In short – rain, climb, rain, climb, climb, climb, rain, repeat, rainbow.
Amazing ride.
194.5 miles. ~16.5 hours total time. ~13,000 climbing.
Double Rainbow @ mile 180.
Full ride report later…
Fixed Century
Our Sunday ride group was dispersed this last weekend – so I took off solo on the Surly to retrace a previous ride. I’ve been enjoying the fixed gear bike around town- and my longest ride to date has been about 32 miles – so I decided to test the fit and my legs for a century. I explored a relatively flat route along the Winooski River from Burlington through Colchester, Essex Junction, Richmond, Waterbury and Middlesex. I’ve ridden parts of this on a previous Sunday morning ride with the IF – the terrain is tame – but there are steep rollers on the quiet country and dirt roads – some approaching 10% – but a few easily clearing 12%.
As I left Waterbury I noted the ‘bridge closed’ signs along Rt. 2 and hoped to be able to cross as a pedestrian. No such luck, as the highway department has taken care to make it a formidable obstacle to cross.
I had planned on a detour off of Rt. 2 nearby – and luckily the unnamed road (Lover’s Lane, according to Google) was just to the right of the bridge – so up some steep dirt and gravel and I discovered a lovely abandoned bridge over a ravine. A kayaker was playing in the rapids way down below – running through, rolling, then inching his way back up the side to do it over again.
I had to walk up the other side spinning out the rear tire while climbing the very steep loose sand and dirt road. The road connected me to 100b which rolls into Middlesex where I resupplied at the general store. I debated riding on to Montpelier, again following some quiet dirt roads – but guessed at my mileage and figured I was already halfway through a century.
I retraced my steps home – not seeing another cyclist until Richmond – which is a popular starting place for GMBC club racers as well as the summer tourists. I negotiated Rt. 2 and 117 in the heat – stopping in Essex Junction for another burst of sports drink, a reload on water, and a snack.
I rigged the Surly much as I would for a 300k – as I’m getting comfortable with the weight and the gear I’ll be taking on my ADK adventure in just over a month. I still have much climbing work to do – I’m hoping to do an intense 2 weeks of hills and then back off and taper for the big day. I’ll most likely be on the IF for the 300k – but I will give the Surly another shot at a century in much hillier terrain before I decide on which steed will carry me through the mountains. I’m currently running 42×16 which has been working well for rolling and mixed terrain. If needed I could remount the Surly Dinglecog and have a 42×17 and 42×19 option for a climby long distance ride.
The fit on the Surly also needs some work. By the numbers it is really close to the IF – but I’ve been riding the IF without gloves and had a successful century last week – on the Surly I had numb and tingling hands only 15 miles into the ride. I packed my riding gloves as insurance and wore them the balance of the ride – they worked – but I have come to like ‘naked hands’. This week I swapped around to an adjustable stem and will play with my bars. The one difference that might come into play is that the width of the bars on the Surly is 44cm and the width on the IF is 46cm – can that 2 cm in width be numbing my hands? Or is it the Cane Creek brake levers vs. the Campy Ergos? Or the gel padded bar tape on the Surly vs. the leather on the IF?
I did have a successful ‘street shorts’ century. I’m wearing Ex-Officio boxer briefs and my old Cannondale touring shorts – no chamois for me – and with the B17 I was comfy the ride through.
June Century – Lake Champlain
I rode my first century in quite a long while this past weekend. The Sunday morning crew was down to 2 – so Patrick and I took off north to the Champlain Islands. We stopped for breakfast on North Hero and made our way to Rouses Point, NY through Plattsburgh and to the Port Kent ferry back to Burlington. We kept our average speed fairly high (for our social sunday long rides) – and coming out of Plattsburgh tried to race to make a ferry. Wind, a bit of terrain (the route to this point was fairly flat) and more wind (we dodged thunderstorms all day) took its toll. When it looked like we would miss our boat we eased up and settled into a steady ‘finish the ride’ pace.
