Contrary to my daughter's opinion about my obsessive riding, I don't think I would be a contender in Le Tour
For avid cyclists, July tends to be a rather big month. Even with all the turmoil in the professional cycling community related to performance drug use and blood doping, the Tour still holds every cyclist’s attention. It’s like having the Super Bowl take place every day for an entire month.
And it’s easy to see why it garners this attention. It is a true spectacle with both the breathtaking terrain and intriguing human stories. From the images of narrow roads winding through the French Alps to the riders own personal struggles – there is never a dull moment to The Tour.
Thus, I should have a little extra motivation to clip into the pedals and head down the road for a little time on the bike. Alas, it just isn’t happening as of late and I find that I have to break down the ride into small, achievable milestones before the whole thing is accomplished and I am rolling back into the driveway.
My approach for each ride is to:
- see what clothing is clean – hoping there is a combination of jersey and chamois that is appropriate for the day’s conditions
- locate some cycling socks and get fully changed into the day’s ride kit (transforming myself from “Everyday Joe” to superhero due to all the colorful Spandex)
- extract my driver’s license and credit card from my wallet for possible ID and emergency funding
- dig out a bottle (which the Camelback Podiums are becoming a favorite) and fill with water
- run around the house to find my iPod and my set of single-ear headphones (this always takes several minutes as they are never in the first location I search)
- dig out my Garmin Edge 500 which is usually near one of several computers after the previous ride’s download
- dig out my mini airpump, as the other tire repair components are found in a bag already mounted to the bike
- head out to the garage, take the bike down from its hanging location, and fill each tire to 120 psi
- don the helmet and arrange the straps and headphones to work together
- dig out my gloves and put them on
- put on my cycling shoes – adjusting the buckle to have just the right amount of tension
- locate some eyewear and put it on OVER my straps (never under straps)
As a cyclist, it gets a little crazy regarding all the details that need to come together for a simple ride of the bike
If – after all of these steps – I am still willing to ride the bike, I clip-in and begin the journey down the road.
This long list of actions has happened twice over the last several days, with a ride on Friday evening after work and a Monday evening ride. The Friday ride was a standard 32 mile outing with little to report, outside some warm conditions and a slow pace due to lousy feeling legs. Here is the Garmin link, if you’d like to check out the details.
Monday’s ride was, by all accounts, good, and I definitely felt better during the ride which is reflected in some of the performance numbers. Here are the Garmin summary details:
Upon setting out, I really just wanted to stick with known roads and target a 20+ mile route. I wasn’t trying to make it a long ride, but quickly figured out that my legs were feeling good, so I decided instead to make it a fast ride. It was also the ideal conditions for a ride, since there was only minor wind and the temperatures were moderate.
Sticky tires and all, it was still a good day for a ride
In the end, I was able to hit a 19.5mph average (a new season best for me) for the 25.8 mile duration. That is a hard-earned average for a loop that contains very few flat sections and a host of 7+ degree hill climbs scattered throughout.
Along the route, I rode down County Road 19 just south of Highway 55, and soon encountered some atrocious conditions. Earlier that afternoon, a road repair crew had moved through the same road and laid down an assortment of patches to fill in the cracks. Unfortunately, the patch material was the loose, ugly stuff that spreads all over the road. Also, since the patch was applied earlier in the day, it was terribly sticky and my tires and bike were instantly coated with the stuff. Having a bunch of tar coating my tires made for a scenario where it felt I was being gradually glued to the road.
After about a mile of that crap, I was able to escape, but it took a few miles before my tires recovered. Surely, if I wouldn’t have encountered such sticky roads, my average speed would have been some where around 25 mph.
OK – that’s not true, but sometimes it’s nice to dream.
