May Wrap-up

Memorial Day Weekend provides a memorable end to May. A 62-mile, 5000-foot climbing ride in the Adirondacks on Saturday, followed by Donna and I teaming up for the Saratoga Duathlon on Sunday, and a mountain bike ride up the 11 mile Kelly Stand Road in Vermont privided an opportunity to go hard at three disciplines / bikes in one weekend.

Saturday's MHCC group ride led by Art G., called "Team Guerrilla Road Ride, Alternate Plan B (TGRRAPB)," was the first "Quick Ride" of my cycling life back in 2000 and I have returned every year since. The first ride was with my old FujiClub 12-speed and I was very nervous not knowing any of the riders. I had no idea what a ride of that length or amount of climbing would entail. I even did not know what to bring along in terms of repair tools, food, etc. I strapped my large handlebar mounted pack on and loaded it up with spare parts and tools! At the last minute, after I saw that the rest of the riders had tiny saddle bags, I ejected my 5 inch adjustable wrench. I kept up with the pack of 15 or so riders the first half of the ride, but paid the price the second half with cramps. I limped in many minutes after Art had provided a wheel to bring in an overweight guy that was behind me with 10 miles to go.

Since that first ride I have learned a great deal on how to eat and train. We have had as few as 7 riders on cold, rainy days and set the record for the most riders this year due to the great weather at 32. The second year of riding TGRRAPB I learned about over-hydrating. I just drank water and wound up cramping again, even though in better shape, due to diluting out my electrolytes. After this lesson I always carry one bottle of water and another of sports drink and alternate drinking from each. The third year I learned how eating too many carbs and not enough protein induces insulin to drain all of your circulating blood sugar leaving you without fuel for muscles. At the half way point we stop usually for about 20 to 30 minutes at a country store in Adirondack for a rest stop. The picture shows us a this year's edition. After devouring large amounts of GU and power bars and sports drink we started off around Schroon Lake. After about 20 minutes my legs seized up on this ride for the third time in a row. By the fourth year I finally completed a TGRRAPB in good shape. I now pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my longer rides and can eat it with confidence even at a long stop knowing that the protein and fat will prevent the insulin surge.

The long climbs and descents and smooth Adirondack roads twisting by lakes, rivers, streams and mountains make the TGRRAPB a must ride for every year. There is a core group of riders that returns year after year. Some are the same riders that do other Quick Rides and others I only see on this ride. This year we had a fellow that claimed to be an American European ProTour rider. He had a beautiful Team Phonak BMC team issue bike and told great stories about riding for Landis and others on the Phonak team. We always stay and eat some cake that Art's wife provides and talk about the ride and other things as we recover. The group this year was pretty unanimous in thinking our ProTour rider was spinning a tall tale on us.

The last three years I have gotten myself into the shape and have the experience to do the ride well without needing lots of recovery time. In fact, I have done it knowing I will be doing a 20-mile time trail the following day teaming up with Alix or Donna in the Saratoga Duathlon. The first year Alix and I managed to run-ride-run to first place in the mixed team division. Alix ran a good first 5K and I used my Trek Y-foil to advantage and completed the 4-lap, 5 miles per lap course in about one hour. The result was that Alix was the first women to start the second 5K run and she held her position through to the finish. She brought the crowd to cheers as the first women finisher - she said it was awesome! That first year Donna did all three legs and placed first in her age group.

The second year the race grew in size and Donna, Alix and I failed to repeat our first place finishes, but we still were respectable. I finished 16th in the field of 200 for the bike leg portion of the race, which I thought was good. It is great fun to pass riders and move so fast through the field. The Y-Foil is such a fast bike being all carbon and DuraAce components. The aerobars with bar end shifters allows you to stay aero the whole time. The course is flat except for a short climb at the end of each lap. Once you figure the right gearing, you get into a pattern that repeats lap after lap. I watch the computer and time each lap trying to bring in negative splits. If you stay under 15 minutes per lap you are going over 20 MPH. The previous day's ride is either a good warm up or a drain on leg power or both!

This year I felt really good after doing the TGRRAPB so I expected to do well in the duathlon. For the first time I am teaming up with Donna, instead of Alix. Donna tags me at the end of her 5K and I start running with the bike out of the transition area. She yells that she has set a PR for the 5K with her first leg time. OK - now the pressure is on; I better come through with a good effort to support her PR. Last year I averaged 22.3 MPH, so to go better I need to hit well under 15 minutes per lap. I started off and felt off. Legs felt ok, but my stomach was not right. I had eaten too much - taken in what I would normally do for a long ride, not a 1 hour hard effort. By the time I rounded the third corner I started bringing up breakfast. The first climb to finish the first lap and I was not pumping in the right gear - not going fast, others were passing me! My time for the first lap was 14:45 - not fast enough. After that lap I started to feel better.

