CycleRoad

Saturday Training August 23 2003

Saturday August 23 Training Ride
This weekend was our last weekend before we head out to New Mexico on Friday. On Saturday we did the training ride from the house. The day was perfect, sunny, blue sky, and some wind. (We had decided not to do a longer ride because weather.com had reported we were going to have winds gusting up to 18-20 miles per hour). Anyway, we rode the ride and there were several things that we wanted to practice. One, I have spent the entire summer trying to stay on Kevin's wheel. Drafting saves a great deal of energy - about 30 percent. I have worked on staying with him this summer and it has made a tremendous difference in how fast and far I have been able to go without getting tired. However, since we are now going out west, we needed to practice looking around and looking at the sites. So we went a little slower and spent more time looking around - amazing how many things you don't see when you are drafting. On Sunday's ride we would spend time looking around and we have some great pictures of the ride which I expect Kevin will put up shortly.

The second thing that wasn't really planned but was a good thing to try was Kevin wanted me to pull - that is he wanted to draft behind me - give me the opportunity to pull. I pulled out in front and I wanted to push the pace - amazing how much wind resistance makes - within 20 feet I thought my lungs were going to burst and my legs felt like 100 pound weights. I settled into a good, hard pace and pulled a good distance. At one point, I asked Kevin to pull but he wanted me to continue so I did up until we turned off near the railroad tracks and Kevin pulled the rest of the way. We arrived at the house and all summer long I have used Kevin's computer for average speed and distance. Last week, though, I got a new computer put on the bike so my information should be correct. My average speed was 19.8. Not as good as the last time but not bad. Have to keep working so that I become consistant.

Small Training Ride 08/16/03

Small Training Ride August 16, 2003
A very cool thing happened this weekend. We had plans to do the Brighton Dam ride on Saturday but the threat of rain and the promise for better weather on Sunday led us to delay our Brighton Dam ride. Instead, we opted for a shorter ride from the house. The ride that we do loops around the Agricultural Preserve and Goddard Space Center (NASA) for a total of about 30 miles. It is a good training ride, some rolling hills, a couple of longish climbs, and some flats. Once you get to the ag preserve the roads are clean, not many cars, and you feel like you are in the country. We have been doing this ride since we started cycling a little over three summers ago.

My average speed has been increasing as the summer has progressed. The last couple of times, my average speed was in the high 19s but I had never managed to break 20 miles average speed over the course of the 30 mile loop. Well, on Saturday August 16, 2003 - as we raced down the last stretch to the house - Kevin said that I would have to stay with him - and I did. We arrived at the house and he checked the computer, grinned at me and said - 20 miles an hour average speed on the dot. It is nice to see the results when the training continues to pay off.

Now back to the gym.

Some Basic Nutrition Info

I’m continually amazed at the things I see cyclists eat during and after rides but am never surprised to see the effects ranging from loss of energy through loss of concentration leading to mistakes and sometimes injury to a full-fledged bonk. While proper nutrition is one of the most important factors affecting long-distance cycling on a day-in, day-out basis, there is so much misinformation out there that knowing what to eat and when to eat it can be difficult. Part of the reason for this is that nutrition science is in its’ infancy; much remains to be learned and nutritional theories are often revised as new information becomes available. Another reason is that the subject of sports nutrition is confused in the minds of many with the subject of dieting. Unfortunately, dieting in the US is a multimillion dollar industry that is fat with fads and outright foolishness. Finally, many cyclists seem to have a deep emotional commitment to their cycling-related eating habits and resist change. What follows is a basic introduction to cycling nutrition based on broad areas of agreement found in research related sources on cycling and endurance sports nutrition.

Cycling nutrition is all about providing fuel for the muscles you are using as you ride down the road. When muscles work they burn glucose. In order to make sure that there is enough energy to fuel the muscles the body converts excess glucose to a chemical called glycogen and stores it in the liver and the muscles themselves. When activity takes place the glycogen is released, converted back to glucose, and used as the fuel needed to power the muscles. Under normal conditions the body stores enough glycogen to provide sufficient energy for typical everyday activities. However, long bike rides or multiday bike rides demand more energy than the body can store in the form of glycogen. Where does the energy come from to keep you riding for many hours and many days? The answer breaks down into two topics: Eating during a ride and eating after the ride.

Eating during the ride

An adult in relatively good condition can store enough glycogen to supply the muscles with energy for about 90 minutes of steady exercise. After that, if you haven’t found another source of glucose, you’re going to run into difficulty. For endurance athletics, which for our purposes is a bike ride lasting more than 90 minutes, there is one universally agreed on source for the glucose you need – carbohydrates. Why carbohydrates? Primarily because their chemical structure is such that they can be broken down quickly and efficiently into useable glucose or storable glycogen. Fats contain twice as many calories as carbs and hence have the potential to provide more energy. However, breaking down fats into useable forms of energy is a slow process. If you eat fat loaded food during a ride, the ride will probably be over by the time the fats have been processed to the point where you can get energy from them. In the meantime, all the energy used in breaking down the fats hasn’t been available for powering the muscles. At the time of this writing a prominent diet fad holds that carbohydrates are bad and should be avoided. It’s important to remember that exercise nutrition and dieting are two entirely different things. Carbs are absolutely essential for the long-distance cyclist.

