On the bike? Why the mind says GO!...or NO!

While it takes fitness to have speed and stamina on the bike, the mind is the master controller of how hard physical limits are pushed. The mind pretty much says GO! or NO GO!, when the going gets tough out there. It’s almost as if the mind has a dial set on how much the lungs/legs can take. But hey, it’s wrong a lot. The mind can pretty much always push the body to do more than the typical limits it sets for survival. If the mind believes the body is strong enough to respond to an order to put out more energy and the mind wants an energy boost, it will call upon the legs and lungs to drop the hammer -- even when the legs feel like rubber.

I experienced this on a recent ride. The first half of the 51-mile ride featured a nice tailwind, making it pretty easy to ride at a fairly fast clip. But on the ride back, there was a stiff headwind, and my buddy John and I were looking at slow, tough pedaling for about 25 miles.

The last time this happened, John had more energy than I did, and he took off ahead of me. It wasn’t long until he was out of sight, and I rode the rest of the way fighting the headwind, feeling mentally defeated by the relentless, in your face wind. When the mind is convinced conditions are too tough to push the body for more energy, then the default mode is riding on automatic pilot with fairly low energy output. The going is slow, there’s no real will to fight for more speed. My mind has said, “You’re just going to burn out against the headwinds going fast, so just chill.” Which makes for an arduous, slow slog. When I caught up to him at the end of the ride, John said he also had a tough duel with the headwinds.

So the next week, when the conditions were similar, I suggested we draft each other all the way back so each of us could rest a bit while drafting, but at the same time keep a lot higher pace than if we were riding solo against the wind. You know, like they do in cycling in things called pelotons!

So we started off doing this, and it showed me how drafting and resting frees the mind up from a “You can’t fight the wind” defeatist point of view, to a much more optimistic “let’s push it, it’ll work,” mindset.

The mind has to think there’s a way to beat the wind, for it to defy defeat and push the body's energy output.

So we drafted each other through some heavy headwinds, and after leading John through a long very tough stretch, he passed me on a long gradual climb. I was pretty gassed, and I didn’t have enough energy to grab his wheel. He kept on going, and the gap between us got fairly long.

John didn’t slow down until I threw my chain trying to shift into the small ring on a short very steep pitch up to a bridge. Chain reset, we rode together for awhile, but eventually he pulled away from me again. And I didn’t have the energy once again, to get on his wheel. Still, I picked up my pace gradually enough to keep him in sight.

This is the part that interested me. There I was riding in the headwind alone, but because John had pretty much become a rabbit for me to try to reel in, my mind wasn’t defeated by the headwind. It saw some daylight, a possibility that hitting the gas enough to keep a difficult but do-able pace to gain on John was possible.

But without John as a spark, my mind wouldn’t have pushed my legs to slowly but consistently, drive and maintain a higher pace against the wind.

So my mind wasn’t defeated, even though the same conditions would defeat it without a rabbit to chase down.

The mind decided what the pace was going to be. If the mind wasn’t convinced a strong pace could be forged through the wind, it would have backed off and it would be a much slower ride.

I really didn’t entertain the thought that I would catch John. I just told myself to keep him in sight and just keep focused, work hard, keep banging. I was tired, but I had a rhythm going.

And hey, that rhythm started to reel John in. I saw him slow his pedaling and I was pretty sure he was running hitting the proverbial wall.

When I saw that, there was another spark of energy fueled by my exhilaration from making very hard fought progress. I eventually caught  John and passed him. It was something that several miles earlier really seemed impossible or unrealistic at the very least.

So that was fascinating to witness. The takeaway for me was that as long as the mind is convinced you can ride faster, you will crank it up a knotch with no hesitation and keep riding at that faster pace. Even if you’re tired. I don’t know if it takes logical circumstances, like drafting, a rabbit rider ahead, or a strong cadence to convince the mind to it to push the legs, even when they’re barking for relief. But the mind is boss, so whatever it thinks on the bike -- whether it’s hopeless to push the pace, or that it a higher pace is do-able -- goes. Not any scientific breakthrough, to be sure, but it is interesting to experience… I guess the key for me is:  Don’t let the mind hold you back from pushing your limits on the bike. Let there be a reasonable goal, like a faster rabbit rider that is at least in sight, to spur you on. If your mind thinks it can be done, it will order the body to do it.

Til next time, remember to pull on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then keep the rubber side down, ride safely and don’t forget: Have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Taking energy inventory: Different every time

No matter how good you think you’re going to ride before you set out on the bike, you never really know until you’re out there. Because we all feel a little different every time. Strong, weak and in-between. In the early stages of the ride, we all take a little subconscious inventory of how much energy we have: Do the legs feel rubbery? Steely? When my legs start off feeling mushy, it usually means a slow day for me. Steely legs are sometimes happening at the start. They either stay that way through the ride, making for a fast day on the bike. Or at some point they tire out and lose power. Mushy.

