BOT Date 09.30.2008

Today's BOT ride was just like any other...just me and Michael and the random other cyclist who still show up! However there was one slight difference in today's ride versus others. The scenery was outstanding, probably the best we've had on these rides! Those of you who chose not to come certainly missed out.

Anyways, Michael and I decided that the 18 miler out and back was the best ride considering time restraints and darkness. However on the return I asked Michael if he was up for a little detour. Basically on the ride back we turned back through Mountain Brook and headed over to the Mountain Brook Country Club to hook up with Mtn Brook Parkway and ride into Mtn Brook village that way. The end result added just around one mile.

Total Distance: 19.05 miles
Pace: 3:56
Average Speed: 15.2 mph
Max Speed: 36.5 mph
Max Grade: 13.9%

Elevation Profile:


Here is the map of this ride.
Clicky

Thursday Ride

Yesterday evening I decided to get a quick ride in around my house. I just did my typical 7+ mile loop. The ride was a good one but my thighs absolutely were killing me. That 1.5 mile run yesterday is really hurting. I've never had my thighs this sore after a run and now after a ride. I didn't have a chance last night to download the date from my Garmin, so I'll have to post up all the information later.

I won't be riding this Saturday as I'll be in Atlanta driving NASCAR stock cars. Should be fun!

More Bike Maintenance Tips

Chain cleaning and lubrication!

No ride today...

But I did decided to get back to some cross training. I managed to run 1.51 miles with an average pace 9:51 and burned 268 calories! To be honest I didn't think I was going to be able to even run a mile, but I surprised myself and squeezed out an extra half mile. I have to admit though that I was really feeling it when I got done.

Today's BOT

Today's ride was just Michael and myself. We got out of the parking lot around 5:30 and hoped to get a jump on the big group that was getting ready to leave. But we only got to the first stop light before they caught us! Guess we weren't fast enough. We pretty much hung with them for the first 5 miles or so. We hooked up with another guy (Chris) who was just getting back on his bike after 3 months off. This was also his first run on the BOT ride, so with that in mind we all opted to just get the 18 mile out and back ride in.
Which is becoming one of my favorite rides! It's a good route that gets a decent distance but allows you to really push yourself. My times were a little screwed up this time because rather than stopping at the turnaround, I opted to just kinda pedal around the parking lot while we all talked! This really shot my pace and averages out the window! So no need to rehash those crappy numbers.

Here is the elevation profile of the 18 mile out and back:


FYI, the max grade is 12.4%

A Satuday Ride

This Saturday after a location mix up with Jim I ended up riding a new loop from my house. I combined parts of my normal Queenstown loop with some of the Tuesday Worlds Loop that we did last Saturday with Floyd Landis.

This was one brutal ride. The wind was insane, 10mph average with 15 mph highs, talk about buffeting! As I rode and the wind was always coming as either headwinds or crosswinds. It made flat sections feel like I was climbing! My bike started feeling really heavy around mile 17.

This loop had me leaving my house, heading out Floyd Bradford to HWY 78 and climbing Cemetary Hill (which by the way hits a 22% grade at one point), then hooking up with part of the Tuesday route that runs through Irondale and connecting with Ruffner road, out to Derby Pkwy and then onto Alton road until hooking up with Queenstown and heading back home.

Overall it turned out to be a pretty good route, reaching a distance of 25 miles.

Even though it was a brutal ride, my performance wasn't bad. A 3:45 pace, 15.9 mph average, 1:34:14 total time.

Here is an elevation profile.


Here is the map:
Click

Road my home loop

Today I decided to get a quick ride in when I got home this afternoon. I decided I would just do one lap of my 7+ mile home loop. It had been a while since I had last ridden this route so I wasn't sure how well I would do.

The last time I road this route was on 8/4/08 and my stats were:
7.29 miles
30:21 total time
4:09 pace
14.4 mph average
42.4 mph max
705 calories burned

Today my stats were:
7.30 miles
27:42 total time
3:47 pace
15.8 mph average
41.5 mph max
677 calories burned

It's nice to see the improvement even when I haven't ridden the route in over a month.

Here is a graph of the elevation changes!


The steepest grade I climbed was 16.2%. The graph below shows the elevation changes from above with the grades shown also.


The pie chart is very interesting, it shows the percent of the total distance I spent climbing, descending and riding on flat terrain. This route is pretty evenly set up!


And this one shows the percent of time in each aspect.

Maintenance Tips

Here is the 2nd video. This one touches on common tools for bike maintenance.

Hard pushed BOT ride!

