Pittsburgh Randonneurs 2011 Spring 200K

Tom Hovan, with his Potter-esque balaclava-induced forehead seam. Chillin' at the Midland Subway controle, roughly 70 miles into the ride.

Short Version

125.3 miles, ~14.5 mph rolling average, ~7000-8000 feet of climbing, no mechanicals.

Starting temp: 19 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeesh.

Results

The route

Long Version

Well, it wasn't the warmest 200K I've ever ridden. However, with multiple layers of everything, Lake boots, and a firm belief in my own invulnerability to cold, riding in almost any temperature is possible. We shan't discuss the difference between "possible" and "advisable".

Starting at Jim's place in Shaler, we headed through town to the West End, then up Noblestown and into Carnegie. After a brief jaunt through retail hell on 50, we peeled off onto Thoms Run, then Presto-Sygan to Millers Run all the way to the first controle in Avella. The climbing around Hickory was unaccountably a bit more imposing than I recalled (perhaps because I'd only ever experienced it in a car), but, all in all, it was a very nice first leg. Bob Kerr, who had volunteered to keep an eye out for us during the event, showed up in a van laden with innumerable bags of cookies...a fine bonus.

From Avella, we struck out for more northerly climes...heading up to Burgettstown, we picked up 18 through Raccoon Creek State Park, then 168 until we finally plummeted down to the river and the shadow of the nuclear cooling towers at Shippingsport. Our second controle was just across the river: the Subway in Midland, a classic stopping point for various rides in the area.

After briefly retracing our path, we took 68 through Beaver, Rochester, and Zelienople to Evans City. (Cyclists possessing some familiarity with the region will recognize that this is not exactly the flattest possible route.) We all survived, however, and, after a brief stop at the Evans City Uni-Mart clone, enjoyed a mostly flat transit to Mars (the town in PA, not the astronomical body or the cranky deity).

On the classic Mars-Evans City Rd segment, I had an amusing experience. A car full of young whippersnappers (perhaps early 20s) began blowing their horn , pumping their fists, and cheering as they approached in the opposite direction. Then, the words penetrated my mildly addled brain: "YEAH! Recumbent! Yeah!" Although I certainly could have misinterpreted their demeanor, it appeared to be honest enthusiasm. Says something about the market penetration of these funny bikes that A) youngsters actually recognize them for what they are and B) seem to believe that they are something other than dork chariots.

In general, I'm pretty pleased with this new version of the route. The Millers Run--> Avella leg was very pleasant, and the northbound stretch to Midland, while a bit trafficky in spots, was still enjoyable. I'd like to come up with a controleable-within-reason alternative to the Rochester-Zelienople-via-68 segment at some point, though...it's a bit mean for 80+ miles into a ride.

Lessons Learned

• Lake boots do a wonderful job of keeping one's tootsies warm. But, fortheluvvaBuddha are they ever heavy over long distances.
• It is indeed a brilliant idea to try to thaw one's frozen water bottle by placing it inside one's wind jacket. Unless, of course, it is an insulated bottle...said insulation works in both directions. (Pro tip: tuck the bottle inside the jacket or jersey BEFORE it freezes next time.)
• It's okay to utterly lose control over one's caloric intake once in a while. I completely forgot about any form of metered, measured intake after the first 30 miles or so, and just went with whatever my body asked for. In hindsight, that may not have been sustainable for much beyond the bounds of the ride, but it seemed to work well for a 200K. Every ride doesn't have to be managed to a fare-thee-well.

Pittsburgh Randonneurs Spring 200K 2010

Short Version:
Ah, spring; when a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of excessive pedaling.
127.68 miles, 15.8 rolling average, 9:05 elapsed time.

Results
Jim's Finisher Photos

Long Version:
Yesterday was our inaugural ACP brevet, our spring 200K, loosely based on last year's RUSA Thrift Drug Classic 200 route. As a matter of both practicality and mercy, we removed the initial climb up world-famous Sycamore Street, so the initial leg of the route would be significantly less cruel. Bill and myself had scouted the route a couple weekends back, so no surprises were expected.

Seven riders met at Jim's house for the traditional opening festivities: myself, Alan, Dan, Kevin, and Dale all had greater or lesser degrees of randonneuring experience; Anne and Tom were both ready to enjoy their first brevets. I was pleased to see Tom was riding 'bent as well; it gets lonely, sometimes, being the only dude on a recliner on these events.

We stuck together through town and the West End Circle, so as not to lose the out-of-towners in the bowels of dahntahn Pittsburgh. Once we hit Rt 60, the long-ish climb up to Noblestown Rd quickly fractured the group.

