Did I Shave My Legs for This?

Cyclists shave their legs, not for aerodynamics like swimmers, but because if you crash, road rash is quicker to heal, and easier to clean without hair stuck to the affected area, so I shaved my legs out of fear. It's a very strange feeling without that barrier between my skin and pants, and it takes a bit of getting used to. How sexy are these legs...

I wasn't able to ride at all last week because I was getting my wheel respoked, again out of fear that a spoke would break during Pelotonia and I'd be out of commission and unable to finish the ride, so I was supposed to be able to pick it up Friday. I go to the shop, it hasn't been done. I was planning on riding Saturday morning, but not now. I go to spinning class instead, just to get back into the groove of pedaling a bike. No problem, I'll ride Sunday was my thought, until... So I pick up my respoked wheel on Saturday, take it home and put it on my bike and something's not right. I look it over and the wheel is touching the frame. I can't ride it like that, that's just a disaster waiting to happen, so I take it back in Sunday when the bike shop opens. It turns out the wheel is way off center, and the guy won't have it done until about 4 on Sunday, so I didn't get to ride Sunday either. At this point, I'm extremely frustrated and starting to get nervous, because taking more than a few days off from riding makes a huge difference in how I'll feel during the ride. This frustration is the root to the title of this post. All I could think of was "I shaved my legs, and only got to ride a freaking stationary bike this weekend?"

Now for the good news, I rode last night and got about 26 miles in and felt great the whole ride. I'm planning on riding again tonight, not a long ride, but getting some hills in just for some last minute reassurance that I'm ready for my first century ride.

4 days and counting...

Take It To The Limit

This week Jenni and I set out on our 64 mile ride at 8:00 as it was supposed to be really hot again on Saturday. We were supposed to ride this ride last week, but the broken spoke in the middle changed that plan, so we rode it this week. We both had a really good ride, and felt good throughout the entire 4:14 we were on the bike.

I think both of us were a little relieved that Red Bank has construction, and we couldn't climb the hill that would have been at mile 61, but we still had a good ride. Both us rode well up the Alum Creek dam, and up the short, but s-t-e-e-p (I hit 39 mph going down) hill at mile 63.

I'm getting my wheel respoked with some stronger spokes this week so I don't have to worry about breaking one in the middle of the Pelotonia ride and having to quit. Hopefully I have my wheel back and am ready to roll by Wednesday or Thursday this week. I'm going to ride 35-40 solo this coming Saturday, then on Sunday we're going to Amanda to preview what should be the hardest part of the course. I'm excited and nervous, 0nly 10 days left before the big ride. I feel ready though after this ride.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Yesterday was without a doubt the hottest day of the year, and to top it off, it was HUMID. Jenni went for a ride at about 8:15 AM and by 8:18, I was dripping sweat, but we weren't going to stop, and we were both felling pretty good on our bikes. We rode, and drank, and rode some more until we could fill our bottles back up (big thanks to the firehouse on Westerville Rd/Big Walnut Rd for the jug of icey cold water for the people using the bike trail to drink.)

Here is where things started to get a little strange. One of the screws came out of Jenni's shoe, so her cleat was turned. I had a tool to tighten the other screw though, so we were good to go.

We got on with our ride trying to beat the heat which really wasn't too bad while riding, because of the constant wind in your face, but that same wind made it tough to ride 3/4 of the time, because cross winds are just as hard to ride in as head winds a lot of the time. Oh well, put your head down and keep pedaling, right. This is what we did until we got to mile 41, and about as far away from the car as we got on the ride when "ping" a spoke on my back wheel snapped. This is the 4th spoke I've broken this year, and haven't ever had that problem before. I don't get it, but it's a pretty cheap fix, and I should be able to ride again by Tuesday or Wednesday. The bad thing about it, is this made my bike impossible to ride for 2 miles, let alone another 22, so we called Jenni's dad and step mom and they came and picked us up because they have a truck and could fit the bikes in the back of the car. I noticed in their truck, their thermometer said it was 90 degrees already.

On a good note, we did get a 41 mile ride in, and I was feeling awesome. I'm starting to be more confident on my bike, and know that I'll be able to do the 100 miles, because I just did 40 and didn't feel like I got a good work out in. I was tired and sweaty, but it wasn't like my legs were exhausted, and I couldn't pedal anymore. I was looking forward to the rest of the ride.

