Calm Before the Storm

Hills haven't gotten any lower since last year. I checked.

I've been trying to take it a little easy this week ahead of next Sunday's trip up to Dahlonega for the annual 6 Gap Century. It's not so that I'll have fresh legs and a full tank to attack the climbs and record a spectacular time. No. It's so that I'll just survive. Maybe. I first did this ride back in 2008 with a 39x25 low gear. It hasn't gotten any easier with time for sure. I did that one in about 5:44. Last year I think I was around 6:30. I blame it on the 39x29 I had. Having a lower gear to work with seems to just make me go slower without having much of an effect on how much the climbs hurt. This year I guess I'll use my new aero carbon wheels and a low gear of 39x28. Heavier wheels, higher gear, older rider. What could possibly go wrong? I'm definitely leaving open the option to stop at rest stops this year. The forecast is calling for a high of 90 F, which will make it one of the warmest I've done. Although I've survived the ride a few times on just the two large water bottles on the bike, that ain't going to be happening this year. So anyway, I figure at least I'll start without sore legs from the prior week's riding.

A new HRM for me!

This week I started using a new heart rate monitor. My old armband HRM was getting to be a problem, mainly because one of the pins on the charger got jammed so it didn't always make contact. I sprung for a Wahoo Tickr Fit this time. So far, so good. Although the instructions tell you to put it way up on your forearm, it seems to work just fine down closer to my wrist. Wednesday was the first time I wore it when I made a reasonably intense effort and I was surprised to find that it showed a max heart rate of 182 bpm for a second or two. Perhaps the old one's sample rate and algorithm didn't pick up the spikes as well as this one ..... or maybe I should see a cardiologist. Anyway, I put the carbon wheels and brake pads on the bike Wednesday, along with the new "6 Gap" cassette so I can put a few miles on it all ahead of time. The new wheels are SRAM/Shimano compatible, but seem to work fine with the Campi 11-speed stuff. The bike's been slow to drop the chain down to the smaller cogs for a while now but I'm probably not going to bother trying to re-cable things before the weekend. Slow shifts to bigger gears will not be the main problem at 6 Gap.

I was glad to see the U.S. having some success at Road Worlds this year. Dygert won the Women's TT, and Garrison and McNulty were 2nd and 3rd in the TT, and then Simmons won the Junior RR with teammate Sheffield 3rd. Guess there's still hope for road racing, eh?

There was a nice turnout for the Wednesday Night races on, you know, Wednesday.

Yesterday I rushed out of work early, rode home, changed, and drove up to Baton Rouge to help officiate the Wednesday night track races at the Baton Rouge Velodrome. Along I-10 over the marsh west of town I saw a pair of Bald Eagles at the odd nest to the north of the interstate. It has to be the lowest Eagle's nest ever - maybe ten feet above the water on this solitary dead tree - but they've been nesting there for years. Seeing Eagles again is a sure sign that Fall is coming. Eventually. Likewise, there are a lot of Brown Pelicans around. They always thin out a lot in the summer but start showing up near the lake around this time of year. There were about 20 riders doing the 4 km Pursuit, and then we ran a couple of Scratch Races. There was a crash in the Cat. 4/5 Scratch Race that fortunately took only two riders down on the back straight. They seemed OK afterward, so that was good. I guess I got back home around 11 pm or so but didn't go to sleep until midnight by the time I got something to eat and watched a little TV to try and relax a bit.

Mornings are getting darker and darker

In keeping with my strategy to take it easy and gain as much weight as possible before riding 103 miles and climbing 12,000 feet next Sunday, I started this morning's 6 am ride with the idea of taking shorter pulls and limiting the intensity. I didn't really succeed there, but I think I kind of made up for it by turning back early, at The Big Dip. I'd been expecting to turn back there and then have a nice relaxed ride back, but as it turned out the other three riders also decided to turn back with me, so the ride back was a bit faster than I'd planned. It is getting noticeably darker day by day now in the mornings already, and it won't be until November 3rd that Daylight Saving Time ends. I'm never very comfortable at the back of a paceline on the bike path when it's really dark, and usually leave a little extra room just in case. We almost always get surprised by a runner or something without lights or reflectors, even though everybody has nice bright headlights and we aren't usually going more than 25 mph or so. Anyway, last week was low-mileage with no riding at all on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and tomorrow will be just an easy coffee ride, while Saturday will be sitting in a car for nine hours.

I may not be in shape, but I'm definitely not over-trained.