Today I did the Roan Moan 2011 Metric Century ride put on by the Bakersville Firestation.   The ride is  62 miles of hills, including a Cat1 climb up to the top of Roan Mountain.  It was the hardest thing I have done since my Ironman.    The easiest part of the ride was much hillier and harder than any of my training routes.     And then they stuck in two monster climbs to make it one hillacious day for me.

Ride Stats

Here is my Garmin Data.    The ‘flat’ parts on the elevation graph were by no means flat! Just sayin….
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/103067890

• Avg speed before the big Cat1 climb:  16.6
• Avg speed up the 7.3 mile Cat1 climb: 5.9
• Avg speed down the mountain and to the finish: 25.9
• Overall Avg Speed for entire ride: 14.6
• Max Speed: 49.9 (this is a record, dang, would have liked it to top 50mph!)
• Race weight 152.2  - hope to do better getting that down for next year

Race Prep

Here I am driving toward the race start.   My ears popped.    A foreshadowing of diffucult climbs ahead.

I got a little lost on the way, so arrived at the site with just 25 minutes to prep.  I headed over to the registration tent to get my bib number.    I got that, and then went outside for a potty break.  They were laoding the porta-potties onto trailers.  I asked “Is it too late to pee?”.   The guy said “Yes, but there’s  a bathroom inside”.  Phew, I took care of that business, then went back to get my bike and nutrition all set up.

I met two BT buddies: Jon and Ken.  That was nice seeing a couple of friendly faces.   I didn’t chat too long because I was pressed for time.   I got everything together and rode back over to the start line, positioning myself in the middle of the pack.  The announcer was calling out instructions.

Then I rememembered that I didn’t have my heart rate strap on.  I really really wanted to have that for the big climbs to gauge my effort level.  So, I got out of the lineup, rode back to my car, and grabbed the strap.  As I rode back to the start, I heard the gun go off.   Dang.  I rode up and got in the back of the pack, so it put me behind some slow riders.    +

The Race, leading up to big Cat1 climb

It took several miles to pass folks, and I had to do some hammering to catch up to some groups.   I finally settled in with a good solid group of male riders.

There were alot of hills.   We were averaging 16-17 mph.    I would sometimes get dropped on the hills, but could catch back up on the descents and flats.    I tried hard to stay with them.    One one small descent, I could have flown fast and free, but a stupid car got in my way, and was going slow!  Dammit, I can’t pass a car on the road.

I lost contact with that group on the first big climb.  It was a Cat3 climb of about 3 miles, with some fairly steep grades.    It was hard!   On the descent down from that climb, I was in front alone.    I like descending fast, but am not used to a long descent with twists and turns.  I approached the first turn a little too fast, and realized it in time, braking.  But I came too close to wiping out, so that made me more cautious, so I slowed down.   Then a faster male rider passed me, and I followed his lead.  He was a great descender, so I tracked after him, matching his speed on each turn.  It was perfect.    I could go fast, and trusted him to know how fast to take each turn.     Soon after that descent, there was a SAG stop.    I talked to the good descender.   Turns out, he lives near the race, and rides those hills all the time, so he knows each turn.   My pace group was at the SAG stop, so I was able to get back in with them, and so did the good descender.

The next part of the ride was a narrow road along the Tweetsie railroad, which followed alongside a river.  It was beautiful.   There were parts of the road where we’d ride through narrow passages carved out of the rock.     Most of the ride, I was working pretty hard trying to keep up with the group, so that took away my enjoyment of the scenery.  But the pace slowed during this trek along the river, so I did enjoy that part of the ride very much.   I was glad to be with a group here, because there were lots of turn offs that would have been hard to follow if I was alone.

Next we started a long gradual incline up to the base of Roan Mountain.   This was 15 miles of steady uphill grade.    So unfair to throw that at us before a killer Cat1 climb.  I lost touch with my group somewhere along here.   But it was okay, because I knew the monster climb was coming, and I knew I was going to lose them there anyway, as I planned to do the climb at my own steady pace.

The big Cat1 Climb

There was another SAG stop at the base of the climb.   I stopped and tweeted this picture, saying  ”41 miles of hard climbing. worst is yet to come. phew…im toasty”.  I filled up just one water bottle at this stop, not wanting to carry any excess weight up the mountain.

