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.

Chilly commutes are still worth it.

This morning, 6:45 AM or thereabouts, on the way to work. 18 degrees and windy.

(Please forgive the craptastic phone camera quality...)

Happy New Year('s Eve)!

(Yes, I know, it's been months. I was wrong to leave, I'll never do it again, mea culpa, she meant nothing to me...)

After weeks of sub-freezing temperatures, the news that today's forecast included sun and highs in the fifties acted on my winter torpor much like a splash of vinegar acts on a pile of baking soda. Leaping into action, I put out the call to the locals...anyone wanna cap off the year with a nice Red Belt loop?

Dan G., Bill H., and Sean(sp?) answered the clarion call to arms. We congregated at the Jail Trail, then headed over towards Tarentum via Allegheny River Blvd and Freeport Rd. Sadly, I was to find that my oft-postponed drivetrain service had resulted in a state such that I could not really use the lower half of my cassette without disturbing grinding/sawing noises. In addition, the teeth on my chainrings are worn enough that, especially on the middle ring (AKA "the ring I use the most"), the chain has a disturbingly regular tendency to jump off and flail about wildly under load. Ah, well...I've had replacement cassette, chain, and compact crankset sitting in the basement for weeks...guess this means it's time to actually install them. That said, I spent the vast majority of my time in no more than three or four gear combinations; the Red Belt does not have that much variety in terms of terrain, as evidenced by Dan's ability to ride it fixed without visible sign of agony.

The first half of the ride was a bit discouraging, in the "why is the temperature dropping? why is it spitting rain?" sense. However, shortly after Sean had split off to return via North Park, the cloud cover lifted, and we had the delightful experience of being utterly drenched in sunshine for the remainder of the ride. We stopped at the bakery in Sewickley on the return leg, at which point I consumed a truly frightening number of calories in the form of a day-old danish and approximately 24 ounces of peanut butter bar. Thus laden, we decided to omit the delightful climbs through Sewickley Heights and up Mt Nebo, in favor of the traditional flatland return via Coraopolis/Neville Island and the McKees Rocks Bridge.

A very nice ride, all things considered. It's been quite a while since I rode the Red Belt...I think I'll make a point of incorporating it into more of my rides next year.

Crush the Commonwealth 2010

(Now with 30% more E P I C, when compared to last year's edition)

Ride Reports on the CtC blog
Eric's ride report: Day 1, Day 2

Short version

• 380-ish miles, ~37:30 elapsed time.
• Third finisher, behind the Tressler brothers who came in together at an awe-inspiring 34:48.
• 1 mechanical (flatted)
• No physical or emotional harm done.
• Much Type 2 fun was had. No, not that type of fun; that type of fun.
• The P-38's drive train and brakes are pretty much trashed.
  

Long Version

The Plan
Not much to it. Make it through the abandoned turnpike tunnels before dark, push through to at least Bedford before sleeping, and wrap up at the Point in under 36 hours. Try to only stop once every 65 miles or so, and keep stops under 15 minutes until the sleep stop.

Prologue, Thursday May 6^th
For some reason, I had decided it would be a spiffy idea to rent a U-haul to transport myself, sundry other CtC participants, and various bikes from Philly to Pittsburgh. So, I rode over through West View and down Babcock to the U-haul place on McKnight. There awaited my glorious steed; a cargo-hauling behemoth, with fuel economy measured in gallons per mile, seating three in discomfort. At least I got it at the 10-footer price.

Threw the P-38 in the back, with a few strategic bungees to keep everything in place, then drove back to my place to load Joh-doh's bike and meet Bill. Bill parked, we threw his bike in as well, then drove over to Shaler to pick up Jim on the way to the turnpike.

The Turnpike itself wasn't bad...we only stopped twice, so made good time. Hitting Philly was unlovely, however, as I'd arranged to meet Joh-doh and Nick at the Amtrak station on 30th and Market. At roughly 5:30 on a work day. In a vehicle roughly the size of Rhode Island. WhatthehellwasIsmoking?

(To digress briefly; driving in downtown Philly makes me, frankly, apeshit. The manner in which people casually block an intersection is appalling; what makes it worse is that said behavior practically forces you to drive like a self-obsessed lump of douchebaggery yourself, in order to make any progress at all. I had to sit through three cycles of the light by the train station, no doubt driving those behind me into fits of foaming rage, before I got pissed enough to do what everyone else was and just wedge myself into the intersection. Meh. A pox upon them all.)