As is often the case, I passed riders and the same riders would pass me back - each of us showing our own preferences for different parts of the route. By the third lap we are thinning out to be the same riders and only passing really slow riders. My lap times were getting better each lap. By the fourth lap I felt really good. My finishing pace was a new record for me at 22.6 MPH, which was good enough for 7th overall out of 150 riders. Donna ran another good 5K leg and we finished 4th out of 12 coed teams and only 25 seconds off of 2nd place. We enjoyed the great spread of food and each had messages at the end of the race.

On Monday we decided to take out the mountain bikes and explore a favorite road over in Vermont. The Kelly Stand Road is a dirt road that climbs for about 10 miles along side a beautiful tree-lined stream. People camp between the road and stream and there is little traffic. The road is only open in the non-winter months and connects Arlington to Stratton Mountain. The Appalachian Trail crosses the road at the 9 mile mark. At the 11 mile mark there is a historical marker where Danial Webster addressed 15,000 people in July of 1840 at the Whig Convention! It is hard to believe that this little traveled road in the middle of the Vermont forest would ever have had that many people on it. The climb is long and steady but never too steep. A good workout for sure and an awesome, long and fun descent. We ate some food down along the stream and then drove home.

Today, the last day of May, I did my first ride after the Memorial Weekend trio of rides. It was one of my usual routes out Lick Spring Road, up the Summit Lake climb (.5 miles, 250 feet), up north road, back to Greenwich. I decided to finish by going up Willard and then going home, since I am training for the Whiteface Mountain Uphill Bike Race in 3 weeks. At the top of Willard I see a CRBC rider heading down. I figured he was out alone on a training ride, beating the afternoon thunderstorms like I was. When I get to the Willard Ski Area driveway I see several cars, bikes and bikers milling about. I turned into the driveway and saw that these were more CRBC clad riders. One saw me roll up and said, "Hey, this isn't one of our guys." I asked who was playing in my neighborhood. He told me that they were filming a commercial for Litespeed bikes! Sure enough they had beautiful Litespeeds decked out in Zipp wheels. They said they had to take pictures here instead of Tennessee to keep for getting shot out on the good country roads. I warned them that getting shot was still a possibility here. He asked if I was just out for a ride and I told him I lived 6 miles down the mountain and I was finishing off a 40 mile ride. We talked about the Battenkill-Rubaix Race and I rode home. Once again I was reminded how special an area we live in - a road and mountain biking paradise that I hope the rest of the world only slowly learns about so it stays that way.

Best Run - Worst Day

Every once in awhile I see someone out running and I instantly feel a pang of regret that I no longer get to cover 3 to 12 miles by foot anymore. My knee osteoarthritis has forced me to just bike, board and swim. Even the occasional hike or even mowing the backyard or shooting hoops for just an hour causes severe swelling and pain in both knees. I am not complaining. There are many people with far more serious physical limitations and hardships.

However, when I see someone running, and you can tell they are cruising along and it is a great setting or beautiful weather, the flood of positive feelings that were once mine to enjoy, and no longer available results in the regret I feel. On my drive home last Thursday I saw a guy striding along the Springfield, VT running path and those emotions played out in my head as I drove westward across Vermont. It forced me to think of the most favorite run that I ever did.

My most memorable and favorite run of all time took place in Connecticut early in the morning. I had just started my new job with Cargill and had stayed the night to start working early in the morning with one of my new Consultants, Mary. Donna and I were training to run in the Lake Placid Half Marathon, which was coming on fast since this was a Tuesday and the race was scheduled for Saturday. I needed one last good workout, and then I would do easy runs and rest until race day. I scouted out a park and reservoir and some country roads not too far from the Best Western where I was staying.

The alarm went off at 5:30 and I was out the door before 6 am. The sun was just starting to come up and it was about 25 degrees. I thought it was warmer so I had only on a pair of shorts and a light long sleeve technical shirt. I carried a water bottle filled with Gatorade. I started up the busy road for about a mile warm up. No traffic and my lungs filled with the cold air. I dropped the water bottle behind a stop sign as I turned down a back road to the park. The road went up and down several rolling hills. As I got to a "T" I made a left and went hard up a hill until I got to the end of the back road and came out to the busy road again further north. I stopped and ran back to the "T" with a recovery pace. I tried to estimate the miles, but was not sure and really did not care because I felt so good and the rising sun and lifting fog were so exhilarating. I turned around and did the uphill hard again and then turned around and again and came back to the "T."