Today is was just Gregg, Michael, and myself at the Botanical Gardens. We started out around 5:20 today with intentions to get as much distance as we could before it got to dark. We never really made much mention of what type of ride we wanted today but the silent feeling was to push hard. For the first half we had caught up to one group and rode with them up to Hwy 78. They had been moving a steady pace, but when they hit 78 they decided to pick it up a bit. Gregg managed to hook onto their tail and stay with them through the rest of the distance. I fell back on Old Leeds road, but ended up hooking up with this one rider who had blown by me at Grants Mill. I pretty much to stayed in her draft till we got to the big down hill on Old Leeds. At that point I had started to drift back but I caught her down the hill and then passed her on Cherokee road. It was at that point that I wanted to really push hard through those series of hills and keep my speed up. By the time all was said and done I had finished only 8-9 minutes behind Gregg and Michael was only 3-4 minutes behind me.

We pretty much pushed ourselves and came away feeling great!

In total it was 20.45 miles with a total time of 1:19:13 with a pace on this ride at 3:52. My average speed was 15.5 and I maxed out at 35.4. Burned up 1718 calories!

If were lucky and can keep leaving as early as we were able to today we might be able to squeeze in a few more 20 milers.

Rode with Floyd Landis

Today Cahaba Cycles & Homewood Cycles had a Saturday morning ride with Floyd Landis. It was a 25+ mile loop that took us from Homewood, out to Derby Parkway, and then back through Mountain Brook. I have to say this was probably the fastest ride group I've ever ridden with.

Initially the ride started fairly slow and leisurely. Mainly because we were all packed up into one big group. But by the time we got to Ruffner Road the packs started forming and different paces were being created. At times the pack I was riding with was easily averaging 20-25 mph at times. I'm used the 15-20 mph. Needless to say there were sections were the hurt was being put on me. But while I may have dropped back a times I was able to keep them in sight and when traffic lights allowed I was able to get back with them and keep up on the final leg.

I didn't actually get to ride with Floyd, I saw him at the beginning and I was behind him. Then I dropped my camera and had to loop back to it and let the other riders by while I put it back together. At that point I was at the back of the pack and never really saw Floyd for sure until the Homewood Cycles parking lot. At which point Floyd was inside the store posing for pictures and chatting.

Based on what I saw and how he interacted with everyone, Floyd seemed like an appreciative and friendly guy. When I did get to meet him and shake his hand he was appreciative of my comments and well wishes!

Good luck in the Tour de France in 2009, I'll be pulling for ya!

Today's ride covered 27.83 miles and lasted 1:50:31. I had an average speed of 15.1 mph and my pace was 3:58. My max speed was 36.7 mph and I burned 2,652 calories!

Here is the ride on Motionbased.com
Player

Now, how about a few pictures.

Some of my favorite pictures!!!

Cycling Tips

I'll try to post a regular weekly tip with regards to cycling, be it maintenance, riding, or whatever else is related to cycling that I think is worth while.

Today I'll start with an interesting video about why you shouldn't use WD-40 on your bike!

Good BOT ride today

This will probably be the last 20 mile BOT ride we do this year. It's just starting to get to dark by the time we end. So we'll probably be able to squeeze a few more out and backs (18 miles) in before it's just to dark to ride.

The ride was good although the weather looked ominous at times and my damn shoes did not want to lock into the clips several times. I need to get better at getting them in and locked quickly. It caused me a few problems at intersections and it didn't matter left or right.

The ride it self was pretty fast paced, no lolly-gaggin through the neighborhoods like last time. Brian and I pushed pretty good up 78 and along Old Leeds! We even hooked up with a group that was running a good 20 mph average.

I had about 2 servings of my Hammer Gel with me that I downed at the gas station on Montclair and this time I feel like I felt it. I'll keep trying and drinking that nasty shyt until it's gone. Although I have to admit it didn't taste as bad as it did Sunday. Maybe I'll develop a taste for it...like beer...nah!

My distance was 20.65 miles, total time was 1:19:28, average pace was a strong 3:50 with an average speed of 15.6 mph. All totaled I burned 1761 calories!

Now I'm going to put all those calories back on by eating this Krispy Kreme donut!

Lance Armstrong to ride again!

According to Velonews Armstrong is joining up with Team Astana to compete in 5 races during 2009 including the Tour de Georgia. Apparently, he is going to ride for no salary nor bonus and post his blood tests online!

In my opinion this is definitely good for the sport, regardless of your feeling towards him.

Here's the article.

Rode the Mtn Bike today...

Probably shouldn't have as I was much more tired than I had expected. But I guess that shouldn't be a surprise after riding nearly 30 miles the day before.

My goal was to get about an hours ride in today under moderate strain. I did manage to do that, but I was noticeably slower on climbs and a couple of times I just dismounted and walked up a few hills because my legs were so dead.

I was able to ride for 1:02:08 covering 5.47 miles at an average speed of 5.3mph, at a 11:21 pace. Everything with the ride was going about as good as I could have expected until I started down this long steep and rough down hill section that leads strait to a rough climb. Just as I started to pedal up the hill my rear derailleur jammed on me and stuck in 8th gear. I was 3.16 miles into the ride and about .6 of a mile from my car when the derailleur jammed and I didn't want to have to walk it back. So I messed with it for about five minutes and managed to get it stay in 4th gear. I was able to carry on for another 2 miles before it jammed again. Thankfully at that point I was just up the hill from the car and I was able to coast back with out any real issue.

