2010 Good Friday Time Trial

Stopwatch test
photo by casey.marshall, Creative Commons

Today was the Ottawa Bicycle Club's traditional kick-off to the racing season: the Good Friday 15 km Time Trial.  Last year the temperature was 2C and the wind was coming out of the northwest at 17 km/h.  Today, eight days earlier in the calendar, it was 21C and the wind was out of the southeast at 15 km/h.

With weather so beautiful, it is no wonder that there was a massive turnout.  The 122 riders who registered probably represented the single biggest time trial field that the OBC has had.  There were lots of familiar faces and a whole lot of first-timers trying the Race of Truth.

Things started out well when I received my little medal for completing the 200 km brevet ride last year.  But when I set up my wind trainer I found that it made so much nice that people complained.  I suspect that after a winter of non-use, it needs lubrication, but it sounded pretty terrible.  So I just did circuits in the National Aviation Museum until it was time for me to start.  I was No. 49A, so it took a while.

I had estimated my time would be around 24 minutes and was seeded there but I noticed that some riders who were faster were sandbagging, and started quite a bit before me.  I was worried that I was being a bit optimistic since my training this winter was not optimal and my weight is a bit higher than I like but it was such a beautiful day that I didn't care too much about my time.

After a good start, I ran into a much stronger headwind than I imagined and was seeing heart rate numbers that were pretty high.  I gently backed off and concentrated on easing my way up to the cyclist who had started 30 seconds ahead.  I could see him just ahead and felt that I had settled down nicely, although I was not seeing much more than 36 km/h.  The new computer does not seem to like the disc wheel much as it would make sudden jumps up and down in speed, but the heart rate indicator and of course the elapsed time seemed accurate.

I saw my 30 second man approach the turnaround and I began to shift down.  He made the turn but when I looked behind me I was annoyed to see three cars, two together and one further back, coming up.  It was unsafe to turn and it seemed to take ages for them to get by me so I had to keep riding for some distance before I could turn.  This is only the second or third time I have ever had issues with traffic during time trials on this road.

Needless to say, this did nothing for my concentration and I lost my rhythm, as well as probably a good 20 seconds, and when I finally headed back I did not see anyone ahead of me.  Soon after I was passed by two other cyclists and then, nearing the finish, by a third one.  But riding with a tailwind I felt that I was recovering from the exertion on the way out and I was able to push my speed back up to 40-41 km/h, and crossed the finish line at 44 km/h.

I looked down and saw that I had crossed the line at 24:35, which was identical, to the second, to the time I posted last year.  This was an average speed of 36.6 km/h.  This was slower than I liked, even if I could have deducted the 20 seconds lost to traffic, but for the first ride of the year was good enough.  Now to lose some weight, pick up some power and get ready for when time trial season begins in earnest in May.  Before I do my next time trial, I must remember to kiss the hem of the Team Saxo Bank jersey I have that was personally signed by Fabian Cancellara!

Time Trial Thursday Yet Again

Stopwatch Test
photo by casey.marshall, Creative Commons

Although I was feeling a bit tired after doing a 15 km time trial on July 2, a 40 km time trial on July 5, a 10 km time trial on July 9, and another 40 km on July 12 (every one of which was a personal best on those courses), my coach thought it would be a good idea to do the Thursday Ottawa Bicycle Club Open Time Trial yet again, describing its importance more a mental thing than a physical one. So I left work a bit early and cycled home to get ready, with what looked like an impending thunderstorm overhead. Quickly packed up, I drove off to the course although I have to admit I did not feel as aggressively happy as last Sunday, or the previous Thursday.

While the thunderstorm did not actually appear, there was a goodly amount of wind blowing down the course. This week there were almost no rollerbladers so I could not use the excuse that I had to change my line as a reason for riding so slowly. The number of time triallers seemed to have dropped from last week as well and someone told me that a lot of the 15 km participants don't bother coming out for this shorter ride. I have to say that I like riding on a smooth closed road very much, and if nothing else it is a 10 km interval training session.

The warm-up went well, although I was starting to overheat a bit as the temperature was around 26C, but I find that I go better in heat so I was not worried. The launch went smoothly but I could feel the tailwind as I quickly reached up to nearly 51 km/h before spooling down and getting into a more relaxed position. At about 3 kms I felt some pain in my stomache but I could see my 30 second man, on a fancy Cervelo, up ahead, and I quickly forgot my discomfort.

At the turnaround, I tried out the advice of braking at the last second as the volunteers gesticulated wildly, probably thinking I was going to keep going. It was not the best turn but I was on the climb very quickly and found on this part of the return course I could really bring up the speed, hitting 44/45 km/h. I could still see the rider on the Cervelo and thought I was getting a bit closer, although it was unlikely I could catch him.

Fully into the wind now (it was blowing out the west at around 20 km/h) and I had trouble keeping the speed much over 39-40 km/h, and my heart rate was a hammering 172 bpm. This week the finish line did not come up unexpectedly but seemed tauntingly far away once I saw it. But I kept at it and crossed the line in a decent time, albeit not nearly as fast as last week. I actually felt slow for most of the course and the wind really exhausted me at the end. I was surprised that I was only 13 seconds off of last week's pace, coming in at 14:44, for an average of 40.72 km/h in spite of the wind. My coach thinks this shows a good consistency and I am happy that last week's fast ride was not a fluke. Two of the riders ahead of me were two I was faster than last week so perhaps next week I can surpass them again. It was a breakthrough of sorts since I was no longer placed 5th in my age group, leaping to 4th (and only 5 seconds away from a podium placing). Still came 15th overall, this time out of 47 riders.

And now I can look forward to some bike polishing and some recovery time before next week's time trial.

Time Trial Sunday: 40 Kms around Fournier

Although the weather has been generally miserable this summer in the Ottawa region, we had our second superb Sunday in a row, which has worked out nicely since both of them featured 40 km time trials. This week it was the Ottawa Bicycle Club's 40 km Open Time Trial held, as it was last September, in Fournier, Ontario, not far from the boundary with Quebec.

