Category: bicycle

The Year in Riding (2018)

Unfortunately, due to continuing problems with my feet and lots of traveling, I didn’t get to ride nearly as much as I would have liked (again). This is the fewest miles I’ve ridden (including the year without major heart issues) since I first got back on my bike 7 years ago. Also, I was the heaviest I’ve been in a long time, I never got below 220 the entire year (I usually get down around 205 by Aug), so there was that, too, which contributed to the lower than usual average speed.

I rode only 1 organized ride this year. The Tour de H2O and I only rode the 25 miler rather than the half- or metric century because I had no real base built up. I also registered for, but did not ride, the Ride 2 Recovery Honor Ride (making the 2nd year in a row I missed that.

  • Tour de H2O – 25.13 mi (40.44 km) in 1:41:08, avg – 14.91 mph (24.00 km/h), max grade – 6.3%, total climbing – 471 ft (144 m). Nasty hill and headwind the last 2 miles.
  • Total number of rides = 21
  • Total mileage – 391.59 mi
  • Total time – 28:26:06
  • Total climbing – 8,553 ft
  • Avg speed = 14.26 mph (22.95 km/h)
  • Avg time of ride = 1:22:18
  • Avg length of ride = 19.58 mi (31.51 km)
  • Rides over 20 mi = 10
  • Rides over 29.75 mi = 1
  • Rides over 50 mi = 0 (for the second time since 2012)
  • Rides over 1:30:00 = 8 (up 1 from last year)
  • Rides over 2:00:00 = 1 (down one from last year)
  • Rides over 3:00:00 = 0 (for the second year in a row)

2016 Ride 2 Recovery Honor Ride Ohio

20160528_075755

As has been the case the last two years, I kicked off my “organized riding season” and the Memorial Day holiday weekend with the 3rd annual Ride 2 Recovery Honor Ride Ohio in New Albany this morning.  There I got to ride with 900 of my closest friends (and Sen. Rob Portman, who I actually only saw before the ride, he missed last year’s ride because the Senate was still in session, don’t remember over what).  They cut back on the swag this year (no t-shirt and no medal at the end), I’m trying to decide how I feel about that.  It was a nice way to kick off the summer though.  It was just overcast enough that it didn’t get too hot, so it was perfect for riding.  The first 2 miles of the ride we were escorted by the New Albany and Reynoldsburg police which was nice, but kept the pace down.  I beat last years time by about 10 minutes, and I thought I had done a decent ride last year.  This ride is to support Ride 2 Recovery which, I believe, is doing important work, if you wish to donate, you can do so here.

The year in riding 2014

Sigh…  Ok, I did some longer rides this year, I didn’t come close to my plan to ride 2000 miles this year or to ride 3 days/week.  Having said that, it wasn’t a bad year, just not what I had hoped for.  It turns out I was mistaken, I thought I had only ridden 1107 last year, so I thought my final ride to bring me to 1112 put me over last year, on closer examination, I guess I rode 1115 last year, so I ended up 3 miles short of last year.  I had 6 rides of 50+ miles,

Of course, the “highlight” of this year was my collision with the deer.  I guess I didn’t really write about that here, so let me summarize.  I was 42 miles into what I had planned to be another 60+ miler doing about 22mph on a flat-to-slightly downhill stretch of Palmer Rd, when a 6 or 8 point buck came bounding out of a corn field on my right, one hop and it was right in front of me with no time to react.  I’m glad I was on my recumbent and not on by road bike or I suspect I would have been hit by the antlers instead of having them pass 6 or 8 inches in front of my face.  Also, fortunately for the deer, I was on the big chain ring or I think I would have ripped its abdomen open.  The buck absorbed most of my momentum so that when I went down, I had some road rash on my right shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee and a cracked rib, but did not rip the shorts or jersey.  The only real damage to the bike was a bent large chainring and the fairing was destroyed.  This was day 4 (Tuesday) of what I had planned as 8 straight days of 60+ miles, I took it easy thereafter, I rode 26.5 on Thursday and then the Pedal with Pete 47 miler on Saturday.

Anyway, I’ll summarize my year again as I have the last several.  I actually did one more organized ride this year (6), than the last 2 years, but ended up with fewer total rides this year than last.