In other cases, rubbery legs can sometimes be called upon to step it up. And they either have nothing, or they break out and suddenly become steely. That’s the best feeling because once they power through the shaky stage and into a strong cadence, they usually feel good to go for stamina through the rest of the ride. Then, at least, there’s and indication there’s some fitness progress goin’ on.

Working on fitness

I recently did three big rides in consecutive days in a quest to improve fitness, and each day held a different set of challenges. The first day it was very windy, so riding at a strong pace was a joke. By the time I got back, I was beat down, not feeling any love from the ride.

The second ride, with my buddy John, went better. The first 25 miles of the ride had a good tailwind, and we banged it out at an average of 17.5 mph the whole way on a course that included 1,200 feet of climbing. I hammered it all the way, and found out later that I’d burned most of my matches. The return ride was into a nasty headwind, and I pedaled into it, but without any power. John bolted past me and got so far ahead, it wasn’t long until I didn’t see him anymore.

So the ride back was a suffer-fest, the complete opposite of the first half.

On the third day there was very little wind. Riding with John again, we prodded each other for the first 25 miles and finished a bit faster than the day before. On the way back the legs were tired, but because there was no headwind, it was easier going. Still the cumulative fatigue in the legs bogged down the pace to keep the second half fairly fast for John, pretty slow for me. When there’s still plenty of gas in the tank on the last 14.5 miles, enough to keep banging out a strong pace with managed suffering, fitness is alive and well. But while it’s still a bog-down tired-fest, one thing is clear: Not there yet. But hey, it’s early in the year, and faster times come with the heat of the spring and summer. So I just keep on pedalin’.

Start out with a used bike? Uh, yes. Uh, no.

I came across a cyclist guy I’ve talked to in the past, Jim, while at the turnaround rest stop for my routine ride. We got to talking, as usual, and I mentioned a guy at work who wants to get into cycling. The guy asked me what kind of bike he should get. I told him to go to a bike shop and look at what’s available. Do a little research. Talk to the guys at the bike shop about what kind of riding he wants to do.

Jim said that at the advice of a friend a few years ago, he started off with a used mountain bike, a Cannondale. It worked out well for him, so he figures used is the way to go for someone starting out. I think new is the way to go. Jim said used is better if you know what you’re looking for in a frame and components. I countered that somebody starting out just wants something to ride that works for them right off the bat. They’re not likely to be at the stage where they’ll buy a frame they know is good, then trick it out with nice shifters and wheel sets. They just want a turnkey bike right now.

It also depends on the person. I remember a college guy asked me about buying a used bike, and I told him, yeah, it’ll be cheaper, but you might just be paying for a piece of junk. Better off going new. But he didn’t have much money, really didn’t care. If he could ride it, he was fine with it.

So new or used when buying a bike? Harder to get quality with used, but it’s do-able. New should give the quality you want, but it’ll cost more. So hey, whatever floats your boat.

Wheel sets, components, frames, oh my

Wheel sets are said to be the best way to improve your bike and that seems right to me. But wow, the prices for wheel sets go sky high, serving pro racers needs for speed, durability, etc. But for the weekend roadie, how good, or expensive I should say, does a wheel set need to be?

I bought my bike for $2K nearly six years ago and it came with a $300 wheel set. But when a back spoke broke when my heel poked into the moving rear wheel as I tried to avoid hitting a squirrel, I upgraded to a $700 wheel set on the advice of a bike mechanic. His opinion? $700 will get you a quality wheel set – much better than the $300 set – and he thought that’s pretty much all the quality an amateur roadie needs. So I’ve gone with that. But I know riders who have wheel sets costing $2K+ on their bikes. Sure they’re great wheels. But hey, these guys aren’t in the pro peloton, so I guess my thought is: Why pay so much more for a wheel set designed for pro riders with one hell of a lot more firepower in their legs than you? Seems a little like buying a Ferrari to go to the neighborhood grocery store and back. Really can’t go 120 mph on a neighborhood street with a 15 mph speed limit!

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then keep the rubber side down, ride safely and don’t forget: Have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Sometimes? A ride with harmonic convergence

Sometimes you get out on the bike and everything comes together. The weather’s sunny and warm, the air is dry, there’s no wind. And the legs have plenty of firepower.

That happened to me on a recent ride. I couldn’t remember the last time great conditions had converged so harmonically.

But it was on the ride back that things got even better. I was a few miles in to the last flat-terrained 14.5-mile split of my 51-mile ride when I got passed by a guy on a mountain bike. A mountain bike? I felt pretty good, so I cranked it up to catch his wheel.

This guy had a strong cadence going, at around 20-21 mph.Which was pretty impressive considering he was on an old gray Marin mountain bike. I figured there was no way he could stay at that pace for too long.

As I rode behind him, I saw he had the rough-hewn look of a rogue big wave surfer, or hardcore Harley rider. He didn’t wear a helmet, his arms and legs were thick and muscular. His tan was a deep bronze, a been-in-the-sun-and-wind-a-lot tan. He wore a gray cycling jersey with the words Elephant Rock on the back. He’d cut the short sleeves off his jersey, likely to give his big upper arms easier movement. His bike didn’t have any shocks on it, front or rear. He had a spare tube wrapped around the stem of his handlebars and a small pump attached to his bike frame. Looked like his tires were slicks. I couldn’t tell if the bike frame was steel or aluminum or what. But I’m sure it was a lot heavier then most road bikes, providing a lot more resistance to pedaling at a fast pace.

