Training Log Archive: OutdoorsMama

I have wanted to bike to work sometime this summer, while the days are at their longest. It would take me 4+ hours from home, and leaving at 3-3:30 am (then getting home after 9 pm at night), just doesn't sound as good as getting an extra couple hours of sleep. So I set the alarm for 4 am, and was on my bike by 5:10 in Wheatley (after waiting a crazy long time for my Egg McMuffin at Mickey D's......#firstworldproblems). And absolutely beautiful morning for a ride. There were 2 soybean drills out planting. And a glorious sunrise.
I made it to work before 3/4 of the staff, and had the sweat and grime cleaned off my face and my computer fired up long before the boss' boss arrived.

Friday's are frantically busy for me at work. My co-workers were checking the weather all afternoon, warning me I'd get rained on. I said I wasn't worried about rain. But when the boss' boss started to sound worried at 5 pm (I wasn't done work yet!!!!), I said that maybe I should get a garbage bag for my laptop. So he went and got me a garbage bag and I wrapped it up carefully. I was out the door before 6 pm, and headed west. I could see rain to the north, and it was supposed to track parallel to my route. But it didn't. I heard sirens, which I thought was odd. Then I realized I was near a golf course and they were warning golfers to c'mon in. Then I could hear the thunder and that shelf cloud looked a bit dicey. I rode my bike into a farm property, but it didn't look like anyone was around. Not even a dog. I could see someone planting in the field behind the equipment shed, and the wall of rain was behind them. So I rolled into the shed. Then the wall was between them and the shed. And then it hit the shed with a fury. The owner had driven his smaller tractor into the shed as it hit, so I casually did the 2 finger farmer wave at him. He took shelter behind some grain wagons (the back door on the shed was open, so the rain was blowing right through). I joined him. As stuff in the shed started blowing around, I put my bike helmet back on. We introduced ourselves, and it turned out he is one of my new customers. Well I'll be darned.
A transformer blew, limbs came down from their trees......and once it calmed down, I headed down the road. A mile west of there, the road was dry. Like when I ride in wet gravel, riding in this knarly gravel (it is railway bed stone...the township is trying to save money????), I wondered if I had a flat tire so I looked down at my back wheel. Yup. I did. So I pumped it up and rode another mile. Flat again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. No sign of a leak (they are tubeless). And less time between pump ups. I knew that Paul was dropping something off at a bike shop halfway between where I was and home, so I decided to not take the tire off/put a tube in etc.....and I called for a ride. It was a very pleasant evening to be riding. And not bad for pushing my bike along a quiet gravel road.
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Next day: My trusty mechanic also couldn't see any holes in the tire, but took it off the rim, added fresh sealant while he was at it, and re-set it. And it held. I wondered if it was the valve stem, but since it has held since, I doubt it. Maybe the weight of the laptop in my AR pack was too much for it.

C • What an adventure! 2

Late again. But I got a good workout in anyways. Heavy weights, core, and chasing each other around the outside of the building.

One woman in the group only rides on the trail/designated bike routes, so she and I set of for Harrow on the Greenway. We made good time, so I asked her if she was up for the longer return route along the Lake. She was game.....so we did. She set the pace, and it wasn't slow. It was her longest ride so far this year.

I worked from home today so had time for a slow trot before firing up the laptop for the day.

Evening crop tour in the 'hood. This is the first week most of the farmers in this area have been able to get into their fields. They should have been DONE planting a month ago. It has been a crappy spring!

Rowing, biking, core, barbell squats. Then outside with weighted sleds and literally flipping tires. If I come back as a sled dog, my owner will be sorely disappointed at my pulling ability. Sorry about that.

Coast to Coast Gravel Race

Coast to Coast….is was over 210 miles, so this won’t be a short report!

