A Big Time in Kentucky

This was my fuel for today’s ride.

So my pal Luke wants to do Tour the Divide next year.  Its some kind of crazy mountain bike race that’s like 3000 miles long, its unsupported and if you do finish it alive no one would probably notice.  Perfect for a madman like Luke.  We discussed training options for this insane undertaking and Luke has decided that long, hard road bike rides will be a good way to start getting ready for it.  Leading us to try a century today.

 

This photo looks better then real life, that road looks real.

I asked Luke this morning where he wanted to go and he said something about Golconda, Cave in Rock, Kentucky or something like that so I ran upstairs and planned out a quick route with google pedometer. I was surprised it only came out to 107 miles, I was like, “Dang dude we can do this.”    A true ride planner would have printed the map, or at least wrote down the major roads we were following, I spent several seconds committing the general shape of the route to memory. Real handy.

The Shawneetown Bridge.

So we rode to Historic Old Shawneetown then continued across the bridge to Sturgis, home of the Little Sturgis bike rally, then continued to Marion Kentucky where something strange happened, I looked back and saw I was riding by myself, Luke was aways behind me.  See the thing is that Luke is a real fast bike rider and I’m just a bike rider.  Luke suffered for the next several miles from some unknown afflection which drained him of energy.  My guess is some Mountain Bike witch doctor was jabbing pins in a Luke voodoo doll.  Perhaps it could have been the fact that Luke had forgotten to eat last night or breakfast this morning and he brought two bottles of water, a cliff bar, and a gel on this hundred mile ride.

Standard Early in the ride pose.

The good news is that Luke recovered and took his rightful place a mile up the road from me after 88 ounces of Hi-C from McDonalds in Marion.  As we continued on I began to realize just how hot it was, I mean it was like really hot, but it was windy so he had that going for us.

On a couple of occasions we had to ask friendly Kentuckians if we were on the right road, they were always nice, and the people there gave us lots of room.  Real nice place to ride.

One of the benefits of this route is how we didn’t have to ride this quarter-mile across the Ohio.

We had a big time crossing the Cave in Rock Ferry and then a big time getting water at the Cave in Rock gas station.  By this time I had drunk about 4 bottles of water but my thirst was unquenchable.  No amount of water or Gatorade was able to quench the desert that my mouth had become.  I’m sure I should have probably drank more water earlier.

We pulled into Glenn O Jones with only 13 miles to go to the end, I drank another bottle of water and tried to eat a Cliff Bar, it was like trying to chew sand, I could only get any down with a big swigg of water with every bite.  I drank my two full bottles on the way home, forcing myself to take a drink every few minutes and pour a bit over my head.  Soon I felt better.

End of ride pose, Umm, this isn’t look good, I can barely get my thumb up.

This could be my longest ride, I think I did a 110 miles once on Bike Ride Across Nebraska in 2005, that day I left at 6AM and finished around 6PM.

 

 

 

 

This was my fuel for today’s ride.

This photo looks better then real life, that road looks real.

Standard Early in the ride pose.

The Shawneetown Bridge.

One of the benefits of this route is how we didn’t have to ride this quarter mile across the Ohio.

End of ride pose, Umm, this isn’t look good, I can barely get my thumb up.

Stem Swap and Chris Horner is the MAN!

I just finished yesterday’s stage of the Tour of California where they climbed mt. Baldy.  When the coverage started Chris Horner was in a breakaway being pulled by Jens Voigt if you don’t know much about Jens I recommend you check out JensVoigtfacts.com and learn a thing or two.  Eventually Horner dropped the hammer and crushed everyone in the break except for an ickle Columbian Climber who used Horner’s attack to get up the mountain.

Unfortanitly not just for Chris but all the Americans a young Dane named Robert Gessink decided to show everyone why he is always a favorite to win any stage race he happens to be in.  He dropped every American rider except for the Columbian climbing machine and still managed to nip him at the line for the stage win and probably the tour win.

All I can say is Horner’s attack was nothing short of legendary, its a shame he ran out of gas.

Standard pre-ride pose!

Now back to me, yesterday I did a 50 mile ride with my parents which had my shoulders and neck feeling broken at the end.  Today I did a 50 mile ride with a slight change to my bike.  I put my mountain bike’s 80mm stem on to replace the 100mm stem I’ve had on my bike for a couple of years.

Today’s ride was solo and the pace wasn’t fast, but I did hit some big climbs.  It seemed like the shorter stem took a little strain off my neck.  It was still a little sore from yesterday, but it wasn’t nearly as bad.

