With that in mind, I will probably be riding my road bike indoors this weekend, as temps in Nashville are not going to be nearly as accomodating as this. Neither Saturday or Sunday have a high above freezing, and Saturday may bring additional ice and snowfall. The last thing I need before attempting Snake Creek again is to expose myself to sub-freezing temps and risk getting sick.

So weather. I like what you have planned here. Don’t change a thing.

Unlike most of the 100 mile rides I have done this year, this one has almost no elevation gain at all. 600 feet total, in fact. Compare that to the 8000 feet that was estimated on the Harpeth River Ride earlier this summer and you get the idea.

The sunrise century is for one thing. Speed. The course record is something like 3hrs 45 mins. While I have no desire to try for that sort of time, I do want to finish fast.

James, Jonathan, myself, and probably Andy will set out at 7am on Saturday with a goal of finishing in 5 hrs flat. This will require an average rolling speed close to 22 mph to ensure we have enough time for flats and rest stop refills.

It’s an aggressive goal, but with tight paceline technique (and low wind) we should be able to come close.

Click on any picture to enlarge.

Starting elevation around 1450 feet, ending elevation 6400 feet. Basically 20 miles of straight climbing, and 5000 feet of vertical gain.

Yep. Friday I am cycling from the Smoky Mountains Park Headquarters to Clingman’s Dome. Highest point in Tennessee. Pics to follow, assuming I make it to the top.

Friday evening Rob Montgomery and I left Nashville in the pouring rain and headed southeast towards Chattanooga. All week long the weather forecast for Saturday had gotten worse and worse, progressing from scattered thunderstorms only in the afternoon to rain all day and thunderstorms in the afternoon. As we made the two hour drive to the hotel in Chattanooga, we speculated about flooded roads and cancellations. I was excited but had doubts about our ability to complete such a difficult ride in such challenging conditions.

Saturday morning came after a night of fitful sleep in a cheap motel a few miles from the ride start. We drove to Finley Stadium around 7:00 with no rain and got checked in. The ride started promptly at 8am, wich us near the back of a group of close to 2000 riders. We rolled through downtown Chattanooga in the beginning of a sprinkling rain as a solid mass of slow moving riders. After crossing the Tennessee River, it started to rain harder. Not wanting to stop and put on my rain jacket, Rob and I pressed on as the route followed the river. Even at this point riders were turning back and bailing out.

Twelve miles into the ride, we turned away from the river and headed up Suck Creek Mountain (mountain #1). I downshifted into my 34-23 gear and settled in for a 7 mile, 4-6 % grade up a 2000 ft mountain in the now pouring rain. Every couple of minutes we would see one or two riders descending the mountain in the opposite direction, deciding not to continue the ride. Soaked to the bone but ascending steadily, Rob and I made it to the top just before 10am. We skipped the rest stop as we didn’t need anything and headed towards the descent.

Descending Suck Creek Mountain in the rain was one of the scariest moments I have ever experienced on a bike. Steady rain, water sheeting down the roadway, and compromised braking due to wet rims made for several sphincter-tightening minutes. I had to begin braking well before needing to, and progressively increase braking pressure until the bike began to slow, then feather braking pressure to keep speeds under control while also keeping both tires from sliding on the wet road. It was scary. Speeds never exceeded 3o mph. On a dry day I would have blown down that mountain at 50 mph, but not today.

At the bottom of the mountain, I finally put my rain jacket on, now more as a vapor/warmth barrier than to keep dry. I also gave Rob my arm warmers as he had only a short sleeve jersey on. We rolled through the valley towards the second rest stop, trying to keep our speed around 20 mph to keep our blood flowing and stay warm.

The 40 mile rest stop in a fireworks store right off of I-24 was a welcome refill for water bottles and stomachs. We spent 10 or 15 minutes there and left quickly as we were starting to get chilled again in the rain and 60 degree temps. A few miles later we passed the turnoff for the 62 mile route and proceeded towards the second mountain. The route took us over Ladd’s Mountain on the way to Sand Mountain. This climb took 10 or 15 minutes, and near the top, the ride organizers had been kind enough to paint “This is not a mountain” on the road. Thanks guys (/sarcasm). Luckily by around this point in the ride the rain had tapered off.

The Alabama state line doesn’t need a sign. You know when you cross it. The pavement on the section of road leading to Sand Mountain is terrible. Rutted, rough, and uneven. I joked with the riders near me that in Alabama, they just make cobblestones a little smaller, like gravel sized. I’d like to imagine that I know what the riders on Paris-Roubaix feel like now.

Rob and I stopped for a minute or two before starting up Sand Mountain and talked for a few minutes with a rider named Bragg Davis on a nice new Tommasini bike. Bragg had ridden this century in 2008 and proved to be Rob’s savior on the upcoming climbs.

