… I definitely did NOT suck wheel well enough for Tuesday’s ride. I got my butt handed to me on my Monday ride with a few members of my husband’s team as we headed for some hills, and of course feeling tired on Tuesday, had it handed to me again. Luckily there were a few of us willing to do some “alternate” riding and broke off a little – I certainly don’t like holding up those at the front of the pack – you deserve to go fast! Of course, you have to laugh, in biker style, Tuesday’s night ride was described as a few “rolling hills” and my current definition at this fitness level is a little ways off from what a “few rolling hills” should be. *Sigh*, so much practice to get in, so little time. In the words of poet Robert Frost – “Miles to ride before I sleep…” (I think he must have done 24-9!).
Renée V., still trying to catch a wheel
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The fine art of sucking wheel
Wow, great previous blog by Renee! I agree with everything she said, especially the parts about sucking wheel and holding on for dear life...
While I did have the awesome opportunity of spending last week riding my bike in North Carolina, I haven't really done that much riding this spring so I didn't really know what to expect on this ride. In the end, I was able to survive and (mostly) hang with the fast girls, but only through the use of roadie skills, including pacelining and drafting (also known as the fine art of sucking wheel). So, while mountain biking is far superior to road riding, the skills and tactics do come in handy :)
All I have to say to all the expert level women out there is watch out for Renee and Jen. They are some fast ladies! While barreling down Seminole, I happened to glance down at my computer and realized that Jen was pulling us straight into a headwind at over 21 mph!
Ironically, my computer gave an average of 15.9 mph for the ride which was technically within the advertised range but it sure felt a lot faster than that.
Enjoy the blizzard of Spring '07!
- Amelia
While I did have the awesome opportunity of spending last week riding my bike in North Carolina, I haven't really done that much riding this spring so I didn't really know what to expect on this ride. In the end, I was able to survive and (mostly) hang with the fast girls, but only through the use of roadie skills, including pacelining and drafting (also known as the fine art of sucking wheel). So, while mountain biking is far superior to road riding, the skills and tactics do come in handy :)
All I have to say to all the expert level women out there is watch out for Renee and Jen. They are some fast ladies! While barreling down Seminole, I happened to glance down at my computer and realized that Jen was pulling us straight into a headwind at over 21 mph!
Ironically, my computer gave an average of 15.9 mph for the ride which was technically within the advertised range but it sure felt a lot faster than that.
Enjoy the blizzard of Spring '07!
- Amelia
Ride while the weather is good
With the forecast for wet weather we decided to go ahead and ride as it looked like the snow wouldn't hit until late in the night. Luckily we were right and it turned out to be a really good night for riding. Seven of us turned out for the ride . . . Diane, Kathy, Berlie, Renee B., Jen, Amelia and myself. Obviously this was a diverse group fitness-wise as we had the expert level gals, the sport racer gals, the citizen racers and a couple of washed-up former mtn bike racers (you can guess who is who in that list).
All was going well in the ride until Kathy, Berlie and Diane announced that they were going for a shortened ride and the rest of us should go on without them to Paoli. I attempted to look non-chalant and hopefully I hid my look of utter horror at this pronouncement. This meant I was left with 3 racers who were ramping up for the season to start soon and two of them were expert racers and one had just done spring break in NC. YIKES! This was not going to be the ride I had planned when I said I would be the Tuesday night ride leader.
At this point all good sense left my head and instead of joining Kathy, Berlie and Diane I set off with Amelia, Renee B and Jen. Now it's not that I haven't ridden at all. Like many of you I was inspired by the March weather to start riding earlier than I do normally. However, I've been out on the bike for no more than 10 rides and most all of them were of the type where your heart rate is in the recovery zone and the ride is less than 1.5 hours. Given that I don't really race until October I like to ease slowly into the season.
However, due to an all to common lack of common sense I headed off to Paoli. I immediately decided to use the common roadie tactic of going to the front of the group to try and dictate the pace as much as possible. This is a good tactic to try and at least moderate the pace to a survival level and I felt that this produced fairly good results into Paoli. Unfortunately as anyone who has ever done a group ride to Paoli knows the trouble never really starts until you head back out of town.
