Rain Delay on Training Thursday

I suppose on RAGBRAI I'll have no choice but to bike when it rains.

Memo to self: Take chain lube.

But there was no biking Thursday, partly due to rain, partly due to a downed Mulberry tree.

We had a big storm rumble through Wednesday evening, and sticks are all over the place--including a big old Mulberry tree that fell into my yard.

I got out the electric chain saw and started working on it, but the saw got off track. I was trying to fix it when it started to sprinkle, so I put it away and got out my limb saw.

Well, it was time-consuming, hard work by hand, but I go the tree all carved up, and I also got thoroughly wet in the rain.

No biking. It rained again overnight and this morning, but the radar looks better, so there will be some miles today.

Shown is puddle on my driveway Thursday, with sticks--see my other blog for more storm photos. This, by the way, is the second photo on this blog from my new Nikon, but most future photos will be from the Kodak since I don't take the Nikon biking with me. The first Nikon photo was the table-shot of the RAGBRAI packet.

Wow—On a Slow Joe Day, It’s More Official!

What moves slowly:

1) Joe on a bike. I’ve been estimating my speed due to distance traveled and time spent, and it keeps coming up too close to 10 mph. That, my friends, is glacial pace on a bicycle. Old ladies pass me. Young kids pass me. My own baby sister has to slow down to ride with me. No, really, it doesn’t bother me that much. The tortoise won the race—although the hare had to go off and get drunk and Twitter bad photos to inappropriate young women in order to give the tortoise time—and the name of the game is endurance. Still, I’m rethinking my smug assumption that every morning I’ll hit the road at 6:05 and be done by 11 a.m. It’s more likely that I’ll hit the road at 7 and be done by 3 p.m. Sigh. Lucky the heat doesn’t really seem to bother me.

2) The Czech Museum. They started driving it along today. I took a diversion down to Mt. Trashmore so I could get 25 miles in today before the rain came (I made it) and saw the museum. Not sure (since it was late in the afternoon) if it was still moving or not. It’s pretty impressive to see it on its wheels. For those Croatian blog fans who don’t know, the Czech & Slovak Museum was flooded in 2008 and is being moved to a higher foundation. A huge brick building inching it’s way a few hundred yards is impressive to see, but slow. Sort of like me on a bike. Am I claiming to be built like a brick house (earwormed you!)? Nah, but I move like a brick museum.

Final note: As you can see by photo, my RAGBRAI “Participant Guide” came today. Audrey bought me bike gloves yesterday. I have to spend hours cleaning my office at MMU, which is being moved (offices at MMU do NOT move slowly). Suddenly, summer 2011 feels shorter and more exciting!

Being Lonely or Being Alone

I’ve always been a bit of a loner personality—not an easy joiner, not a good schmoozer.

Of course, when I was young that tendency added to a sense of isolation and loneliness. I think I’m long past that life stage, and often find myself pleasantly alone.

There’s a big distinction between being lonely and being alone, and my “alone” time today was nice. For my bike training today, I headed north on the Cedar Valley Trail, wondering where it would be closed (it periodically has been lately as they prepare for paving work n a stretch of the trail).

As it turned out, none of it was closed, at least not as far as I rode. Without planning to go that far, I ended up in Center Point.

Although it was hot today, I was riding in the late afternoon. Took water with me, which I had consumed by the time I got to Center Point, but they have a convenient drinking fountain at the old depot.

I anticipated a tough ride back—the wind was my friend on the way up. But the trail gods smiled, and the wind on my return had shifted so it was more of a cross breeze than a headwind. Any biker can tell you wind is either your friend or your enemy, and a cross breeze is not your friend—but I’ll take it over a headwind when I’m 12 ½ miles north of Hiawatha trying to get back to a home 15 miles away.

A 30 mile ride!

