Bill Vickers

Ride Across America Qualifer

Pic of Joe and Kurt at 6:15am before the start.  It was a nice 60 deg.   I guess it was  another Iowa Hawkeye Gymnastics reunion, which is very cool!!  

One edited note, I wrote this post while at work about 1am.    Alot of this are just my very preliminary thoughts about road ultracycling typed out quickly.      In reality, I already have a burning curiosity of doing a 540 miler in a few weeks.  So the insanity continues.     I would not ever recommend my lifestyle to those less inclined, as coming back and going to an overnight call  isn't the idea of fun.   Somehow though, I find absolute clarity when pushed like that.  

     Over and over, I hear the excuse, I don't have time for something like that.    I take an entirely different viewpoint.   If you work a 80 hr week, as I often do, recovery from work is very important in staying productive and focused.   I am a large believer in the concepts presented in Jim Loehr's book and company, Human Performance Institute.    Some of his anecdotes in his original book "The Power of Full Engagement" actually have a scientific basic.   His theories about fitness and work recovery are being used successfully by some of the worlds most productive CEO's and athletes.   If your tired of being burned out at work, order his book.

The post: 

Just got back, so thought I would post to answer some of the emails as I will be busy with work sunday then finishing some house work as our house goes on the market for Monday.   I will have some pics available soon. This story is by no means to discourage people from trying ultra road cycling. It was a short journey for me, but I will cherish a lot what I have learned and experienced in that time. I think I need more time exploring 12 hr rides on the road. As a note, ultra road riding is utterly different from ultra mtbing or AR. I was told that before, and I surely now understand it. I suppose in a week or so I will be even more intrigued what it takes to do RAAM, and may be out there on my bike again. . The story: After the idea of doing RAAM presented itself, I've spent the better part of 8-10 weeks studying RAAM and training to qualify. Probably training harder than I ever have on the bike. Honestly, I mostly neglect biking since it comes more easily. For RAAM, I figured it was the perfect match for my years of practicing sleep deprivation at work combined with something I like, biking. For the qualifer, I didn't have much time ramping up my mileage, so I invested a lot of time in studying it. Often asking, should I really do this? About 8 weeks ago I was biking about 60-150miles a week and progressed rather quickly to 350 miles one week before the qualifer. Mixed in with a wee bit of soccer with the kids, running, paddling, and swimming. On that final week, I realized I was badly missing regular multisport and not enjoying long solitary rides of the length I needed to do. Looking back, I think that meant I wasn't very prepared mentally. Although some folks do a lot of group riding, my erratic hours cause me to spend 80-90% of my time training alone. RAAM was gonna require 500 miles/week. About 2 weeks ago I was trying to figure that out and certainly now already tired of the bike. Sort of a warning sign maybe? Going beyond 350 seemed mentally impossible, let alone the time commitment. I suppose I needed more time to adjust to that. I certainly have yet to watch many of the nightly olympic episodes because of the training I crammed in last minute. But, a goal is a goal. I only point this out since I am guessing it impacted me at race time. I wouldn't want others to have a similar experience of "trial by fire." 

      

Anyhow, my wife was fully behind RAAM. She even considered cool I was contemplating it and was gonna support some of it with the kids by driving, partly because we have both realized recently how my exploits positively affect the kids. So, despite the hrs on the bike, she was fully behind me doing this. Not much was holding me back. Maybe 3 weeks ago I was told it is nearly impossible to qualify and to attempt RAAM in a one year period. . Of course, that was the fun challenge, breaking the myth. I thought it was mostly the physical mileage that holds people back, but as I just found, their is a lot of mental training to this. After so many ultras and multiday races, I figured that part would be easy. Little did I know. So, this weekend, I did the UltraMidwest 24hr road race. Friend and AR teammate Joe was also there to help out and he was signed up for the 6-hr course. The goal for me was somewhat straightforward. Complete 425 miles and qualify for RAAM. Seemed easy enough on paper, without many variables. I ramped up my biking quickly, in part since I had a lots of multisport base mileage of recently, thanx to Tamela. Luckily, my legs and body tolerated it. Although I started to have serious misgivings, I still had to try and do the race and see what Ultra road biking is all about. Along with Joe, we also had our old college roomate Kurt doing support, while Will from Capital Bicycle also joined us. We were pretty prepared for the whole thing logistically, in comparison to alot of the other racers. Joe and I had spent the month discussing bikes, nutrition, and pace times. Joe ended up getting 3rd in his division. I started studying my pace and heart rate, since I hadn't a clue what pace I could handle. I had also tweaked my bike obsessively, getting it as comfortable as I thought possible, but still enough that it had speed. Or so I thought. The race was held outside the quad cities area of rural Illinois, dead smack in the middle of cornfields and farms. They call it Ultra country. Actually great riding, although the unchanging scenery was certainly a challenge that I wasn't prepared for. I could never imagine that prerace. However, while riding, I revisited some great childhood memories playing on my grandparents farm when we used to run thru the cornfields in that same area. During the race, I tried to keep myself entertained with pace, calories, and the scenery, but eventually that got amazingly mind numbing. Honestly, after 6 hrs, there wasn't much else, except the bugs. Met some interesting people. One guy from Florida was on his 4th attempt to qualify for RAAM, with his last attempt being just shy by 8 miles. He was hell bent on doing it this time and was pushing hard early on.  I have to admit, I learned a lot from him since he was one of the 24 hour racers who was willing to talk, and he and I both were in the front around each other. I did notice he had an Ipod with him, making me wonder. . Other racers present included the top two riders in the Ultra World Cup, the official pts series for Ultra cycling. Overall, they appear to be alaid back bunch. It's a relatively small organization in comparison to other ultra sports. Almost everyone knows each other. I figured by going to the race I would learn lots of knowledge about the bikes and the people, but I ended up realizing everyone does it different. Some had TT geometry bikes, some road with aerobars, some with tubulars, some didn't. (of note, the eventual winner was on a modified cannondale TT bike with his wife as support).   The two people who had tubulars swore by them since they claimed they could change a tire faster with a preglued tubular. Since they rode likely in excess of 400 miles/wk, I figure they should know. The only thing noticeable was that they spent a lot of time in their aerobars, but those aerobars were usually elevated a few inches above the plumb line of the seat. Although I had what I consider to be a relatively upright position (high as I could get it on that bike), I was still lower than any of the other people I would call top riders.  So, I had a relatively fast position with some concern for pain at 24 hrs.   Eventually, I was in pain, but I don't think the physical pain was what caused me to lose interest. It was manageable at the time, and I felt surprisingly perky.  Every lap I had a regimen of stretching my neck, hip flexors, and shoulders while on the bike on one specific flat section of the course.  That seemed to help.   

