Mike's Bike Blog

The Tour das Hugel date has been announced for November 15 with a 7 am start time. For those not familiar with this ride it is 100 miles of the most notorious hills Austin has to offer with 10,000 feet of climbing! The ride is free of charge, but if you complete the ride then you have the opportunity to purchase a t-shirt. This will be my first attempt at this event and hopefully all the climbing I've done this past year will pay off. Who's with me?

Looking at the Tour das Hugel main page it has not been updated with the new date, however, the information page has.

It's official, I've raced in my first race. Tonight I made my way out to the Driveway and raced in the Kenny Hill Autoworks Thursday night criterium. The course, "The Driveway", is a car and kart racing track in East Austin thus it's a closed course and the roadway is smooth.

The plan was to stay up with the main group as close as possible until the last lap and then to pull away for the win. Good plan, but the execution faulted when the started yelled go. I was starting from the second row. The rider in front of me had trouble clipping in and I almost ran into him. Unlike any long distance start these guys don't mess around at getting up to speed. After the mishap at the start I myself was not clipped in. RIght from the start the speed was at least 24 mph so here I am pedaling with my left foot not clipped in and once I do get clipped in the main group is starting to pull away. I do my best to get back up which I'm do, just barely hanging onto the back. I'm not sure exactly when and were it happened but I was no longer with the main group, in fact I think I was in last place. I did manage to claw my way back to past about 3 people, but in the end I didn't see them in the race anymore.

The Analysis

For the 25 minutes my average speed was 21.32 mph, max speed was 31.91 mph (when I was working to bridge the gap to the main group). My average power was 275 watts, max was 722 watts (again getting to the main group). Like I stated I fully expected my speed to be higher than what it was. So far the only thing I can come up with is the course really doesn't match up to the way I've been training. I've been working at sustaining my power and speed but that work has been done on relatively straight roads. The Driveway has a lot of curves. There's a lot of bursts of speed out of the corners

Next Time

Yes there will be a next time, I don't think there are any more races this year, but next spring I'll be back out. I think I'll be better prepared. It was fun, I think I'm better suited for longer distances and with hills. Now I want to try a bonified road race.

It's starting to look like Hurricane Ike is going to be wreaking havoc this weekend, thus it might put a damper on the Tour de Florence. I don't mind riding in the rain, in fact when the news first came out that we would get rain from Ike I was excited and wasn't throwing in the towel. I love to ride in the rain. As for the wind, growing up in Wyoming riding in the wind was something you had to deal with if you wanted to ride your bike. Normal wind was around 20 miles an hour while it could get breezy at 40 mph. However, the news is now calling for 75 to 100 mph wind along with tornados.

If the Tour de Florence is a bust I'll be throwing in the 1999 Tour De France DVD and see if I can put in at least 3 hours on the trainer. If anybody wants to join in let me know, all you'll need is your bike, your trainer/rollers and maybe a fan.

Since we can't make it to Utah to partake in Fatty's Triathalon this coming Saturday (6/21) we should hold our own event. We need 3 events to make it a Triathalon and to keep it with the Fat Cyclist name we'll have to have an eating event. I liked his original idea of a road leg followed up by a mountain leg and then brats. I'm open to other alternative legs for the 2nd leg, anybody got ideas? For the eating we can either all pitch in and BBQ something (pot luck style) or there might be a few good BBQ places around.

One thing I do know the entry fee is at least purchasing 1 raffle ticket in Fatty's giveaway. The grand prize is a brand new Ibis SilkSL road bike! I know it's short notice, but we could have a fun "social" here in Austin and support the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

For my first century I was going into it with the attitude of just to get through it. I wasn't worried about my time, but just to finish. For my next one I'll put some goals to it. The morning was perfect, the skies were overcast and it wasn't too hot yet. I was a little worried about the heat, the forecast was calling for 97 degree heat. I've never ridden a distance more than 20 miles in that kind of heat here in Texas. Jared was a late arrival, we were suppose to get to the Liberty Hill High School at 7am. While I was waiting I did have the opportunity to meet up with the Bike Noob and meet face to face. Once Jared was ready we made our way through the crowds.

