The Lost Boys and Girls in Bavaria August 6, 2009 Photo by E. Domenge
My wonderful holiday in Europe, featuring ten days of cycling followed by a one-week excursion to Berlin, has ended. The weather was superb, marred only by a half-day of rain in Bolzano, and the scenery, food and company outstanding. I have sorted through my 300 photos and will be writing up our adventures in the coming days.
Well--how did this happen? After months and months and months of planning, I am off with a group of ten friends on our European cycling adventure tomorrow. First we will ride in the Munich area as a warm-up, and then it is on to the Dolomites of Northern Italy to really test our mettle on some famous climbs.
I am travelling very light this time and am leaving the laptop behind, so stay tuned for the complete story once I have returned to the Internet World on August 25.
This is the frame on which Spartacus rode 40.5 kms in 48:33 today at the Tour de France's Annecy time trial. This ride included the Cat. 3 climb at Bluffy (not to be confused with nearby Gruffy!) and comes after several days of dragging the Schleck brothers around the mountains. Well done, Fabian!
With the gradual growth of the bicycle fleet and the apparent reduction in size in our basement, I finally decided to get serious about organizing things and went off to Mountain Equipment and purchased some bike racks. These things look like they can't possibly hold up two bikes but in fact are very cleverly designed. And with six bikes at home (BlackAdder resides in the garage for most of the year) I was all set.
The Bike Cave™ features: three racks with bikes; hooks for hanging spare wheels in their bags and for workout tubing; a set of wire shelves for touring equipment, extra parts, spare tubes and tires, cleaning supplies and lubricants; a large television/DVD/VHS system for the training videos; a big set of plastic boxes containing cycling magazines; a small sound system for Eurotrance music workouts; a gym bench with weights, sitting on rubber workout mats; a large bookshelf with doors for the cycling book collection; a really large wardrobe for cycling clothes, shoes, helmets and nutrition supplies; a Kurt Kinetic trainer workout area, with a floor fan.
My considerable collection of framed jerseys and posters has not yet found a home mainly because the basement is unfinished and I can't figure out where or how to hang them.
There is no beer fridge. Yet.
Not very glamourous but probably better than what Eddy Merckx began with.
Yesterday, a nice sunny day, saw a serious incident when five cyclists, riding early in the morning on a marked bike lane in a quiet area just west of Ottawa, were struck by a hit-and-run driver and left unconscious on the road. Two of them have life-threatening injuries.
They were apparently experienced riders (I don't know any of them personally), so all I can say is be careful out there. A report of the incident (I do not consider these things "accidents") made the national press in Canada here, as well as the local press here. An arrest has been made and five charges of failing to remain at the scene of an accident have been laid, with more charges expected. In my own view, the standard of driving continues to decline in North America and it should be far more difficult to obtain a driver's license.
UPDATE: Although four of the cyclists seem to be out of danger, the fifth is in very critical condition and apparently has brain damage. On a positive note, Lance Armstrong, in his daily video from the Tour de France, mentioned the incident after his summary of Stage 16, and sent his best wishes. Although an often controversial person in the world of cycling, he certainly has some admirable qualities off the bike as well.
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.
Piggy Bank Photo by alancleaver 2000, Creative Commons
Although I truly enjoy riding to work every day, I basically have no choice except for cycling anyway since walking takes about 50 mintues each way and the bus requires a transfer and is otherwise quite inconvenient. No parking is available at my workplace either, but there is lots of bike parking and a locker room.
However, if I did have a choice, I would probably ride anyway. And, even better, according to a calculator at Kiplinger.com, a finance website, compared to driving I save enough money to buy a rather modest lunch each day. Modest enough to ensure that I will not gain any weight. You can figure out your own savings here here.
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.
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.
We awoke for the second day of our adventure in America’s heartland and fortified ourselves by going to the diner next to the motel for breakfast. The joint was hoppin’ and everyone had their plates loaded up with what the menu described as “Amish meat.” Our wildly exuberant waitress, Hope, high-fived us all when we sat down to eat. The food arrived rapidly and in sufficient quantities, as could be expected. My omelette was quite alright but when Dr. Chef shared his potato pancakes with me I realized that we had perhaps hit the establishment’s culinary ceiling. Both the good doctor and I commented for the remainder of the day that we could still feel those pancakes sitting there, leaden and immobile.
