First Century Ride Completed

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I am a Gravel Grinding, Century Riding, Crazy Biker!! On Saturday evening May 17, 2014 at about 7pm I completed what was probably the hardest event/day of my life. Completing a century ride (100 miles) is a pretty good accomplishment in its own right. But doing so on a 100 miles of gravel in the rolling hills of Southeastern Minnesota is a huge deal!

The Almanzo 100 is a free bike race/ride that starts and ends in tiny little Spring Valley about 2.5 hours South-East of the Twin Cities. Traversing 100 miles of mostly gravel roads with a total elevation gain of over 5,000 feet I finished with an elapsed time of 10:06 (that’s 10 hours). My actual riding or saddle time was significantly less at just under 8:30 – but the overall time is what counts.

Todd’s computer said we were burning 1,000 calories an hour, which is hard to replace. My Strava said total we burned 3,600 calories. Todd’s number sounds more epic – but either way it is hard to replace that many calories on the bike. I had several ups and downs related to fueling – not the never ending hills. Two significant ones were around mile 55 and mile 95.

Around mile 55, we were over the halfway point and about 10 miles to the next significant stopping place and where a friend had left me a drop bag. We were riding straight into a headwind and I was going about 8 miles an hour. Despite having had a large lunch in Preston at mile 40 I was feeling in the dumps. I was plotting my plans to quit at 67 and have my friend take me back to Spring Valley or Preston. I ate some food and drank some more and shortly after we turned out of the wind I got my spring back and felt a lot better and was hitting some 18 miles an hour. I was glad that was over and didn’t even think about quitting again after that!

My hydration/nutrition plan was to drink some water every 5 miles no matter what and to eat something every 10 miles. I drank a lot in between the 5 mile increments but I knew it wouldn’t hurt to drink more. I had 2 water bottles and a 2L CamelBak so I wasn’t really afraid of running out of fluid. I also had dropped Nuun Tablets into all 3 containers so that I was getting some electrolytes back into my body and not just water. My food really ranged – I had a variety of Gu packets, shot bloks, cereal bars, jerky, and more. We stopped at Mile 40 in Preston and had an amazing lunch, many thanks to Eric’s brother-in-law and family, Steve & Amy’s! That was a nice boost of calories and deliciousness! The only other place we knew that’d we’d be able to refill water was at the Forestville/Mystery Caves State Park. The Historic Forestville Site was super nice to let everyone refill water bottles, use the bathroom, and take a break. Many people met their families with food there. Carrie had left a dropbag for me at a picnic table off the road in the park and left some Ibuprofen for my back. It was greatly appreciated and probably helped get me to the finish! Banjo Brothers had a booth setup near mile 75 I think that included Oreos, chips, and other salty goodies and free Hams beer. I took a few sips of Todd’s and couldn’t imagine drinking any more!

Southern Minnesota is actually quite pretty with some great views while on top of the hills! Very pastoral and rolling hills kind of beauty. We stayed mostly in farmland but took a few trips into the woods, one of which was turning onto an “unimproved road” and at mile 81 included a creek crossing that only the most skilled mountain bikers were able to ride across. At mile 91 we climbed Mt. Oriole which again only the best riders were able to successfully climb while still riding their bikes!

The finish was pretty lonely and unexciting. I was pretty exhausted and was lagging as I noted above. A group of riders came by and I decided to try and latch on to the back of them. Unfortunately, for me the back rider was slowing down to mess with his water bottle and I didn’t realize it in time to jump around him. By the time I did, I couldn’t close the gap. After they dropped me I began to hope I wouldn’t get lost!! I hadn’t looked at my cue sheet all day and seriously thought I might need to do so to avoid getting lost. But I could see a rider or two in the distance as we left gravel roads and began the final – paved stretch to the finish and into the wind!! Fortunately, there was signage as we turned off the main road and hit a bike path into town. Knowing that we were close I picked up the pace and at least felt like I zoomed through the turns into the finish area!! Immediately after dismounting this dude came running up to me, kind of startling me and shook my hand! I was a little caught off guard but I do remember that race director Chris Skogen likes to shake every rider’s hand and says “Welcome Back!” It is a nice way to finish. I found my team, we enjoyed a celebratory beer and then some amazing steak at Steve and Amy’s!

This was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’m sure a flat and paved 100 miler would be tough, but the hills were just never ending and brutal. Plus I may have been a little under trained!!

A few things got me through… Obviously, having teammates to catch up to and ride with off and on throughout the day made it hard to quit and knowing that my family was expecting me to finish. But most importantly, looking down at the sticker on my bike that said “I ride for Clean Water” reminded me often of the kids who suffer daily to get clean water. That reminder helped me reflect on my choice to suffer and the hope that I could help end their suffering. As I consumed liters of clean water throughout the day they yearn for an ounce of clean water.

