Bike MS 2012

[AMFADVENTURES]

Tour de Tucson 2012

Hey Pell, glad to hear you're getting out there and I hope the Gilenya hangover subsides soon. We've been having awfully good weather here too so should be getting out a bit myself as soon as I get over the crud I managed to catch after the TDT.

I finished this years 111 mile Tour de Tucson in 7:45 elapsed time, my best finish yet by about 45 minutes, and it was a blast.

DD didn't register this year but she rode the first 10 miles or so with me anyway, before turning off to meet up with the rest of the family to cheer the riders on.

My brother was a no show on advice from his doctor over his recent knee surgery. I don't suppose I'll let him hear the end of that for a while, maybe I'll even get him a skirt or something so he can at least do the 40 mile ride with the girls next time.

I managed to find my sister at the 85 mile start and rode with her for the next 40 miles or so. I think she was a little shocked at how awkwardly I made my way across the Sabino Canyon wash because she kept trying to make excuses for me to the people around us, apparently it bothered her a lot more than it bothered me. About 20 miles further on we ran into a thick crowd, probably the 42 mile riders and I lost track of her, but she finished less than 10 minutes behind me. If she ever got serious about cycling, she could be dangerous.

My son in law killed this ride. He finished within 15 minutes of the winner, a solid platinum finish. But even that incredible finish didn't earn him a place in his age group. There is some serious competition on the TDT when you're riding at the front of the pack.

The weather was perfect and I did a lot of things right this year but I think I've already found a way to cut another 30 minutes off my time next year. If I can get a little faster, I might even have a shot at sub 7:00.

Happy Holidays every one,
Larry

[pawpaw]

Happy Thanksgiving

The weather here is amazing. We rode 26 miles yesterday and plan a 33 mile ride today. If I can plan well enough with the cooking, we may try to fit a ride in tomorrow.
I am still having side effects from the Gilenya. The researchers say that it can't produce long-term side effects, but 6 months after my last dose, I still am short of breath. I plan to continue to push myself and see if I can get some improvement.
Hoping to not gain weight tomorrow. Don't need extra pounds to haul up the hills.
Have a happy and healthy holiday!
Pell

[AMFADVENTURES]

Anybody on Strava? It is a cool way to compete against yourself and see how you compare to the rest of the active universe at the same time. I just noticed there is a guy who calls himself Peyton Manning who rides one of my regular routes. He's turning in times roughly equivalent to the womens leader board so I suppose it could be the man himself! I'll have to keep an eye out.

Training for TDT is on track. Even my brother is thinking of going now.

[AMFADVENTURES]

4,000 miles YTD

I got an 86 mile ride in this weekend. It wasn’t particularly fast, avg. about 14.5, but it wasn’t difficult either, except for a little butt fatigue. Funny, there was a time not so long ago, when an 85-mile ride would have been unthinkable. That ride also put me over the 4,000 mile mark with 191,000 ft. of ascent for the year.

I came across a guy on a 3 wheeler with hand cranks today and actually had a hard time catching him but finally did on a small incline. I commented on just how hard it had been to catch up to him as I rode past up the incline. No sooner had I crested that little hill than he caught back up and was passing me. I asked him what he was training for and he replied that he had just come back from London. His bike was whisper quiet with a premium wheel set and since we were clipping along at close to 20 MPH, I assumed he was referring to the Paralympic Games, so I asked how he did. He said he pulled down a 6th overall and a gold, he didn’t say which events. I congratulated him, then fortunately, my turn came up and I said goodbye. Not too sure how long I could have hung with that guy, I was working hard trying to stay with him and he was barely even breathing.

Anybody ever look at the “Bike the US for MS” tour? http://www.biketheusforms.org/
Hmmm!

Beth, forgot to say that I’m looking forward to hearing how the NY Marathon goes for you!

