The National 24 hour challenge

The National 24 Hour Challenge  held annually in Middleville Michigan, was calling my name ever since I completed Calvin's 12 hour Challenge last month. 24 hours seems like a real test of personal perseverance. I have always liked the idea of riding all night, so this seemed like the perfect time to test this option out!

Since the race was coming around the corner fairly quickly, I decided to try some active recovery rides to help me prepare for the 24 hour challenge while still allowing me to recover from the May rides. I try to keep my heart rate very low, below 103bpm, this gives me an average speed well below 15mph. This is completely opposite of the style of riding I've been practicing since I bought the Moose in 2010. Previously it has been all about one thing, speed, speed and more SPEED!

Bike wreak a week before the race:
I was also being sensitive to making any changes to the bike before the big ride, everything was comfortable and seemed ready for the new challenge. Even though my cleats were worn out, I was afraid of changing them, for fear that it would make my sometimes occurring foot pain worse then it is. This turned out to be a mistake, luckily, I was riding slowly (low heart rate ride) along Park road in Greensburg when my foot slipped off the pedal and the heel struck the front wheel and down I went. I fell to my right side, I must have stuck out my right arm, since my entire arm was numb. It took me a couple of minutes before I could pick my bike back up, I kept trying but failing, finally by using my left hand and with the help of a good Samaritan I was able to right the bike and sit on it. I was able to hold the handlebars with both hands and I felt like I could make finish the last two miles to my house. So I pushed off from the good Samaritan declining his offer to have him drive me home. My arm was feeling less nub as I got closer to home, but was being really sensitive to any movement (painful sensitive).

I also received a good amount of road rash on my right thigh, which was being shown off to the world as I rode home, since a large patch of my Lycra shorts were torn out and hanging down by a few threads for all to see. This happened with less then two weeks before the big race. I took off the next day from work, the doctor saw no breaks from the x-ray, so he gave me an arm sling and sent me home with some magic pills. I babied the arm as much as possible It seemed I had a rotator cuff problem, since it usually only hurt when I tried to swing my arm up. I also couldn't lift anything without causing a lot of pain. I was considering moving the heaviest used break and gear shifters from the right side to the left side of my bike.

The injury was odd since there was no swelling, the shoulder wasn't warm, it just hurt whenever I tried to move my arm. On Thursday night just a couple of days before the race, I was up in the middle of the night, I tested the arm's range of motion, the shoulder popped and snapped, with some sharp pain. I then went to sleep wondering if I was going to make the ride at all. In the morning, my shoulder was aching a bit, which was unusual since it usually only hurt when I moved my arm. I tested my range of motion and there was no pain! Something must have popped back in place the night before. It wasn't anywhere near 100% yet, but at least I could move my arm around without any pain, it still hurt to lift things, but this meant I was ready for the big ride!

Arriving at Middleville:
I spent Thursday getting ready for the ride, packing anything that I thought I might need. Friday morning I loaded the pickup, said goodbye to the wife and headed towards Michigan. I took my time and arrived at the Middleville middle school 6 hours later. Right away I met up with some other Bent riders that I knew were going to be there from the Bent Riders online forum. Great bunch of guys that let me in on what to expect for the next days ride. I set up my tent close to the truck and tried to sleep as much as possible before the mornings event. Sleeping wasn't easy, I missed my bed plus there was some type of utility vehicle somewhere, that would backup every so often all night long, making that infernal beep, beEP, BEEPing sound, it woke me up way too often. I think I may have gotten 3 hours of sleep.

Morning of the race:
I was up at 6:00 in the morning, the weather looked great, with overcast clouds with a chance of scattered thunderstorms after 4:00PM. It was cool around 60 degrees, but not cool enough to warrant a jacket. I packed some energy bars and some arm and leg coolers to protect them from getting burnt once the sun comes out. There was a marching bagpipe band, then the ride sponsors talked about safety and the local laws, played the national anthem for Canada and the US, since there were riders from both countries. Then the countdown of the last few seconds started.

The mass start of around 300 cyclist went off without a hitch. There were marked police cars or volunteers at the major intersections for the first so many miles to help guide us through the busy intersections. There were actually fans cheering us on along the streets.