As we left the motel, the Badger and Mrs. B. struck up a conversation with a group of cyclists from Las Vegas who were also riding the GAP trail. They had various kinds of rental bikes and at least one support vehicle. Apparently the men did the riding and the women went antiquing so everyone was happy.
A future B&B?
We enjoyed the very rapid downhill that took us through Connellsville and back onto the trail, although by going back to where we had left the trail the day before we found ourselves facing the wrong way. Backtracking past an impressive old house that looked abandoned although the grass had been cut, we passed a large bike shop and soon found the signs directing us to the Great Allegheny Passage.
Today would probably be the wildest part of the ride as about 8 miles after leaving Connellsville we entered Ohiopyle State Park, one of the most visited parks in the state. This section of the GAP trail, opened in 1986, is the oldest and remains the most popular. The Las Vegas group caught up to us along this stretch, although some of the cyclists in the group were definitely faster than others. A further 9 miles of cycling took us over a wonderful pair of bridges over an oxbow of the river before we came into the village of Ohiopyle proper.
More than 2 million visitors come to Ohiopyle, many for the white-water canoeing and kayaking on the Youghiogheny. There was a very nice Visitors’ Center in the restored railway station and it was here we decided to split up as Dr. Chef wanted to take me to Fallingwater, the famous Frank Lloyd Wright house, which the Badger and Mrs. B. had visited numerous times before. They would have some lunch further along the trail and meet us at our day’s destination of Meyersdale. The lady at the Visitors’ Center suggested we leave our panniers with her as the ride to Fallingwater, while only 6 miles, included some big hills.
Fallingwater is a house designed by renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1934 and was designated a national historic landmark in 1966. It is unique in that it takes its natural surroundings and incorporates them into its overall scheme. The house itself is built above a waterfall, cantilevered out from the surrounding rocks. It was constructed for Kaufmanns, who owned a department store in Pittsburgh, and was their weekend residence from 1937 until 1963, when it was given to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and opened to the public.
The house is quite extraordinary, with an impressive sculptural quality. The rooms have huge windows, and open onto wide terraces. The idea was to blend the outdoors and living spaces. In this it is successful, although as a practical home it has had certain issues, including mildew and other maintenance problem. The biggest problem was that Frank Lloyd Wright reduced the amount of structural steel in the cantilevers recommended by engineers and the house began to top over. A major renovation project to correct this was undertaken in 2002 to retension the floors and for the first time since the house was built there has been no scaffolding anywhere around it. It really is quite magnificent although perhaps more as an artwork than a house. Another Wright house, Kentuck Knob, is close by, and this was more designed for family living needs.
Dr. Chef and I climbed the big hill on Rt. 381 before rolling down at high speed to Ohiopyle, where we reclaimed our panniers and settled down for lunch. Our timing was ideal as a few minutes later the sun disappeared and was replaced by black clouds and a monsoon-like downpour. We enjoyed our lunch, starting with another large plate of deep-fried vegetables–a sort of Pennsylvania tempura, I suppose, and watched the rain fall.
The downpour over, we took to our bicycles and rode along the river towards Confluence. The trail was wet and quite muddy and we had to stop at one point as more rain came, but nothing was interrupting the enjoyment of the white water kayakers we saw.
We stopped briefly in Confluence, where the Youghiogheny and Casselman Rivers meet Laurel Hill Creek. George Washington once camped here when it was still called Turkey Foot. Now following the Casselman, we passed Fort Hill, once a stockade of Native Americans and abandoned before the Europeans arrived, and came to an abandoned tunnel, the Pinkerton. It was completed in 1871 and, as was the practice then, lined with timber. It subsequently burned in 1879 and a temporary grade was built around it. The grade is where the bike path now goes but there are plans to eventually repair the tunnel, as has been done elsewhere on the route.
The town of Rockwood was to our left, on the opposite shore. Passing a ridge punctuated with wind turbines, we approached Meyersdale over the Salisbury Viaduct, an impressive structure that dominates the valley. It was opened in 1912 as part of the Western Maryland Railway’s Connellsville Extension, and gives a wide view of the valley, the Casselman River and existing CSX railway. The viaduct is 1,908 feet long and 101 feet high and was abandoned for railroad use in the early 1980s and brought back to life for cyclists in 1999.
Dr. Chef and I soon after came to the Meyersdale Trailhead and Visitor Center, in another restored railway station and turned left along Main Street, rolling down the hill into Meyersdale, Pennsylvania’s “Maple City.” Without much difficulty we found the Burgess House, a large Victorian home where we would stay. The Badger and Mrs. B. were already there and we spend the next while hosing down our bicycles and shedding the layers of mud acquired on the day’s ride.