[AMFADVENTURES]

Beth and Pell,
AZ is our new normal for Thanksgiving now. I would love to ride the TDT there with you guys. One thing you should know, the day after El Tour, we climb Mt. Lemmon! BTW, looks like my SIL will be riding sub 5:00 and has a chance of placing in category.

Beth, that might have been our last chance to climb Truchas on the MS 150. Organizers are thinking of going back to Los Pueblos. I understand it's still a hill but not like Truchas. Kind of a shame really, in spite of how bad I talk about Truchas, I look forward to climbing that hill every year. And, good luck in New York. You've done the work and you're almost there, so knock it out!

Pell, wasn't sure whether to offer congratulations or condolences to DH, but listening to the times you guys turn in on the tandem, it's obviously congratulations. Sooner or later, you guys need to come out this way. See you at the HH.

Larry

[pawpaw]

Tour an almost

AMF- We seriously looked at coming for the tour. The elevation isn't as bad as I had thought and I would love to do it. Unfortunately, it looks like this year isn't it. We host Thanksgiving for the family every year and with the remodel, we didn't do it last year. I don't think we can beg off again. It is also my DH's 65th birthday, so some celebration/mourning will be necessary.
Anyway- it is on my radar screen for the future.
Pell

[milesandtrials]

Hi AMF. I would LOVE do the Tour de Tucson this year, my father lives there, so it is an easy trip make. However, it's just 2 weeks after I am running the New York City Marathon and I have not been on my bike since you and I were trudging up the Truchas "hill". Maybe next year...

[AMFADVENTURES]

First off, the Rawhinies raised $272,943.20 for NMSS through the Bike MS team this year. Congratulations Rawhinies! It is a genuine honor to ride with you guys.

Also, I finally signed up for the Tour de Tucson. It’s a ride I do with a number of family members each year, my youngest daughter, sister, SIL and sometimes my brother participate. As usual, I’ll be attempting the 111 mile course, why shoot for anything less.

Anyway, this year my brother won’t be going due to knee surgery, my daughter is so busy at work it doesn’t look like she’ll get much training in, and ditto my little sister due to an unhealthy preoccupation with golf. My SIL will be riding with a group of elite cyclists who will probably finish in under 5 hours, obviously not a group you’ll find me in.

I, having just flushed all remaining traces of glycogen out of my liver with a case of wine I bought last month, am gearing back up to be able to go the distance, though not necessarily at speed. In fact, there should be no need for speed this year since, as I said, you certainly won’t find me among the elite cyclists. I will be riding with DD and little sis, neither of whom are likely to be in a rush.

What does that mean for training? Well, let’s see. First of all, obviously, no more alcohol, well hardly any more anyway. Second, I don’t see any need for very much lactate threshold or tempo training, no need to work on speed. Third, I will need to start doing some longer aerobic threshold rides, and just when my butt was beginning to feel pretty good too. And fourth, because I want to keep my cardiovascular system somewhat tuned up, I’d like to do at least one set of high intensity intervals per week. That should leave me with a bit of extra time to spend on cross training, which I envision will include elliptical work and some time in the weight room.

Sounds perfect, yes? So there, I feel better already!

Anybody else in for the TDT?

AMF

[Marinadca]

Oh I wish I had known you were coming down, I am just down the road!

[pawpaw]

sorry- didn't attach the photo of the monument.

[pawpaw]

DC ride to Mt Vernon

We just returned from a visit to our nation's capital. I was there for a meeting, but we went a few days early for some bike time. We rented "performance" hybrids and rode from our hotel near the White House to Mt Vernon. The trip was about 20 miles one way and was nearly entirely on paved bike trails along the Potomac. We enjoyed the ride along the waterfront, past Reagan national airport and through Alexandria. We also discovered a monument we had never seen before. Anyone else seen this?
Touring DC on a bike is wonderful- bike lanes down the center of Pennsylvania Avenue, easy access to all of the bridges across the river and bike racks everywhere. I highly recommend this method of seeing the Capitol.
Pell

[AMFADVENTURES]

Odds and Ends

Just a couple of things to wrap up this years season.