Loop 1, the 117 mile loop:
The first loop of 117 miles had four checkpoints where they punched your card to show you were there and also served water, bananas, oranges and Hammer nutrition products. The longest distance between checkpoints was around 37 miles. I planned on taking it easy on the first loop, keeping my heart rate below 130bpm, with the exception of any steep hills. On Calvin's 12 hour Challenge I mostly stayed well above 140bpm. There were some hills on the first loop, but nothing near as bad as the hills I tackle here locally on my 50 mile loop through Hamburg.

Soon after starting I realized I had forgotten my Motrin, and my right arm and hand started bothering me right away. I didn't find a gas station till around the 50 mile marker, where I stopped to buy some Motrin. My right arm and shoulder didn't bother me much at all, as long as I kept my right hand on the handlebar, or relaxed on my lap. I had trouble giving out right turn signals and swapping out water bottles, but not a major factor at all in the ride itself.

I put on the leg and arm coolers at the second rest stop at around 60 miles, they did a great job of keeping me from getting sunburned and not having to mess with sun screen. I would highly recommend these to any long distance rider concerned with the sun. I finished the first loop  with 7 hours of riding, feeling great and ready for the next set of loops.

Loop 2, the 23.7 mile loop:
I took a short break, replenishing my on-bike power bars supply, refilled the water bottles ate a banana then took off. My goal was to complete at least two of these loops before starting the 7 mile loops. There were a few good hill climbs on this loop, but there seemed to be more down hill coasting then any climbs. The checkpoint was close at around 10 miles into the loop. Since the checkpoint was so close I decided on the next running of this loop, I would replenish at this checkpoint instead of the main one at the middle school.

I was having so much fun on this loop that I forgot all about limiting my heart rate and was often at 150+ bpm. There were a lot of long downhill coasting which are great for a recumbent, I was able to coast faster then a lot of dfs were pedaling. I had the most fun on my second loop when the wind started blowing me up the hills on the last stretch. There was also a "check signal" street sign on one street, so as long as there was no traffic, I checked all my hand signals to make sure they were still in proper order.

At the end of the second loop I had a decision to make. I could take a 45 minute break until the 7 mile loop opens up at 7:15, or I could run another 23.7 mile loop then take a break. Since I had so much fun on the second loop, I didn't even hesitate to take a third time around loop two. I had been pushing too hard for the last fifty miles and it started to take its toll on me and I needed a short break at the next checkpoint. I sat a few minutes thinking that this third loop may have been a mistake, while munching on a banana and an orange. I also took some Hammer electrolyte pills and a gel packet. After a few more minutes I then started off. I still had the nice downhill costing, but the tailwind assist up the hills were gone, so this loop wasn't as much fun as the last one.

Loop 3, the 7.5 mile loop:
Once I had completed the third 23.7 mile loop I had ridden a little over 11 hours with only short breaks at the checkpoints. Now that I had 188.7 miles completed, I decided it was time for a real break. The time was between 8:30 and 9:00. I called my wife to let her know I was still OK and that I was getting ready for a break and see what kind of food was at the cafeteria. Once I hung up I decided to go ahead and do at least one 7.5 mile loop while there was still daylight, so I'd would know what to expect once it was dark out.

I was wanting to finish this loop before it was dark, so I raced around it with an average speed around 19mph, way too fast, since I had several hours to go yet. The loop was fairly flat with all the climbing in the first section of Bender road on the last leg of the loop. each intersection had a patrolman plus  spotlights that brightly lit up the intersections surrounding area.

Now, I'm ready for a break, I stop by the school cafeteria and order a pizza slice, Gatorade and a bag of chips. I then head towards the tent to lay down and rest a bit. Around 11:00 I was ready to hit it again. Since it's getting cooler out, I change all my clothes, putting on the long biking pants and jacket. I grabbed a power bar, refilled the water bottle, attached my night lights, then headed out into the dark.

The 7.5 miles loops were going very smooth, I felt great, not sleepy or sore. I figured all I needed to do was 3 sets of five loops to hit my 300 mile goal. I had plenty of time, so that shouldn't be a problem. It started sprinkling a little, but I don't mind riding in the rain. On the fifth loop the battery died on my Garmin. I should have recharged it in my truck during the earlier break. I completed the loop, then decided to take a break for an hour to allow the Garmin to recharge before the next set.

It was around 1:00. I called my wife and was all excited that I was going to easily make 300 miles. I just needed another 74 miles. 74 miles is easy, I've done more then that after I got off work in the evening. I'm just waiting an hour till the Garmin charges a bit then I'll head out for my next set of five loops. I can easily finish this up in five hours then have enough time to see how many extra bonus miles I can fit in. I was at 226.2 miles total so far.