As usual, the run to Sturgeon via Noblestown was delightful, as was Finks Run and the detour around Kelso Road's missing bridge via Donaldson and Partridge. I spent the next few miles playing leapfrog with Alan and Kevin; they'd surge ahead on the climbs of Old Steubenville Pike, then I'd power into the lead on the rollers of Potato Garden. We arrived at the sadly-now-closed Buckboard Station on Rt 151, where Dale's wife Pat was kind enough to man the controle. A signed card, refilled bottles, and a couple of delicious cookies later, and we were back on the road. I bid Alan and Kevin a fond farewell at the base of the long climb up 151; I knew darn well that my fat butt was not going to keep anywhere near their wheels on a climb of that duration. No worries; caught up again at the next controle in scenic Chester, WV. I was quite proud of myself: I managed to omit the obligatory giant teapot photograph for once.

From there, we popped across the river to pick up 39, which became 68 once we crossed back into the Keystone State. Nearly 30 miles of 68 later, just past Evans City, a quick right on Brownsdale and a stop at the also-sadly-now-closed Brownsdale Deli info controle led to the ultimate leg of the route. Alan and I had long since lost sight of Kevin, so we rolled the next few miles into North Park together. There, Alan pulled off for a few moments rest; I was smelling the barn, so pushed through to finish up in just over 9 hours. Alan was shortly behind me; Kevin, who should have finished easily under 9 hours, was misled by a cue sheet cue of questionable value to do some bonus miles. Dale, Dan, Tom, and Ann all rolled in around the 11-hour mark. 100% completion rate, and plenty of time cushion for all...a good ride.

The good: Utterly by accident, I ended up doing an almost all-liquid diet, and had no real problems. This bodes well for Calvin's Challenge, where low-residue/high-energy food shall be the order of the day.

The bad: Cramping. Despite my usual steady intake of HEED and Endurolytes, I still had to dial it back a lot for the latter half of the ride. Inner thighs and calves were both trying to lock on a regular basis. In hindsight, I suspect the primary culprit was inadequate hydration for the first half of the ride, coupled with unaccustomed high heat.

The ugly: WIND. Steady/gusty winds for the last 40 miles, mostly direct headwinds. Yeesh...I was feeling the pain, and I shudder to think of how my upright brethren felt. Tom, with his even-more-ludicrously-aero-than-my-bike Bacchetta, reported "barely noticing" the wind. The smug bugger. :-)

Inaugural Pittsburgh Brevet: Thrift Drug 200K, 04/11/2009

First off, let me just say, from the "I hate driving AT ALL to ride, much less across the state" perspective: W00T! to local brevets.

Results, including group photo that really shows the glamourous rando lifestyle in its best light ;-)

Short version: 10:45, 125 miles, 4(!) mechanicals, headwinds and crosswinds for ~ 75% of the ride.

Long Version:
So, I got up early on Saturday, shoveled down some oatmeal and Earl Grey, and staggered out to the garage for a 6 AM departure. What's that, you say? Doesn't the ride begin at 7? Well, yes, but I'm being an (arguably) utter dumbarse and doing the ride-to-the-ride bit. No big deal: after all, I was a good do-bee the night before; packed everything, lubed the pivoting bits on brakes and derailleurs, cleaned and lubed the chain, etc. (Foreshadowing: see anything missing from this list o' prep?) A quick 10 miles to Jim's place in Shaler, marred only with a bit of early-ride knee tenderness, and I was meeting and greeting with the other hardy souls.

Bit of a mixed bag, as brevets tend to be: Jim Logan (our local Pittsburgh Randonneurs RBA), Matt Settle (RBA of ROMA), David (veteran of BMB, Cascades 1200, etc.), and myself all had prior brevets under our belt. Alan, Shane, and Jon, all first-time riders, had been participating in some of our prior distance rides; Dale, of the Mt Lebanon Caffeine and Cycling Club ("Mostly Old Guys in Tight Pants"), and George, of the Susquehanna Valley Velo Club rounded out our merry band.

We rode as a group for the first ten miles or so, in order that out-of-towners not get too horribly lost in dahntahn Pittsburgh. Made the climb up Sycamore (Alan charging to the lead), paused briefly for photos and info controle at top of Mt Washington, and we were off! Alan, Dale, and myself were feeling frisky, so we rapidly left the group behind. We set a nice, moderate pace through Carnegie and out to Sturgeon, then climbed up to Potato Garden Road. At this point, the near-continuous headwinds and crosswinds were starting to wear a bit, but we continued more-or-less undaunted down to the Buckboard Station for refreshments and our first manned control. A bit of dawdling, and Jim and Shane caught up with us as we were departing.

The nice gentle climb up 151 was acompanied by the first mechanical; Dale's tire blew, so I did the noble (hah!) thing and played workstand for his Softride whilst he did the inflation thing. Jim and Shane passed us by at that point, after making sure we were okay and taking a couple of incriminating photos.

From there, the delightful passage on Rt 30 down to Chester, Chaney's Sunoco, and the Worlds Largest Teapot was uneventful. The long descent into Chester did provide a graphic demonstration of the force of the wind, however; my usual coastdown speed on that hill is right around 40 mph or thereabouts; I was doing 32 this time. Have I mentioned the headwinds? If they were hurting me that badly, I shudder to think of my upright brethren...