My route took me on a road that is really only rideable on Sundays, route 34 out of Harrisburg.  Normally coal trucks run this road so hard that you are taking a serious risk riding it, but thankfully they don’t run on Sunday morning so I get the road almost completely to myself.

My personal photographer snagged this photo while I took a short break in Herod.

I’ve always heard that running too short a stem will affect your bike’s handling in a bad way making it too twitchy.  I can’t say  I could tell one bit of difference.  I think I was sitting a bit higher so I’m sure I was a little less aerodynamic, but I was more comfortable in the drops which should more than make up for that.

The decent North from Garden of the Gods

Why Southern Illinois Should Be a Hotbed of Cycling…And Why it Never Will Be

here I am photographing the photograher at 3S3M this year.

I did 50 miles on my own Sunday morning, and as my mind often does when I’m riding alone my mind wandered to various topics.  One thing I got stuck on was just how great riding in Southern Illinois is.  The more I thought about it the more I though, “Man Southern Illinois should be a hotbed of cycling.”  Let me tell you why.

We have hundred of miles of roads just like this.

First off we got good roads.  My route on Sunday was 40 miles of painted highway and 10 miles of oil and chip backroads.  For the first 30 miles I saw 13 cars and the few that did pass me did so with plenty of room.  My 50 mile route had almost no flats, it was almost always climbing up or down, but it also avoided the bigger climbs of the area.  If you want flats we’ve got them too, you can ride hundreds of miles are rarely find a significant hill if you go North.  But if it’s challenging climbs you want its possible to make a century with more climbing then the 3 State 3 Mountain Challange if you cross the state East and West in the hills.

Besides roads we’ve got good excellent trails.  Sunday I was lamenting the fact that I can’t really ride trails in the summer.  I can, but my skin is very sensitive to poison ivy and ticks which keep me off the trail.  For those that can handle it the trails are often in excellent condition all summer long and make for epic Mountain Biking.  Recently the US Forest Service has built miles and miles of new benchcut trails.  If people knew about these trails Southern Illinois would become a destination.  We even have a 60 mile rail trail which is very popular with people who occasionally ride bikes.

So we’ve got excellent places to ride, but we also have several bike shops in the area, we’ve got an excellent mountain bike club in the Shawnee Mountain Bike Association and an equally awesome road bike club in the Continental Cycling Club of Mt. Vernon, we’ve even got a very active randonuering club.  We’ve got decent weather that’s not to cold in winter and too hot in summer.  So what’s holding us back?

Not really talking about this kind of critical mass.

Despite all these great assets we have several key things that keep Southern Illinois from being a cycling destination.  First off, critical mass, see most people are basically sheep, they see enough people doing something they think it must be good and they want to get on board.  You can nearly count the cyclists in Harrisburg on one hand.

Secondly is the socio-economic status of our population.  Cycling doesn’t have to cost a ton of money, but its a lot more expensive than jogging.  The truth is out area is depressed, opportunities are scarce and many of those with much ambition or ability get out while they’re young.  Traditional outdoor activities like hunting and fishing thrive in Southern Illinois, which is great too, but we could use more variety.

Thirdly we have no big well ran organized rides to bring people in.  There are only a few organized rides in Southern Illinois and most of them are either dead or dying.  There was an opportunity to create a big two-day event a few years ago but that got turned into a race.  Don’t get me wrong a race is great for people who race and not a bad thing for cycling in the area, but a big well organized and publicized event like the Hilly Hundred would have done alot more in the long run to promote Southern Illinois and cycling in the area.

Forthly, is back to the terrain.  I’ve spent alot of time in the Smoky Mountain National Park, and there are many places where you would be hard pressed to tell a difference between the Shawnee and the Smokys, except for one important detail: mountains.  We just don’t have the big, long mountain climbs that people, myself included, get excited about.

There are probably lots of other reasons why cycling will never be a mainstream activity in Southern Illinois but here’s an even bigger question, So What?  It seems to me that when cycling starts to get real popular in places you start to see conflict.  Battles to restrict riding, battles with motorists, battles to keep trails open and battles with other cyclists who are going to slow or too fast, listening to their ipods, cutting you off and just making a mockery of your leisure time.  Maybe its best if there are just a few of us enjoying the hidden gem of Southern Illinois.

Matt’s T-shirt Design Company

So I wanted to make a T-shirt to celebrate the awesomeness of Southern Illinois Cycling and I had this idea of something kind of 70s looking and went with Mountain Biking.  I offered my fellow Shawnee Mountain Bikers a chance to get the shirt and was surprised how many wanted one.