Traffic chaos aside, I got Jim and Bill unloaded, then reunited Joh-doh with his bike. (I had thrown a front fender from my spares stash on there for him, and he seemed quite pleased.) Fought my way over to Manayunk, dropped off the U-haul, precariously strapped my box-of-crap-to-be-shipped-home onto the seat back bag, and pedaled carefully to cousin-in-law Carrie's place a few miles away. She was kind enough to put me up for the night, as well as tolerant enough not to mind me getting up at O-Gawd o'clock on a work day. Although I usually have a great deal of trouble sleeping the first night in a strange location, I had cleverly brought along a tome on developing for and administration of the open-source DotNetNuke Web portal framework, so was yawning in no time.

Day 1, Friday May 7^th
3:15 AM: Amidst various muttered imprecations, I silenced my cellphone's alarm, and blearily prepared for the ride. Poured pseudo-food powder into bottles, plopped pseudo-beverage tablets into Camelbak bladder, pulled on shoes and helmet, pulled off shoes and helmet, pulled on jersey and shorts, pulled on shoes and helmet, and was out the door. A stop at the nearby WaWa for breakfast, then down Ridge to pick up Kelly Drive and the trail into town. Wildlife highlight: a large, healthy-looking fox looked down his nose at me by the river.

4:45 AM: The Bell is mighty deserted. After a few minutes, Jim and Bill arrived; then Dan G. came around the corner and politely informed us that everyone was gathering on the other side of the building. Heh. A few minutes of the usual milling around, then we set off on the neutral rollout to the trail. After, I dunno, 10 miles or so, we'd cleared the confusing bits, so the flag was thrown and suddenly the ride got a little 'spirited'. Myself, the Tressler brothers, and Scott (not riding CtC, but came out to say hi) took the rest of the trail to Phoenixville in the high teens and low twenties.
Got onto the roads and picked up Route S, and the spirited riding continued, until I discovered that the rear end was feeling a little wonky on the turns. Crapola...not 35 miles in, and I've already flatted. Fortunately, I've done this enough that A) it only killed 10 minutes and B) I knew not to stop looking until I'd found the culprit: a tiny piece of wire, roughly 1 gnat's whisker longer than the thickness of my tire, had punched right through and created a lovely pinprick in the tube. Dug out the pliers (don't mock my toolkit...every tool in there "might come in handy some day"), pulled the wire and swapped in a fresh tube, then was back on the road somewhere in the middle of the overall pack. Picked up the pace a bit, and managed to reel in everyone by New Holland (due in no small part to a mechanical on the part of the Tresslers), only to promptly be passed by two groups while I'd stopped at the Getty station for my scheduled refueling. Ah well, the day was yet young....

I kept a good pace across Lancaster and York, until my second stop at the Rutters in East Berlin. Shortly thereafter, the climbing began, roughly at Arendtsville on Rte 234. It's not terribly steep until the end near Caledonia State Park, but it does slow you down a good bit. Finally crested 234 and hit Rte 30 a few miles east of Chambersburg, then enjoyed rush-hour Chambersburg traffic on the way to my third stop at the Sheetz. Stocked up heavily there, as the services would be limited until Breezewood, and both Cowan's Gap and the abandoned turnpike were in the way.

The next leg to Breezewood was actually really nice. To put it into perspective, last year I'd come through here in the opposite direction in darkness; actually being able to see the Gap and the turnpike made it a far more pleasant experience. I do have to confess to a bit of trepidation when approaching the first tunnel; I'd had company for them last year, and was feeling more than a wee bit of boogeyman-in-the-dark jitters as I went in solo. Made it through to Sheetz in Brezewood uneventfully; took a look at the time (roughly 8:30 PM), and decided that I'd just stick to my Bedford rest plan, rather than trying to gut it out to Somerset as I'd been idly thinking to try.

I'm glad I decided not to push, as I'd completely forgotten just how nasty the next few miles would be. The biggest problem, aside from the terrain itself, was one of the few route inconsistencies I found; specifically, the online Route S map specified a left turn, but the sign for Route S at the intersection specified straight. To make things worse, there was a "PA Bike Route Cornucopia" sign, that pointed in the direction of the online Route S map. After dithering, and a couple of bonus miles rolling back and forth, I decided to just follow the Route S signs and not worry about it. Seemed to work out just fine that way.