Although the weather was excellent, with sun and temperatures around 20C, there was some wind. Going out on the course, the promised tailwind did not materialize, but more of a niggling side wind. The course is not flat but constantly climbs and descends except for a medium hill near the turnaround.

There were 36 participants and my friend the Mocha Man joined me but decided he was not feeling well enough to race so he was a much-needed volunteer, freeing up someone who did plan to ride. Rather than going with the usual one minute starts, it was decided to go with the 30 second intervals we use for shorter races. This was a bit strange to me as I caught my first rider within 6 kms and proceeded to overtake a (for me) astonishing number of other cyclists. Of course, this did not preclude me from being passed at the 27 km mark and again at 37 kms.

I did not recall that the road was quite so cracked when I did the ride in September and running Dreadnought 2's tires at 140 psi I could really feel a lot of jolts. I held a pretty steady pace, reaching the turnaround at 20 kms in just under 31 minutes. But the way back was hard although I was making good time, having done more than 38 kms by the time I reached the hour mark. But the last 2.5 kms saw the road turn directly into the headwind and I could feel my energy draining out.

My sinuses were bothering me as well for the last part but I think the ride was a good one. With a time of 1:02:56 and averaging 38.14 km/h, I easily beat last September's time of 1:05:30 although I am still somewhat off the winner's mark of under 52 minutes! And the riders I beat or tied on Thursday's short time trial easily outpaced me this time as once again I placed 5th in my age group (my invariable position) and 17th overall. It was really fun (especially when it was over) and I will not have another 40 km time trial until the next Calabogie one in September.

Thursday Night Time Trial: Short but Sweet

It is always good to go back to basics and think about your training and racing, and earlier this week I very carefully read a piece by Bruce Hendler about time trial basics here at pezcyclingnews.com. In the article he interviews two coaches about time trialling and techniques they are using to improve performance. It confirmed the approach my own Coach of Cruelty suggests but I found it helpful as well to think about working more in the time trial position and to work on my flexibility. As well, one of the coaches expressed his irritation with riders with $6000 worth of equipment who nevertheless wore gloves, had cables sticking out, and used jerseys instead of skinsuits. Although I certainly do not have expensive equipment, being the Very Cheap Time Triallist, I took the hint and wore my Louis Garneau skinsuit for the first time, having been a bit too self-conscious to wear it before. And I did not wear gloves.

We had a glorious sunny evening in Ottawa, with not too much wind and temperatures around 23C. Due to road construction, our course has been shortened to 10 kms, which makes the starting area a bit crowded as we are no longer at the nice big parking lot at the Aviation Museum, but also means that we have only smooth pavement instead of the usual 2 kms of bouncing and banging that starts and ends the 15 km course. It also means that the climb up to the St. Joseph Blvd. overpass is a greater proportion of the ride so although the smooth pavement would help I was a bit worried that my overall time would not be much better.

The other issue was that since the road is closed to traffic now we had other users to contend with: rollerbladers. They tend to use up a good part of the road and not be as aware of other traffic as they should be. My 70+ nemesis, Hermann, signed up and then decided not to race as he thought it would be too dangerous to mix it up with the bladers. I decided to try and see how things went.

My launch was faster than expected due to the smooth road and I was suddenly pushing 50 km/h and seeing a heart rate of 170 bpm within the first minute of riding. I backed off to around 40-41 km/h and tried to get comfortable but it was hard for me to establish a good rythym. I passed a few rollerbladers but they kept their lines fairly well so it was not too difficult since I had no oncoming traffic to consider. Suddenly, it seemed, I was on the climb, and rapidly backed off to let my heart rate come down. My speed dropped quickly to around 30 km/h but I soon felt comfortable raising it a bit so that I was climbing around 35-37 km/h.

The turnaround was 50 m before the usual spot and I came up to it too fast and had to brake more than I had planned, so the turn was not so great. But I had geared down properly and could attack the return part of the hill very well. There was a slight tailwind coming back and I was able to hold my speed around 42-43 km/h and even passed another rider on a small rise as he was overtaking a rollerblader.

And as suddenly as the climb had come, the finish line loomed ahead of me. There was still gas in the tank so I wound it up to cross at around 45 km/h. My feeling was that my pacing had not been very good because with 5 km less of riding I should have pushed much harder on the return and crossed feeling more tired. But for a first ride on a 10 km course it probably was okay to set a baseline to work with over the next four weeks while we still are using the short course. Plus I like to think of this as serious interval training to get me ready for the 15 kms when that happens later this summer.

The official results have come in and to my surprise I came 5th out of 15 in my age group, only 10 seconds off of the Virtual Podium, and 15th out of 62 riders overall. My time was 14:31, giving me an average of 41.3 km/h, and putting me ahead of a number of racers who are usually much faster than I am on the 15 or 40 km courses. Maybe I am a prologue specialist? Anyway, I did not feel overextended on the ride and am very much looking forward to my 40 km time trial on Sunday in Fournier.

Time Trial Thursday: Improving (...a bit)

After a week of excellent weather, I was looking forward to last night's 15 km time trial. It has been several weeks since I was able to do one and I thought my training had been going well. There was another excellent turnout. It was quite hot (29C/84.2F), and when I was warming up I was pretty worried about the wind but it died down a lot by the time I got on the course.

I had a very good launch and pushed hard to take advantage of the tailwind. I was up around 47 km/h but I thought it would be good to back off a bit since my heart rate was pushing 180. As I slowed down to a sustainable 42/43 it was obvious that there was actually no tailwind at all but a slight crosswind/kind of headwind. So I just kept on riding as steadily as I could. I could make out my 30 second man after about 6 kms. I was making excellent time, although a very fast rider overtook me just near the turnaround.

