Thursday, June 7, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Shake Down Cruise
We arrived here in Leesburg, Virginia early Tuesday afternoon and have been slowly getting everything organized to start the ride on Thursday morning at 4 o'clock. As the ride gets closer and we spend more time looking at the ride details, things are coming into focus. According to the mapping that Rob has been doing, the 50,000 feet of climbing may be conservative. His GPS program is showing 17,000 feet for each of the first two days and a ride total of approximately 58,000 feet. Should be interesting.
This morning Mark, Rob, and I went for a 20 mile shake down cruise on the W & OD bicycle trail. The bikes all seemed to be in order. Now we are just spending a quiet afternoon waiting for bike inspection and check-in later this afternoon.
This morning Mark, Rob, and I went for a 20 mile shake down cruise on the W & OD bicycle trail. The bikes all seemed to be in order. Now we are just spending a quiet afternoon waiting for bike inspection and check-in later this afternoon.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Shenandoah Preview
Tomorrow morning we are loading up the van and heading east towards Leesburg, Virginia. Myself, Mark Olsen, and Rob Welsh are slated to start the Shenandoah 1200 kilometer grand randonnee early Thursday morning (June 7th). The route distance is somewhere around 750 miles and riders have 90 hours to finish the course. The Shenandoah route is reputed to be extremely scenic and very hilly. The route starts in Leeburg, Virginia and passes through a couple of Civil War battlefields before entering the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains. The ride is advertised as having around 50,000 feet of climbing.
The official ride website describes the route as follows:
The route begins heading north from Leesburg, VA to Gettysburg, PA with a climb over the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland. It then heads west, once again climbing over the mountain to the Antietam Battlefield. Once in the Shenandoah Valley the terrain moderates with views of the Blue Ridge and Allegany Mountains. As the route proceeds south skirting Winchester, VA, the terrain becomes continually rolling as Massanutten Mountain replaces the Blue Ridge on the east. As the route progresses up the valley the rollers increase and the valley narrows. Finally the route climbs up the Blue Ridge parkway and visits Floyd, Va and Mt Airy, NC (Mayberry) before turning around and heading north. After passing thru Roanoke, VA the route follows US 11 (the Mother Road of the Valley) to Harrisonburg, VA. A turn to the east gives riders a gentle route out of the valley over Edinburg Gap to the finish in Leesburg.
I also found a link to a map of the route. The map is a couple of years old so I would assume its not exactly accurate for this year's version, but it looks pretty close.
http://www.mapmyride.com/s/routes/view/road-cycling-map/pennsylvania/gettysburg/36483042
I think that I am in reasonably good shape for the ride. I didn't realize how tough it would be to get in shape for a 1200km ride by the first week of June. Fortunately, we had a good spring for riding. I have been able to get in about 2500 miles. Included in that total is a 400km ride, 3 300km rides and 6 200km rides. That is about as good of preparation as I could hope for to prepare for a ride this early in the season. We'll see what happens.
I hope to do some e-mail posting to this site from my iphone during the ride. We'll see how my energy levels hold up. I will also be using my Spot locator to post location updates. A link to the Spot map can be found on the upper left of the blog page.
The official ride website describes the route as follows:
The route begins heading north from Leesburg, VA to Gettysburg, PA with a climb over the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland. It then heads west, once again climbing over the mountain to the Antietam Battlefield. Once in the Shenandoah Valley the terrain moderates with views of the Blue Ridge and Allegany Mountains. As the route proceeds south skirting Winchester, VA, the terrain becomes continually rolling as Massanutten Mountain replaces the Blue Ridge on the east. As the route progresses up the valley the rollers increase and the valley narrows. Finally the route climbs up the Blue Ridge parkway and visits Floyd, Va and Mt Airy, NC (Mayberry) before turning around and heading north. After passing thru Roanoke, VA the route follows US 11 (the Mother Road of the Valley) to Harrisonburg, VA. A turn to the east gives riders a gentle route out of the valley over Edinburg Gap to the finish in Leesburg.
I also found a link to a map of the route. The map is a couple of years old so I would assume its not exactly accurate for this year's version, but it looks pretty close.
http://www.mapmyride.com/s/routes/view/road-cycling-map/pennsylvania/gettysburg/36483042
I think that I am in reasonably good shape for the ride. I didn't realize how tough it would be to get in shape for a 1200km ride by the first week of June. Fortunately, we had a good spring for riding. I have been able to get in about 2500 miles. Included in that total is a 400km ride, 3 300km rides and 6 200km rides. That is about as good of preparation as I could hope for to prepare for a ride this early in the season. We'll see what happens.
I hope to do some e-mail posting to this site from my iphone during the ride. We'll see how my energy levels hold up. I will also be using my Spot locator to post location updates. A link to the Spot map can be found on the upper left of the blog page.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Kansas City 400km
Most people think that riding a bike 250 miles in a day is crazy. Driving 8 hours to do so is even worse. However, I have signed up to ride the Shenandoah 1200 kilometer ride and need to ride a 250 ride before the end of May to qualify. Unfortunately, none of the clubs in the Upper Midwest offer a 250 mile ride in time to help me. So, Kansas City here I come.
