After last Saturday's somewhat painful ride, I was determined to take advantage of as many opportunities to ride as possible before bike drop, when my bike will disappear and head for Tucson over a week before I do. I was ready to do this past week's Tuesday 6am ride, but it was rained out. Then, I did actually show up for Thursday's 6am ride in Central Park, but unfortunately not all the air in my front tire showed up with me; there was some kind of slow leak, and Coach Gregg decided it wasn't worth the risk or potential damage to my bike. So I rode a total of 3.5 miles that morning, and had to bring my bike in Friday evening to make sure I'd be ready for yesterday.

Yesterday was beautiful, perfectly cool and sunny weather for riding. And ride I did, a total of 57 miles (including my 16-mile round-trip to the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge). I rode up 9W, over Tallman Mountain, into Piermont, up to Nyack, and a little beyond - but not very much beyond. The rest of the group went on to Rockland Lake Park, where I presume some of them did loops of that park and then rode back down. But I was having a lot of trouble with hills by the time we were heading uphill out of Nyack, so I turned back, and Gregg joined me.

(As a side note, on the way back, a bee flew into my helmet. I would love to report that I didn't panic, but this would be a lie. I did, in fact, panic for a few moments, and nearly rode right off the road (I probably also nearly swerved into car traffic, but I can't say for sure). Finally I managed to get the helmet off and toss it to the side, allowing the bee to fly away and me to calm the @#$% down. No stings. Yay.)

57 miles is still nothing to sneeze at, but I was having trouble with my back, my legs, and my ass. Ironically I had plenty of wind left, so I know that aerobically and cardiovacularly, I'm still doing great. I just had muscle and energy problems, which should be no real shock given how much training I unfortunately missed this season. But one thing was very curious: after Gregg remarked that he hadn't seen me eating very much on the ride, I stepped up the pace at which I consumed my carbs and electrolytes, in the form of Clif Shot-Blocks, Clif Shots, and Gatorade. And by the time I finished the ride at 57 miles, I felt much better than I had 28.5 miles in.

It's a rather foolish lesson to have to keep learning over and over again, especially after I had a similar problem on last year's El Tour de Tucson - but unless you're really stupid about it, it's almost impossible to overeat during a ride. So I resolve, on my one remaining long training ride next Saturday, and on El Tour de Tucson in twenty days, to feed and hydrate myself constantly and effectively. I will also work on my core as much as reasonably possible between now and then, so that my back feels as good after this year's Tucson ride as it did after this year's Tahoe ride, not as bad as it did after last year's Tucson ride.

As I've said before, I won't be as ready for this year's ride as I was for last year's. But I will finish it.

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...and some very good riding indeed.

I couldn't manage to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 yesterday morning to do the group training ride up 9W; I'd had a long week and desperately needed the sleep. That's one disadvantage of TNT's otherwise excellent training program; all the major rides are Saturday morning, and that's the day I most need just a few more hours. I'm sure yesterday's ride was beautiful, if probably a little bit on the cool side.

But I did make it out this morning, and did several loops of Central Park, for a total of 34.3 miles. More importantly, I pushed my hill-climbing past my comfort zone; instead of dropping down to my granny (the easiest crank) for Harlem Hill, instead even of relying on the largest gear in my middle crank, I forced myself to climb Harlem Hill in the second largest gear in my middle crank. Every time. It wasn't easy, but I made it up five times, which was pretty instructive. Even though I've got a little more padding around the middle than I did while training for El Tour de Tucson at this time last year, my legs are obviously still quite strong from all the hill climbing we did training for, and during, America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride around Lake Tahoe in June.

Of course, the endurance bicyclists among you know that leg strength isn't always the most important thing; I still need to ride often enough this fall, and long enough distances, for my ass to be ready. I think, but I'm not positive, that next weekend our trainig ride is a choice of the 50-mile or 75-mile routes of the Twin Lights Ride, which I found fairly hilly and challenging last year. Again, my only complaint is likely to be how absurdly early I have to get up to catch the ferry from downtown Manhattan to New Jersey... but I'm looking forward to the ride.