The plan now is to do 50-60 miles during this week, then a 65 mile ride on Saturday and a shorter ride, maybe 50 or so the week after that, and be ready to go for Pelotonia.

I'm still able to title these blog entries after songs, and I have a couple more in mind for the next few weeks.

Against the Wind

Last weekend, Jenni and I traveled to Oberlin to ride in the "Roast Your Buns Tour" set up by a cycling club called the Lorain Wheelmen. The day went like this:

4:15 am- alarm
4:15:01 am- SNOOZE
4:20 am- alarm and some grumbling but get up
5:30 am- on the road to Oberlin
7:50 am- get to Oberlin, and find the Oberlin Depot (An old train station along the bike path)
8:00 am- clip in and start the ride
8:03 am- It wasn't supposed to rain today, was it?
8:04 am- I think, it's a little chilly along with the rain
9:00 am- contemplate cutting 20 miles off the ride and just riding the 50 miler.
9:02 am- Isn't this the "Roast Your Buns" Tour, not the "Soak your buns?"
10:30 am- reach the half way point and discuss going into a restaurant where the other riders are going for lunch.
10:31 am- fill up the water bottles and keep pedaling.
11:00 am- I think I see the sun...
11:15 am- Yep, that's the sun, but I didn't know it came packaged with a nice wind.
11:30 am- 50 miles in, stop in a general store, inhale a sandwich and a liter of water
11:45 am- back on the road... stopping for even 15 minutes feels good on the saddle area, but bad on the rest of me because I stiffen up.
11:46 am- We make basically our last turn, and luckily enough it's directly into the newly blowing wind.
12:30 pm- quads are cramping, and the fronts of my hips are on fire, and as a bonus, I'm out of water.
12:50 pm- Pull into the parking lot and try to get my leg over the bike. 70 miles in the book.
1:00 pm- Wipe down in the McDonalds bathroom and get out of the cycling shorts, because really nobody wants to see me in that
1:15 pm- I think I deserve a milk shake for my efforts today.
1:30 pm- drive back home, looking forward to a shower.

This ride brings my miles logged since May to 521 and 33 hours and 34 minutes, and hopefully adding 2 more hours and 30+ miles to that after work tonight.

Overall it was a hard ride, but fun, with a lot of rolling hills. I think I would have felt better had I not tried to conserve the water in my bottles, and bought water at each of the places we could have stopped. For Pelotonia, I plan to have at least 1 empty bottle at each of the water stops along the route.

I have met my fundraising goal of $1500 for Pelotonia! Many, many thanks to everyone for supporting me. All donations now are just the whipped cream and cherry on top.

Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain

We were supposed to go on a 60+ miler on Saturday morning, but when we got up and got ready to go, it started raining, so we waited and watched the weather map. When it cleared up, we loaded our bikes and drove to Hoover Dam, started unloading our bikes, and it started raining. We got back in the car to wait it out, and it started raining harder. After waiting 20 minutes for the rain to quit (it didn't) we drove home and I planned on doing a short, hard ride around noon, when the idiot weathermen said it would be cleared up. I changed into my bike gear, and got ready to go and it started raining...

You see where I'm going with this by now, I didn't get to ride over the weekend. I did go out yesterday (Tuesday) for a ride in Canal Winchester with Columbus Outdoor Persuits. I took off with the "C" group which is supposed to average 13-16 mph for the ride. I didn't expect the route to be so damn hilly, or windy! I swear I didn't get to go down a hill until about mile 25 of 30, then it was right back up hill again, ok, that's a little bit of an exageration, but it felt that way.

Ok, enough complaining, that ride is going to make me stronger, and I feel good today. I think I'm going to run this afternoon, and go for an interval ride tomorrow before our volleyball game. This weekend, we're going up to Oberlin (SW of Cleveland) for a 70 mile ride called "Roast Your Buns." It should be a lot of fun, and a change of scenery.

30 days until Pelotonia, and I'm at $1307.61 in my fundraising. A very sincere thank you to everyone that has donated! It's like the new LIVESTRONG commercials say... "It's about you!"