The Storm:
I hung up the phone with the wife then tried to sleep for the next hour excited at how this race was turning out. Then the race announcer started talking about the upcoming storm and how the race would be suspended if there was lighting. Unfortunately suspended just means some hours would be taken off the 24, instead of being a 24 hour race it may be a 23 hour race, it always ends at 8:00 no matter what. Turns out that this storm is a severe thunderstorm with lots of lightning and 54 mph winds. so they made the announcement that the race was suspended until at least 15 minutes after the storm had passed. Then I heard the bad, it would be at earliest around 5:15 before the race could restart.

I decided to clean up a bit and put on my regular clothes so I could try sleeping without laying in my wet sweaty biking clothes. Then the high winds starting hitting. My tent couldn't handle the winds and partially collapsed with me inside. So I packed everything out of the tent and into the truck, then I took down the tent and packed it up.

Finish:
Once I had everything packed into the truck, I had the hard decision, do I go on or call it quits?
I certainly can't make the 300 mile goal now. If the race does restart at 5:15 (no guarantee) I would have less then 3 hours to ride. If I start home now I could be home by noon. I decided to call it quits and turned in the punch card. As I took the card in they announced they were restarting the race now (around 4:30). (not sure what happened to the 5:15 time). I already made the decision to call it quits, so I went ahead and turned the card in anyway. As they were talking about starting the racers in groups instead of having them all start at the same time.

Overall:
I really liked how this race was ran, with the first long loop, then the shorter loops as the night fell. The night time laps were great since they had floodlights and cops at each intersection. The stops on the longer loops were well placed and the punch card tracking of the laps worked great, better then the electronic tracking at Calvin's which failed to catch two of my 7 mile laps. I look forward to trying this ride (and Calvin's) again next year.

Next year I think I'll skip the tent and bring a comfortable lawn chair or cot and sleep in the high school auditorium instead.

Ride details:

 Ride Summary picture:

May 19th ride

Feeling fairly brave after the 12 hour Calvin's Challenge race success earlier this month, I went ahead and registered for the National 24 hour Challenge. Now it's a race to become as fit as possible by the 15th of June.

One tool I bought earlier this year is the CycleOPS heart monitor. I needed a new heart rate monitor anyway, since the old Garmin monitor was acting up quite a bit last year. The new monitor will estimate power from my heart rate and registers as both an ant+ power and heart rate monitor on the Garmin. This is a cheap way to test if a power monitor is for me.

Another tool I'm testing out is a website, Strava. This website will give me some numbers derived from the power meter to help decide when I'm ready to exercise more, do a recovery ride or take a break altogether.

In years past I just rode as often and put on as many miles as I could. The old method wasn't allowing for any recovery, I think this is why my speed started decreasing towards the end of last year. Reading a bit I discovered the importance of recovery rides and the intensity of workout rides. So I'm making sure that any workout ride has plenty of high intensity segments and my recovery rides have zero intensity. I'm new to all of this, but I'm hoping it'll all come together in time to help make the National 24 hour challenge a success, even though I'm only now starting to prepare for it.

I chose the hilly Hamburg community 50 mile course for today's ride since it has plenty of steep climbs for a mandatory high intensity workout. The temps were in the mid to high 80s today which was great since it would help me become acclimated to the hot temps I may see next month. I'm also testing some arm coolers and have some leg coolers on order. Hopefully these will help to prevent any sunburns this year.

The ride was fantastic, I plan on riding this course at least once a week to better my hill climbing. I also plan some high intensity flat courses, since it seems  hill climbing uses different muscles then a flat course.

Click here for ride details.

Ride summary from Strava:

Calvin's Challenge

      After last years success with my long distance ride to Shelbyville, Kentucky I started thinking about two long distance cycling clubs the UMCA and RUSA .

RUSA has a series of rides that get longer as they progress starting with a 200k and ending four rides later with a 600k. Completing the full series qualifies you for their longer 1200k rides.  Their philosophy is self sufficient, non-competitive rides, just finish the ride within the allocated time, there is no record of who came in first or last.

UMCA is all about competition, most of their races are based upon time instead of distance, such as 6, 12 and 24 hours in length. They also have time trials for set distances and they do the RAAM, race Across America. They allow support vehicles and in some races require them.

