since the end of summer, I guess it is one of my vices next to cycling. So to all of you Wanna be Cyclist’s out there, just take it easy and don’t mix coffee with training, ever.
-WCFTW
Right on.
Apart from so many online personas and content to shuffle about, my everyday life can get very busy, like the lot of you, it can get just down right hectic and nearly impossible to get anything finished proper, thus the loss in sleep and the addition of caffeine to "help" the day move better? Or does it really? Don't get me wrong here, I am not going into a tirade about not drinking coffee, in fact, EMBRACE it, love it, sip it, but just don’t overdo it.
So after waking up at 0430 and doing some basic Calisthenics to help stay fit, I had worked up quite the appetite and felt like going to Plymouth for breakfast for some reason, maybe it was because what I really wanted to go to The Bean and write in one of my other blogs for a film project that is underway agai., The fact that I love that place and sitting around computing while having coffee was just so... It was so appealing to me, to say the least.
Needless to explain in detail, I had breakfast at
Bode's then made haste over to the Coffee Bean for some coffee and work on the computer, this had lasted quite a few hours as I finally left Plymouth about 1130. I was then quite a few coffees deep and still coming down from a sugar high from an enormous cookie I had earlier that morning. I was knackered.
The day wasn't just over yet! It was time to train on the rollers at the shop now.
Crap, My bike has ‘cross tyres on it and I need it for training as we are doing simulated hill climbs, sprints, and other fun stuff that need gears. No biggie, I’ll just take my extra tyres to the shop and change them there, in like ten minutes yeah.. no biggie, I’ll take a nap real quick now. So nap time really messed me up, or maybe it was the coffee, or maybe it was the tyres not being done, either case it really sucked for me when I was ready to roil out to the shop, I was not prepared. Gunnar in hand and a few sets of tyres we were rarin’ to go. I arrived thirty minutes early just so I could get set up right, man, I was flustered and under duress. I was literally running around the shop like a chicken with his head clipped off.
Ready to train on the button, like literally, it was 13:57 when I hopped on my bike on the rollers and a minute thereafter we started the training, but guess what my heart rate was at this point? 143BPM baby!!! Bring it on!! Whoo hooo!!! So that was my warm up, the tyre change and I wish I had recorded it on my heart rate monitor proper, that would have been interesting. Mind you, I was moving swiftly to and fro during the tyre swap like mini sprints but you really don’t care that I failed twice on mounting a tyre so I guess this excuse is lame as any.
Training time!
Saturday Afternoon Ass Kicker!
Time: 01:54:56
Distance: 24.80 mi
Elevation Gain: 600 ft
Calories: 1,365 C
Timing
Time: 01:54:56
Moving Time: 00:00:00
Elapsed Time: 01:54:56
Avg Speed: 14.2 mph
Max Speed: 32.5 mph
Avg Pace: 04:13 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:50 min/mi
SpeedPaceElevation
Elevation Gain: 600 ft
Elevation Loss: 600 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 165 bpm
Max HR: 183 bpm
Wow, what a workout and what a draggy setup I had, this goes to show folks that you must make sure your bicycle is running smoothly before you begin riding no matter where you are riding or what the terrain.
So after cooling down and bringing my hear rate to a much lower level like say 100 It was time to go home and rest up for a party later that evening. And below is the Heart rate for the allotted time, whether it be the coffee, the extreme workout, or just anxiety from looking at the damn thing, my heart rate was still too high, for usually it is about 72-85bpm doing the same activity with some 110-120 spikes under exertion, but that was it. Right now it is 80 BPM on the nose. Take a look at the chart in the posted link there, it was averaging 100 BPM the whole night!! EGADS!!!
So this totally worried me as it should and the following day I spent resting and finally it came back to normal.
Okay, Back to normal I guess...
Moral of the story: Don’t over do it because you “can” you will overstress the ticker and possibly cause it to stop working. Training your heart takes time, you cannot just jump in and be a marathon runner in a few weeks, you need proper conditioning and training. So I am taking this little event seriously, I was very foolish for drinking that much coffee, that much coffee period is just down right foolish but we all make mistakes, and the coffee just tastes so damn good!!! As we type this, I am drinking nothing but decaf and hopefully this makes a difference as I was drinking quite a bit of coffee since the end of summer, I guess it is one of my vices next to cycling. So to all of you Wanna be Cyclist’s out there, just take it easy and don’t mix coffee with training, ever.
-WCFTW
20110106
30 MIles On Rollers Is The Norm Per Trainer Night At The Shop
Hello there people, this will be just a brief update, not too interesting.
Rockin' Trainer Night at Cycle To Fitness
74 out of the 200 miles already completed! whoo hooo! <--A personal monthly quota of 200 miles must be met, remember folks, I am going to be GREAT this season and train very hard to attain this goal, heavy 18 lb bike or not.
30 miles Trainer Night # 4 20110105
30 miles Trainer Night # 3 20101222
30 miles Trainer Night # 2 20101215
Trainer Night # 1 no data - not informed yet.
