JUST HOW DO YOU TRAIN FOR A WEEK LONG BIKE RIDE??

OK.. so it’s been a while since the last BLOG and the pressure to post has become infinite – or is that supposed to be infinitesimal? So this week I will talk a little bit about developing a training schedule that I will be using to prepare for the RAGBRAI ride.

So… how do you train for riding 462 miles over seven days? 

How the heck do I know, the only thing I have done for several days in a row is that I’ve driven a car for 5 days in a row and that was damn near exhausting, so I can’t imagine what riding a bike for seven days averaging 66 miles a day will be like. Think about it… I’ve ridden 62 miles in one day three times now and each of those was torturous. The last time was about two weeks ago and I’m quite certain that I was the last person to finish after riding for nearly 4 hours! (Look on the bright side: I supposedly burned 4,600 calories on that day and made enough ‘room’ for many, many St Patrick’s Day beers!).

The Route of My Last 62 Mile Ride around Lumberton, NC

So I figured I had better think about a training schedule and try and figure out what the important aspects of training will be, so here goes. 

I started by looking at the usual forums for bicycling and also talking with a few friends who have done similar things such as running in a marathon. They all had good and valuable input that I poured into my mind and tried to note for future use. One dominant theme of all that research was that most training schedules never make you actually carry out the length of whatever it is that you are training for. In other words they get you comfortable with about 75% of the total length and then expect adrenaline and inner drive to carry you the rest of the way. “Good concept that I can live with” I thought – after all, what’s better for a lazy person like me than NOT doing anything close to what my goal is? Another thing that I also thought about was trying to figure out just what the most difficult thing will be about the ride for me. After several hard minutes of internal contemplation I came to the conclusion that at about day 4 or 5 I will be sick and tired of putting my sore butt back on to my bike seat for another hot, humid and miserable day riding through cornfields. (Dramatic emphasis intended). You’ve probably seen the seats on these bikes and they are not comfortable at all. The riders depend upon using padded shorts to lessen the pain and they do help a lot but even with them I still get sore tail bones every now and then. So I need to focus on developing a training plan that will take the ‘damn my butt hurts’ excuse into account. 

The Seat on My Specialized Roubaix Bike - Ouch!

While flipping through the InterWebs I found a few charts that show a progressive training plan that starts with just a couple rides a week with about 100 total miles each week and then slowly works up to four rides a week for a total of about 200 miles each week. It’s amazing that these charts stop way short of the 462 miles in a week so I’m still in the process of trying to tweak them up. BUT the major tweaking I am going to do is to figure out how to get more days on a bike each week, I don’t think I will be well served with peaking out at three or four days a week so I’m going to set my schedule up to top out at a couple of six days a week rides, even if a few of them are only for 20 or fewer miles or on my trainer. As I said, I think my biggest issue will be figuratively and literally throwing my leg over my bike every day for that many days so I’m going to design my program to get me to that point at about 3 to 4 weeks before the ride and then slack off on total miles in the last two weeks but still try to get on a bike at least 5 days a week. How’s that sound to you? I am really interested in hearing from those of you who have run marathons or mega-marathons or ridden in multiple day rides – how did you train?

NEXT WEEK

So that’s it for my training plan ideas. Next week I’m thinking that I will talk a little about the struggles I’ve been through so far trying to stay hydrated and fed during the longer rides and cover some of the eating plans that I’ve come across. What do you think about that? Be sure and leave comments and/or questions below… I’d really like to know what you’re thinking :)

HEY JAMES....HOW DID YOU PICK YOUR NEW BIKE?

So….I think we’ve had quick recaps of my how I came to decide to start riding again and to ride RAGBRAI this year, my history on a bike and some discussion about RAGBRAI itself so that leads us up to “How Did You Pick Your New Bike?”

