Riding in the Rain

October 31, 2007 at 2:33 am | In Commuting, weather conditions | Leave a Comment

 How often do you ride in the rain? For me, it’s not often that I ride in the rain but I don’t necessarily choose not to ride because it’s raining or seems to be likely to rain.

Bloomington would not be described as having a rainy climate. I choose not to commute in the rain about 5 days a year. I commute in light to medium rain because I have rain gear that seems to work. For many rainy days, I will carry a partial change of clothes in my backpack. But, it’s likely no more than 10 days a year that I ride to work in the rain.

The afternoon commute is a little different. When it rains in the morning, I am prepared for the afternoon, but I rarely leave home in the morning carrying rain gear anticipating a late day rain. Bloomington has some afternoon showers and thunderstorms that can create problems for the commute home. If the rain is light to medium and I have clothes that won’t be damaged by wet roads, I will ride home. Other times, it’s fortunate that my wife drives our truck to work. For those days, I put my bike in the truck bed and ride home with her.

Occasionally, I get surprised. Two weeks ago, on my ride home, I was crossing from College Mall Rd to Sare Rd when I saw something that looked at first like smoke. A second look indicated it was rain. Within 30 seconds I was completely soaked. I continued to ride and after about 150 yards, the rain ended and the sun was shining.

If I have a ride planned and there’s a light rain, I’ll generally do the ride. However, I won’t ride in thunderstorms. When I suspect they might occur, I will generally ride loops that are close to home. I don’t ride in heavy rains because it’s too hard to see. But, I’ve been caught in a few storms over the years. When I do, I generally go home the most direct route.

Overall, rain is rarely a problem in Bloomington and can’t often be used as an excuse for not riding. Sometimes, it’s fun to ride in a light rain.

The Season Isn’t Over

October 24, 2007 at 2:20 am | In Off-road, Weekend Rides | Leave a Comment

 This past week, I started training for a 10K run on Thanksgiving. Tuesday, I ran fairly strong for the first interval-like workout. Wednesday was a regular run. Thursday was fast (for me) 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 mile intervals. I did the first quarter-mile in 93 seconds and the first half-mile in 3:23. It’s been 30 years (or more) since I ran that fast. On the last quarter-mile, I had to walk a good portion because of soreness in my right hamstring and calf. Saturday, I started to run but by about 2.5 miles, I had to stop and walk home.

So, on Sunday I decided not to run and I went to Wapehani Bike Park for some off-road riding. A beautiful fall day in a mostly quiet park (the section near 37 can be noisy). I rode fairly well and strong but I hit the ground twice. One was an endo caused by my not negotiating some newly-fallen limbs appropriately. The other was because I stopped to do a track stand to determine where I was. Unfortunately, I stopped on the side of a slightly muddy mound. When I pushed off, down I went. Despite falls, I had a great time.

After the ride, I measured a couple running course with the bike computer. Overall, I was on the bike about two hours.

Wapehani is a moderately technical course. It has some steep hills, one of which I’ve never conquered. Many trails are very rocky, rutted, and rooted. After storms, the wind fall creates new obstacles. Occasionally, some unreasonable (for me) obstacles are built onto the trails.

Last year, I found a new trail that was recently built and a lot of fun. It’s single track with a few obstacles. Sunday, I discovered a new trail that I wouldn’t attempt to ride. The obstacles would require me to get off the bike a few times. But over time, the trail difficulty will be reduced and I should be able to ride it. We are fortunate to have an evolving course, even if it’s too challenging at times for me.

The End of the Biking Season

October 18, 2007 at 2:54 am | In Long Rides, Weekend Rides | Leave a Comment

 The season is over for me. On Sunday October 7, I rode about 40 hilly miles.  I rode what I call the “Three Lakes” ride. I rode by Griffy, Lemon, and Monroe lakes.

It was a wonderful ride. Nice day, pleasant temperatures, not much traffic, and many hills. I rode slowly as practice for the Hilly.