Where do you get the carbs you need during a long ride? Some high-carb foods like pasta and rice are impractical to eat during a ride; you need high carb, low fat sources that you can easily carry with you on the bike. Good on-the-bike foods include raisins, dates, bagels, and low fat fig newtons. Energy bars are a terrific source of carbs. For example, Harvest bars have 35 grams of carbs and Powerbars have 45 grams. There are also energy gels made specifically for endurance athletes such as Power Gel or Goo that have very high doses of carbs. Sports drinks like Gatorade are good sources of carbs and they also have a healthy dose of the salts and fluids you need. I like chocolate Powerbars, Laura likes Power Gel and we both like low-fat fig newtons on the bike. If you eat high density carb supplements like energy bars or gel, make sure to drink plenty of water with them or they will sit like sludge in your stomach and you won’t get the quick transfer of carbs into blood glucose you need.

We have recently discovered a terrific food to eat at rest stops – Dole frozen fruit bars. They’re a kind of popsicle can be found in the freezer with ice cream bars if a convenience store has them at all. Two Dole bars have more carbs and less calories than a Harvest Bar. Because they are basically frozen juice with bits of fruit I expect they will clear the stomach much faster than a Harvest Bar (which contains fat and protein that slow digestion) to provide energy when you need it during the ride. They are also very refreshing and a joy to eat on a hot day.

When do you eat? A common cycling mantra is “Eat before you’re hungry and drink before you’re thirsty”. This is excellent advice. By the time the body reacts to low levels of fuel or fluid and sends hunger and thirst signals it’s too late. Rather than stopping and eating a large amount of food (such as lunch) mid ride, nibble high carb foods frequently throughout the ride. This not only provides immediate glucose, it can help protect the body’s glycogen stores; if the muscles are burning glucose from the low-fat fig newton you just ate, it’s not burning your stored glycogen. Try to ingest some carbohydrates every 30 minutes or so. Start eating during your first hour on the bike. The sooner you begin drawing needed energy from food intake the longer you can keep a reserve of stored glycogen.

Eating on the bike like this isn’t easy, especially in the first hour when you probably won’t feel hungry. Stopping to nibble makes eating even more of a hassle and hence makes it more likely you’ll skip it. Bad idea. Carry nibble food in a fanny pack or your rear jersey pockets and learn to eat while you ride.

It takes a surprising amount of practice to get in the habit of eating regularly. Practicing eating may sound like a crazy idea but it’s very easy to forget and run into trouble later. Many people have heard the story of how Lance Armstrong got wrapped up in the race on one of the difficult mountain stages of the 2000 Tour de France, forgot to eat, and bonked on the final climb of the day putting his yellow jersey at risk. Bonking is no fun and Armstrong has since called it the worst day of his life on the bike.

Unexpected events or an atypical ride can also disrupt eating with unhappy results. During the summer of 2002 Laura and I rode in a week-long Glacier National Park tour. (Laura built a website about this tour which you can check out in the Glacier National Park blog attached to this site. She not only included ride diaries and lots of nice pictures but also links to a wealth of information about many of the things we experienced on the tour. She did a terrific job, check it out). We approached this tour as a cycling vacation rather than a training opportunity and rode at a much slower pace than we usually do. We also stopped and had lunch mid-ride with other riders on the tour which was something we had never done before. The lunches were great with good company and good food but we had no experience in how to incorporate eating a meal into a long ride. The first time we did this I screwed it up. The first day we ate lunch we were about 20 miles from finishing the ride and I began to experience the early stages of a bonk. What had happened? I hadn’t pigged out at lunch but even a small lunch is much more than I would typically eat during a ride. My stomach was full and the idea of eating either didn’t occur to me or, if it did, wasn’t attractive. Although my stomach was full, it was full of mostly protein and fat which could not be broken down fast enough to provide the energy I needed before the end of the ride. I wasn’t getting any energy from food input and my glycogen stores were exhausted by this time so I started to bonk. Those last 20 miles were miserable; the temperature had dropped, we were riding directly into a headwind, and I was shivering uncontrollably by the time we reached the lodge where we were scheduled to stay the night. Fortunately, the lodge had an enormous fire roaring in the center of the main area with a bench-like hearth running around it on all four sides. While we waited for the van to arrive with our luggage, I sat huddled by the fire slowly recovering and getting warm. The lesson I learned? Practice eating under the circumstances in which you are going to ride so you don’t get surprised.

