I woke up at 0400 again this morning, although this time I opted to head back to bed until 0530.
Before leaving, I saw that there was no rain (yay; pulled the fender off quickly and did wear the Lakes), but there was a lot of wind. I wasn't going to wear anything over my jersey until I opened the door and felt the wind. Going with the fastest expedient, I grabbed the windbreaker that's next to the door, and put it on (over the camelbak, accidentally, though I ended up leaving it like that for the whole ride).
From there, I rode to the meeting point and tried to meet up for the group ride, but probably people are out of town (no one was there). So I wasn't thrilled about that. And the roads were quite wet, which also wasn't great.
But I was still feeling good at that point and decided that the MacArthur loop was a fine idea for a hard ride. I got rolling, and set a couple of PRs on the way to the bridge to DC. I went over the Roosevelt Bridge, which dumps out into Georgetown, and the crosswind on the bridge was just crazy. Competitive Cyclist has a pretty good deal on some Enve deep-dish wheels that I'm contemplating; well, glad I don't have them now, because they're not the newer model that can deal with crosswinds well. That might have been ugly.
Regardless, I made it across without incident, and headed northwest on... M St or Foxhall, or whatever the name of the street is, there. From there, the wind was blowing into my face all the way, but I forced my way all the way to Falls Rd.
There were really three annoyances along that stretch. The first was the wind, which was badly slowing me down. The second was that my power numbers were quite bad every time I looked, even though it felt like I was pushing pretty good. And the third was that that sore spot on the inside edge of my right sit-bone started bothering me again.
The latter was quite a surprise, because I hadn't felt it since changing saddles and because I was wearing my best (for comfort, at least) bibs (Assos T.cento). I tried shifting around on the saddle, and eventually came to an accomodation with the irritation.
Unsurprisingly, I didn't set any records along that stretch, at least until I got to the big hill at Angler's Inn. There, I was surprised to beat my previous record by eleven seconds (on a five-minute climb); my peak power along there was certainly less than my previous record. Perhaps not pushing as hard meant I kept a better pace, overall; I'm not sure. That's the only thing I can think of, anyway.
From there, I had the wind at my back (and I think I did better, power-wise, as well), and set a sh-load of PRs (just counted: 36, several of which were ties that showed up as second-best).
Once I was back in Virginia, I kept pushing until I got to George Mason (on the Custis), then turned right. At that point, I had done 34m in 1:49, and knew that I wanted to stretch it over two hours (I'll come back to why), so I decided to stretch it a bit longer, even though I was basically doing cool-down.
That added about two miles and another 1-200' of elevation. I didn't succeed in cooling down as much as I'd hoped (I didn't help by pushing on a few of the hills), but I'm sure it all helped.
Overall, it was 38 miles (averaging 18.6mph before the cool-down), with almost 1900' of elevation. Strava ranked it as an extreme suffer score, thanks to sixty-nine minutes in zone 4, with half another minute in zone five. That much was all good.
What was less good was that the power curve was well below peak, and that there was only seventeen minutes at/above threshold power (again, I'd like to hit thirty).
Once again, the connection between power and speed seems pretty tenuous (to say nothing of the connection between power and heart rate).
Other not-so-good bit: the Vorttice gloves, I've become less thrilled with. For the second day in a row, I had numbness issues with my arms/hands. It didn't occur to me yesterday, but that could well be caused by the gloves (both rides being longer than my normal certainly doesn't help either).
The sore spot under my leg... it actually felt fine for the entire second half of the ride, so maybe it was just the exact position in which I was sitting that exacerbated it. If so, fine; if not, that could be very bad (and I should note that the sore butt I complained about yesterday did not touch on this spot, so it might or might not be related). The situation will certainly require close monitoring.
To get back to the two-hour threshold, I attached my Strava account to my Competitive Cyclist a few days ago. I had no idea what that did at the time (they made only a vague claim about getting credit), but it appears to give a dollar in store credit for each full hour ridden in one ride (so two rides that are each 90 minutes will give only $2, I think). That's pretty sweet, so that was why I wanted to make sure the ride topped two hours; if I was going to get that close, I wanted the extra dollar for it.
All that said, looking ahead, tomorrow is definitely going to be a recovery day. I'll probably try to do two hours again (easier on a Sunday), which would push twenty-seven to thirty miles. That could get me to exceed last week's mileage, which was already pretty good (pushed along by that 66 mile ride, of course), although without quite as much elevation (probably in the neighborhood of 8000', as opposed to the 9800' from last week). Both would still be good enough to keep me ahead of pace for Strava's Spring Classics challenge and April Climbing challenge.
And I'm probably going to do another long ride later in the week (maybe Friday, which, despite the rain, should be nice and warm); no details yet, though I'm thinking seventy or eighty miles. It'll help with the preparation for the Tour de Cure ride.
20150404
20150403
Enjoying the fresh air
I woke up this morning a bit earlier than planned. I woke up at 0400 to use the bathroom, and thought about the pending rain then decided to just get up and ride.
So, after futzing around a bit, I got on the road just about 0430, and man, was it nice. It was about 60F, with a little bit of a breeze, and it just felt glorious. Riding in the cold isn't terrible, when you're prepared, but it's still SO much nicer when it's a little warmer.