On the way back there was a bit of a headwind for sure and I could not hold much over 38 km/h on the way back and felt pretty tired near the last bridge. My time was 23:03, which was a bit of a disappointment as I thought I could go under 23 minutes. But what was very odd was my heart rate. On the launch it hit 179 and never really came down. I saw 173 for most of the ride, and even counting the five minutes of slow riding after my average HR was still 164 bpm. I wonder if I have been underestimating my max HR or exactly what happened here. No cramping and my first 10 kms was actually very fast at around 15:30 so if I can just improve the finish I should have a much better time. As it is, this was my fastest so far this year and my third-fastest ever, with an average of 39.05 km/h.

I think that the high temperature during the ride (and it was around 7:00 p.m that I began) affected me as I woke up this morning with some symptoms of heat exhaustion. As usual, I always forget something in the excitement of the time trial and I did not put my bandana (or, as Bikesnoby NYC calls them: Euroschmatte) on under my helmet to help deal with the heat. Live and learn, I guess. At least this time I remembered to put on my gloves.

I plan to be faster next week and the following week. After that we lose our course due to repaving, alas, and the tt will be reduced, probably to 10 kms. This might be a good training opportunity to raise my speed by hammering a shorter distance. It will also be entirely on a smooth road. I am sure that I lose a lot of speed due to the first and last 2.1 kms of the present course which is very rough.

Of course, if you want to read about a real time triallist, check out Jered Gruber's excellent summary of the Tour de Suisse's final time trial here.

My 2009 Racing Season Begins!

Dreadnought 2: My Latest Time Trial Weapon of Choice

Today was the Ottawa Bicycle Club’s traditional Good Friday time trial. I did not ride it last year as Good Friday was about two weeks earlier and there was an ice storm. Today we had sunny weather but a goodly amount of wind (about 20 km/h, or 12.4 mph, from the west, meaning the usual headwind on the inbound leg).

Warren MacDonald, going very, very fast
photo by Jules Gagnon

To my amazement, about 90 people showed up to register! Needless to say, this delayed everything so I got to spend a looooong time warming up--nearly two hours, in fact. We had to indicated what our expected time would be for seeding, and I felt pretty ambitious and went for 24:00. Somebody later told me that everyone was adding at least two minutes to their best times from last season to compensate for the cold (and believe me, it was COLD at 5C (41F), which was closer to 1C/33F with the windchill!), the wind and the fact that it is so early in the season. And that is how I found myself as Rider 49A, with 77 riders ahead of me, and positioned with the scary-fast guys at the back. I figured that I was going to get shelled by the Serious Racers blasting past. One of the participants was the Canadian 15 km record-holder, Warren MacDonald, on his brand new Specialized Transition.

Outward Bound, and looking pretty bundled up for a race
photo by Gilles

As this was my first time at speed, or even on the road, with the new
Leader, I was hoping to really test my position on the new frame and not worry too much about getting overtaken. Actually, I was more concerned about cramping as my workouts have fallen to zero since I returned from North Carolina, much to my extreme annoyance. The drive back was pretty tiring, work has been dumped on me in greater quantities than ever and my wife kindly gave me her cold, but in a milder version that I have fought off. We actually had two days of snow when I came back, which kind of killed my holiday mood.

Riding with my Race Face
photo by Gilles

Anyway, I had a very fast start on the time trial since the smaller frame seems to let me accelerate very quickly. My heart rate hit 174 bpm and I was onto the bars pretty fast, with a top speed of just under 48 km/h (29.8 mph). I am definitely a lot lower and the first part of the course went pretty well although I was having some trouble keeping my breathing under control. I almost caught my 30 second man at the turnaround but then things became a lot more difficult as I hit the headwind and my legs started to ache (although thankfully there was no sign of cramping). It was getting pretty painful but I managed to actually accelerate back up to 37-38 km/h (23-23.6 mph) a few times but by the time I crossed the line (after being passed by only two other riders) I was having trouble holding a paltry 35 km/h (21.7 mph). I did not quite make the 24 minutes, hitting 24:34. Which is, in fact, about two minutes different than my best time last year.

Fighting the headwind coming back
photo by Gilles

Although I think I was beaten by the 71 year old German again, I am pretty pleased with how things went. The new frame is really good but I think I have to raise the seat up and move it back a bit as well. I was getting a sore neck and shoulders so I was not as relaxed as usual and/or I have to get used to the new frame. My legs are pretty sore now (four hours later) but given that I had only four rides outdoors before I went to North Carolina for four days of climbing, I should not be surprised. By the time May comes around my legs will be a lot better and I should get to my next goal of 40 km/h early in the season. I want to get below 22 minutes by the time summer comes.

Lookit that cable travel!

The Latest Tin Donkey: since Dreadnought 2 has finally come out of the basement and been raced for real, I thought it a good time to take some photos of the new bike, which is actually only a new frame since all the tasty parts from Dreadnought 1 were transplanted. I particularly like the way the cables go into the frame, both in the top tube and at the bottom bracket. It looks pretty evil, I think. And although it is probably faster than the old frame, Dreadnought 2 is just as stiff as the first version, particularly with 140 psi in the tires. I am excited about getting a whole lot faster this year--if my legs stop hurting, that is.

Tuesday, April 14th Update:

The Official Results for the Good Friday time trial have been posted and even with my badly-adjusted bike on the road for the first time ever I finished 4th out of 16 in my age group with 24:35, and 29th out of 99 (!) in all categories. The top rider in our group was 90 seconds ahead of me, and 9th overall. The two 70 year olds both beat me! Two of them! Well, at least I cleaned the clock of the guy who just turned 81. I could train a lot better if I was retired, I guess.

As usual, there was a bit of a gap between the first three in my group, and the fourth position (me, for the first time). The hyper-fast guy in our age group did not ride on Friday. The Canadian record holder rode the course in 19:40 (avg. 45.76 km/h) which astonishes me for a cold windy day in early April and must surely be attributed to that new Specialized Transition of his.

Next:

a) I want to beat the 70 year olds, so I need to get my time under 24 minutes pretty fast.

b) My next targets will be beating the two riders who finished directly ahead of me in my age group. I have checked their best times in 2008 compared to mine and they are within reach. Grr.

