First Group Road Bike Ride, 2012

A good lead sentence should have been, "It was a beautiful day, sunny, and a 5 mph wind." Conditions couldn't have been better...

OK, the temperature was in the 60's which made it cold (chilly) for us Texans, but who could stay indoors with a 5 mph wind? We don't see many of these days, so 10 of us decided to brave the chill and try to overcome the Thanksgiving/Christmas excesses. (Current weight was one of the main topics at re-grouping areas)

 Rick Ogan led out and set a brisk pace. Note his suitcase for a saddle pack.

 Soon, Rick and Brian Backlund were setting a brisk pace. I was just happy to keep them in camera range.

 Rick and Brian stopped on top of "The Hill" more out of tradition of re-grouping rather than necessity.

 Mike Blakeman finishing what is called "The Hill". Cameras do not accurately portray what bikers overcome. For instance, as far back as can be seen, the road starts a progressive incline. At the peak of the incline, my Garmin read 10% when I downloaded.

 Backing up just a bit, coming up the hill are Mark Seals, Velma Ogan, and Mike. During the re-group period, of course, the conversation was how the hill was rougher with the extra 10 pounds we may have been carrying compared to last year's rides.

 Going down the hill, Brian eased up so I could pass and take a photo.

Velma on the other hand never eases up. I had to peddle like crazy to get a profile shot.

Next stop. Christine and Mike rolling into the little town of Knickerbocker.

 Liz Rappe (right) shows Mark some damage to her rear wheel from her trainer. Liz met us at Knickerbocker to ride Guinn Road with us. 

 Rick and Velma. By this time it was getting warmer and Velma stored her jacket in Rick's "suitcase."

Fresh on the ride, Liz led out down Guinn Road.

 At the turn around point on Guinn Road (pavement turns to caliche road), Jerry Middleton came riding in. Jerry was to meet us at Knickerbocker. When it didn't look as if he were going to show, we took off. Jerry, I still don't have your cell phone number to coordinate. We would have waited...

 Mike reaching the turn around point.

 As well as Christine.

 Leading off this time was Velma. She had caught her second wind and was heading home. About 15 miles remaining.

 Jerry was about to leave us at the next intersection to cut across Dove Creek settlement to his house.

 At Jerry's turn off road, I wanted everyone to see even though we are still brown, we have had some moisture already this year and the tire tracks prove it.

 Besides rain, this was our back yard less than two weeks ago. Maybe we will have bluebonnets again this year.

Mike and Rick on a cool down lap at the equalization bridge staging area. Great way to start a year. Good ride. Good weather. Good roads. Great company.

Group Ride: Preparing for HHH

 "By the dawn's early light". Eight of us arose quite early to take advantage of the last weekend before Hotter'n Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls August 26-27-28. Shown (sort of) from front row to back, (front) Christine Jones, Chad Freeze, Rick Ogan, (back) Brian Backlund, Liz Rappe', Velma Ogan, and Bill Yohman. 

 One of our favorite roads is highway 277 to Christoval. Smooth, wide shoulders, and gentle inclines/declines.

 Reflective materials on our clothing and equipment compliment the front/rear lights. Did anyone notice the reflective parts of Rick's shoes in the first picture?

 "Big wheels keep on rolling".

 Besides practicing for the big biking event, one has to practice for rest stops, right? Liz spoiled us with iced drinks and Rice Krispie treats. We have our rest stop procedures down pat. Velma, Chad, Liz, and Bill seem to have mastered the art.

Coinciding with a running theme of lines from different songs, Velma, Christine, and Liz started singing oldies but goodies.

The singing continued on the ride until they scared a herd of cattle and woke up all the dogs in the countryside.

 Time to work off some of the calories. We left highway 277 to ride a scenic residential area...

 and get in some hill work which highway 277 does not have.

 Right at the curve is a low water crossing. I had the camera ready, however, with the speed picked up from the decline, when I hit the curve, the centrifical force almost took me into the river.

 So I was able to take this shot of part of the river as the incline slowed me enought to be almost stable again.

 Planned rest stop at the convenience store in Christoval, unplanned was Rick's having to work on Christine's bike to allow her to shift gears. Christine, Velma, and Bill watch.

 Heading back toward San Angelo, we met a different type of group ride-Texas style group ride.

 Back at the staging area, Liz declares she is now ready for the Hotter'n Hell Hundred.

After-ride conversation is always a favorite time. Bill is riding the 100 mile route next Saturday. Rick and Velma are talking about staying in San Angelo next week end, but Rick ALMOST has Velma talked into the Fort Davis ride coming up shortly in September. This will be Brian's first year at HHH, and he has settled on the 100K. If he changes his mind, he will easily complete the 100 mile endurance ride. I am eagerly awaiting to learn which group he lines up with. Chad, not pictured above, will probably line up with the 100 milers, but his goal is still to complete in under 5 hours. 