You may remember (from an earlier posting) that I still own my original road bike that I had purchased in about 1979 and had ridden it off and on ever since. That was a double edged sword kind of situation… I still had a road bike BUT it was old. In biking terms ‘old’ means that it is heavy and it’s components are not as efficient and ‘nice’ as the new ones. I was enjoying riding it and I hated the thought of replacing it. But I knew that if I wanted to meet my goals I would have to purchase a new bike, so after I ‘rode the wheels off” of my old bike I began the search. I also used the fact that I had managed to keep my road bike healthy for all these years as justification for buying a new bike – “if I kept the last one this long, I’m sure I’ll keep the next one just as long” and spending ‘good money’ on a really nice bike. Before I began to shop I thought about what I wanted to do – what my goals were and tried to practice stating them as emphatically as possible:

1) I want to ride in multiple day rides like the “MS Bike to Somewhere” kind of rides. I’ve always thought these types of rides would be fun but I never could work my way up to being strong enough to commit to any. Plus they would help me build up to the ultimate goal of riding in RAGBRAI.

2) I want to be as comfortable as possible while doing so. I am an ‘old dude’ and as such I lack the ability (let’s also say ‘desire’) to withstand the harsher rides that really, really nice and fast road bikes have. The harsh ride that those kinds of bikes have is a matter of efficiency – in order to maximize the power you put to the road you have to minimize the flex in the bike and that leads to a harsh ride. I did not want to spend any money on a bike and then start thinking that another bike might have been more comfortable.

3) I do not want to ‘race’ or ride really fast. I’m not a competitive person and I realize that bike racing (even at the club level) is a young man’s game. I want to ride ‘long, not fast’.

4) I want to buy a bike that will last me for many years, one that isn’t just slightly better than my existing bike but several levels above it. I felt I was willing to spend a little more money in order to get a bike that is better than me right now and then grow into it. 

So, armed with those four goals I began to pester my friends that ride for their input (and you know who you are). I sent email after email asking for their input as to frame material, gearing, handlebars, etc. I tried to ride a few local bikes but the shops here mostly sell BMX, kids and racing bikes. As this process drug on I started to hear one term over and over: “Endurance bike” and began to narrow my focus towards bikes in the ‘Endurance’ groups. These are bikes that the bicycle manufacturers began to build several years ago and I’d like to think they saw the growing “old dude” market as the driver for them. Of course they’ll all argue over which company built the first one but the bottom line is that most of the major companies do now. The bike is designed so that the rider sits a little more upright than the normal racing bike and they’ve all got some design aspects built into them that will dampen out a good deal of the vibrations caused by rough road surfaces. Oh, they don’t ride like the proverbial ‘living room couch’ but they are smoother than the ultra light and super fast bikes. 

Most bicycles these days are built out of one or a combination of three different materials:

a)      Steel: the oldest still used and very reliable and durable. Good steel bikes last a long time and are quite smooth compared to the other materials.

b)      Aluminum: an attempt at making lighter bikes led to using aluminum tubes for the frames. Unfortunately the design characteristics of aluminum led to larger tubes that steel bikes have and stiffer frames. A stiff frame generally leads to a rough ride.

c)       Carbon Fiber: A super lightweight material that is somewhat similar to fiberglass in that it starts out as a fiber that is woven into a cloth. The cloth is cut into patterns that are used to create the major parts of a bike frame, coated with a resin and then dried so that the resulting material is a super light, super strong, very compliant bike frame. 

While there are very expensive steel and aluminum bikes on the market the carbon fiber ones are generally the most expensive of the three but there are some ‘entry level’ carbon bikes that are cost competitive with steel and aluminum bikes. Even the entry level carbon bikes are noticeably lighter than equally priced steel and aluminum and since lower mass leads towards easier pedaling so I decided that I wanted an entry level, carbon fiber endurance bike.

