It Was A Hot Afternoon, At The End Of June

And the sun was a demon.  Clouds were afraid, 110 in the shade, and the pavement was steaming. You win a special prize if you can ID the song that line came out of.  If you do I can bet you're over 50.

A stop for holy water along No Hope Rd.

My normal riding crew has evaporated like sweat on a hot road.  Up until late Friday it looked like I was going to be riding alone Saturday.  I just happened to catch Silk on a slow day and he acquiesced to let me accompany him on a 55 mile clay ride.  We left HG at 9, threading our way through the maze that is Killearn.  The clay roads were in perfect shape, the horse flies didn't seem particularly hungry, and even though it was hot, it wasn't brutal.  Silk's casual pace is just to the level I can talk on the flats but have to breathe on the climbs.  Perfect workout.

I made him stop at Bradley's Country Store on the way back and sit on the porch while I downed the best Mountain Dew I've ever had.

Silk looks kinda old in that rockin chair doesn't he?

The last few paved miles back were in full sun.  I poured water over my helmet and it hit my back hot.

Fathers Day

The Kid had decided that he wanted to do the clay route I had done on Saturday today.  Fortunately Dr. S Works wanted to ride MTB so we met at the BMX track at Tom Brown at 9 am.  The day was full summer in Fla.  Hazy and muggy.  Still the trail was in pretty good shape considering the recent rain.  The Kid had ridden there Saturday (do you see a pattern here?) and had had to hold onto a small tree on the Alford loop to keep from getting blown off the path.  He came home with red welts on this legs from the hail.  With his navigating skills I was surprised he didn't have to call for EVAC on the clay ride Sunday but he managed to find his way back.

Being the nice riding companion I am I wore Dr. S Works down then attacked on the last climb heading back to the truck.  I heard him utter "I don't care" as I went around.  He had been complaining of being dehydrated from yard work the day before.  He should have known better.

Anyhoo, I grilled hot dogs for dinner that night.  The Lovely wife made baked beans.  We don't eat hot dogs very often but man they were good!

The weekends go by too fast.

Just remember, nobody reads blogs anymore. :)

Riding and Hoping (Hoping I Could Keep on Riding)

I'll admit I did commit to some kind of a vague ride plan before the Ride For Hope 100 mile road bike ride.  I might have said we would try and stay with the lead group as far as the first climb (Fire Tower) and then sit up.  I might even have promised to wait if someone in our group got dropped.  It's all so fuzzy now.

The Week Before: AKA, "The Plan"

Fighting Irish (Irish from now on) had formulated the original plan since he had done a 100 mile road bike ride before and this was to be my maiden voyage.  Dr. S Works had signed on ("for as long as I can ride"), Wrecking Ball had originally been in but quickly backed out.  The Kid was always in, just not sure if he wanted to ride with old guys all day (especially his dad).  He has found some roadie fitness lately, and that, along with riding some of the group rides around town, had him thinking it might no be so cool being my domestic for the day.

I had looked over the route map and had an idea of where were going.  The course was going to be marked with yellow arrows that had 100 spray painted next to them.  There were going to be hundreds of riders out there.  Irish had assured me we could hang with the lead group at least until Firetower.  I had two bottles plus drink mix and food.  There were plenty of sag stops and I was assured we would stop at at least enough of them to keep our hydration needs met.  It all sounded pretty simple.  At least that was "the plan".

4:30 On A Saturday Morning

"Son, are you up?"  

"No, I was waiting for you to get me up."

"Didn't you set your alarm?"

"Yea, but I turned it off."

"We have got to roll by 5:45 to make the 6:30 start."

"Ok."

We're get in the truck and rolling by 5:20.

"Dad did you bring me a recovery drink?"

"No, you were supposed to pack your own stuff."

"But you had to get yours, why didn't you just grab me one?"

"Sigh, you can have mine."

"Thanks."

6:15 am

We arrived at the start and managed to find Irish and Dr. S Works.  The Kid pees twice before we roll to the line (this will be important later).

We roll out with the lead group albeit in the back portion.  The pace was good, the group felt safe, The Kid was in front of me, Irish was up ahead, and Dr. S Works was along side.  All seemed to be going as planned (if we had "a plan"). 

Ladies In Hoop Skirts, Dancing

"I've got to pee BAD." says The Kid at about 20 miles out.  

Mind you we were still cruising in the draft of the lead group at this time, having not yet reached Firetower Hill.  Let me take a minute to explain.  If you haven't ridden road bikes, drafting the rider in front of you takes at least 35% less effort than being by yourself.  You will do almost anything to stay in "the draft".

That's when I looked up and saw the ladies, dancing and twirling, spinning hula hoops, and ringing cow bells.  There must have been 15 of them.  I wasn't sure this was a sag stop.

"I don't know if that's a sag, it could be some kind of church group." I said.

"I don't care" said The Kid, "I've GOT to go NOW!" so he peels off.  I do not.  See, him having to stop for a pee wasn't in "the plan".  It was to be the last time I would see him until the finish.