About 10 miles north of Hiawatha, the trail became woody, almost “lions and tigers and bears oh my” woody, but I didn’t mind. The trees increased my sense of isolation, but it was of the pleasant “alone” variety, not the lonely kind.

And I wasn’t as alone as I thought. I paused to shoot the tree-trail photo shown on this post, and noticed, after I had stopped, a house off through the trees to the right with two people enjoying the warm, shady late afternoon. Besides the pair, there were a couple of dogs, too—mean looking brutes (not bikers’ friends). As they ran at me barking, I heard a woman’s yell.

“Oscar!” Oscar? I was almost chomped like a hotdog by a dog named Oscar? Well, not really, the dogs clearly ran at me, the woman clearly yelled to stop Oscar (the other apparently either had a name too embarrassing to yell or she knew if Oscar stopped, so would Persephone), but they were rather far off. Not what I would call a close call at all, really, and not much of an intrusion into my delicious alone ride.

How to Ride in the Heat

Not that I’m an expert, but I do have some experience—especially today.

I rode on the Cedar River Trail t work, making my morning commute more on the order of 7 or 8 miles rather than 5. I started coming home around 1, and took the trail again—but added the loop around Cedar Lake, as a well as a 1 ½ mile trek north on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, to make sure that I got at least 20 miles in today, since I was too busy to ride Saturday or Sunday.

So I rode 20 miles, 15 of them in the afternoon, when the area was under a “heat” advisory. The Banker’s Trust sign at Blairs Ferry and C Avenue said “100,” but I know from my winter rides that the bank’s thermometer is off by 5 to 10 degrees to the warm. The computer says it’s 92, and was 96 at the hottest point of the afternoon, and I suppose I should go with that.

How do I feel? Well, fine, but a little foolhardy. I was for sure “stretching it,” but being used to the heat is part of RAGBRAI prep, too, and that’s my story. Beats brain malfunction due to hot weather, right?

So, how did I ride in the heat? What are CR Biker’s rules for those fools—mad dogs and Englishmen—who will bake their behinds on a bike seat at 92 or 96 degrees?

1) Take water. Drink water. My rule was that every time I came to a stop, for any reason, I took a drink from the water bottle I was carrying. I also used every water fountain I passed that was working, although the only one working was at the Hiawatha trail head. But, I refilled my bottle, there, too, and had plenty to drink at MMU.

2) Stop and rest every once in a while. I shot some photos for my crgardenjoe blog along the way, of graffiti along the trail. Of course, I don’t need much of an excuse to stop and snap a photo anyway—but this little art interlude was partly deliberate, just to get off the bike, take some drinks and cool off. When I got 1 ½ miles out of town, I also stopped and sat for a few and drank most of the water I had gathered at the Hiawatha trail head.

3) Don’t forget to sunscreen. It’s the sunny part of the year and I was out in the sunny part of the day. My dad tanned fairly easily, but my mom was fair skinned. I’m in between—not as unlucky as some of my sisters who burn very easily, but I will certainly burn without sunscreen. I don’t think I burned today—because, yes, I remembered and used my sun screen.

4) Be an easy rider. No, don’t take off on a motorcycle. I mean where you might shift into “4,” it’s OK to use “2.” Take your time. No racing on a hot day—I was happy to “amble” on my bike. One advantage to biking is that, while you can pump hard and be Lance Armstrong, you can also pump lightly and be old Joe on a hot day. Take it from old Joe—today was a “and there’s Uncle Joe, he’s a moving kind of slow” day. And yes, a free earworm for those who remember 1960s sitcoms.

5) Dress like it’s hot. No, not shirtless—Arabs cover up for a reason. But light shirt and shorts. Saw some old people out today who seemed wildly overdressed. I suppose that’s more pleasant to see than old people wildly underdressed, but today was not a day for blue jeans or flannel, regardless of your age. I felt I was “hot appropriate” in my attire—modest (and I always try to be as a favor to the world), but shorts and a white cotton T shirt.

