I commuted by bike for the first time this season today. Actually, my commute was a split commute. I left my car at work last night and rode home. Then this morning, I rode into work on the bike. The reason for doing this is because we are still working out a plan at my employer for secure bike parking. So, leaving my vehicle at work allowed me to keep the bike in the car once I got to work.
Last night's ride home was uneventful. I did a few extra miles, so it was around 25 miles in difference. But it was really just like going for a ride after work.
This morning's ride was a little different. I live about 21 miles away from the office, so it will take over an hour to get into the office. Therefore, this morning I was up at 6:00 AM and one the bike headed in at 6:30 AM. When I got on the bike this morning, it was cold--37 degrees cold. Plus, there was a decent wind out of the northeast at 12-15 mph. So the windchill was down around 30 degrees. The first half mile was cold. Then your body seems to adjust. I was OK until about mile 16. Then my hands started to get cold. I was happy to get to the office, because I just couldn't get my hands warmed up again. It was just a little chilly for that.
The other factor that made the ride hard was that wind. For me, it was a headwind the whole way in this morning. So the whole ride was just a grind. It wound up taking me one hour, 22 minutes to get from home to the office. That is an average speed of only 15.6 mph A lot of that was going into that stiff breeze the whole way. Part of it was probably due to the cold, and I was burning a lot of energy to stay warm. Finally, at 6:30 AM, I just have a problem getting the body all cranked up and going fast. I started in a grind it out mode and stayed there the whole ride. That is actually a good description of the ride--a grind. It wasn't fun, it was work. Just a grind.
I got into the office, got showered and changed and then it felt like any other day. I was hungrier than normal, probably from burning all that energy first thing in the morning. But after lunch, that went away too.
I was happy that I did this. It forced me to get out and get a little cold weather training. It also converted an hour of car commute time into bike/training time. It saved me probably 2 gallons of gas. And while it was a grind getting in this morning, there was a certain sense of accomplishment after I got in. Yes, it was cold and much less than ideal conditions, but I overcame those anyway and completed my goal of getting a commute in. There is a certain satisfaction that.
The next couple of mornings are supposed to have overnight lows of 32 degrees, so I think commute #2 will probably wait until next week though.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Luxemburg - Brussels - Luxemburg -- A Wisconsin Spring Classic
A large part of Wisconsin was originally settled by Northern Europeans. Consequently, many towns bear the names of cities or countries in Europe. Berlin, Denmark, Holland, Luxemburg, Brussels and Kiel come to mind. In honor of the Cycling Spring Classics every year held in the northern European countries like Belgium and Holland, some folks around here decided to put on our own spring classics ride, riding from two appropriately named towns (Luxemburg and Brussels) one day over Easter weekend. Usually the weather is pretty iffy in Wisconsin this time of year, making it a perfect tribute to the races in Europe.
The route was 60 miles. It first wound west and north out of the small town of Luxemburg. In the first 10 miles were two sections on pave' (in honor of riding on the cobbles of Europe). Our sections of pave' were not real cobbles, but instead the crushed limestone of the Ahnapee State Trail. That stuff is hard to ride on, especially on the 700x23 tires on my road bike. What also made it hard was that almost everyone else on the ride was either a racer or ex-racer. So we weren't touring down this sandy gravelish path. We were doing 19 or 20 mph.
The other thing that is always a big factor in Europe during these races is weather, and Wisconsin did not disappoint on this day. Temp was in the low 50's, which wasn't bad. But it did rain, never too heavy, but enough to make things a mess and pick up a lot of road splatter. What was nasty though was the wind at 20 mph gusting to 30 mph coming out of the west. And it never let up all day.
The first half of the ride flew by and we were soon into Brussels. I was nowhere close to contesting the hill climb into Brussels. I was just trying to hang onto the lead group. Like I said, a lot of these other guys raced. A few riders did fall off the back, and caught us in Brussels. They decided to take the shorter route back. But as we found out later, they got lost on the way back and actually ended up doing more miles than us.
After refueling in Brussels, about 10 of us took off again in the lead group. Now we are heading south and west, so the wind is just brutal. About 5 miles out, another rider and I were dropped off the back about 100 meters. For a while, all I could do was maintain a pace to keep the gap the same. But finally, on one of the legs due west into the wind, I summoned the strength to pull both of us back into the lead group. It was pretty cool to have those guys acknowledge us for getting back in the lead group, because they weren't slowing down for us, and I had to fight for every meter to pull us back.
