CTC 2011 Planning

It's winter here in the 'Burgh, with another few inches of snow on the way so what better time to fantasize about my plans for Crush The Commonwealth 2011?

I've got some feeble hopes of breaking 32 hours this year, unlike my third-place 37 hours last year, or my first-place 36 hour finish in 2009. So long as I don't screw around at rest stops, maintain a decent pace, and keep my sleep time to a couple of hours, that should be well within my capabilities. If I stay calm through Chambersburg, I may be able to hammer pretty well for the last 150 miles, as the route trends fairly smoothly downhill: ideal for a (*ahem*) dense guy on an aero bike.

With regards to gear, I'm going to try to go a bit lighter this time around. Nothing crazy, but I'll cut down the extra clothing to a spare pair of shorts ands socks, instead of the full change I carried last year. I've got nutrition pretty dialed in at this point: a 4-hour bottle of Perpetuem and 70 oz bladder of water with Camelbak Elixir tabs should get me through each leg. Bike-wise, I'm gonna try out a compact 50/34 crank instead of my prior 52/42/30 triple; by bumping the cassette from an 11-32 to an 11-34, I doubt I'll feel any more pain on the low end than I usually do.

Here's a reasonably accurate route map/elevation plot:


And my basic ride plan:

Car(nage) up!

(Here in sunny southwestern PA, the phrase "car up" is frequently heard on club rides to indicate oncoming motor vehicles. This is me trying and failing to come up with a clever title that indicates approaching mayhem.)


The Endless Mountains 1240K is only a couple of weeks away. I think this means I'm supposed to begin spazzing, oh, any old time now. I've bought lots of consumable stuff, I've made lists of this and that and things to do and things to pack and travel schedules and detailed plans to make plans and, oops, haven't really ridden as much as I probably should have and I haven't kept up with my schedule or checked everything off my lists. And ya know what? I'm actually feeling good about this ride, mostly in spite of the preparatory rushings-about. I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.

Cameos from Mssr. Franken aside, I realized recently that I've long since gotten past the point of "can I do this?". I can do this. I won't be anywhere near the fastest, but so what? I get to ride my bike for four days through some gorgeous country, probably with the trees donning their autumnal colours; I get to chat with old friends and new; I get to push my body to perform as hard as I want to, but with the understanding that I don't have to push that hard to complete.

I've decided that I'm not going for a fast time on this. Per my experience with this year's 600K, planning to maximize sleep and enjoyment, rather than maximize clock time, seems like the way to go. (Besides, following that strategy resulted in a time only a couple of hours slower than my "fast 600" the year before, so why not?) Will I try to hang with the fast folks? Sure, sometimes, when the mood takes me; it's not like I'll be shooting for my Cyclos Escargots award. However, I don't want to get all wound up in time concerns, at least not for my first grand randonnee. Let's finish strong and finish smiling...

It looks like we've got 50+ riders at this point, and the latest route (and map/profile) has been posted. Tom (PA Randonneurs RBA) has set up a blog for ride progress updates: watch here to see the gruesome details in real(-ish) time, or check the summary board here.

Ponderings

Random brain dribblings, anyway.

I'm starting to feel this weird, OCD-ish need to plan for next year. Yeah, I know, it's only bloody July, and I still have a few things queued up for this year (scouting brevet routes for next year, a populaire, a "gentlemen's race", a RUSA 200K, the Dirty Dozen, and, oh by the way, a 1240K ride in the Endless Mountains), but there's this irrational feeling of *I* *MUST* *PLAN*.

The obvious rides, of course, are those of the Pittsburgh Randonneurs series. If I intend to do PBP in 2011, I'll maximize my chances of admission by doing a full series in 2010. I'd like to do a brevet in Eastern PA and in DC as well as the Pittsburgh ones, just for keeping in touch with the respective locals; perhaps combining said brevets with family vacations would not go amiss.

Crush the Commonwealth was a lot of fun this year, and, now that I've got a record to defend, I'd feel like all kinds of wuss if I didn't come back for the harder ride, East to West.

I'd like to try another 1200, perhaps the Shenandoah, if it can be arranged. That one isn't as important to me, however, and could be discarded if time/money/vacation days grow short.

D2R2 has some appeal; every since Brian alerted me to its existence, the thought of challenging that route on the P-38 has been rolling around in my head. It'd be utter lunacy, of course, but what's wrong with a bit of lunacy now and then?

I'm becoming more and more interested in the ultracycling/racing side of the sport as well. Still not to the point where solo RAAM seems like a good idea, but Calvin's Challenge and/or a cross-state record attempt could be a lot of fun. This area of focus would be the biggest thing for which I'd have to plan, as it would involve actual fitness (time to drop 20-25 pounds), training (no, riding to and from work doesn't count, at least not the way I do it now), and maybe even some honest-to-Betsy coaching, as well as thinking seriously about an actual ultra race bike like this or this. Or this, but now we're in the realm of wildest fantasy, and I need to be good enough to EARN a bike like that, not just buy one.

I dunno...will need to mull over what's most important, as there's no way I can do all of this stuff next year.

