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

Bully driver? Stay cool under fire

(Editor's note: Happy New Year! Here we are, looking at a brand new year of cycling. One of the best parts about being on the bike for me is having great riding buddies to hit the road with. After that, it’s trying out new rides with plenty of climbing.

My new cycling buddy John and I are trading info on rides the other hasn’t tried. John’s told me of a couple routes I haven’t done that sound like awesome pain-fest challenges! I’ve told him of a few he hasn’t tried, so it should be great knocking them out this year. We both ride with pretty much the same goal, to push our limits to see how fit, or not, we are. All these upcoming rides involve road trips, but no worries. Ready to roll!

Hope you have both good cycling buddies and great rides ahead in your cycling adventures this year. Thanks for checking out the blog, too, much appreciated.)

Roadway clashes can get ugly

A friend who commutes a short way to work on his bike often rides home late at night. He’s 31 and about 6’3”. A middle-aged guy in a truck drove alongside of him while he rode home one night, minding his own business. The guy berated him apparently for being an offensive cyclist for some reason. My friend jawed right back at the guy, who kept driving alongside of him. Finally, my buddy stopped his bike and got out his phone to photograph the truck’s license plate. Mr. Dick then got out of his truck and shoved my friend.

But then for some reason, maybe because he realized my buddy was pretty big and could probably mop the pavement with him, Big D stepped back cautiously.

“I don’t know what I did, I must have given him a bad look, but he got back in his truck and drove away,” my friend said.

My friend said he realized when things were heating up that the guy could have pulled a gun and shot him. And then he realized he shouldn’t have barked back at the guy. Fortunately, all ended well, no physical harm went down. But the incident shows that like it or not, there are drivers out there that absolutely hate cyclists for taking up any space on the road, which they believe is meant only for cars and trucks.

To be fair, many of these hateful feelings come from the all too many irresponsible cyclists who at night don’t bother to wear reflective clothing and/or lights and drivers can’t see them. Or even when they can be seen, they dart through and between traffic carelessly with a “hit me if you dare,” attitude.

I ride through a stretch of heavy traffic when riding to and from a bike trail on a regular basis, and over many times, only a few drivers driven by me super close or have honked at me in anger. So there’s bound to be a small percentage of cyclist hating drivers to be wary of. Hopefully they don’t become so irate that they run us down or shoot us. But in any case, it’s a good policy to keep from arguing with these people, because it will more than likely only heat up an already volatile situation. My buddy’s a big guy, and is fearless. Glad that he didn’t get hurt or worse killed though, because with a little worse luck, he very easily could have. My tactic, even after almost being run off the road intentionally by a hateful driver, is to wave at them like a friend. Maybe it’ll make them think twice about trying to rattle cyclists by honking or driving aggressively close to them. Maybe not, but probably better to diffuse aggression, not throw gas on it.

I’ve found that sometimes, cyclist hating drivers don’t always think ahead about their bully tactics. They’ll assume they can harass and speed off without consequence. Like when they honk at you and/or almost run you off the road as they pass. But sometimes there’s a stoplight ahead that they have to stop for. And they hadn’t planned on that. And that gives the bullied rider time to catch up to them. Now if I’m the aggressive driver, I’m suddenly worried about what that cyclist coming up from behind might do. Not that they will do something violent, just that it’s a possibility.

I once saw a driver take a right hand turn right in front of a cyclist and the cyclist had to brake fast and he narrowly avoided a crash. The driver either didn’t see him, or just bullied into the turn not caring about how the cyclist would fare. The car drove on, and I happened to be driving my car right behind the offending driver. I also saw in my rear view mirror that the cyclist was in hot pursuit.  When the driver ahead stopped because of a stoplight, the cyclist rode up to the car, and shouted more than a few well chosen words. Looked like the driver had the windows rolled up in defense. But the rider got his point across without doing any physical violence, and rode away. That’s something the driver probably never thought would happen. But no doubt, cyclists can be hot heads too, capable of vengeful acts beyond just verbal abuse.

Mileage tops up nicely

This past year, I ended up logging 6,098 miles on 125 rides from January to December, which beat my old personal record in 2014 of 5,612 miles in 112 rides. That was 486 more miles for 2015 and gotta say, that felt good! Breaking the 6K-mile plateau in a year has a solid feel to it. I didn’t do as many good climbing rides as I wanted, but the ones I got in were knockout great. So more climbing is a goal for this year. Can I hit the 6K mile plateau again this year? Hey, only time will tell…

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