Maryland Endurance Challenge inaugural event

I was looking for an UMCA 12 hour race to replace Calvins Challenge, since last year looks to be the last year of Calvin's. I really both loved and hated Calvin's Challenge. It was only a couple of hours drive for me, was in early enough to prepare for the National 24 hours challenge over Fathers day weekend in June. I sometimes hated it since it was held early enough in the season to have some really bad  bad weather days, whether it be the cold, cold rain, snow or very strong winds, or the combination of all the above. But when the weather was great, it was a fantastic ride. Plus it was my inaugural UMCA event which was held on my 50th birthday a few years ago, I managed 187 miles even though there were 25MPH winds all day.
I liked the Maryland Endurance Challenge since it is still well before my 24 hour ride, and matches the 12 hour of Calvin's. I never would have considered this new ride if I had completed Calvin's this year. The negative for me is the 8 hour drive time to get to the event, this would be the longest trip I have ever made for a bike ride.

The Ride details:
This is the inaugural Maryland Endurance Challenge held on the Mount St. Mary's University PNC Sports Complex in Frederick County, Maryland. This event is to help benefit the local organization SHIP which helps local county homeless students of public schools This new event has three challenges available, 12, 6 and 3 hour courses. Each course includes two loops, one at 34 miles and the second at 7 miles. The 12 hour challenge starts with three 34 mile loops, the 6 hour challenge starts with two 34 mile loops and the 3 hour with one 34 mile loop. Each challenge then finishes with as many 7 mile loops that you can fit in before your time expires, whether it is 3, 6, or 12 hours. The last lap does not need to be a complete lap, they will use your average time of the last loop from the timing chip to calculate how many miles you completed at the final second.

Laps were primarily tracked by timing chips attached to the bike. They were also manually checked at the half way point of the large loop at the top of a short steep climb. The hill slowed the riders enough that the timekeepers had no problem checking the bike numbers as we rode or walked by. The primary timing location also had cameras filming to help with any disputes that may crop up.

If it all works out, I think this may be the best loop counting option I have seen at a UMCA event. I say 'if it works out' since we weren't given the results at the end of the race. So here it is Monday morning, two days after the event and I currently still have no idea how I have placed in this event.

The 8 hour drive to get there from Indiana:
I was not looking forward to the long drive. I know it sounds crazy to some, but I'd much rather ride my bike for 12 hours then drive any vehicle for 8 hours. I so much look forward to self driving cars, I for one would go to events farther away if my van took me while I slept in the back.

The drive wasn't as bad as I had imagined with the exception of one driver that I had encountered (we really need self driving cars now!) I was peacefully driving at 70MPH (the speed limit) in the passing lane, only a few seconds from passing a much slower car in the right lane.  There were no other cars in sight in front of me, there was one car behind me. The driver of the slower car unexpectedly turned on their left turn signal, it blinked once and caught my attention, why would they be doing a lane change? There was no cars anywhere in front of them. The light started to blink a second time as the front of the car actually started to turn into my lane. This is not a drill! The car wasn't trying to make a lane change, it was actually made a full blown left turn, so now it is fully broadside in front of me and I'm merely seconds away from T-boning a car at 70MPH on the Interstate. I slam on the brakes and pull quickly to the right. My Ford Transit-connect wasn't intended for such hard braking turns. I think I was on two wheels for a second or so. I barely miss hitting the car as it pulled towards the Interstate medium. Now the back end of my van was about to scrape the car so I pulled to the left and managed to somehow miss the car completely, but now the van is out of control swerving left to right. Luckily there are no other cars in front of me and I'm in the middle of two lanes which gave me plenty of time to gain control before I would have crashed off the Interstate or into other cars. Not sure how it happened, it was so fast, but I finally gained control of the van without it flipping over or crashing into anything. I have now pulled into the slow lane to recuperate. it was a good 10 seconds later when I started to ferociously honk my horn at the car that I could see in my rear view mirror is now long behind me and sitting in the Interstate center medium waiting to make a U-turn into the traffic heading the opposite direction using an emergency vehicle U-turn area. I have no idea how the car behind me handled all this, he passed me and then pulled in front of me to turn off the Interstate. Later I thought I should have followed him to see if he may have filmed or had other thoughts as to what had just happened.  Other then that one very short incident,  the 8 hour trip was completely event-less and I don't  think I'll be as discouraged by long drives at any future events.

Arrival at the PNC Sports Complex:
The Google map app expertly guided me into the correct area, as evidenced by the event signs along the road with arrows pointing the way to the event starting area. It is around 7:00 Friday evening , the night before the big event that starts at 8:00 in the morning. It's early enough that I decide to drive the clearly marked roads to check out the road conditions. I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth and pot-hole free the roads looked, from a car perspective. The largest obstacles were some muddy spots from trucks and tractors that could be washed off with a good rain. There are a lot of short steep hills plus the one long 100+ foot hill that wasn't as steep, just long. The course has lots of beautiful countryside including three covered bridges, meandering creeks, wooded areas and small towns. One of the better if not the most beautiful UMCA route that I have been on (not that I have ridden a lot of them).

My plan was to sleep in the back of the van the night before the event and grab a hotel afterwards to clean up and rest before the drive back. I have parked in the event parking area, it is now pouring down rain, with any luck all the rain will be finished long before the 8:00 morning start time.

Morning of the race:
I got in a good 5 hours of sleep before getting up and found that I was no longer alone at the starting area. Organizers were prepping the start line and registration areas getting ready for the big event. The PNC complex has a restroom close by, so no porta potties were required at the starting area, this is great, it makes changing into the biking clothes a bit easier. Unfortunately there were no showers that could be used after the race, at least not that I had seen. I thought that I would be the only recumbent, I was wrong, I did see one other, an acquaintance that I have meant last year at the National 24 hour challenge (sorry, I'm terrible with names). He said there were a couple more signed up, one for the 6 and one for the 3 hour, although I didn't see either one of  them.

Race start:
The race started with a mass start at a few minutes after 8:00 with the firing of a musket from a civil war reenactment soldier from a local event or club. Once the musket went off, the official timer started and we were off! The start was thankfully un-eventful and very smooth. I wasn't in a hurry, I typically take it somewhat easy until the crowd dissipates into their smaller groups. By the time I was getting close to the 30 mile mark, I was riding alone.