Fundraising: $6,413 so far, or 32.065% toward my goal of $20,000. I finally decided that the only way I was going to find enough "free time" to send out all the remaining e-mails was to take my laptop with me pretty much everywhere I go now, so I'm queueing up those e-mails during my commute on the bus and subway. Stay tuned, if you haven't gotten yours yet, you will this week!

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Today's Training Ride (Home to Sea Streak Ferry at Pier 11 in downtown Manhattan; the 75-mile [actually 77-mile] route of the Twin Lights Ride; Pier 11 to Wall St. 4/5 subway stop; 86th St. stop to home):

86.2 miles

Total to Date:

782.0 miles

So much for "relatively non-hilly territory!" I honestly don't remember who told me that, or whether anyone really told me that in the first place, but it was definitely wrong. This ride through beautiful, scenic Monmouth County, NJ - especially the fourteen miles from the final rest stop to the finish line - was exceptionally challenging. I'm exhausted, but I'm absolutely elated at how well I did. Once again, this is now the longest single day of riding I've done in twelve years - and for a ride that hilly, especially when the worst hills are at the end, I'm delighted not to have gotten off my bike except for official rest stops.

The weather was also dead-solid perfect; sunny with barely a cloud in the sky, high in the upper 70s. And I have to say, this ride was degrees of magnitude better organized, better executed, and the route better marked, than the NYC Century a couple of weeks ago. Transportation Alternatives could certainly learn something from Bike New York, who for some reason produces the Twin Lights Ride. Amusingly, I once again ran into my old friend Mark, who was once again doing the 50-mile route with his friend.

My back and neck still need work. My knee is understandably sore, but strong and intact. I will absolutely sleep well tonight.

Photo 1: Harvey, Bubbles, Hollywood, Fatima, Your Narrator. Photo 2: Harvey's, Bubbles's, Hollywood's, and Fatima's asses.

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Today's Solo Training Ride (Home to E. 90th Street entrance; six inside loops of Central Park, one outside loop; E. 90th St. entrance to home):

40.8 miles

Total to Date:

695.8 miles

This was a good warm-up to the Twin Lights Ride in central New Jersey this coming Sunday, a 75-mile route over relatively non-hilly territory.

For those observing Yom Kippur tonight and tomorrow, have an easy fast. Thank you as always for your support.

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Today's Training Ride (Home to Penn Station; Middletown, NJ train station to Sandy Hook National Park; two loops of Sandy Hook; Sandy Hook to Middletown, NJ train station; Penn Station to Home):

52.2 miles

Total to Date:

655.0 miles

There was supposed to have been a Paceline Clinic today... Coach Matt was going to teach us how to ride in a paceline, those groups of bicyclists grouped together in a straight line looking alarmingly close to each other. It's a physics thing, a way of "drafting" so that only the lead rider faces the full wind resistance, and those behind him have an easier time, until he pulls out and falls back to become the last rider, and so on so that everybody gets a turn. We were going to meet at the Middletown train station, where we've met for rides to Sandy Hook in the past...

...only I got off, and there was nobody there. Nobody, at least, until fellow TNTer Joe pulled up in his Jeep. We were it. I finally called Matt, and he claimed to have sent out an e-mail canceling the ride due to rain at 5am, but neither of us had seen anything, and we'd both checked our e-mail before leaving home. In any event, Joe had a cue sheet for the ride with him (thank goodness, or we probably would've bagged the whole idea), so we set off on our own.

The ride to Sandy Hook was via a different route than we've taken before, but a more interesting one (and more challenging, hill-wise). Sandy Hook on the other hand was absurdly windy. Joe and I battled the headwind all the way down to the other end of the peninsula, and we did our best to run a two-man paceline, though some of the call-outs were a bit silly given that there was nobody else to hear them. At least it was good practice. The tailwinds coming back the other way were glorious; at one point we hit a good 25mph or so on flat, sea-level road. Then we did it all again, pacelining the headwinds and reveling in the tailwinds coming back. Finally we rode back to Middletown, where I got back on the train.

