Two Climbs

Got a late start so I did a shorter 2-climb ride. Texter Mountain Road and Galen Hall to the hobbit village, then home.

Total average speed - 15.5 mph

Texter Mountain Road hill climb - 17:30

Uphill sprint to Redners - Held a solid 23mph

Texter climb was painful at the bottom. But did the first mile to Focht Road in 9:30, which I think is faster that usual.

Mt. Penn Climb

Finally did the climb to the summit of Mt. Penn.

The road was closed for a previous car race, so I had the road to myself.

9.5mph average from the bottom of Duryea to the Fire Tower. Remarkably hot -- around 95 degrees.

The descent was too sketchy, though, so I'll probably avoid this climb for a long while. Bad roads, lots of potholes.

Catching Up

It's 2010 and a couple of years since the last time I posted, but I certainly haven't stopped training and riding. From here on out, I'll be logging my progress as I ramp up my efforts.

Weight: 185 lbs. (weighed 240 in 2007-2008)
Average speed max on Myerstown TT: 19.7mph
Cruising speed on Myerstown TT: 22mph
Average ride time: 2.5 hours

Currently combining the Eagles Peak climb with the Texter Mountain climb and the Galen climb.



Also, I finally did the South Mountain climb up from Newmanstown.

Working on interval training once a week to increase overall average speed.

Eagle's Peak and the Filthy Fifteen

Another local rider, Paul, is working on a series of Berks County climbs called the Filthy Fifteen. Unfortunately, I've been away from the blog and I'm only now catching his comment from February 11.

Lately, I've been climbing up to Eagle's Peak -- a brutal climb split into two sections with a much-needed short recovery descent in the middle.

Turn left onto Hill Rd at the Citgo station along 422. There's a short 6% climb over the railroad tracks. Turn left at the other side and the climbing begins. There are switchback turns that max out at 30%, but only for a few dozen feet. Hill continues up to the summit of the mountain and then descends to an awkward V-intersection at Eagle's Peak Rd. Turn right onto Eagle's Peak and the climbing continues. This section is longer, but not as steep as Hill Rd. Once you pass Eagle's Peak campground, there's a harrowing descent down to Newmanstown. The profile:



So Paul, if you're still around, drop me an e-mail at robertcesca(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Dog Bites Cyclist

Since I last checked in, I surpassed 1,000 miles on my bike computer (purchased last September). So it stands to reason that, eventually, crazy stuff would start to happen to me along the way. You know... getting hit by a car, stung by bees, caught in hail storms. But I never really thought I'd get bitten by a goddamn dog.

That's exactly what happened last night. I was climbing Gaul Rd. as part of a leisurely 25 mile "easy" ride, and as I hit the third section of 13% gradient, I heard a large dog barking like a maniac behind me and a male human being yelling "Shelby! SHELBY!" I turned my head to look and this large black dog was chasing me down. So as best I could, I started to "sprint" up the 13% hill which means 11mph at maximum effort.

Not fast enough.

The dog ran up and bit me on the back of my left leg just above my achilles tendon. Having a large dog myself, I instinctively yelled out "OFF!" And it worked. The dog turned and bolted back down the hill. In retrospect, it was probably the loud sound I made as it bit me and not my clever dog-training command.

So I stopped to check the damage and sure enough, it had broken the skin with one of its canine teeth and blood was running down my leg. Further down the hill, I watched as "Shelby's" owner attempted to get the dog out of the road while cars and a motorcyclist passed by (fortunately avoiding me on the side of the road).

Once the dog appeared to be out of sight, I turned around and coasted back down to the owner's house to check on the dog's vaccinations. As I pulled into the driveway, a group four rather large women on the back porch alerted the dog's owner that I was there. I waved and smiled politely as the man approached. Large guy -- bright red face, as if he has been drinking beer in the sunshine all day. First sign of trouble.

I asked, "I was wondering if your dog is up to date on her vaccinations. It got me on the back of my leg and--"

The red-faced man interrupted, "Look, ever since this area became part of the suburbs, I hear it from those people across the street. Cyclists and drivers yelling at me, so no offense but this is ridiculous!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not responsible for other people. All I know is that your dog bit me and I want to know if she's had her shots."

"Yeah she's had her shots!"

"Okay! That's all I wanted to know -- she broke the skin and--"

"She broke the skin?! WELL I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!"

"Yes! But she's had her shots?"

"YES!"

"Okay. Thank you."

I started to pedal back up the driveway when my temper spilled over and I yelled back at the guy, "You know, maybe you need to keep your crazy dog on a leash or in a fenced yard!"