The 34 mile loop:

This loop has three covered bridges, which are a little bumpy but not dangerous for bikes with narrow tires like some covered bridges I have seen. There are three railroad crossings the first two are very smooth and safe to ride over but the third one looks terrible if you stop and look at how large the gaps are, but as long as there is no traffic and you can hit the rails at a 90 degree angle they were easy enough to cross. Traffic was very light, there was a couple of intersections in the small towns that were troublesome since the cross traffic did not stop. Since I'm on a recumbent and my head is back from the front of the bike I can't see around the buildings as well to see if there is oncoming traffic, until the front of my bike is almost in the street.

These were some of the best and smoothest roads I have ever ridden on for a complete double century. I don't mean just some of them, they were all great roads. They had signs warning of 'loose gravel' over a few miles, it did look like there was some loose bits of gravel, but if it weren't for the signs, I never would have noticed it. The markers for the turns were great, with only one exception. It was fairly obvious when it was time to turn. that one exception was quickly fixed. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, this course has a few of hills.

The night before I had noticed a large and very dead snake on the road, it was actually on the right hand side and would have to be carefully steered around to avoid this obstacle. Now on my bike, I see a couple of vultures up ahead working over the dead snake. One vulture flew off, while the other grabbed the large dead snake and flew off straight down the road requiring more height before it could fly over the trees. It looked surreal with the snakes stiff body appearing to re-animate as it moved very snake-like side to side as it was being carried off, similar to what I would imagine a zombie snake would move and look like. Since the vulture was apparently having problems gripping and flying off with its meal, I started to think that perhaps it would drop the large dead snake square into my lap. I have seen videos of hawks dropping live snakes on people but never a vulture dropping a dead one on a person. I didn't want to be the first, so I started to slow down a little to give it time to stay ahead of me. I then started to think of all the little dead snake bits that were most likely showering down on me, and since I'm riding a recumbent, my smiling face was pointing straight upwards. I stopped smiling and slowed a little more and then was thankful that the vulture finally flew off over the trees to the side of the road still tightly gripping its fresh meal.

On the first loop it looked like the organizers forgot to mark when the long loop turned back into the 7 mile short loop to the starting area. (this was quickly fixed by the time I finished my second loop with large signs and road marker arrows) This problem was made worse since a mile down the road after the turn is missed you are right back on the large loop with the signs and markers making it look like you are still on the correct course. I became suspicious when I saw the "Hot Strava Segment ahead" sign, I remembered it from earlier in the loop. and wondered if they had two of these 'hot segments' or is this the same sign? Turned out it was the same sign. I turned the bike around to go back when a large group of riders came past, I asked are they on the first lap, they said yes. So I turned around again to follow this group surely they know were they were going. I then started to see some landmarks that I seem to recognize. Both myself and another rider are now convinced we are going the wrong way, she saw a street sign that she recognized. We both turn back and then wrongly turned towards to the starting area by following the starting area 'exit road', instead of the starting area 'entrance road'. After have a couple of riders hollered at us that we are going the wrong way, we again head back out and search for the starting area entrance road. We finally found the red short loop marker signifying where the correct turn off was. It is not uncommon for me to get lost at these events.

The 7 mile loop:

The 7 mile loop was a lot simpler with only right turns, no covered bridges, railroad tracks or flying dead snakes to worry about. On paper I was concerned since we could only do three large loops. I was worried that the small short loops would become boring after the first couple of times. Boy was I wrong, the short loop had plenty of great scenery and some nice downhills that really made this a fun and never boring loop, even after repeating it 16 times. It also felt very safe with only light traffic and right hand turns with no blind corners at these turns. The only cautious area was during a fast downhill section that had a blind curve and a culvert that I always slowed down for, watching for oncoming traffic but even this was a fun and exhilarating portion of the ride. Oh, almost forgot, this short loop also had a couple of hills.

General notes:

I never stopped at the halfway stop area on the long course, so I can't say much about it, except it seemed to have plenty of volunteers and snacks from my perspective as I rode by.  I only stopped three or four times to grab a new water bottle or more snacks. Somehow I didn't feel the urge to stop even once for a bathroom break.

The area where you turn around after passing the electronic lap counter was only as wide as a regular street and it had a tall curb on each side. This can make it tricky for longer bikes to get turned around and restart their lap.

Over all this was a fantastic ride with almost perfect weather for this inaugural event. The temperatures were in the 60's with 100 percent cloud cover all day with a strong wind from the North. I only noticed the wind during the last two miles while heading into the starting area.

I really liked how the ride was organized, kudos to all that created this event and to the volunteers that helped this go smoothly.

Click here for my Strava ride details It shows 213.7 miles with a total time of 11:59:23, but some of it was extra bonus miles that won't count in the official finish time. I'm happy I could pull off a hilly double century under 12 hours, especially considering I'm 20 pounds overweight and had enough tools and equipment on the bike that it weighed in close to 30 pounds (including three 28 ounce water bottles). That is a lot of extra weight to pull up the endless amount of hills.


I am planning on updating post this as I get some pictures and the final results from this great event.

Big Jays Fatass 12 hour bike ride

Link to Big Jays Fat Ass 12/6 hour 

I don't name them, I only participate in them.
I've discovered with this ride you have to be extra careful when you tell your co-workers your plans for the weekend. When someone asks, "What's your plans for the weekend?". Don't say something like, "I'll be doing big Jays fatass for 12 hours" You'll get some odd looks, especially when you have a co-worker named Jay. I then had to do some back-pedaling and ended up saying something like " I don't name them, I only ride them".

The Ride details:

This UMCA event starts in Mahomet Illinois, which is almost a 3 hour drive from my home. It has both a 12 and a 6 hour ride, they both end at 6:00PM. This ride is unique from other UMCA events I have attended. It has no registration or registration fees, so no one knows how many, or even who may attend. They only ask that you make a donation to the local Rotary club.

