Week 52

Date
December 27th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
6:37:41

Route Map/Profile

Sparks to Pyramid Lake and back

Weather

Picture

Pyramid Lake with some snow

Ride Report
I felt like going to Death Valley, but I decided I should stay in Reno and earn that final week fair and square. It was snowy and cold, but after the first hour or so the snow began to melt off of the roads. As usual, things could have been a lot worse.

So there it is- mission accomplished. I wish I could say I felt a huge sense of accomplishment after the ride was over, but the truth is that I was more happy to get in out of the cold than anything. I might need a little more time to reflect. A few years ago when the thought of doing a century every week crossed my mind, the next thought was, "It sounds like fun, but I could never do that." Yet here I am, and this isn't the first time that I've reached a bike-related goal that I had previously believed was impossible. Now if I could only cross this over to non-bike-related goals, I'd be all set.

Week 51

Date
December 19th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
6:41:15

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

395- The snow made it down to about 5,000 feet.

Ride Report
This was the same route as week 48. Temps were low, but the sun was out most of the day and there wasn't much wind, so it could have been much worse.

Week 50

Date
December 13th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
6:23:40

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Fresh snow in the mountains (from Washoe Lake)

Ride Report
It's cold out there, but there hasn't been any real snow in the valley that has affected riding. I can already feel the winter slowness creeping in (Icebike has a good list of reasons why we're slower in winter.). Today was the first day that I had to break out the Pearl Izumi AmFIBs, which is the true indication of winter riding for me.

It's hard to believe there are only 2 weeks left. Let's hope there aren't any major snow storms coming in the next 2 weeks.

Week 49

Date
December 6th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
6:11:48

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Morning fog

Ride Report
We've had a lot of rain lately (I know you love to hear a guy who lives in Nevada complain about rain.), but today there was fog. The fog is actually fun to ride in and by the end of the day it was sunny and clear out there. Best of all, there wasn't any wind to worry about.

Week 48

Date
November 28th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
6:09:06

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Storm blowing in

Ride Report
A storm was blowing in, bringing high winds and rain. I decided to try to cheat by starting early, heading into the wind, and hoping for a good tailwind on the way back. The plan almost worked except that I had a lot of crosswind to deal with and the rain hit me on the second half of the ride. 40 degrees plus rain is a bad combination and I was nice and cold by the time I made it back home. The good news is that the wind got much worse over the next few days, so at least I was able to avoid one of those miserable 7-8 hour fights with the wind. My little 11-mile commutes home into the wind were bad enough.

Week 47

Date
November 23rd, 2012

Distance
101 Miles

Time
6:14:33

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Ride Report
Forget Black Friday. Today was Bike Friday.

Week 46

Date
November 17th, 2012

Distance
102 Miles

Time
7:11:13

Route Map/Profile

Six Gap Century

Weather

Picture

Ride Report
I went to Atlanta for work and was able to squeeze in centuries in North Carolina and Georgia, which takes my total up to 19 states. This ride was the Six Gap Century, a well known ride in northern Georgia. For more information and photos, check out the Century in 50 States blog.

Week 45

Date
November 8th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
7:21:40

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Snowing in the mountains

Ride Report
The winds were 20-30mph all day, which made for a very long ride. Not much to say about this ride. I'd rather forget that it happened.

Week 44

Date
October 30th, 2012

Distance
106 Miles

Time
7:12:39

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Not the best picture, but you can see snow on the mountains in the distance.

Ride Report
It's been nice and warm for the past few days, so I was able to make it back to Lake Tahoe. It was one of those perfect days- warm at the low elevations, but snowy up on the mountains. There isn't a whole lot of snow up there right now, but it's just enough to make the views from below more interesting.

On a side note, I was hit by a car Friday on my commute to work. To make a long story short, I was taken down by a right hook in a construction area. Luckily for me, both the driver and I were in the process of slamming on our brakes, so the collision wasn't as violent as it could have been. I took the hit on my left side, was thrown onto the bumper, and somehow landed on my feet as I was rolling off of the bumper.