Bonking

So what’s this bonk cyclists hate? Bonking is what cyclists call hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. In addition to being the energy source for working muscles, glucose is the sole energy source for the brain and nervous system. This means that when there isn’t enough glucose in the blood stream to meet demand you will experience physical, mental and emotional effects. Symptoms can include irritability, combativeness, lethargy, indecision, and loss of the ability to focus attention. In severe cases, disorientation and even hallucination can occur although most people will have quit riding long before this happens. Of particular danger for cyclists are a narrowing of vision and a loss of balance. If you find yourself staring at the road right in front of your bike and feeling bummed out and discouraged because the rest of the ride seems like too much to bear, be aware that you’re probably in a bonk.

Sooner or later you’ll bonk. What do you do? As soon as you can, stop and eat some carbs that can be rapidly processed by the digestive system. Examples include sports drinks, fruit juice, energy gels (make sure you drink plenty of water with these), sugar cubes or sweet candy like gumdrops or jellybeans. Energy bars will work but they take a bit longer to digest. Pay careful attention to what you eat for the rest of the ride and make sure you keep your glucose level up by regularly and frequently taking in fast absorbing carbs. Sports drinks are very good for this. Perhaps the hardest part of reacting to a bonk is mental. You need to try and be aware that you’re not thinking clearly and not being as aware of what’s going on around you as you need to be to ride safely. Forcibly arouse yourself from your lethargy and pay extra attention to what’s happening around you. Of course this is easier said than done; it’s not easy to be aware that you’re not thinking clearly when you’re not thinking clearly.

Eating after the ride

It’s the third day of a multi-day ride like the Glacier Park tour and the dejected cyclist says “I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I just don’t seem to have any energy today.” The root of this problem, and it’s a common one, usually lies in what the rider did in the first 30 minutes after they got off the bike the previous two days. It is surprising how little is known or understood about this by otherwise experienced cyclists. What you eat after the ride is probably the single most important factor affecting how you will fare if you’re riding more than 90 minutes a day for more than 2 days. If you eat properly after the ride you can ride for days and days without problems; if you don’t you’re most likely going to be tired and out of energy by the third day.

After a period of extended exercise, like an all-day bike ride, the body is energy depleted. Stored glycogen reserves are used up and blood glucose is low. The body reacts to this situation by entering a phase during which carbohydrates are broken down, converted to glycogen and stored in muscles and the liver in an extremely efficient manner. In other words, when sustained exercise ends, the body will go into overdrive to replace what it has lost. This period of intense glycogen production and storage only lasts for about 30 minutes, however. It is absolutely essential that you feed your system carbohydrates during this 30 minute window. If you do, you will lay down a solid foundation of stored glycogen that can be built on for the rest of the day so that you are ready to ride again the following day. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter what you eat for the rest of the day; you will be building on a weak foundation and you won’t have the glycogen reserves you need to ride with strength day after day. This cannot be stressed enough; you have to reload your system with carbs during the first 30 minutes after you get off the bike.

What should you eat during this critical 30 minutes? Current thinking holds that you should aim to ingest one half gram of carbohydrate for each pound of body weight during the 30 minutes after a period of extended (more than 90 minutes) exercise. This is easy to figure out; simply divide your weight in half and eat that many grams of carbs. For example, I weigh about 160 lbs so I need to eat 80 grams of carbs within 30 minutes of getting off the bike. There is also some evidence that combining these carbs with protein facilitates the glycogen production and storage process. The recommended ratio of carbs to proteins is 4 to 1. Thus, at 160 lbs I need 80 grams of carbs and 20 grams of protein. Eating this much in 30 minutes can be very difficult. The 30 minute part is much more important than the specific amount of carbs and protein part. If you can’t manage to choke down the full recommended amount, eat as much as you can but make absolutely sure you do it in the first 30 minutes after you get off the bike.

The carb sources you’ve been eating on the bike will work equally well during this critical 30 minute window but you may be sick and tired of sports drink, energy gel, low-fat fig newtons or whatever you’ve been eating by this time. Some foods that are high in carbs and easy to have available after a ride include bagels, bananas, fruit juice, low-fat yogurt, cornflakes and muesli-type cereals. Laura and I drink a recovery drink called Endurox that contains carbs and proteins in the recommended 4 to 1 ratio. Endurox comes in a powdered form that you mix with water. Depending on where you’re riding, this can be a bit of a hassle. We usually premeasure the powder, put it in a sealed plastic bag, and carry it with us on the ride. As soon as we get off the bike we mix the powder with water and drink it. We drink the lemon-lime flavor and it’s actually pretty good; we have come to look forward to drinking it at the end of the ride.

Once you have eaten the recommended amount of carbohydrates try to continue to eat 50 to 100 grams of carbs every two hours throughout the remainder of the day. Eat small amounts steadily rather than eating nothing and then pigging out at dinner. Avoid alcohol because it will interfere with the uptake of glycogen and will also dehydrate you. This is especially important immediately after the ride when the body is in the critical glycogen restocking period.