The ride has a single 'almost 25 mile' long loop. There is a single stop light that really needs to be obeyed, which can add a couple of minutes per loop. There are 4 or 5 railroad crossings, but none of them are bad enough that you need to slow down as you cross them. There are some gently rolling hills, plus a couple of overpasses. Most of the roads are on Illinois county roads, there are a couple of highway stretches. The heaviest traffic is in the town of Mahomet, and that traffic is light. There is a gas station at around the halfway mark, which makes a great stop for supplies if needed. The event does not provide any ride snacks, the only official stop is the start/finish at the funeral home. They do provide porta-poties, water and pot-luck cookout after the ride. They have an after race ceremony where the two riders with the highest mileages per category win a bottle of wine, your choice of red or white. The rider with the highest miles has their name added to the fatass traveling trophy saddle.

It starts and end at the Blair-Owens funeral home, and puts more trust on the riders being honest then other events. There is only one lap counter stop, it's at the start of the loop. Whenever you pass by the event table you holler your rider number, so they can mark your completed lap on the event card. On your last lap when the timer is running down to the last minutes, the riders are allowed to turn around and ride the loop in reverse. The riders then tell the event personnel how many extra miles they completed within the 12/6 hours, so the miles can be added to the riders completed full loops for their total distance.

Why I like this event:

Jay Yost, the event creator and namesake states the purpose of the ride is to help you get your personal best, whether it be for 6 or 12 hours. Even though this ride may seem amateurish compared to other rides, I really like it for a couple of reasons:

This ride is a unique 'gateway' Ultra cycling event for anyone that may be considering the sport. It isn't expensive like other UMCA events can be, the longest (and only) loop is only 25 miles, if you're considering your first ultra cycling ride, this is a great place to start.

I also like how it demonstrates that a ride can be very simple and low cost to create. I don't want to over simplify what it takes to run an event like this, Jay does a great job. The way it's ran makes me feel that even I could start a 12 hour event if I had the desire. I feel there aren't enough ultra cycling events close to my neighborhood, plus there aren't any annual UMCA events in Indiana at all. Perhaps someone can pick up the ball here and make this happen, using the Jay Yosts method.

It's relatively close to my home, has great company and everyone has a fun time, even if we are melting in the heat. The largest disadvantage is possibly the July heat, last year we had a triple digit heat index, this year was much cooler, in the low 90's.

My ride details:

In 2015, I only managed to get 150 miles since the heat hit me hard. My stomach started feeling hot around the 85 mile mark, I then realized that I had stopped sweating, the sweat in my shirt had dried up and I was feeling the sun beat down on my shirt. I then struggled to finish the lap. when I did, Scott Radliff (also riding a recumbent) loaned me a bag of ice to cool myself down with. After a couple of hours I recuperated enough to do two more laps plus a couple extra miles for a total of 150 miles. Ride link:

In 2016, I completed 210 miles, even though the high temps still zapped my energy. Scott was back this year, he also rode over 200 miles. I was struggling on the last couple of laps. I couldn't go over 17mph, or my legs would start cramping from all over, so I just held down to an easy pace. I couldn't stop long at this time, or I may not get my goal of 200 miles under 12 hours. This is when I started questioning the need for 200 miles under 12 hours. I can easily get 200 miles, but what idiot set the standard of 200 miles under 12 hours? Then I realized, I was that idiot. Ride Link:

Summary:

This is a great ride for anyone looking for their first Ultra cycling event, or anyone trying to get their personal best record. It has a single 25 mile loop. There's a gas station at the half way point if extra refreshments are needed. This event is ran on the inexpensive side, so don't expect snacks at the start area (the only sag stop), there are provided porti-poties, water and a pot-luck cook out afterwards. The category winners will win a bottle of wine. I've completed this ride twice now and am looking forward to a third ride next year. We need more events like this one that has a grass roots feel to it, especially closer to my home! I don't like long drives.

National 24 Hour Challenge 2015

I'm an idiot, my wife has been telling me that for years, I've always been too stupid to listen. Todays definition of an idiot is someone that does not learn from their mistakes, sometimes doing the exact opposite of what should have been learned.

Just last month, Calvin's 12 hour challenge was a very rough ride for me. Even though I met my goal, I felt terrible during the and after the ride. I had to hold my head down between my knees a few times after the ride to keep from passing out. My foot still has pain remnants while simply walking. I'm sure there are a lot of reasons the ride was so rough for me, high on the list was not training for the ride.

The lesson learned should be obvious, don't do another double century or longer ride until I'm in better shape and prepared. So I need to do some proper training, drop my winter pounds then perhaps in a few months, I'll be ready.

Since the National 24 hour challenge is in June, that means I needed to skip it this year. I haven't done any training since Calvin's, I even had a bike crash that held back my riding for a week. My bad knee was bothering me a bit for the last couple of weeks. It's five hours away, which isn't too bad, until you consider the five hour drive back, right after completing a 24 hour bike ride.

So it seemed like a lesson learned, skip the 24 hour this year. I'm not physically ready (as made clear by Calvin's ), they were also predicting severe weather with lots of wind. So there is no reason to even consider the N24HC. After all, I'm not an idiot (don't ask my wife's opinion on this). So it's settled, perhaps next year. End of story.

Then why am I sitting at the N24HC registration page just minutes before the registration deadline? The weather still shows thunderstorms, I'm still carrying my winter weight, my foot still aches, I'm not in better shape. Why am I so drawn to this event? It would be great if I could get my first ever  triple century. Somehow, I don't have the power to stop myself, five minutes before the midnight deadline? Suddenly I'm filling out the online form afraid I may not make the midnight deadline. HA! completed, I made it in time, I am totally an idiot.

The next few days after registering I set my phone weather app to closely watch the weather at Middleville Michigan. It doesn't look good. At first it looked bad all day and night.  They were predicting 15 - 20mph winds from the South East, so the first 60 miles of the 121 mile loop would be slow against the wind, while the trip back would be fun depending on how hard the rain was. As Saturday drew nearer, they re-guessed it was only going to be severe weather at the very start of the ride. Then they changed it to early afternoon, later it moved to late evening. I was prepared for the wet adventure, I had my biking rain coat ready and made a rain visor that could be velcroled to my helmet when needed, using the bottom of a clear Tupperware container as the visor. I hope the wife doesn't discover that her bin is missing a bottom.

