Le Tour and Le Moi

The Tour de France started this morning. I watched the first stage on television and then went out and rode myself. I went north on the White Pine Trail up to 17 Mile Road in Cedar Springs and then back. That's a total of 25 miles. It was a pretty good ride, I averaged a little over 16 mph. This ride gave me almost 60  miles for the week. I also went out on Thursday between work and a Whitecaps game for a 23 mile ride. That one was only supposed to be 15 or so miles, but I got going and the loop I was on turned out to be a little longer then I thought.

Trail riding and hiking up north

We've been real busy lately with work, volunteer and team stuff. Most of that has meant dealing with large numbers of people. So yesterday Mary and I decided to have a decompression day, get away from people and out into the wilderness. There is a spot on Lake Michigan between Ludington and Manistee that is just perfect for this kind of detoxing. The beach is about 12 miles long, with hardly a soul to be seen. The hiking trails are many, varied and nearly devoid of people. In fact yesterday we did a three mile hike and didn't see anyone until we were on our way back along the beach. We also spent some time just lying on the beach all alone. Not as peaceful as it sounds because of the black flys and the high winds that made us feel like we were being sand blasted. But it was a beautiful day to just be on the beach.

Mary entering the Children of the Corn portion of our mountain bike ride

The highlight of our day was the 11 mile mountain bike ride we went on. There is a trail that loops the entire camping area. But there are also logging roads and unofficial trails that crisscross the main trail. We went off on several of those until one trail went from sand, to mud, to a 2 foot deep pond, to nothing. We went all the way to the end of the this particular trail and found ourselves in the middle of the forest, with the only way out the same way we came in. So back thru the pond, mud and sand until we found a hard packed service road that was big fun to ride on. We were actually a little surprised that we rode 11 miles. It didn't seem that far, but maybe that's because we were having so much fun. Click here for a link to the route.

Four times the fun

It seems like I'm making up for the crapping early spring we had by getting out quite often the past couple of weeks. See below.
Friday 6/14 - 18 miles
Sunday 6/16 - 30 miles
Monday 6/17 - 15 miles
We4dnesday 6/19 -18 miles

Friday morning was a quick jaunt on the 20 mile loop for Sunday's team ride, except that I rode it in the opposite direction just to keep things interesting. I went north on the White Pine Trail to 12 Mile Road, took that out to Edgerton and went south via House/Pine Island/Post. More detail in reverse in the Sunday description.

Sunday was Father's Day and we had our annual JDRF post Lumberjack team ride. Our coaches Mike and Derek and team mate Kaat all rode 100 miles of dirt trails on Saturday. They were moving a little slow on Sunday. Our team ride was a very hilly 30 mile route. It was supposed to be 40, but since it took the group 2 and 1/2 hours to go 20 miles we figured it would be best to cut the route short. This is a great loop. We crossed the Rouge River three times, rode past Meyers Lake and the Luton Park mountain bike trails. The roads were all twisty, turny, and hilly. We started by riding out of our neighborhood north on Packer and then hooking up with Post Drive for a big climb. Then we followed Pine Island to House, which follows US-131 and is a really fun road to ride. We worked our way north and west until we ended up at the sports park on Algoma and 13 Mile for an extended break. We even met a guy who was traveling by bike from Milwaukee to Syracuse. We then took 13 Mile to Summit, followed the Rouge River for a bit and turned east on 12 Mile. We rode this until we hit Meyers Lake Road and it was time to head home. We rode down Kies and past Luton Park and finished the ride by screaming down 7 Mile hill. Several of us had speeds in the 40 mph range.

Monday was the Rapid Wheelmen Time Trail in Ada. A 15 mile race against the clock. No team mates, no drafting, just you going as fast as you can. The 30 miles the day before must have taken a little out of our legs because Mary, Ian and I all had slower times than the last time we did the race. Of course Ian and I did play 18 holes of golf Monday morning, so that may have had something to do with it.

Tonight Mary needed to pick up a prescription at the Knapp's Corner Meijer. Rather than drive there we decided to ride our bikes. It was a beautiful night for a ride and we got in 18 very pleasant miles. That makes 81 miles in six days time. That feels good.

That's more like it

Riding along on a beautiful Sunday.

I've gone out on three rides in the last four days for a total of 80 miles. That brings my seasonal mileage up to 289, not great but improving. On Saturday morning I did a solo ride of 14 miles. It was just a quick ride because I didn't want to overdo it before our team ride on Sunday. The team ride left from Elden's Shipyard in Holland. This is an annual event for us that usually draws a good crowd because of the pool and cookout after the ride. There were loops of 19, 30 and 42 miles. Mary did the 30 mile loop and Ian and I did the 42. Our loop took us through New Richmond, Fennville and Douglas before returning to the south shore of Lake Macatawa. The group stayed together for most of the ride at a 17-18 mph pace. This particular loop also has a fair amount of hills. I didn't ride Monday but tonight Ian and I went for a sprint ride down to the ballpark and back. 14 miles at and 18-20 mph pace, which is pretty good since it was just the two of us swapping off the lead. I think I'll be able to get out once or twice more before our next team ride, which is this Sunday from our house. That route is going to be 40 miles with over 1,000 feet of climbing. He he he.

Hill training

Yesterday I went out on my hill training route. It's 10 miles long with six climbs of varying difficulty. I've done this route many times, but this time I decided to map it with Map My Ride and post the result below. There is 330 feet of climbing on this route. That doesn't sound like much but if you extrapolate that over a century ride you'd have 3,300 feet of climbing, or more than the JDRF Death Valley ride. There is also one Category 5 climb on the route. That's the easiest of the climb ratings, but it is rated. This year our JDRF ride will take place in Nashville, Tennessee in late September. That ride has over 4,000 feet of climbing, so I'm likely to have lots more hill training in my future.

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRide

Urban Cycling

Every Memorial Day since the mid-eighties we get together with our friends Susan and "Elvin" Hayes. We used to go camping in Manistee National Forest, then we started hanging out at their cottage on Lake PawPaw. This year, because of crazy schedules, we visited them at their home near Lincoln Park in Chicago. On Sunday Elvin, Mary and I rode the Lake Shore Trail north up to Evanston. The very well used paved trail follows the shore of Lake Michigan through most of Chicago. Traveling north the trail jogs inland for a few miles along surface streets. However it is well marked with signage and bike lanes (or at least sharrows). When we got to Evanston we rode around Northwestern University's campus and past some gorgeous homes. On the way back we stopped at a little beach bar for a snack and a beer. It would have been great had the sun been out and the temperature wasn't dropping. Sunday was one of those rides that started in the mid 60's and just a bit overcast and ended with temps in the 50's with rain starting. Luckily we got back in before it rained hard or we got frozen. In all we put in 30 miles of dodging pedestrians, other cyclists, and sand blown over the trail. It was a very different experience than our usually Memorial Day rides on the other side of Lake Michigan.

Tom and Mary in front of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Let's Race

Mary competing in her first time trial

This past week started with the Rapids Wheelmen Time Trials out in Ada. Ian and I have raced there once before and this time Mary joined us. This is a 15 mile out and back, fairly flat course along Grand River Avenue. The riders start individually every 30 seconds. The idea is to ride against the clock and not the other people on the course. Which is a good thing since I was getting passed regularly by 20 somethings on time trial bikes. But the good news is I improved my time over the first week by three and a half minutes. Ian's time was about the same and Mary finished is less than an hour. She was very happy about that since she was thinking she was a "slow" rider. Her average speed was 15.6 mph. While not blazing, that's far from slow. The complete results are at this link.

On Saturday Ian and I traveled over to the other side of the state for the Tour de Frankenmuth. This was Ian's first ride with the Rapid Wheelmen Junior Team. The race was on a 16 mile loop that started in the downtown of the delightfully German themed town. The Juniors did one loop and the Category 1 and 2 riders did 5 loops. The top riders were competing for prize money, the juniors were competing for medals. Ian finished 8th in his age group, getting beat out at the line for 7th place. It was a great learning experience for him and he said he really enjoyed it.

Ian approaching during his first Junior Team race.

This week's training

This was a good week for training. I rode three times for a total of 51 miles. That's a good place to be for the middle of May. I'd like to have more total miles under my belt, but my fitness level seems pretty good considering the lack of saddle time this spring.

On Tuesday Ian and I did a 14 mile ride out to the east of our house. We started by climbing Seven Mile hill. We rode past Luton Park which was full of people on mountain bikes and then finished by riding past Rockford High School. Ian's last day at RHS is this Wednesday and then he graduates on June 4.

Thursday was a solo ride for me down near Allegan. I was working in the area and had a couple of hours between events, so I took my bike along and got a 17 mile ride in. I had hoped to do a loop ride but I was unfamiliar with the area so I ended up doing an out and back.

Mary and I rode the White Pine Trail on Saturday evening. We went north as far as Russell Road and then turned around. On the way home we stopped at the Rockford Brewing Company for a sandwich and a beer. It was excellent and we arrived home slightly before 9:00 p.m. with exactly 20 miles. We have finally hit that point of the year where it stays light in Michigan until late in the evening. It makes after work rides much easier to complete.

First time trial

We tried something new tonight. Ian and I rode in our first time trial. The Rapid Wheelmen Cycling Club holds a 15 mile time trial every Monday night. It starts at Ada Park and runs along Grand River Drive toward Lowell. It's a pretty flat route with a few mild rollers. We rode out seven and a half miles, turn around and head back. It took me about 55 minutes (we'll have the official times on Wednesday), Ian did it in about 48 minutes. He started 30 seconds behind me and caught me at mile 3. There were about 70 riders in all but only 3 (including Ian) passed me. Of course I was one of the last six to start. Oh well, my plan was just to get a base line time so I can see how much I improve over the course of the season.

Ian after his first time trial.

Second ride of the season

Today I rode outside for the second time this season. Mary, Ian and I took the White Pine Trail north thru Rockford to Russell Road then turned around and rode home. That's 20 miles, or one mile more than last Sunday's ride. By this time last year I had ridden over 200 miles. This very wet cold spring has really put my training behind schedule. Plus the Nashville ride is in early September. Looks like I'm going to have to start hammering it.

On a related note my bike has developed a shifting problem. As in, it doesn't. I rode all day today in the big ring, which means my 27 speed bike is essentially a 9 speed. I used to ride a 10 speed in college so this isn't too bad, but it's amazing how much I miss those other 18 gears. I'm taking it in to Grand Rapids Bicycle Company tomorrow so they can take a look.