Burning along Rt 68 on the flat bit of the route, I suffered my first mechanical, an delightful insta-flat. Taking a look at the tire, I was appalled (and more than a little embarassed) to see just how worn the casing had become; that tire was ready for the trash, not for an additional 70 miles. Okay, these things happen; swap out for a fresh tube, start inflating, then start swearing. The fresh tube wasn't holding air either! Upon inspection, the nominally new tube had a thin patch worn through on the side; logic would indicate that, at some point, I had changed out this tube, folded it away neatly, and utterly forgot to patch or replace it. In hindsight, that was probably sometime early last year, as it's been a long time since I had to change a tube. Anyway, I threw on a patch, and (with sinking heart, but buoyed by Alan's gift of a spare folding 23c tire "just in case") I continued on my way.

Headwinds. Crosswinds. Headwinds. Cars with cameras pointed at me, preumably due to novelty value or as evidence for later prosecution. More winds. Lots of winds. I thought that stretch of 68 was supposed to be a nice, fast, easy one...must remember to apologize to other riders for this route choise. On second thought, maybe I should avoid them for a while...

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. Due to my flat, plus a couple stops to push some air into the slowly deflating tire, and, eventually, to throw a tantrum and replace it with Alan's spare, I was riding solo for the latter half of the ride. I'd given up on my hopes for a sub-10 hour time, and had replaced them with a goal of feeling strong at the end of the ride. As it turned out, I was the second rider in after Jim, and was feeling a lot better than on the identical ride last week. The 300K in three weeks is not looking too daunting at this point. CTC, on the other hand...

Lessons Learned:

1. CHECK YOUR FRICKIN' TIRES. That about covers it.
2. I did a better job of hydration and nutrition this time around. Still had a couple of unnecessary stops for fluids (time to dig out the Camelbak, methinks), but I believe paying better attention to such things helped my overall ride significantly.

I'm out...time to deal with colicky infant. My tolerance for adversity gained through randonneuring is coming in handy as a parent...

Thrift Drug Classic 200K Populaire

[Backdated, 'cause I've been slacking on my postings.]

Jim Logan, Shane Shin, and myself had a lovely ride in the country today. Starting with an invigorating climb up Sycamore after departing Jim's place in Shaler, we made our way to Carnegie via Temperanceville (AKA the West End), then shot out Noblestown to Sturgeon. A quick spin up Fink/Kelso deposited us on Ye Olde Steubenville Pike; then, Potato Garden over to 151, and Rt 30 out to East Liverpool, OH. 68 brought us all the way back to Evans City, then some back roads over to 3 Degree, Babcock, and Thomson Run back into Shaler.

Fun ride, if a bit well endowed with Scenery (Jim's GPS claimed 10,000'+ of gain); while there were only a couple of tough climbs, very, very little of the route was actually flat.

I started out feeling a bit rocky, as I'd been fighting illness for the last week or so; however, once we got through Carnegie, I was feeling pretty good. Once again, proof of something I know, but keep forgetting: just ride, even when you feel like crap, and you'll often find yourself in a much better place.

Well, bugger. Rando FAIL.

I had planned to scout the route for the Thrift Drug Classic 200K Populaire; after all, since I designed much of the route, it seemed only fair that I make sure it's not an utter deathtrap, and that the cues aren't completely hosed.

So, I set off this morning at about 7:45 or so, enjoying the traditional randonneuring combination of drizzle and high 40s temperature. Did I want to turn around and go home? Hellya! Did that desire fade after the first couple of miles, like it usually does? Uh, no..that's not good.

Also in the big pile of "things that aren't good"; I wasn't feeling the usual snap in the legs. To be fair, what I call "snap", many cyclists would call "lethargy", but still, I was running well under my normal cruising speed. Ah well, I said; no sense worrying about it now, here comes Sycamore.

Sycamore killed me. I stopped twice to hyper-v and try not to puke, when I haven't had to stop once in the last dozen times I've climbed that hill. WTF was up with me? I may be a wimp, but I'm not usually that feeble. Anyway, I made it to the top, and pressed on along Grandview to Greenleaf and down to the West End Circle. Hmmm...I was cruising on the flats at a whopping 10 miles per; that's not a good sign, when I'm only 10 miles into a 125-mile ride. Finally, after a brief jaunt into good old Temperanceville, I decided to pack it in, and pedaled home with my metaphoric tail tucked quite neatly betwixt my slow-moving legs.

I dunno; didn't feel sick per se, and I've only got a little residual congestion from a cold; just didn't have much to give today. After I got home, I poured a couple of cups of coffee down my throat, then spent the rest of the day happily rebuilding the Rocket and framing in walls in the basement; no real problems, no lack of energy.

Definitely feeling a bit of shame; us tough-as-nails rando types are supposed to soldier on, not throw in the proverbial towel at the first sign of trouble. But, given how poorly I was doing, it was probably the right choice, especially since I'm supposed to not only ride the Populaire next Saturday, but also lead a Dirty Dozen training ride the following Sunday morning. That's gonna be interesting...