Some additional information about carbs

Experimenting with different foods. By now the message is clear, consume carbs steadily throughout the ride and consume more carbs after the ride is over. There is a fly in the ointment, however. Too much carbohydrate in the stomach is likely to produce nausea. How much is too much? Individuals differ widely in this and so you will have to experiment to find out how much carbohydrate you can handle. Be especially careful if you mix your own sports drink from a powder. If you make too strong a mix you can make yourself sick. Another reason to experiment with eating different carbohydrate-rich foods is to discover a combination of foods and sports drinks that you like well enough to eat and drink on the bike. It doesn’t do you any good to be carrying nutritionally perfect foods if you don’t like to eat them on the bike and won’t eat them during the ride. Cyclists often repeat the mantra “Find what works for you” when discussing what to eat during and after a ride. This is good advice as long as it is understood that it doesn’t mean eat anything you like. Unless you are a member of an alien species, your biology works like all of the other humans. French fries, beer, oreos and ice cream aren’t going to provide what you need to ride even though they may “work for you”.

Carbohydrate loading. Although most people have heard of it, carbo loading is an advanced topic that is more appropriate for people who are engaged in serious competitive endurance events. The basic idea is to maximize glycogen storage at the beginning of an athletic event. This involves a careful schedule of pre-event exercise and eating that is designed to first deplete the body’s glycogen stores as much as possible and then build them up to mega-levels which are timed to peak on the day of the event. Having a huge pasta dinner the night before a long ride isn’t carbo loading, it’s overeating. Carbo loading isn’t a good strategy for multiday cycling events.

Carbohydrates and the immune system. Here’s an added side benefit of continually eating carbs during and after a ride. It will help to prevent you from getting sick. Remember that the benefit of carbohydrate is that it is broken down to glucose relatively quickly and glucose fuels both the muscles and the brain. If blood glucose level drops too low or drops precipitously your system will respond by releasing large amounts of stress hormones. One of these hormones is cortisol and athletes commonly show elevated cortisol levels after prolonged exercise. Cortisol also markedly depresses immune function. What this means is that inadequate carbohydrate supply, in addition to all of the other problems it will produce, can lead to an increased probability of infections, colds, slow healing etc. Laura and I have ridden the Washington DC AidsRide (about 350 miles in 4 days) and belong to a listserve for AidsRiders. Every year during the week after the ride there is a flurry of emails from riders reporting that they got sick when the ride was over followed by another flurry of emails wondering why this is such a common experience. Not surprising at all if you understand the many roles carbohydrates play in endurance nutrition.

Carbs and fats. Low to moderate levels of exercise carried out for long periods of time is an excellent way to burn fat and lose weight. This makes long bike rides an attractive weight loss technique for many people. It has also led to some confused thinking about the relationships between weight loss, fats and carbohydrates. Sometimes people think that they should eat as little as possible during a long ride because they want to lose weight. They reason that the less they eat, the more fat they will burn off. This is a very bad idea. First, for all the reasons discussed above, keeping blood glucose high by steadily ingesting carbohydrates is essential for a successful ride. You aren’t going to lose much weight if you bonk and quit the ride or if the ride was so miserable that you don’t get back on the bike for weeks or months. In addition, carbohydrates are used in the process by which stored fat is broken down to provide energy. This means that on long rides keeping your carbohydrate input steady will actually help you break down fat and lose weight.

In summary, the message here should be pretty clear. Carbohydrates are essential for long rides and for riding day after day. A steady stream of carbs will get you through the longest ride without bonking. Barring injury, nothing is more important for having strength and energy throughout multiday events than making sure you eat enough carbohydrate during the first 30 minutes after you get off the bike each day. Whenever we do multiday rides like the Glacier National Park tour Laura and I see riders run out of energy, stop having fun, and begin yearning for a rest day on about the third day of the ride while we have energy day after day and often ride additional miles when we have the chance. People wonder how we do this. It’s simple, we eat right.

Hill Climbing

During the summer of 2002 we spent a week riding in and around Glacier National Park in the US and Canadian Rockies. While we were there we climbed the spectacular Going-To-The-Sun road to Logan Pass. On the climb we would often stop in small parking spots by the side of the road to take pictures and admire the view. If there was a motorist there, they would invariably say “I can’t believe you’re climbing this mountain on a bicycle”. As we thought about trying to experience the incredible vistas of the Rocky Mountains through the small frame of a grimy car window while also navigating the vehicle along narrow winding mountain roads we thought “I can’t believe you’re doing this in a car!” Cyclists have a love/hate relationship with mountains and hills; they can be very hard but without them, a ride is usually boring and dull. There are many approaches to climbing and there are different things that riders at different stages of development may be trying to accomplish when climbing. Technique for a new rider trying to survive will be quite a bit different from that of a racer trying to tear the legs off the competition. The following are some of the basics that answer one of the questions we are often asked, “How do you do those climbs?”.

