Bike riding is better than working

I took a little time off from work this past week. We didn't go anywhere on vacation so I used the opportunity to ride my bike, a lot. There were team rides, solo rides, even mountain bike rides. All told I put in over 85 miles on my bike. I would have like to ride more but I did have a few things I needed to get done around the house and we did have some rain to contend with. What follows is a breakdown of my week+ of riding.

Saturday 6/21: Connie's Cakes to home
I was helping Mary out at the cake shop. They are very busy in June with many, many weddings. After the shop closed I rode east on Fulton Street toward Ada. A pretty high traffic area but with broad road shoulders. I then turned north on Grand River Avenue and took that until it ended at Northland Drive which I took home. Again Northland was very busy with vehicle traffic, but there are only a few spots to get across the river to get home. It ended up being a relatively easy 14 mile ride.

Sunday 6/22: JDRF Team Ride from Sietsma's Orchard
This ride could also be called "25 miles of pain". With our team rides there are usually two mileage options. My original plan had been to ride the 40 mile option. However this route was in the Egypt Valley, Pettis, Honey Creek triangle. Anyone who rides in this area knows this is one of the hilliest places to ride in all of west Michigan. We actually went both north and south on Egypt Valley. I'm not one to complain about hills, but that was a tough route. When I got to the 25/40 cutoff I decided that riding 25 miles was a much better idea. The post ride lunch and cider made all the work worthwhile.

Tuesday 6/24: North on the White Pine Trail
This was a 20 mile solo ride. Just a basic training ride. I took the trail up thru Rockford and up to Russell Road. It's a pretty flat route, especially when compared with our Sunday team ride. Nothing very interesting to report, just puttin' in the miles.

Wednesday 6/25: Luton Park

The old barn at Luton Park.

I decided to take my mountain bike out for a spin. This is an "old" bike. I first purchased it in the late 80's. It has a steel frame and no suspension. I feel kind of jealous when I see the newer, cooler mountain bikes some of my teammates ride. But my Raleigh M50 has served me well for decades and will go through anything. I rode the blue, orange, black and red loops at Luton for a 6 mile total. The thing I really notice out there is that it's more of an upper body workout than road cycling. Now that might be because I'm pushing the bike equivalent of a tank through the narrow trails. But Luton is a blast, tight turns, rock gardens, log piles, and on this day more than a few mud puddles. Watch for a full review of Luton Park coming soon on my Examiner page.

Sunday 6/29: The modified Western loop
I didn't get to ride on Friday or Saturday because I was busy with volunteering at a couple of events. So I was putting up tents and selling cupcakes instead of pedaling my bike. Today Mary went with me and we headed out for one of our favorite loops. We started by heading west through Belmont and then making the big climb up Post Drive. We continued westward along 9 Mile Road. This is a very pretty twisty little road that takes you out toward the northern Kent County apple orchards. Today our plan was to do a shorter version by riding up Division to 12 Mile and then heading home via the White Pine Trail. About a 25 mile route. However at 12 miles into the ride Mary's front tire exploded. She noticed that a bulge had developed on the tire so we stopped to see if I could do a field repair job. Before we could get off the road to a safe place to fix the tire the tube exploded and left a two inch long hole in the tire. Since we don't carry spare tires, I had to cut the route short and ride home to get the car to bring Mary and her bike back home. Mary ended up with 12 miles for the day and I was at 19.

I've now ridden 420 miles since the start of the season. Not great but we'll get there. I'd like to be between 1,200 and 1,500 miles when we head to Death Valley in October.

Death Valley Training

It was hot and windy this afternoon, perfect training for Death Valley. Just replace the trees with mountains and the grass with desert and this would have been just like DV. Since the winds were about 20 mph from the southwest I decided to ride south and west first so I could work hard at the start and use the wind to my advantage when I got tired. I took the White Pine Trail down to WhiteCaps BallPark. They were getting set up for tonight's Class A Baseball All-Star Game. Since I didn't have a ticket I rode past the park, through Comstock Park and then turned north and headed toward home. Going north was much easier. I had a pretty good average speed, 15.3 mph. The last few rides I've tracked have all had plus 15 mph averages. I think that means that I'm starting to get my fitness back. I'm glad for that. I felt really bad at the start of the season after having been off the bike for so long. Now I'm starting to feel like I'll be able to do this Death valley thing after all.

