The Montauk Century (and 3 rules of cycling)

This weekend was the fourth year in a row that I rode the Montauk Century. A group of 13 of us left Morristown on Saturday afternoon for the drive to Long Island where the ride would start the next morning.  The weather forecast for the past week made it rather ominous - thunderstorms starting on Sunday morning and going pretty much through the week.

After eating a mountain of food at Ciao Baby (I think Frank Sinatra is buried under one of the tables) we walked back to the hotel for a fitful night's rest (sleep would be a misnomer as I don't think I got a wink!).  The alarm went off at 5:00 AM and we packed up and looked outside to promising dry pavement.  Things changed on our way down to breakfast - torrential rains with the weather channel only committing to at best light rain along the route. 

A bunch of the group were veterans of the torrential rains and crash plagued 2009 ride, so they opted to bail out rather than face the prospect of 7 hours in the rain - I, on the other hand had a mission to guerrilla market my NYC to Montreal ride to finishers on the 2 hour train ride back from the end of the ride.

The gang, in rain gear, at the first rest stop

The die was cast - 4 of us would ride (me and three of the others who had never done the ride) and the rest returned back to Morristown looking for better weather.  We set out under a light drizzle to occasional heavy rain heading east to Montauk.  The route was fairly easy to follow as it seemed that every quarter-mile there were a group of cyclists on the side of the road fixing a flat.  Paul and I set a pretty strong pace at the front for the 20 miles to the first rest stop, and again for the next 30 to the second one.

Drier weather at rest stop 2 (some of us shed the rain gear)

We then went "off route" and followed the 2010 route which took us for about 8 miles on a barrier island.  It was here that I got some closure from my tour du Canada ride last year, where on the East Coast, at the end, I neglected to do the customary "wheel dip" in the Atlantic Ocean - luckily for me, the "Atlantic Ocean" had flooded sections of the road so I "wheel dipped" by riding through the salt water puddles.

Road Flooded

We then headed over one of the major "cols" of the day, the massive 50' "Col de Hampton Bay Bridge"  It was fun to finally get a change in altitude.

A view from the bottom of one of the major climbs of the day!

Back on the mainland, on dry roads, we proceeded east towards Montauk.  Everyone agreed, at least silently, that my suggestion that Paul join us on the ride was a wise one.  He led the pack for almost the whole of the last 50 miles - I referred to him as our own "plutonium powered T-2000 Terminator" whose sole mission in life seemed to be to ride at the front of our group allowing us to draft behind him, until his nuclear core was spent.

As we rode through the Hamptons, we stopped at one of the beaches for a group photo in the sunlight mainly to rub in to the riders who bailed, how great a ride they ended up missing.

Check out the shadows on the asphalt.
(l-r Paul, me, Chris, Simon and Eric)

At the 3rd rest stop I mentioned that after riding the first 75 miles at a pretty good pace (I think only one rider had passed us while riding, since we started) we should tone things down and be careful since we were probably a little tired and our reaction times might be off.  Within the next six miles, I demonstrated my profound mastery of two of the three most important rules of cycling:
1) Always wear a good, well fitting helmet.
2) Don't crash.
3) If for some reason you fail to observe Rule 2, see and observe Rule 1.

It was at around mile 80 that, riding at the head of the pack, I made a late left hand turn and my front wheel came out from under me in a large patch of gravel.  Paul, reacting to my demise, kept going straight, and the others as well. I hit the pavement, first with my left thigh, followed by my left shoulder and then my helmet.  As I was collecting my thoughts, and  regrouping, my fellow riders looked after my bike - thank you Eric for readjusting my right brake lever.  The net result was pretty good road rash on my left thigh (I still can't figure out how you can tear your skin up but your bike shorts come out unscathed - I guess that is why my Pearl Izumi shorts are my hands-down favorite), a bruised left shoulder, and a pretty good dent in my helmet which did a magnificent job of protecting my left frontal lobe. 

I then mentioned to my fellow riders that after any crash you should ask the rider 3 questions to determine their level of alertness and orientation, and if they fail any of the three, call an ambulance, as they may have sustained a significant head trauma - they are:
1) What is your name? (I answered correctly)
2) Where are you? (again I passed with flying colors), and
3) What day (or date) is it?  (I aced that one too!)
Having demonstrated that I was normal (well, normal for me!) we got back on our bikes and kept on pedaling, as I did not want my injuries to stiffen up. 

At about the 90 mile mark, I think everyone in the group was silently thinking that despite seeing hundreds of riders with flat tires alongside the road, we would complete our journey without incident.  Chris then spoiled things with a loud call-out "Flat!"  We stopped to help, but I said that I should probably keep on pedaling so I wouldn't stiffen up, so I headed out east at a pretty good clip.

Little did I know that after about a minute head-start, the group sent Simon out to catch and ride with me so I would not ride alone after hitting my head. 

The End is Near!!!

 He almost caught me before the end of the ride. 

One of the great things about this ride is the warm showers at the end.  Before cleaning off, I thought I'd capture my "grit line"- just to show that it was not all fun and games.

Guess where my socks end.

After the shower, I bandaged up my wounds, and joined everyone for a well deserved beer before the customary "End of the Line" Photo, and the train ride home.

Two engines in this photo (LIRR and Paul)

After putting one of my marketing cards on the windshield of every car in the Babylon Train station, we headed back to Morristown with another great ride under our belts.

Thanks to all for a great weekend.

Ride summary and stats can be found here...

Give a Bike

Today is the first "Double-header" for my blog... Two entries in one day!!!

Tonight, I attended a presentation by Adam and Christy Coppola at Marty's in Morristown.

They are two kids who have decided to spend their honeymoon riding their bicycles through all 50 states (a 12,000 mile journey in total) to raise money promoting cycling through Give a Bike.

The two charities they are supporting are: 

World Bicycle Relief providing bikes for people in developing countries, and

Achillies International  providing hand cycles to veterans who have lost a limb, allowing them to race.

Both charities have a personal connection to Adam and Christy, Adam's brother was a combat surgeon who serves two tours of duty in Iraq, and Christy's brother works in Uganda for World Bicycle Relief.

If you want to contribute to their cause you can do so here.

So far, in their 3 1/2 months of cycling they have been in 23 states and logged just over 4,800 miles.

Here is their progress to date...

It was fun to share with them my experiences of last summer, and learn of theirs.  Adam was grateful for my discussion on "False Flats" as they have yet to experience them, but now know what to expect.

If you have the time, go to their site, and read their blog (brought back fond memories of my TdC), and follow their adventure on Facebook.   If they are coming near you, invite them for a night indoors and a home cooked meal - their accommodations for the next seven months is a two-man tent (I found it cramped with just me in a 3-man tent for only 10 weeks.)

Great to see the spirit of adventure in these two young cyclists - their longest ride prior to this adventure was just 17 miles!!! 

Adam and Christy - best of luck on the rest of your adventure, may all your hills be down and the wind at your back!!!

Hills and Headwinds

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. 

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!