JBlog

That’s right – the Wednesday Night Fights are done until next year.

There were about 13 riders who left the Burwash lot, but only 12 bikes. Two of them, Luke and Jay, shared a Raleigh tandem bike and were ridiculously fast.

We headed for Seymour even though the wind was out of the east, which meant we had a tailwind while we were all still pretty fresh and strong. We clipped along at around 25 mph for most of the ride there. I was feeling pretty good until we shed a couple of riders about 2/3 of the way to Seymour, at which point the tandem bike got its first chance to pull the group. The speed jumped from 24-25 to 27 or more and I learned fairly quickly that I wanted no part in that kind of sustained speed, so I let the pack drop me and did some interval work with my aero bars.

I was still moving at 22-23 mph, which isn’t too shabby for a solo effort. I passed through Seymour and was about to turn down Rt 10 to head back to Champaign when I noticed the pack up ahead about a half mile had stopped to wait for me. I wasn’t expecting them to do that, so instead of turning down 10, I caught up to them and we were off again.

After crossing Highway 47, the pace picked up yet again and this time I tried to stay on a wheel for a little bit, but I only managed to hang on for a couple of minutes. I was shelled out the back and did an easy pedal all the way back down Bradley. Shay had been dropped shortly before me and eventually caught up. We rode side by side at 20-21 mph until he turned off to go down Rising and meet the group back at Burwash, where Dave had ordered up some pizzas. Since I’m not an official WC member and because I was pretty close to home having come in to the west side of Champaign, I just pedaled home.

There were still a couple of aphids out last night, but the lethal clouds we had ridden through the previous week seem to have been gathered up by the wind and pushed to Indiana.

Also broke the fender on my Trek yesterday afternoon. Of course, we’re going to get rained on for about half of the day today, so I’ll need to get the fender replaced today. I’ll need to visit Durst to get that chore done since CC doesn’t open until 10:00 and it will have started raining by then.

Oh … I’ve been asked to fill in on drums for Live Karaoke Band tonight. My buddy Jeff is unable to play for the next two weeks, so I’ll do the best I can to provide some beats for Tom and Guido. Very excited about this and hope I can pull it off without too many mistakes!

Tags: "group ride", aphids, live karaoke band, seymour, Wild Card

GROSS

I don’t know what else to say.

It was a short ride. New high avg speed of 21.5 mph, which was cool. But … GROSS

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/14158703

Tags: "group ride", soybean aphid, Wild Card

So that’s what they are! They’ve been driving me nuts on my bike rides. I’m covered in hundreds of them by the time I finish my three mile commute home. Here’s the story by Phil Nixon:

Soybean Aphid Migration Obvious byPhil Nixon,

Large numbers of “gnats” in the air in northern and central Illinois are probably soybean aphids. High infestations are present this year as far south as Interstate 70. Close examination will reveal a one-sixteenth inch long insect with a translucent green abdomen, black head and thorax, black antennae, and large oval transparent wings.

When aphids land on something, they probe it with their sucking mouthparts to see if it is good to eat. People with sensitive skin may feel a slight prick, but it is unlikely to leave a mark. Others are unlikely to feel anything at all.

These insects are migrating from soybean to buckthorn to lay eggs for the winter. Although this migration occurs over a six-week period, heavy migration typically lasts for one to two weeks. Control efforts against these winged migrants are not practical, nor recommended.

Soybean aphids pass through 15-18 generations during the summer on soybean, where they feed on the sap of the soybean plant. They live on the leaflet undersides as similar-sized, yellow to cream insects. At the end of summer, they migrate to buckthorn. Buckthorn, Rhamnus spp., is a glossy-leaved, thorny shrub common along the edge of forests and in disturbed areas such as fencerows and along streams. On buckthorn, these migrants give birth to another generation of females that mate with arriving, winged males. They then lay overwintering eggs on buckthorn. These eggs will hatch in the spring, the aphids will complete a couple of generations on buckthorn, and then fly to soybean for the summer.

Tags: soybean aphids

Wasn’t much of a fight for most of the ride. It was a pretty casual pace until somewhere between St. Joseph and Urbana on the return trip. Somewhere around Tipton, Luke decided to pull out and drag the pack of about 12 riders back to town. My relative inexperience caused me to fall off the back as I dealt with freshly mowed grass clippings on the road and tiring legs. I tried to get on the back of the pack but they were too far ahead.

Kelly, Dan and I were the first to be dropped. Kelly really didn’t stand a chance but Dan gave it a valiant effort and passed me once, getting probably 20 feet ahead, but then I dug down and dropped him in pursuit of the pack. I think the aerobars help quite a bit as it took the pack longer than usual to disappear over the horizon. Squirrelly Klein guy got dropped by the pack, too, and I blew by him about two miles after I got dropped, putting quite a bit of distance between us.

epon and another Wild Card rider were visible and it appeared I was making up some distance between us. Really threw down a lot of effort trying to catch up and I think I probably got to within 200 yards at one point, but they’re both pretty strong riders and eventually outlasted me. Any chance of catching up to them was gone after a good two minute wait to cross Rt. 130 coming back into Urbana. They never completely faded from my view and the big hill leading down toward Lincoln Ave helped me close the gap slightly, but I never did catch up to them. Got stopped at a traffic light as I crossed Rt. 45 and really let up after that, coasting back toward Burwash Park.