Sand Mountain was much harder than Suck Creek, but shorter. 3 miles or so of 7-8 % grade, with several switchbacks that felt much steeper. I again dropped to my lowest gear and ground up the mountain with my eyes locked on the cycling computer’s mileage readout as it ticked off the tenths of a mile. I had no concentration left to worry about where Rob was or how he was doing on this climb. Finally I reached the top and plateaued into a thick fog. I rode along for a while with a rider from Nashville named Bill Glass. Bill is an ultracyclist who makes up what he lacks in speed with his ability to ride seemingly forever. Bill rides with the Harpeth Bicycle club, which I plan to join soon, and participates in 300k to 1200k rides on a regular basis. No typos there, 1200 kilometers!

Bill and I stopped at the 60 mile rest stop on top of the Sand Mountain plateau, where I told him I was going to wait for Rob to roll in. After downing a bottle of Heed and eating a few banana pieces and peanut butter and jelly sandwich quarters, I saw Rob making his way down the road. I was impressed to see him as soon as I did, because he was very concerned about his ability to climb all three mountains today. Apparently Bragg and Rob paced each other up Sand and gave each other enough motivation to keep climbing without stopping.At this point, I began to hope that we would both finish this ride.

We got rolling again soon, and headed another ten miles or so to the descent down Sand Mountain. The rain continued to hold off, so this descent was much faster than the descent off of Suck Creek. Speeds in between the curves easily hit the mid-30s, and would have gone higher if it weren’t for the unfamiliar roads and fatigue. By this time it was around 2pm and we still had 25 miles to go.

Near the bottom of Sand Mountain, we crossed into Georgia, thereby completing the 3 State part of this ride. At mile 82 we stopped for a few minutes at the mini-rest stop at the base of Burkhalter Gap Rd. Bragg advised us to not refill our water bottles because 1) we wouldn’t have time to drink out of them for the next few miles, and 2) we wouldn’t want to carry the extra weight. He proved to be right. Immediately after turning onto Burkhalter Gap Rd, we all dropped into our lowest gears and started grinding away.

When I say grind I mean it. I’m a decent climber for a beginner, and usually climb most hills around 70-80 rpm and 9 or 10 mph. On Burkhalter, anything above 50 rpm and walking pace of 4 or 5 mph sent my heart rate skyrocketing – and I was passing some riders. Burkhalter Gap is two miles of 10 % grade, with a short false flat near the top, and then 300 yards of 20% grade. Difficult doesn’t begin to express what this hill was about. My bike is geared for the area I live, which for me means a compact double chainring at 50-34 and an 11-23 cassette in the rear. On Burkhalter I would have killed for a 12-27 cassette. Reaching the false flat near the top felt great. My legs got a short rest, and I was able to catch my breath and take a sip from my water bottle. Right after this, Burkhalter Gap turned right and headed up the steepest section of road so far. The only way I could make it up this was to tack back and forth across both lanes, doubling the distance traveled, but also cutting the grade in half. Hard as it was, I reached the top without walking. I only stopped twice.

Rob’s new Serotta Ottrott was also set up for where he lives in Central Illinois. This meant his bike had a non compact double chainring at 53-39 and a 12-25 cassette. He was not only physically under-prepared in terms of hill climbing, but grossly over-geared. After refilling water bottles and getting my front brake checked out by the bike technician at the rest stop, I went back to wait for Rob and Bragg to summit Lookout Mountain. 20 minutes later, I saw them come around the corner for the last section, walking their bikes. Rob hopped back on and rode 100 feet or so before unclipping and walking the rest of the steep section. Both of them made the summit of the third mountain. Rob was spent, but after a few minutes of rest and some food and drink, his spirits perked up as he realized what he was about to accomplish.  Only 15 miles of rolling hills atop Lookout Mountain and a fast descent remained before we completed this ride.

We left the last rest stop around 4:15pm and squeezed the last strength out of our legs as we crossed Lookout. The last descent was a lot of fun. Again I had unfamiliar roads and fatigue as a check against excessive speeds, but the elation of knowing all of the difficult parts were behind me made me push the limits a little more than the last descent. I hit 41 mph at one point on a downhill straight in between two curves. I can only imagine descent speeds on this mountain for people who live and ride in Chattanooga.

The Chattanooga police had every intersection in between the mountain and Finley Stadium monitored, and stopped traffic for any cyclist that came through. That was appreciated after a hard day’s riding, as it eliminated the need to stop, unclip, wait for traffic, then build up lost momentum . Rob and I rode side by side as we made the last turn into Finley Stadium where we had started 100 miles ago that morning. The time clock read 9 hours and 24 minutes, with 7 hours and 15 minutes of rolling time.

image c/o www.chattbike.com

I may have done exactly this.

I can’t back out. Money has been paid. Registration forms filled out.