I did not ride the week of October 8-12 because I was out of town most of the week.

Last weekend was the Hilly Hundred. A good end to my biking season. The weather was fine. It was cool on Saturday. It started in the 40s and ended in the 70s. Sunday was warmer. I took off my jacket at the 2nd rest stop. It’s not often that I ride the Hilly in short sleeves.

The course as challenging as ever. A little change to the Sunday ride added a hill and made the Sunday ride about 2 miles longer. Mt. Tabor was tough for me, as always. Water Tower hill is at the end of both days and it’s an appropriate end to the rides – challenging but doable.

Some thoughts about the Hilly:

  • I would not be able to eat fried chicken at lunch and ride the hills without discomfort. The peanut butter sandwiches are enough for me.
  • My typical complaint about long rides – the lunch should be at the third stop instead of the second. For those who start early, lunch is very early.
  • The ice cream bars are the real treat of the Hilly. It’s at both lunches and at the vendor tent on Saturday. I don’t eat ice cream often, so I really enjoy them.
  • It seemed like more riders walked the hills this year.
  • The Hilly didn’t seem as crowded as previous years. At times, my daughter and I didn’t have other riders within 100 yards front and back.
  • The ride was extremely well-organized as usual. Many sag wagons, enough food, water, port-a-johns, etc.
  • The roads seemed better than the past years.

For those who haven’t done a Hilly, it’s fun and you should do it.

Next stage – at this point, I stop riding and start training for a 10K in Niles MI on Thanksgiving. I’ll still commute, so my posts will be more about commuting than road riding.

Hunting for Hills

October 2, 2007 at 4:24 pm | In Long Rides, Street/Road Conditions, Weekend Rides | Leave a Comment

 Only one post a week now because there is not much to report. My weekday morning rides are fewer because of some work commitments but mostly because of DST. Sunrise isn’t until about 7:45 now, so morning rides start later than I like. DST is better for afternoon riders. Last week, I did two standard morning rides. This morning (Tuesday) I rode Old 446.

On Sunday, I decided to ride some hills to prepare for the Hilly. I started with my normal pattern – Smith, 45, Bethel, Boltinghouse. At the bottom of the Boltinghouse hill, I turned right onto Joe Young Rd. I followed it for about 3/4 of a mile until it ended in gravel. It is what might be termed an “Irish” road. It reminds me of the narrow roads in Ireland where one car has to pull off the road to allow another to pass. It has some nice farms on it and one farm has some small horses or burros that were interesting.

I returned to where I turned off Boltinghouse and went onto Lentz Rd. It has a steeeeeeep hill. It was a challenge to get to the top. Then, to Robinson Rd, Tunnel Rd, and Shilo Rd to get to Anderson Rd. I drove Shilo Rd a couple years ago and thought it would be a fun road to ride. It’s mostly downhill for 3 miles or so. However, the road’s surface is terrible in many places, so I couldn’t go fast. From Anderson, I went through the Forest and turned right at the top of Bean Blossom. Travelled a few miles, turned around, and then exited the Forest. I went down and up Old 37 to Hindustan. I continued on Old 37 to Bethel Ln, down to Griffy Lake and back up to Bloomington. I rode the Bloomington streets to Rogers St, south to Clear Creek, across to Schacht, to Stipp, down to Monroe Lake, up Moore’s to Rhorer, and Sare. Overall, it was about 61+ miles. And plenty of hills.

I rode in bigger gears than I would for the Hilly and used the big ring more often than I would. I kept my HR in just below LT for much of the ride. At the top of the Lentz hill, my HR was over 160 which is above max for my age.

The traffic was light to start but increased over the ride. The weather was very nice – 50s and 60s. I saw turkeys and deer on Anderson Rd. Seeing turkeys is always a treat since they are somewhat unusual birds. Overall, a pleasant early fall ride, even with the hills.

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