The real shame is - okay, the two real shames are - it turned into a glorious, partly sunny day, and not a single drop of rain fell on us the entire time... and the harsh winds were absolutely perfect for learning the mechanics and positives of a paceline, but we were the only ones to benefit. In any event, it was a good ride, and I'm pleased to have had Joe as a teacher; El Tour de Tucson won't be his first TNT ride, as he's already done either the Montauk Century or the Tahoe Century (or both, I'm not sure).

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Today's Training Ride (Home to 110th St. & Lenox by way of the Loeb Boathouse; the "55 mile" [actually 59-mile] route of the New York City Century Bike Tour through Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and back through Manhattan to 110th St. & Lenox; 110th St. & Lenox to Home):

67.6 miles

Total to Date:

602.8 miles

The weather was much nicer than anticipated, and although the route was frustratingly full of "city biking" with traffic lights and, well, traffic, it was a great bike ride. Mentor Kathryn and her friend Fatima were great companions, and we had a very good time passing some, being passed by others, feeling absolutely no guilt about multiple Krispy Kreme donuts at rest stops (along with far more nutritious road fare, of course), and generally just getting our bike on.

At the second rest stop on Canarsie Pier, I ran into my old college friend Mark, who was doing the 55-mile route with his friend Nicole... that was a fun coincidence, and we enjoyed catching up briefly.

We had just stopped at Costco in Queens not far from the Triboro Bridge for a snack and a drink when a couple of other riders told us that the section in the Bronx - which only 75-mile and 100-mile riders were doing - was quite hilly. I was all prepared to do another twenty miles of biking, but after yesterday's hill climbing clinic, I wasn't really interested in those particular twenty miles. I "punted," following the 55-mile route on 111th Street and finishing strong, knowing that the ride home from there would still make today the longest single day of riding that I've done in twelve years.

At one point fairly early in the ride, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, I unfortunately lost concentration for a moment and trashed a parked towncar's side-view mirror... with my forearm. I've got quite the swollen welt on my arm, but you should see the other guy. Anyway, I stopped to take note of what company it was from so I could let them know and offer to pay for the repair.

I feel great... I'm a little fried, and it's clear to me that I need to get my back as strong as possible if I'm going to keep increasing the length of my rides in the run-up to El Tour de Tucson. But my knee feels great, and other than having gotten up at five in the morning, I'm not exhausted. I can't wait until the Twin Lights Ride in New Jersey in two weeks, where I should have no problem doing the 75-mile route.

I hope everyone else has had a great weekend!

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So, it turns out that even a paid LiveJournal account only gives you fifty entries for your "Link List." I learned that yesterday while crediting my friend Addison for sponsoring a mile; his donation got him the 50th mile to be sponsored since I started "offering" dedicated miles for $100 each, and I noticed there were no more blank slots on my links form. So there's no room left at the inn, so to speak.

However, since I certainly don't intend to stop dedicating miles to people who sponsor them, there is always a solution. Several individuals or families have generously sponsored multiple miles, and as you can see on my blog's sidebar, I've dedicated each mile to them individually. I would prefer to keep it that way, as I think it more effectively conveys the magnitude of their donation, but I think henceforth whenever I need more "room" to dedicate another mile to a new donor, I'm going to have to consolidate some of the multiples. E.g., instead of "Mile 17: Bob" and "Mile 18: Bob," I'll list "Miles 17-18: Bob".

(A couple of people have cleverly insulated themselves against such consolidation by picking non-consecutive miles to sponsor... though I don't think that's why they did it. )

Rest assured, I appreciate everyone's donations of any size. It all adds up, and rather quickly at that - I'm nearing $6,000 on my way to my $10,900 goal. Thank you to everyone who has donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to sponsor my El Tour de Tucson ride thus far, and everyone still considering it!

Looking forward very much to tomorrow's winding training ride through the wilds of New Jersey.

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