I signed up for the 3 State 3 Mountain Century in Chattanoooga on May 2nd. This ride covers 100 miles (hence the name Century) and crosses three mountains in the process.

There is something like 13,000 feet of climbing over the course of this ride, which is equal to the entirety of the 2009 Ragbrai course, except that all of that climbing is packed into less than 1/4 of that mileage.

To say that this is a lofty goal for being something like 50 days away is an understatement. All of the riding I have done since starting back into cycling last year has been in hilly areas, but not on mountains.

Training for this event is critical. To that end, I’ve put together the following training schedule.If I can stick to this schedule I should be able to finish the ride. It’s going to be tough.

This fitting process has been fine-tuned over 20 years of analysis and testing. The basic idea behind the Serotta fitting process is that there is a physiologically optimal position for each cyclist. The fitting process discovers this position, then the fitter can attempt to modify an existing bike to suit this position, or order a custom frame to suit.

image c/o www.hpchiro.com

The center of the Serotta fit process is the Size Cycle. The Size Cycle is a ‘bicycle emulator’ where every contact point, from seat tube angle to handlebar reach can be altered. The rear wheel of the Size Cycle is linked to a Computrainer system that analyzes power output, pedal stroke characteristics, and efficiency. As the fitting progresses, you can see your efficiency improve in real time. Very cool.

Fitting Process

The fitting process starts with an interview. Henry, my SICI certified fitter asked me questions related to my cycling experience, other sports, past injuries, what kind of rides I typically did, and what I wanted out of the fitting process.

The second part of the process involved testing all the major cycling related joints for range of motion and flexibility. This is done by manipulating the joints into a deep stretch and backing off a bit from the max ROM. Each position is measured and recorded.

The last part of the fitting process is the most lengthy and the most involved, and is where the Size Cycle comes in. The Size Cycle is up to a rough estimate of the rider’s dimensions and threading on similar handlebars, pedals, and shifters as will be used on the final bike. Then you clip in and warm up in this approximate position for around 10 minutes.

Henry had me on a simulated 1.1% grade, pedaling along at a cadence of around 95 rpm. At this pace I warmed up to an average power output of 150 watts. The position felt relatively comfortable, nothing to complain about, but not perfect.

Once I was warmed up, we started making adjustments based on both physiological data from the earlier measurements, and my feedback on how I felt. Starting with the feet, we quickly established that my cleat position was off, which was causing me to engage more of my forefoot in the stroke. Moving the cleat back over the ball of my feet helped solve this. Second, we moved to the saddle position. This was trickier, as the idea behind the saddle position was to put my knee as close to the pedal spindle as possible when my foot is forward. This required increasing the angle on the seat tube in order to keep the saddle in a neutral position.

image c/o www.sheldonbrown.com

A lot of people think the “knee over pedal spindle” fit process is not accurate, and I agree. By itself it doesn’t do enough to fix fit problems, but it does give a good starting point for adjustment, and is biomechanically accurate.

Moving from the pedals, to the seat, then to the handlebars, we adjusted for reach, drop, and tilt. All of the things that affect the upper body. The idea here is to generate a position that allows your upper body to relax as much as possible, so that your brain and musculature doesn’t have to waste energy holding your body in a certain position. The resulting position should be comfortable, and should maximize efficiency over the long haul.

In between each change, you spin for a few minutes at your target cadence to make sure nothing jumps out as uncomfortable. It was eye-opening to see the wattage increase as we adjusted things piece by piece. Each change slowly pushed my position into one that allowed for more power output at the same heart rate. By the end of the process, I was nearing 200 watts where I was putting out around 150 earlier at the same level of perceived effort.

Fitting an existing bike

Once the optimal position is found, the fitter takes the x,y coordinates of the contact points (saddle, pedals, and bars) and attempts to replicate it on your existing bike. In many cases a better fit can be achieved using a new stem, wider/narrower bars, and a new seatpost. Sometimes this is not the case.

In my case, it was way off.

The x/y coordinates needed to recreate the fit we established on the Size Cycle would have required a 160 cm stem with a huge positive angle, a longer seatpost to allow for more leg extension, and a magic seat with rails two centimers longer than the one I had in order to get the proper knee/pedal spindle relationship. In other words, my bike didn’t fit, and making it fit would not only be expensive, but would result in a frankenstein hybrid of a bike that looked terrible and rode worse.

The solution to this was simple, but expensive. Either keep the current frame and deal with the level of discomfort it provided on longer rides, or replace the frame with something that fit better. I discussed it with Allison a bit before deciding that a new frame was the way I wanted to go. This leads us to the final part of the Serotta fitting process…

Ordering a custom bike

I know, I know. I started this post talking about a bike fitting that cost $200, and now I’m talking about ordering a custom bike frame that costs considerably more. It doesn’t always happen this way, but in my case I decided to go this route. The good news is,  at this point the custom ordering process is easy. The fitting provides the same level of information to the fit specialist whether they intend to alter an existing bike, or order a new one. In the latter case, they fax the fit off to a Serotta engineer to design a preliminary frame around the measurements, your weight, ride style, etc. Paint options, ride quality, additional customization (sterling silver frame tube lugs with your initials engraved in them are an option), all can be added to the build at this point. The options are only limited by what you are willing to spend. I went with a basic single color finish.