I'm somewhere in the middle, I like the RUSA idea of being self sufficient and the UMCA for being competitive. Since I wasn't sure which organization to join, I joined them both. I then watched the calendar for any upcoming events from either organization that I could try. There are two nearby RUSA orgs, one in Kentucky and one in Ohio. Both of them started their series too early for me, the temperatures still being in the 30s and 40s.

Calvins Challenge:
Then I heard about Calvin's Challenge, a 12 hour UMCA bike race based in Springfield Ohio. At first I was thinking there's no way I would drive a couple of hours to ride my bike in a 12 hour race. But as the date got closer I became more interested in trying it out. The race works by having two different sized loops, one 50.5 miles and the other at 7 miles. The race starts on the 50.5 loop, after 4:30 everyone is forced onto the smaller loop. The racers wear an RFID tag on their helmets that would automatically score your laps as you passed the check points. The race starts at 7:30AM and ends at 7:30PM whichever mile marker you past last on the 7 mile loop is added to your total distance.

The weather:
      The final decision for me came down to the predicted weather conditions, if it was going to be warm enough (60s at least) and dry, I'd give it a shot. The Saturday before the big day the weather was predicted with a high of 55 with ice pellets, It wasn't looking good. This has been one long extended winter.

      Then it happened! by Monday the weather guessmen were saying Springfield was going to have a high of 72 with no chance of rain and winds under 10mph. So I quickly paid my registration fees, to lock in that prediction, told my boss I was taking Friday off and waited for the big day. It turns out the guessmen were still a bit off, the actual temperatures ranged from the low 50s up to the mid 60s with lots and lots of WIND. I think the wind was steady at around 15mph all day long, only taking breaks to hammer us with 30mph gusts. The conditions were much cooler and windy then I would normally be comfortable with riding in.

Goal:
My goal was to get at least 200 miles so I could get the 'no medal medal' that was given to anyone that didn't place 1st, 2nd or 3rd and completed at least 200 miles. Last year I rode 186 miles in one trip in about 12 hours, but I was taking my time plus I had some big hills plus a flat tire. So surely I can make 200 miles in 12 hours on a much flatter course. But I was definitely not in shape yet this year. My longest ride was 53 miles at a slow 18mph average, plus I only have 400 miles in total for the year

Race day:
     On the big day, May 4th, I got up at 3:00AM, loaded the truck with the bike and gear, then drove a couple of hours to Shawnee High school in Springfield, Ohio. Man was it cold! The wind was already blowing hard even though the sun wasn't up yet. I put on both of my jackets along with my long biking pants and a biking dickey around my neck. What was I getting into? I don't ride in cold weather, I don't even like being outside in the cold, much less ride a bike in it! Yes, I'm a cold weather weenie!

      Once the sun came out it warmed up a bit and I dressed down to only one jacket. I picked up my registration packet including maps, directions and my Calvin's T-shirt. I lined up my cooler at the start line with all the other coolers. Mine only had water, Gatorade, power bars (peanut butter) and some pop-tarts. I seen and talked to some other recumbent cyclist at the starting area, there were 9 of us that signed up in the recumbent class.

The start:
      The race has a mass start for all the 12 hour racers, no matter which class you were in. So there were uptights, recumbents, trikes, HPV's and even a hand cycle, all starting together, I guess there were around 160 cyclist altogether. At 7:30AM sharp we were given the signal to start. The mass start went smoothly with no crashes that I could see, although we were pretty tight together and there was a quick turn to the right.

The first loop:
      It was cold and very windy, I pulled the dickey up over my mouth to keep my face warm, and my helmet down over my forehead. Speeds were not very fast, around 17 - 18 miles per hour. I was using a lot of energy to keep up that slow speed against the powerful wind. I was surprised by a trike that was able to keep up with me and even lead quite a bit in the flats. He was either in a lot better shape, or that wind wasn't pushing on his low profile ride. I would easily beat him on the downhills then he would catch me on the flats. This went on for the first 30 miles. Then the loop direction shifted the wind behind us. Ah nice tail winds! Now my speed increased to 22 - 25 mph in the flats. Easily leaving the trike and other uprights behind. At the 30 mile marker my average speed was under 17 mph, at this average, there was no way I was getting 200 miles in today.