        The carefully laid out plan was just to average 18-19 mph for the first 12 hrs then to maintain 18 the last 12 to qualify at the finish. Turns out that is the theory that most of the other top guys were shooting for. There were no other aspirations for me.    I would say I had some long training days dreaming I should average much higher, bit I honestly didn't know.  I was warned by the race director to stay slow during the daytime. Since I was new to this, I brought my heart rate monitor to understand more about it. My plan was to stay in low zone 2 average (but with several higher bursts on the hills) so I would have enough in reserve to amp up the pace the last 2 hrs if needed. I figured most mechanicals would be up to a 30 min loss, so I was shooting for at least having that buffer. So, in reality, I had really thought this whole thing out for a first timer.   Studied it to the nth degree.    Anyhow, after a short taper, and the relatively windless course with ideal temps, I averaged about 20.5 for the first 6 hrs while in zone 2. I know that was too high of a speed, but is was a seemingly easy effort and completely comfortable. Every hill I kept way below my lactate threshold, even relaxing about how easy it might be, after I certainly worried about it for weeks. Their wasn't alot of elevation gain, but each loop had 4-5 short steep climbs that did require harder efforts. It surely ended up being a lot of elevation gain by 200 miles, but it was just a consistent push type of race. That also made it more monotous. The first 70 mile loop ended up going down in 21.4 mph.  Part of that was they allowed some drafting for the first few miles, so I hugged a wheel for a few miles doing a 25 mph pace. I kept saying, ah, that's too fast, since I had no idea what would happen after 12 hrs, and I eventually realized that early on I was in the company of only one other 24 hour racer, causing me concern.  Eventually I listened to that concern and slowed down.   At 12 hrs in, I was feeling very good physically and on pace with the course record of 460 miles.   Maybe that was too hot, just don't know.  At that point, I was realizing qualifying wasn't much of a concern anymore.  I could of slowed down and even taken breaks, I had enough miles built up. So, it got less challenging as I just monotonously kept up even splits. After the daytime wind died down, the course became faster, so I was now in high zone 1 to keep even splits, except for the hills. In theory, it was almost a recovery ride pace, except for the mileage. I think my zipp 404 clinchers, maxxis tires, new specialized 08 s-works shoes, Look pedals,  and Jamis T2  bike definitely helped. (although every one else was riding something similar--except I sure saw alot of Titanium Litespeeds)      It was also nice having Joe there reminding me of my splits.  So, if anything, the last few hrs I started playing it conservative and was throttled down to zone 1 (about a heart rate of 125-130 for me). After the fact, it all certainly makes me wonder. Could I have actually won that race, or was I just going too hot and didn't know better? Larry Ide, the world cup leader and National Champ was supposedly out somewhere on the same lap, and I was hoping to speak with him to answer some of these questions.   The curiosity was, I was also bored out of my mind. After 200 miles, the novelty was gone.  After so many laps, I also lost interest in the scenery, since I had memorized every house, mailbox, and piece of farm equipment. The apathy wasn't nutritional. I was particularly happy in the TA. The few times my mind wandered to another place, I was in the middle of the road and getting honked at, or twice I biked off into the gravel shoulder. It made me realize why solitary confinement is so effective at mental torture, but also how potentially dangerous RAAM can be. Possibly why ultracyclist Dr. Breedlove lost his life during RAAM. I started losing interest in even racing by 6pm or so. God, if I have to see that same farm again! So, the enticing emotions about my pace were only a fleeting interest. After reading about Dr. Breedlove and feeling I had some similar passions, then having two close calls by pickup trucks on this course, I was mentally done.