My brother Mark gave me this advice for the 7 mile trek up the mountain:

Advice that has worked for me is to mentally divide to climb into thirds. So 7.5/3 = 2.5 miles. The first third, take it easy. The second third, push harder, but not all out. The final third, push hard, if you have the legs.  Following this advice, it is not uncommon to catch and pass many of the people who dropped you at the begining of the climb. Since it is mostly down-hill after the last climb, it’s ok to be a bit fried at the top.

I set my watch to show lap distance and hit my lap button.   I started the climb at a steady pace.   The grade was not awful, so the first  mile I felt pretty good.   There really didn’t seem to be any steep sections, but the relentless climbing took it toll on my legs with each mile.  I discovered that I had never before tried drinking water while climbing.  All the climbs in my homelands are 5 minutes long, so I can drink before or after, and I usually drink during downhill grades where I can stop spinning my legs.  So, it was a bit of a challenge.

Mile 2 ticked by.    I was feeling it but hanging steady.   I passed a few riders.   I think one guy passed me.    I figured that meant all the stronger riders were already ahead of me.   I dunno.

There were several folks stopped along the mountainside.  I’d ask them if they were okay.   I got answers like calf is cramped, or their back was hurting, or they were tired.    I decided that no matter what I would not stop until I got to the top of the mountain.

The had funny pacman mile markers on that big climb stating how many more miles to the top.  I snapped a picture of the one at 4 miles to go.    (I did not stop to take this picture, either!)

When I saw 3 miles to go, I was very tired and my legs were toasty, but knew I was going to make it.   But I did not feel like I could go harder at this point.  I felt it best to maintain my current steady effort.   I got a migraine around here.   I think it was from doing an Andy Schleck grimace.   I decided to focus on relaxing my facial muscles. That worked.

I started getting low on water.    It was a big mistake to skimp on that, particularly with a hot day.   I had to ration it the rest of the climb.

2 miles to go and I was hurting.   My legs were toast.   I said “Shut up, legs”.    Somewhere around here there was a section that was slightly less of an incline, which provided a brief respite from the relentless climbing.

1 mile to go and I was really hurting.   I drank my last bit of water here.   I longed to see that SAG tent at the top of the mountain.  I needed water.  And I needed the climbing to stop.   I said “your legs are on fire, this climbs going higher”.  Jason says that in spin class sometimes.   I used something else from spin class during this climb, too.    Sometimes he does these standing recoveries, where you stand up and spin real slow.    I did this just to give my body a rest.  I’d shift up two gears, stand up , and just very slow spin.   This was great to stretch out my back and legs.

As I rounded a corner and saw the SAG tent, I was ecstatic.    Rest was so close.  I wouldn’t allow myself to believe it, tho, for fear that it was a mirage.  I just kept up my steady climbing.    As I passed some folks standing along the mountain below the tent, I said “please tell me that is not a mirage”.  They laughed and said “No, you are at the top”.   Oh thank goodness.

All downhill from here

I unclipped and was so stiff, that I had trouble getting my leg over my bike.   I got  a cramp in my right hamstring doing that.   I rubbed it out and it seemed okay.   A volunteer came right over, took my bike to park it, and gave me some water.  That was just lovely.  I saw my pace group at the top.  I was pleased that I had caught up to them.

I filled my water bottles, ate some fruit, and took a picture. I tweeted “omg glad thats over.”    I saw my pace group leave.  Dang, I lost them again.   I took another picture and tweeted …”all downhill from here w00t”

I started down the climb following four guys.     The first two were descending too cautiously.    I wanted to go faster.    You can’t really pass on the twisty turns of a descent tho, so I had to wait for a straightaway section to pass.  I got past them finally.  The next two guys were not going as fast as I would have liked, but they were going fast enough.  So I did not pass.  I did not want to do the lead out, as I would not have known how fast to take each turn, and to be honest, I was cooked so was not feeling super confident.  Not a good state for fast descending.

Some turns were marked with arrows saying “Slow Turn” along with a skull and crossbones picture.    That was amusing and scarey, and we took those turns pretty slowly.  I would have liked to get a picture of that.

Even after the descent down Roan Mountain, the rest of the ride was mostly a downhill grade. There was a nasty little climb near the end that probably wasn’t really that bad, but again, I was cooked so if felt really hard.  I was very very very glad to get back to the Bakersville Firestation.