After 8 or 9 years my wife has finally decided she's ready to give cycling a try. She got fitted to my old mountain bike, which has gears you could climb a tree with, and has been going out at least 3 times a week. She's up to 25 miles now so we're going to do a 25 mile wine country tour. I hope there's no hills because, since she just started riding, we haven't been doing hills. I think we'll be okay.

Cycling substantially reduces my upper body strength and it isn't the most conducive form of exercise for improving walking either. So to correct that, I'll be getting back to the gym for some weight training and elliptical work. Most of my friends can do all of those things during the cycling season but I don't seem to be able to do that so I make up for the shortfall after. So far it's worked.

Also, the weather is cooling and for me, that means baking bread. Believe it or not, making a batch or two of bread is a hell of a workout for me. It smells fantastic, it warms the house, and there is nothing in the world like the taste of freshly baked bread. On today's menu, sour dough French baguette.

I'll let you know how the Tour de Tucson goes and report in with any tedious points of interest I come across or with anything exciting from the Sunday Brunch Rides. And I know everyone loves to hear what MSers on bikes are up to, hope you’ll check in.

Until then, keep the saddle side up and the rubber side down,

Larry

[AMFADVENTURES]

Larry-
Until your eloquent description, I was seriously thinking about riding the NM MS 150. I believe you cured me of that aspiration. I hate steep hills and 6 in a row is a daunting thought.
We rode a century this weekend in Clarksville TN- advertised as a flat century. Although it was pretty flat, it still had 2500' of elevation change according to the bike altimeter and map my ride.
We didn't make our speed goal- in fact- Mike blew up pretty badly. We tried to keep our pace up in a stiff headwind and used up our energy. We held 20mph for 60 mile and finished at 18.3. We were the first tandem to finish. In the wind, we had lots of folks interested in our wheel.

Pell

Pell, sorry if I put you off of the NM MS 150, it wasn’t my intention. It was merely how I saw it. And I suppose there might have been an outside chance I was being a tad melodramatic too. Maybe MilesAndTrials or some of the other MSers who climbed that THING could give you a little more encouraging version.

There is this though, you guys seem to be doing a lot of century rides and I’m with you, 20 mph (i.e. 5 hours) is a good goal for centuries, otherwise, it gets into too much saddle time. Anyway, seems to me a few hills, like those in CO or NM, are just the thing to propel you to the next level. Think about it. You could easily do the first day on the tandem and the second day on the single bikes. Also, the hill is an out and back route, so you can turn around at any time. Come to think of it, it might be worth sagging the tandem to the top of that hill if you had to. I promise, the ride back down would be the thrill of a lifetime!
Larry

[AMFADVENTURES]

I'm can't wait for my first OK MS150 ride in two weeks! I have been training for this all summer! I call this ride my counter attack to the MS sucker punch I got for Christmas in 2011. My neuro recommended that I try to keep moving, in moderation. I figure a 150 mile bike ride is moderate enough. I have enjoyed reading about the other MSer's adventures on here. Keep it up!

Marky-Mark, good luck on your MS bike ride, hope you find it as enjoyable and rewarding as I always have. You seem to have done the training and you’ve got a good attitude, I expect this will be a lot of fun for you. I look forward to hearing how it goes.
Larry

[AMFADVENTURES]

Dave and AMF, it was so great to meet you Saturday night. I'm honored to be a part of such a wonderful and supportive community. AMF, it was fun to see you on the course riding that monster climb on Sunday.

As my first MS 150 ride (and my first time riding more than 50 miles!), the weekend was quite an experience. Thank you to all the incredible volunteers that helped to put on such an amazing event. I will definitely be back next year.

MilesAndTrials, it was a real pleasure to meet you too. I assume you are referring to that “Monster Hill” that you so nonchalantly pedaled past me on, but then, I would have expected nothing less from a marathoner. Best of luck on your future endeavors, and I look forward to meeting again next year.
Larry