The Burgess House is available for up to nine guests, and we had it to ourselves. After getting cleaned up, we walked over to Take Six Pizza for dinner, ending the evening with yet more ice cream. It had been a great day, with 65 miles of cycling, some memorable sights and even some bad weather.
The Lost Boys and Girls in Bavaria
Floor-to-ceiling cycling!
Not very glamourous but probably better than what Eddy Merckx began with.
Yesterday, a nice sunny day, saw a serious incident when five cyclists, riding early in the morning on a marked bike lane in a quiet area just west of Ottawa, were struck by a hit-and-run driver and left unconscious on the road. Two of them have life-threatening injuries.
Stopwatch Test
Piggy Bank
We awoke for the second day of our adventure in America’s heartland and fortified ourselves by going to the diner next to the motel for breakfast. The joint was hoppin’ and everyone had their plates loaded up with what the menu described as “Amish meat.” Our wildly exuberant waitress, Hope, high-fived us all when we sat down to eat. The food arrived rapidly and in sufficient quantities, as could be expected. My omelette was quite alright but when Dr. Chef shared his potato pancakes with me I realized that we had perhaps hit the establishment’s culinary ceiling. Both the good doctor and I commented for the remainder of the day that we could still feel those pancakes sitting there, leaden and immobile.
A future B&B?
Today would probably be the wildest part of the ride as about 8 miles after leaving Connellsville we entered Ohiopyle State Park, one of the most visited parks in the state. This section of the GAP trail, opened in 1986, is the oldest and remains the most popular. The Las Vegas group caught up to us along this stretch, although some of the cyclists in the group were definitely faster than others. A further 9 miles of cycling took us over a wonderful pair of bridges over an oxbow of the river before we came into the village of Ohiopyle proper.
More than 2 million visitors come to Ohiopyle, many for the white-water canoeing and kayaking on the Youghiogheny. There was a very nice Visitors’ Center in the restored railway station and it was here we decided to split up as Dr. Chef wanted to take me to Fallingwater, the famous Frank Lloyd Wright house, which the Badger and Mrs. B. had visited numerous times before. They would have some lunch further along the trail and meet us at our day’s destination of Meyersdale. The lady at the Visitors’ Center suggested we leave our panniers with her as the ride to Fallingwater, while only 6 miles, included some big hills.
Fallingwater is a house designed by renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1934 and was designated a national historic landmark in 1966. It is unique in that it takes its natural surroundings and incorporates them into its overall scheme. The house itself is built above a waterfall, cantilevered out from the surrounding rocks. It was constructed for Kaufmanns, who owned a department store in Pittsburgh, and was their weekend residence from 1937 until 1963, when it was given to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and opened to the public.
The house is quite extraordinary, with an impressive sculptural quality. The rooms have huge windows, and open onto wide terraces. The idea was to blend the outdoors and living spaces. In this it is successful, although as a practical home it has had certain issues, including mildew and other maintenance problem. The biggest problem was that Frank Lloyd Wright reduced the amount of structural steel in the cantilevers recommended by engineers and the house began to top over. A major renovation project to correct this was undertaken in 2002 to retension the floors and for the first time since the house was built there has been no scaffolding anywhere around it. It really is quite magnificent although perhaps more as an artwork than a house. Another Wright house, Kentuck Knob, is close by, and this was more designed for family living needs.
Dr. Chef and I climbed the big hill on Rt. 381 before rolling down at high speed to Ohiopyle, where we reclaimed our panniers and settled down for lunch. Our timing was ideal as a few minutes later the sun disappeared and was replaced by black clouds and a monsoon-like downpour. We enjoyed our lunch, starting with another large plate of deep-fried vegetables–a sort of Pennsylvania tempura, I suppose, and watched the rain fall.
We stopped briefly in Confluence, where the Youghiogheny and Casselman Rivers meet Laurel Hill Creek. George Washington once camped here when it was still called Turkey Foot. Now following the Casselman, we passed Fort Hill, once a stockade of Native Americans and abandoned before the Europeans arrived, and came to an abandoned tunnel, the Pinkerton. It was completed in 1871 and, as was the practice then, lined with timber. It subsequently burned in 1879 and a temporary grade was built around it. The grade is where the bike path now goes but there are plans to eventually repair the tunnel, as has been done elsewhere on the route.