The End of the Summer....

I figured it was about time to 'blog' about what's been going on with my riding as summer winds down so here's a few updates for your reading pleasure...

HINCAPIE GRAN FONDO

A few weeks ago I rode in the Hincapie Gran Fondo that is an annual ride that George Hincapie sponsors in the Greenville, SC area to support the local “Meals on Wheels” program. Wikipedia (the reliable source that it is) defines a Gran Fondo as “…a type of long-distance road bicycle race, in which riders are individually chip timed and have the right of way at all intersections.” .  The Hincapie GF did indeed have timing chips for each rider and that was a first for me. Practically everyone crowded the start line in order to minimize their time and that was a little unnerving but once the ride started, everyone got pretty much spread out and the fun began. Riders could pick from three separate rides: an 80 mile ride that included four mountain peaks, a 50 mile ride with two peaks and a 15 mile ride. I chose to ride the 50 mile event because the 80 was too tough for me and the 15 was too short.

All of the rides left from the George Hincapie’s hotel (Hotel Domestique) that is a little north of Travelers Rest, SC and then went up into the mountains. The 50 mile ride passed thru Tryon and Saluda, NC before coming back into SC along the Greenville reservoir and returning to the hotel. It was quite a ride since there were several very famous professional cyclists there including Christian VandeVelde, Cadel Evans and many others that have ridden in big races around the world. And then there was me and several hundred rank amateurs hoping for some type of glory. I kept thinking:  If I could pass one of those guys just once….but alas, I just managed to pass a few people and even some on the climbs :) . 

Overall it was a great ride. I worked hard to get up the hills and really enjoyed the downhills. The rest stops were good and most of the riders I rode with were lots of fun to be around. The winning male time in the 50 mile ride was about 2:20 and my time was 4:18, finishing darn close to the bottom of the group (463 out of 577)…oh well, I still finished better than the people who did not ride, so I am happy with that!

The party afterward was a lot of fun and the food was great. After about an hour of watching riders come in, eating my fill and a few ‘post ride beers’ it was time to head back, begin the recuperation and begin planning on how I could finish higher than #463 next year! If you ride you should consider signing up for the ride next year, I can even get you a discount on the registration fee if you would like!

MOUNTAINS TO COAST

About two weeks before the Hincapie GF I decided that I needed to finish the CycleNC “Mountains to Coast” ride that I rode in during late September. You may remember from my last blog that I decided to quit the ride after 4 rainy days since they were only going to be followed by 3 more rainy days as the ride was scheduled to go right into Joaquin (the hurricane that brought the flooding to the lower part of SC). After 4 days I had just about enough of cold and rainy riding along with sleeping on the floor of stinky gymnasiums with mildewy clothes – so I went home Wednesday afternoon after my fourth riding day. The ride went on the next day, in the rain, to Lumberton and then the organizing group wisely canceled the tour that evening. They decided that the hurricane and weather was just too much to continue riding towards and that it would be better just to call it quits.

My decision to leave after four days was a good one but it bothered me that I didn’t finish the ride so I decided to work towards finishing the ride, even if I was a month or so late. So on Thursday the 15th I did a one way drop off of a car to get myself to Southern Pines and then rode about 65 miles, along the same route as the “Mountains to Coast” ride to Lumberton. It was a really great ride and day and I enjoyed the hours by myself and with the occasional dog. I did have to ask for directions once or twice as I missed a turn or two. (What is it about the counties in NC not putting up road signs with the names of their roads?) After I got to Lumberton I ate a big meal at the nearby Cracker Barrel (thanks Uncle Randy) and then I left Lumberton and went to Clemson for Homecoming that weekend. I was technically done with the 2015 Mountains to Coast ride but still did not feel like I deserved to wear the t-shirt. So, the week after the Hincapie GF I did the one way car drop again and rode from Lumberton to Oak Island. The total distance of the route was intended to be ~130 miles over two days. I looked closely at the maps and thought that I could shorten the routes a little and also that if I rode straight thru the first overnight town that I could also end up riding a little less mileage overall. So I set out on for a ride on Thursday that was supposed to be about 85 miles. Unfortunately I had to loop back to pick up my water bottle after my first stop, then I took a wrong turn (or two) and got some bad directions so I ended up riding ~110 miles with the last ~30 into a fairly consistent headwind along a busy two lane highway. Ugh. After a rough night of soreness I cut out a few turns of the route for Friday and quickly rode ~25 miles to the beach. (I broke it up that way so I would optimize my Thursday daylight time and give me time to get back to Greenville on Friday after a shorter ride.) Both days were lots of fun despite the mistakes I made and I enjoyed the majority of the time on the bike. I met a couple of guys who started riding in western Virginia and had been riding for 8 days, I saw lots of fun dogs, ate at a couple of interesting diners and had great weather the whole time. AND NOW, I can say that I have ridden from the “Mountains to the Coast” in NC. I can also say that I have ridden across TWO states (Iowa and NC) in the same summer.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Our weekly Monday and Thursday night rides have ended now that Daylight Saving Time is over, so the only regular rides I will be doing will be the occasional ride on Saturday or Sunday as long as it is not tooooo cold. My winter plan is to mount my old road bike on to my trainer and ride it at least during the weeks that I do not ride outside. If I can fight the boredom while I am on it I will try for at least two days a week. Next year as spring begins I hope to start riding my heavier (ie: slower) hybrid bike with the intention of getting used to it more and carrying more weight on the bike with the goal of doing some short multiple day touring rides carrying clothes and ‘stuff’ sometime over the summer. There are a number of great trails in the country that I would really like to ride and my road bike just is not suited for carrying any weight at all. I will continue to ride the one and two day rides and may even try the Mountains to Coast ride again or another similar cross state ride, but the goal for 2016 is to ease into ‘touring cycling’ while carrying enough stuff so that I can stay gone for a few days. 
One of the lessons I learned about myself during the last two days of riding is that I need to learn to appreciate the journey more than seek the destination. More often than not I find myself riding past interesting stuff just so I can get to where I’m going – I need to figure out how to switch that all around in order to enjoy touring to the maximum effect.

The profile of the 50 mile ride

George Hincapie and his son Enzo

PHOTOS

I recently drove thru the Mt Pisgah area on a nice day and took a few photos of the scenery I passed on the first day of the Mountains to Coast ride. Here are a few of those: 

The sign as we began our ride up Mt Pisgah

 

What goes unsaid here is that the grade is now ~10% and will continue that way until you crest the hill....ouch.

 

 AND…

So, that’s about it for this edition of the blog. Hopefully you have noticed that I have changed the name from “Ride to RAGBRAI” to “From the Couch to RAGBRAI and Beyond”. The web address will stay the same but I felt it was more appropriate to add the “Beyond” since I am continuing to ride and blog. I hope that you are enjoying this and if so please let me know. I would also like to know what I could do in order to make it a more enjoyable read for you so send in your ideas and questions and I’ll see if I can address them in the next edition….until then – ‘get on your bike and ride’.