I drafted the guy for several miles and he hadn’t wavered from his 20 mph pace one bit. He just kept pedaling steady and hard, head down. So when we approached a bridge where there’s an extended upward pitch, I rode up next to him.

“Nice pace,” I called.

He turned and looked at me like he’d been distracted from a trance and nodded. “Yeah, it’s in the blood. I’m from Colorado.”

The guy had a mustache and wraparound shades, and easily looked fit enough to ride a mountain bike like a road bike.

“You a mountain biker?” I asked.

“Exclusively,” he said. After a few seconds, he added, “Except when I’m drunk.”

“Where in Colorado you from?”

“Boulder.”

“Ride a lot of trails there?”

“Just roads,” he said. “You ride a mountain bike?”

“Yes, but mostly road bike these days,” I said. “My mountain bike got stolen a few years ago. Now all I have is a junker.”

“Everybody rides fast here,” he said.

I fell back behind him and continued to draft. He kept his pace all the way to my turnoff. I said so long, and he rode on, banging out his pace with powerful pedaling.

I couldn’t believe that guy. Dude was a beast!

Tight schedule riding

Getting rides in before days of rain can be tough. I did it recently, doing 51-mile rides on consecutive days, while working seven hours each day. Since the rides are around three hours it combines for about a 10-hour ride/work day. One thing that can add speed to a ride done before going to work is the sense that you need to ride with a bit of urgency to get back in time. It’s just a mindset, but if you have it, it’ll add some punch to your cadence. It’s like the feeling that if you don’t bang it, you’ll be late and that mini-panicked mindset will keep the whip a-crackin’. It’s amazing how that can push aside any tiredness you may feel and give a nice crispness to the ride.

While having that “I’m a little late” mindset is good if you have to get back for work or something else, it’s still a good idea to allow yourself a little extra time on the ride just in case you get delayed by something time consuming, like a flat. I figure it works best to ride like you’re late, but still have enougn of a time cushion to allow for any unforeseen delays.

Back tire wear

Back tires take more punishment than front ones since they’re under more direct weight of the rider. Some riders will ride their rear tires until there’s rubber missing in some spots, revealing the rubber and nylon sub base of the tread. When they think it’s had enough, they’ll take it off and put the front tire on the back then put a new one on the front. I’ve got a pretty worn down back tire now, and I’m getting ready to replace it. But I’m just going with a new one on the back. The front one doesn’t have a whole lot of wear. Why? Only thing I can think of is that it means changing only one tire instead of two! Really don’t know that one way will result in more tire life than the other. So, I’ll stick with the easier change out of one tire.

Laser framed riding

A friend just gave me a red rear bike light that looks like it might be a nice thing to use for riding in traffic and/or at night. It shoots out red laser lines on each side of the bike, making a moving lane for the bike. The idea is to help drivers give the rider enough of a space buffer when passing them. I haven’t used it yet, but plan to do more nighttime commutes beginning this spring. I’ll try it out and pass along whether it seems to do a good job on night and traffic-heavy rides.

Til next time, remember to pull on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely, and don’t forget: Have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Bike computer addiction? It's real

One of the fun things about going on a ride with plenty of climbing is keeping track of how much altitude you gain on your Garmin or whatever bike computer you have. My cycling buddy John uses his phone to get his ride metrics but it doesn’t calculate climb footage. So when we planned to go on one of his favorite local climb rides he said he was looking forward to finding out from my Garmin just how much climbing is in the 40-mile ride. But as we took off, my Garmin gave a low battery reading, and sure enough, after less than a mile, it died. I don’t know how that happened, I usually unplug the thing from a charger after it hits 100% charged. Somehow, though, it didn’t get charged and so the only stat we really wanted from the ride that day, would remain a mystery. We figure its about 4K feet of climb, but hey, we want the official reading. I kicked myself for not having the Garmin road ready, but it was definitely some fluke, because that’s only happened once before in the years I’ve had the thing.

So we started in on the ride and I kept looking down at the Garmin to see a blank screen. Aaaargggh!

Talk about realizing how addicted I am to its metrics during the ride! Uh, how fast am I going? I peek down. Blank… Uh how far have we ridden? I look down. Blank. Ughh.. Pissed, I was! Not easy to let it go when you’re a stat addict!

But before long John and I pedaled hard up some nasty steep road, and deep breathing took my mind off the goofy Garmin obsession. Soon enough I realized, hey, this really isn’t the end of the world, just calm the hell down, get a grip, and ride, OK? Uhh….ok.

Really weird, though, to realize how much I love to know the stats of a ride during and after. I wonder if I’d miss it if I stopped having the Garmin on rides altogether. It kinda feels like a gut punch when something you use a lot, a routine, go-to thing, is suddenly gone or not functioning. It’s a little like the feeling of losing your smart phone. I did that once, and I literally was thrown into a queasy, stomach churning Shakey Jake for a few hours.

