Training Log Archive: PG

Off to do a charity ride with Phil in central MA, except the ride was Saturday, yesterday, so we were on our own. Which was fine, could stop at a store for fluids (or beg from a homeowner). And it meant we could start in Templeton, a good bit closer to home. Though we would miss the free beer at the finish.

Beautiful day, first day in a while with lower humidity and it sure makes a difference.

The route was relentlessly hilly. Not big climbs, nothing really steep, but up and down all day long. Sure made it more enjoyable that I had good legs.

Phil was having issues with his bike's rear derailleur on the climbs, so we stopped early on to see what might be done. I'd been having trouble with mine too for the past couple of weeks, nothing serious, just annoying, but I hadn't figured out how to fix it.

But now, looking at his bike, there seemed to be a little knob in about the right place, and it turned easily. We figured his cable had stretched a little and needed to be tightened, but the way I was turning it certainly wasn't increasing tension. So I reversed course and turned it one revolution in the other direction. Basic trial and error, after a while maybe we'd find some setting that worked.

He went off the ride up a nearby slope, can back to proclaim it was now perfect! If all of life was so easy.... :-)

Well, if we could fix his, how about mine. Found the same little knob, figured half a turn was enough for me, tried it out, bingo, perfect. Morale improved all the way around.

We went up and down some more, at some point I was distressed because my Garmin froze up, but then I got it fixed. A little later we climbed up to the top of Wachusett, quite fine. And then down, zip, zip, low 40s on the long straight part. Pretty soon we were at the Wachusett Brewery, where the loop started and finished, but since we had started in Templeton we still had 25 miles to finish our version of the loop.

And guess what. More ups and downs. But eventually we were back where we started.

I had a really fine time. A route that was new to me, weather was great, excellent company. And, of course, good legs. I was climbing well, certainly better than Phil (this was his first long ride of the year), so often I'd push it going up, then take it easy for a moment until Phil would go zipping by on the flats/downs. Pretty much a 70-mile interval workout.





And my one ailment, a sore spot on my butt, didn't really bother me much. :-)

Garmin froze up. Second time it's done that, first was maybe a month ago, don't know what's up. Took me a while to realize it. I was on a longish climb and so my interest in checking it was my elevation, and that wasn't changing. But then the elevation readings are often flakey. I just use them for general info and, of course, entertainment. The fact that I was climbing and the elevation reading was staying the same was no immediate cause for concern. Sometimes I'm climbing and the elevation reading is dropping. Eventually things always balance out.

But not this time. Pushed the button to flip to the screen showing mileage, but the button didn't work. Nor did any other button. After what I imagine were a few curse words, I thought back to the first time it froze, tried to remember what I'd done to fix it. Hmm, pressed some button for 15 seconds. Hmm, which one? Tried the upper left, and after what seemed a while the screen went dark. Progress!

What next? Pressed the same button again, I think I'd done that the time before. And after a bit the screen lit up and I was back in business. Except not quite yet. Had to find some satellites. And I think the Garmin, its guts having been reset, thought it was back in Kansas City, or maybe China. And it took a loooong time. It finally buzzed just as I reached the top of the climb in Princeton, out of the woods for the first time in a while. That may have had something to do with it.

Back in business. Back home I downloaded to AP as usual, seemed the pre-freeze data had been lost. But later I got the usual e-mail from Relive, two e-mails actually, one for the post-freeze and also one for the pre-freeze.

So the data had to be somewhere. Went to Garmin Connect, yup, it was there, just wouldn't download the usual way. But figured out a plan B. See, I'm not alway totally incompetent. :-)

C • incompetent 1

Rest of the Wachusett ride.

With Charlie, from Pleasant Valley up in the hills to the north. Very enjoyable. The hills did keep coming, but that's not the worst thing as every time you go up you get to come down. And sometimes pretty fast. :-)

Some steep parts climbing, but the legs and the bike were both up to the task. And the company was great.

Seemed slightly less soupy today, so I headed up into the hills to the east, Lake Wyola and then Wendell. Trashed myself pretty totally on the gradual climb to Wyola, so that when I got to Locke's Hill, first time I'd ventured up that hill, the gas tank was quite empty. It's certainly less fun when you have no zip. And still nearly 20 miles to go.

Did another new section, Stone Road in Wendell, part dirt, part worse, but at least it was more down than up. I had one more new section in mind, old roads in Wendell SF, starting with a steep climb up Davis Road. Turned off the main road and dropped down a bit to the stream bed where the climb started, looked up, and didn't take long at all to decide there was no way I could make it. Maybe never, certainly not today.

So back to the paved road, and eventually got myself home, the last 10 miles into the wind but at least not much in the way of hills. Pretty depleted at the end, despite drinking a couple bottles and eating a little. Just one of those days.

Nice ride with Charlie to christen his new gravel bike. Did his basic loop up and down the river, no need to add on any excursions into the hills. Though we did add on a half mile of dirt at the end just to make it a proper christening.

Heavy rain in the morning. When I went out mid-afternoon it was still steamy, and it didn't take long for whatever ambitions I had for the ride to get tossed. Working hard just didn't seem very appealing.

And so I took it easy. :-)

For lack of imagination, same route as my Saturday outing with Phil. But it did result in confirmation of what I'd noticed before, but never quite so distinctly, namely, that you can see the road a lot better when the sun isn't out. Where it matters is on the downs, where the potholes (dirt or paved) come at you a lot faster.

Case in point was Pratt Corner Road, dirt, all mottled in sun and shade Saturday and really hard to see what was coming. So you just stay loose and if you get whacked by a pothole, or hit a bunch of sand or gravel and the wheels get squirrelly, then between the tires and the frame and your arms and legs you just absorb it. But the brakes are certainly used more, because there's no point in being stupid. And there's a bit of tension.

Today, felt like I could see everything. Didn't hit a pothole, missed most of the loose gravel, and only touched the brakes once and that wasn't really necessary. And it was a lot more fun.

Even if I got rained on for the last 10 miles or so.

Another day of warm and very humid, low 80s and low 70s dewpoint, also windy, S 15. A hard effort up Whately Glen, 15:45 (dirt, mud here and there but mostly avoidable), not so on the rest, but everything felt a struggle.

Would like to get in some longer (and more adventurous rides) rides, but it wasn't going to happen today.

Out between the raindrops again, though very high humidity so soaking wet by the end anyway. And lots of thunderstorms around so didn't stray too far from home.

Today's entertainment was twofold. Part one was as I was heading along River Road into about a 10 mph headwind, decided that rather than complaining about the wind, I should see how quick a mile I could do. So put out some effort, pleasantly surprised by the time (3:19), though the heart rate would suggest that I could have put out a bunch more effort. Will have to try this some more. It might even be good practice for when I am struggling to keep up with Phil.

Part two was when I was just about home, turned up Claybrook Road to see what I could do. I think my best a couple of months ago was about 2:45. It's 0.4 miles, about 140' climb. This time it was 2:23, and truly a max effort, heart rate was 173 at the top (and the Garmin gave no indication of misbehaving), been a while since I was in the 170s. Legs were certainly getting wobbly. For reference, gear 3L standing on the steep part but couldn't hold it to the top, 2L sitting the last 50 yards. Totally wasted and also quite delighted.

Needless to say, soft-pedaled home.