maintain zone 3 workout
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 06/30/2008
- Time: 06:30:00
- Total Time: 00:43:19.00
- Average Heart rate: 123
- Calories: 303
- Distance: 10.33 miles
- Average Speed: 14.31 mph
- Max Speed: 34.8 mph
- Average Cadence: 85
Filed under: Cycle, General Cardio
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75 mile benefit ride - Done!
Well it’s over. My last scheduled benefit ride for the year. Actually it was 72 miles but I put in almost 74 because I made a wrong turn.
The weather worked out pretty good. There was some question of high humidity, heat and violent storms for Saturday but it wasn’t too bad. In the morning it was actually quite comfortable. A lot of the time it was overcast or I was on shaded country roads where the sun hadn’t yet risen above the trees.
This was a first ever effort for this organization so there weren’t a lot of riders. Only 49. Quite a different experience from the Tour de Cure with over 1000 riders. Of course, the American Diabetes Association are a well known national organization with something like 15 years doing this.
There were only 6 or 7 of us starting for the 75 miler. I don’t think anyone besides me was over 40. Most of them with Cannondales and Serottas, sublimated team jerseys and shaved legs. They immediately dropped me and never looked back. I wouldn’t even attempt to keep up with them for 75 miles. That was the last I saw of any rider for the duration! Which is what I expected. After Tour de Cure I planned on treating this as any other solitary ride.
The first couple of hours were quite pleasant. The temp was moderate. As I said, the sun rarely came out. I don’t think one car went by me in the first 2 hours! 1 hour at least, for sure.
There was a rest stop at 5 miles, then one at 18. After that, nothing until mile 57. The organizer said he would have a sag wagon on the route but I never saw it. At least no one ever stopped and asked if I needed anything. That kind of amazed and annoyed me. But I was prepared for it. I filled up my Camelbak and spare bottle at the last rest stop and I had plenty of Clif bars and shots with me.
When I got to mile 57, the scheduled rest stop had shut down and gone home. Again, I wasn’t surprised after the promised sag wagon had never appeared. Fortunately, the very last rest stop was at a pizza joint, the only commercial establishment on the entire route, so even though the event people had gone home, I at least was able to buy a couple bottles of water.
Finally, about 5 miles from the end, a car came out looking for me.
So, I not only came in last, I came in so much after the last finisher that everyone went home and almost forgot about me. Nice!
The organizers were very profuse in their apologies. The ride was no big deal effort wise but I was just thinking about what if I broke down or blew up early on. I had no phone # to call and when would someone have come by? It would have been several hours. I was satisfied with their apologies and told them I was “over it” and please pass the pasta!
My second least favorite thing about the ride was that 90 percent of the roads had no street signs. Thank God for the cue sheet. I printed an extra large copy of it so I could see it easily and made a holder for it with a plastic zip-lock bag and some velcro cable ties that I fastened to my handlebars. That was a life saver.
On the positive side, it was a beautiful route. I suppose I could have ridden harder and finished sooner but I’m just cautious and not that sure of myself yet. I’m still afraid of getting heat stroke or just a stroke or blowing up in some other way. I averaged a little over 12 mph. But hey, I finished. I was thinking, I’ll put a sign on my back that says “Retro-Man” and the motto “Just Finish”. What do you think?
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73 miles - benefit ride
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 06/28/2008
- Time: 07:30:00
- Total Time: 5:45:35.00
- Average Heart rate: 134
- Max Heart rate: 161
- Calories: 3081
- Distance: 73.56 miles
- Average Speed: 12.77 mph
- Average Cadence: 77
Filed under: Cycle, General Cardio
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Ride prep!
Tomorrow is the Ride 4 Love, 75 mile benefit for Love146.
It will be held in Ballston Spa, NY, near Saratoga Springs.
Here’s how I am prepping for it tonight: I threw out my back (to save weight, ha, ha).