This ride was no different. I'm not much of a hill climber so I knew the double hills on the way back to Madison would likely be a problem. I tried to stay on the front and keep the pace down. I even did the popular roadie aero tuck on the way down the first hill to keep good momentum for the second hill to conserve my limited energy. However, in the end my lack of climbing strength was my demise as I chased the other three desperately trying to keep from being so far off the back they thought I had gotten lost.
However, the fun did not end on the hills and when we rounded the turn into Verona's subdivisions the pace was cranked up. At this point Amelia and I both lost contact with Renee B and Jen. Of course, we weren't particularly surprised by this turn of events since we did see it coming. At this point we relied on our roadie backgrounds and began working together to limit the damage. I wouldn't say we were gaining ground but we stabilized the gap. I was sucking Amelia's wheel in total desperation at this point and with a stiff headwind there was no way I was going to let even a slim gap open up. We each took turns pulling (although I will admit that I sometimes wasn't too quick to pull through) and eventually the speedy expert racer gals slowed up for us.
Amelia and I then glued ourselves to their wheels in hope of making it back to Madison with them. It was all going fairly well on Whalen until we hit Seminole . . . another hot spot for lifting the pace and seeing who can hang on. Well, Amelia and I were hanging on tight but it wasn't easy as we had snot plastered all over our face as we cranked it up one more time headed back to town. The legs were screaming but once again common sense evaded me and I just buried myself to try and keep the wheel in front of me. Relief for me was the stop light at Seminole and PD giving us a red so that we had to stop and I could recover for a minute.
The downhill section after that was pure relief and then it's the annoying hill up Seminole and then the fast plunge into the arboretum. Luckily I ride that section a million times a year and so I know that by that time of night traffic is low and you can take the whole lane to fly down the hill and make the turn into the Arboretum.
We finally reached the Arb bridge but along the way we had a couple of surprise encounters with deer. Unfortunately right at the bridge one had the bad sense to run down the wrong side of the creek, then veer into traffic and almost get hit. Renee B. was determined to wrangle it back to where it was safer but herding deer is too much like herding cats.
So the first official FORCs road training ride for 2007 is in the books . . . hope to see more of you next week.
Renee C.
All was going well in the ride until Kathy, Berlie and Diane announced that they were going for a shortened ride and the rest of us should go on without them to Paoli. I attempted to look non-chalant and hopefully I hid my look of utter horror at this pronouncement. This meant I was left with 3 racers who were ramping up for the season to start soon and two of them were expert racers and one had just done spring break in NC. YIKES! This was not going to be the ride I had planned when I said I would be the Tuesday night ride leader.
At this point all good sense left my head and instead of joining Kathy, Berlie and Diane I set off with Amelia, Renee B and Jen. Now it's not that I haven't ridden at all. Like many of you I was inspired by the March weather to start riding earlier than I do normally. However, I've been out on the bike for no more than 10 rides and most all of them were of the type where your heart rate is in the recovery zone and the ride is less than 1.5 hours. Given that I don't really race until October I like to ease slowly into the season.
However, due to an all to common lack of common sense I headed off to Paoli. I immediately decided to use the common roadie tactic of going to the front of the group to try and dictate the pace as much as possible. This is a good tactic to try and at least moderate the pace to a survival level and I felt that this produced fairly good results into Paoli. Unfortunately as anyone who has ever done a group ride to Paoli knows the trouble never really starts until you head back out of town.
This ride was no different. I'm not much of a hill climber so I knew the double hills on the way back to Madison would likely be a problem. I tried to stay on the front and keep the pace down. I even did the popular roadie aero tuck on the way down the first hill to keep good momentum for the second hill to conserve my limited energy. However, in the end my lack of climbing strength was my demise as I chased the other three desperately trying to keep from being so far off the back they thought I had gotten lost.
However, the fun did not end on the hills and when we rounded the turn into Verona's subdivisions the pace was cranked up. At this point Amelia and I both lost contact with Renee B and Jen. Of course, we weren't particularly surprised by this turn of events since we did see it coming. At this point we relied on our roadie backgrounds and began working together to limit the damage. I wouldn't say we were gaining ground but we stabilized the gap. I was sucking Amelia's wheel in total desperation at this point and with a stiff headwind there was no way I was going to let even a slim gap open up. We each took turns pulling (although I will admit that I sometimes wasn't too quick to pull through) and eventually the speedy expert racer gals slowed up for us.
