Ti Ride and Grafton Tour

A unique out-and-back ride on Lake George and giving a co-worker a tour of Grafton provide enjoyable change of pace to riding in August.

Donna and I have noticed the "Ti RIDE" advertised in the Adirondack Sport and Fitness monthly newspaper for a couple of years now. The tour boats running out of the southern Lake George village have only one trip per year where they take a boat all the way up to the northern tip of the lake at Ticonderoga. On this occasion they allow cyclists to drop off a change of clothes and picnic lunches on the boat in the morning. You can then cycle up to Ticonderoga, meet the boat when it arrives at 11 to 11:30, then take the two-hour cruise back to the village of Lake George.

This year we planned well in advance and did the ride. It was not easy to get motivated to get up at 5 am on a Sunday morning after a hard work week, but we did. We packed the car with our bags of clothes and lunch and drove off with Alix in charge of the dogs until 5 pm. We got to the docks at Lake George before 7am and dropped our stuff in the bow of the Mohican and parked the car. There were many cyclists already underway. By the time we got on the road it was 7:30 or so.

Donna and I have done the 10-mile run, one-way 4th of July running race up Route 9N from Lake George Village to Bolton Landing several times. So, we know this stretch of road very well. The traffic was light on the Sunday morning. As soon as we passed the finish of the 10-mile mark and got past Bolton Landing, the road started to climb. This first hill was just a primer for the real tester - Tongue Mountain, which starts at mile 20.

Just before the climb we met and rode with a biker from Schenectady - Dave K. We had a chat and started to work on the climb. It was a good climb with some stretches pushing 15 percent, but on average 9-10 percent for two miles. I did not feel well as I started the harder effort, but Donna did great. We were all together for most of the climb, but separated out towards the top. The best part was the descent! With a wide road, little traffic and big sweeping turns I felt confident and wanted the rush. So, at the top I put it in the big ring and pumped to 30 MPH on the top and let 'er rip.

My intention was to not have to scrub any speed for the whole two-mile plunge. However, as I got through the first few turns and approached a tighter curve I looked down at my speedometer. It read 51 MPH so I felt compelled to shave off a just a little speed in order to not lean too hard or cheat too far into the other lane. It was a great ride, very similar to going down from the top of Neil's Gap into Helen, Georgia - that descent is 7 miles long! We stopped and talked at the bottom. Dave K rode up and took this picture as we looked out at the mountains across the lake.

Donna found a Monarch butterfly laying eggs on a milkweed here and she kept it in a lunch bag inside her jersey all the way to the end. We hooked up with another rider and I pulled us ahead of a good tailwind the rest of the way to the Baldwin docks in Ticonderoga. We were early arrivals and as we waited we jumped in off the docks and enjoyed the warm water of Lake George. In all about 60 riders were taking advantage of the cruise. All 60 bikes were carefully stowed away in the bow of the ship and we enjoyed at beautiful ride down one of the most scenic lakes in the world on a clear blue day.

Marty has only recently taken up mountain biking and I have enjoyed introducing him to the sport. He is quite skilled on the technical terrain for not having a lot of experience. He has gone with me all three years to the Kingdom Trails at our Sales Conference. The last time was on his new K2 bike and it was down to just the two of us. The year before we injured one of our suppliers who was a good road biker. Marty has a great set of trails near his home in Stowe that we rode together with Paul. So, I was anxious to show him what we had at Grafton.

We started on Spruce Bog, which is normally wet and sloppy, but was dry and not slippery. Once I saw he could handle that mess of roots and rocks, even under these ideal conditions, I knew he was in good shape. We then climbed to the Fire Tower, came down through Chet Bell and Little Johnnies and ended the 2:20 ride on Water Tower. It was fun to lead someone new through these trails. Next time I will take him to SMBA or Spier Falls.

Adirondack Mountain Weekend

Another Weekend, another race - this time Whiteface Mountain UPHILL Bike Race. Donna and I made a weekend of it as she did an ADK A+ rated hike up and over Ester and Whiteface while I rested up and warmed up and then raced up the 8-mile road to the summit of Whiteface. Mid-week I enjoyed a great Mountain Bike ride in the Norhteast Kingdom of VT during our June Conference. We ended the weekend staying at a great and peaceful B+B in Keene Valley.

Hill training on Willard and developing a better power to weight ratio were benefits of putting the Whiteface Race on the schedule. As a result my time continued in a pattern setup back in 2004 when I first did the race. My time then was 1:08. I missed in 2005, but rode again in 2006, two years later, and 2 minutes slower at 1:10. In 2007 the pattern of losing 1 minute per year continued as I clocked in at 1:11, which put me at 28 out of 41 in the 50 to 59 age group and 166 out of 245 riders overall.