Most of the remainder of the loop had tailwinds, making the loop a lot of fun. When I crossed the starting line my average speed was around 18mph and it only took me 2 hours and 45 minutes, so I could make 200 miles after all! Those last miles with the tailwinds made all the difference.  I took a quick 10 minute break.

The second Loop:
The second loop started without any problems with the exception of the wind seeming to be more powerful. I now knew what to expect and prepared for the hills and the next 30 miles of wind. I knew I only had to suffer through this for 30 miles then it would be party on when the loop direction changes towards the North. On this loop I was passed by a Quest velomobile I waved and he rang his bell as he flew by me. He was doing the 100 mile time trial, the earliest they started was at 8:45AM which means I had at least an hour and 15 minute lead on him. I'll have to talk my wife into allowing me to spend the money on one of those!
      Some uprights passed me before the 30 mile marker, they were getting a comfortable lead on me. Then the loop direction changed and I was suddenly going 22 - 25 mph again. I easily passed the uprights, I would have expected the tailwind to help them more since they are higher up in the air currents.
 
    At the end of this loop I was a little behind at around 6 hours and a some minutes, I should have been under 6 hours including break time. I lost all of the advantage I had gained in the first loop, and I haven't even stopped for a break yet. It was starting to warm up so I took off my jacket and changed into a dry shirt. Walking slowly back and forth between my truck and the start line a few times. I was also starting to feel like perhaps I should quit after getting the third loop in, that would put me at a respectable 151.5 miles for the race. I ended up taking a 30 minute break, way too long. On the upside,  I think this was the fastest century I have completed yet on the Musashi.

The third loop:
   Around 6 more hours to go, only 101 miles down. This loop was my slowest yet. Obviously the wind must be increasing speed after every loop that I complete, why else would I be getting slower each loop? The hills were somehow getting steeper also. I prepared for the wind and hills on this loop by setting my front gear to the slower one and left it there for the next 30 miles. I was starting to think I was the only recumbent left, and starting to think that hey, maybe I'm ahead of all the other recumbents, after all there are only 9 total that registered I didn't see that many at the start line, perhaps some paid then didn't show up. I was starting to think that maybe I was the lead recumbent (I think I was getting a little delirious at this point).

      About this time a Bacchetta CA2 passes me going at a very good clip. My first thoughts were I would easily catch him since the loop direction was about to change in my favor. My speed started to hit the 22-24 mph mark as the winds started pushing me faster. Something was wrong, I couldn't catch up with him. Then it hit me,  d'oh he had the same advantage that I had, and he just past me going at a very good rate of speed when the wind was in front of us. Well, then perhaps I would get 2nd over all in the recumbent class. Then it really dawned on me what had happened, he didn't start behind me in the pack and just finally caught up with me, he started at the lead of the pack, which meant he just lapped me completely, he had already completed 150 miles and was working on his 4th 50 mile loop. He was 50 plus miles ahead of me! I wonder how many other recumbents were ahead of me. My delirious dreams were shattered as I faced reality. I wasn't going to place or hit my 200 mile goal.

The 7 mile loops:
      After 4:30PM they closed the 50 mile loop and had everyone use the 7 mile loop for their final laps. I was hoping to get at least 3x 7 mile laps. It would be a little short of my goal of 200 miles. I filled up with water and set out on my first 7 mile lap. The first mile was the same as the 50 mile loop. The first two and a half miles were into the wind, the rest was pretty much tailwind, or some crosswind. Very nice compared to the 50 mile loop. I was starting to feel energized again.

      There were some Dayton Ohio news crew vans setting up in a couple of driveways. I was wondering what might be happening. Around the third loop I realized that we were the story. They started filming us as we flew by. I might be on the evening news! I didn't pay attention to the station that was recording us, I wanted to check their website to see if they had any streaming video of the race. If anyone finds some let me know.

Finish line:
      I'm easily going to get 5x 7 mile loops, a bit better then I had hoped, but still less then my 200 mile goal. I can't explain it but I had a sudden strong emotional rush, it quickly went away, but for a moment I thought I was going to start crying.  I think it was caused since the race was about over and I suddenly realized that I would actually complete the full 12 hours. Once I completed the 5 loops there were only a few minutes left, they'll add any extra ridden miles onto your total. Passing the 1 mile marker, I was told I had 5 minutes left! When I hit the 2 mile marker I only had 2 minutes left, so I was done. The race finally came to completion!