The start was typical of any mass start as a large group of us rolled out at 8:05. The longer distances of 80 & 105 got to go first. Since we were in the back of the start we had to navigate through the riders. Our first pit stop was at the 30 mile Dillo Door. This is the section longer distance riders have to get to by 10:30 or they would have to take one of the shorter routes. We beat this time no problem, we were averaging 18 mph. Shortly after Burnet we hit a down hill stretch and Jared took off, I wasn't too worried I knew I'd catch him on the up hills. But as he pulled away I got a flat. I'm not the fastest flat changer, it takes me about 12 minutes normally. This wasn't normal, it took about 30 to 40 minutes at least. The tube kept getting pinched between the tire and the rim. I bent down on 1 knee while I was getting the tube out and I think I put my knee in poison ivy. It sure is itchy. At least it wasn't too bad while I was on the course, but it is a bit itchy still.

So on I pushed, when I got to the next rest stop Jared wasn't too be found so on I went. Ten more miles down the road I got another flat. I only had one spare tube with me and I used it already so now I had to bust out the patch kit. This time it only took between 20 - 30 minutes to patch the tube, change it and get going again. Little did I know but in the process of changing the tire I messed up my chain.

For the next 35 miles I suffered through a slipping chain. Each time I would try to put any power into my pedal stroke it would slip. If I tried any out of the saddle climbing I'd almost fall from loosing my balance when it would slip. There was 1 hill without having sustained power or the ability to get out of the saddle I had to walk up. It was very humiliating as it was a hill that I had climbed the week before with no problem. Without a working bike there was no way I could make it up it. I later found out I wasn't the only one. Worst of all the sun came out and it started to heat up.

At mile 80 there is a rest stop in Oatmeal, I was hoping there would be a mechanic at the rest stop so I could get my bike looked at. Surprisingly there were no mechanics manning any of the rest stops. I found this very odd, I've never done a ride where the bike shops didn't sponsor a few of the rest stops. I figured if there wasn't mechanical help there was no way I could make it through the upcoming hills back into Liberty Hill. To my amazement but who should I see, I caught back up to Jared! There were no mechanics at this stop, but there was something better, Jared armed with his all in one tool. He was able to get the link that was stuck back to working order. I owe Jared big time for that, he kept me from the SAG wagon.

The last 20 miles wasn't pretty, we endured it and made it through. I thought I had done a good job of hydrating, but when I got home I jumped on the scale and I had lost 8 pounds! This was after drinking 64 ounces after the ride and at the last 2 rest stops I drank another 64 ounces probably. Obviously I wasn't hydrating enough and more sustained power suffered. On the hills back I still averaged 18 mph up them, but it left the take completely empty for the down hill back into Liberty Hill.

This one was all about finishing, but my active time was 6:33:06 and averaged 16.24 mph for the 106 miles. My body feels good this morning, no aches or pains. I was comfortable on my bike the entire ride. When I woke up this morning my resting heart rate was 20 beats higher than usual so I'm still recovering, so no riding today.

Photos of the Armadillo Hill Country Classic on RoadBikeRides.com

Ride Reports from others:
Jared
Bike Noob 

No turning back now, I just parted with $33 to sign up for the Armadillo Hill Country Classic in Liberty Hill. I'm signed up for the 80 mile route. Who's in? Let's organize a bit and have a meet up before and head out together or something afterwards.

This ride was the best ride I'll every go on, well there will be 2 more rides in my lifetime that will equal it. On Saturday Jack and I rode the 6 mile route. At 7 years old this was his first event ride.  Jack was pretty excited the entire week. On Thursday we went to Bicycle Sports Shop to pick up our ride packets. Jack wanted to get some Hammer products so I got him a chocolate Hammer Bar and Banana Hammer Gel. On Friday night we went over our bikes, put air in our tires and made sure everything was mechanically sound. I had planned to ride my mountain bike but Jack wanted me to take my road bike because it has 2 water bottle holders.

Saturday morning rolled around, Jack ate half his Hammer bar for breakfast, we packed up the Expedition with our bikes and we packed up the entire family and headed up to Liberty Hill for the Spokes N' Spurs ride. It was a bit chilly at the start of the ride, I think it was around 40 degrees, but it did warm up on the way back. The course was pretty flat, there were some very slight hills. Jack made it up all of them. One in particular had him huffing and puffing but he made it up it at the top we stopped for water and proceeded on. The turn around point was a rest stop. Jack was excited to get to the rest stop so he could eat his Hammer Gel. The rest stop was stocked with PB&J sandwiches, Chex Mix, homemade cookies, and water. Once Jack had his fill of Chex mix and water we headed back.