The woman (Shocking!) who hit me jumped out of her car and was very apologetic. She seemed more shaken up about the whole thing than I was. I imagine it must be scary to see a human body bouncing off of your front bumper and onto the hood of your car. She admitted fault and asked if there was anything she could do. I was more interested in checking for any damage to my bike. I just bought a new rear wheel about a month ago, so I was especially fixated on that. My chain had dropped off, but aside from that everything seemed to be fine, so I told her not to worry about it and I was quick to get out of there. I don't know why, but in my mind I couldn't imagine anything positive happening if cops were involved. The accident was her fault, but part of me felt guilty for not taking the whole lane, which has the tendency to piss people off but would have saved me in this situation. So while you could say the accident was mostly her fault, I shared some of the blame as well.

I must have been running off adrenaline for a little while. A few minutes later as I was riding I noticed that (a) my front wheel was out of true and (b) my left leg was injured. I stopped to take a look at the damage and I had a nice little scrape on my shin that would later be accompanied by bruises. My best guess is that this is where the bumper of the car actually hit me. It's nothing too terrible, but it's probably going to leave a scar behind as a nice reminder to take the lane when in doubt.

Once the adrenaline wore off I started to experience, for lack of a better term, a crash. It was like coming off of a sugar rush, but more extreme. I was beginning to realize that things could have been much worse. I felt a little bit scared and my hands were shaking. Eventually that feeling wore off until it was time to ride back home.

Things could have been much worse. I was lucky that the driver slowed down before hitting me. I was lucky that I was hit by a car and not a truck so I could fall up over the hood and not down underneath a wheel. I was lucky that I didn't hit my head on anything, which could have been bad news even at low speed. I was lucky the driver stopped and didn't flee the scene. I was lucky my front wheel was the only thing that got damaged. Most of all, I'm lucky that I'm not hurt and I can continue to ride.

Be safe out there.

Week 43

Date
October 24th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
7:24:26

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Snow on the mountains, as seen from Geiger Grade. Mt. Rose is covered by clouds.

Ride Report
It's a good thing I did Mt. Rose last week, because the first winter storm came through this week. There wasn't much climbing today, but the wind made things plenty difficult. I did a long, straight stretch on US 50 that seemed to take forever. The good news is that I managed to avoid any rain and/or snow along the way.

Week 42

Date
October 17th, 2012

Distance
102 Miles

Time
6:53:39

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Ride Report
This week I climbed Mt. Rose for what might be the last time this year. It was a fun ride and the weather was great for this time of year.

Week 41

Date
October 10th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
6:10:42

Route Map/Profile

Red Rock Rd and 395

Weather

Picture

Red Rock Rd

Ride Report
You know how the same temperature feels so different in the spring versus the fall? 60s and 70s actually feel cold to me right now, but give me 2 months and I'm sure I'll be wishing for this kind of weather. I did a nice, easy ride on Red Rock, staying close to 4,000 feet and keeping warm. Next week I'll try to get in more climbing. I should do Mt. Rose one more time before it starts snowing up there.

Week 40

Date
October 3rd, 2012

Distance
107 Miles

Time
Unknown

Route Map/Profile

Tour das Hugel route in Austin, TX

Weather

Picture

Austin and the rental bike.

Ride Report
I traveled to Austin to complete a century in my 17th state. For more pictures and a ride report, check out the Century in 50 States blog.

Week 39

Date
September 26th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
5:41:15

Route Map/Profile

Chilcoot, CA to Quincy, CA on CA 70

Weather

Picture

Ride Report
Today was an easy day, mostly for mental recovery from the last few weeks of longer rides. Fall is definitely in the air. The days are getting shorter and the mornings are getting colder. 

Week 38

Date
September 19th, 2012

Distance
200 Miles

Time
12:45:23

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Headed west on 299 near Burney, CA.

Ride Report
The solo double is complete. I was a little nervous going into it, but at the end of the ride I felt better than I have for any other double I've done before. This is partly because (a) the route was the easiest double route I have done and (b) I wasn't chasing other guys and riding above my limits at any point during the day. It wasn't a slow ride (for my ability), but it was more steady than riding with a group and the lack of big climbs/descents made it easy to just get into a groove and go.