I believe that one of the original carbon fiber endurance bikes is the Specialized “Roubaix” that is named after a famous bike race in France – the “Paris – Roubaix” ride is noteworthy due to that fact that a good portion of the race is ridden over a cobblestone road. A rough ride indeed. The Specialized Roubaix won the Paris-Roubaix race several years in a row a few years ago.  Trek makes an endurance bike called the “Domane” (which is rumored to be just a mash up of the name of their famous racing bike the “Madone”), Giant makes their “Defy” and most of the other manufactures make carbon fiber endurance bikes also. So I set out to read as many websites and reviews about these bikes as possible all the while continuing to ride my old steel bike as much as I could for as far as I could. Then I started calling and visiting bike shops in order to see if they had any of these in stock. BUT…during my visits, just to confirm I was heading in the right direction, I would repeat my four goals from above as soon as I started talking to a salesperson. I would not say “I’m here to see a Trek Domane” or “I want an endurance bike” but I would lay out the goals and then give the salesperson an opportunity to make their case for whatever they thought was best. Of course the other constraint / goal that had to be discussed was that of the budget which I stuck to as closely as possible. 

I began to ride the ones available for short rides around the block and I also began to drive far distances to find a shop that had one in my size. I decided that I was going to purchase a particular bike from a particular shop one day and drove quite a distance to get there, test ride it and then get completely alienated by the sales guy who said that they couldn’t ‘fit’ me to the bike on a Saturday. (this was after I had spoken with him twice in the preceding weeks saying that I was coming in, from a far distance, to ride and probably purchase the bike.) I left his shop without that bike and went to another shop a few weeks later that had a Specialized Roubaix in my size and would be agreeable to ‘fit’ me on a Saturday. I rode the bike and liked it very much, paid them for it and then when through the process of having the bike fitted to my body size and riding profile. “Fitting” a bike is an important aspect that you should be sure you do when you buy your next bike – it makes sure you’re getting the most from your bike and that you are minimizing the possibility of an injury from extending your knees or back too much or too little. As an Endurance bike the Roubaix features little ‘dampers’ in the front fork and in the part of the frame that connects the seat to the rear wheel of the bike (seat stay) and these act to minimize road vibrations from reaching the hands and butt of the rider. This aspect sets the Roubaix apart from many of the other endurance bikes and the particular Roubaix that I purchased came with a Shimano model 105 drivetrain that I had learned would be the bare minimum that I should consider buying. 

My New Bike: "Lena", named after the Race Engineer for the AUDI Endurance Racing Team.

So that is the story of how I came to but my ‘new’ bike, hopefully you can learn a few pointers from my process and go out and get you one soon! ! ! All in all I have been extremely happy with this bike and rode it well over 1,000 miles before the Fall weather turned too cool to comfortably ride. I’m looking forward to riding more and more as the days lengthen and temperatures warm up.

NEXT WEEK

Next week I’m thinking that I’ll talk a little about trying to develop a spring riding schedule and how it will hopefully build up to RAGBRAI in July ! ! Be sure and leave comments and/or questions below… I’d really like to know what you’re thinking :)

Thanks and have a great week…. James

ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENT ! ! !

Route for 2015 RAGBRAI

I know I said that in this weeks edition I was going to go into a painfully detailed recap of how I came to choose my new bike but I'm going to set that topic aside so that we can talk about the RAGBRAI route that was just announced on Saturday.
From what I read this route will be 462 miles long and it's the first time they will start and finish in the original two cities that were the start and finish cities for the first RAGBRAI in 1973. They've also added a 15 mile optional gravel route that will be done as a memorial to one of the long time supporters of the ride. I'm not sure if I'm going to take that road, but I'll look at it and see once I get there.


Each of the cities shown above (except for Sioux City and Davenport) are considered 'Overnight Cities' and that is were the ride will stop for the day and start the next day. The committee is now in the process of picking the intermediate towns that will serve as the stopover cities for lunches and breaks. The 462 miles over seven segments mean that the daily average will be 66 miles. The total vertical climb will be about 16,000 feet with most of it coming in the last half of the ride. All that will be new to me since I have not ridden more than 62 miles in one day YET. You can read more about the route on RAGBRAI's website here: RAGBRAI Route Link

I am really excited about this route because it will take me either through or close to the childhood homes of a few friends. I'm really looking forward to having some of Madonna's pies when we go through Grundy Center and some good Norwegian food as we pass by Badger! Hopefully more people will be able to provide me with some good insights as the route is further developed. 