Post Race

There, I chatted with BT buddy, Jon while I ate the absolute best post race meal ever:  BBQ, baked beans, coleslaw and raspberry crisp ala mode.   All home made, probably by the fireman’s families.   I also saw Stacey Richardson, who always takes first female finisher at the century ride.  She is amazing.     Ken eventually showed up too.   Apparently he had gotten off course near the Tweetsie railroad section.  That sucks.

I was so sore and tired that the 35 minute drive back to my hotel was difficult.   When I got there, I took a quick shower,then headed for the pool for  some R&R.  The pool was cold.  It felt great.  Then I went into the hot tub and stretched my sore muscles.  That was great too.  I jumped back in the pool for more cold, then more hot.    I don’t know if that’s a good idea for recovery, but it sure felt good.  I wonder what the TdF guys do to recover for another day of relentless climbing.

Things I learned

• practice drinking while climbing
• don’t skimp on water. dumb!
• mountain centuries are like visiting an amusement park.  The climbs are like waiting in line for a long time.  The descents are like a short thrill ride that you waited for!
• The food at bike events is way better than at triathlons. way, way, way better.
• Find a  good descender to follow on the downhills.  Not sure how to do that, but it makes a huge difference.
• My brother looked at my Garmin data and noticed that my HR was higher before the climb than during. He said I should have not worked so hard up to the base, and worked harder during the climb. Interesting.  I do tend to take climbs at the same effort level as the rest of my ride.   hmmmm…

I’ve been taking  a spin class every Wednesday evening at the Falconbridge O2 Fitness club.  The instructor’s name is Jason, and he is simply fantastic.   He makes each class feel like I’m racing in the Tour de France.  And when I am tired and want to slack off, he’ll say just the right things to motivate me to get back into the groove.   Here are some of the things he’ll yell out to the class:

Stay with me

How bad do you want it?

I know it hurts

You can do this.

Once after class, I told Jason how I liked it that he made the class feel like a race.  He said he used to race on UNC’s cycling team.  How cool is that?  It sure explains his racing slant toward leading the class. I love it.

We do a lot of climbing sets in the spin class.  This past weekend, I was riding my bike outdoors, and it felt really awkward to climb on the bike.  In spin class, I am on a rigid bike when doing the standing climbs, and my muscles have adapted to that.  But on a real bike, I do alot of rocking back and forth during a climb.  I asked Jason about this.  He told me that spin classes made him a much better climber.  He said that the rocking motion increases the surface area of the tire against the road, and wastes energy.  If you can keep your bike more straight and stable during a climb, you will climb faster!   I can’t wait to play with that theory.

I call Jason’s spin class “The Pain Cave”.  Sometimes I think of this video – one of my favorites as you may know – while I am spinning.

This is what he says:

In time trial, it’s just you and your bike and the road. You must forget about the love for yourself. You must be a masochist. I want more pain, more pain. Go, Go, Go, Go. When you like suffering – when you like the pain in your legs and all your body – it means you are good.

I’ve been bummed since I found out that the “Blood Sweat and Gears” 100 mile bike ride is the same weekend as Kure Beach triathlon.    I charted out the various race dates, and I think Mountains of Misery might fit into my schedule the best.   And that ride ends with a Cat 1 climb – how cool is that?!   Then, I found this chart comparing various mountain century rides versus elevation.   Why does it excite me that Mountains of Misery is at the bottom of this chart?    I need mental help.

Here is a nice little chart comparing various rides.

Three Mountain Metric (jun 4)           75 miles                  elevation gain is    8600 feet

Blood, Sweat and Gears (jul 25)          101 miles                                                     9908 feet

Brutal 100 (mid Aug)                              105 miles                                                     10,167 feet

Hilly Hellacious (oct)                             100 miles                                                    9281 feet

Bridge to Bridge (sept)                        105 miles                                                     11,739 feet

6 Gap Century (sept)                            100 miles                                                    11,657 feet

Chea Challenge (jun 4)                       100 miles                                                    9,501 feet
(part of 3 mtn madness)

Mt, Mitchell (may 16)                        100 miles                                                    12,255 feet

Mountains of Misery (may 29)         104 miles                                                 12,880 feet

See my earlier post for dates and links to the rides above.