A good shop will talk to you objectively about this option, as well as the less expensive retro-fitting option and allow you to weigh the decision yourself. In this case, I appreciated that Harpeth Bicycles gave me no pressure on ordering a custom frame vs trying to make my existing frame fit.

If you are fairly satisfied with the fit of your bike, but want to ensure that you are getting the maximum efficiency from your position, a fitting is recommended. Even if they only have to adjust your cleats and seat position a little bit, you will learn a lot about how your body position translates into power on the bike. That’s worth at least $200.

Read more about Serotta and their fitting process using the links below:

http://serotta.com/

http://serotta.com/about/index.html

http://serotta.com/fit/index.html

A fitting from Harpeth Bikes

image c/o harpethbicycles.com

As part of preparing for several long rides this season such as Ragbrai, the Horsey One Hundred, and the Clarksville Sunrise Century, I need to take some time and evaluate proper bike fit.

A properly fitted bicycle allows you to harness your output in the most efficient way, and the most comfortable way possible. At the very least,  an improperly fitted bike will slow you down. At the worst, it can cause knee problems, numbness, or injury.

Harpeth Bicycles has one of the best reputations in Middle Tennessee for diagnosing fit problems and adjusting existing bikes to suit a wide range of riders. They also partner with some of the best custom bicycle manufacturers in the industry and fit customers for new bikes. The fitting process is the same whether a customer is re-fitting an existing bike, or ordering a new one from the ground up from Serotta or Parlee. In cases where the fit can’t be modified easily using the existing parts (stem, seat, etc) Harpeth Bikes provides guidance on what needs to be changed.

This seems to me like a worthwhile spend of 2 to 3 hours of time. I have an appointment set up for Saturday, so hopefully they won’t just say “Your bike fits perfectly. that’ll be $200 please.”

Deda zero aluminum Stem and FSA aluminum wing Bars

I’m running a carbon stem and carbon handlebars right now that have been on the bike since I bought it last year. While lightweight, I have some concerns about the durability of these carbon parts in the long term. Pro riders don’t typically ride carbon bars/stems, and it’s because of this concern.

My concerns aren’t about weight, they are ultimately about safety. I don’t really know what happened in the life of these bars prior to buying this bike on Craigslist. If the bike was dropped or crashed, there could be a defect in the bars that wouldn’t show any symptoms until they completely failed. I don’t want to worry about that.

The good thing is that replacing these bars should be relatively inexpensive. Aluminum is much cheaper than carbon fiber.

Garmin Edge 305 GPS cycling computer

Let me start by saying that I DO NOT NEED THIS.

But it’s cool.

A cycling computer that can tell you not only how far you’ve ridden, but how much elevation you gained, the route, heart rate, etc. Why would a cyclist gear head not want this?

I could try to justify this in so many ways, but I really can’t. I already track my rides on this website, and don’t train at a high enough level to need most of the features that this computer provides, but still. GPS. Cool.

Wow, this is a shorter list than I thought it would be. I think this is a good thing.

All the paperwork is in, and my vacation time has been approved. The lottery is on May 1st. Now I have 172 days to train. The standing joke amongst Ragbrai riders is that training for Ragbrai involves less cycling than pie, beer, and of course… pork chops.

Yeah. It says 31 degrees, feels like 24 degrees. As a result, this is what I will be wearing.

This kit consists of an underarmour compression shirt, pearl izumi long sleeve fleece jersey, capo forma arm warmers, descente windproof jacket, sugoi bib shorts, novara windproof tights, smartwool socks, homemade neoprene booties (cut out of a pair of neoprene wet wading socks I don’t use for fishing), windproof skullcap, and a buff for my neck.

Ride update: James showed up around 8 this morning. Part of me was hoping he’d call and cancel, but he didn’t. I had all of the gear on and was ready to go.

We headed towards Franklin, TN on some of the backroads that I know fairly well. Within 5 miles or so, I was starting to feel comfortable, and was no longer thinking about the temperature. The coldest I felt was in the first ten minutes, and also during some of the moments when my speed exceeded 30-35 mph (this was not often). James stopped after 7 miles and took off a layer.

We planned to ride a loop of 30 miles that I ride fairly frequently, but since both of us have been off the bikes for at least a month, we cut it down to a 22 mile out and back ride. It felt good to get back in the saddle after focusing on strength training for the last few weeks.

All of the gear performed well. I think that same kit could be used down into the teens without much additional layering and still work.