This time at the "T" I went straight and came up to the Reservoir. The steam coming up from the water mixed with the light fog wafting in from the hillside and the sun got brighter and higher. I stopped for less than a minute and then kept running at a good pace until the road ended in a parking lot. As I turned around to head back for the "T" I remember thinking that I must be in good shape for this race because I probably have done about 9 miles and still had another 3 or so to get back, but I felt really good. I ran at a good pace up the back road and picked up my water bottle at the stop sign. The cool down run on the busy road, that now had morning commuter traffic, was a chance to quench my thirst and stretch my legs as I slowed down my pace.

When I jogged into the motel parking lot and came to a walk I can honestly say I have never felt so good after a run. The cold air, the beautiful scenery, the accomplishment of running 12 miles at a challenging pace and feeling so strong all combined to a true 'runners high.' I quickly showered and grabbed some breakfast at the free buffet counter of the motel and got done just in time for Mary to pick me up. We pulled into our first farm at just after 8:00 am and he was just walking in from the barn to his house after completing his chores. We talked for about an hour and then Mary and I drove for about 2 hours up into Mass. I was still feeling my metabolism race from the morning's run and had some pretty good hunger pangs as the quick breakfast was not enough to fully replenish, but I felt good about that as well. Mary and I talked and got to know each other as we drove north.

At the second farm no one was around so we walked through the place on our own. This was a brand new account that Mary had just picked up so she was not familiar with everything. We saw examples of poor management and cat that had a growth on its head that was particularly grotesque - it was an omen of things to come. The farm was run by a pair of brothers - one was with it, the other seemed dim-witted, oddly enough this is not unusual. As the brother that was running the show went to the farm house to retrieve some papers, the not-so-with-it brother started telling us about some buildings that were collapsed in the city. He said that terrorists had simultaneously hijacked several planes and had crashed them into the World Trade Center. Mary and I looked at each other and both of us instantly went into the mode of just saying uh-huh and let's just not get Jim too excited. We continued to nod as we were told this story and couldn't wait until "with-it" brother returned.

When the other brother returned with the completed paper work he confirmed the story that we were told. All of a sudden the story of a lunatic became a possibility. We quickly got into the truck and turned on the radio. It was 10:30 am and the now accepted, but then unbelievable tale of 9/11 was slowly making its way to the world. We stopped at a Friendly's restaurant and the place was in complete kaos - dishes piled up on tables, no waitresses or counter people at all. We left and went to a bar that had its TV going and watch the rest in horror.

What started as a great day ended in a world changed by fanatics. The juxtaposition of my great morning of exercise and the planning and unfolding of the 9/11 attacks occurring at the same time made the already horrific event even worse in my mind. Donna and I never did go to the Lake Placid race. We just felt that our running and individual activities were no longer important given what was taking place in our crazy world. Eventually we all have come to accept a new reality. Sadly, today if some odd looking farmer tells me the same story, or worse, I would not be one bit surprised.

May Biking Is Best

Clear, dry and warmer weather means more biking and mid-week opportunities mean, that's right, more biking. Long days open up late afternoon rides. Donna and I have done great rides starting 5-6pm and getting back well before dark. With the Whiteface Uphill Race about a month away, I have started getting climbs in.

Willard rides are great for hill training. Donna and I can do them together and it works well because I can push it on a hill then catch my breath as Donna gets to the top - great interval work! Also, in only an hour and a half I can get a lot of effort expended. I like to go through Greenwich, then out on 74, turning right on Burton Rd, going past the former Leatherstocking Beef Farm, which is now an Episcopalian Church Retreat. The view to the east is inspring as you can see Rt. 74 falling away further and further below. I have small sprints at the begining and end of Greenwich and then as Burton climbs there are a couple of other set areas that I can push and hit high heart rates.

When you make the left on Easton Station Rd. it is a very gradual climb that you can either push or rest on. Finally, on the right turn on Intervale the feeling of impending doom fills your head, because the real climbing now starts. Intreval is really three climbs over about a mile. The first is long and increasingly steeper - finishing at about 18 percent. Then a brief decline and another short 15 percent section, then a long descent and a brief +20 percent push to the top.

Now the descent down to the Christmas Tree Farm and then Vly Summit Road to North Easton and Route 40. The usual time check is 43 minutes. Then turn around and start climbing back on the same route in reverse. The climb back is similar to the climb up - a three stage afair with breaks. The breaks let you push on the hill if you are up to it, so it can be a true interval workout or you can go at a steady pace for long climb effect.

The descent down the Intervale Road is a speed rush. I have hit >50 MPH on many occasions - a tailwind is needed for that. The return down Burton Road is a great way to on wind and stretch the back and legs. This is the classic "Willard 2X" ride. The 2X is that you climbed Willard twice. As we get closer to the Race I will up that to 3X, 4X and more by turning around after the Intervale descent. For a new wrinkle I may go down the dirt Harrington Hill Road and make that part of the routine.

Last Wednesday I joined the CVC Wednesday Ride. It was after Donna and I did a 35-mile out-and-back West River Road ride in the early morning. So, I was not planning on pushing it and did not know what to expect. The group was great - we had all levels represented and plenty of regrouping, so you can push and be pushed, and have time to recover. I will try to get to this ride when I have the Wednesday open.

On Friday I joined the MHCC mountain biking group ride for the first time of the season. For the first time riding Pittstown I am starting at Pittstown instead of dropping down from Grafton. We climbed up Zig-Zag then over onto Bonnie and Clyde then down the fire road to the parking lot. About 9 riders in all, it was good to get the balance and upper body work that only mountain biking gives you. Mountain biking is short hard bursts of climbing mixed with long climbing, so a great way to get better at climbing whether it be road or mountain. The rocks and roots were particluarly slippery on this ordinarily technical singletrack, so it was a great way to initiate the mountain biking for this season. The Epic performed well using all its travel; these trails are more suited to the Yeti, but it is still in the shop getting the fork serviced.

Early morning rides are another way I get more rides in this time of year. I did a Willard 2X ride this morning before heading off to Burlington to do a seminar for vets. Shorter days and colder weather of even a few weeks ago would have prevented the ride - now that May is here - a'ridn I go!

Spring Road Riding Takes Off

May weather turns warm and dry and with it an opportunity to kick road riding into higher gear. So far this year I have gotten in 22 outside road rides for 788 miles and 35,000 feet of climbing. Since the last day of snowbording, 311 miles on 8 rides for 13,505 feet of climbing.

More importantly than the statistics, it has been great to get out in the warmer weather and to not fight rain or snow. I really enjoy road riding this time of year. First it is a great weigh to shed those last 5 pounds off - you are out later in the evening with the later sunset and it just seems that the appetite is not as strong while the activity is greater. Then there is the ability to see far into the woods as you whirl by. The leaves are just starting to come out on the maple trees. The third thing is that the farmers finally are busy out in the fields and I get more time to work from the home office - and therefore more time to get rides in during the week.

Group rides are now on the schedule, so it is a great time to ride with others after the long winter of solo riding. Donna and I have done several good rides in the area. We also joined a Cambridge Valley Cycling (CVC) club ride on a (wet) Sunday. Last weekend I did a group ride with Mohawk-Hudson Cycling Club (MHCC), a "Bruce ride" which had 15 total riders and we went around Lake Luzerne from Skidmore. The weather was brisk but bright and sunny. The 53 mile loop included going over West Mountain Rd and Conklinville Dam.

This week Donna and I got in a good 26 mile ride on Monday, I plan to try out a CVC Wednesday ride, and I will get the mountain bike out for a MHCC group ride in Pittstown State Forest on Friday. We will see how much energy is left for the weekend. As the mountain bikers say, "ride-on!"

Boarding Season Wrap-up

A season of Snowboarding finally comes to an end. Starting on 12/15 and ending 127 days later, this was a great year to get fully into snowboarding. Twenty days out on the slopes in all, 10 at Killington and 5 at Mt. Snow - making the All East Pass a $25 per day bargain. Three days in California/Nevada (Mt. Rose, Squaw Valley and Northstar), along with a day each at West Mountain and Bolton Valley, make up the remainder of the days of carving and gliding.

Keeping a regular activity log makes it easy to go back and look at the statistics. The 20 rides I did this year represent 54% of the total snowboarding I have done in my life. This year I did 83 hours of snowboarding, which if I did 4 runs per hour and each run was 1/2 mile, would work out to 166 miles of snow riding! I went by myself a total of 11 times, and with others the remaining 9 days.

More importantly I have gained much confidence and fulfillment from learning a new activity and improving my skill level. To be outdoors for those 83 hours through the dark, cold winter was exhilarating and just plain fun. My goals were to get more skilled at making carved turns and to be more comfortable in the bumps and steeps and that was accomplished. Spending quality time with Donna, Alix and others was another benefit. But, also learning to enjoy and not be afraid to go it solo was a benefit. In the past I would just not go if no one else wanted to go with me. Now I enjoy the solo efforts as well as going with someone else or a group.

As the snow season leaves and the woods dry out, soon the mountain bike will replace the board. For the present road biking and training for upcoming events like the Blackfly Challenge and the Whiteface Uphill Bike Race take precedence. Donna and I joined a local club ride this past Sunday - the Cambridge Valley Cycling club. We had fun on a nice flat and fast 25 mile loop in the rain. After my 70 mile ride to the Bruce Ride on Saturday, it was just what I needed to keep getting in shape.

Last night Donna convinced me against my better judgement to go swimming at the Y with her after supper. I predictably broke out in my Grant's Syndrome hives. Oh well, I will learn to listen to my better judgement someday, but I always think I can get away with it because sometimes I do.