Will you help me help them? $50 is all it takes to provide clean water to a kid for the rest of their life. In honor of my 100 mile bike ride would you make a $100 donation and change 2 lives forever? It is super easy just click here.

PS I’ll do a separate post with pictures!!

How’s Your Water? Share Some.

Runners vs Bikers: A Day at the Lake

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Why is there so much tension between bikers and runners? As a member of both communities I understand a little of both sides. Yesterday was a great example of why we often don’t get along.

A friend and I were going for a ride – I was towing the kids in the trailer and decided to do the lakes, Minnehaha Parkway to River Road, and Greenway loop. It is a 20 mile loop that I’ve ridden quite a bit. As we crossed Lake Street at Dean Parkway we decided to stay on the Bike Trail (which goes clock-wise around Calhoun) instead of the road (which goes counter-clock-wise). There was quite a bit of vehicle traffic and the bike path seemed safer.

BAD DECISION!

The road would have been a lot easier and ultimately safer. We quickly ran into a ton of runners and walkers who were blocking the entire path. It took us 30 minutes to go the 4 miles from the top of Calhoun to the Minnehaha Parkway exit of Lake Harriet. I can run that fast – in fact a runner was being a jerk and kept trying to pass us as we weaved through people.

I will say it isn’t 100% the runners/walkers fault as the “pedestrian” trail hasn’t been snow plowed. But walking 3-4 abreast and not moving for oncoming cyclists is their fault. The Park Board wisely only plows the bike paths in the winter. I think this is an efficient use of resources and data probably supports that the number of pedestrians and riders during the winter month justifies only having the 4-6 foot wide path plowed. Unfortunately, the pedestrian trail still has significant snow covering and has large sections that are impassable. The Park Board could easily spend 2 hours and knock out all the snow covered areas by plowing it early on morning or overnight.

USE YOUR HEAD!

People walking and running with headphones couldn’t hear me calling “on your left” and were often walking in the center of the trail. One guy with a hoodie on still never heard or acknowledged my presence until I was in front of him. A few times a runner moved to pass a group of people without looking to make sure no one was coming on the left and we almost hit them.

I get that you want to chat with your friend, partner, etc. But bikes, especially ones with trailers take up quite a bit of space and should be given room to pass. Zigging and Zagging between huge groups of people is tedious work and I’m sorry if you have to step into a puddle, but I don’t have a lot of choices. I am pretty sure that I hit 3 people with the trailer. I didn’t do it intentionally nor am I proud of it, but I can only do so much.

We caught up to a group of unicyclists who were doing an amazing job of navigating through the congestion without falling off. We also caught up to a small family with a young girl (elementary age) who was skillfully navigating her bike through the people with the mom right behind her with a trail-behind attached. It wasn’t a pleasant experience for any of us.

We were trying to be careful, but for the most part the runners and walkers didn’t react to our presence until we forced them to move. We all need to compromise – maybe you can walk single file instead of 2-4 people wide in a group. Also runners as you pass people in either direction make sure that you can see what is happening around you and look behind you.

We all need to work together until the snow melts off the pedestrian trail. Or until the Park Board takes 2 hours and clears the remaining snow!

Sadly, this is currently exaggerated due to the snow, but it is a year round problem with runners using the bike path to avoid the congestion walkers create. As a runner I appreciate the fact that you get a better workout on the bike path but as a biker it is quite annoying to have to dodge runners ( and sadly walkers) who are running on the bike path. Many of these people are wearing headphones and are clueless to their surroundings.

I appreciate the people who walk/run against the flow of traffic so they can at least move out of the way. I personally avoid running around the lakes and will now avoid biking them except for early in the morning!!

What are your thoughts?

March into April 30 Days

First Outdoor Ride of the Season

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Oh did it feel great to hope on the bike yesterday and get 23 miles in with friends. We are all doing the Almanzo 100 together and it seems we are all a little behind in our training!! Yesterday’s 60 degree weather brought everyone outside and there were traffic jams along all of the trails we rode – especially downtown and in Uptown!

The trails were mostly dry with some wet areas, some standing puddles, and at least one spot which was almost all ice. There is still plenty of snow on the shaded side of the Greenway, under bridges, and other “dark” spots. My Trek and I were happy to get a little muddy! Whenever we had to switch into single-file riding you’d get a little bit of spray – I had to wipe my classes off a few times!

It was hard to know what to wear. 60 degrees is a good temperature, but all the snow around can make the air feel colder. In the end I wore a pair of bib shorts, booties over my shoes (which came in handier for the water than the cold), my long sleeve Icebreakrz 200, under my World Vision cycling jersey, padded gloves, under my running gloves, with my Hennepin Bridge cycle hat. I think I was pretty well dressed – didn’t really get super sweaty and didn’t ever feel cold. My knees did get a little chilly!

I forgot to mention that in the morning we rode our bikes to church and took Caleb for his first ride in the Chariot!