         Now, after the fact, I figure the experienced racers would have trumped me late in the race. I guess though, I have my nutrition dialed down, so I had that going for me. I was consuming 350/calories/hr, and up to 400/cal/hr later in race, and I am 70 kilos.  Likely that played a huge part in my pace. Apparently Larry Ide was struggling with changing his nutrition and eating habits (he is now sponsored by Hammer Nutrition.), and he ended up having a poor race based on "sleepiness."    After doing a lot of research, it is mentionable that many ultra cyclists rely on all liquid nutrition on up to 2 days. I understand why, but even in a 24 hour, I wouldn't do that.  I understand why pure liquid nutrition is popular in elite 24 hour MTBers, but road racing does allow the use of the hands routinely enough to consume solids. 60% of my intake was from a mixture of perpeteum, accelerade, and a few swigs of gatorade. The rest was gu's early on in race, switching to a variety of bars, and topped off with a small bagel/peanut butter halves and my favorite, chocolate Ensure. I will say, my race highs and fastest splits were always after an Ensure. Also used motrin, tums, recover-ease, energ-ease, electrolytes, hammer gel race-cap, and a little caffeine every 4 hours. At 12 hrs, my engine felt so good I was debating really trying for the record.   I still hadn't dipped into much of any of the caffeine department, and after 14 hrs, I did feel I could generate negative splits during the night.    The problem was, the inner mental battle of boredom became unsurmountable.  I have never encountered that, but in all honestly about 8 hrs into the race, I realize I just didn't enjoy it.   Was even hating it.   Strange!     Maybe if it was a different vista and I brought along an Ipod, maybe I would of felt different?    One thing I learned in the training and this race, doing RAAM isn't appealing at the moment.      So, I answered a question.    My training leading to this was steering that way and about 200 miles into this race, achieving a milestone of a double century, I just had the epiphany that I would rather spend my time pushing myself in a different way.  There is something utterly lonely and isolated about sitting in aerobars looking down at the road. Maybe a lot of it was I wasn't truly prepared mentally.  After the fact, talking with a few ultra veterans, 24hr's are not a great starting point, at least if your trying to do it at RAAM pace stuck in aerobars.    They recommend a longer ride at RAAM pace of 15-16 mph where you get to look up and around and enjoy the ultra.   In otherwords,   don't shoot for RAAM at the start.  

             One note, about 3 hrs into the race, they had to short course us on the 19 mile midloop, since some locals sabotaged the markings on the long loop. So, by 9:30am, we were doing loop after loop on the 19 mile course.   Ugh!   That certainly impacted the race. It was nothing like a standard 8-16 mile MTB loop comparatively.  It was blank cornfields and pavement.  Although I consider a standard MTB course boring (loop racing), this certainly takes the cake.  Although it has different pleasures, I suppose I haven't learned to enjoy them yet.     It was devastingly boring at times.  I mean like make me want to jump over those 10 ft high cornfields and see if someone was out there.   I kept hoping that some creature from the horror movie "Children of the Corn" would come out and snatch me up and take me out of my misery.     I did run into several racers in the hotel who described the same thing and the inevitable mental challenge,  so I guess a lot of it had to do with the course.  For the small handfull of us trying to break 425 miles, we barely saw each other. (one note, I believe 2 people cleared 425 miles at this race).    What was interesting, is that ultra riders aren't very talkative. I'm not usually outwardly talkative, but I was surely needing someone to converse with.   I sang my wedding song over and over again, but that got boring after 20 renditions.     Either these people are either too serious, just locked in some place mentally, or don't want to talk with a ridiculous looking newbie. Since no drafting is allowed, I suppose they may consider it a rule violation to ride side by side. I did bump into some friendly chaps, but for the most part, most of them kept to themselves.   Or was it they were just suffering too much to say hello back when we crossed paths?    One of the guys stopped at the Cemetery on every lap and got down on his knees, since I saw him do that twice.   It was called Mount Maria's Cemetery--actually I started counting all the headstones as I passed--my last tally was 70 up to the 5th row--that's how bored I was.      It's surely a whole different culture.    Maybe I should of gotten off the bike more and done the same?      In reality, I suppose I have become prewired into the  amazing variety of adventure racing and multisport.       So maybe I just need to learn more mental tricks to deal with one event going on and on and on......         