Late Friday morning I left for Middleville, expecting to get there around 4:00 in the afternoon. The weather app was now predicting the thunderstorm to hold off till Midnight, but the humidity was going to be high with temps in the mid 80s. I had been hoping for some severe weather so I would have an excuse for failing this ride. I would consider anything less then a double century as a failure, since I already completed one of those this year. An utter complete failure would be not even completing the first 121 mile loop.

Goals for this ride:
Even though this ride is hillier then Calvin's, I wanted to complete the first 200 miles under 12 hours, like I did at Calvin's. My primary goal was to complete my first ever triple Century, 300 miles.

The morning of the ride:
I looked outside the van I was sleeping in and saw the flags blowing steadily in the wind. Drats, so much for the 3 - 4 mph final wind prediction for the morning. Looking at my phone I see the severe weather was going to hold off till after midnight, but the winds are in single digits all day! The temperature is in the high 50's so I won't be needing my jacket. This ride works by starting everyone on a 121 mile loop at 8:00 Saturday morning, once that loop is complete, we move to a 24 mile loop, then after 7:15 we can start the 7 mile loop for the night time ride, we can ride the 7 mile loop as many times as we can before 8:00 Sunday morning.

The 121 mile loop:
The first loop started at 8:00 sharp with the local school band playing the bagpipes over the loudspeakers. There are over 250 riders for the mass start event. The local police are controlling the traffic at the major intersections to help keep it an incident free start.

Once in the countryside, like most other mass start rides, the upright bikes would pass me on long uphill sections, but then I'd re-pass them on the downhill sections. On other rides, I used to try stick with other groups, but that meant hitting the brakes through the downhill sections, so I usually go off on my own. After 20 miles or so, the groups start spreading out, some behind me, others ahead. There are usually a couple riders off in front that I can see, to help assure me that I'm still on the correct road. I've missed plenty of road markers in other rides, I wasn't looking for any bonus miles today.

The rest stops had plenty of fruit and water plus porta-potties. In this ride you have to stop at the sag stops so they can punch your mileage card to document your distance traveled. There are three stops along the first 121 mile loop, the longest is around 37 miles between stops. I put on the arm and leg coolers at the first stop. The weather was almost perfect, it could have been a little cooler and we could always do with less wind. But the temperature only got to around 84 and overcast most of the day. I started to feel some heat and humidity around 3:00 but it didn't seem to last long.

The 24 mile loops:
Once you have finished the 121 mile loop you can start the 24 mile loop at any time, and do as many loops as you like, as long as you get to its check point before 8:00, when it closes. The check point was around 7 miles into the loop. The 3-4 miles right before the checkpoint seemed to be all gentle uphill with the strongest headwinds all day. I was feeling great up till this point, now I was letting the riding conditions get me down. Leaving the checkpoint was still gentle up hills, but then a turn to a different street and suddenly downhill speeds! nice. Then came the steepest hill on the 24 mile loop, not a monster by any means, thankfully it was short but not too steep. Once I got to the top though... it had a great long downhill section, which had me coasting at 32mph for what seemed like a couple of miles. There was a rolling hill, but the momentum from the last hill almost took me to the top, then more fun downhill sections. Definitely worth the uphill climbs for the downhill joy. Before I knew it, the 24 mile loop was finished and I was ready to start my second one.

Some upright cyclist would pass me during the uphill sections of this loop. Since the recumbent is more aero then most uprights, I would almost always pass them on the downhill sections. When I could easily coast over 30mph. It was like activating my secret super-human powers as I could effortlessly coast by some very fast cyclist that were putting some real effort at keeping me at bay. I simply coasted by them, without peddling and waved while they peddled as fast as they could. For some reason, I was starting to enjoy the 24 mile loops. I imagined myself donning a superman cape on the fast down hills. I ended up doing 3 loops for a total of 193 miles.

The 7 mile loops:
We are allowed to start the 7 mile loop start at 7:15, It's around 7:38 when I finished the last 24 mile loop, giving me over 20 minutes to complete the double century before 8:00. The 7 mile loop has all the intersections controlled by the local police department, plus they have spotlights powered by generators to lessen any chance of a car-bike accident at any intersection. This loop is mostly flat with one nice downhill section that ends too soon with a right turn, while the last mile is mostly uphill. I finished the first 7 mile loop before 8:00, meeting my first goal of 200 miles under 12 hours, YAY!

Now it was time for a quick break. I put on some dry cloths, took off the arm and leg coolers, took a potty break then ate a banana. I have almost twelve hours to do a century, to complete my primary goal. I had plenty of time, I could even nap a couple of hours and still easily make it. Unless the thunderstorm came through and ruins everything. A quick check of the phone app to see what time the storm was expected, had an unexpected surprise, the storm chances went to zero, there wasn't going to be any severe weather tonight. Nice, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I decided to complete the last century before taking any long break, in case the storm actually did make a surprise visit.

Somewhere around 3-4 o'clock I finished my 300 mile goal. I decided to add a few more miles just so it wouldn't look like I was desperate to hit the goal and then quit right away. My mind kept telling me I had been biking long enough and it was time to do something else for a while. I wasn't able to concentrate on keeping a straight line and was afraid I could crash into someone that was trying to pass me. I had completed my goals, there didn't seem any reason to keep on going. I could have easily gone more miles, but at 5:00 with 323 miles in, I decided it was time to put the bike up, get cleaned up and sleep a couple of hours before the five hour drive home.

I turned in my punch sheet and received the 300 mile pendant, to go along with the 200 mile pendant from two years ago. I brought my own towel and showered at the middle school gym, which supplied the soap. I then set my phone alarm for 8:00 and turned in for a couple of hours of sleep.

The morning after:
Once I was up and about, I mentioned to another rider that I stopped riding around 5:00 and had completed 323 miles. He mentioned, I had plenty of time to get the 350 mile pendant. DRATS! Why am I just now hearing about the 350 mile pendant? I had no idea there was a 350 mile pendant, or I would have pushed on.

They had a free breakfast brought in by Subway. There was also a drawing of a lot of great gifts, including a set of $1,200 Velocity wheels and three $100 bike floor pumps. It looked like there was at least  $2,000 dollars worth of prizes. I won a set of USB chargeable front and rear bike lights.

