Red, White and Bike ! For Presidents Day !

Bike for Little Heroes - Waller High School Football Stadium • 20735 Stokes Road Waller, TX 77484 - Sunday, April 10, 2016 - An organized ride supporting children and younger siblings of veterans. Check it out at www.redwhiteandbike.org

 

 

 

Humble, TX – Lions Club Ride

This Valentine's weekend I cut a badly needed 50 miler in near perfect weather on Saturday morning. 3.5 hrs with some wind. The annual ride by the Lions Club was one I had not done before and it took off from Will Clayton Parkway  near the airport – Cycling out against the backdrop of planes coming in for a landing, was one thing, but there was also the opportunity to ride over Lake Houston. This reservoir built in 1953, supplies much of the water for the city of Houston, and is on the west fork of the San Jacinto River, 15 miles northeast of downtown H-Town. Going over the main bridge was tricky as the reflectors along the side are old and broken and cyclists had to weave in between them to avoid a bumpy ride. While I was doing this I looked across at the sunrise breaking through clouds across the lake and I noticed several large water birds just skimming the surface – flying low an inch above the water with hardly any wing movement. They seemed to be moving at the speed we were – just on the lookout for something to eat – Amazing sight – and just one of many on the ride. A white collie ran alongside some of the ride near a farm and the wind mostly behaved although it whipped up to 12 mph by 9 am.  the We rode through Atascocita, Humble and through  the Dwight D. Eisenhower Park on the way back.   There were some peaceful farms, one had a creaky Aermotor 702 spinning away. In Lubbock, TX there is a fantastic Windmill Museum called the American Wind Power Center and Museum.  It is well worth a stop if you are ever up in that part of Texas. Wind power is now generating up to 10% of our state’s electricity and these early windmills used to pump water were key to opening up the west.

Start of the Ride at Humble - 8 am

Breakpoint 3 - Near a busy intersection

 







Lunch !  Made it back to the start after 3 ½ hours for a well earned BBQ lunch with a lot of volunteers helping!

 



Cycling at Brazos Bend State Park

 Brazos Bend State Park in Winter i s a terrific place for both taking a road bike for a run. There are off road paths which are more suited to a mountain bike but the park has a lot of sealed roads and  pathways for cycling. It is also a great way to get around the various parts of the park when you are camping if you bring you bike along with you.

The park website has detailed site and trail maps and can be found at
http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/brazos-bend

There is a great interactive trails map as well as PDF maps that can be downloaded
http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/brazos-bend

Cycle Training Videos for Winter

There are lots of great training video sites on the Internet, some of them you can often subscribe and download content for offline use.   I use GCN - Global Cycling Network a lot.
It is an easy way to ride a static bike indoors and get a real sense of being out exercising. Check out this link to GCN...

https://www.youtube.com/user/globalcyclingnetwork

The Importance of Eating Properly on a Long Ride

 Long distance cycling is really an endurance event. We worry about the psychology of it but it really is about how you pace yourself on the ride more than anything else. External factors such as wind, sun, rain all cause changing conditions which alter normal habits on the bike. Being careful about  how you eat and drink is SO Important as if you don’t get this right you likely won’t finish.  “Bonking” or hitting the wall is what cyclists call hypoglycemia when you wind up with abnormally low levels of blood glucose. Glycogen  serves as a form of energy storage in humans and animals. In humans glycogen is made and stored primarily in the cells of the liver ad muscles hydrated with three or four parts of water.

  It doesn’t matter how good a cyclist you are, you can still make this mistake. It is even easier to do on the MS 150 when you have a ton of cyclists in your way and the temptation to not stop and refuel is constantly occurring.

The problem is you need to eat before you really feel hungry and drink before you feel thirsty – It is a bit like steering a ship – There is a lag between how long you feed yourself and when the fuel becomes available.  Not eating properly also affects how you think/what you think so ultimately it impacts your psychology and your emotions on the ride as well.

Attached is a link to a terrific article on the subject of hitting the wall. Credit to the author as this was one of the first articles I ever read about the subject when I started riding long distance and it has helped me a lot.

http://tunedintocycling.com/2008/05/10/cycling-nutrition-the-bonk/

Watch that Glycogen ! I will cover the Glycogen window the next time, a 4 hour window after vigorous exercise when ingested carbohydrates are converted into glycogen 3 times faster than normal – to support depleted reserves.

Ending 2015 - Canondale Six 13 Trainer

Broke out the Six13 for the first time this year - It doesn't have bike clips - Makes it easy for a neighborhood jaunt to the local shop without having to have bike shoes on. The bike is running fine - It's time to get back on - and get riding for winter!

Below is a great article on the Red Bull website - called To Clip or Not to Clip - Mainly directed at Offroaders

http://www.redbull.com/en/bike/stories/1331628862785/to-clip-or-not-to-clip?gclid=CjwKEAiAndSzBRDp5P232v-qtHkSJABw-Vdtc2hghOxSogLFkAQcg3Rtpp7U7g5savwAMHb4ANRk6BoCQljw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Back to the Six13... Tires aired and ready to go .... It's time to ride !!

Day 1 of the Ride Cancelled..I've had to pull out...

Today would have been Day 1 of the MS150 from Houston to La Grange - A distance of 100 miles. The organizers decided to cancel Day 1 last night 12 hours before 13000 riders were due to roll into the start line. It was raining heavily last night when I got home from work to prep for the ride (4 pm) but it continued to rain all day today. By sheer bad luck - a huge storm system dumped 2-4 inches of rain on La Grange yesterday and there were thunderstorms, tornado watches in force and lots of lightning for most of the day along the route.




You can see why they cancelled the use of the fairgrounds - A lot of teams and the general riders just use sleeping bags on the ground and it would have been a total mess with all the riders walking around, even if the rain had stopped. Parking would also have been a problem as there are not a lot of sealed surfaces. Another 2- 4 inches of rain expected today and the forecast for La Grange is rain most of the day. Also with the rain bands over the bulk of the ride route today it was definitely the right decision to cancel the ride.

The weather tomorrow looks fine as of 6 pm but there is still a NW head wind which will pick up to 10 mph by about 11 am and runs through the afternoon, so the earlier into Austin, the better for those riding the 80 miles tomorrow...After much deliberation, I have decided to pull out. The ride start time from La Grange has been moved to 8 am - 9.30 am and I have a work commitment requiring me to be back in Houston by 4 pm in the afternoon. Starting this late will not give me enough time to complete the ride - even if I didn't have breaks - as the journey back to Houston is just under a 3 hr trip.

I am very disappointed to miss out on the ride, given the number of good folks who have sponsored me. All that training and a shame to miss out on the ride itself - Although in the middle of day 2 one always has to dig deep to finish, it is such a blast to get to the end and the finish line in Austin. Over the course of the last 3 training rides in March/April (Tour De Houston, Space Race and The Great Escape Ride) I have covered the 180 miles but I intend to log additional miles in May to make up for missing out......

About 100 of the 130 riders we have will finish Day 2. The society has managed to raise $12M of the $17M target and will prob finish close but a lot of people are disappointed at how things have turned out for the 25th Anniversary ride. C'est la vie.......At least everyone is safe - those storms would have been dangerous and heavy going...