      I was contemplating riding enough miles to complete 200 miles just to say I went that far. but decided against it, I turned around and rode the 3 miles back to the starting point. I talked to a couple of other riders, the Bacchetta CA2 got around 251 miles, and he thought another recumbent rider had more miles then him. I dought that since I didn't see any other recumbent lap me, although, they could have passed me while I was off the bike though.

      My final total: 3x50.5 + 5x7 + 2=188.5 miles. Not bad for my first 12 hour race. Only 11.5 miles short of my goal. I feel I could have easily hit 200 miles if it wasn't for the wind. I spent almost a whole hour off the bike, that time would definitely have to improve next time.
 
Awards:
      During the award ceremony, I was surprised that they called me down in first place for recumbents in my age group! I quickly saw why I was first, there was no competition! So I was the only one standing on the podium during the picture taking. So I got a medal after all! Which was surprising since the recumbent record of 270 miles was done just last year in my age group. Reminds me of back when I was in 4-H club I and entered my Entomology (bugs) project to the fair. I had won the Grand prize ribbon, but I also won the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons. They had all the ribbons stuck to my project since no one else entered one at our county fair.

Great race:
      I want to give kudos to the race organizers, they did a fabulous job, the roads were marked at every mile marker with the distance written on the road. They had the Sheriffs out in force and helping with the race. There were plenty of water and food at the starter and at the 25 mile marker. Thanks to all the volunteers that made this a great race.

Next?
      The National 24 hour race is next month and only a 5 hour drive away in Michigan. I should be in better shape by then. I would think 350 miles would be a good goal for that race. I already put in for time off at work, all I can do now is watch the weather and then decide what to do.

    


Here are some great pictures of me that were taken by Shari Heinrich:

Click here for the ride details:

Here is the ride summary from Stava:

2012 Summary

With the blizzard of 2012 upon us, all my hopes for another ride this year has been dashed. Now I can only wait till it warms up next spring. With any luck it'll be a short cold snap, and I'll be riding again fairly soon.

List of firsts for me this year:

Over 1,000 miles in a single month:
1,070 miles in September
1,037 miles in July

Over 5,000 miles in a year:
Yearly total at 5,267 miles (over 5,100 miles in only 8 months)
My previous record was 3,700 miles made last year

Over 300 miles in a single week:
318 miles in the first week of July
396 miles in the second week of September

Over 120 miles in a single ride:
July 27th my first ever 200K ride (127 miles)
September 13th my first ever 300K ride (187 miles)



I now have close to 9,000 miles on the Musashi, in under 2 years with an average overall speed greater then 18 MPH. The bike has gone through two chains, two front tires and three rear tires.

I'm looking forward to putting even more miles on in 2013.

Thanks for all your support by reading my blog, the page hits and comments help to keep me motivated to ride more. I'm now around 6,700 hits.


Some 2012 videos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 13th ride - triple metric (186 miles)

I had a week off from work and it had a great biking weather forecast. It seems like the perfect combination to do some serious bike riding. I started off early in the week with some of my canned 50 miler rides but felt like I needed to do something different, I had a great opportunity here that I needed to take advantage of.

Planning
I had ridden an unplanned double metric in July and had felt fairly strong afterwards. So that got me thinking of doing an even longer ride, but where to? The bank I work at is purchasing a branch at Shelbyville Kentucky. I looked on Google maps and saw it was around 91 miles one way. But it was in Kentucky. That meant I would have to ride up both of the very large hills on either side of the Ohio river in Madison, IN and Milton, KY. Plus ride through the hills of Kentucky once I got there. I have often considered riding to downtown Madison just to see if I could ride back up the hill, but I have always been well, a bit chicken. Now I am considering riding up both hills on either side of the river on a 180 mile plus bike ride? My wife is right, I am a nutcase.

I checked the weather for the week and decided that Thursday was my best bet, it was predicted as the coolest and driest day of the week and had the least amount of wind at around 5 mph. The wind also had a bonus though, it was blowing from the SSE which meant that I would have a tailwind on the trip back.

Looking at the Google maps biking option I saw the best route was to take highway 421 from Greensburg to Bedford Kentucky then take highway 42 and some other roads until I magically appeared 30 miles later in Shelbyville. The route was complicated enough that I decided I would need to setup my trusty Garmin 705 to show me how to ride the last 30 miles.