So I went out pretty minimally; shorts, jersey, socks, shoes, helmet, (fingerless) gloves, tools. I wore my old shoes, vacillating on the possibility of rain. My only other concession to the possible rain was to put my rear fender on, to cut down on spray up my back.
Since I was so early, I decided to do my long loop (despite it being a slow-riding day), and that was going so well that I even tacked on a couple extra bits. First, instead of going straight down Braddock to get on Potomac Ave, I tacked right onto Commonwealth and into Old Town Alexandria. Then, when I was nearly back, and things were still looking good (even if I had gotten a few drops on me just as I was getting away from the Potomac), I added a couple more by turning left on Washington Ave (from George Mason) and heading down to Sycamore. Then, when I got home, I found myself at about 29.5 miles, so I went past the house and did another mile or so in the neighborhood to put myself over thirty for the day.
It being an easy-riding day, that took about two hours and a quarter, but man, was it a nice ride. The only negative was that my heart rate meter was being wacky for the first hour or so; it would go to a number and stay at that number for minutes at a time. I have no idea if any of the numbers over that span were accurate, either. All in all, that was really annoying. I wonder if I was pushing too hard through one big stretch, although my breathing was always easy, so I tend to think not.
Other than that, I was really happy with the ride. That the rain held off for most of an hour after I finished also helped quite a bit certainly helped (yes, I wish I'd worn the new shoes and taken off the fender). I also wish I'd worn different shorts, I think. The shorts I wore were fine for the first hour or so, but my butt started bothering me a little towards the end. Not a big deal, but it could have been better.
The gloves I wore were also new. They're Louis Garneau Vorttice's, which are supposed to be extra aerodynamic. Color me a little skeptical on how much difference that makes, but they're very comfortable and light, yet well padded, so I wasn't displeased with them. The only negative, in fact, has to do with how thin they are: they're a bit of a pain to get on and off. Slightly annoying, but only slightly.
It was interesting wearing them, though, as they're the first fingerless gloves I've worn (in many years, at least), and that felt a lot different, especially while shifting. I could feel the indentations on the sides of the shifters for the first time ever. Neat.
Looking ahead, I think the rain should stop before the ride in the morning, but I suspect the ground won't be dry yet. Ah well. Need to find out if the group ride is happening; I would expect so, but need to verify. And hopefully it will be at 0600, not 0700 (like last week). If not, I guess I'll just head out on a hard ride on my own again; I'm certainly used to that. Maybe I'll try to break my speed record going up MacArthur Blvd...
So, after futzing around a bit, I got on the road just about 0430, and man, was it nice. It was about 60F, with a little bit of a breeze, and it just felt glorious. Riding in the cold isn't terrible, when you're prepared, but it's still SO much nicer when it's a little warmer.
So I went out pretty minimally; shorts, jersey, socks, shoes, helmet, (fingerless) gloves, tools. I wore my old shoes, vacillating on the possibility of rain. My only other concession to the possible rain was to put my rear fender on, to cut down on spray up my back.
Since I was so early, I decided to do my long loop (despite it being a slow-riding day), and that was going so well that I even tacked on a couple extra bits. First, instead of going straight down Braddock to get on Potomac Ave, I tacked right onto Commonwealth and into Old Town Alexandria. Then, when I was nearly back, and things were still looking good (even if I had gotten a few drops on me just as I was getting away from the Potomac), I added a couple more by turning left on Washington Ave (from George Mason) and heading down to Sycamore. Then, when I got home, I found myself at about 29.5 miles, so I went past the house and did another mile or so in the neighborhood to put myself over thirty for the day.
It being an easy-riding day, that took about two hours and a quarter, but man, was it a nice ride. The only negative was that my heart rate meter was being wacky for the first hour or so; it would go to a number and stay at that number for minutes at a time. I have no idea if any of the numbers over that span were accurate, either. All in all, that was really annoying. I wonder if I was pushing too hard through one big stretch, although my breathing was always easy, so I tend to think not.
Other than that, I was really happy with the ride. That the rain held off for most of an hour after I finished also helped quite a bit certainly helped (yes, I wish I'd worn the new shoes and taken off the fender). I also wish I'd worn different shorts, I think. The shorts I wore were fine for the first hour or so, but my butt started bothering me a little towards the end. Not a big deal, but it could have been better.
The gloves I wore were also new. They're Louis Garneau Vorttice's, which are supposed to be extra aerodynamic. Color me a little skeptical on how much difference that makes, but they're very comfortable and light, yet well padded, so I wasn't displeased with them. The only negative, in fact, has to do with how thin they are: they're a bit of a pain to get on and off. Slightly annoying, but only slightly.
It was interesting wearing them, though, as they're the first fingerless gloves I've worn (in many years, at least), and that felt a lot different, especially while shifting. I could feel the indentations on the sides of the shifters for the first time ever. Neat.
Looking ahead, I think the rain should stop before the ride in the morning, but I suspect the ground won't be dry yet. Ah well. Need to find out if the group ride is happening; I would expect so, but need to verify. And hopefully it will be at 0600, not 0700 (like last week). If not, I guess I'll just head out on a hard ride on my own again; I'm certainly used to that. Maybe I'll try to break my speed record going up MacArthur Blvd...