Production began this morning and the results are actually good.  Now I’m off with Shauna for a weekend camping trip at Fern Clyff State Park, no bikes allowed.  Oh well I’ll put on some feet miles.

Little Bike Experiment

I spent a few moments looking at the bikes a few of my friends were riding at the 3S3M and saw that one guy was an inch taller than me but his bike was a 54cm, where mine is a 58.  I’ve had this seeking suspicion for a while that I’d be happier on a smaller frame and this just fanned the flames.

My Mom recently switched frames to something a little smaller and she loaned me her old frame to try.  It’s an Orbea in women’s colors and is around a 54 cm.  Dad and I built it up with parts I had around the basement and with a few odd and ends from Dad’s.  Last night was my maiden voyage on it.

My suspicions were confirmed.  Its too small, but not WAY to small.   If I found a seat post with lots of setback I could probably ride it, but as of now I’m constantly wanting to hang my but off the back.  I did a speed run on the trail and was very comfortable in the drops for extended amounts of time.  The short reach seemed to take a lot of strain off my body.

I took a short spin on my bike tonight and found it to feel really big after riding the little bike.  Now I’ve got it in my mind I need to find a 56 frame.

What do you guys think, 5’11″ dude, 58 or 56 frame?

 

3 State 3 Mountain Challenge 2012

Just arrived in nooga!  Standard pre ride pose.

I’m back home from Chattanooga with only mild soreness, surprisingly little sunburn, and this years 3 State 3 Mountain Challenge firmly tucked into my belt.

Last year was my first 3s3m and because of tornado damage the Burkhalter gap climb and the lookout mountain descent were cut out making the century only 90 miles.  This year the bridge over Nickajack lake was shut down forcing the route to change again which knocked Suck Creek Mountain out of the picture.  Suck Creek Mountain is my favorite climb on the route because it never gets that steep.  Suck Creek was replaced on this year’s route with Aetna mountain which was only about  500 feet, don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining.

Early in the ride, I’m feeling good!

Last year I drove to Chattanooga alone, this year I convinced 4 other guys to go with me  which made for a little different experience.  There are advantages to traveling alone, but its nice to have a group of friendly faces to talk with.

My super cyclist friend Luke rode with me from the hotel to the start of the ride Saturday morning and in typical Gholson fashion we just barely made it.  We slipped past the start line and joined the nearly 2500 riders almost at the front.  Last year I waited for 5 minutes or more before I joined in the ride making for a slow first few miles while I worked my way through traffic.  This year I was riding along with a fast-moving peloton within a few minutes of starting.

I got to see first hand what I’ve only really seen in races, how a peloton snaps like elastic when it begins moving up larger hills.  Of course the first hills we were climbing wouldn’t have even slowed down a pro race.  Luke moved up through the groups and was out of sight quickly and I stayed with a group until we began the first serious climb of Aetna mountain and slowly got spit out the back.

Soon the sky turned grey and it was raining, not a downpour but bad enough to be uncomfortable.  Luckily for us it didn’t last long and shortly the sun came out drying the roads.  One of the guys who went with me wasn’t so lucky.  On the Sand Mountain climb a rider in front of him spun out and lost all forward momentum.  He fell over backwards and landed on Kirk which knocked him off his bike.  The resulting low speed crash wasn’t bad except it pushed his derailluer into his spokes and ended his ride for the day.  Felt bad for him to drive 5 hours and ride 30 miles.

Its about to rain

Stil Feeling good!

This year I was able to complete my 3s3m experience properly with a climb up Burkhalter gap.  This climb is 2.5 miles long and goes up over 1000 feet for an average grade of 8.1% This climb would never be easy, but 80 miles into the ride I was just about out of gas.  At the top of the climb I was completely spent.  I could barely walk to the Sag stop and someone helped me fill my bottles.  After a climb like that you would expect a hellatious descent, but instead we were treated with deceptive rollers and several hundred more feet of climbing until we made the descent down Lookout Mountain.

Comming into the town we had a lane to ourselves, its awesome!

I come up with the analogy on this ride that I was a hobo hopping freight trains.  I would cruise along around 16 mph hour until some long paceline flew by then I’d latch on and be carried by the group over 20 mph until I either decided I was ready to get off or the train pulled into a station.  Getting into groups and pacelines was easy, riders were friendly, like last time and most people were riding responsibly, but I did have a couple of concerns.