Call Me Mr Blue (black and a funny shade of green)

Another triathlon last weekend. This one was the Olympic distance, which is a 1500 meter swim (About a mile), 40K bike (25 miles), 10K run (6.2 miles). I finished under my goal time, but that time was adjusted on Saturday afternoon by about 20 minutes when I got hit in the leg with a wayward drive on the golf course. I have a nice bruise about the size of a softball on my thigh, so I got that going for me... which is not very nice. In addition to what looks like the Northern Lights on my thigh, my tailbone still hurts like hell so getting off the bike to run more difficult than it normally is in a triathlon. I can tell that physically I'm so much stronger than I have ever been though, because endurance wise, I was perfectly fine throughout the whole race. I'm not going to ride or run at all until this weekend to try to give my tailbone a little chance to hopefully recover, because we're riding 62 miles on Saturday, and I want to feel during the ride.

I was only half joking with Jenni yesterday in CVS when I took a couple steps toward the checkout counter with a rubber donut to sit on.

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.

Sunday's ride wasn't much fun at all after the first hour and a half... Jenni's friends Anthony and Pat joined us for our ride, and it started out to be a really nice ride, but as the miles ticked off, I was growing more and more uncomfortable. I bruised my tailbone playing volleyball last Thursday night, and by mile 25 of the ride, I got a shot of pain with every little crack in the road. I did my best to put as little pressure as possible on my seat, but that just wore my legs out, and by the time we got to the hills, I was dead, but I made it up.

47.5 miles added to the total. Since May I have ridden 396 miles in 25 hours. Even though this wasn't my best ride, and I was hurting, I did it. Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.

On The Road Again

7/5/09- 52 miles, 3 hours 14 minutes, 2 tired legs, and 1 sore "undercarriage". It was a great day to ride, and Jenni and I set out from Alum Creek Beach planning on riding 27 and evaluating where we were going to go from there, because we both were tired. By the middle of the ride, we were feeling a little better so we kept going, and got a nice 52 miles in.

We rode a route with some rolling hills, and averaged 16 mph for the 52 mile ride. Our fastest average, and longest ride to date. It was a great day to ride. It was overcast and 70 degrees when we set off and became partlly cloudy and was 77 when I got off my bike. We really couldn't have asked for more. It was amazing to see how calm the water on the lake was as we rode over it. It looked almost glassy, before the boaters hit the water. I must have been pushing Jenni a little hard because she told me to ride ahead for the last 20 or so miles, so after a little hesitation, I did, and for not wanting to ride fast she only finished 1:30 behind me.

The route included the triathlon route from last weekend, and I'm so glad the skunk was dead on the road this week instead of last. I don't know if I could have handled that smell riding all out like I was last week.

I really try to keep myself hydrated during these long rides, but ran out of water with about 5 miles left on this ride, which wasn't very good, but I had a jug of ice cold water waiting for me in the car. Even after that, I lost 2 lbs of water during the ride. Maybe I should make myself drink every 10 minutes instead of every 15, and make sure there are places to refill my bottles on the ride.

Finishing the ride hot, tired, and sweaty, I couldn't have come into the park at a better time. I rode down the hill just as the ice cream man parked his van in the grass for the Alum Creek beach goers. I don't think anything could have tasted as good as that drumstick right after a long ride like that.

867-5309 Jenni

Instead of a bike ride this week, I competed in the Fat Rabbit Racing Triathlon yesterday with a very good result. I set a new personal record by almost 18 minutes over my previous fastest sprint triathlon time. I also learned that I need to run like I stole something if I want to finish with a respectable time in the Olympic distance triathlon I have coming up in 3 weeks. There's something about running after getting off a bike that is just impossible to me. I ended up running 11.5 miles for the 3.1 miles yesterday, and will have to run 6.2 miles in the race on 7/19.

The real story of the day yesterday was Jenni's performance. I talked Jenni into this triathlon on the way to Cincinnati in May where she was running the Flying Pig Marathon, and her stress level has been in the red since about it since that day. Well yesterday, she did exactly what I said she was going to do. She finished in 1:35:30 (almost 3:50 faster than me) and got 3rd in her division. When I told her we needed to stay around for the awards presentation because she could win something she didn't believe me, until they called her name...

Now it's back to a lot of running, a lot of bike, and some swimming to get ready for the triathlon in a few weeks, and Pelotonia in August.