The Ride

Dr. S Works was the next to go, I don't know exactly where we dropped him.  Then we hit Firetower Hill.  Irish was still in front of me and we managed to hang on up the hill, then after, in fact we stayed with the lead group until after the town of Monticello Fl.  Finally getting dropped (along with quite a few others) just before the second sag.

The rest of the ride is kind of a blur.  We formed a small group, sharing pulls at the front and keeping a good steady pace.  I popped at about 90 miles, running out of water at 92 miles, I struggled to get to the finish.  The group didn't stop at the last two sags ( see, I told you you'd do anything to stay in the draft).  I finished the 102 miles feeling like I was going to puke. Irish even sprinted the last couple of miles.  I kinda hated him for that.

Roadie fitness is a whole different animal and I'm impressed with the abilities of those who did that ride and could smile afterwards. 

Back At The Truck

I'd been back about 45 minutes when The Kid rolls in.  The exchange went something like this:

Him; "Just start the truck."

Me: "Are you ok?"

Him, with a large dose of sarcasm: "Yea, I just rode 109 miles by myself in 95 degree heat."

He gets loaded up and we're in the truck headed out the gate.

Him: "Didn't we have a plan?"  "Weren't you supposed to sit up after Firetower?"

Me, trying not to laugh: "I don't remember that, I do remember you were supposed to pull me all day."

About this time I couldn't keep the grin off my face.  He started to grin also.

"How did you get 109 miles?" I asked.

"I don't know" he said.  " When I found the port a potty there was someone in it, so I just went behind it.  When I got back on the road I could still see the cop car in the back of the group so I pinned it, but I never saw another person till I ran up on Dr. S Works about 10 miles from the finish.  He told me he had 93 miles in so far and had burned 6000 calories." (he really only rode 75 miles, I don't know if he was screwing with The Kid or just blown up).  "He pulled me for 8 miles, it felt so good to be out of the wind.  I kept thinking on the way in, dad better not drink that recovery drink."

I hadn't, and we started laughing.  Turns out he made two wrong turns, riding roads that were not even used during the event, so no wonder he never saw anybody else.  Of course he didn't take his phone since he was sooooo sure he wasn't going to get dropped.  As I tell him all the time "If you're gonna be dumb you better be tough."

My First Hunny

Was it fun?  In a perverse sort of way it was.  I assume I just got overheated and dehydrated at the end.  I could have used one more sag stop but didn't want to lose the group.  It took 20 minutes and a Mountain Dew before I felt human again.  I'm just dumb enough to one of these again.

Uncomfortable Change

My local gym in Beautiful Downtown Havana suddenly closed last Sunday.  I'd been a loyal customer for 11 years and was comfortable there.  I had my time and my little old man routines.  I had been there longer than anybody else and kinda had my turf staked out.  I enjoyed riding my bike to get there on Monday and Wednesday afternoon, plus the easy roll home was relaxing.  But stuff happens ya know?

So now I'm at the YMCA across from the Winn Dixie on north Monroe.  And I'm suddenly the newb.

The patrons do things differently here.  They don't remove their weights from the machines or barbells.  But they do wipe everything off after they're done.  There seems to be a bit more posing and flexing from the body builder crowd, and, except for me, it's not a particularly pretty bunch.

Anyhoo, it's something older dudes need to do, so I guess I'm here until something else opens up. Maybe I'll take a Yoga class.

Roadie

That's me in the background.  I have to photo bomb.

I've been hitting the Joe's road ride in Tallahassee these past couple of Thursday evenings.  Riding through the neighborhoods of Killearn at 6 pm is a little sketchy but over all I've grown to enjoy it.  I seem to have a mental block when it comes to all these roadie tactics so I always find myself in the wrong spot on the sprint.  Ape Bike will say "now why did you do----------?" and I just have to look at him with a vacant stare.  I don't know how something that should be so easy is so hard to figure out. Then again, maybe they're just messing with me.  Always a possibility with this group.

Saturday and Another Road Ride

The Kid wanted to do Saturday Morning Chaires and the rest of the crew was non committal as far as ride plans go, so I cajoled Dr. S Works into doing the Premier road ride from HG with me.  It was billed as a steady pace ride with mostly older riders.  Once again, either Roger was messing with me, or I must have missed something.

The roll out was smooth but as soon as we hit the open road the pace picked up, along with lots of orders being hollered.  We were supposed to go 70 miles but I knew I couldn't keep that kind of pace for long.  Fortunately the train stopped at the first store we came to.  Most of the "older" riders then took a shorter route back, along with Dr. S Works who was feeling sick and had to call for EVAC.  We left the store a much smaller group.

How long to pull?  When does the group go harder?  Who will just sit in?  Do we wait when people get dropped?  How about a double pace line?  Do we even want to do a pace line at all?  I'm so confused.

I hope I didn't insult anybody.  It was a good workout.  I plan to do it again.

Ride For Hope

It's this coming Saturday.  I had tried to get a group together to make the 100 miles pleasant but it's not looking good.  I'll let you know how it goes.