They had a great awards ceremony for all the age groups or by type of bikes. Giving out medals to all the 1st, 2nd and 3rd distance placers. The longest male distance was 493 miles the longest distance female was tied by two ladies at 424 miles, while the longest distance recumbent male was 462 miles (no female recumbent riders rode this year)

After the ride I was convinced that I was more of a 12 hour rider instead of a 24 hour rider. I was thinking I'd never do another 24 hour, instead I'd start concentrating on 12 hour rides. But, as time went by ( a couple of hours), I started thinking about the 350 mile pendant and how many men and women rode over 400 miles, and saw how passionate the volunteers and the ride admins were. I started thinking about signing up first thing next year. After all, waiting for the last minute to check the weather didn't make any difference, I have gone twice, and the weather guessers have been wrong both times. Last year they predicted it was going to be a great day, when thunderstorms blew down my tent and forced them to close the ride for a few hours. This year they predicted terrible weather, but it was an almost perfect day. Might as well register the first of the year and save on registration fees.



I actually felt great physically after this ride, I did have some aches and pains but nothing as severe as after Calvin's. I didn't get lost even once on this ride, which is unusual for me the road markings were great. The volunteers were fantastic and really helps make this the great ride that it is.

This ride has an old fashioned way of tracking your mileage, by punching your card and documenting your times through each checkpoint. This method may cause some lower times since you have to stop and start over and over again. But is highly accurate compared to Calvin's electronic method, which has always had errors on my rides that I had to correct. I think I prefer the old punch card method.

Link to ride details:

The ride photographer snapped my picture a couple of times
Hill climb and smiling

On Sission Road

Calvin's Challenge 2015

The 2015 riding season is finally getting started! The weather for the first weekend in May is looking great, so I decided to try Calvin's Challenge for the second time. For those not familiar with Calvin's, it's a 12 hour race that starts at 7:00AM and ends at 7:00PM. The goal of the race is to get in as many miles as you can during the 12 hours. In my 2013 Calvin's I only managed 188.5 miles, which was a little short of my 200 mile goal. This year the weather guessguys say the winds should peak at 8mph around 3 in the afternoon before it slows back down to 3mph, with a low wind of 0mph early in the morning. Very un-Calvin like weather. Last year they had constant 25mph winds, the year before it was 17mph winds, and that's not counting the high gusts on top of the steady wind..

Mistakes from my previous Calvin's
Looking at my last attempt, I decided the largest factor for not hitting my goal was all the off bike time, It looked like I totaled around 30 - 45 minutes off the bike during the 12 hour race time.  I remember last time I needed to get supplies from my truck in the middle of the race. Plus I pushed too hard on the first hundred miles and needed an extended break after the first two 50 mile loops. My biggest problem was simply not being physically prepared for the race, which is again an issue this time around.

Goal:
Just like the last time, I decided upon 200 miles for the 12 hour race. I've ridden plenty of centuries under 6 hours, so surely I can do a double century under 12 hours! I only needed an average speed of 16.7MPH (including stop times), seems easy enough. My thoughts on making the goal, was to watch the power meter, trying not to go over 150 watts during the flat areas and trying to gear down to only 200 watts during the climbs. With those power goals I figured I should be able to ride the whole 12 hours with more then enough speed for 200 miles.

The first 50.5 mile loop:
Calvin's is a mass start race that starts in front of the local High school. There are around 200 riders with very little wind and temps in the high 40's. The race started smoothly at 7:00PM sharp. During the first 5 miles it was cold enough for my hands to feel frozen, the weather quickly warmed by 15 miles and my hands were no longer frozen. My recumbent bike is heavier and more aero then most upright bikes, so I would fly by groups of riders going down hill. Then, since I was limiting my power to 200 watts during climbs, the group would catch me on the next climb. This back and forth between rolling hills went on for the first 18 or so miles. By then the groups had settled, some behind and some in front of me.

My speed dropped from 18.2 down to 17.2 on my first bathroom break, even though it was only 4 minutes long. Finishing the loop, I managed to bring my average back up to 17.6mph. I stopped at the start/finish line taking another bathroom break, swapping out water bottles and took off the jacket, costing me a total of another 6 minutes.

The second 50.5 mile loop:
Now that the first loop is completed, the riders are much more spread out, I'm mostly alone, not seeing that many other riders. This loop was fairly uneventful. with the average speed staying around 17.6, more then enough speed to hit the 200 mile goal.

At the start/finish line I took a potty break, changed out the water bottles, put on my arm and leg coolers, and put some sun screen on my face.  This was the longest break costing me 9 minutes of precious time.

The third 50.5 mile loop:
On this ride I am trying an all liquid diet, where I mix a performance mix powder in my water bottles, instead of using solid power bars. At the start of this loop, my stomach started to feel a  bit knotted up, so I slowly ate a single power bar throughout this loop. I never had any other stomach problems, so I consider the liquid diet a success.

The wind starting picking up around 2:30 as predicted by the weatherguys, but it seemed to be in low double digits, a little faster then predicted, but not enough to complain too much. I passed a lot of riders that seemed very affected by the head wind, one yelled jokily, "Does it feel like a challenge yet?" Indeed, it was starting to.

My left foot had been bothering me slightly throughout the ride, first with toe numbness, then with some sharp pain at the ball of my foot. Now the pain was starting to get severe. It felt like someone was stabbing a needle through the bottom of my foot. At first I tried to simply loosen the shoe straps a little. This worked for a couple of moments. I then tried to ignore and power through the pain as it got worse. Big mistake, the pain was suddenly very severe causing me to cry out. I then unhooked my foot from the pedal and tried one legged cycling, almost instant relief.

I'm still 75 miles short of my goal, there's no way I could make it with only one legged cycling. Next I tried pushing with my left foot unclipped from the pedal. This seemed to work, somewhat, there was still pain, just not as severe. I then clipped in the foot again, within minutes the severe pain was back. This is just not working! I loosened the shoe straps a little more, then started concentrating on pushing more with my right leg.