No, seriously, I got up from the couch and I had a severe back spasm which I haven’t had for months since I started riding 25 mile and longer rides. I couldn’t straighten up. Eventually I was able to do some stretches and it is better but still sore. I haven’t ridden for 2 days. I really wanted to rest up for the 75 miles on Saturday. If past experience holds true, I should be fine once I get on the bike tomorrow and that should be that.
The ride organizers are going to provide water and snacks at rest stops but no electrolyte drink or anything like that. At the Tour de Cure 20 days ago, they provided Nuun, a sugar-free electrolyte replacement that comes in an effervescent tab like a Fizzie (remember those?) That was the first I’d heard of anything like that and I think it’s pretty cool. They said EMS carries them around here and they were out but they did have Elixir which is distributed by CamelBak so I bought those.
Of course, they are sugar (carb) free so I bought a bunch of Clif shots, double-espresso, my favorite. The mocha is also good but they didn’t have any of those at EMS. And I am bringing a few Clif MOJO bars to boot.
I made up one bottle of elixir and put in in my Camelbak and put it in the freezer for tomorrow and I put another bottle in the fridge to top off the Camelbak in the morning so everything will be nice and cold.
Now I just need to mount the bike carrier on my car and set the alarm for 5 and I should be set to go!
Weather forecast for tomorrow: 84, humid, chance of t-storms!
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easy recovery ride - flat 18 miles
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 06/25/2008
- Time: 08:00:00
- Total Time: 1:39:08.00
- Average Heart rate: 95
- Calories: 461
- Distance: 18.74 miles
- Average Speed: 11.34 mph
- Max Speed: 23.9 mph
- Average Cadence: 76
- Max Cadence: 107
Filed under: Cycle, General Cardio
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Orchard Hill? …. HA! … I snap my feengers at you!
To think I used to look at the ride up Orchard Hill Road with dread! That is before I even tried it.
Now I have made it part of my regular riding 2 times a week. Today I took a cue from riding buddy Charles and started out taking it real easy. I didn’t even crack 160 bpm heart rate and never got out of breath. The first time I did it at Charles’ urging, I saw my highest HR ever, 171bpm, about 97% of my calculated max.
I’d like to go back and try Copeland Hill Road which we did on Sunday but I started it out too fast so it was really a killer but I finished it.
But you know, most of this is really mental for me. I’m not saying there aren’t physical limitations. There certainly are. And there are orders of magnitude greater climbs than what I’ve attempted (see June’s Bicycling Magazine article The Toughest Climbs in America). But the biggest obstacle for me was wondering if I could do it. Wondering if I would blow up and hurt myself. Now that I’ve done these climbs, I have the confidence and that’s 75% of it for me.
I’m ready for the next challenge. Charles says it’s the dread Pinnacle Road!
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29 mile “hilly” ride
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 06/24/2008
- Time: 10:00:00
- Total Time: 2:11:43.00
- Average Heart rate: 124
- Max Heart rate: 158
- Calories: 950
- Distance: 29.23 miles
- Average Speed: 13.31 mph
- Max Speed: 35.3 mph
- Average Cadence: 74
- Max Cadence: 107
Filed under: Cycle, General Cardio
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Sunday AM Hill Ride with Charles
I met my friend and riding partner Charles at 6:30AM this morning in front of the Feura Bush post office. The weather forecast was for rain and thunderstorms all day as it has been for the past week and will be for the week to come apparently. Our only goal was to get back to my house by 9AM so we could get to church by 10.
Again, I let Charles lead the way on this one as this is his turf and he has been riding these roads far longer than I have.
This is a great time for riding. At 6:30 any day of the week there aren’t too many people out and about but especially Sunday.
Most of our ride was on scenic but small and little traveled country roads with gently rolling hills. Farms, fields and historic houses. Panoramic views of the hills surrounding the area.