20150402
Footprints
I forgot to mention; a 20% coupon scored me some high-end shoes at roughly $170 off (not all of that was straight discount) a week or so ago, and I wore them for the first time, this morning.
I got them because of the combination of super stiff carbon-fiber soles (my other shoes are fiber as well, but not as solid. Ditto my boots), adjustable fit (oven bake, then fit), and BOA "laces".
I wasn't sure if I would, but I definitely noticed the difference in sole stiffness. I don't know if it actually does work better from a power-transmission perspective, but it certainly feels like it would.
The BOA closure I'd become familiar with from my winter boots. The boots are from Northwest, and technically aren't BOA, but they do have similarly ratcheting wires. The Lakes come off much more easily, but aren't nearly as adjustable; time will tell about which ratchet system I like better. More importantly, though, they do share the lack of hot-spots that made me like the boots so much. And they tighten down much more easily than the straps on my old shoes.
I haven't had a chance to play around with the fitting part, however. They definitely don't fit quite right around the heel right now, although that might be more a matter of difficulty putting on than problem while wearing. In any event, I do plan on doing the fitting; I just haven't had a chance yet.
Early returns on the shoes are very promising. And I got them in the black/black color scheme, which I find a little weird. Basically, the only non-black part is a gray spot on the back of the heel, so if you look down on them while riding, they seem like they're made for New Zealand's rugby team, or something. It's not bad, and might well grow on me, but it's certainly odd. At the least, you expect differently-colored logos; not so, on these. It really is black-on-black.
In any event, early returns are very promising, and I'm looking forward to wearing them more (though perhaps only in dry weather; I'll have to think on that).
I got them because of the combination of super stiff carbon-fiber soles (my other shoes are fiber as well, but not as solid. Ditto my boots), adjustable fit (oven bake, then fit), and BOA "laces".
I wasn't sure if I would, but I definitely noticed the difference in sole stiffness. I don't know if it actually does work better from a power-transmission perspective, but it certainly feels like it would.
The BOA closure I'd become familiar with from my winter boots. The boots are from Northwest, and technically aren't BOA, but they do have similarly ratcheting wires. The Lakes come off much more easily, but aren't nearly as adjustable; time will tell about which ratchet system I like better. More importantly, though, they do share the lack of hot-spots that made me like the boots so much. And they tighten down much more easily than the straps on my old shoes.
I haven't had a chance to play around with the fitting part, however. They definitely don't fit quite right around the heel right now, although that might be more a matter of difficulty putting on than problem while wearing. In any event, I do plan on doing the fitting; I just haven't had a chance yet.
Early returns on the shoes are very promising. And I got them in the black/black color scheme, which I find a little weird. Basically, the only non-black part is a gray spot on the back of the heel, so if you look down on them while riding, they seem like they're made for New Zealand's rugby team, or something. It's not bad, and might well grow on me, but it's certainly odd. At the least, you expect differently-colored logos; not so, on these. It really is black-on-black.
In any event, early returns are very promising, and I'm looking forward to wearing them more (though perhaps only in dry weather; I'll have to think on that).
Another day, another ride
I woke up this morning still feeling a little sore from my ride yesterday; without heart rate data, it was hard to be sure, but I think I must have pushed even more than I'd thought. I certainly didn't help myself by skipping my nighttime stretches and exercises, but it's been quite a while since I've been that sore the day after a ride (probably the last time I did 90-ish).
Regardless, I managed to get out on the road even a little earlier than usual, giving myself time to put an extra three miles (or so) in. And that's what I did. Basically, I did my normal ride, plus went down into Shirlington itself, up the north-side hill, and back down and around. It adds around three miles, plus another 100-150' of elevation.
What was interesting (surprising not in principle, but certainly in degree) was taking the trail from Shirlington. Once you get past Columbia Pike on the W&OD, the temperature typically drops a degree or two. Well, this morning it felt like going through a wall almost immediately after the road crossing. And it turned out to be a five degree drop. Quite a shock, although thankfully I was dressed warmly enough to not make it horrible (I was a little concerned, but only my fingers bothered me).
From there, though, it was the same ride I've done the last couple weeks. It ended up being 18.5 miles with 1100' of elevation; pretty good. And my speed was decent (for a recovery day), at 13.25mph. Perhaps most importantly, I kept my heart rate in check, with an average of 119, and only 94s above 125. And max of 129bpm.
The only irritation about the whole ride came right near the end, as there were a number of other riders on the road (a little surprising, given the temperature, but I guess people are trying to get back into shape for riding season). Anyway, one of them, whom I hadn't yet noticed, went to pass me just as I was about to make a turn. I saw in time to hold my turn, but I was not a happy camper. This being right at the bottom of a hill, I had my hand on the brakes and hadn't signaled; I do need to work on that.
Other than that, a pleasant ride, and one that worked perfectly, goal-wise. Now I just need to do a better job with my evening exercises, and things will do better.
After thinking about it more, I decided that I'll do another gentle ride tomorrow, and hope to do the group ride on Saturday. There are thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow, but they're for much later in the day. I'm hoping it'll stay that way; 60 and wet will still make for a pretty decent ride (though sixty and dry would be worlds better, as I wouldn't need to worry about a jacket and could enjoy some of the new (warm weather) clothes I've gotten. Ah well, soon enough, I guess).