  • Ride 2 Recovery Honor Ride – 36.24mi (58.32km) in 2:22:28 = 15.26mph (24.56 km/h), Erin rode the first half, some hills right after the rest stop
  • Tour de Cause, Adventurer course – 64.70mi (104.12km) in 4:52:01 = 13.28mph (21.37 km/h), I paid for lack of base mileage, the hills (~1900 feet of climbing, max grade of 9.8%), and the heat (it was up near 95°F).  I lost 0.6mph just in the last 15 miles because my legs felt like jello.
  • Delaware County Friends of Trails (DCFT) – 64.54mi (103.87km) in 4:22:23 = 14.76mph (23.75 km/h), I hadn’t ridden in the 2 weeks between the Tour de Cause and this one, but at least there were fewer hills (only 1055 feet of climbing), though half the climbing came in the last quarter of the ride. This was to be the start of 8 days of 60+ mile rides, it didn’t end up that way.
  • Pedal with Pete – 47.56mi (76.54km) in 2:53:37 = 16.44mph (26.46 km/h), I cut this one short rather than do the metric because of the thunder I heard at the rest stop, I just beat the rain back to the finish.
  • Steve Barbour Memorial Ride – 60.61mi (97.54km) in 3:44:34 = 16.19 mph (26.06 km/h), humid (foggy at the start)
  • Ride Deaf – 64.93mi (104.49km) in 4:19:16 = 15.03mph (24.19 km/h), very chilly and windy (didn’t reach 60°F until last 8 miles, and headwind for the first 36 miles)
  • Total # of rides = 36 (down from 43 last year)
  • Total mileage = 1112.80 miles (down from 1115.10 last year)
  • Total time = 72:22:41 (down from 73:16:41 last year)
  • Total climbing = 19,281 ft (up from 18,033 last year, but down from 21,660 in 2012)
  • Avg. speed = 15.37mph (up from 15.29mph last year)
  • Avg. time of ride = 02:00:38 (up from 01:42:15 last year and 02:00:08 in 2012)
  • Avg. length of ride = 30.91mi (up from 25.93 last year and 29.64 in 2012)
  • Rides over 20 miles = 28 (same as last year)
  • Rides over 29.75 miles = 16 (down from 18 last year)
  • Rides over 50 miles = 6 (up from 2 last year and 2 in 2012)
  • Rides over 01:30:00 = 23 (down from 24 last year)
  • Rides over 02:00:00 = 10 (same as last year)
  • Rides over 03:00:00 = 6 (double the 3 from last year)

Ride Deaf 2014

Yesterday, I rode the Ride Deaf Challenge metric century.  It was very chilly at the start. Not just the temperature, but the wind.  Also, it didn’t help that for 15 of the first 20 miles, I had a very full bladder which made climbing torture. Temp 50-68°F (didn’t reach 60°F until last 8 miles), strong wind from NW (meaning headwind for first 36 miles), max grade 5.7%, 1323 ft of climbing, HRM zones 3-5 2:56. 64.93mi (104.49 km) in 4:19:16, avg speed 15.03mph (24.19 km/h), max speed 28.5 mph (45.9 km/h).

Steve Barbour Memorial Tour 2014

This is a ride I’ve never done before.  They run 3 distances, a metric century (actually 60.6), an 80 miler, and a century.  I chose to ride the metric.  It was very humid today, by far the most humid ride of the year, the fog took over an hour to burn off, temp 68-86F, wind from NE @ 7, max grade 4.1%, HRM zones 3-5 3:11. 60.61 mi (97.54 km) in 3:44:34, avg – 16.19 mph (26.06 km/h), max speed – 32.1 mph (51.7 km/h). My goal was to complete the ride in under 4 hours and I accomplished that with plenty of time to spare.

 

Pedal with Pete 2014

I went out with every intention of riding the metric century despite the encounter with the deer earlier this week (maybe I’ll do a separate blog post on that later), but when I heard thunder at the 24mi food stop and my knee was beginning to stiffen up, I decided discretion was the better part of valor and decided to try to beat the rain back to the finish (which I did), so I ended up doing the 47 miler again (for the 3rd year in a row).  I actually really like the ride and it is pretty flat.  This year, despite the crash earlier this week and being even heavier than last year (by 2+ lbs, making this the heaviest I’ve ever been for an organized ride 🙁 ), I shaved another 3:23 off my time, so I guess I’m in half way decent shape.  The temperature was perfect and I was under an overcast (as the rain tried to catch me) for the last half of the ride, so conditions were nearly ideal.

