Brevet training...or brevet cramming?

I'm planning to ride a 300km (186 mile) brevet on May 2, 2009 in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. It will be my second brevet in a series of four to complete a full randonneur series (I completed the 200km in January in Arizona). But with the horrible weather in March, my training was set back about three weeks, so instead of an incrimental series of training rides to regain fitness and lose my winter blubber I went from a 65 mile ride last week to my 126 mile Hollowtop Permanent this week. The result was predictable. I was slow. But I did get the 126 mile ride in and I know I will benefit from the effort in the next couple of weeks. My biggest weakness was the hills. I was terribly slow-having to spin my way up in low gears even on the tamest of inclines. I think I will spend the few remaining training opportunities between now and May 2 doing some climbing work. I have to get in shape fast-after the 300km I'm hoping to get the 400km brevet completed on May 16. That ride will be out of Ephrata, Washington. I sort of feel like I'm cramming for a test-which really is what's happing (the word "brevet" means certificate in French after all-which one achieves after passing a test).

I did manage to map my Hollowtop 200 Ride for the Bicycling Magazine website. The result of my mapping is here.

Riding in Yellowstone Park...without the cars

It's become a spring tradition-after the roads in Yellowstone have been cleared of snow, and before the park is open to automobile traffic, bicyclists are free to roam unencumbered by the hoards of tourists in cars, SUV's, and the dreaded big mirrored motorhomes. Other than a few service vehicles and park rangers, the only traffic to deal with are folks of all ages, shapes, and sizes on every manner of bicycle you can think of-from one speed cruiser bikes to custom made road machines.

In recent years, the Gallatin Valley Bicycle Club touring group has hosted a ride in Yellowstone in mid-April. I've had the pleasure to participate in the this ride the last two years, including this past Saturday (April 11, 2009). We meet in West Yellowstone mid-morning and set out to Madison Junction and then towards Norris Junction. Unfortunately, the road to Old Faithful is closed to bikes due to grizzly bear issues, but the ride towards Norris is plenty fun, scenic, and challenging. Both years we had to contend with a few bison on the road, but with a little patience and calm we get through them-no problem.

I've been fortunate, in both years I've done the ride the weather has been very good. Last year it was clear blue skies and sunny. The temps were below freezing when we started, but they warmed up soon enough and we were pealing layers by Madison. This year the temperatures were warmer leaving West (the ice was melting in the parking lot), but some clouds moved in and we had a few sprinkles here and there. But considering what the weather can do in Yellowstone I would consider the conditions ideal!

I would recommend riding in the park to anyone-from an experience roadie to the person who only dusts the bike off a couple of times a year. It's also a great place to ride with kids.

The Off-Season

Since my early January ride in Arizona, my riding has been somewhat limited. With no planned rides until April, I have lacked motivation. Even on nice days where temperatures get into the 40's, the nice window is pretty short. It'll start to warm up in the early afternoon, but start cooling off rapidly by 5 p.m. Riding is far from ideal and it's not hard to come up with an excuse to stay home. Unfortunately, indoor rides on a trainer sound even less appealing so I'm resigned to losing fitness and gaining weight waiting for spring.

I did get two significant rides in and mapped so far this winter. In late January I rode and mapped a ride to Willow Creek and back, and in mid-March I rode and mapped the Gallatin Valley Bicycle Club's Three River's Metric Century route(see below).

I proposed the Willow Creek route to the bike club's touring group and they scheduled it for June 21. I will also be leading the Tour de Spud for the 3rd year in a row on May 23. The entire bike club touring schedule is at the bike club's website(click here).

Randonneuring in Arizona-The Cure for Cabin Fever

Last year I discovered the joy of January cycling when I visited my brother Travis and his family in Savannah, Georgia. So this year I thought it a good idea to find another warm location to ride in. When the 2009 RUSA schedule was posted I knew I had to try to get down to Arizona on January 3 to ride their 200km Casa Grande Ruins Brevet. Not only could I satisfy my desire to ride in warm weather in the middle of winter, I could get a jump-start on my goal to complete a full brevet series in 2009.

I've done precious little riding since my 98 mile Plains-Whitefish ride in early November, so fitness was definitely a concern. However, with the 13.5 hour time limit randonneuring allows, I was sure I could finish the brevet-even if I had to take a few extra breaks along the way.