The Friday rain is supposed to carry over into Saturday, though hopefully it'll stop before the ride. Fifty and dry would make for a really nice ride. We'll see.
Regardless, I managed to get out on the road even a little earlier than usual, giving myself time to put an extra three miles (or so) in. And that's what I did. Basically, I did my normal ride, plus went down into Shirlington itself, up the north-side hill, and back down and around. It adds around three miles, plus another 100-150' of elevation.
What was interesting (surprising not in principle, but certainly in degree) was taking the trail from Shirlington. Once you get past Columbia Pike on the W&OD, the temperature typically drops a degree or two. Well, this morning it felt like going through a wall almost immediately after the road crossing. And it turned out to be a five degree drop. Quite a shock, although thankfully I was dressed warmly enough to not make it horrible (I was a little concerned, but only my fingers bothered me).
From there, though, it was the same ride I've done the last couple weeks. It ended up being 18.5 miles with 1100' of elevation; pretty good. And my speed was decent (for a recovery day), at 13.25mph. Perhaps most importantly, I kept my heart rate in check, with an average of 119, and only 94s above 125. And max of 129bpm.
The only irritation about the whole ride came right near the end, as there were a number of other riders on the road (a little surprising, given the temperature, but I guess people are trying to get back into shape for riding season). Anyway, one of them, whom I hadn't yet noticed, went to pass me just as I was about to make a turn. I saw in time to hold my turn, but I was not a happy camper. This being right at the bottom of a hill, I had my hand on the brakes and hadn't signaled; I do need to work on that.
Other than that, a pleasant ride, and one that worked perfectly, goal-wise. Now I just need to do a better job with my evening exercises, and things will do better.
After thinking about it more, I decided that I'll do another gentle ride tomorrow, and hope to do the group ride on Saturday. There are thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow, but they're for much later in the day. I'm hoping it'll stay that way; 60 and wet will still make for a pretty decent ride (though sixty and dry would be worlds better, as I wouldn't need to worry about a jacket and could enjoy some of the new (warm weather) clothes I've gotten. Ah well, soon enough, I guess).
The Friday rain is supposed to carry over into Saturday, though hopefully it'll stop before the ride. Fifty and dry would make for a really nice ride. We'll see.
Publishers in Lando's shoes?
I irregularly listen to Ben Thompson's podcast, Exponent, and the latest one was a very interesting discussion of publishing in the facebook age.
I think most of the discussion was very good, but there were at least three things, two major and one minor, that Ben overlooks.
The first major one is his contention that the big newpapers were completely knee-capped (my term, not his) by internet publishing. There are a couple facets to this. The first is that, right before (and for the beginning of) the emergence of the internet, many of these (major) papers took on huge amounts of debt buying other newspapers. That debt has significantly contributed towards their finances looking bad.
Second, the small, local papers to which he briefly alluded, are, by and large, doing pretty well. Not rolling in money, of course, but not hurting, either. It's the big players who haven't been doing so well.
Third, related to all that M&A activity, the big newspapers largely aren't negotiating one-by-one with Facebook, as stated. The Chicago Sun-Times, for instance, would be negotiating on behalf of half a dozen or more other papers as well (this was my minor point).
The other big bone of contention I have is with his mention about people not saying bands are ripping off the music publishers because most of them fail. Remember that bands aren't given that money; it's a loan, even if cloaked in different terms. Bands that haven't paid it back yet ("unrecouped") are regularly screwed badly by the RIAA member companies. Basically, with a big label, it's just about impossible to eke out a living; it's "win big or go home". Because the amount of money being recouped tends to be pretty huge, and the lien, as it were, comes from the copyrights of the band's music being owned by the label.
Anyway, the discussion was very interesting, though I did not find myself persuaded that it would be in any publisher's best interest to be subsumed into facebook. I'm definitely with Gruber on that.
But his talk of "destination sites" was an interesting one (though his saying that he hoped his site was that, then later saying that being able to charge money for access was proof positive of success in that endeavor felt a bit... off, I suppose). I had never thought in those terms, but I suppose I have half a dozen or a dozen personal destination sites that I check something close to daily. And no, none of them are newspapers.
I think most of the discussion was very good, but there were at least three things, two major and one minor, that Ben overlooks.
The first major one is his contention that the big newpapers were completely knee-capped (my term, not his) by internet publishing. There are a couple facets to this. The first is that, right before (and for the beginning of) the emergence of the internet, many of these (major) papers took on huge amounts of debt buying other newspapers. That debt has significantly contributed towards their finances looking bad.
Second, the small, local papers to which he briefly alluded, are, by and large, doing pretty well. Not rolling in money, of course, but not hurting, either. It's the big players who haven't been doing so well.
Third, related to all that M&A activity, the big newspapers largely aren't negotiating one-by-one with Facebook, as stated. The Chicago Sun-Times, for instance, would be negotiating on behalf of half a dozen or more other papers as well (this was my minor point).