Jack averaged 7.7 mph on the ride and completed it well under 1 hour. Most importantly had had a great time and is already asking to do more rides, but he wants to bump the distance up a bit as 6 miles is too easy. Ethan is wanting to do a ride and wants me to find him a 6 mile ride he can do. I've been looking on Craigslist for a greared bike for him. 

 

 

 

Like most athletes I had dreams of participating in the Olympic games. In high school I was invited to the Olympic development camp for hockey, but due to some scheduling mishap I was not able to attend. I was able to represent the US twice playing hockey in Europe, but that was as close as I ever came. I almost forgot about the time I was training with the Romania speed skating coach while living in Salt Lake. I found an article about Kathryn Bertine an ESPN columnist/writer who is writing about her ordeals while trying to make the US Olympic cycling team. I picked the story up late in her adventure. If you want to start from the beginning then start here. I'm going to continue on so if you don't want to here what happens then go back and read the first entry and continue on. I'll wait... 

After placing 35th at Nationals her US Olympic dreams were dashed. Her next course of action is quite ingenious and not necessarily unheard of, find a different country. I've heard of this kind of thing before, I've heard of some Canadian and US hockey players representing other countries on their Olympic teams. Kathryn has started to look for a smaller nation to ride for. I'm surprised she didn't receive more interest in her offer than what she did. The marketing/PR opportunities for a small nation I would think would be a tremendous boon with her ties to ESPN. The last installment of her journey has her meeting with the St. Kitts/Nevis Cycling Federation and the ball is rolling. It sounds like she could have a good shot at being at the Olympic games this summer, I'm pulling for her. She's living her dream, just the training opportunities she is partaking in has me very envious. I like watching the videos on her site of her training with Gord Fraser and the testing she is going through at Carmichael Training System's Tucson office. 

 

I was signed up for the 50mile course for this years Pedal Thru the Pines, Jon, my riding buddy from Keller Williams joined me on the short trek to Bastrop. We got there early and got our swag. I must say the Pedal thru the Pines has the best t-shirt so far. Neither Jon nor myself has ever ridden the course before, it was Jon's first time to Bastrop and it was my first time going through the National Parks. We both were under the false impression that it was going to be relatively flat. The start was at the Bastrop High School, the 67 milers got the start first and then it was us in the 50 mile group. Looking back at it I don't think everybody that was in the 67 or the 50 mile start were doing those courses and were just trying to get a head start, which was somewhat problematic later on. It was a slow as the pack of riders headed out from the High School and made our way to 95. The State Patrol were directing traffic so we didn't have to wait at the light as we turned left onto Highway 150. We had our first little climb going up 150 to the park entrance. I was just trying to stay on the left side to get past the swam of riders that were already slowing on the first climb. We navigated our way up the hill and into the park. Once we were in the park this is where it got really interesting. The park roads are narrow and winding with a lot of loose gravel and rocks. Normally it wouldn't be too bad, but with the number of riders there was not much room to navigate.

I haven't done a lot of events, but this was the first time I've seen grown adults just fall right over on a climb. I can't tell you the number of times I saw people in front of me just fall right over. They didn't even clip out! So you had to weave through people that would just come to a complete stop going up the hill and push their bikes up, but you also had to watch out for people that would just fall right over. On one of the hills I had a rider go down in front of me and then another guy just cut right in front of me trying to get over to the left side of the road and proceed to topple right over. I lost all momentum and was in the wrong gear for the loss of speed. I had to really muscle my way up the climb but I made it up. Through these climbs Jon and I got separated a couple times. I thought Jon had gotten ahead of me when I lost my momentum on the climb, but I later found out that he got a flat and had to do a quick change. As I was going through the Parks I couldn't help but get a little worried that it seemed we were going down a lot more than we were going up so that had me a little worried as what goes down has to come back up to get to the finish.

Once we got out of the park it was onto Highway 153. This stretch all the way to Winchester for the most part was flat and open cattle grazing fields. The was a bit of wind but nothing too bad, I caught on a couple of pace lines, hanging on for a bit and then I'd make a move to the next one. I got passed by a pack of about 6 riders and I was going to jump on but the group I was in was going a lot slower and I didn't cease the opportunity and then I got stuck with traffic coming up behind me that I missed them. I almost caught them at Winchester, they stopped at the rest stop while I turned around and made my way back. I was expecting them to catch me at some point, but as it turned out nobody passed me on the way back. At the finish they came in about 3 minutes after me.