Mapping tool
I found a great website that lets me map a route then shows me an elevation map of the route and convert the route to a garmin course that can be loaded on my 705 This is great! I won't have to try to remember all the turns and get lost in Kentucky somewhere.
This is the site: http://bikehike.co.uk/index.php it also lets you easily reverse your route so I can put in the return trip as well, a very cool tool.

Options and Goals
My primary plan was to get up early and cross the river and head to Shelbyville, KY and back. In case I didn't feel that great once I got to Madison I would simply head back home and make this into a Century ride. In case I chickened out and didn't want to go down the hill since it meant I would need to climb back up the hill on the other side, my next plan was to head towards Hanover and Scottsburg then up towards Columbus and Shelbyville, IN before heading home. That would be around 150 miles but no big hills. I also of course had the option to head back at any time if  I started to have any problems. I had a bonus option in case the primary objective was completed: after getting back home ride on to Shelbyville Indiana to make this a Shelbyville Indiana to Shelbyville Kentucky ride, now that sounds neat, a Shelbyville to Shelbyville round trip. That would add an extra 40 - 50 miles to the trip.

The ride
Sunrise was at 7:15 on Thursday so I set my alarm clock to 6:00 to make sure I had enough time to eat, drink and poop before I rolled out. I waved goodbye to my wife at 7:30 into an overcast and slightly chilly morning. There was only a 10% chance for rain both at Greensburg and Shelbyville. I took it easy as I headed towards Madison planning on keeping my average speed at under 18 mph.

At my first option point at the top of Madison hill, I felt great and didn't even take time to weigh my options, I was speeding downhill towards the river before I could change my mind. Turns out they are doing some major maintenance to the bridge across the river and had an alternate route through a temporary ramp. The very tall and large steel bridge looked very intimidating. Dang this ramp is steep, I already have the bike in low gear just getting on the bridge and I haven't even seen any of the real hills yet.

I stopped at a gas station in Milton to refill the water tanks, empty the bladder and grab something extra to eat. Once I was back on the bike I called home to let the wife know where I was and where I was heading next, I did this at all the stops along the way. That way if I disappeared they would at least have some idea of where to look for me (assuming my wife wanted them to find me). I had a handful of Powerbars on hand to eat along the ride but would also grab something extra like pop-tarts at the water filling stations.

Google maps recommend cyclist take the School Hollow road up the hill instead of US 421. This is the hill I have been the most concerned with. It started off OK then hit a long 10% grade, I started walking when it switched up to a 13 percent grade. I'm not too proud to say I had to walk up this hill, it is a very challenging climb.

Once up the hill the road turned back to US 421 which I followed to Bedford. At this point I headed down US 42 into all the various roads and highways that would lead me to Shelbyville. At first I tried to simply use the GPS find option to lead me there but it was wanting me to go down 421 instead of 42 and didn't seem to eager to recalculate a different route. So I loaded up the course that I had imported from the web tool I used the night before (as mentioned above). Then started the timer. I didn't know it at the time but when I started the course timer it created a new TCX file which meant I now had two separate rides instead of one long ride. I ended up with three separate rides total for this one single ride since I also used the course option for the return trip, that's why there are three separate rides linked down below.

An hour and a half later at 1:30 I was in Shelbyville, I can't believe I made it! I stopped to refill and call the wife then rode around the bank branch that was the inspiration for this ride. Then I headed back home. I was expecting a rough and more uphill battle on the way home. Surprising it was actually a very nice ride, I think mostly due to the tailwind that I had.

The ride down the School Hollow ride was very fast I had to ride my brakes since it was a narrow and very curvy road. I decide not to stop at the Milton filling station, I still had 2 full water bottles and plenty to eat with my next stop at Versailles only 25 miles away. I was starting to get concerned with the time, I wanted to get back before nightfall. I have lights but I prefer not to use them since I always fear that I would hit something that would take me down, it's sometimes hard enough dodging obstacles when there is plenty of sunlight. The Indiana side of the river had a lot longer climb then the Kentucky side If I have to walk it could cause me a good 40 minute delay walking up 3 - 4 miles of hill. The bonus side of such a long climb was a lot lower grade climb, the max grade was around 7% for a very short time. It started with a very long 2% grade then escalated into a long 5% grade then near the very top it briefly hit 7%. Then there I was at the top, I couldn't believe it! I rode all the way up the hill without a problem even though I just rode 130 miles. I maintained a speed around 7.5 mph up the hill.