When I got back to the house I was able to re-tighten the cable to the derailleur and get it functioning like normal. But talk about a pain in the ass on the trail!

I also tried out some Hammer Gel that I picked up at Cahaba Cycles yesterday. This is the kind that you mix with water in your water bottle. The flavor I got was orange and I have to say...I don't know where in the hell they get their oranges, but I have never tasted an orange that tasted as bad as this stuff does!!! I mean, I know that stuff like this isn't necessarily going to taste good, but if you say it's going to taste like orange, it should at least have a hint of orange in it. This stuff doesn't even smell like orange, nor does it even have an citrus taste to it at all!!! Never the less I did drink my whole bottle with the hope it would give me energy like it's says it will. To be honest, I couldn't really tell if it did or didn't. I pushed through at times when I could have quit and I had the energy to climb some sections, so I can't really say it did or it didn't. I'll just have to keep using it and see how I feel on some road rides where I know when I normally get tired.

Overall a good ride that had me burning 1239 calories!

A good Saturday Morning Ride!

Today I met up with a new cycling friend to have a good 25-30 mile Saturday morning ride. Jim and I had decided to meet up at the Winn Dixie in Cahaba Heights and ride from there to Sicard Hollow Road, then Rex Lake, up HWY 78, on to Old Leeds, down onto Brookwood Road and ride through Mtn Brook on our way back to the WD.

When I left the house this morning around 8:15 it was really overcast and had started that misty rain as I drove to Cahaba Hts. The rain pretty much held off during our ride today, but it stayed overcast the entire time. Which was a good thing, as it kept the temp in the low 70's. The weather was nearly perfect for a long ride.

The ride was great, the elevation changes were pretty stout at times, but nothing we didn't overcome. Jim's a better climber than I am, I struggled on a couple of hills that I just wasn't prepared for. The irony of those hills was that they weren't very steep, they were just gradual climbs. I was just spent when I would come to them.

As we were riding down Old Leeds Road we had a pack of about 5 cyclist (some were part of the Tria Market team) who appeared to be doing some training as they would swap leaders and let someone else pull over certain stretches. Well, I decided I wanted to catch up to them and see what it felt like to be on the tail of a speedy group. So I pushed myself pretty good to try and reel them in, and I was...till I ran out of steam. But I was able to roll at a pace in the low 2 minutes when I was trying to catch them, I can only imagine what kind of pace they were consistently riding.

Jim and I finished up the ride with a good little stretch through Mtn. Brook looking at all the enormous houses in the area.

We did have one little scare on HWY 78. As we were climbing that long grueling hill just near the cemetery we got passed by a pickup truck in the far lane when all of a sudden this huge charter bus passed us in our lane. We had no idea he was there and he made no attempt to give us room. Had I lost my balance and had to correct I would have been drilled. It was so close the wind off the bus nearly pushed us off the road. Absolutely unnecessary, just like the guy in the Jeep that honked at us and then flipped us off when I raised my hands in a "what the hell" gesture! Needless to say, be on your toes out there!

Overall I rode 29.62 miles, with a 4:01 avg page, 14.9mph avg speed, I reached a max of 37.1mph. Our total ride time was a hair under 2 hours at 1:58:59. All while I burned 2981 calories!

Helluva ride!

Here's a link to the Motionbased Website that will show the info from the ride.

Map Player

Dashboard

Elevation Profile

Belt Drive Bikes

They've become commonplace on motorcycles but now it looks like the tech is making its way in the bicycle world. In fact Trek is introducing 2 bikes that run belt systems.

It looks like they are currently just single speed bikes, but I wonder how it feels to pedal them!

Check it out.

The Trek District


The Trek Urban

BOT Ride

Today's BOT ride was just Michael and myself and we set out today to get a good lead on the pace group so that when they caught up to us we could try and hang with them. And at about mile 5 they caught us, but they didn't leave us...till we started the climb on HWY 78. At that point we had to deal with traffic and other issues that kept us back.

Once on 78 I started to pull away from Michael a bit as I was challenging myself to keep up with some riders that had passed me just before the hill. By the time I got up to Old Leeds Road I had hooked up with 3 other cyclists that I used as pace guages. I hung in with them for the rest of the ride running around 20 mph on the flat stretches.

I forgot to start my Garmin at the beginning of the ride so I don't have real accurate numbers. But my bike computer showed 20.4 miles over 1:19:59 which works out to just under a 4 minute pace. Of the 10.64 miles that I did have my Garmin on, I road at a 3:32 pace with an average speed of 16.9 and a max of 36.1.

Overall I really enjoyed this ride, although it did get a bit dark towards the end but I had a group of about 10 cyclists I was finishing up with so it wasn't too bad and the traffic for the most part was good.

Neal we missed ya! But I'm glad you got some good riding in at OMSP!

Oh yeah, Michael should have an interesting picture!