The other big bone of contention I have is with his mention about people not saying bands are ripping off the music publishers because most of them fail. Remember that bands aren't given that money; it's a loan, even if cloaked in different terms. Bands that haven't paid it back yet ("unrecouped") are regularly screwed badly by the RIAA member companies. Basically, with a big label, it's just about impossible to eke out a living; it's "win big or go home". Because the amount of money being recouped tends to be pretty huge, and the lien, as it were, comes from the copyrights of the band's music being owned by the label.
Anyway, the discussion was very interesting, though I did not find myself persuaded that it would be in any publisher's best interest to be subsumed into facebook. I'm definitely with Gruber on that.
But his talk of "destination sites" was an interesting one (though his saying that he hoped his site was that, then later saying that being able to charge money for access was proof positive of success in that endeavor felt a bit... off, I suppose). I had never thought in those terms, but I suppose I have half a dozen or a dozen personal destination sites that I check something close to daily. And no, none of them are newspapers.
20150401
Laughing at myself
File this under "first world problems".
I've placed a couple of orders, recently, at Competitive Cyclist. I'm laughing at myself for two reasons. One is that their free shipping is UPS Ground (delivery via Post Office, which generally adds a day), and I've gotten used to near-instantaneous delivery from Amazon. So the wait is annoying me.
The other reasons I'm laughing is that, three days ago, I reviewed a pair of bib shorts, and said they were good, but expensive enough that I wasn't sure I'd ever order another pair. Right after finishing that review, I noticed that they'd dropped $40. Then, yesterday, they had a special on those shorts, where they'd throw in a free jersey (a top-of-the-line one, not a cheapie) if you bought them.
Since I'd been thinking about getting that exact jersey, that turned out to be enough to convince me to buy a second pair of the shorts.
So I'm ridiculous, I realize. Even more ridiculous, I didn't order faster shipping, and I'm anxious enough for my last two orders that I wish I had. Ah well, now you all can laugh at me as much as (or more than) I'm laughing at myself.
I've placed a couple of orders, recently, at Competitive Cyclist. I'm laughing at myself for two reasons. One is that their free shipping is UPS Ground (delivery via Post Office, which generally adds a day), and I've gotten used to near-instantaneous delivery from Amazon. So the wait is annoying me.
The other reasons I'm laughing is that, three days ago, I reviewed a pair of bib shorts, and said they were good, but expensive enough that I wasn't sure I'd ever order another pair. Right after finishing that review, I noticed that they'd dropped $40. Then, yesterday, they had a special on those shorts, where they'd throw in a free jersey (a top-of-the-line one, not a cheapie) if you bought them.
Since I'd been thinking about getting that exact jersey, that turned out to be enough to convince me to buy a second pair of the shorts.
So I'm ridiculous, I realize. Even more ridiculous, I didn't order faster shipping, and I'm anxious enough for my last two orders that I wish I had. Ah well, now you all can laugh at me as much as (or more than) I'm laughing at myself.
(Don't) hit the brakes, sweetheart!
Last night, I lubricated everything on the road bike just before going to bed, and felt pretty good about where things were.
This morning, I got everything ready (except, for the second day in a row, I forgot my camelbak, which has my tools and repair kit. Not good), and got moving. I realized, almost right away, that I could sporadically hear something, and quickly narrowed it down to the front brake.
I stopped, after a couple minutes, to adjust that (it was hitting on one side), and then went on. I was pushing, but still didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. Five or six miles in, I tried to push it on a segment on which I hadn't pushed in a long time, just for comparison. I felt good about the effort, but wasn't sure beyond that.
I went another half mile or so, and came to the big hill going up from Shirlington (Walter Reed Dr, for those who know the area). When I found myself in my top gear almost immediately, I knew I was dead meat as far as a competitive time. Struggling up, I realized that I was still having brake trouble, so I stopped at the top to take another look.
It turned out that both brakes were still touching (though the front far more lightly than earlier; that adjustment at least did some good), so I played with them until both wheels were spinning freely with only a small gap between wheel and brake.
And man, did it feel easy to pedal after that. I suddenly felt like riding took no effort at all. I went back downhill, into Shirlington, then up the long hill on S 31st St. I didn't set a PR, there, but missed by only nine seconds. Not great, but with the extra work I'd already made for myself on the ride, I wasn't terribly displeased. Again, the effort felt good.
From there, I waffled a bit on whether to ride hard, or to slow down, but finally came down on the side of pushing. I found myself on Braddock, heading towards Alexandria, and decided to really push on one segment there (I was trying to knock a friend of mine out of KOM position). I made the light perfectly at the bottom of the hill just before the segment, and flew through. I wasn't able to knock my friend off the top position, but did manage to make him share it with me. Perhaps a hair disappointing, but it was still a five-second improvement for me (on the PR I set only three weeks ago), so it shouldn't be.
From there, I finished the ride calmly, pushing a bit, but not setting any records. That was a little disappointing; there were two sections where I was outright trying to do so. One of them (I just checked), showed up as third-best, but further checking shows that it was actually a three-way tie for first. That segment was part of a longer one (my PR is 5:00), on which I missed my PR by only eight seconds. Not something with which to be satisfied, but not something to be upset about, either. For sure, I was gasping for air at the end of that segment (four hills, and ends on a steep one), and it looks like six of those seconds were lost on that final hill (which is also its own segment, hence my knowing). The latter surprises me, as I thought I'd done better than that.
