Bike Noob

On Saturday, my wife Pat and I were out in rural Texas, volunteering at the first Mamma Jamma ride for breast cancer research. The ride featured routes of 10, 27, 46, 70 and 100 miles. I was part of the route safety crew for the 46-mile route. I teamed up with another volunteer and sat at two intersections, directing riders to the correct route, and warning of any safety hazards up ahead.

So I was able to get a good look at a large number of riders. About an hour went by from the time the first group passed us until the last rider showed up. And I was once again perplexed that otherwise intelligent people seem to think they can ride a challenging distance like 46 miles without putting in the training miles beforehand.

Our first post was at 17 miles. As might be expected, those passing us for the first half hour or so looked almost fresh. The day was overcast, the temperature was stuck at 54 degrees, and there was almost no wind. But the forecast called for a high of around 70, and many of the riders were underdressed.

The fresh riders made the turn, and accelerated toward a nice downhill. But then, some slower riders started coming by. They labored up the slight rise to our location. Most were relieved to hear that the next rest stop was only six miles away. A few stopped, took a drink from their water bottles, or chewed on an energy bar.

Many of these slower riders were on hybrid or mountain bikes. They were pushing more weight than the road bike riders, which tired them faster. Some were on the chunky side. It was clear most of them didn’t realize what they were getting into when they signed up for the 46 miles.

I thought of an email from a reader that I received on Friday. She had signed up for a metric century, but had just learned through a Google search that she would be riding 62 miles.

“I am now officially nervous as I am not a regular rider,” she wrote.  ”When I have ridden I think the most I have gone is like 10 miles.  I am not in cycle shape.  My bike is 18 years old.  I maybe get on the thing once every six months or so.”

Back at the Mamma Jamma, the last rider struggled up to our post. He rode an old non-suspended mountain bike, and several layers of cotton shirts. He was done. A SAG vehicle just happened to pull up at the same time. He asked for a ride back to the start. They told him they could take him to the next rest stop, but because he was less than halfway through the route, they couldn’t take him all the way back.

Rider tries to convince a SAG truck to take him back, just 17 miles into a 46-mile ride.

“We have to keep moving forward,” the driver said. “We could call for medical. They could bring you back.”

He wound up riding with them to the next rest stop, and called medical for a ride back from there.

Entered in the 46-miler, but unable to finish half that. What’s missing here? And my email correspondent? It turned out that her ride was Saturday, too — and she hadn’t prepared for it at all. I don’t know whether she finished — or even rode.

Evidently, biking just don’t get no respect. We all rode when we were kids; we know it’s a simple thing to pedal a bike along a road. Forty-six miles might be a more challenging distance than we have done in the past, but heck, just keep turning the pedals and you’ll be done in no time.

Folks, for any kind of physical challenge, you have to put in the time. I wonder how many of those ill-prepared riders won’t be back, because they’ve decided that biking is too tough. The rest of us know that they’ll be missing out on a fun and rewarding activity.

Whenever you look up training information for bike riders, the training schedules always work in easy days with harder effort days.  Because of my spotty riding schedule, I don’t find the need for many “easy” days, since I’m usually taking a day or two off between rides anyway.  But this week, I’ve been on the bike a lot, and the other day, I thought an “easy” day would be just the ticket.

I headed for the Veloway, which is where I ride at least twice a week.  My typical ride there involves attacking some spots, especially the slight grades at two or three places on the course.  But this time, I decided not to attack.  In fact, I decided to do something I’ve done only a time or two before: to ride the entire day in the small chain ring.

But I wasn’t going to be lazy about it.  Although I was in the easy ring, I kept up a quick pedaling cadence — about 90 rpm.  My speed was still decent, but I was determined not to concentrate on speed.

Instead, I concentrated on form, pedaling in a circle, and maintaining my cadence.  In all, I did four laps of the Veloway.  Coupled with the ride to and from, it was an 18-mile day.

And it was also a day I’ll be repeating often in the future.  I never felt like I was slacking.  Although several riders passed me, I passed several other riders.  My average speed at the end of the ride came out to 15.5 miles per hour.  Not bad, and not far off from my average when I pound the Veloway in the big ring. 

When the ride was over, I felt refreshed, rather than tired.  I tackled some minor chores around the house, and didn’t fall asleep in front of the TV that night.

Easy days are often portrayed as “recovery” days, a break from the hard effort rides.  But I look at rides like this one as more than simply recovery — especially since I had not ridden the previous day.  It added to my base mileage and improved my form.  Both of these are factors that will help me improve my overall cycling efforts.  Try a ride in just the small ring — I think you’ll like the results.

I’ve hemmed and hawed about training a time or three, and long-time readers know I’m not a gung-ho training fan, like some of my friends. I started biking because I like it, it’s fun, and it offers some nice side benefits like improved fitness. I’ve kinda gotten into the biking culture, too.

But now that my Bike MS ride is less than two months away, I realize that I’m really behind where I ought to be to get ready for two loooong days in the saddle back to back. It’s time to get down to business.

Two weekends ago, I was able to bike Friday, Saturday and Sunday, for a total of 50 miles.  Last weekend, I rode on Saturday and Sunday, for a total of 39 miles, but under tougher conditions and in hillier terrain.  Since it looks like the demands of work will prevent me from getting out to ride during the week, I am planning to cave in and hit the stationary bike at the club at least two mornings a week.  I’ll be using some upcoming organized rides in the area for my longer mileage rides over the next month and a half, along with any training rides my new team might happen to come up with.

In other words, I’m starting to train.  It’ll be training with a definite goal in mind.  I’ll have to ride 100 miles the first day, and 85 miles the second day for the Bike MS.  Primarily, I’ll be working to increase my endurance, rather than my speed.  I figure that with more time in the saddle, speed will come.  However, I’ll still make use of tried and true training techniques, like intervals.  These can be worked into most any bike ride I take.

I guess there comes a point for most of us where we target something beyond just a regular, nice bike ride, and try to do something more.  One of this blog’s loyal readers asked me, “When does your riding become training?”

It just did.