So now I’m definitely gonna make SURE the Garmin is fully charged before each ride. This, at least in theory, will eliminate the angst of a blank dead battery screen. Because, uh, that just plain sucks!

Finding gas in the tank

The day after the climbing ride I did a mainly flat ride just to rack up my miles for the week. Lactic acid was still in the legs so I didn’t have much firepower for an up tempo ride.

But on the last 16 or so miles of the ride, I got passed by another rider. I decided to pick up the pace and try to get on his wheel. I did so, and stayed with his 20 mph pace for a couple miles. It was great, I rode fast, but with the much lighter work load afforded by drafting. Before this guy passed me, another guy in a jersey with a yellow and blue Swedish flag on it has passed me going around 20. I didn’t have the energy to chase for his wheel and the dude just got smaller and small until I couldn’t see him anymore. When I drafted the second guy, I figured if we worked together we could catch Sweden guy. I felt rested and ready to go, though, so I passed the guy I drafted and hammered it hard. After awhile, I looked back and he wasn’t there. At that point I had a great pace going, the legs were warmed up and banging it. And lo and behold, off in the distance I saw Sweden guy’s yellow and blue jersey. He was still pretty far ahead, but I thought, what the hell, see if you can reel him in. It’s amazing how having a rabbit like that can really focus you. I just worked on keeping a 20-22 mph pace, trying not to think too much about whether I’d catch the dude or not. But as I checked occasionally, I could tell I was closing the gap on Sweden guy, who wasn’t pedaling at the pace he was earlier. The closer I got, the more surge I had in my legs, and right after a short dip and small incline, I rode past him.

But he got inspired to speed up and he wasn’t too far behind me. There were two miles left and I figured I’d just try to stay in front as long as I could. I expected him to rest and pass me back if he could. Right before the last straightaway, he rode up next to me and commented on what a nice day it was to ride. I agreed. Warm, not hot, slightly overcast. No wind.

“You from Sweden?” I asked.

“No, just have family there.”

“That’s where my family’s from.”

“Oh yeah, where?”

“Goteborg.”

“Oh yeah, my family lives in a town near there. Beautiful country.”

“Yes.”

“Except in the winter!”

I turned off the trail, and Midnight Sun dude did too, passing me as I slowed down to catch my breath. It was a great way to finish a ride, which for the first two thirds, was just an ordinary, long, tired-leg ride. But it was great to get out of the doldrums in the final miles by hooking into a couple of faster riders. The best part to me is when you ask your body to pick up the pace and bang it after a lot of fairly slow miles, and it does… it answers the call to haul! That, to me, is one of the best feelings in cycling! You go to the well, and find energy and pedal power you didn’t know you had.

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely and don’t forget: Have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Getting in touch with your inner animal

Sometimes, when I plan to go on a ride, thoughts come into my head arguing that I shouldn’t ride. It’s too cold, it’s too windy, not enough time, not enough sleep, don’t feel much energy, etc.

But I know I want to get in the pedal time, so it becomes a matter of not acting on those negative thoughts. I let them be, so they can fizzle out on their own. Yes, I hear all the arguments against getting out on the bike, but I just let them float on by as I channel my inner animal, which is all about silent movement of instinctive intent. I get the bike ready to go, get my snacks, put on my kit. My inner animal nudges me along with a subprogram of action over any words or thoughts. I just keep moving toward getting out on the ride. Because I know, deep down, that’s what I want to do.

This nonverbal inner animal activity is thought-free, like a meditation, a complete tune-in to the present moment. And before I know it I’m on the bike, and on the ride I wanted to go on, despite any real or imagined inconveniences my rational mind had peppered me with earlier.

If it’s cold, I dress in layers for it. If a big headwind is waiting, I just think of it as workout, like a long climb. If it starts to rain while on the ride, during which I didn’t expect rain due to the forecast I follow, I make a mental adjustment. I go from having an aversion to riding in the rain, to embracing it, accepting it as what’s happening, not fighting it.

Doing headwind riding, or getting caught in some unexpected rain, or having to navigate through crowds of people or long lines of cars, or ride a tightrope because of little or no bike lanes in traffic, can be tough to deal with on the bike, because they are nagging inconveniences. But with my inner animal front and center, I’m in nothing but survival mode, no thoughts, just emotion-free reactions to any challenging situations on the bike. My inner animal is an inside force that doesn't buy into pain and suffering when a long ride becomes a hellish test of endurance. The inner animal acknowledges the pain and suffering, but doesn’t visit or inhabit it. It abides, it keeps the engines running full speed ahead, like a machine that is impervious to pain. My inner animal tells me with confidence that I will do what needs to be done to finish out the ride.