          What was cool, was the eleborate array of night lights. Since safety is a big part of UMCA (ultra riding association), the rules require a multitude of lights and reflectors. A lot of these folks are bike commuters, so some of them have taken it even further. Anyhow, I certainly had some funny stories during the race, but most of it was total boring isolation that I wasn't prepared for. If it wasn't for those TA's where I got to bump into Joe, kurt, and Will about every hour, I would of dropped early on.  Instead, I stuck it out for close to 270 miles.    Obviously, further than I have ever ridden.   When I came in to my last TA, Kurt and Joe said I looked very chipper and were taken aback when I said no to another bottle.   Remembering how I felt, I had alot of energy at the time.  It just remember thinking "please get me off of this f#%@# thing, I am going crazy."       On my computer, I averaged 19.2 mph.    Apparently the course record was 19mph or in the range of 460miles.    Probably ridiculous pace for a newbie, but I think I was inherently lucky in carefully titrating my pace and nutrition.     Anyhow, certainly reaching 200 miles was cool.    I cherished the moment it went from 199.99 to 200 miles.   Actually slowed down to catch that, wishing I had a camera to watch it change.    At 240 miles, the bugs started to coat my whole body and made it hard to eat a bar or drink my bottle, since the nighttime bugs were covering everything.   Then my night glasses started fogging from the nighttime dew and heat coming off my helmet (inherently poor ventilation design of the Ryder lens I suppose).    So, it  was either bugs in the eyes or foggy glasses.    About 9pm, I started getting drunk locals do 90mph flybys while riding.   Sort of strange, since up till then, I could count the number of cars on each loop of the course.      After two of those close calls by youths yelling out profanity,  I just decided then I had no interest anymore.    Definitely a hard choice I suppose since I struggled with that thought for 5 laps. I had already done 11 laps including the big loop, and I only needed 7.5 more to qualify.  It should of been a chip shot.      Now it is 24 hrs after the race, and realize how sore my neck is and my saddle areas are certainly tender, but certainly manageable.    I arrived home tonight and had to go straight to work to do an overnight shift, so this would of effectively been 3 nights of little sleep.    I guess that weighed heavily in the back of my mind.   

Flying with a Bike

So, the other day, I tried flying with a bike. It didn't go very well, so I have a story to tell and been doing a little research. I'm guessing I have flown with a bike 20-30 times toughout the years. Admittedly, most of the times it has been on Soutwest Airlines. This weekend was a whole new experience. I always expect some hassle when flying with a bike, but this took the cake. At the bottom I have some info on bike box prices on airlines.
This weekend I was trying to visit my mother last minute who was having an unplanned surgery late Friday night. I jumped on expedia.com and got a surprisingly cheap flight on Northwest Airlines. I would say I use expedia about 50% of the time, but lately I have been growing annoyed by their imbedded itineraries in Javascript which are typically not handled well on PDA's, blackberry, and iPhone.
Usually, I avoid flying Northwest at all costs since the ticketing/baggage check agents are some of the most unfriendly folks in the customer service business. Airlines execs, please read this: I am not surprised why your a failing company. Make your employees happy, as it will go a long way in helping your bottom line!

Anyhow, one reason I fly Southwest, besides the low fare, is that fact that they treat me like a human being when I arrive at the airport. Of course, they also happen to charge less for a bike box. Southwest also happens to be the only airline where the skycaps are friendly enough they will actually take care of the box for ya outside, sometimes not charging a bike box fee if ya tip them. Disclaimer: not not every Southwest airport will do that, but many of the smaller terminals will.

This time, I only had Northwest or Delta as a choice, which is like the difference between horse manure and cow pie, as far as I am concerned. Both are a waste. One reason we usually drive to visit my mother is just to avoid those lovely airlines. 13 hrs in the car is far better than dealing with that flight route. However, I didn't have a choice given the time restraint, but I did get an amazingly cheap flight given it was only 10 hrs of notice. Got it for $176. Yipee!
Since I was gonna be holed up at her house and confined to "visiting hours" at the hospital, I decided to pack up my road bike to get in some miles in between visits. I suppose I should just leave a bike there next time. By the way, my bike never arrived.
I suppose for $176, I should of realized it was too good to be true.
The next day I got to the airport 2 hrs early, which is a lot, but I try and leave some time when with a bike since some airlines say no to bikes at the one hour cutoff. After getting to the Northwest baggage line, I was confronted with a wait of 45 min. Once I got a bee line to the Kiosk, (those machines that help 2 agents take care of 100+ customers for less cost), I found I couldn't checkin, so was stuck waiting for one of two agents while the other grumped that she was tired of working under these conditions. She actually said that in front of all the customers at the desk. When I finally summoned an agent, he grunted out, "we don't have that flight today" in the tone seemingly meaning "go away." I said, "but I have an email itinerary right here.". He then grunted again, this time saying louder, "we don't have a 1:25pm", all the while never making eye contact with me. Then he followed up that I needed to go to Delta since likely we were ticketed there. There actually was a group of us in the same predicament. So, off I trudge with my bike box and gear and other disgruntled customers running to the Delta desk. Now I'm surely in a less amicable mood after waiting in the wrong line with a less than helpful agent. Of course, now there is a longer line at Delta. At least they have three unhappy looking agents working there.
Running lower on time, I scrambled forward when possible to try and checkin in at the Kiosk. Again no joy! I noticed the agents eyeing my bike box, and I'm fairly sure then and there, I was on the black box list, for they kept helping people to my right and left. Finally, I got an agent, named Robert. Boy, I thought the Northwest agent was cagey and unfriendly.