DCFT 2014 – 64 miler

My 3rd organized ride of the season already.  Of course, having spent the last week at Dad’s to celebrate his 80th birthday, I haven’t gotten any more riding in since the last organized ride (where I already paid dearly for the lack of miles).Temp 62.6-87.8F, moderate wind from S, shifting to W. HRM zones 3-5 3:37. 64.54mi in 4:22:23 (14.76mph). First hour I averaged 14.7mph, 2nd hour – 16.1mph, 3rd hour – 14.6mph, 4th hour – 14.1mph, last 22 min – 12.6mph. I have some words for the sadist who designed the course where nearly half the climbing was in the last 1/4 of the ride. There was a stretch about 10mi from the finish where I felt like a sprinter on Hautecam.

Tour de Cause 2014 – Adventurer course metric century

I haven’t ridden anywhere near as much as I had hoped for the last 6 weeks and I really paid for it after the rest stop at 49mi today.  My legs just felt like jello and I ended up losing 0.6mph in that last stretch.  There was more climbing in the first 7.5 miles than what I have in my 30 mile loop (which I’ve only ridden once this year).  The temp ranged from 64°F at the start to reading 95°F at the finish, though it was probably just 89-90°F.  HRM zones 3-5 3:05 though it was a little flaky right after that second rest stop and was reading in the 90s-low 110s for a while when I’m sure it was in the 140-150s. 64.7mi in 4:52:01 for an avg of 13.28mph, max grade 9.6% (even worse than the Lancaster County Covered Bridge Metric from 2012 where max grade was 7.8%, though that had 1200+ more feet of climbing than this one in total).

Ride 2 Recovery 2014

Erin & me at the rest stop

Erin and I rode the Ride 2 Recovery Honor Ride this morning.  You can read all about it over on their website, but essentially, the ride is about supporting wounded veterans, which is appropriate on Memorial Day weekend.  It is also a good reminder that as we celebrate those who gave their lives in defense of our country, there are many who made it home, but not necessarily all in one piece and not all those wounds are visible.  Remember, in 2012 (I haven’t seen the statistics for 2013) more active duty members of the military died due to suicide than died in combat.  I still thank God daily that Shane made it back from his two tours with no visible scars.  It turned out to be a beautiful day to ride, temp 60.8-84.2°F during the ride itself, though it was only about 50°F as we were putting the bikes on the car.  Winds were light.  Because Erin was with me (and because, with the lousy weather the last couple of weeks, I’d ridden a grand total of once in the last 2 weeks), I decided to ride the 35 miler rather than the 70 miler.  If you click through the widget below, you’ll notice several very slow miles in there, mostly on the hills shortly after the rest stop.  I obviously had some issues with some of the hills (and the fact that my weight was actually the highest today that it has been in over a month due to eating out several times this week and no exercise to speak of), though overall, I did still average 15.3mph, 36.24mi in 2:22:28 (I spent the 45 minutes at the rest stop waiting for and then sitting with Erin).  I raised a little money for the cause and the website remains open, so perhaps I can reach or beat my goal, please consider helping out at http://www.active.com/donate/columbus2014/JClausing.

The year in riding

Just like last year I did a fair amount of riding this year.  I wasn’t as successful in losing weight by riding this year, but I did enjoy myself.  This year I rode a bit further than last year, but only had 2 rides of 50+ miles (and neither were over 53) and 5 organized rides again (same number as last year).  I mostly rode 2 days a week (usually Tue & Sat), next year, maybe I’ll try for 3 (add Thu).

  • BikeMS Central Ohio Challenge 50 miler – 52.74mi, 03:41:22, avg = 14.29mph, some rain and thunder in the middle of the course
  • Pedal with Pete 47 mile route – 47.47mi, 02:57:01, avg = 16.09mph, rain for the first hour of the ride, but beat last year’s time
  • Tour de Donut “Full Donut” – 30.71mi, 01:43:43, avg = 17.77mph, a race where 5 minutes gets deducted for every donut eaten, I finished 2nd in raw time in the recumbent division (4th in donut-adjusted time)
  • CHA Pedal for Pets – 45.00mi, 02:56:42, avg = 15.28mph, very chilly 45°F at the start
  • Ride for Reason Alzheimer’s ride – 47.93mi, 02:59:48, avg = 15.99mph, very poorly marked route
  • Total # of rides = 43
  • Total mileage = 1115.10 miles
  • Total time = 73:16:41
  • Avg. speed = 15.29mph
  • Avg. time of ride = 01:42:15
  • Avg. length of ride = 25.93mi
  • Rides over 20 miles = 28
  • Rides over 29.75 miles = 18
  • Rides over 01:30:00 = 24
  • Rides over 02:00:00 = 10
  • Rides over 03:00:00 = 3