This inner animal mental state has always worked for me. Of course, sometimes situations come up on the bike that stop the ride, because of a crash and/or injury, exhaustion or other conditions. But our inner animal will come to the fore if we just let it. It’s like a lifeline in a crisis. It gets us past any negative or limiting thoughts in our heads, and lets us go farther and faster than our rational minds thought were possible. So when the going gets tough, let your inner animal take over the controls. Maybe you already have. If so, you know how it finds you a path, and provides instinctive, confident moves through the rough stuff.

Just wondering…

I went on a 51-mile ride this week, the day after doing the same ride in strong headwind, tailwind, and side wind conditions. The first ride was a mixed bag. I rode slowly during the first half because I was pedaling right into the teeth of a strong north wind. But coming back, I had a tailwind, and had a pretty nice pace all the way. Overall, the ride wasn’t fast, more in the middle ground of speed.

But on the second day, conditions were better: No wind, sunny and cool air in the low to mid 50s. I never know how I’m going to ride until I’m out on the bike, but on the face of it, it looked like the favorable conditions of no wind and sunshine would help me ride faster the second day.

But no, I rode slower. Almost four minutes slower over 51 miles. I think it was because my legs were a bit dead after the ride the day before. Just didn’t have any energy in them all ride long. John, a riding buddy, was on the trail at the same time going the other way. We waved and caught up later with texts. He had a very fast day on the bike, dueling another rider and ending up with an 18.5 mph average speed over 28 miles. Now that’s banging it pretty hard. I told him my ride was a dead legged affair, not a lot of energy and no speed at all. After thinking about it, I wondered if John and I had ridden together if my dead legs would have shed their slogging ways and pumped up, since I have been motivated to keep up with John on rides with him. Riders feed off of each others’ energy and can get fired up just to keep up with a strong pace set by another rider. But alone, that just doesn't happen. If there’s no stimulus to up the pace, it’s impossible, at least for me, to crank it up alone for an extended period if my energy's down. Alone, I can do so for a bit, but not very long. I’ll have to ride with John when I have tired legs and find out if they can be pushed into a strong pace over the length of the ride – just from the influence of his uptempo pace. Sometimes when your legs are heavy, you can’t sustain an uptempo pace no matter how badly you want to. Other times they can break out of  heavy-legged doldrums just by being pushed into action by another fast rider. I guess the question is, when is leg fatigue just in your head, and something that can be overcome with an energizing stimulus, such as another fast rider?  I suspect that sometimes dead legs can be overcome, and sometimes not. Just depends on just how freakin' tired they are!

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then keep the rubber side down, ride safely, and don’t forget: Have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

A long ride with traffic, rough roadway? Uh...no

My buddy John led me on one of his old rides this past week, and it included some roads I’d been on before as well as a few new ones.

During the ride I thought about what are the main ingredients of a good ride. And for me, they are a relatively smooth surface to ride on, plenty of climbing, and a limited number of cars.

On John’s ride I followed him down a two-lane semi-suburban/rural road that seemed to be a well-used short cut by local drivers. It had plenty of cars and trucks zooming by on it and limited shoulder space to ride on. I remembered that local cyclists told me on a ride in the same area a few years ago, that this road was avoided by cyclists. Why? There were several incidents on it where cyclists had been hit by drivers, and one in particular had been killed. The driver had been texting and drifted into a cyclist riding on the side of the road.

When I caught up to John, I asked him how long we’d be riding on this road, and told him of its bad rep among local cyclists. He didn’t know of any such rep, and said he’d ridden on it at least 40 times without any problems from cars or trucks.

“Not much room to ride,” I said.

“You must have a low tolerance for cars,” he said.

I got the feeling he thought my concerns were a bit much. John doesn’t worry at all about riding along with a steady stream of high-speed cars. No big deal for him. But, I admit, it is for me.

Still, he’s told me stories of being practically shoved into a ditch by a semi tractor-trailer while climbing a winding, steep two-lane road in the region. “The truck was literally inches away from me, I was scared shitless.”

He vowed never to ride up that road again, just because of the miniscule amount of space for a cyclist. I know the stretch and have ridden down it no problem, but couldn’t imagine riding up it. Going down, you can see ahead and keep a good line at a pretty good clip. Going up it, you’d have to crawl along, with little maneuvering possible as cars and truck rumble by too close for comfort.

That, in a nutshell, is my problem with riding along for long stretches on roads with lots of cars going by at high speed. It’s just too close for comfort. So I pretty much stay away from those rides, and concentrate on ones that are rural enough to keep car encounters at a minimum. It has pared down my list of rides. But for me, enjoying the ride without a constant worry of being hit by a wayward driver at high speed, is worth it.

Apart from that, constantly rough roads can kill the fun out of a ride for me. I’m just not a fan of hitting road bumps, cracks or ruts, some of them that jar you unexpectedly because you can’t see them, when you’re banging along on a fast descent. I’ve been on a few rough road rides, but don’t really seek them out anymore. Hey, all roads have a little rough going here and there, and that’s no big deal. But when it’s a constant bang around, jarring experience? Better for a mountain bike, not a road bike.