Amelia and I then glued ourselves to their wheels in hope of making it back to Madison with them. It was all going fairly well on Whalen until we hit Seminole . . . another hot spot for lifting the pace and seeing who can hang on. Well, Amelia and I were hanging on tight but it wasn't easy as we had snot plastered all over our face as we cranked it up one more time headed back to town. The legs were screaming but once again common sense evaded me and I just buried myself to try and keep the wheel in front of me. Relief for me was the stop light at Seminole and PD giving us a red so that we had to stop and I could recover for a minute.
The downhill section after that was pure relief and then it's the annoying hill up Seminole and then the fast plunge into the arboretum. Luckily I ride that section a million times a year and so I know that by that time of night traffic is low and you can take the whole lane to fly down the hill and make the turn into the Arboretum.
We finally reached the Arb bridge but along the way we had a couple of surprise encounters with deer. Unfortunately right at the bridge one had the bad sense to run down the wrong side of the creek, then veer into traffic and almost get hit. Renee B. was determined to wrangle it back to where it was safer but herding deer is too much like herding cats.
So the first official FORCs road training ride for 2007 is in the books . . . hope to see more of you next week.
Renee C.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Lily is Blue
Well I finally got my check back (uncashed unfortunately) from FatTire. It was not in the stars to be selected for the lottery this year. Lily Blue (my bike) and I are rather sad...it's such a fun race. Hopefully some of the MadFORCs will be at the race having a great time for all of us!
Friday, March 23, 2007
Team Bike Fit
A huge thanks to Tad from Body Scanning for coming to Madison and doing bike fits for the Mad FORCs! It was a great experience for the team and was a great way to get ready for the upcoming mountain bike season.
It was also a pretty cool process since it is incredibly fast since the process is computerized. No more invasive tape measures. Instead lasers do all the measuring and you get a great computer print out when you are done so you can use it in the future. If you need a bike fit look for a place that has Body Scanning!
Renee
It was also a pretty cool process since it is incredibly fast since the process is computerized. No more invasive tape measures. Instead lasers do all the measuring and you get a great computer print out when you are done so you can use it in the future. If you need a bike fit look for a place that has Body Scanning!
Renee
Friday, March 16, 2007
Who's up for an early season race?
Is anybody else interested in doing the Rock Cut Enduro down in Rockford, IL on April 29th? It's supposed to be a great set of trails and they have three distances ranging from 10-37 miles.
More info and registration info can be found at: http://www.rctrailcrew.org/
I am (tentatively) planning on going down Saturday night and either camping for staying with relatives. Let me know if you're interested!
- Amelia
More info and registration info can be found at: http://www.rctrailcrew.org/
I am (tentatively) planning on going down Saturday night and either camping for staying with relatives. Let me know if you're interested!
- Amelia
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
An ode to the Spring Ride
Nothing can quite be compared with the spring ride
Except for perhaps the fall ride
but alas I digress
The long dark days are slowly fading away
Time is now on your side as week night rides are no longer done in the dark
The sun is out to warm the long covered skin
But winter is not far from our minds
Piles of snow remind you of winter days past
A frozen lake glistens in the sun
Yet the day calls for shorts and you leave your arm warmers in the jersey pocket
The air warms your skin and you can't help but think of the hot days to come
But snow drifts linger in the shade to keep you cool as you pass by
What could be more perfect
What could be more perfect
Tires hum on the pavement
Lingering salt on the road glistens like glass
Dirt and debris line the road edges
But on a day like this it doesn't matter
Voices of riding companions flow through the air
Everyone excited to be back on the bike
Some for the first time, others off the trainers or out of the gym
It's hard not to love cycling on a day such as this
Except for perhaps the fall ride
but alas I digress
The long dark days are slowly fading away
Time is now on your side as week night rides are no longer done in the dark
The sun is out to warm the long covered skin
But winter is not far from our minds
Piles of snow remind you of winter days past
A frozen lake glistens in the sun
Yet the day calls for shorts and you leave your arm warmers in the jersey pocket
The air warms your skin and you can't help but think of the hot days to come
But snow drifts linger in the shade to keep you cool as you pass by
What could be more perfect
What could be more perfect
Tires hum on the pavement
Lingering salt on the road glistens like glass
Dirt and debris line the road edges
But on a day like this it doesn't matter
Voices of riding companions flow through the air
Everyone excited to be back on the bike
Some for the first time, others off the trainers or out of the gym
It's hard not to love cycling on a day such as this
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