This was a shakedown ride for me – so I carried everything that I’m planning to take on the ‘OneWay300k’ that I have planned for August. The 300k will take me to Utica, NY from Burlington, VT by way of the Adirondacks. Rain cape, extra layers, food, maps, tool kit, mini first aid kit, extra shorts, digicam, etc… I brought along everything except my dyno lights which I need to re-wire and remount to my newly replaced Schmidt hub. Patrick was riding the Kogswell, fixed. I’ve debated building an ENO hubbed wheel for the IF – I’m going to try a long fixed ride on the Surly this coming weekend before I change anything. To be honest, even when I was beat at the end of the ride I tended to hang out in 3-4 cogs while in my large ring.
My experiment of riding a century in ‘street’ shorts almost worked – I tried wearing some touring style shorts and some breathable boxer briefs – I hit my limit at about 75 miles when the seams started to fight it out with my saddle. I’m not sure if it was the combination of the fabric and the wet wet morning – but part of the problem with street clothes is the shape of the Selle An-Atomica at the nose. The leather flares a bit and does not drop vertically like on the most Brooks’ I’ve ridden. As weight is applied to the saddle the flare increases – driving the edge of the leather into the inner part of my thighs. This happens with cycling shorts and street clothes. I love the saddle for the comfort on my rear end – but the front end is much more sensitive! Upon return I pulled the Selle An-Atomica off the bike again. I’ve remounted my well worn Brooks Swallow and I’ll try the experiment yet again with a slightly different wardrobe and see how it works out. The Brooks is a great long distance saddle – but I tend to bruise on my sit bones – something that has not happened with the leather ‘suspension’ An-Atomica – but I’ll take sit bone bruises at distances over 100 miles to raw rubbed thighs.
June Century – Smuggler’s Notch
Rode a great century from Burlington through Smuggler’s Notch and back. Climbed the notch from Jeffersonville and discovered that the further I got along the better I felt – the first 1/3 of the ride was muggy and humid – the last 2/3 the temperature started to drop and I found my legs. Upon reaching the top I discovered a traffic jam and I caught nearly every motorcycle and car that passed me while I struggled up the grade. The story from the Harley folks on the downward side was that as troopers were working a previous wreck a motorcycle came around a tight corner and crashed into the back of an emergency vehicle. The rider went to the hospital with a broken wrist and possibly broken ribs. I came round the corner just as they were getting the bike on the tow vehicle.
The ride down was supposed to be the fun part – but with all the traffic I took it easy and was approached by every other car in line about what was happening ahead. After clearing traffic I had the whole lane nearly all the way to Stowe, as traffic didn’t start moving until I was enjoying some lunch at Harvet Market on the Mountain Road.
Climbing
Climbed to Bolton Ski area today. This was my first serious climbing of the season and it felt good. Slow, but good. I averaged nearly 6 mph up the climb – and looking at the GMBC Time Trial results I won’t win a medal anytime soon… but it felt good to work hard for 4.4 miles. The VDO topped out at 17% grade – with long stretches at 9-10-13-14%.
May Century
I rode a wonderful century on Sunday. It was a picture perfect Vermont spring day. I travelled from Burlington through Richmond, Huntington, Bristol, Addison, Vergennes, Charlotte, Shelburne and returned to Burlingon covering 102 miles. The route I chose flanked Camel’s Hump, wandered over ‘Baby Gap’, and to the shore of Lake Champlain. I passed mountains, meadows, orchards and a covered bridge. 7:20 riding time, 7:50 total time with 4700 feet of climbing and an ugly crosswind and headwind for the last 40+ miles.
The Round Church in Richmond
Camel’s Hump
Camel’s humps
Covered bridge in Charlotte
April Century
Rode a great out and back century to Montpelier. Snapped a picture of the golden dome and enjoyed a snack at Capital Grounds before heading back home. Managed good time on the relatively flat route along the Winooski River – I had a headwind for most of the way back and only struggled over the last 10 miles. I started in the late afternoon and finished well after dark. I used the ride as a shakedown for some gear that I plan on using on my upcoming brevets. I really like the Carradice SQR Tour bag and I spent some time fine tuning my lights.