1. Cadence. Cadence means how fast your feet go around on the pedals and it lies at the heart of cycling whether on hills or flats. Most cycling computers measure cadence in revolutions per minute (rpm) although cyclists will often speak of cadences of 90 or 100 and leave out the “rpm”. There are two basic approaches to cadence: Spinning and mashing. Spinning means pedaling in a small (easy) gear at a high cadence while mashing is pedaling in a big (hard) gear at lower cadence. In very rough terms, spinning will generally build cardiovascular fitness and endurance while mashing will build strength and bulk. Mashing is also more likely to produce muscle and joint (especially knee) injuries. As a general strategy, spinning is usually better than mashing. The typical recommendation is to spin at cadences of 85 to105. This may be a difficult cadence for new riders to maintain but it is good to practice until you can comfortably ride in this range. When climbing, it is best to spin at a high cadence in a small gear.

2. Maintaining a steady effort. If there were one bit of advice that I would hold out as the holy grail of long-distance riding technique, this is it. The idea is to put forth the same amount of effort consistently throughout the ride. One way to do this is to maintain a steady cadence. You adjust for changes in gradient, road conditions, wind, fatigue etc by changing gears and keeping your legs going around at the same rate. This means that going downhill you gear up into bigger gears and accelerate; going uphill you gear down into smaller gears and decelerate. Many riders seem to try and maintain a constant speed rather than a constant effort going uphill. They tend to exhaust themselves on the steeper parts of the hill. They also tend to fall off on the flatter parts of the hill. On many hills the gradient will become a bit less steep for the last section before the crest. If you are trying to maintain a constant speed, you will put forth less effort as the hill flattens (and usually be happy to do so) and slow down. If you are maintaining a constant effort you will kick into a higher gear at this point and fly over the crest.

3. Gear shifting. This is perhaps the most difficult hill-climbing skill to develop. Because of the way the gears work, when there is load on the chain, such as when you’re climbing a hill, downshifting to an easier gear puts more strain on the chain and the shifting mechanism than shifting up to a higher gear. You’ll often need to downshift to an easier gear during a climb but if you don’t do it soon enough, there may be so much stress on the chain that you can’t make the shift and then you’re stopped dead in a gear that’s too big to get up the hill. On the other hand, if you downshift too soon, you lose your momentum which can turn an easy climb into a hard one in the blink of an eye. It’s all about timing. The trick is to relax your pedal stroke for a brief instant and shift a split second before you have to so that you can put forth the same effort throughout the climb. The only way to get good at this is to practice. There’s nothing like a perfect climb where each shift comes smoothly at precisely the right moment and you feel like you’ve just flown over the hill as if it wasn’t there.

4. Remain seated while you climb. Standing is terrific for short bursts of power or for a change in muscle use (and hence a bit of muscle recovery) on a very long climb. However, it is less efficient than sitting and will tire you out faster in the long run. You will be stronger at the end of the ride if you climb sitting at the beginning. Less efficient to begin with, standing becomes much more inefficient if technique is not good and good standing technique is harder than it looks. Many riders weave back and forth across the road when standing and climbing and thrash back and forth twisting at the hips. This wastes a lot of energy (which you will wish you had 40 miles down the road) and is hard on the lower back possibly leading to back soreness or tightening on long rides.

5. Pedal in a circle. Once when riding in the Washington DC AidsRide (340 miles in 4 days to raise money to help those suffering from HIV/AIDS) I was helping some inexperienced cyclists climb one of the longer hills and suggested they pedal in circle. As he struggled to keep going one of them incredulously said “Isn’t that what we’re doing?” Surprisingly, the answer was “no”; his feet were going around in a circle but like most inexperienced cyclists he wasn’t applying force to the pedals all the way around the circle. As much as possible try and exert force all the way around the pedaling arc, not just on the downward push. Push down, pull back at the bottom, lift up and pull through at the top. This is not as easy as it sounds and it is a skill that takes a long time to master. However, climbing is difficult enough without trying to do it with only part of the available muscle power you have. You’ve got a whole leg and 360 degrees of arc to move it through. Use the whole thing. Pedaling in a circle will be harder to do with toe clips and is a good reason to use clipless pedals.

6. Drop your heels. Keeping the heels low brings more of the hamstrings (the muscles in the back of the thigh) and glutes (the muscles in the butt) into play. These are very powerful muscle groups – use them to get you over the hill. Many riders tend to point the toes downward which puts less stress on hams and glutes and more on calves (frequent calf cramping is a good indicator you’re pointing your toes down). The tendency can be accentuated by the use of toeclips. If you’re doing this, try to break the habit and drop your heels. Again, this is much easier to do with clipless pedals.