At this point I was really feeling low, and was failing to remember why I was even attempting this challenge. I definitely hadn't prepared myself properly for this ride, the most miles I've ridden in a week so far this year was a little over 100 with my longest ride at 62 miles. At this time, I pretty much decided 150 miles would be plenty for today. It didn't seem conceivable to go on another 50 miles, after this loop.

Thankfully, the foot pain was easing off as long as I concentrated at using the other leg. The same leg with the knee problems that caused me to skip most of the March and early April training rides. The knee seems to be holding great, plus the foot pain is almost gone, so I think I've found a workable solution.

At the start/finish line I took the usual refill break, swapping out water bottles, plus splashing more sun screen on my face. Even though I wasn't feeling great, the off-bike time was only 5 minutes! My average speed was down to 17.1mph

The 7 mile loops:
Down to the last few hours of the ride. At this point we ride a different loop that is only 7 miles long. I wasn't feeling great, but I really wanted to hit that 200 mile goal! So I pushed on, even though 7x 7 mile loops seemed like an awful lot of loops. The first three to four miles of the new loop had head winds while the last three were tailwinds. The wind wasn't very strong, but it did slow me down. My average speed dropped to 17.0 almost right away, not a good sign. Halfway through the first 7 mile loop, the speed dropped to 16.9mph, this was looking bad. I was starting to fear that my speed would drop by a tenth every loop. I knew that if it dropped below 16.7 that I wouldn't make the 200 mile goal, this was getting close.

At the start of the second loop the average speed went back up to 17.0, nice! by the middle of the loop after facing the headwinds again, it dropped back down to 16.9. My foot was feeling much better, I had even forgot it was hurting and was starting to enjoy the ride.

I took a break after the 6th loop to refill the water bottle, costing me 2 more minutes. by then the average speed was holding at 17.0, even after the last break.

The finish line:
Finally! 200 miles under 12 hours! At the end of the 7th loop I was officially over 200 miles. I even had enough time to put on 5 additional miles of an 8th loop. The official distance calculated at: three x 50.5 mile loops plus 7 x7 mile loops plus 5 miles for a total of: 205.5 miles.

Awards:
The two top overall awards were dominated by recumbent bikes built by Cruzbikes.

Larry Oslund received the overall male distance award at 264 miles, barely beating Ben Tomblin at 263 miles, also on a Cruzbike.

Maria Parker received the overall female distance award at 257 miles which is a new record for Calvin's.

I'll put down some more results, once they are posted. I know there was a teenage gal with 188 miles, plus some 70 plus year olds that had some great mileage.

It was great meeting with the other recumbent racers afterwards, even though it was while waiting an extra hour and a half until the awards ceremony started. It was something else to see all the participants and how many miles they had accomplished.


Great race:
Kudos again to the sponsors, this was a great ride, even with my low point in the middle, I'm sure I'll do this one again.

Future goals:
Now that I have a double century under 12 hours, I'll need to concentrate on getting a century under 5 hours.



This is a link to my results on Strava:

This is a link to my results on Garmin:

New shoes and pedals

Current setup.
I've been using SPD pedals with Serfas Podium shoes for around four years now. These shoes are great since they are extra wide to fit my wide feet, plus they come in a large size 49. Which gives my toes plenty of space to move around. With this much space I can move my toes around by curling or even crossing my big toe over the other toes to help eliminate any foot pain. It didn't seem to help much, but it was something that seemed to take my mind off the pain during the ride.

Why new pedals and shoes?
I was looking for a change for a couple of reasons. One, the shoe bottoms/cleat combination are hard plastic which makes them slippery on the road. I always have to be careful when stopping with only one foot down, since that foot can easily slip out from under me causing an embarrassing fall. This happened to me once last year (sorry I failed to blog about it for some reason when it happened).

The second reason is the difficulty of locking my cleat into the pedal when starting, combined with the difficulty of  pedaling on small pedals while unclipped. Usually my foot would simply slid off the pedal, sometimes scraping my shin on the handlebars. This second reason is embarrassing when I'm trying to start from a traffic stop, cars are waiting and I'm obviously having some kind of issue and just not moving very quickly and looking very amateurish.

With those two main reasons in mind, I figured I needed a pair of mountain bike style shoes that has the sole extended lower then the cleat so the shoe sole was on the road instead of the hard cleat. Plus I would need larger pedals that I could easily pedal with, even if I'm not clipped in. The main reason I haven't made the move sooner is the expense of buying both new shoes and new pedals at the same time.

Crank Brothers special sale.
When I heard that Crank Brothers was having a half price special on their high end pedals I decided this was the time for a change! All I needed was to send them an old set of clipless pedals to receive an RMA for a set of new half price pedals. Luckily I never throw anything away! I dug through some old boxes and found some old Shimano pedals. Then filled out the online form, waited for the RMA email,  then stuck the old pedals into a USPS 2/3 day shipping box and waited. Once they received the pedals and sent me the RMA email, I called them right away and ordered a set of Mallet 3's.
I liked the look of the Mallets since they seemed like they could easily be used even if I wasn't clipped into the pedal.

New shoes, first bike shop.
I received the new pedals within 5 days (they came to Indiana from the West coast). Now it was time to look for new shoes. I already knew what I was looking for, a size 49 mountain biking shoe that could use the new pedals. I figure this would be simple, so after work on Friday I drove off to Indianapolis to see what kind of shoes one of the large bike shops had.
When I walked into the store, they had less then 20 minutes till they were closing for the evening.
Right away a salesman asked "Do you need any help today?"
Usually I would say no and look on my own, but since the store was about to close I asked for help.
"Yes, I'm looking for a pair of mountain biking shoes in a size 49"
I couldn't wait to see how many options there would be.
He looked over the rows of shoes and didn't see any in a 49.
"I'll look and see if we have any in the back."
Later he was back with no shoes. How could they not have a size 49? I thought to myself.
I explained to the salesman that I had wide feet requiring a larger shoe to help with foot pain.
"Have you tried a higher RPM?" he asked.
I talked to him a bit, but was getting nowhere and decided to at least look over the available options then I could order a larger size online.