The event started out from the Round Trip Bike Shop in Casa Grande Arizona (south of Phoenix). The first leg of the ride takes a meandering loop to the Casa Grande Ruins located next to the small town of Coolidge and back to the bike shop. The second leg is an out and back on Indian Highway 15 in the Tohono O'Odaham Indian Reservation south of Casa Grande. Looking at the map the outermost point of the ride isn't that far from the U.S.-Mexico border, which became apparant as all day we met and were passed by border patrol agents in pickup trucks-and even rode through a border patrol checkpoint where it looked like vehicles (of the motor variety) were being searched.

It was 41 degrees when we started. It felt pretty good compared to what I was used to, but I did utilize a long sleeve jersey over my short sleeve jersey and some leg warmers. High temps were forcast for the mid to upper 60's so I didn't figure to need the extra layers for very long.

As the group of 38 riders made their way out of Casa Grande, I found myself drafting on the wheels of the fast guys at the front of the pack. After a few minutes I realized how futile that was and accepted the fact that at this stage in my fitness I had better not push it. It wasn't long though before a couple on a tandem and another rider overtook me and I was able to hold their wheel. Our group steadily increased in number and I was happily drafting along just outside of Coolidge when someone behind informed me that something fell off my bike. It turned out to be my cleat covers that were clasped to my saddle bag. After a brief search, only one of the pair was recovered. I should have just kept going. By the time I reached the check point at the ruins several of the group I had been riding with were already headed back the other way. With the clock running, these Southwestern Randonneurs don't want to mess around at the controls! No matter, I had to be a bit of a tourist and make some time to take a photo of the ruins.

The ride back from Coolidge to Casa Grande was a solo effort. Though I passed a few individual riders, I couldn't muster the energy to chase down a group a little ways ahead of me. I was able to keep them in sight most of the way-which was a comfort. The last thing I wanted to do was get lost.

After the second checkpoint back at the bike shop where we began, I left with several riders. I knew the route wasn't complicated, but I wanted to tag along with someone who knew the way so I wouldn't have to refer to my cue sheet at every intersection. This portion of the route is 37 miles-one way, so there were some opportunities to hookup with others along the way. Some were much stronger than me and quickly became a blip on the horizon, but others were going my speed (more or less). It was very pleasant chatting along as we shared the work of riding into a steadily increasing headwind. A little ways before the turn-around we met the leaders going the other way. Judging by the smiles on their faces, they were enjoying the tailwind immensely. We kept encouraging ourselves that we'd have that tailwind on the way back too.

At mile 88+, Susan Plonsky, the Arizona Regional Brevet Administrator (RBA) had set up a lunch stop with some delicious wraps and other goodies. It was literally an oasis in the desert-as we were way out in the middle of nowhere-somewhere between Casa Grande and Mexico.

After a short break I took off just behind small group of guys who seemed rejuvinated by the rest stop and loving the tailwind. I called to the engine room to give me the power to catch their wheels...but there was no answer. I was about out of gas and decided to let them go and just ride my own pace and enjoy the warm weather and desert scenery. I gave myself the excuse to slow down because I wanted to snap a few pictures as I rode and try to call my daughter on my cell phone to tell her when to pick me up in Casa Grande. As I rode the wind moved from a southerly tailwind to a west cross-wind, and finally a straight-on north headwind. It was a bit demoralizing having the wind in my face for the last 20 or so miles when I was expecting to be whisped along by a tailwind. But even though I was slogging, I was still throughly enjoying being on my bike in short sleeves in January!

I finished in a tad over 8 hours-and somewhere in the middle of the bunch. I was pleasantly surprised how good I felt after getting off the bike. I have never done a ride of this length with so little preparation-I think it bodes well for the season to come.

On the ride, at the lunch stop, and at the finish I got to visit with randonneurs from all over-including Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas (among other places I'm sure). The guys at the Round Trip Bike Shop where the ride started and finished were also very friendly. Special thanks goes to Susan Plonsky and the other Arizona Randonneurs that put the event on. I hope I can make it back there for another brevet someday. I am also extremely grateful to cousins Mike and Gert in Chandler, Arizona for their tremendous hospitality while staying with them (and for the light rail ride in Phoenix on Friday night!). And finally a special note of appreciation to my daugther Stephanie for coming along on this trip and driving the entire length of Utah on our 18 hour epic trek back home-I couldn't have done it without you Steph!

Maps of the Year!

My Bridger Canyon-Battle Ridge Pass ride-which I mapped on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the early October-was picked as one of the maps of the year on Bicycling's Rides website. Click on the underlined link below then scroll about half-way down:

Maps of the Year

2008-The Year in Review

2008 was a banner year for me on the bike. I managed to stretch the season, increase my mileage, and-as documented on this blogsite-stepped into the larger world of randonneuring.

The year started off with a bang in January. I got to ride with my brother Travis and nephew Austin in the Savannah, Georgia area while I was out there on a short visit. After only logging 10 miles in December of 2007 my fitness was seriously lacking and I was on a borrowed bike with a torturous saddle. Despite the limitations I loved the 70 degree temperatures and had a great time of it-including doing a little criterium training with a big group of riders.

In April I rode my first Gallatin Valley Bike Club ride of the season in Yellowstone National Park. At that time the roads were cleared but still closed to motor vehicle traffic (except for service vehicles) so we had the park roads pretty much to ourselves. Besides us, there were hundreds of other cyclists taking advantage of the opportunity. It was a special day.

I logged 681 miles in May highlighted by the Gallatin Valley Bike Club's Tour de Spud in which I was the organizer, the Spring Cycle Tour in West Yellowstone, and the completion of my first randonneuring event-the St. Anthony Sand Dunes 200km Brevet which started and finished in Drigg's Idaho (see my separate blog entry about that ride).

In June I successfully rode my first Randonneurs USA sanctioned permanent (see my separate blog entry for this ride), a route I set up and mapped for the RUSA national database.

Through the heart of the summer I participated in several GAS/Intrinsik Race Team Thursday night rides.
The race team puts on the rides for the general public-often with a little clinic. It's always a fun time-even though sometimes I had a hard time keeping up when the racers were feeling especially frisky. There were more Gallatin Valley Bike Club touring rides including the Tour de Chico and Ringling to Martinsdale-all well attended and great fun. I also participated in the "Blazing Saddles" charity ride out of Livingston on a beautiful day in July.

For the past four years, the highlight of my summer has been the Gallatin Valley Bike Club's Three Rivers Century. With almost 100 riders, it's our biggest event and it's grown every year. I was on the organizing committee so to insure that I would be able to ride on the day of the event, I recruited wife Brenda, daughter Stephanie, and mother-in-law Mindy as staff volunteers.
My brother Clay and his family also met up with us and took a bunch of photos that made it to the Gallatin Valley Bike Club website. It was a real treat having my family help out and we had a great day with near perfect weather. I ended up riding most of the day with a group of guys from Helena who's pace suited me and I ended up almost breaking the 20 mph average speed barrier-something I can only come close to when drafting off other riders who don't go so fast that I can't stay in the draft.

Normally things wind down considerably in September. After the annual "Bikin' with the Eagles" charity ride to benefit Eagle Mount early in the month my miles usually become more limited with fall activities (football games), shorter days, and cooler and more unstable weather. But this year I was recruited by Bicycling Magazine to map local rides with a GPS for their website (see the Bicycling Mapping project blog entry). So instead of shortening and limiting my rides in the fall I put some lights on the bike, brought along an extra layer or two of clothing, and set out to map 15 rides, including two more RUSA permanents that I had gotten approved but didn't think I'd get to complete this year (see my blog entry about the Search for Plummer's Gold and Martinsdale Mail Run Permanents). I tested my skills, riding many miles after dark, putting up with cold weather and even frozen water bottles while logging over 600 miles in October alone.

With the completion of my permanents and 200km Idaho brevet, I only needed one more ride to earn an RUSA 1000km medal. So I extended the season into November by riding RUSA's Plains to Whitefish Permanent Populaire (see my separate blog entry for this ride).

I'm still getting in some shorter local rides here and there in December, but the final tally will show about 4800 miles in four states and completion of five RUSA rides. I now have a pretty good base built up to hopefully go farther afield in 2009. Next year's plan is to complete a full brevet series which includes rides of 200km, 300km, 400km, and 600km. All of these rides will have to take place out of state as there is no brevet series in Montana at this time. Of course I will also ride with the Gallatin Valley Bike Club and participate in other local rides as often as I can. Check back to this blog to see how it all goes.