Three different rides

I'm starting to rack up the miles. The past few days I've done three short rides which were each quite different.

On Saturday I was helping out Mary at Connie's Cakes. I decided to ride my bike home from the shop. It's only about 12 miles but you have to make your way through the city so it's not a real fast route. Plus I had eaten something for breakfast that didn't agree with me and that affected my performance. Plus it was really hot. Plus I had a flat tire. I rolled out all those excuses to explain why a 12 mile ride took me almost an hour and a half.

Near my parents house north of Lowell there is an old railroad bed that has been converted to the Fred Meijer Flat River Trail. It runs from Lowell to Greenville, but it's not a cycling trail yet. The ground is covered with sharp stones about the size of a child's fist. So it's a good trail to hike, not so good for mountain bikes. Mary and I gave it a try on Sunday. We only rode about a mile on the trail and then rode some dirt country roads. We got in a little over 6 miles. I'd love to try it with a fat bike.

Today I decided to do some speed training. I rode the White Pine Trail up to Rockford and back, a 15 mile round trip in just under an hour. That's a 15.5 mph average speed. That might not sound like much, but it's  my best speed so far this year. I felt like I was working pretty hard to maintain that speed, but I was able to maintain it, which I haven't been able to do yet this year. Every time I go it it seems like I get a little confidence back and a little skill returns.

Memorial Day Ride

We have been spending Memorial Day weekend with our friends the Hayes' for 29 years. We've been camping, spent time in Chicago and Grand Rapids, and also at their cottage on Lake Paw Paw. The lake is near Watervliet in southwestern Michigan. It's a great place to ride bikes. Lots of fairly flat country roads that lead to quaint beach towns along Lake Michigan. This year's ride took us from the cottage, through blooming blueberry fields to the north side of Benton Harbor. We rode around a golf course that had just hosted a senior PGA event. The golf tournament finished Sunday and we didn't ride by until Monday. So the golfers and spectators were all gone, but the camera platform, fences, and grand stands were still there. It was an easy ride without all the golf commotion, but would have been interesting to ride through as well. On the way back to the cottage we had a bit of a tail wind which made the last of our 36 mile round trip a bit easier. It turned out being my longest ride of the year so far and gives me over 200 total miles. That's not a lot but with spring finally here I should be able to start getting more miles in,

Going back to the valley

I am really looking forward to riding in Death Valley again this year. Don't get me wrong, the last two rides have been great. Lake Tahoe was probably the most beautiful bike ride I've ever been on and riding the Natchez Trace in Tennessee last year was a blast until I crashed. But there's just something about being in the desert that gets into your blood. Maybe it's because that was where my first JDRF ride was ten years ago. Maybe it's because of the adult summer camp vibe of the place. Maybe it's the stark beauty of an area that is so unlike Michigan. Whatever the reason I'm counting the days (and the miles) until I get to go back.

Ian, Mary and Tom before the 2011Ride in Death Valley.

Our last ride in DV was in 2011. It was very hot. In fact it was so hot that the organizers changed the route. Instead of riding 52 miles into the desert and climbing Jubilee Pass before turning around we rode out 25 miles and turned around. To get the full century you needed to complete the route twice. They didn't want anyone having a medical situation too far away from the starting line at Furnace Creek. That was good thinking. Some of the 350 people there completed the full 100 miles, but most took the weather advisories to heart and shortened their routes. Mary did 50 miles in 2011 and Ian an I did 73. One of the advantages of an out and back route is that at any point you're halfway done.

Nicole and Cliff get engaged during the 2011 ride.

But the heat and the changed route were not the most memorable part of the 2011 ride in Death Valley. That honor belongs to our team mates Cliff and Nicole for getting engaged at 25 miles into the ride. Cliff planned the whole thing out and let the team know so we were all there when he got down on one knee in the desert. Nicole cut a hole in her cycling glove so her new ring would show through. I don't know if 2014 will give us anything that exciting, but Death Valley has yet to let us leave without awe inspiring stories to bring back.

A beautiful evening for a ride

It looks like the weather has FINALLY turned springlike. Mary and I took advantage of a warm May evening last night to do a little 17 mile ride. We rode out past Rockford High School and then on past Luton Park. We then took 10 Mile out to Young and that south to 9 Mile. We then turned south again on Blakely before turning west on 7 Mile and getting to finish our ride by going down 7 Mile hill. Mary commented that when we get in better shape we'll need to ride up that hill. She was actually doing quite well on the hill climbs last night. We had almost 650 feet of climbing along the route and she stayed with me for most of it. I'm looking forward to getting a lot of miules in over the next few weeks and months.

