31 July 2010

More Like It

Not a lot of time today, so it was a two-climb ride. Texter and hobbit village.

Began the Texter climb at 23:40 into the ride. Reached the top at 40:25. That's a new personal best by 55 seconds (previous record 17:40).

Texter Mountain climb - 16:45
Split at 1 mile (Focht Rd) - 9:20

Honestly, I was a little shocked at the time. So much so that for the rest of the ride, I was doing the math over and over to make sure I didn't miss something.

29 July 2010

Easy Ride

I intended to do an "easy ride" today in the mountains (three climb ride). Didn't want to go all out or anything. Just relax and recover from all the hard efforts and heat recently.

Texter Mountain climb - 17:40
Average speed on Texter Mountain - 9.1 mph

27 July 2010

Vomit

A third time trial in five days. Was strong for the first half and my split average speed was 19.4mph at Myerstown. Then I blew up in Robesonia. Soft-pedaled home, feeling like throwing up the whole way. Very exhausted by the time I arrived home.

Temps around 90 and, I think, too many time trials in a row. Just ran out of energy. Part of it had to do with the fact that I wasn't really improving my average speed rapidly enough on the return, and so the math was discouraging. I will break 20 before the end of the season.

25 July 2010

Another Time Trial

Strongest TT since whenever. Temperatures around 80, which I think helped a lot.

Average speed - 19.6 mph

Had enough energy at the end to drill it up the Redners slope and the final uphill section to the tuxedo shoppe. But then I felt like vomiting.

22 July 2010

Wasted

Attempting a time trial today. Failed.

Strong 15mph headwind the whole way out to Myerstown. Cracked at Myerstown, and the wind shifted to a crosswind, so no impetus to keep going and make up time on the return. Soft-pedaled home.

Average speed - 17.5mph
Temperature - 95

20 July 2010

Going Backwards

Three climb ride today. Head wind on all climbs.

Texter Mountain climb - 18:30 (worst yet!)
Average Speed - 14.45 mph

Not sure if it was the wind, the heat or my fitness going backwards.

New Shimano PD-M150 pedals are outstanding, though!

19 July 2010

Three Climb Ride

Elevation profile of the "three climb ride."



1) Texter Mountain Rd.
2.9 miles
4.7% average gradient
22% max gradient
Descent on Sportsman

2) Furnace to Galen Hall
2.1 miles
4.7% average gradient
Descent in reverse

3) Sportsman Rd.
2.8 miles
4.3% average gradient
12% max gradient
Descent in reverse

2,600 feet of climbing.

13 July 2010

Seized Pedal

I wonder how long I've been riding with my left pedal seized up? It might explain why I've felt like such shit recently.

Three climb ride today again. Felt like hell on lower Texter Mountain Rd.

Texter climb - 17:40 (again -- boo!)
Average speed - 15mph (better than last week)

Not a lot of wind. High humidity. Around 85 degrees.

11 July 2010

Nervous Ride

A new route is always nervous. There were two riders who crashed in Robesonia and were being helped by an ambulance and police officer. The taller, lankier rider had some pretty severe road rash on his face. Not sure what happened. Thought about stopping and asking them if it was a hit-and-run. Either way, it freaked me out -- on top of the untried route.

The route was out to Womelsdorf, then right onto 419 and north to 183 and to the vicinity of the Appalachian Trail. I made it to within a mile of Gobbler's Spur Road and had to turn back. 183 was too dangerous. Narrow shoulder and too many speeding cars.

On the way back, my left pedal broke, but I was able to continue using it.

47 miles
2:52
16.54 average speed
Headwind (NNW) out, tailwind home

Ride profile (half distance to Appalachian Trail):

08 July 2010

Meltdown

95 degrees plus humidity. I opted for the three-climb ride. Texter Mountain Road, Furnace to Galen to the hobbit village, then Sportsman. Mini-climb on Preston.

17:40 on the Texter Mountain climb.
14.4 mph average speed

Wasn't drilling it at all.

04 July 2010

Intervals

Scorching hot day. Still not recovered from hard effort on Friday's TT. Legs were very weak.

Did seven headwind interval repetitions at the mental hospital, then the easy recovery climb up Sportsman. Consistently hit 27.5 mph on the interval reps despite being exhausted, hot and weak.

I can't remember it being this windy in mid-Summer.

02 July 2010

Almost There

Solid Myerstown TT today. Very minor headwind on the way out. Minor tailwind on the way back. Not much flag movement. Mid- to low-80s.

Average speed: 19.75 mph
Time: 1:50
Distance: 36.71 miles
Cruising speed on the way out: 20.5 mph give or take
Cruising speed on the way back: 23 mph give or take

It's very likely I would've broken the 20 mph average speed threshold, but I had to stop at four different traffic signals. Rare. One of them was the usually empty Richland intersection on the way back. The slowing, stopping then starting up again really impacts the average speed calculations.