Flat tire
I'm doing great on time, I would defiantly make it home before dark and could possible add enough miles to make this into a double century (200 miles). Then I noticed something didn't feel right. The bike seemed to be very wobbly for some reason. I stopped and discovered as I suspected the rear tire was flat. Great, this will only add to the adventure, although I could definitely skip this part of the adventure. Inspecting the tire I found a small piece of glass stuck in the tire and had poked a hole through to the tube. Now I remember seeing a beer bottle smashed along the road as I was climbing the hill. At least it waited till I was finished with the hill before it went flat. It probably took around 15 minutes to swap out the tube with a new one, I didn't feel had enough time to try a repair. This also took up some of my valuable bonus ride time.

Finish:
Between Madison and Versailles a moped started following me I wasn't sure what he was up to but then he yelled that he was riding behind me so "I wouldn't get hit" I wasn't sure what I thought of that comment.  I wonder what he would have thought if he knew I was finishing up a 186 mile trip across two states? He finally turned off to whatever his destination was.

My last stop was at the filling station at Versailles. The attendant said something about how I looked very tired, which I thought was strange, since I didn't feel tired at all. Twenty miles later and I was pulling into Greensburg still feeling great and strong. Dusk was falling as I pulled into the yard with all my lights flashing.

All in all this was a great trip and I am actually looking forward to another long trip, but perhaps not as hilly. This has really helped my confidence for doing longer and hilly trips.


First section of ride details:

Second section of ride details:

Third section of ride details:


Ride Summary:
Since the ride was broken into three sections I will have to give a manual description of the summary Riding time: 10:42:50 hours
Distance: 186.95 miles
Avg speed: 17.45 mph
Total time: 12:05:59 hours
Elevation gain: 7844 feet

This image is for the return trip only with the elevation map, can you guess where the river is?

Here is a video of me crossing the Ohio river valley on the return home. It Starts from the School Hollow road in Kentucky and finishes with having a flat tire on the Madison Indiana hilltop.

September 9th ride

After the Tree City Rolling Tour I decided to add a new route to my 'canned' 50 mile rides. I ride a lot of 50 milers either after work or on the weekends. One reason is I'm trying to meet my goal I set on bikejournal.com of 50 fifty milers for the year. If I would have thought a little I think I should have set the goal at a much more reasonable 40 instead of 50 of them. This ride is only my 35th 50 miler for the year and it's getting harder to do these after work since the days are getting shorter. It will soon be too cold for me to ride, so we'll see if I finish all 50.

This ride is a challenge since it has all the hills on Hamburg road. I feel this ride really helps build me into a more powerful biker since it gets me used to climbing hills on a recumbent.


Ride Details:

Ride Summary:

Treecity Rolling Tour

As always the Tree City Rolling Tour is on the Saturday during the 3rd weekend of August. This year it fell on the 25th. This tour has a 60, 30 and 13 mile rides all starting at Rebekah park in Greensburg IN. Both the 30 and the 60 miler tour the nearby Lake Santee. The 60 miler (the ride I completed) is advertised as very hilly, I can attest to that!

I was a bit apprehensive about doing the hilly route. It had been three weeks since I had been on my bike, I was still working on getting over a cold and I was worried over the hills. Recumbent bikes are supposed to be terrible hill climbers. You can't stand up to give it an extra boost, plus they generally weigh more then an upright. I knew ahead of time that I would need to use the front derailer granny gear, which would be the first time this year.

It turns out , I had nothing to worry about. I rode fairly quickly and ended up finishing in 3 hours and 8 minutes from the minute I started till I finished, I didn't stop at any of the sag stops. The hills were definitely a challenge. The three tall rolling hills had a 22%, 20% and 18% grades, but they were all short and sweet. The most difficult hill seemed to go on for a couple of miles with grades up to around 15%.

There were plenty of Sag stops, everyone was friendly and the weather was great. They also had a cookout with hamburgers and pork plus an added bonus I haven't seen at any other ride, they had a chiropractor and a masseuse on site ready to attend your needs after the ride.

I felt great after completing this ride. The Hope Ride had always been my favorite ride before, but it has been toppled by the Tree City Rolling Tour as my favorite sponsored ride.

I have now added the Hamburg road as one of my weekly rides. It's very challenging and I figure will help me become a better biker.

The complete ride videos are linked below in 34 minute sections:
Ride Intro
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6


Ride Details

Ride Summary with elevation map: