Celebrating Life

Great weekend to celebrate the lives of cyclists!  Anna and Sasha married on Saturday in a wonderful ceremony followed by night at the museum.  Susanne back in action in a 60 mile group ride.  Ironically, the dog bite incident encouraged her back into group riding.  She had previously sworn off most group riding following a head injury from a crash at Mayor's Cup.

On the topic of brain damage, I heard this very interesting article about an athlete on the radio yesterday.  This goes to support a few ideas

mind over matter
something is wrong with ultra runners

http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2011/apr/05/in-running/

Added in 2013, the link to Anna and Sasha's blog - continuing to celebrate life as a grand adventure in Germany http://annaandsasha.blogspot.com/

Ladies' 6 Gap

Belated post regarding my May 17th assault on the 6 Gaps Route with Jessica Eckhardt.  I was excited about the prospect of a all woman (yes, even just 2) 6 Gap ride.  Jessica has been riding likely about 10 x more than I have this year so I figured if I could stay on a bike all day, Jessica would have no problem.  The Friday morning before the big day I was so tired that I felt queasy- sadly this state was brought on my late nights at work not overtraining.   Thinking about getting up at 4 am to drive to Vermont seemed ridiculous.  I decided to call Jessica to cancel, but did not have a break to get to my desk all morning.  By the time I did get to my desk, she had sent an e-mail about how excited she was and had purchased and installed a mountain bike cassette.   I hoped for the best.

Jessica arrived after 10pm at my house with bug spray and sunblock attached to her bicycle with velcro.   Hmmm, I have never found bugs much of a problem on a road bike.  I have found extra weight to be a problem.  I assisted her with lightening up this set-up.  

9:30 on Sat morning, out bikes were rolling towards Brandon Gap.  Patrick did a nice job driving us to Vermont as well as climbing Brandon and Middlebury Gap.  He then left us for a nap.  Lincoln Gap was tough for Jessica, as she had a pinched nerve from a previous injury act up during the slow grinding section.  Given that there really was no rush, I found that it is possible to do a track stand for half a mile and finish the climb without getting the heart rate up.  This is a super slow method, but faster than pushing.  On the descent from Lincoln, my cable broke in the right shifter, setting the stage for the most challenging climb of App Gap ever.  We tried to give Patrick a call to let him know we could be stuck on the other side of the mountains with the mechanical- the call went to voicemail so we set about jury rigging the shifting.  Jessica really did a wonder on the bike and managed to get the chain into the 2nd easiest gear.  The cable was held in place using a multi tool and medical tape we bought in Lincoln. We had finished Baby Gap when Patrick arrived.  He got a signal when he got to Warren to bring us snacks.  We replaced the cable and I headed up App with all gears in play.  Jessica was not in great shape when we took our snack break- the pinched nerve was a frustrating concern.  She was determined to knock off the last 2 gaps though so with the sun low in the sky we headed up towards Roxbury.  Roxbury is a dirt climb which is challenging with 80 miles in the legs.  Loose gravel made it quite more challenging.  Considering Jessica's modest experience riding gravel, I wasn't too surprised to see her pushing through that section of road.  (I found here that if you go slow enough a dusk, actually bugs can be a problem)  I thought that this might be it for the ride and offered to turn around.  No turning around for Jessica - the bike could be pushed to the top and off we went.  We worked though most of the last climb in the dark and had a thrilling nocturnal descent to the car.  Jessica's headlight is so bright that I briefly thought that she was a car.

We finished around 9 or 9:30 and happily ate the two pizzas had Patrick bought for us while discussing the constellations overhead.  Really a great ride.  Unfortunately, Patrick had spent nap time delivering the cable to us, so did not get a nap.  He did manage to drive us back home with home sweet home at about 1 am. 

I'm hoping for some more long scenic rides this summer and hope Jessica is able to fulfill her dream of racing across America next summer.  This weekend she is riding her bicycle to Maine where she has business.  I hope that she is expensing the miles and lots of gummi worms.

Bicycle Race

Most unusual sight at the Sunapee Road Race today.  I passed a rider with only one leg.  That man has a remarkable attitude to enter a cycling race.  I think that the bicycle may be very special to him because I think that he can move around more smoothly on a bicycle than by hopping.  Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to discuss his motives for entering the race with him, although I am very interested. 

Also, I saw Susanne at the race today and she looks great.  I'm happy to see that she is back riding her bicycle as well. 

In general, turnout at the race today was quite low.  16 ladies in the Pro, 1,2,3 field.  I appreciate the promoter having the race for us.  Last weekend I drove 2.5 hours to Connecticut to find that the promoter had cancelled the Pro,1,2 race at the Nutmeg Crit on the day of the race because of low numbers of preregistered ladies.  I arrived a half hour before the men's race and missed the chance to jump into my kit and jump into the men's race - so I went back home bummed out about waste of lovely day in the car.

Today was a great day for a bike race.  This one left me motivated to improve my fitness.  My long hours at work combined with laziness has left me in sluggy condition.

The Susanne Diaries

Cycling has been on the back burner lately for me as I'm busy with work, finishing up my master's degree and enjoying some time with Patrick. After nearly 18 years of spending a fair bit of time enjoying solo outdoor activities and not heeding the warnings of others regarding the risks of these, I was quite shaken up by some recent news from my friend, Susanne. She was riding her bicycle home from work on one of the first warm spring days here when a pit bull ran into the road and bit her on the shin. I call this post the Susanne diaries because when I went to visit her yesterday she was losing track of the events of the days she has spent in the hospital. One day was marked by the beginning of shots in the stomach. Another by feeling horrible from pain medicine and throwing up. Another day was surgery prep. Another day was bad news that the surgery did not go as hoped. Another day was when a needle was sewn into her and she became a mass balance - bags of fluid going in bags of fluid coming out. The real Susanne diaries are typed on a i phone inside of Susanne's forest of flowers and stuffed animals. Tough times for Susanne and Tim.

Happy New Year, 2012

"Drive, Race, Fix Bike, Make Her Dinner"

This is Patrick's description of several of his past summers during a discussion whether I should join a road team for the upcoming season.

His comments on my improving my speed on the bicycle through diet.

"You have the small thing down, you just need to get smaller."

The winter has been mild and I'm happy to say that I have not been on the trainer yet nor felt that I was freezing my toes! Today I went for what turned out to be a long and wandering ride north of my house and really could not tell it was winter at all.

Patrick and I enjoyed the autumn here mountain biking together and riding several long rides in scenic Western Mass. The most exciting was spotting a moose one morning on one of these rides.

Unfortunately I have felt a strain the past few months since I took on new responsibilities at work in addition to plugging away at grad school. Cycling and fitness were put on the back burner and it was truly a joy to get out for a nice ride today.

Over the holidays, Patrick and I took a short trip to Zion National Park. We rode mountain bikes near the town of Hurricane. I could get used to that! Smooth trail, lovely views, and playgrounds of rock. Patrick had a blast too and really loved it.

I really enjoyed reading the book Be Brave, Be Strong by Jill Homer while on vacation. I'm now procrastinating on work by reading this blog - associated links are excellent. Now, to find a way to squeeze out of my responsibilities so I can take off on an epic adventure too. http://joecruz.wordpress.com/category/inspired-rides/