I *so* wanted to do this race last year, but it didn’t jive with my work schedule. Therefore, I have been so pumped for it ever since I got it into my work schedule this year. Right away, Heidi and Middy volunteered to crew for Paul and I. We have never had a personal crew before (having used drop bags and Crew for Hire at Dirty Kanza, and drop bags/c-stores at other events), so this was a very exciting development. As much as the Facebook comments seem to obsess about the sand, all I could think was “thank goodness it isn’t clay”. The weather forecast ranged from cool and 80% chance of rain down to a 40% chance of rain. Then seemingly out of the blue, the final forecast was no rain, light east winds, sunshine and the first day of relatively warm temperatures this year. I didn’t dare believe it until I was in the midst of it!
We packed an obscene amount of gear in the car (I even brought a spare front wheel and tires), and made our way to Au Gres. After hotel check-in and grocery shopping (there are items we don’t bring from Canada, like awesome local craft beers (and chocolate milk and watermelon)), we headed to the rider’s meeting. I was a bit worried when we ended up on the wrong side of the river, trying to find the campground. Apparently Garmin did that to quite a few people. The quagmire at mile 2 or 3 (according to Matt A on FB and at the meeting) didn’t seem that scary to us…..we can walk and carry our bikes with the best of them.
Race morning had us at the starting line just as the horizon was showing some magnificent colours. That was worth the price of admission. Our crew hung out with us until go time, and then waved us off into the wilderness of the Mitten. Sure thing, the quagmire was still there on the road, but was hardly worth mentioning. Yes, carrying a bike through it was perhaps a wise idea, as why pick up any mud at all when the rest of the course is reportedly dry? My Garmin mount had wiggled loose (my bad….I had tried it out on what I thought were bumpy surfaces at home, but apparently MI potholes are meaner than Ontario ones), so rather than obsess about it falling off, I took it off and put it in my pocket. So I was the last one to leave the quagmire zone.
Chase, chase, chase. I used my aero bars and hunted down rider after rider. It was a glorious morning to be out and about, let alone exploring new territory on my bike. My Garmin wasn’t chirping at the turns, so I shut it down and restarted it to get the turn by turn directions. Long story short, I only captured the first 20 miles, but had turn by turn directions for most of the race, except when it would have a “route calculation error” and just forget to tell me when to turn again. I had to turn it off again, on again……a few times. It had given me some grief at the Gravel Grovel at the beginning of June, but I figured that was operator error. Maybe it was again this time, but I had not had that much trouble with it before.
The first quarter of the race was just like riding at home: flat farm fields. All good to me! At the first checkpoint, I found Paul and our crew. It was so nice to get fresh bottles already filled, to have our food laid out like a buffet, and to have a mechanic fiddle with my Garmin mount while I took off my knee warmers and jacket and applied sunscreen. Ecaps, Tums…..bathroom break, and head out again.
Suddenly there were rollers, but after the first couple, my legs figured it out and I was able to keep a nice (for me) pace. The first bit of two track was fun. I passed a couple guys who’s nav unit was telling them they were off course (but mine was good with being in there). I didn’t mind not following anyone through there as I could pick my own lines. That was really fun riding. A while after that, back on the regular roads, I sent a text as best as I could to the crew (with one thumb), requesting ice. Yup, it was getting warm. I had brought a pantyhose leg, and was thinking it would be time to fill it with ice and drape it around my neck. There was definitely more climbing than downhills through this farm land, but nothing crazy. Just a beauty of a day to be on a bike.
Paul was at the second checkpoint as I pulled in. I had planned to have my aero bars removed here so I would have room to mount a bike light (and with the understanding that the second half of the race was more technical, so the aero bars would be less useful to me than in the first half). Watermelon, ice in the hydration pack, ice around the neck, sunblock, a couple bites of pizza (I should have taken the rest with me), a few other snacks, a bathroom break, and I was off again (with the tunes a’rockin’). With my helmet light in my pocket….cuz the woods are coming and being in the woods without a light is not good. The gravel was sandier in this next section, and I did look down a few times to see if I had a flat tire (nope)…..it just seemed like too much work compared to what I had been doing up to then. The ice filled pantyhose was soon just an empty piece of pantyhose, so I stuffed it in a pocket. I was starting to wonder about having one of my micronaps, when a guy caught up to me and asked how it was going. I mentioned the nap (not the part that it is a regular part of my long distance events), and he offered me a caffeine pill. I know, I know…..don’t take drugs from strangers. I was starting to question my judgement on downhills (is that sand? Is that the best line?) so I took it. Don’t tell my mom. It seemed easier than digging out my ShotBloks with caffeine. And more concentrated. It wasn’t long before it was working (or the placebo effect was working…..) and I was no longer second guessing my judgement on the technical bits.