End of the Summer Time Trial

Doug: he's no slug, finishing second overall

The Ottawa Bicycle Club has regular Thursday night 15 km Open Time Trials, and on Tuesdays has one for women. Both series have now ended for the season but there are occasional 40 km events as well and the final one for 2008 took place today, the first day of Autumn. So, goodbye to summer! I think that the course had been run twice so far this year and someone mentioned to me that it was pretty flat.

I have been suffering from sinusitis for several days and woke up at 3:30 with a splitting headache, that I tried to control with a lot of codeine. I did not sleep very well afterwards so it was pretty miserable to get up at 5:45 am but luckily I had packed the car last night. I drove a short distance to pick up Doug, a fellow-OBCer who needed a ride to the course. It was pretty cold but sunny and the time passed quickly as we drove along the 417 highway and within an hour found ourselves in the village of Fournier. We were probably the first cyclists as we did not see anyone at all around but backtracking we found some of the others and followed them to the little park where we could park and get registered.

After signing up, I set up the trainer and plugged in my MP3 player to warm up. I got so involved that I forgot to pick up my number and get my start time; I noticed a crowd had formed around the registration table so I ran over in my cleats. It was a bit embarrassing as everyone was getting ready to start. My number was 18, indicating I would be the eighth rider out. There were 23 riders, less than the Thursday group but still a good turnout. There were two riders who had come from last week's Ontario championships as the top provincial time triallists in their age categories, among other fast riders.

I was not going to be one of the fast riders. My head was still aching but I was optimistic as I lined up at the start. A good launch and I was off, hitting 47 km/h. Needless to say, this did not last long as I discovered I was heading right into an ice-cold 11 km/h headwind and my speed bled off rapidly.

The course was not really all that flat and I seemed to spend the first 20 kms battling the wind, the rough road (I had thought it was smoother and had really pumped up the tires) and the incline. My turnaround was a bit slow but on the way back I found I could push up the speed to 40-42 km/h at a reasonable heart rate, but I was already very tired from the outbound leg. I passed a few people, and was passed myself right at the finish line. I came 4th out of six riders in my age group, but the first three were very fast.

Waiting for the official times

My time, 1:05:30 was nothing special (although it actually is my fastest 40 km tt of the year!) and as soon as I crossed the line my head hurt brutally, but at least I had one more time trial under my belt. Doug had ridden brilliantly in only his second 40 km time trial ever, and came second overall at 56 minutes. We packed up and a group of the cyclists went to a truck stop near the highway where I enjoyed an enormous cheese and mushroom omelette, hash browns, toast and tea. Although I had had some breakfast at home I was ravenous!

Gunther (blue jacket) and Alex (in yellow) are our dedicated officials

We are very fortunate to be able to ride time trials regularly and I am appreciative of the timekeepers, Gunther and Alex, who keep things working so well. I learned a lot this year in the time trials and look forward to improving next season. The club has a lot of excellent time triallists and I hope to benefit from their experience.

Thursday Night Time Trial: the end

Well, I went off yesterday to do my last Ottawa Bicycle Club 15 km Open Time Trial. I felt great, had a good warm-up and hit the course at high speed. There was a variable wind but I felt good at the turnaround and shortly after passed my 30 second man. He stayed with me for a while but when we had to overtake two non-racing cyclists on the Parkway I stomped on it and left him far behind.

In spite of this my time across the line was 23:05, 10 seconds slower than last week which was already 12 seconds slower than the week before. I was very disappointed not to reach the 40 km/h average I had hoped for this season, having managed 39.6 km/h in my best race. I will just have to see if I can build up some strength in the gym and then try again in Spring. I was exhausted after the race and slept very soundly but am stiff and sore all over today so it was not from lack of effort. I am still hopeful but I have yet to prove that in cycling sufficient training can overcame lack of inherent talent.

I am puzzled as to why I was so slow and won't make any excuses but it was definitely much colder than in previous races. Looking at the results this morning I see that for most of the racers there were only a few Personal Bests.

One more chance at redemption comes on September 21st when I go for the flat 40 km race.

Time Trials Unending

Back in the real world of Fierce Old Guy racing, I did the Ottawa Bicycle Club's 15 km time trial on Thursday. Conditions were not as good as the previous week and although I rode well (and the chain stayed in place this time!) I lost a bit of time to the headwind coming back and clocked 22:55, or twelve seconds off the pace from last week.

Today I did the Almonte Bicycle Club 40 km time trial in Calabogie. It was pretty cold in Canada this morning and the wind picked up a bit, so again conditions were not as good as in July. I was consistent, I guess, with a time only 3 seconds slower than the last one: 1:06:13. This is a beautiful course, but hard with the climbing and also with having to get up at 5 am to go and do it! There was a very fast field on the course today, with ten cyclists coming in under 60 minutes.

Two time trials left in the season: one 15 km on Thursday, and then the OBC's End of the Season 40 km time trial on September 21. This is reputed to be flat flat flat, so let's see if the wind plays along.

Time Trial Night in Ottawa: I blowed up real good!

Energized by my riding in Europe and the Cheat Mountain Challenge, I decided to go out for the Ottawa Bicycle Club 15 km time trial once more, with the plan that I will go every week now instead of biweekly. I really want to break the 40 km/h average that has so far eluded me. I managed to get out of work early, pack up the Dreadnought and the wind-trainer, and got early to the parking lot at the Aviation Museum.

I had a very good 40 minute warm-up, and although I was a bit thirsty (it was a sunny day) at the start line I felt good. Out of the gate I felt like a turbine and after a km or so I looked down and saw that I was going 44 km/h, with a HR of 178. I very gently eased off and although my HR came down to my usual 165-9 the speed stayed pretty well the same. I also realized that I was riding into a very slight headwind/sidewind, which is unusual for this course. My cadence was high and I felt lots of power. I felt that I would easily beat my previous best time of 23:01, and I could once again be ahead of 71 year-old Hermann, who during my holidays had improved his time to 22:51 and was starting one minute behind me. Conditions were ideal.

Going up the little hill to the turnaround I did not lose much speed and the turn went well, as did the brief downhill where I was back up to 43 km/h or so. Following the gentle left curve it was apparent that I actually had a slight following wind and I was hammering along very nicely, with my 30-second man in sight, when at 10.6 km I was seized with a horrific cramp in my right calf, so bad I almost lost control of the bike for a moment. I had been on the road for exactly 15 minutes so I was figuring that with the following wind I had an excellent chance of coming in under 22 minutes but the cramp ended that. I had to back right off to keep from locking up and I was passed by the next two riders starting behind me. The cramp kept coming back and my speed was dropping way down but I kept on going. Of course I had begun to use the left side more so at around 13.5 km those muscles started to cramp as well. I crossed the line in a lot of pain at 24:32, but I was so focussed on keeping going I forgot to call out my number. As soon as I could walk again, I went back to the timekeeper who told me that I had crossed the line so slowly they did not think I had been racing and didn't take my time. Just as well, I guess, since it did not feel much like racing for the last third but some kind of ugly survival ride.

So this was a bust, but you always learn things on a ride. I have discussed what could cause the cramps with my coach and I think I may have a hydration or fuel issue since I seem to be doing everything else right. And for 2/3 of the course I enjoyed the excitment that comes from going really, really, really fast. Better luck maybe next week--this racing thing is hard! I will got a signed postcard of Fabian Cancellara to cheer me up.

Not Quite Fabian Cancellara But Getting Closer

Well, the weather turned out to be beautiful after I got soaked in the rain on my ride to work. I left the office early and had everything set up quickly at the parking lot for my next 15 km Open Time Trial with the Ottawa Bicycle Club.

The warm-up program, supplied by the Coach of Cruelty, went quite well but I had to truncate it a bit from the suggested 1 hour as there was not as much time as I needed before I had to get out on the course. Every time I start further back in the pack, which is a good thing but I feel the pressure with the really fast guys behind. Hermann, the rider who started ahead of me has the course record for the 70+ plus age group and he is very fast but I figured I could pull him in. A decent start and I started to speed up but I just did not feel the power coming on as much this time The wind was supposed to be behind me but I was definitely not getting any help and it soon was apparent it was a side wind. Just before the turn the road swings right and I had a tailwind finally there and pushed it up to around 44 km/h uphill. The turn went well and I was just behind Hermann.

On the way back the headwind was more noticeable than the sidewind had been and I really had trouble getting much over 38 km/h. I was trying to ride as steadily as possible but I was not able to reel in Hermann. As I was getting near the finish my time actually looked very good and I thought I might make the 40 km/h average but the speed was falling off a bit as I could feel my legs get heavy and I could see as I passed the finish line that the time was around 23:00. I was right on Hermann's tail, so at least I gained time on him! I could really feel the fading towards the end, not to mention the hurtin' o' the legs, so I need to work on the energy management more to get me through that last bit.

I came 19th out of 53 cyclists, which is pretty good. In terms of my age group, I am reaching for the podium as I was 4th out of 11; the average time was 24:03 so my 23:01 was finally better than average! As to the riders ahead of me, the fastest in the group came in at 20:46, which was his personal best, followed by riders at 21:58 and 22:15 (another personal best). So it looks like I need to find another 45 seconds to get on the podium--this will be a challenge for sure. I was third on June 19, but there were only four Vet C riders so I don't count that. I should be in great shape when I get back from Europe and I also notice that the hotter it is the better I go.

And because you can never have too much hurtin', I am planning to do a 40 km time trial on Sunday at Calabogie. It looks like a pretty rural course, with 317 m (ouch) of climbing. I will probably not be very fast as I want to ride the hills in Gatineau Park tomorrow but it will be a nice day out.

Time Trial: Getting A Bit More Serious

In spite of the wretched weather in Ottawa I have been trying hard to get in my training for today's 15 km (9.32 miles) Ottawa Bicycle Club time trial but I was annoyed when I looked out my office window this afternoon to see yet another massive rainstorm. I had gotten soaked on the ride home yesterday and did not want to repeat the experience, either on the commute or on the time trial course. But by the time I rode home things had improved weather-wise so I put the disc wheel on Dreadnought and the Garneau Rocket helmet on my head and headed to the start line.

A lot of people must have been put off by the weather since it was the smallest crowd I saw in any of my three OBC time trials. I signed in early and went off on the bike path to warm up. That went well enough but I could not get much speed, so I came back on the parallel road, which I discovered was filled with awful potholes. Dreadnought is pretty stiff as it is and the disc wheel makes it even more so but adding the lurch and shudder of this terrible road was a miserable experience. I had hoped to avoid it, but it looks like I will have to bring my car and fluid trainer in two weeks and warm up properly in the parking lot since the roads are quite unsuitable.

I slotted myself into the right spot at the starting line. An older gentleman positioned in front of me said: "So you are Number 19. You're the one I am going to have to stay ahead of!" I laughed and said that now I was under pressure to catch him. Which I was anyway, of course. Since I did a much better time trial last time compared to my first effort I was now starting further back, near the Serious People, and I was concerned about being reeled in myself.

This time I had a good start and quickly wound the bike up to 45 km/h (28 mph) from the launch. My HRM was acting a bit wonkey as it is wont to do and showed 225 bpm but once it settled down it was showing a more believable 174. I gently dialed back the speed and maintained a steady 40-42 km/h (24.8-26 mph), with a slight tailwind.

I was going quite well, I thought, and passed my 30 second man at around Km 4.5 (2.8 miles). As I approached the small climb near the turn I could see my speed fall off a bit but I shifted down and spun faster to keep my heart rate reasonable and my speed up.

The turn went very well and I quickly dropped down the little hill at 49.3 km/h (30.6 mph) and when Gravity was no longer my friend I carefully held the speed at 38-39 km/h (23.6-24.2 mph) into a very slight headwind. I could feel that I was beginning to tire a bit more and fooled around a bit with my gear selection to optimize my speed.

With the finish line in sight my right calf muscle decided to seriously cramp and I lost some time. Furthermore, I could not push up into the big gear for the dramatic finish I like so much but I still managed to get in a decent ride, taking off an estimated 40-45 seconds from my time of two weeks ago. This puts me ahead of the 71 year old in the Club but still not quite under 23 minutes. It was very intense and I could feel the strain this time, although I am pretty sure that I can go faster still, especially if I can warm up properly and avoid cramping. I reckon that my average speed en route was 38.9 km/h (24.17 mph), so I think the magic 40 (24.9) average is within reach. Incidentally, last week someone rode the course averaging 47.6 km/h (29.6 mph)!

I rode back home to a celebratory spaghetti dinner and now feel on the verge of collapsing. Luckily tomorrow's recovery ride will pose no challenges!

A Fast Ride to Kars

Today's ride profile

I decided to roll out early again this morning and make up for my limited weekend riding by going on the Ottawa Bicycle Club's Sunday ride. When I got to the Billings Bridge Plaza parking lot, there were, it seemed, a lot fewer people than usual although the weather was ideal. Perhaps a lot of people were still burned out from Rideau Lakes last weekend, or else they were getting ready to race the criterium on Preston Street this afternoon.

As usual we divided into subgroups and the offer today was a short ride to Manotick, a longer one (78 km) to Kars and a more serious distance of 151 kms to Merrickville. As tempted as I was by the Merrickville trip, this would bring me to 171 kms for the day, including my ride to Billings Bridge and back, or the equivalent of the first day of Rideau Lakes. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, so I decided to do the Kars trip.

I was fortunate in that a Touring 2.5 group got established under the leadership of Larry, and joining us were Alex and his father Jules, Frank, Mike and a few others who subsequently split off from the group. We set a surprisingly fast pace leaving the city, potholed streets and all, and soon came to Manotick. A left turn on Main Street and then we were in Kars' General Store.

Larry suggested that we add a few kilometers by going through Metcalfe and we all agreed. The trip back went very well as our paceline worked steadily, averaging around 32 km/h for 90 kms.

After returning to Billings Bridge Plaza, I decided to ride up to Preston Street to see where the crit would take place. Col. By Drive was closed to traffic, as usual on Sundays until 1 pm and I scooted up to Carleton University pretty fast, and walked the bike over the lock on the canal before following the bike path around Dow's Lake. Coming to Little Italy, Preston Street was blocked for cars and a lot of people were warming up for the race. I ran into Andrew Davy at the Prescott and wished him luck in his race before retracing my route to Dow's Lake and coming home by following the bike path along the canal. Total distance for the ride: 120 kms.

My plan is to do some more time trial training today but it looks like thunderstorms this afternoon. Iced tea until then!

Time Trial Boy Returns!

After my rather poor showing at the Ottawa Bicycle Club's 15 Km (9.32 miles) Thursday time trial a few weeks ago, I was determined to do better. Taking Dreadnought, my tt bike, instead of the old steel Bianchi was probably a good idea. I worked a bit more on my warm-up and felt more confident, in spite of all the guys with their super-fast equipment. Around 70 people showed up to ride the course this week.

I had a bit of a fumble at the start. Usually the starter gives a little push, but this one simply let go and I had some trouble getting rolling and staying on the road. I corrected things pretty quickly and got down to business, riding into a 16 km/h headwind dead on. My initial heartrate of 182 dropped to a more reasonable 165 and I felt good.

Since my time trial result was so dismal last time, I was started as No. 10 in the field, up with the newbies. By the time I had reached the turnaround, which I executed with aplomb this time, I had passed most of the people ahead of me. The hoped-for tailwind was actually not very strong, coming mainly from the side, but I accelerated up to a nice steady 40-42 km/h and was able to hold that for a good while back. I began to tire a bit at the 13.5 km mark, but seeing the finish line I cranked it up for a last time and sailed through at 46 km/h. I think my time was closer to 24:00 this time, a big improvement from the 26:30 on the Bianchi, in spite of the wind. Next time I will go full-aero, with the helmet and disc wheel, and see how it goes. I was pleased not to have any cramping so I think my warm-up was a big improvement as well.

Official results are in: my time was 23:52, with an average speed of 37.709 km/h. This put me 13/17 in my age class but with a lot of people in the 23-24 minute slot I expect to jump up a lot of places if I can gain a little time. This is real progress for me since I did not feel overextended at all. By the way, the fastest rider in my group tied the age group class record of 19:56, so I have some way to go! We will see two weeks from now when I try again. And I actually passed every person who started ahead of me!

Yet More Intervals Again

Once again, the wish of the Coach of Cruelty is my command. But my plan to get out on the Eastern Parkway at 5:30 this morning came to naught as it was just too cold outside (can this be almost June?) so I slept a bit longer. The ride to work was pretty awful as I did not bring gloves, figuring that a sweatshirt and a nylon windbreaker would be enough to keep me warm but I was quite wrong. And on the way home again there was a brutal north wind blowing.

But since I am paying for my coaching advice I take it pretty seriously. Just before 6 pm I saddled up the Dreadnought and headed out over the potholes to the Eastern Parkway. The tasty dish on the menu was time trial intervals, 5 of them at 3 minutes each, with a heart rate of 158+, and three minutes to recover. The first two went very well, but the third hurt a bit as my left calf began to cramp but then I felt better and the last two were fine. I then discovered I was on the course for the Ottawa Bicycle Club's women's time trial, so I stopped to cheer them on, even though they all looked faster than me. Sigh.

I finished up the ride with a comfortable cruise back to the house, confident that on Thursday I will not be nearly as slow as I was at the first time trial. Out on the road for 1:20, and put away 38 kms. Still feels cold, though.