I saw that some shoes had a hard plastic for their sole, I didn't want that, since I would imagine it would be as slippery on the road as a cleat. Others had a soft rubber, like on a tennis shoe, I thought this would be better, but how long would the soft rubber last? Once I was home, I looked on their online site and found that none of their mountain bike shoes had a size larger then 48! This was looking bad, what am I to do? I know size 49 does exist, after all I do have a pair, although in a road shoe.

New shoes, second bike hop.
The next day was Saturday, I decided to play it smarter and call some bike shops before driving. I called the Gray Goat Sports and they said yes, they did have a size 49 mountain biking shoe in stock! Nice, perhaps I'll get to ride with new pedals and shoes this weekend after all! I quickly drove to Franklin, Indiana to their newly opened bike shop.

I walked in, there was one salesman at the counter. When he asked if he could help, I mentioned I was looking for mountain bike shoes.
"Size 49?" he asked.
Ah, he's been waiting for me, I thought.
"Yes that's the one!", I exclaimed.
"I'll get them for you."
This is great, I thought, he actually does has them in stock!
He pointed me to a shoe fitting stool, as he walked back to get the shoes.
"What size regular shoes to you wear?", he asked.
"Since I have wide feet I wear a size 12 and a half." I replied.
He brought out a couple of shoe boxes opening the size 49 for me to try out.
He started talking about the Specialized shoe brand, how they have 70% of the shoe market and covered some of their highlights that made them a great shoe.

"Specialized has a larger toe box", he explained, then added,  "you shouldn't need such a large shoe"
Ha! I was thinking, I've been cycling with these feet for a very long time, I think I know what I need.
I tried on the size 49, they felt too tight.
"Do you have a larger size?" I asked,  "These feel tight to me."
He patiently used his fingers to press against the shoe and get an idea of where my feet and toes are fitting inside the shoe. What's he doing? I thought, just get me the bigger shoes.
"You have lots of room." he softly explained, "I'm a certified bike fitter.",  "You should try a smaller shoe."
What! I thought, this man must be crazy.
"I'm used to crossing my toes when I ride and I have wide feet, so I need a larger shoe." I carefully explained.
"You don't need to cross your toes on your bike. Try this size."
How does he know what I need? I've only known this guy for 5 minutes.
I gave in and tried on a size 46. They felt very tight. My feet felt claustrophobic since my toes couldn't move as much as I'm use to. But to my surprise, they felt fine when walking around in them. I couldn't cross my toes though and could only partially curl them, could I get over that?

"See, you have plenty of room." He said.
Holly crap, is he about to suggest an even smaller size?
I noticed the rubber on these shoes were a hard rubber, unlike anything else I saw at the other bike store. It looked like it would have a solid grip on the road and would last longer then the soft rubber of other shoes. They also felt very solid when walking on them. When I mentioned this he said something to the effect that this was a special rubber developed by Specialized for their shoes.
I ended up deciding to have faith in the 'certified bike fitter' and bought the size 46.

Installing and testing.
That night I put on the new pedals and shoes and practiced clipping and un-clipping a few times from the bike stand. They weren't easier to clip in, but I was getting the hang of it. It would be Sunday afternoon before I could test these out on a ride. Sunday was scheduled to be an easy slow ride. During the first traffic stop, I noticed the shoe was much more stable then the last pair. They felt very solid on the ground, with no worries about them slipping on the asphalt at all, I could even use my foot to rock the bike back and forth with no fear of slippage, very nice.

I stopped at mid ride at a gas station to refill the water and grab some food. I started the ride a little past midday and it was very hot and humid out, I was soaked. It was nice walking around the gas station shop without feeling like I had tap shoes on. When I was back on the bike it took a while to get the cleat locked into the pedal, but I did discover that I could easily pedal when not clipped in. This was helped by the combination of the larger pedal and the hard rubber on the shoes.

I didn't suffer any foot pain on this 50 mile easy ride, but I could already tell this shoe was a much better fit then the old extra large ones. Sometimes I seem to have more foot pain on the easy rides then the harder ones.

50 mile TT test.
The next day after work I decided to do a real test, I would try my canned 50 mile TT around Lake Santee. This is a fairly flat there and back route with two 6 mile laps around the lake. I was surprised by how much the new tight fitting shoes made me feel like I was an engine built into the bike, as opposed to how I normally felt, which was a loosely fitted engine that had been carelessly bolted on. Mark one up for the 'certified bike fitter'! I also noticed that it seemed like I had a lot more power when climbing the slight hills of this ride. I was actually able to easily push and pull on the pedals, I had given up on pulling, not knowing it was the fault of wearing the larger shoes. I was really feeling great!

I did get some foot pain towards the end of the 50 mile TT ride, but not the same sharp pain that I'm used to. I also had some odd pain on the outside right edge of my right foot, after I had finished with the ride and was walking.

I ended up riding the 50 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes for an average speed of 20MPH. Not my fastest, but speed isn't a great measurement, since there are many other variables such as wind and traffic stops. Power is a better measurement and the power was an average of 3 watts higher then the last time I did this same ride four days ago. I have a feeling that the new shoes helped with greater power outage, but it could be my imagination.

Epilog
I only have around 125 miles and three rides on the new shoe and pedal combination so far, but they seem to be working out great.  I can now easily ride unclipped which is great for starting, especially when starting from a stop on a hill. So far I'm surprised that I'm liking the tighter fit of the shoes, I'll have to see what happens on a longer ride such as a double century to see how my feet handle it.
This weekend I'll have to try some larger hills to see if the new setup improves my time.

It seems I was wrong in what I needed in a shoe and the 'certified bike fitter' knew what he was talking about. Kudos to him for not simply getting what I had asked for and actually making sure I had a much better fit. I may have to try a fitting session to find out what else I'm wrong about.


Details of the TT ride

Summary image of TT ride:

I changed the 50 mile ride a bit from last year, it used to be s large loop that passed through downtown Greensburg, now it's a straight there and back ride that avoids the downtown area.

Solo Double Century to Portland

Since I had a week off from work to relax, I decided to do a longer then typical ride. I had been doing a lot of 25 and 50 mile rides with the occasional century thrown in. I had been eyeing a trip to Portland, Indiana for a couple of reasons, one it has one of our bank branches where I work, which meant I knew the roads fairly well, plus I noticed it was 90 miles away, perfect for a double century.