Hey, not sposed to rain…

I was going to stay off the bike on my second day off since I’d ridden the previous two days. It was cloudy and cold outside, and just seemed too much of a gloomy scene to deal with. So I told myself I wasn’t going to ride. Which is when the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. Then, I thought, well hey, if the sun comes out, it’ll be great out on the bike. I’ve seen it happen many times. The sun burns a hole through the clouds, and pretty soon it’s a sunny day. So that’s all the motivation I needed. I got out on the bike.

But the sun went back behind the clouds and only came out for short hazy periods as I pedaled toward the 25-mile halfway point of the ride. Then the clouds seemed to be winning and it was pretty much a gray day as I rode. Then at about the 20-mile mark, I felt a drop of rain. Now this is when I realized, hey it might start to dump. And I’ve got about 30 miles to go. Not a great feeling! So I had started out with high hopes of a ride in the sunshine, and now I was feeling increasing drops of rain. The pavement absorbed more and more wet drops as I rode the five miles to the halfway point where I stopped under a snack-bar ramada out of the wind to have some snacks.

It was plenty cold enough, in the low 50s, with some wind that would be in my face on the way back. I didn’t sit down, just kept moving my arms to stay warm and pretty much ate my snacks as fast as I could. On the Weather Channel app on my phone, I checked the Doppler radar for rain and, hey, it showed big blobs of green (rain clouds) heading right over the stretch of bike trail I was heading into. Waitaminute, I remember the Weather Channel reporting zero percentage chance of rain for the area for the whole day! Supposed to rain the next day. Oh man...

So I got back on the bike making up my mind to: Ride hard to 1) stay warm, and 2) get through the rain as fast as possible.

As I took off, the sprinkling was starting to increase and before long, my front tire was wet. I didn’t know if it was really going to start dumping, or if it would just be light rain all the way back. And maybe if I got lucky, it would stop altogether.

My tires were nearly fully inflated, so I looked for a dry spot on the trail under a tree and stopped to let about 10 pounds pressure out of each tire. I took off and decided to embrace whatever level rain was in store. I rode hard and it turned out, the rain only amounted to light sprinkling. It was enough to slick up the roads, but thankfully it never turned into a brutal downpour to endure. So I made it back with a good workout, and not too wet. Hosed the mud off the bike, wiped it down, done deal. Glad I went out. Great ride!

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely and, most importantly? Have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Slow ride? Think of it as conditioning

Every time out on the bike I’ve gotten into the habit of taking inventory. As in, how do I feel today? A lot of energy? Low energy? Tired legs? Strong legs?

It doesn't take too long to figure it out, a few miles or so for me. But taking note of what you have in the tank on any given day can frame how you think about the ride. I compete against my own time all the time just to check my relative fitness level. That means I usually try to ride at the fastest speed possible most of the time. But of course, some days, there’s just not the energy to ride at a strong clip for miles on end. And on those days, I just tell myself, Hey you’re getting your pedals in and that’s a good thing. If you don’t have it today, just work on having good form while you pedal and think of it as laying a fitness foundation. That way the ride feels productive, even if it’s a bit on the slow side. And when you get out on the bike and feel stronger, most likely the next time out, that foundation work will help maximize your improved speed. So however you feel on the bike, as long as you’re pedaling, just remember it’s adding to your overall fitness. So if it’s slow going, no worries, just keep going. Think of it as a productive workout, because it is.

Improved times feel good

Another way to look at a sluggish ride with a slow time is that next time out, you have a good chance of a better ride with a faster time. And when you do improve from previous rides, be it faster splits or faster overall time, there’s a feeling of getting somewhere, doing better than before and yes, some satisfaction.

Looking for sparks of energy

Sometimes I can break free of the low energy/sluggish ride with new energy sparked by some form of motivation. For me, motivation and the renewed energy it provides, comes in a few different forms. Once a long time ago I would run half marathons and marathons. One time on this half marathon I ran behind a woman with a fine derriere. It made me run faster than I would have normally, because this woman was a faster runner than me, for sure. So I just wanted to stay close enough to her to enjoy the great view. She eventually pulled away because I couldn’t hang with her pace, and I never saw her again. But because I like the view she provided, I found more energy to run faster. At least for awhile! I don’t remember if I finished with one of my better overall times or not.

Other motivators/energy sources on the bike for me also include inspiring music I hear on my earphones, and riders that pass me.

I have the recording of beautiful piano music that my brother- in-law recorded in an album last year, and one time, I was just riding along, not moving very crisply, when one of his compositions came on my iPod. It is powerful, dreamlike, emotional music, and it really gave me a surge of energy. Once the song ended, though, I’m pretty sure my energy ebbed too!

And if a rider passes me, I usually try to muster any reserve energy I have to try to catch his or her wheel. Sometimes I can do it, and sometimes I can’t. But when I can, I draft the rider until I’m fairly well rested, then try a pass. Sometimes I can pass and stay ahead, and sometimes riders pass me back. That sometimes leads to a back and forth that is fueled by each riders’ motivation to see if they’re fit enough to keep the lead.