Some folks would ride 3 or 4 abreast which required anyone passing to cross the centerline, crossing the centerline on twisty mountain roads is not a good idea.  The other concern was intersections.  Almost every intersection had a police officer there to stop traffic, but sometimes a car would also be at the intersection.  Groups I was in wouldn’t even slow down and just fly through.  One intersection had several girls standing in the middle of the road selling doughnuts and a car at the stop sign.  We just fanned out and  flew through the gaps.  I have to admit it made me nervous.

End of ride pose, feeling really gald its almost over.

The last ten miles of the ride was like a bad dream I’ve had.  In the dream I’m faced with some kind of challenge and my muscles have the strength of a kitten.  I’ll throw a punch at a guy and he’ll grab my arm and laugh, or I’ll go to jump a short obstacle and be unable to even get off the ground.

Somehow I got fired up for the finish and flew down the lane of traffic that had been blocked off for us through Chattanooga.  I entered into the stadium and sprinted across the line feeling a glorious sense of both accomplishment and happiness for finishing the ride in 6 hours and 42 minutes, even though it took me an hour and 42 minutes to ride the last 17 miles.

Lukes well rested, he finished about an hour and a half before me.

Again I have to congratulate the Chattanooga Bike Club for putting on a spectacular ride.  My group was amazed by the amount of support on the course, the sag stops were exceptional.  The finish line celebration was great too, an awesome meal, free soda, beer, italian ice, and masages for those who wanted one.

In one side note I was told by two separate people they read this blog, if you guys read this, I really appreciate it!  3S3M Rocks!

Ready to drive back to Illinois

Stephen Roche wants to clean up Cycling

Stephen Roche, jersey firmly zipped up.

Stephen Roche the retired great Irish champion has made some comments about how he wants to improve racing.  Since he is on the body that sets up the sports rules his comments actually matter.  He wants to ban race radio, ban unzipped jerseys, and ban drafting through the race caravan after a ride has a crash or mechanical.

When I read this I was sure it was some kind of joke, then I looked at my calender and saw April 1st was long gone.  The race radio ban has been around awhile and even though I don’t agree with it I can at least see some points in its favor.  I think the jersey rule is just jealousy since they hadn’t invented full length zip jerseys in Roche’s day.  The drafting thing is just nuts, the caravan following the race course can be very long, if you weren’t allowed to follow along in a car’s draft to catch back on I think once you got behind the caravan you’d just have to quit even if you were strong enough to ride through it would be impossible without at least some drafting.

Maybe this is what scared Roche, it sure as hell scares me.

When the best teams in the world can’t find sponsors and riders are talking about creating a breakout league for professional cycling I think you have bigger things to worry about than zippers and drafting.

I do have an idea for Roche, he could join up with the Randoneurs, he sounds perfect for it at least his rules do.  Randoneurs aren’t allowed to accept outside help even in the form of someone encouraging them and offering directions on the radio plus their strict dress code requires a polo shirt to be worn at all times with the collar firmly starched and folded down, just kidding about that last part.

I’ve got an even better idea, he could start his own breakout league.  Racers have a 200-400 km course and are not allowed to accept outside help.  They must wrap extra tires around their bodies, and are only allowed to carry two water bottles.  Heck even require them to wear goggles and leather helmets.  He could call it the Legends series.  It would probably be more interesting than a bunch of riders in a pack for 200 miles then a field sprint.

In pretend racing news I went out for a ride Wednesday night and decided to attempt an Old 13 TT.  The course is about 17 miles West to East out and back mostly flat with a few rollers and one longer climb at the end.  Last time I did the route wind was a major factor but this time it was out of the South, so even though it was 9 mph I didn’t think it would have much impact.

I started the timer on my Garmin from my driveway and rode to the course at a leisurely warm up pace, then I hit the lap button on my computer, got in my tuck and began grinding out a pace.  My goal was to get an average speed of 20 mph, that’s pretty much my benchmark, if I’m in shape I can do it.

About a quarter of the way through I checked my average which is on my second screen.  It was 19 mph and I hadn’t even hit the hills yet.  After the hills it was 18.6.  The return seemed harder, the wind might have been slightly helping me on the way out or maybe I just rode harder.  I was putting everything I had into the bike and my average speed was slowly going up.  When I finished despite my best efforts I had only hit 19.5 mph.  Then I hit the lap button again and the screen flashed up then I had just ridden 16.6 mph with an average speed of 20.1

I had been looking at the overall average and not the lap average.  Opps, well at least it motivated me to work harder.