CTC Fever setting in

Mssr. McKeegan's been posting more Crush The Commonwealth goodies. Buried amidst the pix is mention of several riders gunning for a sub-36:00 time. In that case, I guess I'm gonna have to take this a little more seriously ;-)

I've been vacillating 'twixt the idea of pushing for a fast time vs. treating it like a nice social ride with the boys; at this point, well, fast time is sounding better and better. Besides, if I plan to ride hard, I can omit some extra stuff like, say, camping gear.

So, here's the basic plan. It's roughly 100 miles from dahntahn to Rockwood, and an additional 180 miles to York or thereabouts. That's roughly 400K, which, based on my brevets last year, I should be able to wrap up by midnight or so. I'm thinking York will be a good place to take a rest break; pound down a real meal, maybe catch an hour or two of sleep at a no-tell motel, and get back on the road by, say, 5 AM. That gives me 12 hours to punch out the last 100 miles...perfectly doable.

This elevation profile is basically Bike Route S from Rockwood to Philly; that flat-downward trend past mile 140 is looking mighty recumbent-friendly.This is gonna be fun. Compared to Tom's brevets, this is darn near flat; while there's definitely gonna be some nice climbs, I'm not seeing anything to be afraid of.

2009 Ride Schedule (subject to change, contents may settle, do not eat)

Still a lot of stuff up in the air; with my little girl coming in early April, the spring schedule (especially May!!!) may need to be adjusted. I may skip the 300K on the weekend of May 2nd, and plan to get in the Ohio 300K in September as my last prerequisite for the Endless Mountains 1200K.

Locally, Crush the Commonwealth is most important to me; I've been wanting to do it for three years now, so I don't want to miss out again. Lance's Longest Day Double Century is also a blast, as it's a good excuse to put your head down and hammer across Ohio flatland for most of the day. The Pittsburgh-Erie-Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh-Meyersdale-Pittsburgh rides should be good ways to stay tuned up for the fall, as well as being scouting rides for the official 2010 brevet season of the Pittsburgh Randonneurs.

It should be a fun year for brevets; I'm hoping to spend some time riding with the DC Randonneurs (great bunch of folks), help foster more Pittsburgh-area distance stuff, and end up the year with my first 1200K.

Of course, this doesn't include much local stuff; club rides, populaires, training metrics and centuries, the Dirty Dozen, etc., are not listed.


==============================================================
Bold indicates a ride that I intend to attend :-)
Un-bold is for informational purposes, and to aid in rescheduling.

April
Saturday 04/11: Pittsburgh Randos 200K
Saturday 04/18: DC Randos 200K, Ohio Randos 300K

May
Saturday 05/02: Eastern PA 300K, DC Randos 300K
Friday 05/08-05/10: Crush the Commonwealth
Saturday 05/16: Eastern PA 400K, DC Randos 300K
Saturday 05/30-05/31: Eastern PA 600K, DC Randos 400K, Ohio Randos 400K
June
Saturday 06/13-06/14: DC Randos 600K, Ohio Randos 600K, RBR Rally
Sunday, June 21st Longest Day Double Century (solstice double)
Friday 06/26-06/28: Eastern PA 1000K
July
Saturday 07/11-07/12 Pittsburgh-Erie-Pittsburgh (dates tentative)
August
Saturday 08/22-08/23 Pittsburgh-Meyersdale brevet route dry run (dates tentative)
September
Saturday 09/05: Ohio Randos 300K
Wednesday 09/30 - 10/04: Eastern PA 1200K

Goals as of 2009

Preserving for posterity: my yearly cycling goals as of February 2009.

2009: Crush the Commonwealth, my first 1200K
2010: Try a 12/24 hr race (prob. Calvin's Challenge), D2R2 for some dirt road adventuring
2011: Paris-Brest-Paris
2012: RAAM qualify (No, I don't currently want to do RAAM, but I like the idea of being qualified to do so)
2013: Maybe L-E-L?
2014: Furnace Creek 508?
2015: ?
2016: Ride across a continent TBD (40th birthday present to myself)

Heh...looking at this list, I almost think a common theme can be discerned...masochistic b@start, ain't I?

Why am I here?

All wise-arse comments aside, I wanted to have a place to talk about my experiences in randonneuring, ultra- and long-distance cycling, touring, and, generally, the part of my life which is fixated on reclining on two wheels for what some may consider excessive periods of time. (Hi, honey!)

So, of course, I've finally jumped on Ye Olde Blogge Bandwaggone. Grand. :)

In the interests of filling space and burning precious electrons, here's my goals for the next few years:

• 2008: Complete Eastern PA brevet series, with an option on the 1000K as well if I'm feeling particularly nutty.


• 2009: Brevet series, fleche, plus the London-Edinburgh-London 1400K. Heh. Oh, yeah, and try to get a Pittsburgh brevet series off the ground.


• 2010: An 'off year'. Prep for PBP in 2011, do a brevet series, fleche, and a North American 1200K TBD.


• 2011: Big year. Brevet series, fleche, and Paris-Brest-Paris.


• 2012: ???


• 2013: ???


• 2014: ???


• 2015: ???


• 2016: I turn 40. Time to ride across at least one continent.