Most of the time, my low energy/slow rides are because I’m riding by myself the whole ride, with no other riders passing, nobody to draft behind, or to trade leads with. Or, there will be a lot of headwinds to contend with. Or it will be cold and the air moist and heavy, a drag on speed. Or I’ll just be plain tired and my legs feel too dead to get a good clip going.

So with all the slowdown factors in play, the only defense is keeping an eye or ear open for anything that will provide a spark of energy. If you happen into a motivator, you can   break out of your doldrums. At least for a while!

Tires built for sand

I met a rider on a bike with four-inch wide tires this week, and I asked him about it. The thing doesn’t have any suspension on it, he said, so it’s not so great on rough terrain. But on sand, he said, it pretty much floats you right through it. Another rider I know just bought a similar fat-tire bike. He was going to ride the many acres of exposed sand at drought stricken Folsom Lake. Fat tires or not, riding through sand still sounds to me like it could be a pretty tough workout. Maybe worth trying sometime. All riding in sand has done for me – on a mountain bike or a road bike – is make me crash! Something about the tires being kinda narrow?

Spin class? Nah

A cycling buddy goes to a spin class for fitness if it’s raining and not good for a ride. He’s a beast on the flats and now he’s ramping up his training. May be hard to keep up with him. But so far, I’m passing on the spin classes. I’d rather ride when possible. If it rains I can always clean the bike. Or go buy some energy gel.

Java jolt keeps it going

Caffeine, while not in the same category as EPO or speed, really helps pick me up on the second 25 miles of my routine ride. I really didn’t know how much until I did a ride and forgot to put my energy gel in my jersey. This gel has 100 milligrams of caffeine in it, which I routinely eat at the halfway point of the ride. Without it that day, I really slowed down for the last 16 miles of the ride. I felt more tired than usual and like I had little or no gas in the tank. Thank you, caffeine!

Til next time, remember to pull on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely and don’t forget: Have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Heavin' into some heavy headwinds

It was blustery outside with a small chance of some rain, but the sun was out and I made the decision: Ride. I rode 51 miles the day before, but the forecasts were for several days of intermittent rain, so it was hit the trail while there’s still a rain-free riding window. Bang! The Doppler map on my phone showed a heavy green blob of rain coming into the region, but it looked clear after that.

I texted my riding buddy Vinnie to see if he was up for a ride, with possibly some rain thrown in. It was his day off too. It didn’t take him long to get on board. He’d been planning to go to the gym to work out. Not even close!

We met up and took off with a 15-20 mph tailwind that immediately helped boost our pace. Amazing, that little extra pop you have in your pedals when there’s some wind pushing you along! It wasn’t a total tailwind, more like a semi-crosswind hitting us diagonally from behind. So depending on the curves in the trail there was some tailwind, some crosswinds and even some spots of headwinds. But we finished the first 14.5 miles in 47:48, or an 18.1 mph average. The second 8.8-mile section has about 1,000 feet of intermittent climbing. This is where I usually bog down a bit after banging hard on the relatively flat, long section just before.

It started raining on us a bit, and I called out to Vinnie, “It’s just a cell, it’s gonna blow through.”

After continuing to ride in the rain, he couldn’t help but laugh as he yelled, “It’s just a cell, it’ll be sunny in no time.”

But the rain went away as we pedaled on and the sun did peek in and out from the clouds as the wind continued to push us.

At the turnaround point, we got out of the strong south winds – had to be 15-20 mph -- in the shelter of a closed snack bar. The temp wasn’t bad, in the mid 50s, but it was easy to get cold as we ate some snacks and shot the bull. As we took off back down the trail, I knew we would face a nasty headwind for the next 25 miles or so.

There’s a mile-long section of trail along a lake and at the foot of some steep cliffs where there’s almost always stiff wind out of the north or south. Since this part of the trial goes directly north-south, you get hammered by a strong headwind either way, almost every time. This time we headed into it going south. This is where – if I have the energy – I try to see how long I can sustain 18-20 mph going straight into a headwind. Doing that for a mile, man, it’s brutal. This time I maintained a 20 mph pace for the whole stretch, but I was pretty much toast when it ended and I hit a gradual uphill pitch. Vinnie caught up and said something to me, and I couldn’t even answer --  I was still in oxygen recovery mode. The rest of the ride continued into tough headwinds and we got a bit more rain too. “ Just a cell!” Vinnie called out, laughing again.

I tell you, when you’re riding in the rain, and all you see are black, water heavy clouds ahead, it feels like you’re doomed to be doused for the rest of the ride. You start saying to yourself, “Why TF am I doing this?”

But lo and behold, the skies parted in surprisingly short order, and we even finished the ride in the sunshine. Vinnie had a lot more leg power than I did on the last 14.5-mile section. The ride the day before, plus my all out against the headwinds on the cliff section pretty much burned all my matches. I was punchless against the headwind rounding out the ride at a molasses-like average pace of 15 mph. I was just glad to get the eff back home in one piece!

Well, as I look outside now, it’s raining as predicted, with no end in sight for the next several days. Glad I rode when I could. It might be awhile before the next chance to pedal.