After the short jaunt on the White Pine Trail (paved rail trail), I came over a hill to see a rider laying in the sand and a man on a cell phone waving his arm. I cautiously rolled down the hill, into the sand pit, and went over to investigate. It wasn’t Paul. Whew. This fellow had gone over his handlebars when his bike hit the soft sand and he had felt something “pop” in his back as he went down. And his nose was bleeding. The first rider on the scene was talking with the 911 dispatcher, and we had no idea which county we were in. We knew the road, but not the nearest intersection. I knelt down by the fellow in the sand and talked to him a bit, tried to keep his head shaded, and brushed the mosquitoes and biting flies off him (he wisely didn’t want to move, but had his cell phone in his hand and had already texted his crew). Thanks to the way cell phones send info in a 911 call, the emergency services located us with perfect accuracy and had a paramedic, followed by two ambulances there within 25-30 minutes. I thought that was pretty good. Several other riders came by during this, and as we were trying to explain our location to the race organizers, riders were telling us we were at mile 121, 124, 128, 130 or even 131. Good thing the cellphone call to 911 was more accurate than that.
Riding out of there, there was some more gravel then some more two track, and then some have-to-walk sand (which means I get to eat something like cashews or bites of granola bar). Once I got out to the pavement, there was a fellow sitting under a tree, which I didn’t think was too odd (as I have been known to have a mid-race nap under a tree…..). I asked him if he was OK, he said yes, I said “really?” (cuz moms and wives can see through those words) and he then said he had a dislocated shoulder. But a family member was en route, so he was going to be taken care of very soon. I wondered how far he had had to push his bike out of that sandy two track with one arm.
Then there was a lot of two track. Sandy two track. Fun with a mountain bike on a Saturday morning two track. Still kinda fun on an adventure bike late on a Saturday afternoon after some 140 miles of riding. I was still on a mission to get out of the woods before dark, so I didn’t let up in here, although it would have been more fun to take it at a more relaxed pace. I was following a couple guys in here and we let out a few words once we got out to the road again. All three of our navigation devices missed a sharp left turn partway up the next hill, but I saw the flagging tape and may have gasped out something like “Turn” so they noticed the turn as well before they got too far ahead of me.
For the third checkpoint, I had requested a gas station hotdog with ketchup. And our crew had one ready for me! Delish! And a Coke. And more chocolate milk. And a refill on the pantyhose ice. And fresh bottles. And a moist cloth to wipe a layer of grime off my face. Ahhh, this is what royalty must feel like! I had texted Heidi to let her know I was delayed on the course, so she let Paul know that I wasn’t right on his tail this time. If I hadn’t stopped, I think I would have caught Paul before that third checkpoint. He was still hanging around when I got there, so after I jogged through the Dublin General Store to use the washroom (oops, better zip up my jersey so I don’t violate the no shirts policy!), we set off together. It was really too bad the Salsa Chaise wasn’t out there in the woods this year. We didn’t see many other riders after that, and passed two riders just before that last hill in the woods that signals the famous “it is all downhill from here” segment. And halleluia, we got out of the woods well before dark.
The last bit was just like a perfect summer evening bike ride. Sunset, warm weather, fireflies, no wind…… Except I was trying to hurry Paul along. He doesn’t like it when I yell at him at times like these. So I didn’t yell at him. We both had good lights (both helmet and front handlebars) so saw a lot of deer peering out at us. I was shoo’ing them away, not wanting to get run over by a deer 15 miles from the finish. About 5 miles from the finish I could see lights behind us, but Paul seemed to be running out of steam. We were joined/passed by half a dozen riders within a mile of the finish and got ‘r done.
Our crew, bless their hearts, were waiting for us at the finish. We had turned on the tracking app on Paul’s phone once we got out of the woods, so they would know when to expect us. However, for some reason, it didn’t update our location until we were done the race. While we dined on pulled pork, our crew took the bottles and bags off our bikes (again, is this what royalty feels like?).
A great event, terrific course, super race directors. If it had been raining, like at the Dirty Pecan in March or the Almanzo in May, it would have been a different event. But that’s the beauty of these gravel events……the variability of the weather and the variability of the road conditions makes each event a surprise. This one was a very pleasant surprise. One that will be hard to top for a long while!