Cycling

All posts tagged Cycling

100-mile Ride from Hell

Posted by ookgirl on September 9, 2013
Posted in: Cycling, Ironman, Ironman Arizona, Maryland, triathlon. Tagged: , . 1 Comment

Ok, it wasn’t that bad, but I figured it was an eye-grabbing headline. With 10 weeks to go until Ironman Arizona, we did the second century ride (100 miles) in as many weeks yesterday. It was the Indianhead 100, in southern Maryland. It was going well until, 20 miles in, we were taking this gravel road down to the first rest stop, and I stupidly leaned over while pointing out a pot hole to other riders, lost traction, and went down. Gravel does that. And you know what else it does? It makes nasty road rash. I have some to prove it.

This is the point at which I realized that I hadn’t worn my cycling gloves. And I must have put my hands down while falling, because they got the worst of it. Skin removed. Dirt lodged in every possible crevice. Bloody, oozey, goop, which got on my jersey. And this wasn’t just any jersey. It was the jersey I’m planning to wear at IMAZ. Oh well. I also got beat up on my right forearm and right leg (and possibly a little on my chin. I dunno… It feels weird). But the hands are definitely the worst part. Now, I know what it’s like to ride 80 miles with road rash.

So, the bad luck didn’t stop there. Somewhere around maybe 38 miles in, I got a rear flat. Ok, no biggie. This is actually good. I get the chance to practice changing my own tire. Craig bit his tongue, trying not to help me. I learned some things. Unfortunately, the CO2 cartridge didn’t work right. So, we had to re-do that. But then we got on our way.

Until… About two miles later, another flat. We took the tire and tube off. Rescanned the whole thing. We could see a couple gashes in the tire, but they didn’t seem to go all the way through, and we couldn’t see any debris in there. I tried changing it again by myself, we had more CO2 cartridge issues (I need a different mechanism for the valve), and Craig couldn’t be patient anymore… So, he took over. Only trouble was, we were out of CO2, and we didn’t have a pump. Luckily, another cyclist came by and gave us one of her CO2s.

We got back under way and made it to the 45-mile rest stop. It had a great Potomac River view and good food, etc. But I didn’t want to stick around. I already felt like we had wasted the day, and I knew it was going to just get hotter the longer we were out there. So, we headed out, knowing the most challenging hills of the ride were still to come (they are all in the last 30 miles or so).

So, we had done this ride last year, and I knew it (a) Was nice ride with great support and (b) Had some rough roads. They have very low traffic mostly, but tons of pot holes, typically at the bottoms of the hills, of course. Anyway, back to the story…

At mile 55… Yep, another rear flat. At this point, we know the tire is toast, and we are out of supplies. So, we called the SAG wagon number, thinking we would just throw in the towel. The SAG guy came about half an hour later. He was really nice and very skilled. He searched the tire over and over, and finally pinched out a tiny piece of glass that was lodged deep in one of the gashes. He patched the two spots with duct tape (on the inside of the tire) and got us back on our way.

I was so thrilled that we were going to finish the ride! The final hills were tough, and we ended up on some higher-traffic roads for a bit (with impatient drivers), but it went pretty smoothly from there. I think Craig was a little frustrated by the ride. And I was really glad to get it over with. But I learned a lot, and we finished. And, maybe, just maybe, I used up all my bad luck. So, IMAZ might go smoothly 🙂

Until next time…
–Ookgirl

Fun and Food at the Eat a Peach Ride

Posted by ookgirl on August 12, 2013
Posted in: Cycling, Ironman, Living Kidney Donation, Maryland, triathlon. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

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We now have 14 weeks to go until Ironman Arizona; so to break up the lather-rinse-repeat feeling that Ironman training can have – we did a fun ride this past weekend called the “Eat a Peach” ride. It is extremely hilly, in beautiful western Maryland farm country, and has optional distances of 33, 67, and 100 miles. At the end, there is a peach festival, with fresh peaches, peach sundaes, and other yummy food. We had signed up for the 100-mile distance, but we knew that the 67-mile course brings you back to your car, where you can decide whether you had another 33 miles of hills in your legs.

It turns out that I did not. I tried to go out on the last loop, but only made it to 73 miles in the end. My husband, on the other hand, is a maniac, and he went out to do the last 33, only to get lost and to end up completing 106 miles for the day. I did a total of 6,552 feet of climbing, and I think his was around 8,000 feet of climbing. We were both pretty tired after that! The 67-mile loop ends with a really tough hill (most of the hills were between 12 and 15 % grade). I ended up doing the last hill twice, because I turned around early. We definitely felt these hills on Sunday, when we did our swim and run training. We are so thankful that Mondays are rest days!

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Until next time… -ookgirl

The Opposite of Doping

Posted by ookgirl on August 5, 2013
Posted in: Ironman, Living Kidney Donation, triathlon. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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With 15 weeks to go until Ironman Arizona, my husband and I did a 55+ mile bike ride in Thurmont, MD, in the area of Catoctin Mountain Park this weekend. His distance was slightly longer since he was looping around waiting for me some of the time. The views were stunning, and the climbs were challenging. We did a loop two times where the first five miles are nothing but climbing switchbacks. And, throughout this part of both loops, I couldn’t help thinking, “How do those cyclists do this day after day in the Tour?” I guess some people would say that those riders are doping, and I guess that has been true in many cases.

I can tell you that for my recent, mini-epic climbs in Thurmont, I was not only not doping, I was only using half of the natural EPO that the body normally produces. It turns out that natural EPO is produced by – you guessed it – the kidneys. So, only-one-kidney-girl gets an extra gold star for her climbs (that’s what I say 🙂 ).

Here is what Wikipedia says about it:

“EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production. It is a cytokine (protein signaling molecule) for erythrocyte (red blood cell) precursors in the bone marrow. Human EPO has a molecular weight of 34 kDa…” “… Also called hematopoietin or hemopoietin, it is produced by interstitial fibroblasts in the kidney in close association with peritubular capillary and tubular epithelial cells. It is also produced in perisinusoidal cells in the liver. While liver production predominates in the fetal and perinatal period, renal production is predominant during adulthood.”

Wikipedia also says that the kidney will produce more EPO under hypoxic conditions. So, I believe this bolsters my case for us to someday move to Colorado, right? Wikipedia is unwittingly giving me gold stars and good arguments. Thank you, Wikipedia 🙂

Anyway, none of this matters as much as the great fun we had on this ride. The next two weekends promise more climbing and kick-ass downhills in beautiful settings. While we don’t need the hill training for Arizona, it’s nice to have a break from the flats for a while.

Until next time… Ookgirl out.