After weeks of cold and snowy weather here in NC, we finally had a nice warm Saturday.  So I headed out for a long bike ride.     It was a fantastic day for a ride, too.    About 8 miles into my ride, a female rider waved to me as she rode by in the opposite direction.  I waved back, and wondered who it was.  She looked lean and mean, for sure.     Later in the evening, I found out it was local pro triathlete and USAT coach, Stacey Richardson, when she struck up a google chat with me.  :-)  Stacey is always filled with words of wisdom, and has graciously allowed me to share this with my readers.  Enjoy!

stacey: heya carol. that was me waving to you today on fearrington
road, just beyond governor’s village. good to see you out! hope to
God that was a big gear set and not how you usually ride, you beast!
: )
me: haha, how did you recognize me and how on earth did you evaluate
my cadence during that short wave? i do tend to drive a big gear, my
weakness, i know. very nice day for a ride…did you enjoy?
stacey: are you kidding? I saw you half a mile away, grinding 75 rpms.
: ))
but your smile is what gave you away, too. : ))
it was great to be out!
me: aw thanks. i could tell you were a pro, but my eyes are bad, so
did not recognize you! thinking of getting contacts for riding.
stacey: haha. I wear prescription sunglasses. Im with you!
a pro. riding 16 mph. oh yeah. get it awwwwn. : )
me: good thinking. your riding form was spot on…i can spot that much!
what is next in your tri life?
stacey: hahhaa.
recovering.
riding 42 miles felt like an eternity today! : )
to think that 6 weeks ago I was in rocking IM shape!
bleggh.
me: I know, not fair how easy it is to lose all that hard earned fitness.
i rode 3 hours and have been exhausted all day since. that used to be
a walk in the park for me.
stacey: solid work! now do it at 90 rpms and you won’t be so tired. : )))))
then it’s not weight lifting on the bike but rather pure aerobic
exercise, burning fat not glycogen. : )))
let me know when you are going out. we’ll drag you along. heck, you
can drag us! ; )
me: i am fat and out of shape right now so i’m sure i could not keep
pace with you. i love my new job but there is ALWAYS food around.
donuts, pizza, pretzels, cookies. ACK, how am i supposed to get lean
again with that going on?
stacey: I know. I hear ye. but again, make sure you are burning fat on long distance workouts,
missy. it’s called using your metabolic fitness to your advantage.
cadence, aerobic. no grinding. and eating while you ride so you
don’t chow at home. I’m soo guilty of that sometimes.
you are in great shape. so don’t you let a few lbs put the frown on you.
think of it as adding training benefit- cuase when you lose em you can FLYY! ; )
me: good points, thanks. i think i am going to do a mountain
century this season. that will give me big incentive to try to get
lean.
stacey: sweet. I do most of em. blue ridge brutal is lovely. tour
de cashiers is murder.
queen isaqueena’s last ride I’ve never done.
mountains of misery is goofy.
roan moan- lovely!
I’ll be going to most of em.
me: how is blood sweat and gears? i just like that sound o f that one!
stacey: stupid hard at times. beautiful.
for that one, def lose the weight or you’ll die.
Ive done it with 5 extra lbs and thought I’d shoot myself.
me: FML
stacey: fml?
me:  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fml
stacey:  ohh!  like that!!!  you are so online hip
me: can’t believe you never saw that on facebook.
stacey: haha. I’m not that hip, dude.
I do waste more time on fb now. ; )
stacey:  road bikes a must [for mountain century]
me: i do have a road bike. need to get fit on it b/c it is very uncofmrtable
stacey: ooh. good idea. it should feel like home.
bike fit-matt loder, cary cycle surgeon.
stacey: or — dave w or me.  TTFN. see. I know one.
me: have a good one.
stacey: : )))
xoxoxoox
me: ur cute!

stupid hard at times. beautiful.  I like that. I’m in…. http://www.bloodsweatandgears.org/

Update later on:  Not sure if I can do Blood sweat and gears.  It might end up on the same weekend as Kure Beach, dang!

Here is a list for myself while I think about this:

• Mountains of Misery is May 29th.   Got to figure out when is  UNC graduation.  http://www.cyclingdoubleheader.com/mountains-of-misery
• Blood Sweat and Gears was June 26th last year. Date not set yet. http://bloodsweatandgears.org/bsg/main/start.htm
• Roan Moan. Date not set yet, but will be last saturday in July, probably not doable due to Kure Beach. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roan-Moan/321923559916
• Blue Ridge Brutal, Mid August, possibly.  http://www.ashecivic.com/about-blue-ridge-brutal.html
• Tour de Casheirs, early May (crap, that’s not enough time to lose 20 lbs!), http://tourdecashiers.com/
• queen isaqueena’s last ride, May 7, queen isaqueena’s last ride http://ilrsc.com/
• 3 mountain madness, june 4th, http://www.3mountainmadness.com/routes.htm

List of century rides southeast 2010. http://nashvillecyclist.com/events/charity-rides

I guess I need to chart out my race schedule so I can choose which one to do.  Maybe there are other choices as well.