First Century of the Season: on to Fitzroy Harbour!

It was another beautiful day in Ottawa, and I left home at 8:20 am to get to the Billings Bridge Plaza for the start of another Ottawa Bicycle Club group ride. On Beechwood I saw the runners doing the Ottawa Marathon. They all looked pretty fresh, but then the weather was superb and they were only at the 15 km mark. I, on the other hand, would do my exercise sitting down.

There was another big mob at the Plaza and we quickly divided into groups and headed off. On the menu: 58 kms roundtrip to Kanata, or 94 roundtrip to Carp or (and most people did this) 140 km roundtrip to Fitzroy Harbour. I had never been to Fitzroy Harbour but it just sounded so nice and Victorian, perched there on the Ottawa River.

After the usual boring ride through the endless Ottawa suburbs, our group eventually found its paceline rhythm under the leadership of Perry, the Man with the Map. We worked well together into a headwind and soon reached Carp. We found ourselves on empty country roads, some in better condition than others and before I knew it we had reached Fitzroy Harbour, which, frankly, is not much to look at, even though it was founded in 1831. We stopped at the general store there and several in the group had fresh pizza. I prefer to eat dull energy foods and save my appetite for when I can get home and relax.

We cruised up a biggish hill out of town and on the ride home we had a nice tailwind, or at least a reasonable sidewind. The sun was shining, we did not get lost once (well perhaps a little at one point) and nobody had a flat tire.

Since it is 9 km to Billings Bridge from my house, I needed to add a few more miles to bring the ride up to a full Century. Andre and I rode along the bike path beside the Rideau River, which was a lot more crowded than when I had gone in the opposite direction in the morning, and then rode along the Rockcliffe Parkway. On the last stretch to the Rockcliffe Airport we rode on the bike lane and someone not paying attention almost rode his bicycle across the yellow line into us. It would have been ironic after a full day on the bike to be knocked down near my house!

Altogether I put in 163 km which, coupled with yesterday's ride, made a pretty full weekend. But I am still envious of my friends in Virginia who are riding the wonderful Mountains of Misery near Blacksburg today.

Another Long Ride in Ottawa

The weather was terrific again in Ottawa and at 8:25 am I left home on the fabulous Tarmac for the Billings Bridge Plaza to meet up with the group rides of the Ottawa Bicycle Club. The sun was shining, although it was a bit on the cool side, but I looked forward to getting in another long ride.

There was a big crowd at the McDonald's and we soon sorted ourselves into groups. Touring 2, which I find to be a good speed, was once again the most popular and we were then divided into more groups. I ended up on the extended ride to Navan (100 km), riding at the "Touring 2.5" pace. Simon volunteered to be the group leader and he did a good job, particularly considering it was his first time doing this.

We crossed the Alexandra Bridge into Quebec. I ride this all the time on the bike path, which is wooden slats, but as a big group we went over the main roadway, which is metal grating. I have a feeling that should you have to brake on this surface nothing much is going to happen so we all zipped over it pretty quickly.

Once in Quebec we headed eastwards along the Ottawa River, passing through a number of small towns. Although I have lived on and off in Ottawa for about eleven years I have never been on these roads and I can honestly say that they are quite miserable. The roads have horrific potholes everywhere and very heavy traffic. I almost came to grief at a railway crossing as I was not quite able to cross the tracks at a right angle and could feel the wheel slip. I corrected the movement but almost crashed into a huge pothole directly behind the crossing. My chain slipped but popped back on. Of course, I was being passed by impatient drivers while all this was going on.

If the roads elsewhere in Quebec are this lousy, my interest in riding the new Route Verte, the most extensive bicycle route network in North America, may be diminished. I was hoping to do some touring on my Marinoni Ciclo in the province of its birth but I will have to do some more research.

We continued on and eventually the potholed shoulder improved and we reached the ferry at Masson. Our timing was impeccable and we rolled right on; $2 took each of us across the river to Cumberland.

Leaving Cumberland we soon ran into a very nasty headwind that battered us most of the way to Navan. We then had to double back a bit and then it was back into the headwind again, or, more accurately, a vicious crosswind. We rode very close together to try and get an echelon effect and it helped, although I found it hard to control the bike at times. But soon we were rewarded with a turn and a tailwind, pushing our pace up to nearly 50 km/h.

We did endure a few wrong turns and poor Mike had three flat tires but it was a sunny day, so no matter. We rolled back into Billings Bridge Plaza and discussed finding a more attractive place to meet, like Carleton University, before I headed off on the bike path for home. By the time I rolled in I had ridden 126 kms, at an average speed of 27.1 km/h. I was supposed to do some hill sprints today but between yesterday and today I am pretty beat.

Adding my rides onto my journal at www.bikejournal.com, I find that I have moved from 3150th position to 2650th! Whee!

Time Trial Season Begins

Today I rode my first Ottawa Bicycle Club 15 km Open Time Trial since August 1998. The course was the same and just to see if I have managed to delay the effects of aging I brought my Bianchi Limited with aerobars, the same setup as a decade ago. The course along the Eastern Parkway is well-known to me as it is close to my house, but so is the brutal west wind that never seems to stop blowing.

A big group showed up, including a lot of guys with very high-end time trial bikes, and registration was completed by 6 pm. The first rider went out 10 minutes later, and after a ridiculously short warm-up I headed onto the course at 6:33 pm. There was a tailwind to begin with and I made an amazingly fast start, with my heart rate skyrocketing to 183 bpm. I backed off fairly quickly and tried to control my breathing.

I executed the turnaround pretty sloppily but felt confident turning into the big headwind. Things went pretty well until around the 12 km mark when I began to feel cramping on my right quad, and then my left calf. This meant I had to back off a bit but I did hit 35 km/h when I crossed the finish line.

Although I will wait for the official results, I think I crossed the line close to my time ten years ago, a somewhat snail-like 25:30. That was a ride at the end of the summer when I was in pretty good shape; it is still early season here and pretty cold so I will improve. Of course in subsequent time trials I will switch back to the Leader TT bike, having made my point, whatever it may have been.