Apparently, Squirrelly Klein guy never gave up, because shortly after I got on to Regent Drive, he passed me in a tornado of last-ditch effort to get to the park before me. Well, I couldn’t have that, so I popped up a few gears, stood on the pedals and coasted by him with relatively little effort. epon was just emerging from the park for his ride home, so we rode together for a mile or so until I turned off on Galen Drive to head North.

All in all it was a nice, relatively relaxing ride, and the end of it gave me an opportunity to put in some strong solo efforts, so I was pleased even though my average speed was pretty disappointing.

No chest pains at all, which was a relief, because I did put in some pretty significant sustained efforts on the return trip.

Tags: "group ride", aero bars, chest pain, Hammerfest, St. Joseph, Wild Card

I’m actually getting pretty good at this.  I’m not talking about the Michael Douglas Falling Down movie, by the way.  I’m talking about the literal act of falling down – or falling over in my case.

Apparently, I’m still somewhere south of the top of the learning curve when it comes to riding with clipless pedals.  I’ve never really wiped out.  Each time I’ve had a mishap I’ve just slowly fallen over.  For me, the amount of time that passes between realizing I’m falling to making contact with the ground takes an eternity.  Maybe it looks that way to passersby, too.  Or maybe it looks like it happens fast to a third party.

Today’s failure in mainting verticality came when I was attempting to negotiate a sharp turn.  I slowed and must have turned too sharply, because the bike lost all of its momentum and I began the slow process of losing my battle with gravity.  Down I went.  I would imagine the sight was something akin to a horse falling from a chair into a ditch – all angular and thrashing, flailing knees and elbows working desperately against the empty air to gain a hold of something in an attempt to stay upright.  Of course, after falling and landing on my left side, my right foot was still clipped in, and not wanting to be on my side for any longer than was necessary, I began to try to free my still-engaged right foot from its bindings.  After a seconds-long series of odd, jerky gyrations, I finally managed to free myself and picked up the bike.

Of course, this happened right in front of my office building – and between classes, no less – so no fewer than 582 people were treated to this visual display of failure.

My thigh has a minor scrape, as does my ankle, and one of the sides of my V-Brakes needed readjustment, but other than that and a bruised ego, your author is unharmed.

Tags: clipless pedals, falling over

Same ride as last Wednesday with a somewhat smaller group.  The whole group stayed together until well after we crossed Rt 130 heading back into Urbana, when the pace picked up and I decided to take it easy.  I think I could have kept up but didn’t want to push it with the Great Illini Challenge coming up this weekend in Neoga.

46.7 miles and a 20.8 mph avg. I could have been over 21 for the first time had I hammered with the rest of the pack, but I’ll have time to get that 21. Hopefully that can happen this weekend in the triathlon now that I’m set up to be a little more aerodynamic. Doubtful, but we’ll see. There’s a chance of rain this weekend in Mattoon. It’ll really suck if that happens.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/12461580

Had no chest pain tonight.

Tags: "group ride", chest pain, Hammerfest, homer, sidney, wednesday fight night

52 miles at 20 mph.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/12082075

This morning’s ride started with around 15 riders, including a few who are racing tomorrow and dropped at the turnoff from Mahomet to Fisher.  Climbed some tough hills and fought headwinds that were almost straight out of the North at 10-15 mph.  Did some decent work up front, but tried to keep it to 2:00 or less per pull.  I nearly got dropped as we went over Rt 150 on Lake of the Woods Road but was able to do some work to get back on to the last slot in the left pace line.  I spent most of the trip to Fisher in the left pace line.

Outside of Fisher, right when the sprint began, my extra water bottle went flying out of my jersey.  Second bottle incident in the past two rides for me.  epon suggested that a smoother pedal stroke may help avoid bottle slippage.  I tend to agree, but also the fact that I was in the aero bars may have had something to do with it.

Once in Fisher, we took an extended break at the Casey’s and when we were finally ready to depart there was one bike left sitting against the wall.  Hmm … dilemma … do I leave the bike sitting there unattended and risk not being able to catch up or do I wait for its owner to get back to it.  I can’t imagine how I’d feel if someone made off with my steed so I decided to wait and was unable to catch up with the rest of the group.  That turned out to be just fine as it gave me an opportunity to do some extended solo work with the aero bars.  I’m really starting to like riding with them – not only because of the increased aerodynamics, but because it’s a totally different position to get into.  Laying out flat, or relatively flat, across the bike takes a lot of stress off the wrists and shoulders, which are two areas that always seem to fatigue on me.