From Winchester the course double backs on 153 and to Highway 71. On 71 I caught up with the people that were doing the lower mileage. The hills on 71 weren't too bad, I was able to keep my speed up. There were quite a few riders getting off and pushing up the hills though. I made it to the finish line in 2:41:33. My average speed was 17.6mph, my average heart rate was 158, cadence average was 75.

All in all this was a great ride, I had a great time, the t-shirt is nice. Next year I'll have to do the 67 mile course and be sure to get out in front early to avoid the falling riders. Here is my motionbased.com stats for the ride.  

 

Want to know how to turn a 67 mile Hill Hopper into 83.25? I stumbled upon this by sheer accident. At the start of the race the guy with the bull horn was telling everyone about the route, but you know how those bull horns are it sounds like the teacher from the Peanuts. I was in the upper middle of the start pack, but I was next to the registration desk and the couple next to me were I think arguing who was going to ride upfront on their tandem. So I thought I heard that we had to go through the loop twice for the 67 mile ride. At 8:25 we are off, 25 minutes late due to fog, which was bad getting to Round Top.

The event lives up to it's Hill Hopper name, there weren't too many flats to speak of, just a bunch of rollers. Out of the entire course there weren't any hills I encountered that made me really suffer. At about mile 20 the course turns back, I had been averaging about 19mph up the hills to this point, but on this back stretch it was right into the wind. Compound that with one of the roughest paved roads I've ever encountered. It wasn't like there were potholes or actual road defects, the road was just grooved or something. It wasn't smoothed, it's like they just dropped the asphalt and forgot to run the roller over it. I seriously thought my fillings might fall out or worse something on my bike might come loose and fall off. So once I got through this 5 mile stretch it was back around. At this point I'm wondering if I heard right that we have to do that loop twice, so as I'm passing a ride marshal I ask him if we do it twice and he says if I want the full 67 then yes, but I could turn off at the 67B turn and be about 10 miles short. I want to go the full 67 miles so I tell him thanks and take off for a second loop.

The second loop wasn't as bad as the first, I think the wind died down a bit plus there were more racers on the section this time, my first time through there were only a few people in front of me that I ended up passing and nobody caught me from behind. So I get through the second loop and head down the 67B path. I'm still going strong, I've brought Hammer gel, 2 bottles of Heed and my water pack filled with Perpetuem and 2 Chocolate Chip Hammer Bars. Unbeknownst to me I'd need most of my fuel.  I was still going strong and in fact passing  riders on  the climbs, it was kind of funny having a rider pass me on the down hill portion and then I'd pass them going up the next hill never to be seen from again.

As mile 60 approached I still felt good, so I decided to put the hammer down and not leave anything in the tank. Mile 67 came and went yet no finish line, then mile 70 and then about mile 71 I come to a rest stop. It's at this point I start thinking "What the ...". Of course I can't stop and ask for directions as I start adding up the miles and get the sinking feeling that I was just suppose to do 1 lap. After the urge to throttle the ride marshal for telling me I needed to go around twice I hunkered down for the last 12 miles. At this point the spring was definitely out of my pedals but I had to push on. Like I said I had enough fuel for the extended ride, but I was a bit deflated to realize I had another 12 miles to go.

The last 12 miles took me about an hour to complete, the hills that I was once just powering over were forcing me to shift to my smaller ring. I did get a short second wind but was quickly extinguished when I'd hit a head wind. Onward I went, on this last stretch I was only passed twice. The second group of guys that caught me I caught back up to when I got my third wind. It was funny when I passed them on a hill, they looked surprised as I was getting up it at a good pace eating a Hammer Bar.

In the end I went 83.25 miles in 5:04:02, I did 67 miles in 3:52:02 averaging 17.3 mph. My overall mph was 16.4, the last 15 miles brought my average down. In the end I have a new personal distance record and I know that I'm getting closer to being able to do a century. I'm not even feeling any ill effects from the extended ride either, except for a nice sunburn on my arms and a small portion on my back where my shirt road up a bit and a small sliver of my back was exposed.

Next year I'll bring sunscreen and probably only do the loop 1 time or I might do the loop 3 times to come up with the Hill Hopper 100.