Best week so far this season

Yesterday felt great. Once I was done with the obligatory Mother's Day festivities; making breakfast for Mary, calling my Mom, and going to the in-laws; I headed out for my most difficult ride of the year. The funny thing is, I felt great doing it. 26 miles with almost 900 feet of climbing. Most of the routes I've done this year have been pretty flat and only one was longer. But I felt really good on the bike yesterday. Even with a very hilly course my average speed was 14.8 miles per hour. That's almost 2 mph better than I've been doing so far. It probably has something to do with starting to get back into shape (although I'm not there yet). Last Sunday we did a 30 mile team ride (see the post below). Then on Thursday Mary and I rode up to Rockford and got a  couple hot dogs at the Corner Bar. That was a 17 mile round trip. Then yesterday I rode 26 miles. That's a total of 73 miles in eight days. Not exactly record setting, but a pretty good total for this time of year.

Yesterday's route took me up Post Drive, which is a pretty significant climb near the start. Then I took 9 Mile Road out to Alpine Avenue and went north to near Sparta then turning east on 13 Mile Road. Every time I made a turn it seems like I was facing another climb. That's probably because until I got a couple of miles down 13 Mile I was going up. That was about the halfway point of the ride. After that there was only one more significant climb as I rolled into Rockford via Summit Avenue and then took the White Pine Trail home. The map of my route is on the left and you can click here for all the route details, if you're the sort of person who likes that kind of thing.

Another team ride, another mileage marker

JDRF team mates Chris and Tom discuss bike stuff.

It has been slow going for me this riding reason. Between injury recovery and pretty crappy weather I haven't put a lot of miles in yet. On Sunday we had a team ride that left from Ada Park and traveled to Saranac. This is a pretty flat route. The first half is the same route that the Rapid Wheelmen Bicycle Club uses for their weekly time trials. There were 10 of us riding in the high winds yesterday and we finished with 30 miles under our tires. Thanks to the mostly westerly wind the ride out was very zippy, we probably averaged about 20 mph. However the way back, into the headwind, was considerably slower. Despite the wind, the 30 miles was the longest ride I've completed this year. I'm feeling better on the bike, but my mental state still isn't back to pre-crash confidence. That will come as I get in more, much needed, mileage.

Team Scheidel Ride #1

Easter Sunday was probably the nicest day we've had yet this year. Ian was home from college for the holiday, so he, Mary and I headed out on the White Pine Trail for our first family ride of the year. We wanted to avoid what we figured would be a very crowded trail up in Rockford, so we went south toward Whitecaps Ballpark. There were several people on the trail, but not too busy. Then we crossed the Grand River and rode into Riverside Park in northern Grand Rapids. Lots of walkers, strollers, skateboarders and dogs in the park. While these are all fine activities, they often don't mesh well with people riding bikes at 15+ mph. So after we got to the end of the park we turned back for home and took Monroe Street north. It was a bit dicey because of the rough winter which has created very rough roads around here. We finished with 17.5 miles, which gives me 60 miles total for the year. The progress is slow, but each ride is a little longer than the one before.

First Ride of the Season

I'm back, baby!   - Bender, Futurama

After six months out of the saddle I finally got a chance to ride outdoors again. Monday was a gloriously warm early spring day. The sun was shining, the temperature topped 60 degrees, and I got out on the road for a 10 mile ride. Ten miles doesn't sound like much, but after crashing in September and breaking four ribs, then spending the better part of the fall and winter recuperating, ten miles was about all I could handle. I figured out that the six months off my bike was the longest I ever haven't ridden since I learned how to ride a bike. My fitness level is shot. It's going to be a long climb (pun intended) to get back in shape, but I'm really looking forward to the work. After I did my little ride down the White Pine Trail I felt great. My legs were a bit tired and I was perspiring more than I should have been on a flat, slow-ish ride, but I still felt great. Just being outdoors on my bike was fantastic. I'm very excited to start riding more often and getting ready for our October JDRF ride in Death Valley.

Thanks very much to Coach Mike and Berger over at Third Coast Cycles for fixing my bike. It needed some serious work after the crash and the guys made my bike ride like it was new.