I’ve been feeling much better since last month’s sufferfest. I’ve added some intensity to my training mix after (hopefully) building a large enough endurance base to have a successful (and more intense) summer season. I’m also close to working with a coach – not that I need one for competition purposes – but I’ve been looking for someone who can work with me to focus my limited training time for the greatest benefits as well as direct me to make healthy on and off bike nutrition choices. I’ve interviewed a few folks via email and had a great one on one discussion today with a professor at UVM’s human performance lab.
March Century
My March century was a sufferfest. With all the travel for work and play (see previous post) I’d only been on the fixed gear for short rides around town two maybe three times since my February century. It really showed – or I was having a really bad day.
I set out from Burlington and rode through Williston, Bristol, Middlebury and Vergennes. In all I covered 108.5 miles with about 5,000 feet of climbing. The day started cold in the 30’s and climbed to the high 60’s. I suffered from mile 30 on, with a slight repreive between miles 96 and 106 where I felt great. I had trouble with just about everything other than the bike – eating and drinking on the bike were off, I was overdressed, then underdressed, and I was pretty sore in spots. I forced down a sports drink about 20 miles from home and it really helped – my electrolytes must have been out of balance – about 30 minutes after I was able to pick up the pace for awhile and enjoy the ride. I covered the distance in just under ten hours total time, with about nine hours on the bike. Last season I completed my first 200k (125 miles) and 7,000 feet of climbing while severely anemic in 9:46! Where have my legs gone?
I overhauled the bike after my February adventure and swapped out the Campy chain for a Wipperman. The Wipperman has made a huge difference – my drivetrain runs much quieter and I didn’t have any mis-shifts the entire ride. I’ve used their quick links on other chains and bikes – but this is my first experience with their chain and links. So far so good.
I’m not entirely sold on the Selle Anatomica saddle I installed this winter. It is noisy as the leather rubs on certain bits of the frame, and I could swear that as my longer rides go on I end up sinking closer and closer to the top of the seatpost and saddle clamp. Yesterday it felt like I was hitting the top of the clamp when I rode over rough pavement. I’ll experiment a bit more – but I may swap back to my well broken in Brooks Swallow.
After yesterday I am rethinking some of my goals. If it turns out I had a bad day (which can happen) – I’ll press on and try to complete my season as I imagined – if the trend of a really rough rides continues I’ll dial back my goals, focus on regaining lost fitness and having fun so as to not burn out / stress out watching my speeds drop and frustration set in.
February Century
I managed to ride my February century on the last day of the month. I left the office far too late and rode another slow century around Mt. Mansfield. It was sloppy slow ride of mechanical mishaps – I lost my rear blinkie from my Carradice twice (the second time over some railroad tracks killed it), the chain sucked into the chainstays twice, I dropped the chain once, the new saddle needed several adjustments, I fell (clipped in, landing on my knee) leaving a convenience store as an SUV doing twice the speed limit bore down on me, and my computer ejected itself from my stem 2 miles from home. I chalk the drivetrain mishaps up to the salty overspray that coated the entire bike – my chain was in trouble at about mile 50 and I listened to it chirping the rest of the way home. It took me half a day to do a proper cleaning – and for good measure I pulled the bottom bracket to find it filled with water (most likely from cleanings and last falls rain rides).
The middle third of this ride was wonderful – great views as I pedaled through Johnson, Hyde Park, and Stowe – the landscape very different from January – lots of snow on the ground and in the mountains. As I left Waterbury the sun set and the runoff started freezing. The last 20 miles was misery into the wind heading back to Burlington and dodging ice on Route 2.
A fountain or spring in Stowe that has frozen over and over… this was not here last month!
Mt. Mansfield Century
I spent Sunday getting a start on two of my 2007 cycling goals. I undertook a 102 mile ride to log my first century in my century a month challenge, as well as my first miles in the UMCA Year Rounder. I’m still building my winter base and was planning on waiting until March to undertake my first century – but with a strong 43.5 mile night ride last week, warm temperatures, and a blue sky day in the forecast I set out for the longest January ride I’ve ever accomplished. I chose a route that allowed a bail out option that would have been a nice 60 mile ride – but as I neared the turn off I pressed on and enjoyed the day.