7. Keep a loose, relaxed grip on the handlebars. As you strain up the hill it’s easy to grip harder and harder. This can lead to numbness in the hands. More importantly, the tension in the hands will spread up the arms to the neck, shoulders and chest. Tightness in the chest will restrict breathing which will reduce oxygen consumption. Oxygen is necessary to remove lactic acid from working muscles. (That burning feeling you get in your legs is produced by lactic acid buildup.) Your legs will tire more quickly and you’ll have a harder time finishing the climb if you are not breathing freely.

8. Change working muscle groups. As you labor up the hill the muscles you are using will become exhausted as lactic acid produced as a waste product accumulates faster than it can be carried away in the bloodstream. It doesn’t take long to clear this lactic acid if you can make less use of the muscles for a moment. You can’t coast on a climb, however, or you’ll lose your momentum or come to a dead stop. The solution is to briefly work different sets of muscles throughout the climb to give particular muscle groups time to recover. There are several ways to do this. If you typically ride with toes pointed down or feet flat, drop your heels for a bit to bring your hamstrings and glutes more into play and give your quadriceps (the muscles on the front of the thigh) time to recover. Likewise, if you usually ride with your heels dropped, raise them so your feet are flat or point your toes down. Shift forward and back on the seat. Sitting on the front of the seat accentuates the quads, sitting on the back accentuates the glutes. Stand up for a brief interval and then sit back down. Just before you stand, shift into a bigger gear and then shift back to the smaller gear when you sit down. You will have more power when you stand and if you stay in the smaller gear you will lose momentum. Use these techniques for 10 to 30 pedal strokes periodically throughout the climb to buy recovery time.

9. Make use of the preceding downhill on rolling hills. This will come naturally if you successfully maintain a constant effort as you will be accelerating throughout the downhill. If you want to put out extra effort, squeeze every last bit of speed you can on the downhill where it’s relatively easy so you don’t have to work so hard on the following uphill.

10. Practice on every hill no matter how small. There is a lot here to try and put together and it’s easier to be successful on the small hills than the big ones. Also, success on the small hills today will lead to success on the big ones tomorrow.

Brighton Dam Rides

Brighton Dam rides

These rides begin and end at Brighton Dam which can be reached by traveling north from the Beltway on New Hampshire Avenue. While the terrain is very hilly and challenging, the roads generally do not have a lot of automobile traffic. Scenery is varied ranging from relatively new housing developments to farms to woods with streams, rivers and reservoirs. You will ride along ridge tops and dive into (and climb out of) deep ravines. Virtually every five mile segment of the route has at least one, and often more than one notable climb. We often see other cyclists on these roads on the weekends but we rarely see cyclists using Brighton Dam as a starting point. Rest stops tend to be few and far between; camelbacks are a good idea for longer rides in this area especially on hot days.

Much, but by no means all, of the good riding on these routes is in Carroll County. Unfortunately, there are a lot of gravel roads in Carroll County that are indistinguishable from paved roads on the map. We have done several rides in this area but have very few established routes because we will generally abandon our planned route and try and find another way when we come upon a gravel road.

Here are the gravel roads we have come across thus far. The map we use is ADC’s Carroll County street map.

Sams Creek Road heading west from Ridge Road (27) turns to gravel before the Y with Doctor Stitely Road and returns to pavement shortly before Buffalo Road.

Davis Road turns to gravel shortly after the junction with Gillis Road.

John Pickett Road turns to gravel shortly after the junction with Gillis Falls Road.

Dorsey Lane connecting Old Washington Road (97) and Hoods Mill Road is a private road that is as often rutted dirt as gravel and is not really designed for through traffic.

Our Bikes

Laura and I both ride custom built Merlin titanium-frame bikes. Laura's frame is an Extra-Light and mine is regular titanium. Both bikes were fit by Chad Kayser at College Park Bikes in College Park Maryland. Chad is brilliant at just about everything there is about bikes and he did a terrific job with our machines. Both frames were built in Massachusetts before Merlin moved to Tennessee.

Although our bikes, especially mine, are generally equipped for lightness, we both ride Brooks racing saddles. Light as leather saddles go, these are nevertheless much heavier than the typical racing saddle. However, unlike typical racing saddles leather saddles will deform with use to fit your anatomy and we find the comfort of riding a broken in leather saddle to be so great that we gladly carry the extra weight. Many riders shy away from leather saddles in general and the Brooks saddle in particular because they have a reputation of having a long break-in process which can be painful because the saddle is as hard and unyielding as a rock when new. It took about 1000 miles to fully break in my saddle but I did not find the process to be inordinately uncomfortable.

We both ride Rolf Sestriere wheelsets. The Sestrieres are low weight, low spoke count, low rotational inertia, quick acceleration racing wheels. The combination of the light Sestrieres with the heavy Brooks saddles often evokes polite bemusement from other riders. I have close to 12,000 miles on the Sestrieres at this point and haven’t had any trouble with them. I gather, however, that my experience isn’t typical. They have a bit of a reputation for being a troublesome wheelset.