Life in the Fast Lane

I know I said it last week, but yesterday was my best day on the bike. I wasn't exactly sure of what to expect this week because I had ran more during the week, and my legs felt a little tired when I woke up, but Jenni and I set out on our ride with lots of inclines (I can't really call them hills, but definitely not flat roads), some rolling hills and 3 pretty good climbs. It was our longest and hardest ride so far, and it was also the fastest. We averaged 15.5 mph over the 45 miles and Jenni had enough energy in the last mile to start a sprint. I ended the shenanigans by sprinting past her. I was happy when she said I won because my lungs were on fire and my legs were jell-o.

The best part of the ride was when we rode up the hill by the dam at Alum creek at 14mph+ the whole way. That hill has killed me in the past, and when I got to the top, I was surprised at how good I felt, and how quickly I got to the top. This hill is at the end of the bike leg of the triathlon next weekend, so I'm looking forward to hitting it again when I'm actually trying to ride fast to see what I can do.

One thing I've noticed, there are a lot of George Costanza's out playing "Frolf." These people are out there with frolf bags on their backs, some with 10 or more discs. It's crazy... I think the US Open is on ESPN 8, The Ocho sometime in July.

With a Little Help From My Friends

First off, a sincere thank you to everyone that has donated to my ride so far. I'm 1/3 of the way to my goal, and know that after a few fund raising events, I can make it to $1500.

Yesterday's ride was the best day I've ever had on a bike. I felt like I was peddling without a chain. 17mph up some inclines, and 18-19mph on the flats for a while. It was an awesome feeling. Another cool feeling is hitting 35mph+ going down hill. It's hard to believe the pro riders hit 60+ going down those "hills", but I guess that's what they get paid for.

By the time we got back to the car, we had ridden 41 miles at an average of 15mph which is pretty good, with the number of hills we had ridden. There isn't much flat road around Hoover Reservoir and Alum Creek Reservoir, and that makes for a tough ride that keeps me on my toes, but really fun, and it always feels great to get up that last real hill, where we can cool down the last 2 miles before we get to the car.

My philosophy of getting mad at the real hills worked again this week, as I got up both at the end of the ride better than I have on the previous 3 tries, so I'm going to keep doing it.

I just realized the titles of these first 2 posts have been songs. Lets see if I can keep that up for the rest of the posts before the ride on 8/29/09.

Here I go again...

Hi everyone,
I've created this blog to keep you up to date on my fundraising and training for Pelotonia 2009. As you all know, I am not the most aerodynamic person on the planet, and gravity has a pretty strong hold on me, so riding 100 miles on a bike through Hocking Hills and Athens isn't going to be easy, but I know I can do it. I'm in training for an Olympic distance triathlon in July, and am throwing some longer distance bike rides in on the weekends to get ready for 100 miles on August 29.

For those that don't know, this is the first year for Pelotonia, and it's a bike ride from Columbus to Athens. Riders must agree to raise a certain amount of money based on the distance they want to ride, and 100% of the donations go to The OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center for cancer research. Another cool thing about this ride, is Lance Armstrong will be riding it as well.

Yesterday I found out that to get up hills when my legs feel like they're full of sand, I need to get really mad at my bike and the hill. Jenni and I were out on a ride and at mile 35, of this ride, there are 2 hills. I tried to take the first one, the longer hill, as fast as I could only to find out that doing that just about made me puke... On hill 2, the steeper hill, I just got mad and my mind set was as if I was fighting the hill, and I won that fight.

We also saw what happens when someone takes their focus off the road, their bike, who's around them and what they're doing for 1 second. We rode past a large group of cyclists pulled over on the side of the road, and 1 guy was down, bloody, and when asked if they needed anything, their answer was "we have it, keep riding!" After hearing that, the ambulance sirens, and seeing what we saw as we rode by, I'm thinking there was someting twisted, broken, etc, that can make me not want to get back on my bike. I hope everything turned out as good as possible for them, and that rider heals quickly.

I have some long routes mapped out and am looking forward to riding them every week. With the distances I'm riding now, each long ride is the farthest I've been on a bike. Yesterday's ride was 37 hilly miles.

If you would like to donate, please visit http://www.pelotonia.org/ride/riders_profile.jsp?MemberID=2922&RiderName=Aaron%20Hoops&SearchStart=0&PAGING.

Until next time, I promise to keep the rubber side down!
Aaron