10:00 PM: Made it into Bedford just as everything had closed, so had to backtrack on 30 to Yet Another Sheetz for dinner. Here, I made my first real nutritional blunder; rather than grab some balanced, healthy, high-calorie, protein-and-carb-laden food, I fell victim to temptation and went with the bag of chips and can of processed dip. I'm quite confident that this led to a serious lack of energy the next morning...Anyway, I strapped my sack o' empty calories to the bike, and rolled up to a lovely $37 stay at the Motel Town House, just a block or two off route in the touristy section of Bedford. Shower, chips and dip, and 20 minutes of heavily edited 'Fight Club' on Bravo, and I was out for the night.

Day 2, Saturday May 8^th
4:00 AM. Not feeling great, but not terribly poorly either, I set out back on the route. Not as cold as I was expecting, fortunately. Maybe I should take off my...and the rain started. Then the temperature dropped. Then the wind hit. And THEN, just a few miles later, the flashbacks to this segment last year began to hit, and I truly understood just how much the next bit was going to suck.

I've said it elsewhere, but it bears repeating. That was a truly soul-crushing segment: the climbing alone was bad, but the high winds, rain, and sub-40 temperatures made it a candidate for Worst 4 Hours On a Bike This Year. The only thing that kept me from throwing in the towel was the realization that I'd have to ride out to civilization to be picked up anyway, so might as well just keep going.

8:00AM: Made it to the Somerset Sheetz, and consumed ludicrous amounts of made-to-order breakfast food while trying to warm up and dry off a bit. I'd reached the point in such rides where I'm getting too eager to tell people where I had started riding and what I was doing, and I noticed that the smiles were starting to glaze and the polite nods of interest were being replaced with slow, careful retreat. So I decided to shut up for a while, and I think everyone was happier as a result.

Reluctantly got back on the road, and (mostly) coasted down Water Level Rd to Rockwood. I still had some feeble hope of cracking 36 hours; that lasted for, perhaps, the first 10 miles on the trail, until I realized that I was so shattered that I could barely push the pedals at 12 mph. I'd like to point out that, to someone with my aversion to limestone, having to endure 90 miles of it at 12 miles per hour is pretty much one of the worst ways to end a ride I can think of.

Regardless, all good(HAH!) things come to an end, and I found myself in McKeesport. Then the next burst of rain hit, and I emitted profanity that was great, and copious, and blasphemous in the eyes of entire PANTHEONS of deities. Then I got over it, briefly enjoyed the new trail and Riverton Bridge, then feebly crept up 837 and back to town. Called Eric from the Point (I have no recollection of the conversation, but I'm sure it happened), and finally rolled down the Ohio and up McClure to home.

Lessons Learned

• Under no circumstances shall I ever drive a U-haul or similar vehicle in downtown Philly during rush hour.
• I'm pretty good for 12-16 hours of a mostly liquid diet; after that, some solid foods every 4 hours or so keep the system happier.
• Don't underestimate the speed-sapping abilities of even the best-packed limestone trails.
• The fuel combination I'd tested at Calvin's Challenge, consisting of three Camelbak Elixir tabs in the 70-ounce bladder, plus Perpetuem in the form of two two-hour bottles, worked very well to enable roughly 100km traveled between stops. I rarely had much wastage when cleaning out the bottles/bladder (yes, I rinsed 'em every time I refilled...no desire for foul cooties to grow in the midst of me caloric goodness...), but never ran completely dry, and never had a serious bonk.
  

Sputter/Gasp/Splash to Work Day

Unless I utterly misremember, this is the second year in a row where my Bike To Work Day commute has involved precipitation ranging from "stinging" to "torrential" to "biblical".

I need a shell that is actually water resistant; the old cheap one from Nashbar looked and felt more like a wet tee-shirt by the time I arrived at the office. The sleeves did a good job of supporting sloshing puddles around my elbows (Yay, recumbent riding position!); allowing arms to hang straight down and loosening elastic at wrists produced copious quantities of water pouring over my hands.

Wool socks and SPD sandals were a good choice, though. I'm using that combination for most of my cycling at this point, as it seems to Just Work for most applications.