We’re both using Shimano’s wireless Flightdeck cycle computer. Mine has given me no trouble but Laura’s has failed often. From what I’ve heard performance for this computer seems to be erratic. Perhaps quality control at the factory isn’t what it should be.

Kevin’s bike

My gruppo is Shimano Ultegra with the exception of the drivetrain which is Dura Ace. In the spring of 2004 I plan on moving to an all Dura Ace setup. I originally put on the Dura Ace drivetrain to save weight and used Ultegra for everything else because some of the other Dura Ace components had a history of breaking down relatively rapidly. The chainring is a 53/39 double. The cassette is a slightly modified 12-27. I replaced the 12 tooth gear with an 11 tooth gear which gives me 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 24, and 27 tooth cogs. At the time of this writing, this is a new gearing for me; I was using an 11-23 cassette. I love the big 11-53 combination for screaming descents and although the jump from the 11 to the 13 tooth gear is a big one (20 gear inches) I don’t think it’s going to be a problem once I get used to it. Most of the riding I do locally is in the 17, 19, 21/53 range and both cassettes have this sequence. I switched to the wider range cassette in order to pick up some low gears for a ride we will be taking in a few weeks in the mountains from Albuquerque to Denver. My initial response to the new cassette has been positive and I think I’ll probably keep it on the bike when we return from the Rockies.

This spring and summer I’ve been riding Vredestein Fortezza tires. Although rated at 145 psi (I usually ride them between 150 and 155 psi) they provide a noticeably smoother and more comfortable ride than the Michelin tires I had been using. Other gear includes Speedplay pedals, Reynolds Ouzo Pro carbon fork, ITM Millenium stem and a Cane Creek headset

Laura’s bike

Laura is set up with Ultegra components. She rides a 30/42/52 triple with a 12–25 9 speed cassette. Following a crash in 2002 that resulted in a broken ankle she prefers a slightly wider tire and rides Continental Duraskin +Ks rated at 120 PSI and ridden at about 125. Because she is uncomfortable in an aggressive racing position she has her stem (Stiffy Profile Design) turned upside down to achieve a more upright position. I used to urge her to get more aero but now I wonder if I’ll be able to catch her if she does. Other gear includes a Look carbon fork and Shimano SPD pedals.

North Beach 8/10/3

Hi,
Just a short mention of our ride yesterday. On Sunday we decided to ride to North Beach. The weather report was not promising and so we did not want to get caught in the rain. As it turned out, we missed the rain altogether which we were both glad to avoid. The ride to North Beach is one we have done many times and it has served us well in learning to ride over different types of terrain. The ride, for the most part is moderate - with gently rolling hills, one or two hills that require some work, and a nice combination of wooded areas, farm land, residential, and small towns.

We rode to North Beach, bottled up, and decided to give the rain a real run for its money and do the 15 mile extension south of North Beach. I must say that when we first did this section of the ride, I was not a fan but as I have become a stronger cyclist the ride is actually pretty nice.

We stopped to take some pictures along the way and Kevin has posted them in the photo albums section of this weblog. If you have time, take a look.

North Beach Rides

The North Beach rides are very popular with local cyclists. The roads tend to have little traffic, the scenery is varied and interesting and the terrain is moderate in difficulty. The rides begin at the Park-and-Ride at the Davidsonville exit from route 50 and on a Saturday or Sunday morning you are almost sure to meet other cyclists at the start point. The basic ride is a roughly 60 mile loop with North Beach/Chesapeake Beach at the midway point. North Beach is a terrific place to take a mid-ride break with a lovely boardwalk on Chesapeake Bay. There is a public beach at the north end of the boardwalk and benches looking out over the Bay at the quieter south end. There is a good convenience store and gas station, Fastop combined with Citgo gas, in Chesapeake Beach which adjoins North Beach to the South. The Fastop usually has a good selection of both Gatorade and energy bars and it also tends to have frozen Dole fruit bars which we find to be a great midride snack, especially on hot days. We typically ride down to the Fastop, bottle up, ride back to the boardwalk and take a break.

For a more challenging ride you can add an approximately 15 mile extension to the basic loop. Heading south on the main road from Chesapeake Beach you hit 4 miles or so of big rolling hills. They look intimidating and the first few times through you might feel like they’re never going to end but they’re really not that tough because you can often build up a lot of speed on the downhill that precedes each uphill. The extended route loops back to Chesapeake Beach.

For more miles you can ride down to Dares Beach. We’ve only done this once and don’t know the route all that well. From what we’ve seen, Dares Beach appears to be a small community on the Chesapeake Bay that has no retail stores so make sure you bottle up in Chesapeake Beach on your way through. The route does the big rollers in both directions and includes some more hill climbing to add both distance and challenge. The Dares Beach ride is about 85 miles.