Beginners Page # 14 CompuTrainer Chapter 4

During February I came down with bronchitis and was out for a week, but Chris continued. The next week she came down with a cough and was out for a week. So we were back on the same course together after two weeks of one or the other of us ill.

Week 5 (Feb 22-26)
Monday
We were both put on the Hotter’n Hell Hundred course. We have ridden the “real” HHH three times, twice going the distance of 100 miles. I did not remember that many hills on the ride, especially in the first twenty or so miles of the real course. Farther along, way farther, the terrain starts on a slight decline. I would not reap the benefit of the decline, as it would be too many miles down the road for me ever to get that far in an hour. On my first day on the route, I did not get to the dancing girls at Rest Stop 2. It will become my secret goal to get to the saloon in an hour.

Randy says there has been progress in my numbers but I still perspire (sweat in Texas lingo) like I was really riding the HHH route in August. And I still have to be reminded to breath, relax, keep my RPMs up, and keep my numbers at the particular target range. It is much easier just to pedal and then take a break when I want.

 About 14 minutes into Christine's training, she must have caught her second wind. Suddenly the bike just hummed instead of clanking and wobbling. Her numbers remained an impressive 50-50/75. The 50-50 is the relative contribution of each leg and the 75 is the numerical analysis of power during each part of the pedal stroke. A perfect score would be 50-50/100. It's impossible unless you are magically transformed into the little silver man who competes against you in the practice mode. I read somewhere that the goal for a roadie is 50-50 and maintain between 75-85 power stroke. The highest either Chris or I have gotten so far is 50-50/80 but it is not maintained long.

By the time I reacted, Chris was down to a 53/47/78.

Now Monday’s session was just fine except Randy praised Christine’s efforts much more than mine. Could it be that he would walk into the room just after I relaxed each time? Sometimes I could hear him coming down the hallway and I would rapidly try to get my numbers up so he wouldn’t know that I had been goofing off but I think he caught on and began to be quieter.

Wednesday

Frustrating day. The old saying that “I was going in circles” just wasn’t what was happening to me. My pedal stroke was anything but going in circles. The instructions of the day, "Smooth it out. Don’t pull up so hard. Be softer on the down-stroke. Watch those RPMs. Are you still breathing?"

I think Randy would have given up on me if he weren’t a professional.

Now Christine’s day according to my perspective, "Atta girl. Good going. You have the hang of it. Way to go."

I had to do something to break her concentration so she wouldn’t be getting so much praise. Therefore I tried to take her picture which always disrupts things. And it did. “Don’t you dare!!" (She doesn’t like her perspiring to be documented). But the ploy worked. For a few seconds her pedal stroke looked like mine. When I would rush to take a picture of the spin screen, she would get the pedal strokes back together and all I could get were some fairly decent shots of her CompuTrainer screen.

Friday

Vindication of a sort. Randy put us on another rolling hills course. I felt pretty good, and for most of the ride was able to maintain a 50-50/mid-70s reading. A re-cap for my own benefit until I get my terminology right, the left/right leg percentage power splits (50-50) give you the feedback needed to pedal in "circles". It will identify "flat" or "dead" spots in the pedal stroke where optimal power is not transferred to the drive train. The mid-70s is the ATA (Average Torque Angle) displayed on the Polar Graph which helps you adjust your position for optimum power. Randy walked in one time while I was on a roll—50-50 power splits and almost 80 on the torque or power. He just stood there silently. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and asked him, “Aren’t you going to say something?” He said he was waiting to see if I could maintain those stats. Well, of course, just as I start talking or listening my concentration breaks and my stats went to something like 42-58/64. The bar graph looked like a building that imploded—crashing and crumbling—but for me in an uncontrolled way.

Another time he walked in and my stats were pretty good and the little silver man was way behind. Randy exclaimed “Wow, are you out to prove something?” Secretly yes, to steal some of the glory from Christine, since she did so well Wednesday, and to beat the little silver guy. I think I have mentioned that I visualize the silver guy as being Velma Ogan. And after three years of chasing Velma (and being beaten), even a virtual reality “win” over her is gratifying.

 Chris was having an off day. She was performing as I did on Wednesday. Randy had to keep giving her instructions (albeit nicer to her than he was to me) as I feigned support for her. Finally, about 30 minutes into the ride, Chris hit her stride and her little bike just hummed, and her stats were acceptable (alright—very good).

And thus we ended a month of training. As I was telling Lucy Jochum, progress—for me—is so slow that it is hard to recognize. There are no quantum leaps in the stats which indicate progress or improvement, therefore until the stats prove otherwise, I am saying we have improved—that’s my story and I'm sticking to it.