Yesterday was the fourth year in a row that I rode in the
Hills of Attrition (click on the link to get all the gory details of the ride from my Garmin Edge 800) - our first demanding event of the season, and for each of the four years, the time that I find out my maximum heart rate for the year.
The ride is around 55 miles long with seven big (from a New Jersey perspective) climbs. This year, to add insult to injury, we had 20 - 30 mph headwinds to content with on 6 of the climbs and one big descent!!! It was like adding two or three more climbs to the route.
We started at 8:30 AM on wet roads, and chilly temperatures, but it is amazing how things tend to warm up along with the increase in elevation gain. After our first climb of the day, no one was complaining anymore about the temperature.
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| The Gang of Four (and Dave's admirer) at the rest stop! |
We settled into a good pace and one-by-one knocked off each of the hills, hoping we had enough left in out legs for the toughest of the climbs at about mile 42 - one of those where you look at the grade and are not sure if you are still on the road, or in an oxygen-starved state of mind, have accidentally turned into some one's sick joke of a driveway. I have said it before, and I'll repeat it here "Last year's adventure seems to have physically transformed me, and the muscles in my legs - difficult but do-able is the frame of mind for these challenges now." The climb topped out at a 22% grade, and my heart rate topped out at 200 bpm. When doing the climb, I tried to catch brief glimpses of my GPS display to see just how steep it was, and how fast my heart was beating - the highest I observed were 18% and 180 bpm. Apparently, as I suspected, the maximums occurred while my head was well over the handlebars to get maximum leverage on my pedals.
Now onto
"You can teach an Old Dog new tricks!!"
A few posts ago I wrote about Triathlon training, and how based on the feedback from the speakers, it was apparent that after 56 years on earth, I didn't know how to either swim or run (efficiently). Up until yesterday, I thought I had cycling pretty well nailed down though.
This past Tuesday I attended a meeting in NYC of the New York Cycling Club - I was there to promote my bike touring business. An interesting club with some 2,000 members that has been promoting cycling for 75 years. I had a fun time talking about last year's tour with some of the riders, comparing memories and experiences along Lake Superior and Cape Breton Island. One thing that the club does is hold 10 week long "Special Interest Group" sessions for their members to hone up on their cycling skills, with a compulsory 40 - 100 mile ride every Saturday for the 10-week duration, starting in early March. Being the curious type, I browsed their web site and found the "SIG-B" manual that describes the whole process. It was there that I found that I didn't know how to ride (or at least ride as well as I can...)
In the book they describe the three ways you can turn your bike:
Steer – At speeds of less than 10 MPH or when roads are slick:
• Steer the bike (move the front wheel).
• Bike stays upright, body leans slightly in direction of turn.
• An upright bike will be hard to turn at higher speeds
Lean – The standard turn at speeds over 10 MPH:
• This is done without steering the bike (not turning front wheel)
• Follow natural line (visualize water moving down curvy mountain stream)
• Lean your body into direction of turn – moving your nose in line with your inside brake lever. Your bike leans with you.
• Exiting the turn, re-center your body over your bike.
Counter Steering – Nirvana – making you and your bike one
• Do everything from lean (above), but:
• Straighten your inside arm and continually push down on the handlebars.
• Push more for a tighter turn, less for a wider turn.
I tried out the "counter steering" on some of the faster descents of the Hills of Attrition and it was amazing how much more stable it seemed, and how much faster you could go through the turns…
The caveat here is "do not try this at home" unless you are very proficient in your cycling skills, as it does take some commitment and an act of faith that it works... I suspect that the down side is that the transition between "being stable" and "losing it" may be a lot narrower than steering and or leaning. I will proceed with caution in experimenting as I have had more than enough contact with the pavement to date.
Cheers to all, and I hope the cycling season is in full gear wherever you are!