The final place I was really pushing is coming off the Custis Trail, onto George Mason Dr, and going north to Rt 29. Actually, now looking, and it appears that my "2nd" was also a tie for my PR (impressive, considering my previous PR was set at the end of a six mile ride, rather than a 25-mile one). I'm still disappointed, though, as I was trying to catch another riding acquaintance, and I missed him by three seconds (though I again beat, by a bit, the friend I tied on the Braddock Rd segment).
From there, I was toast, and basically coasted home. Sometime soon, I need to try pushing again on the segment that goes from Rt 29 back down to Yorktown Blvd, but there was no way in hell that was happening this morning.
All in all, a good ride, although the brakes thing was frustrating. I also got a (heavily-discounted) time trial helmet, and I didn't think of trying it until I was well on my way (probably just as well, but a variation on the ride I was taking today would be perfect for testing that out. And I was strongly considering that variation). Most frustratingly, my heart rate meter crapped out again; I need to check the battery. Maybe I just need to get new batteries; I have quite a few left, but they're all several years old. Not even lithium ones keep forever, I guess. Regardless of the cause, though, it's frustrating.
Tomorrow will definitely be a gentle ride; after that, I'm not sure. Friday's supposed to be beautiful, so it'd be great to do a hard ride in 60F weather. But it's also supposed to rain, putting a bit of a damper in that. Plus, I'd like to do that group ride on Saturday, if possible, and going hard Friday would make that tough. Probably still doable, but really tough.
Well, still time to think about it.
This morning, I got everything ready (except, for the second day in a row, I forgot my camelbak, which has my tools and repair kit. Not good), and got moving. I realized, almost right away, that I could sporadically hear something, and quickly narrowed it down to the front brake.
I stopped, after a couple minutes, to adjust that (it was hitting on one side), and then went on. I was pushing, but still didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. Five or six miles in, I tried to push it on a segment on which I hadn't pushed in a long time, just for comparison. I felt good about the effort, but wasn't sure beyond that.
I went another half mile or so, and came to the big hill going up from Shirlington (Walter Reed Dr, for those who know the area). When I found myself in my top gear almost immediately, I knew I was dead meat as far as a competitive time. Struggling up, I realized that I was still having brake trouble, so I stopped at the top to take another look.
It turned out that both brakes were still touching (though the front far more lightly than earlier; that adjustment at least did some good), so I played with them until both wheels were spinning freely with only a small gap between wheel and brake.
And man, did it feel easy to pedal after that. I suddenly felt like riding took no effort at all. I went back downhill, into Shirlington, then up the long hill on S 31st St. I didn't set a PR, there, but missed by only nine seconds. Not great, but with the extra work I'd already made for myself on the ride, I wasn't terribly displeased. Again, the effort felt good.
From there, I waffled a bit on whether to ride hard, or to slow down, but finally came down on the side of pushing. I found myself on Braddock, heading towards Alexandria, and decided to really push on one segment there (I was trying to knock a friend of mine out of KOM position). I made the light perfectly at the bottom of the hill just before the segment, and flew through. I wasn't able to knock my friend off the top position, but did manage to make him share it with me. Perhaps a hair disappointing, but it was still a five-second improvement for me (on the PR I set only three weeks ago), so it shouldn't be.
From there, I finished the ride calmly, pushing a bit, but not setting any records. That was a little disappointing; there were two sections where I was outright trying to do so. One of them (I just checked), showed up as third-best, but further checking shows that it was actually a three-way tie for first. That segment was part of a longer one (my PR is 5:00), on which I missed my PR by only eight seconds. Not something with which to be satisfied, but not something to be upset about, either. For sure, I was gasping for air at the end of that segment (four hills, and ends on a steep one), and it looks like six of those seconds were lost on that final hill (which is also its own segment, hence my knowing). The latter surprises me, as I thought I'd done better than that.
The final place I was really pushing is coming off the Custis Trail, onto George Mason Dr, and going north to Rt 29. Actually, now looking, and it appears that my "2nd" was also a tie for my PR (impressive, considering my previous PR was set at the end of a six mile ride, rather than a 25-mile one). I'm still disappointed, though, as I was trying to catch another riding acquaintance, and I missed him by three seconds (though I again beat, by a bit, the friend I tied on the Braddock Rd segment).
From there, I was toast, and basically coasted home. Sometime soon, I need to try pushing again on the segment that goes from Rt 29 back down to Yorktown Blvd, but there was no way in hell that was happening this morning.
All in all, a good ride, although the brakes thing was frustrating. I also got a (heavily-discounted) time trial helmet, and I didn't think of trying it until I was well on my way (probably just as well, but a variation on the ride I was taking today would be perfect for testing that out. And I was strongly considering that variation). Most frustratingly, my heart rate meter crapped out again; I need to check the battery. Maybe I just need to get new batteries; I have quite a few left, but they're all several years old. Not even lithium ones keep forever, I guess. Regardless of the cause, though, it's frustrating.