At one point we rode up Copeland Hill Road, not too steep but fairly long for me. I thought Charles was right behind me on this one but when I looked back he had dropped far behind. I thought, oh,oh, he probably knows something I don’t. Sure enough I hadn’t paced myself or held anything back. I made it up over the crest but the last couple hundred feet were an extreme effort for me. But from the confidence I gained from our last ride and subsequent climbs it wasn’t as much of a mental challenge for me. However, I’m feeling this ride now as I write this like I haven’t felt one for awhile. 
I had a mechanical problem on this ride. The rear wheel moved forward out of the drop out on the right side. I have a habit of checking the rear wheel occasionally because of the problem I had with the old wheel breaking spokes. I looked down and the wheel was almost touching the left chainstay. The axle had moved down the drop out on the chain side. I reset the wheel, tightened up the skewer a little bit more and rode on. This is the second time this has happened. I hope the tightening did the trick. I thought I had tightened it up enough the last time.
The sky was dark and the air was still. Sort of ominous but I liked it. It was peaceful. Very quiet. We heard a few peals of thunder and it started to rain at one point but the rain never really materialized. A few hours later while we were in church, it really let loose. We dodged that one.
I plan on laying off the bike entirely tomorrow and taking it fairly easy the rest of the week in preparation for the 75 mile fund-raiser “Ride 4 Love” this Saturday.
Here’s the route:
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another Sunday AM “leg-buster” courtesy Charles
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 06/22/2008
- Time: 06:30:00
- Total Time: 2:35:53.00
- Average Heart rate: 122
- Max Heart rate: 162
- Calories: 1228
- Distance: 32.01 miles
- Average Speed: 12.32 mph
- Max Speed: 36.4 mph
- Ascent: 864 ft
- Descent: 861 ft
- Average Cadence: 68
- Max Cadence: 100
… and lovin’ it!
Here’s the route pilgrims:
Filed under: Cycle, General Cardio
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Today I rode 29 miles backwards!
Today I rode 29 miles backwards. I mean I rode one of my usual routes in the opposite direction from the way I usually ride it. Ha, ha!
The reason I haven’t ridden it in this direction before is the “DREAD” Orchard Hill!
I have ridden Orchard Hill DOWN at the END of the ride but not UP at the BEGINNING of the ride.
Last year, when I first started riding with my Ross MTB, I rode up Orchard Hill a little way but stopped, not because I blew up but because of fear of FUTURE PAIN! I thought, well I’ll ride a little more up Orchard Hill each time and it will be a good fitness test as well as a way of getting fitter. Except, I never did ride up it again. Until my friend Charles encouraged me to ride it one time this year. I did it. It was hard and I saw my highest heart rate ever on that climb 171bpm about 97% of my supposed maximum. Now mind you I’m not afraid of pain and I’m not a quitter and I don’t make excuses for my age just for the sake of it but I am trying to be responsible. The thought that I AM 60 and I could pop a vessel or something is something I should take seriously …. or not. Well anyhow, I am riding up it now and yeah, it’s hard but it’s not that bad. I kind of enjoy it. And my HR only gets up to about 162bpm now. My daughter Steph asked for some pics and here they are. I don’t like to stop to take pictures but I do like to have them. I need a convenient way to take them without stopping the ride. In the winter I put the camera in my jacket’s side pocket but now I have it in my fanny pack and it’s not that convenient to take it out while riding. Jeff Kerkove does a good job taking pics while riding.
Anyhow, for what it’s worth, here they are:
Corner of Van Dyke and Meads, a couple of miles in
Meads Lane, straight 2 miles, farm country
This is one of the hazards of this route. Fortunately this was the tail end of the train
This is the beginning of Orchard Hill Road. Doesn’t look too bad does it? Well, hey I’m not going to stop in the middle to take a picture!
Nice view at the top on Bullock Road if you don’t mind high tension lines
The Helderberg Escarpment
The long and winding road!
Almost home. You can see the tall buildings of Albany just to the right of that barn. From Krumkill Road.
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