Introduction

Hi,
I have decided that I want to develop a web log that describes the cycling adventures and rides that my husband Kevin and I share throughout the summer, fall, winter, and spring. We live outside of Washington, DC and have found terrific rides in and around the DC area. This area has all types of rides, flat, rolling hills, challenging hills, and just about every combination thrown in. We started cycling in the summer of 2000. Kevin needed to get back into shape and having been a runner for his entire life he kept trying to get in shape by running. But a persistent achilles problem prevented him from running on a regular schedule. Searching around for an alternative means of exercise, Kevin selected a bicycle and its been a love affair ever since. He loves riding so much that he asked me if I would like to get a bicycle and when I did, together we would go on rides. Along the way, he lost about 60 pounds and is now lean and strong.

During the summer months, we try to ride both Saturday and Sunday. Kevin is able to ride during the week whereas I am able to ride mostly on the weekends. The way we approach riding is with small and large goals. When we first started to learn to ride, we decided to do a century ride in October. The Seagull Century is a very good century to start with if you have never done one before. The terrain is tabletop flat. On the day we rode it, we had absolutely terrific weather and very little wind. We had been warned that we might encounter a challenging headwind that could make the ride far more difficult and challenging. As luck would have it, we had a great day, great weather, and all of the training we had done to get ready for the ride had clearly paid off.

Training is the key. We approach cycling with the idea that we want to always improve, challenge ourselves to go faster, harder, longer. Consequently, our weekend rides are designed to try new routes, old routes, and to tackle hills hard, ride hard, and ride long. We are, for the most part, always training. We always have goals that we want to strive for. The first year was to do the Seagull Century. The second year we trained for the DC AIDS Ride - a four day adventure from Raleigh North Carolina to the Mall in DC. Last year, we decided to take a cycling vacation out to Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton Park in Canada. Seven days of riding through the Northwestern Rockies. We had a fabulous time that has inspired us to do more traveling via bicycle.

This summer, we are training for a 9 day adventure from Albuquerque New Mexico to Denver Colorado. I hope to share our cycling experience - what we see, who we meet, and how well we have trained for the experience. Feel free to comment on the posts and to share your own cycling experiences. We are always looking for good rides.

Brighton Dam 8/2/3

August 3 2003
Today is Sunday. On Saturday, Kevin and I went on a long, challenging ride. At the end of this month, we will be taking our second cycling vacation out west. So we need to do a lot of hill work to get ready. Last year we went to Glacier National Park in Montana and had a great time. Six days of riding in the Rocky Mountains in Montana and in Canada. We had a great time and the touring company Timberline Tours did a terrific job in finding accomodations (National Park Lodges), great food, and spectacular scenery. This year we have decided to go to the south west - Albuquerque to Denver - between 500-600 miles. More about that later. Anyway, to get ready for the ride, we have been trying to get in some challenging hill work. Yesterday's ride was probably the most challenging we have done. We started at Brighton Dam in Maryland. The hills begin almost immediately with a climb up from the dam. No real time to warm up but the day is muggy and warm so sweating begins right away.

If you are looking for a lot of hills then this is a great ride to try. Kevin has put together several variants of this ride together from county maps and from a ride put together by DC AIDS Riders who have posted their cue sheets online. The climbs on this ride are fairly short (sometimes they sure don't feel that way) but they can get pretty steep - if you need to work on shifting gears and rings this will help. We have been doing this ride for about six weeks and I think my shifting has definitely improved. I have found that I can anticipate which gear to shift into better because of the hill work we have been doing. I also believe that I am a stronger rider as the result of hill work. Yeah it is hard but it is also kind of enjoyable when you make it to the top of a particularly difficult hill. It is also sweet when you shift correctly and just power up the hill.

One hill that we did yesterday was on Buffalo road - boy was that a hill - it just seemed to go on forever and ever. In fact, this ride seemed to go on - the roads on the cue sheet never seemed to get any shorter. I sure was glad that I had a tripple.

The one thing that lacks on this ride is convenient convenience stores. Our first stop on the way, about 25 miles is a small store on Obrecht road. They have lime gatorade and water but if you need to use the facilities - forget it - no public bathrooms. We bottle up here but then there is nothing until we are about 10 miles away from the end of the ride. By the time we made it to this stop we were both out of water and very low on gatorade. We were both pretty tired and feeling the effects of dehydration. I am amazed at how badly I was feeling and wonder how Lance Armstrong could ride the first time trial as fast as he did and be dehydrated. Kevin suggested and I think we will do this next time is to have our camelbacks with us. That way we will have enough water for the entire ride and not have to worry.

The last ten miles were much better and we even made up some of the time we had lost. The entire ride was somewhere between 81-85 miles. Based on Kevin's computer, our average speed was about 17.1 miles which given all of the hills, is not too bad.

Today, we will be doing a recovery ride from the house - usually a 20 mile ride that will get all of the kinks out of the system.