 After the ride we hosed the mud and sand off the bikes, had a few beers and watched some Jackass classics. Talk about shooting some bull, check this one out: 

Looks like the bull won!

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely, and don’t forget: Have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Respite in the rain? Time to ride

Getting out for a good long ride can be a real challenge during the winter. That’s what I found the first week of the new year when it rained just about every day. I’m not a fan of riding in the rain, so I’m good with waiting til some rain-free weather returns. But this week, on my second day off – my first day off was spent catching up on errands and slowing down a bit – rain was forecast. I woke up early to put the trash and recycle bins out on the curb, fully expecting rain to be on the way. With this expectation, my mind wasn’t geared into doing a ride at all. I started to plan what I’d do with the day, inside, out of the rain. But although it was cloudy outside, it wasn’t raining. Plus it was a little bit warmer than a few recent rides, at about 51 degrees. I checked the rain radar on my Weather Channel app. It always shows if rain is heading in from the San Francisco Bay Area. And if it’s raining big there, it usually makes its way northeast to this area. But when I checked, there were only sporadic small cells of rain in the Bay Area and they weren’t moving northeast. I looked at the hour-by-hour chance of rain in the area and there was at least a five-hour window predicted to have about a 10% chance of rain. And that meant one thing: I was going to ride. I had the time, the conditions lined up favorably, so that was that.

I decreased the pressure in my tires to 90 psi, since I was sure there were still plenty of wet spots on the streets and on the bike path where I was headed. I cleaned and oiled my chain, got my water and food together, and hit the road.

As I rode out, I decided to fully commit to getting to the turnaround point 26 miles away. The black clouds I rode under here and there put extra power in my legs. I figured to outrun any rain they might dump. But I also had to ride carefully on corners when my tires were wet, which seemed to be most of the ride.

Last year I learned the hard way about making turns on the bike with wet tires. I was banging it with another rider. He passed me, I passed him, and we had a speedy little race going. I was too confident on a quick right/left turn, and although the pavement was dry there, I’m pretty sure my tires were wet. And I hadn’t decreased the air pressure in them to give me more traction in wet conditions. So I’m ahead of this guy and really pushing it, too confident on this quick right/left. My weight was way forward over the handlebars and I leaned way too much to the left as I turned right on my too hard, fully inflated, water-slicked front tire. I couldn’t pull out of the turn to do the left turn. Instead, the tire squirted out to the left, the bike went down on its side, and I went down hard onto the pavement on my right forearm and hip which got smacked and cheese grated. Down, I panted on the deck from riding so hard.

Didn’t break anything, but got some serious road rash. Thinking back, it all happened because I was too concerned with speed on that quick double turn. I needed to stay more upright on the bike and minimize the lean on wet-tire turns.

So, lesson learned. For a little while, anyway.

On another recent ride when the trail was mostly dry, but still had some wet parts, I again forgot about what can happen when you want to slightly turn the bike as you ride over a mat of wet leaves. I hadn’t planned on riding over them on this fast descent, since the downhill lane was mostly dry or damp pavement. The uphill lane, however, was a carpet of slick, matted, wet leaves – essentially ice to a road bike rider needing to turn on them.

So I bombed down this descent, feeling pretty good about banging up a peak speed by the end of the downhill a few hundred yards away. But I came around a corner and was suddenly blocked by a group of walkers, filling up the clear and clean downhill lane. I was moving fast and had to go around them riding an arcing turn – over the wet leaves. I didn’t have any time to think, but I knew braking would have made me slip and slap down hard, like last year. I rode through, banking slightly to get back on the clear downhill lane ahead of the walkers. But then – in a millisecond – the front tire slipped a hair, and this was the moment of truth. When you either pull out of the slip in a heartbeat, or you go down in a heartbeat. Fortunately I wasn’t leaning to far either way on the bike, so I luckily pulled out of the slip in the following millisecond. But believe me, as I continued down the rest of the descent, I cooled it. Because I realized I’d just dodged a completely unexpected bullet – having to veer over the wet leaves because it was too late to slow down to avoid them – and a nasty crash could very well have happened.

So with those wet riding scenarios fresh in my mind, this most recent ride was done with much more care on corners. Especially when I saw my front tire was wet. Easy does it, minimum amount of leaning to get through.

On the last stretch home, it really looked like I might get caught by rain in the bank of ominous looking black clouds I saw ahead of me. I rode as fast as I could, and when I made it back to my house dry, and free of road rash, I was just plain glad. All I got when I swung off the bike were some nasty quad cramps. I pounded on them with my fists to, to get the muscles to cool out, and soon I was good to go.

A few minutes later in the back yard I hosed the mud off the bike, and bounced it a bit on its tires to shake off the excess water. My buddy Marc likes to let his bike dry off in the sun after washing it. And after I did the bike hose down at the 51-mile ride in which rain was a constant threat, something else happened instead.

The sun came out. And so my bike dried off in a welcome winter sunshine,  Marc style. It made me smile. It was fitting end to an impromptu, semi-wet ride.

Til next time, remember to pull on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then keep the rubber side down, ride safely and most of all? Have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson