I woke up before the sun came up this morning at 5:45am to give myself time to bandage up my arms before heading down to Norwood for the Landry's group ride. The ride itself showed me just how much having the massive reaction to the Poison Ivy has taken out of me. The whole ride I felt sluggish, and just couldn't get my muscles to go when I needed them too. It was only on the hills that I was able to make up any ground, and I would quickly lose it again once we hit the flats. In other words I spent most of the ride hanging onto the wheel in front of me.
That lead to my first flat during a group ride. Hugging the wheel of the guy in front of you means you can't see much except wheel, ass, and back. You have to trust the people in front of you to tell you if something looks odd, unfortunately for me no one pointed out the big metal lined hole in the pavement that my tire struck square. After the initial jarring blow from hitting the hole I swore, and then about three seconds later I heard the hiss of a blown tire. This was my first pinch flat, the tube tore at the stem. Before I could call out flat the guy next to me did and the ride slowed to a stop ahead and a group of five riders gathered around my bike and went into full on Pit Stop mode. I popped off the tire and handed it to an older gentleman whose name escapes me at the moment, but I think it was Jim. I pulled out my tire levers and handed them to him while getting out the tube and CO2 tire inflater. In all of about five minutes the tire was inflated and we were back on the road.
Still with no spare in my kit and the jar fresh in my mind I spent most of the rest of the ride getting my confidence back so I could draft effectively. If I hadn't been so exhausted I think I would have just hung back and left a gap, but I couldn't afford to. In the end we did 36 miles at a 19.2 mph average. At least according to two different computers in the group. A good workout, and a great way to start the long weekend.
My poison ivy is still weeping, but it doesn't itch much anymore. It only woke me up a couple times last night. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep through the entire night soon.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Ruined by a Plant
I'm not sure where I screwed up but I screwed up big time. I haven't been on my bike as the poison ivy really nailed me. I have spots of it everywhere. My wrists are really in a sorry state, as are most of my fingers at this point. It makes riding the bike a daunting proposition. I really want to get back on but I'm also reluctant to ooze all over my handle bars. I may not be riding in the group ride this weekend, or doing any riding for that matter for the near future. All the various creams and such haven't really dulled the itching. Ugh
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Round 3: Poison Ivy Wins
I love our new house, we have a huge yard and a large swath of forest behind us on city land that won't be developed. The downside is there is poison ivy everywhere in the forest. So far Michelle and I have done three rounds of thinning it out the hard way, by pulling up the roots. It would be easier to spray poison on them, but that would be less ecologically sound as the missus says.
On Sunday I helped Michelle pull out two ten gallon bags worth of poison ivy vines, and that only comprised maybe 5-10% of the Poison Ivy we have in our back yard. We had geared up for it with plastic bags covering our arms and then covered with latex gloves. Now everything was going fine and we were moving at a real good clip. Poison Ivy pulls out of the ground really easy as its roots don't seem to go very deep. After about an hour though our gloves and plastic bags were full of water from sweat, and then back to back both of us punctured our gloves on brush (not Poison Ivy itself.) Michelle only had a pin-prick tear so her poison ivy isn't that bad. I, on the other hand, tore a huge gash along my thumb on my right hand. The oil on my glove mixed with the water in the gloves and my arms were quickly covered.
A quick shower seems to have isolated it to the area around my wrist but in my rush to disrobe it looks like I also got some on my left wrist while taking off the glove, though just a smattering. I can already tell from what's shown up that its going to get really bad on my right arm, here's to a couple weeks of itching like mad. Hopefully we'll win in Round 4 like Michelle did in Round 2 where she used the same plastic bag/glove technique but didn't get any holes and as such no poison ivy.
On Sunday I helped Michelle pull out two ten gallon bags worth of poison ivy vines, and that only comprised maybe 5-10% of the Poison Ivy we have in our back yard. We had geared up for it with plastic bags covering our arms and then covered with latex gloves. Now everything was going fine and we were moving at a real good clip. Poison Ivy pulls out of the ground really easy as its roots don't seem to go very deep. After about an hour though our gloves and plastic bags were full of water from sweat, and then back to back both of us punctured our gloves on brush (not Poison Ivy itself.) Michelle only had a pin-prick tear so her poison ivy isn't that bad. I, on the other hand, tore a huge gash along my thumb on my right hand. The oil on my glove mixed with the water in the gloves and my arms were quickly covered.
A quick shower seems to have isolated it to the area around my wrist but in my rush to disrobe it looks like I also got some on my left wrist while taking off the glove, though just a smattering. I can already tell from what's shown up that its going to get really bad on my right arm, here's to a couple weeks of itching like mad. Hopefully we'll win in Round 4 like Michelle did in Round 2 where she used the same plastic bag/glove technique but didn't get any holes and as such no poison ivy.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Harry Potter's Glasses are ROUND!
I made the full circuit to a from work today on the bike, and while the ride in was smooth and uneventful the ride back was full of surprises. The biggest surprise to me was how much energy I actually had to keep pedaling hard up the hills all the way home. Even the big Medway hill didn't phase me as I powered up it without having to down shift or stand up.
Around the middle of the ride I noticed a car full of teenagers ahead of me on my right looking to pull out. The driver never even looked left after she came into my field of vision so I slowed slightly and prepared to slam on my break if she pulled out. She did pull out of course and I timed my stop to bring me right to her car door. She look appropriately shamed, I hope she looks both ways in the future.
Shortly after the I hard a large crunch an saw a big white blur in my peripheral vision that looked to me like my derailleur had flung off the back of my bike or my tire had blown out. I slowed and checked everything out only to see a white plastic cup rolling around in the middle of the road behind me. It was pretty windy today so it must have blown into my back tire as I passed.
Finally the highlight of the ride of follies was at a four way stop. I stopped and signaled a left turn and as I had arrived last waited for my turn. Everyone signaled for me to go so I did, only to have my left foot uncliped as I pulled up on it. I think I slid my foot a little out to the side and that's all it took. This caused my leg to lurch up and me to wobble side to side as I recovered and pedaled with my now clipped in right leg. Displaying all the grace of a drunken circus clown the motor cyclist on my left yelled out, "Smooth moves Harry Potter." To which I replied, "Harry Potter's Glassed are ROUND!" My glasses are not round!
Around the middle of the ride I noticed a car full of teenagers ahead of me on my right looking to pull out. The driver never even looked left after she came into my field of vision so I slowed slightly and prepared to slam on my break if she pulled out. She did pull out of course and I timed my stop to bring me right to her car door. She look appropriately shamed, I hope she looks both ways in the future.
Shortly after the I hard a large crunch an saw a big white blur in my peripheral vision that looked to me like my derailleur had flung off the back of my bike or my tire had blown out. I slowed and checked everything out only to see a white plastic cup rolling around in the middle of the road behind me. It was pretty windy today so it must have blown into my back tire as I passed.
Finally the highlight of the ride of follies was at a four way stop. I stopped and signaled a left turn and as I had arrived last waited for my turn. Everyone signaled for me to go so I did, only to have my left foot uncliped as I pulled up on it. I think I slid my foot a little out to the side and that's all it took. This caused my leg to lurch up and me to wobble side to side as I recovered and pedaled with my now clipped in right leg. Displaying all the grace of a drunken circus clown the motor cyclist on my left yelled out, "Smooth moves Harry Potter." To which I replied, "Harry Potter's Glassed are ROUND!" My glasses are not round!
More Gas in the Tank
This Saturday during the Landry's group ride I rolled through my 500th mile on the bike since I bought it. I've definitely improved since then, with my main nemesis hills becoming a place where I gain ground instead of lose it. I still can't pull at the front for long periods of time, but if I'm on someones wheel I'm getting much better at hanging on to it at speed.
The group was pretty spread out on some sections of the ride which gave me a great opportunity to practice bridging gaps. Near the end of the ride I managed to bridge three sizable gaps to catch up to the leaders on one long stretch. Basically leap frogging from group to group and recovering on someones wheel before jumping again. Earlier in the ride I hit a big bump and lost one of my water bottles. That too gave me an opportunity to chase up through the pack to the leaders. There I made my move while we were going up a hill and managed to go from the back all the way to the leaders which was a gap of around a hundred yards in less than two-hundred traveled.
There aren't many races left this year, and they're all crits of some kind or another. I'm looking forward to next year where I'll have a chance to try some open road races. I have a feeling they'll suit me better than crits, but I'll just have to wait and see.
The group was pretty spread out on some sections of the ride which gave me a great opportunity to practice bridging gaps. Near the end of the ride I managed to bridge three sizable gaps to catch up to the leaders on one long stretch. Basically leap frogging from group to group and recovering on someones wheel before jumping again. Earlier in the ride I hit a big bump and lost one of my water bottles. That too gave me an opportunity to chase up through the pack to the leaders. There I made my move while we were going up a hill and managed to go from the back all the way to the leaders which was a gap of around a hundred yards in less than two-hundred traveled.
There aren't many races left this year, and they're all crits of some kind or another. I'm looking forward to next year where I'll have a chance to try some open road races. I have a feeling they'll suit me better than crits, but I'll just have to wait and see.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Oregon and Back Again
The Sullivan family reunion out in Oregon was great fun last week, and a great opportunity to meet parts of the family that I hadn't met before. While I was out in Oregon I drove into Portland with my wife to visit River City Bicycles and I was stunned. I've never seen so many cyclists on the road in a major city before, and I've never seen a city laid out in such a manner that was so friendly to cyclists. I swear that in parts of the city on the Saturday afternoon their were more people on bikes than cars on the road.
River City itself was a veritable cycling Mecca. Two huge floors full of all manner of bikes, free Espresso, and more people in the shop than you could shake a stick at. Beyond the shop staff they had a gaggle of women at a central checkout handling all the people that had just come in to pickup some random piece of gear. It was truly impressive.
Needless to say I haven't had much time on my bike lately, but I still went to Wompatuck this evening. Luckily for me after I was dropped the third time by the field a group of six other riders fell off with me. For the next nine laps we hung together in a ragged paceline that had me at the very edge of my current abilities. I think if we had been able to keep a clean paceline going I may have been able to help more but it was a pretty sloppy affair with people pushing after they peeled off or peeling of crazy wide. When the field finally caught back up to us on the tenth lap together I fell off and spent the last 5 laps talking with Dave who had been helping to organize our group into a functional paceline. On the bell lap he led me out and let me sprint for the finish for practice, which was fun and nice since my wife Michelle had come out to see what I was spending my Wednesday nights on.
I've been continually impressed with the cyclists I've encountered at Wompatuck, they've all been very helpful and supportive. They've gone out of their way to share knowledge with me, and help me progress so I can hang on just that little bit longer. I feel pretty good right now, even though I'm exhausted and a little sore. I can't wait for this time next year!
River City itself was a veritable cycling Mecca. Two huge floors full of all manner of bikes, free Espresso, and more people in the shop than you could shake a stick at. Beyond the shop staff they had a gaggle of women at a central checkout handling all the people that had just come in to pickup some random piece of gear. It was truly impressive.
Needless to say I haven't had much time on my bike lately, but I still went to Wompatuck this evening. Luckily for me after I was dropped the third time by the field a group of six other riders fell off with me. For the next nine laps we hung together in a ragged paceline that had me at the very edge of my current abilities. I think if we had been able to keep a clean paceline going I may have been able to help more but it was a pretty sloppy affair with people pushing after they peeled off or peeling of crazy wide. When the field finally caught back up to us on the tenth lap together I fell off and spent the last 5 laps talking with Dave who had been helping to organize our group into a functional paceline. On the bell lap he led me out and let me sprint for the finish for practice, which was fun and nice since my wife Michelle had come out to see what I was spending my Wednesday nights on.
I've been continually impressed with the cyclists I've encountered at Wompatuck, they've all been very helpful and supportive. They've gone out of their way to share knowledge with me, and help me progress so I can hang on just that little bit longer. I feel pretty good right now, even though I'm exhausted and a little sore. I can't wait for this time next year!
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Hill Attacks
I ended up not riding Tuesday and Wednesday as I wanted to rest for the Wednesday race on Tuesday and Wednesday the weather scared me away in the morning only to ignore the weather man and turn into a beautiful afternoon.
The ride into work today I had fresh legs and a head full of anger at missing the race yesterday so I really attacked the hills hard. I gave it everything I had to carry my speed up the hills and then over the top and down. In the end it took me just a few seconds under an hour to get to work, which I was pretty pleased with considering I had to stop for a car on the first downhill section, stop for construction on the second downhill section, and stop for a semi that was blocking the road as it slowly backed into a driveway. All told I did a good job of making up the time by really pushing up the hills.
I paid for it this afternoon with some really sore legs, but it is a pain I'm happy about. I'm off to Oregon for a family reunion this weekend and most of next week so I probably won't get a chance to ride again until next Friday. I'll be back in a week with some pictures and maybe even a story or two.
The ride into work today I had fresh legs and a head full of anger at missing the race yesterday so I really attacked the hills hard. I gave it everything I had to carry my speed up the hills and then over the top and down. In the end it took me just a few seconds under an hour to get to work, which I was pretty pleased with considering I had to stop for a car on the first downhill section, stop for construction on the second downhill section, and stop for a semi that was blocking the road as it slowly backed into a driveway. All told I did a good job of making up the time by really pushing up the hills.
I paid for it this afternoon with some really sore legs, but it is a pain I'm happy about. I'm off to Oregon for a family reunion this weekend and most of next week so I probably won't get a chance to ride again until next Friday. I'll be back in a week with some pictures and maybe even a story or two.
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