He shouts back, "I have 7 acres!"

And as I started climbing again, I shouted, "Awesome! Then why is your dog running around biting cyclists?"

And that was that. As I continued to climb, I dumped water on the wound and took it easy down Wooltown Rd. It's remarkable to me that a guy allows his dog to run free in his yard, then is shocked and defensive when the dog attacks passers-by. I mean, how entitled (or drunk) do you have to be to 1) yell at the person who was just attacked by your dog, and 2) not apologize profusely for it?

Anyway, I've been riding every other day recently to improve my pathetic average speed over mixed terrain. And last night, even in easy mode with climb and, of course, a stop for the dog bite, I averaged 15mph. Really working on maintaining a circular pedal stroke and a faster cadence. Some intervals, too. I think it's paying off, though not fast enough to outrun dogs on 13% climbs.

Wow

I had an MRI this morning (which is the worst kind of non-intrusive medical torture since turn-your-head-and-cough). It turns out that I have compression fracture of my T11.

Fun!

I had a weird reaction to the news... It's kind of a badge of honor. I broke my back in a cycling accident. Cool.

I'm lucky to be alive.

Stinging Insects In My Slipstream

I rode on Saturday because I couldn't wait until Sunday to wash the stink from Thursday's sucky ride out of my brain. I'm so glad I did -- Saturday was awesome. I took the traditional route to the Sportsman Rd climb up Texter Mountain.

Sportsman Road was covered with some kind of smashed purple berries in small groupings all along the road. And so there were a lot of bees and other flying, stinging insects having brunch or whatever they do. Several bees decided that I smelled better than the rotting wild fruit on the road (stupid bees) and decided to draft with me for the entire four-mile climb.

As soon as I'd hit a flatter section, I'd accelerate and drop them. Then I'd hit a steeper section and they'd catch back on -- buzzing around my helmet and doing full circular orbits around me and my bike. At one point, I'm fairly convinced that I was stung in the ass. Well, not "IN" the ass, but on the upper left butt cheek. I yelled out, "Screw this!" and accelerated again.

Of course at the top section where the gradient increases to around 10%, it was a little more difficult to drop the bastards, but it didn't matter. I figure I had already been stung once.

I didn't time myself, but I'd bet I've never climbed Sportsman faster. Annoying, but wow -- what a great motivator for climbing.

So I looped down Texter Mountain Rd and then back around Furnace Rd to 422. I stopped at Willow Glen Park (site of Shocktoberfest) and had a banana. Then I decided I felt strong enough to ride over to Gaul Rd and Wooltown Rd for some shorter, more moderate climbing/descending. On Wooltown, I broke 40mph on the descent which was fun.

Total ride distance: 32 miles with climbing and bees.

Sucked

Maybe it's some stress from work that sapped the mental energy out of me or maybe I just didn't fuel up enough.

Regardless, I tried some moderate climbing yesterday and I bonked worse that I have in a long, long time. About halfway up North Galen, I almost collapsed with exhaustion. I mean, I literally thought I was going to fall over after only around three miles of 5% climbing.

At that point, I totally lost the will to live and turned back. Which I rarely do. When first started riding, I would at least walk the rest of the way up a climb, but my head just totally fell apart yesterday.

Meanwhile, I went to the chiropractor this morning and Dr. Wolf adjusted my back. Suffice to say, it hurt like hell. When he adjusted the area that I injured, it felt like the initial injury all over again. Awesome.

I might try the North Galen climb again tomorrow morning with -- hopefully -- much more satisfying results.

Meanwhile, here's a video of Slipstream's Tom Danielson in the Pyrenees
training for the Tour. Towards the end, you'll see him fly up a 20% section on the big chainring. Which is inhuman.

Snitz und Knepp...with Ham!

That was the Sunday special at Risser's Diner in Stouchsburg. I'd never seen it advertised with ham, and, as I passed, my heat-damaged brain forced me to say out loud, "With ham?"

It was 95 degrees with 57 percent humidity on Sunday, so I hit the road early. Around 8AM. I didn't have time for a lot of climbs, so I took the traditional route out to Stouchsburg with a loop through the town itself. (Stouchsburg is old and a perfectly preserved relic of, say, 1950. I sometimes expect to see Barney Fife wandering into Floyd's Barber Shop.)

The riding was grueling, of course. But despite the heat, my fitness appears to be improving -- especially on the rolling hills where I was mostly able to keep up a consistent speed. But the heat was a killer. It's been more than 24 hours since the ride and I still feel a little loopy and drained. While riding, I was in one of those zones in which every little break of the heat was significant. Two seconds of shade, or a drop of water on my leg -- I was thankful for it.