I left the house mid morning with the temperature near 39 degrees. Per the year rounder challenge I would be collecting receipts along the way – so I dropped in to the local donut chain for some early ride calories and a time stamp of my passing. I headed north into Colchester and Milton, then east to Cambridge where I stopped in at the general store to add a Luna bar to my jersey pocket and collect my second receipt. The morning ride through valleys and over rolling climbs had me constantly zipping and unzipping my jacket – my core was slightly cold or slightly warm – but my feet were always cold. Before heading out on the next leg of the route I added some toe warmers to my shoes – I felt the effects instantly and my feet were fine the balance of the day.
Leaving Cambridge I travelled east through Jeffersonville, the town at the turn off to VT Rt. 108 and Smugglers Notch on the north side of Mt. Mansfield. Smuggs was a sad site – most of the runs didn’t appear to have enough snow to ski. Cycling through the notch on 108 is on my to-do list – the scenery over the notch and along the Mountain Rd. to Stowe is inspiring.
Passing through Jeffersonville I travelled to Johnson, Hyde Park, and made a southward turn towards Stowe on VT Rt. 100 in Morrsiville. As I pedaled along the relatively flat valley I daydreamed about my first trip to Vermont. At the time I had just finished teaching my first year of design at the Cleveland Institute of Art, and I was spending part of the summer expanding my woodworking knowledge at the Heartwood School for the Homebuilding Crafts. During a weekend break in a timber frame class I drove nearly the length of Vermont along Rt. 100, terminating in two overnights at the original location of Smugglers Notch State Park. I rode the Gondola up Mt. Mansfield for a rainy hike, dined in Burlington and Waitsfield, and explored the heart of Green Mountains on forest service roads. I fell in love with the state on that trip and I convinced dear friends who were looking for a place to dig in and make a home to visit the following summer. They did, loved it, and moved here. It took me another 5 years before I was able to arrange work and life that allowed me to make the VT leap. They lived just off Rt. 100 south of Morrisville in a tiny over garage apartment. As I passed their old street I remembered hiking to beaver ponds near the current development of Spruce Peak, bagels and coffee in Stowe, and cooking for four on their tiny stove.
I reached a glum Stowe. The picturesque ski / resort town with bed and breakfasts, art galleries, coffee shops, and out of state traffic was a bit less busy than usual with the current weather. I continued south on Rt. 100 to Moscow, VT and collected a few more calories for the ride home and my third receipt of the day. Sitting outside the Moscow general store I snapped a photo of their gas pump which apparently hasn’t been used since premium unleaded was $1.39 a gallon!
I continued south past the Ben & Jerry’s factory and during a quick stop to check my phone in Waterbury I was accosted by a local shouting “Hey Lance Armstrong” from across the road. He asked me if I knew it was winter and wondered why I was out riding. Thanks Lance, for becoming a household name and dragging us quiet types out of anonymity and into the spotlight. Over the traffic he made some reference to playing frisbee at the beach and the weather, and I nodded and packed up, pretending to be in a hurry before he walked across the road and started a conversation. Heading west on US 2 towards Burlington I found the bright blue sky as the sun and temperature started to drop. I caught great views of Camel’s Hump somewhere between Waterbury and Richmond, and enjoyed riding alongside my shadow on the shoulder and in the fields.
I returned to Burlington at dusk, making quick work of the traffic along US 2 in Williston and stopping for my final receipt at a local store just a mile from home. I ordered up a hot chocolate and chatted with the clerk, who was amazed at the distance I just rode. He followed me out and promptly lit a cigarette while I sipped my cocoa and prepared for the final mile. The smoke and I didn’t agree – so I handed him my cup and finished the ride.
I covered 102 miles. Ride time was 7:20. Time off the bike was about an hour for a total time of 8:20. Climbing was approximately 6800′ with several grades at 6-9% and one topping out at 13%. My average speed was slow – but this is historically a time of year when I am not riding, so while I grimaced at my cyclocomputer, I know that this is the time to be building an aerobic base in preparation for the spring and summer.