]]> http://www.triathlontrainingblog.com/post/stupid-hard-at-times-beautiful/feed/ 0 http://www.triathlontrainingblog.com/post/fun-with-trainer-rollers/ http://www.triathlontrainingblog.com/post/fun-with-trainer-rollers/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:25:24 +0000 Carol Biking]]> http://www.triathlontrainingblog.com/?p=3304

My work buddy named Steve gave me a set of Roller Trainers. OMG, what a great workout. It forced me to engage my core, keep a high cadence and high speed, good pedal stroke, and minimal upper body movement. Basically, forced me to have good form. I videotaped my first try at it. The first 10 minutes consisted of falling down alot. The next ten was holding onto the armchair with one hand and trying to hold steady. Then I got the hang of it and did 10 minutes solid. Good times! Can’t wait to try it again!

Richard Armstrong is one of the pro triathletes who led the train with a pro classes at IOS. I always asked alot of questions during the spin classes, often about bike technique. During the very last class, we had a conversation about bike position, and he said I would benefit by having my saddle more forward, and my bars lowered, to rotate my whole body toward the front of the bike. I am always interested in getting better – especially if it’s free speed – so I scheduled a bike fit.

We met last Wednesday at IOS. I don’t have time to write a coherent blog about this right now, because it is 11 pm and I need to get to bed. But I will at least copy/paste my tweets and comments from my social notworking sites. I really miss having time to blog

This is what I tweeted the day of the bike fit:

“had a bike fit at IOS w/ pro Richard Armstrong and his assistant Mack. was gr8″

Later, I wrote this on Facebook:
“he moved my saddle way forward, and lowered my bars way down to get me more aero and open up my hips so I could engage my core. He kind of said I had sloppy pedal stroke and not using my core, and he fixed that. Yay, I love mistakes that can be fixed. I’ll let you know how my next cuople rides go. I am concerned about butt pain! (The reason I wrote this was that I have had alot of butt pain problems in the past)”

Richard took some video and still shots. From that, I compiled and uploaded some footage to Youtube.

Still shots, Before/After. The red and green lines are photoshopped just to help me align the two images, and to make it easier to see the new handlebar position:

Video, before:

Video, after:

Thursday: Rode 30 miles with IOS training group, 30 miles. Hung with B group for 33 min. then went easy solo the rest of the time. First ride after bike fit. Felt weird, but I know I have to adapt. butt hurt alot. left foot felt a bit numb after. right elbow pad seems skewed funny. lower back aches now. right it band aches too. no terrible pain, so this seems normal adaptation. 2 mile brick run afterwards. Pace on brick run was alot slower than last week. Then again, my bike ride was alot harder than last week too! (Note, Richard told me to go easy for the first few rides, but I did not listen, oops!).

Saturday: Nice hilly 69 mile ride with a friend. Got a more aggressive “bike fit” and it feels really off. Butt hurt alot the whole time. I was very glad for all the climbs, so I could stand up and get some relief! Wore a fleece shirt for heat training. Definitely felt hot and uncomfortable. Last 10 miles felt like a headwind the whole time. Hopefully, White lake will feel easier after this ride! Was going to do a short brick run after, but I was just dead, so bagged it.

More Bike fit notes from this ride: butt hurt pretty much the whole time. left foot went numb at about 1/2 way. Legs ached alot 2nd half. Did alot of hills, tho! Right elbow pad felt better (fixed the askew problem) but my right arm seems to want to slide forward still. And the pad is uncomfortable. Might just need new pads. But hurt so bad 2nd half, that I alternated sitting up and aerobars. Sitting up made my arms ache after a while, so I went from butt pain to achey arms. Calves ached too, so I stretched them from time to time. Not a fun ride

Sunday:16 mile run on the ATT, pace of 10 min/mile. wore fleece layers and black windbreaker to simulate heat. wow, that worked, i was hot! Tried to htfu and keep up good pace. Succeeded for about 12 miles at pace of 9:30, then faded. Great training. Painful. Hope white lake half is hot this year!!!