My starting point was in the middle of the "+" in the map above. I split the ride into 4 parts, starting with the E-W section, followed by S-N, W-E, and N-S sections. I planned on making each section 50 miles, but as I was riding I decided to throw in some extra miles on the first 3 sections so the last section would be shorter than the rest. The sections ended up being 51, 54, 61, and 34 miles. The wind was only a factor on the third section, and it was stronger than the weather graph would indicate. This is where I found the windmills on 299, so you can bet that wind is often a factor in the area. My average speed shows the difference: for section 3 I only managed 15 mph, while I was able to ride 16.2, 16.1, and 15.8 mph on sections 1, 2, and 4. I'm happy with the 15.8 at the end when you consider that I was riding in the dark for most of that section. I don't have any data from my other doubles, but I'd be willing to bet that my speed usually drops off towards the end more than it did today.

I'm happy with the ride. I may not be all that fast, but I felt good out there and I did well with my pacing and nutrition/hydration. I feel like I did the best ride I could ask for with my current fitness level. This is the latest point in a year that I've done a double, so I'm hoping this will pay off early next year.

Week 37

Date
September 12th, 2012

Distance
158 Miles

Time
10:53:48

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

From Jacks Valley Road in Carson City

Ride Report
Today's route was two rides in one- the Mt. Rose + Kingsbury loop that I've done before and a shorter Six Mile Canyon loop that I like to do on shorter ride days. Similar to last week, I threw in some steep stuff (Six Mile Canyon) towards the end to test the legs.

Double Planning  

I'm happy to report that the double is on. Next week (September 19th) I'll head to Northern California and try to do a solo double. I've done doubles in the past and I'm no stranger to solo riding (all but 3 of my centuries this year have been solo, and those 3 were California Triple Crown doubles), but I have never mixed the two. I don't feel like I should be nervous about it (I know I'm physically capable), but I am. I know that it will be more difficult mentally, and even on a group double I almost always get a strong urge to quit somewhere between 160 and 175 miles in. It's tough to throw in the towel when there are a lot of people around and you know your name will show up on a list with the dreaded DNF next to it. It's never easy, but it's a little bit easier when you're out there by yourself. Even though nobody reads this blog, I hope it can serve as a little bit of extra motivation. I don't want 4 weeks of posts on here about a double that ended up being a failure.

In hopes that a change of scenery will keep the day more interesting, I planned a few routes out of town. I was planning routes as a "+" so I can keep plenty of food and water in the middle and so I'll never be too far away from the car in case things go horribly wrong. I had one good route planned near Ely, NV and another north of Bishop, CA, but in the end I decided on a route near Burney, CA. It's flat but not too flat, and the scenery should be pretty good.

The planned route.

The route is ready. The legs are ready. (I'm not in top form, but I'm good enough to finish.) I can only hope that the mind is ready. I just need to eat/drink properly and push through that tough stretch towards the end. I don't plan on breaking any speed records, but it should be a fun ride and I'm looking forward to it.

Week 36

Date
September 5th, 2012

Distance
140 Miles

Time
8:55:03

Route Map/Profile

Only 3 climbs today- 50, Luther Pass, and Gold Hill.

Weather

I ran into some rain near South Lake Tahoe and on Luther Pass, but it wasn't very heavy.

Picture

I did Luther Pass for the first time in a while. It's not as hard as a lot of the climbs near Woodfords, but it's still a fun climb.

Ride Report
This was week 2 of training for a double later this month. There wasn't a whole lot of climbing because I don't plan on doing a very difficult double route. However, I did throw in the steep Gold Hill climb towards the end to test my legs. I'm happy to report that my legs passed the test, so I'm going to proceed as planned and pencil in September 19th as the double date. I'll do another long ride next week, and as long as I don't completely fall apart I'll do the double the week after that. The days seem to be getting shorter more quickly than I'd like, so I'm not going to mess around with a taper week.