26 miles... with ham.

(Also, read this.)

The Reading Classic

I spent the day watching the pros ride in big circles around Reading. The speed was insane, especially around the tight corners and through the traffic jam of team cars. Oscar Sevilla Rivera of Rock Racing won the day with last year's champ, Bernard Eisel of High Road, taking second.

Here are some fancy-shmancy "exclusive" Team Spindrift photos.


The women's peloton. They were goddamn FAST!


Catherine Cheatley (left) and Team Cheerwine. Meanwhile, High Road's Ina-Yoko Teutenberg won the women's race.


The Italians from Liquigas.


Victor Hugo Peña, Tyler Hamilton and Rahsaan Bahati of Rock Racing at the sign-in. Can you smell the "edgy"?


Freddie Rodriguez talks to an old dude. Rodriguez crashed early in the race. I blame that old man and his old man curse.


Slipstream-Chipotle at the sign-in. Don't tell them that there's not a single goddamn Chipotle restaurant anywhere near here.


The single-file pack descends Perkiomen Avenue headed towards Penn Street.


The pack turns off Penn Street. Mexican Bernardo Colex of Tecos (middle in red) kicked some ass today. Later, Colex blasted up Mt. Penn alone. Towards the top, the video crew clocked him at 20mph. That's insane. (Fun fact: Duryea Drive is named for the inventor of the first hill-climbing automobile. The prototypes of the car were tested on this road.)


Mt. Penn climbing.


When I shot this, a photographer from VeloNews was on my left and the head of CyclingNews was on my right. Very serious!


Sevilla's one-man breakaway in the final kilometer on his way to victory.

Repairs and Rain

So it wasn't just my brakes rubbing. It turns out the my rear bearings were intermittantly seizing up. Yep. That's probably why it was extra painful to ride a simple, flat ride the other day. My entire rear wheel was basically dead.

The guys at Technocycle fixed up the Kona, though -- repaired the cramped bearings, trued the rear wheel and installed some new rear brakes. Biggety bam. Just like new.

Yesterday, meanwhile, I did a quick 10 miles of climbing in the rain. And a lot of really, really cautious descending. In fact, I tried to ride up North Galen in the opposite direction. But when I turned right onto Preston, the switchback descent was -- sorry to say -- too scary in the pouring rain. This is something I have to overcome. Soon. I love climbing, but I can't be hindered due to the descents.

On Sunday, it's supposed to be 95 degrees. I can't wait. But as painful as it'll be, I'd hate to be the pros in Philly hitting the Manayunk Wall in that heat.

"Attitude Determines Altitude"

I rode an inexplicably grueling 25 miles to Womelsdorf and back on Thursday. My rear brakes were rubbing, so that couldn't have helped. Regardless, my head just wasn't in the game.

However, the ride reminded me to mention here about the sandwich-board messages at the mental hospital. At the base of the Texter Mountain is located the Wernersville State Hospital: a well-known mental hospital in eastern PA. The best cycle route up to the mountain roads is directly through the hospital grounds via Sportsman Road.

The grounds remind me of the hospital in Cuckoo's Nest. Old brown brick buildings with old-timey doors and tall windows. Basketball courts -- three of them. I can imagine McMurphy showing The Chief how to shoot hoops. Fenced areas, capped with bits of rusty razor wire. Sometimes the patients are walking around the buildings in their pajamas and scrubs. They usually wave to me as I ride by. I always wave back.

Last Summer, I noticed a V-shaped sandwich-board along Sportsman Road -- propped up in the grass and adorned with an inspirational message spelled out in stick-on letters. I can't remember any of the messages from last year, but we were treated to a new one every month or so. At some point, though, the sandwich-board disappeared for the Winter, but I'm proud to report that it's back.

I always used to wonder whether the messages were designed for the patients or for the riders who frequently ride through on their way to big hills. Come to think of it, I imagine it's difficult to tell the difference between guys who wear skin-tight Lykra and hump their way up steep hills on bicycles... and actual mental patients. So it stands to reason that perhaps the messages are designed for both.

To wit: the newest message reads, "Attitude determines altitude." When I read that while on my way to several climbs, I thought to myself, That has to be for the riders. After all, I'm a firm believer that cycling is 90 percent about the brain. The body can adapt to pain. It's the 'attitude' that forces us to keep going when our legs and lungs are screaming for us to stop.

So to whomever is posting the signs... Keep going. They're not lost on passers-by, be they riders or patients.