I really appreciate you all reading this and am looking forward to hearing any suggestions on how I can become a 'better blogger' :)

Next Week: "How James Chose His Bike"

GETTING UP TO SPEED :)

GETTING UP TO SPEED ON THE OLD BIKE....

So here is my old road bike. It is a Takara 'Touring Bike" that I bought as a birthday present for myself way back in the late 70's. To be honest with you I don't clearly recall what I was riding before this bike other than my childhood bike that had been through several paint jobs and 'modifications'. I figured that I needed a proper road bike and this one fit the bill: quality steel frame, rack, zefal frame pump (not shown), etc, etc. It's lived in SC, AZ, DE and now NC. Heaven only knows how many miles are on it but I do know that I backed into it with a car in 1982 and severely bent the rear wheel. A good friend re-trued it for me and it hasn't been touched since ( I suppose he's just that good?). It lived on my back porch in Lewes, Delaware and damn near rusted to death but a weekend with naval jelly and other harmful cleaners rescued it again. I would ride it off and on and it was eventually replaced as my 'go to' bike by a used Trek 720 Multitrak (gf's bike) and another rental bike that we bought during an end of season sale at the beach in Delaware.

After I attended the presentation about the coast to coast ride I decided I needed to get this bike out from underneath my house, clean it up (again!) and begin to ride it in earnest. During this time I had made a new friend who rode quite a bit with the local bike shop and she agreed to ride with me on some longer & longer rides. It was early summer and the Eastern NC heat was building fast...Needless to say I suffered quite a bit on many of those rides, but I knew that I had ridden that far in the past so I should be ok with it now - once I got into 'shape' :)
Once I managed to successfully finish a fairly long (for me) charity ride with a fairly large group of people I decided that I did like to ride in those events and I began to shop for bikes and was enjoying talking to the salespeople to learn about the new technologies available and became even more enthused about riding. I developed a short description of my goal (and I think that is a key idea for anyone thinking about starting to ride) that I used when I talked to people about new bikes..."I do not want to race or ride 'fast'. I want to ride 'long',  participate in 'charity rides' and some multi-day rides." This was descriptive enough for most objective people to help me focus on a certain 'class' of bike called the "Endurance" class. It turns out that bike manufacturers have seen a rise in the number of 50+ year old guys wanting to ride again but hesitant about the inherent uncomfortableness (if that's a word) of riding 'racing bikes' so they have created the endurance class of bike that is fairly lightweight, handles well and has design elements that help smooth out the vibrations found in super-stiff racing bikes. I also realized that these bikes are expensive, especially if I was going to buy one that was significantly better than my existing road bike. It was at that point that I developed my next goal: "I'm going to ride this bike until I wear out the tires and then I'll make my decision about riding again - if I'm truly committed to riding, then I'll buy a new bike. If not, I'll fix this one and put it back into the basement." A little while later I had a flat and I took the bike into the Local Bike Shop (known as an "LBS" in the bicycle world) and asked the mechanic to fix the flat...she came back out and told me that she didn't think she could without damaging the old tire that was on it. I told her to try and she managed to fix it. As she rolled it out I asked her if she remembered what I told her before about riding the wheels off of it...she looked at me and said "It's time for you to get a new bike". 

So there you go: two 'sub-goals' made and one met...it's time for a new bike.

What's Next ? ? ?

Next week I'll talk a little about the process I went through to buy my new bike and then we'll be well on the "Ride to RAGBRAI" .

Thanks for reading and commenting...hopefully I'll be able to share something with you that will help you get on your own "Ride" in the future !