After last weeks race the only riding I did before this race was a 3:40 ride covering about 25 miles of beautiful Vermont single track at the Kingdom Trails. Marty and I were the only ones taking advantage of the mountain biking paradise at our disposal. We took a lift in a pick-up so the first 2 mile climb on the highway was avoided. After dropping us at the campground, the Trail Director gave us directions for a great loop. We would climb up the right side of the toll road, then drop down Dead Moose Alley, then climb up again about 1/2 way until we hit the CCC road over to the ski area, dropping down the J-Bar run, which is the best single track I have ever been on! Then it was up to the start of Moose Alley that drops all the way down to the river. White School takes you back to the start. The weather was great and I could go hard and then wait for Marty - getting good interval workout and enjoying the scenery.

I have developed a routine for driving up to the race, resting and then warming up before starting the race. This year I park again at the Post Office and took a nap in the shade. As I was waking up a car pulled into a space near mine and starting setting up. I looked at the car and it was a Toyota Supra Turbo - 1991 with 191,000 miles on it, so I had to tell him about Jesse's Supra. Tom and Bridget were from Rochester and he had a beautiful Titus frame built up with mountain bike components. The handlebar had bar ends that formed 'antlers' to the inside and had bar end shifters on them. He had back issues and had the bike custom fitted and built. Tom is a 9 year veteran of the Mt. Washington climb, but doing Whiteface for the first time. We had a good time talking and Bridget offered to take a jacket up to the top for me. I got about an hour of riding before the start and then waited for the 'real' start with Tom and other older riders.

Each year the first two miles are a killer. I get to start in the last wave, 15 minutes behind the first wave, so the warm up fades and the body needs to kick in again when the gun goes off. I used the 34 x 11:21 gear combo and was in the 21 most of the time. When I checked back in my training log I saw that last year I had the 11:23 sproket on. This year's gearing had locked me into grinding hard and not spinning. The thought has been that if I have lower gears available I will not spin fast enough to keep the speed high enough. But, I thought I had used the 11:21 last year. The down side is when you are locked into the lowest gear right from the start, with the ability to shift higher only coming after the 5 mile mark when the road levels off some from the 8% average grade, it plays with your head.

Donna cheered all of us on from the hood of her Crown Vic at the 4-mile mark. She told me I was looking good, but I answered, "I don't feel good!" Actually, I was just starting to feel better. In fact I stood and passed several riders that had fallen off the wave ahead of me just after passing Donna. The course eases up just a tad at the Toll Station and then goes back into the 8-10% grade until the 5.5 mile point. I passed a few riders that had mechanical and physical issues before catching some that had fallen off the earlier waves.

With about 1.5 miles to go you can see the top, and it is always a mental anchor. It is hard to believe I am going to pedal up to that point in the time that is left. I have the computer set to give me the race time and distance, but did not look at the time until I had only a few minutes left. I did look at the miles as I climbed. At this point I always struggle to keep the effort high enough. I use the heart rate monitor to make sure I am pushing hard enough, but not too hard. The right amount of effort is between 160 and 165 beats per minute (bpm). If I go harder, I will blow-up; lower and I will regret not going harder. I looked at the monitor at this point and saw that I was doing 157, so I tried to dig harder. Lower back pain has kept that from happening at this stage the last two times and this time is no different. Standing and sitting helps and eventually you start to hear the cheering of the crowd at the finish.

The finish is always around one more bend in the road than I think it is. As a result when I hear the crowd I push to over 170 bpm and can not sustain it. But, it serves the purpose of passing a few right at the end. As I finally do round the last turn the road pitches up to make you really work to hit the finish. It is a long straight climb and now you can let it all out. Heart rate topped out at 175 as I hit the finish line with several riders that see-sawed back and forth with me the last mile or so. The worst part is that you immediately have to dismount the bike and walk in the order you finished so they can properly record your placing.

A mere 30 seconds after feeling like you are going to explode and collapse, you feel great again. In fact better than great, you feel awesome! I get back on the bike and slowly roll up to the end of the road and look out over Lake Placid and the rest of the mountains. Soon the cool air on top and the soaked clothes combine to make you very cool. I get some water, Gatorade, bananas and oranges and then start looking for Tom and Bridget. Before I find them, I spot Dan, who leads our winter spinning class, crossing the line. After I get my jacket and talk briefly to Tom I start the descent - the funnest part! You hit 40-plus MPH really easy and there are large pot holes that can throw you down if you are not careful. After stopping a couple of times to admire the mountain top views I start really going fast. The last 4 miles are great as there are fewer potholes and turns to worry about so you do not have to scrub off any speed. Finally I get down to the car after hitting a 48 MPH max speed for an extended time. I change at the car and then drive over to find Donna at the post race dinner. We found John from last week and Dan and visited after we ate.

Donna was also pretty spent after her strenuous hike, so we both welcomed the comfort of the Trails End Bed and Breakfast in Keene Valley, about a 20 minute drive from the race finish. We quickly showered and hit the large comfortable bed in our large and airy room. Great place and breakfast in the morning was only surpassed by the post-breakfast nap until the 11 am check out time forced us to leave. A great finish to a great weekend. We drove home after stopping at Chapel Pond to look up at the great rock ledges.