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A silly Dad and his fatherly experiences in homeschool and leading his family in Christ
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May. 31, 2008
A Baseline Update
Well, I am not sure how many people would really care to hear about my riding experiences or my health and fitness, but it is an exciting thing to me to share with you, so I will.
As you know I have been working for months on my fitness and health. It has been an uphill battle and I am not a good climber. Let's just say it has been a little discouraging. I have been trying very hard, though, to keep this up so I last a little longer in this world. A few posts ago, I wrote about my first ride at Novi and mentioned that I would be using that as a baseline for the year.
This past Tuesday I went to Novi to ride. I was supposed to ride with members of my team, but they were all getting out of work a little late and I had gotten out a little early. I heard the voice of my wife ringing in my head as I unpacked my gear, "be careful." I don't really like to ride alone without some sort of protection like a Spot, but Andrea doesn't seem to see the need for something like this at this time. I had this time of 1:15:00 sticking in the back of my head as that is about how long it takes me to ride the 11 mile course. I wanted to push that limit, but felt caution against doing so. I decided I would just ride and see how I felt. I hopped on my Soul Cycles Dillinger and took off.
The 11 miles of the Novi Lakeshore Trail are very technical. Though it has very little climbing it is a very tough trail with many twists and turns. The climbs that are there are most always found right after a technical turn. There are no major descents to recover on and not many flat straights to open up on. Basically put, the only way to go faster on this trail is to get fitter. The trail seems to break up into four major sections.
On section 1, I decided to push my limits a little to get my lungs and heart working. I rode smooth and seemed to feel good. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary as far as riding, I just pedaled. The section has some twisty off camber climbs and seems to be one of the rougher sections of the trail. I worked through things well. I decided to stand and push harder gears during the climbs as they weren't very big climbs. A quick check of my cyclocomputer and I see that I am keeping on track of my normal pace.
I move into section 2. It is a pretty flat section and the most smooth of all of the riding at Novi. In the back of my head I heard the words of my buddy, Andy, telling me to push the big ring on the flats. I decided to take his advice. I felt good in doing this. It seemed to help keep my heart rate even, rather than pumping it up and down out of any turn. I rode across the bridge out of section 2 and saw the time on the computer looking pretty good.
Moving into section 3 you find some really rough riding. A few of the bigger and more technical climbs are here. Keep in mind that none of this is unridable. Novi is a moderate trail and can be ridden at any level. the difference is how hard you are pushing. I was pushing hard through this section.
As I moved past the technical, rocky climb and into the twisty rolling terrain I had an encounter. Out of a hairpin left turn and over a log I heard a major quacking and commotion of little baby ducks. "What would baby ducks be doing out here? Did I just run one over? I am doing really well on this ride, I don't want to stop. If I do stop, I am sure to get attacked by an angry Momma duck. Better keep on going..." These were the thoughts in my head after the incident. I ended up thinking I broke one of the little fuzzy things necks, so I had to check. This cost me about a minute. Oh well.
Back on track and into section 4. This section is different from the others, as well. It has a couple of smooth sections that are straight, few climbs, and many turns. Looking at my computer told me I was doing good and dropping a couple of minutes off that 1:15:00 was going to be a reality barring no more duckies. I decided to put some thought into how I ride. I used some of the bike handling skills I learned in BMX and downhill into my cross country riding. I found myself slightly off the saddle on off camber turns, standing more in climbs, getting the front tire over obstacles more confidently, working the corners more, and having a lot of fun in the process.
As I rolled into section 5 I decided not to look at the computer because I was sure I had ridden faster in the previous section, and I knew I was ahead of schedule by at least a minute. I heard two noises that made me want to ride as fast as I could. One noise was that of another biker. I hate getting passed on the trail. I had no idea where this rider was or whether he was faster than me. In this section of trail there is so much trail packed into so small an area that this noise could mean he was anywhere from right behind me all the way to a mile back. I did not want to get passed on my best ride of the season so down the head went into focused riding. The other noise was that of my front disc brake breaking in. It was letting off an annoying squeal, telling me that I will need to adjust it as soon as I got back to the car. The high pitched howl made me angry and not care if my lungs and heart exploded! I must get this thing out of here now!!!
I hammered as hard as I could through the last section and threw the bike into the big ring. I was not looking at that computer until I stopped. I pedaled as hard as I could back to my minivan and slammed on the brakes one last time! What was my time. I think I might have made up about 3 minutes. I looked down to see that I had done the trail in 1:07:00! I just took 7-8 minutes off of my average time there! I was excited!
NOTE: This is not a "great" time for this trail, it is just a personal best in my current state of health. I have buddies who can do all 11 miles in about 50 minutes. I am pretty excited with my time, and now have a new goal to push for. I really think by the end of the season I might be able to get my time down in the high 50 minute mark.
ANOTHER NOTE: I only put the links to products for your information to identify with what I am riding. That being said, I do appreciate the support of Soul Cycles for our racing team.
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