At first, he couldn't find me on the flight. I showed him my itinerary and told him what Northwest said. I got the "oh" response and a shake of his head. Eventually he apparently found me on another list, but was acting like I was creating more hassle than his paycheck allowed. Then, he charged me $50 for an extra beg charge. I was happy to hand over my credit card. I was now getting some where, or so I thought. Then he proceeded to inform me there would also be a 2nd $175 dollar fee for the bike box. He added the total incorrectly, so I said rephrased his total saying "wait a second, you are charging me twice for that box. So it's $450 to fly round trip with a box that weighs less those duffle bags you just lifted.". I wasn't happy anymore after he kept telling me I couldn't possibly know their policies. I asked for a supervisor and he fained interest in doing so. Then he proceeded to read off the "new policy" dating July 30 on extra oversize bags. I commented that didn't have much to do with a bike box since I fly all the time with this thing. He had the gall to say, "well, if ya hadn't booked within 24 hrs notice, this wouldn't of been an issue.". At which time I pointed out my mom had emergency surgery, and I was trying to get home. He actually said "yea, right." Unbelieveable, but that's Delta airlines at BWI airport! Service with a rude attitude!
Well, the story goes on. Since I knew paying $225 for a bike box was wrong, I kept asking him to double check. He held me there awhile, apparently getting his real supervisor, which was a seemingly long time. When he came back, he said, "just go, your gonna miss your plane.". I asked him to hold the gate open, knowing they have that authority, but also knowing it was unlikely he would do anything for me. So, I only got charged $50 in the end.
So, I ran up to security and was selected for search and sniff, but the officers were on break. So, I sat there until I mentioned I might miss my plane. After getting the pad down for hidden explosives and WMD, I ran the whole corridor to my gate. Which was kinda cool, since I realized that even though I have mostly been biking, my run legs particularly good. I was actually thinking that as I ran down the terminal. I was just getting warned up when I arrived at gate C12 in a new olympic record for pissed off airport folks. I had 10 minutes to spare, but the door agent said "nope, plane is already leaving.". I kid you not, my watch is set to run 5 minutes fast, but that plane was starting to shut it's doors. After explaining my predicament, I got what I now call the the "Delta look." He grabbed the phone, fained a few grunts, and told me "sorry." So, at that point, I pretty much had a cow to no person in general. As I sat there at the counter ruminating, I realized he wasn't doing anything, so I asked if he could get me another flight. Well, the story goes on and on.........
Eventually, they brought over a Northwest supervisor since they couldn't understand how I had a Northwest ticket but was booked on a Delta flight. Good question! About that time, now 90 min after the flight left, I get an email on my blackberry from Expedia Travel saying my Northwest flight been cancelled. Good timing! At least then I was able to prove I was on an original Northwest flight.
Well, I never made it to Michigan that day. However, despite trying to stop my bags, they apparently ended up flying North on some other plane, eventually becoming lost in the maze of the new ComAir alliance of Northwest and Delta. Apparently they have an alliance and share brain power, seats, tickets, and some of the same flight plans, sometimes unknowingly to customers and expedia.com. It's now tuesday afternoon, and I still haven't seen those bags. I keep getting the same response "sir, we are not sure how Delta bags made it on a Northwest flight." Good question!
After I called Detroit and Traverse City Airport in Michigan, on my own accord, I found an agent who had seen my bike box in Traverse City. I actually found them myself since I kept getting the same blanket response from Delta baggage, "we are working on it."
Anyhow, the story actually goes on and on, including how Delta refunded my flight accidentally (it was originally a Northwest ticket), but then Northwest and expedia couldn't honor that fare elsewhere, even though they claimed it was their mistake. What a snafu!
So what I learned after some research.
Delta and Northwest do have an alliance, but one doesn't necessarily speak to the other. If you purchase a Northwest ticket, they can quietly put you on a Delta flight, but a lot of this is hastened by Expedia. But this is important, since Delta now charges a much larger bike box fee. The bad part, even though they transfer you to a Delta flight before flight time, likely not notifying you if your using expedia.com, Northwest will not honor the refund from Delta if you get in a bind. Crazy, but that's what they told me.
After two phone calls with Expedia.com, I surmise they can't make heads or tails over the Northwest-Delta alliance. Obviously, getting a cancelled flight alert 2 hrs after scheduled flight time means someone has a problem.
As far as bike boxes: Unfortunately, several mail carriers now charge nearly double or triple the fees they did 2 yrs ago, since most bike shops and retail centers don't have an actual account because of the extra cost. UPS, DHL and FedEX charge more now if they don't have an account. You just need to find a facility that has a shipping account so you can enjoy those prices in the 50 dollar range. Otherwise, DHL and UPS will charge you $100 or more.
Airlines one-way charge:
Delta is now at a wopping $175 one way. No kidding!
Northwest is $100.
United is $85
Southwest is $50.

The inherent problem nowadays is most front desk agents don't always know the policy (except for those friendly folks at Southwest), so they also charge you either a 2nd bag charge or an oversize bag charge on top of the bike box fee. Sometimes you are lucky and they charge nothing. As I also recently found, if you contest that fee, knowing that they are wrong, you may have to wait it out till they get an appropriate supervisor and risk missing your flight.
Of the 4 airlines I just called, there shouldn't be a 2nd charge for a bike. It is just a one time "bike box" fee. My suggestion, if you have time, ask the 1800people to email their "bike box policy." All the carriers that I spoke with have a bike box policy. As I have learned over the years, most airline front desk agents do not know the actual rules, especially as they have understandably changed in the last few years. I would either print out that email or have it on a PDA. It may save you a lot of hassles and expense and possibly missing your flight.
Hopefully some of the national bike associations and multisport groups get behind lobbying for some of these ridiculous prices that Delta is now charging.
Meanwhile, I am flying to a race this Friday. Not only will I have a bike box, but on my person will be United Airlines policy on bike boxes, and I am arriving bright and early. I actually had a choice this time between Northwest, United, and Southwest. Unfortunately, Southwest was sold out.

Final bike prep

Here is the final version of my bike before a 24 hour road race. I really have no idea what to expect, but have tweaked this biked over and over to make it comfortable. Finally hit it perfect!!! The aero bars are now elevated above the seat plumb line, with out much loss in speed at a 24 hour race pace, which is somewhat slow aerobic pace.
The race rules require all those red reflective tape, rear and front lights, and those red reflectors that come on brand new bikes in most States.

Rain and thunder but I wanted a 100 mile ride

I rode another century yesterday. That's the 4th one this month.
After working a long shift I had an early day Thursday and took advantage of it.
About 4 hrs into the ride, saw the approaching clouds and lightening. After 30 min of downpour and strong wind, I pulled over to a gas station to sit it out a bit. The lightening was all around at the time and here's a pic of the rain coming down in sheets. Who knows what the resolution shows. I was mostly worried the phone was getting too wet.
So, I cut the intended ride short and headed back to my car. At that point, the storm cells temporarily passed and I was at 96 miles when I got back to my car. So, being obsessive as I am, I kid you not, I rode 4 miles around in the parking lot till that dumb computer hit 100.00. It only took 11 laps since it was a high school parking lot. But a goal is a goal, weather or not.

Bike lanes

So, of lately, I have been biking a few miles getting ready for a different kind of race. It's kind of a new thing I'm exploring, so I'm discovering all new kinds of soreness and mental boredom. What I am finding noticeable, as the mileage increases, so do the close calls with cars. I have been hit before and know people who have been killed. So every close call is an anxiety filled moment.
So, I started taking a few steps to make it safer, to appease that dad side of me. I'm trying to ride with reflectors on most of my bikes, using highly visible clothing, and choosing routes away from traffic, if possible. I even went out and bought one of those geeky mirrors to anticipate vehicles from behind. Debating just riding in the middle of the car lane as new york bicyclists recommend.
Despite all this, cars are still occasionally comatose when they drive. So, while on vacation a few weeks ago, I was riding in a bonafide bike lane thru the town of East Hampton, NY. They actually don't allow handheld cell phones in that state while driving, and as I logged 250 miles that week, I counted 6 cases where landscapers were driving right down that same bike lane.
Makes me wonder, do they not know what this picture means?

KG 12 hr Adventure Race

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What started out as an idea for a fun training day, turned into an epic ordeal. This race was among the most memorable that I can remember, in a good way. I got the chance to race with Team Untamed Adventure/Calleva, whatever that is... Honestly, Dave, Sasha, and I were somewhat antsy, and said "what the heck, let's do a race." We have raced together in the past and had always enjoyed racing together.   So we were pretty relaxed and looking forward to racing together again. Besides, the weather was looking great and it was a relatively short drive, so why not. It was sort of last minute, so we were all a tad off in multisport training, so crammed in a few workouts the week before. After packing my car thursday night with race and work stuff, I was treated to a nice surprise early Friday morning. My passenger window was smashed in. Turns out, our whole neighborhood had a drive by fiesta of car theft. At first count, 20 cars were hit in my town. My gps, garmin watch, compass, and work briefcase with computer were taken. Honestly, up till now, I usually leave my wallet in the car and unlocked, since it's a safe area. Thankfully my mtb and road bike were left alone. The only reason I mention it, is my compass and a spare UTM ruler were in the coffee holder and missing. What in the world would they want with that? Maybe next time I will leave a note: "If you reach the next cp location, you will find a sweet alpine car radio and a wad of cash. If you can't find it, I will come haunt you or stick Juno Senk on your ass.". Anyhow, thanks for taking my laptop and gps. They were not working well anyway. Anyhow, the KG race is a memorial to Krista G who was killed by a lightening spike while training for Eco-Challenge. Part of the proceeds benefit the local Civil Air Patrol who help put on the race. It's a race that takes place in the same spot, over and over and over, just like many sprint and 12 hour races. Each year, the race changes slightly, so there is some variety, but local knowledge is a must if you want to compete. Or at least you need your mojo. Luckily, we had our mojo. This year, they had a great turnout, guessing since they had a sprint race meshed into the 12 hour. After witnessing the sprint races out on the course till 6pm, I was wondering if they shouldn't have just done the 12 hour. Poor souls! Looks like they had all the elevation gain and the thick vegetation. It was a rogaine format, which shouldn't of mattered for us under normal circimstances. Sasha and I plotted together in a new record time for minutes per plot while Dave assembled all our gear. We were off to a great start. Despite being an hour late to checkin, we had most of the maps and gear all together by race meeting. It felt like old times, "and the band played again.". Unfortunately, maybe because of the two races being run simultaneously, a lack of volunteers, or lack of course vetting, 4 of the 5 cp's on the first O-course were off by 100-250 meters. Why that was, who knew? It could of spelled a death sentence given the o-course had overgrown clearings, some mowed fields, and dense and brutal forest as tough as any fight on an O-course. So, to search a parameter of 200+ meters wasn't always easy. There were cp descriptions, but we certainly could of found Steve Fossett with our perimeter search of cp3, since the plot was off from what we found in the field. The maps were preplotted on a more detailed 1:15000 map than the main race map, which was 1:35000. Luckily we came off the opening rappel, obstacle course, three person run prologue, and O-course, about 10-15 min down from the locals who were in the lead.   Dave was appearing in great bike form. I also have been training up to 4 times more than previous years, logging tons of miles, so we were reeling in a few teams. Because of a backlog at the rappel for the coed teams, many of the single gender teams had a leap on us.  Passing single gender male teams is always a huge mental boost for a coed team.  After some nice climbing in the rolling farm lands and then the steep hill up to cp6, we were treated to a long pace line descent to the canoe put in on the infamous Skully River. We followed Mark Latanzi's team in a pace line down to the river. Strange enough, the two lead teams had put some time on us in that section, according to the cp roster. Local knowledge, who knows?  However, the Kristen D's new team appears to be a machine. We honestly didn't see a faster route than the one we took. We were still close in the hunt though and the top 2 teams were just ahead at the canoe take out, both leaving the TA as we got in. The river levels this year weren't as low as advertised, so we actually got in paddling on that 5+ mile stretch of river. This was actually fun this year. Most of it was still spent jumping in and out, bailing, pushing, and avoiding rocks. We made up some time here and had some energy left over. We were executing well, relaxed, and having fun. I hate when that thought slips in your head, but it did, thinking to myself "it was gonna be an easy day, we can win this."   That wasn't the intention of the day.   Bad brain, please don't do that. After cp10, the trail looked like it turned into a tighter and hillier singletrack hikeabike, so I took us in an about face change to a longer but quicker path to cp11. Thankfully, we gained some time there. Physically, the whole bike sections had some steep ascents of up to 15%, and it was surely a grind, but luckily the weather had delivered temps in the low 80's.  At first, Sasha was having troubles with her front derraileur and unable to swap into the small ring, no easy feat on those climbs, so we occasionally resorted to towing. Knowing we had lots of climbing ahead, Dave decided to fix the derraileur and they both fixed the problem in quick time and we were off again. I barely had time to eat and flip the map. Then, despite being on a wide gravel two track, I picked up an errant stick which seated itself in my rear derailleur, bending the whole mechanism into my spokes. Yikes! After hand straightening the derailleur, I made it a few hundred meters uphill before the rear derrailleur sheared off the shifter mechanism. It wasn't just a simple hanger shearing off. Dave went to work taking it all apart and settled on a single speed conversion. The tools made it mostly a one man job, so while Dave fixed it, we fed him and looked over the maps. While trying to get the chain shortened and back together, we got passed by the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th coed teams. So we had m0ved up time wise at this  point, so it's nice to know we were executing well until the mechanical.  After Dave finished playing bike mechanic, we continued up the hill on my new single speed.  Yikes, that was an effort. Not sure if it was the pressure on the pedals or the universal chain links I found in my saddle bag, but the whole chain snapped. At this point, we were running out of options. It was only a 12 hour race and that kind of time loss was killer. After some thought, we decided to hikeabike. At least they thought it was a good idea, I was like "but my legs want to bike," I'm training for RAAM. I started mentally thinking, ok, it's a 50 mile course, I had about 40 miles more running to do, but honestly, was looking forward to the challenge in that sick way ultra people do.    Luckily, after some amazing team mojo, we shuttled packs, they pushed me, towed me, did the flintstone kick, and I ran my ass off.  I owe them years of gratitude.   It was ridiculous and genius at the same time. We were getting so good that Sasha came up with the idea to keep going for more cp's, as we were keeping pace with some of the back end teams we were around. . I was thinking, I just might die, but it will be fun trying to see what we can do. We honestly were unsure of how long it would take to ride back to the finish. At one point I estimated the total mileage and we came up with a dead end turn around time. We honestly didn't know what our pace would be, so we high tailed it back from the 2nd farthest trek cp, only missing one cp. After tremendous effort by everyone, we made it back to the finish with 30 some minutes remaining,  of course wondering if we could of gotten that one last cp. Along the way, we were slowed down by two cp's that were stolen by Sasquatch or a meddling hiker. On our way to the finish, Dave was grinding uphill while towing me, while I ran behind with the bike. We were passing teams the whole way up the 2-3 mile climb. Nearly everyone was walking, but Dave was actually biking and towing me. One team saw what he was doing and just said "freakin animal." It was amazing. The only thing keeping us going was the huge lift knowing we were accomplishing something insane and getting ourselves back into a reasonable finish position. To say we weren't smoked at the finish, is an under statement. Most importantly, I realized the one important thing that got taken from my car during the breakin, my recover-ease, which was in my brief case. Anyhow, we didn't get a great result place wise, but we couldn't of been happier.  An interesting thought.   We overcame adversity without a blink of an eye.  It was really cool, although the race sure hurt physically!    We did get first place in our Masters division of old people, (only us obviously), and 4th overall (unofficial till results come out), which is simply amazing, not that it mattered to us.     If we had gotten the one final cp, maybe we would of  been in 2nd or 3rd.

     I was planning on a 100 mile road the next day.   Ah, didn't happen!!  