Plains-Whitefish Permanent

After riding a brevet in Idaho, and my three permanents I was only 60 kilometers short of 1000km worth of RUSA sanctioned rides. RUSA offers distance awards starting with a 1000km medal. So despite the fact that it's November, and this is Montana, I was determined to get over the 1000km hump. However, the rules state that I can only count a given route once per year toward any RUSA distance award-so I could not simply ride one of my own routes a second time to get the necessary kilometers logged.

Susan France-Regional Brevet Administrator (RBA) for the Oregon Randonneurs had established a 157 km (98 miles) permanent going from Plains to Whitefish. The route is the last leg of the larger Glacier 1000Km brevet that the Oregon Randonneurs put on in 2007 and fortunately, Susan maintains the route on the RUSA website as a permanent.

Logistically, this route has some advantages because my wife Brenda's sister Dori and family live by Kalispell, so I have a place to stay after I'm done. So with one eye on the weather channel-I signed up to do the ride on November 8, 2008.

Relatively mild, but rainy weather has gripped the state for the last few days-so on our way to Plains we made a stop at REI in Missoula to pickup a better rain jacket and some quick release SKS Race Blades fenders (all my internet research indicated that Race Blades were the way to go for some fender coverage in the rain, but that are easy to detach for dry weather). Brenda, son Jackson, dog Ernie, and I stayed at the quaint Dew Duck Inn in Plains on Friday night. It was raining but temperatures were staying in the mid-40's.

When I rolled out of Plains at 8 a.m. it was still about 40 degrees. It wasn't raining at the time, however everything was wet and the fog was pretty thick. At least I wouldn't be dealing with frozen water bottles like on my Martinsdale ride two weeks ago.

The first five miles out of Plains are a steady climb to some forest and high plains. The terrain rolls considerabley to the town of Hot Springs. Things flatten out for a little while after Hot Springs, but there's more climbing a few miles before dropping down to the small town of Elmo next to Flathead Lake (the largest natural fresh water lake in the United States west of the Mississippi). By now it was raining lightly, and the surrounding mountains were completely obscured by clouds. Because of the clouds, the opposite shore could not be seen in many places-making the lake seem even more immense than it already is.

Highway 93 from Elmo to Somers is busy with high speed traffic and trucks. There is a wide-rideable shoulder, but also a lot of tire eating debris. I wasn't surprised when I heard the tell-tale hiss coming from my front tire. A piece of glass caused a puncture. Even though it was raining, and I didn't really feel like stopping, the change of tubes went smoothly and I was underway again in short order.

After an extended break in Lakeside to eat a corn dog and have some coffee-I was back at it as the light drizzle continued. The rain didn't bother me too much, the fenders were working perfectly, and I had just the right amount of layers on with temps staying in the low 40's.

At the small town of Somers I got some relief from the traffic thanks to a wonderful bike path that parallels Highway 93 on an old railroad grade. I my felt blood pressure subside immediately as I didn't have to worry about what was coming in my review mirror.

After a pleasant cruise through Kalispell on quiet residential streets, I tackled the last leg of the trip to Whitefish on Whitefish Stage Road. This road can be busy at times and it's very narrow so you have to take the lane-however on this Saturday afternoon traffic was very light.

I finished the ride at the Dairy Queen in Whitefish a little after 4 p.m. where Brenda and Jackson were waiting for me. I was a lot slower than expected, but well within the randonneuring time limit. This route was very hilly-which made it quite a challenge. The rain was also a nuisance, but nothing I couldn't handle. On my 200K brevet in Idaho in late May it was also wet, but on that ride I didn't have any fenders and ended a muddy mess. Today was even wetter, but thanks to the race blade fenders I stayed relatively clean. I was glad I picked them up.

So with that-pending RUSA verification, I now have over 1000km's worth of randonneuring events in 2008 and I will qualify for a RUSA 1000K medal. Not bad considering I didn't think my schedule this summer would allow for much more than the 200K brevet in May. I think I'll just go ahead and pat myself on the back...now onto a full brevet series in 2009!

Special thanks go out to my wife Brenda and son Jackson for hauling my butt up to Plains, and picking me up in Whitefish. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to my in-laws Dan and Dori who once again graciously put us up in their home on Saturday night after the ride (and fed me magnificantly!). Finally, thanks to Susan France from the Oregon Randonneurs for establishing and maintaining the route.

I also mapped this route for Bicycling Magazine's Rides Website. The map, ride info, and more photos can be seen at the link below:

Plains-Whitefish Permanent