Tomorrow will definitely be a gentle ride; after that, I'm not sure. Friday's supposed to be beautiful, so it'd be great to do a hard ride in 60F weather. But it's also supposed to rain, putting a bit of a damper in that. Plus, I'd like to do that group ride on Saturday, if possible, and going hard Friday would make that tough. Probably still doable, but really tough.
Well, still time to think about it.
20150331
Clean sweep
I went and washed both of my bikes today. They certainly both needed it; neither had been washed well over the winter.
The hybrid was just a god-awful mess, covered in salt and dirt. And I hadn't cleaned it at all.
I washed it pretty well, but now need to put the road tires back on, fix the front brakes (they somehow ended up misadjusted after cleaning), and replace the chain (getting rusty, and I put it off until I was sure the snow was finished).
The road bike I hadn't done a whole-body cleaning in quite a while, but I had washed the drive train recently. So I expected it to be... not great. But it was just horrible. The brakes were really bad, which wasn't a surprise. But the cassette was also terrible, which was. And there was crud around various parts of the body, none of which was horrible, but none of which was a surprise, either.
Anyway, doing a really thorough cleaning (basically, the only things I would have liked to have done, but didn't, involved disassembling the brakes and derailleurs) took quite a while, but things look really nice now.
My only regrets are that I didn't do it sooner, and that no one but me will be able to tell how good a job I did. Still, it felt good to get it done.
I made a lot of use of Gear Floss to clean the brakes, derailleurs, and cassette (didn't want pull that one again). I've used it before, but I made much better use of it this time. So much so that I think the pieces I used might not be terribly useful again (generally speaking, they can be cleaned and re-used, but these were both filthy and somewhat shredded). Oh well; if so, they will have gone in use, rather than in disuse, so it's hard to really complain about that.
The hybrid was just a god-awful mess, covered in salt and dirt. And I hadn't cleaned it at all.
I washed it pretty well, but now need to put the road tires back on, fix the front brakes (they somehow ended up misadjusted after cleaning), and replace the chain (getting rusty, and I put it off until I was sure the snow was finished).
The road bike I hadn't done a whole-body cleaning in quite a while, but I had washed the drive train recently. So I expected it to be... not great. But it was just horrible. The brakes were really bad, which wasn't a surprise. But the cassette was also terrible, which was. And there was crud around various parts of the body, none of which was horrible, but none of which was a surprise, either.
Anyway, doing a really thorough cleaning (basically, the only things I would have liked to have done, but didn't, involved disassembling the brakes and derailleurs) took quite a while, but things look really nice now.
My only regrets are that I didn't do it sooner, and that no one but me will be able to tell how good a job I did. Still, it felt good to get it done.
I made a lot of use of Gear Floss to clean the brakes, derailleurs, and cassette (didn't want pull that one again). I've used it before, but I made much better use of it this time. So much so that I think the pieces I used might not be terribly useful again (generally speaking, they can be cleaned and re-used, but these were both filthy and somewhat shredded). Oh well; if so, they will have gone in use, rather than in disuse, so it's hard to really complain about that.
Once, twice, three times a-riding...
Saturday's ride can be summed up in one word: cold. Most of the ride was in 21-22F temperatures.
Despite that, I wanted to take advantage of having a little more time than usual to ride, so I started out with a slightly longer route than I've been doing, lately. I went down to Shirlington, as usual, but went all the way into the shopping district, then up the big hill behind there, and around. From there, I went my normal route up the W&OD towards Falls Church.
Twelve miles in, I looked down and realized that the reason my feet were getting a bit cold, already, was that I forgot to put my booties on before leaving. Not sure what happened; I've never forgotten them before.
Still, I pushed on, and even decided to tack a few more miles than usual on by taking the trail all the way to Idylwood Dr. That adds about three more miles to my normal route. And I took Idylwood all the way up to Powhatan, which meant that I had to deal with both hills on Powhatan, rather than just the second, as I've been doing recently.
Despite the chilled feet, it was a pretty good ride, and one in which I had little to no trouble keeping my heart rate down. I hit 129 briefly, and only spent 84 seconds above 125, so that's just about perfect (especially for a ride of 1:45).
And distance was pretty good, at 21.75 miles (1200' of elevation). Speed was 12.3mph; not bad for an easy ride.
Yesterday, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as cold at just below 40F, but it rained a bit. Because of the rain, I had my rain jacket on, which has a very tight collar (if I zip it up all the way). I did discover that having that collar zipped all the way definitely makes it hard to keep my heart rate down, although unzipping it a bit only helped a tiny bit (I still had trouble).
How bad was the heart rate trouble? I hit 144 (and cleared 140 more than once). I spent more than half an hour over 125. Geeze, I didn't realize it was that bad until now, writing this up (though I knew it wasn't good, of course). And I just saw that one of those times clearing 140 came when climbing a hill (ok, no surprise there) where there was a jogger on the sidewalk who was actually going faster than me. I definitely wasn't trying to push. Ouch.
I wish I knew why I had so much trouble with heart rate. I know part of it, earlier on, was the collar. And another early part was that I spent a little time in the drops. I can't believe how much the latter affects heart rate; just seems weird, to me, somehow. I'd expect some effect, of course, but nothing that pronounced.
Anyway, other than the heart rate, it was a pleasant ride. That's a very nice temperature for ride; maybe a few degrees below ideal, but not far.