It was great fun but my legs really hurt tonight.

Postscript: this morning I checked my official time and discovered that I had finished in the top ten of my age group at 26:21. This is putting the best face on it, since there were nine entrants in the class and I came dead last. In two weeks I will try again, and I will beat my 1998 time for sure!

Finally: A Sunny Weekend in Ottawa

Today's Ride from Ottawa to Richmond and back

After what feels like the longest winter in Ottawa, we enjoyed a very fine weekend, with temperatures ranging as high as 25C (77F), enough to melt most of the remaining little snow piles. Rather than spend the days at the athletic club on the spinning bike, I elected to head for the Great Outdoors.

On Saturday I went to the Experimental Farm and participated in a Group Riding Clinic put on by the Ottawa Bicycle Club. This is a requirement for new members (and even returning ones like me) before they can join the weekend group rides. There were two instructors from the club and about 20 participants. Two of the women had absolutely brand new Eclipse bicycles from Pecco's, a very good local bike shop. After thirty minutes or so talking about cycling safety we got into the specifics of how the club rides. This is basically a double paceline that moves up clockwise. Most of the time I have ridden double lines they have gone counterclockwise but no big problem.

We split into two groups of ten and practiced our paceline on the roads of the Experimental Farm, which make up in potholes what they lack in car traffic. Most of the people did quite well, although I hope that the enthusiasm for pointing out and calling road hazards will become a bit more muted since people were even pointing out holes that had been filled in!

After this practice, we took to the open road and headed west into the outskirts of Ottawa, stopping at a Tim Horton's doughnut shop before coming back. The ride was about 20 kms at a pretty easy pace and the only issue was that people were letting big gaps open up in the line. I think some of the cyclists were a bit less fit than others and by the end of the ride they were probably tiring. After the class, I returned home and did two circuits of the Eastern Parkway, adding another 41 km to my day's efforts. I even managed to draft a triathlete with massive legs and hold his back wheel at 45 km/h for what seemed like 8-9 kms. All that training in the basement seems to have paid off!

Today I rode over to Billings Bridge Plaza to join the club on a group ride. I had to make some detours on the bike path as the path was flooded in several areas. There was still a bit of snow in shady areas but this will probably be gone in the next few days.

The good weather brought out a lot of people, probably around 80 in all. We split into groups, and I chose Touring 2, which was advertised as averaged 28-30 km/h. Considering how flat Ottawa and environs are I thought this might be a bit slow for me but it is better to start out with a pace lower than the one you usually ride to see which group might be best.

A lot of people wanted to do Touring 2 and we had enough ride leaders to manage three groups of ten. We set off in our double paceline, heading for Manotick and then to Richmond on genuinely terrible roads, with massive potholes. The double paceline is nice in that you get to chat with everyone in the group. I enjoyed this and even spoke German to a nice Swiss, Horst, originally from Basel who lives in Manotick, and with Mario, new to cycling and who manages one of the programs at the Ottawa General Hospital. Probably the highlight of the ride through a pretty dull neither-winter-nor-spring landscape was a small but insane red squirrel that dashed across the road and somehow evaded our wheels. No Huckabee Stew tonight, thankfully.

When we came to Richmond we had a short (very short, actually) break at the Richmond Bakery, where I had a 300 Kcal apple turnover, and then headed back to Ottawa. As we left Richmond I felt the rear tire hitting bumps and realized the air was coming out.

We pulled off the road and I had the tire off pretty quickly. As always happens, everyone has their own way of fixing flats and the leader, Dan, took over pretty quickly. I was getting a bit flustered but got the tools and the spare tube out quickly, and pulled off the tire in a moment with the Speedlever. Dan was not impressed that I was not carrying a pump but only CO2 cartridges, which he opined were "only good to get you home." I was not going to make a big deal out of it but the 16 g cartridges I use will put in 130 psi if you need it and I have had great success with them. As we were pulling on the tire (I would have used the Speedlever instead of my hands) I mentioned that tubeless tires fit tightly and are tricky to get on but he told me that my tires were not tubeless. Everyone mixes up tubular and tubeless terminology but someone else did notice that we did not take out a tube from the flat tire; Dan admitted to me that in fact my tires were tubeless once we were back on the road.

I am pretty capable of fixing flats, having done a few hundred of them, but everyone seemed to be having such fun and since I really hate having people watch over my shoulder while I work that I let them just go ahead. I suspect that the patch I installed a few months ago inside the tubeless tire may not be holding, or else the brutally potholed roads were were riding had loosened up the valve, which is attached to the rim and I was getting a slow leak. I will take out the tube and fix it tonight. {Postscript: in the evening I removed the tire and replaced the patch, but I did such a good job of re-installing the very tight-fitting tire that I damaged the bead and it would not hold air at all. Mr. Mechanical Genius then got rid of a six months old $50 tire and installed a brand new one. Luckily it is holding air!}

Anyway, we were back on the road in only a few minutes and I soon found myself at the front. I felt very strong, particularly after about 60 kms, and felt I could have ridden hard for the rest of the day. The scenery was pretty ugly, being flat, muddy farmland, followed by four lane suburban traffic. There is no climbing to speak of, although the profile suggests it is rolling countryside, which is not the case--I think the hills are actually highway overpasses. Luckily the weather was excellent and the company was great so I had a very enjoyable ride in this, my first outing with OBC. This was also my first long ride of 2008 and I covered just over 100 kms in just under four hours and had great fun downloading everything from the Garmin Edge into my training software. Whee!

When I came home I also truly enjoyed my beer, a nice cool Creemore Springs Urbock, a dark, malty rarity that is only available in Spring, if you can find it. It is unpasteurized and absolutely delicious. Creemore Springs Brewing was bought last year by the horrible Molson-Coors combine but it seems that they have pretty much left this cottage brewery alone to do what it does best.