There you have, 5 rules that I hope will help you on your hot summer rides! As for me, I think I might actually be able to face the heat of RAGBRAI. It certainly felt like the last week of July in Iowa today!

Windy Ride to Noelridge Park

CR wants to be a biker friendly town, and I want it to be, too. Here's a minor problem to work on--why are some CR parks so isolated form a biking point of view?

Met my grandkids Friday for a fun dip at Noelridge Park Pool, but getting there was a minor pain. Once I cross Collins at F, there is no route to the park without going on some busy CR street--Old Marion Road is not my ideal riding place.

I used to cheat by cutting through a parking lot at Summit School, but there's a nearby CR middle school and Summit got wise to that shortcut and cut it off with a fence--I assume they were more concerned with middle school traffic than an occasional old biker, but who knows?

Anyway, CR--think about creating a crossing light east of Noelridge (and across Center Point Road) to lead from the Cedar River trail to the park. The park is in a concrete island, hard to access by bike, and it's a nice place that should be bike friendly.

Despite the relative isolation of the park, there are lots of kids' bikes at the pool--which is a bit worrisome. How are they getting there? And how safe it that?

Hot Time on the Old Trail Today!

I made a little headway today on my "deficit." After the 55 mile ride Wednesday, it rained Thursday and I didn't bike. Today is very hot and humid, but I did two short rides--once to the gym in the morning, the second time to get a haircut and then up and down the Boyson Road trail.

That gave me about 10 miles today, for 115 this week--5 miles over the official RAGBRAI goal. I am still in the hole, but only by 93 miles, and may be caught up by the end of next week if I keep on pace. May not ride tomorrow due to family plans, but will probably ride Sunday, further adding to this week's extra miles.

MMU plans to have a group ride one day of RAGBRAI. I hope to see them, but am not sure if I will be "in the pack." For one thing, I didn't buy the team jersey (it cost $40 and I don't care for biking jersey's anyway), for another, they plan to start the ride at 8 a.m. I'm usually an early riser anyway, and my strategy for RAGBRAI is to get an early start, so I'm always done by the hot part of the day--my starting time on the 75-mile day may be closer to 6 a.m., or so I hope.

Anyway, my MMU colleague Jenifer describes her training experience. Like me, she rode the Hoover trail, but apparently suffered a little more. Well, hope she keeps at it and I hope to see her July 29!

RAGBRAI Simulation—Hoover Hits My Butt

I did it!

One of my goals was to start catching up on “lost” miles by riding more once summer was here—and another was to, early in June, do what I think of as a “long” ride, a ride of something like RAGBRAI distance.

Well, I think I did it. I rode about 5 miles this morning (up the Bowman Woods hill twice), and then, starting in mid-morning, too, the Cedar River trail south to the Hoover trail until it petered out in Ely. That’s around 50 miles—shorter than any one day on RAGBRAI, but closer to RAGBRAI length then my usual short rides.

55 in one day! And I found the Hoover trail, too, which I’ve never been on before.

I’ll post some photos—showing the lions on the bridge where the Cedar River Trail crosses the Cedar River, the “real” angry birds—geese near Cedar Lake who yell at passing bikers—and some shots of what the Hoover Trail looks like.

It was very warm, in the upper 80s, but not too hot. In fact, it was the kind of gorgeous Iowa early summer day that makes you forget what August will be like or what January is like, for that matter. A bit buggy out there, but a great day to tackle a new trail and take on a new distance.

My butt feels a bit sore, but my legs took it well. I was a little worried about this ride because my knee was bothering me yesterday after 30 miles. However, when my morning workout went well (did weights, including leg weights, and the knee was being calm), I decided, meh, all my life I’ve been good but now, I figure what the hell. Naa na nananana—and you’re welcome for the ear worm.

Must be a bit giddy. Must have been the heat. Very glad I took water and a snack.

All in all, the first RAGBRAI simulation was a smashing success.