On Saturday, I showed up in Liberty, Missouri to ride the 400 kilometer brevet with the Kansas City Ultracycling gang. At sign in, I immediately recognized three guys that I have ridden with before. I had ridden with Spencer Klaasen and Jack Romans at my first ever 600 kilometer brevet, which I did in 2008 in Lincoln, Nebraska. I also knew Dan Clinkenbeard whose crazy storytelling had kept our group in stitches during the last day of the Granite Anvil 1200 kilometer brevet in 2009. Dan is famous for never, ever moving to the front of the group to take his turn pulling riders to reduce air resistance.
We started the ride just before sunrise in the darkness of a strip mall parking lot. Kansas City's RBA, Bob Burns, started the pre-ride meeting with a new-to-me practice of having everyone introduce themselves to the group. In all, there were about 15 riders lined up. With a casual, "Well, I guess you can go", we were off into the morning.
Within a couple of miles, the field had broken into several small groups. I fell into a group with Spencer, Dan C., and Rod. Following the course proved to be about as easy as possible, we simply followed US Highway 69 from the outskits of Liberty, Missouri to Davis City, Iowa. Fortunately, Highway 69 parallels Intertate 35 so traffic was minimal for most of the route. Although we were heading into a steady 10 mph headwind over non-stop rolling hills, we maintained a nice pace for the 72 miles to the first control in Pattonsburg, Missouri. At Pattonsburg, we added two more riders to our group, Karen and Keith. This group of 6 would stay together for the rest of the ride. Because there were 2 Dans in the group, I was referred to as "Dan who pulls".
We averaged 14.2 miles per hour while riding and reached the turnaround at 3:35pm, a time of 9 hours and 35 minutes for first 200 kilometers. The turnaround was at a tiny post office in Davis City, Iowa. To prove that we had been there, each rider had to mail a postcard back to the ride director.
On the ride back to Liberty, the 10 mile per hour winds pushed us along nicely. The hard effort of the northbound leg was replaced by a more conversational, light-hearted spin. The only drama of the day occured when lightning started lighting up the sky as we approached Lawson, Missouri, about 20 miles from the finish. After a team meeting, and a flurry of smart phone weather research, we decided that the worst of the storms would miss us so we headed on towards Liberty. The skies opened up and we rode through steady rains for about 10 of the remaining 20 miles but we all arrived at the finish safe and sound, albeit wet.
I finished at 1:25am for a total time of 19 hours and 25 minutes.
On Saturday, I showed up in Liberty, Missouri to ride the 400 kilometer brevet with the Kansas City Ultracycling gang. At sign in, I immediately recognized three guys that I have ridden with before. I had ridden with Spencer Klaasen and Jack Romans at my first ever 600 kilometer brevet, which I did in 2008 in Lincoln, Nebraska. I also knew Dan Clinkenbeard whose crazy storytelling had kept our group in stitches during the last day of the Granite Anvil 1200 kilometer brevet in 2009. Dan is famous for never, ever moving to the front of the group to take his turn pulling riders to reduce air resistance.
We started the ride just before sunrise in the darkness of a strip mall parking lot. Kansas City's RBA, Bob Burns, started the pre-ride meeting with a new-to-me practice of having everyone introduce themselves to the group. In all, there were about 15 riders lined up. With a casual, "Well, I guess you can go", we were off into the morning.
Within a couple of miles, the field had broken into several small groups. I fell into a group with Spencer, Dan C., and Rod. Following the course proved to be about as easy as possible, we simply followed US Highway 69 from the outskits of Liberty, Missouri to Davis City, Iowa. Fortunately, Highway 69 parallels Intertate 35 so traffic was minimal for most of the route. Although we were heading into a steady 10 mph headwind over non-stop rolling hills, we maintained a nice pace for the 72 miles to the first control in Pattonsburg, Missouri. At Pattonsburg, we added two more riders to our group, Karen and Keith. This group of 6 would stay together for the rest of the ride. Because there were 2 Dans in the group, I was referred to as "Dan who pulls".
We averaged 14.2 miles per hour while riding and reached the turnaround at 3:35pm, a time of 9 hours and 35 minutes for first 200 kilometers. The turnaround was at a tiny post office in Davis City, Iowa. To prove that we had been there, each rider had to mail a postcard back to the ride director.
On the ride back to Liberty, the 10 mile per hour winds pushed us along nicely. The hard effort of the northbound leg was replaced by a more conversational, light-hearted spin. The only drama of the day occured when lightning started lighting up the sky as we approached Lawson, Missouri, about 20 miles from the finish. After a team meeting, and a flurry of smart phone weather research, we decided that the worst of the storms would miss us so we headed on towards Liberty. The skies opened up and we rode through steady rains for about 10 of the remaining 20 miles but we all arrived at the finish safe and sound, albeit wet.
I finished at 1:25am for a total time of 19 hours and 25 minutes.
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