 

Compact Cranks

I had a pair of SRAM red compact cranks from Capital Bicycle sitting around and got around to installing them a few weekends ago. I have heard so many different stories about compact cranks, both positive and negative, but alot of it seems hogwash. So, I had wanted to give them a try and see for myself. Tyler Hamilton used them to break climbing records (Mt washington) and set the pace up up some climbs, the whole Team CSC team uses them on certain stages, and compacts have certainly won a few stages of the last few Tour de Frances. MOre importantly, the concept seems very applicable for long distance multisporters or ultracyclists.
There have been several good bike mag reviews explaining the physics. The idea is relatively simple. By giving up a few teeth on the front chain rings, you get more gears in the midrange and also a lower gear. The downside is that you lose the top gear. The question then, is that top gear that important. Certainly, for training and hillier courses, that gear is mostly useless. For the occasional crit or racing with buddies on the flats, are we gonna be slower, or do we really care. Campy's new Super Record has come up with a way to deal with this, by moving up to 11 speeds and adding a rear 25 flywheel. However, that won't be available till 09 and would be a huge expense because it would require changing most of the drive train and possibly wheel hubs if you don't have campy to begin with.
So, the current choices for lots of long climbing: either dope and lift weights so you are so strong it doesn't matter what gear your in or just throw the sheet in the wind about how your legs will feel tomorrow, thrown on a triple ring and risk the scorn of your friends and add more grams to your bike, put on a 12-27 or 12-25 on the back, or do compacts. Obviously, the latter two only make sense. In reality, just for training and such, there isn't much wrong with a triple ring, if image wasn't an issue. Afterall, triple rings are on MTB's, although slowly, a version of compacts are making their way onto MTBs. On most bikes, the complexity and angles of the chain and rear triangle, make the third ring very inefficient.
For the long course individual, the choice of compacts seems more in our favor. Nothing wrong with a 12-27, but for about the same expense you lose some crucial gears for climbs while gaining weight in the drivetrain. The only positive is that one big gear.
I partly became interested in compacts, since I plan on some mtn climbing training days coming up and am considering doing RAAM solo, where my legs will need to conserve themselves during the race, but also on those long rides where i am trying to get back to back long sessions on the bike. Also, for multisporters, training one very long day in the hills, can cause a set back in training. Anyhow, compacts were starting to make more and more sense, in theory. I love to hammer a big gear and/or climb out of the saddle at a low cadence, but I also know that comes at an expense.
My new Jamis Zenith functions as a wonderful climbing bike, being horizontally stiff and lightweight, which most current layups of carbon bikes are like that. However, the way this bike is geared off the shelf, makes it a short course bike or race bike, for most of us. I keep hearing people saying strong bikers should not need compacts. But then why are the peloton using em? And reportedly bike pros use them routinely on their base training on bike.
So, my thinking, to help me stay in lower zone heart rates, the compacts might help. I was worried about the top end speed when doing group rides or crits, so figure a little trial would tell me if my concerns were real. I finally got around to trialing them myself.
My Jamis road bike happens to come with a 115 5-bolt pattern, so swapping out the 52/39 chainrings for 50/34 was easy. Took about 10 minutes since I didn't have to remove chain or bottom bracket. It's about as easy as changing the rear cassette, but you don't need any special tools, just a standard allen wrench. The only issue becomes a possible need to lower front derraileur.
Since installing them, I have done about a. 300+ miles with the compacts, but haven't done a high speed group ride yet. But I spent several rides going over the same routes as my usual ride.
What I found was interesting. First of all, the FSA K-force light crankset are known to be very light, lighter than many other cranks, except for the very high priced stronglight's. However, the chain rings were noticeably heavier than the SRAM red rings. I guess they are saving that weight in the cranks, since the chainrings were a beast.

My first ride was a 60ish mile ride on a 95 degree day. I had been up all night on call, so just wanted to have an easy ride in the saddle. My route took me thru the standard short hills around here, with some short hills of 7-12% grade. Usually, getting over those hills requires short bursts of higher efforts, closer to threshold than i usually want to be for an easy day. The compacts made it possible to sit in the saddle and maintain my heart rate and just spin up the hill at an easier effort. It is not a huge difference, but it is enough to keep the heart rate done and not loading the legs so much. Surprisingly, it sure felt quick going up those hills. I think alot of that was having some nice gears to toggle between when the grade changed. On the descents, I was close to spinning out at 40 mph. Around 38 mph or above, the cadence becomes unefficient. However, for most descending above those speeds, Im usually coasting or praying. One descent was at 46 mph, and I certainly was up above a cadence of 120 when trying to see where the drive chain would engage. Either way, it didn't seem to matter.
The next day, I did a longish ride mixed in with intervals on the hills. Now I was still happy. Two days later, I did a training crit ride on easy rolling terrain, where we averaged 26 mph in the pace lines, with some jumps to 32 mph, and I never found any negatives.
Any how, for 10 minutes of work changing out the rings, and about $175 for top end rings, I am pretty happy. In late september, I have a 40+ hr road race planned with 30,000 ft of elevation. I am fairly sure I will be using the compacts. I now have a bike where I can do 5+ hrs in the saddle but not tear up my legs so much if my route goes thru some hills.