Half way back to Luxemburg, three riders took off and gapped us off the front. Another rider would later try to bridge up. For those of us remaining, we were just trying to maintain a steady pace. The guys off the front were young guys who raced. We weren't going to catch them. But we just kept gutting it out to the finish. Heading directly into the wind, we were doing 15 mph. Going south with a cross wind it was 18-20. It was hard the whole way.
We finally got to Champion, turned south and then back east. A tailwind at last. At this point though, the rest of the group gapped me about 50 meters. After all the hard riding, my legs just couldn't spin faster than 25-26 mph, and they were going faster than that. I closed the gap down once, but then would get gapped again. I finished about 100 meters back of my group, but not bad at all. It was a hard day. I know I went into the red-zone multiple times and I could just feel my legs burning in anguish a lot of those times. The weather was hard too. I had the right gear for the rain (booties, rain jacket, waterproof gloves), but there was no hiding from that wind.
Getting back to the parking lot, one of the guys who organized the ride had a souvenir for all of us who had finished. It was a small Belgian flag. How cool is that. If the (simulated) pave', weather and hills didn't make this a true spring classic, then certainly this did.
All in all, this ride was tons of fun. If I would have stayed home, I probably would not have even rode as the weather was so bad, or if I did ride, I would have done 20 complaining filled miles. But I was out there on new roads with a bunch of guys doing the same thing that I enjoy doing. I stayed with a lot of guys who a faster riders than me until the very end. I pushed myself in ways I haven't in a couple years. And I have a Belgian flag. What could be better for Easter Weekend than that.
The route was 60 miles. It first wound west and north out of the small town of Luxemburg. In the first 10 miles were two sections on pave' (in honor of riding on the cobbles of Europe). Our sections of pave' were not real cobbles, but instead the crushed limestone of the Ahnapee State Trail. That stuff is hard to ride on, especially on the 700x23 tires on my road bike. What also made it hard was that almost everyone else on the ride was either a racer or ex-racer. So we weren't touring down this sandy gravelish path. We were doing 19 or 20 mph.
The other thing that is always a big factor in Europe during these races is weather, and Wisconsin did not disappoint on this day. Temp was in the low 50's, which wasn't bad. But it did rain, never too heavy, but enough to make things a mess and pick up a lot of road splatter. What was nasty though was the wind at 20 mph gusting to 30 mph coming out of the west. And it never let up all day.
The first half of the ride flew by and we were soon into Brussels. I was nowhere close to contesting the hill climb into Brussels. I was just trying to hang onto the lead group. Like I said, a lot of these other guys raced. A few riders did fall off the back, and caught us in Brussels. They decided to take the shorter route back. But as we found out later, they got lost on the way back and actually ended up doing more miles than us.
After refueling in Brussels, about 10 of us took off again in the lead group. Now we are heading south and west, so the wind is just brutal. About 5 miles out, another rider and I were dropped off the back about 100 meters. For a while, all I could do was maintain a pace to keep the gap the same. But finally, on one of the legs due west into the wind, I summoned the strength to pull both of us back into the lead group. It was pretty cool to have those guys acknowledge us for getting back in the lead group, because they weren't slowing down for us, and I had to fight for every meter to pull us back.
Half way back to Luxemburg, three riders took off and gapped us off the front. Another rider would later try to bridge up. For those of us remaining, we were just trying to maintain a steady pace. The guys off the front were young guys who raced. We weren't going to catch them. But we just kept gutting it out to the finish. Heading directly into the wind, we were doing 15 mph. Going south with a cross wind it was 18-20. It was hard the whole way.
We finally got to Champion, turned south and then back east. A tailwind at last. At this point though, the rest of the group gapped me about 50 meters. After all the hard riding, my legs just couldn't spin faster than 25-26 mph, and they were going faster than that. I closed the gap down once, but then would get gapped again. I finished about 100 meters back of my group, but not bad at all. It was a hard day. I know I went into the red-zone multiple times and I could just feel my legs burning in anguish a lot of those times. The weather was hard too. I had the right gear for the rain (booties, rain jacket, waterproof gloves), but there was no hiding from that wind.
Getting back to the parking lot, one of the guys who organized the ride had a souvenir for all of us who had finished. It was a small Belgian flag. How cool is that. If the (simulated) pave', weather and hills didn't make this a true spring classic, then certainly this did.
All in all, this ride was tons of fun. If I would have stayed home, I probably would not have even rode as the weather was so bad, or if I did ride, I would have done 20 complaining filled miles. But I was out there on new roads with a bunch of guys doing the same thing that I enjoy doing. I stayed with a lot of guys who a faster riders than me until the very end. I pushed myself in ways I haven't in a couple years. And I have a Belgian flag. What could be better for Easter Weekend than that.
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