Those three "Trainer Nights" seem to have an odd pattern, this is the thirty mile mark. What is VERY odd is that none of this is timed, but rather random, and the last mile is ALWAYS me riding for an additional three minutes or so just to fill the thirty mile mark. Have I become obsessed with this number or is it just chance that of the last three roller nights the end result is always the same? Very weird indeed. Now it becomes interesting so let's have a go at the numbers.
First night data:
=================
Gunnar Fastlane with a 50/18 Gear ratio and 700x20c Conti gp4000's
Summary
Overall
Time: 01:42:10
Distance: 30.00 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Calories: 1,118 C
Avg Temperature: 78.0 °F
Timing
Time: 02:16:01
Moving Time: 00:00:00
Elapsed Time: 01:42:10
Avg Speed: 17.8 mph
Max Speed: 33.4 mph
Avg Pace: 03:22 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:47 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 0 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 138 bpm
Max HR: 175 bpm
Second night data:
=================
Schwinn Traveler with a 52x16 gear ratio and 700x20c Conti gp4000's
Summary
Overall
Time: 01:25:10
Distance: 30.00 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Calories: 1,240 C
Avg Temperature: 68.0 °F
Timing
Time: 01:25:10
Moving Time: 00:00:00
Elapsed Time: 01:47:01
Avg Speed: 21.1 mph
Max Speed: 43.3 mph
Avg Pace: 02:50 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:23 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 0 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 153 bpm
Max HR: 180 bpm
Third night data:
=================
Schwinn Traveler with a 52x16 gear ratio and 700x20c Conti gp4000's
Summary
Overall
Time: 01:42:52
Distance: 30.00 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Calories: 1,035 C
Timing
Time: 01:42:52
Moving Time: 00:00:00
Elapsed Time: 01:53:39
Avg Speed: 17.5 mph
Max Speed: 33.5 mph
Avg Pace: 03:25 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:47 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 0 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 137 bpm
Max HR: 167 bpm
_________________________________________________
Synopsis:
My normal riding output is about 17.5 MPH. Whether it be on rollers or the road, the output is nearly identical which means a lighter bicycle with less friction could make a 2-3 mph difference as well as aero. In reality, I still suck and need to improve my physical condition first then worry about fancy bicycles that cost more than my trailer home.
-WCFTW
Rockin' Trainer Night at Cycle To Fitness
74 out of the 200 miles already completed! whoo hooo! <--A personal monthly quota of 200 miles must be met, remember folks, I am going to be GREAT this season and train very hard to attain this goal, heavy 18 lb bike or not.
30 miles Trainer Night # 4 20110105
30 miles Trainer Night # 3 20101222
30 miles Trainer Night # 2 20101215
Trainer Night # 1 no data - not informed yet.
Those three "Trainer Nights" seem to have an odd pattern, this is the thirty mile mark. What is VERY odd is that none of this is timed, but rather random, and the last mile is ALWAYS me riding for an additional three minutes or so just to fill the thirty mile mark. Have I become obsessed with this number or is it just chance that of the last three roller nights the end result is always the same? Very weird indeed. Now it becomes interesting so let's have a go at the numbers.
First night data:
=================
Gunnar Fastlane with a 50/18 Gear ratio and 700x20c Conti gp4000's
Summary
Overall
Time: 01:42:10
Distance: 30.00 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Calories: 1,118 C
Avg Temperature: 78.0 °F
Timing
Time: 02:16:01
Moving Time: 00:00:00
Elapsed Time: 01:42:10
Avg Speed: 17.8 mph
Max Speed: 33.4 mph
Avg Pace: 03:22 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:47 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 0 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 138 bpm
Max HR: 175 bpm
Second night data:
=================
Schwinn Traveler with a 52x16 gear ratio and 700x20c Conti gp4000's
Summary
Overall
Time: 01:25:10
Distance: 30.00 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Calories: 1,240 C
Avg Temperature: 68.0 °F
Timing
Time: 01:25:10
Moving Time: 00:00:00
Elapsed Time: 01:47:01
Avg Speed: 21.1 mph
Max Speed: 43.3 mph
Avg Pace: 02:50 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:23 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 0 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 153 bpm
Max HR: 180 bpm
Third night data:
=================
Schwinn Traveler with a 52x16 gear ratio and 700x20c Conti gp4000's
Summary
Overall
Time: 01:42:52
Distance: 30.00 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Calories: 1,035 C
Timing
Time: 01:42:52
Moving Time: 00:00:00
Elapsed Time: 01:53:39
Avg Speed: 17.5 mph
Max Speed: 33.5 mph
Avg Pace: 03:25 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:47 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 0 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 137 bpm
Max HR: 167 bpm
_________________________________________________
Synopsis:
My normal riding output is about 17.5 MPH. Whether it be on rollers or the road, the output is nearly identical which means a lighter bicycle with less friction could make a 2-3 mph difference as well as aero. In reality, I still suck and need to improve my physical condition first then worry about fancy bicycles that cost more than my trailer home.
-WCFTW
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