Everyone says that when two or more road cyclists get together it instantly becomes a race, which is usually a true statement. One of the things I really like about the team I am on (Harpeth) is that it isn’t always true. Take today for instance. The planned workout for tonight was to do at least an hour of endurance paced riding, but to sprint into and out of each corner for 3-5 seconds to work on burst speed and cornering ability. We did this for 40 minutes or so, staying true to the workout, and then regrouped for some team focused drills.

Right about the time that an uncoordinated group would start attacking each other, turning the night into an unofficial parking lot criterium, we were working on leading each other out for sprinting. Brad talked us through the steps: pull hard up to the corner, take the tight line, then peel off towards the inside so the next guy can sprint out of the corner. When executed correctly, it sets the next rider up to fly out of the corner like he’s been fired from a gun. With enough riders in the leadout, you can control the corners coming into the last turn and shotgun the last rider over the finish line. It was great.

Even though it was a highly controlled workout, and was only an hour long, it still ended up with the highest TSS of any single workout so far this week (tomorrow’s ride will top it, I’m sure). By Monday, my CTL should be just over 70, which will be the highest point it has been since I started measuring it in October.

I ended the evening at Mellow Mushroom in Franklin with Jonathan, Gabrielle, Fred, and Chris drinking beers and talking about shop plans. It was the perfect way to end the work week, and kick off a weekend of riding weather the likes of which we haven’t seen in weeks here in Middle Tennessee.

The lack of good weather days for road riding is definitely getting to me, but worst case scenario I still have my rollers and Todd’s classes that get some leg-moving time in. The thing that is really getting to me is the lack of mountain biking. Sure we had the Snake Creek Gap race recently, so you would think I would have had enough of the singletrack lifestyle for a while, but all that did is make me want more riding (and less mud).

Between the cold and the near constant precipitation, every trail in the area is useless right now. Montgomery Bell is actually closed. Everything else is constant freeze/thaw cycle, which means I could theoretically ride before the sun was up, but if you happened to still be on the trail once the ground reached warmed a little you would be riding in wet muck (and destroying the trail).

I want a long day on a dry trail with the sun coming through the trees, and the temperature warm enough that I don’t have to dress for an arctic expedition.

I want my water bottles to still contain liquid after an hour of riding, not slush.

I want short sleeve jerseys and shorts instead of wool socks, booties, shorts, leg warmers, windproof tights, base layer, jersey, arm warmers, windproof jacket, helmet liner, and insulated gloves.

The cold, demoralizing weather has also made it hard to stick to a training plan. Corner sprints last Friday? No chance, it was snowing. I can get time in on the rollers, but that soul-sucking contraption is tolerable for an hour of tempo at best. My CTL has risen very very slowly (if at all) over the past several weeks due to missed or shortened workouts. I have another FTP test scheduled in a week and a half, and I’m not looking forward to the results.

I used to pride myself on being from the Great White North (okay, just Iowa) and being able to handle the cold. Not any more. My transition to southerner started with greens and pulled pork, continued with a reluctant acceptance of people who say “y’all”, and has apparently been finalized with a hatred of the cold.

Instead of doing the tempo intervals at a cadence of 95-100 rpm like the last four weeks, Todd instructed us to do the first five minutes at 80 rpm to focus on leg strength, and the second five minutes at 110 rpm to work on leg speed. It was obvious from perceived exertion that the leg speed portion of the intervals were much harder than the strength portion. The 80 rpm segments were easy and relaxed, where the 110 rpm segments required focus and really made me feel the effort. Keep in mind that the CompuTrainers were set to keep the wattage required the same regardless of the cadence being used.

The perceived exertion wasn’t the only difference visible. Looking at the heart rate info from the workout, it is clearly visible which part of the workout I was in at any time. As leg speed went up so did heart rate, even if the wattage stayed the same.

I’ve read a lot about how low leg speed focuses on muscle strength while higher leg speed focuses on aerobic strength. I’ll admit that this is a fairly intuitive connection, but to have a workout demonstrate the point so clearly was good. It’s one thing to read it and it’s one thing to have your muscles learn it.

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.

Case in point, last Thursday Allison and I went over to her parent’s house for dinner. Since I started work really early that day (6:45), I left early and joined James for a 13 mile ride near my house. After that I rode over for dinner. The route over to Allison’s parent’s house is only around 10 miles, but it crosses some fairly hilly terrain as it goes through Ellington Agricultural Center. Somehow while climbing the steep-ish hill heading through Ellington, I pulled a muscle or tendon in my right foot. Right along the shin. I can feel it every time I lift my foot.
The good news is it only hurts when I ride. No, wait. That’s the bad news. The good news is it gets better each day. I stayed off the bike most of the weekend (had 100+ miles planned) and only did 8 miles on the rollers tonight. Hopefully it will be 100% again by Saturday, when Andy and I head to Clarksville for the Susan G. Komen Ride for the Cure.

If not, I have less than three weeks to fully recover before the 3 State 3 Mountain Challenge century, and every day that passes with this injury is one less day of hill intervals, distance training, or riding at all. Talk about a setback.

Update:  So it looks like the injury is an inflammation of the anterior tibialis muscle sheath that runs across the front of the shin. It is feeling a lot better today after 30 minutes of careful stretching of all majoe leg muscles last night.

I think it was caused by my cycling shoes. Everything else about the bike fit is so spot on now that I can’t neglect the possibility that I need a set of cleat wedges or orthotics for my shoes.

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.

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.