Sunday’s run was a very good pace for me, similar to last year before I did Duke half. That is a big yay, especially since my legs were extra trashed from Saturday’s ride. And, I weigh 6 lbs more!

Closing Thoughts: It definitely feels more aggressive The bottom line, lol, is that my butt hurts. alot. It feels like the tip of the saddle needs to tilt down. I have not yet talked to Richard about the butt pain. I know the fit might need some tweaking. And I know I need to give it time. And I am extremely picky – I like to feel one with my bike! Butt (hehe, pun intended) I really don’t want to go through another butt pain saga!!!

I rode my bike today, 51 miles altogether.  It was hard, windy, hilly and cold.   I wanted to be done after about an hour or so.       I pressed on, determined to ride three hours in preparation for the Cary Duathlon.   I felt out of shape and kept wondering how on earth did I ever do an Ironman!  That seems like a lifetime ago.

At the bottom of Borland hill, I saw some chickens cross the road.  A rooster had crossed with the hens and was trying to herd them back to their yard on the other side.  It was an amusing scene, so  I turned around and went back to snap a picture of them.

The hens were busily eating something underneath a mailbox.  I stood there, camera in hand, for three minutes while they took their good old time grazing.   Finally, they went back across the road.   So the answer to the age old question: “Why does the chicken cross the road” is “to find food”!

I tweeted “Why” with this picture.  Definitely worth the 3 minute wait to snap that picture!    A nice memory of my ride today.

I pulled out my old mountain bike – the one I used for my very first tri season – and had a go at some snow riding.   First I rode up and down the flat part of my street, just to test it.  It was slippery, but as long as I controlled my speed, it was alot of fun!   I lowered the saddle so I could put my leg out quickly whenever I started to wipe out.

Moving my legs felt really good on the sore muscles.  So,  ventured out farther and ended up riding for 50 minutes.    It was a beautiful day for a bike ride, and I had alot of fun.   It was more of an exercise in balance to ride on the icey roads, than a hard workout.   The only hard parts were when the snow was thick and slushy.

I brought along my action cam video camera and took some shots.  The camera does not pick up voices very well, and there is no anti-shake.   But it gives a good sense of the fun I had today…

http://www.youtub.../watch?v=4cR0oHtGC38

After weeks and weeks of freezing cold temperatures, we finally had a nice warm Saturday for a long bike ride!  Yay!

I set out on my newly resurrected road bike for a 40-50 mile bike ride at about 1:30 pm.   Kind of a late start, but I thought I had a few hours left of daylight.  From my earlier trainer ride, I remembered that the rear tire was worn.  So I inspected both tires.   The rear one looked rideable.  However, the front tire had a few spots where I could see some of the fabric showing through the rubber.  Not good.  Since it was already getting late, I did not want to take time to change out the tires.  I thought they’d be okay, but put some duct tape on the worn spots just in case.   Haha, that fixes everything, right?   I tweeted about it, and got some funny replies:

• fixin to ride my roadie. tires r worn. is this [picture of duct tape on tire] a bad idea? about 18 hours ago
• @paudiemac : @triblogcarol hmmmm i think so.
• @ironmanbythirty : @triblogcarol Bring a phone and don’t go too far from home!
• @Boat_mon : @triblogcarol yah, you’ll be fine (should I sell cars?)

Very soon after setting out, my arms started to ache and my IT band at the hips hurt.  So I stopped and tilted the nose of the saddle up a little to help take some of the weight off my arms.  I also moved the saddle forward a little!    My hips felt better, but basically my arms hurt the entire ride.   I felt like my wrists were having to twist to grab the hoods, and also felt like my arms were spread too wide.  Maybe I need a narrower handlebar.   The whole ride I kept longing for aerobars so I could rest my arms!   Today – one day later – my arms are really sore.    I need to figure this out if I am going to do the “Blood, Sweat, and Gears“ century ride this summer.

I rode 50 miles yesterday.   I tweeted some photos along the way for fun (see below).   At about the 35 mile mark, I was starting to get worried about running out of daylight.  I decided no more stopping and tweeting!     A little bit later, I passed some kids selling something on the side of the road in support of the crisis in Haiti.    I had some money with me, so I stopped and bought 4 chocolate chip cookies for $5.  Yummy!   I thought it would be nice to take a picture of them, but opted not to because I thought that might creep them (or their parents) out.