This morning was a little... weird. I checked the temperature before leaving, and saw that it was supposed to be (currently, not forecast) 45F. That's generally the temperature at which I start thinking about cold-weather preparations, so I almost didn't question it, and put on lighter gear than I'd planned to take.
Thank goodness I didn't tone down (other than that I didn't wear my skullcap, I'll come back to this), because it was cold. It was mostly around 35F, getting all the way down to freezing over one stretch that's always a few degrees colder than the rest of my rides.
Despite that (or maybe because of it), I had no trouble keeping my heart rate down. I didn't do quite as well as Saturday, but I kept my max to 132, and had only 92 seconds above 125. That's not perfect, but it's pretty darned good. I was quite happy with it.
And that was with an average speed of 13.1mph (yesterday was 12.6).
The only real difference was that my cadence was a little lower today, but with more power pushed (99W vs 85). I'd really like to know how I pushed more power at a lower heart rate; the cadence is the only thing I can think of, although the difference was pretty tiny (54Hz vs 56). I'm surprised the difference is so small, though, because I was constantly aware of it while riding. I wouldn't've guessed I was anywhere near that sensitive.
And now I'm looking at Saturday, just for comparison. Saturday was 86W and 59Hz. No pattern there.
In any event, two days out of three were quite good, as far as reaching my goals. Tomorrow will be a hard ride, but I'll have to think about where I'm going. Maybe I'll try to get up fifteen minutes early, and do my big loop of Arlington (with bits of Falls Church and Alexandria).
Despite that, I wanted to take advantage of having a little more time than usual to ride, so I started out with a slightly longer route than I've been doing, lately. I went down to Shirlington, as usual, but went all the way into the shopping district, then up the big hill behind there, and around. From there, I went my normal route up the W&OD towards Falls Church.
Twelve miles in, I looked down and realized that the reason my feet were getting a bit cold, already, was that I forgot to put my booties on before leaving. Not sure what happened; I've never forgotten them before.
Still, I pushed on, and even decided to tack a few more miles than usual on by taking the trail all the way to Idylwood Dr. That adds about three more miles to my normal route. And I took Idylwood all the way up to Powhatan, which meant that I had to deal with both hills on Powhatan, rather than just the second, as I've been doing recently.
Despite the chilled feet, it was a pretty good ride, and one in which I had little to no trouble keeping my heart rate down. I hit 129 briefly, and only spent 84 seconds above 125, so that's just about perfect (especially for a ride of 1:45).
And distance was pretty good, at 21.75 miles (1200' of elevation). Speed was 12.3mph; not bad for an easy ride.
Yesterday, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as cold at just below 40F, but it rained a bit. Because of the rain, I had my rain jacket on, which has a very tight collar (if I zip it up all the way). I did discover that having that collar zipped all the way definitely makes it hard to keep my heart rate down, although unzipping it a bit only helped a tiny bit (I still had trouble).
How bad was the heart rate trouble? I hit 144 (and cleared 140 more than once). I spent more than half an hour over 125. Geeze, I didn't realize it was that bad until now, writing this up (though I knew it wasn't good, of course). And I just saw that one of those times clearing 140 came when climbing a hill (ok, no surprise there) where there was a jogger on the sidewalk who was actually going faster than me. I definitely wasn't trying to push. Ouch.
I wish I knew why I had so much trouble with heart rate. I know part of it, earlier on, was the collar. And another early part was that I spent a little time in the drops. I can't believe how much the latter affects heart rate; just seems weird, to me, somehow. I'd expect some effect, of course, but nothing that pronounced.
Anyway, other than the heart rate, it was a pleasant ride. That's a very nice temperature for ride; maybe a few degrees below ideal, but not far.
This morning was a little... weird. I checked the temperature before leaving, and saw that it was supposed to be (currently, not forecast) 45F. That's generally the temperature at which I start thinking about cold-weather preparations, so I almost didn't question it, and put on lighter gear than I'd planned to take.
Thank goodness I didn't tone down (other than that I didn't wear my skullcap, I'll come back to this), because it was cold. It was mostly around 35F, getting all the way down to freezing over one stretch that's always a few degrees colder than the rest of my rides.
Despite that (or maybe because of it), I had no trouble keeping my heart rate down. I didn't do quite as well as Saturday, but I kept my max to 132, and had only 92 seconds above 125. That's not perfect, but it's pretty darned good. I was quite happy with it.
And that was with an average speed of 13.1mph (yesterday was 12.6).
The only real difference was that my cadence was a little lower today, but with more power pushed (99W vs 85). I'd really like to know how I pushed more power at a lower heart rate; the cadence is the only thing I can think of, although the difference was pretty tiny (54Hz vs 56). I'm surprised the difference is so small, though, because I was constantly aware of it while riding. I wouldn't've guessed I was anywhere near that sensitive.
And now I'm looking at Saturday, just for comparison. Saturday was 86W and 59Hz. No pattern there.
In any event, two days out of three were quite good, as far as reaching my goals. Tomorrow will be a hard ride, but I'll have to think about where I'm going. Maybe I'll try to get up fifteen minutes early, and do my big loop of Arlington (with bits of Falls Church and Alexandria).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)