I worked on some intervals on the way back, too, and wound up with some mild chest pain about halfway home.  It’s still lingering a bit, but not nearly as bad as it was a few weeks ago.  It seems as if the reduction in the Coreg intake is helping some with that.  I also wonder if it might be possible to move away from it altogether.  There’s probably only one way to find out if it’s safe for me to be off of the medication, and that’s to stop taking it.  If I start having palpitations again I can always go back on it.  It took several years for the arrhythmia to take its toll on my heart.  I think a few weeks or less – if it comes back without the Coreg – would be worth the risk to see if it’s time to stop taking the stuff.  I really hope so.  Whenever I can get in to see the new electrophysiologist at Carle I’ll bring it up to see what he has to say.

Tags: aero bars, Coreg, Fisher, Wild Card

Hammerfest this week took a group of about 16 riders out to the east side of Homer, through Sidney and back in across the south side of Champaign.  Stuck with the group until shortly before Sidney when I got dropped after a very short turn at the front of the pack.  Had some slight chest pains toward the end of the ride but I eased up a bit and they went away.

It was the virgin voyage with the new Profile Design Aerolite aerobars installed.  I didn’t use them much, but I think they’ll help for extended solo rides, especially with the aero helmet.  I found that pulling back slightly on the end of the bars forces my elbows down into the pads a little and gives some extra leverage for pedaling.  It’s going to take some practice.

I broke off from a very small group of riders on the return home and went up Neil Street a couple miles before turning on Burwash.  About halfway between Old Church and Burwash, three kids in a brown pickup truck crept over onto the shoulder of Rt 45 right beside me and revved its engine, causing a loud engine yell and billowing black smoke.  I’m sure they were disappointed at my reaction – or lack thereof.

Tags: aero bars, engine yelling, Hammerfest, homer, sidney

Made it to Meadowbrook Park with a few minutes to spare and we were off.  The group was huge today.  We had over 20 riders – maybe close to 30.  There’s something great about the sound of almost 60 23mm tires.  I’m sure it’s not a great sight to see for cars who are trying to pass, though.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11695648

Our route went south to Old Church and east to Rising Road and then almost straight north to Fisher.  There was a pretty nasty headwind out of the NNW that was steady at 10-12 and gusted to almost 20.  Fortunately with so many riders, there wasn’t a lot of work for any one person to do on the front of the pack, so it was pretty easy getting to Fisher.  I did have to run off the road a little over half way there, though.  Guy in front of me got loose on some gravel in a corner and slowed leaving me with no other option but to make a straight line for a ditch, at the bottom of which was a sizable mudhole that added a good half pound of dirt to my tires.

We dropped 4-6 people on the way there, so the group that headed back to Champaign was a bit smaller.  We probably averaged 24 on the way back.  I seemed to be doing well until we hit a section where we headed east for a mile plus and were blasted by winds out of the north.  I was second in line then with a pull coming up shortly and I just ran out of steam and dropped.   That was OK as I wanted to do some interval training on the way back into town.

Ended up with 51.5 on the day with an average speed of 19.5 mph.  Felt a lot faster than that.  Overall it was a good ride and I really enjoyed the roads North of I-74.  Very hilly and lined with trees.

Chest pain showed up again about 5 miles from home on the return trip, though not as intense as a couple of weeks ago.  I still think it has something to do with the proximity in time to when I’ve most recently taken Coreg.

Tags: "group ride", Coreg, Fisher, Wild Card

47 (actually 52 but I forgot to turn my Edge on until 5 miles into the ride) @ 20.6 mph.

Flatville

Did OK, I suppose. Somehow I was pulling again when the spring began and gassed myself right out of the gates, so I was probably third from last to pass the town sign. I have to figure out a way to get in the middle of the pack when the sprints begin. epon finished in the top few, I think. He rode strong tonight. I think he was trying to get me on his wheel when the attacks began about 5 miles out from Flatville but I was out of steam at that point and rode back with Dave and the dude on the Klein. Can’t remember Klein-rider’s name, but when I first started riding with Wild Card he was about as squirrelly as me on the bike. His bike handling skills seemed much better tonight.

The chest pain came back for a visit about 5 miles from home, but I also rode a lot harder tonight and haven’t taken the Coreg since around 6:00 this morning. It seems like the chest pain has some correlation to the last time I took the Coreg. Hopefully a reduction in dosage is just what I need to be able to put down sustained efforts without heart discomfort.

Martin suggested that I do the Lytle Park Sprint Triathlon this Saturday in Neoga. It’s a 300 meter pool swim, 12 mile bike and 5K run, so it should be pretty doable for me. I think I’m going to sign up for it as long as Cindy’s OK with it.

Tags: Coreg, Cycling, Flatville, Hammerfest, Lytle Park