The last 45 minutes of the ride was a little scarey and cold because the sun was beginning to set.   I had moved the rear blinky light from my tri bike to my road bike, but forgot the front light.   So, I turned off my music* and was very alert to cars turning into the lane ahead of me.    I made it home safely, and had a cookie and hot cocoa for my post ride snack

Here is my twitter stream, with comments that came in.    Twitter is fun!

• havin good ride. tires holding up so far. arms ache tho about 16 hours ago
• note to self. don’t try to start from dead stop in hardest gear up a freaking hill. #fail #fb about 16 hours ago
• doin a couple hill repeats on damascus church rd. hillier than pic shows. fun. about 16 hours ago
• nicevspot 4 a potty brk about 15 hours ago
• @tahughes : @triblogcarol Hey! That’s my potty break spot!
• @tahughes I wondered who left the seat up. about 13 hours ago
• Rode 50 miles today on road bike. Ran out of daylight, so was kinda scarey and cold at end. Arms are killing me. Need to figure that out. about 13 hours ago
• PS: the duct tape over the worn spots did okay keeping me from getting a flat. definitely need new tires, tho! about 13 hours ago
• @Boat_mon you sell cars, huh? good one! about 13 hours ago
• @ironmanbythirty I did bring a phone, and luckily was okay, thanks! about 13 hours ago
• @paudiemac ya, don’t try this at home, haha! how was your day? still coldl there? about 13 hours ago
• @tahughes ya, i got a late start today cuz of other junk going on. did you ride today? about 12 hours ago
• i am exhausted. guess its been a while scince i rode 50 miles. goodnight y’all! about 10 hours ago
• @rburns42 : @triblogcarol I did 20. You’re crazy for running those tires. Duct tape does NOT fix everything. And the pee rock? Really!?! TMI yo, TMI!!!
• @rburns42 i like the pee rock picture! i hope you don’t unfollow me, hahaha! 14 minutes ago
• @alexgonzalezMI : @triblogcarol Try dollar bills underneath the tread, it works. But go to probikekit.com and get some mich pro 3′s. (in reply to triblogcarol)
• thanks, I was just wondering what kind of tires to buy. RT @alexgonzalezMI: @triblogcarol …go to probikekit.com and get some mich pro 3′s. 12 minutes ago
• @aparsells : @triblogcarol the best tires! Mich 3s are awesome!

*I listen to music while riding solo.  Bad idea I know. I only have one headphone in, and I don’t have the volume cranked up real loud, so in general, I think it’s okay.

When I got my tri bike over a year ago, I hung my Specialized Dolce elite road bike in the garage.    It just was not nearly as comfortable as the tri bike, probably because I had it rigged up with clip on aero-bars and an aggressive racing position – and a road bike really isn’t meant for that.   So it has been just hanging in my garage, un-used.   Sometimes I would see it hanging there and feel a little bit sad.

I have been thinking about doing  “Blood, Sweat, and Gears“, which is a mountain century ride in Boone, NC.  13,000 feet of climbing, 18-20% grade at the top.  I need to learn to love my road bike again.   There is no way I am can climb Grandfather Mountain on a tri bike!

So, I put my old Specialized Dolce Elite bike on my trainer, watched Performance bike’s Youtube video of how to fit a road bike.   Saddle height was good.    Fore/Aft saddle position was good.   Stem length was good.  Hmmm…why is this bike so uncomfortable?    Ah, saddle tilt.    I had tipped it way down, for leaning over into the aero-bars.  I tilted the nose of the saddle up so that it was horizontal.

Then I started to spin for a little bit, testing it out how things felt.   The position felt great.  Yippeee!

Crap, I noticed that  the cranks were slipping with each pedal stroke.   I figured that my bottom bracket must be worn out, so I set out to fix it.  It turned into a long process involving two trips to the bike shop.  Even tho it took a long time, I had fun because I like being a grease monkey.   I tweeted each step of the way:

Turns out, that the rear tire was worn and it was slipping on the trainer.  Nothing at all wrong with my Bottom bracket.  Big kudos to the bike guru at Performance Bike Shop helping me figure that out, just by looking at the bottom bracket that I took into the store, and asking me questions about what I was doing!

When all was said and done, I got on the trainer and did Spinervals Uphill Grind.  The rear tire was still slipping despite putting alot of tension on the rear wheel, but it was still a great workout.    It felt great getting re-acquainted with my sweet old road bike again.   Kind of like going out for pizza and beer with an old friend that you haven’t seen in a while.