Looking at the weather predictions for the week, it looked like Thursday was the best day, it was to be the coolest, plus the winds would be coming from the North/East, The wind predictions increased to 10 - 15 MPH plus gusts by the time Thursday rolled around, I figured that would be fine since it would mean 90 miles of headwinds at the start, then some very nice tailwinds for the last 110 miles.

For snacks I brought some power bars plus some store bought packaged peanut butter and jelly crackers.  The bike is setup to carry three water bottles that hold 24 ounces of water each, which typically holds me for around 50 miles depending on how hard I'm riding. I knew I would have to make at least 4 stops for water refills, plus I planned on stopping at the Arby's restaurant in Portland for a roast beef sandwich or two. My overall plan was to take it easy, to make sure I was able to finish. This would be my second double century for the year. The earlier one was all within Decatur county, so there was no danger of me being stranded far from home.

I started early in the morning just before sun up, with the headlight on bright and the taillight flashing. Since it was a bit chilly and windy, I wore a plastic bicycling windbreaker style jacket. I figured I'd be taking it off in an hour or so.

I stopped at one of our branches at New Castle for a free water refill plus bathroom break. The road through New Castle was rough, being built using concrete, it had some damage so I had to watch out for some fairly large gaps between the slabs.

I was looking forward to the highway bypass around Muncie, it had exit signs with on and off ramps, just like an Interstate highway would have. It'd be like riding the bike on the forbidden Interstate. While taking the on ramp, I even double checked to make sure there were no "NO PEDESTRIANS BICYCLES ANIMALS TRACTORS MOPEDS BEYOND THIS POINT" sign. It just felt like I was breaking the law, riding an onramp! I often wondered how they expected any "ANIMALS" to read the sign? Can they still be arrested if they are ignorant of the law? The onramps aren't designed for bike travel, since the rumble strip seemed to take up most of the emergency strip, plus the strip was covered in debris. Which made it tricky for cars to pass me in the narrow road lane.

A few miles down the road, I pulled in behind the McDonalds in the town of Albany for thirty minutes for a work conference call. I took off the jacket, my shirt was soaked with sweat. I also used this time to put on some sun screen before heading back out. I didn't get anything to eat, since I was planning on stopping at Portland to eat.

I stopped at the gas station in Redkey for a bathroom break. I also bought some Gatorade to drink before starting again. A few miles later and I was finally in Portland! I was hoping make it in 6 hours riding time, but it was closer to 7. Here I made a stop at the Arby's restaurant, where I had two roast beef sandwiches and some water.

Now that I was leaving Portland, there was finally a tailwind, I was still taking it easy, but the speed increased by 2-3 MPH with the same effort. I always find its much more enjoyable to go faster, I planned the ride for this tailwind to help keep me motivated, and more likely to finish the ride.
I was a little concerned coming into Portland since it seemed like the wind was changing directions, from the South instead of from the North. The wind held it's Northerly source for the rest of the ride, although as evening came, the wind started slowing down quite a bit. The first half of the ride, the winds are from 8 - 15 MPH, by the time the ride was completed they were down to 4 MPH.

I made three more gas station stops on the way home, always getting a Gatorade to drink, refill the water tanks and of course a bathroom break.

I had to add an extra loop once I returned to Greensburg to hit 200 miles for the day. It took me 14 hours and 18 minutes from the moment I started till I finished, with 12 hours and 26 minutes of riding time. I felt great afterwards, I could have ridden more without any problems. According to the Garmin computer, I lost 7,199 calories ( I lost 5 pounds), had an average moving speed of 16.4 MPH and only 2,674 feet of climbing. The total mileage ended up being at 203 miles.

Here is the detailed STAVA link.

Here is the summary picture from STRAVA:

 

 

This was a great challenge, the only issues was the amount of traffic between New Castle and Muncie. Since it was in the middle of the week, there was a lot of commercial trucks. I think a weekend ride would have less commercial traffic. Although the next time, I may try to find a route to bypass the bypass.

I'm actually still riding, just not blogging as much, as you can tell. I have a lot to blog about, I already have over 2,000 miles this year plus I've made some bike mods, that actually slow down the bike, such as adding a hub generator and I put on slightly larger tire on the rear wheel.

People for bikes have chosen Indianapolis!

I thought this was exciting news, people for bikes have picked Indianapolis for their next phase of the Green Lane Project. The national organization have chosen 6 cities total for this phase of the project:
Atlanta, Georgia
Boston, Massachusetts
Denver, Colorado
Indianapolis, Indiana
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Seattle, Washington
These six cities were chosen from over one hundred possible candidate cities.

According to this Green Lane Project press release, The chosen cities will "receive financial, strategic and technical assistance to create low-stress streets and increase vitality in urban centers through the installation of protected bike lanes."

This project started in 2012 and has already successfully assisted 6 other cities across the nation:
Austin, Texas
Chicago, Illinois
Memphis, Tennessee
Portland, Oregon
San Francisco, California
Washington, DC

The Green Lane Project press release says this about the project accomplishments so far:
"the number of protected bike lanes on city streets nationwide has nearly doubled from 80 to 142 – with more than half of all growth coming from the Project’s original six focus cities. The founding cities will continue as mentors to the new class while continuing to build their bicycling networks with the momentum driven by the Project."

It sounds like this project will have a rolling snow ball effect with the earlier cities "mentoring' the newer cities. If this continues, I can imagine an eventual time where almost all the large cities across the nation would work together to have safer bike lanes. This sounds like an excellent project that could have an eventual snowball effect into the surrounding smaller towns and cities.

 It would be nice to have some safer bike lanes throughout Indy. Currently I avoid it like the plague, since there's a lot of traffic on very narrow lanes, plus some very rough railroad crossings that look virtually impossible to cross by bike. Perhaps the RAIN ride will eventually go through Indy instead of around it, once this has been implemented. Although sending over 1,000 cyclist through downtown Indy may be a mistake, safe lanes or not.

Look at the people for bikes home page to learn more about their fantastic cause and then signup if you haven't already. Here is their browse by state page, once you made your selection, you can see the key stats for the individual state, including the number of people for bikes members, local shops, grants and protected bike lanes.